there shall a deed be done.     

       ‘My fathers, my heroic fathers, if this feeble arm cannot redeem your heritage; if the foul boar must still wallow in thy sweet vineyard, Israel, at least I will not disgrace you. No! let me perish. The house of David is no more; no more our sacred seed shall lurk and linger, like a blighted thing, in this degenerate earth. If we cannot flourish, ‘why, then, we will die!’     

       ‘Oh! say not so, my brother!’     

       He turns, he gazes on a face beauteous as a starry night; his heart is full, his voice is low.     

       ‘Ah, Miriam! thou queller of dark spirits! is it thou? Why art thou here?’     

       ‘Why am I here? Are you not here? and need I urge a stronger plea? Oh! brother dear, I pray you come, and mingle in our festival. Our walls are hung with flowers you love;2 I culled them by the fountain’s side; the holy lamps are trimmed and set, and you must raise their earliest flame. Without the gate, my maidens wait, to offer you a robe of state. Then, brother dear, I pray you come and mingle in our festival.’     

       ‘Why should we feast?’     

       ‘Ah! is it not in thy dear name these lamps are lit, these garlands hung? To-day to us a prince is given, to-day——’     

       ‘A prince without a kingdom.’     

       ‘But not without that which makes kingdoms precious, and which full many a royal heart has sighed for, willing subjects, David.’     

       ‘Slaves, Miriam, fellow-slaves.’     

       ‘What we are, my brother, our God has willed; and let us bow and tremble.’     

       ‘I will not bow, I cannot tremble.’     

       ‘Hush, David, hush! It was this haughty spirit that called the vengeance of the Lord upon us.’     

       ‘It was this haughty spirit that conquered Canaan.’     

       ‘Oh, my brother, my dear brother! they told me the dark spirit had fallen on thee, and I came, and hoped that Miriam might have charmed it. What we may have been, Alroy, is a 

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