The innocents abroad; . e piano, and about as thickas such a piano is high. But, as I have remarked before, it is * A pilgrim informs me that it was not David and Goliah, but David and Saul. Istick to my own statement—the guide told me, and he ought to know. FKAGMENTS OF THE TEMPLE. 581 only a year or two ago that the ancient edict prohibitingChristian rubbish like ourselves to enfer the Mosque of Omarand see the costly marbles that once adorned the inner Templewas annulled. The designs ivrought upon these fragments areall quaint and peculiar, and so the charm of novelty is addedto the deep in
The innocents abroad; . e piano, and about as thickas such a piano is high. But, as I have remarked before, it is * A pilgrim informs me that it was not David and Goliah, but David and Saul. Istick to my own statement—the guide told me, and he ought to know. FKAGMENTS OF THE TEMPLE. 581 only a year or two ago that the ancient edict prohibitingChristian rubbish like ourselves to enfer the Mosque of Omarand see the costly marbles that once adorned the inner Templewas annulled. The designs ivrought upon these fragments areall quaint and peculiar, and so the charm of novelty is addedto the deep interest they naturally inspire. One meets withthese venerable scraps at every turn, especially in the neighbor-ing Mosque el Aksa, into whose inner walls a very large num-ber of them are carefully built for preservation. These piecesof stone, stained and dusty with age, dimly hint at a grandeurwe have all been taught to regard as the princeliest ever seenon earth; and they call up pictures of a pageant that is familiar. MOSQUE OF OMAR. to all imaginations—camels laden with spices and treasure—beautiful slaves, presents for Solomons harem—a long cavalcadeof richly caparisoned beasts and warriors—and Shebas Queen inthe van of this vision of Oriental magnificence. These ele-gant fragments bear a richer interest than the solemn vastnessof the stones the Jews kiss in the Place of Wailing can everhave for the heedless sinner. Down in the hollow ground, underneath the olives and the 582 SURFEITED WITH SIGHTS. orange-trees that flonrisli in the court of the great Mosque, isa wilderness of pillars—remains of the ancient Temple ; theysupported it. There are ponderous archways down there,also, over which the destroying plough of prophecy passedharmless. It is pleasant to know we are disappointed, in thatwe never dreamed we might see portions of the actual Templeof Solomon, and yet experience no shadow of suspicion thatthey were a monkish humbug and a fraud. We are surfeited wit
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Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectvoyagesandtravels
