nd
screaming as if they were possessed.

Altogether it was a scene of disorder and profanation which it is
impossible to describe. In consequence of the multitude of people and
the quantities of lamps, the heat was excessive, and a steam arose
which prevented your seeing clearly across the church. But every window
and cornice, and every place where a man's foot could rest, excepting
the gallery--which was reserved for Ibrahim Pasha and
ourselves--appeared to be crammed with people; for 17,000 pilgrims were
said to be in Jerusalem, almost the whole of whom had come to the Holy
City for no other reason than to see the sacred fire.

After the noise, heat, and uproar which I had witnessed from the gallery
that overlooked the Holy Sepulchre, the contrast of the calmness and
quiet of my room in the Franciscan convent was very pleasing. The room
had a small window which opened upon the Latin choir, where, in the
evening, the monks chanted the litany of the Virgin: their fine voices
and the beautiful simplicity of the ancient chant made a strong
impression upon my mind; the orderly solemnity of the Roman Catholic
vespers showing to great advantage when compared with the screams and
tumult of the fanatic Greeks.

[Illustration: LITANY OF THE VIRGIN

Sung by the Friars of St. Salvador at Jerusalem.

Sanc--ta Mat--er Do--mi--ni-- O--ra
pro no--bis. Sanc--ta De--i
Ge--ni--trix-- O--ra pro no--bis.

Sancta Maria--Ora pro nobis.
Sancta Virgo Virginum--Ora pro nobis.
Impeatrix Reginarum--Ora pro nobis.
Laus sanctarum animarum--Ora pro nobis
Vera salutrix earum--Ora pro nobis.

The next morning a way was made through the crowd for Ibrahim Pasha, by
the soldiers with the butt-ends of their muskets, and by the Janissaries
with their kourbatches and whips made of a quantity of small rope. The
Pasha sat in the gallery, on a divan which the monks had made for him
between the two columns nearest to the Greek chapel. They had got up a
sort of procession to do him honour, the appearance of which did not add
to the solemnity of the scene: three monks playing crazy fiddles led the
way, then came the choristers with lighted candles, next two Nizam
soldiers with muskets and fixed bayonets; a number of doctors,
instructors, and officers tumbling over each other's heels, brought up
the rear: he was received by the women, of whom there were thousands in
the church, with a very peculiar shrill cry, which had