the House of the Prince is a Coptic convent, built upon a part of the land formerly occupied by the Canons of the Holy Sepulchre; its chapel is worth a visit; it is of the twelfth century, and no doubt was originally either the refectory or the dormitory of the ecclesiastics. From the interior of this convent the open court in front of the Church of the Resurrection can be reached, by passing through a chapel at its north-west corner. Returning through the entrance gate into the street (which I call Prince's Street) we come to the so-called cistern of S. Helena, on the left hand. We enter a chamber serving as a refuge to some poor Abyssinian families; the inner walls are ancient, together with the small doorway on the north, by which we begin to descend a dark and most ruinous staircase, that 'craves wary walking;' however, after going down thirty very awkward steps, we enter the vault, and the staircase at once becomes perfectly regular, so much so as to appear more like the way into a comfortable house than into a cistern; for each step is 5 feet long, 1-1/2 wide, and about 8 inches deep. The staircase (including its vaulted roof) and the whole reservoir are excavated in the rock. The latter is about 86 feet long, 72 wide, and 52 high. I was able to examine it thoroughly in September, 1858, when it was dry. Holes are made in the vaulted roof and walls, through which it is supplied by rain-water from the terrace-roofs of the neighbouring houses and from the street to the north. This I ascertained by descending into it during a time of heavy rain. There are some small openings on the south-east to carry off superfluous water. The construction of this is attributed to S. Helena (like everything else in Palestine); but its magnitude induces me to consider it Jewish work of an earlier period. Besides, what motive could she have had for making it? It could not be for want of a reservoir; there were plenty of them at Jerusalem then as now; and it is not likely that she would have wasted money to no purpose, when there were so many works of benevolence and greater utility, on which she knew well how to spend it.