speak hereafter, may be visited by Christians of all nations for private devotions, none but the sect, to whom it has been particularly assigned by the authorities, is at liberty to exercise there any public office of religion. It is not to be wondered at, therefore, that the several portions of the church, as well as the relics it contains, should have become objects of contention between them. As they are to be purchased from the Turkish authorities, the highest bidder becomes the possessor. Previous to the year 1685, the Roman Catholics, or Latins (as they are here styled), were in undisturbed possession of the church, and enjoyed the exclusive right of performing every act of devotion within its walls. The Greeks of the Oriental Church then invaded their privileges, and the most violent commotions have at times taken place. On the 12th March, 1808, a great portion of the edifice was destroyed by a fire, which consumed the Armenian chapel, where it commenced, the Greek chapel, the cells of the Franciscans, the chapel of the Virgin, and the great dome. It likewise destroyed many of the fine marble columns and mosaic works of its founder St. Helena. The sepulchre itself was not injured. The

present building was commenced immediately after wards, and finished in September 1810. It happened that, at the time of the conflagration, the funds of the Terra Santa were very low, and that, at the same epoch, the attention of the church of Rome was otherwise engaged, and the devotional fervour of Christians in Europe (according to the report of the monks) somewhat relaxed. The consequence was, that the Greeks, backed by their co-religionists the Russians, having offered to defray the expenses of reconstruction, were put in possession of what are esteemed the most valuable portions of the edifice. Here, then, that mortal antipathy which unfortunately every where exists between the members of the two communions, breaks out into actual warfare; giving rise to scenes (if we may credit the accounts of travellers) lamentable to the cause and interests of religion. To return from this digression -the chapel I alluded to above, the choir, belonging to the Greeks, is fitted up in the usual style of such edifices. It is walled in and rounded off at the upper or eastern extremity, where stands the high altar. In the centre of the floor of the choir is a circle, which the Greeks call the "navel of the world,"

imagining it to mark out the centre of the earth.* On the eve of the Greek Easter-day the ceremony as, or Holy Fire, is per

of receiving the ayor formed in this chapel. The fire, it is pretended, bursts forth from the sepulchre in a supernatural manner, and the pilgrims of the Greek communion light their torches at it, believing that they receive it from heaven.+ At the western or rounded end of the sepulchre, a small modest chapel has been formed for the devotions of the Copts. It has no communication with the other compartments. The arcades under the surrounding galleries are enclosed, and occupied by the Armenians, Georgians, Abyssinians, and other branches of the Christian religion, and fitted up in the style of the sect to which they respectively belong. From these, we were conducted to the chapel of the Apparition, which is on the north side, and so called in commemoration of our Saviour appearing to Mary Magdalen, after his resurrection, to console her in her sufferings. (St. Mark, xvi. 8, 9.) It is in the exclusive posses

The ancient geographers placed the Holy Land in the centre of the then known world.

+ See Appendix, No. 4.

sion of the Latin friars, the entrance to whose apartments, is from a door on the left hand. There is none from without; consequently, though nominally guardians of the sepulchre, they are in fact themselves prisoners at the discretion of the real keepers, who are the Turks. They have likewise an organ, a source of much annoyance to their neighbours the Greeks, all instruments being interdicted in their service. Besides the centre altar, on the left hand is a smaller one, dedicated to the Holy Cross, and to the right, and near the door, another, erected in commemoration of the Flagellation of our Saviour. (St. John, xix. 1.) The fragment of a granite column is shown in a

recess, as being part of the

which he was attached !*

identical pillar to

Going out of the

chapel, and passing outside the inclosure of that

The author, as a lover of truth, in the course of his narrative will omit nothing that can fall under the traveller's notice, however much this spirit of candour may expose his religion to ridicule. Once for all, the "on dits" concerning relics and localities form no necessary articles of his faith. At the same time he trusts that the reader will give him credit for a fair portion of discrimination on these occasions, and not confound him with the over-credulous.

belonging to the Greeks, already described, we came to the Altar of the Prison, where Christ was confined whilst the preparations were making for his crucifixion. Immediately behind the choir is another Altar erected over the place where the soldiers drew lots for his garments. (St. John, xix. 23.) A little to the right of this, we descended by a flight of about thirty steps into a subterraneous chapel called after St. Helena. It is without any ornament. From hence, there is a further descent of eleven steps into a rocky humid cavity, where the three crosses are reported to have been found by the above-named Empress. It was subsequent to this discovery, that she built the magnificent fabric, of which we now see the remains.* Returning up into the church, close to the left, is the chapel called Impropere, where a block of marble is shown, as the one on which our Saviour sat whilst mocked with the ensigns of royalty and buffetted by the soldiers-(Matt. xxvii. 27, et seq.) From hence we ascended a dark narrow staircase,

See Appendix. No. 5.