rth
peace, good-will towards men!" The plain is still mainly under
pasture, fertile and well watered, and there I saw shepherds still
tending their flocks. These shepherds have great influence over their
sheep. Many of them have no dogs. Their flocks are docile and
domestic, and not as the black-faced breed of sheep in Scotland,
scouring the hills like cavalry. The shepherd's word spoken at any
time is sufficient to make them understand and obey him. He sleeps
among them at night, and in the morning he leadeth them forth to drink
by the still waters, and feedeth them by the green pastures. He walks
before them slow and stately; and so accustomed are the sheep to be
guided by him, that every few bites they take they look up with
earnestness to see that he is there. When he rests during the heat of
the day in a shady place, they lie around him chewing the cud. He has
generally two or three favourite lambs which don't mix with the flock,
but frisk and fondle at his heel. There is a tender intimacy between
the Ishmaelite and his flock. They know his voice, and follow him, and
he careth for the sheep. He gathereth his lambs, and seeketh out his
flock among the sheep, and gently leadeth them that are with young,
and carrieth the lambs in his bosom. In returning back to Jerusalem, I
halted on a rugged height to survey more particularly, and enjoy the
scene where Ruth went to glean the ears of corn in the field of her
kinsman Boaz. Hither she came for the beginning of barley harvest,
because she would not leave Naomi in her sorrow. "Entreat me not to
leave thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest,
I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God. Where
thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the Lord do so to
me, and more also, if aught but death part thee and me." How simple
and tender! Here, when looking around me, honoured I felt for ever be
her memory, not only for these touching sentiments, worthy of our race
even before the fall, and when the image of God was not yet effaced;
but also in respect that she who uttered these words was the
great-grandmother of David, and as of the generation of Jesus. Here
also I looked back to the city of Bethlehem with lingering regret,
uttering a common-place farewell to the scene, but never to its
hallowed recollections.'

We may conclude our extracts with a passage descriptive of the
doctor's departure from the Holy Land, from which it w