jewels of the grandson of Jechoniah, these be his royal robes-he pointed to the chains on his hands, and looked down on his servile habit. "For me, Belshazzar, I will rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than dwell in the tents of wickedness."

"Now would I slay thee," said Belshazzar, "but that same magic spell lurks in thine eye, and melts away mine anger."

"That spell, O king! is truth," replied the captive in a commanding tone; “and he who wears that princely jewel in his bosom is covered with the shield of the Almighty."

"Now is my soul moved to anger with this man's boldness," cried Hamar. "Glory of the earth! how long shall Eleazar boast himself before thee? Is he become thy lord, that he thus presumes to play the sovereign in thy presence?"

"To-morrow," replied Belshazzar,

we

will devise some punishment for the traitor, who despises our mercy, and even presumes to school us."

"To-morrow!" repeated Eleazar: “Unhappy prince! for thee there is no morrow. 'Hell beneath is moved to meet thee at thy coming: it stirreth up the dead for thee, saying; Art thou also become as we are? Art thou become like unto us? Thy pomp is brought down to the grave with the noise of thy vials; the worm is spread over thee and under thee. How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!' These are the words of the prophecy; and to night they will be fulfilled, unhappy King of Babylon! because thou hast defied the living God."

"Live till the morning light, to prove thyself a liar, a vain dreamer of dreams!" exclaimed the king, smiting the speaker on the lips with his golden sceptre; "and

then curse thy God, and die." Hamar, my friend, lead this traitor to the prison." As Hamar was leading away the noble captive, he scornfully remarked, "How highly will the head of the prince of the captivity be exalted in the eyes of his people, when it is fixed on the golden gate of Babylon!"

"Boast not thyself of to-morrow, impious man!" replied Eleazar, "for thon knowest not what a day may bring forth."

It was during that impious festival, that the wondrous hand traced on the wall those mysterious characters, whose brilliancy dazzled the eyes, and whose hidden meaning confounded the senses, of those who looked upon them. The voice of the prophet declared their awful signification in the ears of the bewildered monarch; and the beating of his proud heart grew faint, and his haughty brow bowed low before their terrible import. He leaned his throbbing

temples upon his hands, and held bitter communion with his own spirit. Suddenly the still silence that had succeeded to the voice of mirth and music was interrupted by a long, loud shout of triumph-that sound broke the king's trance of horror. He sprang upon his feet, and drawing his gem-adorned scimetar, looked indeed like the fallen archangel to whom he had been compared. He met his armed foes on the threshold of his palace with kingly but unavailing courage, and lost his life and empire together.

The impious revellers of that night were all slain by the Medes and Persians, who rejected Haman's abject prayer for mercy, and inflicted the death he merited.

Darius the Mede, whom Cyrus elevated to the vacant throne of Chaldea, released Eleazar from prison, and promoted him to great honor: "for though weeping may

After besieging the city of Babylon two years, Cyrus the Persian made himself master of it by the following stratagem: he turned the course of the river Euphrates into an artificial lake he caused to be dug without the walls, and then marched his troops into the city by night, through the empty channel. The night on which he entered Babylon, as a conquerer, was the eve of the great annual festival; the same is recorded in the book of Daniel, as the celebration of Belshazzar's impious feast. The chosen band of Cyrus easily achieved the conquest of a city, whose watchmen and citizens were inebriated with wine. The Medes and Persians attacked Belshazzar in his palace, who came forth to meet them sword in hand, and lost his life and his empire together. Thus were the prophecies of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel fully accomplished in the person of the Babylonian prince, the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar, in the appointed time. Cyrus placed the crown of Babylon on the head of his uncle Cyaxares the II., called in Scripture Darius the Mede, af:er whose death he ascended to the throne, as foretold by Isaiah the prophet.