that in a few minutes the Holy City would be within view.

The movement occasioned by this announcement did not escape Charley; he asked the cause, and being told-for his parents never deceived him in any matter, he cried out, 'Now, Papa! now take me upon your horse!'

Captain Ryan looked alarmed; and whispered to Da Costa, 'impossible!'

But Charley again called out, 'Papa! you promised.'

Again Captain Ryan looked at his friend, who said, after calling for a halt, You cannot do it with safety, but I can. My horse's pace is very easy and smooth; he knows every foot of this particular road; I feel it is asking a good deal to ask you to give up to me so precious a (charge; but I will be most careful, indeed I will: he must not be agitated by a denial; and I wish so much to have the privilege, for I love that boy dearly, dearly!-And this is Jerusalem-and I am a Jew.'

Captain Ryan had never seen this accomplished man of the world so agitated by unrestrained emotion he felt it, and taking Charley out of his little crib, without a word spoken, he folded a shawl about him, and placed him in the arms of Da Costa, whose look of gratitude and delight overpaid even that sacrifice.

'Have I done right, love?' whispered the father, as he turned a glistening eye on his wife, by whose side he again stationed himself.

'Always, always right, my beloved!' she answered, and in this instance my heart especially goes along with yours. I cannot tell you how stilled I

feel just now: murmuring seems hushed, self almost annihilated. Can it be that we are indeed about to look upon the city of our God-the very scene of HIS sufferings, who by those sufferings ransomed us from the power of the grave? Who has by those sufferings opened the gate of heaven, and now stands ready to receive the happy spirit of that' she could not

proceed.

'It is even so,' replied her husband: and oh, let all selfish emotions be swallowed up in the glorious prospect of Zion's welcome to her returning King.'

Meanwhile, Charley was placed most carefully and tenderly by Da Costa almost within the folds of his robe which he loosened for the purpose, this little boy's head nestled on his bosom, with the face literally set Zionward; and so cradled in the arm of his friend as to be almost independent of the saddle's support. He was exceedingly weak, like an infant, but just then quite free from fever, though breathless with eager expectation. Da Costa kissed his damp forehead, and asked if he were comfortable. Charley raised his eyes; he evidently did not till that moment know who held him, and fixing on him a look full of love and gladness, replied by ejaculating, ' you darlint of a Jew!'

But where was Alick? some paces removed from the rest, absorbed in thoughts and feelings that rendered all which passed around him a mere dream. Every object within his view seemed gifted with a voice to address him in language at once tender, upbraiding, and encouraging. He could not disconnect from them the idea of Him whom he was at one moment disposed to worship as the incarnate God, at another to shun as tempting him into idolatrous

sin: He breathed, in a low voice, the irreversible declaration of the Most High, so dearly cherished by his people, "Hear, O Israel! the Lord thy God is a Unity;" and again he seemed to hear Jesus of Nazareth responding "I and my Father are One." When the rest halted, he did the same, mechanically; and when the word was again given to move on, he also obeyed; but in the intenseness of that internal struggle, even Charley's transfer was unnoticed.

Slowly, and in deep silence, the party now proceeded to ascend a rise in the road; and ere many minutes had elapsed, the guides uttered in different languages the same name, and turning their horses aside, allowed the travellers to advance. There stretched in long, unequal line, rose in the distance before them the solid wall of the city; with here and there a round dome peering above its stern outline, or a slender minaret reared its more light and lofty form. There was no moving thing at that moment within view they might have been the only breathing creatures on earth's surface for aught they could see or hear of animated life; and this, joined with the tomb-like aspect of the spot before them, added greatly to the solemnity of the moment. Captain Ryan impulsively uncovered his head; his wife, placing her hand on his arm, leaned tremblingly, and burst into tears. Alick, wholly incapable of longer control, dismounted, and pressed his lips to the ground; while Da Costa, after casting towards him one look of sympathy, raised little Charley's hand in his, and pointed it towards the holy city, at the same time almost dreading the excitement might extinguish the feeble remains of life in his little frame.

But it was far otherwise: no sooner had the boy's

eye caught the precious object than he passed as it were into a new state of existence. He cried out "Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion, the city of the living God!" Then clapping his hands, he shouted, Jerusalem! Je rusalem! I see Jerusalem. Papa, mamma, there's Jerusalem; don't you see Jerusalem? Oh, now say the verses Papa, do, do! "The glorious day."'

Captain Ryan was instantly by his side, and catching the flash of the child's enthusiasm, he repeated, with all the ardour of a thoroughly excited Irishman, those beautiful lines,

But who shall see the glorious day,
When, throned on Zion's brow,
The Lord shall rend that veil away
Which blinds the nations now?
When earth no more beneath the fear
Of his rebuke shall lie;

When pain shall cease, and every tear
Be wiped from every eye?

Then, JUDAH! thou no more shalt mourn
Beneath the heathen's chain;

Thy days of splendour shall return,

And all be new again :

The fount of life shall then be quaffed

In peace by all who come,

And every wind that blows shall waft
Some long-lost exile home!

Da Costa listened to these lines; then, raising high his arm, he uttered a prayer of monthly observance in the synagogues, and his voice sounded far over the rocky plain on which they had halted:

"Comfort, O Lord our God! the mourners of Zion, and the mourners of Jerusalem, the city that mourns, which also lays waste and is destroyed; reproached and desolate; who mourns for the sake of

her children, that is solitary for her inhabitants, robbed of her honour, desolate without the inhabitants of her dwellers; with her head ashamed, like unto a barren woman that beareth not. She is overwhelmed with sorrow, because her inheritors are worshippers of images, who smote thy people Israel with the sword, and slew wilfully the saints of the Most High. Therefore Zion with bitterness weepeth, and Jerusalem lifteth up her voice. O, my heart! my heart grieveth for those that were slain; O, my bowels! my bowels for those that were killed; for thou, O Lord, with fire hath consumed it, and with fire thou wilt again rebuild it; as it is written, For I, saith the Lord, will be to her a wall of fire round about it, and will be the glory in the midst of her. Blessed art thou, O Lord! the Comforter of Zion, and the Builder of Jerusalem!" Alick, who had risen and stood to join in this prayer, now loudly and fervently ejaculated with him the response :

"Blessed art thou, O Lord; who rebuildest Jerusalem!" *

They went on their way, and they went with songs of praise and of supplication, for Captain Ryan joined the two Hebrews in chaunting, in their own sublime language, some of the Psalms so dear to them, constantly used in the Sabbath service, from the 95th to the 100th. And then, as they approached closer to the walls, Da Costa and Alick burst forth again into another of their sacred chaunts.

66

"O thou sanctuary of the King! O Royal City! Arise, and come forth from thy subversion; thou hast dwelt long enough in the abode of calamity, for he

* Daily Prayers of the German and Portuguese Jews, p. 33.