The Jews, Ancient, Mediaeval and Modern (2024)

From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

The Jews, Ancient, Mediaeval and Modern (1885) is a book by James Kendall Hosmer.

PREFACE.

To write " The Story of the Jews " for the seriesin which it is to appear has been a task beset withcertain special embarrassments.In the first place, it may reasonably be doubtedwhether a faithfully related story of the Jews issuitable reading for immature minds. The prudentparent shrinks from putting into the hands of hischild Hamlet, or Lear, or Othello. In the first, theterrible soul agony, -in the second, the ruthless exercise of the most savage passions, -in the third, themalignant, snake-like craft crushing in its folds unsuspecting manly worth and womanly loveliness, —this tragedy of the deepest requires full maturity inorder that its lessons may be intelligently receivedand its power fully realized . Such literature is meatfor men, not milk for babes; and it is quite premature to undertake it, until experience has thoroughlysettled the character. Has not history as well aspoetry its tragedies quite too sombre for childhood ,—and among its tragedies is there any quite sodark as the story of the Jews? Where else are problems presented which so defy satisfactory solution?Where else is it necessary to contemplate the play of7553iv THE STORY OF THE JEWS.spiritual forces so tremendous? Where else is thereanguish so deep and long-continued?A second embarrassment arises from the fact thatin the story of the Jews many points are presentedwith regard to which the feelings of men are so keenand at the same time so conflicting. To-day, throughout the civilized world, many regard the Hebrewswith dislike, perhaps aversion, as an unattractive , indeed a dangerous element in society. Certainly thisstory cannot be written without demonstrating tohow large an extent this prejudice is cruel and unjust, however inveterate and explicable, —an effortwhich is certain , in some quarters, to be ill taken.As regards the ancient period, can the account begiven without some attempt to separate fact frommyth, —to circ*mscribe within just limits the naturaland the supernatural; and can such discriminationsbe attempted without giving offence in one quarteror another? Protestant, Catholic, Rationalist, Jew,have, each one, his peculiar point of view, --and eachone, if he is at all earnest, regards the matters in dispute as things by no means far off, but of vital,present importance.The writer of this volume has dealt with theseembarrassments as well as he could . As to the first,interpreting in a liberal way his commission "towrite a story for the young," he has tried to adapthis chapters to those in the later stages of youth, —to those, indeed, already standing upon the thresholdof maturity. Prominence has been given to themore picturesque and dramatic features of the record.The profundities are only touched upon; thePREFACE. Vmysteries of the Cabala, and the inspiration that maylie within the fantastic rhapsodizing of the Talmudists, no attempt has been made to fathom. At thesame time, there has been no effort to dwarf andemasculate the absorbing account into the dimensions of a proper " juvenile. " Here are details ofexterminating warfare, of sharpest torture, of bitter.est cursing. Here are presented sages as they studythe darkest problems, -poets, as they thrill the human heart-strings with marvellous, subtle power;—characters shining in the very beauty of holiness, —characters, too, black with malignity most appalling.All this stands in the record: to present Israel faithfully, these traits must be given, and the attempthas been made to present Israel faithfully. A tale,it is, full of thrilling fascination and fruitful in instruction; a tale, however, that sobers and that requires soberness in its readers, -the ripeness whichcomes when childhood has been left behind.As regards the second embarrassment, it will beat once apparent to the reader that the writer feelsthat Israel, among the nations, should be regardedwith reverence, even with awe, in times modern aswell as ancient. In what sense the Hebrews are thechosen people of God, -whether the special protection of Heaven supposed to be extended in ancienttimes has lasted to the present hour, -whether thesufferings of the race for eighteen centuries are dueto the crime committed upon Calvary, -these arequestions to which an answer has not been attempted.Among the ancient traditions-whether Heliodoruswas driven awayfrom the Temple treasures by Heaven-vi THE STORY OF THE JEWS.sent messengers; whether David heard the voice ofGod in the rustling of the balsam-trees; whether thesun and moon stood still at Joshua's command, or theangel of the Lord really smote the host of Sennacherib, --such legends as these are given as theystand, with no effort to separate the nucleus ofreality from the accretions of fable. The writercannot hope to escape the condemnation of somecritics, perhaps of all. The Supernaturalist willprobably find him too indifferent to the miraculous;the Rationalist, too lenient toward ancient superstitions; the Jew, not sufficiently cognizant of thedivine mission of Israel upon the earth . The writercan only trust that while dealing with subjects inwhich the feelings of multitudes are so deeply enlisted and on such opposite sides, he may at leastescape the charge of flippancy and irreverence. Whilethe account in the case of many a comparatively insignificant figure is given with considerable detail,the narrative of the Gospels is presented only in outline. That tale, the possession as it is of everymemory, it has been thought unnecessary to givewith fulness. At the same time it will be evident, itis hoped, that the figure of Jesus has been regardedas possessing sublime, overshadowing importanceamong those who have come forth from Israel.As to authorities, the foot-notes must be consulted.The effort has been made to become acquainted withevery thing of value contained in our tongue, but theFrench and the Germans have worked this mine farmore thoroughly. In particular, use has been madeof the great work of Graetz, " Geschichte des Juden-PREFACE. vii99 thums," and of the work of Reinach, " Histoire desIsraélites depuis leur Dispersion jusqu'à nos Jours,'which appeared in Paris just in time to be madeavailable for this book. Many a picturesque passagehas been derived from Heinrich Heine, an apostatefrom Israel, whose soul, however, always yearnedtoward the mother whom he had spurned. Thevivid portrayal of the circ*mstances of medievalJewish life, given in chapter XI. , is an adaptationfrom his incomplete novel, " The Rabbi of Bacharach," combined with facts derived from Graetz.It enters with profound sympathy and thoroughlearning into the atmosphere that surrounded thepersecuted Hebrews of that sombre time.In conclusion , while acknowledging obligation tomany helpers, the writer desires in a special way tothank Rabbi S. H. Sonnenschein, of St. Louis, andDr. Abraham S. Isaacs, of the Jewish Messenger,of New York, for suggestions and books, whichhave been of great value to him in his work.ST. LOUIS, November, 1885.J. K. H.

CLASSIFIED CONTENTS.PART I.THE ANCIENT PRIDE.I.WHY THE STORY OF THE JEWS IS PICTURESQUE ·Hebrew assertions of the greatness of their race, 1-TheChristian view, 2-The Rationalist's view, 3-Remarkable character of Hebrew literature, 3-Tenacity ofHebrew national life , 4-Purity and solidarity of the race, 5-Their spiritual force as shown in love and hate, 6—Intensity of Hebrew piety, 7-Position of the Jews unique amongraces of men, 8.II.THE MORNING- TIME IN PALESTINEPAGEI-89-28Physical characteristics of Palestine , 9—The Jordan, Sea ofGalilee, Dead Sea, 10-The fertility of the land, 10-Antiquity of the Jewish stock, 12-The Patriarchs, 12-Mosesleads Israel out of Egypt, 14-Worship of one God, 16—The ark of the covenant, 16—The Canaanites, 18-Careerof the Judges, 18—Saul and David, 20—Solomon, 22—Building of the Temple, 23-Its dedication , 24-Decline ofHebrew vigor, 25-The two kingdoms, Judah and Israel,26-The Assyrians, 27.ISRAEL AT NINEVEHIII.29-45Legend of Semiramis , 29—Assyrian sculptures in the BritishMuseum, 30-Authorities for Assyrian study, 32-Cities asX THE STORY OF THE JEWS.libraries, 33 , 34-Antiquities of Mesopotamia, 35-Niebuhr,Botta, Layard, 36—The Cuneiform, 36-Nature of Assyriandominion, 37-Palestine overcome, 38 -Accession of Sennacherib, 39-His splendor and power, 40, 41 , 42-An Assyrianpalace, 43, 44- Refinement at Nineveh, 45.IV.THE DESTRUCTION OF SENNACHERIBPAGE46-56State of the Assyrian kings, 46- The Medes and Phoenicianssubjected, 47—Judah overwhelmed, 48—The battle-order,49, 50-Hebrew defiance, 52 -Isaiah's prophecy, 53 - Itsfulfilment, 53-Fall of Assyria, 54-Permanence of its memorials, 55-Its cruel sway, 56.V.JUDAS MACCABÆUS, THE HEBREW WILLIAM TEll, 57–73The captivity at Babylon, 57-The return from the Babylonian exile, 58—Alexander the Great at Jerusalem, 60—The Jew meets the Aryan, 61 -Who the Aryans were, 62,63-Palestine under the Seleucidæ , 64-The revolt of Mattathias, 65-First victories of Judas Maccabæus, 66, 67—The Temple purified and restored , 68 -Judas subdues theIdumæans and Ammonites, 68-Heroism of his brethren,68-Death of Eleazar, 69-Judas defeated and slain byBacchides, 69-Alliance with Rome, 70-The later Asmonæans, 71-Heliodorus tries to rob the Temple, 72-Thecoming of the Romans, 73.THE BEAUTY OF HOLINESSVI.74-93Condition of the Jews after the time of the Maccabees, 74—Ezra establishes the Canon, 75 , 76-The Septuagint andTargums, 76-The oral Law, 77-Sadducees and Pharisees,78, 79- The Essenes, 80-Hillel and his followers, 81-The Samaritans, 82 -Jewish religious observances, 83-Feasts and fasts, 84-Expectations of a Messiah, 85 -Birthof Jesus, 86-His life and work, 87 , 88 , 89- The disciplesgo forth, 90-Conversion of Saul, 90 -The beauty of Christian holiness, 92, 93.CLASSIFIED CONTENTS. xiVII.PAGEVESPASIAN AND JOSEPHUS 94-107Gessius Florus marches against Jerusalem, 94—His failure,95-Josephus defends Galilee against Vespasian , 95—Thesiege of Jotapata, 96, 97 , 98—Jotapata captured, 99—Josephus a captive, 100-Vespasian emperor, 100-Description of Jerusalem, 102-The Temple, 103-The Antonia,104-The walls, 106-Portents of ill omen, 106.VIII.TITUS ON THE RUINS OF ZION • 108-129Titus marches against Jerusalem, 108-His formidable host,109-Factions among the Jews, 109-John of Giscala andthe Zealots, 110-Simon, son of Gioras, Ì11 -Narrow escapeof Titus, III-The tenth legion in danger, 112-TheConqueror " makes a breach, 114—Capture of the outerwalls, 114—Appalling condition of the defenders, 115-Johnand Simon undismayed, 116-Destruction of the Antonia,117—Capture of the Temple and of the upper city, 118—Death of John of Giscala , imprisonment of Simon , and sufferings of the Jews, 119 -Incidents of the siege , 120-Returnof Titus to Rome, 121 -His magnificent triumph, 122—Death of Simon Gioras, 123-Arch of Titus, 124-Spiritualconquest of the Aryan by the Jew, 126, 127, 128-Theapotheosis of Jesus of Nazareth, 129.PART II.THE MEDIEVAL HUMILIATION.IX.HOW THE RABBIS WROUGHT THE TALMUD 133-151The revolt of Bar Cocheba, 133-Ælia Capitolina and theJewish dispersion, 133-Gentile persecution and Hebrewscorn, 134-How the Jews became traders, 136-Theirservices and high character in commerce, 137-Jew andMoslem, 138-Charlemagne, 139-Famous persecutors, 140xii THE STORY OF THE JEWS.-Deserts of the Hebrews, 140-Origin of the Talmud, 141-Mischna and Gemara, 142 -Value of the Talmud, 143-Difficulty of understanding it, 144-Its wisdom and beauty,145, 146-Sandalphon, 146 , 147-The Karaites, 148-Hygienic value of Talmud and Torah, 148- Maimonides,149, 150.PAGEX.THE HOLOCAUSTS IN SPAIN 152-164The " Sephardim, " 152 -Insincere conversions, 153-AJewish shrine, 154-The Inquisition , 155 -Torture chambers, 156-Sufferings of Hebrews, 157-Ferdinand and Isabella resolve upon expulsion , 158 -The departure of theexiles, 159-Dreadful hardships , 160-Lamentations, 161-An auto-da-fé, 162, 163.XI.THE BLOODY HAND IN GERMANY . 165-188A synagogue on the Rhine, 165-The Juden-gasse at Frankfort, 166-The Black Death and the Flagellants , 167-Jewson the Rhine, 168-Story of Rabbi Abraham and Sarah,169, etc. -A passover celebration, 170, 171 -The plot todestroy, 172, 173-Flight of Abraham and Sarah, 174-Down the Rhine, 176, 177 - A mediæval city, 179, 180-The Jewish quarter, 181 -The synagogue, 182 -The service,183-The roll of the Law, 184-The massacre, 186-Theflight to Turkey, 188.XII.THE FROWN AND THE CURSE IN ENGLAND,ITALY, AND FRANCE 189-202Persecution in England , 189-Protection extended by earlyPlantagenets, 189-Suffering in time of Richard Cœur deLion, 190-Tragedy of York, 191 -Banishment by EdwardI. and restoration by Cromwell, 192-The drowning in theThames, 192-Comparative mildness of Italian powers, 193-Antiquity of Jewish colony in Rome, 194 -Varying treatment of the popes, 195 -The Jews in Southern Italy andCLASSIFIED CONTENTS. xiiiSicily, 195 , 196—Persecution in France, 197 -Philip Augustus and Saint Louis, 197—Philip the Fair and the Pastoureaux, 198-A burning in France, 199-The cry " Hep!hep! " 200-Jewish badges, 201 -Protestant narrowness,Luther, and the Puritans, 201 --Gibbon, Voltaire, andBuckle, 202.XIII.SHYLOCK-THE WANDERING JEW .PAGE203-214Jewish retaliation, 203—What Shylock might have heard onthe Rialto, 204, 205 - Palliation for his cruelty, 206—Heine's idea of Shylock, 207 —The Wandering Jew, different forms of the legend , 208, 209-Combined with the WildHuntsman, 210, 211 , 212-The Wandering Jew before the Matterhorn, 213.XIV.THE CASTING OUT OF A PROPHET . 215-231The bitterness of Hebrew scorn, 215-False Messiahs , 216-Career of Sabbatäi Zevi , 217-Sabbatäi becomes a Mohammedan, 218-Holland as a refuge for the oppressed, 219-Birth and childhood of Spinoza, 220-He revolts at theCabala, 222-His excommunication, 223-The curse, 224-His magnanimity, 226-His philosophy, 226, 227, 228-His fame, 229-His position in the history of modernthought, 230-Tributes to his greatness, 231.PART III.THE BREAKING OF THE CHAIN.XV.ISRAEL'S NEW MOSES 235-253Number and distribution of the Jews at the present time,235-Their eminence, 235 - Their small achievement assoldiers, farmers, and handicraftsmen, 236 -Prominence intrade and in music, 237-Wagner's hostility, 238-Prominence as scientists, philosophers, and writers, 238-Especialxiv THE STORY OF THE JEWS.narrowness of Germany toward the Jews, 239, 240-Birthand early career of Moses Mendelssohn, 242 —Introduced tofame by Lessing, 243-" Phædo, " 243-" Jerusalem, " 244—Tribute of Kant, 245 -Mendelssohn embarrassed by Lavater, 245-Letter to Lavater, 246, 247, 248 -Mendelssohn'sdeath, 248 -His wooing, 249, 250-" Nathan the Wise, "251 , 252, 253.PAGEXVI.THE MONEY KINGS 254-272Business ability of Jews , 254 -Cicero's condemnation of trade,254-Ill- repute of Jews undeserved , 255, 256-They breaka path for themselves, 258-Meyer Anselm Rothschild andthe Landgrave of Hesse Cassel , 259 -A great house founded,260-Heine and Börne at the Hanoukhah in the Judengasse, 261 -The mother of the Rothschilds and her fivesons, 262-Nathan Meyer founds the London house, 263—How ten millions were made out of Waterloo, 263, 264, 265-Alleged rapacity of the Rothschilds , 266 -Nathan Meyer'sdeath, 267-Baron Lionel, 268 -Baron James at Paris , 269-His brusque manners, 270-His fear of Heine, 271-Baron Alphonse, 272.XVII.SIR MOSES MONTEFIORE 273-294Were the Rothschilds honorable? 273-Cicero on themorals of trade, 274—American rapacity, 275-The brothersPereire, 276, 277-Sir Moses Montefiore as a typical Jew,278-His origin and early career, 280-His philanthropicjourneys, 281-Persecutions at Damascus and Rhodes in1840, 282- Montefiore at Damascus, 282 -Judith Montefiore, 283-Her diary, 284-Montefiore at Jerusalem , 286,288-At Morocco, 288-Lands at Tangier, 289-Last visitto Jerusalem, 290-His practical good sense and breadth ofmind, 292 -His widespread fame and personal appearance,293-An orthodox Jew, 293 -Belief in the restoration ofthe Jews to Palestine, 294.·CLASSIFIED CONTENTS. XVXVIII.PAGEHEBREW STATESMEN 295-311Eminence of Jews as Statesmen, 295-Castelar, Lasker, 295-Leads the national-liberty party in the German Parliament,296-Achille Fould, Crémieux, Gambetta, 298 -Gambetta'sorigin. 298-Puts out an eye, becomes famous, 300—In theCorps Législatif, 301 -His energy in 1870, 302—His oratory,303, 304-Origin of Beaconsfield , 305-Beards DanielO'Connell in Parliament, 306-Rises to fame, 308 -Hiswife's devotion, 308-His enthusiasm for his race , 310, 311.XIX.A SWEET SINGER IN ISRAEL 312-329Heine as the voice of the Jewish spirit , 312-His birth, 312-At Frankfort , Göttingen , and Berlin, 313-His apostasyand scoffing, 314-Becomes famous in prose and poetry, 316 The "mattress-grave, " his death, 317-His descriptivepower illustrated , 318-Picture of Napoleon , 319-His wit,320-Scoffs at Germany, 321-His bitterness and want ofearnestness, 322-His tenderness, 323-" Ilse, " 324-Linesto his wife, 325-" Lorelei, " 326-He utters the Hebrewsoul, 327-Heine and the Venus of Milo, 328, 329.SOME HARMONIOUS LIVESXX.330-354Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, the type of the Hebrew artist,330-The descendants of Moses Mendelssohn, 330-Careerof Dorothea, 331 —of Joseph and Abraham, 332—Abrahamand Leah, the parents of Felix, 333--The father's idea ofreligious education, 334-Fanny Mendelssohn, 335 -Themother's letter to her daughter's lover, 336—The Mendelssohn home, 337 , etc. -Distinguished visitors, 339-Professors at fault, 340-Music of Mendelssohn, 342- Hisappearance, 342-Description in " Charles Auchester, " 343,etc. -Fanny's concerts, 346-Beautiful family life , 347-Sojourn in Rome, 348 , 349-The father in death, 349-Felix with Victoria and Prince Albert, 350, etc.-Death ofFelix and Fanny, 352-Ideal lives, 353 .xvi THE STORY OF THE JEWS.XXI.OUR HEBREW CONTEMPORARIESPAGE355-370Israelites feared, 355-Anti- Semitism in Germany, 356-Hebrew bitterness, 357-Attachment to old traditionsand usages, 358-" The Jewish Cemetery at Newport, " 359.360-Jews in Poland, 361-" Measuringthe bounds, " 362-Story of Leah Rendar, 363-The apostate Jewess, 364, 365-Jews and Yankees, 366-Felix Adler on his countrymen,367-The orthodox nucleus of Judaism, 368-The Reformers,369.LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.PAGEMAP, COUNTRIES CONNECTED WITH EARLY JEWISHHISTORY · · Front liningBack liningMAP, CANAAN, AS DIVIDED AMONG THE TWELVETRIBES •JERUSALEM FROM THE HILL OF EVIL COUNSEL, FrontispieceMOUNT OF OLIVES FROM THE WALLJACOB AND RACHELJOSEPH INTERPRETING PHARAOH'S DREAMMOSES IN BULRUSHESPROBABLE ARRANGEMENT AND FORM OF THE TABERNACLE CAMPTHE SETTING UP OF THE TABERNACLETHE RETURN OF THE ARK •JONAH CALLING NINEVEH TO REPENTANCEJERICHO .THE REBUILDING OF THE TEMPLEBETHLEHEM •THE SITE OF THE ANCIENT TEMPLETHE SEA OF GALILEEXXII1315171921315159879197PLAN OF ANCIENT JERUSALEMGRADUAL FORMATION OF JERUSALEMJERUSALEM BESIEGED BY TITUSARCH OF TITUS• ΙΟΙ105113125ROMAN MASONRY, JERUSALEM . 135JEWS' PLACE OF WAILING, JERUSALEM 187xviii THE STORY OF THE JEWS.THE WANDERING JEWSPINOZA •MOSES MENDELSSOHNIN THE FRANKFORT JUDEN- GASSENATHAN MEYER ROTHSCHILDSIR MOSES MONTEFIORE .JERUSALEM FROM THE MOUNT OF OLIVESVALLEY OF JEHOSHAPHAT OR KIDRONTHE GOLDEN GATE .LASKER •GAMBETTAISAAC DISRAELILORD BEACONSFIELDHEINRICH HEINEFELIX MENDELSSOHNPAGE• 211• 211· 241• 257• 265279• 285287· 291297• 299• 307309315341

FROM THE WALL .MOUNT OFLIVES!PART I.THE ANCIENT PRIDE." If any reference is made to the Jews, some hearer is sure to statethat she, for her part, is not fond of them, having known a Mr.Jacobson who was very unpleasant; or that he, for his part, thinksmeanly of them as a race, though, on inquiry, you find he is littleacquainted with their characteristics. A people with Oriental sunlight in their blood , they have a force which enables them to carry offthe best prizes . A significant indication of their natural rank is seenin the fact that, at this moment, the leader of the Liberal party inGermany is a Jew, the leader of the Republican party in France is aJew, and the head of the Conservative ministry in England is a Jew.Tortured, flogged, spit upon, —their name flung at them as an opprobrium by superstition , hatred , and contempt, -how proud they haveremained! ". GEORGE ELIOT (" Impressions of TheophrastusSuch " ).-THE STORY OF THE JEWS.CHAPTER I.WHY THE STORY OF THE JEWS IS PICTURESQUE.IN the fiftieth Psalm stands the passage: " Out ofZion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined."If we understand the word Zion in this sentence tomean, as it is often explained, the Hebrew nation,we find here an enthusiastic utterance by a Jewishpoet of his sense of pride in his race: the Hebrewpeople is chosen out from among the nations of theearth to exhibit the perfection of beauty, -is, in fact,an outshining of God himself upon the world.What is to be said of such a declaration? If itwere made concerning any other race than theJewish, it would be scouted and ridiculed as arrogance pushed into impiety, a claim not to be toleratedeven in the most impassioned poetry. Can the worldbear the assertion any better when it is made concerning the Jews? Such claims, at any rate, theJews have always made. Declarations of Israelitishgreatness scarcely less strong than that of thePsalmist, can be found in the writings of our cotemporaries. Says a rabbi of Cincinnati in a bookTHE STORY OF THE JEWS.published within a few years: " Had the Hebrewsnot been disturbed in their progress a thousand andmore years ago, they would have solved all the greatproblems of civilization which are being solved now. "The Earl of Beaconsfield, glorying in his Jewishblood, was accustomed to maintain, without qualification, the indomitable superiority of the Hebrewsover the most powerful modern races, and allegedthat in an intellectual sense they had conqueredmodern Europe. In the immense extent of timewhich stretches from the singer of the Psalms to theCincinnati rabbi and the marvellous Jew who, a fewyears ago, superintended the management of thegreatest empire of the earth, there is no age in whichIsraelites have not uttered just as confidently theirconviction of Jewish supremacy.In what way are we who are without trace ofSemitic blood to treat these claims of our Hebrewneighbors? In the Christian world it has beencustomary, as far as the assertions of superiority relate to antiquity, to concede every thing. It is partof the Christian faith, in fact, to believe that theJews were the chosen people of God, selected fromamong the races of the earth to be the subjects of aspecial covenant, guided through ages by successivesupernatural revelations from Heaven, their historyset with miracles, their poets inspired prophets, theroyal house of David at length giving birth to achild in whom the Deity himself became flesh anddwelt with men. Here, however, the Christianpauses. The incarnate God was rejected by thevery people among whom he chose to appear. TheyA PICTURESQUE HISTORY. 3should have adored; they preferred to crucify. Inpenalty for this they have undergone for eighteencenturies the most unexampled punishment, -suffering and humiliation not less extreme than theirprevious exaltation. Such is the sentence imposedupon them by inexorable justice as a penalty for theworst of crimes.But not all are Christian believers, even in countries nominally Christian. We find, besides, a classwhom for convenience' sake we may designate asrationalists, and what treatment will Jewish assertions of supremacy receive from these? Even thoughwe should deny all the supernatural claims made inbehalf of the Hebrews, there is still much reason forholding them to be an extraordinary people. Notfor numbers certainly, for at no time have they beennumerous; not for the extent of their territorialdominion, for their empire, even in the days of itsgreatest extension , covered only a tract which afterwards formed but a small part of the successiveempires of Macedonian, Roman, and Turk. Buthow wonderful in words -how wonderful in deeds!Even if we should reject the idea of divine inspiration, how extraordinary is the ancient literature ofthe race! In originality, poetic strength, and religious importance, it surpasses that of all othernations. The old Hebrew writers seldom employtheir genius upon any trifling matter, but occupythemselves with the most momentous questions oflife; as if, persuaded that God himself had dignifiedthe characters of their language by tracing them with.his finger upon tablets of stone, they dared not em-4 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.ploy an alphabet so consecrated upon any frivoloustheme.Give a comprehensive glance at the career of theJews. It is the marvel of history that this littlepeople, beset and despised by all the earth for ages,maintains its solidarity unimpaired. Unique amongall the peoples of the earth, it has come undoubtedlyto the present day from the most distant antiquity.Forty, perhaps fifty, centuries rest upon this venerable cotemporary of Egypt, Chaldea, and Troy. TheHebrew defied the Pharaohs; with the sword ofGideon he smote the Midianite; in Jephthah, thechildren of Ammon. The purple chariot- bands ofAssyria went back from his gates humbled and diminished. Babylon, indeed, tore him from his.ancient seats and led him captive by strange waters,but not long. He had fastened his love upon theheights of Zion, and like an elastic cord, that lovebroke not, but only drew with the more force as thedistance became great. When the grasp of the captor weakened, that cord, uninjured from its long tension, drew back the Hebrew to his former home. Hesaw the Hellenic flower bud, bloom, and wither uponthe soil of Greece . He saw the wolf of Rome suckledon the banks of the Tiber, then prowl, ravenous fordominion, to the ends of the earth, until paralysisand death laid hold upon its savage sinews. At lastIsrael was scattered over the length and breadth ofthe earth. In every kingdom of the modern world.there has been a Jewish element. There are Hebrew clans in China, on the steppes of Central Asia,in the desert heart of Africa. The most powerfulA PICTURESQUE HISTORY. 5But not not been able to assimilate them,-theavaricest persecution, so far from exterminating them,ņas not eradicated a single characteristic. In mentaland moral traits, in form and feature, even, the Jewto-day is the same as when Jerusalem was the peerof Tyre and Babylon. In the greedy energy of theJewish trader smoulders something of the old fire ofthe Maccabees. Abraham and Mordecai stand outupon the sculptures of Nineveh marked by the sameeye and beard, the same nose and jaw by which wejust now recognized their descendants. Language,literature, customs, traditions, traits of character,-these, too, have all survived. The Jew of NewYork, Chicago, St. Louis, is, in body and soul, theJew of London, of St. Petersburg, of Constantinople,of the fenced cities of Judah in the days of David.There is no other case of a nation dispersed in allparts of the world and yet remaining a nation .. SaysMr. E. A. Freeman: "They are very nearly, if notabsolutely, a pure race in a sense in which no otherhuman race is pure. Their blood has been untouchedby conversion, even by intermarriage." It is anasbestos, which no fire of hate or love has been hotenough to consume. Many a Jew still looks to theold home of his race with affection abated by nosingle particle, and anticipates a joyful time when thethrone of Jacob shall again be established uponZion. They cling with startling tenacity to everyelement of nationality. Their history is like a greatbear-baiting, in which every nation has figured amongthe bull-dogs, but with bite after bite of outrage andcontumely, all have not been able to drive the lifeout of their Judæan prey.6 THE STORY OF THE JEVS.ļWho will deny to the Jews pre-eminen frivolouspassion and intellect in the most various direThe skilful writer of fiction to-day, who depictsJewish personage, feels that at any rate the charactermust be made intense. A weak Jew would be thegreatest contradiction of probability. Whether heloves or hates, he must go to extremes. We instinctively feel that no object is so cherished as thattoward which the affection of the Jew is turned,whether it be parent or child, wife or friend. HowIsaac of York in " Ivanhoe " defies the torturers ashe thinks of Rebecca! How burning the charityof Nathan in the masterpiece of Lessing! Whatstrange persistent ardor in Mordecai pouring inspiration into the soul of Daniel Deronda!Nor does the world see elsewhere perhaps suchcapacity for malevolence. What scorn and -scowlhas the Hebrew had for the rest of the earth! Theland which fell especially under his malediction, likeSamaria, if human maledictions could blast , wouldhave found the grass withering in its fields, and thewater in its bosom. Perhaps avarice never wears itsmost hideous aspect except in the soul of the Jew.The pursuit to which oppression for ages restrictedhim, has exposed him peculiarly to be the prey ofthis vice. In the popular idea, the Jew is the embodiment of covetousness, and perhaps into no othersoul does the love of gain eat with such bitter and deepcorrosion; fa*gin and Shylock are types as artistic asthey are tremendous. Bad passions rage most violently in strong souls, as certain fevers are said to display their full force only in vigorous physical frames.A PICTURESQUE HISTORY. 7But not in the direction of earthly love or hate, ofavarice or patriotism, has the force of the Hebrewnature exerted itself most strikingly. When it hasbeen directed toward heavenly objects, it has constituted the most fervent piety which the world hasever seen. Those majestic prophets of old arecounterparts of their countrymen to-day, only inthem the national force shot strongly upward. Theygrasped heavenly things so vividly that even theirbodily senses seemed to lay hold of God and angels.Spiritual presences faced the bodily sight in wilderness or burning bush, or above the ark of the covenant. The earthly ear caught tones from the otherworld in some still small voice, or pealing from abare mountain peak. And here it is that the Jewhas accomplished his most extraordinary achievement. His faith furnished the stock upon whichMahomet grafted the creed of Islam, -upon whichone mightier than he fixed a scion, whose leaves, asthe branch has extended itself, have been for thehealing of the nations.So stands the Jew to-day-his astonishing historybehind him, his soul alight with such extraordinaryfire, and set off with such intense, picturesque traits.What other human type has such vividness andcolor! It is not altogether surprising arrogancethen when the Jew lays claim to a remarkable eminence. The Christian and the rationalist, on different grounds to be sure, are ready to say that therehas been nothing in the world so wonderful as thecareer of the Israelitish nation. Certainly no intelligent man can fail to see with Freeman that the8 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.phenomenon of the Jewish race is one of thestrangest in history. The more it is thought of,the more its utter strangeness appears-that its position is completely unique. To attempt some sketchof the progress of this people during its long history,to depict its ancient state, to sketch the depth ofhumiliation through which it has been forced topass, and the signs that can now be discerned thatit is about to issue into a time of extraordinary triumph, this certainly is a theme of interest.JGGCHAPTER II.THE MORNING-TIME IN PALESTINE.THE Southwestern corner of Syria, known asPalestine, the Holy Land, is a country small inextent. Its boundaries are somewhat indefinite; forin different ages the power of the Hebrews wasextended now over a greater, now over a smallertract. It was about one sixth as large as England,scarcely larger, in fact, than the State of Massachusetts. From a high mountain peak in the centre, itwould be quite easy for an observer in a clear day tobehold on every side the most distant limits to thesouth the ranges bordering upon Arabia, to thenorth the summits of Lebanon; the Mediterraneanto the west would seem not far distant; so, too , theunproductive steppes into which, on the easternfrontier, the pasture lands are gradually merged.Short as the journey would be between the farthestpoints, consuming scarcely half a day with our waysof travel, great contrasts of scenery would beencountered. The lofty mountains of Lebanon risefar toward the line of eternal snow, their flanks arecovered with forests, the elevated valleys withthe vegetation of high latitudes. Passing southfrom these, while the country remains hilly, fruitfulIO THE STORY OF THE JEWS.·plains frequently occur, extending to the margin ofthe western sea. In the south the land wears alook less hospitable; the desert lies close at hand,and already vast wastes of sand are seen, crossed bylines of hills upon which grows no tree or blade ofgrass. From the northern uplands a tumultuousriver, the Jordan, makes it way in cataracts and rapidsto the lower levels. Early in its course it rests in atranquil expanse of water known anciently as theLake of Merom. Midway, again , the floods pause inthe Sea of Tiberias, also called Gennesereth andGalilee. At last, in the south, the turbulent streamcuts its way deep through the land to lose itself in agloomy lake, sunk far beneath the level of the ocean,whose brackish waters and sulphurous shores havecaused it to be called the Dead Sea.InPalestine is still, in parts, a beautiful land . Atraveller arriving at certain seasons of the year fromthe dreary regions to the south and east, at the richcentral fields and green northern valleys, even nowmight greet it as the land of promise. It is capableof being redeemed in great part to luxuriance.ancient times before its resources had becomewasted and when it was held by free and thriftytribes, it is easy to understand how it could be saidto flow with milk and honey. In the harvest timegreat tracts, no doubt, waved with corn . Up thesunny slopes, in terrace over terrace, smiled the vineyards. Olive forests everywhere bore rich burdensof fruit. Groves of palm rose where in the lowlandsthe breath of the south could be fully felt; whilethe high ledges of the northern hills were fringedJACOB AND RACHEL.ENREMAKER- Dous.fe12 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.with mighty cedars. There were abundant pastureswhite with flocks; there were balm-fields on theplain of Sharon; in Bashan was the lowing ofinnumerable herds; the grapes of Eshcol ripenedinto such clusters that even the shoulders of strongmen found them a heavy burden. This land ofpromise the children of Israel at length, after asevere struggle, possessed, and for many centuries itcontinued to be their home.The Israelites, Hebrews, or Jews, as the race isindifferently called, belong to the great Semiticbranch of the human family, long believed to be descended from the eldest son of Noah, Shem. Sincethe lapse of time which we have to consider is sovast, much of the history of the Hebrews must bepassed over in most rapid review. If we date theorigin of the Jews at the time when Abram wentsouthward from Haran, we are taken back to a mostremote past. As the mistsof the morning time.arise, a group of allied tribes, Moabites, Edomites,Ammonites, and Israelites, may be descried inSouthern Palestine, of which group the Israelites arefound in the territory extending westward. About1500 B.C. we can trace the Israelites in Goshen, fertilepasture lands in northern Egypt, where they acknowledge the dominion of the Pharaohs, but retaintheir own manners and institutions. The patriarchsIsaac and Jacob have played their part. Joseph,sold into bondage, has found favor in the eyes ofthe splendid monarch . Mindful of his brethren , hewithdraws them from the outer desert and givesJOSEPH INTERPRETING PHARAOH'S DREAM.14 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.them pleasant seats in the plain watered by the beautiful river, where instead of the famine which hasconstantly threatened them, they enjoy a perpetualabundance among the Egyptian flesh-pots. Atlength come darker days. Rulers succeed who forget the hospitality of their predecessors. The Hebrew strangers are reduced to slavery, in which state.they languish, until beneath the blow of Moses theEgyptian task-master is smitten to the earth. Thebold rebel develops presently into a national champion and leader, to whom the oppressed people surrender their hearts. The Red Sea is passed andPharaoh is overwhelmed in the pursuit. The Law isgiven at Sinai, followed by the long wandering inthe desert. Moses, his aged eyes refreshed onMount Pisgah by the sight of the promised land ,goes to his rest in the sepulchre over against BethPeor, whose place no man knoweth unto this day;and the people pass into Canaan, finding homes inthe south, not far from those of their ancestors, inthe days before the sojourn on the Nile.Up to this time we see in Israel no settled nation .In the day of Moses the old patriarchal system offamilies and clans prevailed; the people was an unorganized collection of tribes of the same stock, butnot at all closely combined. The authority ofMoses came from his success in leading them out ofEgypt . He established the holy administration ofthe Law or Torah, an institution which preceded aformal polity, but at length came to serve as thefoundation pillar upon which the state rested . Thebasis of the unity which prevailed from the earliestMOSES IN THE BULRUSHES.PANNEMARA- Dinos Je16 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.times in Israel was an intense conviction in theirbreasts that they were the chosen people of that oneGod whom alone they recognized, Jehovah. Asthey entered Palestine, his sanctuary was establishedat Kadesh Barnea where usually stood the sacredark of the covenant. The camp, however, it hasbeen said, was the " smithy in which the tribes weredestined to be welded into a nation, '"* and the arkof the covenant, carried by the hands of the Levites,was the standard, which the Hebrews bore in theirmidst as they entered upon their conquests.According to Josephus, the ark was a shrine ofprecious wood, five spans in length, three spans inbreadth, and three in height. It was covered withgold, both within and without, so that the woodenpart was not seen. A lid united to the side bygolden hinges closed the casket; in each side werefastened two golden rings, through which gilded barswere passed, that it might be borne upon the shoulders of the priests. Upon the cover were twocherubim, flying creatures, their form not like toany of the creatures which men have seen, thoughMoses said he had seen such creatures near thethrone of God. The ark contained the two tablesof stone, brought down from Sinai by Moses, uponwhich were inscribed the ten commandments. Onthe march, the tribe of Levi was the especial guardof the ark, which was borne in the centre of thepeople. On the east proceeded Judah, on the south,Reuben, on the west, Ephraim, on the north, Dan,each tribe beneath the banner marked with its en-

