er
shoulder, and tell me what it is?"

Mr. Dymock saw this mark with amazement:--He saw that it was no natural
mark; and at length, though not till after he had examined it many
times, he made it out, or fancied he had done so, to be a branch of a
palm tree. From the first he had made up his mind that this was a Jewish
child; and, following the idea of the palm-tree, and tracing the word in
a Hebrew lexicon,--for he was a Hebrew scholar, though not a deep
one,--he found that Tamar was the Hebrew for a palm tree. "And Tamar it
shall be," he said; "this maid of Judah, this daughter of Zion shall be
called Tamar;" and he carried his point, although Mrs. Margaret made
many objections, saying it was not a Christian name, and therefore not
proper for a child who was to be brought up as a Christian. However, as
Mr. Dymock had given up his whim of learning the business of a smith
since the adventure which has been so fully related, and had forgotten
the proposed experiment of turning up the whole moor round the Tower
with his new-fangled plough,--that plough having ceased to be an object
of desire to him as soon as it was completed,--she thought it best to
give way to this whim of giving the child so strange a name, and
actually stood herself at the font, as principal sponsor for
little Tamar.

Thus, the orphan was provided with a happy home; nor, as Mrs. Margaret
said, did she ever miss the child's little bite and sup. After a few
days, the babe would condescend to leave Mrs. Margaret, when required to
go to the servants. She would even, when directed so to do, steal across
the floor, and accept a seat on Mr. Dymock's knee, and gradually she got
very fond of him. Nor was her affection unrequited; he had formed a
theory about her,--and it was not a selfish theory, for he never
expected to gain anything by her,--but he believed that she was of noble
but unfortunate Jewish parentage, and he built this theory on the
singular grace and beauty of her person. At all events, he never doubted
but that she was a Jewess; and he talked of it, and thought of it, till
he was entirely convinced that it was so, and had convinced his aunt
also, and established the persuasion in the minds of most persons
about him.

If Mr. Dymock was not a genius, he had all the weaknesses commonly
attributed to genius, and, in consequence, was as useless a being as
ever cumbered the ground; yet, he was generally loved, and no one loved
him more than Tamar