Mr. Wood and the British Consul, to provide for horses and an escort from Jaffa to Jerusalem. As the weather is fine, we hope, without much difficulty, to reach the Holy City.

Mr. Young, the British Consul at Jerusalem, has left this; and we hope to find him and his lady in the Holy City. We have several letters, and have met friends who are gone before. Indeed we have seen several naval officers, who have, upon short leave, made the journey.

D. W.

JOURNAL, continued.

Feb. 20th. A curious question has arisen with the learned how the ancient Jews lived, whether like the Persians and Turks of our times, or like the Egyptians and Greeks of ancient times; whether they sat upon the floor, or upright upon seats and chairs? This is a question that involves many others, whether they ate when at meat from a stool or from a table, or whether they slept upon mats or upon bedsteads? Several texts may be given to show that the latter of these, rather than the former, was their habit; but, to settle the question, it has been suggested that the original Hebrew must be looked at. It is quite true, in early times, when the children of Israel dwelt in tents, they, and perhaps the Greeks and Egyptians, may have lived in the style of their eastern neighbours; but from the time of Solomon to that of the Messiah and Apostles, when granite columns and stately architecture adorned their tem

ples and palaces, it may fairly be urged, in absence of proof to the contrary, that they may have lived in similar habits with those of their neighbours, to whom they approached in their knowledge of civilisation and the arts.

22d. Passed in view of Sidon.

CHAPTER X.

WILKIE AT JAFFA AND JERUSALEM.

JOURNAL CONTINUED.

LETTERS TO MR. JOHN HARVEY, SIR ROBERT PEEL, MR. COLLINS, R. A., LORD LEVEN, AND PROFESSOR BUCKLAND.

WHEN Wilkie set foot on the Holy Land, it was with the spiritual feelings of one familiar with his Bible from his youth, one on the eve of realizing the pilgrim wish of a long life, and about to people the hills, and vales, and streams of Judea, with the fine creations of his own fancy, and the rich embodiments of scriptural story, as rendered in oil or fresco by the great masters of his art, from Giotto to Giorgione. "When I went," says his friend Collins, "to bid Sir David Wilkie farewell, a day or two before he left home for his last journey, I found him in high spirits, enlarging with all his early enthusiasm on the immense advantage he might derive from painting upon holy land, on the very ground on which the event he was to embody had actually occurred. To make a study at Bethlehem from some young female and child seemed to me one great incentive to his journey. I asked him if he had any guide-book; he said, 'Yes, and the very best,' and then unlocking his travelling box, he showed me a pocket Bible. I never saw him again; but the Bible throughout Judea was, I am assured, his best, and only handbook."

TO MISS WILKIE.

Jaffa, 25th Feb. 1841.

From Beyrout we hired a passage on board a brig, the Candido, Captain Grimaldi, from Corsica. On getting on board, we found her anchored close to the great line of battle ship, the Benbow, and that our friend Captain Houstoun Stewart (brother to the late Sir Michael Shaw Stewart) had been giving an entertainment on board to the Turkish Seraskier of Syria. As the Benbow was then weighing anchor, I determined on sending a letter of good-by to her gallant captain. The letter I wrote our captain offered to take on board the Benbow in his own boat. Captain Stewart's answer was most kind.

My dear Sir David,

Sunday.

"One hurried word of adieu, and thanks cordial for your kind note. Had I known you were so near, I should have sent and begged you to come and join the Turks. I wish I could have done any thing for you and Telemachus.* Perhaps I may get recalled. My ship at Malta is yours when you come. Adieu! Sincerely yours, with every good wish to Mr. Wood

burn.

(Signed)

"HOUSTOUN STEWART."

With this kind of stirrup-cup we weighed anchor, and stretched to the southward with light winds along the coast of the Holy Land. Mount Lebanon

* Mr. Woodburn.

was glowing behind us in the light of a setting sun. Our berths were snug and comfortable, and our captain with plain eating not ill provided. Our brig recalled the Old Berwick Smack of former years, and brought back the days of youth.

There has been this comfort in the whole of the voyages we have made, that, except for a forenoon in the Black Sea, I have, from care in the way of eating, not experienced any of the discomforts of sea-sickness. We have provided a servant at Beyrout as an interpreter, and have laid in stocks of various eatables, so that, with the simple fare the country affords, with plenty of covering and a tent (should that be wanted) we hope to be able to fend off every other evil. I may mention that we have only now begun the canister of tea you provided us with, which, with the yolk of egg they beat up here, is most rich and delicious. In this way we have got over the voyage from Beyrout in four days, and are now in Jaffa, where, by the assistance of the English Arabic consular agent, we have been lodged close to his house, and been supplied with such things as are required for our accommodation.

We have waited on the governor with our firman, and orders have been given to provide horses and mules to-morrow for the journey. We also hope to see the house of Simon the tanner, where St. Peter saw the vision which was so influential on the whole system of the Christian faith. We may now say we are in the Holy Land and in Syria, and the objects we see are of the most striking kind-picturesque beyond belief. One only wishes to be all eye and all