• Wellhausen.

17MANASSEN "EPHRAIMBENAGERSHONGADKOHATHNAPHTALIDANPROBABLE FORM ANDRANGEMENT OF TABERNACLE THE CAMP &c.MERARITHE TOENTRANCE TABERNACLEASHERALTAR OF BURNT OFFERINGREUBENSIMEONSONSAARON'S &AARON ,MOSESCOURT THE TOENTRANCEISSACHARJUDA4ZABULUN18THE STORYOF THE JEWS.sign. When in camp, the ark rested in the Holy ofHolies of the Tabernacle, in the midst of the tribes,each in its fixed place. The Canaanites, againstwhom the Israelites went, were a people superiorto them in numbers, perhaps also in civilization.These they did not extirpate, but subdued andabsorbed, deriving their power to do so from thefierce conviction which inspired them, that theyamong all the races of the earth were the especialfavorites of Heaven.Joshua, Gideon, Jephthah, show their prowess.The tribes of Simeon and Levi undergo annihilation; Judah is hard pressed, but maintains itself atlast through the might of Caleb. The south of Palestine is gained; at length, the central plateau, andthe ark is brought from its sanctuary on the bordersof the desert northward to Shiloh. The Canaanites,at discord among themselves, oppose but feebly.The north at length is laid open by the defeat ofthe king of Hazor at Lake Merom. Sisera for atime is formidable, but Deborah fires the hearts ofher countrymen; a new leader is found in Barak, andthe Canaanite dies with the nail of Jael driven intohis temple. A more terrible enemy from the towns.of the coast at last threatens. The Philistines overpower even Samson, and are victorious on the plainsof Sharon, carrying devastation even to Shiloh, andbearing away the ark of the covenant. A great exaltation of religious feeling pervades the Hebrews atthe desecration. It expresses itself in songs anddances; the tribes are full of frenzy to redeem themselves from such humiliation. Through the proph-THE SETTING UP OF THE TABERNACLE20 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.et Samuel, the champion Saul is discovered. A giantin form, and of a fiery disposition, he wins victory,and is anointed king in the ancient camp of Joshuaat Gilgal. Jonathan, his son, assisted by his armorbearer only, drives the Philistines into retreat . Buta greater leader is at hand. A smooth stone fromthe sling of a Hebrew youth smites in the foreheadthe giant of Gath, and David stands revealed .Through him the foes from the coast are beatenand humbled. The ark is brought back, to the joyof the people. The Lord stands on the side ofIsrael. David hears him in the rustling of theleaves of the balsam-trees, close at his hand. Oneof the Hebrew captains brandishes his spear overeight hundred slaughtered foes; another wields hissword until his hand grows rigid about the hilt andcannot be unclasped . " The king was in an hold andgarrison of the Philistines, and longed and said: ' Oh,that one would give me a drink of the water of thewell of Bethlehem, which is by the gate! ' " Thenthree mighty men, Adino, Eleazar, and Shammah,brake through the host of the Philistines, and drewwater out of the well of Bethlehem that was by thegate, and took it and brought it to David. Then theking would not drink thereof, but poured it outunto the Lord, saying: " Is not this as it were theblood of the men that went in jeopardy of theirlives? " Thus, in undoubting confidence that Jehovah is with them, the Hebrews, with valiant deedsand great sacrifices, fight on. The country to thenorth is to a large extent subjected . The mountainfortress of the Jebusites is seized , destined to becomeARK .THE RETURN OF22 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.Jerusalem, the most famous city of the world. Moab,Ammon, and Edom, to the south and east, are subdued; the recovered ark finds a new sanctuary uponMt. Zion; the Hebrew power is at its height.With the close of David's career, a period wasreached when the character of the Hebrews underwent a certain change. Up to that time their holdupon Palestine had been precarious; each Israelitehad been compelled to be a soldier, prepared by forceof arms to resist opposition in every quarter. WithCanaan subjugated, however, a time had come forattention to the arts of peace. The woodmen uponLebanon felled timber for the architects, who builtnew cities as the people multiplied. The waters ofMerom and Galilee yielded a harvest to the fishermen. The vineyards flourished, the broad cornfields upon the plains were tilled by hands that hadturned the sword into the plough- share. An unwholesome contagion, moreover, from luxurious neighborson the borders began to sap the ancient Hebrewvigor, and a dangerous tolerance came to be showntoward the strange gods of the Gentiles. In thesetimes were heard in the land the voices of the prophets, men who were believed to receive into theirsouls special messages from Jehovah; their venerable forms, on the mountain- side, in the marketplace, on the highroad, now stimulated the indifferent, now denounced apostates, now threatenedcoming woe to the degenerate.The magnificent Solomon, loving peace betterthan war, organized the great districts which Davidhad subdued, and maintained a gorgeous court. ToTHE MORNING-TIME IN PALESTINE. 23extend and embellish Jerusalem lay near his heart,and, in accomplishing this, he indulged to the full astrong passion for architecture. He constructed a vastcitadel, in the midst of which rose the walls of theTemple. The Temple of Solomon! Of all edificesreared by human hands, there is no other that hasinterested such multitudes. Solomon began to buildit in the fourth year of his reign, about 1010 B.C. , employing preparations which had already been made byDavid. In return for the corn, oil, and wine, whichfertile Palestine produced abundantly, he obtainedfrom Hiram, King of Tyre, skilled workmen andprecious materials. The Temple's utmost heightwas two hundred feet, built up from deep foundations, with colossal masonry and great beams ofcedar from Lebanon. The stones were so laid “ thatthere appeared to the spectator no sign of the hammer, but as if all had naturally united themselvestogether. " * Plates of gold were so nailed upon thesurfaces that the whole Temple shone. Doors ofcedar overlaid with gold afforded entrance, and before these hung veils of blue, purple, and scarlet ofthe brightest and softest linen , wrought with curiousflowers. The deepest recesses of the Temple contained the Holy of Holies. This enclosed twocherubim of gold of fifteen feet in height, whoseoutstretched wings, reaching to the right and left,the northern and southern walls, touched one another, also, in the centre, and so formed a coveringfor the ark, which was placed between them; butnobody can tell, or even conjecture, what was the

• Josephus.

