lived, know no more of them than what they learn by A.D. 704. reading. Adamnan presented this book to King Alfrid, and through his bounty it came to be read by lesser persons. The writer thereof was also well rewarded by him, and sent back into his country. I believe it will be acceptable to our readers if we collect some particulars from the same, and insert them in our History.

CHAP. XVI. THE ACCOUNT GIVEN BY THE AFORESAID
BOOK OF THE PLACE OF OUR LORD'S NATIVITY, PASSION
AND RESURRECTION.

E wrote concerning the place of the Extracts
nativity of our Lord, to this effect. nan.

66

Bethlehem, the city of David, is seated on a narrow ridge, encompassed on all sides with valleys, being a thousand paces in length from east to west, the wall low without towers, built along the edge of the plain on

the summit. In the east angle thereof is a sort of natural half cave, the outward part whereof is said to have been the place where our Lord was born; the inner is called our Lord's Manger. This cave within is all covered with rich marble, over the place where our Lord is said particularly to have been born, and over it is the great church of St. Mary." He likewise wrote about the place of his Passion and Resurrection in this manner. "Entering the city of Jerusalem on the north side, the first place to be visited, according to the disposition of the streets, is the church of Constantine, called the Martyrdom. It was built by the Emperor Constantine, in a royal and magnificent manner, on account of the cross of our Lord having been found there by his mother Helen. From hence, to the westward, appears the church of Golgotha, in which is also to be seen the rock which once bore the cross with our Saviour's body fixed on it,

from Adam

modo pergrandem sustinens crucem, pendente magna desuper ærea rota cum lampadibus. Infra ipsum vero locum Dominicæ crucis, excisa in petra crypta est, in qua super altare pro defunctis honoratis sacrificium solet offerri, positis interim in platea corporibus. Hujus quoque ad occasum ecclesiæ, Anastasis, hoc est, resurrectionis Dominicæ rotunda ecclesia, tribus cincta parietibus, duodecim columnis sustentatur; inter parietes singulos latum habens spatium viæ, quæ tria altaria in tribus locis parietis medii continet, hoc est, australi, aquilonali, et occidentali. Hæc bis quaternas portas, id est in introitus, per tres e regione parietes habet, e quibus quatuor ad vulturnum et quatuor ad eurum spectant. Hujus in medio monumentum Domini rotundum in petra excisum est, cujus culmen intrinsecus stans homo manu contingere potest, ab oriente habens introitum, cui lapis ille magnus appositus est, quod intrinsecus ferramentorum vestigia usque in præsens ostendit; nam extrinsecus usque ad culminis summitatem totum marmore tectum est. Summum vero culmen auro ornatum auream magnam gestat crucem. In hujus ergo monumenti aquilonali parte sepulcrum Domini in eadem petra excisum, longitudinis septem pedum, trium mensura palmarum pavimento altius eminet; introitum habens a latere meridiano, ubi die noctuque duodecim lampades ardent, quatuor intra sepulcrum, octo supra in margine dextro. Lapis, qui ad ostium monumenti positus erat, nunc fissus est; cujus pars minor quadratum altare ante ostium nihilominus ejusdem monumenti stat; major vero pars in orientali ejusdem ecclesiæ loco quadrangulum aliud altare sub linteaminibus exstat. Color autem ejusdem monumenti et sepulcri albo et rubicundo permixtus esse videtur."

