there needs but little spirit
to be a moody patriot in a sullen home, and vent your heroic spleen upon
your fellow-sufferers, whose sufferings you cannot remedy. But of such
stuff your race were ever made. Such deliverers ever abounded in the
house of Alroy. And what has been the result? I found you and your
sister orphan infants, your sceptre broken, and your tribes dispersed.
The tribute, which now at least we pay like princes, was then exacted
with the scourge and offered in chains. I collected our scattered
people, I re-established our ancient throne, and this day, which you
look upon as a day of humiliation and of mourning, is rightly considered
by all a day of triumph and of feasting; for, has it not proved in the
very teeth of the Ishmaelites, that the sceptre has not yet departed
from Jacob?'

'I pray you, uncle, speak not of these things. I would not willingly
forget you are my kinsman, and a kind one. Let there not be strife
between us. What my feelings are is nothing. They are my own: I cannot
change them. And for my ancestors, if they pondered much, and achieved
little, why then 'twould seem our pedigree is pure, and I am their true
son. At least one was a hero.'

'Ah! the great Alroy; you may well be proud of such an ancestor.'

'I am ashamed, uncle, ashamed, ashamed.'

'His sceptre still exists. At least, I have not betrayed him. And this
brings me to the real purport of our interview. That sceptre I would
return.'

'To whom?'

'To its right owner, to yourself.'

'Oh! no, no, no; I pray you, I pray you not. I do entreat you, sir,
forget that I have a right as utterly as I disclaim it. That sceptre
you have wielded it wisely and well; I beseech you keep it. Indeed, good
uncle, I have no sort of talent for all the busy duties of this post.'

'You sigh for glory, yet you fly from toil.'

'Toil without glory is a menial's lot.'

'You are a boy; you may yet live to learn that the sweetest lot of life
consists in tranquil duties and well-earned repose.'

'If my lot be repose, I'll find it in a lair.'

'Ah! David, David, there is a wildness in your temper, boy, that makes
me often tremble. You are already too much alone, child. And for this,
as well as weightier reasons, I am desirous that you should at length
assume the office you inherit. What my poor experience can afford to aid
you, as your counsellor, I shall ever proffer; and, for the rest, our
God will not desert you, an orphan child, and b