JERUSALEM.

cled by impassable valleys; for there it had but a single wall. The ancient city 143 lay upon two hills over against each other, separated by an intervening valley, at which the houses terminated. Of these hills, that (Zion) which bore the upper city was the highest, and was straighter in extent. it was called by King David the Fortress or Citadel; but in the time of the hisOn account of its fortifications, torian it was known as the Upper Market. The other hill, sustaining the lower city, and called Akra, had the form of the gibbous moon. third hill, naturally lower than Akra, and separated from it by another broad valley. Over against this was a But in the time when the Asmonæans had rule they threw earth into this valley intending to connect the city with the temple; and working upon Akra, they lowered the height of it, so that the temple rose conspicuously above it. The valley of the Tyropoon or Cheesemakers as it was called, which has already been mentioned as separating the hills of the upper and lower city, extended quite down to Siloam-a fountain so named, whose waters were sweet and abundant. From without, the two hills of the city were enclosed by deep valleys; and there was no approach because of the precipices on every side.

Dr. Robinson, in comparing the information derivable from Josephus with his own materials, declares that the main features depicted by the Jewish historian may still be recognised. "True," he says, "the valley of the Tyropoon and that between Akra and Moriah have been greatly filled up with the rubbish accumulated from the repeated desolations of nearly eighteen centuries. Yet they are still distinctly to be traced; the hills of Zion, Akra, Moriah, and Bezetha are not to be mistaken, while the deep valleys of the Kidron, and of Hinnom, and the Mount of Olives are permanent natural features, too prominent and gigantic indeed to be forgotten, or to undergo any perceptible change."

Recurring to the walls, Josephus says: "Of these three walls the old one was hard to be taken; both by reason of the valleys, and of that hill on which it was built, and which was above them. But besides that great advantage, as to the place where they were situate, it was also built very strong: because David, and Solomon, and the following kings were very zealous about this work." After some further account of the walls, which has no immediate connection with our present subject, he adds that "the city in its ultimate extension included another hill, the fourth, called Bezetha, to the north of the temple, from which it was separated by a deep artificial ditch."

From this account of Josephus, as compared with those furnished by others, it appears that Jerusalem stood on three hills, Mount Zion, Mount Akra, and Mount Moriah, on which last the temple stood. Or we may consider them as two, after Mount Akra had been levelled, and the valley filled up which separated it from Mount Moriah. Of these hills Zion was the highest, and contained the upper city, "the city of David,” with the citadel, the strength of which, and of the position on which it stood, enabled the Jebusites so long to retain it as their strong hold, and to maintain their command over the lower part of the city, even when they were obliged to allow the Israelites to share in its occupation. This Mount Zion (which we are only here noticing cursorily) formed the southern portion of the ancient city. It is almost excluded from the modern city, and is under partial cultivation. It is nearly a mile in circumference, is highest on the western side, and towards the east slopes down in broad terraces in the upper part of the mountain, and narrow ones on the side, towards the brook Kidron. This mount is considerably higher than the ground on which the ancient (lower) city stood, or that on the east leading to the valley of Jehoshaphat, but has very little relative height above the ground on the south and on the west, and must have owed its boasted strength principally to a deep ravine, by which it is encompassed on the east, south, and west, and the strong high walls and

towers by which it was enclosed and flanked completely round. The breadth of this ravine is about one hundred and fifty feet, and its depth, or the height of Mount Zion above the bottom of the ravine, about sixty feet. The bottom is rock, covered with a thin sprinkling of earth, and in the winter season is the natural channel for conveying off the water that falls into it from the higher ground. On both of its sides the rock is cut perpendicularly down; and it was probably the quarry from which much of the stone was taken for the building of the city.

