JEWISH PERSEVERANCE, 
 
 Htm, at $nme ntti Ihrnan 
 
 AN ATJTOBIOGBAPHT. 
 
 M. LISSACK. 
 
 ijnn nwa 'ny wm *i ^napr DJ 
 
 I HAVE BEEN TOUKQ, AND NOW AM OLD, TBT HATE I NOT SEEN THE RIGHTEOUS 
 FORSAKEN, NOR HIS SEED BEGGING BREAD. Psalm SIXVii. 25. 
 
 THIED EDITION. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 -CAMILTOlSi, ADAMS, & Co., FATEENOSTEIl ItGW. 
 ; jony o. KAf^-gion STREET. 
 
 MDCCCLI.
 
 BEDFORD t 
 
 JOHN Q. NALL, PRINTER, 
 HIQH-8TRBET.
 
 unn 3Tj;3 
 
 DIT7 
 
 Tiapr DJ 
 
 I HAVE BEEN YOUNG, AND NOW AM OLD, YET HAVE I NOT SEEN THE RIGHTEOUS 
 POBSAKEX, NOR HIS SEED BEGGING BREAD. Psalm XXXVii. 25 
 
 NOW READY, 
 
 A SECOND AND CHEAPER EDITION, 
 
 In Demy 8vo., Handsomely Bound, 4s. 6d., 
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE: 
 
 Or the Jew, at Home, and Abroad : an Auto-biograpliy. 
 BY M. LISSACK. 
 
 LONDON :->HAMILTO?F,--AiAMB & -GO.j PATERNOSTER HOW. 
 
 from Notice of tl)e 
 
 FROM THE ATHEX-EUM. 
 
 " M. Lissack has devoted himself to a careful defence of the Jew who is contented 
 with Judaism, and to a searching examination of the Jew who is converted to the faith 
 of the Nazarene. . . . The narrative is pleasantly written; with a certain manly sincerity, 
 and clear of the suspicious impropriety of bitterness." 
 
 FROM THE LITERARY GAZETTE. 
 
 " There is so much originality and good sense in this piece of autobiography, that in 
 spite of undue prolixity, demanding perseverance on the part of the reader corresponding 
 to that of the narrator, we can commend it as a book fitted to give both pleasure and 
 instruction. . . . Besides the personal motives for publication, Mr. Lissack intends his life 
 to convey a defence of the modern Jewish principles and character, with an explanation 
 of the tenets and usages of his co-religionists. In carrying out this design, the statements 
 made in the autobiography are confirmed and illustrated by quotations from public docu- 
 ments and well-known works of Jewish writers. Both the text and the notes contain 
 much information as to Jewish customs and literature. Mr. Lissack is a devout admirer 
 of the Talmud and of the Rabbinical lore, so that in his book we have a true picture of 
 a mind of what is called ' the Hebrew persuasion.' An endeavour is made to give a 
 rational account even of those things which most surprise us in the Talmud and its com- 
 mentators. For instance, we are accustomed to think that the law of Moses is made 
 void by the multiplicity of superadded traditions. Not so, however; our author says the 
 Rabbinical rules are only 'fences' round the Divine commandments, and the example he 
 selects is that of keeping the Sabbath; among the rules for which, it is stated (p. 129), 
 that ' the Rabbis made the law that the Jew should he forbidden to play on any musical 
 instrument on his Sabbath, because the instrument might accidentally break, and the 
 plajer be led to profane the holy day by repairing it.' Of this nature are a great many 
 rabbinical commandments, and they have, no doubt, been greatly instrumental in pre- 
 serving the purity of the religion vouchsafed by God through his servant Moses. The 
 honesty and frankness of the writer are apparent throughout the work. We wish that 
 his remarks were generally known regarding the impositions practised too frequently by 
 his countrymen under the guise of religion. The number of pretended converts to 
 Christianity is great, who, having been baptized, carry about with them their baptismal cer 
 tificate, ' which has truly a magic power it combines the qualities of a passport, a letter of
 
 2 
 
 credit, and a cheque from the Bank of England.' The fault lies most in the weakness of 
 those who count baptism of any moment apart from ascertained character. The anec- 
 dotes here given may warn those who have not by personal experience known the tricks 
 referred to. We should like to see some of them appended to the reports of Jewish Mis- 
 sionary Societies, by way of caution to the well-meaning ladies who, for lack of due in- 
 quiry, encourage religious imposture He had the satisfaction of obtaining, after 
 
 correspondence with the trustees, the benefit of the Harpur Charity education /'or his 
 own family, and for the children of any Jewish parents who may avail themselves of it, 
 without compromise of their religious belief." 
 
 FROM THE CRITIC. 
 
 " Fixity of purpose, self-reliance, and strength of will, are eminent characteristics of 
 the Jewish mind. Exile and isolation only serve to intensify these qualities, and wherever 
 the Israelite plants his foot, or whatsoever may be the undertaking in which he embarks, 
 he is certain, in the majority of instances, to achieve success. The autobiography of Mr. 
 Lissack proves him to be largely endowed with the qualities we have indicated, and to 
 possess the additional recommendations of a cultivated intellect, high moral principle, 
 and strong religious sentiments. The extraneous and, so to speak, impersonal portion of 
 the narrative is worthy of perusal for the insight we obtain into the modern Hebrew mind 
 and character, and for the Talmudical extracts and illustrations introduced. The work 
 is rather a record of the writer's own mental operations and their results, than a history 
 of his life and acts; and as he is a man whose individuality is strongly marked, he de- 
 serves a patient audience, and will often reward the reader by communicating some 
 striking observations, or by throwing some new light upon an old subject. The Rabbinical 
 
 stories introduced are probably new to many of our readers, and, for our own 
 
 part, we think Rabbi Hillel might profitably undertake to teach a good many Christians 
 Christianity." 
 
 FROM THE NORTHAMPTON MERCURY. 
 
 "This volume possesses an interest of a very peculiar character. Mr. Lissack's 
 
 purpose is two-fold to shew that in the main, success in life depends upon a man's 
 own energies and perseverance; and that the tenets and usages of the Jewish religion 
 are calculated to stimulate those virtues, and to inculcate principles beneficial to 
 society at large as well as to the individual. It is this latter branch of his subject 
 although not ostensibly foremost, which he has evidently had most at heart. A strong 
 religious feeling pervades the book; but with a deep attachment to the belief and the re- 
 ligious ceremonies of his forefathers, he manifests throughout an absence of bigotry and 
 a large hearted brotherhood towards the professors of other creeds. One rises indeed 
 from the hook with a sincere respect for the writer as an earnest, an upright, and con- 
 scientious man. 
 
 His intimate acquaintance with Jewish Literature has enabled him to intersperse his 
 text with extracts from writers with whom the English public are not familiar, many of 
 which are striking and beautiful, and altogether his book is not only interesting as a 
 contribution to literature, but will be of service in helping to clear away some of the 
 prejudices under which the Jew even at the present day is regarded by many." 
 
 FROM THE BEDFORD TIMES. 
 
 ingly 
 
 to say, me uuiunuimiK uiiiereiicu ui uur HULII uuuifwn iiie uvuwui; suu we wiiungiy ;ir 
 knowledge the honest sincerity which pervades it, and the charitable feelings toward. 
 those of a different faith, which we in common with many of our readers are gratified to 
 
 find inculcated by the Rabbins. The beautiful Talmudical stories and allegories with 
 
 which the work abounds must be a novelty to the English reader, and its genuine and 
 unsophisticated tone lend interest to the perusal. Whether the author's object of gain- 
 ing admission for Jews into the legislature will be speedily attained we cannot foresee, 
 but the anecdotes of Jewish benevolence to Christian distress which he adduces are a 
 most graceful support to their claims; his heart is evidently in the cause. The list of 
 subscribers, including the leading nobility of our county, is a good voucher for the res- 
 pect in which he is personally entertained. As an interesting and agreeable work we 
 heartily wish ' Jewish Perseverance' an extensive sale."
 
 FROM THE JEWISH CHRONICLE. 
 
 "Jewish literary works in England, unfortunately from lack of encouragement, so 
 seldom make their appearance, that right glad are we, when the ice of apathy being 
 partially broken we have it in our power to announce an addition to our library on a 
 Jewish subject. The volume now before us, is not the history of a man who from a 
 humble position in society raises himself to one of wealth and station, dazzling the mor- 
 bid worship of the world for mammon, which treats with sneers and contempt the scho- 
 lar and philanthropist. Mr. Lissack in ' Jewish Perseverance,' successfully shews how a 
 man, and he a Jew, although comparatively humble in life, can by strict attention to 
 probity, be respected by the Christian community among whom he resides, and that he, 
 though not possessed of wealth, can still be of service to his brethren in the faith. 
 
 Mr. Lissack has done our cause much service in Bedford. With a zeal which 
 does the author credit, he makes the work a medium of defending the Talmud, etc., as 
 well as the Jewish faith generally, from the unjust and uncharitable attacks of ignorant 
 and prejudiced assailants. We give in this number an extract, shewing the religious 
 spirit running through the work; and we shall on other occasions give further portions 
 of this interesting publication, which we can recommend to the support of our brethren 
 and the public. In the list of the subscribers are individuals of high rank in the coun- 
 try, among whom are the Duke and Duchess of Bedford, Earl de Grey, Lord Dudley 
 Coutts Stuart, M.P., Mr. Frederick Peel, M.P., the Rev. the Chief Rabbi, Baron Lionel 
 de Rothschild, M.P., Sir Moses Montefiore, Bart., F.R.8., etc." 
 
 FROM THE GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE. 
 
 " A narrative written in a quaint unusual style the book is valuable as affording 
 
 an insight into Jewish literature, and also into the character of the Jewish mind when 
 modified by long residence in England." 
 
 FROM THE MORNING ADVERTISER. 
 
 " In the course of the narrative many instances are related of the piety, justice, and 
 sincerity which we, in common with the author, believe to distinguish the general char- 
 acter of the Jewish people." 
 
 FROM THE BEDFORD MERCURY. 
 
 " Mr. Li?sack's book, which we briefly noticed previous to its publication, is now 
 before the \ ublic. The record of his own life is interesting and adapted for usefulness, 
 if read by the youthful of his own people; while the extracts from the Talmud and 
 other Rabbinical writings will be equally so to the Gentile reader. The author earnestly 
 contends for the rights of bis brethren to legislative honours, and as Sir Robert Inglis 
 and Mr. Newdegate in their speeches on this question in Parliament have spoken so dis- 
 paragingly of the Talmud, we can only conclude that those gentlemen obtained their 
 'notions' on the subject second-hand, or they could never have overlooked the beau- 
 tiful and instructive passages from that ancient book, which enrich the pages of the 
 volume before us." 
 
 FROM THE LEICESTER CHRONICLE. 
 
 "The purpose of this book is two-fold; to remove the prejudices entertained by the 
 Christians toward Jews, and to convince the latter that the best way to deserve well of 
 the former is to adhere strictly to their ancient faith, and to act honestly and uprightly 
 as citizens of the state and in all their dealings with their fellow men. The author de- 
 velopes his purpose in his own auto-biography, which is well written, interesting, and full 
 of information respecting Jewish customs and sentiments, interspersed with beautiful pas- 
 sages and illustrations from the Talmud. 
 
 The incidents of the author's life are sufficiently various and curious to enlist the 
 reader's attention throughout. As considerable prejudice yet exists (unfounded, we think) 
 against the admission of Jews to a full equality of political privileges with the Christians, 
 the general circulation of this book would do much to abate, if not to destroy that prejudice. 
 For many years (as we learn from our contemporary, the Bedford Times) M. Lissack 
 has been a respectable inhabitant of that town, following the profession of a teacher of 
 the Hebrew and German languages, engaged by Christian families Numerous instances 
 of liberality on the part of Jew to Christian prove that a warm heart and charitable 
 feeling are found in the breast of the Jew. The munificent donations of the Rothschilds 
 and Montefiores, even to the erection of Christian edifices, and the recent gift of a com-
 
 11 LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS. 
 
 No. of 
 Copiet. 
 
 Clarke, the Eev. H., M. A., Northampton 1 
 
 Clark, Mr. Thomas, Bedford 1 
 
 Clark, Mr. "W., Bedford 1 
 
 Close, the Eev. M., B.A., Shangton 1 
 
 Cohen, A., Esq., Great Dover-road, Borough, London 1 
 
 Cohen, Hyam, Esq., Windsor-street, London 1 
 
 Cohen, J. C., Esq., Moseley Souse, Birmingham 1 
 
 Cohen, the Eev. E. I., Sussex- House, Dover 1 
 
 Couchman, Eobert, Esq., Bedford 1 
 
 Danziger, A., Esq., Birmingham 1 
 
 Da Silva, S. M., 5, Blenheim-parade, Cheltenham 1 
 
 Davis, Alfred, Esq., Houndsditch, London 1 
 
 Davis, John, Esq., Houndsditch, London 1 
 
 Dawson, Mr. William Markwell, Bedford 1 
 
 Defries, N., Esq., Graf ton-street, Fitzroy-sq., London 1 
 
 De Grey, the Eight Hon. the Earl, K.G., Wrest Park 1 
 De Symons, A., Esq., Gloucester-road, Hyde Park 
 
 Gardens, London 1 
 
 Desymons, S. L., Esq., Cumberland-street, London ... 1 
 
 Dick, Paris Thomas, Esq., M.D., Bedford 1 
 
 Donne, the Eev. James, B.D., Bedford 1 
 
 Durham, J., Esq., Stony Stratford 1 
 
 Elliott, Eobert, Esq., Goldington Hall 1 
 
 Ellis, E. S., Esq., Leicester 1 
 
 Emanuel, Joel, Esq., Bury-street, St. Mary Axe, London 1 
 
 Emanuel, Joseph, Esq., Great Charles-st., Birmingham 1 
 
 Emanuel, S. M., Esq., High-street, Southampton 1 
 
 Espline, Mr. Alexander, Monimail, Cupar Fife, N.B. 1 
 
 Evans, Griffith Francis David, Esq., M.D., Bedford... 1 
 
 Falk, David, Esq., Manchester 1 
 
 Foligno, Isaac, Esq., Finsbury-circus, London 1 
 
 Goldsmid, E. H., Esq., Upper Harley-street, London 2 
 
 Gaskin, the Eev. John, M. A., Bedford 1 
 
 Gilpin, Eichard Thomas, Esq., M.P., HocTdiffe-grange 1 
 
 Green, L. E., Esq., London 1 
 
 Greville, Edwin, Esq., Northampton 1 
 
 Grimshawe, the Eev. Thomas S., M.A., Biddenham ... 1
 
 LIST OF SUBSCRIBEES. Ill 
 
 Nn. of 
 
 Copiei. 
 
 Grimshawe, Mrs., Ditto 1 
 
 Guedalla, H., Esq., 4, Westbourne-pL, Eaton-sq., London 1 
 
 Halfhead, Richard, Esq., Bedford 1 
 
 Harris, H., Esq , Hyde Park, London 1 
 
 Harris, L., Esq., Suffolk-street, Dublin 1 
 
 Harter, the Rev. George Gardner, M. A., Cranfteld ... 1 
 
 Hart, Maurice, Esq., Hay don-square, London 1 
 
 Hester, Mr. Grey, Northampton , 1 
 
 Hertz Ben Pinchas, Manchester , 1 
 
 Higgins, Charles Longuet, Esq., Turvey Abbey 1 
 
 Higgins, Lieut. -Col. Wm. Bartholomew, Picts Hill 1 
 
 Horsford, Mr. James, Bedford 1 
 
 Howard, Mr. James, Bedford 1 
 
 Hurst, Isaac, Esq., Bedford 1 
 
 Hurst, Mr. George, Bedford 1 
 
 Hyam, L., Esq., Euston-square, London 1 
 
 Irby, the Hon. and Eev. P. A., Cottesbrooke Rectory 1 
 
 Isaac, John M., Esq., Salford, Lancashire 1 
 
 Isaacs, E., Esq., Jeffreys-square, London 1 
 
 Isaacs, Samuel, Esq., Onslow-square, London 1 
 
 Isaacs, Saul, Esq., Chatham 1 
 
 Jordan, H. J., Esq., Streatham-Park 2 
 
 Jacob, M. L., Esq., Wyse-street, Birmingham 1 
 
 Jacobs, A., Esq., Torquay 1 
 
 Jacobs, Bethel, Esq., Hull 1 
 
 Jacobs, J., Esq., Bell-street, Falmouth 1 
 
 Jessel, Z. A., Esq., Saville-row, London 1 
 
 Jewish Literary Institution, Manchester 1 
 
 Joseph, B. L., Esq., Bold-street, Liverpool 1 
 
 Joseph, Henry, Esq., Bull-ring, Birmingham 1 
 
 Jukes, the Rev. John, Bedford 1 
 
 Kent, Mr. William, Bedford 2 
 
 Karo, H., Esq., Cheltenham 1 
 
 Kerr, the Hon. Mark, Cardington 1 
 
 Lissack, Adolphus, Esq., New York 2 
 
 La Mert, S., Esq., Bedford-square, London 1 
 
 Lazarus, H., Esq., Dublin 1
 
 IV LIST OF SUBSCBIBEES. 
 
 No. of 
 Copies. 
 
 Levau, Mrs. A. A., 80, Cadogan-place, Belgrave-square 1 
 
 Levy, Mr. Joachim, Manchester 1 
 
 Levy, M. B., Esq., Synagogue House, Brighton 1 
 
 Lewis, John, Esq., Arundel-street, London 1 
 
 Livius, George Peter, Esq., Bedford 1 
 
 Loyd, Lewis, Esq., Overstone Park 1 
 
 Lucas, Philip, Esq., Temple-street, Manchester 1 
 
 Moses, S., Esq., 14, Aldgate High-street, London 2 
 
 Magnus, S., Esq., 127, Fenchurch-street, London 1 
 
 Magnus, L., Esq., Chatham 1 
 
 Marks, J., Esq., Chatham 1 
 
 Mayer, Saul, Esq., Manchester 1 
 
 Michal, , Esq., Chesham 1 
 
 Mocatta, M., Esq., 33, Russell-square, London 1 
 
 Montefiore, Sir Moses, Bart., F.E.S., London 1 
 
 Montgomery, the Eev. E., M. A., Holcot 1 
 
 Moore, Mr. Thomas E., Northampton 1 
 
 Mosely, S., Esq., London 1 
 
 Moses, E., Esq., Tivoli-place, Manchester 1 
 
 Moses, H., Esq., Finsbury -circus, London 3 
 
 Murray, the Eev. W. W. F., M.A., Chapel Brampton I 
 
 Myers, B . , Esq., Crutched-friars, London 1 
 
 Myers, Maurice, Esq., Bidl-ring, Birmingham 1 
 
 Nathan, Louis, Esq., Jinslury -circus, London 1 
 
 Nathen, P., Esq., 44, Bedford-square, London 1 
 
 Neal, Mr. George, Clifton 1 
 
 Okely, Joseph, Esq., Bedford 1 
 
 Palgrave, Charles Frederick, Esq., Mayor of Bedford . 1 
 Payne, Sir Charles Gillies, Bart., High Sheriff of Bed- 
 fordshire, Blunham 1 
 
 Pearse, the Eev. Henry, M. A., Bedford 1 
 
 Peel, Frederick, Esq., M.P., Whitehall-gardens 1 
 
 Pirani, J. C., Esq., Union-street, Birmingham 1 
 
 Prior, Charles Edward, Esq., M.D., Bedford 1 
 
 Prust, the Eev. E. T., Northampton 1 
 
 Pyke, Joseph, Esq , Chatham ..;... 1
 
 LIST OF SUBSCBIBERS. V 
 
 No. of 
 Copies. 
 
 Rothschild, Baron Lionel de, M.P., London 2 
 
 Rawlins, Mr. Henry, Bedford 1 
 
 Riley, Mr. Thomas, Bedford 1 
 
 Robertson, A., Esq. , M.D., Northampton 1 
 
 Rogers, William, Esq., Bedford .--. 1 
 
 Rosentbal, Henry, Esq., 23, Nassau-street, Dublin ... 1 
 
 Russell, Francis Charles Hastings, Esq., M.P., London 1 
 
 Russell, Right Hon. Lord Charles James Fox, Woburn 1 
 
 Stuart, Henry, Esq., M.P., Kempston 2 
 
 Salomon, M., Esq., Upper Gloucester-street, Dublin ... 1 
 
 Salomonson, H., Esq., Manchester 1 
 
 Salomons, P. J., Esq., Upper Wimpole-street, London 1 
 
 Sammell, John, Esq., Navarino-terrace, Dalston 1 
 
 Samuel, Denis M., Esq., 1, Austin-friars, London 1 
 
 Samuel, D., Esq., London 1 
 
 Samuel, George, Esq., 29, Park-crescent, London 1 
 
 Samuel, Michael, Esq., 40, King William-st., London 1 
 
 Sharman, Alexander, Esq., Bedford 1 
 
 Sichall, A., Esq., Manchester 1 
 
 Simonson, Mr. M. H., Manchester 1 
 
 Snape, Mr. Robert, Northampton 1 
 
 Stuart, the Lord Dudley Coutts, M. P., London 1 
 
 Swaimell, Mr., Bromham 1 
 
 Sydne, E J., Esq., Finsbury -circus, London I 
 
 Szinessy, Rev. Dr. Schiller, Manchester 1 
 
 Talbot, the Rev. James H., M. A., Newton 1 
 
 Terry, H., Esq., Northampton 1 
 
 Thompson, Richard, Esq., Bedford 1 
 
 Thornton, Rev. George, M.A., SharnbrooTc 1 
 
 Thorpe, Mr. Robert, Bedford 1 
 
 Usher, J., Esq., Blunham 1 
 
 Verney, Sir Harry, Bart., M.P., Claydon House 1 
 
 Whitbread, William Henry, Esq., Southill House 2 
 
 Whitbread, Mrs , Ditto 2 
 
 Wales, Rev. and Worshipful Chancellor, Northampton 1 
 
 Wareing, the Right Rev. Dr., Northampton 1
 
 VI LIST OP SUBSCRIBERS. 
 
 No. of 
 
 Weale, Eobert, Esq., Bedford 1 
 
 White, Mr. William, Bedford 1 
 
 "Williamson, J., Esq , Sharnbrook 1 
 
 Wing, the Rev. John, M. A., Leicester 1 
 
 Worms, S. B., Esq., Park-crescent, London 1 
 
 Worthingtou, the Eev. Henry Burdett, Bedford 1 
 
 Yates, George, Esq., Bedford 1
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 THE tendency of our age is decidedly cosmopolitan. Both 
 in the material as well as in the intellectual and moral 
 worlds, the desire and the effort to approximate what has 
 hitherto been separated, to unite what has hitherto been 
 divided, must be apparent even to superficial observers of 
 passing events. In the material world, the achievements in 
 drawing near to one another far distant countries, coun- 
 tries divided by the vast ocean, almost surpass belief. The 
 consequences of this success have been increased intercourse 
 and commerce between the different nations of the world, 
 and a better understanding between people who, in past 
 ages, considered it a patriotic duty to entertain national 
 animosities against each another. 
 
 As man draws nearer to man, and looks his fellow- 
 creature in the face with lessened and abated prejudices, 
 he discovers in him, notwithstanding some more or less 
 serious differences, a likeness of himself. Though his com- 
 plexion, his features, the colour of his hair be somewhat 
 different, still there is the human countenance with the 
 stamp of intellect impressed on it ; though he may speak a 
 different language, his ideas and moral sentiments are those 
 of humanity. And here we already stand on intellectual 
 and moral ground. 
 
 The great material movements of the age are accompa- 
 nied by parallel intellectual movements. The two supply 
 and complete each other; while nations exchange their 
 commodities, they also exchange their intellectual products, 
 and the philosopher looks upon them as emanations of the 
 one great human intellect.
 
 Vlil PBEFACE. 
 
 I shall have occasion, in the course of this work, to speak 
 of the effect which this general tendency of our age has 
 produced upon the relation of the different religions and 
 their respective possessors to one another. Judaism and 
 the Jews, have, praise be to God, reaped a goodly share of 
 the benefits and advantages which this moral revolution 
 has conferred, and is still conferring, upon mankind. 
 
 But it is hardly to be expected that scarcely half-a-cen- 
 tury of progressing enlightenment should have effaced all 
 the traces which centuries of darkness and oppression have 
 left behind them. The Jews still suffer from the wounds 
 inflicted by the bigotry and barbarity of a bygone age, in 
 more than one respect. ISTot only have their potent agencies 
 somewhat influenced the social character of the Jew in a 
 manner not very advantageous ; not only has the degraded 
 rank he formerly occupied socially and politically impaired, 
 though only transiently, the qualifications of the less edu- 
 cated, as useful members of society, but, in addition to 
 these, he is still smarting under the evil prejudices which 
 many of his Christian fellow-men have not yet been able to 
 discard. And, what is most revolting to justice, these pre- 
 judices are either totally unfounded, or the result of the 
 former social position of the Jew forced upon him by his 
 oppressors. This is not the place to enter into a detailed 
 examination of the nature of these prejudices, or of the 
 miserable sophistries to which those who hold them are 
 obliged to fly, in order to cloak their case with a semblance 
 of reason. Suffice it to say that, during the recent debates 
 about the Oath Bill, the Jew was still denominated " an 
 infidel and an unbeliever." * This really needs no comment. 
 If the Jews, the acknowledged bearers and propagators of 
 revelation are considered unbelievers, it is somewhat diffi- 
 cult to say who are the believers. 
 
 * In one of the petitions against the admission of the Jews into Par- 
 liament, presented by Sir R. Inglis to the House of Commons, the peti- 
 titioners pray " That the House may not admit the Jew, or any other 
 unbeliever or infidel."
 
 PBEFACE. IX 
 
 I have considered it necessary to premise these brief 
 considerations, in order to make the twofold purpose of 
 this book more intelligible to the reader. It is addressed 
 to the Christian, and it is addressed to my co-religionists. 
 
 A large number of Christians, especially in the country, 
 entertain anything but favourable views of Jews and Juda- 
 ism. Their notions are the traditionary ones of times gone 
 by. With many, the very name of Jew conveys implicitly 
 the ideas of fraud, deception, and superstition. A Jew, in 
 their opinion, can be nothing else than an individual whose 
 efforts and energies are all concentrated in the desire of 
 making money, lawfully or unlawfully. As to honesty, 
 sincerity, piety, generosity, these virtues, in their estima- 
 tion, are out of the question in a Jew. To crown all, 
 many of these people really believe that all the vicious 
 propensities which they thus associate with the Jew, are 
 inherent in him, and are sanctioned, if not commanded, by 
 his religion. Alas ! prejudices generally strike a deep root 
 in the human heart, and are but slowly, and with difficulty, 
 eradicated. And, unfortunately, there are men who indeed 
 fill the sacred office of ministers of religion, and whose duty 
 it would therefore be to enlighten those whom they are 
 appointed to guide ; but who make it their purpose to go 
 from village to village, from hamlet to hamlet, confirming 
 the preconceived notions of the people, and preaching 
 those opinions which they must know, or at least could 
 easily know, to be erroneous. Oh ! that such would ponder 
 the sentiment, " Love worketh no ill to his neighbour : 
 therefore love is the fulfilling of the law." 
 
 It is true there have not been wanting enlightened Chris- 
 tians who have endeavoured to clear the Jewish character of 
 these false accusations ; the Jews have found powerful advo- 
 cates in the press, who have tried to uproot, by reason and 
 by argument the preconceived opinions entertained against 
 them. But, on the other hand, bigotry and intolerance, 
 mistaken Christianity and ungodly zeal, have also been
 
 I PREFACE. 
 
 busy to counteract the efforts of the defenders of my co-reli- 
 gionists, and have striven, with might and main, to perpe- 
 tuate all those false notions which are calculated to injure 
 the Jew in society. Thus the action of Christian writers 
 friendly to the Jews is partly paralysed by those of the 
 opposite party, while, among the sons of Israel, whose 
 number, compared with the population of Great Britain, 
 and with their brethren on the Continent, is but small, 
 there is seldom a champion stepping forward to answer the 
 challenge of their enemies, " In the name of the Lord of 
 hosts, the God of the armies of Israel." 
 
 I am well aware that I am not endowed with those capa- 
 cities that would enable me successfully to perform the part 
 of a David against the Goliath of prejudice, bigotry, and 
 intolerance, but, during my lengthened abode in a country 
 town, I have been so frequently assailed by anti-Jewish 
 combatants, I have so often had occasion to hear and to 
 read opinions hostile to my brethren in faith, that I thought 
 I might contribute, though perhaps but slightly, to dispel 
 the mists of darkness hanging over my sacred religion and 
 its followers, and to diffuse among my Christian fellow-men 
 notions and views more in accordance with truth and hu- 
 manity. I shall endeavour to show the groundlessness of 
 the prejudices that are in vogue against my religion ; I shall 
 endeavour to prove that the Jewish religion, far from inca- 
 pacitating its followers from being good men and useful 
 members of society, tends to enlighten the mind, to ennoble 
 the feelings, in fact, is calculated to advance our moral and 
 intellectual welfare. 
 
 As to my Jewish brethren, I indulge in the hope that to 
 them the perusal of this volume will not prove altogether 
 fruitless. I have indicated above, that the traces of past 
 suffering and injustice are still visible in their social posi- 
 tion. There are still many difficulties the Jew has to 
 struggle with in his pilgrimage through life many influ- 
 ences at work calculated to seduce him from his holy faith.
 
 PEEFACE. II 
 
 Thanks to the progress of toleration and the increasing 
 influence of milder sentiments, the emancipation of the 
 Jews will, it is to be hoped, soon be complete, at least in 
 the more civilized nations of Europe. The question of 
 Jewish emancipation in this country has ceased to be a 
 question of principle ; it is now a mere matter of form. The 
 energetic steps taken by Baron Eothschild during the last 
 session of Parliament, have driven the opponents of our 
 emancipation back into their last stronghold, if a mere for- 
 mula in an oath can be called by that name. But even after 
 the last disqualification of the Jews shall have disappeared, 
 much will remain to be done to eradicate the ill feelings 
 which still linger in the minds of many Christians, and 
 great efforts will have to be made by my brethren to raise 
 themselves in the community to a perfect social equality 
 with their Christian brethren. 
 
 With a view to these considerations I have felt it my 
 duty to urge upon my co-religionists that moral excellence is 
 the surest means of convincing the world of the shallowness 
 of the prejudices entertained against us ; that, by a strict 
 adherence to our holy faith, by honesty and integrity, by 
 industry arid perseverance in our pursuits and occupations, 
 we shall best be enabled to inspire our fellow-citizens with 
 esteem for the Jewish character. According to the measure 
 with which God has enabled me to act up to these princi- 
 ples myself, I have not failed to win the good opinion of 
 my neighbours ; and it is, perhaps, with pardonable pride, 
 that I gratefully refer to the list of subscribers to this 
 book, in illustration of the remark. The moral emancipa- 
 tion, as I should call it, in contradistinction to the political 
 emancipation, entirely depends on ourselves. Education 
 and religion are the means to this end. The lessons which 
 the latter conveys, both by precept and by example, are so 
 instructive and so necessary that I have interwoven many of 
 them in my narrative, convinced that their influence on the 
 mind is of the most salutary kind.
 
 Xll PBEFACE. 
 
 I sincerely wish that difference of religious opinions may 
 soon cease to keep up a barrier between man and man, and 
 that all may be pervaded by the liberal sentiment expressed 
 in the following beautiful allegory, which I have translated 
 from the German of Lessing, and inserted here, being fully 
 convinced that the reader will excuse the digression : 
 
 " There once lived a man in the east who possessed a ring of great and 
 peculiar value. The stone of the ring was an opal, reflecting a great 
 many most beautiful colours, and it possessed the mysterious power of 
 making him who wore it beloved by God and man, provided the wearer 
 had full confidence in its effect. Need we be surprised to hear that the 
 man in the east never took the ring off his finger, and made arrange- 
 ments that it should ever remain hereditary in his family. He left the 
 ring to the dearest of his sons, on the condition that the son, in his turn, 
 should bequeath it to his most beloved son, and that the heir, solely by 
 force of the ring, should always be the head of the house. Thus the 
 ring descended from father to son, through many generations, till it 
 happened at last to come into the possession of a father of three sons, 
 who were all equally obedient and dear to their parent. Only now and 
 then, when he was alone with the one or the other of them, each in his 
 turn seemed the most deserving of the ring, and the good father had the 
 weakness to promise it to each. At last the hour of his death drew near. 
 It grieved him to think that he must disappoint two of his beloved sons ; 
 but what was to be done? He sent secretly for a jeweller, whom he or- 
 dered to make two rings exactly like the pattern, and he was told to 
 spare neither expense nor trouble in executing this work. The jeweller 
 succeeded so well that the father himself could not distinguish the model 
 from the imitations. Full of joy he called to him each of his sons sepa- 
 rately, gave him his blessing and his ring, and then died. Scarcely was 
 the father dead when each produced his ring, and, in virtue of it, claimed 
 to be the chief of the house. They examine, investigate, dispute all in 
 vain ; the true ring could not be proved ! At last they went before the 
 judge. Each of the brothers affirmed upon an oath, that he had re- 
 ceived the ring directly from his father's hand, having had the promise 
 long before to enjoy, one day, the privilege of possessing it. ' It was 
 impossible,' said each, ' the father could have intended to deceive him, 
 and, rather than believe that, he would accuse his brothers of false play, 
 however unwilling to think ill of them. He would try to prove them 
 traitors, and would know how to take his revenge.' The judge replied, 
 that, if they were unable to bring their father before the tribunal, he 
 should be obliged to dismiss them, as it was not his function to solve 
 riddles, and it was not likely that the true ring would open its mouth 
 and decide the question. ' But stop,' the judge continued, after a little 
 meditation, ' Did you not tell me that the genuine ring had the miracu- 
 lous power of rendering its wearer beloved by God and man ? Now, the 
 false rings cannot have this effect. Which of you, then, is most beloved
 
 PREFACE. Xlll 
 
 by his two brothers? Well, speak! You hesitate you are silent. Oh, 
 I see, the rings have only exercised an influence upon your own selves, 
 and not upon others. You are all three deceived deceivers. The true 
 ring very probably was lost, and, in order to conceal the loss, yonr father 
 ordered three to be made instead of one. Now, if you will take my ad- 
 vice, let each of you believe his ring to be the genuine one. Your father 
 loved you all, and would not favour one to the disadvantage of the two 
 others. Let each of you rival his brothers with unprejudiced love, to 
 manifest the power of the stone in his ring, using gentleness and benefi- 
 cence towards each other, and confidence in God, as the means to this 
 end. And if the powers of those precious stones become manifest in your 
 children's children, then, after thousands of years, let them appear again 
 before this tribunal, when one wiser than I am, will preside here, and give 
 judgment.'" 
 
 Before concluding these prefatory remarks, I think it ne- 
 cessary briefly to state the reasons why I have chosen the 
 form of an autobiography. From the preceding observa- 
 tions it may easily be inferred that the autobiographical 
 part is merely secondary that it has principally been used 
 as a means to the primary and chief object of this volume. 
 I thought the reflections and meditations on Judaism and 
 religion in general, on humanity and toleration, on the 
 practical virtues of honesty, industry, and perseverance, 
 would convey greater force if they were brought out in con- 
 nexion with the realities of life. Being anxious to avoid the 
 form of a treatise or dissertation, I considered it advisable 
 to clothe the substance of the book in the form of an auto- 
 biography. The events of my past life have not been suffi- 
 ciently varying or adventurous to afford me gratification 
 and self-complacency in relating them. Pride and vanity 
 cannot, therefore, have had any share in inducing me to 
 choose that form. 
 
 But mature reflection on the subject has convinced me 
 that the very fact of the actions and movements of my life 
 lying within a humble sphere of society, might increase and 
 enhance the practical influence of the volume, and, on the 
 other hand, might go some way to convince many of my 
 Christian fellow-men that the sentiments of the Jews, in 
 humbler ranks of life, towards their Christian brethren, and
 
 XIV PKEFACE. 
 
 their notions of honesty and morality, are not of that kind 
 so generally imputed to them. 
 
 In addition to these considerations there was another 
 point which confirmed me in my intention of using the au- 
 tobiographical form as the medium to convey my sentiments 
 and opinions, in preference to a fictitious or real biography 
 of another personage. The more we reflect on the know- 
 ledge of mankind, the greater its difficulties appear to be. 
 To enter fully and truly into the motives and sentiments by 
 which others are actuated, is a task, as it appears to me, re- 
 quiring the endowments of uncommon genius. We are but 
 too apt to substitute our own motives and feelings for those 
 of others, and judge them accordingly. It is quite certain 
 that he who pretends to a knowledge of mankind, must have 
 closely watched and examined his own heart first, and, 
 however difficult self-knowledge may be, the knowledge of 
 others is certainly much more so. The difficulties, there- 
 fore, I should have had to encounter in giving a true bio- 
 graphical narrative of another person, determined me to 
 give an account of my own life. 
 
 To those who know me, I confidently feel that I need not 
 apologize, but I would beg those to whom I am not known 
 personaEy, to receive the facts here related, in the spirit in 
 which they are offered, viz. : with sincerity and impartiality. 
 In one point particularly with respect to the remarks 
 I have so frequently made about baptized Jews, I would 
 wish to eradicate from the minds of my readers the idea 
 that I am actuated by bad feeling towards them. The truth 
 is, that I was anxious to lay before the public a true picture 
 of the Jew as he is, because I know that many receive all 
 the information they possess about my co-religionists from 
 what I cannot but regard as an impure and troubled 
 source. To illustrate these views I will give an extract 
 from a letter by a baptized Jew, a missionary, addressed to 
 a clergyman in Northamptonshire, shortly after the Revo- 
 lution in Prussia in 1849.
 
 PREFACE. IV 
 
 " O happy England ! If England did but know and rightly appreci- 
 ated the privileges and blessings which God has bestowed on her ! And 
 though the Commons are going headlong with the revolution, I was re- 
 joiced to find that the Lords had wisdom, courage, and Christian prin- 
 ciple enough left to throw out that infidel measure, at least for a season, 
 (for I fear they will be inundated at last,) which would have levelled 
 England with the ungodly Continent. Are our people in England so blind 
 as not to perceive the bitter fruits this anti-Christian policy has already 
 borne on the Continent ? Do they not know that to wedge the Jews in, 
 where God will not have them to be, is a revolt against Him ? Making 
 them legislators for a Christian land is bare-faced infidelity, the spirit of 
 the age, the child and offspring and fruit of the revolution, wherever it 
 has taken place ! ! And what would the rulers of this land not give 
 could they retrograde their steps, and make undone what is pregnant 
 with so much and so serious mischief, to both Jews and Christians ! 
 But, alas ! alas ! I fear dear England will finally suffer herself to be 
 beguiled by the enemy, and thereby fall from that elevation on which 
 God has placed her, because she has hitherto acknowledged Him in her 
 national and commercial institutions, however much imperfection and 
 sin may have been mixed up with it. I fear England has already im- 
 bibed too much of the bitter infidelity of the Continent. If our rulers 
 would but be wise ! !''* 
 
 Now, it is not difficult to perceive here a spirit of 
 the most unchristian intolerance in the mind of the writer. 
 In this happy country such sentiments have little influence, 
 but in countries where the Jew is still labouring under the 
 yoke of oppression in countries where the treatment of 
 our race is such as we have read in the pages of Scott and 
 others, where the dark days of the feudal system are not a 
 mere subject for legend, and the son of Israel maintains 
 his religion at the peril of his life, his home, and his happi- 
 ness my readers will not be surprised when I tell them 
 that they are very mischievous to the Jew, inasmuch as the 
 despotic rulers of such countries are thereby furnished with 
 arguments from the lips of Jewish proselytes for the con- 
 tinued degradation of their own brethren in the flesh. 
 
 And now I lay this volume before the public, with the 
 fervent hope that it may be productive of some good, both 
 among my Christian and Jewish brethren. May it be 
 judged leniently ! It would be sadly over-estimating my 
 
 * Vide Northampton Herald, July, 28, 1849.
 
 XVI PREFACE. 
 
 feeble powers were I to expect great results from it. But, 
 if there should be here and there a Christian brother who, 
 after the perusal of this work, should lay aside a prejudice 
 against the wronged sons of Israel, if here and there feel- 
 ings hostile to my co-religionists should give way to kindlier 
 sentiments, if, among the brethren of my own sacred faith, 
 there should only be one stimulated to honest exertions, and 
 to steady perseverance, then I shall consider my labours 
 crowned with a joyful success, and shall feel compensated by 
 the pleasing consciousness of having effected some real good 
 among my fellow-creatures. 
 
 BEDFOBD, April, 1851.
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 > 02 I's-n 'srbs -isab T 
 
 " Train up a child in the way he should go : and when 
 he is old he will not depart from it." Prov. xxii. 6. 
 
 AMONG the manifold created beings which people this 
 globe, man stands aloft singled out as it were to give 
 soul and meaning to all around him, and to pursue an 
 end to which all other productions seem but subservient 
 means. For this great purpose, the Creator of the uni- 
 verse has, in His unerring wisdom, graciously fitted his 
 favourite, and has set him so much over the rest of the 
 animal creation that he is, indeed, only " a little lower 
 than the angels/' 
 
 It is one of the great distinctions of man, that he is 
 essentially a reflecting being. The brute lives and works 
 without consciousness. The ox that is yoked to the 
 plough plods along the gleby furrows without consider- 
 ing that he is employed to prepare food for hundreds. 
 But man can feel in his heart what his hands are doing. 
 At every act of his life, at every occurrence in his days, 
 he can stand still to reflect, to derive lessons, and to
 
 2 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 teach them to others. In this respect the life of an 
 individual, however humble that individual be, may be- 
 come a source of information for his fellow-beings ; and 
 it is with such a view that I have penned the following 
 outline of my career. 
 
 I was born in the town of Shwerin-on-the-Wartha, 
 in the grand duchy of Posen, on the 24th of May, 
 1814. My father, a corn merchant, who had been trained 
 in, and ever scrupulously adhered to, the principles 
 of orthodox Judaism, had earned his fortune by the in- 
 defatigable labour of his hands; and it was his most 
 anxious desire that his children should imbibe, as early 
 as the mind was capable of receiving any lasting im- 
 pression, those maxims of immutable integrity and un- 
 ceasing industry which had been his own guides through 
 the vicissitudes of life, and which are so distinctly and 
 powerfully enjoined by the sacred religion he professed. 
 All that I recollect of my mother is the reputation 
 which long survived her, that " she stretched out her 
 hand to the poor, and reached forth her hands to the 
 needy " No one ever entered our house hungry but 
 that he left it satisfied. Her attentions, however, knew 
 no bounds, when they were bestowed upon individuals 
 who, besides their indigence, had the additional recom- 
 mendation of remarkable piety or distinguished learning. 
 Like the good Shunamite in the Bible, when she per- 
 ceived in any one that " he was an holy man of God," 
 she had ever " a bed, and a table, and a stool" ready 
 for him. 
 
 Every one who is only a somewhat close observer of 
 life, must have observed that common occurrences 
 which have in themselves nothing extraordinary what- 
 ever, strike us with a peculiar force, and become signifi- 
 cant and momentous when they happen at a time when
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 3 
 
 our mind is more than usually excited. It was natural 
 then, that it could not pass altogether unnoticed when, 
 at the very instant of my birth, my father received a 
 letter from his agent at Berlin, informing him of the 
 loss of several thousand dollars which had attended one 
 of his speculations. The singularity of this coincidence 
 became, however, more remarkable when, a week after, 
 on the day on which, according to the Jewish rite, the 
 ceremony of circumcision was performed, another letter 
 arrived apprising my father of the success of some other 
 speculation, the profit of which more than compensated 
 for the loss sustained. These incidents, indeed, re- 
 sulted from very natural causes, but my father "ob- 
 served the saying;" and, during my boyhood, I often 
 heard him remark, " I think the life of my son Moses/' 
 this being my name, "will be fraught with a great 
 many changes and vicissitudes." And then he would 
 speak about the two letters that arrived in so rapid a 
 succession, and brought such different tidings. 
 
 The first week of my earthly existence had thus ex- 
 hibited the picture of the various and ever-changing 
 fortunes of life of profit and loss, success and failure, 
 pleasure and disappointment, prosperity and adversity 
 changes exemplified by our daily experience and to which 
 the career of most men, and mine in particular, bears 
 ample testimony. 
 
 The most active industry and the most rigorous pro- 
 bity of a father, and the gentle and benevolent dispo- 
 sition of a mother, were well calculated to impress my 
 mind with a deep sense of these virtues, which I con- 
 tinually saw practised around me, and the theory of 
 which I was taught in the precepts of my holy faith. 
 But not long was I to look on this fair union of what 
 was right and good; soon the crown of glory which
 
 4 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 encircled the paternal house was to be robbed of one 
 of its brightest gems. I had not yet exceeded the 
 days of cheerful boyhood, I numbered but ten years 
 when the arm of death carried off my beloved mother. 
 It was my first misfortune, and I was just old 
 enough to feel the extent of the loss which I sustained. 
 Hitherto I had sported heedlessly on the flowery paths 
 of childhood, favoured by the smiles of an unclouded 
 heaven. Suddenly that sky darkened, I heard the 
 rolling of the thunder, saw the flash of the lightning, 
 and I stood awed and amazed. The aspect of a dying 
 mother, the announcement that she had expired, the 
 funeral with all its heart-rending and impressive cere- 
 monies, it is true, had too much of novelty for the boy 
 to make me feel very distinctly the sad affliction of the 
 son who sees his parent sink into the grave. But a few 
 days after the funeral, when I awoke to the calm per- 
 ception that my mother really was no more, when every 
 hour of the day, every corner of the house, reminded 
 me that I had lost her for ever, and that that loss was 
 irreparable; then my grief broke forth with all its keen- 
 ness, and verified the words of the Psalmist : " All the 
 night make I my bed to swim ; I water my couch with 
 my tears." 
 
 From this period my education, properly so called, 
 commenced. With the generality of the Jews the 
 overruling feature of education then was, and now, for 
 the most part, is, the religious principle. And justly 
 so ; for the Jewish religion is one which, more than 
 any other, perhaps, stretches its veins through all the 
 actions of life. The religious system followed by the 
 descendants of Abraham is a most perfect and almost 
 literal realization of the divine words, "My statutes 
 and my judgments, which a man shall do, and live 
 in them." The Jew can truly be said to live in his
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 5 
 
 religion. From his rising in the morning to his going 
 to rest at night he can not perform a single act, whether 
 relating to the cleanliness of his body or to the nou- 
 rishing of the same by refreshments, but that some 
 religious ceremony some short prayer is connected 
 with it. 
 
 But the first requisite towards the right fulfilment of 
 these religious duties, most undeniably is to know 
 them and to understand their meaning and purport. 
 Hence the high estimation in which the study of the 
 law is held by the Jews. " An ignorant man cannot be 
 a pious man/' is an observation used in the Mishna, 
 signifying that a sound inquiry into the right meaning 
 of the divine precepts must, of necessity, precede the 
 accurate practice of these precepts. The Talmud 
 abounds in passages recommending the study of the 
 law, and "to meditate therein day and night," as a 
 meritorious action, well pleasing in the sight of the 
 Lord, and one which is sure to lead us to the conscien- 
 tious fulfilment of our duties as men and Israelites. It 
 was this idea, and not a depreciation of good moral 
 actions, which led the rabbis of the Talmud to set so 
 high a value on the researches of holy writ; because 
 they were convinced that the natural and inevitable 
 consequence of such an occupation would be the prac- 
 tical application of the commandments contained in 
 those sacred writings. This reflection is beautifully 
 illustrated in the allegorical saying of our sages : " A 
 good action, compared to the study of the law, is like a 
 single lamp compared to the sun." It would be very 
 erroneous to imagine that these wise men valued the 
 theory more than the practice : but they valued the 
 theory as being naturally conducive to the practice; 
 and, as the sun is the source of all light, and, therefore, 
 infinitely superior to a single effluence of its substance,
 
 6 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 so did they consider, and justly consider, the study of 
 the law, pursued with prayer and humility, as the 
 source of all good actions which could not but result 
 from it. 
 
 The first instruction, therefore, which a Jewish child 
 received was the instruction in the Hebrew language, in 
 order to enable him to read the books of Moses in the 
 original holy tongue ; and it has ever been the pride of 
 Jewish parents to have children deeply read in biblical 
 and talmudical lore. 
 
 To receive this first instruction I was sent to a school 
 conducted by Ilabbi L , in a neighbouring town. In 
 the whole neighbourhood the rabbi was renowned for 
 great learning and irreproachable piety. Every one 
 approached him with the deepest respect met him 
 with undivided veneration. Even now I can fancy him 
 standing before me, with his venerable white beard, 
 his large expressive eyes, his calm countenance, the 
 deep furrows in his forehead, and the small round velvet 
 cap on his head. 
 
 He was a man admirably calculated to prepare youths 
 for their pilgrimage through life, and to imbue their 
 tender minds with indelible lessons of religion and 
 morality. With the experience of a long life before 
 him, animated for the cause of the religion of his 
 fathers, deeply convinced of the immutable truth of the 
 tenets which he taught and himself practised, capable 
 of illustrating many a truth by instances from his own 
 eventful life, he bestowed an uninterrupted attention 
 to the pupils entrusted to his care, and felt the warmest 
 interest in their progress. 
 
 As the lessons which we receive in the early days of
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 7 
 
 our lives cleave most firmly to us, and will never 
 be quite forgotten, so are the moral principles which 
 my revered teacher instilled into my mind, to this day, 
 most distinctly engraven on the tablets of my heart. 
 He never allowed any opportunity to escape but that 
 he exhorted me and the rest of his pupils, in strains of 
 the most powerful eloquence, to adhere for ever, tridy 
 and faithfully, to the law of God as taught by His 
 chosen servant Moses ; to love and honour our parents, 
 and pay them the strictest obedience; to render homage 
 and preserve loyal faith to the king and authorities of 
 the land in which it would be our destiny to spend our 
 lives ; to de^l with our fellow-creatures on principles of 
 purest integrity and incorruptible honesty ; to love our 
 neighbours as ourselves ; and to be ever ready to assist 
 our poorer fellow-creatures, without regarding their 
 country or their creed. 
 
 Never shall I forget his salutary instructions ; never 
 shall I cease to feel the most inward gratitude to the 
 man who thus taught me to love God and men, and to 
 be loved by them. And, indeed, this is again a peculiar 
 feature of, I will not say Jewish religion, but of Jewish 
 feeling, to esteem highly and pay the most unbounded 
 reverence to their instructor in holy learning. The 
 Talmud enjoins this reverence to our teachers in the 
 most unexceptionable terms, so far even as to place the 
 honour due to our masters on a level with that due to 
 our parents, and sometimes even requiring the former to 
 be greater than the latter. These passages express the 
 same sentiment as was expressed by Alexander the 
 Great when he observed that he was more indebted to 
 Aristotle than to Philip, the latter being merely the 
 author of his life, but the former having instructed him 
 how to use it rightly.
 
 8 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 Three years did I thus spend in the school of Rabbi 
 L . During this time my occupation consisted almost 
 exclusively in the study of the Sacred Volume, together 
 with several of the numerous rabbinical commentaries 
 written on the different books of the old covenant. In 
 this pursuit I felt the truth of the inspired words of the 
 royal philosopher : " The words of the wise are as goads 
 and as nails;" for, not only did the perusal of the di- 
 vergent opinions on the same passage act as " goads," 
 inciting me to deeper research and a more accurate 
 inquiry into the words of holy writ, but these commen- 
 taries acted likewise " as nails " they contributed 
 greatly to imprint the precepts of divine wisdom upon 
 my memory, and preserve it there. 
 
 I now attained to my thirteenth year, the period 
 fixed for the confirmation of the Jew. The confirmation 
 is a kind of religious majority. By the civil laws of 
 every country, an individual is legally considered of age 
 when he attains to the age of twenty, or a year or two 
 more or less. This epoch forms a sort of transition 
 from youth to manhood ; it is a landing-place where we 
 are expected to abandon all the giddiness and frivolity 
 which are usually supposed to be the attendants of 
 youth, and whence we enter into the field of life, 
 responsible for all the acts we are going to commit. 
 But civilly we have no such transition from boyhood to 
 youth, though no one will hesitate to confess that there 
 is almost as great a change of character going forward at 
 this latter period, as at entering into manhood. This 
 link is, in the Jewish religion, supplied by the confirma- 
 tion. Before the child is thirteen years of age, the 
 father is religiously held responsible for all his acts and 
 misdeeds; but, from that day, the burden is removed 
 from the father's shoulders and laid on the son himself.
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 9 
 
 With his thirteenth year the Jew becomes a member of 
 the religious society of his brethren he takes upon 
 himself all the duties incumbent on the followers of the 
 Mosaic faith, and henceforth partakes in all its ceremo- 
 nies. The feeling which attends this ceremony, at least 
 the feeling which animated me at that time, was one 
 divided between pride and a certain timidity. I felt 
 the pride natural to any one who is going to be raised 
 to any peculiar dignity. Not until now, I considered 
 myself worthy of bearing the name of Israelite, a name 
 of which the instruction of my beloved teacher had 
 taught me to be proud. Now, after this initiation, I 
 might constitute one of the number requisite for the 
 reciting of certain prayers, I might perform any 
 religious ceremony, in short, I was to obtain religious 
 citizenship. I can well recollect how elevating it was for 
 me to feel my superiority over several of my companions 
 who were a few years, or perhaps only a few months, 
 younger than myself. 
 
 But as there is never a dignity with which persons are 
 invested without undertaking, at the same time, certain 
 duties and obligations : so I felt, likewise, the whole 
 weight of the numerous ordinances which I had now to 
 observe, and for the neglect of any of which I was now 
 personally responsible to my Maker. The education 
 which I had received had imbued my mind with a clear 
 idea of the laws and statutes relating to Judaism, and 
 thus placed the plea of ignorance out of my reach. 
 Thus when the holy sabbath had arrived on which the 
 ceremony took place, I felt myself seized with a certain 
 awe and anxiety which contributed not a little to the 
 solemnity of the act. 
 
 I had always been of a somewhat pensive nature, 
 given to inward reflection, and keeping a watchful
 
 10 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 guard not only upon all my actions but upon all the 
 feelings and emotions which agitated my heart. On 
 the day of my confirmation I formed the firmest resolu- 
 tions; I made, within myself, the most solemn vows 
 that I would never, under any circumstances, swerve 
 one iota from the religion of which I was now an initi- 
 ated professor ; that, so far from ever being ashamed of 
 the name of Jew, I would endeavour to do credit to my 
 nation ; that I would contribute, as much as it should 
 be in my power, to raise the estimation of that nation 
 among its neighbours, and, then, for the most part, op- 
 pressors ; and that I would strive, by strictly adhering 
 to the principles of honesty and uprightness, to become 
 a useful member of human society. 
 