24 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.shape of these cherubim. In the chamber adjoiningthe Most Holy Place, stood the altar of incense,made of cedar, covered with gold, and also a greatnumber of candlesticks, one of which was alwayslighted. Upon a multitude of tables were put manythousand vessels of gold and silver; but upon thelargest was set forth the shew-bread, lawful to eatfor the priests alone.In the court before the Temple stood the brazenaltar upon which sacrifices were offered , and the vastbasin called the sea of brass, which rested on thebacks of twelve brazen oxen, and held water for theablutions of the priests before the sacrifice. To theright and left of the porch rose to the height ofthirty feet two pillars of hollow brass. Their circumference was twenty feet, and the metal of fourfinger-breadths in thickness. The Tyrian workmenembossed upon them the forms of lilies and palms,and two hundred pomegranates in two rows; thepillar to the right bore the name Jachin, and thatto the left the name Boaz.The splendid details of the Temple are describedby Josephus, and also in the books of Kings andChronicles, and there is no reason to doubt the substantial correctness of the descriptions. Seven yearswere consumed in its erection, and when all wasdone the people far and near were gathered togetherfor a solemn dedication. The king himself, withthe Levites, went before, rendering the ground moistwith oblations, and so filling the air with incensethat it touched the senses even of those who werefar off. Neither king nor people grew weary of sing-THE MORNING-TIME IN PALESTINE. 25ing hymns or dancing; but as the priests approached,who bore upon their shoulders the ark, the multitudegave way. The ark held, as of old, nought besidesthe two tables of stone, upon which the finger ofJehovah was believed to have inscribed the ten commandments. It was set reverently beneath the golden wings of the cherubim, and near at hand wereput the seven-branched candlestick and the goldenaltar. As the priests went forth, after setting all inorder, it is related that a thick cloud spread itselfafter a gentle manner within the Temple, so darkening the place that one priest could not see another.A fire, moreover, came running out of the air, and,rushing npon the altar in the sight of all, it consumed speedily the sacrifices that were placed thereon. It was believed that Jehovah thus gladly pitchedhis tabernacle within the Temple, and signified hispleasure in the victims that were offered.Thus Jerusalem became beautiful, and the fame ofthe wisdom and magnificence of Solomon spreadthroughout the world. But the vigor of David's rulewas sadly missed . A Syrian kingdom was allowedto establish itself undisturbed at Damascus to thenorthward, and turbulent Edom in the south becameagain independent. The wisdom of Solomon becamethe worst folly. When he died at length, the simplicity and discipline of the earlier Hebrews werebecoming sadly relaxed, and a way was prepared forheavy calamities in the future.Great discords came to prevail. The nation of theHebrews was split into two divisions, Judah at thesouth with Jerusalem for the capital, and Israel at26 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.the north with the new city of Samaria as the seat ofits kings. The two kingdoms were sometimes in harmony, but often at feud. The purity of the ancientworship, moreover, became commingled with Phoenician and Egyptian elements, against which protestedthe prophets Elijah and Elisha. In the softeningof manners which existed, when agriculture had replaced the ruder life of the shepherd and herdsman,and the spirit of commerce was beginning to prevail,the national force was debilitated, and though hugefortifications surrounded the towns, there was a wantof worthy defenders. So speedily did the ancientrugged virtue decay, that even in the time of Rehoboam, the successor of Solomon, Jerusalem wassacked by the Egyptians, who bore away, togetherwith much wealth, the trophies of David. Damascussent conquering armies to the very gates of Jerusalem . At length approached a most noteworthycrisis: the purple Assyrian invaded the land withchariot and spear.We have followed already the story of the Jewsfor more than a thousand years. In the annals fromthe days of the patriarchs to the period we have nowreached, it is often difficult to separate authentichistory from legend. With the Assyrians we arriveat an age, however, when the mists of the morningtmie are dissipated and the clearest sunlight prevails.We can well afford here to take a closer look.Within little more than a generation, discoverieshave been made which give an extraordinary interestto this part of the ancient history of the Jews, andthere is no period in which their characteristics areTHE MORNING-TIME IN PALESTINE. 27more plainly displayed. Of the many foreign nationswhich play a part in the older Hebrew annals, noneis so prominent as Assyria. In the most ancientHebrew documents we find them mentioned . Anantediluvian existence indeed is attributed to thenation in the second chapter of Genesis; but withoutdwelling upon uncertainties, we find that in theeighth century before Christ, the power of Assyriabecomes very conspicuous. The books of Kings andChronicles are largely concerned with the relation ofher conquests. In the expedition of Jonah we havethe only instance of a prophet's going to a distancefrom Judæa to exercise his prophetic functions.Among the more ancient prophets whose writingsremain to us, Amos, about 790 B.C., first hints atdanger from Assyria. Hosea, soon afterward, ismuch occupied with the calamities impending fromthis quarter. Isaiah, later still, from first to last,indicates how great was the pressure upon theHebrews of this mighty force from the Tigris.Micah, his contemporary, and Nahum, a little after,prophesy only to threaten vengeance upon theseterrible foes. Zephaniah, 640 B.C., predicts the destruction of Nineveh, the Assyrian capital; andEzekiel, in a subsequent generation, after the destruction had been accomplished, describes it at length.The whole population of Israel, the kingdom lyingto the northward, is swept away into slavery. Atlength, 587 B.C. , the capital of Judah, Jerusalemitself, is destroyed, and the poor remnant of theHebrews carried captive to Babylon, which, untilshortly before, had been a dependency of Nineveh.28 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.The crisis which we have reached in the story ofthe Jewish nation is so momentous, our knowledgeof the period is so clear, to a large extent gained sorecently and in such interesting ways, -that it becomes proper to employ in our narrative greaterdetail than heretofore.CHAPTER III.ISRAEL AT NINEVEH. .AN old Greek historian, Diodorus, relates, thatwhen Semiramis, the Assyrian queen, had subduedmany nations, loaded with spoil she broke intoEthiopia. There she came upon a wonderful lake,whose waters were vermilion in color, and of a sweetflavor like that of old wine. Whoever tasted it became mad and confessed his misdeeds. The intellectof the modern world, after adding to her empirerealm after realm of knowledge, has invaded, witharms strengthened by her conquests, the domain ofancient history. Suddenly before her stretches ashining lake. Hitherto of its waters she has knownnothing, except as an old annalist or poet, here andthere, has preserved in his vase a few glitteringdrops. But now the full expanse begins to spreaditself before her, rich with gorgeous tints and flashinglight. She grows dizzy over the spectacle, and isdisposed to recall many of her boastful claims tosuperior power and knowledge.In the great halls of the British Museum none aremore impressive than those which contain the vast collections made by Layard among the ruins of Nineveh.Against the walls are ranged sculptured slabs, dingy30 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.with the discolorations of 2,500 years. Upon thesetower the figures, bearded, colossal, just as they werecut by the Assyrian sculptors. One may touch thechiselling of the winged creatures, or the muscles thatstand out so strangely from the gigantic limbs, orthe flowing robes or locks, thinking, as the fingerspass along the groove in which worked the tool ofthe old artist, how many and how mighty the eventshave been since the stone was thus wrought. Greecehas risen and gone to decay; so Rome, and so ascore of empires. As strange and quiet as theystand now, rose those figures, when the prophets ofIsrael, in the very same palaces and temples in whichthe sculptures formerly stood, spoke their messages.Some of the carvings represent the very kings andsoldiers of whose deeds we read in the Bible , underwhose chariot-wheels the people of Judæa were againand again crushed . The slabs line the walls, and inthe centre of the halls are colossal sculptured figures-lions with wings and human heads-figures sittingand standing representations of kings heavilybearded, with faces of power, the very monarchs inwhose presence the prophets spoke, and whosearmies destroyed the towns of the Jews. In thepresence of relics so very wonderful, it can hardly beotherwise than that the heart beats quick. As themodern visitor passes through the solemn halls, hisshadow falls athwart the giant sculptures, as theshadow of Jonah once fell . Standing at one endand glancing backward, the sculptures so uncouth,yet so marvellously majestic, loom in that dim London atmosphere preternaturally large, so that to thefigures is imparted an air of weird enchantment.-JONAH CALLING NINEVEH TO REPENTANCE.32 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.Let us try to gain a clear idea of that indomitableforce and pride-that extraordinary confidence inhimself-which have marked the Jew everywhere,from the earliest history to the latest, and which areamong the most important causes of the vitality andsolidarity of the race. We shall appreciate it mostvividly perhaps if we get at it by means of a sidelight. We wish to understand their ancient force;let us understand the force and splendor of thatwhich they confronted unabashed, which overwhelmed them utterly and yet did not smotherthem. Let us behold a picture of one enemy whomthe Jew in his ancient day was compelled to meet,by whom, for a time, he was overborne, whom, however, he has survived for many ages.66 Assyrians, " says Ezekiel, " captains and rulersclothed most gorgeously, horsem*n riding upon horses,girded with girdles upon their loins, exceeding in dyedattire upon their heads, all of them princes to lookto." Brilliant though the Assyrians were, mightyand gorgeous though the empire was which they established, men felt until a generation since that allauthentic knowledge of them had been lost. Butlittle correct information was to be obtained exceptfrom the books of the Old Testament, and there themention of Assyria, though abundant, as has beenseen, was scarcely coherent or trustworthy. Thisscriptural mention was enough to stimulate curiosity,but not to gratify it; the same can be said of theaccounts of the Greek historians Ctesias, DiodorusSiculus, and Herodotus, from whom it has been possible to glean here and there only a shred or a patchISRAEL AT NINEVEH. 33with which scholars have tried to piece out thescanty story.But did this mighty race live and die and leave norecords of its own? By no means. It has left behind whole libraries of records. The oldest nations,with the chisel, or the brush dipped in indelible colors, wrote down upon tablets of rock, or upon thewalls of their buildings, all that they knew. Uponsuch indestructible pages were inscribed their history,their knowledge of the arts and sciences, their philosophy and poetry. A house was something moreto an Egyptian or a Ninevite than a mere place todwell in; it was a book as well. The libraries werethe towns and cities , crowded with volumes large andsmall, from the pyramid and temple down to thehumble home of the laborer. Some were bare andplain, where poverty had time and means to cut onlya few characters or paint a line or two. Others werecrowded with inscriptions from base to cornice, thetracery most elaborately wrought, and often illuminated from end to end with the most brilliant hues.Everywhere, in the square, on the palace-front, onboth sides of the way, the whole lore of the worldwas so displayed that he who ran might read.To this day moth and mildew have continued tospare these old libraries. Thebes and Baalbec,Memphis and Babylon, half covered in sand or overgrown with brambles, still preserve on their solemnwalls the memorials of their founders. The travellerhears the lonely desert wind sweep by him; the wildbeast is scared from his desert lair at the unusualsound of a human foot-fall , but there in the desola-34 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.tion stands the record, sometimes as distinct as ifeach century, instead of obliterating, had been anOld Mortality, to deepen the chiselling, or had comewith a brush to renew the splendor of the tints.One may read of the whole life of human beings,three thousand years ago; of long-lost arts, whichmodern civilization has not grasped; of empires whosememory is fast disappearing under the accumulatingyears, as their ruins have been buried under the drifting sands of the waste; of Nimrod and Sesostris, andmany a forgotten hero.Such was the record which the Assyrians left behind. They cut and stamped their history not onlyinto their buildings, but also into the rocks andmountains. If we were Assyrians we should takeperhaps Kenesaw Mountain, smooth a side of it intoa precipice with an overhanging ledge, then, underneath, carve in colossal dimensions the figure of thesoldier who won the battle there, and the whole storyof the march to the sea. At Richmond would risean immense pyramid, sculptured from base to summit with the achievements of Grant; while at Washington would stand a palace containing a few milesof halls lined with pictured slabs to tell the story ofthe administration of Lincoln.If the record was so elaborate, the natural question is, why has it not endured? Sculptured cliffand obelisk have indeed remained in sight, but insolitudes where the eye of civilized man has rarelybeheld them. Temple and palace have been buriedfrom sight by the dust of the accumulating centuries. The site of the grave of all the buried splendorISRAEL AT NINEVEH. 35had almost been forgotten, when the 19th centuryat length resolved upon a resuscitation and wroughtout a wonderful result. The discoveries have beenmade in Western Asia, in a half-desert regionremote from the way of commerce. A few miserable Turkish cities in the last stages of decay are situated within the territory, but it is resigned for themost part to the wild Arabs. Everywhere over thesurface of the ground there are scattered relics—nowa mound or wall —now a heap of sculptured stonehere a space paved with inscribed bricks or pieces ofpottery-there a crumbling tower. Desert, thoughit is at present, there is hardly a portion of the earththat has such historical interest. , It was the seat ofthe Saracens, whose Caliphs, celebrated in the"Arabian Nights," shone at Bagdad until their fragile state was shattered by the Tartars. The apostateJulian came here to die, the old Pagan splendor ofRome shooting forth its last ray from his glazingeye as he falls. Earlier still , this earth felt the heavysoldiery tramp of Xenophon and the ten thousand,of whom the school-boy reads in the Anabasis, andthe chariot-wheels of the Persians who swept afterthem. In yet older times than these, here came thePharaohs as conquerors, and here prophets fromIsrael thundered forth the messages of the Lord.From an early period the antiquities of Babylonia and the region lying farther to the eastwardhave been recognized as the remains of Nineveh andBabylon. In Strabo and Pliny mention is made ofthe ruins, as also in the books of travellers belongingto the middle ages of our own era. Of the modern36THESTORYOF THEJEWS.explorers, Niebuhr may be regarded as the pioneer,who visited the localities a century ago. In thedecade from 1840 to 1850, the famous archæologists,Botta and Layard, at length, startled the world with.a marvellous uncovering. But the possession ofthese long-buried treasures would be of comparatively little value, were it not for a contemporaneousdiscovery. The palaces and temples into whichBotta and Layard penetrated, contain upon theirvast walls innumerable sculptured slabs, in which thefigures and scenes are accompanied by inscriptions.The characters of which these are composed arecombinations of a certain mark resembling a wedgeor arrow head, broad at one end and tapering to apoint at the other, from which circ*mstance it hasreceived the name of the arrow-headed, or, morecommonly, the cuneiform, wedge-shaped character.Some idea of Assyrian grandeur might have, nodoubt, been obtained from the pictorial representations alone, but for any satisfactory knowledge anacquaintance with the cuneiform was necessary. Theinscriptions are numerous, being cut not only uponthe slabs with the sculptures, but stamped more orless thickly upon almost every brick or article ofpottery. Ability to decipher the cuneiform wasgained at the very time it was so much needed, andthe history of the achievement is a marvellous recordof ingenuity and patience. The task cannot yet beregarded as fully accomplished. Modern scholarshipis, however, mastering her wedge- shaped tools, andnow the last bars are yielding that have so long kepta beautiful captive from the gaze of the world. WeISRAEL AT NINEVEH. 37know each year more and more of her robes andgems, her hanging gardens and castles of alabaster,her crimson pomp and mighty sway.Two thousand years before Christ a powerful empire existed upon this territory, whose inhabitantshad acquired the art of working metals, and were sofar refined as to make some progress in astronomicalknowledge. Shadowy is the history of those oldChaldæans. They flourished in the world's morningtime before the mists had cleared, and a cloud mustalways hang over them. Through it we discern.dimly the moving to and fro of a great people, thetramp of armies, the glare of forges, the majesticfigures of sages versed in unknown lore. To thisancient power Assyria succeeded, becoming the mostimportant country of the East perhaps as early asthe thirteenth century before Christ. Her kingsbecame constantly more vigorous and aggressive,and at length opened the era of magnificence.fore speaking of their power and state, a word ortwo must be said as to the nature of the dominionof the Assyrian kings, which will be needed to understand the description which follows. Their occupation was conquest, but the vanquished states,although under a most absolute despotism, wereallowed in the earlier periods to retain their nationality, no difference being made in their internaladministration. The subjugated potentates retainedcourt and title, but were forced to pay tribute andrender certain personal services. Western Asia wasat this time densely peopled, and divided into amultitude of petty kingdoms, most of which becameBe-38THESTORYOFTHEJEWS.tributaries of Assyria. But the dominion of theGreat King, though splendid, was precarious. Anyuntoward circ*mstance was sure to bring about revolts, involving often the repeated subjugation ofthe same state. At a later period, expedients wereadopted to repress the tendency to rebellion. Satraps were appointed over conquered nations inplace of the kings who were dethroned; and sometimes, where the vanquished were especially dreaded,the whole nation was torn from its home, and drivento remote districts of the empire.We have no concern with the activity of thesewarrior-kings, except as it affects Palestine. Therecord of this comes down to us written on the rock,and has just been restored to the world after anentombment of twenty centuries. In the book ofKings there figure two monarchs of Syria, whichlay to the north of Palestine, between the power ofNineveh and the seats of the Jews. We may readon the rock how one, the fierce Ben Hadad, wassmitten with a loss of twenty thousand men; and ofthe fall of Hazael, the other, with his eleven hundredchariots dashed to pieces. The kingdoms of Judahand Israel see coming nearer and nearer the terribletempest that has been impending for years. Damascus and Syria have fallen, and there is no other intervening height upon which the threatening stormcan discharge itself. The prophets Amos andHosea threaten imminent woes, and at length theycome. The tribes of Gad, Manasseh, and Reubenare swept away, and at length, beneath the Assyrianbattering-rams, the city of Samaria falls. ThreeISRAEL AT NINEVEH. 39years the city struggles, mindful of her glory underJeroboam, when the state of Solomon himself wasparalleled . According to the inscriptions on theslabs, the number of families that were driven fromSamaria was twenty-seven thousand two hundredand eighty. These are the ten lost tribes of thehouse of Israel, and one may see them sculpturedon slabs like those in London, some going to augment the splendor of Nineveh with unrewarded toil,some to people distant and barren regions far to theeast. There is no mistaking the Jewish faces; thesame lines mark them which mark the faces of theAbrahams and Mordecais of to-day.The power and glory of Assyria have now reachedthe culminating point, Sennacherib succeeds to thethrone. He it is of whom it has been written:" The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold,And his cohorts were gleaming with purple and gold. "Upon this brilliant period the light of history fallsabundantly. Sennacherib, of all the Assyrian kings,most engages the writers of the Old Testament. Wefind mention of him in profane history, and wholeacres, covered with ruins of palaces and temples, attest his grandeur. This grandeur, for a moment letme try to paint, for the Jews have their part in it .It is eight hundred years before Christ. The goodKing Hezekiah rules in Judah, whose counsellor isthe venerable prophet Isaiah. It is so far back in timethat Rome is just being founded byRomulus. Greeceis but in the infancy of her glory, and over her unstoried soil, to the music of Dorian flutes, the hardy40 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.bands of Sparta go marching to their earliest battlefields. Long centuries must pass before there willbe any mention at all of Teuton, Sclave, or Celt, butthe Jew, even then, is old upon the earth. Thedominion of Assyria stretches to the ocean on thesouth, and farther west to the middle provinces ofEgypt, the lower banks of the Nile being dependencies of the Great King. Northward, the mountainprinces to the base of Ararat, and even to theEuxine, bring him tribute. In the East the yokehas at length been fastened upon the neck of theintractable Mede. The Mediterranean washes thewestern border; Cyprus, lately won by the prowess ofan Assyrian king, being the outpost. Nineveh atlast has become the metropolis and the most beautiful city of the empire. The territory in its neighborhood, to-day almost a desert, is, at the time ofwhich we write, very fertile . It is intersected bycanals, supplied by the Tigris and Euphrates, whichgrow smaller and smaller as they proceed, and interlace with one another in every direction. Throughthis arterial system, a double life-giving stream poursinto Mesopotamia, refreshing the soil and wafting itsvast commerce. On the banks stand machines forirrigation, so that every rood of ground teems withfruitfulness. In the useful arts the Assyrians havemade considerable progress. Copper and lead aremined and wrought with skill. Iron is worked invarious forms and manufactured into excellent steel.Glass is made of various degrees of fineness, fromthat fitted for coarse utensils, to the crystal lensthrough which the lapidary is to trace microscopicISRAEL AT NINEVEH. 41engraving. The potters furnish a variety of ware,from the rude vessel for the use of the captive, to ,the elegant vase, enamelled and gilded with tastefuldesigns, intended for the palace of the satrap or theGreat King. The textile fabrics of Assyria havebeen famous from an early day. In part the materials of their manufacture are produced at home, inpart imported from distant lands. Rich stuffs ofcotton, wool, and silk come from the looms. Dyesof a brilliancy, perhaps, surpassing any now used byEuropeans are employed, and the splendor of themore costly fabrics is still further increased by weavingin threads of gold . The Assyrians are acquainted withmany mechanical contrivances, -the roller, the lever,the pulley, the wheel, and, it may be certain, enginesnow lost. An art resembling printing was in generaluse. In most of the structures built of brick, eachbrick is stamped with the same inscription , consistingoften of several words, and sometimes of a series ofsentences. The stamping is believed to have beenperformed by means of a single engraved plate.The process was, therefore, quite similar to modernstereotyping, except that the impression was received upon clay instead of paper.Does the reader think, that the Jews are forsaken,as we occupy ourselves in this way with the detailsof Assyrian industry? It must be remembered thatin this time there was no industry but that of slaves,and that a vast multitude of captive Hebrews werealready in servitude on the Tigris. The instrumentsjust described were in the hands of enslaved Jews, -the accomplishments narrated were the achievementsTATE42 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.of their toil . Our story only follows them intothraldom, as we dwell thus upon the details ofAssyrian civilization .The commerce of Assyria was immense. Mesopotamia was a great mart between the East and theWest from immemorial antiquity down to the discovery of the passage around the Cape of GoodHope. Up the Tigris from the Southern Oceancame silk and cotton from India and China, and precious metals from regions unknown. From SouthernArabia, by caravans, came spices and perfumes. ThePhoenician cities to the west sent the produce oftrading voyages extended even to Britain and theshores of the Baltic. From the mountains on thenorth great rafts of lumber were floated down uponthe Tigris by the winter floods. Fine wool anddroves of cattle and horses were sent from the pastures of Armenia and the Syrian uplands.Concerning the state of the Great King one hardlydares to speak. The reader will think that the "Arabian Nights," or the vagaries of some mad hashisheater have crept in among the authorities; but onlythe statements of matter- of- fact modern scholars andartists are followed . We are far removed in all ourtastes and institutions from that ancient life. In theblood of the cold Northern races there is no especialpassion for splendor; in the strong and civilized nations of the world to-day, any considerable accumulation of power by single individuals, to be exercisedwithout let or hindrance, is impossible. Even inRussia, despotism is hemmed in by many restraints.In Assyria, however, a race of princes of marvellousISRAEL AT NINEVEH. 43energy, possessed to an inordinate degree of thatpassion for magnificence which has always characterized the Orientals, sat upon the throne. Their immediate subjects, a warlike people, knew no law butthe sovereign's will. Along course of victory hadput a hundred powerful nations under their absolutecontrol. If the Great King saw fit , and he often did,he could draw from a tributary the last ounce oftreasure, or utterly depopulate a vast district to furnish workmen for any given undertaking. It wasunmitigated despotism, exercised by a wonderfullyvigorous, unscrupulous, and splendor- loving dynasty.Assassination was the only restraint. No wonderthe results of such conditions are almost incredible.The Great King sat on his ivory throne, a true Aladdin; and the genii , controlled by his signet-ring,were all the opulent and industrious states of theEast. What phantom world could furnish a mightiercompany?Viollet le Duc and Fergusson, the historians ofarchitecture, have paralleled in their department thefeat of the naturalist, who from a bone or a scale, constructed with exactness, as it was afterwards proved,the form of an extinct animal. From the brokenfragments of the palaces, they have constructed theirformer grandeur. In the midst of the level landscaperose, in the first place, an immense artificial hill. Theexcavations from which the soil came may still be distinctly traced in depressions and vast swamps. Onall sides this elevation was faced with solid masonry,while upon the lofty platform on the summit wasbuilt the palace. Fortifications like cliffs rose near44 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.it an hundred feet high, and wide enough for threechariots abreast. At frequent intervals towers shotup to a still loftier elevation. The platform was ascended by a stately stair. The foot of the visitortrod upon slabs carved or inlaid with handsomedesigns. Sculptured portals, by which stood silentguardians, colossal figures in white alabaster, theforms of men and beasts, winged and of majesticmien, admitted him to the magnificence within.The façade of the palace at its base was coveredwith graven images. Upward, tier above tier intothe blue heavens, ran lines of colonnades, pillars ofcostly cedar, cornices glittering with gold, capitalsblazing with vermilion , and between them voluminouscurtains of silk, purple and scarlet, interwoven withthreads of gold. The wind from over Media camebreathing through these aërial pavilions, and fardown to the alabaster lions and the plumed divinitiesin the court beneath, they whispered of the glory ofthe Great King. In the interior, stretching formiles, literally for miles, the builder of the palaceranged the illustrated record of his exploits. Theinscriptions were deeply cut in the cuneiform character, and parallel with them in scarlet and green,gold and silver, ran the representations of the scenesthemselves. There were commemorated the exploitsof the chase, the building of palaces, and scenes offeasting. More numerous, however, were the pictures of war, the battle, the siege, the torture, thelong procession of captives. In places of honor, theportrait of the monarch himself was set, with his footupon the neck of some tributary prince or worship-ISRAEL AT NINEVEH. 45ping before his gods. Through lion-guarded portalsadmission was gained to still other halls, lined everywhere by the endless record . The mind grows dizzywith the thought of the splendor, the processions ofsatraps and eunuchs and tributary kings winding upthe stair and pouring in a radiant stream throughthe halls, the gold and embroidery, the ivory andthe sumptuous furniture, -the pearls and the hangings. Nor let it be supposed it was merely barbaricsplendor. In modern times, in Italy, memorialshave been discovered of a refined people who wereprecursors of the Roman power, -delicate vases, andgold and silver chased in forms of grace, for whichthe beholder finds no word but perfect. The oldEtruscan art is believed to-day to have been transplanted from Assyria. Architecture found in thebalconies of Nineveh the beautiful Ionic column.Highest distinction of all, it is believed that sculpture, the art of arts, -the white Phidian blossom, sopure and peerless in the chaplet of ancient Greece,budded in the chambers of the Assyrian kings.235CHAPTER IV.THE DESTRUCTION OF SENNACHERIB.LET us imagine ourselves, for the moment, viceroys or princes, personages of sufficient dignity to beguests ofthe mighty Sennacherib, and that we haveascended with him, the possessor of all this pomp,to the carven roof of the towering palace, wherestand altars for sacrifice. Hundreds of feet below, theTigris washes the foundations, and shoots its watersinto the artificial channels winding everywherethrough the land . From an unfinished temple closeat hand comes the hum of uncounted captives, thekeen eye and hawk nose of the Jew appearing amongthem, slaves since the subjugation, in the previousreigns, of Northern Palestine. In the distance, alongthe river, in gay barges, approaches the train ofsome subjugated prince bearing offerings. Mesopotamia, as it were in bondage too, bound under thesilvery watercourses beneath the eye, as if by an interlacing net, prepares for the master her punctualtribute of corn and wine. The Great King turns hishaughty, bearded face to the southward, where themessengers of Hezekiah, King of Judah, approach,bearing thrones and couches. There are camel-trainsfrom Solomon's seaport of Ezion-Gebir with theTHE DESTRUCTION OF SENNACHERIB. 47wealth of Ophir; trains, too , from Southern Arabia,laden with spice, frankincence, and myrrh, caravanupon caravan, until all the robber winds of the desert, from rifling their bales, fling perfumes everywhere through the wilderness. Sennacherib turnshis face to the east, and in his dark Assyrian eyethere is a light as he thinks of the Mede scourgedinto servitude. Northward rise peaks covered withsnow. He calls to mind, perhaps, how as his chariotbands swept past the base of one of them, downupon them, shroud and sepulchre at once, an avalanche swept over their purple pennons. But whatmattered it in so great a multitude! It was a trifle ,and the cymbals of the spearmen clashed on loud asever through the narrow defiles. The Great King lookswestward long and thoughtfully. His breast heavesunder its covering of gems, and new pride sits in hishaughty face. Was it not there, with the dash ofthe Mediterranean in his ear, that he pressed his footupon the necks of the great Phoenician princes, lordsof the continuous city stretching northward fromAcre two hundred miles to Aradus? Was it notthere that the laboring galleys put to sea out fromSidon, to bear even to distant Tarshish, and the stillmore distant amber-coasts, the fame of his might?Was it not there, too, that the ships of the richTyrian captains swept past him as he sat on histhrone; their mighty oars, in the words of Ezekiel,made of tough oak from Bashan, their planks of firtrees from Senir, their tall masts cedars of Lebanon,their sails of embroidered linen, the rowers, as theyswept the deep, seated upon benches of ivory carved48THESTORYOFTHEJEWS.in his own Nineveh? How, as the pageant rushedthrough the waters, even the sea threw off its bluethat it might assume the purple light of their sidesand the glitter of the shields on their prows! Bythe side of the Great King, upon an altar set aboutwith beryl and chrysolite, burns eternal fire , kindledin Chaldea once by sages who had looked upon theface of Noah. Well may he bow and worship thegods of Asshur, who have set their favored son onsuch a pinnacle.It is scarcely possible to make too brilliant thepicture. It was a nation not much behind the modernworld in many of the useful arts; and in those whichcontribute to luxury and splendor, the arts amongthem especially cultivated, they were perhaps farbefore. The people, whose prowess and magnificencehave just been hinted at, the Jew was called to confront, when at its mightiest . It is for us to see howhe bore himself. The good King Hezekiah labored torestore the ancient usages and glory of the Jewishnation, whose power had languished since the reignof Solomon. The old polity was restored, andthe sceptre of Judah stretched over several of theneighboring countries. At length growing bolder,and relying upon the support of Egypt, Hezekiahdared to throw off the yoke of Assyria, of which hehad been a tributary. Presently from his high thronecame rushing the insulted sovereign. The passes inthe mountains to the north are choked with his host.The waters of the Jordan in its lower course tricklefeebly in a diminished stream, so great is the multitude of men and animals who drink at its source.THE DESTRUCTION OF SENNACHERIB. 49Samaria is crossed already desolate; the frontiers ofthe tribe of Benjamin are invaded, and like trees, oneby one isolated and consumed by a flood of lava,city after city is enveloped and crushed by the redand glittering array. Hezekiah strips the very templeof its treasures, giving up the sacred utensils, andtearing from the pillars their heavy golden plates inorder to appease Sennacherib; but the imperiousmonarch is determined to establish the altars ofAsshur in the soil of Mt. Zion." Like the leaves of the forest when summer is green,That host with their banners at sunset were seen,'"for the resources of Sennacherib have been stretchedto the utmost. When this insignificant handful ofJews has been crushed, there is to be an invasion ofAfrica. From the sculptures which in our day havecome to be an object of study, we may behold indetail the battle order.The host is in array, for scouts in the van bringtidings of the approach of a hostile army from thesouthward. The light-armed troops are slingers andarchers. They are dressed in short embroideredtunics, with their hair surrounded by bands. Likethe Saxon bowmen, the archers draw their arrows tothe ear. Their weapons are handsomely decorated.The heavy infantry carry spears and shields; on theirheads they wear helmets of burnished brass; crossbelts support small-arms at the side, and shiningdiscs of metal cover their breasts. They stand inregular ranks, file behind file . To-morrow, when thehost of Judah makes its onset, the first rank kneel-50 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.ing, the second stooping, will form with their spearsa bristling hedge, and from behind, the bowmen willdischarge their arrows. In a similar way, twenty-fivecenturies hence, the brigades of Napoleon, at thebattle of Mt. Tabor, not far distant, will receive thecharge of the Mamelukes. But the strength of thehost is in the swarming cavalry and chariots. Thehorses are spirited steeds from Arabia and Armenia.The riders sit upon decorated saddles, clad in armor,with helmets and lances. The chariot bands are thechivalry and flower of Asshur. The coursers arecaparisoned with purple silk and embroidered cloth;from their heads hang plumes and heavy tassels. Asthey hurry to and fro, flashing behind them withgold and jasper, with ivory and enamel, roll the formidable vehicles. The warriors within, the veteransof many wars, are clad from head to foot in steel;embossed upon their shields are the heads of lions;lofty standards of precious stuffs, embroidered, hangover their plumed helmets, and all along the linehover pennons of scarlet. In the rear are the ramsand other warlike engines, the ladders for escalading,the steel tools for the mines, already battered andblunt with hard service before the fenced cities ofJudah. In tents of costly and gaudy stuffs, theconcubines and eunuchs of the Great King and theNinevite nobles outnumber even the soldiers. Everywhere, from fertile Jericho to the sea-coast of oldPhilistia, range the foragers, and innumerable as alocust swarm, the beasts collected for burden andprovision consume the pastures. Here and theresome great officer-the chief cup-bearer, or the insoJERICHO .་52 THE STORY OF THE JEWS,lent Rabshakeh, or perhaps even Sennacherib himself-goes by in his canopied chariot attended bystately body-guards.Doubtless that eve there was panic in Jerusalem;but all true Israelites, confident in having the Lordupon their side, surveyed from the battlements withcontempt even this array, so magnificent and appalling. The youth of true Hebrew fire, from his highwatch-tower as the sun descended, looked downupon the scene. Into his mind came crowding thegrand traditions of Judæa- how Jephthah smote theAmmonites hip and thigh from Aroer even untoMinnith; how Caleb slew the Anakim in the fastnesses of Hebron; and how the mighty Joshua hadsaid in the sight of Israel: " Sun, stand thou still onGibeon, and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon,"and the sun stood still and the moon stayed untilthe people had avenged themselves on their enemies.When from the glittering Assyrian lines the drumsand dulcimers throbbed out upon the still air oftwilight, clear and far out of the height from aJewish trumpet rang a blast of defiance. The Lord'schosen people would abide the battle!By the side of Hezekiah as counsellor stands avenerable figure. In the year that King Uzziahdied, half a century before (this is his own accountof himself), he had seen the Lord sitting upon athrone high and lifted up, with a train that filled thetemple; and while he looked an attendant seraph,seizing a coal from off the altar, had laid it upon hislips, and the voice of the Lord had bidden him goforth and speak his will until the land was utterlythe destruCTION OF SENNACHERIB. 53desolate. Now this interpreter of the Lord's messages, the great prophet Isaiah, determines thecounsels of the king. Thus he speaks:"This is the word that the Lord hath spoken concerning Sennacherib: ' The virgin, the daughter ofZion hath despised thee and laughed thee to scorn.The daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head atthee. By thy messengers thou hast reproached theLord, and hast said, with the multitude of mychariots I have come up to the height of the mountains, to the side of Lebanon, and will cut down thetall trees thereof, and the choice fir-trees thereof, andthe forest of his Carmel.I have dried up all theBut the house of Davidand bear fruit upward.' Therefore, thus saith theLord concerning the King of Assyria: ' He shall notcome into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, norcome before it with a shield, nor cast a bank againstit. By the way that he came by the same shall hereturn, and shall not come into this city,' saith theLord. "With the sole of my footrivers of besieged places.shall take root downwardThat was the prophecy which Isaiah poured forthwith hot utterance, and according to the old Hebrewstory this was its fulfilment: " And it came to passthat night that the angel of the Lord went out andsmote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred andfour score and five thousand, and in the morning,behold, they were all dead corpses." And there lay the rider, distorted and pale,With the dew on his brow and the rust on his mail;54 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.And the tents were all silent, the banners alone,The lances unlifted, the trumpets unblown,For the might of the Gentile, unsmote by the sword,Had melted like snow in the glance of the Lord. "And Sennacherib returned and dwelt in Nineveh,and it came to pass as he was worshipping in thehouse of Nisroch, his god, that Adrammelech andSharezar, his sons, smote him with the sword, andEsarhaddon, his son, reigned in his stead.Such was Assyria at its height, but a rapid decadence ensued, and at length, seven hundred yearsbefore Christ, Cyrus the Mede smote her with thesword and lighted her funeral pyre. Until the latediscoveries, the tale of the splendor of ancientOriental nations was believed to be enormouslyexaggerated, if not fabulous. But after all it wasnot so far short of the truth. Grant that the recordsof the kings are boastful, yet the vast artificialmounds, crumbling so long, but so mountain-like,the palaces covering acres, the leagues of sculpturedmasonry, are testimony to the power and state ofthe kings not to be invalidated. They are remainsof a nation, not much behind the modern, in theuseful arts; and in those which contribute to luxuryand splendor, the arts among them especially cherished, they were perhaps far before.It is not strange that the modern world becomessomewhat dizzy with the spectacle, and feels inclinedto recall some of its claims to increase of power andknowledge. Think, -it may be that this venerableempire will be remembered when the fame of modernnations has quite passed away. The slabs in theTHE DESTRUCTION OF SENNACHERIB. 55British Museum have already held their sculpturedrecord twenty-five hundred years. Which has thebest chance to-day of enduring to a remote future,that imperishable rock, or the paper and paste-boardbooks in the library close at hand, to which we haveentrusted our annals? Do you know the story of thegreat library of Alexandria into which had been gathered the parchments and books of antiquity? Itstreasures of learning were disposed on countlessshelves, and quite untold. Not the Caliph Omar, ashas been believed, but a mob of Christian monks,infuriated with fanaticism, set the library on fire.While the frail receptacles perished , one can imaginethe temple-fronts of the Pharaohs, the pyramids, andthe obelisks, looming up in the glare, crowded thickwith the inscriptions of an older time. In the brightlight appeared the deep-cutting, low relief, the indelible tints,-monuments like those to which the monarchs of Nineveh entrusted the story of their grandeur.Literature had lost her frailer page, but high on herancient strongholds, she defied, from those imperishable tablets, as they flushed red from line to line inthe midnight blaze, the impotent torches of man.If we follow one school of geologists, we know thata time may come when this present geological era,amidst the rush of oceans or the bursting forth ofvolcanic fires , may come to an end. In that case howquickly will these perishable memorials of ours whichwe know as books, shrivel and disappear. But thatold literature, entrenched securely within its rockytablets, will mock the very forces of nature, as itdefied in Egypt the torches of the Arabs; and new56THESTORYOF THEJEWS.orders of beings, searching among the fossils anddeposits of a by-gone age, may read there the storyof the Assyrian kings.But what use in being long remembered unless wecan be remembered with blessing! The red andshining characters in which is written the story ofNineveh, repeat a terrible tale of violence and wrong.The glory of the old empire beams like the pearl indeed, but, like the pearl, too, it is no normal or healthygrowth. The glitter upon her ivory and jasper isfrom the tears of captives. Her scarlet and vermilion dyes are from the life-stream of crushed nations."The stone cries out of the wall and the beam outof the timber shall answer it: Woe to him that buildeth a tower with blood and establisheth a city byinquity! "CHAPTER V.JUDAS MACCABÆUS, THE HEBREW WILLIAM TELL.THE kingdom of Judah escaped destruction atthe hands of Sennacherib, but its respite was short.Soon afterwards Babylon, closely related to Assyria,and the heir of its dominion, swept into captivity indistant Mesopotamia nearly all that were left ofHebrew stock. For a time the nation seemed tohave been wiped from the face of the earth. Theten tribes of Israel that had been first dragged forthnever returned to Judea, and their ultimate fate,after the destruction of Nineveh, whose splendorthey had in their servitude done so much to enhance,was that of homeless wanderers. The harp of Judah,silent upon the devastated banks of the Jordan, washung upon the Babylonian willows, for how couldthe exiles sing the Lord's song in a strange land!But the cry went forth at length that Babylon hadfallen in her turn, just as destruction had beforeovertaken Nineveh. In the middle of the sixthcentury B.C., Cyrus, the Mede, made a beginning ofrestoring the exiles, who straightway built anew theTemple walls.In David's time the population of Palestine musthave numbered several millions, and it largely in-58 THE STORYOF THE JEWS.creased during the succeeding reigns. Multitudes,however, had perished by the sword, and other multitudes were retained in strange lands. Scarcelyfifty thousand found their way back in the time ofCyrus to the desolate site of Jerusalem, but onehundred years later, the number was increased by areinforcement under Ezra. From this nucleus, withastonishing vitality, a new Israel was presently developed . With weapons always at hand to repel thefreebooters of the desert, they constructed once morethe walls of Jerusalem. Through all their harshexperience their feelings of nationality had not beenat all abated; their blood was untouched by foreignadmixture, though some Gentile ideas had enteredinto the substance of their faith. The convictionthat they were the chosen people of God was asunshaken as in the ancient time. With pride asindomitable as ever, entrenched within their littlecorner of Syria, they confronted the hostile world.But a new contact was at hand, —for the Jews, andfor the world at large, far more memorable eventhan that with the nations of Mesopotamia, -a contact whose consequences affect at the present hourthe condition of the greater part of the human race.In the year 332 B.C. , the high-priest, Jaddua, atJerusalem, was in an agony, * not knowing how heshould meet certain new invaders of the land , beforewhom Tyre and Gaza, the old Philistine stronghold,had fallen, and who were now marching upon thecity of David. But God warned him in a dream thathe should take courage, adorn the city, and open the

• Josephus.

THE REBUILDING OF THE TEMPLE.60 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.gates; that the people should appear in white garments of peace, but that he and the priests shouldmeet the strangers in the robes of their office. Atlength, at the head of a sumptuous train of generalsand tributary princes, a young man of twenty-four,upon a beautiful steed, rode forward from the waygoing down to the sea to the spot which may stillbe seen, called, anciently, Scopus, the prospect, because from that point one approaching could behold,for the first time, Jerusalem crowned by the Templerising fair upon the heights of Zion and Moriah.The youth possessed a beauty of a type in thoseregions hitherto little known. As compared withthe swarthy Syrians in his suite, his skin was white,-his features were stamped with the impress ofcommand, —his eyes filled with an intellectual light.With perfect horsemanship he guided the motionsof his charger. A fine grace marked his figure, setoff with cloak, helmet, and gleaming arms, as he expressed with animated gestures his exultation overthe spectacle before him. But now, down from theheights came the procession of the priests and thepeople. The multitude proceeded in their robes ofwhite; the priests stood clothed in fine linen; whilethe high-priest, in attire of purple and scarlet, —uponhis breast the great breast-plate of judgment withits jewels, upon his head the mitre marked with theplate of gold whereon was engraved the name ofGod, led the train with venerable dignity.Now, says the historian, when the Phoenicians andChaldeans that followed Alexander thought thatthey should have liberty to plunder the city, andJUDAS MACCABÆUS 61torment the high-priest to death, the very reversehappened, for the young leader, when he saw themultitude in the distance, and the figure of the highpriest before, approached him by himself, salutedhim, and adored the name, which was graven uponthe plate of the mitre. Then a captain named Parmenio asked him how it came to pass that, when allothers adored him, he should adore the high- priestof the Jews. To whom the leader replied: “ I donot adore him, but that God who hath honored himwith his high priesthood; for I saw this very personin a dream, in this very habit, when I was at Dios inMacedonia, who, when I was considering how I mightobtain the dominion of Asia, exhorted me to makeno delay, but boldly to pass over the sea thither, forthat he would conduct my army, and would give methe dominion over the Persians." Then when Alexander had given the high-priest his right hand, thepriests ran along by him, and he came into the city,and he offered sacrifice to God in the Temple, according to the high-priest's direction , and magnificently treated both the high-priest and the priests.He granted all the multitude desired; and when hesaid to them that if any of them would enlist themselves in his army on this condition, that they shouldcontinue under the laws of their forefathers, he waswilling to take them with him, many were ready toaccompany him in his wars.When the high-priest Jaddua and Alexander theGreat went hand in hand up into the mount of theTemple, then for the first time came together theJew and the Aryan. In the days of the early world,62 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.in some mysterious region of Central Asia, a choicestrain of men began to grow numerous and powerful.As the home became contracted, a band departedsouthward, whom we find, when history begins, advancing from the north into India. In hymns whichhave come down to us in the Vedas, they sang inhonor of fire: " Neighing like a horse that is greedyfor food, thy path, O fire , is dark at once "; and inhonor of the dawn: " She shines upon us like ayoung wife; she is the leader of the clouds, goldencolored, lovely to behold. " Their descendants,pressing forward, have possessed at length the wholeof India.But this Aryan troop that went southward is lessinteresting to us than companies that departed westward, for in these westward marching bands wentthe primeval forefathers, from whose venerable loinswe ourselves have proceeded. They passed intoWestern Asia, and from Asia into Europe—eachmigrating multitude impelled by a new swarm sentforth from the parent hive behind. At the head ofthe Adriatic Sea an Aryan troop had divided, sending down into the eastern peninsula the ancestors ofthe Greeks, and into the western peninsula the traindestined to establish upon the seven hills the powerof Rome. Already the Aryan pioneers, the Celts,on the outmost rocks of the western coast of Europe,were fretting against the barrier of storm and sea,across which they were not to find their way formany ages. Already Phoenician merchants, tradingfor amber in the far-off Baltic, had become aware ofwild Aryan tribes pressing to the northwest-theJUDAS MACCABÆUS. 63Teutons and Goths. Already, perhaps, upon theoutlying spurs of the Ural range, still other Aryanshad fixed their hold, the progenitors of the Sclave.The aboriginal savage of Europe was already nearlyextinct. His lance of flint had fallen harmless fromthe Aryan buckler; his rude altars had become displaced by the shrines of the new Gods. In theMediterranean Sea each sunny isle and pleasantpromontory had long been in Aryan hands, and nowin the wintry forests to the northward the resistlessmultitudes had more recently fixed their seats. Inthe Macedonians, the Aryans, having establishedtheir dominion in Europe, march back upon thetrack which their forefathers long before had followed westward, and now it is that the Jew for thefirst time touches the race that from that day to thishas been the master- race of the world. It was acontact taking place under circ*mstances, it wouldseem, the most auspicious-the venerable old manand the beautiful Greek youth clasping hands, theruthless followers of the conqueror baffled in theirhopes of booty, the multitudes of Jerusalem, intheir robes of peace, filling the air with acclamations, as Alexander rode from the place of prospectup the heights of Zion, into the solemn precincts.of the Temple. It was the prologue, however, to atragedy of the darkest, to a persecution of two thousand years, the flames of which even at the presenthour can scarcely be said to have died down.The successors of Alexander the Great made theJews a link between the Hellenic populations thathad become widely scattered throughout the East by64THESTORYOFTHEJEWS.the Macedonian conquests, and the great barbarianraces among whom the Greeks had placed themselves. The dispersion of the Jews, which hadalready taken place to such an extent through theAssyrian and Babylonian conquests, went forwardnow more vigorously. Throughout Western Asiathey were found everywhere, but it was in Egypt thatthey attained the highest prosperity and honor.The one city, Alexandria, alone, is said to have contained at length a million Jews, whom the Greekkings of Egypt, the Ptolemies, preferred in everyway to the native population . Elsewhere, too, theywere favored , and hence they were everywherehated; and the hatred assumed a deeper bitternessfrom the fact, that the Jew always remained a Jew,marked in garb, in feature, in religious faith, alwaysscornfully asserting the claim that he was the chosenof the Lord. Palestine became incorporated withthe empire of the Seleucidæ, the Macedonian princesto whom had fallen Western Asia. Oppression atlast succeeded the earlier favor, the defences ofJerusalem were demolished, and the Temple defiledwith Pagan ceremonies; and now it is that we reachsome of the finest figures in Hebrew history, thegreat high-priests, the Maccabees.There dwelt at the town of Modin, * a priest, Mattathias, the descendant of Asmonæus, to whom hadbeen born five sons, John, Simon, Judas Maccabæus,or the hammer, Eleazar, and Jonathan. Mattathiaslamented the ravaging of the land and the plunderof the Temple by Antiochus Epiphanes, and when,

• Josephus and the Books of the Maccabees.

