is in thee, and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom is found in thee. And now, the wise men, the astrologers, have been brought in before me, that they should read this writing, and make known unto me the interpretation thereof; but they could not show the interpretation of the thing. And I have heard of thee, that thou canst make interpretations and dissolve doubts. Now, if thou canst read the writing, and make known to me the interpretation thereof, thou shalt be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of gold about thy neck, and shalt be the third ruler in the kingdom."

Then Daniel answered and said, before the king, “Let thy gifts be to thyself, and give thy rewards to another ; yet I will read the writing unto the king, and make known to him the interpretation.

"Oh, thou king, the most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar, thy father, a kingdom and majesty and glory and honor. And for the majesty that he gave him, all people, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him. Whom he would he slew; and whom he would he kept alive; and whom he would he set up; and whom he would he put down. But when his heart was lifted up and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him; and he was driven from the sons of men; and his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild asses. They fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven; till he knew that the most high God ruled in the kingdom of men, and that he appointeth over it whomsoever he will.

"And thou, his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knowest all this; but hast lifted

and

up thyself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house before thee, and thou and thy lords and thy wives have drunk wine in them thou hast praised the gods of silver and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know; and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified.

"Then was the part of the hand sent from him; and this writing was written. And this is the writing that was written, Mene, mene, tEKEL, UPHARSIN.

"This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE, God hath numbered thy kingdom and finished it. TEKEL, thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. PERES, thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians."

Then commanded Belshazzar, and they clothed Daniel with scarlet, and put a chain of gold about his neck, and made a proclamation concerning him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom.

In that night was Belshazzar, the king of the Chaldeans, slain. And Darius, the Median, took the kingdom, being

about threescore and two years old.

- From the Book of Daniel.

THE VISION OF BELSHAZZAR.

BY LORD BYRON.

The King was on his throne,
The satraps throng'd the hall;
A thousand bright lamps shone
O'er that high festival.

A thousand cups of gold,
In Judah deem'd divine-
Jehovah's vessels hold

The godless heathens' wine!

Came forth against the wall,
And wrote as if on sand,
The fingers of a man ;
A solitary hand

Along the letters ran,

And traced them like a wand.

The monarch saw and shook,
And bade no more rejoice;
All bloodless waxed his look,
And tremulous his voice.
"Let the men of lore appear,
The wisest of the earth,
And expound the words of fear
Which mar our royal mirth."

Chaldea's seers are good,

But here they have no skill; And the unknown letters stood Untold and awful still.

And Babel's men of age

Are wise and deep in lore;

But now they were not sage,
They saw but knew no more.

A captive in the land,

A stranger and a youth,

He heard the King's command,
He saw the writing's truth.

The lamps around were bright,
The prophecy in view;
He read it on that night,-
The morrow proved it true.

"Belshazzar's grave is made,
His kingdom passed away;
He in the balance weighed

Is light and worthless clay.
The shroud, his robe of state,
His canopy, the stone;

The Mede is at his gate!

DEFINITIONS.

The Persian on his throne!"

Sā'traps, governors of Persian provinces. Di vine',

sacred. Lōre, knowledge, learning. Seers, prophets.

MY CASTLES IN SPAIN.

BY GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.

I.

I am the owner of great estates. Many of them lie in the west, but the greater part in Spain.

You may see my western possessions any evening at sunset, when their spires and battlements flash against the horizon. But my finest castles are in Spain. It is a country famously romantic, and my castles are all of perfect proportions and appropriately set in the most picturesque situations.

I have never been in Spain myself, but I have naturally conversed much with travelers to that country; although, I must allow, without deriving from them much substantial information about my property there.

The wisest of them told me that there were more holders of real estate in Spain than in any other region he had ever heard of, and they are all great proprietors.

Every one of them possesses a multitude of the stateliest castles. It is remarkable that none of the proprietors has ever been to Spain to take possession and report to the rest of us the state of our property there, and it is not easy for me to say how I know so much about my castles

in Spain.

The sun always shines upon them. They stand lofty and fair in a luminous, golden atmosphere, a little hazy and dreamy, perhaps, like the Indian summer, but in which no gales blow and there are no tempests.

All the sublime mountains and beautiful valleys and soft landscapes that I have not yet seen are to be found in the grounds.

They command a noble view of the Alps; so fine, indeed, that I should be quite content with the prospect of them from the highest tower, and not care to go to Switzerland.

I have often wondered how I should reach my castles. I have inquired very particularly, but nobody seemed to know the way. It occurred to me that Bourne the millionaire must have ascertained the safest and most expeditious route to Spain; so I stole a few minutes one afternoon and went into his office.

He was sitting at his desk, writing rapidly, and surrounded by files of papers and patterns, specimens, boxes, everything that covers the tables of a great merchant.

In the outer rooms clerks were writing. Upon high shelves over their heads were huge chests covered with