 It was, however, not very long before I made the sad 
 experience how feeble human nature is, how little fit to 
 withstand the attacks of adversity, unless the soul and 
 heart be fortified by the unshakeable wall of faith, and 
 continually supplied by the inexhaustible fountain of 
 the divine word. When I made the above resolves I 
 would not have believed that I should ever be capable 
 of conceiving such a thought as, a very few days after- 
 wards, I was on the point of carrying into effect. This 
 happened in the following manner : 
 
 My father's partner in business was at that time 
 travelling in the provinces for the purchase of corn. 
 Now my father wished to convey to him some money 
 a sum of about 1500 dollars and in order that this 
 money should be dispatched more speedily and at the 
 same time more safely, it was to be posted at a town 
 about eighteen English miles distant from our residence. 
 My father being obliged to stop at home on that day 
 on account of some important business, and my elder 
 brother being also otherwise engaged, it Avas determined
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 11 
 
 that I should take the money to the town where it was 
 to be posted. Consequently my father's horse and 
 chaise were got ready, and our coachman was to drive me 
 there. Before we set out, my father most emphatically 
 and repeatedly enjoined me to be very careful in whose 
 hands I should give the money, to see it regularly 
 registered, and to ask for a receipt from the post office. 
 
 I felt quite delighted at the idea of making myself 
 useful, and on the whole of the way meditated how I 
 would execute my commission punctually, and how 
 pleased my father would be at my return when I should 
 have done all according to his wish. On our arrival in 
 the town, we put up at our usual hotel, and to my great 
 surprise, I met there an uncle of mine with his son, who 
 was of about the same age as myself. As we had not 
 seen each other for several years, and met quite un- 
 expectedly, my cousin and I were highly rejoiced at this 
 rencontre, and there was no end of questions and answers 
 about what we had done, and seen, and learned, since we 
 had last met. My uncle asked me what had brought 
 me to town, and I told him my business there. My 
 cousin at once offered to accompany me to the post office, 
 and we set out together. On our way thither, our 
 attention was attracted by a regiment of soldiers 
 on parade, accompanied by their band which was 
 playing merrily. This was altogether a novel sight 
 to us. Neither of us had ever seen a regiment of 
 soldiers together; the various exercises and evolutions 
 through which they went, the occasional filing, and the 
 powerful strains of martial music, were no ordinary 
 points of attraction for boys of our age. However, as I 
 did not like to stand there long with the money about 
 me, and was likewise afraid of being too late for the 
 post, I proposed to my cousin to go to the post office 
 first, and then to return to look at the soldiers as long 
 as we should like.
 
 12 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 Off we ran accordingly at full speed in the direction 
 of the post office. We arrived there in good time. I 
 gave the money to the first clerk I saw there, and as 
 quick as I possibly could rejoined my cousin who was 
 waiting outside. As for seeing the money registered, or 
 asking for a receipt, that was entirely out of the question, 
 my thoughts were with the soldiers, my eyes were yet 
 dazzled with their variegated uniforms and glittering 
 arms, my ears yet stunned with the martial beatings of 
 the drums. "We hastened back to the spot which our 
 thoughts had not left, and there we stopped hour after 
 hour, until the soldiers withdrew. 
 
 At my return to the hotel, I found two gentlemen 
 there of my native town, who, having recognised our 
 chaise, had come to ride home with me. The reader must 
 not be surprised at this, which might in this country 
 be called presumption; for among small communities, 
 and especially among communities of Jews, there is a 
 sort of fraternity established, so that no one would ever 
 think of refusing such a favour, nor would any one ever 
 scruple to ask it. 
 
 While proceeding on our way, the gentlemen asked 
 me what business I had to attend to in the town, and 
 having no reason to make a secret of the same, I told 
 them all about it. They then asked me whether I had 
 taken care to get a correct receipt. I was thunder-struck 
 no thought of it had till then entered my mind. When 
 I told them I had quite forgotten to ask for one, they 
 represented to me the consequences that might ensue 
 from my carelessness, and made me feel in its whole 
 extent the fault of which I was guilty. The most 
 agonizing feelings rushed upon me, I loaded myself 
 with the most bitter reproaches for having, through my 
 giddiness, endangered the property of my father, and 
 disobeyed his express commands.
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 13 
 
 But what was to be done? The gentlemen advised 
 me to drive back immediately to the town, and see what 
 I could do in the matter. But I knew that my father 
 was anxiously waiting for my return, and if I delayed 
 too long he would imagine that some mishap had befallen 
 me, or that I had been robbed of the money, or something 
 of the sort. I therefore begged of my companions to 
 proceed home with our coachman, and to inform my 
 father of what had happened, and I would return to the 
 town on foot and endeavour to obtain the receipt; I 
 immediately alighted and followed the direction whence 
 we had just come. 
 
 Night had meanwhile set in. It was a fine moonlight 
 night, and the stars twinkled cheerfully. My way led 
 me through a forest. Every thing around me presented 
 the invigorating aspect of spring, and to every other 
 wanderer the objects of nature must have breathed that 
 calm, unruffled joy which that season ever spreads, and 
 which the stillness of night rather heightens than 
 diminishes. But the vehement agitations of my heart, 
 the fear and anxiety which haunted my imagination, did 
 not permit me to observe the beauties of the surrounding 
 objects, or to partake in the universal joy. To me the 
 night was more gloomy than ever it had seemed in De- 
 cember, though tempestuous winds might have roared, 
 and flakes of snow filled the atmosphere. Nature was to 
 me but the reflection of my troubled conscience ; I felt 
 what the prophet so eloquently expressed in the words : 
 "The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languishes; 
 the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the 
 apple tree, even all the trees of the field are withered : 
 because joy is withered away from the sons of men." 
 As I walked on, I pictured to myself the anxiety of my 
 father of which I was the cause, and accused myself 
 more and more gravely of having thus turned my own
 
 14 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 joy into sorrow and treated so slightly the first respon- 
 sibility that had been imposed upon me. 
 
 While absorbed in these dismal thoughts I ap- 
 proached the bridge which leads over the river Wartha. 
 Inexperience naturally magnifies every peril ; thus when 
 we are not yet inured to adversity, every disaster seems 
 incurable and insupportable. My situation was really 
 sad, but my reflections had made it appear to me a 
 thousand times sadder, and as I beheld the river before 
 me, the thought suddenly seized me that I would there 
 terminate my troubles at once and leave the hardships 
 of life. 
 
 On the bridge, I stood still for some moments, un- 
 certain what I should do. Now it so happened that a 
 few days before I had left the house of Rabbi L in order 
 to go home for my confirmation, we had read the follow- 
 ing talmudical allegory, inserted in some comment on a 
 verse of holy writ. 
 
 " A wise rabbi once said to his disciples: ' Esteem your 
 lives as highly as you would value a single piece of 
 silver/ The disciples seemed surprised, and, supposing 
 this to be an allegorical expression, asked their teacher 
 to explain the meaning of his words. ' He who pos- 
 sesses only a single piece of silver,' replied the sage, 
 'will consider much before he spends it, and will not 
 deprive himself of it frivolously ; thus, you should prize 
 life as a good which, when once lost, can never be 
 restored.' ' 
 
 Rabbi L had taken that opportunity of warning us 
 in terms most impressive, against the crime of self-de- 
 struction. He had told us that, being stationed on this 
 earth by the wise design of Providence, in order to
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 15 
 
 fulfil certain duties and obtain a certain perfection, we 
 could not be justified in thus dispensing ourselves from 
 these duties, and destroying the means of arriving at 
 that perfection; that however afflicting the circum- 
 stances might be in which we were placed, it was 
 cowardly to avoid difficulties by an illegal flight rather 
 than brave them courageously ; and that men would be 
 showing little trust in their Maker who had so benignly 
 provided for them, if they would despair of His protec- 
 tion and guidance, as often as their short-sighted views 
 should leave them without an immediate remedy in 
 any perilous situation. He remarked how unnatural it 
 was in man to rush into the arms of death, which his 
 whole being teaches him to shun, and he showed us 
 how erroneous had been the opinion of the ancients, 
 who could admire suicide as an heroic action. 
 
 All these words suddenly occurred to my mind, and, 
 with a shudder, I became aware of the enormity of 
 the crime that I was on the point of committing. 
 And then I thought of my beloved father. I reflected 
 how ungrateful it would be of me now that I had 
 reached the age when I might begin to be useful to 
 him, when, for the innumerable benefits which he had 
 showered upon me, an opportunity might be afforded 
 me of showing a grateful mind, and relieving him from 
 a part of his burden, when I was just entering into life, 
 where it might be my good fortune to procure for him 
 many an hour of gladness and consolation now to 
 destroy all these hopes and prospects by a rash act, 
 and heap grief and sorrow upon his hoary head ! 
 
 These thoughts made me appear a monster in my own 
 eyes, and, as if to fly from myself and my impious 
 intentions, I hurried away at a quick pace in order to 
 lose sight, as soon as possible, of the river which had
 
 16 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 called forth this criminal idea within me. I looked up 
 to heaven and most devoutly thanked the Lord for 
 having saved me from committing this iniquitous deed ; 
 and then within my heart thanked my wise teacher for 
 the instruction he had imparted to me, and whereby he 
 had now saved my life. 
 
 Being thus a little more pacified, I hastened on to the 
 town, and ran to my uncle who, as he had told me, 
 intended to stay that night in the hotel. I found him 
 there and told him my sad story. He advised me to go 
 directly to the post office, and speak to the postmaster 
 himself. When I arrived there, I inquired where I had 
 to go to see the postmaster, but was told that I could 
 not see him now, but must wait till he should be 
 disengaged. But the uneasy state of my mind did not 
 permit me to wait long. As soon as I found an 
 opportunity, I rushed into the office, and being stopped 
 there by the postmaster himself, and asked what I 
 wanted, I related in such words as my tears and my 
 timidity allowed me to utter, the negligence that I had 
 committed. Fortunately, the clerk, to whom I had 
 given the money, came at that moment to speak to the 
 postmaster, and hearing my sorrowful tale, he said that he 
 recognized me very well, that he had received the money 
 from me, and that it had been already dispatched. The 
 postmaster then directed the clerk to write out a receipt 
 and give it to me, and I well recollect how I received 
 the paper with tremblings of joy, and looked upon it as 
 if it really contained the certificate of my happiness. 
 
 Holding the paper triumphantly in my hand, I 
 returned to my uncle to inform him of my success, and 
 he promised to drive me home the next morning. But 
 I begged of him not to wait till the morning, but to set 
 out at once, in order to relieve my father of the suspense,
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 17 
 
 as soon as I should be able, and so urgently did I 
 in treat him that he could not refuse, but had his chaise 
 got ready immediately and set out with me. We had 
 not proceeded very far when we met a carriage, and, 
 coming near, saw that it contained some friends of 
 my father, who came in search of me. 
 
 When my father had been informed of what had 
 happened, he was very much grieved. The money he 
 gave up for lost, and so it was, in fact, considered by 
 every body else ; no one had the courage to offer even 
 500 dols. for the 1500. But he began to be very uneasy 
 about my safety ; he knew my disposition, that I would 
 now feel the remorse of conscience, and that my in- 
 experience might lead me to take any inconsiderate step. 
 He therefore wished to set out immediately in quest of 
 me, but these friends offered their services, as it might 
 have been injurious to my father's health. 
 
 As soon as we met, I told them that I was in 
 possession of the receipt, they consequently took me in 
 their carriage, and my uncle returned to the town. The 
 reception with which I met from my father may be 
 better imagined than described. I had to tell my story 
 in detail, and I openly confessed my fault in all its 
 grossness ; my father overwhelmed me with reproaches, 
 the more severely felt, as they were well deserved, and 
 added to them admonitions which I have never forgotten. 
 
 That day was perhaps the most momentous day in my 
 early life. It gave me a terrible, but important lesson. 
 It had taught me how important it was to shun every 
 evil, however insignificant it might appear ; for the vices 
 are linked together in a strong league against man, and 
 whoever once allows himself to slide from the right path 
 is liable to be drawn into a labyrinth of crimes from 
 
 c
 
 18 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 which there is no escape, and which lead to inevitable 
 ruin. Truly has the German Schiller said : 
 " It is the curse of evil deed, 
 That it will ever evil breed."* 
 
 From carelessness, from an act of boyish giddiness, I 
 had on that day been led to the brink of an unfathom- 
 able abyss, I had been almost induced to commit a 
 crime, the enormity of which seizes me even now with 
 a shudder. 
 
 But it had also taught me that to contend victoriously 
 against the attacks of vice, to avoid the snares of evil, 
 there is but one remedy and that an infallible one 
 a mind trained in religious principles. "When fear 
 cometh as desolation, and destruction cometh as a 
 whirlwind ; when distress and anguish come upon us ;" 
 when, in our troubles, all human remedies fail, and 
 earth itself appears a barren wilderness : then heaven 
 opens its bright portals ; religion descends to shelter her 
 devout votaries, and, with the gentle hand of a guardian 
 angel, conducts them untouched through the thorny 
 ways of adversity. 
 
 * Note 1.
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 19 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 " When my father and my mother forsake me, then the 
 Lord will take me up." Psalm xxvii. 10. 
 
 The day on which I was to return to school drew near 
 with greater rapidity than I desired. For although I 
 had always been treated by my venerable and pious 
 teacher with that kind indulgence which is calculated to 
 endear a master to his pupil ; although during my long 
 stay with that truly religious man, I had not once 
 occasion to complain of unnecessary harshness or un- 
 called for rigour ; and although I was alive to the ad- 
 vantages which I might still derive from the instruction 
 of the venerable rabbi : still the idea of leaving again 
 the parental roof, of bidding again adieu to the place 
 of my birth and childhood presented itself to my 
 youthful mind with anything but cheering associations. 
 No love equals that of parents for their children, no 
 love is so disinterested, and we might almost say, so 
 spiritual. My dear mother, her whose image stands, 
 and ever will stand life-like before my mind, whose 
 tender cares had watched my early days, her I had lost 
 when I was ten years old. And now all my filial affec- 
 tion centred in the love I bore to my father. 
 
 My brother and sisters had, during the few weeks 
 that I had spent among them, bestowed upon me all 
 that attention which is so lovingly shown to a member 
 of the family that has been absent for some length of 
 
 c2
 
 20 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 time from the domestic circle. Innumerable were their 
 acts of kindness to me. 
 
 And all these dear ones I was to leave again to return 
 to strangers kind and hospitable strangers, it is true, 
 but strangers still. 
 
 At last the day of my departure arrived. I awoke in 
 the morning with a beating heart, confused thoughts and 
 feelings agitated me; I recited my prayers on that 
 morning with concentrated devotion and fervour. The 
 voice of my father, and the voices of my brother and 
 sisters seemed to have in them, on that day, a peculiar 
 tone of affection, like sweet music that makes tears start 
 into our eyes. After having, for some time, tried to 
 suppress my emotion, I could at last " not refrain myself 
 any longer before all that stood by me, " and withdrawing 
 into a retired corner of the house, I gave full vent to my 
 feelings and wept aloud. 
 
 The rattling of the coach that was to convey me back 
 to W awakened me from a deep reverie into which I 
 had sunk. I felt my heart now eased of a heavy load, 
 and, with an air of cheerfulness which was partly af- 
 fected, I took leave of my brother and sisters and 
 received the blessing of my father. As he laid his 
 hands on my head and pronounced, with a subdued 
 voice, the words of the patriarch " God make thee as 
 Ephraim and as Manasseh I" simple words with which 
 Jewish parents from the time of Jacob unto this day 
 have been wont to bless their sons :* I imagined that an 
 angel was whispering into my ears sweet and consoling 
 words, that he was encouraging me to walk in the paths 
 of religion and of virtue, that he was admonishing me 
 never to swerve from the precepts of that sacred faith 
 * Note 2.
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 21 
 
 wliich, thousands of years ago, had been revealed to the 
 assembled Israelites on Sinai's mount, that sacred faith 
 for which so many Jewish martyrs had cheerfully shed 
 their blood that faith which no storm could shake, 
 nor any persecution extinguish. 
 
 The year which I then passed at W , was princi- 
 pally devoted to the study of the Talmud* and its 
 commentaries. The study of that great work which 
 contains treasures of wisdom and morality, a work 
 which for its mines of spiritual wealth, deserves to be 
 better known, is peculiarly adapted to strengthen the 
 reasoning faculties. The casuistic details into which it 
 descends on points of the law, the comments and 
 opinions of the rabbis, their discussions and controver- 
 sies respecting the interpretation of holy writ and the 
 maxims of the oral law which, according to the ortho- 
 dox Jewish doctrine, was received by Moses on Mount 
 Sinai, and handed down by an uninterrupted chain of 
 tradition; all these require, in order to be understood, 
 a close study and undivided attention, and afford to 
 the mind an intellectual exercise hardly to be obtained 
 by any other mental pursuit. 
 
 In these and other studies passed the time at 
 W , in a useful manner, and I was much pleased 
 to hear from my father, who occasionally came to see 
 me and to inquire about the progress I was mak- 
 ing, that my teachers gave a favourable account of 
 my attention and industry. No important incidents, 
 worthy of being recorded, occurred during this period. 
 My Hebrew education might then be considered as 
 completed. Indeed I had devoted more of my time 
 and attention to Hebrew, as a branch of Jewish edu- 
 cation, than was the practice with the majority of 
 Prussian Jews at the time of which I am speaking. 
 * Note 3.
 
 22 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 Their altered position in the state had necessitated a 
 different education from that which Jewish parents 
 were wont to give to their children. A sound know- 
 ledge of the vernacular tongue and the acquisition of 
 what is generally termed "useful knowledge/' had 
 already become a necessity for the young of Israel, as 
 well as for Christians. 
 
 I returned home to the town of Shwerin, in order 
 to pursue my secular studies under the guidance of an 
 excellent teacher a certain Dr. M . Dr. M was a 
 man of considerable talent and learning; he had suc- 
 cessfully attended several of the German universities, 
 and afterwards distinguished himself as a sound philo- 
 logical author. 
 
 German literature formed one of my principal stu- 
 dies. One of my favourite authors was Lessing. 
 Whether we look to the clearness of Lessing's richly 
 stored mind so beautifully reflected in his perspicuous 
 and lucid style; whether we consider his independent 
 and manly character; or whether, more particularly, we 
 notice his enlightened views of toleration which, in his 
 time, was yet so little practised : we shall always find 
 him worthy of his exalted position among the princes of 
 German literature. 
 
 And for me, as a Jew, Lessing had a peculiar charm. 
 In his "Nathan der Weise" he had the moral courage 
 to portray a Jew whose noble sentiments, whose pious 
 heart, whose spotless and humane character might well 
 serve as an example to all good men of whatever religious 
 denomination they may be. "Nathan der Weise" was 
 a justification not of the Jews only, but of their religion 
 also, inasmuch as it was Lessing's object to show that 
 the good Jew may practise an exalted piety, pure and 
 divine virtues, which his Christian contemporaries, for
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 23 
 
 the most part, had considered to be incompatible with 
 the profession of the Jewish faith. 
 
 How much that great man knew how to appreciate 
 talent and virtue, wherever they were to be found, is 
 beautifully manifested by his intimate friendship with 
 the immortal Jewish philosopher Moses Mendelssohn. 
 And this was another feature in Lessing^s life which 
 made me read his works with peculiar interest. His 
 connection with Mendelssohn, whose gentle and pious 
 disposition, whose sublime intellect made him the 
 idol of all who knew him, contributed not a little to 
 raise my esteem for Lessing. Their correspondence 
 breathes the warmest friendship the most intimate 
 attachment. It was Lessing who introduced the modest 
 Jew into the literary world, who encouraged him in his 
 religious and metaphysical disquisitions, while, on the 
 other hand, Mendelssohn reciprocated Lessing's friend- 
 ship by numerous acts of kindness with all the warmth 
 of a true and devoted friend. When, after Lessing's 
 death, a writer of the name of Jacobi had ventured to 
 accuse him of leaning towards the principles of Spi- 
 noza;* Mendelssohn, who was at that time suffering 
 from a severe illness, collected all his physical and 
 mental powers and published a pamphlet entitled " to 
 the friends of Lessing;" in which he fully succeeded 
 in proving the groundlessness of Jacobi's assertion ; but 
 the exertions made in this act of friendship so shook 
 the weak frame of the Jewish philosopher, that his 
 death, which soon followed, was no doubt accelerated 
 by this incident. 
 
 From the preceding remarks, it may be easily inferred 
 that the writings of Mendelssohn formed a portion of 
 my reading during that period. Mendelssohn was the 
 * Note 4.
 
 24 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 first who translated the Pentateuch for the Jews into the 
 pure German idiom, and thus became, in some manner, 
 the Luther of the German Jews. It was he who, in his 
 philosophical treatises, demonstrated beyond the shadow 
 of a doubt that the doctrines of Judaism were in harmony 
 with the teachings of reason, that the law communicated 
 on Sinai was binding on the descendants of those who 
 had witnessed that great revelation. Is it then to be 
 wondered at that the Jewish community should have 
 been envied for possessing such a genius at a time when 
 intolerance ruled paramount in the land? is it surprising 
 that many attempts should have been made, even by 
 men eminent for learning and high in rank to convert 
 the Jew to Christianity? But he stood his ground 
 firmly. No prospects of worldly advancement could 
 allure him to forsake a religion, to the tenets of which 
 he was warmly attached, not from mere habit or in- 
 herited prejudice, but from the innermost conviction 
 of his soul. 
 
 Even a prince, the heir apparent of Brunswick, did 
 not think it beneath him to try his powers of persuasion 
 upon the Jewish philosopher ; whereupon Mendelssohn, 
 in a letter addressed to the prince, explained in the 
 most unequivocal manner his reason for declining the 
 conversion. One friend of Mendelssohn, in his zeal to 
 convert him, produced among other arguments this, that 
 Christianity was founded upon Judaism, but that Ju- 
 daism was obsolete and decaying. " Would you then/' 
 replied the Jewish sage, "would you advise me to 
 remove to an upper story of a building the foundation 
 of which is crumbling away ? " 
 
 That the works of such a Jew as Mendelssohn 
 exercised a lasting influence on my mind may be easily 
 imagined. I procured his portrait and hung it up in
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 25 
 
 my study. Many a time did I stand looking at it, filled 
 with admiration for the man whose life had been in 
 such beautiful harmony with his writings, and who by 
 his genius and perseverance had overcome all the dif- 
 ficulties which poverty, in its most heart-rending form, 
 had thrown in his way. 
 
 After having attained the age of seventeen my father 
 resolved to take me away from the school of Dr. 
 M . I was now to enter on a course of studies of a 
 different kind, such as the study of the classical lan- 
 guages and natural philosophy, a knowledge of these 
 being considered necessary, previously to my embrac- 
 ing the profession of physician, to which I was to be 
 brought up. 
 
 Among the learned professions, that of medicine was 
 the only one in which a Jew might then, in that coun- 
 try, practise. Neither as lawyers nor as professors at 
 public schools were the Jews allowed to distinguish 
 themselves ; and, as in the healing art many of my co- 
 religionists had attained to honour and wealth, my 
 father perceiving in me an inclination for study, natu- 
 rally intended me for that profession. It is a remark- 
 able fact that, even during the dark ages, when the 
 name of Jew was synonymous with every thing that is 
 base and odious, when the chosen people were hunted, 
 like wild beasts, from one country to another, when 
 crimes such as poisoning the wells and kidnapping 
 Christian children were imputed to them, I say, it is 
 a remarkable fact that, even then, many Jews were 
 distinguished as eminent physicians, not only among 
 their co-religionists but even at Christian and Turkish 
 courts. 
 
 When informed by my father of his intention
 
 26 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 respecting my future course of life, I was highly 
 delighted, having entertained, for some time past, a 
 predilection for the study of physic. 
 
 Before, however, any steps were taken to place me 
 at an institution where the preparatory knowledge was 
 to be obtained, an incident occurred which marks an 
 epoch in the history of my life and which gave it a 
 different turn from that which I had anticipated. 
 
 My father being a corn merchant was connected in 
 business with a nobleman in the neighbourhood, the 
 proprietor of a large and magnificent estate. It was on 
 a beautiful day, in the month of May, that my father 
 proposed to take me with him to that delightful abode 
 in the country, as he was desirous that I should make 
 the acquaintance of that excellent nobleman. I ac- 
 cepted the offer with thankfulness, anticipating great 
 pleasure from the visit to the gardens for which the 
 estate was renowned. How I enjoyed the drive in the 
 open carriage on that day ! How delightful to inhale 
 the fresh balmy air ! Nature was dressed in her loveliest 
 spring garb; her children the trees and flowers were 
 sending forth an exquisite fragrance; the birds were 
 warbling their thanksgivings to Him who "knows all 
 the fowls of the mountains and the wild beasts of the 
 fields;" the labourers about seemed so cheerful and 
 merry and were doing their work so joyfully ! A heart 
 of stone, indeed, must he possess who in the presence 
 of such a scene, does not feel his bosom heave with 
 emotions of gratitude towards our all-bountiful Creator; 
 and he must be deaf, indeed, to the " small still voice " 
 within us, who surrounded by the visible emanations 
 of a kind and loving God, can hate his brother in his 
 heart and harbour in his bosom evil designs against 
 his neighbour.
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 27 
 
 The objects around me had so engrossed my attention, 
 had taken such exclusive possession of my heart that I 
 sat silent by my father's side, indulging in meditation 
 and resolving to evince my grateful feeling by some acts 
 of charity towards my poorer brethren. I was suddenly 
 aroused from these dreams by the stopping of our 
 carriage. 
 
 We had arrived at the nobleman's mansion which, in 
 its grand and magnificent style, seemed to look down 
 with pride on the humble dwellings of the adjoining 
 little village. The interior gave full proof of the wealth 
 and taste of the owner who received us with that 
 kindness which operates so encouragingly upon an 
 inferior in station, when in the presence of one placed 
 above him. My father and the nobleman transacted 
 their business, the former giving the latter a cheque for 
 500 dollars, the receipt for which my father put into his 
 portfolio. As the nobleman, however was in want of 
 some ready money, he requested my father to have the 
 cheque cashed and to send him the money the following 
 day. We then partook 11 of some refreshment ; which 
 done, the nobleman invited me to remain a few days 
 at the castle, an invitation which I was but too happy 
 to accept with the permission of my lather, who now 
 took his leave, and returned home. 
 
 As I had expressed a great curiosity to see the far- 
 famed gardens and pleasure grounds, I was shown into 
 them, and although I had always heard their beauty 
 and richness spoken of in terms of the highest admira- 
 tion, still I found that the reality surpassed the idea I 
 had formed of them. On my way to the estate I had 
 admired nature in her charming simplicity and, I might 
 almost say, in her childlike innocence ; but here in these 
 delightful gardens I saw nature wedded to art, the two
 
 28 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 blended so harmoniously that it is impossible to render 
 in words the effect of that beauteous union. I ran 
 about in the manifold and fantastic walks, examined the 
 outlandish trees and shrubberies, revelled in looking at 
 the flowerbeds and inhaling their sweet scent, listened 
 to the melodious music of the fountains, according 
 wonderfully with the sweet voices of the birds which 
 seemed to have chosen, in great numbers, this de- 
 ligtful abode for their dwelling places. The most 
 delicious fruit was growing there in abundance. All 
 my senses felt a gratification. If there is a paradise 
 on earth, I thought to myself, this is it. 
 
 Of the kindness and attention of my noble host I 
 cannot speak too highly. When, in the afternoon, the 
 hour for dinner came, I found prepared for me such 
 food as I might partake of without acting contrary to 
 the Jewish laws, and my meal was besides seasoned by 
 an interesting conversation, the nobleman speaking to 
 me on such important topics as religion and education, 
 and encouraging me to devote myself heart and soul to 
 the study of medicine. " I shall be very happy/' added 
 he, " if after you shall have passed successfully through 
 the necessary examinations, and taken your degree, I 
 should be able to advance your career by the influence 
 I enjoy in the neighbourhood and with the minister." 
 
 But my stay at the castle was to be only of very 
 short duration. Having after dinner again repaired to 
 the gardens, and having sat down on a bench by the 
 side of one of those delightful fountains with which the 
 place was ornamented, I felt myself all of a sudden 
 seized by an undescribable shudder. My limbs began 
 to tremble, a cold sweat stood on my forehead, and the 
 scene before me which, but a few minutes ago had 
 appeared to me the loveliest spot on God's earth,
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 29 
 
 seemed as by magic to be changed into a dreary, 
 desolate wilderness. The fountain by my side mur- 
 mured a melancholy tune, the birds had ceased to 
 warble, even the very flowers seemed to have lost 
 their glowing colours and their delightful fragrance. 
 What the reason of this sudden change was I could not 
 tell. I left the gardens and returned to the house, 
 where the people looked aghast in perceiving my pale 
 countenance and my strange fright. As I was unable 
 to account, in any way, for my extraordinary appear- 
 ance and my depressed mood, they naturally thought 
 that I would soon recover, and tried, good-naturedly, to 
 cheer me up, by directing my attention to novel objects 
 in which I was likely to take an interest. But their 
 kind endeavours were of no avail. A feeling of un- 
 speakable sadness still possessed me. I felt as if I were 
 in a far distant country among a foreign nation, and 
 the desire of returning home immediately grew stronger 
 and stronger every moment. The nobleman, thinking 
 it too late for me to return that day, tried to sooth me, 
 promising me that, in case I should not feel better the 
 next morning, his carriage should convey me home to 
 my father. What increased the painfulness of my 
 situation was the thought of giving pain and uneasiness 
 to that kind man who had intended to entertain me so 
 hospitably at his mansion ; but in spite of all considera- 
 tions of propriety in spite of every exertion to collect 
 the powers of my mind and will, in order to overcome 
 those feelings of sadness and depression, I felt them 
 rush upon me with increased violence and fresh in- 
 tensity. 
 
 My request to return home on that evening was 
 acceded to; the nobleman had his carriage got ready 
 for me, and with heart-felt expressions of thankfulness, 
 and many apologies for the trouble I had caused, I 
 took my departure.
 
 30 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 At home, they were not a little surprised at my 
 unexpected arrival. They asked me whether I felt ill, 
 but I had not the least sensation of physical pain. 
 They laughed at me, and attributed my oppressive 
 feelings to a sort of childish fear. It is true, now that 
 I was near my father, my brother, and sisters, I was 
 not in that state of nervousness and excitement which 
 had so suddenly befallen me a few hours before, but 
 miserable I felt still. Was it the presentiment of some 
 near calamity ? Was it a dark foreboding of some dire 
 misfortune that terrified me? Were those feelings of 
 depression, those gloomy apprehensions that crossed my 
 mind confusedly, like the black clouds gathering on the 
 sky before the discharge of the thunder-storm ? Were 
 the agitations of my heart like those winds which some- 
 times whirl up the dust and the leaves, before the 
 thunder roars, and the rain descends in torrents ? 
 
 The night I passed in feverish dreams of the wildest 
 fancy. I frequently started up from my sleep, feeling 
 as if a heavy load were pressing on my heart. I fell 
 asleep again the same feelings the same dreams. My 
 sleeping room being next to that of my father, I heard 
 him, about five o'clock, approach the window, open it, 
 and address a poor Jew pedlar, who was in the habit of 
 leaving his uncomfortable home very early to visit the 
 neighbouring villages, with a heavy load of merchan- 
 dize in a large bag, hanging down in front and 
 behind. " To what part of the country are you going 
 to-day, Samuel?" my father asked the industrious 
 pedlar. " I am going to W ," was the reply. " You 
 have a heavy load, I see, and I think we shall have a 
 burning hot day. If you like to wait till seven o'clock 
 you can go with me in my chaise. I shall start about 
 that time, and, as I am going the same way, you may 
 as well save yourself the trouble of carrying your bag 
 that distance, and you will not be the later for it."
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 31 
 
 The pedlar accepted my father's offer thankfully, and 
 returned home again. Here I have to observe again 
 that there prevails, especially in villages and small 
 towns, a feeling of brotherhood among the Jewish 
 communities to an extent which I have never observed 
 in communities of any other religious denomination. 
 Wealth and poverty interpose there no barrier between 
 one man and his neighbour; the free intercourse between 
 the members of the community is there not restricted 
 by the imaginary distinctions of a more refined society. 
 The Jews have for centuries past been held together by 
 the common bond of persecution, and the Jew saw in 
 his co-religionist only a fellow-sufferer. 
 
 But to return to my narrative. After the short 
 conversation with the pedlar my father returned to his 
 bed again; whilst I continued to be haunted by dark, 
 melancholy visions, which I in vain tried to dispel, by 
 directing my thoughts to my studies, or to some indif- 
 ferent matter. 
 
 In this excited state of mind I remained for about 
 another hour, when I suddenly fancied that I heard 
 some noise in the- adjoining room. The words "send 
 for the doctor" repeatedly struck my ear words which, 
 as may be easily supposed, did not suffer me to lie in 
 bed any longer. I started up, put on some parts of my 
 dress, and, what was my astonishment when, on entering 
 my father's apartment, I found him sitting on his bed, 
 half dressed, his face pale like death, his limbs trembling, 
 his breath heavy and frequently interrupted. 
 
 "How glad I am, my boy," said he, addressing me 
 with a feeble and faltering voice, " how glad I am that 
 you returned last night. Had you stopped away one 
 day longer, I fear you would not have seen your father
 
 32 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 again in this world. I feel, my dear son, my life is 
 drawing rapidly to a close, to an unexpected close. A 
 few minutes more, and I shall be at the end of my 
 earthly pilgrimage." Here he stopped ; he sunk back 
 on his bed. " I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord." 
 " Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one."* 
 These words, pronounced in Hebrew with intense 
 religious fervour, and a firm resignation, were the last I 
 heard distinctly uttered by my beloved parent. 
 
 My sisters had already dispatched a servant for the 
 physician. He arrived in all haste, but his services 
 were no more required, the soul had taken its flight 
 heaven-ward life was extinct. Who can describe the 
 feelings that agitate men in such moments ? 
 
 When I heard the above mentioned words uttered, 
 the sound of which even now, after the lapse of so many 
 years, still rings in my ears, I had fallen backwards on 
 a chair in mute despondency. The presence of my 
 brother and sisters, their crying and sobbing, mingled 
 with the monotonous and mournful recital of prayers 
 by some members of the Hebrew congregation who 
 had meanwhile assembled in the next room, imparted 
 to the scene a religious, and one might say, poetical 
 colouring. 
 
 Two days afterwards, a doleful procession moved slowly 
 and solemnly along the narrow streets of Shwerin. It 
 was the funeral procession of him whom I had loved 
 most dearly on this earth. All the members of the 
 Jewish congregation, and a great number of Christian 
 friends attended on that melancholy occasion. 
 
 Death makes us all equal. The thought of the 
 * Note 5.
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 33 
 
 common lot that awaits us all, will often make us forget, 
 for some moments at least, the differences of rank and 
 religion which separate the members of the human 
 family. The idea that all of us will have to give an 
 account of our lives before the throne of the Supreme 
 Being who "judges the world in righteousness, and 
 ministers judgment to the people in uprightness," in- 
 spires us with a feeling of brotherhood which, alas ! 
 influences but too little the common intercourse of 
 men. 
 
 The seven days which follow the death of a parent 
 are, according to the Jewish custom, spent by the 
 children of the deceased in prayers and religious medi- 
 tations. They do not leave the house of mourning 
 except on the eve of sabbath and on the morning of 
 that holy day, when they repair to the synagogue. The 
 appearance of the mourners in the house of prayer, 
 which they do not enter until invited with some words 
 of consolation from the rabbi or the reader, produces 
 one of those deep and heart -stirring effects which 
 attend so many of the Jewish ceremonies. 
 
 During that week of exclusive mourning the strange 
 connexion between the occurrence that had compelled 
 me to leave the nobleman's mansion and the tragic 
 event of the following day, frequently occurred to my 
 mind. Those feelings of depression and anxiety which 
 had so suddenly befallen me, while contemplating the 
 beauties of nature and art, were, no doubt, the dark 
 forerunners of the bereavement I was to suffer on the 
 next day. That mine is not a solitary instance of 
 presentiment of some approaching evil, my readers are 
 undoubtedly aware. Science itself must be content to 
 acknowledge that such is the fact without being able to 
 assign any reason for so extraordinary and wonderful 
 
 D
 
 34 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 a phenomenon. Who can fathom the depth of the 
 human mind ? Who can reveal its mysteries ? 
 
 The irreparable loss I had sustained occupied my 
 thoughts during that period. The books of Job and 
 Jeremiah, which I had read in those seven days, 
 strengthened my faith in God, and taught me to bear 
 misfortune with humble submission to the decrees of 
 Providence. The saying of one of our sages, "that 
 we are bound to pronounce a blessing when hearing 
 of a calamity as well as when receiving the intelligence 
 of a fortunate event," a maxim which my venerable 
 teacher had so often inculcated on my mind, has since 
 that time remained deeply impressed on my memory, 
 and supported me under many a severe trial. 
 
 Indeed, among the moral and religious precepts in 
 which the Talmud and the rabbinical writings abound, 
 none is more frequently repeated, more earnestly urged 
 on the attention of the Jew, than the precept of implicit 
 resignation to the will of the Most High. Rabbi Akiba 
 figures in those writings as a model of humble sub- 
 mission to the decrees of Providence. Whenever bad 
 tidings of any kind were reported to him he was wont 
 to exclaim, "Blessed be the righteous Judge!" or, 
 "Whatever is decreed by Heaven is for our good." 
 This submissive piety he never ceased to inculcate on 
 his pupils who came from distant countries to be in- 
 structed by the humble and wise rabbi. 
 
 A beautiful illustration of the same idea will be 
 found in the following talmudical tale, which just 
 occurs to my memory, and which my readers, I trust, 
 will pardon me for introducing in this place : 
 
 Rabbi Meir, a renowned teacher in Israel, was on
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 35 
 
 the day of the holy sabbath engaged instructing the 
 people in the house of God, and in the academy. 
 Meanwhile his two sons, both of them of goodly ap- 
 pearance and illustrious in the knowledge of the law, 
 were carried off by a sudden death. His pious wife 
 took the corpses, laid them on a couch, and covered 
 them with a white cloth. 
 
 "Where are my sons?" asked Rabbi Meir, as he 
 returned from the academy in the evening, "why are 
 they not here to receive my blessing ? " 
 
 "Have you not seen them at the academy?" said 
 his wife. 
 
 " I have looked about for them, but nowhere could I 
 discover them." 
 
 She handed him the cup of wine, and he pronounced 
 the prayers and blessings prescribed for the termination 
 of the sabbath. The ceremony ended, the rabbi again 
 inquired after his sons. 
 
 " They will not be far," answered his wife, " but 
 permit me, rabbi, to ask you a question." " Speak, 
 my beloved," said the sage. 
 
 "Some days ago," spoke the wife, "a friend depo- 
 sited with me some precious jewels, and now he 
 comes to demand them back. Shall I return them?" 
 
 " Strange," said the rabbi, " that Rabbi Meir's wife 
 should ask such a question ; could you hesitate to return 
 to any one what is his?" 
 
 "Not so," rejoined his wife, "but I would not return 
 
 D2
 
 36 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 them without your knowledge." Hereupon she con- 
 ducted the rabbi to the couch and removed the covering. 
 
 "Alas, my sons, my beloved sons!" exclaimed Eabbi 
 Meir, and a flood of tears burst from his eyes. His 
 wife turned aside and wept also. At last she seized 
 his hand and said, "rabbi, have you not taught me to 
 return what has been entrusted to our keeping. Behold 
 'the Lord has given, the Lord has taken, the name 
 of the Lord be praised V" 
 
 "The name of the Lord be praised!" reiterated 
 Rabbi Meir with pious resignation. 
 
 But, to return to my narrative. A few days of 
 the most poignant grief and unspeakable sadness had 
 now passed. The news of my father's death had 
 rapidly spread in the neighbourhood, and had also 
 reached the ears of the nobleman who, as the reader 
 will remember, had returned a cheque for 500 dollars 
 to my father, in order to get it cashed. He came 
 to our house and asked my elder brother for the 
 money. But my brother said he knew nothing of the 
 matter, indeed it seemed rather improbable to him, 
 knowing, as he did, that my father always made his 
 purchases for ready money. I happened to be in the 
 room, and hearing the conversation that passed between 
 the nobleman and my brother, I stepped forward and 
 said that I had been present at the transaction, and 
 that the cheque as well as the receipt would, in all 
 probability, be found in my father's portfolio. My 
 brother looked, found it there, and handed the cheque 
 over to the nobleman. Looking at the receipt, we 
 observed that my father had written on the back of 
 it some words which led me to suppose that he must 
 have had some indistinct presentiment of what was 
 about to happen.
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 37 
 
 The uobleman was much pleased with the candid and 
 honest manner with which I had come forward to clear 
 up the affair; he offered me a reward of fifty dollars 
 for my conduct, but I refused to take anything, ob- 
 serving that I knew I had only fulfilled my duty, and 
 that I should have considered it not only dishonest, 
 but ungrateful to him, and highly disrespectful to the 
 memory of my deceased parent, to commit an act of 
 improbity, against which vice he had so often and so 
 emphatically warned me. " Honesty is the main road 
 to riches," say our sages, and indeed, daily experience 
 confirms this maxim with manifold examples. 
 
 In this, my behaviour, there was nothing extraor- 
 dinary, nothing but what every man's duty would lead 
 him to do, nothing but what we all must do, if we do 
 not wish to overturn the whole structure of human 
 society by breaking the main-spring of human inter- 
 course honesty. Indeed, so little ought any one to 
 boast of being honest that I should not have mentioned 
 the affair at all, were it not for the opportunity it 
 gives me of noticing an aspersion cast upon the Jew. 
 Many persons have thought and said, and many 
 persons, perhaps, think and say yet for prejudices 
 are often as stubborn, and sometimes even more stub- 
 born, than facts themselves many persons, I say, have 
 thought and said that the Jew is, by his laws, not 
 bound to honesty in his dealings with non-Israelites. 
 Several passages from the Holy Scriptures, either mis- 
 understood or wilfully misinterpreted, have been em- 
 ployed to support a doctrine as opposed to Judaism as 
 it ever has been, and ever must be, to any religious or 
 moral system. I can not undertake to defend the con- 
 duct of all my fellow-believers at all times ; the Jews 
 are not so much distinguished from the other races of 
 the earth that they should not number among their
 
 38 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 body individuals who swerve from the path of virtue. 
 But I would impress upon my readers how erroneous it 
 would be to suppose that dishonesty of any kind could 
 be countenanced by Judaism. No, surely "the com- 
 mandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes ;" 
 the purity of our holy law is so self-evident, that I am 
 at a loss to conceive how its meaning could ever have 
 been mistaken. 
 
 But I feel that I am a feeble champion for so holy a 
 cause. Instead of any further defence, therefore, I will 
 give a few extracts from rabbinical writings which have 
 all been composed between the twelfth and the fifteenth 
 centuries. Let them speak for themselves. 
 
 " Do not deceive any one wilfully by your actions a 
 non-Israelite no more than an Israelite. Do not enter into 
 strife with your neighbour, of whatever creed he may be. 
 In your intercourse with non-Israelites follow the same 
 principles of honesty as in your dealings with Israelites. 
 If a non-Israelite make a mistake to your advantage, tell 
 him of it it is better you should live on charity than that 
 you should wrong others, and put a stain on Judaism and 
 the name of Jew. If you see a non-Israelite on the point 
 of committing a sinful act, prevent it, if you have the 
 power." 
 
 " Those that are untrue to non-Israelites, and those that 
 rob them, are to be classed among the profaners of the holy 
 name of God ; for they are the cause, if it should be said of 
 the Jews, ' They are a people without a law.' We are not 
 allowed to defraud or deceive, by words, any one, without 
 regard to his religion." 
 
 " Be compassionate towards your non-Israelitish slaves ; 
 do not aggravate their labour by words of contempt or cruel 
 chastisement ; even when you have to reprove your servant, 
 speak to him patiently, and permit him to plead his 
 cause."* 
 
 * Note 6.
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 39 
 
 Be it remembered that these passages are extracted 
 from works written in centuries when the Jew had 
 little cause to love his Christian neighbours when 
 persecution of the Jews persecution the most merci- 
 less, was the watch-word throughout almost the whole 
 of the Christian world when the slaughter of thou- 
 sands of Jewish victims was thought a fit and meritori- 
 ous prelude to what were then called " holy wars." I 
 will refrain from drawing any inferences ; I will merely 
 say Read and judge for yourselves !
 
 40 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 " For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands : happy 
 shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee" 
 Psalm cxxviii. 2. 
 
 When, as spring spreads its enlivening charms over 
 fields and meads, and the trees and hedges are budding 
 and blossoming, in one rough night, a blight descends 
 and nips the blossoms and blasts the buds, our heart is 
 saddened at the melancholy sight, and, with trembling 
 resignation, we bow down to Him whose ways are un- 
 searchable. 
 
 Such was the desolation of my mourning heart after 
 the death of my beloved father. All my bright pro- 
 spects lay shattered before me. All the wide ranges of 
 my imagination in which I had of late indulged, and in 
 which I had loved to fancy myself a celebrated phy- 
 sician, had vanished like a dream never to return. 
 
 My guardians would not hear of my following up 
 that study. "It was too expensive," they said. This 
 expression was well calculated to make me feel keenly 
 how forsaken I now was in the world. My guardians 
 were very good men; I firmly believe that, as far as 
 they could judge, they had my interests at heart, they 
 always were very kind to me. But they were my guar- 
 dians, not my parents. The great difference between a 
 guardian and a father is, the want in the one, and the
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 41 
 
 abundance in the other, of that heavenly sentiment 
 planted by nature and nurtured by a thousand different 
 circumstances the sentiment called parental love. The 
 vital essence of any kind of love is sacrifice; with every 
 particle of love which we bestow upon a fellow-being we 
 renounce a particle of egotism of self-interest. Now, 
 where the guidance of the child, and the administration 
 of his affairs, require merely the prudence and ex- 
 perience of one superior in years and in knowledge, 
 the conduct of the guardian and the parent will often- 
 times coincide; for they follow the same rules, are 
 guided by the same maxims. But where a certain 
 end can only be obtained by laborious exertions, or 
 by the sacrifice of some comfort, the guardian will 
 naturally shrink from the undertaking while the parent 
 will readily undergo any hardships for the happiness 
 of his child. Truly, indeed, says the commandment : 
 "Honour thy father and thy mother, that thy days 
 may be long." Honour your parents, exert yourselves 
 to preserve their precious days ; for in prolonging their 
 lives you will prolong your own, in so far as the days 
 which you live under the eyes,, of your fathers and 
 mothers, are worth double those which you pass, after 
 having been deprived of their loving guidance. 
 
 My brother undertook my father's business. I feel 
 that I am by no means doing him justice by merely 
 stating that he undertook my father's business, no, he 
 undertook at the same time my father's duties ; by the 
 labour of his hands he maintained me and my two 
 sisters. My guardians having not as yet come to any 
 decision about what they should make of me, I was 
 allowed, or rather I was obliged to go about in idleness. 
 This is one of the greatest perils to which persons in 
 early age can be exposed. Youth has such ample 
 germs of activity in it, the vigour that penetrates the
 
 42 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 constitution of the young is so much in want of some 
 employment that it really seems unnatural to pass 
 those days in sluggishness. If we are to pass through 
 life safely and happily, if we are to come off victoriously 
 from the numerous struggles and difficulties which 
 spring up, like nettles, on the path of our earthly 
 career, there is need, there is much need that our 
 energies should be awakened at an early age; that 
 from childhood we should have been habituated to use 
 our powers, and to contribute our share, however little 
 it be, towards the maintenance of the great human 
 family. To him who has imbibed habits of industry 
 in tender years, work will ever be a pleasure, it will 
 be inseparable from his nature; he cannot live with- 
 out following some occupation for the benefit of his 
 fellow-beings who provide him with the necessaries of 
 life. To him, on the contrary, who has passed his 
 youthful days in slothful inactivity, if the circumstances 
 of his after life should compel him to maintain him- 
 self by his handiwork, labour will be a sore pain. 
 
 Besides, what a train of errors and vices are gene- 
 rally the followers of idleness ! The human mind is 
 such that an entire inaction is unimaginable, and 
 when its energies are not directed to some good object 
 it is but too apt to occupy itself with designs of evil 
 and wicked projects. The Spirit of Evil is ever active 
 to allure us into his deceptive snares ; our lives ought 
 to be an unceasing struggle to keep that evil spirit in 
 check, and to suppress the impious passions that are 
 continually rising within us. As soon as we fold our 
 hands in idleness, as soon as we relent in our watch- 
 fulness, that spirit overpowers us, and leads us in his 
 own pernicious path. 
 
 Such were the reflections into which I occasionally
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 43 
 
 fell, and which added to the melancholy state of my 
 mind, naturally produced by the want of employment, 
 and by the disastrous event which had immediately 
 preceded this period of my life. One day I opened 
 my Bible, ever a faithful companion and an instructive 
 guide to me, and read for a little while in my favourite 
 book the Book of Proverbs. It was not mere chance 
 that drew my attention to the following passage : 
 
 " I went by the field of the slothful and, lo, it 
 
 was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the 
 face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down. 
 Then I saw and considered it well : I looked upon it, and 
 received instruction. Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a 
 little folding of the hands to sleep. So shall thy poverty 
 come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed 
 man." 
 
 These words were decisive. Was I any longer to 
 indulge in the " little slumber," the " folding of the 
 hands," and patiently to await poverty and want, or 
 to allow the thorns and nettles to cover the face of 
 my field ? No, said I to myself, I will no longer be the 
 sluggard I will receive instruction ; and I rose, firmly 
 resolved upon seeking some occupation. 
 
 It just happened to be the time of the Frankfort 
 fair.* I knew several merchants who were in the habit 
 of repairing to that fair, to sell their merchandise, and 
 who generally engaged a youth to keep their books 
 during the few weeks, as they could not take away 
 their own clerks from their business at home. To one 
 of these merchants I went and applied for such a situa- 
 tion. The merchant was a man who had known my 
 father well, and who knew me likewise by sight. He 
 
 * Note 7.
 
 44 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 was rather surprised to hear that I applied for a situa- 
 tion of that kind, but, thinking that I should suit him, 
 he at once engaged me, and, I believe, I was to receive 
 fifteen dollars for the time of the fair. 
 
 When my brother heard what I had done he was 
 very angry. My brother was one of those persons 
 their number is not small in any country who think a 
 great deal of what is commonly termed "keeping up 
 their dignity." He thought that it was a disgrace 
 upon the name of our family which was known all 
 around to be among the most respectable for me to 
 enter the service of one below the rank of our own 
 sphere. 
 
 As for me, I thought quite differently on the matter. 
 I surely was aware of the dignity which I possessed, 
 and which we all possess the dignity of man. No one 
 could ever conceive a more elevated idea of man's dig- 
 nity than was impressed on my mind. The course of 
 studies which I had pursued was well calculated to urge 
 upon me the consideration of my double dignity as man 
 and Israelite ; and several works of German literature 
 just then came under my notice, which confirmed me 
 in this idea. From these works I will merely make 
 one extract, for the benefit of my readers. 
 
 Zollikofer, in an essay on the dignity of man, ob- 
 serves : 
 
 " The dignity of man is greatly enhanced, nay, it appears 
 in its full radiance by the consideration that man is the 
 image of Grod he is of divine origin, of divine race, and he 
 bears upon him the distinct marks of his origin from, and 
 his connexion with, the Divine Being. His reason is an 
 effluence of the divine reason, his power an offspring of the 
 divine power ; his activity resembles, in a manner, the in-
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 45 
 
 cessant workings of the Deity ; his capacity of becoming 
 more and more perfect, is a capacity of bringing him 
 nearer to his Maker ; his immortality is a reflection of the 
 unending existence of the Eternal, and is, at the same time, 
 a means of being ever in communion with Him. Whenever 
 he thinks truth ; when he wills and doth what is good ; 
 when he perceives and advances order and beauty ; when he 
 spreads around him love, and joy, and happiness ; in all 
 these cases, he thinks, feels, and acts in a god-like manner ; 
 he doth the work of his Creator, he advances the views of 
 the Supreme Being ; he tastes a pure divine felicity ; and 
 the more, the offcener he doth these, the greater is his 
 resemblance to Divinity ; the brighter the radiance of the 
 Deity illumines him, the more clearly his divine origin and 
 dignity will be acknowledged." 
 
 This and similar passages could not but inspire me 
 with a high sense of my dignity and my inner worth as 
 man. But I knew nothing, I would know nothing, of 
 an artificial would-be dignity, founded upon nothing 
 greater than the possession of earthly wealth, which. I 
 had always learned to value only as a necessary means 
 of maintenance, and as an appropriate means of doing 
 good. " This occupation below my dignity ! " said I to 
 my brother, " and is it not much more below my dig- 
 nity to about idle, and to be unable to contribute 
 
 */ 
 
 anything towards the earning of tbe bread which I am 
 eating ? " 
 
 Indeed, our rabbis of the Talmud bear the most un- 
 questionable testimony that they did not consider any 
 honest occupation, however mental it may seem, below 
 tbe dignity of even an intellectual celebrity. Among 
 the names whicb figure in that learned work, we read 
 of a R. Jochanan, the shoemaker, R. Isaac, the smith, 
 and many others. Even R. Hillel, almost unrivalled 
 among the rabbis, is known to have earned his liveli-
 
 46 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 hood by working as a day labourer. One rabbi gives 
 the advice that, rather than indulge in idleness, and 
 depend on others, "we should skin carcases in the 
 market-place for wages,"* and, he adds, "you shall 
 not say I am a priest, or I am a great man ; this occu- 
 pation disgraces my dignity." Can there be any phrase 
 more expressive of what their opinions were in this 
 respect than the passage just quoted? Not the cir- 
 cumstance of being a priest and the priests were 
 always considered to be invested with a very high 
 dignity not that of being a great man should induce 
 us to refuse earning an honest maintenance by an 
 occupation, the most degrading it would seem, that 
 could be imagined. Having imbibed such principles 
 from childhood, what was that dignity to me of which 
 my brother appeared so proud ? 
 
 When my brother saw that I was firmly determined 
 not to continue the life I was then leading, and in fact 
 had no very strong arguments to oppose to my resolu- 
 tion, he yielded, and I accordingly went to Frankfort 
 to fulfil my engagement. While I stayed there, my 
 brother made arrangements with one of my guardians 
 to the effect that, on my return, I should enter his 
 office as clerk. Their intention in this arrangement 
 was not so much to find fit employment for me as 
 to prevent me from entering the service of others, to 
 which my brother's pride could not very easily re- 
 concile itself. 
 
 r- 
 
 My guardian, whose clerk I now was, happened to 
 be the president of the Jewish community, and as such 
 he had to give testimonials of character to all those 
 persons who applied to the authorities for passports. f 
 
 * Note 8. f Note 9.
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 47 
 
 I feel that this must be almost unintelligible to an En- 
 glish reader, and now, having for some years enjoyed 
 the benefit of living in this free enlightened country, I 
 myself look back on these matters with a feeling of 
 surprise. That a man, a man in the full enjoyment 
 of his natural senses, and with the full power of con- 
 trolling his own actions, should yet not be allowed 
 to leave his residence and travel to any other part of 
 his own country, or to any foreign country on the 
 habitable earth, without having first asked the per- 
 mission of a magistrate and being enabled to shew, 
 black on white, to every fellow man whom he may 
 pass on his journey, that he is neither a highwayman 
 nor a ruffian, seems, to a certain degree, an absurdity. 
 It seems odd that the human mind should have striven 
 so successfully and does continually strive to overcome 
 the difficulties which the natural barrier of mountains, 
 forests, rivers, and seas throw in the way of his inter- 
 course with his brethren, and that he yet should be 
 fettered by human laws, and not permitted to move 
 freely on this globe of ours which the Lord "has 
 given to the children of man." 
 
