“The more we turn over the pages of this book the more we like it. Italy is the theme of a great deal of fine writing and fine painting, but the plain descriptions and accurate drawings here really tell us more about it than a library of inspired poems, and a gallery of ideal painting.”—Times.
“An extremely beautiful and interesting book.”—Daily News.
“The result of keen observation and considerable reading, it is a very charming volume. It contains, in an unusual degree, the information of a handbook, and the attractiveness of a drawing-room album.”—British Quarterly Review.
“Not less interesting than was either of the corresponding volumes.”—Standard.
“Another book about Spain, and a capital one: more distinctly calculated to catch the attention of persons on the look-out for present-books, and yet at the same time of solid merit.”—Literary Churchman.
“The pen is that of the author of ‘Swiss Pictures’; one of the pencils is Gustave Doré’s, and the others are not unworthy to be associated with his. It therefore follows that the letterpress is pleasant reading, and that many of the sketches are of the highest excellence.”—Times.
“A most exquisite book. It abounds with illustrations (some by Gustave Doré) of the most striking scenes, buildings, and social manners of the Peninsula, and realises in a series of brilliant and attractive pictures the romance, poetry, beauty, and inexpressible charms of the land of ‘Don Quixote.’”—Daily News.
“In this third edition there are so many additions and improvements, that this very beautiful volume is still more attractive and beautiful than before.”—Standard.
“Its numerous wood-engravings are all of great excellence, charming as pictures, and admirable as examples of Art. The book contains an immense amount of information, conveyed by the pen and the pencil; for the author, too, has done his work thoroughly well.”—Art Journal.
“In every way an attractive volume, one of the best works of the kind; the present edition contains upwards of thirty new illustrations, and has been carefully revised. It is an admirable gift-book, and very cheap.”—Record.
“It is enough commendation to say that the pencil is for the most part Mr. Whymper’s, for he is surpassed by no living artist in the vigour and truth with which he expresses mountain forms.... The ‘pen’ is confessedly subordinate to the ‘pencil’; but it plays an admirable second, not wasting its ink on mere reiterated expressions of admiration or laboured descriptions, which never succeed in really describing anything, but selecting choice morsels of historical association, picturesque anecdotes of mountain climbing, and classical passages from the great writers in prose and verse, who have illustrated the Alps by their genius.”—Guardian.
1. 2 Chron. ii. 16; Ezra iii. 7.
2. Jonah i. 3.
3. Acts ix. 36-43; x. 1-18.
4. Acts x. 6.
5. Isa. xxxv. 2.
6. Ibid. xxxiii. 9.
7. Ibid. lxv. 10.
8. Cant. ii. 1.
9. The name of one of these hamlets, passed soon after leaving Jaffa, reminds us that we are in the old Philistine territory—Beit Dejan = Beth Dagon, i.e., the house of Dagon, 1 Sam. v. 2.
10. Isa. vi. 11-13. Jer. iv. 7; ix. 11; xxvi. 9; xxxiii. 10; xxxiv. 22; etc. etc.
11. 1 Chron. viii. 12. Ezra ii. 33. Neh. xi. 35. Acts ix. 32-39.
12. 1 Sam. vi. 12, 13.
13. Luke xxiv. 13-35.
14. Joshua ix. 3-15.
15. Ibid. x. 6, 7.
16. Joshua x. 8-27. See Stanley’s ‘Sinai and Palestine,’ pp. 208-212.
17. Ibid. ix. 17.
18. Ibid. ix. 17; xv. 9, 60; xviii. 14, 15, 28.
19. 1 Sam. vi. 21; vii. 1, 2. 1 Chron. xiii. 5. Psalm cxxxii. 6.
20. 1 Sam. xvii.
21. Luke xxiv. 13-33.
22. Gen. xxxv. 16-20.
23. Gen. xlviii. 7.
24. Eccles. ii. 4-6.
25. The soil which looks so utterly and hopelessly barren is not so in reality. To an English eye the attempt to cultivate these hill-sides would appear almost madness. But the result of my inquiries was, that under proper tillage the soil is very fertile. The reply of several peasants when questioned was, “If we had people to till the ground, and a government that would let us live, we could grow anything.”
