some time. It came out just when the girl was becoming resigned to her
future by his side, and it attracted even more attention than the author
had hoped it would achieve.

The book was titled "Revised Versions," and it was strikingly modern
in design and in tone. It purported to deal with several personages and
numerous episodes of the Old Testament, not from the standpoint of the
comparative philologist; not from the standpoint of the comparative
mythologist, but from the standpoint of the modern man of common sense
and average power of discrimination; and the result was that the breath
of a good many people, especially clergymen, was taken from them, and
that the Rev. George Holland became the best-known clergyman in England.

He dealt with the patriarchs in succession, and they fared very badly at
his hands. He showed that Abraham had not one good act recorded to his
credit, and contrasted his duplicity with the magnanimity of the ruler
of Egypt whom he visited. He dwelt upon the Hagar episode, showing that
the adulterer was also a murderer by intention, and so forth; while no
words could be too strong to apply to Sara, his wife. Isaac did not call
for elaborate notice. He could not be accused of any actual crime, but
if he was a man of strong personality, he was singularly unfortunate in
having failed to impart to his wife any of that integrity which he may
have practiced through life. Her methods of dealing with him after they
had lived together for a good many years were criminal, considering the
largeness of the issue at stake as the result of his blessing. As for
Jacob, not a single praiseworthy act of his long life was available to
his biographer. His career was that of the most sordid of hucksters. Of
eleven of his sons nothing good is told, but Joseph was undoubtedly an
able and exemplary man; the only thing to his discredit being his utter
callousness regarding the fate of his father, after he had attained to a