The site, regarded as a whole, without further attending to the distinction of hills, is surrounded on the east, west, and south by valleys of various depth and breadth, but to the north-west extends into the plain, which in this part is called 'the plain of Jeremiah,' and is the best woody tract in the whole neighbourhood. The progressive extension of the city was thus necessarily northward, as stated by Josephus. The town most probably, almost certainly, began at the southern, or Mount Zion, part of this site, and in its ultimate extension, according to Josephus, comprehended & circuit of thirty-three furlongs; whereas that of the modern town does not appear to exceed two miles and a half. The confining valleys are often mentioned in Scripture. Those on the east and south are very deep. The former is the valley of Jehoshaphat, through which flows the brook Kidron, and the latter is generally called the valley of Hinnom. This denomination is extended by some topographers also to the western and least deep valley, while others call it the valley of Gihon. On the opposite side of these valleys rise hills, which are mostly of superior elevation to that of the site of the city itself. That on the east, beyond the brook Kidron, is the Mount of Olives. That on the south is a broad and barren hill, loftier than the Mount of Olives, but without any of its picturesque beauty. On the west there is a rocky flat, which rises to a considerable elevation towards the north, and to which has been assigned the name of Mount Gihon. Even in the north-east, at Scopus, where the besieging Romans under Titus encamped, the ground is considerably more elevated than the immediate site of the town. Thus is explained the expression of David: "As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his people" (Ps. cxxv. 2). The relative height of those surrounding hills gives to the city an apparent elevation inferior to that which it really possesses. The district for many miles round Jerusalem is now of a very barren and cheerless character, whatever may have been its ancient condition. Solomon must be considered as having permanently fixed its metropolitan character, by the erection of the temple and the royal establishment. But it was the temple, chiefly, which in all ages maintained Jerusalem as the metropolis of the country. Even after the destruction of that venerated fabric, the mere fact that it had existed there operated in preventing the selection of any new site, even when the opportunity occurred. The separation into two kingdoms, after the death of Solomon, did also necessarily prevent any intentions of change which might have arisen, had the whole country remained one kingdom, with a large choice of situations for a capital; and we are to remember that, although, after the erection of the temple, it always remained the ecclesiastical metropolis of the land, it was, in a civil sense, for a long series of years, the capital of only the smallest of the two kingdoras into which the land was divided. But under all disadvantages, many of which are perhaps the result of the wars, the desolations, and the neglect of many ages, the very situation of the town, on the brink of rugged hills, encircled by deep and wild valleys, bounded by eminences whose sides were covered with groves and gardens, added to its numerous towers and temple, must, as Carne remarks, have given it a singular and gloomy magnificence, scarcely possessed by any other city in the world.

225.-THE PATRIOTIC SONGS OF GREAT BRITAIN.-I.

ONE of our statesmen is reported to have exclaimed, "Give me the making of a nation's ballads, and I care not who makes its laws." Though this sentiment was somewhat exaggerated, there can be no doubt of the power of those impressions which are communicated to a people by the aid of music; and history furnishes us some remarkable instances of the effect of popular songs in stimulating a multitude. The expulsion of a band of tyrants from Athens has been ascribed to the influence of an ode which was a universal favourite of the people; violent and sanguinary sentiments engrafted upon well-known airs incited the populace to many of the atrocities of the French Revolution; while, at the same period, in England, the bold and loyal spirit of our navy was kept alive by a series of songs, wonderfully adapted to the modes of thinking and customs of seafaring life. It is perhaps not too much to say that the character of a people is, in some degree, formed by its stores of national ballads.

The English possess four or five patriotic airs, which are often heard on public occasions; which the people themselves sing with an honest enthusiasm;-which are re-echoed through the land in times of danger; and which, therefore, form part of that invincible armoury of defence which is found in national character. We appear to have a greater stock of such songs than any other nations; not light and ephemeral productions, but airs which have an abiding place in the heart of the whole population. These songs are of the very genius of our constitution; and it is only in a country of freedom that they would possess an interest so warm and so universal.

The most popular song in the world is our God save the Queen.' The history of its composition is very uncertain. Perhaps the best sustained theory is that it was originally a Jacobite song, written during the rebellion of 1715, by Henry Carey, and partly composed by him. It rushed into popularity at the English theatres in 1745; and Carey himself sang it publicly in 1740, having changed "James" to "George." The air is simple, and yet stately. It is capable of calling forth the talents of the finest vocal performers; and yet is admirably adapted for a chorus, in which the humblest pretender to music may join. The words are not elegant, but they are very expressive; and the homeliness of some of the lines may have contributed to its universality. It is one of those very rare productions which never pall; which either from habit, or association, or intrinsic excellence, are always pleasing. Its popularity is so recognised, that it is now often called the 'National Anthem.'

The next song in point of popularity is 'Rule Britannia.' It was written by Thompson, and was first performed at Cliefden, before the parents of George III., in 1740, in the mask of Alfred, which he wrote in conjunction with Mallet. The music of this celebrated song is by Dr. Arne. The music without the words is never heard without enthusiasm; and the words cannot be read without exciting an elevated feeling of national pride.

