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of whom we did not see, he being on an excursion in the neighbourhood. In Jerusalem, they have no religious house; but their Syro-Catholic Pilgrims go to the Latin Convent. In Caïro, they have one Syrian Establishment; a merchant's house, I understood him to mean.

The upper part of this Convent was built about forty years ago, and appears substantial: there is a considerable building some few yards detached from it, lower down the hill, (for it is all built on the side of a steep acclivity,) of the date of only ten years; but likely to be unserviceable, unless great expense is laid out upon it; the roof being broken in some material parts. In this second building, we were informed, lies the Printing Press, with the other materials brought from London and Paris.

CONVENT OF YBZUMAR.

We proceeded, by a rough and hot road, to the Convent of Ybzumâr. This is the residence of the Catholic-Armenian Patriarch, and is a noble establishment. We were courteously received by the Patriarch, in the large Divan; a more spacious and well-furnished room than any I have yet seen in Syria. The Convent has been built twenty-eight years in summer, it must be delightfully cool; but, standing on so high an eminence, it is visited in winter by tremendous thunder storms, and enveloped in thick and cold mists. The wall at the end of this Hall in which we are sitting, bears witness, by a large fissure in it, to the alarms which they must suffer during the mountain-storms; and they have not yet procured a lightning-conductor: they asked us questions on this subject; and seemed chiefly influenced

by the fear, that, if such an apparatus were not placed properly, it might do them harm instead of good, by attracting the electric fluid. Many smatterers in philosophy visit Syria, but they have no confidence in them. We recommended them, for the safety of a building on which so much money has been expended, to send at once for a skilful man from England. The Armenians are not a race of men fearful of expense; being rich, and closely connected with one another in whatever part of the world they are to be found.

The Patriarch has been seven years-and-a-half in his office. We were presently joined by one of two Bishops, now residing in the Convent; and by another Ecclesiastic, whose name I regret not to have noted down, a very lively and intelligent man of about thirty-eight years of age, aspirant to a Bishopric, and not unlikely to be promoted. The Patriarch speaks a very little Italian; but the other two speak it well. The Bishop is of Aleppo, but has been passing much of his time here; and blessed himself that he was not in that city at the time of the dreadful earthquake.

Mr. Fisk had made a contract for the sale of a large number of Armenian New-Testaments, which he brought with him. Of these, they greatly preferred the Venice Edition, to that printed in Russia.

As noon drew on, the table was spread for dinner. We dined alone with the Patriarch, and were certainly never better treated than here. He seemed to take a particular pleasure in giving us proofs of the excellence of his vintage, ordering different kinds of wine to be brought in succession; so that it became necessary for us to have a strict eye to the proper

limits on such an occasion. After dinner, he took his repose and I also was obliged to lie down, being much fatigued with the morning's ride; but could take no rest, my mind being filled with the scene around me. In the mean time, Mr. Fisk, surrounded by the Young Men, produced his Armenian stores, the whole of which were purchased by them. The room in which I lay down belonged to one of the Students, a hopeful bright youth, who speaks Italian well, and who seemed gratified in shewing me attention. His little library was select, containing Armenian and Italian books; and, no doubt, he has an ambition to be useful. It is impossible not to desire that such an ambition may receive a right direction; but, for this end, a purer knowledge of Truth, than we find in these regions, is wanted and, indeed, the ambition itself needs to be supplanted, by a higher motive than, we fear, exists in the generality of these Students. After halfan-hour, I joined the company, who were all, under the direction of the Ecclesiastic above mentioned, making their purchases. They soon after dispersed; and the Ecclesiastic proceeded to take us over the Establishment.

The Church is, after their manner, heavily splendid. In their dining-hall is a pulpit, from which a portion of some book is read, while the rest are dining. But that which most surprised me, was the number of rooms for the accommodation of Pupils we were told that there are about seventy. The Pupils, at present, are very few in number; about twelve: they do not average more than twenty sometimes they are as few as four or five. I do not well know how to account for such vari

ations, unless it be because there are two other Catholic-Armenian Convents not far distant, at Kraïm and Beit Hashbo. This Ecclesiastic informs us that the Youths are not required to be Priests: consequently, this may be regarded as, in some degree, a school for their Merchants' Children; and these Merchants, moving about in the extensive regions of the East, or residing for uncertain periods in the cities more or less near-as Constantinople, Smyrna, Erzroum-may send their children more or less regularly to this and similar Colleges. The Course of Education throws some light on the snbject. Our conductor informed us, that, on their plan, it would require ten years to be well educated; for the complete course is to learn Ancient Armenian, Arabic, a little Philosophy, and various European Languages. He is, himself, Preceptor; and is versed in these acquirements. Considering the low standard of the education of the Clergy generally in the East-exception being made in favour of a few individuals among them, who have aspired to considerable attainments-this Course of Education manifestly declares itself to have been adopted for those, who are designed to be men of the world. The Armenians are, in fact, an industrious, ingenious, persevering race; not at all, I have been told, addicted to war, but to civil pursuits: especially as Bankers, in which character they rival the Jews.

DISCUSSION WITH AN ARMENIAN ECCLESIASTIC.

After going over the whole building, we were invited to visit an aged Priest who occupies an apartment here. In former times, he has visited Rome frequently. He considers himself in the light

of a British Subject; having made himself, at one time, useful to Sir Sidney Smith.

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We had here a very long conversation, on various. points concerning the State of Religion in the East, and the opinions of the Western Churches. The Armenian Ecclesiastic took the chief part in it, the other Priest being very infirm. Particularly he defended the question of the Monastic Vows. I urged that there was no sufficient reason for them; and that they were contrary to nature and the design of Scripture: particularly I pressed the extreme improbability that the young men should be able to know themselves sufficiently, when they make the vow of celibacy. "To this end,” he said, “ surely in a probation of two years, kept under strict rule, they would be able to judge of their ability to continue in the observance of that rule." "Far from it," I said: "their nature is not developed in so short a space of time; the extraneous restraints, under which they are placed, may give them an artificial opinion of themselves and of the world; and, when they come into real life and its snares, two years' probation will be found to have done very little for them. And for what object, which could not as well be attained by them as married men?" He turned to St. Paul's argument in 1 Cor. vii.; in discussing which, we pointed out the consideration that the Apostle's view applied more particularly to times of persecution and distress, when the office of preaching the Gospel might be embarrassed by the Preachers' having families; as well as the Converts themselves hindered, by the same circumstance, in their flight from the persecutor. We'then asked, how far this applied to their case: he would have evaded the

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