Christ has done for us, while guiding them, as it were, into his footsteps, one presents to them new motives for admiring, for adoring his infinite goodness, for loving and practising his religion, and for attaching themselves to him as to the only Saviour. Once more, then, I went to Palestine, only to adore, to weep, and to pray. I purposed not to measure the sacred monuments with the compasses of incredulity: plenty of travellers have taken that task upon themselves. Most of them hurry through Palestine with such speed, that their imagination is obliged to supply what has escaped their fugitive observation. In spite, however, of that spirit of the age, which makes them write with such levity of monuments so venerable, their hearts are not unmoved. Religion will assert her rights. Their hearts have throbbed while they were ascending Calvary; when they beheld the ensanguined rock on which the Saviour of the world yielded his last breath to reconcile Earth with Heaven; when they visited that sacred tomb, which his victorious foot has overstepped. But this emotion of heart soon subsided: the mind took up the pen which pride presented to it. I wrote these letters amid the scorching sands of the desert, on the tops of arid mountains, on board a ship tossed by the waves, beneath a tent, upon a dromedary, in a grotto, stretched in a cell upon a bed of pain; but I think that I have never lost sight of the presence of my God: I have always striven to make known His love to men, and to kindle in their hearts the love of Him. I have seen Bethlehem and Calvary, Nazareth and the unbelieving city; I have travelled those now desolate routes where the Son of Man strewed so many favours and relieved so many afflictions. Seated on the scattered stones of the sanctuary, kneeling in the Stable at Bethlehem, humbly prostrate in the Tomb of our Saviour, I have noted down the diverse and multiplied emotions with which my soul was filled. Amid those mighty ruins, piled up here and there by the hand of Providence, the prophetic words of Isaiah and Jeremiah seemed still to ring in my ears; and more than once my tears flowed at these religious recollections. Then did I think of the fair land of France, and implore the mercy of God in behalf of that country, in places that remain everlasting witnesses of his severe justice. Departure from Lucerne. The Lake-Hill of Grutli- Chapel built on the spot where William Tell escaped from his Guards-Walter Furst, Departure from the Channel-Religious Indifference-Nativity of the Virgin Mary-Illness on Board - A Calm-Falcon - Captain of the Ulysses-Tempestuous Weather-Reminiscences of La Trappe-Corfu Zante - Candia-Nights on Deck - Dove - War between the Turks and Greeks Reciprocal Cruelties - Anecdote on this subject-Super- stition of the Captain-Cholera-The Austrian Consul - Franciscan Paralysis - Dangerous Symptoms - Attentions of the Consul, the Fathers of the Holy Land and the Physicians-Convalescence-Pictures presented by the Empress Maria Theresa - Renegadoes - Plague — Turkish Schooner, the Elpis (Hope) - The Captain; the Crew Moustapha, the Captain's Son - Impatience to descry the Holy Land - Pilgrims on board - Young Greek woman and her Children - View of the Coast of Palestine-Jaffa; its dangerous road; Landing-Monastery of the Fathers of the Holy Land-Wreck of the Turkish Schooner -Jaffa taken by Ibrahim Pacha - M. Mostras, Russian Consul – Veiled Women - Franciscan Fathers and their Convents in Asia and - View from it - Via Dolorosa Pilate's Prætorium - The Gate Bab-el-Sidi-Mariam Spot where Stephen was stoned Garden of Gethsemane The Brook Cedron-Olive Trees-Grotto of the Agony- Place where Judas betrayed his Master- - Festival of the Conception- Visit to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre - Franciscan Fathers cleaning the sides of the Sepulchre-Cell - Gallery adjoining to it — Impression made by the Church of the Holy Sepulchre History of that Church-Its Destruction by Fire- It is rebuilt by the Greeks and the Armenians-They oppress the Latins-Description of the Church- Pilgrims at Jerusalem-Children of the Pilgrims-Procession-Tomb of Godfrey and Baldwin - Sword of Godfrey Jerusalem taken by the Egyptians-Favour shown by them to the Christians - Influence of Departure for Bethlehem Road Plain of Raphaim Greek Monastery of Elijah - Rachel's Tomb - View of Bethlehem-The Holy Bethlehem - The Monastery - Churches - Description of the Sacred Grotto St. Jerome St. Paula and her Daughter Eustochium - Sanctuary of the Nativity — The Manger — The Magi - Solemn Pro- |