JUDAS MACCABÆUS. 65in the year 167 B.C. , the Macedonian king sent toModin to have sacrifices offered, the Asmonæanreturned a spirited reply. " Thou art a ruler, " saidthe king's officers, " and an honorable and greatman in this city, and strengthened with sons andbrethren. Now, therefore, come thou first: so shaltthou and thy house be in number of the king'sfriends, and thou and thy children shall be honoredwith silver and gold and many rewards. " ButMattathias replied with a loud voice: " Though allthe nations that are under the king's dominion obeyhim, and fall away every one from the religion oftheir fathers, yet will I and my sons and my brethrenwalk in the covenant of our fathers. God forbidthat we should forsake the law and the ordinances!We will not hearken to the king's words to go fromour religion, either on the right hand or the left."An heroic struggle for freedom at once beganwhich opened for the Jews full of sadness. Anapostate Jew, approaching to offer sacrifice in compliance with the command of Antiochus, was at onceslain by Mattathias, who struck down also Apelles,the king's general, with some of his soldiers. As hefled with his sons into the desert, leaving his substance behind him, many of the faithful Israelitesfollowed, pursued by the Macedonians seekingrevenge. The oppressors knew well how to choosetheir time. Attacking on the Sabbath-day, when,according to old tradition, it was a transgressioneven to defend one's life, a thousand with theirwives and children were burnt and smothered in thecaves in which they had taken refuge. But Matta-66 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.thias, rallying those that remained, taught them tofight on the Sabbath, and at all times. The heathenaltars were overthrown, the breakers of the law wereslain, the uncircumcised boys were everywhere circumcised. But the fulness of time approached forMattathias; after a year his day of death had come,and these were his parting words to his sons: " Iknow that your brother Simon is a man of counsel;give ear unto him always; he shall be a father untoyou. As for Judas Maccabæus, he hath been mightyand strong even from his youth up. Let him beyour captain and fight the battles of the people.Admit among you the righteous. "No sooner had the father departed, than it appeared that the captain whom he had designated wasa man as mighty as the great champions of old,Joshua and Gideon and Samson. He forthwithsmote with defeat Apollonius, the general in the Samaritan country, and when he had slain the Greek,he took his sword for his own. Seron, general ofthe army in Coele-Syria, came against him with ahost of Macedonians strengthened by apostate Jews.The men of Judas Maccabæus were few in number,without food, and faint-hearted, but he inspired themwith his own zeal, and overthrew the new foes atBethoron. King Antiochus, being now called eastward to Persia, committed military matters in Palestine to the viceroy, Lysias, with orders to take anarmy with elephants and conquer Judæa, enslave itspeople, destroy Jerusalem, and abolish the nation .At once the new invaders were upon the land; offoot-soldiers there were 40,000, of horsem*n 7,000, andJUDAS MACCABÆUS. 67as they advanced many Syrians and renegade Jewsjoined them. Merchants marched with the armywith money to buy the captives as slaves, and chainswith which to bind those whom they purchased.But Judas Maccabæus was no whit dismayed. Causing his soldiers to array themselves in sack- cloth , hemade them pray to Jehovah. He dismissed , thoselately married and those who had newly come intogreat possessions, as likely to be faint-hearted. Afteraddressing those that remained, he set them in theancient order of battle, and waited the opportunityto strike. The hostile general, fancying he saw anopportunity to surprise the little band of Hebrews,sent a portion of his host against them, by secretways at night. But the spies of Judas were out.Leaving the fires burning brightly in his camp, tolure forward those who were commissioned to attackhim, he rushed forth under the shadows against themain body, weakened by the absence of the detachment. He forced their position, though strongly defended, overcame the army; then turned back toscatter utterly the other party who were seeking himin the abandoned camp. He took great booty ofgold and silver, and of raiment purple and blue. Hemarched home in great joy to the villages of Judæa,singing hymns to God as was done in the days ofMiriam long before, because they had triumphedgloriously.The next year Lysias advanced from Antioch, theSyrian capital, with a force of 65,000. Judas Maccabæus, with 10,000, overthrew his vanguard, uponwhich the vicoery, terrified at the desperate fighting,68 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.retired to assemble a still greater army. For a timethere was a respite from war, during which Judascounselled the people to purify the Temple. TheIsraelites, overjoyed at the revival of their ancientcustoms, the restoration of the old worship in all itspurity, and the relief from foreign oppressors, celebrated for eight days a magnificent festival. Thelamps in the Temple porches were rekindled to thesound of instruments and the chants of the Levites.But one vial of oil could be found, when, lo, a miracle! The one vial sufficed for the supply of theseven-branched golden candlestick for a week. Thisancient Maccabæan festival faithful Jews still celebrate under the name of the Hanoukhah, the Feastof Lights.Judas subdues also the Idumeans to the southward, and the Ammonites. His brethren, too, havebecome mighty men of valor. Jonathan crosses theJordan with him and campaigns against the tribes tothe eastward. Eleazar is a valiant soldier, and Simoncarries succor to the Jews in Galilee. But at lengththe Macedonian is again at hand, more terrible thanbefore. The foot are 100,000, the horse 20,000; andas rallying-points, thirty-two elephants tower amongthe ranks. About each one of the huge beasts iscollected a troop of 1,000 foot and 500 horse; highturrets upon their backs are occupied by archers;their great flanks and limbs are cased in plates ofsteel. The host show their golden and brazen shields,making in the sun a glorious splendor, and shout intheir exultation so that the mountains echo . In thebattle that follows fortune does not altogether favorJUDAS MACCABÆUS. 69the Jews. In particular, the champion Eleazar laysdown his life. He had attacked the largest elephant,a creature covered with plated armor, and carryingupon his back a whole troop of combatants, amongwhom it was believed that the king himself fought.Eleazar had slain those in the neighborhood; thencreeping beneath the belly of the elephant, hadpierced him. As the brute fell Eleazar was crushedin the fall . Judas was forced to retire within thedefences of Jerusalem, where still further disasterseemed likely to overcome him. Dissensions amongthemselves, however, weakened the Macedonians.Peace was offered to the Jews, and permission to liveaccording to the laws of their fathers-proposalswhich were gladly accepted, although the invadersrazed the defences of the Temple.The peace was not enduring. New Macedonianinvasions followed; new Hebrew successes, the Maccabees and their partisans making up, by their fiercezeal, their military skill, and dauntless valor, for theirwant of numbers. But a sad day came at last.Judas, twenty times outnumbered, confronts theleader Bacchides in Galilee. The Greek sets horsem*n on both wings, his light troops and archers before the heavier phalanx, and takes his own stationon the right. The Jewish hero is valiant as ever;the right wing of the enemy turns to flee. The leftand centre, however, encompass him, and he falls.fighting gloriously, having earned a name as one ofthe most skilful and valorous of the world's greatvindicators of freedom. For three years he had beenhigh-priest, and as such had resolved to form an alli-70 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.ance with a new power, far to the west-of whoseconquests the Oriental world in those days was justbeginning to hear-the power of Rome. When themessengers of Judas Maccabæus stood before theSenate, the City of the Seven Hills saw then, for thefirst time, the Jew, -the race she was in time destined to conquer, at whose hands she herself, in aspiritual sense, was destined to undergo conquest.It was the beginning of a very memorable connection, but as yet all was unknown. Simon and Jonathan, the brethren, received the body of the heroby treaty, and buried him solemnly at Modin by thesepulchre of their father.Like Eleazar and Judas, John, the eldest son ofMattathias, undergoes a soldier's death . At onetime the land is given to apostates, and the faithfulundergo such sufferings as have not been seen sincethe Babylonish captivity. Simon and Jonathan survive, however, and possess the Asmonæan heart andarm. If there are times of humiliation, times oftriumph succeed. The splendor of Jerusalem is renewed; messengers bring to the Maccabees vesselsof silver, purple garments, buttons of gold, as signsof favor. Jonathan is confirmed in supremacy overJudæa and four prefectures, and Simon is made general over the country stretching from Tyre to Egypt.They in their turn die, not on the field , but by thehand of treachery. One following the other, eachhas been high-priest, and now with lamentations thepeople entomb them in magnificent sepulchres atModin with the other mighty priests, Judas andMattathias. Each has tried to confirm the allianceJUDAS MACCABÆUS. 71with Rome, for the masterful quality of the Italianpower in those years unfolds itself more and more.Though the old father has gone, and all his sons,the Asmonæan vigor still lives, in grandsons andgreat-grandsons. As one traces the details, a multitude of traits, pathetic, picturesque, terrible, heroic,appear upon the page. An Asmonæan prince, JohnHyrcanus, like his ancestors, high-priest, besiegesJericho during civil dissensions, a city defended by akinsman, who holds in his keeping the mother andbrethren of the prince. These are brought upon thewall and tortured before the prince's eyes. Threatsare made that they will be cast down headlong if thesiege is persisted in. The mother spreads out herhands and begs John Hyrcanus to persist in spite ofthe fate that may overtake her and her children; butwhen he sees her beaten and torn to pieces, his courage fails.The same John, besieged at another time in Jerusalem, by still another Antiochus, begs for a truce ofseven days at the time of the Feast ofthe Tabernacles,that the festival may be worthily honored. The truceis granted, and more; for as the feast begins, lo, fromthe enemy's camp proceeds a magnificent sacrifice,messengers bearing sweet spices and cups of goldand silver, and leading bulls with gilded horns, sentby Antiochus to be offered upon the altar of theLord.Miraculous portents abound in the Asmonæandays. Heliodorus, sent by his Macedonian master,undertakes to rob the Temple. 'Throughout thewhole city no small agony was felt. Priests, prostrat6672 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.ing themselves before the altar, besought that thingsgiven them to be kept might be safely preserved.The people rushed in terror from their houses.Women shrouded in sackcloth abounded in thestreets; and the virgins, that were ordinarily kept in ,ran, some to the gates, some to the walls, and somelooked out of windows. All made supplication,and it would have aroused any one's pity to see thefalling down of the multitude of all sorts , and theanguish of the high-priest. Heliodorus, however,unmoved, set about the fulfilment of his commission;but there appeared unto him a horse with a terriblerider, and adorned with a very fair covering; and heran fiercely and smote at Heliodorus with his forefeet. His rider wore a complete harness of gold;moreover, two other young men appeared beforeHeliodorus, notable in strength, excellent in beauty,and comely in apparel, who stood on either side andscourged him continually. The desecrator fell to theearth and was compassed about with great darkness.When he had been carried away in a litter, he cameat length to himself, and with softened heart offeredsacrifices. " Still more memorable than the wondersseen by Heliodorus, was the appearance in theheavens, at a time of confusion, of a vast and magnificent army. From buckler and spear-point flashed ,as it were, lightnings. Above the clouds theregleamed innumerable golden helmets. Rank onrank they moved in shining arms.So passed the time of the Asmonæans, with itssufferings, its heroism, its solemn portents. In eachgeneration the league was knit with Rome, and afterJUDAS MACCABEUS. 73a hundred years, in 63 B.C. , the Roman came. Pompey, with his centurions, overpowered Jerusalemand lifted the veil before the Holy of Holies; andCrassus, on the way to his Parthian grave, strippedthe Temple of its treasures. Palestine becametributary to the new conquerors, and Herod ruled, avassal king.CHAPTER VI.THE BEAUTY OF HOLINESS.THE short-lived independence of the Jews, broughtto pass two thousand years ago by the prowess ofthe Maccabees, and closed by the encroachments ofRome, is a very memorable period in Hebrew story,because then, for the last time, they were, as a nation,their own masters, in their ancient seats. The boundaries of Judah were extended, and a certain degreeof internal prosperity was attained . Although asbondmen they had beheld and in part created thesplendor of Nineveh and Babylon-at length , indeed,stood sometimes in places of honor in the midst ofthe brilliant life in Mesopotamia, -it is not probablethat the Israelites, after their return to Palestine, established a splendid civilization . Unlike so manyof the ancient countries, there are no ruins in theHoly Land to show that there once stood theremagnificent cities. The Hebrews were not greatbuilders; if the Temple of Solomon was of beautifularchitecture, it was made so by the skill of the1 Tyrian workmen, whom the king obtained fromHiram, his Phoenician ally. It is not probable thatother arts flourished. The prohibition of Mosesagainst the making of graven images, or likenesses ofTHE BEAUTY OF HOLINESS. 75any thing in the heavens above, or on the earth beneath, or in the waters under the earth, crippled completely painting and sculpture; and even music, anart in which in modern times the Jews have shownthemselves so accomplished, was probably in a rudecondition. The people were generally farmers andshepherds, men of simple ideas. Commerce, withits influences so stimulating in the way of givingbreadth and intelligence, had made but feebleprogress.The Jews were sharply divided into a higher andlower class the former claiming to be the " holyseed , " descendants of the unmixed Hebrew race whohad returned from Babylon for the rebuilding of theTemple; the latter of blood more or less commingled, the hybrid progeny of Israel and stocks ofCanaanitish or other foreign derivation. Of theholy seed were the twenty- four orders of priests andthe townsmen of higher rank; of the lower class,the villagers and peasants, who, in the times to whichwe have descended, had lost the ancient Hebrewtongue, employing a dialect known to scholars as theAramaic.Since the independence of the Hebrews might havebeen preserved far longer and their career as a nationbeen far grander, but for the violent internal dissensions into which they fell, some account of the sectsand factions into which they became broken is proper.Popular belief assigned to Ezra, the great leader whoin the middle of the fifth century before Christ restored the Jews to their former home in Palestine, theestablishment of the Canon of the Old Testament;76 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.but it was, probably, gradually formed during twoor three centuries. * From the time of the Maccabees,the Old Testament appears as a whole, though it isprobable that even yet the separate parts were notplaced on an equal footing, or regarded universallywith equal reverence. A little later Josephus designates as the Canon, or books of authority, the fivebooks of Moses, or the Law, the Torah; thirteenbooks of the prophets; and four containing hymnsor directions for life. So, substantially the Canonhas stood until the present day. A number of Jewish writings, of comparatively late origin, are sometimes bound up with the Bible under the name ofthe Apocrypha, but these are held to be without authority. To the Canon of the Old Testament, theJews, wherever dispersed and of whatever station ,have always shown the greatest reverence. In 277B.C., at the request of the king of Egypt, seventylearned men were sent by the high-priest from Jerusalem, who made in Alexandria the Greek translation known as the Septuagint. Paraphrases of Scripture, made in the Aramaic dialect, were communicated orally to the people, to the mass of whomHebrew had become an unknown tongue; some ofthese, finally committed to writing and handed downto later times, are called the Targums.It was a Hebrew belief that Moses, upon Sinai, received not only certain laws which he wrote down,but likewise a second revelation interpreting the firstand containing also additional precepts. When hedescended from the mount, it was said that he sum-

• Smith: Dict. of the Bible."

THE BEAUTY OF HOLINESS. 77moned Aaron, to whom he gave first the tablets, and .then recited the later, more complete communication, in the same order in which it had been imparted. Moses recited the oral Law to the sons ofAaron, also; then, to the Sanhedrim, or grand council of the nation; and, lastly, to all the Israelites whowere disposed to hear. Moses then withdrawing,Aaron repeated the oral Law as he had received it;his sons did likewise, and after them the Sanhedrim.Through these frequent rehearsals the oral Lawbecame firmly fixed in the minds of its first recipients,by whom it was handed down from father to son,age after age. With the original communication,much became, in process of time, incorporated whichdid not properly belong to it. Ezra, therefore, besides arranging the written Law, in the case, also, ofthe oral Law, carefully separated the original nucleusfrom the subsequent accretions, and the revised code,handed down as before, was held in undiminishedrespect by the nation in general .Aminority of the nation, in the days following thetime of Ezra, neglected the oral code, declaring thatduty was fulfilled by observing the regulations of thewritten Law. Such observance made men worthyof the title " Zadikim, " or the righteous. The majority, who superadded to the observance of the written Law, that of the traditional Law also, of whichthe requirements were in many respects more strict,took the name " Chasidim, " or the pious, accountingthemselves to be more holy. The former sect became known in time as the Sadducees, taking theirname from Sadoc, one of their teachers. From the78THESTORYOF THEJEWS."Chasidim," who united with the observance of thetraditional Law a disposition to hold themselvesaloof from all Gentile contact, arose in time thePharisees.The Sadducees denied not only the authority ofthe traditional law, but also the immortality of thesoul, the existence of angels and spiritual beings,and among the canonical books of Scriptures attached importance only to the five books of Moses.They believed in the freedom of the human will,and, hence, were noted, when they sat in judgment,for the severity of their sentences. Though fewerin number than the Pharisees, they surpassed themin wealth and quality. They looked with kindereyes, moreover, upon the Gentiles, and out fromtheir number at last was developed the party ofHerodians, a body which, taking a name from thetributary princes whom at length the Romans hadset up, favored strongly the Roman influence.The Pharisees derived their name from a Hebrewword meaning to separate; and received the titleeither from the fact that their superior strictness setthem apart from their fellows, or because theywished to avoid all contact with the world aboutthem. The observance of the minute injunctions ofthe oral Law brought it to pass that their conductbecame very ceremonious and scrupulous. Theypractised washings and fastings without number,were distinguished by the breadth of their phylacteries (bands of parchment inscribed with scripturalpassages, and attached to their garments, or eventheir faces) , and were intolerant toward dissent fromTHE BEAUTY OF HOLINESS. 79their own ideas. They thought themselves defiledby contact with publicans and sinners, observed theSabbath exactly, paid their tithes with care, andmade long prayers in public places. Though notthe richest and highest placed of the Jews, theyformed a very large and influential class, comprehending most of the scribes and the lawyers, amongwhom was preserved the lore of the nation. Whilethey believed in the freedom of the human will , theyare also said to have held that all events are predestined, in some way reconciling doctrines which appear conflicting. They believed in the resurrectionof the dead and immortality, holding in the earlierperiod the idea of the transmigration of souls . Angels and spirits played a large part in their scheme;they were zealous in making proselytes, to whichpractice the Sadducees were indifferent. Convertswere, however, never admitted to an equal footingwith themselves, since none of Gentile birth couldstand with those of Hebrew blood. The Phariseescame to constitute the vital portion and core of theJewish race, absorbing, as time went on, more andmore of its vigor. As from the Sadducees sprangthe lax Herodians, so from the Pharisees proceededthe Zealots, in whom Pharisaic strictness of everykind was carried to extreme.There was still another remarkable division . Inthe days which we have reached, there might havebeen often seen, moving austerely among the tribesthat came up to Jerusalem to the Temple service, orgoing from house to house in the villages on kindlymissions of healing or comfort, certain figures robed80 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.in white and belted about by a peculiar distinctivegirdle. These were Essenes, a body everywhereheld in honor, but about whose real origin and character a certain mystery has always prevailed. Someregard them as an offshoot of the Pharisees, originating in the deserts in a time of persecution; somehold them to have been, at a later time, neither morenor less than a company of Christians. * A portion,though not all, were austere-indeed, monastic intheir habits; they lived in seclusion, taking uponthemselves vows of charity and chastity, and holdingtheir goods in common. In their places of retirement, in the intervals of religious exercises they cultivated the soil; they condemned wedlock, keepingup their number, like the modern Shakers, by theadoption of children . Unlike the extreme Pharisees,they respected the foreign rulers; they were muchvenerated by the people, who believed them topossess prophetic power. The Essenes rendered asubstantial service as physicians, for they made it apoint to understand the healing properties of herbs.Philo, a famous Alexandrian Jew, writing just afterthe beginning of the Christian era, describes oneclass of the Essenes, the Practici, in such terms thatone would say they must have formed an almostideal community. The whole duty of man wascomprised within the three definitions-love of God,love of virtue , love of man. All men were held tobe equal before God, and slavery was condemned.Large cities and wicked places were avoided throughfear of temptation; in this, perhaps, we may see a

• See De Quincey's essay, " The Essenes."

THE BEAUTY OF HolinesSS. 81touch of over- scrupulousness, as also in their abstinence from trade as promoting covetousness. Strifeof words was unknown among them, as well as strifewith the sword, for peace was held to be the properstate. They had recourse to arms, however, in selfdefence. Among themselves their charity was perfect; they held their goods in common, and the sickand weak never suffered. Much time was spent inthe study of moral and religious duties, the relationof man and wife was held in honor, children receivedcareful nurture, and age was reverenced. Afterdeath an immortality for the soul was anticipated.The ascetic Essenes correspond remarkably in habitand discipline with the monastic orders of later ages,which undoubtedly borrowed many usages from theseancient recluses.We must also glance at the followers of Hillel, * anenlightened teacher, who, coming from Babylon,appeared in Judea not far from the time when theHerodian rule displaced that of the Asmonæans.Anticipating work which was, as we shall see, to beperformed at a later time, he had already made abeginning of writing down the Mischna, as the oralLaw was called , of whose transmission an account hasjust been given. His doctrine was in some respects.near that of the Pharisees, but he gave a far nobler,more generous interpretation to the words of Moses.His disciples are said “ to have made the Law light,not because they lightly esteemed its authority, butbecause they revived the beneficent spirit of theoriginal. "

• C. R. Conder: " Judas Maccabeus. "

82 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.Among those whom the unmixed Israelites, theholy seed, regarded as of corrupt derivation , theSamaritans received the greatest scorn . They werenot distinct enough to be regarded as a separatenation, and yet they were too distinct to be properlya sect. The Jews declared that they were originallya separate people, Cutheans, and idolaters. Theirterritory became an asylum for renegade Jews whohad rendered themselves obnoxious to punishmentbybreach of the law. In process of time the Jewishelement came to prevail in the Cuthean nation;idolatry was abolished, the authority of the lawestablished, and Jehovah recognized . This drawingnear of the Samaritans to the Hebrews did not winfrom the latter favor, and as years passed eventsbrought about the highest pitch of hatred. Thebuilders of the new Temple after the return fromBabylon, were actively annoyed by Samaritan forays; for the mongrel race had built a shrine of theirown upon Mt. Gerizim, which they maintained tobe the only place where Jehovah could be properlyworshipped. The Samaritans accepted of the scriptures, only the five books of Moses, and rejected alsothe traditions, in this resembling the Sadducees.Sadoc, founder of the Sadducees, was reported,indeed, to have learned his doctrine while an exileamong the Samaritans. The Pharisees, however, thebulk and the most earnest part of the Jewish race,prevented the upspringing of any sympathetic feeling. As years passed, hatred increased, until finallybitter Hebrew curse was pronounced uponSamaria, involving land and people. The fruitsaTHE BEAUTY OF HOLINESS. 83of the earth were declared to be as swine'sflesh, unclean; to taste even water of Samariawas pollution. A Samaritan remnant still hauntsthe ancient seats of the people, in the vale ofShechem, about the well of Sychar. Their faces yetgive evidence of their kinship with the Hebrews,and they have preserved to the present time, uponmouldering scrolls of parchment, a copy of theirholy law, which is one of the most ancient manuscripts in existence.Thus disunited, Palestine, though free from theMacedonian yoke, invited subjection at the hands ofRome. Religious observances absorbed a largeamount of the time and energy of all . Twice ineach year every male Jew was under obligation tovisit Jerusalem and remain one week. Of thetwenty-four orders of priests, one each week conducted the Temple service. The new order arrivedon Friday, the old left on the first day of the week;so that on the Sabbath there was always a doublecompany, and every order visited the Holy Citytwice in each year. In a similar way the wholenation was divided , a certain proportion of the laitygoing to the Temple with each company of priests.Thus the tribes went up, the tribes of the Lord, togive thanks unto the name of the Lord. The position of the " standing men," the representatives ofthe congregation, was one held in great respect.After a special purification these were admitted tothe Inner Temple, where they stood in an elevatedplace before the court in which rose the altar.Below them in a great square enclosure gathered the84 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.main congregation, the women occupying galleriesabove. On steps leading to the gate Nicanor, theLevites were ranged for chanting the Songs ofDegrees, and the priests, in a position above all ,blessed the congregation. These constant gatherings to Jerusalem and the Temple service gaveopportunity to people of remote districts to becomeacquainted with one another, and so the nation wasbound together. *The feasts and the fasts were occasions of greatimportance, observed, in great part, even to thepresent day, by every faithful Jew with scrupulouscare. Each new moon was celebrated by a festivalof trumpets. The heavens were carefully watchedfor its appearance everywhere in Judæa, and whososaw it first hastened to inform the Sanhedrim atJerusalem, to whom was committed the principal authority. Such witnesses sometimes hurried to Jerusalem by scores. A beacon was forthwith lighted.upon the Mount of Olives, answered by fires on themore distant hills, till the whole land was alight.Early in April was celebrated the Passover; at theend of May, the Pentecost; at the beginning ofOctober, the Feast of Tabernacles. The Feastof Purim, commemorating the national deliverance.through Esther, and the Hanoukhah, Feast of Lights,in remembrance of the renewal of the Temple worship by Judas Maccabæus, were later additions tothe list of holy times. Besides the feasts there weresix solemn fasts, in commemoration of nationalcalamities. Of these, the great Day of Atonement,

• Conder.

