they are willing to read Arabic books, regarding the Talmud as an impious addition to the sacred law. In vain Dr. Frankl sought to buy from the high-priest a prayer-book. The Samaritans are as choice of their sacred books as the Druses. All that he could get as a token of his visit was a silver armlet of singular shape from the arm of one of the women. He praises the Samaritans, as the only community in Palestine in which his visit seemed to be regarded as a favor. One of them, indeed, volunteered to be his guide in the ascent of Mount Gerizim. In the neighborhood of Samaria, a woman, whom he calls a "Samaritan," gave him to drink of the jar of water which she carried, and refused any backshish; but she was probably not of the Samaritan

sect.

One fact concerning the Samaritans is mentioned which we do not remember to have seen elsewhere, that they do not bury their own dead, believing that contact with a corpse defiles the person. The Mohammedans carry the body to the burial-place and inter it, and some hours after the Samaritan brethren come out and hold their lament over the grave. The community, nevertheless, have their own burial-place.

Of the sixty Jews in Sehafamer (a town which is not pointed out in the itineraries), and the five Jews in Rama, we have no account in the text, although they are reckoned in the footing in the Appendix. On the way from Rama to Safet, Dr. Frankl met a Jew, named Heirschel, living alone, the only instance of a solitary Jew which he found in his travels.

Such, in substance, is the account which this learned Israelite gives of his brethren in the land of the Bible. It seems to agree in the main with the more superficial observations of Christian travellers, and it certainly offers no encouraging view of the condition and prospects of the Hebrews in the home of their fathers. From the poetic temperament of Dr. Frankl, we might expect some vision of future glory to the people, some meditation on prophecy fulfilled and the Messiah's kingdom established on the mountain of the Lord. But he wisely refrains from any speculations upon the future, and contents himself with the more useful duty of pointing out real evils, and their possible remedy. The only effectual VOL. XCV.—NO. 197.

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remedy, as we think, will be the change of rulers in the land, and the establishment of a new civilization. So long as Syria remains a neglected province of the Ottoman Empire, and there is no concern in the rulers, and no interest in the people, to make the land yield its increase, or develop its resources, so long will the immigrants remain thriftless, indolent, and wretched. But under a Protestant sway, like that of England, there is no reason why the Jews should not find here as real a field for their enterprise as elsewhere where their rights are guaranteed and an open field is given them. They are not by nature indolent. Few races have more patience, ingenuity, and persistence in toil, when they can see gain as the probable result of toil. If Palestine were given to the Jews as a possession, and protection were confirmed to their industry, in time the abuses which are now so marked would disappear, the quarrels would subside, and the show of prosperity in Jerusalem would be as fair as in the synagogues of Vienna, Amsterdam, Paris, and London. The truest benevolence to the Syrian Jews will be that political change which shall lift off from them the pariah disgrace, and give them the rights of citizens. While they are only tolerated in the land, all foreign help is a curse to them rather than a blessing, promoting iniquity while it seems to relieve suffering. Until Palestine ceases to be the appendage of a despotism, whether Moslem or Christian, all efforts to improve the Jewish race within its borders will fail. The Mission may keep its showy church, the noble and rich may establish their schools, model farms may be set apart, but none of these things will reach the evil. The house of Israel must own the land which they inhabit, before they will be honorable or prosperous within it.

ART. IV. MADAME SWETCHINE, sa Vie et ses Œuvres. Par M. LE COMTE DE FALLOUX. Paris: Didier. 1860. 2 vols. 8vo.

AMONG the remarkable women of our time there is perhaps none whose character and attainments have made her more worthy of notice than she the record of whose life is contained in the pages before us. A foreigner by birth, her sympathies and her long residence in France had made her almost a Frenchwoman; the nobleness of her character, her cultivated mind, and her enlightened piety, caused her society to be sought by some of the most distinguished Roman Catholics of our time; while her ardent charity and active benevolence endeared her no less to the poor and the unfortunate. In the midst of the bustle and gayety of Paris, she lived a life of holiness and good works, ever ready to give sympathy where it was needed, and losing no opportunity of stimulating the young of both sexes to exertion in the cause of truth and religion. Although, perhaps, not a woman of genius, her influence over others was great and lasting; no life could be more useful in the sphere in which she moved, and no example more worthy of imitation can be offered to women of education, wealth, and leisure.