26. Num. xiii. 23-27.
27. Gen. xlix. 11, 12.
28. Isa. v. 1, 2.
29. Matt. xxi. 33. Mark xii. 1. Luke xx. 9.
30. Num. xiii. 22.
31. Joshua xxi. 11.
32. 2 Chron. xx. 7. Isa. xli. 8. James ii. 23.
33. Gen. xiii. 18.
34. Gen. xiv. 14.
35. Ibid. xviii. 1, 2.
36. Ibid. ver. 16.
37. Ibid. ver. 33.
38. Ibid. xix. 27, 28.
39. Ibid. xxiii. 2-20.
40. Gen. xxv. 8, 9.
41. Ibid. xxxv. 27-29.
42. Ibid. xxxvii. 1-14.
43. Ibid. xlix. 31.
44. Ibid. xlix. 29-33.
45. Ibid. l. 1-13. It will be observed that the historian lays special stress upon the embalmment. “And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father: and the physicians embalmed Israel. And forty days were fulfilled for him; for so are fulfilled the days of those which are embalmed.”
46. Num. xiii. 22.
47. Ibid. xiii. 33; xiv. 6-24; xxxii. 12. Joshua xiv. 6-15; xv. 13.
48. 2 Sam. ii. 2-11. 1 Kings ii. 11. 1 Chron. iii. 1-4.
49. 2 Sam. iii. 22, 39.
50. 2 Sam. iv. 12.
51. 2 Sam. xv. 10.
52. Matt. ii. 14.
53. We learn from Gen. l. 25, 26, Exod. xiii. 19, and Joshua xxiv. 32, that Joseph gave strict commands to his descendants that his body should be carried back into Canaan, that it was embalmed and placed in a coffin, that in the confusion of the flight out of Egypt his dying injunction was not forgotten, and that the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought up out of Egypt, buried they in Shechem, in a parcel of ground which Jacob bought of the sons of Hamor (Gen. xxxiii. 19). The Mohammedan tradition is that the mummy was afterwards removed to Machpelah. The ambiguous statement of Stephen (Acts vi. 16) seems to imply that though buried at Shechem he was yet laid in the sepulchre with Abraham. A passage in Josephus (Ant. ii. 8, 2) may bear the same meaning; and the spot pointed out as that of Joseph’s tomb is in perfect accordance with this view, it being detached from that of the others at one corner of the mosque, as though the wall had been broken through at a later period than the previous interments, and after the main entrance into the cave had been finally closed up.
54. Gen. xxiii. 17.
55. Gen. xviii. 1-8.
56. Ibid. xix. 28.
57. Psa. xlvi. 4. It has been conjectured that the reference in the text is to the bringing of this very stream to Jerusalem. A river, in the common sense of the term, there could never have been in or near the city.
58. Psa. lxv. 12, 13.
59. The name Bethlehem—the house of bread—is probably a translation of the older name Ephrath, or Ephratah—the fruitful. The modern name, Beit-lahm—the house of flesh—is an Arabic reproduction of the sound and meaning.
60. Judges xvii. xix.
61. Ruth i. 20, 21.
62. Ruth iv. 1.
63. Ibid. ii. 4.
64. Ibid. ii. 14.
65. Ibid. ii. 17; iii. 15.
66. Ibid. iii. 7.
67. Ibid. iv. 1-11.
68. Ibid. iv. 11, 12.
69. 1 Sam. xvii. 12.
70. Ibid. xvi. 11; xvii. 28.
71. Ibid. xvi. 12 (see margin); xvii. 42.
72. Ibid. xvi. 18.
73. Ibid. ver. 23.
74. 1 Sam. xvii. 34-37.
75. Ps. cxliv. 1.
76. 1 Sam. xvi. 7.
77. 1 Sam. xxii. 3, 4.
78. Ibid. ver. 1.
79. 1 Chron. xi. 16-19.