THE BEAUTY OF HOLINESS. 85at the end of October, was most important, whenthe scapegoat, dedicated to the spirit of evil, wasled forth, burdened with the sins of the people, tobe dashed in pieces from a cliff in the dreary desertnear Jericho.No period, no race, is satisfied with its presentcondition. There is always a looking back to somegolden age in the past, from which there has been adegeneration, and an anticipation of a happy time inthe future, when all shortcomings shall be madegood. Among the Hebrew race such anticipationswere coupled with the vivid expectation of a Messiah, a heaven-sent leader, under whose guidancethe chosen people were to attain the splendor andsupremacy which were appropriately theirs. Manypassages in Scripture were believed to foretell thecoming of the great national Saviour. Even in theancient Law it stood written: " The Lord thy Godwill raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst ofthee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him yeshall hearken." The desolated holy places were restored, in the expectation that " there should come aprophet to show them what should be done."cording to Isaiah, " he was to be a rod from thestem of Jesse, " —" a branch of the house of David,"according to Jeremiah; and so again and again ,until at least seventy scriptural passages were believed to have a Messianic character. In the timeof Judas Maccabæus, it was a great prophet ratherthan a mighty prince upon whose coming the hopesof the nation were fixed. As the glory of theAsmonæans faded, and the Romans were called inAc-86 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.as arbitrators in their quarrels, the Jews consoledthemselves by the hope of a future king, whose rightto the throne of the Hebrews should be undisputed,and who should magnificently vindicate his race,The expectation became more and more intense,some holding that the empire of the Messiah tocome was to be purely spiritual, while the peoplegenerally looked for a glorious temporal prince, tobe born at Bethlehem of Judæa of the house ofDavid.The Hebrew strength had long been wasting itselfin oppressive ceremonials, and the dissensions offactions. Independence, won at such cost by thechildren of Mattathias, had been for many yearslost, when at length there went out a decree fromCæsar Augustus, the Roman arbiter of the Israelitish destinies, that all the world should be taxed,and all went to be taxed every one into his owncity. From the town of Nazareth in Galilee a mannamed Joseph, with Mary his espoused wife, peoplepoor and simple, but of illustrious lineage, went upto Bethlehem of Judæa, to pay the tribute. Mary,being great with child, brought forth a son, and because there was no room for them in the inn , shewrapped this, her first-born, in swaddling clothes,and laid him in a manger. In the same countryshepherds watching their flocks by night had seengreat portents. While the glory of the Lord shoneabout them, an angel had announced tidings of greatjoy, the birth at last of the Saviour; and while theangels sang " Glory to God in the highest, " the shepherds, departing, came with haste, and found Mary.BETHLEHEM 8788 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.and Joseph, and the babe lying in the manger. Wisem*n from the East, moreover, came, saying: “ Whereis he that is born king of the Jews, for we have seenhis star in the East, and have come to worship him?"and lo, the star which they saw in the East wentbefore them till it came and stood over where theyoung child was. When Herod, the tributary prince,who under Rome now ruled the country, heard ofthese things, he was sore troubled, feeling that hispower was threatened, and he slew all the childrenof Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from twoyears and under, hoping thus to destroy the newborn king; but Joseph, warned in a dream, had departed with the young child and his mother intoEgypt, where they remained until the death ofHerod made it safe to return.It is the most familiar of tales. The child whoselife had been preserved by the flight into Egypt, become a boy of twelve, is lost by his parents at Jerusalem, whither they had gone, after the custom ofthe nation, to observe the Passover. Sitting in themidst of the doctors in the Temple, he astonishes allthat hear him by his understanding and answers, forhe is already about his Father's business. John theBaptist, while the people muse whether he be theChrist or not, proclaims the mightier one who shallcome, the latchet of whose shoes he is not worthy tounloose; the young man Jesus is baptized, theHoly Ghost descending in bodily shape upon himlike a dove, while the heavenly voice declares him,"My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. "He is led into the wilderness to be tempted of theTHE BEAUTY OF HOLINESS. 89Devil, and at last enters upon his wonderful mission.The predictions of ancient seers are fulfilled; theblind are made to see, the deaf to hear, the lepersare cleansed , the dead are raised up, and the poorhave the gospel preached to them.The preaching of the gospel-this last and greatest-and what is this gospel? To love God andour neighbor, to do justly, to love mercy, to walkhumbly with God, to be meek, to be peace-makers,pure in heart, to be persecuted for righteousness'sake, not to remember the old presciption, " an eyefor an eye, and a tooth for a tooth, " but to lovethem that curse us, to bless our enemies, to pray forthose who despitefully use and persecute us, -theseare the things which make us children of our Fatherwho is in Heaven; even as he is perfect, so we areto be perfect.The agony in Gethsemane is undergone, Judas betrays, the high-priest rends his clothes, saying, Jesushas spoken blasphemy; Pilate, after scourging him,delivers him to be crucified between the two thieves.As he yields up the ghost, the veil of the Templeis rent in twain, the graves are opened and thebodies of saints which slept arise and appear untomany. The angel of the Lord, descending fromheaven, rolls back the stone from the door of thesepulchre. His countenance is like lightning, andhis raiment white as snow, as he tells Mary Magdalen and the other Mary that Christ is risenfrom the dead and goes before them into Galilee.And when the disciples see the risen one, they worship him, but some doubt. And he bids them90THE STORYOF THE JEWS.go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the nameof the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,teaching them to observe all things, whatsoever hehad commanded them, and promising to be withthem always, even unto the end of the world.The disciples go forth and teach, and those whomthey teach in turn bear the message to others; andso it came about that the zealous Stephen, arousingwrath, was cast out of a city and stoned, the murderers laying down their clothes at a young man'sfeet whose name was Saul. Saul consented to hisdeath, and breathing out threatenings and slaughter,went upon another mission of persecution. But suddenly there shined about him a light from heaven,and he fell to the earth and heard a voice, saying:" Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? " and whenhe had been instructed, there fell from his eyes as ithad been scales, and straightway he preached Christ,that he is the Son of God. Thus the band gainedthe great apostle to the Gentiles, who at lengthcould give this summing up of work and danger:" In labors abundant, in stripes above measure, inprisons frequent, in death oft: of the Jews five times Ireceived forty stripes save one, thrice was Ì beatenwith rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a day and a night I have been in the deep: injourneyings often, in perils of waters, in perils ofrobbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perilsby the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in thewilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among falsebrethren, in weariness and painfulness, in watchingsoften, in hunger and thirst, in cold and nakedness.".TEMPLE ANCIENT OFSITE THE 9192 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.What preachers of a great cause have ever sufferedmore! What preachers of a great cause have everwon success so triumphant!Not all, even of those who claim the Christianname, have believed that in this first-born of aJewish mother, God became flesh and dwelt withmen. Not all have been able to believe thatabout the plain facts there has been no accretion ofmyth; that the stories of the multitudinous heavenly host appearing among the clouds, of the waterblushing into wine, of the new pulses of life in thecorrupting bodies of Lazarus and the son of thewidow of Nain, or of the multiplying of the loavesand fishes, are to be received with faith as undoubting as that a great teacher once walked by Galilee, and spoke to his countrymen from the Mount.Whether ordinary occurrence or unparalleled marvel,the ancient record narrates the circ*mstances withequal simplicity and directness. Fortunately it doesnot belong to him who writes this story of the Jewsto say whether or not the narrative shall be acceptedwithout reservation; or, if it be granted that somethings are to be questioned, to try to ascertain theline beyond which a just faith becomes credulity. Tosome this child of the Jew is the incarnate Deity;to others, while not divine, he is nevertheless superhuman; to others still he is a man with no otherinspiration than " the light which lighteth every manthat cometh into the world. " But whatever differences of view may exist as to the nature of Jesus ofNazareth and the real facts of his career, Jew,Christian, Heathen, all have, at any rate, this stand-THE BEAUTY OF HOLINESS. 93ing-ground in common-that there is no higherwisdom or excellence than is contained in his precepts and was lived out in his life. It is the verybeauty of holiness; and the remembrance of this life,the hope of the realization of its promises, and thefaith in the truth of its teachings, have been thesupport and the inspiration of thousands upon thoussands of weary pilgrims, patient sufferers, and noblemartyrs in the long ages that have passed.CHAPTER VII.VESPASIAN AND JOSEPHUS.MORE than a century had passed since the Jewshad paid tribute to Rome, when Gessius Florus, aman of tyrannical nature, became procurator. TheJews resisted his exactions, in spite of the exhortations of the more prudent spirits among them, whoforesaw that Rome would make a pretext of therefusal to raise a charge of rebellion, and after thatdestroy the nation . The counsel prevailed among theJews to refuse the offerings sent by the Romans for theTemple service, but this was a practical casting-off ofthe Roman yoke. The party known as the Zealots,fanatical maintainers of independence, gained power,and at length Roman blood was shed, upon whichFlorus marched against Jerusalem with the 12thlegion. At a battle in the suburbs of the city, themasters of the world were roughly handled; nevertheless, made bold by dissensions which broke outamong their adversaries, they entered the city andbesieged the rebels, who took refuge in the Temple.Making a tortoise with their shields, so that withbacks and heads perfectly protected they could workdirectly beneath the walls, the Romans brought thebesieged to great straits. Florus, however, who as aVESPASIAN AND JOSEPHUS. 95leader was inferior, drew his soldiers off when successwas just at hand. As he retreated through difficultpasses, his rear was attacked, and he and his armycame near meeting the fate which a generation ortwo before had overtaken Varus in Germany. Leaving four hundred of his bravest legionaries to makehead against the furious pursuers, four hundred who,like Romans, died almost to a man, he gained timeto escape with the main body, losing, however, together with the detachment, his baggage and thegreat war engines, which were an immense gain tothe victors.Open war henceforth existed , and Josephus, a Jewof the lineage of Aaron, trained according to thebest discipline of his race, and who had also been.well received at Rome, was put by his countrymenin command of the province of Galilee. Afterwardsas an historian he described the events. Soon a verydifferent leader took the place of the weak Florus.The veteran, Vespasian, the best soldier of Rome,appeared with an army of 60,000. Galilee was atonce attacked, whose people, following the orders ofJosephus, fled to their fenced cities. He himself,with the bravest, finding it impossible to make headagainst the invaders, shut himself up in Jotapata, ona high precipitous hill. It could be approached onlyfrom the north, and here a mighty wall formed thedefence. Vespasian spent four days in building aroad by which his army could approach nearer,encamping at last at the distance of a mile. Forfive days the works were stormed with desperatefighting on both sides. Then the Romans drew off,96THE STORYOF THEJEWS.and determining to use slower means, reared opposite the defences a high bank, upon which were setone hundred and fifty engines, discharging javelins,lighted brands, and stones. The besieged, no lessenergetic, dragged away in sorties the mantlets whichsheltered the workmen, and set fire to the timbers,As the bank continued to rise, Josephus on his sidebuilt the wall of the city higher, protecting theworkmen with raw hides of oxen stretched uponstakes, against which Vespasian's missiles fell powerless. Thus the height of the wall was increased bythirty feet, and the Romans, for the moment disheartened, ceased in their efforts to overtop it .A strict blockade was now resorted to that thestronghold might be starved out. While there wasfood sufficient, water was scanty, the sole supplybeing cisterns, which in summer were nearly dry.Of this the enemy had a suspicion, but Josephusdeceived them by making the people dip garmentsin water and hang them, dripping, over the wall.Meantime he sent messengers, disguised in skins sothat they might pass for dogs at night, who madetheir way by steep overgrown paths, which theRoman sentries overlooked, out into the country, toarouse all Galilee. Vespasian renewed his assaults.The Jews were lighter and quicker than the heavyarmed Romans; but the catapults were never quiet,and at length the dreaded rams, of the length of themast of a ship, headed with iron, and hung from ahigh frame by the middle, began to shake the wall.Agreat company of men, protected by hurdles andhides, dashed the mighty beam against the works,THE SEA OFGALILEE .98THESTORYOF THEJEWS.made top-heavy by the added height, while theArabian auxiliaries, with bows and slings, tried toprevent the interference of the besieged. Josephusmanaged to let down sacks filled with straw, whichreceived the thrust of the rams: the Romans, byblades of iron fixed to long poles, cut the ropes bywhich the sacks were suspended. In sorties theJews burned the hostile engines with bitumen, pitch,and sulphur. Vespasian was wounded by a spentjavelin; but the siege was pressed with loud noisefrom the machines and the whizzing of the stones.One suspects from some of the descriptions ofJosephus, as he speaks of the effects of the machines,that he himself knew how to draw a long bow. Hedeclares that the head of a man at his side, struckoff by a stone from a catapult, was driven nearly halfa mile. There is no reason , however, to doubt hissubstantial accuracy.The Romans at length made a breach, and againstthe impending storm Josephus ranged his bravestsoldiers. " Shut your ears against the shouting ofthese men, " he said, " and as for their missiles, kneeland hold your shields over your heads till the archershave spent their arrows. Fight when the stormerscome. " Cries and the sound of the trumpetsannounced the Roman charge; the day was darkened by their arrows; the column climbed slowlyupward pressed together, with a roof of shieldsclosely overhead, like an armored serpent. TheJews, however, poured upon the testudo boiling oil,which, creeping under the armor of the assailants,covered them from head to foot. A slippery paste,VESPASIAN AND JOSEPHUS. 99made from boiling the herb fenugreek, cast liberallyupon the gangways which the Romans had prepared,made the footing uncertain. Again Vespasian wasfoiled . He built a bank, however, placing upon itthree towers fifty feet high, cased with iron.On the forty-seventh day of the siege, Vespasianlearned from a deserter that the defenders slept inthe last watch of the night. Assembling the armyat that hour, Titus, son of Vespasian, and the centurion, Domitius Sabinus, succeeded in reaching thewall unperceived. In a heavy mist, they slew the.guards, opened the gates, and the destruction of thecity was accomplished. Together with forty of thechief men of the town, Josephus found a hidingplace in a cavern opening out from a well, butthrough treachery the place of concealment wasmade known. Vespasian, anxious to take the Jewish leader alive, sent the tribune, Nicanor, who hadbeen his friend, to induce him with fair promises tosurrender. Josephus was about to give himself up,but was prevented by his companions. "We willcare," said they, " for the honor of our country. " Atthe same time they offered a sword and " a hand thatshall use it against thee. " Josephus called everyone by name: at some he looked sternly, as a captain might do, and another he would take by thehand, and another he would beseech by many prayers, turning as a wild beast when it is surrounded bythe pursuers, to each one as he came near." Heproposed that they should perish together, but bythe hands of one another, instead of suicide. Lotswere cast. He who drew the first offered his neck66100 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.•to him who stood next, and so forward. Finally,through marvellous fortune, Josephus and one otheralone were left , and here the slaughter ended. Thetwo survivors surrendered to the Romans. A greatconcourse of soldiers collected to see Josephus broughtbefore the general, and many demanded that he shouldbe put to death. The magnanimous Titus, however,stood his friend , and by his great influence with hisfather, thwarted the ferocity of the troops. Josephusnow played upon the superstitions of the victor." Have I not been sent to thee of God? " he exclaimed. " Thou shalt be emperor-thou and thyson after thee. Bind me, therefore, and keep me, tosee whether my words are true or no. " The flattering prophecy brought for Josephus a respite, for hewas held in honor, though not yet relieved of chains.The subjugation of Galilee followed, after the fallof Jotapata, with all the terrible circ*mstances ofancient warfare. Jerusalem for a time was spared,its strength making it formidable. At Rome, moreover, the emperor died, and the purple, passingto short-lived successors, fell at last, according to theprophecy of Josephus, upon Vespasian, who cut thechains from the limbs of the captive, in sign that alldishonor was removed, and assigned to his son Titusthe task, so long deferred, of humbling the mightytowers of Mount Zion.The capture of Jerusalem by Titus is one of themost memorable events in the history of mankind.It caused the expulsion of an entire race from itshome. The Roman valor, skill, and persistence werePositionoftheRoma11BCampand of AgrippanWallSupport GamE ZETHAandit.IlaccentingtoRobertigSuppored Gate SupposedCityGate Trench Town ofPuphinA, OR WERCITYTower ofLippiau Suppopal Fish Gate Tharaclis Marianine TowerofSinposed Gurdens ofPalace Havd&Catherwood Court )of the GentilesSupposed(nowFoot ofANCIENTJERUSALEM-On the same male as the plan of the modern anyHarlet , neSpared0 1Virgin new illach!十f102 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.never more conspicuously displayed. No moredesperate resistance was ever opposed to the eagleemblemed mistress of the ancient world. There isno event of ancient history whose details are moreminutely known. The circ*mstances in all theirappalling features are given to us by the eye-witnessJosephus, so that we know them as vividly as we dothe events of the career of Grant. To understandfully the story of the siege, we must first look withsome care at the city.The site on which Jerusalem stands is bounded onthree sides by deep gorges. Of these, one on theeast, called anciently Kidron, or the " Valley ofJehosaphat, " runs north and south; another tothe west, called Hinnom, running at first parallelto Kidron, turns at last eastward-the bottoms ofthe two gorges meeting at a point full five hundredfeet below the hills which they cut. The ravinesform thus a rough parallelogram, with the northwestside left open. They are everywhere deep, withhere and there precipices of red rock. The area,more than five miles about, thus bounded contains abasin-shaped depression called the Tyropoon, to theeast of which, immediately over Kidron, rises MountMoriah, upon which stood the Temple. On the westof the Tyropoon, a narrow neck of high ground swellsout southward, into a high, broad hill, almost cut offfrom approach by the surrounding gullies. This wasMt. Zion, the original city of David, afterward knownas the " Upper City," by nature the strongest pointin Jerusalem. The Tyropoon formed before theTemple a kind of amphitheatre, within which wasVESPASIAN AND JOSEPHUS. 103built much of the city. Streets ran along the upperedge, others lower down and parallel, all connectedby cross-ways which descended from the higherground toward the bottom of the basin.On Moriah rose first the great walls of Solomon.Spacious courts, paved throughout with marble,covered immense reservoirs, containing large supplies of water, which gushed out by mechanical contrivances. The enclosure within which the Templestood was square, an eighth of a mile on each side.On one side was precipice, where the gorge cameclose up to the foundations; on the others Solomon'swall, some of the stones of which were sixty feet inlength. The cloisters by which it was surroundedwere roofed with cedar; upon the pillars of the outercourt, the Court of the Gentiles, was written inGreek: " Let no stranger enter the Holy Place. "Ascending a flight of fourteen steps, the inner courtwas reached, where the Holy Place became visible.through its lofty porch. No doors were within thegate, that it might be signified that the heavens arealways open. Over it was trained a golden vine withclusters as large as a man's body, and it was drapedwith Babylonian curtains, whose colors symbolizedthe elements, —blue for air, yellow for earth, scarletfor fire, and purple for the sea. Within stood thegolden candlestick of seven branches, typifying theplanets; the table, whose twelve loaves of shew-breadtypified the signs of the zodiac; and the altar, whoseincense signified that God was the possessor of allthings. From this spot the Holy of Holies was approached, within whose solemn vacancy it was law-104 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.ful for no man to look. Of the Temple gates, thatcalled " Beautiful " was the finest, full seventy- fivefeet in height, fifty feet wide, and built of Corinthianbrass. Its doors were so ponderous that twenty men.could shut them only with difficulty. " The outwardface of the Temple in its front wanted nothing thatwas likely to surprise either men's minds or theireyes, for at the first rising of the sun it reflected backa very fiery splendor, and made those who forcedthemselves to look upon it , to turn their eyes away,just as they would have done at the sun's own rays.It appeared to strangers when they were at a distance, like a mountain covered with snow, for thoseparts of it that were not covered with gold were exceeding white."Vast and splendid the Temple certainly was. TheRomans were then at the height of power, andfamiliar with all the magnificence of the earth, yet itseemed to them one of the wonders of the world.No doubt it far surpassed in greatness and beautythe structure of Solomon, upon whose foundations itwas reared. The Herods had lavished upon it vasttreasures.The Temple possessed , besides its splendor, all thestrength of a fortress; but just north of it rose astronghold more formidable, the Antonia, named forMark Antony, who had been, a century before, aredoubtable figure in all this region. The Antoniastood upon an elevated crag, of which the sides werefaced with smooth stones, and the top surmounted bya wall enclosing a great tower or keep of the heightof sixty feet. Turrets stood upon the corners of this,MountofW.Hughes.so014 seAqueductZION AORA MORIAH BEZETHA35715Suburbs till afterdeath the Supposed increase Christ ofTombs ,supposed tobehose of the Kings . City Aqueduct from Bethlehem extent Supposed oftheofDavid on Tyrop the time ofSolginon . OPHEL Hin nom Pool of Johoshaphat Siloam Subterranean Channel Valley O Enrogel - Gardens KingsW.H.Bartlett inv ,.105 GRADUAL FORMATION JERUSALEM OF.106 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.one rising to a height of more than a hundred feet,which commanded a view of the whole interior ofthe Temple. The fortress comprehended spaciousapartments, courts, and camping grounds. Duringthe Roman occupation, it was always garrisoned bya legion, who, by convenient passages, could marchforth into the Temple or the city, if it were the governor's will .For external defences, the city had before it threewalls, except where protected by deep ravines, inwhich places there was but one. The constructionwas most massive, the walls rising to the height ofthirty feet, with frequent towers, provided withchambers and cisterns for the rain, on which the citywas largely dependent for its water. The number ofthese towers was one hundred and sixty-four. Akraand Ophel were quarters of the city closely adjoiningthe Temple; while Bezetha, a populous suburb, hadshortly before been included within the defences byHerod Agrippa, the builder of the third wall. Withsuch citadels and defences, manned by men fanaticalin their patriotism, the city may well have seemedimpregnable.Forebodings of calamity, however, filled the mindsof the people. The most direful portents were believed to have been seen. At the feast of the Passover, a light like noonday had been beheld withinthe Temple in the ninth hour of the night. Thegreat bronze door of the gate Beautiful, with itsbolts of iron and posts of stone, the door which twentymen could scarcely move, opened of itself in thesixth hour of the night. Before sunset, seven chariotsVESPASIAN AND JOSEPHUS. 107had been seen driven across the sky; hosts of men inbattle order surrounded cities in the clouds, andprophets, going about the streets, foretold woe toJerusalem.106 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.one rising to a height of more than a hundred feet,which commanded a view of the whole interior ofthe Temple. The fortress comprehended spaciousapartments, courts, and camping grounds. Duringthe Roman occupation, it was always garrisoned bya legion, who, by convenient passages, could marchforth into the Temple or the city, if it were the governor's will.For external defences, the city had before it threewalls, except where protected by deep ravines, inwhich places there was but one. The constructionwas most massive, the walls rising to the height ofthirty feet, with frequent towers, provided withchambers and cisterns for the rain, on which the citywas largely dependent for its water. The number ofthese towers was one hundred and sixty-four. Akraand Ophel were quarters of the city closely adjoiningthe Temple; while Bezetha, a populous suburb, hadshortly before been included within the defences byHerod Agrippa, the builder of the third wall. Withsuch citadels and defences, manned by men fanaticalin their patriotism, the city may well have seemedimpregnable.Forebodings of calamity, however, filled the minds.of the people. The most direful portents were believed to have been seen. At the feast of the Passover, a light like noonday had been beheld withinthe Temple in the ninth hour of the night. Thegreat bronze door of the gate Beautiful, with itsbolts ofiron and posts of stone, the door which twentymen could scarcely move, opened of itself in thesixth hour of the night . Before sunset, seven chariotsVESPASIAN AND JOSEPHUS. 107had been seen driven across the sky; hosts of men inbattle order surrounded cities in the clouds, andprophets, going about the streets, foretold woe toJerusalem.CHAPTER VIII.TITUS ON THE RUINS OF ZION.THE respite which the city had was long, butVespasian at length was firmly seated on the imperial throne, and the news spread that Titus wasapproaching. It was the month of April of the year70 of our era. The Roman army numbered fully100,000 men, as it advanced from Cæsarea. Therewere the three legions which Vespasian had formerlycommanded, hardened in the fierce campaign inGalilee. With these the 12th was joined; the 5th,too, marched to meet Titus by Emmaus, and theredoubtable 10th by Jericho. The ranks of all werefilled to the full complement, and there were multitudes of Syrian auxiliaries. In the order of theirmarch the auxiliaries formed the vanguard. Titus,with the spearmen came later, followed by the greatengines, the rams, the balistæ, the catapults. Thenproceeded the legions, marching six men abreast, —the terrible short swords for the time in the scabbard,the eagles glancing in the sun, and the trumpetswaking every echo. Rome itself had perhaps neverbefore made a more formidable display of power.Besides the buckler, lance, and sword, each footman carried a saw, basket, pick-axe, and axe, a thongTITUS ON THE RUINS OF ZION. 109of leather, a hook, and provisions for three days.The horsem*n were as thoroughly accoutred, aswell for siege as battle, and the entire host, by themarvellous Roman discipline, was linked and weldedtogether into a fearful machine. "Not the bodiesof the soldiers only but their souls were trained bytheir preparatory exercises. Death followed not onlydesertion, but any slothfulness; at the same timegreat rewards were ready for the valiant. The wholearmy was, as it were, but one body, so well coupledtogether were the ranks, so sudden their turnings.about, so sharp their hearing as to what orders weregiven them, so quick the sight of their ensigns, sonimble their hands when set to work. What theydid was done quickly, -what they suffered wasborne with the greatest patience. What wonder isit that the Euphrates on the east, the ocean on thewest, the most fertile regions of Libya on the south,and the Danube and Rhine on the north, are thelimits of this empire! One might well say that theRoman possessions are not inferior to the Romansthemselves. "Imposing, however, as was the Roman array, itmight, perhaps, have dashed itself in vain against therock-fenced city, had it not been for the factionsamong its defenders, which hated one anotherscarcely less than they hated the invaders. Ofthese, there was a moderate party, at the head ofwhich stood the high-priest Ananus, which at firstsecretly favored making conditions with Rome, in theidea that her victory was inevitable and it was onlyinviting destruction to oppose her. Against theseΠΙΟ THE STORY OF THE JEWS.stood the Zealots, who would hear of no compromise. Troops of robbers, who, from the ravagedcountry, were now driven into the city, were readyfor any violence. Crowds, less ill-disposed , alsosought refuge within the walls. From Galilee inparticular came a noteworthy figure, a fierce andfanatical chief, John of Giscala. The foe had destroyed his town and driven its population forth, buthe nevertheless declared that the Romans had suffered much and could be easily defeated. The warfare between the factions was no mere strife ofwords. The Zealots, reinforced by John of Giscala,and entrenched within the Inner Temple, summonedto their help the Idumæans from the south, a population brave and intensely patriotic. The Idumæans,arriving outside the walls, found the entrances barredby the party of Ananus, and while a tempest beatupon them, against which they sheltered themselvesby locking their shields over their heads, they encamped for the night outside the walls. But theguards of Ananus slept, and the Zealots, taking thesacred saws of the Temple, found means, while thewind and thunder drowned all sound, to cut throughthe bolts of the gates and admit their allies; uponwhich ensued such a strife that the Temple swam inblood.As the Romans drew near, the dissensions onlygrew more complicated . Among the Zealots, themost violent separated themselves from John ofGiscala, and seized upon the Inner Temple. Johnmade himself master of the Outer Temple, while thecity beyond still remained in the hands of the friendsTITUS ON THE RUINS OF ZION. IIIof Ananus. The high-priest, however, had fallen inthe battle with the Idumæans, and the head of hisparty, the new champion, was now a certain SimonGioras. The doughty John of Giscala, between twofoes, built on the one hand towers to defend himselfa*gainst the violent Zealots, while, with war- enginesmade from consecrated timber, cedars of Lebanonof great size and beauty, he defied, on the otherhand, the party of Simon Gioras.The Romans had hoped with good reason thatJerusalem, thus distracted , would make but a feebledefence, and becoming unwary, narrowly escaped, atthe beginning of the siege, no less a disaster than thecapture of their leader. Titus, leaving his host incamp in the Valley of Thorns, more than a leaguefrom the city, set out upon a reconnoissance with aparty of six hundred horse. We may suppose thathe rode forth from the northward upon the spotcalled " Scopus, " the place of prospect, where, fourhundred years before, Alexander had paused to receive the greeting of the people and the priests. AsTitus approached the walls no soul was in sight, thegates were shut, and he rode too intrepidly forward.At the last moment, when the blast of the Romantrumpets could actually be heard, the factions hadunited, and all confronted the common danger. Thecombined host of the defenders acted at once withthe greatest promptness and courage. A suddensally from the town, and Titus was cut off from hisescort. Without helmet or breastplate he facedalmost alone a crowd of foes, making his way at lastto safety only with the greatest difficulty.112 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.The Roman leader now stationed his host warily,placing the tenth legion in the post of special danger,on the Mount of Olives, to the east, whence, acrossthe narrow ravine, they fronted the city close athand. But before the legionaries had entrenchedthemselves in their advanced position, so fierce asortie was made from the gates that these, the veryflower of the army of Titus, were with difficultysaved by a strong rescue party, which the commander himself brought to their aid as they were onthe point of being overthrown. Retreating for amoment, the Jews, upon the signal of a cloak wavedfrom the lofty battlements, attacked again, and itwas only by desperate fighting that they were beatenoff. The Romans at last prevailed, and presentlythe practised soldiers had reared for themselvesan entrenched camp-a fortress too strong to bestormed, upon whose banks stood engines thatthreatened the walls at close range.The host of Titus now levelled the plain on thenorthern side to the walls, and the camps of theother legions were drawn to within quarter of a mileof the towers. One day a Hebrew troop came outfrom a gate, apparently driven forth by thosewithin. While Titus prepared to receive themkindly, they cunningly attacked his escort, whichhad too incautiously approached. It had been onlya ruse, and Titus again suffered disaster. The hardened Romans, however, were above panic or discouragement. Slingers and archers swarmed behind thegreat banks which were built; pent-houses of skinsand wicker-work defended them against the JewishJERUSALEM BESIEGED TITUS BY. 113114 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.missiles; the great engines were vigorously plied.The catapults of the tenth legion cast stones of atalent in weight a distance of two furlongs. Watchmen stationed upon the walls, seeing the great whitestones coming, exclaimed, “ It cometh, " giving thedefenders opportunity to seek shelter. The Romansat last blackened the stones, and they could nolonger be seen as they approached.The Jews opposed the Roman artillery with theengines captured from Cestius, which had been keptin the great arsenal of Antonia. When the battering-rams were brought to bear by Titus, they salliedforth again with fire and sword, but Titus forcedthem back, slaying twelve with his own hand. Stripping the whole country of its timber, he built fivetowers, seventy-five feet in height. One, defendedwith iron, fell, through its enormous weight, upon itsbuilders, to their great consternation and loss. Butat length the immense ram called the " Conqueror, "made a breach, and on this day, the fifteenth of thesiege, the Romans became masters of the third wall.Four days later the second wall was also taken, andTitus, to make an impression of moderation, commanded that no prisoners should be slain, nor housesburned. He caused his army to display its strengthbefore the besieged. Resting for a few days fromtoil, and strengthened by the distribution of anabundance of provisions, the Romans marched before the first wall in magnificent review. First wentthe infantry, clad in breastplates, and with arms uncovered; the cavalry appeared with horses splendidlycaparisoned; the whole space near glittered withTITUS ON THE RUINS OF ZION. 115warlike pomp. Josephus, now the friend of Titus,approached to advise his countrymen to yield, declaring that the invaders would now show mercy,but upon further resistance would become implaca.ble. Many of the Jews began to regard their position as desperate, and were moved by the words ofJosephus. But the leaders never wavered; theyrejected all overtures, and relentlessly slew all whocould be suspected of entertaining the design tosubmit.Very appalling was now the situation of the defenders. The hot summer sun beat upon the crowdsin the city, still immense in number, though warhad swept them off in troops. From the Mount ofOlives, across the narrow Kidron, hurtled day andnight the projectiles which crushed houses and theirinmates. Exactly what the power may have beenof those engines of the tenth legion we do notknow, nor how it was obtained and applied. But bythe twisting of great cables, and the skilful employment of elastic timber, the Roman engineers, it isplain, had secured a force which, though of courseinferior to gunpowder, was still very formidable.Through the ravines surrounding the city prowledthe hostile parties, on the watch to secure any unguarded footpath, or to scale the precipices, if therewas any negligence in the watch. To the north, intheir new positions within the captured lines of wall,the ruthless legions, refreshed by their rest andabundant food, crouched ready for the spring thatwas to carry the last defences. But worse even thanthese outer dangers, a dreadful famine began to pre-116 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.vail. The fighting men, ravenous, sought for foodwithin the houses, and put to the torture the wretchedinmates, to make them disclose their hidden stores.Wives snatched food from their husbands, childrenfrom their parents, mothers from their babes-forthe closest bonds had become loosened. Certainpoor wretches made their way by night beyond thewalls, in search of herbs that might support life . Partwere caught by the Romans, and, for an example,crucified before the defences. Those who managedto return were, as they climbed back, robbed by theJewish soldiers. The battlements of the Antoniafrowned, the Temple front flashed white from Moriah far over the hills. Beneath them what scenesof pain and death in the city like an amphitheatrethat had once been so proud! It was now an arenafor the rioting of terror.Notwithstanding his successes, Titus had not yetgained his end. Four legions worked seventeen daysto build new banks, but John of Giscala ran a minedeep into the earth beneath them, which he storedwith pitch and sulphur. At the right time it wasfired, and the legionaries and their constructionsperished in the sudden volcano . Even while thedevouring crater thus opened beneath the feet ofTitus, and his army was for the moment astounded,Simon, son of Gioras, at the head of a furious column, with the wildest war shouts and weaponsnaked , rushed forth in a sortie, burning the ruinswith fire, and smiting hundreds with the sword.The confusion among the Romans was but for amoment. In three days Titus surrounded the cityTITUS ON THE RUINS OF ZION. 117with a wall nearly five miles in circuit, producingby the blockade distress so great that the bodies ofthose who had perished by famine were cast out intothe ravines, and lay in the streets of the city inheaps. Many desperate Jews leaped from the walls.Horrors so multiplied that even the stern Tituscalled God to witness that he was not responsible.But still he pressed the siege. Timber was broughtfrom twelve miles distant for new towers and engines. Attacking once more with the rams, holdingtheir shields linked into a tortoise over their heads,the Romans broke four great stones out of the lastwall, and made a breach. Lo, John of Giscala hadbuilt another wall behind, and stood on its summitdefiant!But now the end was really near. It was announced one day that twenty soldiers with thestandard-bearer of the fifth legion had scaled thewall of Antonia, and sounded their trumpets fromthe top. Titus was at hand with supports and thefortress was presently in his possession, John and Simon fleeing to the Temple to stand at bay. Choosing thirty from each company, with a tribune overevery thousand, and Cerealis, a valiant leader, captainover all, Titus sent a chosen band to attack by night,while he oversaw all from a watch-tower. The lastdays of Jerusalem had come, but the death-throeswere Titanic. From the ninth hour of the night tothe fifth hour of the day neither side had advantage.The Antonia was destroyed to facilitate access to theTemple walls, and the Romans swarmed upon theroof of a cloister by which the Jews might be ap-118 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.proached. But the besieged preparing a conflagrationwith wood, sulphur, and bitumen, consumed them ina terrible holocaust. From hour to hour it was constant sortie and repulse, until at length for the Hebrews a direful day arrived, the anniversary of thedestruction of the Temple by the power of Babylon.A soldier, then, upon the shoulders of a comrade.succeeded in casting a torch through a door in theIwall which led to the chambers on the north side ofthe Temple. Titus would have avoided this, for hewas reluctant to destroy what was the glory of thewhole world. The conflagration spread, however,fanned by a tempest; in the flames, besiegers andbesieged, locked into the final struggle, perished untilthe bodies were piled against the very altar, and theblood ran down the steps. The ground could not beseen for the dead. The furious priests brandishedforweapons the leaden seats and spits of the Templeservice, and rather than yield, threw themselves intothe flames. Titus and his captains, entering theHoly Place, found it beautiful and rich beyond allreport. The fire fastened upon all but the imperishable rock; the Roman standards were set by the eastern gate, and Titus received the salutes of the legionsas emperor.Joshua, the priest, surrendered the candle-sticks,the tables, and the cups, all of gold-the curtainsand garments of the priests—the precious stones, thedyes, purple and scarlet, the cinnamon, cassia, andspice for the making of incense. The last place of refuge in the upper city yielded and the Romans shoutedfrom the walls. All was at length over. John ofTITUS ON THE RUINS OF ZION. 119Giscala died in prison of starvation. Simon, havingput on a white tunic beneath a purple robe and surrendered, appeared afterward at Rome in the greattriumph of Titus. The city was razed, exceptingthree towers and part of the wall, which were preserved that all might know how great a city Romehad taken. The soldiers were rewarded with crownsof gold, with spears having golden shafts, with chainsand ensigns of silver. Of the Jews, says Josephus,1,100,000 had been slain, 97,000 survived as captives, of whom the handsomest young men were sentto Rome to grace the triumph of the conqueror; therest were sold into slavery.What a picture is suggested to the imagination bythe fearful tale! From the northern mountains, theforests were fairly swept to furnish timber for themilitary engines. The herds and harvests disappeared upon the plains, that the invaders mighthave food. In the ruined cities, the people hadbeen slain, or had fled from the sword to take refuge in Jerusalem. How the mind of the world inthose days was fastened upon those heights, so fearfully contested! The grim veteran wearing the purple at Rome thought of his son there in armor, andexulted or trembled as the messenger galleys broughtthe varying news, -now that Titus had stormed a line.of wall, -now that John or Simon had destroyeda cohort by a mine or brought down a tower. Farand wide, from Asia, from Africa, from Europe, hadbeen gathered the soldiery which the genius of Romehad been able to turn into such an instrument of iron.I 20 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.In all the corners of the earth men and women hungexpectant upon word from the great Hebrew stronghold, for sons and neighbors were there among thestrivers. It was indeed brought low, but at the costof what devastation to the victors!The narrative of Josephus is made vivid by manypersonal incidents . Antiochus of Commagene, ayoung Syrian prince of Macedonian descent, comeswith a band trained after the manner that had givenvictory to Alexander, and haughtily depreciates theconduct of the Romans, who allow theselves to be sofoiled. Titus gives the prince an opportunity to showhis own prowess. His band attack bravely, but theJews soon teach them to estimate more correctly thedifficulty of the task which the Romans have undertaken. The horseman Pedanius, the Jews havingmade a sortie, catches by the ankle a young soldier,as they retreat. The youth is robust of body and inhis armor; but so low does Pedanius bend himselfdownward from his horse, even as he is gallopingaway, so great is the strength of his right hand, andso firm his horsemanship, that he prevails. He seizesupon his prey as upon a precious treasure, and carries him captive to Cæsar. Artorius in the holocaustbeing surrounded with fire upon the roof calls to himLucius, a fellow-soldier, a tent- fellow who is in safety."I do leave thee heir of all I have, if thou wilt comeand receive me. " When Lucius comes, Artoriusthrows himself down upon him, saving his own life,but dashing his friend to death against the stonepavement.TITUS ON THE RUINS OF ZION. 121In such terrible colors Josephus portrays thedestruction of Jerusalem. It is not probable thatthe horrors are exaggerated, nor the desperate valorof the besieged, nor the unshaken persistence of thebesiegers. Vast as are the multitudes put to thesword and swept into captivity, the well-establishedcharacter of ancient warfare makes the account of allthe ruthless slaughter and devastation entirely credible. Thewhole land was nearly depopulated, and theJews have henceforth been wanderers without a country. In some respects the story of Josephus must bereceived with abatement. He himself can scarcelybe regarded as other than a renegade, living at easeamong the Romans with quite too much equanimitywhile his countrymen undergo such terrible ruin .Probably his portraiture of Titus is too favorable, ason the other hand his picture of Simon, John ofGiscala, and other defenders of the city, is quite toodark. He has, however, narrated a great chapter inthe world's story, with a patient fulness of detailalmost unexampled among the writers of antiquity,and we stand in his debt. He follows Titus toRome, and appropriately continues his account ofthe wars of the Jews, with a description of thesplendid and cruel triumph of Titus.Vespasian welcomed with joy his victorious son ,and on the appointed day the emperor and theconqueror, coming from the temple of Isis, appearbefore the multitudes of Rome, crowned with laurel,and wearing the ancient purple habits belonging totheir family. Seated in ivory chairs upon a tribunalbefore the cloisters, without arms, and clad in silk122 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.instead of steel, the stern soldiers viewed the streaming pageant, and received the acclamations of thelegions, marching past with all possible military pomp.Josephus finds it impossible to describe the multitude of shows, the silver, gold, and ivory, contrivedinto innumerable shapes, and so borne along, that itdid not appear as if carried , but ran on like a river ofsplendor. The richest purple hangings, Babylonianembroidery, precious stones in crowns of gold andouches, spoils of the conquered, —of these there wassuch a number that none could think them to berarities. A crowd of captives, whose costly adornment concealed the cruel wounds received in battle,and the emaciation produced byhunger in dungeons,bore along the objects, once the possession of theircountrymen, but now the booty of the victors.Great structures rolled forward three or four storiesin height, draped and spread with rich carpets andset off with precious metals. Upon these were presented with all possible vividness portraitures of war.There was to be seen a happy country laid waste,entire squadrons slain, the flight of fugitives, theseizure of captives. High walls were representedoverthrown by machines, upon which an army poureditself through the breach. Then followed the supplications of enemies no longer able to defend themselves, the conflagration of temples, the castingdown of houses upon their owners. Rivers, also,after they came out of a large and melancholydesert, ran down not into a land cultivated, nor asdrink for men or cattle, but through a land still onfire on every side, -for the Jews related that such aTITUS ON the ruINS OF ZION. 123The thing they had undergone during the war.workmanship of all this was so lively and magnificent that it seemed to the spectators as if they werereally present at actual scenes.Then, after a great number of ships and otherspoils had passed , was borne along the booty fromthe temple. These were the golden table of manytalents weight, the golden, seven-branched candlestick, the sacred tablets inscribed with the laws ofthe Jews. The broken-hearted Hebrews were forcedto behold these objects, heretofore preserved in theirinnermost shrines, and possessed of the utmost sanctity, now exposed to the gaze and touch of the Gentilerabble. Rome, however, exulted in the humiliation.Images of victory were carried aloft, following thetrophies. When the long train had slowly movedpast, Vespasian, Titus, and his brother Domitian,descending from their lofty seats, proceeded after,while all the people shouted for joy. Vespasianbuilt a shrine to Peace, in which were laid the goldenvessels and instruments from the Jewish Temple: thetables of the Law and the purple veils of the HolyPlace were deposited in the royal palace itself.Conspicuous in the great procession had moved thecaptive Simon, son of Gioras, the brave defender ofJerusalem. No trace of magnanimity appeared inthe treatment accorded to him. A halter was setupon his head, -by way of mockery a train of sevenhundred of the handsomest captives attended him, -as he proceeded he was tormented by his conductors.He was slain at last at the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus.124 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.The arch of Titus still spans the ancient Sacra Viaat Rome, at the top of the Velian ridge. Its beautiful proportions make it one of the most interestingmonuments of the eternal city. Its noble sculptures,unfortunately, have not been well preserved, butstill within the vault can be traced the sevenbranched candlestick, the golden table, and the sorrowful train of Jews, as the captives bear the desecrated relics of the destroyed Temple beneath thecruel eyes of their conquerors. So, after eighteenhundred years, the solemn marble commemorates atragedy than which calamity was never more complete!Is the volume closed? Is the career of the Jewfinished? Not so . In a century or two, he hasaccomplished as an outcast the most momentous ofhuman conquests. We have already followed inbrief the career of the Aryan races, in their majesticdescent from their mysterious mountain cradle untilthey possess Europe, then at last in the power ofGreece, and a little later, in the power of Rome,come into contact with the Jew. The Aryan racesgo forward, as the centuries lapse, to make Europe,among the divisions of the world, the especial seat ofpower and civilization. As upon the night of barbarism, there flashed first the splendor of the Hellenicbeacon, followed soon by the blaze of Rome, so, inhis turn, came the Goth, kindling slow like anthracite,then through long centuries making bright thecentral plains and the islands of the sea. A torch,late, but vivid with promise, shone at last upon theaSENATVS POPVEVSOVEROMANVSDIVOTITODIVIVESPASIANIELVESPASIANOAVGVSTOARCH OF TITUS.126 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.Northeastern steppes. Meanwhile the Atlanticbarrier of tempest and surge was at last broken, andthe Western world, even to the Ocean of Peace, hasbecome all alight. So the Aryan, with face ever toward the setting sun, has run his flashing series, till theWest is East again, and the round world is becomingbelted with his light. It is a tale of conquest neverending, of the spreading of a radiance that nevergrows dim.There was one, however, to master even themaster, to bring light even to the light-bringer.In the midst of his path the exultant Aryan encountered this swarthy, burning-eyed Semite of theSyrian hills and plains. His limbs were markedby the weight of the fetters he had worn as a bondman in Egypt. Scarcely had he been able tocope with the puny tribes of Syria, with Philistine, and Amorite, and the men of Moab. Drivenby the lash of taskmasters, he had constructedthe palaces of Nineveh. In Babylon he had beenbroken and sundered . Suffered at last to returnfrom exile, as he built anew his temple-walls, hisfeeble hands could scarcely quell the attacks of thepetty freebooters of the wilderness. What respectcould a creature, so crushed and dismembered, receive from the superb brethren of the great Aryanhousehold, robust of limb, imperial in brain, trampling the world into servitude! He was but adespicable opponent. So thought the sons of thecaptains of Alexander, and they tore him anew beneath the harrow of invasion. So thought the powerof Rome, and the ambitious Titus made the neck ofTITUS ON THE RUINS OF ZION. 127the Jew a stepping-stone to the imperial throne.Where in the history of conquests has there beenannihilation so utter? But it was only a superficialvictory that the Aryan won. From the foot of across upon which had died an obscure disturber ofthe peace, of peasant birth, went forth twelve poormen who had loved him. How trifling the circ*mstance! One day at Athens, upon Mars Hill, thetravel-worn tent-maker, Paul, addressed, not far fromthe altar to the unknown God, a supercilious crowd.What mattered that small event! At Rome thepassionate agitator, Peter, crucified at last headdownward, died, confessing to the last the teacher inwhose name he had spoken. But such things weredone every day. What could a Jew effect? In thegrapple between Aryan and Semite, the Semite wasapparently crushed out of life; but even while theknee of the ruthless victor was upon his breast, thevictim spoke a calm, strong mandate which abashedand overcame. "Yield to me," said the prostrateJew, "in that point where the soul of man feels mostdeeply, his thought of the great invisible world.Your deities, Zeus, Mars, Odin, are not gods butphantoms. Elysium, Tartarus, Walhalla, it is allunreal. Straightway dash in pieces your altars,though the smoke of sacrifice has ascended thencefor ages. Straightway dismiss every hymn andprecept, every rite and rule. Ended forever belibation and augury, obeisance of flamen, chant ofvestal, the oracular whisper of the sacred oaks, thefrenzy of the Pythoness aglow with the God. Dismiss it all as false. Take from me a faith which128 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.shall last you for ages, burn in your deepest soul , inspire you to the grandest which you shall everundertake. Accept Jehovah, my God, as the onlyGod. Accept my race as the chosen race; accept itsliterature as sacred and infallible. Reverence myland as a holy land. Accept a man of my race, notonly as the Redeemer of the world, but the incarnateGod himself. That your subjection may be themore marked and utter, this crucified Galilean whomI force you to receive as Lord and Saviour, I myselfwill utterly reject and contemn, requiring you toreverence what I despise as folly and superstition! ”Thus spoke the eagle-faced , burning-eyed captive,homeless, broken, humiliated , to his Aryan subduerat his very proudest . Did the Aryan obey?Straightway the Aryan obeyed. Greek, Roman,Celt, and Teuton pass under the yoke of the Jew.In his turn comes the Sclave, equally submissive , allthe stronger brethren of the Aryan household enthralled really by the Semite, though superficiallythey seem to have vanquished him—their subjugation maintained through all these nineteen slowlapsing centuries!Is it a supernatural conversion, as the Christian.world has always maintained, or can it all be explained according to the natural sequence of causeand effect, as the rationalist will assert? Whethernatural or supernatural, the little race that has thusbrought the world to its feet has possessed a preeminent force which has made its history unique.What the Jew has wrought is a marvel among marvels. It has been no strange thing upon the earth forTITUS ON THE RUINS OF ZION. 129beings in human guise to be made gods. Hercules,Odin, Alexander, Cæsar, and many another havebeen raised to the heavens and worshipped. Only,however, in the case of this first-born child of aJewish mother has the apotheosis endured. * Hestands in this exaltation, not in the wild fancy ofbarbarians, but in the trained and cool judgment ofthe races whose brain and vigor have made themforemost among men. These have felt that he spokeas never man spoke, and was the embodiment of hisown gospel of love in his life and in his death. Whowill say that his name is not above every name? Ifwe refuse, as some men do, to ascribe to him a superhuman character, then how astonishing the miracle,that a Hebrew peasant has been able to so influencethe destinies of mankind!

