favour of your spending a little time with her when you leave here. I" -he hastened to add-" am no longer living at home. My mother is alone."

66

The tears rushed into Margaret's eyes. Every one is so very kind," she said. "I am much indebted to Mrs. Grainger for thinking of me; but I must decline. Though I will certainly go down and personally thank her. She is no longer able to move out of doors, I believe." "Not now; not for several months past. She wished me to inquire your plans though I know not whether you may deem it an impertinence."

"No, no," answered Margaret, scarcely able to prevent the tears falling, so miserably did old recollections, combined with present low spirits, tell upon her that evening. "I feel obliged by Mrs. Grainger's kind interest. I am going to-morrow to Mr. Padmore's for a week or two; he and Mrs. Padmore would have it so. By the end of that time I hope to have found a permanent home. Friends are already looking out for me. I must turn my abilities to account now."

"But it is not well that you should do so," he rejoined, with some agitation of manner-"it is not right for Dr. Channing's daughter. We heard of your determination from Mr. Padmore, and it grieved and vexed my mother. She would be so delighted, Miss Channing, if you would, at any rate for the present, make your home with her.”

Margaret did not answer. She was struggling to suppress her rebellious feelings.

"If you would but put up with her ailments, she says, and be free and gay as in your own home, she would be more happy than she has been since the death of Isabel. Allow me to urge the petition also, Miss Channing."

Margaret shook her head, but the tears dropped forth uncontrolled, and she covered her face with her hands. Mr. Grainger advanced; he drew her hands away; he bent over her with a whisper.

"Margaret! I would rather urge one of my own. That you would come-after awhile-to my home."

She rose up shaking. What did he mean?

"Has the proper time come for me to ask you once again to be my Oh! let me hope it has! Margaret, dearest Margaret, it was in this room you rejected me; let it be in this room that you will atone for

it."

"I can never atone for it," she replied, with a burst of anguish. not waste words upon me, Mr. Grainger, I am not worth it."

"You can atone for it, Margaret. You can let my home be your home, my name your name; you can join with me in forgetting this long estrangement, and promise to be my dearest wife. I will accept all that as your atonement."

"But I do not deserve this," she sobbed. "I deserve only your contempt and hatred."

"Hush, hush, Margaret! You shall take my love instead-if you will treasure, now, what you once flung away."

"Indeed I do not deserve it," she murmured; "it is too great reward for me."

be

"Is it ?" he answered, as he wound his arms round her. "It shall yours, Margaret, for ever nd for ever."

(31)

RECENT DISCOVERIES IN THE HOLY LAND.*

IT is one of the greatest pleasures derived from the pursuit of knowledge that its acquisition leads on to further inquiries. The preparation of the former Biblical Researches in Palestine, combined with the results of personal observation, awakened in Dr. Robinson's mind a more lively sense than he had ever felt before of the deficiencies yet remaining in our knowledge of the historical geography of the Holy Land. The account of a second exploratory journey possesses, then, all the interest of being the determination of questions which arose from continued investigation of the subject, and yet which could only be solved by personal inquiry on the spot. Combined with the researches that preceded them, they constitute a mass of material, which the author proposes to himself to embody in a systematic work on the physical and historical geography of the Holy Land. It is not a slight reproach to the learning and enterprise of the Church of England, that it has never attempted anything so complete or so comprehensive as has now been effected by an industrious divine of the New World. Not that all that ever can be done to illustrate Biblical geography has been accomplished-such an exploration cannot be regarded as within the power and opportunities of any single individual. To cultivate aright the particular field of historical topography would require a residence of several years, and a visit to every town and village, to every mountain and valley, to every trace of antiquity and ruin. It is only within very recent times that the decipherment of cuneatic legends has thrown a new light upon primeval sites in Babylonia, Chaldea, and Assyria. Much, very much, remains to be done in those countries, and in the long valleys of the Euphrates and Tigris, as well as in Palestine. The exploration of the numerous tells of North Syria would afford possibly unanticipated treasures to the Biblical, as well as to the general archæologist. Archæological investigation, which a few years ago was based upon the simple identification of names, distances, traditions, or a few Greek inscriptions and other monuments, may, even now that it has been developed by excavations and philological research, be considered in its infancy. So much remains to be done, so many mounds of ruin still exist to be explored. The indifference of the British public to researches of this kind is a discouraging sign of the times. The Palestine Archæological Association, especially founded for the purpose of carrying out such explorations in the Holy Land, numbers its few hundred subscribers, while controversial theology counts thousands in its ranks. As in the days of Hooper, Cranmer, and Ridley, the question of vestments and altars excites the deepest interest, where the determination of the localities of the most remarkable events in the Old Testament, and even of the sufferings of our Redeemer, fails to awaken aught but a momentary sympathy. It is evident that it is not so in the New World, and that the healthy tone of

* Later Biblical Researches in Palestine and the Adjacent Regions: a Journal of Travels in the Year 1852. By Edward Robinson, Eli Smith, and Others. Drawn up from the Original Diaries, with Historical Illustrations, by Edward Robinson, D.D., LL.D., Professor of Biblical Literature in the Union Theological Seminary, New York. London: John Murray.

