years by their inestimable mother, she being thoroughly convinced a child is too precious a creature to be trufted to mercenary hirelings! All their little paffions were watched with an anxious and unceasing eye; all their little wants were fupplied with a benevolent and unwearied hand; all their little humours, however refractory, brought into fubjection, not by the unnatural ftroke of a rod, left to a fervant's difcretion, but by the milder and equally effectual method of maternal vigilance and care. Often has the exclaimed, that it was greater pleasure to her to see her children comfortably put to reft, than to be at the most brilliant affembly. Would to God, O Britain! that all thy mothers were like her. She thought (and let her name be venerated for the thought) parents cannot from duty do too much for their children. It would be foreign to the fubject to enlarge here; I fhall therefore only remark, that unless parents difcharge to the utmost their duties to their children, they have no juft claim on their children for fupport, when the evil days draw nigh. I fhould with young married people to imprefs their minds with this fuggef tion. Having chosen to instruct the male part of her family till they were beyond the power of a mother to teach, they were then put under the care of a clergyman in the neighbourhood; here they received fuch inftruction as, with their parents' affiftance, enabled them to fill future ftations in life with happiness to themfelves and honour to their connections. The daughters, Mary entirely inftructed herself, and having feen the danger to which polite accomplishments carried to excels, expose young women, in the fate of her fifter, he was more anxious to make them fenfible and virtuous, than vain and accomplished. This the fully effected; and after outliving, fome years, the partner of her labours, fhe was gratified at being fupported through the end of life by her obedient children, all of whom, before her death, the faw happily fettled in the world; Rever'd Rever'd and honour'd, lovely like herself, Thus have I briefly given (for brief articles are read when long effays are paffed by unnoticed) the different characters of two fifters; and I have, pointed out the particular circumftances of their lives, in which the advantages of the acquirements of the one, fhone beyond thofe of the other. I am fure no mother of fenfe will read the narrative, without feeling it her duty and pleasure not merely to act like Mary, but to endeavour to have her daughters MARYS alfo; and I would truft, young people of each fex will perceive the necef. fity of attaining, at an early period, a large portion of Readiness and caution, that they may fee through the artifices of the world, discharge life's progreffive duties with ability, and lay, by thefe means, à folid foundation for comfort and fatisfaction. Hackney, J. F. STATE I OF THE ANCIENT CITY OF JERUSALEM, IN THE YEAR 1797. [From Browne's Travels into Egypt and Syria.] MUST confefs the afpe&t of JERUSALEM did not gratify my expectation. On afcending an hill, diftant about three miles, this celebrated city rofe to view, feated on an eminence, but furrounded by others of a greater height, and its walls, which remain tolerably perfect, form the chief object in the approach. They are conftructed of a reddish stone. As the day was extremely cold, and fnow began to fall, the prof pect was not fo interesting as it might have proved at a more favourable season. Mendicants Mendicants perfectly fwarm in the place, allured by the hope of alms from the piety of the pilgrims. The religious of the Terra Santa retain great power; and there is one manufacture that flourishes in the utmost vigour, namely, that of reliques, crucifixes inlaid with mother-of-pearl, chaplets, and the like. Yet the church of the Holy Sepulchre is fo much neglected, that the fnow fell into the middle; the beams, faid to be cedar, are falling, and the whole roof is in a ruinous ftate. The Armenian Convent is elegant, and fo extensive, as to prefent accommodation for no less than a thoufard pilgrims. During twelve or thirteen days, a very deep snow lay upon the ground. The Catholic Convent has a large fubterraneous ciftern, into which the fnow melting from the roof, and other parts, is conveyed, and fupplies the monks with water for a great portion of the year. The best view of JERUSALEM is from the Mount of Olives, on the eaft of the city. In front is the chief mofque, which contains, according to the tradition of the Mahomedans, the body of Solomon. From the fame Mount may be difcovered, in a clear day, the Dead Sea, nearly south-east, reflecting a whitish gleam. The intervening region appears very rocky. The Tombs of the Kings, fo denominated, are worthy of remark, being of Grecian fculpture, and on a hard rock. There are feveral ornaments on the farcophagi, of foliage and flowers, and each apartment is fecured with a maffive panneled door of ftone. Great ravages have been made here in fearch of treasure. Thefe tombs have, probably, been conftructed in the time of Herod and his fucceffars, kings of Judea. At about the diftance of two hours, or fix miles, ftands BETHLEHEM, in a country happy in foil, air, and water. The latter is conveyed in a low aqueduct, or stone channel, which formerly paffed to Jerufalem. The fons fignatus, is an exuberant fpring; it is re ceived fucceffively by three large cisterns, one of which is well preferved. In coming from the cifterns, and at a fmall distance, is feen what is termed the Delicia Solomonis, a beautiful rivulet, which flows murmuring down the valley, and waters in its courfe fome gardens of excellent foil. The brinks of this brook are adorned with a variety of herbage. Olives, vines, and fig-trees, flourish abundantly in the neighbourhood. The olive trees are daily decreafing in number, as they are facrificed to the perfonal enmities of the inhabitants, who meanly feek revenge by fawing down in the night thofe that belong to their adverfaries. As this tree is of flow growth it is feldom replaced. A more pleasing object arifes in the convent here, which contains under one roof the different tenets of Latins, Armenians, and Greeks. About the fame diftance from Jerufalem towards the wilderness, is the Convent of St. John, fituated in the midst of a romantic country, ftudded with vines and olive trees. In the village of St. John and its diftrict, the Mahomedans form the greater part of the population. The mode of agriculture here purfued may be worthy of obfervation. As the country abounds in abrupt inequalities, little walls are erected which fupport the foil and form narrow terraces. Small ploughs are used, drawn by oxen, and it requires no flight dexterity in the driver to turn his plough and avoid damaging the walls. The foil, thus fecured, is extremely favourable to cultivation. The breed of black cattle is, in general, diminutive. Horfes are few in number, and affes, refembling the European, are chiefly used for travelling. We may fafely estimate the prefent population of JERUSALEM, at from eighteen to twenty thousand. It is governed by an Aga, appointed by the Pafha of Damafcus; but he is allowed fo few troops, that ail Palestine may be regarded as in the power of the VOL. IX. C Arabs. Arabs. The Chriftian women, who abound in Jerufalem, wear white veils as a diftin&tion from the Ma homedan, who wear other colours. Arabic is the general language, except among the Armenians and Greeks. A WONDERFUL STORY FOR A WINTER'S EVENING. [From Plot's Hiftory of Oxfordshire.] SOON after the death of Charles I. a commiffion was appointed to furvey the King's Houfe at Woodstock, with the manor, park, woods, and other demefnes to that manor belonging; and one Collins hired himself under a feigned name as fecretary to the commiffioners, who, upon the 13th of October, 1649, met, and took up their refidence in the King's own rooms. His Majesty's bed-chamber they made their kitchen, the council hall their pantry, and the prefencechamber was the place where they fat for the difpatch of business. His Majesty's dining-room they made their wood-yard, and stored it with the wood of the famous Royal Oak, from the High Park, which, that nothing might be left with the name of King about it, they had dug up by the roots, and split and bundled up into faggots for their firing. Things being thus prepared, they fat on the 16th of the fame month for the dispatch of bufinefs, and, in the midst of their first debate, there entered a large black dog (as they thought) which made a dreadful howling, overturned two or three of their chairs, and then crept under a bed and vanished. This gave them the greater furprize, as the doors were kept conftantly locked, fo that no real dog could |