is most agreeable to me.'

'And when, noble traveller, did you arrive at Esh Sham?'

'But this morning; we were last from Hasbeya.' Tancred then inquired
after Eva, and Besso led him to his daughter.

In the meantime the arrival of the new guests made a considerable
sensation in the chamber, especially with the Mesdemoiselles Laurella. A
young prince of the Lebanon, whatever his religion, was a distinguished
and agreeable accession to their circle, but in Tancred they recognised
a being at once civilised and fashionable, a Christian who could dance
the polka. Refreshing as springs in the desert to their long languishing
eyes were the sight of his white cravat and his boots of Parisian
polish.

'It is one of our great national festivals,' said Eva, slightly waving
her palm branch; 'the celebration of the Hebrew vintage, the Feast of
Tabernacles.'

The vineyards of Israel have ceased to exist, but the eternal law
enjoins the children of Israel still to celebrate the vintage. A race
that persist in celebrating their vintage, although they have no fruits
to gather, will regain their vineyards. What sublime inexorability in
the law! But what indomitable spirit in the people!

It is easy for the happier Sephardim, the Hebrews who have never quitted
the sunny regions that are laved by the Midland Ocean; it is easy for
them, though they have lost their heritage, to sympathise, in their
beautiful Asian cities or in their Moorish and Arabian gardens, with the
graceful rights that are, at least, an homage to a benignant nature.
But picture to yourself the child of Israel in the dingy suburb or the
squalid quarter of some bleak northern town, where there is never a sun
that can at any rate ripen grapes. Yet he must celebrate the vintage
of purple Palestine! The law has told him, though a denizen in an icy
clime, that he must dwell for seven days in a bower, and that he must
build it of the boughs of thick trees; and the Rabbins have told him
that these thick trees are the palm, the myrtle, and the weeping willow.
Even Sarmatia may furnish a weeping willow. The law has told him that
he must pluck the fruit of goodly trees, and the Rabbins have explained
that goodly fruit on this occasion is confined to the citron. Perhaps,
in his despair, he is obliged to fly to the candied delicacies of
the grocer. His mercantile connections will enable him, often at
considerable cost, to procure some palm leaves from Canaan, which he
may w