Under

and now it bears a large silver cross, with a great brazen A.D. 704. wheel hanging over it surrounded with lamps. the place of our Lord's cross, a vault is hewn out of the rock, in which sacrifice is offered on an altar for honourable persons deceased, their bodies remaining meanwhile in the street. To the westward of this is the Anastasis, that is, the round church of our Saviour's resurrection, encompassed with three walls, and supported by twelve columns. Between each of the walls is a broad space, containing three altars at three different points of the middle wall; to the north, the south, and the west, it has eight doors or entrances through the three opposite walls; four whereof front to the north-east, and four to the south-east. In the midst of it is the round tomb of our Lord cut out of the rock, the top of which a man standing within can touch; the entrance is on the east; against it is laid that great stone, which to this day bears the marks of the iron tools within, but on the outside it is all covered with marble to the very top of the roof, which is adorned with gold, and bears a large golden cross. In the north part of the monument, the tomb of our Lord is hewed out of the same rock, seven feet in length, and three palms above the floor; the entrance being on the south side, where twelve lamps burn day and night, four within the sepulchre, and eight above on the right hand side. The stone that was laid at the entrance to the monument, is now cleft in two; nevertheless, the lesser part of it stands as a square altar before the door of the monument; the greater part makes another square altar at the east end of the same church, and is covered with linen cloths. The colour of the said monument and sepulchre appears to be white and red."

CAP. XVII.-QUE ITEM DE LOCO ASCENSIONIS DOMINICÆ, ET SEPULCRIS PATRIARCHARUM.

E loco quoque Dominicæ ascensionis præfatus auctor hoc modo refert. "Mons Olivarum altitudine monti Sion par est, sed latitudine et longitudine præstat, exceptis vitibus et olivis, raræ ferax arboris, frumenti quoque et hordei fertilis. Neque enim brucosa, sed herbosa et florida, soli illius est qualitas; in cujus summo vertice, ubi Dominus ad coelos ascendit, ecclesia rotunda grandis ternas per circuitum cameratas habet porticus desuper tectas. Interior namque domus propter Dominici corporis meatum camerari et tegi non potuit; altare ad orientem habens angusto culmine protectum, in cujus medio ultima Domini vestigia, cœlo desuper patente, ubi ascendit, visuntur. Quæ cum quotidie a credentibus terra tollatur, nihilominus manet, eandemque adhuc speciem veluti impressis signata vestigiis servat. Hæc circa ærea rota jacet, usque ad cervicem alta, ab occasu habens introitum, pendente desuper in trochleis magna lampade tota die et nocte lucente. In occidentali ejusdem ecclesiæ parte sunt fenestræ octo, totidemque e regione lampades in funibus pendentes usque Hierosolymam per vitrum fulgent; quarum lux corda intuentium cum quadam alacritate et compunctione pavefacere dicitur. In die ascensionis Dominicæ per annos singulos, missa peracta, validi flaminis procella desursum venire consuevit, et omnes, qui in ecclesia affuerint, terræ prosternere."

De situ etiam Hebron et monumentis Patrum ita scribit; "Hebron quondam civitas et metropolis regni David, nunc ruinis tantum quid tunc fuerit ostendens.

CHAP. XVII.-OF THE PLACE OF OUR LORD'S ASCENSION,

AND THE TOMBS OF THE PATRIARCHS.

ONCERNING the place of our A.D. 704. Lord's ascension, the aforesaid author writes thus. "Mount Olivet is equal in height to Mount Sion, but exceeds it in breadth and length; bearing few trees besides vines and olive trees, and is fruitful in wheat and barley, for the nature of that soil is not calculated for bearing things of large or heavy growth, but grass and flowers. On the very top of it, where our Lord ascended into heaven, is a large round church, having about it three vaulted porches. For the inner house could not be vaulted and covered, because of the passage of our Lord's body; but it has an altar on the east side, covered with a narrow roof. In the midst of it are to be seen the last prints of our Lord's feet, the sky appearing open above where he ascended; and though the earth is daily carried away by believers, yet still it remains as before, and retains the same impression of the feet. Near this lies an iron wheel, as high as a man's neck, having an entrance towards the west, with a great lamp hanging above it on a pulley, and burning night and day. In the western part of the same church are eight windows; and eight lamps, hanging opposite to them by cords, cast their light through the glass as far as Jerusalem; this light is said to strike the hearts of the beholders with a sort of joy and humility. Every year, on the day of the Ascension, when mass is ended, a strong blast of wind is said to come down, and to cast to the ground all that are in the church."

Of the situation of Hebron, and the tombs of the fathers, he writes thus. "Hebron, once the city and metropolis of David's kingdom, now only showing what it was by its