state about 500 years before Christ. It was situated on an island near the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea, which was joined by Alexander to the main land by a mole, or mound, by means of which he took the city after a siege of seven months. It was surrounded by a wall 150 feet high, and of proportionate width. Its palaces are now supplanted by miserable hovels, though relics of its ancient splendor are everywhere still seen, and the poor fisherman now inhabits those cellars where were once stored the treasures of the world. 3 E' DOM, or I DU MEA, is a country including the south of Palestine. * MU EZ' ZIN, in Mohammedan countries, is the public crier who announces the hours of prayer from the minaret. Five prayers are repeated daily. * KLEBER was a French general, distinguished not less for his humanity and integrity than for his courage, activity, and coolness. MU RAT' (Mü rä') was a French general, distinguished more for his daring courage and impetuosity than for his sagacity, and strength of mind. MOUNT TABOR. J. T. HEADLEY. HAT strange contrasts this earth of ours presents! WHA Noonday and midnight are not more opposite than the scenes that are constantly passing before our eyes. Truth and falsehood walk side by side through our streets, and vice and virtue meet and pass every hour of the day. The hut of the starving stands in the shadow of the palace of the wealthy, and the carriage of Dives1 every day throws the dust of its glittering wheels over the tattered garments of Lazarus. 2. Health and sickness lie down in the same apartment; joy and grief look out of the same window; and hope and despair dwell under the same roof. The cry of the infant, and the groan of the dying, rise together from the same dwelling; the funeral procession treads close on the heels of the bridal party; and the tones of the lute and viol have scarcely died away, before the requiem for the dead comes swelling after. Oh! the beautiful and deformed, the pure and corrupt, joy and sorrow, ecstasies and ago nies, life and death, are strangely blended on this our restless planet. 3. What different events have transpired on the same spot! Where the smoke of the Indian's wigwam arose, and the stealthy tread of the wolf and panther was heard over the autumn leaves at twilight, the population of New York now surges along. Where once Tyre,' the queen of the sea, stood, fishermen are spreading their nets on the desolate rocks, and the bright waves are rolling over its marble columns. In the empty apartments of Edom, the fox makes his den; and the dust of the desert is sifting over the forsaken ruins of Palmyra. 3 4. The owl hoots in the ancient halls of kings, and the wind of the summer night makes sad music through the rents of the once-gorgeous palaces. The Arab spurs his steed along the streets of ancient Jerusalem, or scornfully stands and curls his lip at the pilgrim pressing wearily to the sepulcher of the Savior. The muezzin's voice rings over the bones of the prophets, and the desert wind heaps the dust above the foundations of the seven churches of Asia. Oh, how good and evil, light and darkness, chase each other over the world! 5. Forty-seven years ago, a form was seen standing on Mount Tabor, with which the world has since become familiar. It was a bright spring morning; and, as he sat on his steed in the clear sunlight, his eye rested on a scene in the vale below, which was sublime and appalling enough to quicken the pulsations of the calmest heart. That form was NAPOLEON BONAPARTE; and the scene before him, the fierce and terrible “BATTLE OF MOUNT TABOR." 6. From Nazareth, where the Savior once trod, KLEBER5 had marched with three thousand French soldiers forth into the plain; when, lo! at the foot of Mount Tabor, he saw the whole Turkish army drawn up in order of battle. Fifteen thousand infantry, and twelve thousand splendid cavalry, moved down in majestic strength on this band of three thousand French. Kleber had scarcely time to throw his handful of men into squares, with the cannon at the angles, before those twelve thousand horse, making the earth smoke and thunder as they came, burst in a headlong gallop upon them. 7. But round those steady squares rolled a fierce devouring fire, emptying the saddles of those wild horsemen with frightful rapidity, and strewing the earth with the bodies of riders and steeds together. Again and again did those splendid squadrons wheel, re-form, and charge with deafening shouts, while their uplifted and flashing cimeters gleamed like a forest of steel through the smoke of battle; but that same wasting fire received them, till those squares seemed bound by a girdle of flame, so rapid and constant were the discharges. 8. Before their certain and deadly aim, as they stood fighting for existence, the charging squadrons fell so fast, that a rampart of dead bodies was soon formed around them. Behind this embankment of dead men and horses, this band of warriors stood and fought for six dreadful hours, and was still steadily thinning the ranks of the enemy, when Napoleon debouched with a single division on Mount Tabor, and turned his eye below. What a scene met his gaze! The whole plain was filled with marching columns, and charging squadrons of wildly galloping steeds, while the thunder of cannon and fierce rattle of musketry, amid which now and then were heard the blast of thousands of trumpets and strains of martial music, filled the air. 9. The smoke of battle was rolling furiously over the hosts, and all was confusion and chaos in his sight. Amid the twenty-seven thousand Turks that crowded the plain, and enveloped their enemy like a cloud, and amid the incessant discharge of artillery and musketry, Napoleon could tell where his own brave troops were struggling, only by the steady simultaneous volleys which showed how discipline was contending with the wild valor of overpowering numbers. The constant flashes from behind that rampart of dead bodies were like spots of flame on the tumultuous and chaotic field. 10. Napoleon descended from Mount Tabor with his little band, while a single twelve-pounder, fired from the hights, told the wearied Kleber that he was rushing to the rescue. Then for the first time he took the offensive, and, pouring his enthusiastic followers on the foe, carried death and terror over the field. Thrown into confusion, and trampled under foot, that mighty army rolled turbulently back toward the Jordan, where MURAT was anxiously waiting to mingle in the fight. Dashing with his cavalry among the disordered ranks, he sabered them down without mercy, and raged like a lion amid the prey. 11. This chivalric and romantic warrior declared that the remembrance of the scenes that once transpired on Mount Tabor, and on these thrice-consecrated spots, came to him in the hottest of the fight, and nerved him with tenfold courage. As the sun went down over the plains of Palestine, and twilight shed its dim ray over the rent, and trodden, and dead-covered field, a sulphurous cloud hung around the summit of Mount Tabor. The smoke of battle had settled there where once the cloud of glory rested, while groans, and shrieks, and cries rent the air. Nazareth, Jordan, and Mount Tabor! what spots for battle-fields ! LESSON CXVIII. 1ES DRA E'LON is a plain of Palestine, often mentioned in sacred history. It has been from the earliest history often the scene of bloody conflicts. It is situated south of the plain of Galilee. ROLL MOUNT TABOR. J. T. HEADLEY. OLL back eighteen centuries, and again view that mount. The day is bright and beautiful, as on the day of battle, and the same rich Oriental landscape is smiling in the same sun. There is Nazareth, with its busy population, the same Nazareth from which Kleber marched his army; and there is Jordan, rolling its bright waters along, the same Jordan along whose banks charged the glittering squadrons of Murat's cavalry; and there is Mount Tabor, -the same on which Bonaparte stood with his cannon; and the same beautiful plain where rolled the smoke of battle, and struggled thirty thousand men in mortal combat. 2. But how different is the scene that is passing there! The Son of God stands on that hight, and casts his eye over the quiet valley, through which Jordan winds its silvery current. Three friends are beside Him. They have walked together up the toilsome way; and now they stand, mere specks on the distant summit. Far away to the north-west shines the blue Mediterranean; all around is the great plain of Esdraelon1 and Galilee; eastward the Lake of Tiberias dots the landscape; while Mount Carmel lifts its naked summit in the distance. 3. But the glorious landscape at their feet is forgotten in a sublimer scene that is passing before them. The son of Mary the carpenter of Nazareth-the wanderer, |