From the preface: "The following pages will explain themselves. Their object is to set before the reader a brief but intelligible account of the books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther, and a history of the times to which they belong. An endeavour has been made to omit nothing that calls for comment or explanation, and thus to present the Biblical student with a work that, while serving the purposes of a commentary, forms a continuous narrative, and is...