 I have not the least doubt that the high rank which 
 England holds as a commercial country is to a great 
 degree owing to her free constitutions, to the wisdom 
 of her legislators, who have long since seen that a 
 man's liberty of action, in this respect, must be un- 
 restricted; that it would be a destructive policy thus 
 to arrest the progress of his movements. But what 
 a check must it be upon commercial freedom, what 
 a check upon expediency so essential in all mer- 
 cantile transactions, if a person cannot travel from 
 town to town without losing hours, nay, sometimes 
 entire days about his passport?
 
 48 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 Besides this great disadvantage of the passport sys- 
 tem in a worldly view of the matter, this system is 
 likewise attended by grievous consequences in a moral 
 point of view. For it must inevitably lower a man's 
 self-esteem, it must make him distrustful in his own 
 moral worth, if he is continually called upon to prove 
 that he is not a bad man, that his intentions of visiting 
 different countries and towns are not of a sinister 
 nature. 
 
 Yet enough of a system which we can fairly hope will 
 soon be abolished throughout Europe, and which has 
 long ceased to prevail in these islands. I said that my 
 guardian had to give testimonials of character to persons 
 who wished to obtain passports. As my guardian was 
 very often from home, I, as his clerk, had to write these 
 testimonials, and was likewise authorised to sign them 
 in his name. One day, a gentleman came to ask for 
 such a testimonial, in order to obtain a passport for 
 England. The sound of the name of England had a 
 peculiar effect upon me. The Romans and Grecians of 
 old believed in fatal, or, I should rather say, ominous 
 words. They believed that words heard in remarkable 
 moments at a time when our mind is in a certain state 
 of excitement that such words were of a prophetic 
 character. Our more enlightened views of religion 
 have taught us not to put any faith in such omens or 
 mysterious indications; but even the most unprejudiced 
 of us will be obliged to confess, that a certain word, or 
 certain words, spoken at a certain time, can make a 
 far deeper impression upon a man than these same 
 words heard at other times. I will not enquire further 
 into this subject; certain it is that the sound of 
 "England" had a peculiar effect upon me, and as it 
 afterwards proved, changed the whole aspect of my life.
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 49 
 
 I called to my mind that I had often heard my 
 father say that an uncle of ours had lived in England, 
 that he had died there, and left a fortune of about 
 .40,000, to which my father was thought to be the 
 nearest heir. I do not know how it was that my 
 father never made any inquiries about it; he never 
 did make any. But now, on hearing some one speak 
 of England, the thought suddenly struck me that I 
 ought to go thither, and see if I could establish our 
 claim, and obtain possession of the property. Besides, 
 I was tired of my situation and anxious to try my 
 fortune somewhere else. My resolution was therefore 
 quickly taken. I wrote a testimonial for myself, signed 
 it with my guardian's name, and applied for a passport 
 to England, which I had not much difficulty in ob- 
 taining. 
 
 My conduct on this occasion was wrong I will not 
 extenuate my fault; I blush to relate it. Although 
 I did not, properly speaking, do any thing that I 
 was not authorized to do; for why might I not write 
 a testimonial for myself as well as I did for others? 
 Although I never would have thought of leaving home, 
 if my guardian had flatly refused to give his assent; 
 yet I was, in a manner, abusing the confidence that 
 had been placed in me, because I knew that my 
 guardian would not easily have been persuaded to 
 give the testimonial, had he been at home. In my 
 own mind I was perfectly justified in what I did; for 
 I only thought of the end I wished to gain, and that 
 certainly had nothing wrong in it ; but now, in calmer 
 years, I can clearly perceive that I acted wrongly, and 
 I warn all my young readers to be ever on their guard 
 not to be led away by a youthful enthusiasm, and 
 not to imagine that a thing must be good because 
 their hearts ardently desire it.
 
 50 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 The commandment of making fringes to their gar- 
 ments was given to the children of Israel, in order to 
 remind them, at all hours, " not to seek after their own 
 hearts and their own eyes;"* and, truly, it seems of 
 the utmost importance that we should never lose sight 
 of this. Not what corresponds with the most fervent 
 wishes of our hearts, not what seems right and plausible 
 in our eyes not that is always good and just it is 
 sometimes very far from it; the only true guide of 
 what is good is the law of God, the fountain of truth 
 and virtue. 
 
 I have said that I procured for myself a passport 
 for England. As soon as I was in possession of it I 
 went to my brother and my guardian who had re- 
 turned in the meantime told them what I had done, 
 and explained to them that I was resolved to go to 
 England, provided they would give me permission. At 
 first they both very strongly objected to my departure, 
 but I was not so easily induced to give up the point; 
 whatever reasons they assigned for disapproving of my 
 plan I refuted with all the fervour of one who is bent 
 upon his resolution, and I made them understand that, 
 though I would not go without their leave, yet I would 
 never rest until I should have obtained that leave. 
 
 When they perceived such firmness in my deter- 
 mination they began to consider that, really there was 
 nothing so very objectionable in the plan : I was still 
 young, and, if I should fail to do well in England, I 
 might return, after a few years, and try my fortune at 
 home; besides, they hoped that my going to England 
 would undoubtedly be instrumental in securing for the 
 family that property to which we thought we had an 
 undeniable claim, and so they came to the conclusion 
 that I should go. 
 
 * Note 9.
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 51 
 
 It is impossible for me to give the reader an idea of 
 the joy I felt, when I heard that they would not object 
 to my going to England. The days which I had to 
 wait, in order to make the necessary preparations, 
 seemed like so many years to me. At last the 
 wished-for day arrived. My brother had taken care 
 to look out for me all the papers and documents 
 which I might require to establish my claim to the 
 property; I was, besides, provided with a good equip- 
 ment of clothes, and with 100 dollars, which sum was 
 thought sufficient for me, because we believed that 
 before I had been long in England I should have 
 recovered, at least, part of the property owing to us. 
 
 That day for which I had longed with so much 
 anxiety, which I considered to be the birthday of my 
 future happiness, was yet a day of no common grief 
 and sorrow. Coming and going, arriving and parting, 
 are, as it were, the two poles on which the sphere 
 of our whole life turns. A day comes and goes, a 
 season begins and ends, pleasures come and depart, 
 troubles befal and leave us, man himself comes and 
 parts. And yet, though parting is not an unwonted 
 occurrence in a man's life, yet there is always a painful 
 feeling attached to it, a feeling, it seems to me, which 
 takes its rise from the uncertainty of human affairs, 
 from the impenetrable obscurity in which the events 
 of even the next hour are veiled and concealed from 
 the human eye, and from the feeling of our power- 
 lessness to withstand or to delay, for one minute, any 
 misfortune that may befal us. 
 
 But my parting, on that day, from my brother and 
 sisters was of a peculiarly painful nature ; it was painful 
 when I looked on the beloved beings from whose 
 endearing circle I was now to be removed, and it 
 
 E2
 
 52 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 was painful when I reflected upon the wild chaos that 
 lay before me. Was I ever to see them again? 
 This question, with all the sorrowful bearings and 
 heart-stirring solutions of which it was capable, stood 
 continually in the foreground of my thoughts, and I 
 vainly endeavoured to divest myself of such melan- 
 choly meditations. And then so many scenes from 
 my early childhood would recur to my mind, scenes 
 which in themselves were childish and perhaps laugh- 
 able, but which tended to render those whom I was 
 now to leave dearer and dearer to my heart. All these 
 scenes kept crowding together in my mind, till they 
 became one united mass of affecting recollections ; for 
 it is with distance in time as it is with that in space; 
 when the objects are near, we can easily discern their 
 relative position, but, when we recede far from them, 
 the distances become more and more indistinct, and at 
 last vanish entirely. 
 
 But nothing can equal the poignant grief which I 
 felt when leaving the paternal roof. The house in 
 which he was born is, for every man, of very high im- 
 portance. Whatever situation a person may occupy in 
 the society of his fellow -beings, of however little import 
 his life may be to mankind at large, to him individually 
 his own existence is of the greatest consequence, and 
 the year, the month, the day, the hour when, and 
 the locality where, that existence began, will ever crave 
 his attention. How much more importance then must 
 be attached to the house which was, not only the place 
 of his nativity, but, at the same time, the locality of his 
 childhood. There was not a room in the house, there 
 was not a chair in any of the rooms, there was not a 
 picture on any of the walls, which would not tell me 
 of some occurrence or other in the early dawn of my 
 life.
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. UO 
 
 As I was to travel by a coach which started from a 
 neighbouring town, I begged of my brother to let me 
 walk the short distance by myself; for I felt that I had 
 great need of being alone. Under floods of tears, 
 which stifled the short but touching words of " adieu," 
 that I attempted to exchange with my brother and 
 sisters, I left the house that was so dear to me, and the 
 town which my memory will ever cherish. I had not 
 gone many yards when I passed another place which 
 contained dear, very dear, remnants the burial ground 
 where my beloved parents lay interred. I reproached 
 myself bitterly that I did not think of visiting their 
 graves before,* and forthwith entered. 
 
 There is a certain solemn calm which generally takes 
 possession of a man when he enters the peaceful realm 
 of those that sleep the sleep of death. The brevity of the 
 span of life measured out to us, the equality of all the 
 inhabitants of the globe, after they have departed this 
 earthly career, are lessons which we read from every 
 tomb-stone. However, I was too much overwhelmed 
 by the individual feelings of my situation to make any 
 reflections of that kind, and, without stopping, I pro- 
 ceeded to the tombs of my beloved parents. Here they 
 lay, side by side ; they had been " lovely and pleasant 
 in their lives, and in their death they were not divided." 
 
 It is impossible for me to describe the depth of grief 
 which I then felt. The day on which I removed from 
 the spot which enclosed their earthly remains, it 
 seemed as if, on that day, I had lost them again. I sat 
 down by the side of their tombs, and entreated their 
 beloved shades to pardon me for all the acts of dis- 
 obedience that I might have committed during their 
 lives, and for all the duties that I might have left 
 * Note 10.
 
 54 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 unfulfilled. I prayed that their souls might look down 
 from the blissful region where they now were, upon 
 their forsaken son, who was to go forth to live among 
 strangers, utterly bereft even of the shadow of a love 
 which they had so abundantly shown to him. I made 
 the most solemn vows that all the days of my life 
 should be devoted to carrying out those principles of 
 probity and God-fearing religion which it had been 
 their perpetual care to instil in me, and that I would 
 never commit an act that could render me unworthy of 
 being their son. 
 
 Somewhat strengthened by this prayer, I set out a 
 little more cheerfully. It is true I stood entirely alone 
 in the world which lay before me an unintelligible 
 labyrinth. But I had a guiding star whose light would 
 never be eclipsed, but would ever send its beaming 
 rays upon the intricate paths of my life. This was the 
 holy faith of my fathers, of which the royal sage has so 
 emphatically said, that " the commandment is a lamp, 
 and the law is light."
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 "In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct 
 thy paths." Prov. iii. 6. 
 
 The life of an individual, like the existence of 
 nations, has its several eras; and a new era may 
 surely be dated in a man's life from the time when 
 he is transplanted from his native soil into a foreign 
 land, there to nourish and thrive or fade and wither, 
 as Providence may smile or frown, may shower abun- 
 dant blessings upon him, or visit him with sad re- 
 
 verses. 
 
 I 
 
 After a few days' journey I safely arrived at Ham- 
 burgh, whence I intended to proceed by sea to England. 
 I had scarcely been there a few hours when I happened 
 to pass in the street a young man whose countenance 
 struck me at once as that of an old acquaintance, 
 although I could not distinctly recollect where and 
 when I had seen him. I turned round to look after 
 him, and perceived that my person must have pro- 
 duced the same impression upon him as his had made 
 upon me. We approached each other, and after having 
 exchanged a few questions and answers, we recognised 
 each other as old schoolfellows. As I was quite a 
 stranger in that town, I was much pleased with what 
 I then considered to be a fortunate meeting, but which 
 shortly afterwards I had but too much cause to regret. 
 He invited me to repair with him to a neighbouring
 
 56 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 coffee-house, where we sat down, in a retired corner 
 of the room, to talk over the events which had hap- 
 pened to us since our separation at W . 
 
 Now this young man had past six months at the 
 school where I had received my education, and had, 
 already, as a boy, evinced a certain laxity of moral 
 principles which increased with his advancing age, and 
 which, as I heard at a later period of my life, actually 
 proved his ruin. Although our friendship had not been 
 very intimate at school, our dispositions and inclina- 
 tions being of too different a nature to admit of such 
 a union, yet I rejoiced at having met an old companion 
 who, besides, might give me useful information re- 
 specting some business which I had to transact at 
 Hamburgh. 
 
 With much good humour he recounted some of the 
 tricks he played to our master at school, and I was 
 good-natured, or rather inexperienced enough, to as- 
 cribe his misdemeanours to boyish playfulness. He 
 told me that, soon after he had left school, his father, 
 who wished to bring him up to some mercantile pur- 
 suit, had succeeded in placing him in a merchant's 
 office at Hamburgh, and that he at present filled the 
 situation of clerk in the same establishment. 
 
 " Close work," said he, " and little time left for 
 recreation or pleasures. Hamburgh is a capital town 
 for pleasure \" and forthwith he commenced, with some 
 eloquence, to give a description of the principal places 
 of amusement, as theatres, public gardens, and others. 
 I was little in the humour for amusements at that 
 time, being most anxious to reach my destination as 
 soon as possible; but he excited my curiosity to such 
 a degree, and produced such plausible arguments, that
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 57 
 
 I was persuaded by him to stop a few days at 
 Hamburgh. 
 
 During these few days he borrowed money of me 
 with the assurance of repayment before my departure, 
 and I, unsuspecting and inexperienced as I was, did 
 not hesitate to advance him the sums he demanded. 
 But, before a couple of days had passed, I perceived 
 that this unprincipled young man was attempting to 
 entrap me in his snares that he was trying to draw 
 from me the sum I had taken with me from home, 
 and which was little more than was required to pay 
 the expenses of my voyage, and a few weeks' living 
 in London. I had, for a moment, disregarded the dic- 
 tates of prudence, lost sight of the commandments 
 which my parents had so diligently instilled in me, 
 and already I was suffering from that neglect. "My 
 son, keep thy father's commandment, and forsake not 
 the law of thy mother. Bind them continually upon 
 thine heart, and tie them about thy neck. When 
 thou goest, it shall lead thee, when thou sleepest, it 
 shall keep thee, and when thou awakest, it shall walk 
 with thee." These are the impressive words in which 
 the wisest of kings warns the young against the fault 
 I then heedlessly committed. 
 
 The sum my friend had borrowed of me amounted 
 to fifty dollars, a very considerable sum for any one 
 circumstanced as I then was. A few more days passed 
 the money was not forthcoming. "You may rely 
 on it," he would say, "to-morrow you shall have it 
 for certain. The fact is, my salary has been due for 
 some time past, and I expect to have it paid to me 
 every moment." Alas ! I knew already what weight 
 to attach to the words of this evil-minded young 
 man, who seemed to have been thrown in my way,
 
 58 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 to tempt me. All my remonstrances were of no 
 avail. I reproached him with his abominable con- 
 duct towards me, I rebuked him for his loose and, 
 as I had found, his intemperate habits, I attempted 
 to divert him from the evil path he had chosen; 
 but he only laughed at me, called me an old-young- 
 man, who did not know how to enjoy himself, called 
 me a fool for not being like him, and, in short, em- 
 ployed all the shallow and enticing phraseology he 
 had at his command to extirpate from my mind every 
 principle of morality. Never had virtue appeared to 
 me in a light more heavenly than when this tempter 
 tried the work of Satan upon me. Never did I feel 
 the necessity of acting upon the laws of religion and 
 virtue more deeply than when I beheld wickedness, 
 in all its repulsive deformity, represented in this my 
 former schoolfellow. The ancient Spartans knew full 
 well the force of example, when they exhibited the 
 Helots in a state of drunkenness before their children, 
 in order to deter their offspring from ever falling into 
 that brutalizing vice. An impression, similar to that 
 which the intoxicated slaves must have produced upon 
 the youthful Spartans, was produced upon me when 
 I saw this slave of sensual enjoyment displaying before 
 me his moral degradation. 
 
 I felt that my moral ruin would be inevitable were I, 
 even for a short time longer, to remain in any con- 
 nexion with this degenerate son. I saw the abyss open 
 before me into which I should be plunged, if I could 
 not extricate myself from the veiiemous coils of the se- 
 ducer. Thanks to my better feelings, thanks, above all, 
 to the holy precepts of religion which a guardian angel 
 seems to have whispered in my ears, for the rousing 
 of my moral courage. I was firmly resolved to flee 
 from this base companion, and rather lose the sum
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 59 
 
 had lent him than allow myself to be hurried into 
 destruction; for I had ever learned not "to make 
 gold my hope, nor to say to the fine gold, thou art 
 my confidence." With the little money that was left 
 left me I then secured a place in an English vessel, 
 and on the following day I was on my way to London. 
 
 During the voyage I had ample time to reflect on 
 the events of the preceding days. I felt ashamed at 
 having allowed myself to be duped, I reproached my- 
 self with having shown so much want of experience, 
 and having profited so little by the wise and practical 
 precepts which both my parents and my instructor 
 had ever set before me. Yet I was young, and had 
 not seen much of the world, and it is but too true 
 that the less experience we have the more confidence, 
 do we place in our own hasty judgment. It will not 
 be deemed out of place if I illustrate this truth by 
 the following narration : 
 
 " The wise Kung-Tsee one day took his disciples to walk 
 in the fields, and they came to the spot were a fowler was 
 wont to set his nets. He was just engaged in distributing 
 into different cages the birds that he had caught. They 
 were all young birds, and their pitiful note seemed to 
 indicate that they were not quite unconscious of their 
 fate, and lamented the loss of freedom which their folly 
 had brought upon them. 
 
 " ' Tour prisoners are all of them very young,' said Kung- 
 Tsee to the fowler, ' where are the old ones.' 
 
 "'The old ones!" replied the fowler, 'they are too pru- 
 dent and cautious to allow themselves to be caught. They 
 look around in all directions, and never approach a place 
 where they discover a net or a cage. Those young ones, 
 who keep to them, do the same, and escape from danger. 
 We only catch the forward ones who leave their parents, 
 and sometimes an old one that follows the young.' 
 
 "Kung-Tsee looked at his disciples: 'Have you heard
 
 60 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 what this man has said ? As it is with birds, so it is with 
 men. An assuming boldness, an unbounded confidence in 
 themselves, pride, on account of the little knowledge they 
 have acquired, and the small merit they have obtained 
 these drive inexperienced youth into ruin. They imagine 
 that they understand every thing, nothing embarasses them. 
 They never consult one older than themselves, for they 
 know better than the aged. Thus they go their own way, 
 but fall into the net that is spread for them.' 
 
 " Some of the old admire the sparkling fire of youth, 
 irust in them, follow them, speak and act like them, and 
 are caught in one net with them foolish old age by the 
 side of foolish youth. My friends, remember what this 
 fowler has told us."* 
 
 I had been the young bird, I had not looked round, 
 had not discovered the net, and heedlessly flown into it. 
 But it had been a lesson to me, and it might be a lesson 
 to others, that we should not place too hasty a confi- 
 dence in persons of whose integrity we are not assured. 
 On this ground I consoled myself on account of what 
 had happened; for, thought I, who knows of what 
 advantage this warning may be to me in after life ? 
 
 With these and other reflections I tried to efface 
 from my mind the unpleasant impressions that had 
 been left from my stay at Hamburgh; and, as to my 
 loss, I hoped to be soon in possession of a few thousand 
 pounds, a sum, in comparision with which the money 
 lost could not appear very considerable. 
 
 It was a beautiful day in August, of the year 1835, 
 when our vessel sailed, with a fair wind, up the 
 Thames. The nearer w r e approached London, the 
 more I became struck with the multitude of vessels 
 stationed in the river, with the activity and bustle 
 
 * Note 11.
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 61 
 
 that prevailed wherever the eye turned. There can 
 be no sight grander to a foreigner than that which 
 he beholds on entering England by the Thames, as 
 far as London. He perceives at once that it must 
 be a great and industrious people these Britons who 
 inhabit these islands; he feels convinced that it can 
 only be a great and free nation that has obtained 
 that commercial and maritime superiority, manifested 
 so strikingly by that endless forest of masts, by those 
 immense docks, those gigantic wharfs and warehouses. 
 
 As the physiognomist may read in the countenance 
 of a man that man's character and capacities, so the 
 traveller may trace, perhaps even with a greater degree 
 of certainty, the characteristic of a country in the fea- 
 tures of its capital. 
 
 My first visit, after my arrival in London, was to the 
 Rev. Dr. Herschel, the then chief rabbi of the Jewish 
 communities in Great Britain, who had been entrusted 
 with the management of the money left by my deceased 
 relative. I explained to him the purpose of my visit to 
 him, and produced the papers and documents which, as 
 I thought, established my claim to the bequeathed pro- 
 perty. But I was doomed to a most painful disap- 
 pointment. All my hopes and anticipations, all my 
 plans and projects vanished into air in one moment. 
 The chief rabbi told me, without circumlocution, that 
 the property in question was in the possession of 
 several persons, whose title, as lawful heirs, had been 
 acknowledged by a court of equity, and that all that 
 was left for the German relatives consisted of the 
 paltry sum of two pounds. 
 
 These words of the rev. doctor fell upon me like a 
 thunderbolt it was indeed a dreadful moment for me !
 
 62 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 I could hardly produce any words; I felt as if the 
 ground were sinking under nay feet. The chief rabbi, 
 perceiving my painful position, kindly encouraged me 
 spoke to me sweet words of consolation advised me 
 to lose no time in taking the earliest opportunity to 
 return to my country, as the difficulties of my situation 
 would increase with every day I should remain in Lon- 
 don. He handed me the two pounds a poor substitute 
 indeed, for the fortune I had expected and, with a 
 heart full of sorrow, I withdrew from the rev. pastor. 
 
 Having gained the street, the whole painfulness of 
 my wretched condition rushed upon me with awful 
 distinctness. There I stood in a foreign land, the 
 language of which I could not speak, without friends to 
 whom I could communicate my grief, and almost 
 without a home where I might lay my weary head. 
 Nothing, I thought, remained now for me but to return, 
 at all hazards, and by all means, to my native country. 
 But a feeling of shame came over me as I represented 
 to myself the position in which I should appear again 
 before my brother and sisters. And what would my 
 friends and acquaintances say, if they saw me returning 
 from a foreign country, without having at all bettered 
 my circumstances, but rather, in a manner, deteriorated 
 them? My re -appearance, under these conditions, 
 would be very much like an avowal of incapacity to 
 make my way in the world. Besides, the conscious- 
 ness of having failed in my first attempt to gain a living 
 through my own unaided exertions, would act discou- 
 ragingly upon future undertakings. But the other 
 alternative to remain in England held out prospects 
 not less disheartening. What was I to undertake in 
 the midst of a strange world, without any means of 
 securing my subsistence, even for a short period, with- 
 out one sympathising soul, without any knowledge of
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 63 
 
 English, without the slightest knowledge of the lo- 
 cality? Were I to speak, no one would understand 
 me; were I spoken to, I should be unable to com- 
 prehend the meaning of the words addressed to me. 
 
 Such were my thoughts when I found myself in one 
 of those crowded thoroughfares of the city of London. 
 Strange to say, the very multitude of people in the 
 streets produced in me a feeling of loneliness and soli- 
 tude. Amidst those thousands of human creatures, I 
 felt myself forsaken and forlorn. They all passed me 
 without deigning to look at me, without asking after 
 the cause of my grief, without offering assistance. 
 They were hurrying by me, one after another, they all 
 seemed absorbed in their own affairs, every one seemed 
 to have a certain object in view. Oh, how I envied 
 them ! they knew whither to direct their steps, they 
 were engaged in some business they were merchants, 
 or tradesmen, or clerks, or workmen, they all had an 
 occupation, a calling I alone, I had none. The only 
 countenances in which I could discover something 
 sympathetic with myself were those of some poor and 
 wretched persons. But, alas ! they could not help me, 
 they stood in need of assistance themselves. Every 
 tiling around bore a dull and sombre aspect. The 
 great capital of England, and, we may say, of the 
 world, of the grandeur and beauty of which I had 
 heard and read so much, had lost every attraction 
 for me. So true is it that external objects appear to 
 us in a different light according to the different mental 
 medium through which we view them. 
 
 In this depressed state of mind I repaired to my 
 lodging. A small Hebrew Bible, which I had made 
 my inseparable companion, lay on the table. I opened 
 it, and turning to the Book of Psalms, wliich the
 
 64 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 great Luther called "a portrait of all the different 
 situations and affections of the human heart and 
 soul," I read the following verses : 
 
 " A Prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed, and 
 poureth out his complaint before the Lord. 
 
 "Hear my prayer, O Lord, and let my cry come unto 
 thee. Hide not thy face from me in the day when I am in 
 trouhle ; incline thine ear unto me : in the day when I call 
 answer me speedily." 
 
 As I was reading on, as I was muttering many a 
 psalm written in a depressed state of mind analagous 
 to my own, a calmness came over me, soothing my 
 wounded heart. The effect was wonderful : I blamed 
 myself for the despondency into which I had allowed 
 myself to fall, my confidence in my Maker was revived, 
 and perceiving that to face boldly the difficulties of my 
 position, was the first and most necessary step towards 
 overcoming them, I summoned up all my moral cou- 
 rage, heightened by an implicit reliance on the decrees 
 of the Almighty. With the King of Israel I exclaimed, 
 " Why art thou cast down, my soul, and why art thou 
 disquieted in me ? Hope thou in God, for I shall 
 praise Him for the help of His countenance ?" 
 
 There is, indeed, no book that carries with it so 
 much consolation to the afflicted, that inspires man 
 with such unshakeable confidence in the Ruler of our 
 destinies, as the Psalter. " As the heart that has been 
 panting after the water brooks" is refreshed by the 
 waters with which he has quenced his thirst; as a 
 man who has been breathing an oppressive atmosphere 
 feels recreated and strengthened by a fresh balmy 
 breeze ; so may we, in misfortune, draw strength and 
 consolation from the humbly devout, yet grand and 
 magnificent, compositions of David. To a pious and
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 65 
 
 religious mind there can be no greater spiritual en- 
 joyment than to read that unrivalled poetry in the 
 original : I say advisedly in the original, because no 
 translation can approach, much less do full justice to 
 that powerful beauty, that poetic fervour, that lofty, 
 yet simple diction, in which the Psalms are composed.* 
 Hebrew is the language of prayer. 
 
 Strengthened and somewhat pacified by these medi- 
 tations, I sat down to write to my brother. My first 
 idea was to ask him for money, which would either 
 convey me home again, or enable me to undertake 
 something in England. But I had not yet finished 
 the letter when I was seized by a feeling of shame 
 and confusion. To ask for money is, under all circum- 
 stances, in a manner, humiliating. It is true, the situa- 
 tion in which I was was not my own work, but might 
 not my own energies better it? As yet I had done 
 nothing to try my powers, and I thought it was un- 
 manly thus to depend on others, though relatives, 
 rather than strive to labour through the difficulties 
 in my way. I tore up the letter I had written, and 
 wrote another, simply relating the disappointment with 
 which I had met, without adverting to the embarass- 
 ment in which I was. After having dispatched this 
 letter, I thought seriously to do the first step towards 
 securing a maintenance. 
 
 Near the place where I lodged there was a boarding 
 house kept by a Polish Jew. This house was a place 
 of rendezvous for many foreigners, mostly Germans. 
 In the hope of meeting with a countryman to whom 
 I might apply for advice in my unenviable position, I 
 went there, and soon made the acquaintance of a man, 
 a native of my own country. He had all the appear- 
 * Note 12.
 
 66 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 ance of an honest and good-natured person ; and, 
 although I had hut lately paid so dearly for placing 
 confidence in persons whom I did not know thoroughly, 
 yet the upright, unassuming countenance of this man 
 so convinced me of his sincerity that I disclosed to 
 him all my secrets. 
 
 His first idea was that I should apply for some 
 situation or other. But there were two almost in- 
 surmountable objections to that proposal. Firstly, I 
 knew how my brother thought on that subject, and 
 how grieved he would be to hear that I had entered 
 anybody's services in a foreign land; and, secondly, 
 I had no knowledge of English, so that I was not 
 very likely to succeed in an application of that kind, 
 though my letters of recommendation might have been 
 of some service to me in this respect. After some 
 little consultation, it seemed that the only way for 
 me to choose was to begin some business for myself, 
 and this, my adviser said, without losing a moment. 
 
 He instanced several cases of destitution which had 
 been brought about through want of resolution and 
 energy. "Do not wait for opportunities," he added, 
 with the air of one who had had much experience. 
 " Every hour you pass in inactivity brings you nearer 
 to poverty. People here have no time for looking 
 after other people's affairs. ' Help yourself' must be 
 your motto, if you do not wish to live upon charity." 
 
 The sound of the word charity shook me to the in- 
 nermost soul; indeed, the picture of destitution which 
 he had drawn of men who, but for their want of 
 energy, might have kept themselves from indigence, 
 and possibly could have risen to a decent and re- 
 spectable station in life, suddenly animated me to 
 exert all my powers.
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 67 
 
 "No one/' I said, "can be more ready and willing 
 to work than I, but what do you advise me to do : 
 tell me how to make a beginning." He considered 
 for a short time, and then advised me to pawn my 
 gold watch and some of my clothes, of which I had 
 a good stock more than were absolutely wanted 
 and, with the money, to obtain some goods for sale, 
 
 I confess, I did not relish much the suggestion. 
 The idea of pawning clothes has in it something from 
 which a respectable man shrinks. But it was my last 
 resource. There was no dishonesty in doing it, and 
 it might be the means of keeping me independent of 
 charity in a strange land. 
 
 It is peculiar in charity, that while we are enjoined 
 to exercise it, yet it is especially our duty to avoid, 
 if possible, accepting it. Sympathy with the sufferings 
 of others is a feeling innate in every human being. 
 Providence, in order to alleviate human misery, im- 
 planted in man's heart a feeling which should arise 
 at the sight of a suffering fellow being, and prompt 
 Mm to assistance. Scripture expresses it in these 
 words: "Thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut 
 thine hand from thy poorer brother."* The first part 
 of the sentence implies that the human heart is natu- 
 rally inclined to commiseration. Happy those who are 
 in a condition to manifest this truly divine feeling 
 toward their poorer neighbours by deeds of charity 
 and beneficence. But charity ought always to be 
 given in a manner so as to wound, as little as pos- 
 sible, the moral dignity of the receiver. How beau- 
 tiful, in this respect, are some of the divine precepts 
 of the sacred lawgiver. The repeated injunctions, not 
 wholly to reap the corners of the fields, not to gather 
 * Note 13. 
 
 F2
 
 68 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 the gleanings of the harvest and the vineyards, not 
 to fetch a forgotten sheaf, but to leave all those to 
 the poor, to the stranger, to the fatherless, and to the 
 widow, teach us to bestow our charity in a gracious 
 and unostentatious manner. 
 
 On the other hand, it is natural that a man should 
 avoid living upon the gifts of others. Receiving charity 
 lowers a man in his self-esteem, it hurts the feeling 
 of independence which every man ought to possess, 
 and classes him among those unable to maintain them- 
 selves through their own exertions, and incapable of 
 making a proper use of their physical or mental powers- 
 We ought, therefore, to put forth all our energy, we 
 ought to exert ourselves to the utmost, and be satisfied 
 with little rather than to live upon the good will of 
 others. " He that hateth gifts shall live." 
 
 Acting upon the advice of my new acquaintance I 
 purchased, with his assistance, a few articles, such as 
 pencils, pens, and other writing materials. On the 
 following day I took up my position near London 
 Bridge it was any thing but an enviable position. 
 To the incessant noise and bustle around me, produced 
 by the interminable passing of innumerable vehicles 
 and passengers, corresponded an agitation within me, 
 occasioned by an internal struggle of opposite elements, 
 such as pride and helplessness, ambition and humility. 
 I compared my present situation with the time when 
 I lived under the parental roof. If, at that time, I 
 had been told that I should find myself one day placed 
 in a thoroughfare of the capital of England, without 
 means, without friends, without a home, imploring, 
 through my pitiful appearance for not a word in 
 English could I utter the kindness of some passers 
 by, I could not possibly have believed it. But I en- 
 deavoured to become reconciled to my new employ-
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 69 
 
 ment as well as possible. Did not God watch over 
 me in this as well as in my native country ? " In thee, 
 O Lord, do I put my trust, let me never be put to 
 confusion." 
 
 I had the consciousness of having acted hitherto in 
 accordance with the precepts of religion and morality, 
 and this consciousness of my moral worth elevated me 
 above my actual position. I strengthened myself with 
 the conviction, that to remain virtuous under adverse 
 circumstances, must be more meritorious than to be 
 honest when there is no temptation, and I consoled 
 myself that the ordeal I had to pass through would 
 fortify and encourage me to grapple with the various 
 difficulties and dangers with which the path of human 
 life is beset. 
 
 While thus engaged in meditation, and while looking 
 vacantly at what was passing around me, now and then 
 a gentleman or lady would stand still before me. They 
 seemed struck by my strange and foreign appearance, 
 and, on finding that I could not understand their 
 language, would kindly buy some articles of me. I 
 will not recount my innumerable disappointments, my 
 vain expectations, the thousand hardships I had to 
 endure. O, it is hard to stand all day long in the 
 street anxious to sell some trifles, fearful, in case of 
 disappointment, of being without the necessary means 
 of maintenance, and to be exposed to all the inclemen- 
 cies of the weather. There beats many a good heart, 
 worthy of a better fate, under the guise of poverty 
 that meets you in the street. O that it were possible 
 to distinguish the deserving from the undeserving, and 
 withdraw them from a life full of grief and sorrow. 
 In the evening I generally remained at my humble 
 lodgings, and tried to read an English book with the
 
 70 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 assistance of a dictionary, or to compare the English 
 version of the Bible with the original. I had suc- 
 ceeded in getting a few books lent to me from a 
 person I met in the above-mentioned boarding house, 
 and those few books were the companions of my soli- 
 tude in the evening. I blessed the memory of my 
 father who had given me a good education, and thus 
 imparted to me a desire for reading and study. While 
 others were at public houses or gaming tables I was 
 reading in my dear books, and thus forgot, for a few 
 hours in the night, the troubles of the day. 
 
 Sometimes I found that I had made some progress; 
 I had gained a few shillings, and might hope, with 
 strict economy, soon to increase my earnings. As it 
 may easily be supposed, from the sort of business with 
 which I commenced, I was obliged to live in a nowise 
 profuse manner. For more than two months I tasted 
 no animal food, and, thanks to my healthy constitution, 
 I felt very little the effect of this abstinence. Those 
 days were not marked by much cheerfulness, it is true, 
 but I gained an honest living, and this I deemed para- 
 mount to every other consideration. The little I had 
 obtained, through my own exertions, was a source of 
 happiness to me, and I thought "better is little with 
 the fear of the Lord, than great treasures and trouble 
 therewith," or, as the Psalmist expresses it : "A little 
 that a righteous man hath is better than the riches 
 of many wicked." My improvement in English was 
 also some satisfaction to me, as it would facilitate my 
 intercourse with English people, and otherwise be of 
 advantage to me in my petty business transactions. 
 
 After some time, when I had learned sufficient to 
 make myself understood, and had begun to comprehend 
 what was addressed to me, I ventured to travel in the
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 71 
 
 country, to sell my goods. In about a year and a 
 half I found myself in possession of fifteen pounds, a 
 considerable sum for me at that time. Through in- 
 dustry, perseverance, and economy, I had managed to 
 save it, and I need not say, it was of great use to 
 me afterwards. 
 
 I think it will not be out of place to add here a 
 few remarks on emigration. To this country, in par- 
 ticular, emigration has of late become of the greatest 
 importance, and has, not without reason, attracted the 
 attention of the statesman, and become the object of 
 frequent deliberation. 
 
 England, a densely populated country, the boun- 
 daries of which, from her geographical position, admit 
 of no extension, naturally looks to emigration as the 
 only means of providing a sphere of activity for her 
 superabundant population. These sea-girt islands do 
 not afford sufficient scope for a race so active and 
 enterprising as that of the English, and, by a natural 
 instinct, as it were, thousands of people annually leave 
 these shores for distant countries. From these reasons 
 emigration has become a necessary element in the life 
 of the English nation. Not only is this country re- 
 lieved thereby from her surplus population, but as the 
 wants of the settlers, in those distant lands, are in 
 a great measure supplied from the mother country ? 
 industry at home receives an additional stimulus. 
 
 It would lead me too far away from the purpose of 
 this book were I to dwell on the manifold advantages 
 which civilisation derives from this all-important move- 
 ment. To whatever quarter of the globe we turn our 
 eyes, there we behold civilisation and humanity fol- 
 lowing in the wake of the settlers from the civilised
 
 72 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 portions of Europe, and particularly from this empire. 
 It seems as if the Anglo-Saxon race had a mission 
 to carry knowledge and civilisation to the rude and 
 barbarous tribes that live scattered over the earth. 
 Man is the unconscious instrument by which Provi- 
 dence carries out His designs. 
 
 There are, no doubt, many influences at work to 
 prevent people from leaving their native country for 
 a new and unknown land. All of us have a natural 
 attachment to the country of our birth. All our 
 ideas, our feelings, our desires, our fancies, bear the 
 impress of our native soil and atmosphere. The no- 
 tions we have imbibed from our childhood are all, 
 more or less, connected with the prevailing habits and 
 customs, and they again exercise so powerful an in- 
 fluence upon us, that it requires an effort to part 
 from them, and exchange them for new ones, foreign 
 to our wonted mode of life. To leave all those who 
 are dear to us those whom we love, and by whom 
 we are loved in return those in whose society we 
 have been so happy, to leave them, and perhaps for 
 ever, is not at all a matter of indifference. I do not 
 know of a deeper emotion than that which attends 
 our bidding adieu to a beloved father, a tender mother, 
 an affectionate brother or sister, when we are about 
 to leave them never to see them again. To this we 
 must add, that at the mere idea of parting, parents, 
 relations, and friends, become at once much dearer 
 to us than they appeared to be before. 
 
 But not only from these do we find it difficult to 
 part, but all the objects, familiar to us from long 
 habit, seem to dissuade us from emigrating. The 
 streets and the houses, the walks and the lanes, the 
 very stones and trees, to the sight of which we have
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 73 
 
 been accustomed, seem to tell us : O do not go away ; 
 and it is not only sentimental persons, not only per- 
 sons peculiarly susceptible of deep feeling, that ex- 
 perience those impressions all, from the poetical and 
 sensitive to the most prosy and matter-of-fact indivi- 
 duals, are, more or less influenced by them. 
 
 But, apart from all the attractions that seem to 
 chain us to our homes, there is the uncertainty of 
 what our fate will be in the new land. Shall we be 
 more prosperous there than we were at home? Will 
 fortune smile more upon us ? and, if we are unfortu- 
 nate, will our misfortune not be aggravated by the 
 absence of those who might render us assistance ? 
 
 Such and similar considerations are very natural, 
 and I shall recur to them presently. But there is 
 another objection to emigration, which I have heard 
 sometimes urged by timidly inclined persons, or such 
 as have formed an erroneous idea of Providence. " If," 
 they say, "I am to be prosperous and happy I shall, 
 with God's assistance, be prosperous and happy in my 
 native land; if, on the contrary, by the decrees of 
 Heaven, I am doomed to a life of poverty and want, 
 it will not avail me to take refuge in a foreign land." 
 
 Such a doctrine as this is at once immoral and im- 
 plies a totally mistaken view of the Supreme Ruler. 
 It is immoral because it teaches man to neglect the 
 development of his faculties, and the display of his 
 energies ; it encourages idleness, it undermines all 
 habits of self-reliance and activity. If such a doc- 
 trine had a shadow of truth in it, we might infer that, 
 even at home, in our native country, we need not 
 exert ourselves, we need not work; for, if the Almighty 
 wishes us to be happy and prosperous, He can effect
 
 74 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 this by virtue of his omnipotence, without any exer- 
 tions on our part. But Scripture says, "in the sweat 
 of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto 
 the ground." 
 
 On the other hand, a notion as that above stated 
 amounts almost to blasphemy, inasmuch as it ascribes 
 to the Most Just an equal regard to the slothful and 
 the industrious to the idle and the active. A life of 
 idleness and slothfulness can not possibly find favour in 
 the sight of Him who endowed man with faculties 
 which he is to develop, and with powers which he 
 is to exercise. Such a notion, therefore, is contrary 
 to the dictates of reason and of religion. 
 
 God does not work wonders in our days; He does 
 not interrupt the course of His universal laws in favour 
 of individuals. If we look around us in the creation 
 we everywhere perceive activity and movements, and 
 if we turn to human society we observe that activity 
 generally meets with its reward, and idleness with its 
 punishment; and, there can be no doubt that activity 
 is a law in the physical, as well as in the moral world 
 a law which cannot be transgressed with impunity. 
 
 If we find that there is little chance for turning 
 our capabilities to account in our native country, why 
 should we not try our fortune in another land? If 
 at home our occupation is ill rewarded, why not re- 
 move to a country where there may be a demand 
 for our labour? If we cannot thrive in the land of 
 our birth, be it from competition or from other causes, 
 why not proceed to a part where competition is not 
 ruinous, and where those other causes are not at work ? 
 It is true, as I have remarked above, there are many 
 attractions in our native country that operate like a
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 75 
 
 charm upon us; it is true, to part from all those 
 that are dear to us is painful in the extreme. But 
 we should not allow ourselves to be influenced too 
 much by those considerations. Practical life is fre- 
 quently in antagonism with the softer sentiments, and 
 as long as we do not act wrongly in a moral view, 
 we ought to choose the practical course that course 
 which is conducive to our welfare, however it may 
 hurt those sentiments. Besides, the painful feelings 
 of separation are of a temporary nature, and time 
 soon softens them. Moreover, we may have the sweet 
 consolation that our emigration may not only prove 
 useful to ourselves, but it may also confer great bene- 
 fits upon those we leave behind. Many a good son 
 has found it difficult to leave his kind, though poor 
 parents, long before his departure, he has not been 
 able to think of it without experiencing the deepest 
 emotions. But what were those emotions, what was 
 even the sad hour of separation in comparison with 
 the substantial good which he has been able to effect 
 for his beloved parents from a far distant country? 
 
 As to the uncertainty of our fate in our new abode, 
 we must leave that point to God, in whose presence 
 we shall be whithersoever we go; as he who crosses 
 the ocean will find, on the other side of the great 
 sea, the same sun shining by day which he has seen 
 at home, and the same moon illumining the night 
 which shone at home : so will the Creator of these 
 luminaries be always over us and with us. We must, 
 however, not be too sanguine in our expectations, we 
 must not expect to pick up fortunes in a day, or in 
 a year; we must not anticipate an El Dorado in the 
 new country to which we intend to direct our steps, 
 we must not entertain the erroneous and dangerous 
 idea, that our exertions our labours, will be less
 
 76 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 required in our new home. He who emigrates with 
 such ideas is sure to meet with bitter and severe dis- 
 appointments. Work man must, wherever he is, and 
 and it is good it should be so; it is one of the great 
 characteristics of the age we live in, that labour is no 
 longer considered as degrading, and idleness as an 
 enviable privilege of the rich. It is proper that next 
 to God we should trust to our own exertions and 
 energies, considering that we can never hope to suc- 
 ceed without having laboured first. 
 
 Nor must we be frightened or discouraged if, on 
 our arrival at the place of our destination, we only 
 see strange faces, and wish that we had stayed in 
 the land where we were surrounded by friends and 
 familiar companions. Man bears the image of God 
 everywhere, and there are in all countries good and 
 kind-hearted people. If we are but good and honest 
 ourselves, we shall soon meet with companions whose 
 sentiments and opinions respond to our own, and who 
 will not entirely forsake us in times of trouble and 
 misfortune. 
 
 Difficulties which we are sure to encounter, hardships 
 which are necessarily to be endured, we must not call 
 misfortunes. The obstinate and stiff-necked Israelites 
 in the wilderness, who fell to murmuring whenever they 
 could not satisfy their desires, and who remembered 
 with regret the flesh pots of Egypt, we must not imi- 
 tate, but rather the heaven-inspired Moses, of whom 
 Scripture says: "Now the man Moses was very meek, 
 above all the men which were upon the face of the earth." 
 The former had forgotten the many years of oppression, 
 the lashes of their task-masters, their slavery, and were 
 disheartened at the difficulties and hardships of the 
 wilderness, though they had the holy land, "flowing
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 77 
 
 with milk and honey," before them. Not so the great 
 law-giver : he had only the great good in view to which 
 he was to lead his people, and the prospect of securing 
 to them all the blessings of a beautiful and fertile 
 country of which, however, he was not to participate 
 made to disappear, in his eyes, all the impediments 
 in his way. In a similar manner, the stranger in a 
 foreign land must boldly steer his course to gain a pro- 
 sperous lot, regardless of the difficulties he may have 
 to overcome, or the enjoyments from which he may 
 have to abstain. For it is not sufficient to work 
 hard, to be industrious and persevering; in order to 
 succeed we must likewise husband carefully the means 
 at our disposal, and arrange our manner of living 
 suitably to our circumstances. Do not murmur if 
 your allowance is but short if your meals must be 
 frugal. Thank the Almighty for what He gives you, 
 and bear your lot with patience and humble sub- 
 mission to the will of your God. Try to limit your 
 wants as much as is compatible with your health, and 
 do not expend the saving gained through long labour 
 in enjoyments which are transitory, and which do not 
 profit you either physically or morally. Above all, 
 beware of wicked companions. They allure you like 
 the Sirenes of which mythology tells us ; but, like the 
 prudent Ulysses, whom Homer celebrates, endeavour 
 to escape from their enticing seductions. 
 
 Honesty, industry, patience, economy, and persever- 
 ance are necessary qualities for those who wish to suc- 
 ceed in a foreign land, but even with these our lot can 
 never be a pleasant one, we can never be truly happy 
 unless we are thoroughly penetrated by a true faith in 
 God, unless we have the conviction that the final suc- 
 cess of all our exertions rests with Him alone. How 
 can we work with pleasure unless we may hope that He
 
 78 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 will bless our labours? How can we bear hardships and 
 privations with equanimity unless we are confident that 
 they are intended for our good that they are calcu- 
 lated to purify our hearts ? How can we feel comfort 
 in a foreign land, far away from our relations and 
 friends, unless we feel that He is with us, that He 
 watches over us, that He protects us, He whose pro- 
 tection is infinitely above that of mortal man. Happy, 
 thrice happy is the man who may call God his guide, 
 who, at every step he takes, feels the rule of a higher 
 power. Fortunately, that blessing of all blessings : 
 to know ourselves under the immediate protection of 
 God, in whatever climate or zone we may be, apper- 
 tains to all those who, with a pure conscience, may 
 look up to the presence of the Most High, to those 
 who take the precepts of religion and virtue as their 
 guides in all their actions, and who accept fortune 
 with gratitude, and adversity with humility. Those 
 who truly love God, and confide in Him, need not 
 fear wherever they are, need not be afraid wherever 
 they go. "Then shalt thou walk in thy way safely, 
 and thy foot shall not stumble."
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 79 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Btf na$o nnbn "ns nnw? nripn 
 
 " Let them give me a place in some town in the country, 
 that I may dwell there." 1 Sam. xxvii. 5. 
 
 The law of concentration holds good in small things 
 as well as in great. When a mighty king has to wield 
 the sceptre over far extended dominions, his energies 
 must be divided, the greater part of the administration 
 he must leave to others, and, even with the greatest 
 care, numerous neglects and omissions will happen. 
 But when all his attention is devoted to a limited 
 extent of land, he will be enabled to know that small 
 country thoroughly, to be acquainted with all its re- 
 sources and its wants, and he can effectively strive to 
 make the best use of the former, and to supply the 
 latter most satisfactorily. Thus, when an individual 
 applies his faculties to many different occupations at 
 the same time, it is not of common occurrence that 
 he succeeds in any one of his pursuits; but when he 
 gives his mind to one thing only, aims at one end, 
 and leads all his actions in that one direction, the 
 probability is that, if he be but honest and persevering, 
 his exertions will ultimately be crowned with success. 
 We should therefore endeavour to arrange our affairs 
 so that all our employments are concentrated, as much 
 as possible, in one and the same locality. I remember 
 having read in the Talmud of a sage who prayed to 
 God that He might not divide his mind. Some by- 
 standers, who had heard that singular prayer, asked the
 
 80 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 philosopher for an explanation of his words. "When 
 I prayed that God might not divide my mind," replied 
 he, " I meant to entreat the Lord that He would not 
 give me estates, or any possessions, in two or more 
 different localities, because the various attentions which 
 such riches would require I should deem equivalent to 
 a division of mind." 
 
 It was some such idea which, after I had travelled 
 about for two years from county to county and from 
 city to city, awakened in me the desire of choosing 
 one particular locality, and confining my labours to a 
 fixed place. It was not chance, it was by an especial 
 guidance of Providence, that once, when I felt very 
 much the want of a place which I might call my 
 home, I came to the town of Bedford. Several at- 
 tempts which I made there to sell goods proved suc- 
 cessful; I seemed to like the persons with whom I 
 came in contact, and I was kindly received by all; 
 and having likewise heard that there were some Jews 
 living in the town I determined to make this town, 
 as it were, my central settlement, and to limit my 
 travels to its immediate neighbourhood. I have said 
 that it was not by chance that I decided for Bedford, 
 and I have often since blessed the kind Providence 
 that directed my steps to that town. 
 
 As yet my situation was any thing but enviable my 
 days were toilsome, my nights cheerless. Few indeed 
 were the comforts of life that I could procure for my- 
 self; and often would the days of my youth stand 
 before my mind with all their peaceful happiness and 
 abundance of pleasures, and that contrast would then 
 thrust the dagger of pain deeper and deeper into my 
 sorrowing heart. The only joy that would sometimes 
 smile on my dismal hours and, for a moment, clear up
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 81 
 
 their monotonous gloom, was, when I observed that I 
 was progressing both in my knowledge of the English 
 language and in the success of my commercial pur- 
 suits. Yet a progress of this kind is naturally slow and 
 very far from keeping pace with the sanguine hopes 
 and expectations of a young man. 
 
 In these troubles I would not give myself up 
 entirely to despondency, much less to despair. I say 
 this advisedly; for I know that many in my situation 
 would have wished to die would have welcomed death 
 as a desirable relief from their sufferings. But I am of 
 opinion that, to wish for death to come, is ungodly 
 and cowardly. It is ungrateful to our Creator thus to 
 refuse His benign benefits and to ask Him to take 
 away from us that boon which His lovingkindness has 
 bestowed upon us, and which is capable of producing 
 so much happiness. It is cowardly to allow ourselves 
 to be weighed down by the appearance of clouds of 
 disaster; for how know we, but that behind those 
 clouds the sun of prosperity is brightly shining, though 
 we, short-sighted mortals, see it not ? " Thou knowest 
 not what a day may bring forth," is significantly said, 
 and how should we presume to imagine that there is no 
 more remedy no outlet to our troubles ? To all those 
 who, in misfortune, despair of better days and have 
 no other prayer than that their existence may be 
 speedily terminated to all those I would say, " Is the 
 Lord's hand waxed short?" 
 
 And, independently of the consideration that the 
 course of our lives may soon bring us happier days, 
 have we not duties to fulfil on earth which make it 
 incumbent upon us to prolong our existence as much 
 as it is in our power ? Is it right, is it just, is it good 
 to wish to die, as long as there yet remains a good 
 
 G
 
 82 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 action to be done, a benefit to be bestowed, a poor 
 brother to be assisted, a sufferer to be relieved by us? 
 Let my readers take instruction from the following 
 allegory, if they ever should be tempted to hate life : 
 
 " There lived a man in the Holy Land of the name of Eliab, 
 and God had blessed the man with earthly riches, and he 
 was learned in the wisdom of the East. But all this could 
 not give peace to his heart, nor calmness to his soul; he 
 often mourned in sadness, and wished to die. For he said : 
 ' What is life but an everlasting circle of inconstancies, and 
 yet ever the same ? man ever lives in strife, and his days 
 are those of a day-labourer.' 
 
 " While Eliab was thus reflecting one day, a divine man 
 came to him and showed him a plant of a wonderfully 
 healing power. But Eliab said, ' What avails this plant : 
 My body is in good health, but my soul is ailing ; it would 
 be better for me to die than to live.' 
 
 " ' This plant is to cure thine heart,' replied the holy 
 man, 'take it, and heal seven poor sufferers with it, and 
 then, if you desire it, you may die.' 
 
 "Eliab did as the divine man had commanded him. He 
 saw the misery in the huts of the poor, healed seven sick 
 persons, and distributed of his riches among the needy. 
 
 " Thereupon the holy man again came to him and spoke : 
 'Here I bring a plant of death; now you may die.' But 
 Eliab exclaimed : ' No, God forbid, I do not now desire to 
 die, for I have learned to appreciate the value of life.' 
 Then the holy man smiled and said : ' I thought so ; now 
 you have, by deeds, become aware of the divinity that dwells 
 within you, how could you possess such an excess of self- 
 love as to think any longer of the monotony of earthly life 
 and its inconstancies ? ' ' 
 
 The reproof which the holy man, in this allegory, 
 gave to Eliab, should ever be present to our mind when 
 reverses threaten to overwhelm us, and we should learn 
 how to bear up patiently with what befals us, and to 
 accept it with resignation.
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 83 
 
 Indeed, disasters and misfortunes with which the 
 Lord visits mortals are much like the rod applied to 
 chastise a child for his errors. The child that has not 
 the conviction that he who punishes him is, in fact, 
 one who loves him dearly, will look on that rod with 
 fear and trembling, and consider it a most cruel tor- 
 ture. But men who have the assurances that all that 
 befals them is guided by an all-loving Father, the 
 chastening of whose rod is calculated to improve 
 them men should consider these wounds inflicted 
 by the hand of God, as trials w r hich must be borne 
 with manly courage, trials from which the faithful 
 will go forth triumphantly, and through which their 
 trust in the Lord will be justified. If men could but 
 think this if they would but accept their visitations 
 with submission and reconciliation, and with an un- 
 shakeable confidence that the Hand which smote them 
 will be the Hand that shall relieve them again ; then 
 despair would not be known on earth, and men would 
 cease to be wretched on the planet which was created 
 and adorned for their happiness. 
 
 For several months I travelled about the neighbour- 
 hood of Bedford, and began to like the country and its 
 inhabitants. There are, in the character of the English 
 and in the peculiarities of their customs, several fea- 
 tures which must attract the attention of the stranger, 
 especially the German immigrant, and make him love 
 to reside in these isles, and among these people. The 
 whole of this empire breathes the healthful atmo- 
 sphere of liberty. Liberty that element of life which 
 is as necessary for the welfare of nations as sunshine 
 is for the thriving of plants liberty pervades all the 
 thoughts and actions of an Englishman, and it is that 
 privilege of which he is most proud and most tenaci- 
 ous, and to which he is ready to sacrifice every other
 
 84 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 consideration. The German, coming from a country 
 where despotism is paraded under the semblance of 
 liberty, is at first dazzled by the pure rays emanating 
 from the presence of that goddess, but soon feels 
 her beneficial influence, and becomes a different being 
 under her transforming guidance. Personal liberty 
 is an essential ingredient in man's dignity ; if his 
 foot is impeded not to walk where he chooses; if his 
 arm is fettered not to act as he wills; nay, if his 
 mind is caged not to take its flight where he is 
 bent; then, indeed, we may say with truth, "a man 
 has no pre-eminence over a beast." 
 
