JERUSALEM EXPLORED.

Press, Volume V, Issue 558, 13 August 1864, Page 4

JERUSALEM EXPLORED.

The following extracts are taken from an interest* ing notice which appeared in the Saturday Review of a work lately published by M. Pierotti, under the the above title, and translated by the Key. T. (J. Bonney: — j We shall best describe the book itself by giving some account of its numerous and valuable illustrations. There is, for instance, a large panoramio view of Jerusalem, ac seen from the Mount of Oliree, taken from photographs. We may say, however, onoe for all, that this and all the other perspectives are raj inferior in interest to the exquisite water-colour draw* ings of Jerusalem and its famous sites by Karl Wer-_ ncr, lately exhibited at the British Institution, and preparing, we are glad to add, for 'publication. On the other hand, Dr. Pierotti's ground plans and sec* tions are invaluable. For instance, there are parallel plans of Ancient and Modern Jerusalem, more fulf and more carefully laid down than we hare before seeu. With the disputes about the several walls of the ancient city we have no intention of troublingonr readers. The most curious discovery made by Dr. Piercotti is that of a complete system of water-couraes beneath the area of the Temple. Below the care or. cistern in the Mosque of Omar he found a lower reservoir connected by a conduit with the water-, courses above mentioned. Professor Willis predicted long ago, we believe, that the drains would some day be found by which the blood of the victims slain .at; the altar of the Temple was removed. This discOTerj, has now been made ; and we need not point ont thst the existence of these subterranean channels not only disprove Mr. Ferguson's hypothesis that the dome of the rock is the original Church of the Sepulohre, but establishes the counter assertion that the rock in question ia the site of the altar of the Teropfr.yf Solomon. X>r- Kerofctx's description of the jjoefc-" itselfli wortli quotation!—' Xα the centre of the mosque ia a rock, rising above the floor, and occupying nearly tho whole ipi» under' the dome, whose bare rough nu&ce ia strangely contrasted with the rick decorations tar* rounding it. This is ea Sakharah, the great object of the Mahommedan'e reverence, which gives, thi " building its name. Its higher part is some five or six feet above the pavement. No tool baa ever touched its upper surface, but the north and west sides have been hewn vertical, and from the appear* ance of the work I am inclined to think that it wu done when the mosque was built by Omar. JL circular hole is cut in its highest part towards the south-west, and on the south-east side is a doorway leading down into a rather large chamber within it, whitewashed, and lighted by the above-named hole.' The Iman who accompanied us informed us thai the' rock is suspended in the air, and also' that it haff * ; great cavity beneath, and certainly by stamping 0&----the floor end striking the walls a hollow sound is produced The hollow sound, heard on striking a large slab in the middle of the floor, is to be explained by the existence' of a communication with a lower cistern; how I ascertained this fact Iwill presently relate. The Mahommedans themselves* account for it by saying that this is the wall of the' souls of the dead; I consider it the cistern of the f threshing-floor of Araunah. By far the most interesting part of Dr. Pierottfs' book is his account of his subterranean exploration* in the " Haram es-Shereef;" but it is far too long fat' quotation. He found immense cisterns under north part of the Temple area, which communicate with the excavated chambers Wow the " rock "of* the Mosque of Omar. The flow of water of theee eisterne (which vera fed by the aqueduct from? Etham) was used for cleansing the conduit of bfomt , beneath the alter of burnt-oflering. Other channels' were found which served the same purpose for ijrif " place of the deriving their supply," it is posed, from the Pool of Bertheeda. The eiito-of these drains were in the valley oftheKidron. At to the architecture of the mosque itself—the ftundttl. Dome of the Eock —Dr. Pierotti does little more the copy M. de Vogue's description ; and hie illustration 4 is so like Mr. Ferguson's section that it i* difficult to. believe that it is anything but a copy. Mr. Ferftt ;L eon's statement that the columns and capitals ate of Constantinian date ia confirmed by these observers. But there is no necessity for thinking, with that gentleman, that they are still in situ. It is far mot* probable, as Dr. Pierotti says, that columns and capitals were borrowed by the Mohammedan builders' from the ruins of Constantino's Church of the BeeuT" rection. " The bases of the columns (we are told) in, the inner range are Attic, those in the second are different, and of a debased style; very frequently ifci shaft rests on a cubical plinth of white marble without any base moulding. The capitals are Byzactfttfir that is, resemble more or less closely an order which. is a coarse copy of the Corinthian." This ia not a very intelligent description. But tho illustration! make it pretty clear that the Saracenic builder* availed themselves freely of the costly marble shew and carved capitals of the ago of Constantino, had escaped the ravages of Chosrocs. It is needleae to say that Dr. Pierotti believes the site of the Holy Sepulchre to be genuine; but he doubts the alleged position of Calvary. We pbeerre nothing new in his discussion of these points. It W curious to find him expressing a wish thai all. $• present encumbrances of the site might be >I,re is away, the ground cleared, and the bare rock exjj»)lg. over the whole area; the Sepulchre itself covered W a dome, and the whole enclosed in a cloister. f«K this were done," he says, " the original appeareM* of the ground would be in some measure reftofl|e» _ and the Golgotha and the Sepulchre, the truetappbi** of Christianity, would be risible to all; unbelieTerf, would be convinced by the evidence of their sense* f and while all would be obliged to admit the genuineness of the sites, each one would be free to medtfate in hia own way upon the teachings of the very p!*** consecrated by the Passion, Death, and Besurreottoil, of hia Bedeemer." Elsewhere, however, our aetnot - admite that there is some good in the incrustation* and gratings and ornamentation which conceal ■Bβ protect the actual Sepulchre. Were they he says, " tho rock itself would not long remain* " Each traveller and would practice possible device in order to obtain a fragment at •. relic ; and it would be a hard matter to persuade U» Eastern pilgrims, and, above all others, the AmenCtWt to keep their hands off it."— Saturday Bedew.

