fact devotion and pious curiosity of its pilgrims. Delphi owed its reputation to another cause, again, very distinct from that of either Delphi or Dodona: the political manoeuvre of the Pisistratidæ gave it a consequence, which the national vanity of the Athenians ever after laboriously and successfully maintained. Nor with all the pretensions which afterwards sprang up about it, did it cede the rank or glory of its sanctuary to any younger rival. Daphne alone might compete with it, but hardly surpassed it, even in its decline. The same circumstances seem to have produced very nearly the same effects in modern times. In the first ages of Christianity we do not hear of visits to any of those remarkable scenes of the Old and New Testaments, which afterwards invited and rewarded the devotion of the whole Eastern and Western world, and which were the proximate cause of many of the most important moral phenomena which took place for several centuries in each. During the whole interval between the death of our Saviour and the destruction of the city, I do not remember meeting a single example of the kind on record; the restoration of Hadrian neither renewed nor originated these practices of piety; and finally, it was not until the reign of Constantine that "the holy places" began to make a real or permanent impression upon the whole mass of Christianity. The munificence of that emperor, and of his mother, to the churches of Palestine, and the adulatory spirit, the characteristic of the Christian writers of that age, as much perhaps as any deep conviction of the sanctity of the places themselves, were the primary principles of this movement: the impulse once given, it soon became general, and at last universal. Theodoret, Bishop of Cyprus, describes these pilgrimages as already frequent in the first moments after the discovery of Calvary. After referring to the works of Helen with becoming enthusiasın, he continues in a strain which sufficiently justifies the reality of the motives which I have ventured to ascribe to the majority of his contemporaries, a few lines above. St. Cyrill, of Jerusalem, in his Letters, furnishes a very similar evidence;† and Socrates, and almost all the other ecclesiastical writers, are, as may be expected, in the same tone. In the time of Gregory of Nyssa, they were already thought deserving of reproof (see his celebrated letter), though not yet stained by those abuses which so notoriously discredit them in modern times. The Latin church was not less ardent * Πάντοθεν δὲ παντοδαπὴν ὕλην τοῖς τεχνίταις ἀγείρασα, τοὺς μεγίστους ἐκείνους καὶ λαμπροτάτους νεως ἐδομήσατο. H. E. lib. xviii.--and again, Пártwv ws iños εimeTY, τῶν φλοθέων ἐκεῖσε θεόντων καὶ θεωμένων τῶν ἐργῶν τὴν πολυτέλειαν. + Ed. Oxon. p. 305. Quaresmius, lib. 3, c. 33 and 34, of his voluminous work "Terræ Sanctæ Elucidatio," deprecates very strongly the profaning the sacred pilgrimage, by motives of mere curiosity or pleasure. He refers to the attractions which the Holy City once offered to the licentions; and quotes Nicephorus Callistus, Sophronius in Vitâ, and others, for the excesses of St. Mary of Egypt, during her fortunate residence within its precincts. These incentives he now thinks balanced by the superior temptations offered by other countries; but still recommends prayer and precaution. The last examples, indeed, of disorders caused by Lady pilgrims, at least in the Latin Church, are not very recent. Prince Radzivil, indeed, was compelled by the scandalous piety of a countrywoman of his own, a Dorothea Sickiersecka, to carry her off to Poland, which he did with all the prudence of a modern knight of the in encouraging these exercises of devotion. So early as St. Jerome, Jerusalem was already recognized as a city of superior sanctity, and distinguished by the concourse of its pilgrims. "Vox quidem dissona, sed una relligio. Tot pene psallentium chori, quot gentium diversitates." (Epist. 17. ad Marcellam.) Gregory of Tours, "De Gloria Martyrum," 1. i, c. iii, speaks of the large monastery established for the reception of visitors, the charitable donations of the Emperor &c. Bede de loc. sanct. describes the "cellulæ frequentes" already observable on Mount Sion; and two monks under our own Alfred, who had returned from the same journey, are still more exaggerated in their encomiums. These contributions to the magnificence and celebrity of the place had, however, been imitated from the Greeks. We have already touched on the liberality of Constantine and Helen. Whether piety or vain-glory, the same spirit was perpetuated and exaggerated amongst his successors. Eudocia travels to Jerusalem to perform a vow (x), and makes rich presents to the churches, rebuilds the walls, and is finally buried there, in the church of St. Stephen, not long after the death of her husband, Theodosius the younger. (Sozomen, Hist. Ecclesiast.) Evagrius adds his testimony, and remarks the numerous opovriornpia and Aavpar to be found in his time, in Palestine, &c. (Hist. Eccles. 1. 1. c. xxii.) Pulcheria is mentioned as an eminent benefactor by Nicephorus, (Hist. Eccles.) and the glories of Heraclius, and the largesses of Monomachus, are known to every reader of Byzantine history. Writers, indeed, dilate upon these merits as we proceed. Nor was the Saracenic occupation altogether sufficient to suppress the pilgrimage, though it in some degree diminished the number of the pilgrims. "Inter has tam periculosi temporis insidias," says the Archbishop of Tyre, "accedebat tam Græcorum, quam Latinorum, gratiâ devotionis, ad loca venerabilia, multitudo nonnulla." (Belli Sacri H. 1. 