 Another national feature of the English is their 
 unrivalled industry. Wherever we turn our eyes there 
 is life, work, business, occupation, bustle, stirring, and 
 activity no hand is unemployed, no spot unoccupied, 
 no room empty, no hour idle. The stranger cannot 
 but admire this multitude of human beings, of whom 
 some labour hard for the necessities of the day, and 
 others, like provident ants, are laying in stock for the 
 winter of their lives. The Germans are likewise in- 
 dustrious, but their industry is of a lighter, less grave, 
 and less persevering nature. The German works as 
 if it were his amusement to work, the Englishman 
 shows, by his toil, that he considers it the grave 
 question of life and death. 
 
 There is yet another characteristic in the English 
 people, more prominent, if possible, than the two for- 
 mer, and with which the German, in his native land, 
 is less familiar that is, patriotism. With the Ger- 
 man patriotism is a sound, an idea, a beautiful fiction : 
 with the Englishman it is a tangible reality. An En- 
 glishman's happiness is bound up with the glory of 
 his country, her valiant armies, her proud victories,
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 85 
 
 her rich colonies, her manifold dependencies they 
 are all his ; he feels his own importance in con- 
 stituting a part of that nation which has the justest 
 claim to the honourable title of " Mistress of the Sea." 
 The German, on the contrary, feels himself little in 
 all these respects. His is but a miniature country, 
 a miniature monarch, a miniature history. He is, in 
 fact, not a German, he is a Prussian, or an Austrian, 
 or an Hanoverian, or even of a smaller race and coun- 
 try; he loves not his native land there is nothing 
 loveable in it. 
 
 Whilst the foreigner contemplates, with wonder and 
 admiration, these three tutelar deities of Great Britain 
 Liberty, Industry, and'Patriotism ; whilst he esteems 
 this nation for their high sense of freedom, their ad- 
 herence to habits of activity, and their warm attach- 
 ment to the soil that gave them birth, he is, at the 
 same time, charmed by those celebrated home-comforts 
 which every British fireside affords, and the very name 
 of which is unknown to the citizen of Germany. After 
 the labours of the day, the German tradesman or 
 merchant seeks diversion in public places, in tea gar- 
 dens, coffee houses, or other reunions ; the Englishman 
 retires to his parlour, however humble it may be, and 
 enjoys the sweeter and more tender pleasures offered 
 by a family circle. These noiseless but delightful 
 home pleasures are not at first appreciated, and there- 
 fore not relished, by the German; but, after a time, 
 their spell becomes quite irresistible, and I firmly 
 believe that most of my countrymen, who have lived 
 a few years in England, would be sorry to exchange 
 the newly adopted, livelike fire-place for their old- 
 accustomed, black-faced, unfeeling, stove. 
 
 In the mercantile transactions of the English an- 
 other feature of thp normal character is remarkable
 
 86 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 rigorous integrity. There is, we may say it with 
 confidence, no country on earth where bargains of such 
 magnitude are struck with so much sincerity, and the 
 conditions fulfilled with so much punctuality. A fraud 
 is not only punished by the law, but it is held in utter 
 contempt by the people ; cheating is below the dignity 
 of an Englishman ; a sense of fairness, and an aversion 
 to take advantage of a neighbour's inferiority in any 
 respect, are sacredly cherished by the great majority of 
 the inhabitants of these islands. This is not the place 
 to show how much of her actual greatness England 
 owes to this virtue of her sons, but we may remark 
 that this solidity of dealings will for ever ensure to this 
 country a high rank perhaps, the highest rank 
 among commercial states. 
 
 The short sketch which I have drawn of the English 
 national character, or, rather, those features of the 
 English character which prominently engage the at- 
 tention of the German observer this short sketch 
 will be sufficient to account for the fact that so many 
 individuals who come to England from Germany soon 
 learn to regard, and to love this country, make it 
 their second fatherland, and, in the enjoyments of the 
 manifold advantages which it affords them, entirely 
 forget the value of the social pleasures in which Ger- 
 many undeniably takes precedence. The Germans 
 altogether, for want of an innate national feeling, 
 become very easily habituated to any country which 
 they have chosen for their abode and their manners, 
 almost as pliable as their language, accommodate them- 
 selves, with facility, to the customs of any nation 
 among which they reside, and are often entirely lost 
 in them. 
 
 However much this is the case with the Germans 
 in general, it is particularly so with the Jews. It
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 87 
 
 seems as if the God of Jacob, who pronounced against 
 the reprobate children of Israel the severe curse that 
 he would "scatter them among all the nations, from 
 the one end of the earth even unto the other," im- 
 planted in them, as a healing balm for the deep wound, 
 the facility of adapting their conduct to the customs 
 and habits of those among whom it was their doom 
 to live. It is surprising to observe how isolated the 
 Jew stands from all his neighbours in regard to re- 
 ligious bearing and ceremonies, and, on the other 
 hand, how his manners bear the distinct marks of 
 the country to which he owes his birth, and of the 
 race who inhabit that country. It is a rabbinical 
 principle, that, when we come to a foreign city, we 
 should endeavour to assimilate our manners to those 
 of the people who live therein, and that we should 
 not deviate from the prevailing institutions. This 
 principle is substantiated quite in keeping with the 
 usual mode of reasoning current in rabbinical writings 
 by two instances from Holy Writ. When the angels 
 descended to visit Abraham they assumed with the 
 human shape, likewise human practices, for we read : 
 
 " And he took butter and milk, and the calf which he had 
 dressed, and set it before them ; and they did eat." 
 
 On the contrary, when the Lord called his faithful 
 servant Moses, to go up to heaven and receive the two 
 tablets of stone upon which the commandments were 
 written, Moses, who then stayed forty days and forty 
 nights among the celestial beings, quitted so far his 
 human nature that, during all this period, "he did 
 neither eat bread, nor drink water." 
 
 Almost every page of Jewish history bears testimony 
 to what I have stated. Ever since the descendants 
 of Abraham have ceased to form a nation, since the
 
 88 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 destruction of their sanctuary and the downfall of Zion, 
 the Jews have been chased from land to land through- 
 out almost all the habitable parts of the globe. No 
 where were they received hospitably; all that they 
 could obtain was to be tolerated, and yet, though 
 they were considered aliens in the different countries, 
 they gradually assumed the customs, together with 
 the language, of the land of their abode, so that the 
 Jew of the present day is, in his habits, not distinctly 
 a Jew, but an Englishman, a Frenchman, a German, 
 an Italian, &c. The nationality of the Jews as such, 
 in the present time, only consists in the uniformity 
 of their religious tenets, and in their using, for holy 
 purposes, the Hebrew language, which is their common 
 inheritance from their great ancestors.* 
 
 As a Jew and a German, therefore, I was soon 
 reconciled to the English customs, and I began to 
 prefer them even to those of my native country. The 
 Jew, in particular, has great reason to prefer living in 
 England to residing on the Continent that is to say, 
 the greater part of the Continent. For, though as 
 yet the Jews in England are not in possession of all the 
 civil privileges which their Christian neighbours enjoy, 
 yet they feel no actual restrictions impeding their mer- 
 cantile pursuits or the exercise of their religious wor- 
 ship. It is true there exists in England a religion 
 connected with the state, as well as in the countries on 
 the Continent, but, it is fair to say that, in reality 
 liberty of conscience prevails in England. And I, as a 
 Jew, felt myself much more free in this country than 
 I had been in Prussia, and this circumstance, together 
 with the other advantages of English life, which I have 
 briefly mentioned, determined me to cast away every 
 idea of ever leaving England again. 
 * Note 14.
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 89 
 
 There was, however, one essential comfort yet want- 
 ing to me a comfort which is almost as essential to a 
 man as the air which he breathes and the food with 
 which he maintains himself that comfort is sympathy. 
 As yet I had not found a kindred being that would 
 take any interest in my successes or disappointments 
 would share my pleasures and participate in my woes. 
 I had a home, but that home was comfortless ; I had 
 friends, but those friends were strangers ; I met with a 
 great deal of kindness, but that kindness was a volun- 
 tary offering and could be withdrawn at any time. I 
 therefore resolved to seek for a partner through life, 
 one that would wander with me through the paths of 
 earthly existence, whose every thought and interest 
 should become my own, and who would, in return, have 
 all my interests at heart, in short, one who should be 
 " a help meet" for me. " He who dwells without a 
 wife," say our sages, "dwells without joy, without 
 blessing, without happiness." There is much meaning 
 and truth in this saying, and I shall soon have an op- 
 portunity of recurring to this subject. For the present, 
 I will only state that I soon made the acquaintance of 
 a Jewish young lady in Bedford, and, after having 
 been known to each other for some time, we were 
 betrothed.* 
 
 At this period of my life a circumstance occurred 
 which put me to a very severe trial, and it required all 
 the soundness of principle in which I had been trained, 
 to preserve me from doing a dishonourable action, and 
 fortify me against the temptation that was held out to 
 me. It was not long after I had entered on the above 
 engagement, when I received a letter, sent to me by a 
 gentleman from Manchester, and which came from my 
 brother, who had resided at New York. I forgot to 
 mention, in any former part of this work, that a brother 
 * Note 15.
 
 90 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 of mine had emigrated to the United States and settled 
 in New York, when I was yet a boy. For many years 
 we had not heard of him at all, nor had we been able to 
 convey to him any information about ourselves. Now, 
 it appeared that this brother of mine had succeeded in 
 establishing himself at New York as a merchant of 
 some importance, and he had a thriving business. He 
 had heard that I had gone to England, and was now 
 most anxious to employ me in his own business. He 
 therefore enclosed a letter to me in a communica- 
 tion which he had to make to his correspondent at 
 Manchester, whom he begged to inquire after me, 
 and send me his letter. My brother stated to me 
 how successful he had been in America, how anxious 
 he was to have my co-operation in his business, and 
 that my fortune would be made if I would only con- 
 sent to cross the sea and join him. He had given 
 orders to his Manchester correspondent to provide 
 me, if I should need it, with every thing that could 
 be required, in order to make the voyage with as 
 much ease and speed as possible. By the tone of 
 the letter I could see that my brother had not the 
 most distant idea of my hesitating to accept his oifer, 
 but that he was fully convinced I would embrace it 
 with eagerness. 
 
 I must confess it was not an easy struggle for me. 
 My prospects in England were not of the most en- 
 couraging nature, for although I had no reason to 
 complain, and I was earning a livelihood, yet I was 
 very far from making a fortune, and my petty savings 
 could not be brought into comparison with the profits 
 arising from such a business as my brother had esta- 
 blished. Besides, in England I had to make exer- 
 tions to establish a business, in America I should have 
 found one already established for me, and I need 
 not dwell here upon the various difficulties which a
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 91 
 
 beginner has to encounter. To this must be added 
 that there I should live with a brother, whilst here 
 I was separated from all my relatives, and could not 
 hope ever to be with them again for any length of 
 time. On the other hand, I had given my word to 
 the lady to whom I was betrothed, and my whole 
 nature revolted at the idea of quitting her now, to 
 whom I had pledged my vows. 
 
 The struggle, I said, was a violent one, yet it was 
 but short. A temptation might have the power of 
 confounding me for some moments, but my early 
 training had been of so sound a description, the 
 principles of probity and uprightness had taken such 
 deep root in my heart, that they were sure of over- 
 ruling any unworthy thought that entered my mind, 
 as soon as I began to consider calmly on the subject. 
 After a very short consideration I perceived the whole 
 extent of the wrong that I should be committing, 
 were I to accept my brother's invitation, and evade 
 the fulfilment of the word that I had given and I 
 did not hesitate for a moment longer. I showed the 
 letter that I had received to several of my friends, 
 but told them at once that all the fine promises 
 held out to me would not be able to induce me to 
 go, since the engagement that I had lately formed 
 with the young lady alluded to would regulate my 
 conduct. For I considered the word which a man 
 speaks in any promise is sacred, and it is as ungodly 
 to violate that word, as it is to violate an oath or 
 a vow. 
 
 Indeed, I would impress here upon my readers, 
 the high importance which Holy Writ and rabbinical 
 Judaism have attached to the keeping of promises. 
 I do not think that there is any law on which the
 
 92 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 sacred Scriptures are so explicit and impressive as 011 
 this of keeping one's faith. " That which is gone 
 out of thy lips thou shalt keep and perform all." 
 Such is the golden rule in which Moses emphatically 
 enjoins the duty of keeping our word whether it be 
 given merely as a promise to a fellow-being, or ut- 
 tered in the form of a vow to the Most High. To 
 the truly pious man, indeed there can be no difference 
 between the obligation of keeping a promise to man, 
 and that of keeping a vow to God, for he knows 
 that the Lord will punish the transgressions com- 
 mitted against men quite as severely tradition says, 
 more severely* as those committed against Himself. 
 "Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord," said 
 the wise author of Proverbs, and David, when drawing 
 the picture of the godly man in the fifteenth of his 
 sublime hymns, declares that " he that sweareth to his 
 own hurt and changeth not, shall abide in the taber- 
 nacle of the Lord."t Man is not only bound to fulfil 
 his promises when the performance is attended with 
 little sacrifice, but even if a great hurt to himself 
 should accrue from his acting up to a word which 
 he has given, it is the duty of man to incur that 
 hurt, and not to fail in his faith. 
 
 Although this conviction that I was bound, by the 
 laws of God and man, to keep my word, left no room 
 for the least hesitation in my mind, there was yet 
 another circumstance which confirmed me in my re- 
 solution not to go to my brother in America, but 
 to try my fortune in England, and, by my own and 
 sole exertions, to obtain a position in society. From 
 several parts of this outline, the reader may have 
 perceived that I ever had a strong aversion to de- 
 pendence on any human being. To go to America, 
 * Note 16. f Note 17.
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 93 
 
 to avail myself of all the advantages which my 
 brother's labours had procured, seemed to me to be 
 an act that would betray a great want of self-reliance 
 and an inclination to abstain from work, because my 
 brother had worked for me. I reasoned thus with 
 myself: It is true, my brother is a rich merchant, 
 and lives in affluence ; but, how has he come by 
 his possessions ? He worked honestly and indefa- 
 tigably, and the Lord prospered his undertakings. 
 And was not the same road open for me? AYas I 
 not in possession of the same means which had led 
 him to wealth? Had I not hands to work? Had 
 I not strength to bear up with misfortunes and re- 
 verses which never fail to be mingled with even the 
 happiest of human lots? And did not the same God 
 watch over me who had granted success to my bro- 
 ther's labours? Would it not show a littleness in 
 faith if I were, on a sudden, to quit the career on 
 which I had just entered to commence another, for 
 every successful step of which I should, in a manner, 
 be a debtor to my brother? 
 
 These considerations not only rendered my deter- 
 mination immoveable, but likewise made me deem 
 little the advantages I gave up, since they were to 
 be purchased at the expense of independence, and 
 that unalloyed satisfaction which we derive from any 
 success brought about by our own powers. I, there- 
 fore, wrote to the gentleman in Manchester who had 
 forwarded the letter to me, thanked him for the 
 kindness he had evinced, and the trouble he had 
 taken in the matter, and begged of him to inclose 
 a letter which I sent him to my brother. In this 
 letter to my brother I openly stated my reasons for 
 declining his offer, adding that I fully appreciated 
 his fraternal affection in making it.
 
 94 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 Thus the affair passed over, having no other effect 
 upon me but that it spurred me on to work and 
 unrelenting toil. I had now before me the example 
 of a brother, who had gone to a foreign land without 
 any very bright prospects, and who had, by persever- 
 ance, surmounted all difficulties, and attained to an 
 honourable position in society. This example fired 
 me on to imitation, and encouraged me to pursue 
 the course that I had begun with more intense 
 ardour. My brother's letter had given me a new 
 proof that the unwearied and honest efforts of a man 
 rarely remain altogether unrewarded, and I steered 
 on more cheerfully, for the brilliant star of hope 
 twinkled in the distance, and its shining rays broke 
 through the darkened sky under which the barge of 
 my life at present moved. 
 
 It was, however, not the mere accumulation of 
 wealth which I considered the sole object of my 
 toils. Though it is true that a certain amount of 
 property, a certain ease of circumstances, is an in- 
 dispensable requisite for ensuring the esteem of our 
 fellow-citizens ; I felt that I should never attain to 
 that position which I so much desired, as long as I 
 remained a single man. My daily life showed the 
 truth of the divine words, that " it is not good 
 for man to be alone, " and I strove to effect my 
 union with the lady I have before mentioned as soon 
 as possible. It is with great truth that our sages 
 have said, "he that has no wife dwells without joy, 
 without blessing, without happiness." To him who 
 looks on human society with a reflecting mind it 
 must at once appear self-evident that, when the Al- 
 mighty had created man, when He had provided him 
 with a helpmate, and then gave the first pair the 
 commandment, "be fruitful and multiply," the Divine
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 95 
 
 Being instituted marriage as an inalienable privilege 
 of mankind, by which that favoured race of beings 
 was to be propagated through a series of generations, 
 the number of which is hidden from human vision. 
 There were, it is true, a class of men and they 
 have not entirely disappeared from the face of the 
 earth who maintained that celibacy was a mode of 
 life pleasing in the eyes of the Lord, and that, in 
 order to serve our Creator in the most acceptable 
 manner, we should devote every minute of our lives 
 to His worship solely, and not allow any worldly 
 regards to occupy our attention. Thus, by a mis- 
 taken zeal, they disobeyed the very first command- 
 ment of our Heavenly Father, that commandment 
 without the performance of which all others would 
 have been objectless, and which was the first and 
 most important condition of human life. God cannot 
 approve, at least, He cannot desire, a service which 
 tends to destroy his servants. 
 
 While the institution of marriage thus supplies the 
 most essential want of the human family, the married 
 state affords us such numerous and refined pleasures 
 as render it desirable to almost every man. God 
 alone is perfection, and because he is perfection he 
 does not feel the want of an equal, but man and 
 the manifold created beings downwards, in their im- 
 perfections, have an innate desire to associate with 
 creatures of a similar description to themselves. Man 
 in particular, is eminently a social being, and his joys 
 joys lose half their brightness, his sufferings are tinged 
 with double their gloom, if they be not reflected in 
 the mirror of a human soul that thinks and feels 
 like himself. There is, surely, a degree of respon- 
 sibility in being the protector, the guardian, as it 
 were, of a human being, but there is likewise an
 
 96 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 unspeakable pleasure in the thought that, besides our 
 own soul, there is another in which all the sounds 
 produced on our heart-strings find an echo. 
 
 I need not here dwell upon the domestic comforts 
 of the married state. A simple comparison of family 
 enjoyments with the cheerlessness of single life will 
 speak better than words could express it. But I 
 cannot omit adverting to those joys which are the 
 inheritance of wedlock, and are counted among the 
 greatest, if not the greatest of earthly joys the 
 blessings of offspring. When thus blessed, a new 
 page of the human heart is unfolded that of pater- 
 nal affection, on which are inscribed cares so tender, 
 feelings so sweet, pleasures so exquisite, as are sought 
 in vain elsewhere. In almost all the other joys of 
 life man has himself a certain share in procuring 
 them; the pleasure of having good children is one 
 purely divine, it is one in which the munificent hand 
 of Providence is most openly manifested, it is a boon 
 vouchsafed to us by the mercy of our Heavenly 
 Father. A rabbinical writer has illustrated this idea 
 in the following allegorical manner : 
 
 " A man was journeying in the desert ; above him the 
 scorching sun, under liis feet the burning sand. He had 
 lost his way, and strayed about for several days without 
 finding any food or drink : his eyes were hollow with hunger, 
 his lips were parched witli thirst, and his foot could hardly 
 drag his weary frame along. The love of life alone, and the 
 hope of finding some dates or a rivulet, did not permit his 
 steps to rest. At length he met witli a goodly tree spreading 
 its branches to form a cooling shade ; it was covered with 
 sweet fruit, and on the side of it murmured a silvery brook. 
 The man drank of the water of the brook, ate of the dates, 
 and reposed for a long time under the pleasant shade. 
 Strengthened and refreshed, lie then rose 'to continue his 
 journey, and, as he looked up with a grateful eye to the
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 97 
 
 tree that had saved his life, a voice called from the top 
 of the tree, ' Bless me before thou goest.' 
 
 " But the man replied : ' With what shall I bless thee ? 
 Shall I pray that thy shade may be pleasant ? Behold, thy 
 shade is most pleasant. That thy fruit may be sweet ? Thy 
 fruit is most sweet and refreshing. That a brook of clear 
 water may run at thy side ? Surely a brook of the clearest 
 water kisses thy roots. May God then give, that all the 
 branches which any man may take away from thee, to plant 
 elsewhere, may become trees as rich and goodly as thyself.' " 
 
 This tree is the image of a pious sage. Though he 
 may cast a cooling shade, a refreshing atmosphere, 
 around him, though he may practise numerous good 
 deeds, which are the fruit of human life, and though 
 his wisdom may be as a fountain of clear water to 
 quench the thirst of every inquirer, yet there is one 
 blessing wanting to complete his happiness, and that 
 blessing can only be bestowed by the love of the 
 Heavenly Father namely, that his children may be 
 godly and wise like himself. 
 
 But, not only the prospects of pleasures, held out 
 by the married life, made me anxious to enter that 
 state, I knew likewise that, in a moral point of view, 
 marriage has a beneficial effect upon man. While 
 it makes him look more accurately at the stern ear- 
 nest of life, it checks all the wild passions of youth, 
 and directs all his energies, all his ardour, into a 
 calmer, smoother channel. Finding enjoyments and 
 enjoyments of a pure, elevating nature at his own 
 fireside, man is not induced to seek diversion abroad 
 among the giddy multitude, where there is no pleasure 
 without its alloy. 
 
 Stimulated by these reasons, and cheered on by the 
 successful progress of my business, I made the lady 
 
 H
 
 98 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 before alluded to, my wife, in the year 1839, and 
 finally settled at Bedford. Thus I had safely arrived 
 at one landing-place of my earthly course; I had a 
 home, endeared to me by one being whom I loved, 
 and by whom I was beloved. It is true that I often 
 felt sad when I considered how I was separated from 
 all my family, and that now there was little proba- 
 bility of my ever seeing any of them again ; but then 
 I compared my present state with what my circum- 
 stances had been a few years before, and I had ample 
 reason to be comforted and content. I was like the 
 shipwrecked mariner, the recollection of whose past 
 privations, when once delivered from the threatened 
 death, naturally enhances his present comforts. I 
 had set out from home with fair prospects and ex- 
 pectations, my first adventure in England was a cruel 
 disappointment ; years of trouble and uncommon hard- 
 ships followed, and now, though I was any thing but 
 satisfied with my situation and occupation, yet I fully 
 appreciated the little I had gained, and hoped, with 
 a firm confidence, that something better was still pre- 
 served for me. Whenever my heart was sorrowful, 
 by pondering over the dark side of my condition, I 
 thought of former days that were darker than the 
 present, I thought of the thousands more unfortunate 
 than myself, and I reproached myself with ingratitude, 
 and said to myself: "Despair not, murmur not, less 
 the Lord afflict thee worse."
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 99 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 " Do #Aey wo# err ^a devise evil ? but mercy and truth 
 shall be to them that devise good." Prov. xiv. 22. 
 
 The innumerable forms of misfortune under which 
 mankind suffers are of a twofold nature ; those which 
 are caused by our own faults by intemperance, impru- 
 dence, and dishonesty, in short, by any immoral action, 
 and those which are not of our own making which no 
 prudence or precaution can prevent no morality or 
 religion avert. 
 
 If man were to conform strictly to the laws of nature 
 and morality, I venture to maintain that the greater 
 part of calamities to be met with in human society, 
 would disappear, and men would pass brighter and more 
 cheerful days. But I wish here particularly to advert 
 to those misfortunes for which human reason cannot 
 account, but which it seems good to Divine Wisdom 
 to inflict upon us. It is in these that religion comes to 
 us, like an angel sent from heaven, to offer us sweet 
 consolation; it is in these that true piety supplies us 
 with the best means for bearing up against the decrees 
 from Above. Is there a nobler sight in the moral world 
 than a man suffering under afflictions but enduring 
 them with a severe calmness, with an unshakeable reli- 
 ance on the wisdom and goodness of Him who chastises 
 us for our own good. " Behold, happy is the man 
 whom God correcteth, therefore, despise not thou the 
 
 H 2
 
 100 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 chastening of the Almighty ; for he maketh sore and 
 bindeth up ; he woundeth and his hands make whole." 
 Those who deny the power and influence of religion 
 should go to the sick-bed of a truly religious man, there 
 to witness how his soul, enlightened by the precepts of 
 religion, loses not in brightness during the sufferings of 
 the body how his pious mind alleviates the most acute 
 pains, by patient resignation and by implicit confidence 
 in God. Indeed, it is this confidence alone which 
 can deprive misfortune of its sting which sustains us 
 amidst the storms howling around us ; misfortune puri- 
 fies our mind, inasmuch as it has a tendency to turn 
 our attention from external things and direct it to the 
 inner man, inasmuch as it induces us to reflect on our 
 past life on the principles by which we have been 
 guided on the vanities after which we have striven 
 on the duties we have neglected. If we look around us 
 we shall generally find those to be the most experi- 
 enced, the most prudent, the most circumspect, and the 
 wisest, who have passed through the severe school of 
 adversity. As the gold becomes cleared of its dross by 
 being purified in the fire, so our virtues appear the more 
 shining after having been tried in the fire of adversity. 
 And when we consider that, without misfortune, we 
 should not know how to appreciate its opposite that 
 without illness we never should value health, as without 
 darkness we should not know light, we come to the 
 conclusion that, in the moral government of the world, 
 that which human short-sightedness terms misfortune 
 is needful and salutary for our earthly happiness. 
 
 I had hardly enjoyed a few months the long-missed 
 comforts of domestic life when it pleased the Almighty 
 to afflict me with a severe illness. Fever and inflamma- 
 tion kept me confined to my bed for a considerable 
 time, and four months elapsed before I could resume
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 101 
 
 any of my occupations : like a captain who, being 
 already in sight of the shore, is suddenly thrust back 
 by contrary winds on the open sea, there to steer 
 again his vessel through the high-rolling waves ; so was 
 I thrown back, through this illness, on a sea of trou- 
 bles, without the prospect of reaching a safe harbour 
 for some time. Imagine the wretchedness of my situa- 
 tion : I had recently engaged myself to provide for an- 
 other being to support her whom I had made my 
 partner and now I was at once disabled from doing 
 any thing even towards my own maintenance. Though 
 I was not at that time in actual want, yet I was by no 
 means provided for any length of time ; and should my 
 illness be protracted, should I, for any considerable 
 period, be prevented from pursuing my ordinary occu- 
 pations, I knew that poverty must inevitably follow. 
 At no time is man more apt to indulge in such melan- 
 choly meditations than when lying on a sick bed. 
 Besides my bodily sufferings I was ever haunted by the 
 horrors of my condition, and, had not my confidence in 
 the Lord stood on so firm a foundation, I must have 
 fallen into agonizing despair. 
 
 But, to my Heavenly Father I now turned with all 
 the fervour of which my languid spirits were capable 
 imploring the aid of Him who, in His holy writings, is 
 called "The Hearer of Israel." The example of the 
 King Hezekiah was before my mind. As he had, by 
 his prayers, removed from himself the decree of the 
 Lord which pronounced his death; so, thought I, would 
 I beseech the God of my fathers with sincere devotion, 
 and, perhaps, He would have compassion. And, truly, 
 " The God which fed me all my life long, unto this day, 
 the angel who redeemed me from evil," did not forsake 
 me in these circumstances. The Lord heard my fervent 
 prayers, and restored me to health and activity.
 
 102 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 The manner in which I had gained my living hitherto 
 had become somewhat irksome to me, and I would have 
 gladly exchanged it for an occupation insuring a more 
 respectable position in life, but I was at a loss to what I 
 should turn my attention. The necessity of supporting 
 my wife and myself did not allow me to remain long in 
 this state of uncertainty. My responsibilities had in- 
 creased, and, with them, the anxiety of advancing my 
 interests. 
 
 While matters stood thus, I had the good fortune to 
 make the acquaintance of the Rev. J. W , a gentle- 
 man of whose kind and sympathising disposition I can- 
 not speak too highly. I stated to him my position, and 
 he kindly promised to assist me as far as it lay in his 
 power. This he did with the good will so well becom- 
 ing a man whose business it is to instruct others in the 
 precepts and duties of religion. He not only engaged 
 me as German teacher for his son and daughter, but he 
 also gave me a recommendation to another excellent 
 gentleman, Mr. G , who himself became my pupil. 
 To these two gentlemen I owe a heavy debt of grati- 
 tude; it is to them that, under Providence, I am in- 
 debted for my present position in life. They kindly 
 permitted me to mention their names as references, and 
 advised me to send circulars round the town and neigh- 
 bourhood, offering my services as German and Hebrew 
 teacher. With pleasure and gratitude I accepted their 
 offer and advice, the more so as the course held out a 
 prospect of gaining my livelihood in a way more in ac- 
 cordance with the education I had received, and more 
 suitable to the manner in which I had been brought 
 up. Thanks to the benevolent services of these gentle- 
 men ! I succeeded in the object I had in view at the 
 time : for a whole twelvemonth teaching was my sole 
 occupation ; but I found that the gain I derived from
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 103 
 
 teaching was not sufficient to maintain a family in a 
 respectable, though humble way ; I therefore purchased 
 some jewellery by the advice, and through the generous 
 assistance of, these friends, and, aided by their kind 
 recommendations, I managed to do some profitable 
 business. 
 
 Man never shows himself more worthy of his 
 Creator than by assisting his fellow men in time of 
 trouble. As God is compassionate so man ought to be 
 merciful. Happy indeed are those whose position and 
 circumstances enable them to lend a helping hand to 
 their less-favoured brothers. Station, riches, talent, 
 cannot merely be bestowed upon man to use them 
 exclusively for his own selfish ends for his own ag- 
 grandizement, and he proves himself unworthy of the 
 kindness of his Father in heaven who does not profit 
 by these gifts to discharge, to some degree at least, 
 the most sacred duty imposed by religion to love 
 our neighbours like ourselves. Besides, every good 
 action has its reward in itself. The consciousness of 
 having fulfilled a sacred obligation is more elevating 
 contributes more to our happiness than any plea- 
 sure which we may derive from employing God's 
 blessings to our own worldly advantages only. If 
 we reflect on life its pleasures and troubles, its sweet 
 and bitter elements, its lights and its shades, we come 
 to the conclusion that all is vain and transitory 
 without real intrinsic value, except the good we have 
 done to others. This, and this alone, imparts to life a 
 higher and, as it were, a sacred importance. In vain 
 are our endeavours to penetrate into the designs of the 
 supreme and infinite Being into His intentions re- 
 specting our earthly existence. Whatever these may 
 be, we do not live in vain if we alleviate the sufferings 
 of our fellow-creatures if we assist our brother in his
 
 104 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 struggles if we smooth the rugged path of life which it 
 is the lot of many to tread. Our good actions are the 
 beneficent genii that accompany us through life, and, 
 if they shall have proceeded from that motive which 
 alone God can approve, may we not humbly hope they 
 will plead in our favour before the tribunal of the Su- 
 preme Judge ? 
 
 In the course of my instruction in the above-named 
 languages, an incident happened which I would have 
 omitted to record, but for the good sense and love 
 of justice it exhibits, as contrasted with sentiments 
 of an opposite character, under the influence of which 
 I have been made to feel many a pang. Among 
 other families in which I was exercising my vocation, 
 as a teacher of languages, was that of a Mr. H , 
 whose daughter was my pupil. After I had attended 
 this young lady for some weeks, an attempt was made 
 to induce Mrs. H to have my engagement cancelled, 
 on the ground that, being a Jew, I could not have 
 a correct pronunciation, and that consequently her 
 daughter must acquire a faulty mode of speaking the 
 German language. The person, who offered this advice 
 to the lady, was a clergyman, now no longer con- 
 nected with Bedford, who had already expostulated 
 with the gentleman who had recommended me to 
 Mr. H , and endeavoured to point out to him the 
 impropriety of his having given a Jew an introduction 
 to a Christian family. The lady, therefore, suspected 
 that, whilst the ostensive ground of objection to me 
 was the possibility of my imparting to her child an 
 incorrect mode of pronunciation, the real ground 
 was that of religious prejudice. This suspicion was 
 confirmed when, on inquiry, the rev. gentleman ad- 
 mitted that he knew nothing of the German language 
 himself.
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 105 
 
 The lady, in the true spirit of religious benevolence, 
 declined to dismiss me on a charge so trivial as that 
 alleged against me, but, at the same time, felt it 
 due to her child that my real competency should be 
 tested. Without informing me of what had hap- 
 pened, therefore, she requested two ladies, perfectly 
 acquainted with the German language, to be present 
 at one of her daughter's lessons. These I had, one 
 day, the pleasure of meeting in the room where Miss 
 H was in the habit of taking her lesson. I pro- 
 ceeded with my instruction as usual, without the least 
 idea of the purpose for which the ladies attended. 
 In the course of the lesson, Miss H addressed to 
 me some questions respecting certain terms in the 
 language, at which I was surprised, as they supposed 
 a greater knowledge of the idiom than could be ex- 
 pected from so recent a beginner. I answered the 
 questions, but, at the same time, expressed my as- 
 tonishment, and inquired how she came to ask these 
 questions. The ladies smiled. From this, as well as 
 from the interest they seemed to take in the pro- 
 ceedings, I concluded that they must understand 
 German; I asked them whether this was the case* 
 and they answered in the affirmative. We then 
 began to converse in German, and so great a pro- 
 ficiency did these two ladies manifest in that language, 
 that I felt as if I had been suddenly transported into 
 my native country ; indeed, I had not met with any 
 English ladies or gentlemen who were so thoroughly 
 acquainted with the terms and peculiarities of that 
 rich and profound Teutonic language.* 
 
 The following week when I again visited this family^ 
 I found Mrs. H in the room. I expressed to her my 
 delight at having made at her house the acquaintance 
 * Note 18.
 
 106 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 of two ladies, who spoke German so fluently, and, at 
 the same time, so correctly. " I am much pleased at 
 the result," replied the good lady, frankly, " and I feel 
 now quite satisfied as to your competency for teaching 
 German." She then told me that a "friend" had 
 repeatedly urged upon her the impropriety of having 
 engaged me; that he had tried to persuade her, though 
 without success, to discharge me, asserting for his 
 reason, that I, as a Jew, could not but have a faulty 
 pronunciation. As, however, she had been unwilling 
 to act upon the unkind and ungenerous advice of that 
 party, and felt little inclined to have her daughter's 
 instruction discontinued, until she had obtained satis- 
 factory evidence of my deficiency, she had requested 
 the presence of those two ladies, who were fully 
 capable of forming an opinion on the subject. And 
 the opinion expressed by them had been entirely in 
 my favour; they entertained not the slightest doubt 
 as to my competency, and, moreover, my method of 
 teaching seemed to them well calculated to facilitate 
 the study of the German language. I told Mrs. H 
 that I felt much flattered by the high opinion those 
 ladies had formed of my capacity as a teacher, and 
 expressed my gratification to find that I was not to 
 be discarded as a teacher of languages, merely because 
 I did not profess the same religion with themselves. 
 
 It is useless to dwell on the many exhibitions of a 
 worse than exclusive spirit under which I have been 
 made to bow down sorrowfully in the land of the 
 stranger. The expostulations of the persecuted, how- 
 ever plaintive, the complainings of the oppressed, 
 however founded on the holy principles of that religion 
 which breathes the spirit of universal love, will never 
 move a heart tethered with bigotry such a heart 
 must be left to the dealings of our common God
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 107 
 
 and Father. But I desire gratefully to acknowledge 
 that the sentiments exhibited by the lady, to whose 
 conduct I have now adverted, have shed their re- 
 freshing influence on my downcast heart more than 
 once, and cheered and comforted me amidst much 
 of a contrary spirit that I might detail. 
 
 It is, indeed, difficult to comprehend how, in our 
 enlightened age, there can still exist people with 
 whom hatred and persecution of those professing a 
 faith different from their own is considered as a laud- 
 able and meritorious zeal for their own religion. 
 What idea must he entertain of a God, in whose 
 sight the tormenting of one of his creatures is to be 
 a pleasing action ? " God created man in His own 
 image." This verse, say the Jewish sages, is the 
 basis of all religion; and, in truth, it requires but lit- 
 tle ingenuity to derive from those words every maxim 
 of morality acknowledged among civilised nations. 
 
 But though there be some who really think to serve 
 the cause of their creed by oppressing and persecuting 
 the followers of another, there are many who, merely 
 following the impulses of a hateful and vicious dis- 
 position, try to cover their base actions with the 
 divine name of religion. In favour of the former, 
 ignorance and a mistaken notion of religion may be 
 pleaded, but the latter are not merely tainted with 
 vice, but corrupted also by hypocrisy. What makes 
 such conduct still more odious are the repeated war- 
 nings and admonitions concerning the relation of one 
 man to another, contained both in the Old and in the 
 New Testament. Need I remind my readers of the 
 passages where it is said : " Thou shalt neither vex a 
 stranger, nor oppress him : for ye were strangers in 
 the land of Egypt." " Thou shalt not abhor an
 
 108 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 Edomite ; for he is thy brother : thou shalt not abhor 
 an Egyptian ; because thou wast a stranger in his land/' 
 
 Now if the prohibition was directed against oppres- 
 sing or hating the inveterate enemies of the Israelites, 
 how much greater must the sin be considered to 
 oppress persons who have never done us any harm 
 or injury ? The founder of the Christian religion 
 inculculated the doctrine : " Love your enemies, bless 
 them that curse you, do good to them that hate 
 you, and pray for them which despitefully use you," 
 and in another passage it is said : " Therefore all 
 things whatsoever ye would that men should do to 
 you, do ye even so to them, for this is the law and 
 the prophets." 
 
 That this fundamental law of human society was 
 fully appreciated by the rabbis, the following anecdote 
 from the Talmud will illustrate : 
 
 "Under Herod the Great lived Rabbi Hillel and Eabbi 
 Shamai, two celebrated sages, both the eminent founders of 
 renowned academies in Israel. One day a heathen ap- 
 proached Eabbi Shamai as he was walking in the street, 
 and addressed him thus : ' I am desirous of becoming a Jew 
 on the condition of your teaching me the whole law during 
 the space of time that I can stand on one leg.' Shamai 
 indignant at such derision, drave the scorner away with his 
 staff. The heathen then went to Hillel, and accosted him 
 with the same words. Hillel at once declared his readiness 
 to comply with the request, and said to him : ' Do not forget 
 this : That which does not please yourself, do not unto thy 
 neighbour. This is the whole law, all the rest serves merely 
 as commentary to this fundamental principle.' The heathen 
 thanked him, went away, and became a good and pious man." 
 
 The prejudices still existing in the minds of some of 
 my Christian fellow-men against the Jews, are of the
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 109 
 
 remnants of the dark ages, which the light of reason 
 and civilisation has not yet been able entirely to efface. 
 Those prejudices date from a time when the minds of 
 men were in a state of ignorance and barbarity, when 
 the words education, science, humanity, civilisation, 
 were all but totally unknown. Mankind was little 
 prepared to reflect the benign rays of a spiritual reli- 
 gion. The rays of the sun are not reflected by the 
 stagnant waters of a pool. In fact, if we look at the 
 history of the Jews in that period at the persecutions, 
 the massacres, in short, at all the manifold sufferings 
 they were made to endure, we are almost compelled 
 to think that the cruel practice of human sacrifices 
 belongs to a much later period of European history 
 than is generally acknowledged. When, at the begin- 
 ning of the Crusades, thousands of Jews were mas- 
 sacred in the Rhenish towns, and when, after those 
 many hecatombs of human lives, the valiant knights of 
 Christendom felt the inward satisfaction consequent 
 upon the performance of a religious duty, I ask by what 
 other name can we call such proceedings but by that of 
 human sacrifices being offered in honour of the Deity ? 
 True, the Jews were reproached with hating Christians 
 and Christianity. But are persecutions and massacres 
 calculated to inspire love towards the perpetrators, and 
 regard for the principles of a religion, in honour of 
 which those enormities were said to be committed? 
 Does not hatred beget hatred as love engenders love ? 
 
 But, the Lord be praised ! the age of such persecution 
 is now matter of history. And no Jew of any education 
 and intellect will bear a grudge against his Christian 
 brother on account of the bygone sufferings of his fore- 
 fathers. Religious intolerance was one of the charac- 
 teristics of that period, and was practised among the
 
 110 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 different sects even of the same religion. I need not 
 remind my readers of the reign of Queen Mary. 
 
 Science and civilisation have, fortunately for man- 
 kind, spread purer and more enlightened notions of 
 religion. Religion, humanity, virtue, are about to be- 
 come terms almost synonymous. Where is the zealot 
 to be found in civilised Europe that dares publicly to 
 recommend, or only to defend, an act of religion openly 
 militating against the principle of virtue or humanity ? 
 
 The Jew has every reason to be satisfied with the 
 change that civilisation and progress has wrought in 
 his situation. Especially in this free and great country, 
 under the influence of an enlightened public opinion, 
 barrier after barrier has fallen down that kept the fol- 
 lowers of the Mosaic creed out of the pale of the rest of 
 society. And the day is not distant, I trust, when the 
 last trace of oppression and exclusion will be effaced 
 from the Statute Book of England. Prejudices, how- 
 ever, are obstinate. And, with all the progress we 
 have made, there still exist numbers of persons who 
 look upon the Jew as an inferior being, who consider 
 the faults, which centuries of oppression have engen- 
 dered in the Jewish character, (but which are fast di- 
 minishing under the mild rule of freedom,) as inherent 
 in, and originally connected with, the very nature of 
 the Jew. 
 
 When the enemies of my co-religionists reproach 
 them with an indelible inclination to petty traffic and 
 usury, they ought to bear in mind that, for centuries 
 the Jew had been excluded from practising agriculture, 
 trades, and professions, and that nothing else was left 
 to him but to pursue a less respectable line of business.
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. Ill 
 
 How was it possible for the Jew to distinguish himself 
 as a useful member of society, or to excel in the various 
 departments of science and letters,, as long as the means 
 which further the development of the human faculties 
 were withheld, and the road leading to distinction 
 was closed against him? Surely he could not distin- 
 guish himself at the bar so long as he had no access to 
 it ; he could not excel as a teacher in a public school, 
 when an opportunity was never afforded him of dis- 
 playing his talents in that capacity; when even his chil- 
 dren were not allowed to receive instruction in those 
 educational establishments. That there are yet traces 
 of this latter evil I shall have occasion to show in the 
 course of this narrative. Even now-a-days a Jew can- 
 not take his degree at Oxford or Cambridge, nay more, 
 he is even excluded from certain colleges at these old 
 seats of learning, on account of his religion. 
 
 He who does not voluntarily shut his eyes against 
 facts and against truth, must have observed the great 
 social improvement amongst my co-religionists, dating 
 from the time when liberty of conscience began to dawn 
 over Europe. Science, literature, the fine arts, count 
 numerous Jews among their devotees, especially in my 
 native country, where public institutions and universi- 
 ties have been open to them for a considerable time 
 past. That the Jewish mind has a natural inclination 
 to study and literature is sufficiently proved by the fact 
 that, under the most cruel oppressions and persecutions 
 during the middle ages, while the Jews were driven 
 from town to town, from land to land, they still created 
 a theological and philosophical Hebrew literature well 
 deserving the attention of the historian and the literary 
 student.* 
 
 * Note 19.
 
 112 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 And, in this country, pre-eminent for its time-hon- 
 oured and free institutions, Jews now occupy honour- 
 able positions as merchants, lawyers, and magistrates, 
 and, as a body, they make vast strides in advance, with 
 respect to education. 
 
 There is another class of opponents who object to 
 the Jew, not merely from prejudice, but on a so-called 
 " religious " ground. The utmost concession they 
 would make to the Jew, if he were so unfortunate 
 as to be governed by them exclusively, would be to 
 tolerate him; for, unluckily for them, public opinion 
 is no longer favourable to open persecution and un- 
 mitigated oppression. They consider it incompatible 
 with their character as Christians, to admit the Jew 
 to the rights they enjoy, as long as he perseveres 
 in the faith of his ancestors ; they wish to let him feel 
 a continual punishment for his fidelity to his reli- 
 gion. They are of opinion that he has no right to 
 claim equality with the inhabitants of a Christian 
 country, as they formerly denied the Roman Catholic 
 equality with the Protestant. I have shown already 
 that such and similar arguments are not only contrary 
 to every principle of reason and humanity, but also 
 to the spirit of Christianity. In fact, that exclusive 
 and intolerant party holds the practice of the prin- 
 ciples of Christianity inconsistent with their character 
 as Christians. This may seem paradoxical, but it is 
 the natural conclusion at which we arrive on com- 
 paring the sublime doctrines of the New Testament 
 with the theory put forth by these exclusionists. It 
 has frequently occured to me, when I have witnessed 
 the manifold vexations and injuries to which Jews 
 have been exposed, for the simple reason of their 
 being Jews, or, when I have heard or read of the
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 113 
 
 crying injustice they have to suffer, even at the pre- 
 sent time, in some continental countries, that those 
 who are so zealous for the diffusion of Christianity 
 among the Jews should first, or at least, at the same 
 time, exert themselves to propagate Christian feelings 
 among Christians. 
 
 This indeed would he a task worthy of pious men, 
 and more pleasing to God than the attempts to bap- 
 tize for we cannot well call it to convert a few 
 straggling Jews. These attempts at " converting the 
 Jews to Christianity," must necessarily prove a grand 
 failure. The Jew, who knows his religion, will find 
 in it as much consolation as Christians find in theirs. 
 As to the moral principles enjoined in the New Tes- 
 tament, they are all to be found, with a mere formal 
 difference, in the Bible acknowledged by the Jews, 
 and repeated, in various shapes, in the writings of 
 the rabbis. And, concerning the fundamental prin- 
 ciple the basis of Judaism, namely, the belief in the 
 ONE INDIVISIBLE GOD, the followers of that ancient 
 religion have only to appeal to reason, and to the 
 rational soul, to be confirmed in that supreme, re- 
 vealed truth. 
 
 Those who are so anxious for our eternal salvation, 
 who take so deep an interest in our spiritual welfare, 
 ought, by their actions, to convince us of the supe- 
 riority of their creed. But, while they declare them- 
 selves to be most earnestly concerned about us, they 
 will deny the Jew favours he may have occasion to 
 ask from them, will show, by their deeds, that their 
 professions are false, that religion dwells more on 
 their lips than in their hearts. Such are not the men 
 to shake the Jew in his adherence to a religion that 
 stood firm like a rock, while others were scattered 
 
 i
 
 114 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 to the winds by the more enlightened and rational 
 views which began to dawn on the human mind. 
 
 My co-religionists I cannot forbear admonishing to 
 keep steadfast in a faith, hallowed by thousands of 
 years, and supported by reason. Our ancestors ad- 
 hered to it with a convulsive grasp, while they were 
 persecuted and driven about like wild beasts; our 
 fathers bled and died for it. And, should we, to 
 whose lot it has fallen to live in a more humane 
 and enlightened age, should we, especially who have 
 the good fortune to live in a free country like this 
 should we prove faithless to "the inheritance of the 
 congregation of Jacob? 
 
 Good and virtuous Christians will esteem the Jew 
 all the more, the more strictly he observes his religion. 
 A sincere and not merely hypocritical attachment to 
 our ancient faith evinces a moral strength which ne- 
 cessarily commands respect. The experience of every 
 day shows that Jews, far from being thought of more 
 highly for disobeying the dictates of their religion, 
 stand lower in the estimation of worthy and con- 
 scientious Christians, than those who are not ashamed 
 of the name of a Jew, and follow the precepts of 
 the law with a sincere and warm devotion. 
 
 It is natural that we should prefer the religion in 
 which we have been born and educated. All our 
 habits, our early recollections, the impressions of our 
 childhood, our parents, our relations, our families 
 all these are more or less associated with our religion. 
 It is a thankless task to dispute about the superiority 
 of one religion over another. But if I were asked 
 which religion in general I believed to be the best, 
 I would answer, that which is the most rational, and
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 115 
 
 which counts among its followers the comparatively 
 greatest amount of honesty, temperance, love, charity, 
 and virtue. 
 
 Let us try then, Jews as well as Christians, by our 
 actions to do credit to our respective religions. Let 
 us live together in peace and unity, let us assist one 
 another with a kind and brotherly love, and let us 
 say, with the prophet : " Have we not all one Father ? 
 Hath not one God created us? Why do we deal 
 treacherously every man against his brother, by pro- 
 faning the covenant of our fathers?" 
 
 i2
 
 116 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 " Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for 
 the eyes to behold the sun." Eccles. xi. 7. 
 
 There is something majestically beautiful in light. 
 Some persons are little sensible to the gorgeous beau- 
 ties of nature; some souls are impenetrable even to 
 the sweetest harmonies of the most exquisite music; 
 for some men, the inspired pencil of Raphael and 
 the ingenious chisel of Thorwaldsen, have worked in 
 vain; there are those, to whom the sublime verses of 
 Milton afford no attraction; but there are none, save 
 perhaps, and only perhaps the blind, who are not 
 charmed by the dazzling and pure beauty of light. 
 Observe the countenance of a child when a light is 
 brought into a dark room how it beams with joy ! 
 how the expression of delight seems to be blended, 
 in the tender features, with the reflection cast on 
 them by the shining rays ! Mark your own sensations 
 when you go through a long dark passage, or when 
 you are carried through an extensive railway tunnel; 
 when, then, the first ray of light appears in the dis- 
 tance like a remote star how cheering it shines, how 
 you feel yourself relieved as it were from a heavy 
 load, how you begin to breathe freely, as if you had 
 been received under the protection of a kind, tutelar, 
 deity ! 
 
 A similar effect is observable in the mind when it 
 chances to look on a peculiar brightness of intellect.
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 117 
 
 As it is painful to note the dismal gloom overhanging 
 the pool of ignorance and barbarity, and the disorder 
 and confusion which darkness must of necessity en- 
 gender; so is it, on the other hand, delightful to 
 gaze on the brilliancy of reason and knowledge, when 
 they stream in to penetrate the barriers of superstition 
 and prejudice, and bring order and brotherly love in 
 the ways of mortals. As it is sorrowful to read the 
 history of the dark ages, where every page is stained 
 with the foul excrescences of ignorance and the gory 
 blood of persecution, so is it elevating to a feeling 
 soul to witness the dawn of enlightenment, to count 
 the charitable and humane acts which mark its bright 
 progress, and to see its beneficent effects diffused 
 over this "valley of tears." The material light was 
 produced by the creative word of the Omnipotent, 
 but the intellectual light He, in His wisdom, has 
 hidden from man, but implanted in him an unquench- 
 able desire to seek it. 
 
 While, in the last chapter, I had to record an act 
 of unkindness and even persecution, I have now to 
 fulfil the more cheerful task of laying before my 
 readers the recital of an occurrence which will show 
 that a mild spirit of toleration pervades many, I may 
 confidently say, most, of my Christian neighbours. 
 
 The excellence and great advantages of the Harpur 
 Charity, in Bedford, is a matter of notoriety. It is 
 one of the numerous educational establishments in 
 England which bear testimony to the pious liberality 
 of the English, and to the high value which they 
 set on education. From the advantages of this school 
 the Jews had always heen excluded; how this hap- 
 pened I am at a loss to conceive. By the will of the
 
 118 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 benevolent founder, the school was established for " any 
 town-born children." Nothing, indeed, could be found 
 in this expression which might be construed into an ex- 
 clusion of Jewish children, natives of the town, and yet 
 it was the practice not to admit the children of the Jews 
 of Bedford into that establishment. At this exclusion 
 the Jews had felt most grieved. I have had occasion 
 several times, in the course of this work, to allude 
 to the fact that the Jews have, at all times, and in 
 all countries, set a high value on education. Scarcely 
 had permission been granted to the Jews of Germany 
 to send their sons to the public schools, when num- 
 bers of my co-religionists hastened to avail themselves 
 of the advantages oifered. Even in the smallest Jewish 
 community, in any village of Germany, you will find 
 a schoolmaster. Among the lowest classes of Jews 
 education is much more general than it is in the 
 corresponding classes of Christian society. I firmly 
 believe that if we had before us the numbers of un- 
 educated Jews and Christians, in any country, the 
 result would, in proportion, be highly creditable to the 
 Jews. 
 
 It has often been observed that, proportionately, the 
 number of criminals among the Jews is exceedingly 
 small. I will not here discuss the causes of this 
 phenomenon, which must, for the greater part, be 
 sought in the nature of the Mosaic religion itself, 
 in as far as it is eminently calculated to keep in 
 check all the grosser passions of man. But I ven- 
 ture to assert that a great agent in bringing about 
 this higher state of morality among the Jews, is the 
 more general education of their children. In fact, 
 education and morality, want of education and immo- 
 rality, stand respectively in so close a connexion as
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 119 
 
 cause and effect, that if it be once proved and, I 
 think, every accurate statistic must prove it that the 
 number of uneducated persons is, proportionately, 
 smaller among the Jews than among their Christian 
 neighbours, the fact is at the same time established, 
 that the number of Jewish criminals must be equally 
 smaller. 
 
 With such a high sense of the value of education, the 
 Jews of Bedford could not but feel anxious to remove 
 that bar which shut out their offspring from the paths 
 of knowledge. They consequently addressed a petition 
 to the Lord Chancellor, founding their request upon 
 the words of Sir William Harpur's will, which opened 
 the school for " any town-born children." The prayer 
 of their petition was not granted, and several years 
 passed away without there being any thing done in the 
 matter. After these the Jewish inhabitants of Bedford 
 again petitioned for the admission of their children to 
 the advantages of the Harpur Charity, and so far suc- 
 ceeded as to obtain permission to send their children to 
 that school, provided that the rules of the school were 
 not interfered with. This implied a declaration that 
 the Jewish children should be obliged to attend every 
 day at which the school is open, including, of course, 
 the Jewish sabbaths and holidays. To my sorrow I am 
 obliged to state that some of my Jewish townsmen ac- 
 cepted this condition, and thus purchased for their sons 
 the advantages of knowledge at the expense of their 
 religious duties. Others, however, adopted a more con- 
 scientious course, and solicited, as a favour from the 
 masters, that they would allow their children to stay at 
 home on those days on which it was not reconcileable 
 with their religious feelings to attend. In many cases } 
 this favour was granted an evident proof that they 
 respected the sentiments which induced the parents to 
 make the application.
 
