THE FATHER OF A RACE OF KINGS. 181

was an appearance of peace in the court. But war came
again, and when David returned from an encounter with
the Philistines, loaded with fresh honour, Saul’s evil
spirit of envy rose higher and stronger than ever. That
night he was indebted to his wife Michal for saving his
life by letting him down the wall of his house through a
window.

Marianne. Saul had turned a dreadfully wicked man.

George. Well, I do not wonder very much at the dis-
like he took to David, if he knew that he was to succeed
him.

Marianne. But that was no excuse for his wishing to
kill him.

George. He might think perhaps, if he killed him, that
that would secure the kingdom to himself and his family.

Grandfather. He may have been deluded by some
idea of that kind, but he sought to kill David because he
had suffered his evil passions to get entirely the better
of him. David was a faithful subject, a fearless soldier,
and a wise man, such a one as any king would have
delighted to honour,—any king in his senses that is to
say, but he ceases to be in his senses who is under the
rule of his own wicked passions. May the misery of
Saul warn us to avoid envy. Let us try to check the
first rising of it, for the longer we yield to it the stronger
it grows.

Johnnie. But we have no need to be envious, grand-
father; we have not a kingdom like Saul, so nobody
can take it away from us.