1. c. ix.) The hardships to which they were soon subjected, far from appalling the zeal of the barbarians of the West, had an effect almost precisely the contrary, and roused new elements of enthusiasm and adventure in bosoms which were insensible to every other pleasure than the " gaudia certaminis," the tumultuous enjoyments of continued war. The Holy Sepulchre; but Gregory XIII. immediately published, in consequence, a Bull of Excommunication against any woman who should in future visit Jerusalem. As, however, the papal authority no longer extends to the Oriental sects, the women still bear their ancient proportion to the men; and if public report is to be credited, though without the attractions of St. Mary, they are not altogether without her propensities. In fact, the Holy Sepulchre, the Sanctuary and Shrine of the whole East, is itself for three days preceding the solemnity of Easter, and, I may add, for three entire nights, a scene of disgusting and superstitious immorality. The men allow themselves every privilege of their sex; and more than one mother, on her return, refers with pride to the superior sanctification which, from such a place and time, must naturally have ensued to her fortunate and favoured offspring. The Latins, in general, are considerably better conducted; but it is also to be remembered, that their numbers are now dwindled down to a mere cypher. Exclusive of the forty or fifty monks or friars of the third order of St. Francis constantly resident, I did not see more than two pilgrims (one from Rome, and the other from Poland) assisting at the sacred ceremonies of Holy Week. The Orientals, on the other side, amounted to nearly 8000; and with every allowance for proximity of site, &c. it must be allowed to be a very commanding majority. A Greek will conclude from thence in favour of the fervour of his own religion; but then we see very few Greeks at Rome, and none at all at Compostella. monk, and the priest, seemed gradually indeed to have retired, but we have scarcely time to become aware of the change, when once more, we meet them in armies, and conquerors before the Sepulchre of Jesus Christ. The whole Christian world appears to have been united in one vow, and Jerusalem has had the singular merit of having been the cause and object of this momentary union. These efforts were followed by achievement, and the achievement rewarded by a very scanty portion of worldly, and a great profusion of spiritual blessing, but which, like every other profusion, carried with it its own corrective: the value lowered in proportion to the quantity. The expedient of Urban II. was felicitous rather than prudent: it was crowned indeed with complete success, as far at least as his views, or the views of any sovereign could go, in an age notorious for its ignorance of all the principles of civil government; but his successors altogether mistook the example; they lost all kind of discrimination; every occasion in the life of an old man was thought of importance to the world, as well as the individual; the treasury was so often called on, and so often in arrear, that alloy was first hazarded, then used with impunity. The predication of a Crusade in the middle ages was a substitute for every deficit; and no South sea scheme, or modern foreign loan, ever raised from warmer proselytes, more extensive and efficient resources. Princes were not ashamed to purchase, or usurp this ambiguous prerogative of the Pontiff, until at last this instrument, like all others of arbitrary power, wore itself out by repeated abuse. But the passion for pilgrimage, as it had preceded, so also it survived the chivalrous extravagance of the age. The encouragements hitherto held out in favour of these warlike expeditions, "outremer," were gradually transferred to the religious resident, or the peaceful visitor. The constitutions relating to the Holy Land, even long after the military spirit of the Crusaders had wholly subsided, would fill a very considerable volume; but the curious reader will find enough to engage his attention in a selection of those of Urban II., Bonifice VIII., Clement VI., Innocent VI., Urban V., Gregory XI., Eugenius IV., Paul II., Sixtus IV., and Urban VIII. The object of most of these instruments is obvious, and the great majority refer exclusively to local and domestic circumstances; but the first of Eugenius IV. is almost a declaration of war, and recalls, with some disadvantage to his holiness, the memory of his predecessor Urban II. His means were not equal to his indignation; and he accuses the Turks without much measure, and in a style not quite so pardonable as that of the elegant invective of Æneas Sylvius (Pius II.), of every species of profanation, "omnes flagitiorum spurcitiarumque actus, quibus infelices cinædi, Sodomorum imitatores, inquinari consueverunt, illis in ipsis sacratissimis locis, ad fidei Christianæ ignominiam fecerit exerceri," &c. (Constitutiones et Litere Apostolicæ quæ in gratiam Terræ Sanctæ, &c. &c.;) But the Turks might easily have refuted him from his own historians, without even applying to the partial testimonies of their own Abulfeda, Bohadin, &c. No nation has a greater veneration for the Holy City than the Arab; and no religion, perhaps, than the Mahomedan sends a greater number of pilgrims to its shrines. After" the Haram" of Mecca," the Sakhera" of El Hods, or Jerusalem, is the great object of the desires, and prayers, and peregrinations of all Islam. With the Christian, it is a matter of high merit, no doubt; the title of Hadji (Pilgrim) is one which is coveted by every sectary in the East; for, with certain traditional sneers against the pretensions which it puts forth, it still maintains a very enviable ascendency in most of the public and private transactions of life; with all this it is an honour left at the option of the individual, it is an act of supererogatory piety, no one is compelled to become either a saint or a pilgrim in his own despite. In the Mahomedan code, on the contrary, it