an dimly--nay clearly guess. And his
mother! Piso, what will you think when I say that she is a Jewess! and
his father--what will you think when I tell you that he was born upon
the banks of the Gallilean lake?--that misfortunes and the love of a
wandering life drew him from Judea to the farther East, and to a
temporary, yet but apparent apostacy, I am persuaded, from his proper
faith? This to me is all wonderful. Never have I doubted, that by my
hand, by me as a mediator, some great good was to accrue to Jerusalem.
And now the clouds divide, and my eye sees what has been so long
concealed. It shall all come to pass, before thy young frame, princess,
shall be touched by years.'

'We wish you all happiness and joy, Isaac,' replied Julia; 'and soon as
this young family shall have reached your dwelling, we shall trust to
see them all, specially this young object of thy great expectations.'

Isaac again fastened on his pack, and taking leave of us turned to
depart, but ere he did so, he paused--fixed his dark eyes upon
us--hesitated--and then said,

'Lady, if trouble flow in upon you here in Rome, and thou wilt not fly,
as I have counseled, to Palmyra; but thou shouldst by and by change thy
mind and desire safety, or Piso should wish thee safe--perhaps, that by
thy life thou mightest work more mightily for thy faith than thou
couldst do by thy death--for oftentimes it is not by dying that we best
serve God, or a great cause, but by living--then, bethink thee of my
dwelling in the street Janus, where, if thou shouldst once come, I would
challenge all the blood-hounds in Rome, and what is more and worse,
Fronto and Varus leagued, to find thee. Peace be with you.'

And so saying, he quickly parted from us.

All Rome, Fausta, holds not a man of a larger heart than Isaac the Jew.
For us, Christians as we are, there is I believe no evil to himself he
would not hazard, if, in no other way, he could shield us from the
dangers that impend. In his conscience he feels bound to hate us, and,
often, from the language he uses, it might be inferred that he does so.
But in any serious expression of his feelings, his human affections ever
obtain the victory over the obligations of hatred, which his love of
country, as he thinks, imposes upon him, and it would be difficult for
him to manifest a warmer regard toward any of his own tribe, than he
does toward Julia and myself. He is firmly persuaded, that providence is
using him as an inst