A*micax JfVnTBA xsT> thx Wab.—The Washington ladies have just organised a patriotic association, ofwhich the objects are thus summarised by the New Tori World, in its " sensation headings" in a report of an inangnral meeting :—"No more Foreign Goods. Formation of a Ladies' Covenant. Flora M'Flimsey to be pat in Coventry. Honorable Mrs. Shoddy in a Sen Drees. No Imported Jewellery, Diamonds, cat. Opera Cloaks, Laces, or Loves of Bonnets. What is asked of the Men ? The Ladies demand that tbs&tbey shall give up Imported Wines, Liquors, and Ogars. The Social Revolution. Ladies to drink * Catnip Te» wd the Men Jersey Lightning. French Soots and Paris Lapdogs to be kicked out together." Aβ stated by themselves, the object of the meeting, vhich is described as " composed of the wives and ■ t Milium of the Cabinet and of Senators and Repre- j gOitstrres, of well-known authoresses, women of feahion, mothers who had lost their sons, and wives —ho had lost their husbands," is to " unite the ■women of the country in the earnest resolution to p«rcba«e HO imported articles of apparel where American can be substituted during the continuance of the war." The name of the association vu declared to be "The Ladies' National Covenant," and •« black bee, with wings enamelled according to BStore," was selected as the badge of the Covenant, «to be worn with a tricolor ribbon, a little in front *f the left shoulder," After transacting its business, the meeting, at the instance of a gentleman greaent, "delayed adjournment till photographed. ,, o* Joint Stock Banks.—The Jislf.yee.rly meetings of the London Joint Stock Banks freaow concluded, and in every instance they exhibit a degree of prosperity little looked for even by the most sanguine advocates of this class of enterprise. Ibeir profits continue to increase, and the public confidence is clearly shown, not only by the high nine of their shares in the market, but by the constantly augmenting amount of the deposits left in their care. Ten years ago, the six Joint Stock Banks then existing held only £22,000,000, while now their number is doubled, including the Consolidated, with which the private firms of Messrs. Hey wood, Kennard and Co, and Messrs. Hankey and Co. have amalgamated, and their deposits reach the enormous amount of nearly £71,800,000, and this without reckoning theAgn and United Service Bank, formerly devoted exclusively to Indian banking, but now doing a large and profitable business. The new principle is also mdnauy but steadily supplanting the old private banks, tiie latter, as they die out, being invariably replaced by ioint stock undertakings. It is one feature of the working of these banks, that it has called into existence an entirely new class of business. Formerly few persons kept an account; now almost everybody does; and the amount of capital thus made productive, instead of being uselessly hoarded up, has been of the greatest advantage to the nation. — Daily Ferns. Ax AnAXGAMATiojr.—It is certainly to be wished that Lord Clarendon's mind and Lord Russell's eoold be somehow combined, for their faults are the exact opposite* of each other, and together they would make an admirable Foreign Minister. Lard Clarendon, owing probably to long residence and diplomatic employment abroad, certainly showed a deficient appreciation of the peculiar and insular English mind. At the Conference of Paris he aSbnded our pi**" instincte l>y ceajenming tne &* 9»m of Belgium« on the Conspiruf SOI lie rained the Government 'by teeming (and it wm only seeming) to truckle to tie French Emperor. Lord Russell, on the other hand, is a completely we might say a House of Commcns, diplomatist. His letters astonish and puzzle the continental world. Diplomacy is used to a certain guarded jargon, which hints more than it says, and conveys more than, it expresses. By the long use of subtl* and cautions minds this despatch language has been manipulated into a means of the most refined ex-pression—-not, indeed, impressing much on the general public, but imparting to the initiated with half a word. Lord Russell cannot write tide language at all. He writes a plain English letter, which is good in a " blue-book, and better in a newspaper, but which, puz* •dee foreign Courts exceedingly. Lord John's despatches smack of the Treasury bencb.but small German Courts know nothing of the House of Commons. He pitches into the Emperor of Russia as he used to pitch into Sir R. Peel, and the Germans think we are aoingto war with Russia. When he tells them that l*iyp»"* cannot "seewith indifference" their conduct to Denmark, and that " they must take the responsibility," already they see in imagination English troops on the Eider and an English squadron in the Atlantic. Lord Russell means nothing of the sort at all; he was only expressing a strong, manly, English feeling in a freespoken, insular way. But the result has been unfortunate. We now see that a life of Parliamentary conflict is not a good training for diplomacy. A contentious orator in Parliament always says a little more than he means ; whereas a diplomatist, by admitting usage, and perhaps by wise believed to mean more than he says. Foreign diplomatists naturally expected such strong language to be followed by strong action, because they would never themselves have dreamed of using such language unless they had meant to go beyond language. In ordinary diplomatic language there is an unexpressed reserve of indicated intention} in Lord Russell's there is nothing of the kind; he always expresses the -whole of his meaning, sometimes a little more. We should have an invaluable Foreign Minister if Lord Russell could give Lord Clarendon what the want of natural English feeling, or if Lord Clarendon could impart to Lord Russell his skilful use of restraint and guarded language.— Economist.