ISAAC BLESSING ESAU.

No sooner had Jacob received the prophetic blessing which transferred to him the inheritance and privileges of the first-born, than Esau returned from the chase and prepared the venison as his father had commanded. The birthright which Esau had sold consisted in a double portion of the paternal estate, together with those immunities which especially belonged to the eldest son, but did not include the land of Canaan-that expected possession to which the family looked forward at some distant time as the scene of God's most merciful dispensation, when "life and immortality would be brought to light," "through the dying of the Lord Jesus." When Esau, unconscious of what had previously taken place, entered his father's presence to have that portion of the inheritance which he had not disposed of confirmed to him and his posterity in perpetuity, he was roused to the most painful excitement upon discovering how disin genuously he had been supplanted by his younger brother. As soon as he became aware of Jacob's treachery, he threw himself at his father's feet, exclaiming, in an agony of disappointment and distress, "Hast thou but one blessing, my father? bless me, even me also, O my father. And Esau lifted up his voice, and wept."* The artist has endeavoured to represent this action. The bereaved son appears on his knees at the foot of his father's couch in a posture of vehement supplication. The aged patriarch has just raised himself from his pillow on ascertaining the deceit which had been practised upon him by his younger son; there is, however, a visible resignation to that immutable will which never traverses human designs but for human benefit. The savoury meat which Esau had prepared is seen smoking upon a table beside the couch. Jacob and Rebekah are listening at the tent door with an expression of anxious apprehension; the mother instructing her favourite how he should elude the hostility of his injured brother.