ter and debased Greek architecture intimating as much; but as they are in this land of all sorts of styles and architectural anachronisms, I feel completely in the dark. Had not Josephus been entirely silent about their existence in his time, I should have hazarded a conjecture that they were the tombs of the prophets, and rightly referred to by our Lord as "built" and "garnished" in his day.* (Matt. xxiii. 29.) The largest one, called the "Hand of Absalom" by the Jews, is not without beauty; but a small tree growing in its upper part will soon destroy it, if not taken care of. It is in a broken aperture in this tomb, I think, that the Jews thrust in pieces of the Law written out, which occasionally fall into the hands of some learned Pundit, who rejoices in his supposed discovery of such very authentic manuscripts. Over the central tomb, which has been bestowed upon St. James as his place of retirement during the time of our Lord's lying in the tomb, the modern Jew sits and listens, and deems he hears the waters of Gehena, to which abode of wicked souls he "Ye * I say in his day, because our Lord distinguishes the deeds of that generation from those of their fathers. build the sepulchres of the prophets, and your fathers killed them." (Luke, xi. 47.) |