• Disraeli: 66 Tancred."

PART II.THE MEDIEVAL HUMILIATION.

CHAPTER IX.HOW THE RABBIS WROUGHT THE TALMUD.THE year 70 of our era brought the dreadfultragedy of the destruction of Jerusalem. In thenext generation the champion Bar Cocheba, whommany Jews believed to be the Messiah, headed arevolt which was soon put down by the EmperorHadrian. The taking of his stronghold, Bethar, wasthe coup de grace; Palestine was utterly devastated;even the olive-trees had disappeared; the land wasfull of graves, the markets with slaves; the townswere given over to wolves and hyenas. Even thename of Jerusalem was lost; a pagan city, AeliaCapitolina, rose upon its site; a temple of Jupiterstood upon Mt. Zion, about which was gathered apopulation of Roman veterans, of Greeks, Phoenicians, and Syrians. So long as the Roman empireendured, no Jew could enter the city under pain ofdeath.Long before these events, the Jews, as we haveseen, had begun to wander. The ten tribes that haddisappeared in the Assyrian days were still to a largeextent present in their descendants in Mesopotamia,or were scattered abroad in unknown regions. Theprosperity of the great colony at Alexandria had134 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.given evidence of the constant favor of the Ptolemies. At Rome the Jewish face had become wellknown, and they had penetrated with the legions intoSpain and Gaul. " How unjust, " said often the suffering Jew of the Middle Ages, " to persecute usbecause Christ was crucified, when our fathers hadleft Jerusalem long before his time! ” —a plea oftenwell founded.The religious faith they gave to others they rejected themselves. Christianity became from itsvery origin the possession of the Gentiles, the Jewish following being always insignificant. These unbelievers, where have they not gone upon the faceof the earth? It is said they are to be found inChina and the depths of India, upon the steppes ofTartary, in inner Africa, in every market and capitalof Europe and America. Alike among Christians,Moslems, and Heathen they have been outcastsand subjects of persecution, exposed to suffering notdue entirely to the bigotry of the races among whichthey have been cast, but largely owing to their ownexclusiveness and proud assertion of superiority. Inentering upon an account of events in which theChristian world appears in a light so discreditable, itis only fair to state distinctly, that in the positionwhich the Hebrews have constantly occupied towardthe races among which they have sojourned, therehas been much to exasperate men just rising out ofbarbarism-much indeed which those well- civilizedhave hardly been able to bear with equanimity.The Christian has bitterly persecuted; but whenhas the Jew been conciliatory? or, except in theROMAN MASONRY ,JERUSALEM136 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.case of the nobler spirits of his race, whom he hasusually made haste to cast forth, when has he shownthe wide-extending sympathy which recognizes cordially the brotherhood of the human race, and lookstoward the tearing down of walls of separation between man and man? In this story of humiliation,therefore, the victim is not to be held quite blameless. Let no Christian, however, presume to claimthat the guilt is not mainly with his houshold offaith.The Jews, originally, had no special turn for trading.* In the earlier day their life we have seen tobe that of herdsmen, tillers of the soil, and handicraftsmen of the simplest sort. Their traffic was insignificant even after their return from the exile, untilthe Macedonian days, when mercantile intercoursewith other nations became among them a more frequent pursuit. Even then commerce was far fromabsorbing them. But in the countless lands intowhich they were at length carried by the dispersion,they were often forced to follow quite other pathsthan the old. The prejudice of the races amongwhich they came frequently forbade to them theownership of land and the following of the handicrafts.Commerce became to them the easiest, most naturalresource; as they practised it, their dexterity increased. The success they reached aroused a disposition which their ancestors did not possess. Theawakened trading-spirit favored the dispersion; thedispersion, on the other hand, stimulated the tradingetc.

• Herzfeld: " Handelsgeschichte der Juden des Alterthums, ” 271,

HOW THE RABBIS WROUGHT THE TALMUD. 137spirit, until, through the interaction, the Jews wereeverywhere scattered and everywhere merchants.That the Jews have been in the latter ages prevailingly traders, has been made a reproach to them,but for the reasonable of our day it needs no excuse.Honest trading is recognized as by no means worsethan any other legitimate and necessary occupation.It may be claimed perhaps, that it has contributedmore than any other to the elevation and comfort ofman. During the breaking down of the Roman empire, the Jewish merchants were the connecting linksbetween Asia and Europe. At the beginning of theMiddle Ages they were an economical necessity.Forced into this channel by the fate which had overtaken them, confined to it more and more closely asfanaticism, growing more and more suspicious, shutbefore them the doors of other callings, they deservednot contempt but gratitude, as they helped the comfort, the prosperity, the civilization of so many peoples. As to the honesty with which they have trafficked, Israelite historians successfully show that theywere honorably distinguished in antiquity. Not Phonician or Babylonian, not Greek or Roman, equalledthem. They were not Jews who made the same divinity stand at once as the god of thieves and of merchants. In later days also , in spite of the slanders ofthe learned and the unlearned, the impartial investigator will find the Jews in their business relations ratherabove than below the level of common morality,their faith in this as in every other department requiring of them an ideal purity. *

• Herzfeld.

138 THE STORY OF THE JEWSAfter its wonderful seizure of theJudaism encountered presently a form,nearly related to itself than Greek,Teuton ideas. It might be expect.Mahometans, the Jew would receivebetter treatment than from races unallied .Arabs, a stock which like the Israelites looked toAbraham as a progenitor, gave to Islam its prophet.In reality it is only at times, that the outcast peoplehas received kindness at their hands, fiery Mussulman intolerance bringing more often to pass a persecution scarcely less bitter than that from Christianhands. Throughout Arabia, Mesopotamia, andBabylonia, however, the Hebrews spread, in thecities establishing thriving colonies, and maintainingat various points schools where a learning profound,though fantastic, was taught by the Rabbis tocrowds of pupils. They followed with their congeners in the path of the advancing crescentthrough Northern Africa, and helped essentially inthe conquest by means of which the old Visigothicpower of Spain was displaced . The bloom of Moorish civilization followed; Averroes and Avicenna,with torches kindled upon Greek altars, lighting inthe west the fire of philosophy. An art came toflourish which could create the Alhambra; a poetrywas developed that softened and ennobled manners;many a truth of physical science was anticipated—anight, meantime, almost, unbroken enveloping everypart of Christendom. It was, on the whole, a happytime for the Jews. Given free course under thetolerant sway of the Caliphs, their striving was anHOW THE RABBIS WROUGHT THE TALMUD. 139important factor in producing the beautiful result.When at length to the rest of Europe came theRenaissance, the Jews, going and coming in theirintercourse with their brethren everywhere, now inthe land where the arts were thriving, and now inregions where all was waiting, were among the chiefmediators who bore the fructifying pollen from thesunny, blossoming spots to the more shadowedregions which awaited impregnation.Among the Saracens in their time of power thelines of Israel did not fall ill , nor was its position oneof difficulty when the modern world first began toemerge. Under Charlemagne, Jews were toleratedindeed, befriended and honored. In the famousembassyto Haroun af Raschid, the honored figure isthat of the Jew Isaac; and, in other positions thandiplomatic, Hebrews were friends and helpers of thegreat path-breaker. Under the immediate successors of Charlemagne, still greater good fortune wasenjoyed; but we cannot pass even the threshold ofthe Middle Ages without encountering a Hebrewpersecution which is perhaps the most dreadful pageof history.Not a single Christian people has kept itself clearfrom the reproach of inhumanity to the Jews.To afflict them has been held to be a merit. Thetimes when religion has been most rife and the conscience most sensitive have witnessed the sharpestScourgings and the most lurid holocausts. Whenthe nations were aroused to redeem the Holy Sepulchre from dishonor, when the cathedrals were rising,gushes of devotion from the popular heart, fixed in140 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.stone to stand for centuries, it was precisely then thatthe fa*ggots were heaped highest and the sword wasmost merciless . The Jews and the Saracens wereallied stocks, between whom a secret understandingmay sometimes have existed. " If we are to fight infidels, " said fanaticism, " why not fight them at homeas well as in Syria? " Men and women chivalrousand saintly have denounced and wrung the Jewalmost in proportion to their chivalry and sanctity,and this has endured almost to the present hour,-Richard Coeur-de-Lion, St. Louis of France, Ferdinand and Isabella, Luther, Savonarola, MariaTheresa, yet how great is the debt of civilization tothese men so cruelly hounded! They had become atrading race, indeed, but not entirely so . They hada large share in the restoration of learning and thecultivation of science in the time of the Renaissance.Through them many Greek writers were translatedinto Arabic, thence to be rendered into the tonguesof Europe and made accessible to the young universities of the West. Through them medicine wasrevived, to become the parent of physical science ingeneral. They were universal translators, publishers,and literary correspondents. Their schools at Montpellier in France, Salerno in Italy, and Seville in Spain,abounded in erudite men and scientific experimenters. While superstition reigned elsewhere, theywere often comparatively free from it. The deserts.of the Hebrews in these respects must never be forgotten, though perhaps here they accomplished lessthan as merchants, almost the only representativesof commerce as they were, " the fair, white- wingedHOW THE RABBIS WROUGHT THE TALMUD. 141peacemaker " flying across field and flood among thedistant cities of men, binding them into a noblebrotherhood.We are to follow the footsteps of the brokennation into the lands of their exile, so utterly cold forthem-footsteps of blood in a wintry landscape.But before taking up the story, something must besaid about the standards which the Hebrews held inhonor, now that their independence as a nation wasdestroyed, --standards venerated without abatementdown to the present hour; a veneration almost universal, and a principal cause why the Jews, though sosundered and smitten, have maintained a solidarity.First, the Jew held in honor the Scriptures, containing the Law of Moses, the sacred Torah, theProphets, and the Hagiographa, or sacred writings.The Canon, as we have seen, had been formed in theage of Ezra: the centuries which had followed haddeepened respect for it; and as the Gentile world.gradually became Christian, that, too, received thecanon of Ezra, under the name of the Old Testament,with faith as undoubting as that of the Hebrewsthemselves.But the reader will remember that when thewritten Law was brought from Sinai, a body of precepts was, it was believed, at the same time imparted,which was for many ages handed down orally. Thiswas called the Mischna, and not until the time oftheteacher Hillel, a generation or two before Christ, wasany beginning made of reducing these traditions towriting. In the sad days which resulted in the142 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.destruction of Jerusalem, no one was found to carryout the work of Hillel, but a time came when itwas brought to fulfilment, and the result was theTalmud.The latest Jewish authority * declares the composition of the Talmud to be the most important fact ofHebrew history during the four centuries that followthe fall of Jerusalem. In order to strengthen thewritten Law and supplement it where it was silent ,recourse was had to those oral traditions which allIsrael believed had come down from Moses himself.During the period mentioned the Jewish doctorsmade these the subject of ardent and minute study,-a labor believed to be necessary, since the destruction of the Temple and ever-increasing dispersion ofthe nation no longer allowed tradition to perpetuateitself as formerly. As this second code became developed, it was much more detailed than the Torah,embracing in its prescriptions the whole civil andreligious life of the Jews, and ensuring unity of faithby the uniformity which it brought about in ceremonial practices.The Rabbis, however, were not satisfied with thedrawing up of the " Mischna. " An attempt wasfurther made to develop and reconcile, to render anaccount of whatever was mysterious; in fine, to applyto real or fictitious cases which the ancient doctorshad not foreseen, the principles which they hadstated only generally. This labor, pursued with diligence in the schools both of Palestine and Babylonia,

• Reinach: "" Histoire des Israélites depuis leur Dispersion jusqu'à

nos Jours, " Paris, 1885.·HOW THE RABBIS WROUGHT THE TALMUD. 143resulted in the " Gemara, " which was given to theworld at last in two immense compends, the Talmuds of Jerusalem and Babylon, the latter and mostimportant of which, even in the partial form whichhas survived to us, comprises twelve large volumes.To all but the most patient students, the work wouldseem to be a hopeless chaos. The subtle Rabbis tooka lively pleasure in puzzling over insoluble difficulties, discussing to an infinite extent the opinions oftheir predecessors, discovering difficulties, sometimesimaginary, and trying to harmonize things quite irreconcilable. The contents are most varied , —satiricalallegories, popular proverbs, fantastic imaginarystories, historical recitals strangely distorted, scientific discussions, medical prescriptions in whichChaldaic superstitions play a large part, —an irregular familiar talk, often, without rule or plan .

