mother's house, and the Lord deal kindly with you, as ye have dealt with the dead and with me!"

Orpah yielded to the persuasions of her mother, and returned into Moab, but the resolution of Ruth was unalterable. "Intreat me not to leave thee," said she: "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, I will die; and there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me, and more also, if aught but death part thee and me."

A determination so solemn, was not to be shaken by the faint remonstrances of Naomi. Her desolate condition demanded the consolations of friendship; nor could she refuse an offered proselyte to the covenant of Israel :— together, therefore, they proceeded towards Judea.

It was now the bountiful season, when the hills and the vallies of Canaan were teeming with plenty; clustering vines and waving grain, just ready for the sickle, presented to the returning exile a smiling landscape-the reverse of the impoverished fields which she had left and overwhelmed her soul with a sense of the change in her own circumstances. "Call me not Naomi," cried she, when her former friends, crowding around, accosted her in the terms of gratulation, "Is this Naomi, who is returned to us ?”—“ Call me not Naomi,* but call me Mara;† for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full-and the Lord hath brought me home again, empty.

The widow of Elimelech was not only bereaved of her husband and her sons, but a long residence in a foreign

* Naomi signifies agreeable.
+ Mara signifies bitter.

land had also dissipated her property, so that she who was once able to open her hand liberally, was now obliged to lean on that of others! Her blooming daughter, the sole staff of her declining years, therefore cheerfully embraced the opportunity which the bounteous season of harvest and the common customs of the country afforded, to the indigent, of gleaning after the reapers. Not knowing whither she went, she was providentially led into the fields of Boaz, a distinguished member of the house of Elimelech.Amongst the damsels of Bethlehem, the engaging appearance of the young Moabites attracted the notice of Boaz, and induced him to ask the overseer of his fields whence she came.

Finding her to be the amiable proselyte to his religion and his country, and being already acquainted with her character, he approached her with the respect which her virtues inspired, and welcoming her to his fields, requested that she would remain with his people, and partake also of his table during the whole harvest. Then going privately to the labourers, he commanded them to treat the fair stranger with delicacy,-to leave large handfuls where she went,—and even to let her glean amongst the sheaves. In the evening Ruth returned laden with grain, and related her good fortune to her delighted mother, who, anticipating the probable result, encouraged her to return every day, and avail herself of the charity of Boaz.

Thus the dejected Naomi was sustained,-whilst a brighter day was beginning to dawn on the generous Ruth. The two widows were yet in possession of some lands belonging to their late husbands, which their decayed circumstances obliged them to sell. By the law of Moses,

"

the nearest kinsman of the deceased, had the first right to purchase, and moreover the privilege of marrying the widow of his relation if no children survived: the first-born of the second marriage succeeded in such a case, to the rights of the former husband, so that "no name or family should be lost in Israel."

The wealthy Boaz had seen and admired the widow of Mahlon, but there was in Bethlehem a man whose relationship was nearer than his own. As soon, therefore, as the conclusion of harvest allowed him leisure to attend to other affairs, he summoned this man to appear at the gate of the city, where causes were usually heard, and there, in the presence of the elders, he required him to purchase the lands of Elimelech, and marry his daughter-in-law; but this person, whose name is not mentioned, refused to comply with the law.

Boaz then called them to witness, that he there purchased all that was Elimelech's, and Mahlon's, and Chilion's, of the hand of Naomi; and Ruth, the Moabitess, he took to be his wife." The usual testimonials of a contract were given to Boaz, and he was dismissed with the blessings of the Elders on himself, and the fair stranger whom he had thus honourably espoused. The marriage was celebrated, and the last years of Naomi were happy in a flourishing family.

FANNY. The patriarchal manners and moral beauty of this story are really refreshing, after your picture of the general depravity of the times. It bears so strong a resemblance to the Palemon and Lavinia of our favourite Thomson, that one would suppose it to have been the mo del of that exquisite story.

MRS. M. There is no doubt of the fact; with the alteration of some of its incidents, and the embellishments of his fine fancy, it is the same.

The Bible is the inexhaustible source from which rhetoric and poetry have delighted mankind in every age. In a multitude of instances, it surpasses all attempts at imitation. Let us take this opportunity of making a comparison, and we cannot do it with more advantage to the poet, for Palemon and Lavinia is the admiration of the world! Yet, with all the winning graces of Thomson's genius, it will be found inferior in variety, in pathos, and moral interest, to the history of Ruth, the Moabitess.

In the poem of the Scottish bard, an aged widow and her daughter are represented as being reduced from affluence to poverty, and retired from the mortifying gaze of the world, to an obscure retreat. Urged by necessity, the daughter goes out to glean in the field of a neighbour, who 'is "rich, generous, and young." Her beauty and her modesty attract his notice, and yet more his sympathy, by a fancied resemblance to his friend and benefactor! He converses with her, and finds that she is the daughter of that long-lost friend, the sole author of his prosperity!— He marries her, and competence and joy again brighten the setting day of the widowed mother.

In the history of Israel, a family are driven from their native country by a famine: the two sons, the only chil dren of their parents, marry; the father dies; and afterwards, both the sons, the hope and stay of their widowed mother, are also taken away! Bereft of all, the weeping exile returns to her native land. Her daughters-in-law affectionately accompany her; one is hardly persuaded to go back, but the other, undaunted by poverty, or the trou

bles which she may encounter among an unknown people, clings to her with the fondest attachment, and, abjuring the superstitions in which she had been educated, declares she will live and die with her in the religion and the country of her lost husband! Now all these affecting incidents, calculated in themselves, without the ornament of language, to excite the deepest sympathy, are wanting in the fiction of Thomson. Here the poet takes up the history, and he gives us, indeed, a most enchanting transcript of the remaining scenes; still the original is more strongly impressive, because we know the picture to be genuine ; besides, the frank and simple contract of Boaz, and the gratulations of her neighbours to Naomi, when her family was revived in the first born of Boaz and Ruth, are beauties to which the poem has no parallel circumstances.

Obed, this son, who, according to their rule, was called the son of Naomi, is the link which connects the story of Ruth with the history of the Israelites.

FANNY. How delightful it is to get a new idea. I have often thought on the resemblance between these two stories, but I was not aware of the superiority of Ruth to my favourite Palemon and Lavinia. Pray who was the author of this book?

MRS. M. We are no where informed; but both this book, and that which is denominated JUDGES, are usually ascribed to the prophet Samuel, on whose more generally acknowledged writings we are now about to enter.