his
"ruddy" face, were the least of his obligations to the breezy uplands,
where he kept his father's sheep. His early life taught him courage,
when he "smote the lion" and laid hold by his ugly muzzle of the bear
that "rose against him," rearing itself upright for the fatal hug.
Solitude and familiarity with nature helped to nurture the poetical side
of his character, and to strengthen that meditative habit which blends
so strangely with his impetuous activity, and which for the most part
kept tumults and toils from invading his central soul. They threw him
back on God who peopled the solitude and spoke in all nature. Besides
this, he acquired in the sheepcote lessons which he practised on the
throne, that rule means service, and that the shepherd of men holds his
office in order that he may protect and guide. And in the lowly
associations of his humble home, he learned the life of the people,
their simple joys, their unconspicuous toils, their unnoticed sorrows--a
priceless piece of knowledge both for the poet and for the king.

A breach in all the tranquil habits of this modest life was made by
Samuel's astonishing errand. The story is told with wonderful
picturesqueness and dramatic force. The minute account of the successive
rejections of his brothers, Samuel's question and Jesse's answer, and
then the pause of idle waiting till the messenger goes and returns,
heighten the expectation with which we look for his appearance. And then
what a sweet young face is lovingly painted for us! "He was ruddy, and
withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to" (1 Sam. xvi.
12)--of fair complexion, with golden hair, which is rare among these
swarthy, black-locked easterns, with lovely eyes (for that is the
meaning of the words which the English Bible renders "of a beautiful
countenance"), large and liquid as become a poet. So he stood before the
old prophet, and with swelling heart and reverent awe received the holy
chrism. In silence, as it would seem, Samuel anointed him. Whether the
secret of his high destiny was imparted to him then, or left to be
disclosed in future years, is not told. But at all events, whether with
full understanding of what was before him or no, he must have been
conscious of a call that would carry him far away from the pastures and
olive yards of the little hamlet and of a new Spirit stirring in him
from that day forward.

This sudden change in all the outlook of his life must have given n