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the occasion of this murderous decree. His enemy seemed about to triumph, not only over him, but also in cutting off his whole race-scorning to let his vengeance fall on him alone. As it was with Moses, so it was with him-what he had done for the deliverance of his people, was at first turned to their disadvantage. I fancy, as indeed the second Targum expressly says, I hear him crying aloud through the streets, saying: "A people is going to be destroyed, who have done no evil. What a heavy decree is this which the king and Haman have passed, not against a part of us, but against us all; to root us out of the earth." And the Jews hearing him uttering such a complaint, gathered about him, and he having caused the book of the law to be brought to the gate of the city, and being covered with sackcloth, read Deut. iv: 30, 31. "When thou art in tribulation and all these things are come upon thee in the latter days, if thou turn to the Lord thy God, and shalt be obedient to his voice, for the Lord thy God is a merciful God, he will not forsake thee, nor destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers, which he swore unto them." And then he exhorted them to fasting, humiliation, prayer and repentance, after the example of the Ninevites. In the apocryphal Esther, we have a copy of the prayer which Mordecai is said to have used on this occasion, and at the time of the general fast. It is in the words following:

O LORD, LORD, the King Almighty, for the whole world is in thy power, and if thou hast appointed to save Israel, there is no man that can gainsay thee; for thou hast made heaven and earth and all the wondrous things under the heaven. Thou art LORD of all things, and there is no man that can resist thee, which art the

LORD. Thou knowest all things, and thou knowest, LORD, that it was neither in contempt nor pride, nor for any desire of glory, that I did not bow down to proud Haman. For I could have been content, with good will, for the salvation of Israel to kiss the soles of his feet. But I did this that I might not prefer the glory of man to the glory of GOD; neither will I worship any but thee, O GOD. Neither will I do it in pride. And now, O LORD GOD, and King, spare thy people, for their eyes are upon us to bring us to nought; yea, they desire to destroy the inheritance that hath been thine from the beginning. Despise not the portion which thou hast delivered out of Egypt for thine own self. Hear my prayer and be merciful unto thine inheritance; turn our sorrow into joy, that we may live, O Lord, and praise thy name, and destroy not the mouths of them that praise thee, O LORD. All Israel in like manner cried most earnestly unto the LORD, because their death was before their eyes.

But perhaps you are indignant at his useless wailing. in the streets, and praying in the synagogue, and say, why does he not go at once and tell the queen? But can every porter rush into Buckingham palace and speak to her Majesty? Is every one that comes, admitted to the presence of the Empress Eugenie? In Persia it was a crime even to inquire what was done in the harem. And except on some very important business, even the guard never speak to any one outside, or convey any intelligence, either out or in. Mordecai, then, did not go to the queen for the very best of reasons. He could not. You must remember that the inmates of an oriental harem have their apartments altogether separate, and that they are guarded by a body of black eunuchs, who are as fierce, sullen, and silent, as so many black dragons. No one, upon pain

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of death, from without, is allowed to speak to any one within the harem. Though the queen was his cousin, Mordecai could have no communication with her, except through the guard. Even when he discovered the conspiracy, he was obliged to use one of the eunuchs as his agent of communication with her. Any one who has ever seen the guards of the seraglio of Constantinople, is ready, I am sure, to conclude that it were as easy to converse with so many dragons-and that one might as well undertake to tear out their hearts, as to get a syllable from them of the secrets that are within the walls and gates of the harem-regions so sacred and so secluded, that they seem to belong to another world. To understand this history, therefore, it is necessary for you to divest yourself of our republican ideas of freedom of access to high personages. And this explains why Mordecai walked, as in a preceding chapter, every day before the court of the women's house. This was the only way he had to gain any intelligence from within. So here, instead of going to the queen, he goes into the streets, and cries with a loud and bitter cry, and came even before the king's gate. His object, no doubt, was to arouse his people to an apprehension of their danger, and to attract the attention of some one from the queen's apartments of the palace, through whom a communication might be opened up with her. For a time, the queen knows nothing of the decree, nor of Mordecai's lamentations. But at last, "Esther's maids and her chamberlains came and told it her. Then was the queen exceedingly grieved; and she sent raiment to clothe Mordecai, and to take away his sackcloth from him: but he received it not. Then called Esther for

Hatach, one of the king's chamberlains, whom he had appointed to attend upon her, and gave him a commandment to Mordecai, to know what it was, and why it was. So Hatach went forth to Mordecai, unto the street of the city, which was before the king's gate." The queen's crown, though sparkling with jewels, was now as heavy as lead on her head, because of Mordecai's sackcloth and ashes. It is true friendship always to feel the condition of those whom we love. The queen seems at first to have supposed that Mordecai had been robbed of his clothing, and was in want. She therefore sent raiment to him, and was exceedingly grieved on his account; but he received it not. Then she sent again her most confidential servant, to know what was the matter. And now Mordecai tells him of the murderous decree of Haman, and commands him to show it unto Esther, and to declare it unto her, and to charge her that she should go into the king, to make supplication unto him, and to make request before him for her people. And Hatach came and told Esther the words of Mordecai. See verse 7, 8, 9. In the Greek, it is added, that in sending this message to the queen, Mordecai said also: "Remember your low estate, and how I carried you in my arms, and how I have nourished you; and that Haman who is next to the king, has gotten a decree for our destruction. Pray, therefore, to the Lord; and plead with the king, that we may be delivered from death." This is all good sense, and as far as we know, historically true, but there is not a word of it in the original text, nor in the Syriac or Vulgate.

The queen's reply to Mordecai through Hatach, was that, "All the king's servants, and the people of the

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king's provinces, do know, that whosoever, whether man or woman, shall come unto the king into the inner court, who is not called, there is one law of his to put him to death, except such to whom the king shall hold out the golden sceptre, that he may live: but I have not been called to come in unto the king these thirty days. And they told to Mordecai Esther's words."

The case seems exceedingly embarrassed. The difficulties were quite enough to discourage her woman's heart. She seems to say, I fear some rival has obtained the king's favor, or that his affection has cooled toward me; and if I were to peril my life by going into his presence, I fear my face, instead of recalling his love, would only excite his rage. But, says her fosterfather, with a hero's heart, I command you, Hatach, to say to the queen: "Think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king's house, more than all the Jews. For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou, and thy father's house, shall be destroyed; and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" Verse 13, 14. The queen's answer to Mordecai was a true account of the case, but to him it was the language of weakness-of unbelief. The fear, or imagination of a cruel death, did not make his heart fail. But if it is death that you fear, he says, what but death awaits you? The case is thus: Go is true; but if you go

and plead, and you may die, it not, you are certain to die. Your blood is Jewish. No one is exempted from this decree. It were better then to act on the possibility of hope than to sit still