Madame Swetchine was born in Russia, in 1782. Her father, M. Soymonof, the private secretary of the Empress Catherine II., was a man of serious and cultivated mind, and of noble face and bearing. His position at court did not prevent him from bestowing much time and pains on the education of Sophie, for many years his only child. She was taught music, dancing, and languages, for all of which she evinced considerable taste. At the age of sixteen, she became the maid of honor of the Empress Marie, a beautiful and virtuous princess, whose patience and gentleness won the hearts of all around her, and enabled her to obtain a salutary influence over the singular and violent prince to whom she was united. But even she had to suffer sometimes from his capricious tyranny, and, although she suffered in silence, Sophie Soymonof had thus an early opportunity of learning

the useful lesson, that neither rank nor greatness can suffice for happiness. Sophie was not what is commonly called handsome; but her complexion was fine, her carriage graceful and easy, her blue eyes intelligent and gentle in expression, and her every word and action simple, natural, and lady-like. Her residence at court, and the part which the office she held compelled her to take in its frivolities, did not prevent her from continuing to improve her talents and cultivate her mind. She already spoke the Russian language, which many of the men and women of her country disdained to acquire, as suited only to the lower classes, as also French, English, and Italian, and had studied Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. Some of her drawings are still shown, which would do credit to any amateur. Her voice was full, flexible, and sonorous, and she read music with unusual ease. Her father, fearing that, like so many other of Catherine's old servants, he might incur the displeasure of the Emperor, and be dismissed from office, was anxious that she should marry early, in order to secure to her a suitable home and a protector for life. His friend, General Swetchine, then forty-two years of age, a man of amiable disposition and excellent sense, as well as of pleasing personal appearance, offered Sophie his hand, and she, accustomed to consult every wish of her father, did not hesitate to accept his proposals. She had lost her mother several years previously, and was happy to think that, in forming this connection, she could continue to bestow on her little sister the same care that she had lavished on her since their mother's death.

M. Soymonof had been wise in thus anticipating his disgrace. Soon after his daughter's marriage, he was ordered to leave St. Petersburg. He obeyed, and went to Moscow, but the consciousness of having been treated with injustice, the separation from his beloved daughter, and the indifference of a friend on whom he had relied in the hour of misfortune, were a blow so severe, that he soon sunk under its effects, and a stroke of apoplexy terminated the life which had no longer any charms for him.

Until that moment, Madame Swetchine had never felt the power of religion. Naturally amiable and kind, it had cost

her no effort faithfully to discharge the various duties which devolved upon her; she had attended regularly to the showy services of the Greek Church in the imperial chapel; but she had never been taught to feel her dependence on a higher power, nor the duty and efficacy of daily prayer.

The loss of the father whom she so tenderly loved was the turning-point in her life; in so great an affliction, she resorted to the only true source of consolation, and devoted her leisure hours to the study and meditation of the highest truths.

The society of St. Petersburg was at this time more brilliant than almost any other in Europe. The French Revolution had caused many emigrants of high birth and talent to take up their abode there, and the house of General Swetchine, the military commandant and afterward the governor of St. Petersburg, was always open to them. Among the frequent visitors of Madame Swetchine was the Chevalier d'Augard, who was named Sub-Director of the Imperial Libraries, and who from the grace of his conversation and the depth of his religious convictions may first have attracted her toward the Roman Catholic Church. Her friendship for the celebrated Count de Maistre afforded her an opportunity of hearing what so remarkable a man thought on the subject of his faith, and must have contributed to enlighten her, although his influence over her mind was probably not so great as it might have been, had not his extreme dogmatism repelled the natural independence of her character. Her conversion, which did not take place till several years afterward, was the result of deep investigation and of the workings of her own mind.

The Emperor Paul, who had always been capricious and violent, was fast becoming still more so. He issued the most absurd ordinances; in some cases the most barbarous. The slightest infringement of etiquette was punished severely; and even the princes and princesses of the imperial family were not exempted from this strict discipline. Officers were arrested at a moment's warning, dragged before a council of war, and subjected to the severest punishments. General Swetchine, although a faithful subject and a brave officer, was suddenly deprived of his post as governor of the capital. But a conspiracy, which he had been in vain solicited to join, was