These annotations on the Written Law were passed on in unbroken, authentic, sacred succession, until the time of Jesus of Nazareth, when the great Rabbi Hillel began to methodize the mass of expositions and illustrations, which work was completed, two hundred years later, by Jehuda the Holy. The compilation was named Mishna.

The Mishna, itself, then became subjected to the discussions, annotations, and judgments of the Rabbis-and these, in turn, were compiled two hundred years after the Mishna, under the name Gemara. The Mishna and Gemara combined, make the Talmud. There were two great schools of the Rabbis: one in Jerusalem, another in Babylon; each of these produced a Gemara; hence there are two Talmudsthe Palestine and the Babylonian.

Some discretion has to be exercised in approaching a book of such remarkable history, and in itself of such a remarkable character. The Jews during their persecutions had to be cautious in their manner of teaching, and would frequently veil the truth they had to enforce by some singular story hence, many Talmudic records which appear contemptible are really parabolical; many which seem ridiculous are full of valuable obscured meaning. One must, therefore, be careful when these come under attention. Again, two great lines run throughout the book; these are, briefly, halachah, a doctrine; haggadah, or narratives, legends, traditions-which fact makes a further claim upon the reader's discrimination. The study of the book (twelve volumes, 5,894 folio pages) must be the enthusiastic labor of a lifetime. But, from what has already been rendered easy of access for the English reader, we are made aware of the vast wealth of knowledge and wisdom accumulated in the Talmud. We feel as in the

cave of Mammon—

the same time find delight in perusing and weighing the merits of tradition and doctrine. Of the latter we cannot speak in these pages. Halachah we leave to the Hebrew student. A comprehensive article could not avoid that central point of faith around which all Jewish life has revolved and must revolve-the Unity of the Eternal One; nor could it set aside large fundamentals which exemplify the Jewish character in a remarkable manner

the exercise of Charity, the Queen virtue; the observance of the Sabbath and its privileges, the Bride-Queen of Days; the emphasis laid upon education; the imperious and reiterated commands relating to marriage; the passion of heart and spirit for Jerusalem, the Queen-city of the earth. But these we must pass by. Nevertheless, in what remains we shall not fail to make evident that the Talmud is as wonderful a book as it has been said to be; that, like the famed Egyptian queen, Age cannot waste her, nor custom stale Her infinite variety. she makes hungry Where most she satisfies.

We shall confine ourselves to the lights thrown upon two well known Biblical characters-to examples of Talmudic stories, and the wisdom of the Rabbis.

Of the excellence of the beauty that once was the portion of Israel many notable things are told. When her youths were taken into captivity by Nebuchadnezzar, they were seen to possess a loveliness surpassing the splendor of the sun : which proved a torment to the Chaldean women, and their own perdition. When Rabbi Yochanan visited the Rabbi Eliezer in his sickness, he found the chamber dark, but he made bare his arm, and immediately by its resplendence every corner of the room was illumined.

Over some characters there hovers a halo of beauty, and mystery, and awe which charins one like a fairy tale of youth's dawn, sung to new music. This is the case with Esther, whose name and nobleness still consecrate the ruins of Susan. Her mother died at her birth; and, her father having also died some time before, she was brought up by her cousin Mordecai. She was given two names, Hadassah and Esther, The latter was fitly chosen from the Greek Estarath, a bright star-star-bright, indeed, she still shines throughout the cloudy centuries. The name Hadassah (myrtle tree) was be

stowed because of her figure and her character because, like the myrtle-tree, she was neither tall nor short of stature, but middle-sized; also, because of her sweet disposition and kindly actions, which were compared to the fragrance and ever fresh beauty of the myrtle. Her complexion was of a yellow or gold color. She was one of the four beautiful women of the world-the other three being Abigail, who had the sacred record as being of a good understanding and of a beautiful countenance; Rahab, from whom descended eight sacerdotal prophets; and Sarai, called Iscah, because everyone looked upon her beauty with admiration. When the fateful hour was drawing nigh for the extinction of her people, Esther arose from the ashes whereon she had mourned for three days; she put aside her garments of sackcloth, and called for her royal robes, for her ornaments of gems and of the gold of Ophir. And as she arrayed herself for the presence of the king, her countenance brightened with joy. She took with her two maids, one to carry her gorgeous train, the other that she might lean upon her arm. But, alas! when she reached the Chamber of the Images the glory of the Shekinah departed from her, and, nearly fainting through deep trouble of heart, she cried to the Eternal One, in the words of the twenty-second Psalin, Why was she thus forsaken ?

