ter, "he is welcome; his Roman name shall not deprive him of Jewish hospitality." Onias then leading the way, we entered the house.

The refreshment of the bath, in which, and in other forms of washing, the Jews of Palestine indulge yet more than we of Rome, soon restored me to myself after the heat and fatigue of our long journey. The household of Onias I found to be numerous; composed, however, not of his own descendants, as Judith is his only child, but of members of our large family from every part of the world, whom he gathers round him, even as a patriarch of old, exercising over them a sort of lower providence. When we had eaten, we ascended to the spacious roof, to pass the evening hours. A broad tent was here spread to defend from the dews which at this time of the year begin to fall, and from the cool breezes which sometimes spring up in the night, even after the day has been oppressive through its heat. Here we either sat and conversed, or else walking about, I learned from the mouth of Judith the names and directions of the principal objects in the scene, being lighted up by a brighter moon than it is ever our fortune to behold in Rome.

Onias seemed little disposed to join our discourse; yet, whatever was his preference for a close communion with himself alone, he never

refused to lend his ear when Judith spoke. We had been talking of Rome, Cæsarea, Philip and Anna, of Pilate and Herod, to all which Onias had given but little attention, when Judith turned to him, and said;

"I hope, father, that now these long expeditions will cease; or if they must still be undertaken, that you will be persuaded to send our new cousin in thy stead, who has not as yet seen that region. But what of so great moment can a vine-dresser, here on the banks of the Jordan, have to do with princes?

"My daughter," replied Onias, "seek not to know what may not be revealed; at least, not as yet, nor to woman's ears. Let this suffice thee, that the vine-dresser of Beth-Harem is not leagued with princes for any end which his daughter could not approve, or Jehovah smile upon."

Judith, who had evidently spoken in a sportful manner, seemed grieved by the grave reply of her father, and hastened to say, "that she doubted not her father; yet, could she not but apprehend possible evil, when he was departing so far from his wonted manner of life, and binding himself to associates so different from his former ones, as Herod of Galilee."

Onias rose and walked to and fro upon the roof.

Presently he asked if any had been impatient to see him while absent. Judith replied, none, save a messenger from Machærus. Had he brought letters? asked Onias. No; his communication must be with Onias himself.

He, then, kissing his daughter, and commending her to her bed, and me to early repose after the toil of our journey, descended to his apartment; we following him, and resorting also to ours.

VII.

I AWOKE, my mother, not in Rome, though my dreams had carried me there, and placed me at your side, vainly attempting to win away your attention from the book of the prophets, which according to your wont, in the morning's prime, you were diligently pondering. It was the rebuke of your sometimes severe countenance at an impertinent jest of mine, that broke my slumbers. Slowly the mists of the night drew away and left me in the full consciousness of my position. My eyes fell upon unaccustomed objects; the open casement held up before me a distant prospect of stream and plain, hill and tower, such as I never before had seen; the song of birds, whose strains were new and strange, voices of laborers or of the servants of the household calling to each other in the Syriac tongue, not even yet an agreeable melody, met my ear; these, and other sights and sounds by degrees informed me that I had been sleeping neither in Italy nor Rome, but was still a sojourner in the barbarous clime of the further

Palestine, even upon the outskirts of the Asiatic deserts. In that sense of utter feebleness of the will with which we first wake in the morning, it seemed to me, that I would renounce all knowledge of other places and people, for the sake of being once more in Rome. I cared not for Onias, Judith, Judea, nor the whole East, in comparison with Rome and thee. But action, and the bath, and the fresh air of the housetop, soon scattered these worse than dreams, and restored me to my manhood.

In a part of the dwelling not far from where I had slept, I found Onias and Judith, with others of their large household, awaiting me at a table well covered with bread, fruits, wines, and dainties unknown to the vocabulary of Roman art. Thy stern and contemplative brother saluted me, methought, with no very encouraging fervor, but very much as if he were addressing a new comer as little welcome as expected. But this I regarded not, for I knew, that so soon as his dreamy thoughts could be gathered together, some from Jerusalem, some from Galilee, and some from Rome, he would comprehend who I was, and I should be dealt with accordingly. From Judith my greeting was quite otherwise. She hastened to meet me as I entered, and by the natural ardor of her manner, and the glow of her most expres