80. 1 Sam. xxvi. 20. We saw and heard large numbers of the desert partridge, with its reddish legs and beak, and its sides striped with white, black, and brown, on these very mountains.
81. 2 Sam. xvii. 27-29.
82. 2 Sam. xix. 31-40.
83. 1 Kings ii. 7. That this involved admission into the family seems to be implied. See 2 Sam. ix. 11.—“As for Mephibosheth, said the king, he shall eat at my table as one of the king’s sons.”
84. Jer. xli. 17.
85. Hepworth Dixon, in his ‘Holy Land,’ endeavours to carry the argument a step further, and to show, by a comparison of the phraseology in the books of Ruth and of Jeremiah, that it was erected on or close to the house of Boaz. His arguments are not without weight, but they are far from being conclusive.
86. Micah v. 2. Matt. ii. 5, 6. John vii. 42.
87. ‘Comparative Geography of Palestine.’ By Carl Ritter. Vol. iii., p. 339.
88. Ezek. xlvii. 1-12. Compare Rev. xxii. 1, 2: where the symbolism of the Old Testament is adopted in the New, but lifted up into a higher sphere with the promise of yet diviner blessings.
89. Isa. xxxii. 15, 17.
90. Jer. xlix. 19; l. 44.
91. In a few rare and exceptional cases living organisms are alleged to have been found in the Dead Sea. In every case, however, it has been near the mouth of Jordan, the impetuous torrent of which, after heavy rains, penetrates into the sea for some distance without mingling with its waters.
92. Song of Sol. i. 14.
93. Gen. xiv.
94. Num. xxiv. 21, 22.
95. 1 Sam. xxiii. 29; xxiv.
96. Gen. xiii. 10.
97. 2 Peter ii. 8.
98. Gen. xiv. 10. Compare Gen. xi. 3.
99. It is impossible here to enter into a full discussion of this question. The student is referred to the works of Canon Tristram, and to the articles by Mr. Grove in Smith’s ‘Bible Dictionary.’
100. The full meaning of this statement will be perceived when it is remembered that sea-water contains less than four per cent. of salts, and more than ninety-six per cent. of pure water.
101. Gen. xiii. 10.
102. 2 Kings vi. 2-5.
103. Ibid. v. 12.
104. Lieutenant Lynch enumerates twenty-seven, of great violence, between the Lake of Tiberias and the Dead Sea.
105. From these the prophets often deduced lessons of warning for the impenitent. Thus Jeremiah says, “If in the land of peace, wherein thou trustedst, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the swellings of Jordan?” Jer. xii. 5.
106. Joshua iv.; v.
107. Ibid. xviii. 1.
108. 1 Sam. x. 8.
109. Ibid. xi. 15.
110. 2 Sam. xix. 15.
111. See the various references to Gilgal in the Books of the Kings.
112. Hosea iv. 15; ix. 15; xii. 11. Amos iv. 4; v. 5.
113. Heb. iii. 12.
114. Deut. xxxiv. 3; Judges i. 16; iii. 13. 2 Chron. xxviii. 15.
115. Joshua vi. 26. After the lapse of five centuries the curse was fulfilled, 1 Kings xvi. 34.
116. Num. xxxii. 1. Deut. xxxii. 14. Ps. xxii. 12. Ezek. xxxix. 18. Zech. xi. 2.
117. Num. xxii-xxiv.
118. Deut. xxxiv. 7.
119. Ibid. verses 1-3.
120. Deut. xxxiv. 5, 6.
121. It is significant that these are the tribes to whom possessions had already been allotted east of the Jordan (Num. xxxii. 20-28). The selection was probably made either to prove their fidelity, or because they were free from encumbrances, their families and possessions being left in their newly-acquired territory.
122. Exod. xiv. 21.
123. Joshua iii. 16. In the great earthquake of 1837 this did happen to many of the rivers of Northern Syria.
124. Joshua vi. Heb. xi. 30, 31. Matt. i. 5. An interesting article on Rahab in Smith’s ‘Bible Dictionary’ suggests reasons for believing that Salmon, who became her husband, was one of the spies whose lives she saved, and who, with herself, became an ancestor of our Lord.
