two gates spoken of in the Koran, the interior, (i. e. the western,) called the Gate of Mercy; the exterior, (i.e. the eastern,) the Gate of Torment, as opening on the Valley so called. They exhibit within the only remains of Solomon's work to be found about the enclosure. He learnt from an ancient, that this Gate had been closed by Omar Ibn-Khatab, and shall only be opened at the end of the world, when Jesus the Son of Mary shall descend upon the earth. It appears," he adds more reasonably, "that they have been blocked up for fear, and for the security of the Sanctuary and the city, because they open towards the desert, and would not be of much service, except to facilitate the entrance of the Bedawîn5." Consistent with the former part of this tradition is the story reported by Bonifacius, who was assured by a learned Moslem doctor, that this Gate was kept closed for some great king, though he would not say what king. Nor does the latter part militate against another report of Quaresmius; only that the Christians have, with pardonable partiality, substituted themselves for the Bedawîn, and by confounding the traditionary with the historical reason, have represented that this Gate is kept closed for fear of a powerful king who shall take Jerusalem and become Lord of all the earth".

Having thus disposed of the Golden Gate, and shewn reason, from it and from other considerations, to believe that the northern boundary of the present area is identical with that of the Temple, we must submit Josephus and the Rabbies to another test, and consider what objections there will be to cutting off a space from the southern end of the present enclosure, so as to square the width determined now, as of old, by the valleys; for unless the two accounts, of the proportions in which these writers agree, and of the dimensions in which they differ, be wholly and entirely false, we are not at liberty to suppose that both its northern and southern limits are identical.

Still the ancient remains on the South of the Haram, commencing with the south-east angle, continued through the large substructions within the same, and the vaulted passage beneath El-Aksa, to the fragment of the massive arch at the western extremity, have been thought to present incontrovertible evidence that the outer court of the Temple did extend thus far1; and a coincidence has lately been observed between the measures of Herod's Royal Cloister, described by Josephus, and the substructions within the S. E. angle, which seems to afford decisive evidence that the latter were arranged with a view to the former. As it is the only argument of any weight, I will here consider it; and if I am not able to answer it fully, I must leave the reader to determine whether the coincidence, remarkable as it undoubtedly is, may not, after all, be accidental, and whether this single fact can countervail against so many opposing difficulties.

Professor Willis has ascertained, from Mr. Catherwood's plan of the vaults in question, that they would range perfectly with the triple cloister of Herod, supposing the side-aisles to have been carried over two, and the nave over three, intervals of the columns beneath; for, according to Josephus, the side-aisles were in width 30 feet, and the nave an additional half-width, or 45 feet. Now it were merely splitting hairs to object that the intervals between the square piers, supposed to support the aisles, are not uniform3, and that one is a few feet below, the other a few feet above, the width required; for the actual coincidence is quite near enough to satisfy all requirements of the argument. I find also another coincidence, little less remarkable, viz. that the great gateway which once opened into these vaults is so situated, that, supposing Herod's cloister to have been a stadium in length, as Josephus affirms, its position would exactly correspond with that of the gateway in the south wall of the outer Temple, called the Gate of Huldah in the Mishna1; which, according to Josephus, occupied the middle of the south front. In this case, again, the western termination of the stadium would fall in very nearly with the west side-wall of the vaulted passage, beneath El-Aksa, where, according to Mr. Tipping, all traces of "the Jewish bevelled masonry" cease, until they are recovered at the S. W. angle, near the ruined archway1. These are undoubtedly startling facts, and nothing but my respect for the Jewish authorities, and the great difficulties which the theory involves, prevent me from accepting them as conclusive evidence to the point which they are adduced to maintain, and oblige me to assign a later date and another use to these subterranean works.

To state the difficulties first: Immediately after describing this Royal Cloister of the outer court, Josephus proceeds to the inner, which, he says, was "in the middle, and not far distant from the former2;" evidently speaking with reference to the Royal Cloister, which he had just described. But he would hardly have written thus of the space that intervenes between the southern wall and the raised platform of the Haram. Again, the silence of Josephus is another serious objection to the belief that these substructions existed in his time, for they must certainly have been among the most noticeable wonders of the Temple3, as they now are of the Haram. It is worthy of particular remark, that the process, which he more than once describes, for enlarging the platform of the outer court, differs essentially from the plan of these vaulted substructions. It consisted in erecting massive walls from the depth of the valleys to the requisite height, and then filling in the cavity with earth, until the accumulated soil was level with the pitch of the hill4. And this expedient was adopted apparently only on the East side. Or if it be supposed that such works did exist on the South, the objection still remains in full force; for an embankment is described, and substructions are found. Besides, with what propriety could the historian write that the Royal Cloister could extend no further because of the valleys, if he knew that it rested throughout on an artificial foundation, which had encroached upon the valleys on either side, and might have been similarly extended, at the pleasure of the architect? Then, for the very remarkable coincidence of measures, it may be said that, if the arrangement of these piers points to a superstructure running East and West, as did the Royal Porch, the vaulted corridor beneath El-Aksa, which certainly appears to have formed part of the