 120 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 Thus matters stood when I came to Bedford. As a 
 new comer to the town, and as a foreigner, I did not 
 think that it would be of any use for me to interfere in 
 this affair, and all my brother Jews felt sure that no- 
 thing more could be done. After a number of years, 
 however, when the Lord had blessed me with children, 
 and when these children began to grow up, I felt most 
 desirous to give them an education which would prepare 
 for them the way to become useful members of the 
 human family. What, indeed, can parents bestow upon 
 their children that is of a more intrinsic value than a 
 good education ? If they leave them large fortunes a 
 reverse can take them away ; if they bequeath to them 
 a great illustrious name it would become their re- 
 proach if they should not themselves be worthy of it. 
 But the knowledge which children acquire the moral 
 principles w r hich are instilled into their hearts these 
 are treasures inestimable and imperishable. I had my- 
 self experienced that a sound education in early age is 
 the best safeguard for a man during life. Had not the 
 precepts of my holy faith a prominent ingredient in 
 my education ever afforded solace and support to me 
 in the hours of trouble ? Had not the principles of in- 
 tegrity, industry, and perseverance, with the importance 
 of which my instructors had taken care to impress me, 
 become to me the means of attaining to that station in 
 society which I now occupied ? And was not the know- 
 ledge of German literature, which I had acquired in my 
 youth, a source which contributed much towards the 
 maintenance of my family ? 
 
 The Harpur Charity was the establishment which 
 would afford all the benefits of a liberal education, if I 
 could only succeed in rendering these advantages avail- 
 able to my children. But to send them there on sab- 
 baths and holidays was altogether out of the question. 
 I know the worth of religion too well I am too deeply
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 121 
 
 convinced that a strict adherence to a man's faith is 
 indispensably necessary to his happiness, ever to be 
 capable of sacrificing it to any temporal advantage. 
 The other alternative, of soliciting the permission of 
 non-attendance on days of rest, as an especial favour 
 from the masters, I did not think proper to choose, 
 because it seemed to me that we should not try to 
 obtain as a favour that which we felt to be a right. 
 Mean while the icy crust of prejudice upon many 
 Christian hearts manifested indubitable indications of 
 dissolution, and I began to entertain hopes that my 
 Christian neighbours of Bedford would be better dis- 
 posed to acknowledge the claims and admit the 
 rights of the Bedford Jews with regard to the Harpur 
 Charity. I therefore resolved upon what most of my 
 neighbours designated "a bold step;" I memorialised 
 the board of the trustees of the Harpur Charity, pray- 
 ing that the Jewish children might be excused from 
 attendance at school during the observance of their 
 sabbath. Most of my Jewish friends not only de- 
 spaired of the possibility of success, but disapproved 
 altogether of the step which I had taken, saying that it 
 would have been better to leave the matter alone, as 
 this might lead to their being deprived of the advan- 
 tages which they actually enjoyed. But I entertained 
 much better hopes ; I had a much higher, and, as the 
 result proved, a much more correct opinion of the libe- 
 ral feelings prevalent among my Christian fellow-citi- 
 zens. I knew that they would be ready to give due 
 consideration to a petition dictated by a sense of true 
 religion, though the system of that religion differed 
 from their own creed, and, even if they should not feel 
 disposed to grant the request contained in my memo- 
 rial, they would not visit my offence on others, by de- 
 priving them of privileges already enjoyed.
 
 122 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 However, to the great surprise and astonishment of 
 my brother Jews at Bedford, and to my own great sa- 
 tisfaction, I received, a few days afterwards, a commu- 
 nication from the chairman of the board, in which he 
 informed me, in the most polite and liberal terms, " that 
 the trustees had granted my request, and that their 
 decision would forthwith be communicated to the mas- 
 ters." This was a double triumph to me : first, because 
 it facilitated the opportunity of giving my children an 
 education such as I desired it, and, secondly, because it 
 implied the confirmation of a principle which I had up- 
 held during the whole course of my life that a faithful 
 attachment to religion will never fail to be acknow- 
 ledged and appreciated by enlightened men, whether 
 Christians or Jews. It was a promise which Moses 
 vouchsafed to his people when he exhorted them to 
 obey the dictates of the Lord their God, " For," added 
 he, "this is your wisdom and your understanding in 
 the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these 
 statutes and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and 
 understanding people." 
 
 This occurrence gave a most convincing proof to all 
 the Jews resident in Bedford, that their Christian 
 neighbours, at least the majority of them, cherished 
 a liberal and tolerant spirit, and, if prejudices against 
 the descendants of Abraham were yet lurking in some 
 places, it was in the strongholds of bigoted superstition 
 or wilful blindness where every care had been taken 
 to shut out any ray of the light of civilization, which 
 now not only gilded a few mountain tops prominent 
 personages of human society, but had already de- 
 scended into the plains, was beginning to diffuse itself 
 among all classes of men even those that are generally 
 accounted lowest.
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 123 
 
 When I contrasted this liberal conduct of the trus- 
 tees of the Harpur Charity with the illiberal conduct 
 of which I spoke in the last chapter, I could not but 
 be rejoiced at the indications thus afforded of a better 
 mind; nor was I less delighted at the result in each 
 case. It seemed to me that, in a manner, the same 
 cause which led the board of trustees to give a de- 
 cision in my favour, had likewise frustrated the ini- 
 quitous counsel of my enemy the simple circumstance 
 that I was a sincere Jew. In the eyes of the enlight- 
 ened persons who had the management of the above 
 mentioned school, this had been my best recommen- 
 dation, in the other case, it was my only crime. And it 
 was fortunate for me that it was so ; had my adversary 
 been able to cast any plausible suspicion on my general 
 conduct, I have no doubt that he might have succeeded 
 in depriving me of the favour of some of my patrons 
 and friends; had he been able to find any flaw in 
 my moral character, the parties who had engaged me 
 to instruct their children might have been less scru- 
 pulous to investigate the matter, because the very 
 suspicion would have sufficed to render me unfit for 
 the tuition of youth. For such is the influence that 
 a master has over his pupils, that parents should, at 
 all times, be careful to select, for their instructors, 
 men whose moral conduct should bear the strictest 
 examination. Thanks be to my parents, who were 
 solicitous that my earliest impressions should be those 
 of probity and integrity; thanks to my masters, the 
 formers of my mind and cultivators of my heart, who 
 fortified my soul with sound principles; thanks, above 
 all, to the Lord, Avho gave that blessing, without which 
 all instruction would have been vain, and who imparted 
 that strength, by which alone man is enabled to walk 
 uprightly. To His strength I felt that I owed it, if in 
 any measure I was free from the vices of society; for 
 the temptations held out to me had not been small.
 
 124 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 And here I may be allowed to draw the attention of 
 my readers to those vices which are most prevalent 
 in society, and which I would exhort all persons 
 studiously to avoid. 
 
 Among them I would name first that of intem- 
 perance. When the tabernacle of the Lord of Hosts 
 had been reared up in the wilderness by the children 
 of Israel, and when God had instituted Aaron and 
 his sons as priests to minister in His sacred habita- 
 tion, He gave Aaron this express command : " Do 
 not drink wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons 
 with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the 
 congregation, lest ye die : it shall be a statute for 
 ever throughout your generations." The Lord thus 
 communicated his dislike to be served by men whose 
 senses should be troubled by the use of strong drink, 
 He intimated His will that the priest, standing in 
 the divine presence, should be in the full possession 
 of all his mental faculties, and truly represent the 
 image of God, in which man is created. The manner 
 in which the priest was to appear before the Deity 
 may surely be taken as a prototype for man to ap- 
 pear in his most dignified position. God calls the 
 Israelites "a kingdom of priests," He wills that He 
 should be worshipped, not only by those whom He 
 especially appointed to offer sacrifices and burn in- 
 cense, but all should be priests worshipping their 
 Creator, in the temple of the universe, all the days 
 of their lives. Where then is the place, I ask, when 
 is the time that we may consider ourselves dispensed 
 from the duty of divine service ? Should we not strive, 
 therefore, at all times to be worthy of standing in the 
 presence of our Creator ? Should we ever allow our- 
 selves to be carried away so far as to disavow the 
 stamp of divinity which the Almighty has set upon us, 
 and to degrade ourselves below the brute creation ?
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 125 
 
 But, it may be urged, there can be no harm in a 
 man occasionally indulging in liquors, if he does not 
 make a usual practice of it. To this I would reply 
 that we can never be too careful in these matters; 
 that we should not place too firm a confidence in 
 our power of controlling our actions; that occasional 
 indulgences are too often apt to grow into habitual 
 usages, and that any vicious habit, when it has once 
 taken possession of us, is as difficult to eradicate as 
 it is to suppress nature. In fact, our habits become 
 as it were, a part of our nature, they consolidate 
 into essential ingredients of our existence, and you 
 will frequently hear a man say, "this is my nature, 
 I cannot help it," when, in reality, it is but a habit 
 which might easily have been stifled in its rise. How 
 severely the rabbis ever inveighed against the im- 
 morality of drunkenness, and how solicitous they 
 were to warn the people from falling into that vice 
 because of the difficulty, we might almost say, the 
 impossibility of its being cured, the following extract 
 from the Midrash will illustrate : 
 
 "'The drunkard,' says a learned rabbi, 'first parts with 
 his money, and then his silver vessels.' ' Copper vessels 
 will do me the same service,' says he. Then he exchanges 
 his copper utensils for earthen ones, saying, 'these, no 
 doubt, will do as well.' Indeed, he would even deprive 
 himself of these last, if he could procure drink for them. 
 Like other vices, drunkenness endures with a man through- 
 out his life-time, and does not even leave him at the verge 
 of the grave." 
 
 The Midrash then introduces an anecdote in cor- 
 roboration of the words just quoted : 
 
 " There was once a man, so much given to drink, that he 
 sold all his furniture in order to procure wherewith to
 
 126 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 satisfy his pernicious thirst. His sons had long seen, with 
 the deepest sorrow, the evil to which their father abandoned 
 himself, and they said to one another, ' if we allow our father 
 to continue much longer in this manner, he will leave 
 us nothing to inherit.' All the gentle means which they 
 could imagine they employed to induce him to desert such a 
 ruinous and disgraceful habit, but it was all in vain ; he went 
 on drinking to excess as he had done heretofore. Resolved 
 to leave nothing untried, in order to cure their father of this 
 vice, the sons carried him one day, when he was in a senseless 
 state of inebriation, to a cemetery, and laid him down in a 
 cave where the dead bodies were usually placed. They flat- 
 tered themselves that when he should awake from his pro- 
 found sleep, the pictures of terror, by which he would be 
 surrounded, would lead him to reflect seriously on his past 
 life, and he might then renounce a habit which was attended 
 by such evil consequences ; he would gladly forgive an act 
 which, however disrespectful in itself, would so greatly 
 benefit him in the result. 
 
 "With these thoughts they left him. On the following 
 morning they hastened to the cave, expecting to find their 
 father weak from the want of food and drink, and cured from 
 his vicious habit of drinking. But what was their surprise 
 when they entered the cave, and discovered their father with 
 a bottle in his hand, which he held to his lips with great 
 delight, in order to draw from it whatever was left of its 
 contents. A number of bottles, some empty, some full, lay 
 around. The sons spoke to him, and asked him what had 
 happened, but his senses were drowned in the wine, and he 
 could not answer. 
 
 " It had thus come to pass : Some persons were carrying 
 a quantity of wine, with the intention of introducing it into 
 the city clandestinely, in order to defraud the revenue. But 
 perceiving the king's servants at a distance, and fearful of 
 being discovered, they had concealed the forbidden goods in 
 this cave, which appeared to be a place not likely to be 
 searched, and left them there, intending to bring them into 
 the city at a more favourable opportunity. "While this took 
 place, the man was fast asleep, and did not dream of what 
 was going on near him. When he awoke in the morning,
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 127 
 
 and found himself in so dark a place, surrounded by corpses 
 which filled the cave with the stench of putrefaction, he was 
 very much afraid. But the faint glimmer of light, which 
 made him perceive the horrors of the abode in which he was, 
 disclosed to him likewise the rich stores deposited at his 
 side. The sight of so unexpected a treasure filled him with 
 joy. All ideas of death and the grave vanished from his 
 mind ; he began to open one bottle after another, drank to 
 his heart's delight, and became as drunk as ever. 
 
 " In this state his sons found him. Overwhelmed with 
 vexation and grief, they exclamed : ' Woe to us ! all our 
 trouble is in vain. We can do nothing to cure him of his 
 weakness, and it becomes our duty to conceal it from the 
 world, for it really proves incurable. Let us carry him home, 
 and put in his chamber all he can require, in order that he 
 be no longer exposed to public scorn.' 
 
 "And they did so, convinced that bad habits are seldom 
 to be eradicated, and inveterate vice does not leave the 
 unfortunate person given to it, even at the verge of the 
 grave." 
 
 This narrative exemplifies most lucidly the difficulty 
 of curing vicious inclinations, and shows that though 
 we might eveu succeed in suppressing such an in- 
 clination for a short time, yet we are but too apt 
 to relapse into the same fault as soon as any op- 
 portunity offers. The terrors of death may occasion 
 temporary alarm, but let temptation be removed, and 
 such fears soon vanish, the inveteracy of habit is too 
 strong, and the man falls back a helpless captive 
 to his depraved appetite. 
 
 But besides the hideousness of the vice itself, there is 
 yet another consideration which I would urge upon 
 the attention of my readers, in order to warn them 
 against falling into the snares of intemperance. Per- 
 sons who are in the habit of indulging in strong 
 drink will naturally frequent, for that purpose, public
 
 128 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 houses. Now it strikes me that many who visit 
 those places, to spend their evenings there, would be 
 satisfied with a moderate portion of drink, but, stimu- 
 lated by the example of others, they habituate them- 
 selves to an expenditure considerably beyond their 
 means. For, though they may only spend a very 
 trifling sum each evening say a shilling or two 
 it will amount to a heavy expenditure, when it is 
 computed how much this will make in a year ; and 
 many a man who has been cast into disgrace and igno- 
 miny might yet have carried on a respectable trade, and 
 been esteemed by his fellow-citizens, if he had known 
 how to save such single shillings. When I first 
 came to Bedford, I was told that I ought to visit 
 smoking rooms, because it would be an opportunity 
 for me to form acquaintance, it might be as it was 
 termed, "an introduction." I did so for a short time, 
 but I soon perceived that this would indeed be "an 
 introduction" to ruin and destruction. 
 
 There is an old English proverb which says : " It is 
 worth a Jew's eye." The Jew's eye most decidedly 
 seems to see much clearer and much farther than that 
 of many of his Christian brethren. It is very rare 
 indeed that the Jew will permit himself to continue 
 any thing for a length of time without putting to him- 
 self the question : What will this lead me to ? And 
 when he finds that he is in a wrong path, he will exert 
 himself to his utmost to get away from it, and turn to a 
 better road. I believe that I can state, with perfect 
 truth, that caution is one of the many characteristic 
 virtues of the Jew. The Jewish religion, at least rab- 
 binical Judaism, bears testimony to it in a vast number 
 of its precepts. The rabbis considered it their duty to 
 establish what they denominated "fences" round the 
 law, viz. : they gave additional precepts to the law of the
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 129 
 
 Jews, as cautions that the divine injunctions should 
 not be transgressed. One example will be sufficient to 
 show the value of such rabbinical " fences." 
 
 It is well known to all who read the books of Moses, 
 how strictly the celebration of the sabbath was pre- 
 scribed by our lawgiver, and that he prohibited all 
 servile work to be done on that day. Now the rabbis 
 made the law that the Jew should be forbidden to play 
 upon any musical instrument on his sabbath, because, 
 say they, the instrument might accidentally break, 
 and the player be led to profane the holy day by 
 repairing it. Of this nature are a great many rab- 
 binical commandments, and they have, no doubt, been 
 greatly instrumental in preserving the purity of the 
 religion vouchsafed by God through His servant Moses. 
 
 Intemperance, as I have shown before, is a heinous 
 vice, but there is one more heinous still, and more 
 ruinous, against which I would warn the readers of 
 this narrative, I mean gambling. The gambler de- 
 serves our pity more than our wrath, for it seems 
 that this monster vice clasps its victims so fast that 
 there is no possibility of escape. But the more dan- 
 gerous it is to fall into the snares of a vice, the less 
 chance there is of being delivered from them the 
 more cautious ought men to be not to approach its 
 entrapping circle. The law of Moses contains no 
 injunction in that respect, because the vice of gam- 
 bling is of a more modern invention. But in the 
 time of the rabbis, the character of the gambler was 
 already so despised that the Mishna distinctly points 
 out a person who is accustomed to play at dice, as 
 unfit to be a witness in a court of justice. They 
 thus excluded him, as it were, from the pale of re- 
 spectable society, and stigmatised his occupation as 
 
 K
 
 130 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 debasing and immoral. It is, indeed, impossible to 
 look upon a gambler as an honest man. 
 
 As for me, it affords me great satisfaction that I 
 ever abstained from playing at any game of chance. 
 I will not here denounce, as immoral characters, all 
 those who take an occasional recreation in a game 
 of cards or some other similar game, but I would 
 exhort all persons, who have to maintain themselves 
 by the labour of their hands, not to run the risk 
 of losing, in a few minutes, the earnings of a day, 
 perhaps a week, or a month. Servants in particular, 
 persons who are in the employ of others, should 
 strongly guard against the two vices that I have 
 pointed out, for, not only would they have for them 
 the same fatal consequences as for other men, but 
 they would bring upon such persons the additional 
 injury of casting a slur on their character, and thus 
 depriving them of employment altogether. 
 
 A current expression in England is, "as rich as a 
 Jew." And, indeed, the Jew is rich. He is rich 
 by possessing, as a peculiar inheritance, those wise 
 laws and ordinances which are "an ornament of grace 
 to his head, and chains about his neck;" he is rich, 
 because he is impressed, through the principles of 
 his faith, with the high value of integrity and probity 
 which are the safest guides to wealth; he is rich, 
 by his industrious habits and inexhaustible persever- 
 ance, which cannot fail ultimately to insure success; 
 he is rich, finally, by his ways of sobriety and tem- 
 perance, which are a safeguard against the inroads 
 of destructive vices, by which so many of our fellow- 
 men are infested. These are, surely, inestimable and 
 imperishable treasures, the preservation of which does 
 not depend upon the chances of speculation, nor is
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 131 
 
 it subject to the uncertainty of events ; but, like 
 the unchanging principles of right and wrong, based on 
 the throne of the Eternal, so are the happiness and wel- 
 fare of him, who is upright of heart, founded upon 
 the firm base of truth and righteousness. 
 
 And such were my safeguards against the attacks 
 of my enemies ; these were the weapons by which 
 I warded off the blow that was directed against me, 
 and these were my aids in all my undertakings. 
 Fortified with such arms I was not dismayed at the 
 approach of an enemy ; for I knew who was " my 
 Shade in my right hand," and every morning I recited 
 in my early prayer the encouraging words : " The Lord 
 is for me, I will not fear." 
 
 
 K2
 
 13.2 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Vstn cn ms2 
 
 
 " A man's pride shall bring him low : but honour shall 
 uphold the humble in spirit." Prov. xxix. 23. 
 
 The road which leads to success runs over hills and 
 mountains, over rugged tracts, over a dreary and fa- 
 tiguing ground. If the traveller have patience and 
 perseverance, if he have physical and moral strength 
 to surmount the difficulties and obstacles with which 
 his way is beset, he may at last arrive at the desired 
 goal, and thence look back with complacency upon a 
 long and wearisome journey. 
 
 Success in life is not to be obtained without over- 
 coming many and various difficulties ; whatever calling 
 a man may choose for himself, he must, in the outset 
 of his career, arm himself with patience and firmness. 
 The tradesman, the physician, the lawyer, the teacher, 
 all have to pass through severe trials, all will meet 
 with innumerable disappointments, before they arrive 
 at that stage of their journey where the road becomes 
 more level, and even where their onward march is 
 not impeded by mountains and rivers. 
 
 Among professional men the lot of the teacher, and 
 especially the private teacher, is the least enviable. 
 Not only has he to struggle with peculiar difficulties, 
 but the prospect he has before him is not very bright 
 nor very cheering. He cannot expect to arrive at
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 133 
 
 distinction or wealth, which, in other professions, fre- 
 quently operate as powerful stimulants to activity and 
 exertion. His pretensions are naturally of a modest 
 nature, and he may well congratulate himself if he 
 succeed in deriving from his occupations a moderate 
 income, wherewithal to maintain himself in a com- 
 fortable and respectable manner. The private teacher, 
 if his employment Is to be remunerative, must have 
 an extensive connexion. Without this, he will fre- 
 quently find his time unemployed, lessons being liable 
 to so many interruptions. It may be taken, as a 
 general rule, that private instruction is only given 
 during a part of the year. Add to this the frequent 
 interruptions, owing to the indisposition or illness of 
 the pupils, to their change of residence, to their travels, 
 or to their disinclination to continue their studies. 
 These are considerable drawbacks, sufficient to pre- 
 vent many a person from making private instruction 
 his business. Greater still are the difficulties for a 
 teacher of languages in a country town, where the 
 number of those who are learning languages is natu- 
 rally limited. Unless he be patronised by a portion 
 of the nobility or gentry in the neighbourhood, he 
 will find it extremely difficult to gain, by teaching, 
 sufficient for a maintenance. What, I ask my readers, 
 is a man to do who has a family to maintain, and 
 whose most earnest wish is to do so in an honest 
 way ? To form an extensive and respectable con- 
 nexion is the work of years, and requires a capital 
 to start with, or one would not be able to await the 
 time when he may expect to live upon the fruits of 
 his labour. And not only this; he will also have to 
 incur particular expenses in order to conform to the 
 taste and the fancies of those from whom he expects 
 employment. However much I desired to devote my 
 time and energies exclusively to tuition, I soon found
 
 134 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 that, from the causes just stated, it would be im- 
 possible for me to procure by teaching only a main- 
 tenance for my family and myself. I was therefore 
 obliged to continue a small trade in jewellery, although 
 I was conscious that such an occupation would be 
 considered by many as inconsistent with the profession 
 of teacher. To pursue only one calling, and that Avith 
 zeal and perseverance, is decidedly preferable to being 
 engaged in dissimilar and unconnected avocations. 
 Common prudence and chance of success will point 
 out the first course. A man, whose energies are di- 
 vided between two different occupations, is very likely 
 to fail in his ultimate object, and has no reason to 
 expect great things from his twofold employment. 
 Of this I was fully aware; I knew, as I have said 
 before, that the small trade I carried on would be 
 an impediment to my success as a teacher with many 
 families; but there are higher considerations which 
 may induce us to depart from the course prescribed 
 by common prudence. The path of honesty, and that 
 leading to worldly success, are frequently divergent ; 
 the man with notions of strict morality will not hesitate 
 in his choice. I had to choose, on the one hand, be- 
 tween incurring debts without the prospect of paying 
 them, or becoming a burden upon friends, in order to 
 assume a mock respectability, waiting in inactivity till 
 I should be so fortunate as to get sufficient engage- 
 ment, and, on the other, the chance of gaining a few 
 shillings, in an honest way, by selling jewellery. I 
 had to choose between mere hopes and expectations, 
 the realization of which I could not foresee, and be- 
 tween present exertions, which might keep me and 
 my family from want and poverty. I had no dif- 
 ficulty in deciding. Oh ! if the rich could see the 
 struggles which their less fortunate, but honest breth- 
 ren, have to endure, they would frequently be much
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 135 
 
 more charitable, and would feel much livelier sym- 
 pathies with their sufferings. But " sympathy is 
 rarely strong where there is a great inequality of 
 condition," as the great historian of the present day 
 justly remarks. Unfortunately, parade and appear- 
 ances play so eminent a part in society, that they 
 frequently become the rocks against which honesty 
 and integrity are doomed to founder. It is thus 
 that false notions of "respectability/' as they prevail 
 now-a-days, will often induce parents to select for 
 their children, not those teachers who, by their ta- 
 lents and acquirements, would be most suited to im- 
 part instruction, but those who, by their outward 
 appearances, approach nearest to their preconceived 
 notions of tinsel respectability. They will choose a 
 teacher as they choose a dress or a piece of furniture. 
 He must be nicely polished be of the latest fashion, 
 to match the elegant furniture of their drawing-rooms. 
 As long as he wears a nicely fitting coat and a shining 
 Parisian hat, it matters not to them whether the part 
 which the latter article is intended to cover be empty 
 or not. If he make his appearance with a fine cane 
 and kid gloves, it is all the better, and if, in addition 
 to all these perfections, he lives in a house before 
 which a carriage need not be ashamed to stop, and 
 keeps a little liveried page to open the door why, 
 then he is the very beau-ideal of a teacher. What 
 is it to them in what manner all these ornaments 
 have been obtained? What does it matter whether 
 they have been paid for or not, whether they have 
 been purchased at the expense of the most pressing 
 necessities of life, whether the fashionable teacher 
 is obliged, in consequence of that expenditure, to 
 forego the commonest comforts for his own person. 
 He may embarass himself with debts, he may pay 
 the rent for his elegant house or not, he may defraud
 
 136 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 others of tlieir property all this latitude he is allowed 
 so long as the real state of his affairs does not become 
 public. For so long as any thing transpires which 
 might, in the least, damage his character, he is shun- 
 ned and looked down upon by those very persons whose 
 fashionable fancies and love of appearance were the 
 primary causes of his dishonest actions. 
 
 Let me suppose the instance of a man, a teacher of 
 French or German, endeavouring to procure a con- 
 nexion among the higher class by the means I have 
 indicated, and my readers will perceive what anxiety 
 and impatience what amount of distress and hardship, 
 are concealed under the smooth surface of mere ap- 
 pearance. A Mr. A. or B. has some moderate means 
 at his command ; for, if he have any considerable pro- 
 perty, he would hardly invest it in so precarious and 
 unpromising a business as that of a private teacher. 
 He takes a fine house, and tries, in one way or another, 
 to get it elegantly furnished. His domestics must be 
 suitable to his establishment, and have the appearance 
 of a gentleman's servants. Whether their board be 
 satisfactory, and their wages be regularly paid, I will 
 not inquire into ; it is sufficient that they impose upon 
 the fashionable people who may perhaps call. Then 
 circulars are required to be sent about in town and 
 neighbourhood advertisements to be inserted in the 
 papers. Our fashionable teacher sits all day long at 
 home, expecting carriages to drive up by dozens, and 
 their owners to engage him. He hardly ventures 
 upon a walk, lest some one should call during his 
 absence. On his table are spread some English and 
 foreign books. To pass his time away, he will take one 
 of them up now and then, but, alas ! he soon finds that 
 his thoughts wander to more earthly subjects than 
 those of which the volume may treat. His mind is so
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 137 
 
 occupied with his own affairs that he cannot concen- 
 trate his thoughts to read a single page. Like a person 
 conscious of some great crime, he starts up at the 
 slightest noise in the street ; every carriage that passes, 
 he fancies must concern him; but the carriage rolls 
 past his door, as if to mock him, and the respectably- 
 dressed ladies and gentlemen walking through the 
 street, show no inclination to favour him with a call. 
 Even the malicious postman, who brings letters to all 
 the neighbours, seems to have singled him out, and will 
 not bestow his double knock upon our friend's door. 
 The servants are frequently rung for, to be drilled into 
 exact attendance, and in order to be at least doing 
 something for their wages. 
 
 Days, weeks, months, elapse, and no pupils yet. 
 Mr. A. becomes impatient. " Hope delayed maketh 
 the heart sick." The want of exercise and occupation 
 begins to produce ill effects, physically as well as 
 morally. He tries to keep up his spirits, he comforts 
 himself with the prospects of future success, he bol- 
 sters up his fainting heart with hopes of ultimate 
 gain, in which he himself has hardly any confidence. 
 If he does once venture to take a walk for the benefit 
 of his health, he assembles round him his little staff 
 of servants, and gives strict orders how to receive 
 genteel people who might call, and to be sure to 
 show them into the drawing room. Go then, poor 
 man, and inhale a little fresh air. Your silent suf- 
 ferings are intense. Nature may perhaps buoy up your 
 spirits a little. He has scarcely been gone ten minutes 
 when a loud knock is heard at the door, a carriage 
 having stopped before it. The young page, with the 
 swiftness of a hind, runs to open the door. In steps 
 a lady, inquiring whether Mr. A. is at home. The 
 liveried youth, however, having learned his lesson well,
 
 138 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 politely requests the lady to walk into the drawing 
 room, without giving a definite answer to her in- 
 quiry. When the visitor is fairly seated in the hand- 
 some apartment she is told that Mr. A. has gone out, 
 but that he would return in a few minutes. Exit 
 the page, and the lady is left to contemplate, in un- 
 disturbed solitude, the elegant furniture, the costly 
 carpet, the beautiful timepiece. The impression pro- 
 duced is favourable for the professor, the lady un- 
 consciously drawing an inference from the elegance 
 of the apartment to that of the owner, whom she 
 expects every moment to make his appearance. Be- 
 coming impatient, however, the lady rings for the 
 servant and informs him that she can stay no longer, 
 and that Mr. A. will please to come over to her 
 residence, which is but six miles distant, she being 
 desirous of making an engagement with him to teach 
 her children. The servant, of course, remarks that 
 the message would be duly delivered to his master, 
 as soon as he should come in, whereupon the lady 
 enters the carriage, which immediately afterwards is 
 heard rattling away over the pavement. The servants 
 are highly pleased with the visit, their master having 
 hinted that he would not be able to pay them their 
 full wages unless he succeeded shortly to get some 
 profitable tuition. 
 
 In the meanwhile, the teacher without pupils has 
 enjoyed a pleasant walk, and has remained away from 
 home longer than he had originally intended. On 
 his entering the house the page, with a triumphant 
 expression in his countenance, and with the bright 
 air of a man who brings good tidings, hands the 
 lady's card to his master, and delivers the message 
 almost verbatim. The impression produced by the 
 news upon our friend is a strange mixture of pleasure
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 139 
 
 and vexation: of pleasure, because he flatters him- 
 self to have made, at last, a beginning to a brilliant 
 and successful career; and, of vexation, because the 
 lady and that a lady in a carriage had selected for 
 her call the very time when he happened to be absent 
 from home. Fortunately, she had left her card and 
 the promising message, else he would feel inclined 
 to consider himself the most unfortunate of human 
 beings. To remain at home for days, weeks, months, 
 in the vain expectation of customers, and, after all, 
 just to be taking a walk, when fortune, in the form 
 of a tall footman, for the first time knocks at our 
 door, is, to say the least, rather awkward, and we 
 have no reason to chide a man if, under such cir- 
 cumstances, he is dissatisfied with his stars with the 
 constellation under which he was born. It is true, 
 King Lear says : " This is the excellent foppery of 
 the world ! that when we are sick in fortune (often 
 the surfeit of our behaviour) we make guilty of our 
 disasters, the sun, the moon, and the stars : as if we 
 were villains by necessity, fools by heavenly com- 
 pulsion." But we must make allowance for weak, 
 human nature, and, therefore, not be too hard upon 
 Mr. A. when he accuses his nativity. Besides, had 
 he been at home, the sudden appearance of a car- 
 riage before his door might have produced evil con- 
 sequences on the state of his mind. We have heard 
 of the fatal effect of too sudden a transition from 
 grief to joy, from darkness to light. One consider- 
 ation, in particular, reconciles our friend to his un- 
 timely absence ; that is, that the lady sat a few 
 minutes in the drawing room. She must have looked 
 around, and been pleased with the taste and elegance 
 prevailing in that apartment, which had been got 
 up so studiously for effect, like a scene on a stage. 
 So, taking every thing into account, there remains 
 a balance in favour of his prospects.
 
 140 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 On the next day the important question arises, how 
 to proceed to the lady's residence? To repair thither 
 on foot is rather common, and would ill correspond 
 with the character of his establishment. It would, 
 to use a current phrase, go against him. To hire a 
 carriage he can hardly afford, but still he must make 
 that sacrifice. You can scarcely offer a man low terms 
 who comes to your house in a carriage, and, besides, 
 the other engagements, most probably resulting from 
 that new acquaintance, will amply repay the expenses 
 of the hire. So that point is settled. Now Mr. A. 
 is making his toilet in a very superior style, at the 
 same time preparing in his mind a few nicely set 
 phrases, which are to be let off at all hazards. On 
 looking in the glass a feeble smile steals over his 
 countenance. He is rather pleased with his appear- 
 ance, and inclined to be sanguine of success. The 
 carriage is already waiting at the door a very de- 
 cent set out : a pity, however, that the coachman 
 has so much the air of a common cabman. The 
 professor tries to get in with the graceful ease of 
 one accustomed to carriages, and off he drives. I 
 will leave him undisturbed in his silent soliloquies, 
 and not attempt to analyze the mingled feelings 
 which crowd upon him during his short journey. 
 
 He has arrived at his destination. His hopes rise on 
 perceiving the stately, handsome, building. " Surely, 
 such people," he thinks, "can well afford to pay high 
 terms." He is shown into a waiting room, and fills 
 up the few minutes that intervene, until the lady 
 may make her appearance, by repeating those phrases 
 which are to be delivered with great eclat. But now 
 comes disappointment the first. Instead of the noble 
 lady he expected to see, a sprightly young damsel 
 of about sixteen enters his presence. She is exceed- 
 ingly sorry that her ma' is not able to see him, as
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 141 
 
 she took cold on her coming home the day before, 
 and the doctor will not allow her to leave the room. 
 "But sir/' continues the young lady, "ma* wishes 
 me to inquire what your terms would be for coming 
 over to our house twice a-week, and giving three of 
 my sisters and myself a lesson, two hours each time." 
 Mr. A. is at a loss what to answer. The disappoint- 
 ment of seeing the daughter, instead of the mother, 
 has somewhat depressed his spirits, a thought of his 
 "unlucky stars" has crossed his half-bewildered brains 
 so that he is in a state very unfit for calculation. 
 
 According to a notion current among the Moslems, 
 man is accompanied by two genii a good genius on 
 the right hand, and an evil one on the left. In the 
 case of our professor, the evil genius must have been at 
 first very active in confounding the teacher's thoughts. 
 He could not, at the moment, decide whether he should 
 walk, which would certainly be the cheapest way of 
 locomotion, if it could only be made to agree with his 
 false pride or whether he should ride, which would 
 certainly be very pleasant, if it were not so expensive. 
 And, as my readers will perceive, this dilemma bore 
 directly on the question of the terms. However, the 
 good genius came to his aid, and suggested to him the 
 reply, that he would take the liberty of calling again on 
 ,a more convenient day, when mamma would have re- 
 covered from her cold. This expedient, he thought, 
 would give him ample time to consider the question in 
 all its bearings. The young lady forthwith conveys 
 this message to her mamma, and soon returned with 
 the answer, that he need not take the trouble to call 
 again, but if he would be kind enough to send his 
 terms in writing, her mamma would communicate her 
 wishes in a few days. Thereupon the fashionable teacher 
 bows politely, with a smile upon his countenance, but
 
 142 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 with sadness in his heart. He returns home little satis- 
 fied with the result of his visit. Thus, by experience, 
 are we taught the vanity of the hopes with which we so 
 often set out on our career. We are apt to be sanguine 
 as we enter on our vocation, whatever it may be; we are 
 inclined to consider the impediments we may meet as 
 of less moment than they really are. In our mind, we 
 surmount difficulties with the facility of a conjurer ; for 
 not only do we underrate the obstacles likely to be met 
 with, but we likewise overrate our energies. Unlike 
 Don Quixote, who, in his chivalrous imagination, mis- 
 took the wooden sails of a windmill for a human being 
 endowed with strength and the will to fight him, the 
 generality of persons rather imagine matters more ma- 
 nageable than they afterwards prove to be. Distant 
 objects appear smaller than they really are. Experi- 
 ence at length undeceives. 
 
 But I had almost forgotten our friend, the fashion- 
 able teacher. One ray of hope inspired him yet with 
 courage the hope of receiving a favourable reply to his 
 letter, which he intends to write on his arrival at home, 
 after having duly made his calculations. The first bu- 
 siness he addresses himself to, after his return, is to 
 calculate the terms of the prospective engagements. 
 He has of course made up his mind that he must 
 always proceed to the lady's residence in a vehicle to 
 walk is out of the question. The riding expenses for 
 one quarter he calculates at ten guineas, the lessons 
 themselves he sets down at five guineas. So he takes a 
 fine gilt-edged sheet of note paper, and intimates to the 
 lady, in the most genteel terms, that he would be most 
 happy to accept the engagement at fifteen guineas per 
 quarter. The mamma, however, does not seem to be 
 very anxious to have her daughter's instruction com- 
 menced forthwith ; for, in spite of Mr. A.'s impatience
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 143 
 
 to receive a reply, days pass without the postman deli- 
 vering the longed-for note. We will even suppose that 
 our friend has been successful in making a few engage- 
 ments, still sufficient leisure is left him to watch the 
 deliverer of letters, as he passes at certain hours of the 
 day, and to listen to the rattling of carriages, in one of 
 which the lady in question may perhaps be located. 
 Has she not honoured him before with a visit? and 
 may she not do so again ? But, alas ! the more impa- 
 tiently we look forward to a thing, the longer it keeps 
 us waiting, or, as the homely English proverb expresses 
 it, " A watched kettle never boils " 
 
 One morning, however, after taking up, as usual, his 
 position near the window, he observes the postman 
 advancing towards him. Without waiting for the 
 knock, or the servant to open the door, out runs the 
 professor, and, listen O my reader, received from the 
 hand of the blessed postman, half-a-dozen letters. Who 
 can describe the excitement and the hopefulness of the 
 teacher at that moment ? If he had not been so ex- 
 tremely anxious to learn the contents of the letters, I 
 have no doubt but he would have embraced the post- 
 man in the over-abundance of his joy. Surely, among 
 these six letters there will be the reply to the note in 
 which he had stated his terms, and very likely two or 
 three with advantageous offers. With a trembling 
 hand he opens the first, but, to his great disappoint- 
 ment, he finds a tailor's account ! The second con- 
 tains a grocer's bill, the third, fourth, fifth, disclose 
 likewise, to his utter confusion, bills of troublesome 
 tradesmen, who seem to have conspired for his destruc- 
 tion ! Exhausted, he sinks down in a chair, oppressed 
 with grief and sorrow, and hardly venturing to open 
 the sixth letter, for fear that another similar spectre 
 might meet his eye. He summons all the strength
 
 144 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 that is left him, and, on opening the last, he finds, not 
 indeed a tradesman's bill, but a letter full of reproaches 
 by a friend whom he has disappointed in an engage- 
 ment. The messengers who brought Job the evil tid- 
 ings of his misfortune were not able to disturb deeply 
 the pious equanimity of that patriarch. But, I regret 
 to say, the deluded man of whom I am speaking, does 
 not evince that sublimity of character. Not only are 
 all his hopes entirely vanished, not only is he sorely 
 disappointed in his expectations, but demands are urged 
 upon him which he is unable to meet; his reputation is 
 at stake ; he cannot bear to look beyond the present 
 moment his vision is clouded by the multifarious em- 
 barassments which rise before him. 
 
 Half-an-hour afterwards a carriage drives up to his 
 door, a footman having taken a note from a lady in 
 the carriage, makes a few gigantic strides towards 
 the door, which is no sooner touched from without 
 than it is opened from within by the well drilled 
 domestic. The footman hands the note to the latter, 
 resumes his seat behind the carriage, after having 
 communicated to the coachman, in a laconic manner, 
 where to drive next, while the domestic delivers the 
 note to his master, in whose downcast countenance 
 he is acute enough to read his own dismissal at no 
 distant period. The note is to the following effect. 
 "Mrs. B. thinking the terms too high, declines making 
 an engagement with Mr. A." 
 
 " When sorrows come, they coine not single spies, 
 But in battalions." 
 
 The poor professor begins gradually to perceive his 
 miscalculations, he sees the impossibility of his success 
 as a teacher, under such discouraging circumstances. 
 I need not dwell on the necessary consequences of
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 145 
 
 so fatal a speculation. The reader can easily supply 
 them. I may, perhaps, be told that I have over- 
 drawn the picture that I have taken an extreme 
 case. But those who will, for one moment, reflect 
 on the expenses that are necessarily incurred through 
 an establishment made to suit the fashionable taste, 
 and on the other hand, on the length of time required 
 for the obtaining of a numerous and profitable pa- 
 tronage, will find the situation of the man I have drawn 
 to be taken from real life. 
 
 It certainly supposes little sagacity in a man, if he 
 endeavours to promote his interests and to obtain a 
 respectable station in society by the means and in the 
 manner I have instanced. It may be folly rather than 
 an indifference to the principles of honesty and integrity 
 that prompts him to try such a course ; he may perhaps 
 be sanguine enough not to entertain the slightest doubt 
 about his success, he may perhaps not harbour the re- 
 motest idea of defrauding a tradesman or his landlord. 
 Perhaps it would be unjust, therefore, from a higher 
 and moral point of view to burthen such a person in case 
 of failure with the entire responsibility of the conse- 
 quences resulting from his imprudent policy. Who, 
 then, is to share the responsibility with him? It is 
 society that looks more to appearances than to intrinsic 
 worth; it is society that encourages man to consider 
 show of more importance than principle, society that 
 patronizes the mere exterior, regardless of the moral 
 defects which may be hidden from the sight. "Man 
 looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord 
 looketh to the heart." If people are taught that 
 they can best succeed by putting on a mask, they 
 will do it, and will assume different characters ac- 
 cording to the necessities of the case. But here lies 
 the evil. Characters are encouraged at the expense 
 
 L
 
 146 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 of character; hence the demoralizing influence exer- 
 cised by the man of "appearance." We often hear 
 the phrase : " He or she must do it for appearance's 
 sake, or to keep up appearances." What else does 
 that signify but to sail under false colours, to prac- 
 tise imposition and falsehood ? How many hard- 
 working tradesmen are defrauded of their goods and 
 their labour, in the course of one year, by trusting 
 to mere outward show displayed by their customers? 
 How much real good is neglected because the means 
 requisite for its accomplishment are spent in mere 
 display ? But what is worse, many an honest, straight- 
 forward, virtuous mind, is depressed, if not crushed, 
 while presumption, falsehood, deceit, flourish and shine 
 in their painted and unreal colours. 
 
 Although this morbid desire of show is a far-spread 
 disease in society, and, notwithstanding the common 
 disregard of the real man, in favour of the outward man, 
 there are, fortunately, many liberal, enlightened, and 
 truly religious persons, who are above the prejudices 
 of the multitude not infected with those false and 
 shallow notions which, as I have shown, are dangerous 
 to virtue, and frequently undermine the foundation of 
 honesty. I had the good fortune of becoming ac- 
 quainted with some such men, and it afforded me infinite 
 delight, apart from all personal and selfish considera- 
 tions, to see people practising a humane and kindly 
 benevolence, unbiassed by worldly and mean influences. 
 These did not think it below their dignity to employ a 
 man as teacher who struggled with all his force to 
 remain honest, rather than assume a false appearance, 
 at the expense of other people ; they manifested, prac- 
 tically, their opinion, that honest and persevering in- 
 dustry deserves support rather than neglect; that it 
 is the duty of men to encourage uprightness and
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 147 
 
 integrity wherever it is to be found. If we have once 
 convinced ourselves of the soundness of a moral prin- 
 ciple, we ought to act upon it, in defiance of prevailing 
 prejudices, and regardless of what the world may think 
 of it. People are often deterred from following out 
 their own convictions from a fear of offending the pre- 
 judices of the multitude. Frequently it is the depend- 
 ance of man upon man, in a worldly sense, that induces 
 him to sacrifice his principles to the whims and hu- 
 mours of others, or it is the lack of moral courage in 
 those who are in independent circumstances, to act as 
 free and independent agents. We can hardly attribute 
 much character to a man who, in all his doings, looks 
 timidly about him, as if to inquire whether his actions 
 are in accordance with the notions and opinions of the 
 day ; while, on the contrary, we look with admiration 
 upon him who, guided by moral and elevated principles, 
 pursues his own course, and, by his boldness and inde- 
 pendence, ultimately impresses the lookers-on with an 
 idea of his moral dignity, however much they may have 
 felt inclined at first, to scorn and deride him. 
 
 Penetrated by such and similar sentiments, I have 
 always endeavoured to be guided by the psalmist's 
 words : " Trust to God and do what is right." Circum- 
 stanced as I was, with a family to maintain, and firmly 
 resolved not to incur debts, without the certain pros- 
 pect of repaying them, I could not limit my activity to 
 teaching only, but tried to make up the deficiency by 
 the sale of jewellery. Nor had I reason to repent 
 the course I had adopted. With the blessing of God 
 on the assistance of kindhearted men, I gained an 
 honest living. I felt myself rewarded for the firmness 
 with which I had clung to my principles. I was glad 
 not to have built my expectations upon those who, 
 desirous though they be of employing what they term 
 
 L 2
 
 148 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 "respectable" teachers, refuse to pay "respectable" 
 terms. How is a teacher in the country to keep 
 up his respectability, if he does not find ready support 
 and liberal payment? The landlord and the tax-ga- 
 therer are, as all the world knows, not mere crea- 
 tures of fancy not mere imaginary personages, such 
 as the Arabian Nights are peopled with. They are, 
 as it were, the monitors who tell us, every now and 
 then, that life is not a dream ; they are flesh and bone 
 they cannot be reasoned away or denied they insist 
 upon being paid, and will not accept the excuse no, 
 not even the excuse of a teacher, that he is in hopes 
 of meeting with engagements at some future day. 
 They and the tradesmen who, in their human weak- 
 ness, will not allow their bills to be unpaid, follow the 
 victim of folly and imprudence with the obstinacy with 
 which, in heathen mythology, the Furies are repre- 
 sented to follow upon the heels of the wicked. Every 
 day's experience shows us such victims. Accustomed 
 for some time to live in apparent ease, and having 
 contracted expensive habits, they feel the more bitterly 
 the reverse and the fall. They ruin themselves and 
 their families they lose their reputations and their 
 names, which are more precious than wealth. " A good 
 name is rather to be chosen than great riches," or, as 
 the wise king expresses it, in another passage, " A good 
 name is better than precious ointment." 
 
 We ought always to live according to our circum- 
 stances, and husband well the means at our disposal. 
 To aspire to a shining and brilliant outside is the height 
 of human folly. We ought to do that which makes us 
 really happy and contented, and not rear up airy castles 
 without solid foundation, in the vain hope that they 
 will afford us durable shelter and satisfaction. We 
 should, with humble means, make honesty strict and
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 149 
 
 rigid honesty our only guide on the road to prosperity. 
 No matter what obstacles we may meet with, that guide 
 we must always follow. And, if it please the Ruler 
 of our destinies to drive us back again, after we be- 
 lieved ourselves near to our destination, we must gather 
 new strength from our implicit confidence in God, who 
 permits no good to pass unrewarded, as He allows no 
 bad to pass unpunished, and again follow that guide. 
 
 Infinite is the variety of circumstances. And, if one 
 were to ask me how to act under any given circum- 
 stance, I would refer him to the Bible the book of 
 books, full of divine wisdom. I remember having once 
 attended a lecture of C. L. Higgins, Esq., at the Bed- 
 ford Literary and Scientific Institution. The subject 
 of the lecture was an account of that gentleman's jour- 
 ney to Jerusalem. Among other things, he observed, 
 " My friends, if you wish to travel through the Desert, 
 take the Bible for your guide. It is the safest guide 
 you can find." This is true in more than one sense; 
 not only through the Arabian Desert shall we find the 
 Bible to be our safest and most faithful companion, 
 but, in following it, we shall pass safely through the 
 desert of life a desert in which many a poor wanderer 
 finds but seldom an oasis where to rest and refresh 
 himself from his painful and exhausting journey. The 
 religion revealed in the Bible is the pillar of fire that 
 shows us the road when darkness prevails around us, 
 and when, without it, we could scarcely grope our way 
 by our own efforts. It is a staff on which we may 
 safely rest our weary limbs, on our passage from the 
 cradle to the grave. 
 
 The lessons contained in the holy volume are well 
 calculated to enlighten us, and to teach us how best 
 we may do our duty. I purpose to give, in the next
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 chapter, a few illustrations from the Bible, a book which, 
 has that peculiar to it that affords equal delight and 
 instruction to the child and the old man, to the simple 
 and the wise, to the joyful and the sad that it is 
 made for all ages and for all times.
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 151 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 nan 
 
 " They say of me, Doth he not speak parables" 
 Ezek. xx. 49. 
 
 " Nathan, the prophet, and wise instructor at Salem, sat 
 among his disciples, and words of wisdom flowed from his 
 lips, sweet as honey. Then Gamaliel, one of the disciples, 
 asked the venerable teacher, ' Why dost thou ever teach us 
 by parables ? ' 
 
 " Nathan replied and said, ' Behold my son, as I grew up, 
 I felt the word of the Lord within my heart, admonishing 
 me to become a teacher of the people, and to bear testimony 
 to truth. And the Spirit of the Lord came upon me, and I 
 allowed my beard to grow, and put on a rough hairy gar- 
 ment, and went among the people chastising them with 
 severe harsh words. But men fled from me ; they did not 
 take my words to heart, or they found in them allusions to 
 their neighbours not to themselves. Thereupon I grew 
 angry within my mind, I took refuge in the obscurity of 
 Mount Hermon, and I said to myself, If they will not see 
 the light then they shall walk in night, and perish in dark- 
 ness. Thus I exclaimed, wandering angrily in dismal ob- 
 scurity.' 
 
 " But twilight came, and was soon followed by the morn- 
 ing dawn, which purpled the heavens, and poured the early 
 dew upon the mount of Hermon. The night had vanished, 
 and Hermon sent forth sweet odours. Soft and lovely was 
 the lustre of the morning, and misty clouds were hovering 
 round the mountain-top, moistening the herbs. And men 
 walked about cheerfully, and looked up with joy to the ris- 
 ing dawn. And now day descended from the heavens, and 
 the sun left the embrace of the morning dawn, and sent his 
 rays upon the dew- glittering plants.
 
 152 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 " I stood lost in beholding, and my heart was moved. 
 And the east wind rose whispering, and, in its whisperings, 
 I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ' Behold, Nathan, thus 
 sendeth the Lord to the son of the earth, his most precious, 
 most lovely, gift the light of the day ! ' 
 
 " ' And, when I descended from the mountain,' continued 
 the prophet, ' the Spirit of the Lord led me under a pome- 
 granate. And the tree was a beautiful and shady tree, and 
 laden with blossoms and fruits. I stood in its shade, looked 
 upon its shade, looked upon its blossoms and said : Oh, how 
 beautiful ; it is like the purple blush of innocence upon the 
 countenances of the daughters of Israel ! And, stepping 
 nearer, I discovered the delicious fruit, hidden in the shade 
 of the leaves. And the voice of the Lord spoke to me from 
 the pomegranate : Behold, Nathan, thus nature promiseth 
 delicious fruit in the simple blossom, and, concealing her 
 hand, offers it amidst the shades of the foliage.' 
 
 " ' After this, I returned to Salem with a joyful mind ; I 
 laid aside my hairy garment, anointed my head, and taught 
 wisdom in cheering parables ; for truth is grave, and has not 
 many friends. Therefore, she loves to appear, robed in 
 simple, cheerful attire, human among human beings, that 
 she may win friends and disciples.' " 
 
 I have placed this parable at the head of this chapter, 
 to serve as an apology, if, indeed, an apology be needed 
 for the observations which I purpose to make. Para- 
 bles, parabolical and allegorical expressions and illustra- 
 tions were among the most ancient probably the most 
 ancient methods of instruction. Before the human 
 mind had ripened into a living fountain of reflection, 
 before men were capable of descending into any great 
 depth of reasoning, it was necessary to represent ideas 
 by more tangible objects than mere sounds, and to fix the 
 attention of the listener by images which were familiar 
 to his senses. Among the Jews parabolical narratives 
 were of frequent recurrence, and the writings of the 
 rabbis abound in them. It is natural that, with them,
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 153 
 
 every thing was, if possible, supported, or at least 
 adorned by a phrase or an expression from holy writ. 
 The Bible is the Jew's all in all, and justly so. It is 
 not only his code of laws regulating his spiritual, (and, 
 as long as the Jews formed a nation, his political,) wel- 
 fare, but it is also his history, and, though it may sound 
 strange, a history containing the doings of his ancestors, 
 and, at the same time, the condition of his descendants. 
 In the Bible the Jew finds his intrinsic dignity and his 
 apparent humiliation, his past losses and his future 
 gains, his saddest laments and his most cheering conso- 
 lations, his dearest recollections and his most ardent 
 hopes. Is it to be wondered, then, that the Jew has 
 most anxiously guarded this inestimable treasure that 
 every word, nay, every letter, has importance and signi- 
 ficance for him, and that he is most tenacious of all its 
 peculiarities ? 
 
 For some time the Bible formed the exclusive, and 
 for a series of centuries, the paramount subject of Jew- 
 ish research. It would hardly be too bold to assert 
 that the whole voluminous work of the Talmud is but a 
 lengthened comment on holy writ. It is a current 
 phrase among the Talmudists that the words of Scrip- 
 ture are like unto a flinty rock : When you strike the 
 rock with a hammer, a number of atoms will fly in all 
 directions; thus, when you expound a passage of the 
 sacred book, it will diffuse light and instruction in a 
 number of different bearings. It was thus that the 
 popular teachers among the Jews often took a passage 
 of Scripture for their text, and brought into connexion 
 with it any moral truth which they wished to impress 
 upon their audience. It was for that purpose not 
 requisite that the passage quoted had any direct bear- 
 ing upon the subject of which they treated ; the slight- 
 est allusion the faintest resemblance was deemed a
 
 154 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 sufficient ground to be used as a support for their as- 
 sertions. And who would censure a method which, 
 though little in accordance with our modern ideas of 
 explaining Scripture, and, which requires great caution 
 lest it should become instrumental in perverting rather 
 than interpreting the divine word, yet was calculated 
 to introduce moral lessons, in a sanctified garb, and to 
 secure for them ready admission and powerful influence. 
 
 In the following observations, I have followed a simi- 
 lar, but not exactly like, method. I have not, indeed, 
 perverted the sense of holy writ, for which I entertain 
 the most undivided reverence ; but I have used expres- 
 sions in meanings somewhat different from their literal 
 significations, and I have endeavoured to deduce from 
 passages of the sacred volume, lessons which, when pro- 
 perly taken to heart and followed up, will not fail to 
 contribute to the happiness of my fellow-men. 
 
 Whoever has read, with careful attention, the first 
 chapter of Genesis the chapter containing the truly 
 majestic account of the creation of this universe must 
 have noticed the frequent recurrence of the phrase 
 "And God saw that it was good." These same words 
 are emphatically repeated after enumerating the several 
 productions of every day save one only. "And God 
 saw that it was good." We see thus the divine Archi- 
 tect standing still, as it were, at the decline of each day, 
 to survey the work of His hands, and to convince Him- 
 self that it really corresponded with the design formed 
 by His unerring wisdom. Then only, after the examina- 
 tion of the day's work, that day is concluded, and the 
 account proceeds to the succeding one. 
 
 What a multiplicity of lessons may be derived from 
 this passage, on reflecting attentively upon its bearings.
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 155 
 
 First of all, it teaches us to be humble and unassuming. 
 Even He who forms the widest plans and who has, at 
 his disposal, all the means possible to carry out these 
 plans even He condescends to examine His produc- 
 tions before He pronounces them "good." But what 
 do men, in their presumption ? Our knowledge at best, 
 is only an approximation to truth, our views are limited 
 within a very narrow space, a thousand circumstances 
 and unforeseen incidents change the aspect of things 
 upon which we calculated, our means are circumscribed 
 in every direction, our powers cannot extend beyond a 
 certain limit, our strength is dependant upon numerous 
 casualties and yet how often do we find those who put 
 their sole confidence in their own wisdom and act truly 
 as if they were assured that what they do, must be 
 "good." No glance of survey or inquiry is thrown 
 upon their actions, there seems to be no solicitude as to 
 whether they be good or not ; alas ! if they were to 
 stand still and to examine, how frequently would they 
 see that it is not good. 
 
