belief; a deist of such a creed as Athenian schools might have taught to
the imaginative pupils of Plato, save only that too dark a shadow had
been cast over the hopes of another world. Without the absolute denial
of the Sadducee, Almamen had, probably, much of the quiet scepticism
which belonged to many sects of the early Jews, and which still clings
round the wisdom of the wisest who reject the doctrine of Revelation; and
while he had not sought to eradicate from the breast of his daughter any
of the vague desire which points to a Hereafter, he had never, at least,
directed her thoughts or aspirations to that solemn future. Nor in the
sacred book which was given to her survey, and which so rigidly upheld
the unity of the Supreme Power, was there that positive and unequivocal
assurance of life beyond "the grave where all things are forgotten," that
might supply the deficiencies of her mortal instructor. Perhaps, sharing
those notions of the different value of the sexes, prevalent, from the
remotest period, in his beloved and ancestral East, Almamen might have
hopes for himself which did not extend to his child. And thus she grew
up, with all the beautiful faculties of the soul cherished and unfolded,
without thought, without more than dim and shadowy conjectures, of the
Eternal Bourne to which the sorrowing pilgrim of the earth is bound. It
was on this point that the quick eye of Donna Inez discovered her faith
was vulnerable: who would not, if belief were voluntary, believe in the
world to come? Leila's curiosity and interest were aroused: she
willingly listened to her new guide--she willingly inclined to
conclusions pressed upon her, not with menace, but persuasion. Free from
the stubborn associations, the sectarian prejudices, and unversed in the
peculiar traditions and accounts of the learned of her race, she found
nothing to shock her in the volume which seemed but a continuation of the
elder writings of her faith. The sufferings of the Messiah, His sublime
purity, His meek forgiveness, spoke to her woman's heart; His doctrines
elevated, while they charmed, her reason: and in the Heaven that a Divine