The nations not so blest as thee,

Must, in their turns, to tyrants fall:
While thou shalt flourish great and free,
The dread and envy of them all.
"Rule," &c.

Still more majestic shalt thou rise,

More dreadful from each foreign stroke:
As the loud blast that tears the skies
Serves but to root thy native oak.
"Rule," &c.

Thee haughty tyrants ne'er shall tame;
All their attempts to bend thee down
Will but arouse thy generous flame;
But work their woe, and thy renown.
"Rule," &c.

To thee belongs the rural reign;

Thy cities shall with commerce shine:
All thine shall be the subject main,
And every shore it circles thine.
"Rule," &c.

The Muses, still with freedom found,
Shall to thy happy coast repair:
Blest isle with matchless beauty crown'd,

And manly hearts to guard the fair.
"Rule, Britannia, rule the waves;
Britons never will be slaves!"

There is another very beautiful though less popular song, of the same character, Britain's best Bulwarks are her Wooden Walls.' This was written and composed by Dr. Arne.

When Britain on her sea-girt shore

Her ancient Druids erst address'd,
What aid, she cried, shall I implore?

What best defence, by numbers press'd?
The hostile nations round thee rise,--

The mystic oracles replied,—

And view thine isle with envious eyes;
Their threats defy, their rage deride,

Nor fear invasion from those adverse Gauls:
Britain's best bulwarks are her wooden walls.

Thine oaks, descending to the main,

With floating forts shall stem the tide,

Asserting Britain's liquid reign,

Where'er her thund'ring navies ride.

Nor less to peaceful arts inclined,

Where commerce opens all her stores,

In social bands shall league mankind,
And join the sea-divided shores,

Spread thy white sails where naval glory calls:
Britain's best bulwarks are her wooden walls.

Hail, happy isle! What though thy vales
No vine-impurpled tribute yield,
Nor fann'd with odour-breathing gales,
Nor crops spontaneous glad the field.
Yet liberty rewards the toil

Of industry to labour prone,

Who jocund ploughs the grateful soil,

And reaps the harvest she has sown;

While other realms tyrannic sway enthrals,

Britain's best bulwarks are her wooden walls.

One of our most animating compositions of a warlike nature is, 'Britons, strike home!' It was first performed in the tragedy of 'Queen Boadicea, or the British Heroine,' in 1696. The music is by the great composer, Henry Purcell. The following are the words:

To arms, to arms, your ensigns straight display,

Now set the battle in array ;

The oracle for war declares,

Success depends upon our hearts and spears.

Britons, strike home! revenge your country's wrongs;

Fight, and record yourselves in Druids' songs.

It is affirmed that the music of this song was played as the great Marlborough led his troops to the attack at the battle of Blenheim. We were present on an occasion when it was performed under very peculiar circumstances. It was in 1805, when the alarm of French invasion was general, and the national spirit was called forth in the most zealous preparations to defend our altars and our homes; and when the great Nelson was in search of the combined fleets previous to the battle of Trafalgar. George III. was walking on Windsor Terrace. He was surrounded by all ranks of his subjects. The military band were about to play Rule, Britannia,' when the king stepped up to them, and with a loud voice called out, "No, no! let us have 'Britons, strike home!"" The air was immediately played; and it seemed as if it strengthened the bonds of affection and fidelity between the sovereign and the people.

A great portion of the Patriotic Songs of England have reference to her character as a maritime nation. These allusions not only preserve amongst the people generally a habit of referring to the great cause of our national triumphs, but they keep alive amongst the seamen those proud and heroic feelings which sustain their superiority in the day of battle. We shall introduce this part of our subject by the following beautiful adaptation of modern words to a fine old air, 'Ye Mariners of England.' This noble song is by Thomas Campbell. YE MARINERS OF ENGLAND.

Ye Mariners of England,

That guard our native seas;

Whose flag has braved, a thousand years,

The battle and the breeze!

Your glorious standard launch again,

To match another foe!

And sweep through the deep,

While the stormy tempests blow;

While the battle rages loud and long,

And the stormy tempests blow.

The spirits of your fathers

Shall start from every wave !—

For the Deck it was their field of fame,
And Ocean was their grave:

Where Blake and mighty Nelson fell,