 Our heavenly Father has revealed to us his holy will 
 in the sacred volume ; he has thus furnished us with a 
 mighty staff to support us on our wanderings through 
 this earthly pilgrimage. But men, in their froward- 
 ness, throw away this staff, substitute their folly for the 
 divine wisdom, reason away the laws of God, and would 
 ruin mankind by their perversities. The holy book 
 says : " Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." But 
 presumptuous men say: We will love only those whom 
 we choose, the others we will despise, persecute, tor- 
 ment, and slaughter. The divine law commands: 
 " Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, nor any 
 thing that is thy neighbour's." But short-sighted men 
 say: Why should my neighbour live in a house more 
 splendid than mine? Why should he indulge in
 
 156 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 delicious meats, and I be satisfied with a dry crust? 
 Why should he have a dress more costly or jewels more 
 valuable than I possess? Thus their covetousness 
 drives them to foolish undertakings; to equal their 
 neighbour, nay, to surpass him, is their only aim, they 
 risk every thing, and perhaps lose every thing. Oh 
 that men would be content ! that they would stand and 
 examine their own work and inquire whether it be good, 
 not have their eyes ever fixed upon their neighbour's 
 work, anxiously fearing that it may be better. 
 
 The second useful lesson that is deriveable from the 
 passage above quoted, is caution. Before the Al- 
 mighty proceeded to the second day's work, he inquired 
 into the goodness of the productions of the first day. 
 To a superficial reader, it may seem as if there were no 
 regular succession in the works of creation, and, as if 
 the works of the fifth day might, with equal propriety, 
 have been created on the first. But he who is ac- 
 customed to read Scripture accurately, cannot fail to 
 observe that there is order and a natural gradation in the 
 productions of all the six days as they follow each other. 
 If, then, perfection was to be achieved, the first must 
 have been good, it must have been entirely and properly 
 finished before the next could have been commenced. 
 Of what salutary effect would it be, if we would be 
 instructed from this, and follow a similar conduct in our 
 daily pursuits. We all know that no structure can be 
 raised firmly and lastingly, unless it be erected upon a 
 sound foundation, and we should surely not entertain a 
 high opinion of a builder who would neglect this prin- 
 ciple. And yet, every day's experience shows that there 
 are many such characters among us. There are nume- 
 rous persons, who go on rearing up what they consider 
 the structure of their fortune without ever inquiring 
 upon what foundations it is grounded, and then they
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 157 
 
 feel grieved and disappointed when their proud building, 
 by one adverse accident, crumbles into rubbish. When 
 a tradesman, at the close of one year's accounts, finds 
 that the state of his affairs is not good, he should en- 
 deavour to consolidate the foundation, he should re- 
 trench his manner of living and economise with what is 
 left him. But what is the conduct of most men in such 
 circumstances ? They regard not the base, they remove 
 the eye from the tottering ground-work and look up to 
 the top of the pyramid of riches and magnificence 
 which they have erected for themselves in their mind ; 
 forgetting that their wings are insecure, they strive on 
 and on in their flight upwards, and a sad, or, perhaps, 
 fatal fall, is the unavoidable result. 
 
 How different is it with him who has learned from 
 the omniscient Creator to inquire first whether the one 
 step he has made is good, before he ventures upon a 
 second. With him there will not, indeed, be any rapid 
 ascent, but his progress, though gradual, will be secure. 
 Before the evening of one day comes, before he con- 
 siders one stage of his journey gained, he will carefully 
 look around him, he will investigate cautiously whether 
 what he has done entitles him to proceed further, 
 whether the present aspect of his circumstances is pro- 
 pitious to promise future success, and whether no 
 danger is to be feared from the stride he intends to 
 rn^ke. Then, when he has perfectly satisfied himself in 
 these respects, then will he contentedly close that period 
 of his career and cheerfully set out upon the next day's 
 joiirney, to see new creations spring up in his path, and 
 to lead on his work to such ultimate perfection as is 
 in man's power to obtain. 
 
 Among all the narratives which are introduced in the 
 inspired writings there are few so touching, few so
 
 158 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 replete with interest and salutary instruction as the 
 history of Joseph, the son of the third patriarch. From 
 the beginning to the end of the account, we may stop 
 at almost every instance of it, to contemplate and com- 
 pare the situation described with similar occurrences or 
 circumstances in our own life, and draw from it impres- 
 sive lessons and beneficent advice. 
 
 At the very outset of the history, when Joseph, " the 
 lad, was with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of 
 Zilpah," we read that " Israel loved Joseph more than 
 all his children," and that "he made him a coat of 
 many colours." This certainly was more the act of a 
 fond than a wise father, and, as was natural, the object 
 of his doting affection soon became odious in the eyes 
 of his brethren. I do not think that I can be taxed 
 with deviating from the original account, if I supply the 
 link which seems to be wanting, and say that Joseph, 
 by the distinction shown him by his father, grew proud 
 and overbearing towards his brethren, and thus called 
 forth their hatred, which was attended with such im- 
 portant consequences. A vanity of this kind, though 
 by no means undeserving of censure, seems excusable 
 in the lad Joseph ; but how many are there among us, 
 not merely youths, but men in the full development of 
 their mental faculties, who exhibit no less foolish a 
 pride than that grounded on lt a coat of many colours." 
 Some there are whom their heavenly Father has fa- 
 voured as if they were his particular fondlings with 
 riches, with honours, and all the other goods of the 
 earth, whom, in short, he has clad in " a coat of many 
 colours ;" and I ask, Do they make better use of their 
 distinctions than the lad Joseph did? Do they use 
 these gifts of fortune, bestowed upon them for purposes 
 best known to him who deals out the portions to all 
 mortals do they employ them in a manner to win the
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 159 
 
 love and esteem of their less fortunate fellows ? Or do 
 they not rather conduct themselves so as to incite the 
 envy and hatred of their neighbours, or at least deserve 
 their contempt ? If the rich would consider the wealth 
 apportioned to them as a means of doing good, if they 
 would show their gratitude for the ease in which they 
 live, by numerous acts of kindness to their suffering 
 brethren, by giving a ready support to those that are 
 sinking, and upholding those whose strength is fainting 
 away. Then, indeed, would the " coat of many co- 
 lours" in which they are wrapt, shine forth in all its 
 brightness, to mark the favoured of the Lord, while, 
 when they neglect to make the proper use of their pos- 
 sessions, their "coat of many colours" singles them 
 out as objects of contempt and hatred, and the " many 
 colours" are so many reflections of the reproaches 
 which they incur. 
 
 I would liken the situation of the rich man on earth 
 to that of a steward of a nobleman. A nobleman who 
 possesses a large estate, keeps many servants, and em- 
 ploys a great number of labourers, does not himself 
 take the charge of distributing the payments among 
 all these persons, but he appoints a steward whom he 
 entrusts with a considerable sum, and who is to distri- 
 bute it according to his best views, and according to the 
 ^claims of the several individuals. If this steward be a 
 conscientious man, and endeavours to make the best 
 possible use of the money at his disposal, he will not 
 only please those among whom he distributes the sums, 
 but he will likewise gain favour with his master for the 
 judicious manner with which he discharges his office. 
 But, if he be unjust, and withhold the sums from the 
 poor labourers, these people will complain of him to 
 his master, he will incur his displeasure and, perhaps, 
 be dismissed from his post. In a similar situation has
 
 160 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 the Lord placed those whom he has favoured with 
 riches more than the rest of their brethren. They are, 
 as it were, the stewards of the gifts of nature, which 
 are in their hands. If they bestow them well, if they 
 employ them according to the will of their Lord and 
 Master, they will gain favour in his sight, and earn his 
 blessings. But if they fail in the good administration 
 of the fortunes entrusted to them, if they do not dis- 
 tribute liberally among their poorer fellows, these will 
 cry to the Lord about their harshness, and the Lord 
 will be displeased with his stewards, and perhaps de- 
 prive them of the riches that he had given to their 
 keeping. 
 
 If, in this one instance, we had to remark upon the 
 inconsiderate vanity of Joseph, we shall now, through- 
 out his eventful history, find him a model of genuine 
 virtue and charming loveliness. The heart-rending 
 scene which takes place when he is sold into slavery by 
 his unfeeling brethren, who are deaf to his urgent en- 
 treaties, cannot fail to engage for the unfortunate exile 
 the favour of every reader. But his reverses have not 
 yet filled their measure : by the intrigues of a woman, 
 whose temptations his austere virtue withstood with all 
 the firmness and courage of a hero, he is thrown into pri- 
 son, there to linger with defaulters, and to be deprived 
 even of that shadow of freedom which he enjoyed as a 
 slave. His conduct in prison is perhaps the most re- 
 markable throughout his life. What must have been 
 his feelings when he contrasted his present condition 
 with his former circumstances ! In the land of Canaan 
 he was the pet of an aged and wealthy father, who 
 doted on him with all the weakness of old age and the 
 affection of one who loved his virtues. There was no- 
 thing, probably, that was refused him, when he desired 
 it, if it only lay within the means of his affluent parent.
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 101 
 
 Add to this, that the two memorable dreams which he 
 had in youth, must have impressed his mind with 
 visions of greatness and splendour, and kept alive 
 within him the most sanguine hopes and the brightest 
 expectations. On the contrary, he was now separated 
 from all who were dear to him no kind father, no 
 brothers, no playmates, not even a friend was near him 
 to sympathise with his sorrows, and he could not rea- 
 sonably entertain the hope that he would ever be 
 restored to the bosom of his family. He was in a 
 foreign land, a depised slave, a prisoner deprived, no 
 doubt, of nearly all the comforts of life his table, we 
 may imagine, not very amply nor very deliciously sup- 
 plied. I can never peruse this part of Joseph's history 
 without being strongly reminded of my own sorrowful 
 condition when I first came to this country. In my 
 youth I had likewise been accustomed to the kindness 
 of affluent parents, and I had ever borne myself with 
 the sanguine hopes of a bright future. Removed in 
 tender years from the land of my birth, I was thrown 
 on a foreign shore, and cares and troubles of all descrip- 
 tions rushed upon me, uninured as I was to suffering 
 and want. But the same light which brightened the 
 dark recesses of Joseph's prison in Egypt, and con- 
 verted his dungeon into a habitable dwelling, the 
 same light guided me on my path beset with afflictions 
 .and miseries it was the firm confidence in God's 
 lovingkindness, who does not disown nor forsake any 
 of his faithful children. 
 
 So deeply was Joseph impressed with that implicit 
 trust in his Maker that, in the dark hours of captivity, 
 his mind kept aloof, and, so far from giving himself 
 up to despair, to which men are prone in the days of 
 adversity, his conduct was cheerful and his manners so 
 engaging that he found grace in the sight of his jailer, 
 
 11
 
 102 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 who treated him with less rigour than the rest of the 
 prisoners, seeing that his heart was truly good. This 
 circumstance clearly shows what a powerful agent in 
 all the changes of our lives confidence in God is. For 
 it was by this, it was by the conviction that by the 
 hand of Providence he had been led into that misery, 
 that it was a trial sent him by the design of an allwise 
 Being it was by this that Joseph was likewise taught 
 to hope that the same Hand would find the means of 
 his deliverance, and that, if he went through this trial 
 with a manly courage, success would not fail to attend 
 him. And the result showed that his hopes were not 
 futile, it proved that indeed " the Lord redeemeth the 
 soul of his servants : and none of them that trust in 
 him shall be desolate." 
 
 But let us not yet leave the Hebrew youth in the 
 Egyptian prison, into which he was so unjustly cast. 
 We read that, one morning when he entered the cell of 
 two fellow-prisoners, he perceived that "they were 
 sad." With a kind sympathising interest, ready to 
 participate in, and, if possible, to relieve the woes of his 
 neighbours, Joseph enquired : " Wherefore look ye so 
 sadly to-day?" Simple words, it is true, but great in 
 what they convey. We can fancy the sweet loveliness 
 with which the amiable son of Jacob's beloved wife 
 pronounced these words, the cheerful countenance with 
 which he looked at the discomforted prisoners, and 
 which, while setting them the example how to bear re- 
 verses of fortune, was a delicate reproach upon their 
 despondency; we can imagine the magic effect which 
 the sounds produced upon their disturbed minds, by 
 declaring to them that, though they were disgraced 
 with their master, though they were separated from 
 all the world, and shut out from the society of men, 
 yet there was a kindred soul near them, there was a
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 163 
 
 human being within the same walls with them, in 
 whose heart there dwelt sympathy with their suffer- 
 ings, in whose eye there sprang up a fountain of 
 tears for their misfortunes. In no instance of his life 
 does Joseph appear greater than when he uttered 
 these kind words. Himself a captive and imprisoned 
 without his own fault, himself deprived of every 
 comfort, and friendless in a strange land, he yet 
 sought to console those that were near him, to in- 
 fuse healing balm into their wounds, and to con- 
 vert the gloom of their countenances into a cheerful 
 smile. How few followers has Joseph in this ! When 
 men are in distress they are generally taken up so 
 much with their own misfortune that all they can 
 give to the sorrows of others is, perhaps, an expres- 
 sion of sympathy which, properly viewed, is nothing 
 but an echo of their own feelings. But who is there 
 anxious to soothe the pains of others while his own 
 pains are stinging him to the quick? Yet such was 
 the disposition of the exiled, enslaved, and captive 
 Hebrew, such were the principles of humanity in 
 which he had been trained from his early youth, that 
 he forgot for the moment how wretched he himself 
 was, or sought relief for his wretchedness only in a 
 kind, humane action. 
 
 In addition to the separation from his native soil, 
 and to the hardships of imprisonment, it was Joseph's 
 dire lot to experience likewise the pains of disap- 
 pointment. For once the pious youth had swerved 
 from his firm trust in his Maker : when he inter- 
 preted the dream of the chief butler, he entreated 
 him not to forget his benefactor in the days of pros- 
 perity, but to lay the cause of the oppressed before the 
 throne of Pharaoh ; the unfortunate prisoner, however, 
 was doomed to learn how little reliance there is to 
 
 M 2
 
 164 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 be placed in men, and that ingratitude is not un- 
 common among the mortal race. "It is better to 
 trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. 
 It is better to trust to the Lord than to put con- 
 fidence in princes." This truth had Joseph for one 
 moment disregarded, and he was punished for his 
 error. By addressing his request to the chief butler, 
 who was shortly to be reinstated in his high office 
 about the person of the king, Joseph probably thought 
 that he could not fail to insure his speedy deliverance, 
 especially as the man who was to plead his cause was 
 bound to him by many acts of kindness, and par- 
 ticularly by this last deed of interpreting a dream 
 which caused him so much uneasiness. Yet no sooner 
 was Pharaoh's cup-bearer released from prison than 
 he forgot Joseph and his kindness, and, for him, the 
 innocent Hebrew might have lingered in his dungeon 
 until death. Such, indeed, would be the lot of most 
 men who would put their sole confidence in their 
 neighbours. I will not here inveigh against the want 
 of grateful feelings among men, I will not enter 
 into a discourse how much falsehood there prevails 
 amidst the children of the earth, and how many 
 promises there are given without even the will to 
 fulfil them ; but, independently of these considera- 
 tions, do we not know, that it is in the nature of 
 men to be entirely engrossed with their own affairs? 
 to be so deeply engaged in their worldly pursuits, 
 of whatever description they may be, that they always 
 make the care of their fellow-beings a secondary, and 
 sometimes, no consideration at all? And especially, 
 the sudden transition from adversity to prosperity is 
 a dangerous step for most persons in this respect. 
 They are but too often inclined to efface from their 
 memory all the traces of their former situation, and 
 vanity often induces them to suppress the sympathy
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 165 
 
 which would force itself upon their hearts, in behalf 
 of those who were but yesterday their companions 
 in misfortune. 
 
 Joseph's happiness, however, had been promised and 
 decreed by a Friend in whom there is no deceit, and 
 who is all truth, for " God is not a man that he 
 should lie; neither the son of man that he should 
 repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or 
 hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?" 
 He who had before, in nightly visions, indicated to 
 the shepherd youth the greatness for which he was 
 destined, now brought on the fulfilment of His mys- 
 teriously given promise. It is well known to all my 
 readers how, through interpreting the dreams of the 
 Egyptian king, Joseph was raised to the office of 
 prime minister in that great empire of antiquity. 
 
 The first words which the Hebrew slave addressed 
 to the mighty monarch of Mizrayim are beautifully 
 illustrative of the sweet and amiable character of the 
 youth, who unassumingly acknowledged his talents to 
 be a boon bestowed on him by the especial favour of 
 God. "It is not in me," said the modest youth, 
 "God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace." And 
 yet his heart must have bounded in transports, when 
 he again appeared in the raiment of a free man, when 
 he heard the prison doors shut behind him, and saw 
 before him the prospect of regaining his liberty. But 
 he would not purchase even that costliest of treasures 
 by pretending to a knowledge which he was aware, 
 he did not in reality possess; it was then that he 
 collected all his confidence in his Creator^ and the 
 words which he uttered attest an implicit resignation 
 in the will of the Most High. If it please God to 
 free him from his present condition, thought he, this
 
 166 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 might become a means to effect it, but he himself 
 was powerless, it was the wisdom of God that would 
 deliver him not his own. 
 
 Before I quit this subject I will make a few ob- 
 servations on the dreams themselves and their inter- 
 pretation. Pharaoh had dreamed that "the lean and 
 ill-favoured kine did eat up the first seven fat kine. 
 And when they had eaten them up, it could not be 
 known that they had eaten them; but they were still 
 ill-favoured." This Joseph interpreted, that the seven 
 years of famine, which were to come over the land, 
 would consume all the produce of the seven years 
 of plenty which were to precede them ; and he, there- 
 fore, advised that precautions should be taken that, 
 during the years of abundance, stores should be laid 
 up for the years of want. Practically, this advice 
 may find multifarious applications in every man's 
 life. When men are in prosperous circumstances, 
 when the seeds they have sown produce an over 
 abundant harvest, they should provide against the 
 evil, they should not live up to their income entirely, 
 but lay by a part for years to come. For the ac- 
 cidents of life are of various shapes; sometimes mis- 
 fortune will come upon us in the form of illness, 
 sometimes another occurrence will disable us from 
 following up our usual pursuits. Those that take 
 Joseph's advice, those that have saved a part of their 
 abundance, to serve as a support in days less bright, 
 will then earn the reward of their provident conduct, 
 and fare well with it. But there are many who ut- 
 terly disregard this important practical lesson, there 
 are many who, as Diogenes said, "live as if they 
 were to die every day;" as long as fortune showers 
 down her gifts upon them and surrounds them with 
 affluence, they live sumptuously, they expend their
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 167 
 
 full income, nay, sometimes more; for the intoxica- 
 tion of wealth easily induces men to desire and to 
 expect greater riches daily, and when fortune leaves 
 them they are utterly wrecked, there is nothing left 
 from their former prosperous condition but the mor- 
 tification of the cruel contrast, and the thought that 
 they had it in their own power to provide against 
 this wretchedness, and that they neglected to do so 
 they are then "ill-favoured" indeed. 
 
 No one, in good circumstances, ought to allow a 
 day to pass without having done something for the 
 future. It is folly to imagine that, because we are 
 now well favoured, we must ever be so; change and 
 inconstancy are the two perpetual companions of 
 human life, and, if they exercise their empire on one 
 thing more than upon the rest, it is upon the for- 
 tunes of men. He who was a wealthy man yesterday 
 may to-day be reduced to the wretched condition of 
 a pauper; he who but yesterday could have dispensed 
 charity amongst thousands of his brethren may to-day 
 be obliged to beg a crust of bread from his benevolent 
 neighbour; and he who yesterday lived magnificently 
 in a gaudy palace may to-day seek an asylum in an 
 humble cottage. If men could but be taught by 
 such lessons without the severe rod of experience ! 
 But alas ! daily do we see persons regardless of this 
 maxim; daily do we see men squander their posses- 
 sions in folly, expend more than, according to their 
 earnings, they ought to do, and live beyond their 
 means. But what is the consequence ? They rob their 
 kind fellow-men (for their creditors are not their op- 
 pressors, but rather their benefactors) ; they thus 
 draw upon themselves the contempt of every man 
 who is upright of heart, they lose the estimation in 
 which thcv have hitherto been held bv their friends
 
 168 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 arid acquaintances, the riches which they have con- 
 sumed are no more seen, in fact, " it cannot be known 
 that they have eaten them/' but they are in all respects 
 " ill-favoured." 
 
 While the above observation applies to persons of 
 mature years, and more particularly to such as are 
 engaged in some trade or profession, the words of 
 Scripture convey likewise a sound, useful lesson for 
 the young. The years of youth are the years of 
 plenty. During the early period of life the human 
 mind is in a state of exuberancy the soil is most fit 
 for cultivation, and, if properly sown, would yield 
 "an hundredfold." The mental powers, not yet worn 
 out with cares and anxieties that beset the path of 
 every traveller in the earthly wilderness, are in full 
 vigour; and the organs of the body exhibit the pic- 
 ture of healthful life and freshness. This is the time 
 when we should lay in a store for years to come. 
 Old age is not always it is not necessarily a time 
 of want, but it is surely a time from which we cannot 
 reasonably expect an abundant produce. The de- 
 clining years of man are not always ' l years of famine," 
 but they are generally "poor and very ill-favoured, 
 and lean-fleshed." Who then would allow the years 
 of plenty to pass away without making such use of 
 them as will tend to shed a lustre of comfort and 
 happiness on the evening of his life? 
 
 Frequently has the human life been compared to 
 a single day, and in this respect also the comparison 
 holds good. As the morning hours are the best for 
 study, because then the mind is yet free from the 
 various thoughts which will naturally cross it during 
 the day, so are the years of youth, the morning of 
 life, the best time for the acquisition of knoAvlcdge.
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 169 
 
 When the mind is yet tender and open to impres- 
 sions, these impressions ought to be made; we cannot 
 begin too early to introduce the young to the study of 
 the sciences and to the exercise of their religious duties. 
 The latter particularly must be inculcated in the youth- 
 ful heart before any evil propensity can take root there. 
 Most persons, I may confidently say, have experienced 
 during the course of their lives, that to unlearn is a 
 task of much greater difficulty than to learn. It is 
 tiresome work to outroot first all the weeds that cover 
 a field before we can lay in the seed. Those, there- 
 fore, that are anxious for the sound, religious educa- 
 tion of their children, should not wait until these 
 have contracted habits which must again be laid aside, 
 or have imbibed notions in discordance with those 
 principles which they are expected to follow through 
 life. Our sages have said : " f This world is, as it were, 
 the antechamber to the world to come," and so are 
 the years of youth the antechamber to the life of 
 a man. While we are in this antechamber we ought 
 to prepare all we intend to say or to do in the palace 
 we are about to enter; so ought we to go forth from 
 youth well prepared for the different situations of 
 life, so that, in any condition in which we may be 
 placed in after years, we should be able to take coun- 
 sel from the lessons received in our youth, and not 
 be left without a guide in this labyrinth of dangers 
 and casualties.
 
 170 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 " Thou shall love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the 
 Lord." Lev. xix. 18. 
 
 Religion as well as science, literature, politics, and 
 manners, has experienced the irresistible influence of 
 civilisation and progress. It is not so much, however, 
 the religious systems themselves that have undergone 
 changes in modern times, although, in the interpre- 
 tation of dogmas and religious doctrines, the influence 
 of philosophy, of enlarged views concerning humanity 
 in its widest sense, is distinctly perceptible. The 
 progress, with respect to religion, consists rather in 
 the altered spirit with which the more enlightened 
 professors of the several religious persuasions view 
 the doctrines and precepts of their respective faiths. 
 Religions were formerly exclusive, now they have be- 
 come tolerant ; formerly they preached hatred and 
 persecution against infidels and heretics names given 
 to dissenters and followers of other creeds now hu- 
 manity and freedom have checked that irreligious and 
 ungodly zeal; formerly, every one born in a different 
 faith was ipso facto an enemy, now he is considered 
 as a fellow-man; formerly, the fire of the stake and 
 the auto da fe were to enlighten people respecting the 
 doctrines of the church, now the light is diffused by 
 much gentler and more humane means. The history 
 of religious persecutions forms, indeed, the darkest 
 page in the history of mankind. The professors of
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 171 
 
 Judaism have reason to be proud that their fathers 
 were only passively concerned in such persecutions. 
 
 One great injustice which strikes us as done to the 
 Jews is, their being continually reproached with aver- 
 sion and hatred towards their oppressors and perse- 
 cutors. The universal prejudice against that race 
 was not the consequence of the crimes imputed to 
 them, such as poisoning the wells, kidnapping Chris- 
 tian children, blaspheming the Author, and scorning 
 the rites of the Christian religion, but these imputed 
 crimes were, on the contrary, the consequence of that 
 very prejudice the product of that anti-Jewish feeling 
 by which Christians, in those dark and happily bygone 
 ages, thought it a sacred duty to be animated. Those 
 prejudices and anti-Jewish feelings had their origin 
 in the early history of the Christian religion. On 
 this point, however, it is not my intention at present 
 to enter. 
 
 To repel the above-named and other charges against 
 the Jews was frequently undertaken by men of pa- 
 triotism and learning. Among others, this was done, 
 at least with some practical success, by Rabbi Manasseh 
 ben Israel, who, in the time of the Protector, came 
 over to England from Amsterdam, in which place he 
 was the spiritual chief of the congregation of Por- 
 tuguese Jews. The Jews had been expelled from 
 England under the reign of Edward I., and it was 
 not till the time of Cromwell that they received per- 
 mission to return to this country. For this they were 
 principally indebted to the said Rabbi Manasseh ben 
 Israel, who, accompanied by a small number of his 
 co-religionists, pleaded their cause before the Protector 
 and parliament. He met, however, with greater ob- 
 stacles than he had expected, and, when he almost
 
 172 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 despaired of the success of the undertaking he wrote 
 a paper called "the Justification of the Jews,"* in 
 the shape of a reply to certain questions which an 
 Englishman of high standing had addressed to him 
 concerning the wrongs generally imputed to the Jewish 
 nation. 
 
 Some of the charges refuted sound ridiculous enough 
 to our ears; but as it may be of interest to some of 
 my Christian readers to learn the nature of the in- 
 famous slander to which the Jews were exposed, and 
 as these, moreover, are characteristic of the spirit of 
 the times in which they were produced, I will men- 
 tion the principal points contained in Rabbi Manasseh's 
 letter. 
 
 He begins by refuting the malignant accusation 
 that the Jews were in the habit of using the blood 
 of Christians for their passover cakes. He shows the 
 absurdity of this imputation from passages of the 
 written and oral law, and from the writings of Jewish 
 sages. It would be wasting the time of my readers, 
 and attributing to a preposterous calumniation an im- 
 portance which it has altogether lost in these days, 
 were I to dwell on the arguments taken both from 
 Judaism and from common sense, or on the facts 
 totally annihilating the accusation, which are adduced 
 by the rabbi. So far, indeed, are the Jews from 
 killing Christians, the rabbi proves, that they conti- 
 nually pray for, and endeavour after the peace, welfare, 
 and prosperity of the city wherein they dwell, and 
 the inhabitants thereof, and they call down a par- 
 ticular blessing upon the prince or magistrate under 
 whose protection they live.f "And this," continues 
 Rabbi Manasseh, "the Right Honourable my Lord St. 
 * Note 20. f Note 21.
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 173 
 
 John can testify, who, when he was ambassador to 
 the Lords the States of the United Provinces, was 
 pleased to honour our synagogue at Amsterdam with 
 his presence, where our nation entertained him with 
 music, and all expressions of joy and gladness, and 
 also pronounced a blessing, not only upon his Honour 
 then present, but upon the whole Commonwealth of 
 England, for that they were a people in league and 
 amity, and because we conceived some hopes that they 
 would manifest towards us, what we ever bear towards 
 them, viz. : all love and affection." 
 
 He then proceeds to answer the questions whether 
 the Jews in their synagogues really bestow upon the 
 scrolls of the law an adoration amounting to idolatry, 
 whether it is a part of their religion to curse and 
 hate the Christians, to blaspheme their religion and 
 consider them as idolaters, and whether it is the 
 practice with the Jews to convert others to their 
 faith. 
 
 Having dealt with these questions in a masterly 
 manner, Rabbi Manasseh addresses himself to the con- 
 sideration, whether the English would be losers in 
 a commercial point by admitting the Jews to settle 
 in England. "Some say," he remarks, "that if the 
 Jews come to dwell here, they will draw unto them- 
 selves the whole negotiation to the great damage of 
 the natural inhabitants." But the Jewish rabbi is 
 inclined to think that the English would gain by the 
 transport of the goods of the Jews, and by the public 
 payments of customs, excise, and similar taxes. Be- 
 sides, the Jews being acquainted with the different 
 parts of the world, would confer advantages upon 
 commerce in general, by communicating their know- 
 ledge respecting the different countries, their wants
 
 174 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 and products. While on this subject he passes a 
 compliment on the English, by saying : 
 
 " In my opinion there is not in the world a more under- 
 standing people for most navigations, and more capable of 
 all negotiation than the English nation is." 
 
 The whole letter breathes a spirit of pious submission 
 to the decrees of Him who scattered Israel among the 
 nations of the world, and, at the same time, evinces 
 in the writer a consciousness of oppression mingled 
 with the strong desire of releasing his co-religionists 
 of their almost intolerable burdens. I recommend to 
 to my Christian readers a perusal of Rabbi Manasseh's 
 letter, and I am convinced they would not lay it 
 down without feelings of deep sympathy with the 
 sufferings which the Jews had to endure, and without 
 indignation at the gross injustice of these sufferings. 
 The concluding passage of the letter runs thus : 
 
 " And to the highly honoured nation of England I make 
 my most humble request that they would read over my ar- 
 guments impartially, without prejudice, and devoid of all 
 passion, effectually recommending me to their grace and 
 favour, and earnestly beseeching God that He would be 
 pleased to hasten the time promised by Zephaniah, wherein 
 we shall serve Him with one consent, after the same man- 
 ner, and shall be all of the same judgment ; that, as His 
 name is One, so His fear may be also one ; and that we may 
 all see the goodness of the Lord (blessed for ever !) and the 
 consolations of Zion. Amen." 
 
 Almost two centuries have elapsed since that letter 
 was Avritten. The prejudices against the Jews have 
 greatly diminished, and those which yet exist no longer 
 appear in that odious form which they had assumed 
 during the dark centuries of oppression and perse- 
 cution. It is an important proof of the power of
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 175 
 
 civilisation, and it affords, at the same time, con- 
 solation to the friend of humanity, that even that 
 which is radically bad in human nature shows, in its 
 manifestations, the influence of that progressive spirit 
 which leads the human race onward in its career. 
 Selfishness, avarice, envy, deceit, intolerance, though 
 in their nature and essence they are the same as 
 they were a thousand years ago, manifest themselves 
 in a different way in the nineteenth century from 
 that in which they appeared in the fourteenth. The 
 same applies to the prejudices yet existing against 
 the Jews. They have assumed a milder form, and 
 the spirit of the age prevents them from assuming 
 a dangerous character. It is impossible to tell how 
 far some of the opponents to Jewish emancipation 
 in parliament would go had they the power to do 
 what they like, and were there any possibility of 
 annihilating the force of public opinion. Their in- 
 tolerance is composed of the same stuff of which the 
 intolerance of a priest of the Inquisition was made. 
 But, though the materials be the same, the pattern 
 is necessarily different. Even Sir Robert H. Inglis, 
 Messrs. Spooner, Newdegate, and Plumptre, would 
 not put Jews to the rack, burn them in Smithfield, 
 or even expel them in a mass from this country. 
 Such is the influence of progress even on those who 
 are opposed to progress, who cherish ancient preju- 
 dices as the antiquarian does the rust on pieces of 
 great antiquity. This party has, I might almost say, 
 an insuperable aversion to the Jews ; its members 
 are so intensely religious if, indeed, it deserve that 
 term that they opine England can only be truly 
 happy and prosperous, as all her inhabitants ac- 
 knowledge their principles and dogmas. It is not 
 owing to them that Roman Catholics have seats in 
 parliament; they would exclude dissenters if they
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 could. In opposing the admission of Jews into par- 
 liament they have recourse to all sorts of arguments 
 which have been again and again refuted. Thus, they 
 say that one Jewish member of parliament would un- 
 christianise the country, thereby paying, unconsciously, 
 a great compliment to the Jews. In their blind zeal 
 they appeal to antiquated prejudices; they represent 
 the Jew as being animated by an ill feeling against the 
 Christians, and entertaining loose notions on important 
 points of morality. But, as it is part of my object in 
 these pages to show the prejudices against my brethren 
 in faith are unfounded; that the Jewish religion com- 
 mands us to practise kindness and love to non-Israel- 
 ites, that there is nothing in the Jewish law which pre- 
 vents us from being loyal subjects and useful citizens. 
 
 A most crying injustice has always been the dis- 
 position to impute to the whole community of the 
 Jews the impropriety of an individual. No matter how 
 small or how great the offence, the whole nation has 
 been forthwith charged with it. The responsibility has 
 been, as it were, thrown upon the entire body of the 
 Jews. This, I regret to say, is done even now-a-days 
 by the vulgar. But what would Christians say if every 
 fraud, theft, murder, perpetrated by individual Chris- 
 tians, were laid to the charge of the Christians in 
 general? Happily, in the present age, this injustice 
 is not attended with any palpable evil consequences. 
 But there was a time when whole communities had 
 to suffer for an offence justly or unjustly attributed 
 to one of its members. 
 
 Nor is this injustice without a natural cause. The 
 Jews have always preserved a separate existence, in 
 outward appearance, in religion, in manners and in 
 customs. The Jew was easily recognised by his
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 177 
 
 characteristic distinctions, so that he was at once known 
 to be a Jew wherever he appeared, and it necessarily 
 fastened itself upon the attention of those who came in 
 contact with him. His individual character was lost in 
 the generic one. This is the case with, all bodies of 
 men who distinguish themselves by certain characteris- 
 tics from the great mass among whom they live and 
 move. For example, an offence committed by an indi- 
 vidual who happens to be a member of the Society of 
 Friends, would be spoken of as an offence committed 
 by a person belonging to that community, and would 
 thus reflect disadvantageously on the whole body of 
 Friends, at least in the eyes of the unthinking multi- 
 tude. To this natural cause were superadded, in the 
 case of the Jew, the aversion and hatred existing 
 against the whole nation, and malice and intolerance 
 availed themselves but too gladly of opportunities to 
 blame upon the Jews in general what was only the 
 fault of an individual. 
 
 The penal laws and restrictions to which the Jews 
 w r ere subjected more or less in all countries were at- 
 tended by evil consequences to their moral character. 
 Freedom is a necessary condition of development, 
 physical as well as mental and moral. No plant can 
 thrive can attain to full growth without freedom. 
 The human frame becomes crippled, if restrained in its 
 Tree development. If we compare a people living under 
 a despotic government with one in the enjoyment of 
 free institutions, we shall find that the latter are supe- 
 rior to the former in all manly qualities in honesty, 
 straightforwardness, independence, and energy. Is it, 
 then, matter of surprise that the Jews, during centu- 
 ries of persecution and slavery, nay, worse than slavery, 
 should have contracted habits unbecoming free men ? 
 I have already, in a former chapter, spoken of the
 
 178 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 influence which the multifarious restrictions upon the 
 energies of the Jews exercised upon their social posi- 
 tion. But he surely must be blind, or unwilling to use 
 his eyes, who would deny the immense progress the 
 Jews have made in all countries since the day when 
 their emancipation commenced since the time when 
 the sun again began to shine upon them. To say, 
 therefore, that the Jew is by nature selfish, intent upon 
 gain, averse to the higher vocations of life, or animated 
 by any unkind feeling towards his Christian brethren, 
 is the height of injustice. 
 
 The bond of union which attaches the liberal Jew to 
 the liberal Christian becomes closer and closer every 
 day, and we hear or read daily of acts of kindness and 
 love unrestricted by considerations of sect and diversity 
 of religion. The following fact will serve as an illustra- 
 tion : 
 
 Some time ago, a Jew received a communication 
 from a lady residing about fifteen miles from Bedford, 
 inviting him to come to her house, on a certain day, 
 carrying with him certain articles of merchandise; as 
 she expected some friends who intended to purchase 
 from him. On the morning of the appointed day, he 
 left home to proceed to the lady's residence. He had 
 to drive through Elstow, a village about a mile and a 
 half distant from Bedford. The Rev. John Wing was 
 incumbent of that parish, and his mother, a lady pos- 
 sessing an excellent heart, was at that time residing at 
 Elstow. Mrs. Wing had always been very kind to 
 the Jew of whom I speak, who would never pass 
 through Elstow without calling at her house and in- 
 quiring after her welfare. It afforded him great delight 
 to meet that countenance beaming with kindness and 
 benevolence. The expression of kindness in the human
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 179 
 
 countenance is peculiarly pleasing, and, if anything, 
 gains an attraction with the decline of physical charms. 
 So accustomed did he become to that lady's house, that 
 he always felt as if he were visiting the dwelling-place 
 of some near and dear relation. Many favours did she 
 show to the poor Israelite struggling to obtain an 
 honest livelihood in a foreign land, and the pleasure 
 with which she heard of his progress, gave evidence of 
 a heart whose naturally kind disposition was not re- 
 stricted by narrowniindedness or bigotry. 
 
 When, on the day above-mentioned, he drove through 
 Elstow, he stopped at the lady's house as usual, but, on 
 entering, he perceived her countenance cast down and 
 bearing the marks of some inward agitation, he was 
 somewhat reluctant to acquaint her with the purpose of 
 his journey, seeing that her mind was too much oc- 
 cupied by some other matter. Still her kindness 
 prompted her to ask how he was getting on, and he then 
 told her on what business he was going. Thinking that 
 he could perhaps relieve her mind, if he knew the cause 
 of its depression, he asked whether anything distressed 
 her? Whereupon she replied, in a sorrowful tone, 
 that a poor woman in the village who, some days ago, 
 had given birth to her first child, was in a very danger- 
 ous state that, in fact, she was not expected to live 
 beyond an hour or two. " Poor woman," added the 
 good lady, " she every now and then sighs for her mi- 
 nister, she is very anxious to see him before she departs 
 this world." He at once offered his services to Mrs. 
 Wing, to drive over to the rev. gentleman, who was, at 
 the time, six miles off in a direction opposite to that 
 which he intended to follow, and to inform him that his 
 presence was required at Elstow. The good lady re- 
 monstrated ; she tpld him that he, having a family to 
 maintain, could not afford to lose the few pounds which
 
 180 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 he was likely to earn that day. But, unfortunately, 
 she could not procure a messenger, people being all 
 busy in the fields with the harvest at the time. The 
 heart of the Israelite was too sensibly touched at 
 the recital of the Christian's woes, and he replied, 
 " money we may earn any day, if it pleased God to pro- 
 sper our ways, but we have not every day an opportu- 
 nity of rendering a service of charity to a fellow-crea- 
 ture in the last moments of her earthly pilgrimage." 
 And, without losing another moment, he drove as fast 
 as he could, and was fortunate enough to find the rev. 
 gentleman at his house, and delivered the message to 
 him. As a light, before extinguishing, sometimes flares 
 up once more, as if to make a last effort before anni- 
 hilation ; so must the eyes of the dying woman have 
 assumed a fresh lustre never to be renewed, till the 
 day when in her " flesh she shall see God," as she 
 beheld her minister approaching her death-bed and 
 offering to her departing spirit the consolations of 
 religion. 
 
 As it was now too late for the Israelite to keep his 
 appointment on that day he returned home ; but the 
 sweet consciousness of having done his duty as a man, 
 and of having been instrumental in removing " the bit- 
 terness of death" from a poor sufferer, must have been 
 much more delightful to him than any worldly gain he 
 might have derived from a mercantile transaction. 
 
 The following allegory beautifully illustrates the duty 
 of man to be merciful and charitable to his fellow- 
 creature : 
 
 " Let us make man," said the Creator, and myriads of 
 angelie beings listened to his voice. " Do not create him," 
 spoke the Angel of Justice, " he will wrong his brethren, 
 injure and oppress the weak, and cruelly ill-treat the feeble."
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 181 
 
 " Do not create him," spoke the Angel of Peace, " he will 
 manure the earth with human hlood ; the first-born of his 
 race will be an assassin, and murder his own brother." 
 " He will desecrate the sanctuary with his lies," said the 
 Angel of Truth, " and, though Thou stampest on his coun- 
 tenance thine own Image, the seal of truth, yet will false- 
 hood and deceit prevail in his voice." " Create him not, he 
 will rebel against Thee, and abuse the freedom which Thou 
 bestowest upon him," exclaimed the chorus of assembled 
 angels. Still they spoke, when Charity, the youngest and 
 best-beloved of the Eternal's creation, approached His throne, 
 and knelt before Him. " Create him, Father," she prayed, 
 " in thine own Image, let him be the beloved of Thy good- 
 ness. When all thy servants forsake him, I will seek him, 
 and lovingly assist him. His very errors will I turn into 
 good. I will fill the heart of the weak with benevolence, 
 and render him merciful towards those who are weaker than 
 he. If he depart from peace and truth, if he oifend justice 
 and equity, I will still be with him, and the consequences of 
 his own errors shall chasten his heart, and purify him in pe- 
 nitence and love." The universal Father listened to her 
 voice, and created man a weak and erring being. But even 
 in his errors a pupil of the Divine Goodness, a child of 
 mercy, love, and charity, which never forsakes him, and still 
 strives to amend him. 
 
 " Remember thy origin, man, when thou art cruel and 
 unjust. Of all the divine attributes, Charity alone stood 
 forth to plead that existence be granted to thee. Mercy 
 and Love have fostered thee ; then, remember, be just, be 
 merciful." 
 
 If those who are ever ready to reproach the Jew 
 with lovelessness and aversion, not to say, hatred, 
 against their non-Jewish fellow-creatures, knew a little 
 more of Judaism, they would hesitate before they 
 bring these charges against him, unless their bigotry 
 bade them close their eyes against truth. I have in 
 a former chapter alluded to the passages in Scripture 
 forbidding hatred against the Edomites and Egyptians
 
 182 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 who entertained national animosities against the Israel- 
 ites, and thence concluded a fortiori that much less 
 would it be in keeping with the spirit of that pro- 
 hibition were the Jews to hate those among whom 
 they are allowed to live in peace and quiet. But 
 the many passages occurring in the five books of Moses 
 which directly enjoin sympathy with, and toleration 
 of, the stranger, nay command his equality with the 
 native Israelites, are the best proofs that that law 
 was considered of high importance. Those sins against 
 which the divine lawgiver wished particularly to guard 
 his people, such as idolatry, are repeatedly prohibited; 
 the worship of the One True God is inculcated in 
 numerous passages with more than ordinary force, 
 because the immediate neighbourhood of idolatrous 
 nations, and the very imperfect religious education 
 of the Israelites were likely to entice them but too 
 frequently into the sensual rites of the heathens. 
 From similar reasons did the divine Wisdom think 
 it necessary to urge upon them the toleration of the 
 stranger. Surrounded as the Israelites in Palestine 
 were, by hostile nations, with whom they frequently 
 came into hostile contact, and against whom it was 
 natural they should have entertained national ani- 
 mosities, it was the more urgent to instil into their 
 minds good feelings towards the stranger. " Thou 
 shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him ; for 
 ye were strangers in the land of Egypt." Again, 
 "But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be 
 unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt 
 love him as thyself, for you were strangers in the 
 land of Egypt : I am the Lord your God." The ad- 
 dition, "you were strangers in Egypt," clearly ex- 
 presses the idea that one who has himself suffered 
 will feel much livelier sympathies with actual sufferers 
 than one who has not, and, putting the people in mind
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 183 
 
 of their own, or their ancestors' servitude in Egypt, 
 when exhorting them to show kindness to the stranger, 
 is in perfect consonance with the tendencies of the 
 human heart. But to the following two verses I wish 
 particularly to draw the attention of the opponents of 
 Jewish emancipation. They who always quote the 
 Scripture, when it suits their purpose, ought, in jus- 
 tice to truth and the sacred doctrines inculcated by 
 the Bible, not lose sight of those passages which, 
 though they upset the whole fabric of their arguments, 
 are nevertheless even in their opinion of divine origin. 
 "One ordinance shall be both for you of the con- 
 gregation and also for the stranger that sojourneth 
 with you, an ordinance for ever in your generations. 
 As ye are, so shall the stranger be before the Lord. 
 One law and one manner shall be for you, and for 
 the stranger that sojourneth with you." These verses 
 do, methinks, most unequivocally prohibit the exist- 
 ence of penal or exclusive laws, and undeniably mani- 
 fest the spirit of brotherhood which was to pervade 
 the Israelitish community. Nor can I forbear quoting 
 one passage more which enjoins actual assistance of, 
 and charity towards, the stranger. Moses, speaking 
 of God, says : " He doth execute the judgment of the 
 fatherless and widow, and loved the stranger in giving 
 him food and raiment. Love ye therefore the stranger, 
 for ye were strangers* in the land of Egypt." Now 
 the Old Testament is the Jew's religious guide, 
 and with such unmistakeable passages as those quoted 
 it is difficult to comprehend the perverseness of an 
 understanding, even clouded by prejudice which in- 
 sists upon charging Judaism with anti- social doctrines. 
 Is it likely that the Jew should learn unkindness or 
 hostility against those differing from him in the wor- 
 ship of God from the Bible, which teaches us to be 
 * Note 22.
 
 ]84 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 kind even to our enemies and not bear them any 
 grudge ? which says, " Thou shalt not hate thy brother 
 in thine heart, thou shalt not, in any wise, rebuke thy 
 neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him/' Those who 
 are so anxious about the salvation of our souls and 
 who, among other reasons for converting us, deny to 
 the Jewish religion the character of a religion of love, 
 maintaining that Christianity alone teaches to love our 
 enemies, should read the Old Testament more atten- 
 tively, and they would there find passages unsurpassed 
 in a spirit of kindness and love by any in the New 
 Testament. " If thou meet thine enemy's ox or his 
 ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to 
 him again. If thou see the ass of him that hateth 
 thee lying under his burden, and wouldst forbear to 
 help him, thou shalt surely help with him. Rejoice 
 not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart 
 be glad when he stumbleth. If thine enemy be hun- 
 gry, give him bread to eat, and if he be thirsty, 
 give him water to drink." Let the opponents to 
 Jewish emancipation ponder on those verses, and not 
 say when it suits their purpose, "That is the word 
 of God," and when it does not, to say with scorn, 
 "O, that is Mosaic!" 
 
 But I hear the prejudiced adversaries of the Jews 
 object : " We are aware of the existence of these and 
 similar passages in the Old Testament; yet, do not 
 the Talmud and the rabbinical writings preach a dif- 
 ferent doctrine?" To this question I answer. Most 
 decidedly not. A few passages, which might be con- 
 strued into hostility against non-Israelites, refer in- 
 disputably to the heathens who were the open enemies 
 of the Jews; other passages have been completely 
 misunderstood, either through ignorance or, more fre- 
 quently, from wilful perversion. And even suppose
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 185 
 
 there were to be found in Jewish writings of ages 
 long gone by, sentiments which are not compatible 
 with an enlightened humanity, I ask whether the doc- 
 tors of the Christian church did not leave the rabbis 
 far behind them in intolerant and narrow views ? The 
 theological literature of the middle ages contains much 
 more theology than religion, and the Hebrew literature 
 of that time need by no means shun a comparison 
 with the contemporary Christian writings. 
 
 The Talmud, taken as a whole, abounds in precepts 
 of humanity and love, and is rich in narratives em- 
 bodying toleration and feelings of brotherhood. "I 
 call heaven and earth to witness," says a rabbinical 
 writer,* "that the Divine Spirit rests on the Israelite 
 as well as on the non-Israelite, according to their 
 actions." The celebrated Maimonides, in a letter to 
 R. Chisdai, gives utterance to the following opinions : 
 
 "And as to your question respecting the Gentiles, you 
 must know that God looketh to the heart and there- 
 fore our sages teach that the pious of all nations will par- 
 ticipate in the blessings of a future state, if they have 
 acquired the necessary knowledge of God, and accomplished 
 themselves in virtues. Thus it is that our wise men say, 
 ' Even a heathen, who studies the law of Moses, is equal to 
 the high priest.'" 
 
 Practical charity towards heathens is inculcated in 
 the following Talmudical passages : 
 
 "The poor of the heathens are not to be prohibited to 
 glean in the fields. It is our duty to support the poor of 
 the nations, to visit their sick, and bury their dead, as well 
 as if they were Israelites. It is not permitted to deceive 
 any one by words, not even a heathen." 
 
 Note 23.
 
 186 JEWISH PERSEA'ERANCE. 
 
 In what spirit the rabbis practised honesty will 
 appear from the following narrative : 
 
 " An Ishmaelite once sold a camel to Rabbi Simon, whose 
 pupils led the animal home to the rabbi's house. On taking 
 off the saddle, they found under it a collar ornamented with 
 diamonds. ' Rabbi, Rabbi,' they exclaimed, ' the blessing of 
 God maketh rich,' thereby expressing that God had given 
 the diamonds to him. ' Take back the diamonds to the man 
 of whom I bought the animal,' said the rabbi, ' he only sold 
 me the camel, but not the precious stones.' The diamonds 
 were consequently returned to their owner, who was not a 
 little surprised at it, but the rabbi had received the more 
 precious ones honesty and probity." 
 
 The Jerusalemitic Talmud contains a similar story 
 of some wise men who returned a purse of money 
 which they found in some wheat they had purchased 
 of a heathen. 
 
 Such were the opinions, and such was the practice 
 of all the eminent men in Israel respecting honesty 
 and charity. They knew too well that all men are 
 the children of God, that all are His creatures, and 
 their love and awe of the Creator were too deeply 
 felt to be consistent with any doctrines militating 
 against comprehensive and enlarged views of religion 
 and virtue. 
 
 As the Jewish doctrine concerning love and charity 
 does not limit the practice of these virtues merely to 
 Jews between themselves, but extends them to all fel- 
 low-creatures ; so the Jewish law encourages loyalty as 
 subjects, and usefulness as citizens without reference to 
 the country in which the Jew is settled. Jeremiah, in 
 his letter to the Jews in Babylon, tells them :
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 187 
 
 " Build ye houses and dwell in them, and plant gardens 
 and eat the fruit of them .... And seek the peace of the 
 city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, 
 and pray unto the Lord for it ; for in the peace thereof shall 
 ye have peace." 
 
 And, again, we read in Jeremiah : 
 
 " And Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, 
 sware imto them and to their men, saying, Fear not to serve 
 the Chaldeans, dwell in the land, and serve the king of Ba- 
 bylon, and it shall be well with you." 
 
 And here we must bear in mind that the king of 
 Babylon had carried on a successful war against Judah, 
 had destroyed the temple, and carried away the king 
 and thousands of his subjects captives to Babylon. And 
 still the divine prophet recommends obedience and loy- 
 alty. It would be superfluous hence to draw the con- 
 clusions concerning the Jews, who live under a free and 
 mild government. In a similar spirit is conceived what 
 the Talmud says on this subject : 
 
 " The laws of the land are valid, and must be obeyed." 
 Again : 
 
 " The government on earth bears resemblance to the hea- 
 venly Government. Pray for the peace and prosperity of 
 the government of the land ; for through its authority order 
 is preserved." 
 
 By these teachings the Jew was to be guided many 
 hundred years ago. If we now take into consideration 
 the immense change that has taken place in the politi- 
 cal and intellectual world, if we bear in mind the in- 
 fluence that progress and civilisation, humanity and 
 enlightenment have wrought upon the minds of the
 
 188 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 civilised portion of mankind, if we consider that our 
 notions of toleration, our views of the human society 
 are much more comprehensive than they were in times 
 gone by. Then every unprejudiced mind must come to 
 the conclusion that the Jews have a right, and are enti- 
 tled to a political and social equality with their Christian 
 fellow-creatures. Since the Jew considers the Christian 
 as his brother, the latter cannot, if he wishes to act in 
 conformity with the doctrines of Christianity, refuse to 
 hold out to the former the right hand of fellowship and 
 brotherhood.
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 189 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 nnn hi nfenian 
 
 " His mouth is full of cursing, and deceit, and fraud : 
 under his tongue is mischief and vanity." Psalm x. 7. 
 
 Among the evils of human society, not the least de- 
 structive of human happiness, not the least preventive 
 of peace and prosperity among men, assuredly is deceit. 
 When men speak with " a double heart," when their 
 words and speeches are so many textures of treachery 
 and falsehood, when the utterances of their lips are not 
 the genuine likenesses but forged counterfeits of their 
 thoughts, they undermine the very foundations of 
 faith and brotherhood, which condition their happy co- 
 existence, and, by destroying the main securities of 
 their intercourse, throw a dismal gloom over the days 
 of their limited pilgrimage. He who is false to his 
 neighbour, who either conceals the truth from him or 
 tells him what is untrue, fails in the fulfilling of the first 
 social virtue, and is an unfit member of that family the 
 lineaments of which are discernible in his outward form. 
 
 However contemptible deceit is in any shape, it is yet 
 more so when religion, the most sacred boon to man, is 
 made the subject of it. And yet deceit in religion is so 
 often practised among men. The facility with which it 
 is exercised, and the considerable profit which it fre- 
 quently promises and yields, induce many individuals to 
 make a trade of that divine gift which is vouchsafed to 
 weak man as a guide in his doubts and a solace in his
 
 190 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE, 
 
 discomfitures. It is not an uncommon thing for men 
 to put on a semblance of piety, wrapping themselves in 
 a cloak of godliness, thus to impose upon the credulity 
 of others, and making their respect for truly pious feel- 
 ings the instrument of extorting support from them. 
 It would seem that no man who lays claim to the repu- 
 tation of being a moral and religious character, would 
 countenance, much less encourage, the practice of such 
 detestible impositions, but would deem it a solemn 
 duty to unmask the hypocrite, and to divert the libe- 
 rality of his neighbours from so unworthy a channel, in 
 order to turn it to better advantage. In here alluding 
 to the " Society for Promoting Christianity among the 
 Jews," I desire to be understood as guided only by a 
 sense of the duty I have just named. I do not impugn 
 the motives of the pious and kind-hearted Christians 
 who support that society. I believe they are most sin- 
 cere in their wish to do good to the Jew ; but as firmly 
 do I believe that their method is unwisely conceived, 
 and that their operations afford an inducement to hy- 
 pocrisy, and give encouragement to dishonesty and 
 imposition to an extent, and of a kind at which the 
 ingenious mind must shudder. In every community 
 be it Christian or Jewish the worthless as well as the 
 estimable are to be found ; and let my Christian readers 
 call to mind all the so-called Jewish converts of whom 
 they have heard, and say to which of these classes can 
 they be awarded to the good or to the vile ; to those 
 who are influenced by a desire to promote their worldly 
 advantage, or to those who, like Moses, would sacrifice 
 the wealth and title of princes rather than assume a 
 profession which the judgment never sanctioned, and 
 which, consequently, the heart has not been able to 
 sustain. O that the eyes of my Christian brethren 
 would be opened, that they might see that, whilst they 
 imagine they are doing a work of charity pleasing in
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 191 
 
 the sight of their God, they are, in fact, spending their 
 money on persons to whom religion is nothing but a 
 matter of pounds, shillings, and pence >who are Jews 
 to-day, call themselves Christians to-morrow, in the 
 prospect of certain advantages, and, for a few shillings 
 more, would turn Mahommedans the day after ! Such, 
 I am convinced, is the character of the great majority 
 of baptized Jews. 
 
