vine, and he was about to seat himself beneath it, when he started back on discovering that it concealed the entrance to a gloomy cavern. Instinctively he glanced upon the ground to discern, by footmarks, what might be the nature of its inhabitants, if any; and he beheld, not the print of the wild-beast's paw, nor the sandal of man, but that of a large naked human foot. about to retreat; but, on turning round, his eye fell the wildest figure it had ever yet encountered.

He was

upon

It was that of a tall and slightly-built man, whose only clothing was a long robe of goat and camel's hair, and whose locks and beard had grown to a wonderful extravagance. He reclined beneath a broad sycamore tree, on a large fragment of rock; and, observing him more closely, the youth was struck with signs of sickness and exhaustion. His heart, at the view, lost at once its fear; he saw only before him an object of distress; he advanced, and spoke.

The stranger lifted up his eyes, with a vague wildness for a moment; then, closing them again, the tears gushed silently down his cheeks. He was silent; but it was evidently the silence of emotion. At length, lifting up his hands, he grasped that of the youth fervently, and made signs for him to sit down. He obeyed,- but the stranger still continuing silent, he asked if he could render him any service. He replied, with a melancholy emphasis, "Thou mayest! but start not when thou knowest for whom. Knowest thou for whom thou art interested?

knowest thou the "Demon of the Desert?" At that dreadful name the youth started to his feet with a shuddering groan; but he was rivetted to the spot,-and the stranger cried imploringly, "Nay!-fly not, fear not, my son! The time has been, when thy visit hither would have been death; but that time is past-I am not what I was. I am dying. At this moment, the presence of a human soul is precious to me. Thou canst hear me thou canst bury me."

The eyes of the youth attested the truth of what his fearful companion declared; and with a strange mixture of awe, curiosity, and sympathy, he listened to the following narrative.

"I am not what thy countrymen have deemed meI am not originally, and altogether, a demon; but Ithran, an outcast of Israel. It is not entirely unknown to the nations among whom that people has now so long sojourned, that, although their dreadful God has kept them wholly by his might, making nature bend its ancient laws to their use, and surrounding them with terror as with a wall, they have been but imperfectly sensible of the glory of their lot, and have often provoked the Lord to anger. But it has been, in these latter years, that this spirit of unbelief and ingratitude has grown to the most marvellous height. In vain were the overwhelming terrors of God displayed on the Mount;-in vain did blazing serpents spread death; and the burning bolts of Divine vengeance burst suddenly upon the heads

of the rebellious, in ruin; in vain was the beautiful and majestic Miriam, who went out dancing before the virgins of Israel, and singing that triumphant song of victory over Pharaoh, cast, a leprous object, out of the camp before their eyes;—since their abode in Kadesh the spirit of wickedness was become monstrous. God had refused to go up before them to the Promised Land; the Amalekites had discomfited them, and they were full of despondency. Add to this, famine was in the camp. Except the manna and the quails, food now universally loathed, there was nothing. The stock of cattle was exhausted; and the desert seemed to become, every day, more fierce and inhospitable.

"But the day of Annual Expiation was at hand; and hope awoke in all hearts. God had appointed, in his mercy, a way to free Israel from its sins. He had empowered the High Priest to lay all their crimes on the head of a goat, which should bear them away into the wilderness. The day arrived ;—all Israel was assembled before the sanctuary;-a breathless anxiety prevailed ;— the various offerings were made;-the devoted goat was brought forth; the mysterious words which charged it with the whole sin of Israel, were pronounced; and a weight, and a gloom, seemed to pass from the hearts of the people. It only remained to send the goat away, by the hand of a fit man. And now a fearful and eager curiosity ran through the multitude, to know who this man should be. It was an important trust. The two victim goats had

been procured with much difficulty,-such was our poverty; and they had been guarded with much care, for such was the wickedness of the time, that some sons of Belial had attempted to break in, and carry them off; and it was expected that they would lie in wait to kill the scape-goat in the wilderness. I was a prophet, and the son of a prophet; and young as I was, my zeal in the cause of God, and of Moses, had given me great favour in the eyes of the elders.-I was chosen as the fit man.

"It was deemed necessary that I should go two days' journey into the wilderness. A great number of the most illustrious of the Hebrew youth accompanied me till the sun began to decline; then, with many blessings, I went on alone. As I saw the friendly band retracing their steps, a sensation of pride, such as I never felt before, arose in my heart, that I should be deemed most worthy of this most momentous trust. I marched lightly on ;— the sun went down ;-all night I pursued my way, unceasingly; so strongly did that exaltation of spirit bear me on. I never thought of food or sleep, till the next day as the sun became hot, when I sought the shade of a rock for rest and refreshment. When I looked for my scrip, it was gone ;-during this state of self-gratulating excitement, it had slipped off, unperceived. I was stung with a sudden and unreasonable anger; and rising up, I smote the goat, and went on. The craving of hungerthe torture of thirst-the sense of my loss, the conscious

ness that several days must elapse before I should regain the camp, angered and appalled me. My frame was already debilitated and rendered irritable, by the effects of the famine, and of the strict fast preparatory to the day of expiation : in vain I all day looked out for water, for a wild fig, a date, a melon ;-there was nothing around me but burning sand. The goat, as well as myself, appeared exhausted. We went on and on;-the day seemed as though it would never end; and, to add to my anguish, the ground was now everywhere covered with a prickly plant, which lacerated my feet, and filled them with its spines. A suggestion arose in me, to return; but my pride instantly rejected it; and again I smote the goat, and we sped forward with increased exertion. The sun at length did set; and, to my joy, I saw some rocks before me:-but there was neither tree. nor herb, nor water. I tied the goat to a stone, and flung myself down in despair beneath the rocks. But if my body was spent, my mind was full of a bitter activity. A thousand troublous and depressing thoughts passed through me; the sense of my loss preyed on me; the vast distance I imagined myself from men, terrified me; the goat lay and slept quietly before me. At that sight my perturbation was aggravated tenfold. It could forget its pains; but I, who suffered on its account, might not. I cursed the foolish pride which led me to undertake the enterprise. At this moment a thought arose-kill and eat. The horrible idea struck me like a thunder-clap ;-