When she advanced, and was beheld by Ahasuerus the king, anger was visible in his eyes at her transgression of the law and custom of the country; this, again, caused her to lean heavily on the arm of her maid and exhibit signs of fear. Whereupon there came to her assistance three ministering angels. One raised her neck, so that her face might fully shine upon Ahasuerus; a second angel drew a new radiant line of grace upon her countenance; and a third lengthened the golden sceptre several cubits. Thus had the Eternal One pity upon the orphan daughter of Israel, and upon His chosen people, doomed to death throughout all the king's provinces. And Ahasuerus arose from his throne, stretched forth his golden sceptre, which had been lengthened by the ministering angel, and, Esther having touched it, the king embraced her and kissed her, and, looking into her eyes, he banished the last lingering cloud of fear which darkened them with the gracious words:

"Queen Esther, what wilt thou? Be not alarmed; our laws are not meant for thee. Thou art my friend, and when thine eyes looked upon me, that instant thou shouldest have spoken."

Esther having gained her great cause, and saved her people, a festival was made of that time, as written in the Book of Esther-" that these days of Purim should not fail from among the Jews, nor the memorial of them perish from their seed." The Rabbis, in their gratitude, so exalted the great deliverance that they declared: All Scriptures (that is, the books which do not refer absolutely to the Law) will be done away with in the future, except the Book of Esther; also all festivals, except the days of Purim. What gladness prevailed during this festival may be known from the fact that intoxication might then be indulged in. That, this was really the case is authenticated in a well-known Talmudic incident. On such an occasion Rava took the life of his friend Rabbi Zerah. Next day, through the persistent prayers of Rava, the soul of Zerah was restored to its earthly tabernacle. When the days of Purim came round again, Zerah asked his friend to keep the feast with him. "Nay," answered Rava, "it does not always happen that I can effect a miracle." A shrewd and saving answer, indeed.

We shall now refer to what may be further learned of the beauty of the male Israelite.

Of the beauty of Moses there is the remark of St. Stephen that as a child "he was exceeding fair ;" and Josephus writes that when he was carried along the road every one halted on the way, or left their pursuits, to gaze upon the loveliness of the child. And so was it with Joseph-beauty of form and countenance were his inheritance, as mentioned in the Talmud amid many other matters of singular interest.

Because of his beauty, as told in the "Rose-Garden" of the Persian Saadi, Joseph was called the Moon of Canaan, which explains the saying of Lokman the Wise: "Yes, I sell beauty, but not in Canaan." Zelicha (the name of l'otiphar's wife) on one occasion was visited by some of her friends; and one of the Egyptian dames, while paring an apple, was so entranced with the beauty of Joseph that she cut her finger, and was not aware of it until her attention was called to the

blood upon her garments. From the

Talmud we obtain knowledge of Joseph's humbleness of mind and sagacity under such circumstances. When Zelicha one day spoke in admiration of his beauty, he answered: The Eternal One, who created me, created also all mankind." Zelicha, it is said, changed her garments twice every day in her endeavor to win his affection. These arts failing, she threatened him with imprisonment, and to put out his eyes. He calmly answered again, in the name of the Eternal One: "He looseth the prisoners, and openeth the eyes of the blind." That Joseph was divinely assisted in these trials the Talmud would make evident, since it is stated that at a very critical moment the apparition of his father appeared to him and cried: Joseph, thy brothers' names will be engraved on the stones of the Ephod, and thine amongst them; dost thou want it erased?''

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But, as we have said, there are other matters of interest attached to the history of Joseph in the pages of the Talmud.

From the day that Joseph parted with his brethren in Egypt, after they had drunk and made merry together, he abstained from all wine. When he finally sent them back to Canaan with many gifts, to bring his father, that he might see him, and live with him, and know of his glory in Egypt, he bade them "fall not out by the way,' which, as interpreted in the Talmud, means that they had not to engage in halachic debates, lest they might lose their waywhich interpretation itself appears to have a further internal meaning. The brethren, probably, did not lose their way-their way was too clearly fixed in their minds; uor, probably, did they discuss halachic matters-one subject they held in fear of heart and affection to bring the great news to Jacob, their father-and they were exercised how to break the news gently. They would remember, in bitterness of thought, the trial of Abraham, when the Eternal One placed upon him the command of sacrifice. Satan, it is said, stood before the throne of the Eternal One, as in the case of Job, and upon his provocation Abraham had to be proven. The Eternal One then addressed the patriarch: "Take

thy son. 'I have two sons, "answered Abraham. "Thine only son. "Each is the only son of his mother," was the submissive reply. "Whom thou lovest," rejoined the Eternal. "They are both

dear to me. The command was then given : "Isaac !'' And thus, says the Talmud, was the mind of Abraham gradually prepared.