The authority whom I follow maintains thatwhereas to the Talmud in some ages has beenassigned an importance quite exaggerated, it is atpresent by many critics quite improperly decried anddepreciated. The character of the men to whomthe Talmud addressed itself is forgotten. At thetime when the dispersion of Israel was beginning, itwas necessary to raise about Judaism, at every price,a double and triple moral barrier, an exterior wall, toprotect it against dissolving influences from outside.The Talmud was such a wall. It was long the principal, if not the sole, intellectual food of the scatteredHebrews. Its destinies have been those of the

• For an example of such criticism see Depping: " Die Juden im Mittelalter, " 14, 15 .

144 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.Jewish race, and whenever it has been burned, theburning of the Jews themselves has been not far off.If some minds have become stultified in its debates,minute and often inane, others have gained by theirstudy a subtle and penetrative power. Many a rabbi,trained by the study of the Talmud, has developedand made fruitful other sciences. The philosophy ofmany a beneficent Jewish thinker had here its root.The first translators of Aristotle and Averroespassed their youth in the rabbinical schools. If theJews escaped in a measure the eclipse of the DarkAges, so total over the Christian world, they owe itto the Talmud.A Gentile has great difficulty in obtaining anycoherent idea of this strange old work. The Rabbisseem to prescribe and condemn tolerance, to approveand forbid usury, to recommend and despise agriculture, to honor and depreciate women. It seemsstrange it should have been held in such honor.One Rabbi said the written Law was water, theMischna wine, and the Gemara an aromatic liquorvery precious. I give a passage from still anotherJewish scholar of our own time, who is believed tohave been a most accomplished Talmudist *: “ Wellcan we understand the distress of mind in a mediæval divine, or even in a modern savant, who, bentupon following some scientific debate in the Talmudical pages, feels, as it were, the ground suddenlygive way. The loud voices grow thin, the doors andwalls of the school-room vanish before his eyes, andin their place uprises Rome the great, and her

• Emanuel Deutsch: " Literary Remains, " 45 , etc. , 151 .

THE CASTING OUT OF A PROPHET. 219remained to him in Africa, Italy, Germany, and Poland. Some declared he had not turned Turk, thathis shadow only remained upon the earth, while histbody had ascended to heaven. Others maintainedthat his passage through Islamism, as well as his preceding trials and experiences, were part of his mission. This view Sabbatäi encouraged, conformingexternally to Mussulman rites, but secretly returning to the synagogue and posing anew as a ferventIsraelite. The hypocrite was unmasked: the Sultancontemptuously gave him his life, and he died at lastin obscurity.At the very hour when infatuated Israel hadabused herself most deeply, pouring out her veneration at the feet of the wretched charlatan of Smyrna,she cast forth from herself one of the most illustriousof her sons, a spirit capable of the highest leadership,wise, and of the purest beauty.It was Holland, just set free by the heroism of itspeople from the bigot grip of Spain, which led theway among the countries of Europe in the new pathof toleration. Hither flocked in the seventeenthcentury the oppressed and the outcasts of all nations, the Puritan from England, sore from thepersecution of the Stuarts, the free-thinker andHuguenot from France, just escaped from the stakein the Catholic reaction, -the bolder and finer spiritsof Italy, Germany, Poland, whom neither bribe norbrow-beating could reduce to conformity. Hither,too, came the foot-sore and down-hearted Jew, making at length shrines for the sacred rolls of the Law220 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.which were not to be desecrated, and taking breathfrom the scourge in the noble cities whose atmosphere was sweet and bracing with liberty. TheIsraelitish aristocracy are the " Sephardim, " the bandthat in Spain and Portugal contributed so much tothe greatness of those countries in their goldenperiod. Of this Hebrew aristocracy among the Spanish Jews, in Amsterdam, early in the seventeenthcentury, was born Baruch or Benedict Spinoza.The name of Spinoza is one burdened Jong withundeserved reproach. He was falsely accused ofatheism , whereas, as his vindicators justly claim, heshould rather be called a God-intoxicated man.Lewes, a writer who has no sympathy with hisphilosophical system, but a great admiration for hisvast intellectual power and noble character, gives ina picture full of brilliant lights the story of his career.He describes him as " a little Jewish boy playingwith his sisters on the Burgwal of Amsterdam , closeto the Portuguese synagogue. His face is mild andingenuous; his eyes small, but bright, quick, andpenetrative, his dark hair flowing in luxuriant curls.over his neck and shoulders. Amsterdam is noisywith the creaking of cordage, the bawling of sailors,and the busy trafficking of traders. The ZuyderZee is crowded with vessels laden with precious.stores from all quarters of the globe. The canalswhich ramify that city, like a great arterial system,are blocked up with boats and barges, the wholescene vivid with the greatness and the littleness ofcommerce. The parents of Spinoza were from mercantile families, among the fugitives from Spain.NatusAmfteled Denatus Haga Co MDC XXX 24Novemb MDCLXXVILSPINOZA.222 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.having their part in all this commercial bustle; andthe lively boy would, it was supposed, like his ancestors, play a part upon the market and exchange."His passion for study, however, and the brightnessof his mind induced his parents to educate him as arabbi. Upon the study of Talmud and Old Testament Spinoza entered with zeal, and at fourteen,even, is said to have rivalled almost all the doctorsin the exactitude and extent of his knowledge.Great hopes were entertained of the youth, hopeswhich gave way to fears when the rabbis discoveredthat the boy was developing a questioning spiritwhose pertinacity they were unable to satisfy. Hewas summoned before the synagogue, and at lengththreatened with excommunication. * An offer of anannual pension of a thousand florins was made tohim, if he would only consent to be silent and assistfrom time to time in the services of the synagogue,which, however, was refused with scorn.In truth, the learning which the boy was set tomaster was excessively intricate and fantastic. Vastrespect was paid at that time among the Hebrews tothe "Cabala, " about which a word must be said. Thepious Jew of that day believed that, aside from itsobvious signification, every tittle of Scripture had itssymbolical meaning, and a strange collection of rhapsodies and wild imaginings had been growing upfrom the thirteenth century, which were generallyreceived as an authentic interpretation of this secondary sense. From this source all Jewry wasoverrun with demonology, thaumaturgy, and other

• " Life of Spinoza, " by Colerus.

THE CASTING OUT OF A PROPHET. 223strange fancies. * In Spinoza's generation this hadits most extravagant development. It was, indeed,unmitigated nonsense, whose puerilities, if not disgusting, were ludicrous. The clear-brained youth,as he matured, rejected it all , withdrew from thesynagogue, and made ready to win his bread bylearning the trade of polishing lenses for optical instruments, a craft in which he became dexterous.The discipline of the rabbis was severe. Shortlybefore, a Jew, who had incurred the displeasure ofthe elders, had been forced to lie across the thresholdof the synagogue, presenting his body to the feet ofthe congregation as it passed out. In some suchway they would have been glad to humiliate Spinoza.No penance could, however, be imposed upon him,for he had withdrawn himself. But fanaticism feltjustified in trying another means. One evening asSpinoza was coming out of the theatre, he wasstartled by the fierce expression of a dark face,thrust eagerly before his. A knife gleamed in theair, and he had barely time to parry the blow. Itfell upon his chest, but fortunately, deadened in itsforce, only tore his coat. Thus he escaped assassination, but he could still be excommunicated andcursed."The day of excommunication at length arrived ,and a vast concourse assembled to witness the awfulceremony. It began by the solemn and silentlighting of a quantity of black wax-candles, and byopening the tabernacle wherein were deposited thebooks of the law of Moses. Thus were the dim

• Pollock: ' Life of Spinoza, ”

་ ་224 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.imaginations of the faithful prepared for all thehorror of the scene. The chief-rabbi, the ancientfriend and master, now the fiercest enemy, of thecondemned, was to order the exccution. He stoodthere pained, but implacable; the people fixed theireager eyes upon him. High above the chanter roseand chanted forth in loud, lugubrious tones thewords of execration; while from the opposite sideanother mingled with these curses the thrillingsounds of the trumpet. And now the black candleswere reversed, and were made to melt drop by dropinto a huge tub filled with blood. " *Then came the final anathema. "With the judgment of the angels and of the saints, we excommunicate , cut off, curse, and anathematize Baruch deEspinoza, with the consent of the elders and of allthis holy congregation, in the presence of the holybooks by the 613 precepts which are writtentherein, with the anathema wherewith Joshuacursed Jericho, with the curse which Elisha laidupon the children , and with all the curses which arewritten in the law. Cursed be he by day, and cursedbe he by night. Cursed be he in sleeping, and cursedbe he in waking, cursed in going out, and cursed incoming in . The Lord shall not pardon him , thewrath and fury of the Lord shall henceforth bekindled against this man, and shall lay upon himall the curses which are written in the book of theLaw. The Lord shall destroy his name under thesun, and cut him off for his undoing from all thetribes of Israel, with all the curses of the firmament

• Lewes: " Biog. Hist. of Philosophy. "

THE CASTING OUT OF A PROPHET. 225which are written in the book of the Law. But yethat cleave unto the Lord your God, live all of youthis day. And we warn you that none may speakwith him by word of mouth nor by writing, nor showany favor to him, nor be under one roof with him,nor come within four cubits of him, nor read anypaper composed or written by him. ” *As the blasting words were uttered , the lightswere all suddenly immersed in the blood, a cry ofreligious horror and execration burst from all; andin that solemn darkness, and to those solemn curses,they shouted Amen, Amen! Thus the blinded racecast forth the noblest man of his generation, as ithad done in ages before-a man whom, as in thepreceding time, the Gentile world was to adopt andlove, to set upon a pinnacle indeed as a guide andbenefactor.There is a singular elevation about the life ofSpinoza henceforth. His legal right to inherit aportion of his father's estate was denied. He established it, but handed the share over to his sisters,who had disputed his claim, magnanimously overlooking their enmity. The handsome fortune whicha friend desired to leave him he refused to receive;he declined an ample pension from Louis XIV.; herefused a position at the University of Heidelberg,as compromising his independence. By polishing hiscrystals he was able to keep soul and body together,while he devoted his main strength to speculationsas profound as have ever occupied the brain of man.He was serenely brave. The great Condé having

• Pollock: " Life of Spinoza. "

226 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.invaded Holland with a French army, sent forSpinoza, whose reputation had interested him, tovisit him in his camp. The mob, hearing of the intercourse, suspected the philosopher of being a spy,and were about to tear him in pieces. He showedhimself ready to face their rage with a heart undaunted. His character was made up of generoussimplicity and heroic forbearance. He taught thelearned world the doctrines he had elaborated withendless toil; but he taught children to be regular intheir attendance on divine service. He had no unwise proselytism which would destroy old convictions.in minds unfitted to receive others. One day hishostess, a simple unlettered Christian, asked him ifhe believed she could be saved by her religion. Heanswered: "Your religion is a good one, you oughtnot to seek another, nor doubt that yours will procure your salvation, provided you add to your pietythe tranquil virtues of domestic life. " *He died when but forty-five , the peer of the sublimest leaders of the human race. It would be outof place here to attempt to outline the vast systemwhich forms his title to immortal fame. He waspersecuted in life and in death. The charge ofatheism, with which his fame has long been burdened,he regarded as the grossest and most wicked ofcalumnies, and great champions at last arose to vindicate his memory. It was, indeed, his teachingthat there was but one infinite substance, and thatis God. Whatever is, is in God; and without Himnothing can be conceived. He is the universal being,

• Colerus.

THE CASTING OUT OF A PROPHET. 227of which all things are the manifestations. He isthe sole substance; every thing else is a mode; yetwithout substance, mode cannot exist. God, viewedunder the attributes of infinite substance, is thenatura naturans, that which forever creates; God,viewed as a manifestation, as the modes under whichhis attributes appear, is the natura naturata, thatwhich is created. He is the cause of all things, andthat immanently, not transiently. This, according toG. H. Lewes, is the heart and pith of the system ofSpinoza, certainly not atheism, -certainly not materialism, for though God is called substance (substans), it is only in a high spiritual sense which thethinker is careful to make clear. If the schemedeserves to be called pantheism, the destroying ofthe creation while God is made all in all, a few citations will show that the entertaining of these ideaswas not inconsistent in Spinoza, with an active andbeautiful spirit of humanity.

• * *

"He who lives according to reason endeavorsto the utmost of his power to outweigh anotherman's hate, anger, or despite against him with loveor highmindedness. He who chooses toavenge wrong by requiting it with hatred is assuredly miserable . But he who strives to cast outhatred by love, may fight his fight in joy and confidence. As for those he doth conquer, they yield tohim joyfully, and that not because their strengthfaileth, but because it is increased .“ A man who desires to help others by counsel ordeeds, so that they may together enjoy the chiefgood, will be very forward to win their love to him,228 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.but not to draw them into admiration of him. Incommon talk he will eschew telling of men's faults,and will speak but sparingly of human weakness.But he will speak at large of man's virtue and power,and the means of perfecting the same, that thus menmay endeavor, not from fear and disgust, but whollyin joyfulness, to live, so far as in them lies, after thecommandment of reason."The biographer of Spinoza calls this " a loftyrefinement of the fundamental duty of good- will tomen, which is not to be found, so far as I know, in anyother moralist. " The tone of the passage is declaredto be like that of Marcus Aurelius, but there is noexact parallel.Very lofty too is the teaching of this pure sage asregards the motive which should influence man in thepursuit of virtue. Good must be done not throughany hope of reward or fear of punishment, for thereward of virtue is virtue itself. As we shouldexpect, Spinoza was a firm and consistent supporterof political liberty, disposed to go much fartherin allowing individual thought, habits, and enterprise to have free scope, than the statesmen of histime. Rising above the Jewish prejudices in whichhe had been nurtured, he regarded Jesus as a manindeed, but a man of unique and transcendent moralgenius, above Moses and the prophets. With broadminded tolerance he declares: " For Turks andheathen, if they worship God by justice and charityto their neighbors, I believe they have the spirit ofChrist and are saved. "

• Pollock .

THE CASTING OUT OF A PROPHET. 229If we trace for a moment the history of Spinoza'sfame we find him at first hated and denounced, butnever forgotten. The unlearned held him in holyhorror, and the learned refused to do him justice.Leibnitz, his contemporary, and at one time his correspondent, depreciated him; Locke speaks of himas "justly decried "; and Bishop Berkeley refers tohis " wild imaginations. " It was the great Lessing,in the middle of the eighteenth century, who firstelevated Spinoza to a lofty position; he declaredthat there was no philosophy but his. Goetheaccepted with no less enthusiasm the outcast Jew,being drawn especially by his boundless unselfishness. He finds the saying marvellous: "Whosotruly loves God must not expect that God will lovehim in return." In our own century he has held thehearts of the most gifted of the world. It wasNovalis who called him the God-intoxicated man.Heine and Fichte were penetrated by his influence.Hegel declared that "to be a philosopher one mustfirst be a Spinozist. " Auerbach, who translatedhim, believed that " Spinoza's mind had fed thethought of two centuries. " Coleridge brought itto pass that he received at last a fair appreciationfrom English thinkers, and in connection with thisintroduction an amusing story is told by Coleridgehimself.It was the troublous time of the French Revolution, and as the young Englishman returned fromthe Continent, and with little reticence proceeded topour out wild ideas into the ear of his friend Wordsworth, who was also known to entertain extravagant230 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.opinions, a worthy magistrate of Somersetshire, feltit to be his duty as an Englishman to cause thesemad-brained men to be watched. A spy was setupon them, who, after a careful investigation, reported Coleridge and Wordsworth as after all loyalmen. "He had repeatedly hid himself for hourstogether behind a bank at the seaside (our favoriteseat), and overheard our conversation . At first hefancied that we were aware of our danger, for heoften heard me talk of our Spy Nozy ' which hewas inclined to interpret of himself, and of a remarkable feature belonging to him, but he was speedilyconvinced it was the name of a man who had madea book, and lived long ago. ".6The best England of Coleridge's day was asdensely ignorant of the high- souled philosopher, aswas the worthy spy. But appreciation came.Shelley drew from him inspiration; Maurice, Froude,and Matthew Arnold, in our time, have done himjustice. Not less so Taine and Renan in France.At the present time there is no more honored nameamong all the heroes of abstract thought. Says thepious Schleiermacher: "Sacrifice with me to themanes of the holy but repudiated Spinoza. Thegreat spirit of the world penetrated him; the Infinite was his beginning and his end; the universe hisonly and eternal love. He was filled with religionand religious feeling, and therefore it is that hestands alone, unapproachable-the master in his art,but elevated above the profane world, withoutadherents, and without even citizenship. " Says G.H. Lewes: "He was a brave and simple man, earn-THE CASTING OUT OF A PROPHET. 231estly meditating on the deepest subjects that canoccupy the human race . He produced a systemwhich will ever remain as one of the most astoundingefforts of abstract speculation -a system that hasbeen decried for nearly two centuries as the mostiniquitous and blasphemous of human invention;and which has now, within the last sixty years,become the acknowledged parent of a whole nation'sphilosophy, ranking among its admirers some of themost pious and illustrious intellects of the age."

PART III.THE BREAKING OF THE CHAIN.

CHAPTER XV.ISRAEL'S NEW MOSES.THE total Jewish population of the world, at thepresent time, according to the latest estimates,* is6,300,000, distributed as follows: To Europe 5,400,-000, to Asia 300,000, to Africa 350,000, to America250,000, to Oceanica 12,000. Of the different countries of Europe, Russia has a Hebrew population of2,552,000; Austria with Hungary, 1,644,000; Germany, 562,000; France, 63,000; and Great Britain,60,000. Of the portion assigned to America, theUnited States contains 230,000.It appears from these figures that there are nolands in which the Jews form a large element of thepopulation; but for some reason an astonishingchangefrom their old abasem*nt is to be noticed in theposition they have come to occupy. The medievaloutcast is everywhere climbing into places of power,until it begins to seem possible that he may attain inthe future an ascendancy as remarkable as his pastabjectness. Cries, sometimes of admiration, butmore often of dislike and alarm, are uttered over thisfact in all parts of the civilized world , -all, however,whether laudatory or ill-natured, giving evidence of

• Reinach: " Histoire des Israélites, " 1885.

236THESTORYOF THEJEWS.a deep-seated conviction, that this strange tribe, forever with us but never of us, is at any rate of qualitymost masterful .Let us survey for a moment the various departments of human energy, and obtain some comprehensive idea of what the Hebrew is accomplishing.In military life, we find that although in antiquityIsrael fought many a stern fight under valiant champions, it can claim since the dispersion no great notein war. Jews have fought, however, in the ranks ofvarious armies, and have furnished good generals tovarious standards and causes. The most distinguishedsoldier of Hebrew descent that can be mentioned isprobably Marshal Massena, whose real name is saidto have been Manasseh, -the warrior whom Napoleoncalled "the favorite child of victory, " one of the mostscientific as well as one of the most brave and tenacious of the great chieftains whom the fateful Corsican summoned to fight at his side .Turning to the employments of peace, the recordof Hebrew achievements in agriculture and the handicrafts will also be a short one. We have seen thatthere have been times when the Jew has figured asfarmer and mechanic; it is not so at present, and thefact that he so seldom works with his hands, reallyearns his bread by the sweat of his brow, is oftenmade the basis of a harsh judgment against him.But really do we not find here an evidence of Israelitish power? We should all prefer, if we could , toget on by our wits, rather than by labor of the hands;hence the crowding up everywhere into trade andthe professions, away from the soil and the tool.ISRAEL'S NEW MOSES. 237We feel that the tendency ought to be discouraged;and in the case of the Jew, we should like him better,if now and then he put to the wheel of life actualmuscle, instead of, forever, that subtle power of hisbrain. But when a whole race undertakes to liveby its wits, and succeeds so remarkably, what abilityit must possess!It is indeed a brilliant success. In the world oftrade, it has in some way come about that a preeminence is everywhere conceded to the Jew. Heis omnipresent and everywhere dreaded. It is ofcompetition with him that the pedlar who deals insixpence-worths stands most in fear; the sameaggressive elbows are crowding cavalierly the millionaire in the transactions of la haute finance. Keenindeed must the man be who can match him in thehigh or low places; and as for Gentile accusations ofmeanness and knavery, shall the pot call the kettleblack? There are exchanges in great cities of theworld practically abandoned to all but Jews. In ournew Western and Southern towns, there are sometimes scarce any but Hebrew signs on the businessstreets. In trade, the Hebrew is ubiquitous andalways at the front.Turning to the fine arts, the Hebrews have rarelybecome famed as painters and sculptors, a result towhich perhaps the ancient Semitic repugnance to therepresentation of the forms of living creatures hashelped. In music, however, their glory is of thehighest. Mendelssohn, Halévy, Moscheles, Meyerbeer, Rubinstein, Joachim, as composers and performers, are among the greatest. Wagner, indeed,238 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.wrote a diatribe against Jewish influence in music,and there is a story that he prepared a compositionespecially to vindicate against the Hebrews thesuperiority of a pure Teutonic taste; but when itcame to the performance, lo, the patriotic masterbeheld the first violins all in the hands of the aliens,whose dark eyes were scanning serenely the tangledscore that was to bring them to confusion! The factwas that none but Jews could be found skilful enoughto take the burden of the performance. As actors,the Israelites have also been very illustrious.With Rachel and Bernhardt at the summit, it wouldbe easy to mention a long and most distinguishedlist.If we follow graver paths we encounter, amongphilosophers, the great Spinoza, at whose work wehave just glanced, and we shall presently consider stillanother most illustrious name. Franke is great inmedicine, Bernays, of Bonn, is noted for erudition inGreek, Benfey the first of Sanscrit scholars, Auerbachat the head of German novelists, Heine the chief ofGerman poets since the death of Goethe, -all men ofthe ancient Israelitish strain, though in the case ofsome of them the ancient faith was forsaken. Whenwe look at the field of statesmanship, as we shallpresently do, what men of Jewish blood have doneis as astonishing as their achievements elsewhere.How is it that the wonderful transformation hasbeen brought about? We have seen the poorHebrew under the heel-a hundred nations tryingto stamp the life out of him as if he were a venomous reptile. He makes the claim at the presentHOW THE RABBIS WROUGHT THE TALMUD. 145million-voiced life. Or the blooming vineyards around that other city of hills, Jerusalem the Goldenherself, are seen, and white-clad virgins move dreamily among them . Snatches of their songs are heard,the rhythm of their choric dances rises and falls.Often, far too often for the interests of study andthe glory of the human race, does the steady trampof the Roman cohort, the shriek and clangor of thebloody field, interrupt these debates, and the arguingmasters and their disciples don their arms, and withthe cry, ' Jerusalem and liberty,' rush to the fray.

• * *

" It shows us the teeming streets of Jerusalem,tradesmen at work, women at home, children atplay, priest and Levite, preacher on hillside, storyteller in the bazaar, -nor Jerusalem alone, but thewhole antique world is embalmed there, Athens, Alexandria, Persia, Rome. A strange, wild ,wierd ocean, with its leviathans and its wrecks ofgolden argosies, and with its forlorn bells that sendup their dreamy sounds ever and anon, while thefisherman bends upon his oar, and starts and listens,and perchance the tears may come into his eyes. ”While it is so difficult to derive from the Talmudany system or history, the poetical scholar goes onto compare these fanciful pictures to photographicslides, half- broken and faded, but startlingly faithful.As the most childish of trifles found in an Assyrianmound may lead the scholar to great results, so maythe trifles in the Talmud. That the old volumescontain shrewd worldly wit as well as profoundspiritual wisdom, the following sentences will show:" Bethou the cursed, not he who curses. Be of them146 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.that are persecuted, not of them that persecute.There is not a single bird more persecuted than thedove, yet God has chosen her to be offered upon hisaltar. He who offers humility unto God and man.shall be rewarded as if he had offered all the sacrifices in the world. When the righteous dies it is theearth that loses. Thy friend has a friend , and thyfriend's friend has a friend, -be discreet. Commit asin twice and you will think it perfectly allowable. "Of the strange and beautiful romance of the Talmud, no better example can be taken than the story,to which Longfellow has given a form so charming,of Sandalphon.Have you read in the Talmud old,In the legends the Rabbins have toldOf the limitless realms of the air, —Have you read it , —the marvellous storyOf Sandalphon, the Angel of Glory,Sandalphon, the Angel of Prayer?How, erect, at the outermost gatesOf the city celestial he waits,With his feet on the ladder of light,That, crowded with angels unnumbered,By Jacob was seen, as he slumbered,Alone in the desert of night?The angels of wind and of fireChant only one hymn, and expireWith the song's irresistible stress;Expire in their rapture and wonder,As harp-strings are broken asunderBy music they throb to express.But, serene in the rapturous throng,Unmoved by the rush of the song,HOW THE RABBIS WROUGHT THE TALMUD, 147With eyes unimpassioned and slow,Among the dead angels, the deathlessSandalphon stands listening breathlessTo sounds that ascend from below;-From the spirits on earth that adore ,From the souls that entreat and imploreIn the ferver and passion of prayer;From hearts that are broken with losses,And weary with dragging the crossesToo heavy for mortals to bear.And he gathers the prayers as he stands,And they change into flowers in his hands,Into garlands of purple and red;And beneath the great arch of the portal ,Through the streets of the City Immortal,Is wafted the fragrance they shed .It is but a legend, I know, —A fable, a phantom , a showOf the ancient Rabbinical lore;Yet the old medieval tradition,The beautiful, strange superstition,But haunts me and holds me the more.When I look from my window at night,And the welkin above is all white,All throbbing and panting with stars,Among them majestic is standingSandalphon, the angel, expandingHis pinions in nebulous bars.And the legend, I feel, is a partOfthe hunger and thirst of the heart,The frenzy and fire of the brain,That grasps at the fruitage forbidden,The golden pomegranates of Eden,To quiet its fever and pain.148 THE STORYOF THE JEWS.As in antiquity the traditioual Law was rejectedbythe Sadducees, who indeed found nothing worthy ofrespect but the five books of Moses, so in the modernera a sect known as the Karaites rejected the workof the Talmudists, and a bitter strife came to passbetween these protestants of Judaism, and the Rabbanites, who accepted the work of the doctors. Theymutually excommunicated one another, wrestled inthe sharpest controversy, and refused to one anotherall friendship and alliance. Though Orthodoxy prevailed, Karaism is still not extinct, lingering on in afew communities in Lithuania and the Crimea.Before dismissing the consideration of Torah andTalmud, a word must be said as to a very valuableand practical part of their precepts. The hygienicrules which they contain are said to possess greatwisdom. The idea of parasitical and infectiousmaladies, of which we now hear so much, occupiedalso the mind of Moses. He indicates with greatwisdom the animals to be used as food, excludingthose liable to parasites, as swine, rabbits, and hares.He prescribes the thorough bleeding of animals tobe eaten, and the burning of the fat; it has beenestablished that it is precisely the blood and the fatwhich are most liable to retain parasitic germs andcarry infection. The Talmud, moreover, directs thatthe liver, lungs, and spleen shall be carefully scrutinized. Precisely those organs are especially liable todisease. With reference to dwellings and clothing,and the satisfying of natural wants, the rules of

