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milar to those in the examination hall, and the most conspicuous of which, at least to my eye, appeared the immortal Canning, perhaps one of the greatest orators of any age or country. And, lastly, I would say a word on the library: it is indeed a noble edifice, and worthy the university to which it is attached, occupying an entire side of one of the squares, and a fine colonnade along the whole front, where the students exercise in rainy weather. One would imagine that the number of books it contains were more calculated to deter a student from the idea of taking up a single volume to peruse, than stimulate him to the duty; seeing that so much must be left unread and so have some declared to me was the impression such a sight was calculated to produce. There are marble busts of the principal scholars and benefactors to the university who flourished there.

Besides these public buildings, there are many lecture-rooms for the different professors to deliver their lectures; in several of which I was permitted to attend, and upon which I may, in a subsequent paper, be led to make some observations, which, in my judgment, may serve to account for the appellation given to the Dublin university, by her elder sisters in this kingdom. So you perceive that though I come tardily to the point, I do not advance without some regard to order and method.

I have only now to apologize for the length to which this article has grown, and to subscribe myself, AN ADMIRER OF FEW BOOKS AND MUCH

CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE.

[The key-note is certainly struck at last; but how came our lively correspondent to be so long in discovering it?-ED.]

FEMALE BIOGRAPHY OF SCRIPTURE.

No. IV.-Esther.

THE Queen's messengers returned from Mordecai, bringing back with them the raiment she had sent to clothe him, for "he received it not." Finding that the grief of Mordecai was of too serious a nature to admit of ordinary consolation, Esther next despatched Hatach, an officer who was high in her own and Ahasuerus's confidence, to learn the cause of this humiliation and of the "weeping and wailing" among the Jews. The effect of this second mission was very different to that of the former: it unlocked the doors of Mordecai's confidence, and drew forth the recital of his own and his people's danger: it inspired hope in his bosom; for the hand that was now extended to alleviate his woes, might bring effectual aid to rescue himself and his nation from destruction. Mordecai told Hatach of all that had happened unto him, and of the sum of money that Haman had promised to pay to the king's treasuries, for the Jews, to destroy them. Also he gave him the copy of the writing of the decree that was given at Shushan to destroy them, to shew it unto Esther, and to declare it unto her, and to charge her that she should go in unto 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. And now

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was the hour of trial to the believer, who was at ease." The words of Hatach must have sounded in her ears like the warning strains of the prophet: "Rise up, ye women that are at ease, hear my voice, ye careless daughters; tremble, ye women that are at ease; be troubled, ye careless ones; strip you, make you bear, and gird sack-cloth upon your loins." How little did Esther deem, when in the lightness of a gay and happy heart, she sent fine raiment to comfort a mourner, that she herself would soon be called upon to experience the bitterness of real grief, and the utter insufficiency of all earthly comfort to soothe or support the burden of a sorrowful spirit! But affliction is a whirlpool, and none can approach its eddy without sharing, in a wider or a narrower circle, the perplexity of the vortex. It extends indeed so far and wide in this world of misery, that they who would pass by, cannot; sooner or later they become involved in the stream: ambition, avarice, pleasure, all adverse and contending currents, here meet and blend their diverse courses in one common gulf. No marvel that the natural heart shrinks back instinctively from affliction, when even to the child of God its chastisements "seem not for the present joyous, but grievous!" No marvel that Esther's first impulse was to seek preservation for herself, and to leave her friends and countrymen to perish! The king's late coolness towards her, which, like the little cloud in the horizon, might have given warning of the coming tempest, seems to have been scarcely regarded, till the storm burst over her head, and shewed her what might be the consequences of his alienation. Time was, when the favoured Esther might have proffered any request to Ahasuerus, with the certainty of his

ready compliance, "even to the half of his kingdom;" but now his altered affection would lead him to look with displeasure upon the temerity of an unbidden approach to his presence. Might he not even be willing to take advantage of this rashness on her part, to rid himself of one who was evidently no longer the special object of his regard? He who had so readily divorced a beloved and faithful wife for one act of disobedience, which every concurrent circumstance served to palliate-would he pardon another more daringly opposed to the usages of his court in her who, for some failure of duty on her own part perhaps, had lost a portion, at least, of the favor she once enjoyed? No! she dare not risk that certain destruction which would inevitably follow from compliance with Mordecai's unreasonable request; while on the other hand, her not interfering in the matter would ensure her own safety and preservation. None knew, save Mordecai, the secret of her birth, and his affection for her would forbid him to divulge a fact which must cause her ruin. She might live a queen, though all her kindred should perish: she might regain the favor of Ahasuerus, though her guilty selfishness (should lose her the favor of her God. Her part was chosen. Hastily she despatched the messenger who had brought her Mordecai's petition, excused herself from undertaking the office of interceding for the devoted Jews; passed over all mention of her own connexion with them, and pleaded the well-known law which forbade access to all, of either sex, who were not specially summoned into the royal presence and lest Mordecai should cherish hope from the circumstance that her near connexion with Ahasuerus might ensure her

being so called, she further informed him of the temporary disgrace into which she had herself fallen, and which forbade the possibility of her affording even the faint hope of succour to her distressed countrymen.

Was the queen's heart lightened when she had sent her messenger away? They best know, who can recal the hour when a guilty silence led them virtually to deny their connexion with the people of God; when they heard the innocent calumniated, and stood not to defend them from the murderous strife of adverse tongues: when the dread of man's displeasure, or the desire of man's approval made them shrink from a painful and self-denying duty: they who have experienced the agitating tumults of remorse which precede repentance; who know what it is to retire from a scene of successful temptation with a burden of guilt upon the conscience, imposed by their own time-serving desire for worldly ease and reputation—they best know the truth of that declaration, "He that findeth his life shall lose it, and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it."

"Put not thy trust in princes, nor in any of the sons of men." The feeble reed on which Mordecai would have leaned for support, succumbed before the blast, and bowed its pliant head to rise again safe and unscathed, when the storm had passed over. Roused by the defection of one whom he expected would have stood foremost in the breach, Mordecai returned an answer of indignant expostulation and emphatic warning. His penetration at once discovered what was the leading motive of the queen's refusal to appear on behalf of her people, namely, the desire of self-preservation; and he warned her

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