nations in all the provinces of thy kingdom, and their laws are different from those of all people, nor do they keep the king's laws; therefore it is not for the king's profit to suffer them. If it please the king, let it be written that they may be destroyed; and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver to the officers to bring it into the king's treasuries.' Ahasverus took his signet ring from his finger, and giving it to Haman, said, 'The silver is given to thee, and the people also, to do with them as seems good to thee.' Then Haman summoned the king's scribes, and ordered them to write the decree in all the languages of the empire, and to send it out to the satraps of every province, bidding them: Destroy, kill, and exterminate all Jews, both young and old, little children and women, in one day, upon the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, and take their wealth for a prey.' The messengers went out, and the edict was published both in the capital Susa and in the other towns of the realm. And in every

province whithersoever the king's commandment and his decree came, there was great mourning among the Jews, and fasting and weeping and wailing; and many lay in sackcloth and ashes.' But the king and Haman sat down to drink.'

When Mordecai heard the terrible and fatal mandate, he rent his clothes, put on garments of mourning, and with a bitter cry of distress rushed through the city, till he came before the gate of the king's palace; within that gate none were permitted to enter except in festive attire. In the seclusion of her own palace, Esther had remained in ignorance of the impending doom of her countrymen. When she was told that Mordecai was sitting before the gate in sackcloth and ashes, she was full of anxiety, and sent to him one of her chamberlains with garments which she desired him to exchange for those he had on. When this request was refused, her alarm

grew, and she sent again to learn the cause of his afflic tion. Mordecai told the man all that had passed, bade him give to the queen a copy of the royal decree, and urge her to present herself without delay before the king, and to implore his mercy for her people. Esther trembled at these words, for no one was allowed to approach the Persian monarch unbidden under penalty of death, and Ahasverus had not summoned her into his presence for thirty days: how could she venture to appear before him with her prayer? But Mordecai sent her this reply: "Think not within thyself that thou shalt escape in the king's house more than all the Jews. For if thou keepest quiet altogether at this time, help and deliverance will arise to the Jews from another place, but thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed; and who knows whether thou art not come to the kingdom for such a time as this ?'

Then Esther, dismissing all doubts and fears, heroically resolved upon the perilous enterprise. 'Go,' she sent word to Mordecai, assemble all Jews that are present in Susa, and fast for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day; I also and my maidens will fast, and so will I go to the king, though not according to the law; and if I perish, I perish.' On the third day of the fast, Esther arrayed herself in her royal garbs, and appeared within the inner court of the king's palace. Ahasverus was seated upon his throne, facing the palace gate, from whence he saw her approach. She knew full well that she had boldly transgressed the law, and she trembled with fear. But the king extended towards her the golden sceptre, which signified that she had obtained grace and pardon. Then she advanced to the steps of the throne and touched the sceptre, and Ahasverus asked, What wilt thou, queen Esther? and what is thy request? were it even half of the kingdom, it shall be given to thee.' There was a

natural hesitation, or rather a prudent discretion, in Esther's answer; she did not then entreat for mercy to the Jews, but requested that the king, together with Haman, would come that day to the banquet which she had prepared for them. The demand was granted, and the same day the king and Haman were the guests of Esther. At the feast, Ahasverus asked his queen again to name her petition. Perhaps still unable to summon the necessary courage, or thinking that she was not yet sufficiently sure of the king's clemency, Esther merely begged of him and Haman to come to another banquet on the morrow. With a proud and elated heart, Haman left the king's presence. As he passed the royal gate, he saw how Mordecai sat there without moving at his approach; but he cared not to upbraid his enemy at that moment; his revenge was certain and near; for was he not the signal favourite of both Ahasverus and Esther? When he arrived at his house, he related to his wife Zeresh, his children, and his friends, how he had been specially honoured that day by the queen's favour, and how to-morrow he was again her bidden guest. Yet,' he continued, all this is of no avail to me, as long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king's gate.' Then his wife and his friends said to him, 'Let a gallows be made fifty cubits high, and to-morrow speak to the king that Mordecai may be hanged thereon; then go merrily with the king to the banquet.' The advice pleased Haman, and he caused the gallows to be erected forthwith.

6

In that same night the king was restless and could not sleep. To while away the time, he commanded the chronicles of the realm to be read to him. There he found recorded, how Mordecai had saved his life from the conspiracy of two chamberlains, and he asked, "What honour and dignity has been done to Mordecai for this?'

There has nothing been done for him,' was the answer.

And the king said, Who is in the court?' Now Haman, agitated by his hatred of Mordecai, was already in the palace, eager to obtain the king's permission to hang his enemy. At Ahasverus' command, Haman came before him, and was greeted with this question: What shall be done to the man whom the king delights to honour?' Haman thought in his heart, Upon whom should the king desire to confer distinctions more than upon myself? So he answered unhesitatingly, For the man whom the king delights to honour-let the royal apparel be brought, which the king is wont to wear, and the horse that the king rides upon, and the crown royal which is set upon his head. And let this apparel and horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king's most noble princes that they may array the man withal whom the king delights to honour, and lead him on horseback through the streets of the city, and proclaim before him, Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honour!' Then the king said to Haman, 'Make haste, and take the apparel and the horse, as thou hast said, and do even so to Mordecai the Jew who sits at the king's gate: let nothing fail of all that thou hast spoken.' Haman was compelled to do the king's bidding: when all was finished, he returned to his house sick at heart, and full of despair and mourning. He related what had happened to Zeresh his wife, and to his friends, and they said with a true foreboding: If Mordecai, before whom thou hast begun to fall, is of the seed of the Jews, thou shalt not prevail against him, but shalt surely fall before him.' While they were still speaking together, the king's servants came and hastened to take Haman to the banquet of queen Esther.

Again the king and Haman were sitting at the royal table, when Ahasverus asked for the third time, 'What is thy petition, queen Esther? it shall be granted thee; and what is thy request? were it even to the half of the

kingdom, it shall be performed!' Esther felt that now, when the highest honours had been bestowed upon her relative Mordecai, the moment had come to speak; she took courage, and said, 'Oh, king, let my life be given at my petition, and my people at my request. For we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish. And if we had been sold for bondmen and bondwomen, I should have been silent, although the enemy could not repay the king's damage.' 'Who is he, and where is he,' Ahasverus burst forth in anger, that durst presume in his heart to do so?' Esther replied, 'The adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman.' Then Haman trembled before the king and the queen. As Ahasverus rushed out into the garden in a paroxysm of wrath, the miserable Haman fell on his knees before Esther. There he was found by Ahasverus, who soon returned with his attendants. He was led away, and by the king's command hung upon the gallows he had raised for Mordecai.

Esther now confessed to the king that she was Mordecai's cousin. Ahasverus sent at once for the man who had saved his life, installed him in Haman's place, and gave him, as the symbol of his high office, the signet ring which had been taken from the hand of his foe. Then Esther fell down on her knees before Ahasverus, and implored him with tears to revoke the sanguinary edict which had gone out against the Jews; for,' said she, how can I endure to see the evil that shall come unto my people? or how can I endure to see the destruction of my kindred?' But the decrees of the Persian kings were irrevocable; once issued, they could not be changed. However, Ahasverus despatched messengers in all haste to every province of the empire, bidding the Jews prepare to resist their enemies. This new proclamation, which filled the Jews with ecstasy and their enemies with apprehension, was eagerly acted upon, and the thirteenth day of the