able, even
Kisloch and his companions were appalled as they gazed upon Esther the
Prophetess.

Her eminent position, her imposing action, the flashing of her immense
eyes, her beautiful but awful countenance, her black hair, that hung
almost to her knees, and the white light of the moon, just rising over
the opposite side of the amphitheatre, and which threw a silvery flash
upon her form, and seemed to invest her with some miraculous emanation,
while all beneath her was in deep gloom,-these circumstances combined
to render her an object of universal interest and attention, while in a
powerful but high voice she thus addressed them:

'They come, they come! But will they go? Lo! hear ye this, O house of
Jacob, which are called by the name of Israel, and are come forth out of
the waters of Judah! I hear their drum in the desert, and the voice of
their trumpets is like the wind of eve, but a decree hath gone forth,
and it says, that a mortal shall be more precious than fine gold, yea, a
man than the rich ore of Ophir.

'They come, they come! But will they go? I see the flash of their
scimitars, I mark the prancing of their cruel steeds; but a decree hath
gone forth, and it says, a gleaning shall be left among them, as in
the shaking of the olive-tree; two or three berries on the top of the
uppermost bough; four or five on the straggling branches.

'They come, they come! But will they go? Lo! a decree hath gone forth,
and it says, Hamadan shall be to thee for a spoil, and desolation shall
fall upon Babylon. And there shall the wild beasts of the desert lodge,
and howling monsters shall fill their houses, and there shall the
daughters of the ostrich dwell, and there shall the screech-owl pitch
her tent, and there shall the night-raven lay her eggs, and there shall
the satyrs hold their revels. And wolves shall howl to one another in
their palaces, and dragons in their voluptuous pavilions. Her time is
near at hand; her days shall not be prolonged; the reed and the lotus
shall wither in her rivers; and the meadows by her canals shall be as
the sands of the desert. For, is it a light thing that the Lord should
send his servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the
preserved of Israel? Sing, O heavens, and be joyful, O earth, and break
forth into singing, O mountains, for the Lord hath comforted his people,
and will have mercy upon his afflicted!'

She ceased; she descended the precipitous side of the amphithe