stands high amongst the primary duties of the orthodox Moslim; and every devout follower of the Prophet, as he hopes to avoid the razor-looking bridge of hell, is expected to make the pilgrimage, at least to Mecca, once, if not twice, before his death. I do not mean to say, however, that there is a closer connexion, in the East, between precept and performance, than in Europe in great capitals, all the machinery, both moral and physical, of life is very easily simplified; and at Constantinople, and Damascus, there are numerous classes, (here they would have formed a joint-stock society,) who hire themselves out at a moderate premium, as substitutes for the lazy, the timid, and the rich. I had the pleasure of being accompanied by two or three of these professional pilgrims, on my way through the Desert, and no men seemed better suited for Deserttravelling than they were. They neither saw, ate, nor drank, spake; except in the smallest possible proportion, during the whole time of our acquaintance; they had saved a great number of very doubtful souls already, and they intended, with a perseverance only common amongst the Bramins, to go on in the same laudable vocation until their death. The Arabs, indeed, might justly expostulate against this partial interpretation of the Khoran, but they suffered the diminution of their spoils, with an exemplary patience :-the only nation amongst them which rose up, were the Wahabees, but the principle of their revolt was not a reform, but a destruction, on the sternest grounds of theism, of the pilgrims, and the pilgrimage altogether. Mecca was for some time in their infidel grasp; and the consternation of the believers could only be compared to the tears of Europe on the destruction of her Latin kingdom of Jerusalem: a second Saladin, however, soon appeared in the person of Mahomed-Ali, Mecca was delivered," and "God is victorious" once more sung, with as much right as our Te Deums, from every Minaret in the empire. 66 nor The Jews, however, though not the most ostentatious, are after all the most constant, in their adherence to the land of their forefathers. They required neither the arms of a khalif, nor the bulls of a pope, to fix them, in old age, and death, near the foot of their Sion and their Moriah. The spirit of pilgrimage still lives, and has always lived amongst them. Banished not only by Hadrian, but still more effectually by the hatred of the Christian occupiers of their city, according to St. Jerome, (in Ps. lxii. v. 18.) "Exclusi de ipso loco, ubi crucifixerunt Christum, nullum Judæum habet;" yet they soon found means to enter thrice a year, not only the city, but the Temple, and to weep unperceived over the fall of their kingdom and religion. They still retain four or five miserable synagogues immediately under the Mosque of Omar, in one of the most confined districts of the whole city; and it is to these habitations that the whole Jewish population of Palestine, and particularly the inhabitants of the very Hebrew town of Tiberias, resort from time to time for the celebration of their passover. Nor is their affection limited to these casual visits; the superannuated and infirm come here to die with their eyes fixed on the site of the Temple, and recall, in the last dreams of their existence," the glories of David and of Solomon," and "the beauty of the Queen of Nations," and "the desolation of abomination," which has come so fully, and inexorably upon them. And when dead, their last request is immediately complied with, and their bodies are laid in the valley of Jehosaphat, turned as much as possible towards the sacred city, that "when the day of resurrection cometh," the first object which their eyes may be given to behold, may be" the re-edification of her walls and the glory of the house of prayer." Grey hairs and misfortune are always affecting; but when a nation is thus personified, and this personification is placed amongst ruins, and those are the ruins of Jerusalem-it is difficult not to feel the full value of those inexplicable influences, which attach us to certain sites, and to justify, in some degree, the principle and object of all pilgrimages. Nor is it only to spots rendered sacred to us by their solemn connexion with our religion, and its history, that we find ourselves irresistibly impelled;-there is a "genius loci," guardian over every scene which has been consecrated by the real glories of our species, a protecting association, which invites us to them, as to a sort of Temple and a shrine. The noble passage of Doctor Johnson is a magnificent answer to all colder pleading on this subject: no one who stands on Marathon, on Thermopyla, at Troy, at Rome, can feel that what he stands on is ordinary ground. And if this be so with causes, and events, and men, and things, with whom we have no other relation than that of a lofty estimate of patriotism and virtue, how much more intimately ought we to feel our approach to scenes and objects interwoven into every particle of our existence, here and hereafter, and upon which our happiness, as nations or individuals, universally and perpetually depends! Pilgrimages to such shrines are only larger expansions of a well-grounded enthusiasm, and, under proper regulations, attest a gratitude which it is a glory, as well as a duty, to feel. We ought, therefore, to be more inclined to pardon, than condemn their appearance, or frequency, in other times; an excess does not argue an original vice; and we should first ascertain whether it be a God or a Devil which inspires, before we take upon ourselves to question or cast him forth. THE EFFIGIES. "Women act their parts When they do make their ordered houses know them. The city ;-yea, make the great world aware Of which they race and wrestle."-KNOWLES. Yet through a cloud of years I trace |