 From what I have hitherto advanced it will appear 
 but natural that I deem it a meritorious act to expose 
 such impostors publicly, and to bring their deceitful 
 conduct under the notice of those who have become, 
 or are likely to become, the victims of their infamous 
 trickeries. In general, it is uncharitable to disclose 
 the stains in our neighbour's character to the view 
 of society, but to be indulgent in such cases as those 
 of whom I am speaking would be, to be uncharitable 
 to charity itself, by allowing it to be abused ; it would 
 be robbing the needy and really deserving of the 
 benevolent support of their friends, and squandering 
 it upon contemptible creatures who are unworthy of 
 any regard, much less of favours and patronage. These 
 motives have ever induced me, whenever an oppor- 
 tunity offered, to unmask such deceivers, and to let 
 my Christian neighbours see these individuals in their 
 true light. In some instances I was fortunate enough, 
 in spite of numerous and arduous difficulties which 
 I had to encounter, to adduce the most unquestionable 
 evidences of the imposition practised, and I will now 
 proceed briefly to state one of these cases. 
 
 Some years ago an individual of the name of Her- 
 schel came to Bedford. He gave himself out as a 
 Jew, and visited several Jewish houses, where he met 
 with a friendly reception, and was made welcome.
 
 192 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 As he pretended to live strictly according to the dic- 
 tates of Judaism, and to abstain from all those kinds 
 of food of which Jews are prohibited to partake, he 
 was frequently invited to the table of one or other of 
 the Jewish families at Bedford. For it is not easy for 
 any single man of the Jewish persuasion to provide 
 himself with such animal food as he may eat, in a 
 small provincial town, where the number of Jews is 
 but small, and where, generally, there are no Jewish 
 butchers. 
 
 It will, perhaps, not be deemed out of place if I 
 enter here into a consideration of the laws prohibit- 
 ing to the Jew the enjoyment of certain kinds of food. 
 At first sight it may appear whimsical, not to say 
 ludicrous, that some animals should be judged clean 
 and fit for the food of man, and others should be 
 forbidden him and declared unclean, especially as it 
 is difficult to see any reason in the distinguishing 
 characteristics. But on a closer examination of the 
 subject, we shall perceive that these prohibitions tended 
 greatly to enhance the dignity of the Israelites as the 
 spiritual leaders of mankind, for which office they were 
 selected by the Lord. The opinions of the learned on 
 this subject have been very divergent, since some have 
 gone so far as to assign a particular reason for every 
 class of animals which are forbidden to the Jew. I will 
 confine myself to the following observation, which 
 seems to me to account, in the most rational manner, 
 for these apparently arbitrary laws. 
 
 In the chain of creation man stands between the 
 Divinity and the lower animals. While his divine 
 imperishable soul stamps him the progeny of the 
 former, his mortal frame, together with all its wants 
 and desires, proves his relationship with the latter.
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERAN'CE. 193 
 
 Now, it is the destination and duty of man, while he 
 stays in this life, as much as possible to triumph over 
 his animal nature, and to progress toAvarcls the qualities 
 of the Deity. This purification, as it were, of the 
 human mind, can be effected only through the medium 
 of a morally religious life, and, for that purpose, the 
 revelation of the divine Will was vouchsafed to man, as 
 a safe guide on this all-important journey. The laws 
 regarding the food of man, which form a part of that 
 revelation, ordain that great caution should be observed 
 in the transition of animal life into the life of man, in 
 order that the two might not be assimilated, and the 
 latter degraded, by which the human soul would be 
 degraded, depraved, and unfitted for its approach to the 
 Divinity; because it would be filled with the grosser 
 desires of the animals of the lower orders. In this 
 sense, the prohibition of eating the creeping things is 
 accompanied by the words, " Do not make yourselves 
 abominable/' which, when the language of the original 
 is consulted, ought to be rendered, " Do not make 
 your souls abominable." According to this the lowest 
 orders of animals, the reptiles and insects, are altoge- 
 ther forbidden ; of the fish only those are permitted 
 that are provided with scales and fins, viz. : those 
 which have the most complete animal organization. 
 The same view is carried out among the quadrupeds, of 
 ^ which the Jews are only allowed to eat those that are 
 cloven-footed and chew the cud, likewise those whose 
 organization is the most complete. In addition to this 
 it may be observed that the blood of animals, which is 
 undoubtedly the most essential representative of animal 
 life, is strictly forbidden to the Jews ; so that all these 
 prohibitions seem to agree in this one purport not to 
 admit of too great a transition of the vital substances of 
 the lower animals into the system of man.
 
 194 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 Besides this, the intention of the divine lawgiver in 
 proclaiming these prohibitions may have been to accus- 
 tom his people to the value of temperance. When man 
 is introduced into this universe, where he finds a richly 
 provided table of enjoyments spread before him, it is 
 undoubtedly beneficial to the cultivation of his mind, if 
 his desires are, to a certain degree, checked, if he is 
 obliged to abstain from certain things, and he will thus 
 learn to exercise one of the most difficult and, at the 
 same time, important, duties of man self-control. 
 The rabbis have designated such laws, the reason of 
 which is not quite evident to man, by the phrase of 
 " royal mandates/' meaning commandments which are 
 only given in order to try the obedience of faithful sub- 
 jects to their monarch, and which must be observed 
 without inquiring into the motives of the legislator. 
 
 After this short digression I will return to my narra- 
 tive. In the manner described, the above-mentioned 
 Herschell stopped for some time at Bedford, looked 
 upon as a sincere religious Jew, and enjoying the hos- 
 pitality of his brethren in faith resident in the town. 
 This had been going on for several weeks, when he was 
 one day observed going to Biddenham, (a small village 
 about a mile and a half from Bedford,) with some books 
 under his arm. All his acquaintances knew him to be 
 a man of business, and it appeared rather strange that 
 he should go about with books instead of attending to 
 his trade. Some one, therefore, asked him what he did 
 at Biddenham ? He replied, that one day he had been 
 at the house of the Rev. Mr. Grimshawe on business ; 
 the conversation happened to turn upon the French 
 language, and when they perceived that he was a profi- 
 cient in it, the ladies engaged him to give them 
 lessons in French. As we had no proofs to the con- 
 trary, nor any reason to suspect HerschelFs veracity, we
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 195 
 
 all believed his story. Simple-minded men are always 
 inclined to believe what any body tells them when they 
 have no misgivings about that person. In fact, those 
 that are themselves truthful will never, of their own 
 accord,, imagine that what they hear is a falsehood ; to 
 them truth is the rule, falsehood the great exception 
 a rare irregularity for which they are not prepared. 
 This circumstance did not alter our conduct towards 
 the foreign sojourner we continued assisting him in 
 whatever manner we could, and did not cease inviting 
 him to partake of our meals. It is altogether a frequent 
 occurrence with a Jew to have a poor brother Jew, or 
 even several, at his table. The liberality of the Jews in 
 this respect seems to be an hereditary virtue, some pre- 
 cious relic from the hospitality of the East, preserved 
 amidst the cold civilization of the western world. I 
 recollect, from the time of my boyhood, that it was 
 customary in my father's house, to have two or three 
 poor Jews partaking of our meals every Saturday. And 
 my father was not the only man in the town who did 
 so, but every one of the Jews who was in somewhat 
 easy circumstances, exercised this kind of liberality. 
 
 Not long afterwards, a report was spread about Bed- 
 ford that a young Jew was shortly to be baptized at 
 Biddenham church by the Rev. Mr. Grimshawe. Such 
 ceremonies are not of frequent occurrence in that neigh- 
 bourhood, and this extraordinary case created quite an 
 excitement all around. I was very anxious to know 
 who the Jew might be. After what I had heard of 
 this Mr. Herschell, I began to entertain very great 
 suspicions that he was the person. Yet I would not 
 directly accuse him of such an intention, since I had no 
 positive information about it, and if my surmise should 
 be false, I might perhaps injure the young man's credit 
 with my brethren without his having done anything
 
 196 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 wrong. Men should always consider well before they 
 proceed to accuse their brother publicly. " Thou shalt 
 not raise a false report/' says the commandment, and 
 the love of our neighbour, which is so emphatically en- 
 joined in the Mosaic law, teaches us first to inquire mi- 
 nutely before we maintain anything evil of a fellow-man. 
 I therefore wished to convince myself about the matter 
 previously to taking any steps. I quietly waited for an 
 opportunity when I might be alone with him, and, hav- 
 ing asked him one day to take a walk with me, I at 
 once charged him with the crime he was contemplat- 
 ing. Let not my readers be surprised at my using what 
 may be considered a harsh term ; an act of bare-faced 
 deceit wrapt in the cloak of religion, a tampering with 
 what ought to be sacred, a levity about the holiest 
 matters, does surely not deserve a more mitigated de- 
 signation. He positively denied that he had any such 
 intention, and said that he surely was not the man in 
 question. When I still urged him upon the matter, he 
 said, " I will tell you who it is ; it is a young man of 
 the name of Mu'ller, who is coming to Bedford to-day. 
 I am not surprised at your suspecting me to be the in- 
 dividual, since I am told that I have a great resem- 
 blance to him/' This reply so far from removing the 
 suspicion from my mind, rather confirmed me in it. I 
 felt that he was prevaricating and I began to speak 
 very seriously to him. I told him of the wickedness 
 of the step which he was meditating; I represented 
 to him that not only did the happiness or wretch- 
 edness of his own mind depend on it, but that a man 
 who would publicly give a declaration of professing 
 a religion without having convinced himself of its truth 
 would incur the just contempt of all who knew him ; I 
 entreated him not to forsake frivolously the religion to 
 which his forefathers had adhered for thousands of 
 years, but to examine its tenets, and he would surely
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 197 
 
 find the light of truth streaming in upon all his doubts 
 if he should entertain any ; and I reminded him in the 
 most energetic terms that the part he was acting now 
 giving himself out among the Jews as being a strict 
 follower of Judaism, while in fact, he had already begun 
 to court Christianity that this part was degrading in 
 any human being and could not fail to meet its de- 
 served disgrace. To all this he protested his innocence, 
 and I left him, still uncertain whether there was any 
 truth in his assertions or whether it was all a texture 
 of detestable falsehood. From that time, however, 
 Herschell was no more seen to visit any Jewish house 
 at Bedford, which circumstance naturally contributed 
 to convince me that my accusation was well founded. 
 Nevertheless, I would not mention the matter to any 
 one until there should be no doubt about it. A few 
 days afterwards, I met the young man again, and 
 again introduced the subject. He said, "Well, I will 
 not deny it any longer, I am the man who is to be 
 baptized." When I began to reproach him with his 
 conduct, he made a defence in about the following 
 manner : " Suppose they do baptize me, they pay me 
 well for it, and what does it matter? I do not deny 
 my God in heart. And what I do is not worse than 
 what most persons do sometimes in their lives. Why, 
 the most respectable tradesman occasionally tells an 
 untruth in order to induce a customer to purchase an 
 article, the most respectable innkeeper generally prac- 
 tises some means of deceiving. And why do they do 
 it? Not because they are really bad men, but because 
 they are desirous of making a profit. Now, I look 
 upon this matter in the very same light it is a lucra- 
 tive thing ; if Christians are such fools as to pay Jews 
 for being baptized, let them do it. We all know that 
 there is not a Jew baptized, either in this country or 
 in any other, but he makes some profit out of it. Either
 
 198 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 they are actually paid for it, or they are made mis- 
 sionaries, or they marry rich ladies, or they receive 
 some other kind of support from the Christians. I 
 assure you, I have no other motive, I only do it for 
 gain's sake." 
 
 I saw with how contemptible a man I had to deal, 
 yet I tried whether I could make an impression upon 
 him by touching upon those feelings of which no man is 
 altogether void. I reminded him of his parents. I re- 
 presented to him how grieved they must feel when they 
 should hear of his deed. They were no doubt sincere, 
 religious Jews, and the act of apostacy which he was 
 going to commit was in some measure equal to de- 
 priving them of their son, upon whom they could no 
 more look with their wonted affection. Even if he 
 wished to conceal it from them, he would not be able 
 to do so, since these occurrences are always published 
 in the papers. " I have taken care of that," said he, " my 
 parents will never know of it ; for I do not go by my 
 real name. Here I have called myself Herschell, m 
 some places I give my name as Jacob, in some as Abra- 
 ham, and so on ; in fact, wherever they baptize me, I 
 have a different name, and I am careful that they shall 
 never know my right name." 
 
 It may, perhaps, seem strange that a man should 
 thus lay open his infamous tricks to one whom he must 
 know to be his opponent ; but he well knew that what- 
 ever I should say against him would go for nought 
 with those that were anxious for his conversion, or 
 would only heighten the interest they took in him, by 
 proving to them how he was ill-treated by the Jews. 
 
 The above words went like daggers into my heart. 
 To hear a man speak with such unpardonable levity on
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 199 
 
 the subject of religion, appeared to me like listening to 
 blasphemy, and I turned away with disgust. For a 
 moment I was quite bewildered; for, though I knew 
 that such individuals are seldom men of any sound 
 religious principles, yet I had never imagined that a 
 man could fall so deeply as to be utterly regardless 
 about what ought to be his first care, and literally look 
 upon the articles of his faith as saleable goods. To my 
 own sorrow, however, I must confess that what this 
 contemptible man put forth as excuses, though it did 
 by no means extenuate his wickedness, contained a 
 great deal of truth with respect to the conduct ot 
 Christians in such matters. I have observed before, 
 that, by the facility with which they give ear to the 
 falsehood of such impostors, and by the readiness with 
 which they hold out liberal support to those who de- 
 clare themselves ready to adopt the tenets of Christi- 
 anity, they encourage hypocrisy and deceit. In addi- 
 tion to this, there generally prevails a very strong, I 
 might almost say, insurmountable prejudice against 
 any Jew who may boldly step forward to open their 
 eyes upon such an individual. The Jew is not believed 
 in what he says : they imagine that the Jew, in expos- 
 ing the character of an apostate brother, is merely 
 influenced by motives of hatred and persecution against 
 that individual. I can assure my Christian readers that 
 sentiments of so base a nature are as far from a sincere 
 pious Jew as they are from a sincere pious Christian. 
 The Jew is merely anxious to uphold the dignity of his 
 sacred faith, and to prove that those who abandon that 
 faith, for the most part, do not trouble themselves 
 about conviction, but have some worldly advantage in 
 view. Yet, the reader will gather from the perusal of 
 this incident what trouble I had to undergo to make 
 my Christian friends perceive the imposition that was 
 being practised upon them. Nay, some that were really
 
 200 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 sincere and intimate friends, or liberal supporters, of 
 me, turned against, and all but forbade me to enter their 
 houses. So difficult is it sometimes to assert the truth. 
 
 After the conversation above described, excited as I 
 was, I turned my steps to the house of a lady, who, I 
 may say, stood foremost among my Christian friends. 
 She had given me so many proofs of her kindness; she 
 had always received me with so much affability that 
 my sentiments towards her were almost like those of a 
 child towards its mother; and to her accordingly I ran 
 to relieve my heart of the weight that was pressing 
 upon it, and at the same time to warn her against being 
 imposed upon. I entered the house, and at once pro- 
 ceeded to relate the words which I had heard the man 
 utter who was to be a convert to Christianity. I knew 
 that my friend was an advocate of conversion, and was 
 very liberal towards those whom she thought sincere in 
 their profession of the faith of which she herself was a 
 devout follower. I, therefore, considered it my duty to 
 go to her and inform her about the man in whose 
 behalf her charity was likely to be shortly taxed. I 
 told her how unworthy the individual was of any sup- 
 port, and cautioned her that, if he should come to her 
 for any subscription, not only to withhold her hand, 
 but to turn him out of her house. But what was my 
 surprise when the lady suddenly rose, laid down the 
 book in which she had been reading when I entered, 
 looked at me with an eye flashing with indignation, 
 and said, in an angry tone, " I am in duty bound to 
 believe the Rev. Mr. Grimshawe, and this worthy 
 gentleman assures me that the person of whom you 
 are speaking is a sincere Christian." I was thunder- 
 struck I could not utter a syllable. What, thought I 
 to myself, one of my best and most liberal friends 
 prejudiced against me, because I endeavour to put he r
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 201 
 
 on lier guard against a vile impostor ! But such is the 
 blindness of zealotism, such is the deceit practised by 
 these contemptible hypocrites, that the best persons 
 are led to discard their friends if they speak against 
 those whom they imagine to be sincere converts. For 
 me this was a time of great trouble. Besides the 
 grief which I felt in perceiving that my friends 
 persons to whom I was bound in gratitude, and 
 whom I esteemed highly were imposed upon, I had 
 the mortification to find that my endeavours to shield 
 them against this imposition were construed into 
 acts resulting from hatred against the impostor, and, in 
 addition to these, considered I was much aggrieved to 
 think that a follower of my own religion should have 
 sunk so deeply in the scale of morality. It was like- 
 wise very painful to me to observe with what coolness I 
 was treated by my Christian friends, for some of whom 
 I had a particular respect. Instead of receiving me 
 with an air of friendship as they were wont to do, they 
 looked upon me as a troublesome intruder when I en- 
 tered their houses. My only consolation in these trou- 
 bles was the confidence in the justness of my cause. 
 " Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, 
 whose hope is in the Lord his God, which made heaven 
 and earth, the sea, and all that in them is; which 
 keepeth truth for ever; which executeth judgment 
 for the oppressed, which giveth food to the hungry." 
 In such thoughts as these I found the ease of mind 
 which my situation was calculated to disturb. I did 
 not feel angry with my Christian friends for their con- 
 duct towards me. I had had so many opportunities of 
 perceiving their kind feelings towards me that the im- 
 pression which they had made upon my heart could not 
 so easily be removed ; besides, I knew that the unjust 
 treatment which I now suffered at their hands, sprang 
 up, in fact, from a good source the love of religion -
 
 202 JEWISH PEKSEVERANCE. 
 
 whose channel had merely been misdirected. But, fer- 
 vently did I pray to my God that, by His aid and 
 mercy, the eyes of these blind might be opened, and I 
 be justified in their sight. I will now lay before the 
 reader a short account of the manner in which my full 
 justification came about. 
 
 The day for baptizing the young Jew had been 
 fixed for Sunday, the 29th of March, 1846. Bills had 
 been posted about the town announcing the cere- 
 mony, and so far went the religious zeal that notes 
 and messages were sent to all the Jews of Bedford, invit- 
 ing them to attend. Now, it so happened that, on the 
 Thursday previous to that Sunday, I had to call on a 
 gentleman on some particular business. I did not find 
 him at home but was told that, if I wished to see him, I 
 was sure to meet him at a certain smoking room in the 
 town. Thither I accordingly repaired; the gentleman 
 I wished to see was not there, but finding, on entering, 
 that the topic of conversation in the room was the bap- 
 tism fixed for the following Sunday, I sat down to 
 listen. Nearly all the persons present were strangers 
 to me. I had not been there many minutes when one 
 gentleman remarked, " I shall blame Mr. Grimshawe 
 very much if he baptizes such a fellow " another said, 
 " I hope and trust Mr. Grimshawe will not be imposed 
 upon by that fellow, for, by what I have seen of him at 
 the house where he lodges, I am persuaded that he is a 
 good-for-nothing rascal." Many similar expressions fell 
 from the lips of several individuals in the room. When 
 I went away I asked one of the gentlemen whom I knew, 
 to accompany me for a few steps, which he willingly did. 
 I then inquired who these gentlemen were that had ex- 
 pressed such unfavourable opinions regarding the young 
 convert, and when I had received from him full infor- 
 mation I went home. Early on Friday I called on
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 203 
 
 these gentlemen, one of whom, Mr. L , seemed to be 
 well acquainted with the character of that hypocrite. 
 He told me things of him which I will refrain from re- 
 peating in order to spare myself the feeling of repug- 
 nance and my readers that of disgust. I asked him 
 whether he would lend a hand in exposing this im- 
 postor, and found him willing to assist me, " mostly," 
 as he added, "out of respect for Mr. Grimshawe, for 
 there is not a man who stands higher in my esteem 
 than that rev. gentleman, and I should not like to see 
 him imposed upon/' I left him with a feeling of great 
 satisfaction, thanking Providence for the almost mi- 
 raculous manner in which my exertions had begun to 
 prosper ; for it could not but appear providential to me 
 that just a few days before that 29th of March, I should 
 by accident be led into a house which I had seldom or 
 never entered before, and that I should meet there the 
 very person who could give me the information of which 
 I was so much in need. 
 
 The next step I took in this matter was to repair 
 again to the house of my esteemed friend the lady I 
 have mentioned before, who had not received my first 
 information in the most gracious manner. For I was 
 most anxious to eradicate from her mind the notion 
 which she seemed to entertain of the motives actuating 
 my endeavours, and being now enabled to confirm my 
 statements by the testimony of one of her own co-reli- 
 gionists, I deemed it my duty to justify myself in her 
 eyes. I was, however, much surprised when, after hav- 
 ing told what I had to say, I found that her opinion on 
 the affair in question had undergone a complete change, 
 and that by the aid of Almighty God I recognised the 
 " Finger of the Lord" in this sudden alteration she 
 was ready to give credence to my words. The lady
 
 204 JEAVISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 apologised to me for the manner in which she had 
 treated me at the last interview, and, to my astonish- 
 ment, related to me how, since then, doubts had arisen 
 in her mind regarding the sincerity of the new convert, 
 that she had expressed "the same in a note to the Rev. 
 T. S. Grimshawe but to which the rev. gentleman had 
 sent an indifferent reply. 
 
 Knowing, as I did, the excellency of Mr. Grimshawe 
 that he was a man who well deserved the veneration 
 in which he was held by all who knew him, by his 
 innumerable acts of philanthropy, by the dispensa- 
 tion of benevolent charity which he tendered to all 
 those that were in need of either spiritual or temporal 
 support, irrespective of their station, country, or reli- 
 gion knowing all this I felt grieved that such a man 
 should become the dupe of vile hypocrisy, and was anx- 
 ious to save him that mortification. I therefore went 
 again to the aforesaid Mr. L , and begged of him to 
 accompany me to Mr. Grimshawe. Urgent business 
 unfortunately prevented him from doing so, but he 
 wrote a note to the rev. gentleman, to the effect that 
 he had heard of Mr. Grimshawe's intention to baptize 
 a Jew of the name of Herschell, who, he had reason 
 to believe, was anything but sincere in his professions, 
 and was, in fact, practising a gross imposition on per- 
 sons who were taking so great an interest in him. This 
 note I sent by my servant, but it was too late ; the im- 
 postor's deceit had been too efficient; in concert with 
 another baptized Jew, a Mr. Miiller, he had so en- 
 snared the unsuspecting clergyman that all cautions 
 were fruitless, that in spite of all these warnings Mr. G. 
 baptized the Jew, and named him after his own name 
 Jacob Grimshawe Herschell. On the occasion a col- 
 lection was made for the convert, and I can imagine with
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 205 
 
 what self-complacency the cunning couple must have 
 divided their spoil, and laughed at the good heartedness 
 of those upon whom they had practised so successfully. 
 
 Though the ceremony of baptism had now actually 
 taken place, yet I did not give up my hopes of being 
 able to justify my former assertions, and still publicly 
 expressed my opinion that I considered the new con- 
 vert to be a hypocrite and an impostor. I confess, it 
 was a painful task for me to expose the impious con- 
 duct of a fellow man, who had once been my brother in 
 faith, and who had sold his birthright for "a mess of 
 pottage;" but, in the circumstances in which I was 
 placed, it had become an incumbent duty for the 
 honour of my religion, and for the justification of my 
 words, and before these, all other considerations must 
 necessarily vanish. Albeit, Mr. Grimshawe took of- 
 fence at my conduct, and sent me a letter, intimating 
 that, as I was still persisting in calling his convert an 
 impostor, he deemed himself bound to bring this matter 
 before a court of justice, which should decide if Her- 
 schell was guilty or innocent of the charges that I pre- 
 ferred against him ; and, that if his innocence would be 
 proved I must abide the consequences. The rev. gen- 
 tleman did this because he considered his own reputa- 
 tion to be concerned in this affair. The name of 
 "law" always had something terrifying for me, and 
 without direct proofs in hand, I saw that I should not 
 be able legally to prove that of which I was myself mo- 
 rally and perfectly convinced. 
 
 But it seemed as if Providence especially favoured 
 my exertions, and by almost miraculous means, crowned 
 them with success. For it so happened that, on the day 
 following, I had some business at Olney, a town in 
 Buckinghamshire. I drove thither and stopped at the
 
 206 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 Bull Inn. As soon as I entered, I met there a Dr. A , 
 who at once said to me, Mr. Lissack you should have 
 been here last week, we had some good fun with one of 
 your brethren a converted Jew. I very anxiously 
 inquired in what that fun consisted, when the doctor 
 told me that a Jew, i. e. a converted Jew, by the 
 name of Muller, had come there the week before and 
 offered some articles for sale. In doing so he declared 
 that he did not follow this business for gain, but 
 only for amusement, since he was well provided for, 
 Baron Rothschild having settled a handsome sum on 
 him for life. They asked him how that happened, and 
 he told them that some years ago, when in America, he 
 was taking a walk one day with one of the Rothschilds 
 who stayed there at the time, when a rattlesnake 
 jumped upon his companion, and he, by killing it, saved 
 Rothschild's life. Dr. A , who could not be imposed 
 upon by so unlikely a story, said, " Then the Baron will 
 surely be pleased to see you, we expect him here every 
 minute, for he is hunting in this neighbourhood." 
 When Muller heard this, he turned pale, packed up his 
 goods as quickly as possible, and forthwith left the inn, 
 pretending that he expected a parcel which he had by 
 mistake ordered to be sent to the Bell Inn instead of 
 the Bull. He had not gone many minutes when the high 
 constable made his appearance, who came in search of 
 Mr. Muller, having received a letter from the Preston 
 police (Lancashire) which stated that a converted Jew, 
 by name Francis Muller, was now in the neighbour- 
 hood of Olney, and he had with him a great number of 
 testimonials from the clergy and gentry, which he had 
 obtained previous to his committal to Wakefield gaol, 
 for robbing an innkeeper of that town ; and he (the 
 constable,) would confer a great benefit on the public, 
 if he could succeed in taking these testimonials from 
 him. Some person who heard of this letter, had mean-
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 207 
 
 while met MiiDer in the streets and informed him of 
 what was in store for him, and consequently he made 
 his escape. 
 
 This " fun," as Dr. A called it, was, to me, a god- 
 send. I immediately went to the constable, and begged 
 of him to let me see the said letter; and, having con- 
 vinced myself that all was perfectly true, I asked the 
 favour of having that letter lent to me for a few days, 
 as it would be of great assistance to me in exposing the 
 individual designated therein, at Bedford. The letter 
 was given over to me, and, having returned home, I 
 showed it to several of my Christian friends, who had 
 been very liberal and zealous supporters of Herschell 
 and Miiller, and, to my great satisfaction, I found that 
 they considered it a full justification of my former as- 
 sertion. The affair spread about, and soon reached the 
 ears of Mr. Grimshawe, to whom I wrote a note re- 
 minding him of the lines in which he threatened to 
 bring me before a court of justice, and stating that I 
 was now prepared to justify myself. After some days 
 I paid the rev. gentleman a visit, and then learned that 
 he had already sent away Herschell, together with an- 
 other baptized Jew a Mr. Sejanky. I told Mr. Grim- 
 shawe that my object, in the whole transaction, had not 
 been to satisfy a feeling of hatred and persecution, but 
 merely to protect my Christian neighbours against 
 imposition, and I showed him the letter from the 
 Preston police about Miiller. The worthy clergyman 
 was surprised, and appeared greatly affected; an ample 
 inquiry into the character of these men was now made, 
 when it was proved that Herschell and Miiller were 
 gross impostors ; upon which Mr. Grimshawe inserted 
 a caution against Herschell in "The Record." Now 
 the Christian minister looked no more angry at the 
 innocent Jew, held out no more threatenings against
 
 208 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 him, but treated him with the greatest respect and 
 kindness ever after. But the greatest satisfaction which 
 I derived from this occurrence was in the thought that 
 I stood fully justified in the eyes of my Christian 
 friends, and that it was evident that a love of truth, 
 and not a feeling of persecution had actuated my pro- 
 ceedings. 
 
 I will now relate an incident from the life of one 
 whose name often appears in the columns of the " Jew- 
 ish Intelligencer/' as a missionary to the Jews in the 
 Holy Land. Not many years ago Mr. Sejanky came to 
 Bedford in the character of a hawker, and in the dress 
 of a Jerusalem Jew of which city he represented him- 
 self to be, viz. : he wore a blue cloak, a red cap with 
 a large blue tassel, carried a large red umbrella in his 
 hand, and had a small beard. We, the Jews of Bed- 
 ford, evinced for him all that interest which the Jews 
 generally feel for those of their brethren who come 
 from the country of their glory ; and, as he pretended 
 to be a particularly strict follower of the Jewish reli- 
 gion, attending conscientiously to all its most minute 
 ceremonies, we made him welcome in our houses, and 
 invited him to our tables. During the several weeks 
 which he stayed at Bedford and its immediate vicinity, 
 he every evening took his meal with some one of 
 the Jews of this town, after having returned from the 
 surrounding villages. He continued performing before 
 our eyes the ceremonies of the Jewish religion in the 
 most rigorously orthodox manner, and affected devo- 
 tion and piety to such an extent as even frequently 
 to annoy us, e. g. he would put his hands before his 
 eyes when a lady entered the room, and conducted 
 himself in a similar way in many other particulars. 
 However, we had no doubt in the sincerity of the 
 man, and, therefore, put up with these things, still
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 209 
 
 continuing to give him board gratis, as long as he 
 stayed with us. 
 
 A few weeks after he had left us, I had some busi- 
 ness at a village called C , a few miles from Bed- 
 ford. I called at an inn where the landlady, who knew 
 me to be a Jew, said, in the course of conversation, " I 
 want to ask you a question, sir : Is there any difference 
 between a Jerusalem Jew and an English Jew?" " Not 
 that I know of/' said I, " a Jew is a Jew wherever he 
 may come from ; but allow me to inquire what makes 
 you ask that question?" " Why," said the lady, " within 
 the last few weeks we had a gentleman stopping here 
 occasionally, very curiously dressed in a blue cloak, and 
 wearing a red cap. He said he was a Jerusalem Jew ; 
 but, in the evening, he used to go to the butcher to buy 
 some meat for his supper, and one evening he brought 
 a pork chop. Now, I know the Jews here do not eat 
 any meat from Christian butchers, and, especially, they 
 never eat pork, and I thought I would ask you whether 
 a Jerusalem Jew may eat that meat?" I was very 
 much struck at what I heard, and, on the truth of 
 which, the respectability of the person left not the 
 shadow of a doubt. "When I came home, I related to 
 my Jewish friends in what manner we had been im- 
 posed upon, but they could hardly believe there could 
 have been such deceit and falsehood in the man so 
 well had he contrived to play his part. 
 
 For several years we did not see anything of the man 
 but I heard that he had been baptized shortly after he 
 left Bedford. About the time when the convert Her- 
 schell practised his imposition upon the Rev. Mr. 
 Grimshawe, this man again made his appearance in the 
 house of a Jew at Bedford and I happened to be pre- 
 sent. I hardly knew him again such a metamorphosis
 
 210 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 had taken place in his appearance. His wide blue 
 cloak had been changed into a fine black coat of Eng- 
 lish cut, his red cap into a hat, and his large umbrella, 
 which he used to carry about him as a constant com- 
 panion, had now given place to a handsome cane with 
 a gilt top altogether he unmistakeably looked the 
 CLERGYMAN. He anxiously inquired about the man 
 who had hypocritically imposed upon the Rev. Mr. 
 Grimshawe, and said to me, that I had better drop the 
 matter, " because/' he added, " though you may be cor- 
 rect in what you assert, yet, if you, as a Jew, speak 
 against a converted Jew, you will not be credited, and 
 only make yourself enemies among your Christian 
 neighbours, which may injure you considerably." I 
 felt no inclination to argue the point with such a man ; 
 but I thought this a fit opportunity to prove before my 
 Jewish neighbours that I had not unjustly taxed him 
 of hypocrisy ; I asked him, therefore, whether he, being 
 a learned man, would not think it sinful for a Jew, 
 under any circumstances to eat meat which had not 
 been killed in the manner prescribed by the Jewish 
 religion, and whether a Jew, in any situation, could be 
 justified in eating pork. Not having any idea to what 
 I was alluding, he at once answered that he was much 
 surprised how I could put such a question, since I had 
 only to refer to the Bible to find a distinct answer to 
 my interrogations. "I know perfectly well/' said I, 
 "what the Bible tells me about it, but I should like 
 to hear your opinion." " Well," replied he, " I will 
 tell you, then, that, as long as a Jew lives according to 
 the dictates of his religion, he is strictly forbidden to 
 eat any such meat, especially pork." " Does that pro- 
 hibition likewise extend to the Jews of Jerusalem ? " I 
 inquired then. Upon which he said, " You must have 
 known before this, that all the Jews, in whatever part 
 or country they live, have but one and the same law."
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 211 
 
 " What a thorough hypocrite you are ! " I then said to 
 him; "Why, you did eat meat from a Christian but- 
 cher, and even pork, at C , at a time when you 
 did at least pretend strictly to act according to the 
 prescripts of Judaism !" At first he attempted to deny 
 the fact, but when I mentioned the parties by whom I 
 had been informed, he said, "I was then thinking 
 about conversion to Christianity." " Christianity ! " 
 exclaimed I, "the very name of Christianity is dis- 
 graced when uttered by your lips. Christianity does 
 not teach to act the hypocrite and the deceiver. Can 
 there be anything more mean and more disgraceful 
 than your conduct at that time ? You knew to what 
 expense the Jews of Bedford had to go in order to 
 obtain the meat killed in the prescribed manner, and 
 yet you came to cheat these families some of them 
 anything but wealthy out of their meals, which they 
 readily gave up to you, believing you to be sincere in 
 your professions." With such and similar reproaches I 
 upbraided him, but the only answer I could obtain was, 
 that he was then thinking of becoming a Christian ; so 
 that I at last left him in disgust. 
 
 I have now placed before the reader, the characters 
 of two individuals who have become converts to the 
 Christian religion, and I will leave it to him to judge 
 whether such conduct, on the part of either of them, 
 does much credit to the religion which they profess. 
 But I may be told that I would make the exception 
 the rule, and that I am wrong in drawing general con- 
 clusions from particular cases. I can assure my Chris- 
 tian friends it is not so ; by far the greater part of all 
 the converts that are made in England, bear a character 
 similar to that which I have described. And in order 
 to account for this fact, and to show that it is not 
 likely it should be otherwise, I will lay before them,
 
 212 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 in the form of a dialogue between a Jew and a 
 Christian, a series of arguments, tending to prove that 
 the motives of conversion are in most cases, somewhat 
 unworthy of the solemn act, and that as long as the 
 trade in religions is held out to be a lucrative one, 
 mean individuals will always be found to take advan- 
 tages of the weakness of the multitude. 
 
 DIALOGUE BETWEEN A CHKISTIAN AND 
 A JEW. 
 
 Christian. I have frequently heard you as well as 
 others of your co-religionists express a decided aversion 
 to converted Jews. Now, although I can, in some 
 measure, account for that feeling, still I should like 
 to know by what reasons and arguments you support 
 it. 
 
 Jew. I must confess that I would rather avoid any 
 discussion on the subject. 
 
 Chr. Why? 
 
 Jew. I am afraid of being carried away by the heat 
 of argument, and thus perhaps giving utterance to ex- 
 pressions which you might consider disrespectful and 
 which I should regret afterwards. 
 
 Chr. If that be your only reason, I assure you, I 
 will make every allowance for any hasty expression 
 uttered in the warmth of debate. 
 
 Jew. Besides, you might think me actuated by spite 
 against baptized Jews. It is so difficult for persons ar- 
 guing from two different points of view, to enter into 
 each other's sentiments.
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 213 
 
 Chr. As to spite, you need not fear my attributing 
 to you any such motive. And it is exactly by rea- 
 soning, that you will convince me that your aversion to 
 converted Israelites cannot be a natural effect of mere 
 rancour or malice, but is a dislike, founded on sound 
 reasons. Your remark about the difficulty of entering 
 into each others opinions is perfectly correct, but I pro- 
 mise to listen to your observations with all the coolness 
 and with all the impartiality of an uninterested party. 
 
 Jew. "Well, as you seem so very anxious to discuss 
 the subject, I trust I shall convince you, in the course 
 of our conversation, that the term ' ' baptized, " is much 
 more applicable to the case than "converted;" and the 
 aversion I and others with me entertain against the in- 
 dividuals in question is based upon strictly moral and 
 religious considerations. 
 
 Chr. What makes me particularly desirous of dis- 
 cussing the question with you is on account different 
 rumours about converted Jews having lately reached me. 
 
 Jew. Can you tell me, sir, how many of the baptized 
 Jews of whom you have heard, or with whom you have 
 become acquainted, are Englishmen ? 
 
 Chr. I am sorry I cannot answer that question, 
 although I am a subscriber to the society for convert- 
 ing the Jews to Christianity. 
 
 Jew. I venture to say, that if you were to look at 
 the list, among those that have been baptized since the 
 establishment of the society, there are not a dozen, no 
 not even half a dozen of English Jews. 
 
 Chr. What is your purpose in drawing a distinction 
 between English and foreign Jews ? 
 
 Jew. My purpose is to show that the individuals 
 whose assuming the cover of Christianity you promote, 
 are actuated in their profession of change from inter- 
 ested motives, from shere motives of trade. 
 
 Chr. Motives of trade ! How can you justify that 
 expression ?
 
 214 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 Jew. I am not at all surprised that you should find 
 this rather a strong term, but it is borne out by the 
 facts of the case. These men try to become missiona- 
 ries or clergymen, and situations, which they generally 
 succeed in obtaining, (if they are but somewhat com- 
 petent,) are very lucrative, considering the low circum- 
 stances in which those men were before their so-called 
 conversion. 
 
 Chr. But might not English Jews become missiona- 
 ries or clergymen ? 
 
 Jew. No, sir, and for this reason. Because English 
 Jews and especially the lower classes of them, have not 
 that knowledge of Hebrew and biblical literature which 
 foreign Jews, for the most part possess. 
 
 Chr. Then you mean to say that the foreign Jews 
 allow themselves to be converted from pecuniary and 
 worldly consideration? 
 
 Jew. Yes, sir, and the English Jew too. 
 
 Chr. And what motive can the latter have, if he is 
 not fit for a missionary or a clergyman ? 
 
 Jew. Pardon me for replying to your question by 
 one of mine : has there never an English baptized Jew 
 called on you with goods for sale ? 
 
 Chr. Oh yes, there was one here a short time ago. 
 
 Jew. What induced him to call upon you ? 
 
 Chr. He brought a recommendation from a friend 
 of mine, requesting me to buy some articles of him, as 
 he was a converted Jew. 
 
 Jew. Now, sir, we shall come a little nearer to the 
 point. You say he is a converted Jew, and deserves 
 your patronage. 
 
 Chr. There can certainly be no harm in helping 
 him on a little. 
 
 Jew. Now let us suppose a case. Suppose you 
 knew me well, and wishing to be of service to me, you 
 recommended me as a teacher to some persons about ten 
 miles from this place. I express my thanks to you for
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 215 
 
 your kind recommendation, but I add the request that 
 you will have the goodness to pay my travelling ex- 
 penses and compensate me for the loss of time I shall 
 have to incur by going there. What would you say to 
 such a demand ? 
 
 Chr. I should consider it very impudent and foolish. 
 
 Jew. And is there not a similarity between this case 
 and that of the converted Jew who claims your patronage 
 on account of his conversion. 
 
 Chr. Perhaps you will explain yourself a little more 
 distinctly. 
 
 Jew. I will. A Jew comes to one of your co-re- 
 ligionists, and expresses to him a most anxious desire 
 for the salvation of his (the Jew's) soul. Pretending 
 to have some obscure, and yet undefined notion that 
 Christianity would afford him that spiritual peace which 
 he has in vain sought in Judaism, he assents to be 
 instructed in the dogmas of your religion. He raises 
 an objection now and then, just to make his Christian 
 teacher believe in his sincerity. Now and then he 
 will affect a want of comprehension, and trouble his 
 instructor for a little more light, while in truth he 
 has known the principal doctrines and articles of faith 
 long before. At last his scrupulous conscience is satis- 
 fied, and he is baptized. His next step is to find out 
 the benevolent of his new co-religionists. He trusts 
 they will buy something of him, considering that he 
 is a converted Jew ; and, in nine cases out of ten, 
 he asks for his goods double the price which he would 
 obtain if he were not baptized. 
 
 Chr. I see now at what you are driving. 
 
 Jew. Now that man having obtained, as he says, 
 through the kindness and Christian love of one of your 
 ministers, the salvation of his soul, than which there 
 can be nothing more desirable, has the front to demand 
 payment for that salvation in saying, you must
 
 216 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 of me, because I have become a convert to Christianity. 
 I ask you, sir, what honest and moral man would make 
 his religion a vehicle for worldly profit ? 
 
 Chr. What you say is certainly true. But what 
 are poor converted Jews to do, shunned and persecuted 
 as they are by their Jewish brethren? 
 
 Jew. Persecuted by their Jewish brethren ! I am 
 well aware that this is a common falsehood with them 
 calculated to excite the commiseration of the benevolent. 
 A persecuted person is sure to meet with active sym- 
 pathy from Englishmen ; these baptized gentlemen 
 know this, and turn it to account. But more foul 
 calumny than this imaginary persecution never passed 
 a man's lips, as I shall presently show you. 
 
 Chr. As to downright, positive persecution, that 
 would not pass in our age, and least of all, in this 
 country. But there is, no doubt, a sort of negative 
 persecution, if I may call it so, on the part of the 
 Jews by their avoiding every intercourse with a con- 
 verted brother, by abstaining from trading with him, 
 or encouraging him in his business. 
 
 Jew. Now suppose a Protestant tradesman were 
 to embrace the Roman Catholic religion, would strict 
 Church of England men, who were in the habit of 
 dealing with him, continue to do so ? I doubt it 
 very much; that tradesman would certainly be, in 
 some measure, a persecuted man. If that man were 
 therefore to apply to Roman Catholics for their pa- 
 tronage on the plea that his Protestant customers had 
 withdrawn theirs, I think such application would be 
 justifiable. 
 
 Chr. Well, this is exactly the case with converted 
 Jews. 
 
 Jew. I beg your pardon, sir, I am sorry to perceive 
 that you too are affected by that chloroform which 
 your baptized friends have administered to you, in
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 217 
 
 order to perform a safe operation upon your pockets. 
 Excuse this comparison. 
 
 Chr. Never mind ! Go on, sir. 
 
 Jew. They have no right to talk about persecution 
 from the Jews, because if you look to the manner in 
 which those persons obtain their livelihood in the 
 country, you will find that Jews were not at all dealing 
 with them before their "conversion" as you call it; 
 you will find that all of them, without exception, owed 
 the living they made to Christian customers in the 
 provinces. 
 
 Chr. If that be the case it is certainly absurd to 
 talk about persecution. 
 
 Jew. Now, sir, when some years ago I brought you 
 a recommendation from one of your friends, stating 
 that you would oblige him by introducing me among 
 your friends, did I state I was a converted Jew ? 
 
 Chr. I wish you could have done so. 
 
 Jew. May the light of the sun cease to shine upon 
 me whenever I should use my religion as a means 
 for worldly prosperity ! But to return to our point. 
 Did my recommendation to you state anything else 
 but that I had been known to your friend many years 
 and that I was deserving of encouragement ? And did 
 you not do your utmost to act upon that recommend- 
 ation without troubling yourself about my being con- 
 verted or not converted ? 
 
 Chr. I certainly did not think it necessary to in- 
 quire about that point. I considered it my duty to 
 assist you as an honest and industrious man, and I 
 shall always be glad to assist any one who has these 
 qualities. 
 
 Jew. Why then should the baptized Jew be so very 
 anxious to be recommended to you as a converted Jew? 
 If he is really deserving of encouragement because he 
 is sober, industrious, and honest, why does he never
 
 218 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 fail to show his certificate of baptism, as a man would 
 show a letter of credit ? 
 
 Chr. There is no denying that, in doing this, pro- 
 spects of profit enter into his calculation. 
 
 Jew. I assure you, sir, from the manifold experience 
 I have had on the subject, it is all calculation of profit. 
 But the fault lies, in a great measure, with the Chris- 
 tian. 
 
 Chr. How is that ? 
 
 Jew. Because many of your co-religionists allow 
 themselves to be imposed upon by every poor wretch 
 who, finding his trade or business alone insufficient to 
 obtain a livelihood, forthwith betakes himself to reli- 
 gion, to advance his interests. He is making literally a 
 business of it. He knows the weakness of many bene- 
 volent Christians, that, as soon as they perceive in a 
 Jew the slightest inclination to abjure his religion, by 
 his asking a few questions about salvation, they will 
 not further trouble themselves about his character, but 
 have him at once taken care of, instructed, and bap- 
 tized. They may think, perhaps, from a laudable confi- 
 dence in the power and influence of their religion, that 
 the conversion will, in all probability, wipe off the stains 
 that might be attached to his character. Collections 
 are made for the neophyte, which invariably enhance 
 and strengthen his belief and faith in the superiority of 
 Christianity over Judaism. Your Christian friends, too 
 scrupulous to give him a testimonial as an honest man, 
 because they do not know him sufficiently for that, fur- 
 nish him, nevertheless, with a certificate of baptism. 
 And, to do the convert justice, this is all he wants. 
 What does he care about honesty and integrity ! That 
 certificate has a truly magic power it combines the 
 qualities of a passport, a letter of credit, and a check 
 from the Bank of England. 
 
 Chr. Great importance as I attach to conversion, I
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 219 
 
 think there ought certainly to be more inquiry into the 
 moral character of such men. Besides, clergymen 
 ought to be able to distinguish between hypocrisy and 
 sincerity. 
 
 Jew. I am happy to say, not all ministers are so 
 credulous. As an instance, I may tell you that, some 
 time back, a Jew presented himself to a rev. gentleman 
 of this town, expressing a wish to be baptized, and add- 
 ing that he should also like to have a certificate of his 
 baptism. The rev. gentleman at once saw through that 
 man's designs, and dismissed him. Not so in other 
 cases I have mentioned, where the party did not hesi- 
 tate to baptize him. Converted the man certainly was 
 not; for he was found out to be afterwards what he 
 had been before an impostor. 
 
 Chr. I am sorry this is but too true. 
 
 Jew. I am glad to perceive that your confidence in 
 the sincerity of the baptized Jews is not unbounded, 
 and I hope, before we have finished, to convert you, not 
 indeed from your religion God forbid that I should 
 ever attempt such a thing Judaism does not claim ex- 
 clusiveness with respect to salvation, but tells us that 
 the pious of the non-Jewish nations will participate in 
 the blessings of the future world. But I hope to con- 
 vert you from your opinion that your so-called conver- 
 sion is a meritorious work. 
 
 Chr. Well, your argument seems to me to be this : If 
 the baptized Jew sincerely believes, as he professes, that 
 salvation is only to be obtained through Christ, he should 
 rather endure hardships than go about and claim sup- 
 port on account of his conversion ; that, if he be a sober, 
 honest, and industrious man, he will be sure to get on 
 in the world without using his religion as a means to 
 promote his worldly interests. And then you want to 
 show that, for a man to say he is persecuted by the 
 Jews, because they do not support him in his trade or
 
 220 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 profession after his " conversion/' is an absurdity, since 
 he was not supported by them before. 
 
 Jew. Exactly so. Take, for instance, myself. You 
 know, sir, the circumstances I was in when I first came 
 to this country; you know what struggles I had to un- 
 dergo, but I declare to you that I never had a sixpence 
 from a Jew. My business has always been with Chris- 
 tians; but, would I, on that account, be justified in 
 speaking about persecution from my Jewish brethren ? 
 Certainly not ; no more are your converts in represent- 
 ing themselves as persecuted persons. 
 
 Chr. I am aware that there are a great number of 
 Jews living in the provincial towns, whose dealings are 
 only with Christians. 
 
 Jew. Now, sir, to open your eyes a little more on 
 this subject, do you remember the two baptized Jews 
 who came to this town a few months ago ? 
 
 Chr. I only remember having seen one. 
 
 Jew. They were two partners, and you will see di- 
 rectly how it was that you only saw one. Mark what a 
 disgraceful mockery the pretended Christianity of those 
 men is. One of them professed dissent, and the other 
 the religion of the Church of England. Now, if you go 
 all over the town, you will find this is a most re- 
 markable and, at the same time, a most suspicious 
 fact that these baptized Jews did not make a single 
 mistake in their calls, but that, most miraculously, the 
 dissenter happened only to call on dissenters, and the 
 Church-of-England man on persons of the Church of 
 England only. 
 
 Chr. It is quite true, I only saw Mr. D , who said 
 he was a member of our church. 
 
 Jew. Of course, and the dissenters only saw Mr. S , 
 who pretends to be a dissenter. Well, sir, is this not a 
 positive proof that these men only make a trade of their 
 religion? Ought such persons not to be discountenanced
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 221 
 
 by Christians as well as by Jews? Can there be a 
 greater desecration of the sacred name of religion than 
 to use it for a low trick to do business ? 
 
 Chr. Now this is really a disgrace and ought not to 
 be suffered. 
 
 Jew. But you not only suffer it, you even encourage 
 it. I repeat what I have said before, it is more the 
 Christian's fault than any one else's. To prove to you 
 more clearly, if that were needed, the truth of what I 
 stated, I will mention to you the case of that baptized Jew 
 at Northampton, which happened but a short time ago. 
 
 Chr. By the bye, what was that case? I intended 
 to ask you about it several times. 
 
 Jew. I will tell you the whole disgraceful affair. 
 You remember some time ago when the Rev. Mr. 
 Grimshawe was imposed upon by that infamous im- 
 postor against whom I had cautioned him in vain. 
 
 Chr. I remember it perfectly well. There were two 
 of them. Were there not ? 
 
 Jew. Yes, sir, the second, who had already been 
 baptized and carried most excellent testimonials about 
 with him, introduced his companion to Mr. Grimshawe. 
 I had a great deal of trouble to convince Mr. Grim- 
 shawe that he had to deal with rogues, but, at last, I 
 succeeded; whereupon they parted, one went one way 
 and the other another, and then the rev. gentleman 
 inserted a caution against the two fellows in one of 
 the public papers, (the "Record"). 
 
 Chr. I wish to know particularly how you exposed 
 the one at Northampton, who had such good testimo- 
 nials from the clergy. 
 
 Jew. Well, sir, do you know Mr. W , at North- 
 ampton. 
 
 Chr. Very well, indeed. He is a most gentlemanly 
 man. 
 
 Jew. I called on him with some recommendations,
 
 222 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 and asked him whether he would be good enough to 
 recommend me to a few of his friends. He kindly 
 promised he would do his best for me to procure me 
 some pupils. When I was about taking my leave of 
 him he said : " By the bye, do you know the converted 
 Jew, Miiller. [That is the one who introduced the 
 other fellow to Mr. Grimshawe.] I replied that I was 
 sorry to say, I did know him. " Sorry'/' he said. I then 
 told him what had happened between Mr. Grimshawe 
 and myself, and, at the same time, stated my opinion 
 that Miiller was an impostor, when Mr. W replied : 
 " Sir, it is very unjust of you to speak in such strong 
 terms against a man whom I know to be a sincere 
 Christian. If that man deceives me, I would no more 
 place confidence in my own brother." I observed that 
 Mr. W had taken great offence at my expression, 
 and that, like most of my Christian friends, he ascribed 
 it to a feeling of spite or ill will. I departed, and 
 the following week when I again called on Mr. W , 
 I showed him the letter from the Preston police, to the 
 effect that Miiller had been in Wakefield prison for 
 a robbery committed after his " conversion." Mr. 
 W , after having perused the letter, said : " It is 
 certainly the same name, but I can never believe that 
 it is the same man," and he again expressed the good 
 opinion he entertained of his protege. Some months 
 after it so happened that Miiller came to Northampton 
 the same day on which I professionally visit that town. 
 Mr. W , hearing that I was in the town, sent for 
 me to ask whether I would prove to Mailer's face 
 what I had said about him. I at once consented^ 
 and, on being introduced to each other, I asked Miiller 
 what had become of Herschell, that being the man 
 whom Miiller introduced to Mr. Grimshawe, to be 
 baptized. Miiller, however, strongly denied having 
 any knowledge of that person, and in the same man-
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 223 
 
 ner met my question, how long he had left Wakefield 
 gaol? He most emphatically denied the charge, as- 
 serting that he had never been before a magistrate 
 in his life. Indignant at such barefaced effrontery, 
 I replied that I would have him before the magistrate 
 who would soon find out who he was. Miiller, per- 
 ceiving my determination, hesitatingly told his bene- 
 factor that he had once stopped at an inn in Wakefield, 
 where some person must have put a pair of silver sugar 
 tongs in his (Mullens) pocket. The consequence was 
 that he was taken up, and sentenced to three month's 
 imprisonment. 
 
 Chr. And what did Mr. W say to that? 
 
 Jew. It is impossible for me to describe his surprise. 
 
 Chr. What a hardened villain that man must have 
 been to make such false statements ! 
 
 Jew. Dare you call a converted Jew a villain ? 
 
 Chr. Really, I must confess, I never dreamed of 
 such imposition. 
 
 Jew. No more did Mr. W . But you remember, 
 sir, in a previous conversation we had together, you 
 said it was impossible there should be men so lost to 
 every feeling of reverence for holy things, that they will, 
 for mere temporal advantage, allow themselves to be 
 baptized twice. 
 
 Chr. I still hope there are no instances of that kind. 
 
 Jew. I wish I could entertain the same hope, but 
 if you ask Mr. W , he will tell you there are such. 
 You recollect when I asked Miiller about Herschell, he 
 denied being at all acquainted with him. So I proposed 
 to Mr. W , to drive over with Miiller and myself to 
 the Rev. Mr. Grimshawe, there to test the truth of 
 Mullens statement. Miiller, hearing that, made a 
 second confession, not only of his knowing Herschell, 
 but that the latter, after his baptism by the Rev. Mr. 
 Grimshawe, had told him, he had been already baptized
 
 224 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 at Yarmouth, and that the Yarmouth baptism had 
 fetched him a little more money than the Biddenham 
 one. 
 
 Chr. Shameful ! shameful ! and pray, what did Mr. 
 W , say to that ? 
 
 Jew. He at once told Miiller to leave the house. 
 
 Chr. Was that all? 
 
 Jew. That was all. Mr. W was much grieved; 
 but I am sorry to perceive there is a great inclination 
 among many of your zealous conversionists to hush up 
 such disagreeable occurrences. They fear that these 
 facts becoming public, may bring conversion into an evil 
 odour. And instead of having such villains punished 
 by all the rigour of the law, they allow them to slip 
 away. 
 