Jan.-VOL. CIX. NO. CCCCXXXIII.

D

religious sentiment in that country seeks for its gratification in positive contributions to the knowledge of the localities of divine events and of the natural bearing of them, instead of the spurious excitement of sacerdotal vestments and sacrificial altars.

Some of our readers are, however, possibly aware that at a remarkable pass on the coast of Syria, near the ancient river Lycus, now called the "Dog River," are traces of the passage of Egyptians, Assyrians, Romans, and Muhammadan conquerors. Besides inscriptions to a Sultan Selim— it is not certain which-and to Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, there are at the pass in question nine tablets, of which three have been regarded as Egyptian and six as Assyrian (Layard says seven Assyrian, which Dr. Robinson justly remarks may have been a slip of the pen, as he also specifies three Egyptian tablets). Lepsius and Bonomi have also treated of the Egyptian tablets as all three bearing the cartouche of Rameses II. Since that time, M. de Saulcy has denied the existence of traces either of hieroglyphs or of human figures on the Egyptian tablets, and, backed by an opinion to the same effect of M. Oppert, has designated the whole as a petite imposture archéologique. M. V. Wildenbruch, Dr. Eli Smith, and Consul Schultz, have all since visited the same spot, and say that they have been unable to distinguish hieroglyphics, although they thought the sunken human figure could be recognised. One of the first spots visited by Dr. Robinson, after landing on the coast of Syria, was the place now in question; and although he admits that the tablets regarded as Egyptian are surmounted by an ornamental cornice, which is not the case with those of the Assyrians, he says he must confess that, for himself, on neither of his visits (he made two), although both were made at mid-day, and under a brilliant sun, he could not distinguish either hieroglyphics or other figures, and he adds that he cannot but think that fancy has had much to do in making out the reputed copies of these Egyptian tablets. One thing is certain, that if they ever existed, they have been effaced within a brief period of time. That they did exist, the combined testimony of Lepsius and Bonomi is quite sufficient to satisfy us; how they came to be effaced we cannot venture to opine. The effects of natural causes in the same neighbourhood are very remarkable, as seen in the case of the Selim inscription, the greater part of which is effaced, and what remains is so illegible that the best scholars have been unable to make it out satisfactorily. Still it is very curious that cartouches which had existed from the time of Rameses II.-the Sesostris of Herodotus-to those of Lepsius and Bonomi, should have been obliterated between their time and that of later observers. It would almost appear as if the spirit of mischief or of wanton destruction had been at work in these monumental rocks. That the elements have also had unusual play, seems apparent from the fact that the figures which were seen by Maundrell, Pococke, Seetzen, Guys, Berton, Lepsius, and Bonomi, and imperfectly by Wildenbruch, Eli Smith, and Schultz, are now no longer visible in the brightest sunshine. It may also be observed that, however faint the cartouches may have been in their time, Bonomi and Lepsius had far more experience in detecting such than their predecessors, or than those who have followed them. Some can detect a sphinx's head on the rocks at Antioch, where others can see nothing, and the same person can make it out at one time and not be able to do so at others, so feeble are the traces of this ancient sculpture in the present day.

After an excursion to Dair al Kulah, and another to Abeih, Dr. Robinson started by Khan Khulda, which he identifies with the Heldua of the Jerusalem Itinerary through Galilee to Acre. The most interesting sites visited on this line of route, after Sidon and Tyre, were the massive remains of the ancient castle called Belfort by the Crusaders. The isolated ridge on which this castle stands is entirely naked, and being higher than all the neighbouring ridges and the adjacent country, except Jebel Rihan, the fortress stands out as a conspicuous landmark, visible at a great distance in all directions, and itself commanding a prospect of great extent and grandeur. Next in interest was Kesaf, where he examined many fragmentary remains of olden time, and which he identifies with Achshaph, of the book of Joshua, a city on the border of the tribe of Asher; whose king is twice mentioned in connexion with the King of Hazor. Achshaph has hitherto been supposed to be another name for Accho or Acre, seeing that Accho otherwise does not occur in the list of towns in the lot of Asher, although it is certain, from Judges i. 31, that Accho was in the portion of that tribe. We must leave the question as to the appropriateness of Dr. Robinson's determination of a site for the royal city of the Canaanites to Biblical scholars. The mere fact of the border position, the perpetuation of the name Achshaph in Keoaf, and the existence of ruins of olden times, will appear to many insufficient data; but stay-at-home geographers and encyclopedists are too apt to omit, in criticising the insufficiency of a traveller's evidences, that which he has always in mind, although he does not dwell upon it in his arguments the non-existence of other possible or probable localities.

