change of bearing towards her husband, and the mournful age-ing of individual character. But Alexandra's anguish could have no rest, no peace, till lost in the wild wish, and matured measures for revenge. Till reason regained ascendancy, her agony was such, that suicide seemed the only relief; but then came the desire to live, even to prolong life, till vengeance was accomplished: and so to prolong life demanded all possible care, by neither word nor act, to offend Herod, whose unscrupulous cruelty would not spare her, more than her son. To deceive him, therefore, was that semblance of belief in his professed grief assumed, which must so have chilled the heart of her daughter-an apparent satisfaction from the honors awarded to her boy in death-an impenetrable concealment of every suspicion that murder, not accident, had deprived her of her child, marked her outward conduct, while in secret she wrote to Cleopatra, detailing the whole affair, and conjuring her influence to bring Herod to justice.

With all her weaknesses, all her faults, the Egyptian queen appears fully capable of woman's kindest feelings. Indignant at the treacherous action, and sympathising deeply in the mother's agony, Cleopatra never rested till she had prevailed on Antony to summon Herod before him, and defend himself from an accusation so fraught with treachery and horror. As this command was not, however, sent until Antony was in Laodicea, the year following the murder, some months must have elapsed, which probably removed all suspicion of Alexandra having been concerned in the charge. We only read of Herod being in great fear of the accusation, and of Cleopatra's known ill-will towards him. Had he

suspected Alexandra as the originator, we cannot doubt but that her death, either by secret murder or public execution, would instantly have followed.

Finding it impossible to evade the summons, Herod left the charge of his kingdom to his uncle Joseph, as procurator of the government. With this public office he connected a private one; the extraordinary command, that if Antony should condemn him to death, Joseph would instantly slay Mariamne, giving as his ostensible reason, that he had so tender an affection for his wife, that he could not bear the idea of her becoming, after his death, the wife of any other man. promised compliance, and Herod departed.

Joseph

The historians of this period appear to believe in Herod's revealed reason for wishing the death of his wife, and lay great stress on the deep love he bore her. Love! Can it be possible that sober reasoning men, looking back on these events, tracing the whole character of this man as a map before them-beholding not one softening feeling, not one human emotion, not one pitying pause in his ruthless career--perceiving that his every aim, intent, desire, apart from individual aggrandisement, was the denationalisation of Judea to incorporate it with the heathen kingdoms, and, increasing his own power, exterminate its peculiar people from the face of the earth-can it be possible, we repeat, that thoughtful and reasoning men, who at this distance of time can look back with much clearer ken on the records of the past, than those historians but lately removed from the scenes, and personages of whom they write, can yet adopt the views of Josephus, simply because he wrote them, and believe that love could ever have

actuated Herod in commanding the death of his wife, or have guided his intercourse with her while she lived? Jealousy and selfishness might, indeed, have appeared to his own heart like love, but the reality would have dictated differently. He might, indeed, in his selfish tyranny, have resolved that she should never give to, nor receive happiness from any other man; but if we judge of him according to his character and acts, there was yet another and deeper reason. He could not bear the thought, that the Asmonæan faction, whom he so hated, so oppressed, so sought to exterminate in life, should obtain ascendancy on his downfall, and rule that land which he had destined for himself. Mariamne was now almost its sole representative, with the exception of the aged Hyrcanus, who, though unfitted for the office of high priest, might yet rule as sovereign-and his kinsmen, the sons of Babas. Of the existence of these last, Herod was ignorant, having years before commanded their death.

Herod could not have doubted, that on the event of his death, Mariamne would instantly be acknowledged sovereign. The customs of the country had already provided examples of a wife succeeding her husband; nor was it likely this rule would be waived, when, as in the case of Mariamne, it was the wife, and not the husband who possessed legal, hereditary, and national right to the government. When we reflect on the extreme jealousy which Herod bore towards all the Asmonæans-that he never permitted an opportunity to pass without cutting them off-we have surely some foundation for the belief, that the jealousy of ambition,

quite as deeply as the jealousy of love, actuated Herod in his determination, that if he died, Mariamne should die with him. He could not conquer the hated thought of beholding her ruling over a loving and obedient people in his stead, courted, followed, perchance united to one of her own race, willing and eager to join her in every effort to elevate Judea to her own exclusive holiness and pristine glory.

This analysis of the motives of Herod's barbarous command is merely offered to our readers as a suggestion. Histories of the time are open to them, and far more improving and satisfactory is it for them to read, and to form their own conclusions, than adopt, without examination, those of another.

From the words used by Josephus, we are led to imagine that Mariamne had a share in the government, and was consulted by the regent Joseph on all occasions. "But as Joseph was ministering the public affairs of the kingdom, and was for that reason very frequently with Mariamne, both because his business required it, and because of the respect he sought to pay to the queen," &c. Now, if the position of the Hebrew females had been what we are generally inclined to suppose it, the same as that of the present Eastern females, we should not find this very important passage. The lines marked in italics demonstrate very forcibly, that Joseph was in the habit of consulting with the queen, on all matters of business; and he did so, not only because it was the custom of the country, but also from his great respect towards her, a respect which could not have been excited in the respective ages and relation of uncle and niece,

if intellect, and wisdom, and dignity had not been added to, and enhanced the exceeding beauty, and grace which she so eminently possessed.

Had any modern or European historian penned the sentence we have quoted, its importance would not have been so great; but coming from Josephus, intimately acquainted as he was, with the manners and customs of the Jews of that day, it is a powerful proof of the perfect equality of the Jewish female, both in her domestic and social position. Had it not been quite customary for such reference to the wife of the sovereign during his absence, the visits of Joseph must have excited, not only private, but public suspicion, and called for animadversions from the historian: instead of which he describes it quite naturally, as a usual and common occurrence: and furthermore, declares Salome's accusations to be a groundless calumny, whose only foundation was individual hate.

These facts, trifling as they seem, should be remembered, when we are told that the condition of the Jewish females was so degraded and enslaved. Josephus, individually, may have a mean opinion of the sex; but his whole history, by an almost remarkable triumph of facts over prejudices, contradicts himself, and supplies us with unanswerable evidences of the truth of our theory.

Apparently anxious to increase Mariamne's love for her husband, or rather, perhaps, to remove the cold restraint which had marked her conduct towards him since her brother's death, Joseph never allowed an opportunity to pass without alluding to the strong affection Herod bore her. Mariamne herself appears to have listened to these professions in silence. That love