To break the great news gently to their father was the trouble of the brethren as they approached Canaan. But at BeerSheba they were met by Serach, the daughter of Asher. She was a cunning player upon the harp, and a maiden of sweet voice. And Serach was sent by the brethren to weave the good news in a song before Abraham. When she came to her grandfather, she softly smote upon her harp and sang her song, and, as she sang, seven times she repeated the lines:

Lo, Joseph is not dead: he lives. My uncle rules o'er Egypt's land. The music and the song were grateful to the patriarch's ear; but when the burden was seven times told, that number, sacred to the Hebrews, was marked by Abraham, and the light dawned upon his spirit, and the fountain of joy sprang up again within his heart, and the blessing of smiles illumined his countenance, and his lips told less than the truth of all, and yet enough, as he blessed his niece Serach.

We may be pardoned in closing this reference to Joseph, by once more quoting from the Persian. Jacob, it was said, had been able, at the distance of Egypt, to perceive the perfume of his son's garment; but this fact was doubted by oue who said that, if such was the case, why could he not discover Joseph when he was in the well in Canaan; to which he gave his profound reply, which contains so much of the arcana of life: "Our condition is like the darting lightning, one instant flashing, and the next disappearing. Sometimes we are seated above the fourth heaven, and at other times we cannot see the back of our feet. If the Durwash were always to remain in one state he would cease to desire both worlds."

This may have been appropriated by Saadi from unrecorded Midrash—that is, the materials out of which the Talmud was composed, and which was a science. Such, also, seems to have been the case with that beautiful apologue of Abraham and the Fire-worshipper, given by Jeremy Taylor, afterward used by Franklin, and generally supposed to be in the Talmud, but ultimately found not to be there, but in Saadi.

Thoughts pass from nation to nation at times and in a manner unperceived, and are frequently praised as original when they are only original to the languageperhaps not even that, if the obscurities of literature were explored. One of the noble notes struck by Wordsworth, one of those which might be taken to show his supreme power as a philosophic poet, is, alas ! embodied in the above saying of Abraham, and lacks its profitable conclusion: It is a thing impossible to frame Conceptions equal to the soul's desire : And the most difficult of tasks to keep Heights which the soul is competent to gain. But, on the other hand, there is no surprise to find nursery tales and mythical stories of identical import, prevalent in different ages, climes, and peoples, dressed in the garb most suitable to the nation's needs. They are imaginations; or they clothe beliefs in the forms best adapted to the faculties of wonder and worship. This may even be the case of marked incidents, stories of the streets, which seem native and to the manner born. We may be betrayed by some of the best: they may be but repetitions; bright, but only reappearing stars. As in Aladdin's tale, we are the prey of the magiciau who gives us new lamps for old. In our boyhood's years we were often enlivened at home by the following story. A beggar stood at the window of a cook-shop so long that the proprietor came out and asked the reason. Thank you, sir," replied the beggar, "I waited until the smell of the cooking would satisfy me instead of a dinner. My hunger is now gone; good-day." "Nay, nay, "cried the proprietor, "if you have had your dinner off my victuals, I must have your money; give me a shilling.' This the beggar refused to do, and the matter was referred to an idiot, who was passing along the street. The idiot asked the proprietor for two plates and the loan of a shilling. This he placed between the plates, and shook them, and thus addressed the proprietor: "As the beggar was satisfied with the smell of the meat, so you must be satisfied with the sound of the money." Often did we go to the savory locality and amid the culinary incense realize every tittle of the facts-this was the very place, within the shop is the very proprietor, and, yonder, shambling down the street, is the hero-idiot-and we went home full of wonder at the true story. NEW SERIES.-VOL. LI., No. 6.

When, in later years, we came to read Plutarch, we found the very same tale, only the rue was worn with a difference.

So in the Talmud tales we find something like the originals of well-credited facts and tales. Indeed, these things make us suspect that a modern story-teller's vocation is ever that of the mother in the "Cotter's Saturday Night," whose skill made

Auld claithes look amaist as weel's the new.

