the sceptre Solomon antiquely wielded within his cedar palaces.

"That sceptre must he gain. This fragile youth, untried and delicate, unknowing in the ways of this strange world, where every step is danger. How much hardship, how much peril, what withering disappointment, what dull care, what long despondency, what never-ending lures, now lie in ambush for this gentle boy! O! my countrymen, is this thy hope? And I, with all my lore, and all my courage, and all my deep intelligence of man; unhappy Israel, why am I not thy prince?

"I check the blasphemous thought. Did not his great ancestor, as young and as untried, a beardless stripling, but with a pebble, a small, smooth stone, level a mailed giant to the ground, and save his people?

He is clearly summoned. The Lord is with him. Be he with the Lord, and we shall prosper."

IV.

It was sunset, on the third day after the arrival of Alroy at the cave of the cabalist, that the prince of the captivity commenced his pilgrimage in quest of the sceptre of Solomon.

Silently the pilgrim and his master took their way to the brink of the ravine, and there they stopped to part-perhaps for ever.

"It is a bitter moment, Alroy. Human feelings are not for beings like us, yet they will have their way. Remember, remember all. Cherish the talisman as thy life-nay! welcome death with it pressing against thy heart, sooner than breathe without

it. Be firm, be pious. Think of thy ancestors, think of thy God."

"Doubt me not, dear master; if I seem not full of that proud spirit, which was perhaps too much my wont, ascribe it not to fear, Jabaster, nor even to the pain of leaving thee, dear friend. But ever since that sweet and solemn voice summoned me so thrillingly, I know not how it is, but a change has come over my temper; yet I am firm, oh! firmer far than when I struck down the Ishmaelite. Indeed, indeed, fear not for me. The Lord, that knoweth all things, knows full well I am prepared even to the death. Thy prayers, Jabaster, and-" "Stop, stop. I do remember me. See this ring: 'tis a choice emerald. Thou mayst have wondered I should wear a bauble. Alroy, I had a brother once: still he may live. When we parted, this was the signal of his love: a love, my child, strong, though we greatly differed. Take it. The hour may come that thou mayst need his aid.

It will command it. If he live, he prospers. I know his temper well. He was made for what the worldly deem prosperity. God be with thee, sacred boy: the God of our great fathers-the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob."

They embraced.

"We linger," exclaimed the cabalist, "we linger. Oh! in vain we quell the feelings of our kind. God, God, bless and be with thee. Art sure hast all? thy dagger and thy wallet? That staff has seen some service. I cut it on the Jordan. Ah! that I could be thy mate! 'Twould be nothing then. At the worst, to die together. Such a fate seems sweeter now than parting. I'll watch thy star, my child. Thou weepest! And I too. Why! what is this? Am I indeed Jabaster? One more embrace, and so-we'll not say farewell, but only think it."

PART IV.

I.

TRADITION delivered that the sceptre of Solomon could be found only in the unknown sepulchres of the ancient Hebrew monarchs, and that none might dare to touch it but one of their descendants. Armed with the cabalistic talisman, which was to guide him in his awful and difficult researches, Alroy commenced his pilgrimage to the Holy City. At this time, the love of these sacred wanderings was a reigning passion among the Jews, as well as Christians.

The prince of the captivity was to direct his course into the heart of those great deserts which, in his flight from Hamadan, he had only skirted. Following the track of the caravan, he was to make his way to Babylon, or Bagdad. From the capital of the caliphs, his journey to Jerusalem was one comparatively easy; but to reach Bagdad he mus encounter hardship and danger, the prospect o which would have divested any one of hope, who did not conceive himself the object of an omnipo tent and particular Providence.

Clothed only in a coarse black frock, commo among the Kourds, girded round his centre by

cord which held his dagger, his head shaven, and covered with a large white turban, which screened him from the heat, his feet protected only by slippers, supported by his staff, and bearing on his shoulders a bag of dried meat and parched corn, and a leathern skin of water, behold a youth toiling over the glowing sands of Persia, whose life had hitherto been a long unbroken dream of domestic luxury and innocent indulgence.

He travelled during the warm night, or the early starlit morn. During the day he rested: happy if he could recline by the side of some charitable well, shaded by a palm tree, or frighten a gazelle from its resting-place among the rough bushes of some wild rocks. Were these resources wanting, he threw himself upon the sand, and made an awning with his staff and turban.

A

Three weeks had elapsed since he quitted the cavern of the cabalist. Hitherto he had met with no human being. The desert became less arid. scanty vegetation sprang up from a more genial soil, the ground broke into gentle undulations, his senses were invigorated with the odour of wild plants, and his sight refreshed by the glancing form of some wandering bird, a pilgrim like himself, but

more at ease.

Soon sprang up a grove of graceful palm trees, with their tall thin stems, and bending feathery crowns, languid and beautiful. Around, the verdant sod gleamed like an emerald: silver streams, flowing from a bubbling parent spring, wound their white forms within the bright green turf. From the grove arose the softening song of doves, and showers of gay and sparkling butterflies, borne on their tinted wings of shifting light, danced withbut danger in the liquid air. A fair and fresh Dasis!

II.

Alroy reposed in this delicious retreat for two days, feeding on the living dates, and drinking of the fresh water. Fain would he have lingered, nor indeed until he rested, had he been sufficiently conscious of his previous exertion. But the remembrance of his great mission made him restless, and steeled him to the suffering which yet awaited

him.

At the dawn of the second day of his journey from the Oasis, he beheld, to his astonishment, faintly but distinctly traced on the far horizon, the walls and turrets of an extensive city(13). Animated by this unexpected prospect, he continued his progress for several hours after sunrise. At length, utterly exhausted, he sought refuge from the overpowering heat beneath the cupola of the ruined tomb of some Moslemin saint. At sunset he continued his journey, and in the morning found himself within a few miles of the city. He halted and watched with anxiety for some evidence of its inhabitants. None was visible. No crowds or cavalcades issued from the gates. Not a single human being, not a solitary camel moved in the vicinity.

The day was too advanced for the pilgrim to proceed, but so great was his anxiety to reach this unknown settlement, and penetrate the mys tery of its silence, that ere sunset Alroy entered the gates.

A magnificent city, of an architecture with which he was unacquainted, offered to his entranced vi sion its gorgeous ruins and deserted splendour; long streets of palaces, with their rich line of lessen