disposition to preserve them with the utmost care. At that portion of

the ancient wall of Solomon's Temple which is called the Jew's Place of

Wailing, and where the Hebrews assemble every Friday to kiss the

venerated stones and weep over the fallen greatness of Zion, any one can

see a part of the unquestioned and undisputed Temple of Solomon, the

same

consisting of three or four stones lying one upon the other, each of

which is about twice as long as a seven-octave piano, and about as thick

as such a piano is high. But, as I have remarked before, it is only a

year or two ago that the ancient edict prohibiting Christian rubbish like

ourselves to enter the Mosque of Omar and see the costly marbles that

once adorned the inner Temple was annulled. The designs wrought upon

these fragments are all quaint and peculiar, and so the charm of novelty

is added to the deep interest they naturally inspire. One meets with

these venerable scraps at every turn, especially in the neighboring

Mosque el Aksa, into whose inner walls a very large number of them are

carefully built for preservation. These pieces of stone, stained and

dusty with age, dimly hint at a grandeur we have all been taught to

regard as the princeliest ever seen on earth; and they call up pictures

of a pageant that is familiar to all imaginations--camels laden with

spices and treasure--beautiful slaves, presents for Solomon's harem--a

long cavalcade of richly caparisoned beasts and warriors--and Sheba's

Queen in the van of this vision of "Oriental magnificence." These

elegant fragments bear a richer interest than the solemn vastness of the

stones the Jews kiss in the Place of Wailing can ever have for the

heedless sinner.

661

The Innocents Abroad