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Take a great rain story. When Mr. Max O'Rell was questing in Scotland for humor, he was told of a Presbyterian minister who had just cut his hay, and, the weather not being very propitious for making it, he knelt near his open window and addressed to Heaven the following prayer : "O Lord, send us wind for the hay not a rantin', tantin', tearin' wind, but a noughin', soughin', winnin' wind." But Dean Ramsay was before Mr. Max O'Rell, and as the story appeared in his Reminiscences," due acknowledgment of the fact was given. We should, however, submit that the Dean was not first in the field, but that the circumstances may have crept out of the Talmud, and been captured and carried to the Presbyterian fold, as we find the following in a learned translation: Choni, the circling charmer, was asked to pray for rain. After his preparations and prayer, drops began to fall. 'I have not asked for this,' said he, but for such abundance as to fill wells, ditches, and caves.' A tempest of rain was the result. 'No,' said he, that is not what I ask, but rain of pleasantness, blessing, and free-will.' The rain moderated, but continued to fall, till Israel had to leave Jerusalem for the Temple Mount on account of the swelling torrents. now,' they cried,' for its discontinuance.' Go and see,' said he,' whether the water has covered the Inquiry Stone.' president of the Sanhedrim sent him the following message: Were it any other man than Choni, I would decree his excommunication; but what can I do unto thee, whose presumption, like that of a son against his father, is met by the Eternal One with the fulfilment of thy desires?'"'

Pray

The

A kindly reviewer, one of the sanitary authorities in Literature, who keep it so pure and cool, brought Mr. Max O'Rell and the shade of the Dean "to book,"

by pointing out a version of this story popular in the dialect of a county in the South of England, and better told than in the northern clime, which further proves that a good story will live, and loves to go masquerading.

Again. Our age has been surprised by what is thought a new system of coercion and extinction-named, after a great sufferer, boycotting. But this was practised in Sodom to such perfection that it may be read of in the Talmud (in De Quincey's phrase regarding murder) as one of the fine arts, wherein the City of the Plain shames our civilization. When a poor man should enter the city, for the repute of charity the people gave him money, but none would give him food, or sell him food, and he was not allowed to leave the city. Of course, the man died of starvation; then the alms-givers got their money back again the very rags of the victim were stolen from the dead body, which was buried naked in the wilderness. To assist the poor man in such a case was death. Lot's daughter did this on one occasion. The man she assisted, continuing to live, puzzled the people, and the translator renders the version thus: "Three men constituted themselves a committee to watch his goings and his doings;" they discovered the woman's crime of charity, and she was executed by fire.

Again. Upon the verse that "The Lord said, 'Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great,' ," it is explained that the Hebrew word for " great" in the Talnudic dialect means girl," and the girl was one who hid a slice of bread in her pitcher, to give it to a poor man being discovered, her body was smeared with honey, she was exposed on a wall, and stung to death by the bees. This incident, it is evident, must be subjected to the Talmudic secret interpretation, and the bread spoken of may be the "bread of life"-the doctrine not to be dispensed to the uninitiated. The secret sense, however, may hardly be applied to the case of Eleazar, the servant of Sarah. Interfering, when a stranger had been defrauded, one of the people struck Eleazar on the forehead with a stone. He brought blood, whereon the man seized Eleazar and demanded his fee as a leech. "I have freed thee of this impure blood: pay me quickly-such is our law." Eleazar refused to pay for his wound and the blood he had

:

lost, and was brought into Court. The judge decreed that Eleazar must pay the fee. "The man has let thy blood: pay him such is our law." Eleazar must have brought the blood-stained stone as evidence of the assault, inasmuch as on hearing the decision he hurled the stone at the Judge, and it again brought forth blood. There," cried Eleazar, follow thy law, and pay my fee to this man,” and he left the Court-house. But we have wandered from our purpose in this storytelling, and must go back to our parallels.

It is neither one, nor two royal fugitives whose lives have been saved in the pursuit through the web of the spider being woven across the mouth of the cave where they were hiding but for such "providential" interposition we can refer back to a time antecedent to English or any European history, since it is written in the Talinud that David in his flight lost himself in the cave of Adullam. After he had entered, a spider spun a web over the opening thereto. His pursuers came to the cave, and were about to enter, but, perceiving the web of the spider, they judged that no one could be within, as no one could pass into it without destroying the fairy web. They passed on their way, and the royalty of David was prolonged for Israel.

And, yet again. It was told by the venerable ecclesiastical historian, that Edwin of Northumberland summoned a meeting of his witan to consider the Christian faith on which occasion it was, that an ælderman made his famous speech on the life of man. Often in winter-tide, O King, whilst you are feasting with your thanes, and in the midst of the hall the fire is blazing on the hearth, a sparrow will enter at one door, as sheltering from the snow-storm outside. the snow-storm outside. But after enjoying the warmth and light for a little time it will fly across, and depart by an opposite door into the outer darkness. The bird was visible during its passage, but whence it came, or whither it went, you could not tell. So, in our sight, is the life of man.

The Talmud uses the same figure, but with a sense adapted to Oriental climes. "Life is a passing shadow, says the Scripture. Is it the shadow of a tower? Is it the shadow of a tree? A shadow that prevails for a while? No, it is the shadow of a bird, in his flight; away flies the