 Chr. I do not hesitate one moment to say that that 
 man ought to be most severely punished. 
 
 Jew. Do not say that man, but rather those men, 
 for as I told you before ; they are all alike. 
 
 Chr. No, no ! be charitable ! I have no doubt there 
 are many who are sincere. 
 
 Jew. Well sir, if you will permit me, I will relate to 
 you another instance that happened in the same place 
 which I mentioned before. 
 
 Chr. Do you mean at Mr. W J s ? 
 
 Jew. Exactly so. I think you know the person 
 yourself, of whom I am going to speak. I remember 
 having heard you speak of him as a faithful missionary 
 at Berlin. 
 
 Chr. You do not mean Mr. B ? 
 
 Jew. That is the very man. 
 
 Chr. I am sure you cannot say anything against 
 him, I have known him for many years. 
 
 Jew. I shall only mention facts, and then you shall 
 judge yourself. 
 
 Chr. You really excite my curiosity to a high degree.
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 2.25 
 
 Jew. You will at least see that Mr. B is not over 
 anxious to enter into conversation with Jews with a 
 view of making them follow his example. 
 
 Chr. Well, let me hear the^ facts, if you please. 
 
 Jew. The facts are these : a few months after I had 
 exposed Miiller before Mr. W , Mr. B visited Nor- 
 thampton. Some of my Christian friends, knowing 
 that I visited that town occasionally, asked me to do 
 them the favour to see Mr. B . " Oh, he is such a 
 dear creature," one of my friends said, " I am sure you 
 will be pleased with him." I told my friends that, if 
 I should meet him I would speak to him, especially as 
 it was after the revolution at Berlin, about which I 
 should like to hear some particulars. Accordingly, 
 when I came to Northampton, I went to the library 
 with the expectation of meeting him there. After 
 sitting there for about half an hour, in came Mr. A , 
 with another gentleman. Mr. A , who knows me, 
 came up to me, while his companion, (Mr. B ,) looked 
 at one of my cards which hung in the library, and was 
 just going to make some remark about it, when, Mr. 
 A observing this, gave him a hint that I was sitting 
 there. No sooner had Mr. B noticed it than he gave 
 me a side glance, and said to Mr. A , " all right, come 
 on," and in one instant he was out of the room. 
 
 Chr. And you never spoke to him at all? Did he 
 not come back ? 
 
 Jew. He did not return, but I saw him afterwards 
 at Bedford ; when I came home, I related the incident 
 to my friends, who could scarcely believe it. 
 
 Chr. Well, what did they say to it ? 
 
 Jew. What could they say ? They thought of some 
 petty excuses for him, at which I could not help 
 laughing. But they invited him to Bedford, and a 
 friend called with him at my house. 
 
 Q
 
 226 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 Chr. Now this shews you that leaving the library 
 at Northampton so suddenly was not in consequence of 
 your being there, and was not occasioned by a disincli- 
 nation on Mr, B 's part to enter into a conversation 
 with you. 
 
 Jew. You will excuse me, if I think you are not 
 justified in drawing that inference. Mr. B called on 
 me, not because it was his wish to do so, but because 
 he could not well avoid doing so. He came to me at 
 the request of his supporters, Avho subscribe largely to 
 keep him. 
 
 Chr. No, sir, I cannot allow this. 
 
 Jew. I beg to remind you of your promise to over- 
 look any harsh expressions that I might give utterance 
 to in the course of our conversation. 
 
 Chr. Well, well, go on, sir. 
 
 Jew. Mr. B 's friends being surprised at his not 
 speaking to me in the Northampton library, proposed 
 to call on me. And could he refuse ? Would they not 
 have suspected his sincerity, and doubted his zeal for 
 the Christian cause, if he had done so ? He could not 
 help paying me a visit, much against his will as it was. 
 
 Chr. You are not sure that his visit was not volun- 
 tary. And what did he say when he called on you? 
 
 Jew. I was not at home at the time. 
 
 Chr. Then you did not see him any more ? 
 
 Jew. Oh yes, I did. I was not afraid of him, if he 
 was of me. When I came home, and heard that a 
 friend had called on me with Mr. B , I went to the 
 house where he was staying. 
 
 Chr. And did you see him ? 
 
 Jew. I did, sir. As soon as I had entered the room, 
 and had been introduced to him, he said to me, in a 
 most solemn and hypocritical tone : " I believe I had 
 the pleasure of seeing you at Northampton?" "I do
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 227 
 
 not believe," said I, "you had any pleasure at all at 
 seeing me, or else you would not have run out of 
 the room so precipitately when you heard that I was 
 there." "Why/' said he, "I was not introduced to 
 you." "Not introduced to me!" replied I, "do you 
 not say that, although you are baptized, you still con- 
 tinue to be a Jew? "And do we not say, all Jews 
 are brethren ? There can be no need of an introduction, 
 if a brother wishes to speak to a brother." " Besides," 
 said he, seeing that his first excuse would be insufficient, 
 "there were some ladies outside the library whom I 
 would not keep waiting." 
 
 Chr. Had you no further conversation with him ? 
 
 Jew. No, sir, I would not stay any longer. I only 
 went there to convince his friends of the correctness of 
 my statements. 
 
 Chr. And what did his friend remark upon it ? 
 
 Jew. Excuse me for observing that the supporters of 
 the Society for promoting Christianity among the Jews, 
 among whom you are one, all alike shut their eyes to 
 the very facts, and then say, they do not see. These 
 baptized Jews know that very well, and turn it to 
 account. Now, sir, did there never any suspicion enter 
 your mind, when you read in the " Jewish Intelligence," 
 letters written by these baptized Jews from all parts of 
 the world, stating that they had a conversation with A. 
 in B., or that they had baptized Rabbi C. in D. Why 
 do they not state the names and places in full ? 
 
 Chr. I dare say many of those converts in foreign 
 parts try to keep their conversion, for fear of giving 
 offence to their friends and relations. 
 
 Jew. No, sir, because your faithful and veracious 
 missionaries know full well, that you do not go to B. 
 or D., to enquire who A. and Rabbi C. are. Besides, 
 vou surprise me, sir, with your remark. If those con- 
 
 Q2
 
 228 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 verts in foreign parts dare not openly confess their new 
 religion in the face of their friends, then their faith in 
 it cannot be very strong. But how is it that sometimes 
 the full name and address does appear? Does this not 
 plainly show, that those names with initials are merely 
 fictitious. 
 
 Chr. Although you have not proved those names to 
 be fictitious, still I confess it would be preferable to 
 have the names in full, in order to avoid suspicion. 
 
 Jew. Depend upon it, sir, those names have no more 
 real existence, than the feelings and opinions which 
 those missionaries profess to entertain. If you wish to 
 be undeceived on these points, you should read the 
 " Jewish Chronicle " occasionally. Do you remember 
 some time ago, I showed you a pamphlet, entitled " The 
 Faithful Missionary ?" 
 
 Chr. I remember it perfectly well. 
 
 Jew. Now, would you have believed that a baptized 
 Jew would turn round upon you in such a manner ? 
 
 Chr. I was indeed very much surprised at it. 
 
 Jew. I was not at all surprised ; for, look here, that 
 man has been a missionary for many years, and is now 
 getting old. He knows that his days are numbered 
 and he cannot obtain much more support from the 
 Society. Having remained a Jew in his heart all along, 
 while his lips professed Christianity, he now, as if to 
 atone for his apostacy, turns his back upon his bene- 
 factors. 
 
 Chr. How was that pamphlet received by the Jews ? 
 
 Jew. It was condemned by every sincere Jew when 
 we saw what a deal of scandal it contained. 
 
 Chr. Well, I am very glad to hear that. 
 
 Jew. You may rely on it, that the Jew who remains 
 true to the faith of his fathers is much more your friend 
 than he who departs from it under the suspicious cir-
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 229 
 
 cumstances I have mentioned. The man who, by 
 changing his religion, improves his position in the world, 
 cannot escape the suspicion that his apostacy has been 
 brought about by interested motives, and, that there is 
 much ground for such imputation, I think I have suffi- 
 ciently proved to you.
 
 230 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 In laying the above facts and reflections before the 
 public, it was my intention principally to impress upon 
 the mind of the reader two important truths : First, that 
 the happiness of man and his advancement in society 
 depend, in a very great measure, on himself, on the 
 energy with which he approaches, and on the per- 
 severance with which he pursues, his undertakings; 
 Secondly, that the Jewish religion, so far from being 
 anti-social or obstructive to man's progress in life, is, 
 by its tenets and usages, peculiarly calculated to imbue 
 the mind of its faithful followers with those principles 
 which tend to the well-being of society in general, 
 and of the individual in particular. 
 
 Man is placed upon earth as a free agent, with a 
 certain amount of talents and capabilities, and he is 
 born under given circumstances, more or less advan- 
 tageous. It is his task to apply these talents and 
 capabilities so as to improve his circumstances in every 
 respect, and to raise them to any possible degree. 
 Life presents, in its labyrinthic paths, a multiplicity 
 of obstructions and impediments to check the too rapid 
 advance of man. Against these man has to struggle, 
 these he has to overcome, and it is not without la- 
 borious exertions, not without many failures and dis- 
 appointments, that man can climb the steep height 
 of fortune. Many, indeed, are they who are so be- 
 wildered by the sight of the gigantic difficulties which 
 beset their path, that they despair altogether of reach- 
 ing a certain height, but content themselves with re-
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 231 
 
 maining in the lower regions, enviously looking at the 
 pinnacle at which some of their fellow-travellers have 
 arrived, instead of toiling on in the unpromising task 
 where success is apparently rare, and failures plentiful. 
 But those who have courage enough to face those 
 difficulties boldly, to go to war with them, and not 
 to despair after a few defeats, will ultimately see their 
 labours crowned with success, and prove, by their ex- 
 ample, that for him who earnestly perseveres, nothing 
 within the limits of reason, is impossible. The follow- 
 ing forms another portion of Zollikofer^s essay on 
 " The Dignity of Man :" 
 
 " Beautiful is the sun, beautiful the moon, beautiful are the 
 stars, beautiful the vegetation and plants that adorn the sur- 
 face of our earth every one perfect in its kind, and incapable 
 of improvement but that which they are they remain their 
 form, their beauty, their movements, their properties are, and 
 continue ever the same. They are precisely that which they 
 are destined and limited to be. Not so with man. Never 
 does he exist precisely in this manner (teas er scgn soil tinfc 
 feann). No limits of space and time confine his progress 
 utterly and for ever. One step towards perfection con- 
 ducts him to another, and never stands he so high that he 
 may not mount still higher. His abilities develop them- 
 selves, his powers expand conformably to the method in 
 which he applies and exercises them ; and his intellectual 
 horizon and sphere of activity extend with the degree to 
 which his abilities expand and his powers increase. When 
 has he learnt so much that he can learn no more ? or when 
 are his acquirements so universal that there is no place for 
 more ? When are his advances in the study of virtue and 
 wisdom so eminent that nothing further is attainable ? 
 When is he so conspicuous, both in the power and the will 
 to do good, that there is nothing more which power and 
 benevolence united may achieve ? And when do his in- 
 clination and his efforts cease ? Who shall name the limits 
 of the human mind in all these relations, such as he himself,
 
 232 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 by his own capacity and endowments, and, by the favour of 
 his Creator, durst not hope to advance beyond ?" 
 
 Man's circumstances on earth, before his own exer- 
 tions have shaped them into any peculiar form, are 
 much like a rough block of wood in the hands of a 
 workman. If that workman take up the wood, look at 
 it, and, after a few abortive attempts to give it some 
 shape, throw it down again, saying : " it is too rough, I 
 cannot make any thing of it :" that piece of wood will 
 be unperfectcd, and, through the workman's fault, never 
 be anything but a rough piece of wood. But if the man 
 do not give up the work as impossible, but try experi- 
 ments upon experiments, he will surely at last find the 
 means to remove that discouraging roughness, and may, 
 in the end, be able to convert it into a form which shall 
 contribute to the ornament and utility of life. 
 
 The same difference that exists in the conduct of 
 these two workmen, we find among the numerous 
 members of the human family. We meet with many a 
 one who says : "I am a poor man, I have no means to 
 establish a business, I have no friends, I have no con- 
 nexion. What use would it be for me to work, be it 
 ever so hard ? I shall never be able to obtain a respec- 
 table livelihood." And with such words he resigns all 
 his claims to an honourable position in society, and 
 suffers poverty and want while he lives in comparative 
 idleness. Some even are found who endeavour to 
 persuade themselves that, since it appears so difficult to 
 support life by honest straightforward dealings, they 
 may be excused for using dishonest means. The inge- 
 nuity of man is greatest when he labours to defend 
 before the tribunal of his conscience, any act that 
 flatters his egotism, or favours his natural inclination 
 to idleness ; his ingenuity, I say, is then greatest, but
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 233 
 
 it teems with errors and abounds in sophistical reason- 
 ings. I have taken several opportunities in the course 
 of this work to show that dishonesty is a suicidal policy, 
 and that, independently of its being an infringement 
 upon divine as well as human laws the former estab- 
 lished by an unerring wisdom, the latter dictated by 
 necessity it mostly fails to produce a lasting advantage 
 to him who is vile enough to practise it. 
 
 The only real infallible way to wealth, or at least to a 
 respectable maintenance, is honest perseverance, " Drive 
 thy business, let not that drive thee," said the immortal 
 Franklin. For the man in business, in particular, it is 
 of the utmost importance that he should ever be on the 
 alert, that he should never relax in his endeavours to 
 get on. Disappointments will often damp his spirits, 
 failures in some speculation or other will frequently 
 exercise a discouraging effect, losses will sometimes 
 consume the produce of many months' labour ; there is 
 only one remedy for all these evils, but a sure and 
 effective one it is perseverance. 
 
 There is, however, nothing that will form, in the 
 mind of man, a more solid base for this perseverance 
 that will nourish it more plentifully and defend it more 
 powerfully against all attacks from the vicissitudes of 
 life, than a truly religious feeling. That feeling which 
 inspired the sublime psalmist to exclaim, " Trust in the 
 Lord and do good/' is the safest guide for any man 
 upon earth. He who is convinced that all his doings 
 are watched over by a protective Providence, who is 
 interested in his welfare as a father is in that of his 
 child, what should he fear from the tempestuous storms 
 that rage around him? They cannot prevail against 
 him. For are they not sent by that same loving father 
 who has declared through his prophet, "I have no plea-
 
 234 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 sure in the death of him that dieth ? " It is not, then, 
 to annihilate us that the Lord sends these trials upon 
 us, but it is in order to prove us and to strengthen us ; 
 and we may rest assured that, if we patiently await 
 His time, the clouds that seem to threaten ruin, will 
 pass away and bright sunshine will be restored to our 
 horizon. 
 
 The Jew may learn this firm confidence in God not 
 only from the direct admonitions to the same, contained 
 in his religious books, but from the numerous instances 
 occurring in the great history of his ancestry. It was 
 this unshakeable reliance upon the lovingkindness of 
 his Creator, this utter resignation to the will of the 
 Almighty, with the conviction that it is ever intended 
 for our good, which gave the patriarch Abraham the 
 courage to bind his only, his beloved son, and lay him 
 upon the altar, ready to sacrifice him if it should be so 
 ordained. Our great lawgiver Moses, led forth a host of 
 six hundred thousand men into a sterile desert, where 
 he knew there would be no corn to provide them with 
 bread, no wells of water to refresh them on their weary 
 march through the sandy plains; but he had a firm 
 trust in Him from whom he held his great mission, and 
 his courage was bold. He saw the mighty armies of 
 the Egyptians pursuing his fugitive people ; they were 
 surrounded on all sides, death seemed inevitable, and 
 to aggravate the sadness of his situation, the Israel- 
 ites loaded him with reproaches for his heroic deeds. 
 Amidst all these troubles, in the most embarrassing 
 situation in which perhaps any mortal being was ever 
 placed, the divine prophet stood calm, and his only en- 
 deavour seemed to be to infuse in his reprobate people 
 that confidence in the Lord which was the source of 
 his calmness. " The Lord will fight for you," were the 
 great words which the greatest of all prophets addressed
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 235 
 
 to the most ungrateful of nations ; we all know how the 
 result justified his expectations. 
 
 With such, and many other examples before him, the 
 Jew must indeed be little of faith, if he should ever 
 abandon himself to despair, and give himself up for 
 lost. No, when we are ever so much encompassed 
 with troubles and misfortunes, our courage must not 
 sink, we must toil on with good confidence, though 
 we do not clearly see before us the way of deliverance, 
 soothing our mind with the great national consolation, 
 addressed to the Lord : " Our fathers trusted in Thee ; 
 they trusted, and Thou didst deliver them." 
 
 There is one temptation to which the Jew, who has 
 to work hard for his maintenance, is exposed, in ad- 
 dition to those that offer themselves to his Christian 
 neighbour, viz. : to abandon the strict observance of 
 his faith for certain worldly advantages. It is un- 
 deniably true that Judaism exacts sacrifices from its 
 followers. The abstaining from work on sabbaths and 
 festivals, the restrictions ordained by the Jewish re- 
 ligion, with regard to several kinds of food, are ad- 
 ditional difficulties set in the way of the labouring 
 Israelite. Besides, there prevails among many of my 
 Jewish brethren a notion that, as Jews, they would 
 not be able to secure for themselves the respect and 
 patronage of their Christian neighbours, and they, 
 therefore, seek to deny their religion, are ashamed of 
 practising its ceremonies, and would fain erase even 
 the religious distinction which exists between Jew and 
 Gentile. This opinion, I venture to maintain, is al- 
 together erroneous. If the Jew be industrious and 
 nnrelaxing in the pursuit of his business during the 
 whole of the week, the keeping of his sabbath will 
 not, in any consderable measure, interfere with the
 
 236 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 welfare of his business. For, do there not, in this 
 country, in the metropolis in particular, exist numerous 
 examples of strictly orthodox Jews who have obtained 
 great riches without infringing upon the statutes of 
 their religion, and are there not, at the same time, 
 many who have thrown aside all restrictions, and yet 
 do not find their affairs in a thriving condition? He 
 who commanded our forefathers, when they were in 
 possession of the Holy Land, to let the fields lie fallow 
 every seventh year, and who provided them so plen- 
 tifully in the sixth, that we read nowhere of a famine 
 that should have ensued in consequence of not sowing 
 for a whole year that same eternal Being will surely 
 be ready to bless our undertakings, and to favour our 
 progress, if, besides following His commandment to 
 keep the seventh day holy, we do not forget faithfully 
 to carry out the injunction attached to that command- 
 ment, viz. : to labour six days. 
 
 As to the idea that a faithful adherence to the re- 
 ligion of Moses is averse to the obtaining of respect 
 and patronage among Christians, my own experience 
 has sufficiently taught me that there is no foundation 
 in it, and it is not without some self-satisfaction that 
 I can refer my Jewish brethren, who should entertain 
 such an opinion, to my own example. It has always 
 been my particular care to sustain the character of 
 a sincere Jew, it has always been my pride to belong 
 to the nation whose ancestors had been favoured with 
 the direct revelation on Sinai; and yet my Christian 
 neighbours have not despised me for it far from it. 
 I can confidently point to some individuals, of no mean 
 rank and station in English society, who have not 
 only honoured me with their patronage, but who have 
 likewise exerted, and do yet exert their influence in my 
 behalf, and encourage me in all my undertakings. So
 
 JEWISH PERSEVERANCE. 237 
 
 much is it true that honest endeavours will ever find 
 acknowledgments add support from all men, of every 
 religious denomination, and of every social condition, 
 and that encouragement from Jews and Christians will 
 never be wanting to JEWISH PERSEVERANCE.
 
 238 NOTES. 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 * p. 18. 
 
 " Has eben fter .ifluclj trer fcbsen Cijat, 
 " Dass ste, fortjeugeiifc, tntmer ISoses muss gebarett." 
 Schiller's Wallenstein, Die Piccolomini, Akt v. Szene 1. 
 
 * p. 20. 
 
 It is a prevalent custom among the Jews, even at the 
 present day, to bless their children on solemn and important 
 occasions, such as the coming in, and going out, of sabbaths 
 and festivals, the departure for a long journey, the approach 
 of death, &c. The ceremony is performed simply in this 
 manner : The child steps towards the parent, inclines his or 
 her head, and the parent lays the hands upon the child's 
 head, pronouncing these words : " God make thee as Ephraim 
 and as Manasseh," if the child be a son; and " G-od make 
 thee as Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah," if it be a daughter. 
 The ceremony is at once simple and touching, and is fre- 
 quently applied as an effective moral agent. The child's 
 inclining the head seems to indicate an acknowledgement of 
 submission, and a promise of ready obedience to the wishes 
 of the parent whose blessing it implores. On the other 
 hand, when a father is displeased with the conduct of his 
 son, he may withhold his blessing, and this is considered a 
 very great calamity. Cases are not unfrequent where the 
 withholding of this blessing leads a refractory child back to 
 a sense of his duty, and to the path of virtue, from which he 
 may have strayed. It is true that such an effect can only be 
 expected from children whose hearts beat with real affection 
 for their parents, and are animated with true piety ; but I 
 have observed, during the course of the work, that this 
 piety and affection between parent and child is the rule 
 among the Jews.
 
 NOTES. 239 
 
 It is also worthy of remark that Jewish children are often 
 sent by their parents to the rabbi, to receive his blessing. 
 This is one of the many indications of respect which the 
 Jew pays to the ministers and teachers of his religion, and 
 shows how anxious an Israelite is to impress his children at 
 an early period of their lives, with the true value they ought 
 to set on the office of those persons whose occupation it is 
 to lead them in the path of faith and morality. 
 
 * p. 21. 
 
 As many of my readers may be ignorant as to the nature 
 and contents of this extensive work, so often spoken of, and 
 so rarely appreciated, I will give a brief sketch of the same. 
 There are two works which bear that name, the Babylonish 
 Talmud and the Jerusalem Talmud, and each of themcons its 
 of two distinct parts, viz.: the Mishnah (repetition, secondary 
 law,) and the Grernara (completion) . The Mishnah was com- 
 posed by Rabbi Jehudah, surnamed Hannasi, (the prince,) 
 also Hakkadosh, (the holy) who lived in the latter half of the 
 second century, and was the contemporary and friend of the 
 Emperor Antoninus Pius. As it is impossible to establish a 
 code of laws applicable to all cases, it is natural to suppose 
 that the written law of Moses was accompanied by oral ex- 
 planations from the divine legislator himself concerning 
 such laws and precepts as were acted upon by the Israelites 
 during their journeyings in the wilderness. These explana- 
 tions and interpretations were increased, in the course of 
 ages, and handed down, from generation to generation, 
 through oral tradition. If we take into consideration that 
 the wording of the Mosaic law is frequently obscure, and that 
 many instances must have occured where the laws concerning 
 sacrifices, festivals, marriages, divorces, &c., were to be ap- 
 plied to particular cases not provided for in the written 
 canon, we shall easily understand the meaning of an " oral 
 law," especially when we remember that it was originally a 
 strict rule not to commit to writing things delivered by word 
 of mouth. The traditional law was subsequently taught in 
 academies established for that purpose ; among which those 
 of Hillel and Shamai were the most celebrated. The teachers 
 in those academies occupied themselves with scriptural inter- 
 pretations and learned disquisitions concerning laws, customs,
 
 240 NOTES. 
 
 and usages, and frequently introduced new regulations which 
 were adopted by the people. 
 
 Although, as we have observed, it was considered unlawful 
 to commit the oral law to writing, still Eabbi Jehudah held 
 it to be his duty to act against that principle, as the politi- 
 cal state of the Jews of that time made it necessary that 
 some written code should be provided for them, besides the 
 Bible. 
 
 During the persecutions which the nation had to suffer 
 under Hadrian, the Jewish academies had been destroyed, 
 the teachers cut off, and the disciples dispersed. The Hebrew 
 language had long ceased to be the national language and 
 was rapidly sinking into oblivion. Religion sunk lower and 
 lower. Under these circumstances, E. Jehudah fearing the 
 traditionary laws might be entirely forgotten, collected them 
 in the work called " the Mishna," consisting of six parts, 
 which we shall presently enumerate. 
 
 The Mishna soon obtained an unlimited authority ; it was 
 taught in all schools, and introduced into the congregations 
 as the principal book of laws. The learned Jews of that and 
 succeeding ages expounded its concise language, explained 
 its difficult terms, and founded upon it their commentaries. 
 These explanations, together with many new ordinances and 
 regulations, were collected and written down, and thus arose 
 the Gemara of Jerusalem and that of Babylon. The former, 
 which was the product of those schools in Syria and Meso- 
 potamia that escaped the fury of the Eomans, was compiled 
 by E. Jochanan about one hundred years after the conclusion 
 of the Mishna, while the latter, the Babylonish Gemara, 
 (so called from the schools in Babylon) was collected about 
 two centuries later by the Eabbis Ina and Ashi. The 
 Mishna, together with the Gemara, forms the Talmud. The 
 Babylonish Talmud, by far the larger of the two, has also 
 enjoyed the greater authority. 
 
 The first of the six parts or series into which the Mishna 
 is divided treats of agricultural laws ; the second of the sab- 
 bath and the festivals ; the third of the intercourse between 
 the sexes of dowry, marriage settlements, divorces, &c. ; 
 the fourth, of the laws of property and of commerce ; the 
 fifth, of the sacrifices and their laws ; the sixth, of cleanli- 
 ness and purifications.
 
 NOTES. 241 
 
 Each of these six parts consists of several treatises, and 
 these again are subdivided into chapters. 
 
 Besides the subjects mentioned, the Talmud contains 
 many explanations of biblical passages, tales, allegories, 
 moral and philosophical maxims, historical and archaeological 
 matter. 
 
 Such is the work which has so often been slandered by those 
 who were ignorant of its contents and tendency, and who 
 would not take the trouble to examine before thev judged. 
 I have frequently heard it said by Christians ; " I wish the 
 Jew would lay aside the Talmud, and confine himself to the 
 Bible." This is a most unmeaning argument ; for the Jew 
 would act very unwisely if he were to confine himself to the 
 reading of the Holy Scriptures, and lay aside those genuine 
 explanations of biblical passages written by men who lived 
 nearest to the age when the inspired writers themselves 
 flourished and wrote. 
 
 Another reproach freqv.ently made on the Jews, chiefly 
 by conversionists, is, " that they will not read the whole of 
 the prophetical writings, but only select portions there- 
 from." That the Jew does not reject, in his private reading 
 any part of the prophets may easily be proved from the fact 
 that among the articles of the Jewish faith, as compiled by 
 Maimonides, and which have their full value in the present 
 day, the sixth runs thus : " I believe, with a perfect faith, 
 that all the words of the prophets are true." But the cir- 
 cumstance that the Jews in their synagogues, read publicly 
 only certain portions of the prophetical books, rests on an 
 historical foundation, viz. : during the time of the cruel per- 
 secutions to which the Jews were exposed under the reign 
 of the Syrian king Antiochus Epiphanes, (about 168 B.C.), 
 the scrolls of the law were destroyed, and the Jews strictly 
 prohibited from reading any portions of it. Their sages 
 then selected portions from the prophets, corresponding, 
 in some degree, with the respective portions of the Penta- 
 teuch, and ordered them to be read in the synagogues, 
 instead of the books of Moses. E. g. instead of from Gen. i. 
 to vi. they read from Isa. xlii. 5, to xliii. 11 ; for Gen. vi. to 
 xii., Isa. liv. 1, to Iv. 6 ; for Gen. xii. to xviii., Isa. xl. 27, to 
 xli. 17 ; for Gen. xviii. to xxiii., 2 Kings iv. 1 38. And 
 
 B
 
 242 NOTES. 
 
 when the persecutions had ceased, and they resumed the 
 reading of the law of Moses, they still retained those se- 
 lected portions, and these the Jews of the present day read 
 after the weekly portion from the Pentateuch. 
 
 * p. 23. 
 
 . Baruch, or, as he is more generally called, Benedict Spi- 
 noza, was born at Amsterdam in the year 1632. Being the 
 son of Jewish parents, he occupied himself with the study 
 of the Talmud, which, however, did not entirely satisfy his 
 inquiring and original mind. He soon began to advance 
 opinions so contrary to the spirit of the Jewish religion, 
 and to evince such a disregard of its established tenets and 
 ceremonials, that he was excommunicated from the syna- 
 gogue, and, shortly afterwards, compelled to leave his native 
 city. He retired to a village in the vicinity of Amsterdam, 
 and devoted his time to the study of the classical languages, 
 mathematics, and the Cartesian philosophy. His livelihood 
 he obtained by making optical instruments. At a later period 
 of his life he removed to the Hague, where he passed the 
 rest of his days in retired and uninterrupted study. Un- 
 willing to quit his philosophical retirement he declined a 
 professorship at the university of Heidelberg, which had 
 been oifered him, with the assurance that he might there 
 enjoy the utmost freedom in his academical instruction. 
 He died at the age of 45, in the year 1677. The most ce- 
 lebrated of his writings is his " Tractatus Theologico-Po- 
 liticus." The philosophical system of Spinoza, generally 
 designated as pantheism, is based on the following points : 
 There is but one sole Substance and that substance is God. 
 This one Substance, with the two modifications of thought 
 and extension (mind and matter,) is infinitely diversified, 
 having, within its own essence, the necessary causes of the 
 changes through which it passes. All things exist only in 
 that Substance, are modes or affections of God's attributes, 
 and can have no separate existence from that of the Univer- 
 sal Substance. God, in his infinite extension, comprises 
 within Him all particular things, and man's intelligence is 
 consequently a portion of God's infinite intelligence, or, in 
 other words, the human mind is a portion of the Divine
 
 NOTES. 243 
 
 Substance. It will be seen, from these few sentences, that 
 Spinoza established an identity between God and the Uni- 
 verse, and that his idea of the Deity is materially and essen- 
 tially different from that which we entertain of the Supreme 
 Being, as the Creator and Euler of everything that exists. 
 Xor is it to be wondered at that the pantheism of Spinoza 
 should have been frequently represented as atheism. 
 
 * p. 32. 
 
 At every important moment of our lives religion steps in 
 to prescribe the most worthy manner of conduct we are to 
 pursue to suggest the reflections and meditations that 
 should fill our minds, and to frame the words in which we 
 can pour out our souls most freely. There is, perhaps, in 
 the whole range of human life, not a time in which man 
 stands more in need of aid from this Divine Guardian than 
 when the awful hour of dissolution draws near. The guides 
 of Israel, feeling keenly as they did, that the judgment of 
 man's life rests alone with the Author of all life, have ap- 
 pointed prayers suitable to every stage of sickness, from the 
 moment when the organs of life begin to deviate from their 
 usual course of action to the final departure of the heaven- 
 born soul from its abode of clay. These prayers are ex- 
 pressive of every change of sentiment ; leading the mind 
 from the most confident hope in a speedy recovery to an 
 unlimited resignation in the will of the Most High, when 
 the sun of life declines to set. 
 
 But, not only are there forms of prayer provided for the 
 patient himself, there are likewise, in the Jewish ritual, 
 orisons to be pronounced by the friends or relations of the 
 sufferer. When it is perceived that the illness of an Is- 
 raelite assumes a dangerous aspect, he is not left alone for 
 any time, so that the sound of prayer may not fail to ascend 
 with the fleeting soul to the throne of the Eternal Judge. 
 And it is particularly recommended that, at the moment 
 when a man expires, the bystanders should utter the sen- 
 tence, "Hear, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is 
 one," arranging it so that the last word is said while the 
 last breath steals from the dying person. Thus the soul
 
 244 NOTES. 
 
 enters upon its heavenly flight amidst the proclamation of 
 that unity which it delighted to acknowledge and adore 
 during its stay on earth. 
 
 Characteristic of the Jewish death-bed is the punctilious 
 care which is taken not to accelerate, for one atom of time, 
 the moment of dissolution. For it is strictly prohibited to 
 touch a person while in the agony of death, to remove him 
 from his place, or to remove anything from under him. It 
 is likewise prohibited to give the patient any medicine, or 
 any sort of drink, in his dying moments. 
 
 In order that the awful hour may in nowise be unneces- 
 sarily embittered, the near relations of a dying Israelite are 
 not allowed to stay in the room at the moment of his de- 
 parture, lest their wailings and laments should aggravate the 
 fatal struggle. 
 
 * p. 38. 
 
 The three extracts, which I have inserted in the text, are 
 taken successively from 
 
 1. The Book of the Pious, 
 
 2. A book written by B. Moses ben Jacob, of Coucy. 
 
 3. The Book of Morals. 
 
 The Book of the Pious was written, or more likely com- 
 piled, by Eabbi Jehudah the Pious, of Eatisbon, (in Bavaria), 
 in the latter part of the twefth century, and contains a col- 
 lection of moral maxims and treatises. 
 
 R. Moses ben Jacob lived about the year 1245. On his 
 travels through France and Spain he delivered many moral 
 and religious discourses in the Jewish communities which 
 he visited, and his book is a digest of his opinions on those 
 subjects. 
 
 The Book of Morals was written in the fifteenth century, 
 but its author is not known. 
 
 From the scanty extracts I have quoted, it may be seen 
 that the moral doctrines of the Jews in those ages were no 
 ways inferior to any system of morality laid down in subse- 
 quent times ; and the Jews must then, in a moral respect 
 have stood higher, not only than their Christian contempo- 
 raries, but even than the Christian priests of several Euro- 
 pean countries at a much later period.
 
 NOTES. 345 
 
 * p. 43. 
 
 The principal German, or rather European, fairs are those 
 of Francfort on the Maine, Francfort on the Oder, and 
 Leipsic. Merchants of all nations visit them to dispose of 
 the manufactures and productions for which their several 
 countries are distinguished. Business is transacted there to 
 a very great amount. Francfort on the Maine has two, and 
 Francfort on the Oder three fairs yearly ; Leipsic has also 
 three annual fairs, and these are by far the most celebrated. 
 The Easter fair is attended by the principal booksellers of 
 Germany, and by many of the adjoining countries. Leipsie 
 is to the literature of Germany what London is to that of 
 England. The fairs usually continue for about three weeks. 
 
 * p. 46. 
 
 The passage quoted occurs in the Babylonian Talmud, 
 Tract Pesachim, fol. 113 a. 
 
 t p. 46. 
 
 The regulations of that vexatious passport system are dif- 
 ferent in the different states of the Germanic confederation. 
 Austria, as may naturally be expected from the despotic 
 character of her institutions, has hitherto been notorious 
 even among the German states, for her rigorous and trouble- 
 some laws concerning passports. In the other parts of the 
 country the establishments of the Zollverein, or commercial 
 league, has greatly contributed towards the pulling down of 
 those barriers which had offered such powerful obstacles to 
 the free intercourse between the inhabitants of different 
 parts of Germany. If Englishmen wish to form an adequate 
 notion of the character of such a system, let them suppose 
 that the inhabitants of London who wish to go Birmingham 
 and Manchester, or vice versa, had to provide themselves 
 with passports, and to pay for them too. It is to be hoped 
 that, with the progress of freedom on the continent, the 
 passport system will disappear along with other laws of a 
 similarly despotic nature.
 
 246 NOTES. 
 
 * p. 50. 
 
 The commandment of making fringes to their garments is 
 enjoined upon the Israelites in two passages of the Pen- 
 tateuch, viz. : Num. xv. 38, and Deut. xxii. 12. 
 
 Holy Writ has given no particulars about the making of 
 these fringes, but tradition has supplied that deficiency. 
 Each fringe consists of eight threads, of which one is much 
 longer than the rest, and is twisted round the others, first 
 7 times, then 8 times, then 11 times, then 13 times ; each 
 of these numbers of twistings is separated from the other 
 by a double knot. Mystical writers have not failed to ascribe 
 a meaning to these different numbers, and to find in them 
 allusions, for the right understanding of which it is neces- 
 sary to remind the reader that the letters of the Hebrew 
 alphabet were likewise used as figures. The Hebrew name 
 of the Deity consists of four letters nT!"P corresponding 
 
 n i n * 
 
 consecutively to the numbers 5 65 10 ; the Hebrew word 
 jns> signifying " one," consists of three letters corres- 
 
 T n 
 
 ponding to the numbers 481. 
 
 Now the numbers of the first two twistings 7 and 8 give 
 the sum of 15, equal to the sum of the first two letters in 
 the name of God ; the third twisting, consisting of 11 
 rounds, corresponds with the sum represented by the last 
 two letters of that name, 6 + 5=11; lastly, the number of 
 13 is the sum of all the letters forming the Hebrew word 
 for " one." According to this, the manner of attaching these 
 fringes would contain an allusion to the highest and most 
 important truth in the Mosaic religion, viz. : " the Lord is 
 one." 
 
 If we however wish to inquire what might have been the 
 real object of a law so very peculiar and extraordinary, we 
 have only to refer to Scripture itself, and we shall find it 
 there stated clearly enough for any one that understands 
 how to read. For the divine lawgiver says (Num. xv. 39) : 
 "And it shall be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look 
 upon it, and remember all the commandments of the Lord, 
 and do them." It is evident, from these words, that the 
 fringes were intended as an external sign to remind the
 
 NOTES. 247 
 
 Israelite, at every minute of his life, of his sacred mission as 
 a member of the chosen people, a people chosen to promul- 
 gate the true doctrine of one God among the inhabitants of 
 the earth. And is it not natural that among men who were 
 barely capable of conceiving and understanding abstract 
 notions, and at a time when symbols and symbolical expres- 
 sions were current among all nations who aspired to a degree 
 of civilisation, recourse should have been had to such sym- 
 bols in order to set an admonition of their peculiar law con- 
 stantly before the eyes of the multitude ? The words " that 
 ye seek not after your own heart and your own eyes," seem 
 to indicate that the fringes were to remind the Jew of the 
 necessity of suppressing all lusts and desires before the dic- 
 tates of religion, and that he must not let sensual pleasures 
 prevent his spiritual welfare. 
 
 It may be worthy of remark that the Jews were com- 
 manded to put upon the fringe "a riband of blue." The 
 colour of blue is mentioned several times in connexion with 
 sacred things, and is undoubtedly a symbol of the canopy of 
 heaven, thus intended to lead our mind to the meditation on 
 our heavenly Father, who has revealed to us his holy will for 
 our own well-being. 
 
 Originally it seems to have been the intention of the 
 Jewish lawgiver that all their garments should be provided 
 with these fringes. In the course of time, however, this 
 must have been found very inconvenient, and the fringes 
 are now confined to the rpbtt> a quadrangular silk or 
 woollen scarf, in which the devout Jew wraps himself while 
 reciting his prayers, and to the /"I1D2D 3?2"">W (four corners,) 
 a part of the Jew's wearing apparel, consisting of two square 
 pieces of silk, wool, or cotton, joined by two bands of the 
 same material, and which is worn under the clothes so that 
 one of the square pieces falls over the chest, and the other 
 over the back. To each of the four corners of this piece of 
 apparel a fringe is attached in the manner we have described. 
 
 * p. 53. 
 
 It is customary among Jews to visit the graves of their 
 deceased parents at least once in every year. The time 
 selected by the pious Jews for fulfilling this filial duty is the
 
 IMS NOTES. 
 
 month preceding the festival of the new year, or the week 
 intervening between that festival and the day of atonement 
 - a time particularly given up to devotion and serious 
 reflections. There are forms of prayers composed for that 
 occasion, and the strictly orthodox keep the day in which 
 they visit those revered graves as a fast day. It is likewise 
 a common practice to make some charitable distributions on 
 such a day. 
 
 * p. 60. 
 
 In the text of the book (in the beginning of chapter ix.) 
 I have taken the opportunity of showing the usefulness of 
 parables. I need hardly remind my readers of the high 
 antiquity of this mode of illustration, since we know that 
 the sacred writings contain very fine specimens of it. I 
 allude to Jotham's parable of the trees contained in the book 
 of Judges, and to the one (2 Sam. xii.) used with such good 
 effect by the prophet Nathan, to bring the man after God's 
 own heart to a right sense of his guilt and his duty. 
 
 The parables and allegories which I have occasionally in- 
 troduced in my narrative are partly literally taken from the 
 Talmud, or other rabbinical writings, or are translations from 
 the German of Herder or Krummacher, two great authors 
 who have written many of those interesting narratives upon 
 biblical subjects, mostly drawn from talmudical writings. 
 
 * p. 65. 
 
 That translations seldom, if ever, come up to the standard 
 of their originals, is a fact generally known and acknow- 
 ledged. But if it is difficult at all times to retain, in a trans- 
 lation the full spirit of the original, the difficulty is increased 
 tenfold, in the case of the original being poetry, or, of its 
 language being one that has been dead for many centuries, 
 and had been spoken in a country far remote, by a people 
 of peculiar manners, customs, and institutions, in short, by 
 a people living in an entirely different state of society from 
 that prevailing in the country in whose language the trans- 
 lation is made. This is the reason why modern translations 
 of the Bible, and more especially of the poetical portions,
 
 NOTES. 249 
 
 are so inferior and inadequate to the original. I will not 
 here speak in particular of the authorised version which, 
 besides bearing the marks of the difficulties just stated, is 
 incorrect in many parts, and, in the poetical portions, is 
 spoiled by a too close and literal adherence to the text. 
 
 But, speaking generally, the Hebrew language is so dif- 
 ferent in its etymological and syntactical constructions from 
 modern idioms ; its mode of expression, its similes, its ideas, 
 its poetry, in fact, its genius, are so eastern, that the lan- 
 guages of the west can only give a faint copy of the original 
 Old Testament. The Hebrew language combines power and 
 harmony with great simplicity, the diction is brief and con- 
 cise. It is capable of expressing a variety of ideas in a few 
 words, and of giving various modifications to a word by 
 vowel changes and other inflections. There is, even in its 
 pronunciation, a fine change of the strong and the soft, 
 produced by a harmonious intermixture of vowels and con- 
 sonants. All these beauties are necessarily lost in a trans- 
 lation, and it is no more possible to form an exact idea of 
 the sacred original from an English version than it is to 
 derive a notion of the fragrance of a rose from a painted 
 representation of that flower, however skillfully it may be 
 executed. 
 
 * p. 67. 
 
 It would be presumptuous and, indeed, incorrect, to de- 
 signate charity exclusively a Jewish virtue, but it must be 
 owned, even by those who would fain deny any estimable 
 quality to be the offspring of Judaism, that the Jews were 
 ever distinguished for their charitable feelings towards their 
 brethren. In former times, when Germany abounded with 
 itinerant poor Jews, both from Poland and from the dif- 
 ferent countries of Germany, arrangements were made in 
 almost every Jewish community to provide these poor Is- 
 raelites with food for a few days, and mostly, likewise, with a 
 trifling sum of money. Where such arrangements did not 
 exist, it was customary for rich men to invite any poor 
 strangers, that they saw in their town or village, home to 
 their own table, and board them and, sometimes, lodge them 
 for a few days. This was especially done on sabbaths and
 
 250 NOTES. 
 
 festivals, and any poor Jew who was approaching a Jewish 
 community on the eve of such a solemn day was sure that 
 he would be enabled to enjoy the day or days of repose 
 without feeling any want of subsistence. 
 
 I will not enquire into the causes from which such cha- 
 ritable inclinations emanated ; be it, however, remembered, 
 that the Jewish lawgiver, in his legislation, took particular 
 care of the poor, and that the Jews, among the many eastern 
 customs which they preserved, did not forget to bring to 
 Europe a sense of oriental hospitality. 
 
 * p. 88. 
 
 The dispersion of the Jews over all the quarters of the 
 globe renders it impossible to give an exact statement of 
 their numbers. By some they are reckoned at 6,000,000. 
 But this estimate rests on no solid foundation ; it is more 
 likely that the number of Jews in the world amounts to 
 something between three and four millions. In Great 
 Britain they are reckoned at 30,000 ; in France at 65,000 ; 
 in Holland and Belgium at 80,000 ; in Prussia at 180,000 ; 
 in the rest of Germany at 138,000 ; in the Austrian empire 
 at 610,000 ; in Eussia and Poland at 1,080,000 ; in Italy at 
 36,000 ; in Denmark at 4,000 ; in the Turkish dominions at 
 800,000 ; in the Barbary states at 70,000 ; and in the 
 United States at 10,000. There are communities of Jews 
 at Bokhara and other parts of Tartary, in India, and even 
 in China, 
 
 * p. 89. 
 
 At the betrothment of Jewish parties, preliminary docu- 
 ments are drawn up, and signed by the lady and gentleman, 
 as well as by their respective parents. It is likewise custom- 
 ary for the gentleman to give his betrothed some present 
 (generally a ring,) as a token of the engagement. After 
 every thing has been agreed upon between the parents or 
 relations of the parties, and the mutual consent given by 
 the individuals nearest concerned, a cup is broken, and 
 mutual congratualations take place. This curious ceremony 
 of breaking a cup corresponds with another taking place at 
 Jewish weddings, viz. that of breaking a glass, and it is done,
 
 NOTES. 251 
 
 as it is generally supposed, to remind tlie bystanders that 
 among Jews, no joy no festivity should be altogether com- 
 plete, as long as the Jews are not in possession of their 
 national rights. It will be seen from this, that such a cere- 
 mony has no particular meaning in the present age, when 
 Jewish nationality, in a political sense, is superseded by the 
 love of the country in which Jews live ; but it is still pre- 
 served as an old practice, and in a moral point of view, may 
 be taken as an admonition in the hour of joy not to overstep 
 the due limits. I have noticed this singular ceremony with 
 its singular reason, because many persons entertain errone- 
 ous notions as to the real cause of it. 
 
 *p92. 
 
 In the Mishna, Tract Tomah, (ch. viii. 9), we read: 
 R. Elieser says ; For those sins which man commits against 
 God, pardon may be obtained on the day of atonement ; but 
 for the sins which man commits against his neighbour no 
 atonement can be made unless the offended neighbour be 
 first reconciled ; for it is written : Ye may be clean from all 
 your sins before the Lord (Lev. xvi. 30). 
 
 From this salutary doctrine the custom has sprung among 
 the Jews of endeavouring to obtain, on the eve of each day 
 of atonement, the pardon of all those whom they may have 
 offended during the past year. It is an occurrence not at 
 all unfrequent in Jewish communities that persons among 
 whom a discord had arisen during the year, approach each 
 other, previously to the day of atonement, with offers of peace 
 and reconciliation, asking forgiveness for offences they have 
 committed, and testifying a readiness to forgive those which 
 they have suffered. Thus having practised forbearance and 
 effected reconciliation, they step before their Maker to pray 
 for that pardon and forgiveness which His unbounded mercy 
 holds out to all those who approach him with true repentance. 
 
 t p. 92. 
 
 The biblical instances of Joshua and the Gribeonites, of 
 Jephtha and his daughter, sufficiently prove the importance 
 attached to promises and vows in the Old Testament. And 
 it shows no small degree of ignorance of Jewish laws and
 
 252 NOTES. 
 
 customs to suppose, as lias been done by some, that the Jevr 
 thinks lightly of the breaking of a promise or oath, or that 
 he is by his religion allowed to do so. Even the heathenish 
 nations of antiquity considered the oath as a religious act, 
 thereby increasing its binding force. It is much to be 
 regretted that the spirit of truth has as yet so little pene- 
 trated the mass of mankind that its violation is of so fre- 
 quent occurrence. If education were more perfect and more 
 general, if morality were better inculcated in the youthful 
 heart, truth would be considered more sacred, than is com- 
 monly the case. Truth is the standard by which a man's cha- 
 racter may be measured ; in proportion as he holds it sacred 
 or not, in that proportion he is more or less of a moral 
 being. What we promise, ought to be sacred and fulfilled 
 to the letter. To keep one's word, truly and faithfully, ought 
 to be one of the first moral maxims in the intercourse between 
 man and man. To promise, and not to keep what we have 
 promised, is a double sin. It is uttering a falsehood in the 
 first instance, and it is deceiving our neighbour. Incalcul- 
 able is the mischief which is daily done by the breaking of 
 promises, and it is to be regretted that the law which punishes 
 the breach of certain promises does not extend much farther. 
 
 * p 105. 
 
 It is hardly paying a compliment to the German language 
 to say that it has of late become " quite a fashionable Ian- 
 
 J 
 
 guage." I will not stop to inquire how much the fact of 
 the prince consort being a German may have contributed to 
 raise the value of that language in the eyes of the more 
 fashionable portion of the British community. But, inde- 
 pendently of this, the German language has manifold claims 
 on the attention of the English student. Not only are the 
 German and English languages descendants of the same 
 Teutonic family, but the two literatures exhibit in many 
 points a great similarity. To instance the influence which at 
 certain periods, both have exercised upon each other, I need 
 only remind the reader of the effect produced by the writings 
 of Luther and other German reformers upon the English 
 mind, and, on the other hand, of the vast change wrought 
 by Shakspere in the literature, and especially the drama, of
 
 NOTES. 253 
 
 Germany. That the intellectual intercommunion between 
 the two countries has, in our day, been greatly increased, 
 is sufficiently shown by the numerous translations that are 
 daily made from German literary and scientific works. And, 
 when we further consider that, in consequence of the present 
 rapid mode of communication, Germany is annually visited 
 by thousands of Englishmen, either for pleasure or business, 
 when we bear in mind the great commercial intercourse ex- 
 isting between the two countries, it is obvious that a language 
 which is besides so rich and flexible, and is spoken by upwards 
 of forty millions of persons, well deserves to be studied with 
 attention. 
 
 * p. 111. 
 
 The Jewish literature of the middle ages bears, for the 
 most part, a religious and theological character. The Jews, 
 having forfeited their national existence, concentrated all 
 their mental energies upon the religion of their fathers, and 
 consequently made the books of the old covenant and the 
 oral law, as contained in the Talmud, their principal study. 
 The books and treatises relating to subjects of religion in. its 
 practical and theoretical bearings form, in themselves, a vast 
 literature. The ceremonial laws, the liturgy, the dogmas, 
 the exegesis of the Bible, and the Jewish jurisprudence, 
 were extensively treated by men eminent for talent and 
 piety. 
 
 The Spanish Jews, in particular, were distinguished during 
 the middle ages for their literary productions. Not only 
 were ethics, philosophy, and poetry, cultivated by them with 
 great success, but many also distinguished themselves as 
 physicians, mathematicians, and astronomers, leaving behind 
 them works of considerable literary value. Amongst the 
 Jewish writers of Spain are preeminent : Maimonides, one 
 of the greatest minds the Jews ever produced ; Eben Ezra, 
 immortal as a commentator and a poet ; Albo, and the poets 
 Halevy, Gabirol, Jehudah Halevy, Alcharisi, and others. 
 
 Next to Spain it was Italy that produced the greatest 
 number of Hebrew poets. Amongst the great commentators 
 of the Bible must be mentioned the celebrated Eashi who 
 lived in France, and Abarbanel, the latter of the Spanish
 
 254 NOTES. 
 
 school. Nor were grammar and lexicography neglected. 
 The works of Kimchi occupy, even now-a-days, when all the 
 sciences have made such rapid progress, a high rank amongst 
 the productions of Hebrew philology. In fact, the various 
 branches of knowledge which were cultivated in the dif- 
 ferent countries where Jews lived, were studied and cul- 
 tivated by them, though, generally speaking, their works 
 referring to the profane sciences, are much less numerous 
 than those treating of religious and theological matters. 
 
 * p. 172. 
 
 This work of K. Manasseh ben Israel has been translated 
 into English by M. Samuels, and we refer those who feel a 
 curiosity to know more about the work, to that translation. 
 
 Another interesting work of the same author has been 
 translated into English by E. H. Lindo, under the title of 
 "the Conciliator," being a reconcilement of the apparent 
 contradictions in Holy Scripture. To the latter work there 
 is prefixed a short biographical sketch of the learned Rabbi, 
 together with a list of all his works. 
 
 t p. 172. 
 
 The following prayer is read, in Hebrew, in all Jewish 
 synagogues, on every sabbath and holiday : 
 
 " May He who dispenseth salvation unto kings, and do- 
 minion unto princes ; whose kingdom is an everlasting king- 
 dom ; who delivered His servant David from the destructive 
 sword ; who maketh a way in the sea, and a path through 
 the mighty waters ; may He bless, preserve, guard, assist, 
 
 exalt, and highly aggrandize [Here follow the names 
 
 of the sovereign, and of the principal members of the royal 
 family]. May the supreme King of kings, through His 
 infinite mercy preserve her [him], and grant her life, and 
 deliver her from all manner of trouble and danger; make 
 her enemies to fall before her, and cause her to prosper in 
 all her undertakings. May the supreme King of kings, 
 through His infinite mercy, incline her heart and the hearts 
 of her counsellors and nobles with benevolence towards us 
 and all Israel. In her days, and in ours, may Judah be 
 saved, and Israel dwell in safety ; and may the Redeemer 
 come unto Zion ; O that this may be His gracious will ! and 
 let us say, Amen."
 
 NOTES. 255 
 
 The above prayer is read in all Jewish synagogues, not 
 only in those countries where the Jews are in full or partial 
 possession of civil rights, but even in Eussia, where their 
 condition is little calculated to inspire them with love for 
 their ruler. And additional prayers are read in the syna- 
 gogues on different occurrences. Another token of loyalty 
 is manifested by the Jews, that on beholding a king and his 
 court. The Jew will repeat the following blessing : 
 " Blessed art thou, O Lord, our God ! King of the uni- 
 verse, Avho hath imparted a portion of thy glory unto flesh 
 and blood." 
 
 * p. 183. 
 
 The term "stranger" (-12) so frequently occuring in the 
 Pentateuch, signifies a non-Israelite, a person not descended 
 from any of the families of Israel, but who had settled 
 among the Israelites, and, by undergoing the ceremony of 
 circumcision, had entirely entered into the national com- 
 munion. An individual of that description enjoyed all the 
 rights of civil and religious citizenship ; for him there was 
 to be "one law and one manner" with the native Israelite, 
 and it was enjoined upon the Jews not to oppress him, but 
 rather to protect him, and to love him. There was thus 
 established an equalisation of all the inhabitants of the 
 country, both civilly and religiously. 
 
 While I am on the ground of biblical terms, I deem it a 
 fit opportunity to offer an observation on the Hebrew term 
 (""fa) generally translated " gentile," which has so often 
 been misconstrued, for the purpose of perverting the sense 
 of Scripture. 
 
 In the first instance, this word means any nation what- 
 soever, the Israelites themselves are frequently denominated 
 by this term, e. g. (Deut. iv. 6). The term was, however, 
 afterwards used to signify people of other nations, just as 
 the later Eomans used the word "gentiles." With this 
 signification was introduced the idea of inferiority of con- 
 tempt, similar to that attached by the Greeks to the word 
 /3ap/?apos- and, finally, the word was applied to persons of 
 evil habits, irrespectively of their country, thus we find 
 (Ezekiel ii. 3) that it is applied to Israelites forsaking the 
 Lord.
 
 256 . KOTES. 
 
 * p. 185. 
 
 The passage occurs in a work on moral subjects called 
 " Tana debe Eliahu," the author of which is not known by 
 name, but is supposed to have lived in Babylon about the 
 latter part of the tenth century. 
 
 THE EITD. 
 
 JOHN OHEAVES HALL, PRINTER, BEDFORD.
 
 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 
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