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. will now pity thee with kindness. Come, my beloved, to meet the bride. 66 Shake off the dust, arise, O my people! and adorn thyself with thy beautiful attire; for by the hand of Jesse the Bethlehemite redemption draweth nigh to my soul. Come, my beloved, to meet the bride. "Rouse thyself; rouse thyself; Arise, shine, for thy light is come. Awake, awake, utter a song; for the glory of the Lord is revealed upon thee. Come my beloved, to meet the bride. "Be not ashamed, neither be thou confounded. O Jerusalem, why art thou cast down? why art thou disquieted? In thee the poor of my people shall take refuge, and the city shall be built on her own heap. Come, my beloved, to meet the bride. 66 They who spoil thee shall become a spoil; and they that swallow thee up shall be removed far away; thy God will rejoice in thee as the bridegroom rejoiceth in the bride. Come, my beloved, to meet the bride. "On the right and on the left wilt thou be extended, and the Eternal wilt thou revere; through the means of a man, the descendant of Pharez, will we rejoice and be glad. Come, my beloved, to meet the bride. "O come in peace, thou crown of thy Husband; also with joy and mirth, in the midst of the faithful and beloved people. Enter O bride. Enter O bride! Come, my beloved, to meet the bride."* Deep was the heart-breathed melody of the two voices that with rapid, yet most clear and emphatic * Daily Prayers of the German and Portuguese Jews, p. 58. JULY, 1842. C utterance chaunted forth these glowing aspirations, their countenances lighted up by the lofty theme, and the beloved City full before them. In heart and soul, though not audibly, their Gentile friends accompanied the song; and even Charley was able to do so for he had many and many a time read it to his mamma in English, and she to him in Hebrew. As the last rich tone died away, they were close to the walls of the city; and at that moment appeared on the platform of a lofty minaret, a Muezzim, who proclaimed in the usual loud shrill voice of his office, "There is but one God, and Mahomet is his prophet." The words were Arabic: with what a sickening effect they fell on the ears of those travellers may be imagined. The colour mounted high in Captain Ryan's face, while Da Costa's became livid; and his countenance assumed an expression of which it had scarcely seemed capable before. The ghastly blue of his lips as they parted upon his clenched teeth, the fierce scowl that overhung his upturned eye, were absolutely terrific; but this was momentary, and it gave place to expression of the bitterest sorrow. Alick's look, on the contrary, was one of such undisguised menace that it alarmed the Armenian, who rode near him, and induced a whisper of caution, which would have been little heeded had not Captain Ryan enforced it for Charley's sake. The boy had never withdrawn his gaze from the city walls, except to turn it for a moment on his friend, who possessed in an eminent degree that general gift of his people, a rich melodious voice. They were now close to the gate, and with wondering awestruck eye the child looked up to the summit of the square tower of which it forms a part. The im posing effect of those stern-looking walls and embattled turrets seemed to overcome not only him but his mother; and Alick, as he proudly measured with his eye the height of the barriers, seemed to forget the preceding moment's annoyance. He was not prepared to see in his desolate Zion such massive fortifications, so many munitions of war. His imagination had rather pictured the half-built walls on which, in the derisive language of Nehemiah's opposers, if a fox but went up, he should break it; and those martial ramparts, as they towered high above his head, awoke within his bosom a response characteristic of the naturally impetuous and fiery youth. That innate sense of actual right and proprietorship with which the Jew looks upon every stone, not only of the city but of the whole land, filled his mind, and the feeling was as though he were about to demand from the paynim usurper a surrender of that to which he himself could advance an indisputable title; and to compel the other Gentile strangers,-in practice farther removed from scriptural customs than the Moslem himself, though professing to hold the only true faith-to evacuate that hallowed spot, doubly polluted by their idolatries. C. E. THE RETURN OF SPRING IN A FOREIGN LAND. THE thoughts of other days come with the breeze of spring, Our first, our earliest hours, ere wandering Far from our home, we felt the joys that came With each fresh season-oh, that time doth claim More of fond recollection than my words could paint: Days of sweet communing without restraint With nature's varied beauties; on the hill We loved the best,-and memory loves it still- Oh, not one sight of beauty e'er hath met "T'were long to tell," but sure, not "sad to trace" All that befel in that sweet Isle of grace, |