125. Joshua vii.; viii.
126. 2 Kings ii. 1-11. Luke ix. 30, 31.
127. 2 Kings ii. 12-14.
128. Ibid. 19-22.
129. 2 Kings ii. 22.
130. Matt. xix. 1, 2. Mark x. 1.
131. Luke xviii. 35-43; xix. 1-28.
132. 1 Kings xvii. 1-7.
133. Joshua vii.
134. See, however, an interesting note by the late Dr. Deutsch in Dixon’s ‘Holy Land,’ in which it is maintained that Bethany meant not, as is commonly supposed, “the house of dates” but “the house of poverty.” He fails, however, to take note of the fact that as we have a Mount of Olives, a house of figs (Bethphage), and a house of bread (Bethlehem), so we might naturally have a house of dates in the same locality.
135. John xi. 25.
136. Luke xix. 42.
137. Luke xxii. 39.
138. 2 Sam. xv. 30.
139. The etymology of the word Jerusalem is much disputed. “The vision of peace,” “the inheritance of peace,” “the foundation of peace,” all have their advocates. Others understand it as compounded of Jebus-salem, i.e., Salem of the Jebusites. Throughout the Moslem world it is now known as El-Kuds, the holy city, or as El Kuds esh Shereef, the holy, noble city. Herodotus is thought to have referred to it as Cadytis. In this case, as in so many others throughout Palestine, the modern Arabic name is simply a return to a more ancient one.
140. Joshua x. 1.
141. 2 Sam. v. 6-8. 1 Chron. xi. 4-6.
142. 2 Sam. v. 9. 1 Kings x. 27.
143. Matt. xxvi. 3.
144. The close proximity of the Pool of Hezekiah affords a strong incidental proof that the site of the church must always have been inside the walls. It is most improbable that this vast cistern should have been outside for the use of the besiegers, or that the wall should have included the pool and excluded the church.
145. John xviii. 28.
146. Ibid. xix. 3.
147. Heb. xiii. 11, 12.
148. Matt. xxvii. 51; Mark xv. 38; Luke xxiii. 45; Heb. x. 19, 20.
149. Matt. xxvii. 39, 40; Mark xv. 29, 30. See a clear statement of the foregoing argument in a letter by Dr. Hutchinson in the ‘Quarterly Journal of the Palestine Exploration Fund’ for July, 1873; and in a valuable work, ‘Horeb and Sinai,’ by the Rev. G. Sandie.
150. Mark xiii. 1, 2.
151. Acts iii. 1-11.
152. 1 Kings x. 4, 5.
153. If we adopt Mr. Fergusson’s theory as to the site of the Temple, a line running through the Altar and the Holy of Holies would cut the middle of the Wailing Place.
154. Matt. xxvii. 25.
155. John v. 1-9.
156. Psa. lxxxiv. 2, 3.
157. So Dean Stanley. It is difficult to compare objects so entirely dissimilar. For my own part I should be disposed to give the preference to the Mosque of Omar.
158. John vii. 37, 38. It has been often said that the main reservoir was immediately beneath the Altar of Burnt Offering. This, though probable, cannot be affirmed absolutely in our present uncertainty as to where the altar really stood.
159. 2 Sam. xxiv. 18-25. 2 Chron. iii. 1.
160. The late Emmanuel Deutsch told me that he had found one reference to it in the Talmud; but his lamented death prevented his giving me further information on the subject.
161. John iv. 9-23.
162. The way in which ecclesiastical legends are invented is curiously illustrated by the fact that the Greeks and Armenians have recently constructed rival Gethsemanes of their own, this one being in possession of the Latins.
163. John xviii. 3.
164. Matt. xxiii. 35.
165. 2 Sam. xviii. 18.
166. 1 Kings xi. 4-8.
167. Matt. xxvii. 7.
168. Mark xvi. 3, 4. Luke xxiv. 2.
169. Gen. xlix. 27.
170. Deut. xxxiii. 12.