Next came Rameh, a village, which Robinson says there is no room for question but that it represents the ancient Ramah of Asher. It is remarkable that two of the valuable identifications, for which Biblical geography is indebted to Dr. Robinson's previous researches, are the Ramah of Benjamin and the Ramah of Samuel. This makes his third Ramah. Apart from the identity of name, he says there is no evidence of antiquity, save several sarcophagi, which he describes as "striking monuments of antiquity." He does not point out what will weigh with the scholar in admitting the identification, that Ramah stands upon an isolated hill, in the midst of a basin with green fields. Ramah signifies a high place. Dr. Robinson also determined, at a subsequent period, the site of a fourth Ramah-Ramah of Naphtali at Rameh, a large and well built village of Christians and Druses, situated on the slope of the mountains which separate Upper and Lower Galilee, besides other Ramahs of less note.

In the same region, whilst exploring a remarkable tell called Khirbel, or Tell Hazur, and which the doctor satisfied himself was not the Hazor of Scripture, he found a village called Yakuk, which he identifies with Hukkok, enumerated in the book of Joshua as belonging to Naphtali, though, in the later Chronicles, it is spoken of as in Asher. This identification would imply an interchange of the letters Heth and Yod, which, although unusual, is not without example. We are not quite certain if the identification of Kubarah, nearer to Acre, with the Gabara, or Gabaroth, belongs to Robinson or Schultz. Certain it is the latter determined the identification of Kabul with the Chabole of Josephus; and the Rev. Eli Smith recognised the same place as the Cabul of Joshua. Dr. Robinson proceeded from Acre through Galilee and Samaria to

Jerusalem. The first point to which he directed his attention, was Tell Jefat-a very remarkable hill, which, lying at a distance from all the ordinary roads of the country, has not been visited in modern times, except by Schultz in 1847, and yet represents the site of Jotapata, the renowned fortress of Galilee, which, under the command of Josephus himself, so long held out against the assaults of Vespasian, and where the historian was taken prisoner after the downfal of the place.

"The account of Josephus is, in some respects," Dr. Robinson observes," doubtless exaggerated and hyperbolical; as where he speaks of the sight failing to reach the depth of the valleys; his estimate of more than forty thousand persons destroyed during the siege of forty-eight days; and the manner of his own surrender to the Romans. Indeed, the thought stole over my mind, as we stood upon the spot, whether the historian had not here given himself up to romance, in order to laud the valour of the Romans, of the Jews, and especially of himself. Yet this idea was rebutted, except as to general exaggeration, by the minute and striking accordance of the description with the physical features of the place."

Dr. Robinson adds to this interesting historical identification that of the valley of Jiphthahel, described in Hebrews and Joshua as on the border of Zebulun and on the border of Asher; that is, on the confines of these two tribes, with the great wady Abilin, which has its head in the hills of Jefat. Notwithstanding De Sauley's vindication of the claims of Kefr Kana, to be considered as representing the Cana of the New Testament, where our Lord wrought his first miracle in Galilee, Dr. Robinson persists in identifying Khirbet Kana as the site of that interesting event. As to De Saulcy's arguments, that the Greek name, Cana of Galilee, could never have been expressed by Kana el Jelil, Dr. Robinson disposes of it by saying that if De Sauley had turned to his Arabic New Testament, he would have found not only that Galilee is always rendered by el Jelil, but also that Cana of Galilee, wherever it occurs, is uniformly given by Kana el Jelil. Of De Saulcy's other argument, that at the time of the wedding Jesus was travelling on foot with his mother, his disciples, and his cousins, from Nazareth to Capernaum; and nobody can reasonably conceive, that with such an object, under such circumstances, he should have made a circuit of at least thirty English miles; Dr. Robinson says, it may be replied that this passage in question (John ii. 12) gives no intimation that Jesus went directly from Cana to Capernaum; and further, that even had he been thus on his way from Nazareth to Capernaum, there surely was, in the desire to be present at the wedding, a motive sufficient to induce him to make the circuit; which said circuit, moreover, does not amount to one half of the alleged thirty miles. Dr. Robinson says that Khirbet Kana was regarded as the same as Cana down to the beginning of the seventeenth century. If so, it is still certain that the place has been sought for at Kefr Kana by modern travellers, including Pococke, Burckhardt, Clarke, G. Robinson, Richardson, Monro, and Schubert.

In the same neighbourhood, Dr. Robinson finds the Ruma of Josephus in the Tell of Rumeh, and the Rimmon of the tribe of Zebulun in the village of Rummaneh. The whole of the noble and extensive plain in which these sites are congregated, our author identifies with the " great plain" called Asochis, so named from a city of the same name, where