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manuscript was burnt along with all his library; but, in a spirit worthy of his author, the cheerful old man resumed his task, and, amidst gout and palsy, composed it all anew. After his death it was published, with its elaborate plates and widely collected information, in a folio so tall that a modern book-shelf can seldom find standing-room for a full-sized copy.

THE PATRIARCH AND THE POEM.

THREE THOUSAND YEARS AGO, in Arabia or some Eastern land, lived a prosperous chieftain. He was very rich. Not that he owned broad acres, nor counted over bags of money like a modern millionnaire; but in the direct and simple fashion of those early days he possessed an ample property. Το till the fields he kept five hundred yoke of oxen, and in his flocks his shepherds numbered seven thousand sheep. He must have also carried on an extensive traffic, probably with Egypt, or the shores of the Persian Gulf, as he boasted no fewer than three thousand of those "ships of the desert," the camel. Nor would it be easy to estimate the host of retainers needed to conduct those camels, to tend those flocks, to plough those fields. But with all his wonderful wealth and power, Joв was an upright and Godfearing man. Of his large capital, he took no advantage to drive hard bargains; by no consciousness of strength was he tempted to deeds of despotism. Alike just and generous, his hired labourers he paid with a cheerful promptitude; the orphans and widows, the blind and lame, found in him a father; and the fame of his virtues filled an admiring neighbourhood. To crown the whole, he was blessed with an affectionate and well-doing family. Although some of them had settled in life, and had houses of their own, his seven sons and three daughters had not lost their love for one

another. They made a point of meeting from time to time; and whether it were a birth-day or other anniversary which brought them together, they anticipated with affectionate eagerness the return of each family festival. These joyful gatherings were graced by the presence of the patriarch himself, who on the morrow after the banquet was wont to convene his numerous household, and round the family altar, and over the blood of victims correspondingly numerous, entreated the pardon of his children's sin, if, haply, excitement had risen to excess, or mirth had been betrayed into impiety. And then, direct from that altar,-with the exhortations, the prayers, and the blessing of a father still sounding in their ears, in the peace of atonement, and the sweet sense of God's favour, the sons and daughters sought their several dwellings. No wonder that, thus prosperous and flourishing, with the dew on his branch, and his root beside the waters,—the happy sire exclaimed, “I shall die in my nest: I shall multiply my days as the sand."

But the same Evil Eye which was pained by the sight of Eden, was disturbed at the smiling aspect of Uz, and longed to turn it into misery. The unexpected opportunity was at last afforded. There was an assembly of angelic beings,-one of those reviews or intermediate days of judgment on which it would seem as if the Supreme Governor took account of his ministers, whether still obedient or revolted; and, as Satan presented himself, Jehovah demanded," Whence comest thou?” The answer being, that he had just completed a tour of the earth, Jehovah inquired,-" Hast thou considered my servant Job?" giving him as an instance of a genuine saint in a world where Satan had done his utmost to extirpate piety. But Satan is the great sceptic. Since his own fall, and since the overthrow of our first parents, he has no faith in goodness. Yes, he had considered Job, and was far from thinking him invulnerable. him round so that one dare not touch him. sions with which Thou hast rewarded his piety and bribed his devotion, and he will CURSE THEE to thy face.' The taunt was uttered in the presence of the sons of God,-those bright spirits whose associate Satan once had

True, Thou hast fenced But strip him of those posses

been, and whose loyalty he did not yet despair of shaking. It was equivalent to saying that all piety is selfishness, and that the holiest man on earth is no better than a hypocrite; and it was a foul insinuation against that second Adam, in whose strength all genuine goodness stands, of whose Spirit all the piety on earth is the immediate emanation. "Put forth thine hand, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face." No, God would not do it; but he would let Satan do it. He would let Satan do it himself; and then there could be no cavil about the fairness of the experiment, and the completeness of the trial. "Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand."

The air is still. In yonder ship the sails droop idly from the glowing yards, and in the shadow the sailors sleep. And here ashore, beneath the downright noon, all life is in a tranquil sleep-a drowse of happiness. And as from under the blossomed alcove the day-dreamer gazes on the smokeless city and the speckless sky, he can hardly hear a sound through all the Sabbath of that hushed and peaceful hour :—when suddenly a hollow rumble passes up into a rapid crash; and as out yonder on the bay the ship trembles, totters, founders, and the mountain billow bursts and sends far into the fields its weltering avalanche,—amidst jangling bells and toppling houses, through the rocky jaws of the yawning earth, a shuddering shrieking city drops down and disappears; and as he speeds to his own cottage, a spirt of blood through the collapsing crevice, a dove fluttering over the spot where her brood was this instant swallowed up, are all to show that here the previous moment his roof-tree stood:-Like such an earthquake at summer's prime,—like a flash of lightning from an azure firmament,—came the Patriarch's calamities.

It was one of those family festivals, and the banquet was given in the elder brother's house. The father himself had not gone to it, but he was looking forward to the morrow when he would meet his children at the stated hour of worship. But being the busy season of spring, his oversight and orders were probably wanted in the field; and as the good man was going about his avocations, in the sober certainty of happiness, and amidst

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