"The LORD hath caused the solemn feasts and the Sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion, and hath despised, in the indignation of his anger, the king and the priest."

"All that pass by clap their hands at thee, saying, Is this the city that men call the perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth?" Truly we may now reply-" The LORD hath done that which he devised; he hath fulfilled his word that he commanded in the days of old; he hath thrown down, and hath not pitied, and he hath caused thine enemy to rejoice over thee."

MOUNT OF OLIVES.

AFTER ascending once more into broad daylight, we crossed over the rocky path leading to the summit of the Mount of Olives, and we then arrived at a square plot of ground enclosed by a low rough wall of loose stones, and overshadowed by eight enormous olive-trees which appear to be of very great antiquity. This is alleged to be the Garden of Gethsemane, "over the brook Cedron, to which JESUS oft-times resorted with his disciples." A piece of ground, marked off from the rest of the garden, is confidently pointed out as the spot where our SAVIOUR was betrayed by Judas, when the latter, "having received a band of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, came thither with lanterns, and torches, and weapons" (St. John xviii). It is called by the Italian monks "la terra dannata;" or the "accursed ground."

This is certainly a most interesting spot. It is near the brook Cedron, and to the ancient road leading from the Mount of Olives into Jerusalem, and of all the tales and traditions treasured up among the pilgrims and ecclesiastics, this carries with it the greatest degree of probability. But here, again, the absurd minuteness of identification made use of, only tends to throw an air of ridicule over the whole history. A ledge of rocks at the upper end of the garden is confidently pointed out as the very spot where our SAVIOUR found the disciples "sleeping for sorrow," and "a stone's cast" thence is a small excavation, called the grotto of Gethsemane, which is positively affirmed to be the identical spot where our SAVIOUR "kneeled down and prayed, saying, FATHER, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me; nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done" (St. Luke). The grotto is covered by a small chapel, the keys of which are kept by the monks of the Latin convent.

The olive-trees overshadowing this enclosed plot of ground, appear to be of very great antiquity, and are held in the highest veneration by Christians of all sects, who positively affirm that they are the identical trees which stood on the spot in our SAVIOUR's time! The trunks of the largest of these trees are of great size and of immense girt; they have become splintered and shrivelled with age, and are certainly great curiosities as vegetable productions.

Leaving the "Garden of Gethsemane," we traversed a steep path which ascends from the bed of the brook Cedron to the summit of the Mount of Olives. Numerous olive-trees were scattered along the sides of the declivity, and around a mosque and convent which crown the lofty eminence. We hurried impatiently to the highest point, and then turning to the westward, a magnificent panoramic view of the whole of Jerusalem and of the surrounding country suddenly burst upon our sight.

The present city with its churches, mosques, houses, gardens, and fortifications, lay extended immediately below, and the eye took in at a bird's-eye-view, every house and street, and almost every yard of ground. The scene was certainly very imposing, and the appearance of the city, with its domes and cupolas, and the minarets of the mosques, is from this point of view quite magnificent. The first objects which strike the eye, are the two magnificent mosques occupying the site of Solomon's Temple. The one on the north is the celebrated mosque of Omar; that on the south, is the mosque El Aksa. They are close to that portion of the city-walls which immediately borders on the Mount of Olives, and with the courts, porticoes, and gardens attached to them, they occupy a fourth part of the whole place, and present a most imposing appearance. The town rises gradually above these, and the most prominent object beyond is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, with its two domes of striking aspect; the one being white and the other almost black. Here and there a lofty tower or a tapering minaret rises above the gloomy stone houses of the natives. Of these, the lofty tower or minaret, said to be built on the site of the house of Pilate, with its galleries and Saracenic decorations, appear most prominently to the eye, and the minarets of Ben Israel, of the Seraglio, and the one said to be placed on the site of Herod's palace. Most of the private dwellings were covered with low domes, and my intelligent cicerone pointed out to me the different churches and convents, and a long range of stone buildings surmounted by small cupolas, which he said was a college of dervishes.

Altogether the city, as seen from the summit of the Mount of Olives, may be ranked as one of the finest of oriental cities in its external aspect. A long line of battlemented walls, with their towers and gates, extends the whole way round the town, and a few cypresses and other trees throw up their lofty branches amid the porticoes and gates of the mosques.

After the surprise and admiration which this prospect at first naturally excites have subsided, the bare, rocky, and desolate aspect of the surrounding country, and the solitude and silence of the city itself, most forcibly attract the attention. Neither in the streets, at the gateways, nor along the rocky mule-tracks leading therefrom, is there aught of life or animation. Some solitary woman, with her water-pitcher, climbing the craggy eminence, or some slowly-moving pilgrims, are alone seen. The eye, on a closer scrutiny, discovers large tracts of open and waste ground