Hadassah, a daughter of Israel, a descendant of Benjamin, of the house of Kish, the family of Saul, first king of Israel, won the monarch’s favour, and was promoted to the place of the disobedient but high-minded Vashti.  Esther was an orphan, but she had been carefully guarded and instructed by her kinsman Mordecai; and while we are told that the maiden was exceeding fair, we may believe that her beauty was of a high order, stamped too by intellect and feeling, and that the soul which often sustained and impelled her in her trying exigencies, breathed through her features and animated her form.  Yet Ahasuerus merely bowed to the fair shrine.  He sought not to awaken the response of the soul that dwelt within.

When the daughter of Israel was placed upon the throne of Persia, and another royal feast proclaimed the triumph of Esther and the happiness of Ahasuerus, the king displayed his royal magnificence by the bestowal of gifts upon his favourites; and the name of Esther was blended with other and higher associations, as, upon her elevation, the taxes of the burdened provinces were remitted and pardons granted to the condemned.

Mordecai, the relative who had supplied the place of parents to Esther, was, as we have said, of the house of Kish.  Mordecai was the Jew rather than the Benjamite.  His heart was devoted to his country.  When the child of his adoption was taken to the palace, Mordecai displayed his wise forethought in cautioning her against making her parentage and kindred known.  He had been as a father to her, and a deep interest in the orphan of his care led him, day by day, to watch the gate of the palace—­to mingle with the attendants, that he might catch a view of her train or gather tidings of her welfare.  And thus, unknown as the relative of the fair queen, or as especially interested in the king, Mordecai was enabled to detect and reveal a plot for the assassination of Ahasuerus.  Esther being informed of the plot, disclosed it to the king—­the criminals were defeated and punished—­but no reward was conferred upon Mordecai.

The passion of Ahasuerus for his fair bride seems to have soon declined.  The fickle voluptuary sought new pleasures, and the bride so lately exalted to a throne was no longer an object of envy.  Many bitter tears have been shed by the victims of family pride or state policy, when thus allied to greatness and splendour.  The sacred rite has often been prostituted to purposes of ambition and selfishness, and has thus become a source of guilt and misery.  Esther, in her elevation, may have shed as bitter tears as fell from Vashti in her banishment and disgrace.

Thus each state has its own trials and its own griefs—­and it has its peculiar alleviations too.  Perhaps the progress of the narrative will show us the source of that influence which seems early to have estranged Ahasuerus from his bride.