• Dr. Noël Gueneau de Mussy: Hygienic Laws of Moses. New

York Medical Abstract, March, 1885 .HOW THE RABBIS WROUGHT THE TALMUD. 149Torah and Talmud are excellent; in point of health,the advantage of a careful observance of the Sabbathis very great; even circumcision can be defended asan excellent sanitary expedient. In several respects.the Mosaic Law is declared to have anticipated modern science by several thousand years. Throughoutthe entire history of Israel the wisdom of the ancientlawgivers in these respects has been remarkablyshown in times of pestilence, the Hebrews havesuffered far less than others; as regards longevityand general health, they have in every age beennoteworthy; at the present time in the life- insuranceoffices the life of a Jew is said to be worth much morethan that of inen of other stock; Sir Moses Montefiore dies at one hundred, and in his great age as wellas in so many other ways, he is only a type of hisnation.Clasping thus in his arms as his chief treasures thescrolls of the Torah and the Talmud, the incongruousmixture of divine wisdom with curious follies, of exalted poetry with grotesque and repulsive superstition, the Jew comes forward in his long pilgrimagethrough the centuries. From the time of those fiercefigures whom we saw struggling to the last againstTitus among the wild spear-brandishings and conflagrations in the midst of which Jerusalem wentdown, to the era of the revival of learning, there isno Hebrew character before whom we need to pause;but here we come upon a memorable personage.An illustrious type of the noble students andthinkers of the Renaissance was Maimonides, a native150 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.of Cordova in Spain, who died in Cairo at the beginning of the thirteenth century. Even in youthhe had mastered all the knowledge of his time,receiving inspiration especially from the great Averroes, the Moorish teacher to whom the revivalof learning owed so much. Persecution from hisbrethren drove him from his birthplace, pursuinghim elsewhere also, until at last he found himself atCairo, where, winning the favor of the broad- mindedSultan Saladin, he became court physician, and stoodin a place of high honor. At the same time hetaught as Rabbi among his own people, spreadingabroad through speeches in the synagogue, but moreespecially through abundant writings in Hebrew andArabic, a multiform knowledge. He communicatedinstruction in medicine, mathematics, and astronomy;better than this, he sent far and wide a noble philosophy which anticipated in its freedom and reasonable spirit the thought of a far later day. Thoughhe suffered harsh treatment at the hands of his fellowJews and the blind world in which his lot was cast,he found defenders and followers; his words communicated the hints from which the master-spirits oflater ages have caught the inspiration which filledthem; to-day men look back upon him, standingthere, just where the dark ages are beginning to growbrighter, as a form lofty and venerable. Not that hewas a man before his age. In some of his writingshe dwells unduly upon Talmudic trifles and stupidities, and cherishes a true Hebrew scorn towards thenotions of the Gentiles. But at other times he denounces astrology, draws up certain rules to be heldHOW THE rabbis wrOUGHT THE TALMUD. 151as fundamental principles, which proclaim monotheism and the immortality of the soul; and in a bookcalled the " Teacher of the Perplexed, " tries to makeeasy for the common man the understanding ofScripture. In this work he so over-rides the confusion of the Talmud, that he was long held by orthodox Jews as a heretic, or possibly a secret Christian.He won, however, respect in life, and a pure andwidely extended fame. His house in Cairo wasbesieged by the sick, who found in him a healer kindand skilful. Some declared him to be the first mantruly great who had appeared among the Jews sincethe time of Moses, and it was written upon his gravethat he was " the elect of the human race."CHAPTER X.THE HOLOCAUSTS IN SPAIN.WE are now to examine the Hebrew story as it istold in the annals of one Christian race. The Jewshave claimed that their progenitors were in the Iberian peninsula even in the days of Carthaginian rule.The Romans and Visigoths in turn succeed, and atlength, through the Visigothic King Sisebut, theHebrews undergo their first sharp persecution . Theygladly exchange the Christian for the Moslem yoke,and, as we have seen, flourish with the Moors inbrotherly accord. With the ebb of the Saracenpower Navarre, Castile, Arragon, take shape on thestrand that is laid bare, until in the fifteenth centurythe Cross supplants the green banner of the propheteven in Granada, and the forces of the whole peninsula, blended so that they can be wielded by a singlearm, become the mighty power of Spain. The Jewchanged masters, not to his advantage, but his misfortunes did not begin at once. The Spanish Israelites, the " Sephardim," as they call themselves, havealways claimed that they were of nobler rank thanelsewhere; at first they were prosperous and wealthy,with no mark of the degradation induced by beingforced to debasing means of extorting riches. TheyTHE HOLOCAUSTS IN SPAIN. 153owned and tilled the soil, were the agents of commerce, cultivators of the arts. In particular, theywere the physicians of the country. " Every one,"says Milman, " sat under his shady fig-tree or clusterladen vine singing hymns to the mighty God ofIsrael who again had mercy on his people. " In theCrusades Spain took little part, embarrassment frominfidels close at hand pressing much too sharply.The Jews, too, were spared for a time the outburstsof fanatical rage which overtook them elsewhere inChristendom, but the respite was brief. In 1212 , agreat battle having been lost against the Moors, aswas said on account of the love of the king for aJewess, twelve thousand Hebrews were massacred.Christian cruelty, however, was at first fitful . Theoutburst of rage was speedily followed by favor, andfor two centuries we trace alternations of crueltyand sufferance until the union of the crowns of Arragon and Castile. To avoid persecution many Jewsbecame nominally Christian. The converts werealmost universally still Jews at heart, though manyascended to positions of the highest eminence. Evenin the Church the frock of the friar covered thousandswhose confession was only a pretence. There wereheads indeed surmounted with the mitre whosesincere homage was rendered not to the Host, but insecret, before the parchment tables of the Law. Todiscover how widely covert Jewish practices prevailed, it is said, it was only necessary to ascend ahill on their Sabbath, and look down on towns andvillages below. Scarce half the chimneys would beseen to smoke, for the multitudes of secret Jews154 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.celebrated their holy time. Among men of thebluest Castilian blood were those of Hebrew strain.The lordliest hidalgos bowing before the altar ofthe Virgin in public, often , when in private, lifted atapestry, and by a secret door entered a shrine setforth with Israelitish symbols. Such a shrine is thusdescribed by a descendant of the Spanish Hebrews,following, probably, traditions handed down froman ancient time. *" The edifice was square, and formed of solid blocksof cedar; neither carving nor imagery of any kindadorned it, yet it had evidently been built with skilland care. There was neither tower nor bell. Adoor, so skilfully constructed as when closed to beinvisible in the solid wall, opened noiselessly. Theinterior was as peculiar as its outward appearance.Its walls of polished cedar were unadorned. In thecentre, facing the east, was a sort of raised table ordesk, surrounded by a railing, and covered with acloth of the richest and most elaborately workedbrocade. Exactly opposite and occupying the centre of the eastern wall , was a sort of lofty chest orark, the upper part of which, arched, and richlypainted, with a blue ground, bore in two columns.strange hieroglyphics in gold; beneath this were portals of polished cedar, panelled and marked out withgold, but bearing no device; their hinges set ingilded pillars, which supported the arch above. Before these portals were generally drawn curtains ofmaterial rich and glittering as that upon the readingdesk. But this day not only were the curtains drawn

• Grace Aguilar, in the " Vale of Cedars. "

THE HOLOCAUSTS IN SPAIN. 155aside, but the portals themselves flung open, as thebridal party neared the steps which led to it, and disclosed six or seven rolls of parchment, folded onsilver pins, and filled with the same strange letters,each clothed in drapery of variously colored brocadeor velvet, and surmounted by two sets of silver ornaments, in which the bell and pomegranate were,though small, distinctly discernible. A superb lampof solid silver was suspended from the roof, and oneof smaller dimensions, but of equally valuable material, and always kept lighted, hung just before theark. "It was very seldom that the zeal of the monkishpreachers won a new convert. *One is struck with wonder at the energy of thefanaticism that should undertake to crush out a formof unbelief so widely spread and so strongly placed.The attempt was made, and the instrument employedwas the most ' dreadful engine which superstitionever devised the Inquisition. In the city of Nuremberg one may go into the ancient torture- chamber—a room preserved unchanged, still retaining all

• From ancient times to the present day, indeed, the Hebrews have

yielded few proselytes to Christianity—a fact amusingly hit off notlong since by Punch, who describes the work of the English Societyfor the Conversion of the Jews in language substantially as follows:" It appears from the report of the Society for the Conversion of theHebrews, that during the past year there has been an outlay of £5,000,as the result of which four large Israelites and one little one havebeen converted to Christianity. To effect the change, therefore,costs £1,000 per Jew. Mr. Punch would respectfully intimate to hisHebrew friends that he is acquainted with large numbers of Christians who would be very happy to become Jews at a much smallerfigure. "156 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.its dismal apparatus for causing suffering. No member of the body appears to be forgotten; for eachis the appointed contrivance to wring and tear.Then by winding subterranean passages you are ledto the vault in the bowels of the earth, where standsthe " iron maiden, " the apparatus for secret execution. At the touch of a spring the rude woman'sfigure flies apart, the blood-rusted spikes of its interior dreadfully visible in the light of the smokingtorch, as in ancient days before the eyes of condemned men; and below, the yawning pit, from whoseabyss sounds far down the splash of the sullen waters into which the mangled body fell . To speak ofsuch things almost requires an apology. The manof modern times groans and shudders at these sights."Whence came, " he cries, " the people who madeand used these engines? How can I believe thatthese beings are of the same nature with my own? "At Regensburg, at Salzburg, in Baden Baden, inthose deep caverns hollowed out in the heart of therock, where doors of stone close behind you with aheavy groan, and the loudest cry is muffled at onceinto a whisper, one may see the grisly apparatus ofNuremberg duplicated, and these cities are notalone. There are grim volumes on the history oftorture, from which may be learned that throughantiquity and mediæval times there was no lawful court which did not have, not far off, somesuch dismal appurtenance, the legitimate and recognized appliance, not only for the punishment ofcrime, but for the examination of witnesses. To mymind, there is no thing which so measures the lengthTHE HOLOCAUSTS IN SPAIN. 157of the forward step the world has taken, as the sickening dread with which the modern man contemplates these things which were once every-day andmatter-of-course.In the Inquisition there was a wholesale employment of all this nightmare machinery. The Inquisition was established in the first instance to terrifyinto faithfulness apostate Jews, the sincerity ofwhose conversion to Christianity was suspected, andin almost all cases, with good reason. Seated in somevast and frowning castle, or in some sunless cavernof the earth, its ministers chosen from the mostinfluential men of the nation , its familiars in everydisguise, in every corner of the land, its proceedingsutterly secret, its decrees overriding every law, itwould be impossible to draw a picture which wouldexaggerate its accumulated horrors. Men andwomen disappeared by hundreds, suddenly and completely as a breath annihilates the flame of a lamp,some gone forever without whisper as to their fate;some to reappear in after years, halt through longtortures, pale and insane through frightful incarceration. When in the cities the frequent processionswound through the streets, with their long files ofvictims on the way to the place of burning, childrenbereaved of father and mother flocked to seewhether among the doomed they might not catch alast look of the face of the long-lost parent. Theforms that were observed were such a mockery ofjustice! In the midst of the torture came the coldinterrogation of the inquisitor. Fainting with terrorand anguish, the sufferer uttered he knew not what,158 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.to be written down by waiting clerks and made thebasis of procedure. Grace Aguilar, in one of herstories, makes her heroine to disappear through thefloor of a chamber of Queen Isabella herself, whohad sought to protect her, borne then by secretpassages to a vast hall, where a grandee of Spainsuperintends cruelties of which my words give butan adumbration. She recites the traditions thathave came down in Jewish families, and history confirms all that they report. No earthly power couldsave; no human fancy can paint the scene too dark.For a time the situation of the Jews who dared toprofess their faith openly, was preferable to that ofthose who made Christian pretences while reallyunchanged. It was not that the latter were regarded with greater favor, but because the powers hesitated before the magnitude of the task of dealingwith a class numbering hundreds of thousands andcomprehending a vast proportion of the intelligenceand ability of the nation. But fanaticism rose tocope with the undertaking, showing a force and persistence that have something admirable even whileso devilish. In 1492 a decree was passed, that theJews, a multitude though they were, and often inhigh places, must depart from the land. Isabella,though well-meaning, was completely under priestlyinfluence, and soon assented to the plan. Ferdinand,through motives of policy rather than humanity,hesitated long. When the decision was at lengthmade, a dramatic scene is said to have taken place inthe palace. Abarbanel, a Jew of the highest position and worth, a man compared to the prophetTHE HOLOCAUSTS IN SPAIN. 159Daniel for his authority among his own race, and therespect he had forced from the oppressors of hispeople, penetrated to the presence of the sovereigns,and threw himself at their feet. He implored thathis people might not be driven forth, and offered abribe of 300,000 ducats that the decree might berecalled . Suddenly into the presence stalked , in hismonkish robe, the gloomy form of the chief inquisitor, Torquemada, bearing a crucifix. "Judas Iscariot " cried he, unshrinkingly, to the abashed rulers,"sold his master for thirty pieces of silver; you wishto sell him for 300,000. Here he is; take him andsell him! " I do not know what sadder tale can betold than the relation of the scenes of their departure. The Hebrews had come to love Spain liketheir own Canaan. They visited the graves of theirancestors, bidding them a long farewell. Sometimesthey removed the tombstones to carry them in theirwanderings. Along the high-roads proceeded thelong files of outcasts, sometimes to the beat of thedrum which the rabbis and elders caused to bestruck that the hearts of the people might notutterly sink, bearing with them the scrolls of theirholy Law, and the remnant of their possessions.Valuable lands, in the forced sales, were exchangedfor a little cloth; fine houses for a pair of mules.Vast sums that were owed them were confiscated;in every way they became the prey of the rapacious.Stuffing their saddles and furniture with such goldpieces as they could secure, they made their way tothe harbors. Alone of the nations of the world, theTurks of the Levant were ready to receive them with160 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.some kindness. Those who made their way toMorocco and Algiers were sold into slavery, starved,ripped open by oppressors, who hoped to find jewelsor gold which the persecuted ones had swallowed.Christendom was barred against them almost as withwalls of brass. Italy alone showed some trace ofmercy. The great trading cities tolerated them,though for purely selfish reasons. The general policy of the popes, too, be it said to their credit, contrasts favorably with that of other sovereigns, thoughit was harsh enough, and such features of leniency asit possessed, came usually from no good motive.But even in Italy there was tragedy of the saddest.In Portugal there was at first a prospect of mildtreatment, and the greater part of the outcasts wentthither. But a marriage of the king with a princessof Spain, which soon took place, brought to passwoes deeper, if possible, than elsewhere. Not onlymust the Jews depart, but their children were takenfrom them to be brought up as Christians, till at lastmothers in despair threw their babes into the riversand wells, and killed themselves. The stories of massacres are wellnigh incredible. But Spain pursued thepolicy without relenting. Those whom she cast outwere of the best middle class, which both created thewealth of the land and kept it in constant movement,like blood within the body. They were not onlycapitalists, merchants, physicians, and scholars, butfarmers, artisans, and laborers. The spirit of enterprise and culture left Spain with the Jews. Herpopulation became spiritless and diminished , and theTHE HOLOCAUSTS IN SPAIN. 161land sank into a debasem*nt which has never passedaway. *Following the details as given by the Israelite historian Graetz in his great work of eleven volumes,there are scores of vivid touches making all too plainthis dreadful harrying and expatriation. " Spain," hesays, " was full of the corruption of dungeons andthe crackling pyres of innocent Jews. Alamentationwent through the beautiful land which might piercebone and marrow; but the sovereigns held back thearms of the pitiful. " " The beautiful land! " so dothe Hebrews call it, for they had come to love it,and looked back to it as to a paradise. " In ourtime," says Isaac Arama at the end of the 15thcentury, " the smoky column ascends to heaven inall the Spanish kingdoms and islands. A third ofthe new Christians (the nominally converted Jews)have perished by fire-a third wander as fugitivestrying to hide, in continual fear of arrest. BeautifulSpain has become a flaming Tophet whose fierytongue is all-devouring. "Two hundred years later the spirit of Spain wasunchanged. I find in a Jewish writer an account ofan auto-da-fe celebrated in 1680, in honor of themarriage of Charles II. with Marie Louise, niece ofLouis XIV. Upon the great square in Madrid anamphitheatre was reared, with a box for the royalfamily upon one side, opposite to which was a dais

• This is the statement of Graetz: " Geschichte des Judenthums,"

volume VIII. , the Spanish chapter. It can hardly be said , however,that Spain showed symptoms of decline until one hundred years later,at the time of the revolt of the Netherlands and rise of the DutchRepublic.162 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.for the grand inquisitor and his train. The courtofficials were present in gala uniforms, the tradeguilds in their state dresses, the orders of monks, animmense concourse of the populace. From thechurch towers pealed the bells, among whose sounds,were heard the chants of the monks. At 8 o'clockentered the procession . Before the grand inquisitorwas borne the green cross of the Holy Office, whilethe bystanders shouted: " Long live the Catholicfaith! " First marched a hundred charcoal burners,dressed in black and armed with pikes. It was theirprescriptive right to lead the procession, as havingfurnished the fuel for the sacrifice. A troop ofDominican monks followed , then a duke of the bluestblood, hereditary standard-bearer of the Holy Office.After friars and nobles carrying banners and crossescame thirty-five effigies of life size, with names attached, borne by familiars of the Inquisition , representing condemned men who had died in prison orescaped. Other Dominicans appeared, a ghastly rowcarrying coffins containing the bones of those convicted of heresy after death; then fifty- four penitentswith the dress and badge of victims, bearing lightedtapers. In turn came a company of Jews and Jewesses(in the interval since Ferdinand and Isabella a portionof the Jews had returned from banishment), mostlypersons of humble rank, in whom the interest of theceremony chiefly centred; these were to be burnedas obstinate in their refusal of the faith. Each worea cloak of coarse serge, yellow in color, covered withrepresentations, in crimson, of flames, demons, serpents, and crosses. Upon their heads were high-THE HOLOCAUSTS IN SPAIN. 163pointed caps, with placards in front bearing thename and offence of the wearer. Haggard theywere through long endurance of dungeon damp anddarkness, broken and torn from the torture chambers, glad, for the most part, that the end of theirweary days had come.Asthe procession movedpast the station ofthe royalpersonages, a girl of seventeen, whose great beautyhad not been destroyed, cried out aloud from amongthe condemned to the young queen: " Noble queen,cannot your royal presence save me from this? Isucked in my religion with my mother's milk; mustI now die for it? " The queen's eyes filled with tears,and she turned away her face. She was unused tosuch sights. Even she, probably, could not haveinterceded without danger to herself. The supplicating girl passed on with her companions to herfate. High mass having been performed, the preliminaries to the terrible concluding scene are transacted. The sun descends, the Angelus is rung fromthe belfrys, the vespers are chanted, the multitude.proceeds to the place of suffering. It is a squareplatform of stone in the outskirts of the city, atwhose four corners stand mis-shapen statues ofprophets. Those who repent at the last momenthave the privilege of being strangled before burning.The effigies and bones of the dead are first given tothe flames. Last perish the living victims, the kinghimself lighting the fa*gots; their constancy is somarked that they are believed to be sustained by thedevil. Night deepens; the glare of the flames fallsupon the cowl of the Capuchin, the cord of the164 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.Franciscan-upon corselet and plume-everywhereupon faces fierce with fanaticism . In the background rises the gloomy city-all alight as if withthe lurid fire of hell.CHAPTER XI.THE BLOODY HAND IN GERMANY.IN one of the old towns on the Rhine, * I went tosee a synagogue which, tradition says, was builtbefore the Christian era. In Roman legions servedcertain Jews, who, stationed here on the frontier ofGaul, which had just been subdued, founded a templeof their faith . I felt that the low, blackened wallsof time-defying masonry had at any rate an immenseantiquity. The blocks of stone were beaten by theweather-the thresholds nearly worn through by thepassing of feet; a deep hollow lay in a stone at theportal, where the multitude of generations hadtouched it with the finger in sacred observances.Within the low interior my Jewish guide told me asorrowful legend, which was, no doubt, in part true,relating to a lamp burning with a double flamebefore the shrine. Once, in the old cruel days, thathatred might be excited against the Jews of the city,a dead child was secretly thrown by the Christiansinto the cellar of one of that faith. Straightway anaccusation was brought by the contrivers of thetrick; the child was found, and the innocent Hebrewsaccused of the murder. The authorities of the city

• See the author's " Short IIistory of German Literature. "

166 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.threatened at once to throw the chief men of thecongregation into a caldron of boiling oil if themurderers were not produced. Time pressed; therabbi and elders were bound, and heard already, closeat hand, the simmering of the preparing torture.There appeared two strangers, who gave themselvesinto the hands of the magistrates, voluntarily accusing themselves of the crime. Into the caldrons theywere at once thrown, from which, as they died,ascended two milk-white doves. Innocent, with apious lie upon their lips, they sacrificed themselvesto save others. To commemorate their deed, thelamp with the double flame had been kept foreverburning within the low arch.I walked one day through the Juden-gasse at Frankfort. The modern world is ashamed of the cruelty andprejudice of the past, and would like to hide fromsight the things that bear witness to it. The low,strong wall, however, was still standing, within whosenarrow confine the Jews were crowded, never safefrom violence or even death if they were found outside at times not permitted. Many of the ancienthouses still remained, the fronts discolored , channelled,rising in mutilation and decay that were pathetic.The Hebrews of to-day seem to take pleasure incontrasting their present condition with their pastmisery. They have chosen to erect their statelysynagogue among the old roofs,-upon the foundations even of the wall with which the past tried tofence them off from all Christian contact. Amongsuch surroundings, how does the story, so long andso tragic, come home to us!THE BLOODY HAND IN GERMANY. 167The persecution of the Jews in Germany, a chapterages long, culminated at the time of the BlackDeath, 1348-1350. This scourge, which carried offa quarter of the population of Europe, afflicted theJews but lightly, on account of their isolation, andtheir simple and wholesome way of life. This comparative exemption from the pest was enough tomake them suspected. The Jews poison the wellsand the springs, it was said. The rabbis of Toledowere believed to have formed a plot to destroy allChristendom. The composition of the poison, thecolor of the packages in which it was transported, theemissaries who conveyed them, were all declared tohave been discovered. Confirmations of these reports, extracted by torture from certain poor creatures, were forthcoming, and the people flew uponthe Jews until entire communities were destroyed.The " Flagellants," fanatical sectaries, half naked andscourging themselves, swarmed through Germany,preaching extermination to all unbelievers. Basleexpelled its Jews, Fribourg burned them, Spiresdrowned them. The entire community at Strassbourg, 2,000 souls, was dragged upon an immensescaffold, which was set on fire . At Worms, Frankfort, and Mainz, the Israelites anticipated their fate,setting their homes on fire and throwing themselvesinto the flames.A picture, derived from Jewish authorities, † shallmake vivid for us the condition of the Israelites inmediæval Germany.

• Reinach: " Histoire des Israélites. "

Based upon the incomplete novel of Heine, " The Rabbi ofBacharach, " and accounts contained in the history of Graetz.168 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.The little community of Hebrews which already inthe time of the Romans had settled in the town ofWoistes, on the Rhine, was a body isolated , crowdedout of all civil rights, and weak in numbers, notwithstanding that it had received in times of persecutionmany fugitives. The suffering had begun with theCrusades. Familiar accusations that were made atan early day, were that the Jews stole the consecrated Host to pierce it with knives, and alsothat they killed Christian children at their Passover,for the sake of using their blood in the service at night.The Jews, hated for their faith, and because theyheld the world to such an extent in their debt, wereon that festival entirely in the hands of their enemies, who could easily bring about their destructionby some false accusation . Not infrequently throughsome contrivance a dead child was secretly introduced into a Jewish house, to be afterwards foundand made a pretext for attack. Great miracles weresometimes reported and believed, as having happenedover such a corpse, and there are cases in which thePope canonized such supposed victims. St. Wernerin this way reached his honors, to whom was dedicated the magnificent abbey at Oberwesel, now apicturesque ruin, whose carved and towering pillarsand long- pointed windows are such a delight to thetourists who pass on pleasant summer days, and donot think of their origin.The more outside hate oppressed them, however,so much the closer did the bond become, in thesetimes, among the Jews themselves; so much thedeeper did their piety take root. The Rabbi Abra-THE BLOODY HAND IN GERMANY. 169ham at Woistes was an example of excellence, a manstill young, but famed far and wide for his learning.His father had also been rabbi of the little synagogue,and had left to his son as his only bequest, a chest ofrare books, and the command never to leave Woistes,unless his life were in danger. Rabbi Abraham hadacquired wealth through marriage with his beautifulcousin Sarah, daughter of a rich jeweller. He practised conscientiously, however, the smallest usages ofthe faith; he fasted each Monday and Thursday, enjoyed meat and wine only on Sundays and holidays,explained by day to his pupils the divine Law, andstudied by night the courses of the stars. Themarriage was childless, but there was abundant life.about him; for the great hall of his house by thesynagogue stood open to the congregation , who wentin and out without formality, offered hasty prayers,and took counsel in times of distress. Here thechildren played on the Sabbath morning while theweekly lesson was read in the synagogue; here thepeople collected at weddings and funerals, quarrelledand became reconciled; here the freezing foundwarmth and the hungry food. A crowd of kinsmenmoved also about the rabbi who celebrated with him,as head of the family, the great festivals.Such meetings of the kindred took place especiallyat the Passover time, when the Jews celebrate theirescape from Egyptian bondage. As soon as it isnight the mistress of the house lights the lamps,spreads the table-cloth, and lays upon it three flatunleavened loaves; then covering these with a napkin,she places on the little mound six little plates, in170 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.which is contained symbolical food—namely, an egg,lettuce, a radish, a lamb's bone, and a brown mixtureof oranges, cinnamon, and nuts. Then the master ofthe house, seating himself at the table with all hisguests, reads aloud out of the Talmud a mixture oflegends of the forefathers, miraculous stories out ofEgypt, controversial questions, prayers, and festalsongs. The symbolical dishes are tasted at set times.during the reading, pieces of the unleavened breadare eaten, and cups of red wine are drunk. Pensivelycheerful, seriously sportive is this evening festival,full also of mystery; and the traditional intonationwith which the Talmud is read by the father of thehouse, and sometimes repeated after him by thehearers, in a chorus, sounds so strangely intimate, solike a mother's lullaby, and at the same time sostimulating, that even those Jews who have longsince apostatized and sought friends and honorsamong strangers, are affected in their deepest hearts,if by chance the old Passover songs come to theirears.Rabbi Abraham was once celebrating, in the greathall of his house, the Passover, with kindred, pupils,and guests. All was polished to an unusual brilliancy; on the table lay the covering of silk,variously embroidered, with fringes of gold hangingto the earth. The plates with the symbolical foodgleamed brightly, as did also the tall wine-filledbeakers, on which were embossed sacred scenes .The men sat in black mantles, black flat hats, andwhite ruffs. The women, in glistening attire of material brought from Lombardy, wore on head andTHE BLOODY HAND IN GERMANY. 171neck ornaments of pearl. The silver Sabbath lamppoured its festal light over the pleased and devoutfaces of old and young. Onthe purple velvet cushionof a seat raised above the rest, and leaning as theusage requires, Rabbi Abraham intoned the Talmud,and the contrasting voices of the chorus answered orjoined in unison at the prescribed places. The rabbiwore also his black festival garment; his noble, somewhat severely formed features were milder thanusual. His beautiful wife sat upon a raised velvetseat at his side, wearing, as hostess, no ornament,while simple white linen alone wrapped her form andface. Her countenance was touchingly fair, of thatbeauty which Jewesses have often possessed; forthe consciousness of the deep misery, the bittercontempt, and appalling dangers in which they andtheir kindred are forced to live, spreads often overtheir features a trace of suffering and loving anxietywhich strangely entrances the heart. She looked intoher husband's eyes, with now and then a glance atthe copy of the Talmud lying before her, a parchment volume bound in gold and velvet, an heirloomfrom the time of her grandfather, marked withancient wine stains. The gay pictures which it contained, to look at which had been part of her amusem*nt as a child, at the Passover time, presentedvarious Biblical stories: Abraham with a hammer,dashed in pieces the stone idols of his fathers; Mosesstruck dead the Egyptian; Pharaoh sat magnificentupon his throne; again , the plague of frogs left himno quiet, and finally he was drowned in the Red Sea;the children of Israel stood open-mouthed in their172 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.wonder before Sinai; pious King David played theharp; and finally Jerusalem with the towers andpinnacles of the Temple was illuminated by the sun.The second cup was already poured out. Thefaces and voices of the guests were becoming alwaysclearer, and the Rabbi, seizing one of the unleavenedloaves, and holding it up with a cheerful greeting,read the following words: " Lo, this is the food ofwhich our fathers in Egypt partook! every one whois hungry let him come and eat; let the afflictedshare our Passover joy; for the present we celebratethe festival here, but in the coming years in the landof Israel; we celebrate now as bondmen, but hereafter as sons of freedom. " Just here the door of thelong hall opened, and two tall , pale figures entered,wrapt in broad cloaks, one of whom said: " Peacebe with you. We are your companions in the faith,who now are journeying, and we wish to celebratethe Passover with you. " The Rabbi answeredquickly and kindly: " Peace be with you; sit hereby me." The strangers seated themselves at thetable, and Abraham continued his reading. Often,while the by-standers were still occupied with theresponses, he addressed sportively caressing words tohis wife, then again took up his part, how " RabbiEleazar, Rabbi Asaria, Rabbi Akiba, and RabbiTarphen, sat in Bona-brak and talked together thewhole night of the Exodus, until their scholars cameand called out to them that it was day, and in thesynagogue great morning-prayer was already beingread," or some similar passage from the quaint disjointed record.THE BLOODY HAND IN GERMANY. 173As the Hebrew woman reverently listened witheyes fixed on her husband, she saw that his facesuddenly became distorted with horror, the bloodfled from his cheeks and lips, and his eyes stood outin dreadful astonishment. Instantly, however, herecovered himself. The agitation passed off like amomentary spasm, his features resuming their formerquiet cheerfulness. Presently a mad humor, quiteforeign to him, seemed to take possession of him.The wife was terrified, less on account of the signsof astonished fear than on account of the insanemerriment. Abraham pushed his cap in wild sportfrom one ear to the other, plucked and curled thelocks of his beard like a buffoon, sang the text ofthe Talmud like a street minstrel; and in countingup the Egyptian plagues, when the index-finger isdipped several times into the full beaker, and thedrop hanging from it thrown to the ground, theRabbi spattered the younger girls with red wine,and there was loud complaint over destroyed ruffles, and resounding laughter. This convulsivelevity on the part of her husband seemed constantlystranger to Sarah, and she looked on with nameless.anxiety, as the guests, incited by Abraham, dancedback and forth, tasted the Passover bread, sippedthe wine, and sang aloud.At length came the time of the evening meal, andall prepared to wash themselves. The wife broughtthe great silver laver, adorned with figures of beatengold, and held it before each guest, who pouredwater over his hands. While she was performingthis service, her husband made a significant sign to174 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.her, and during the preparations slipped unnoticedfrom the room. As she followed him immediately,he seized her hand with a hasty clutch, drew herquickly forth through the dark lanes of the town,and passed at length out of the gate to the highroad along the Rhine. It was one of those quietnights of spring which, indeed, is mild and bright,but fills the soul with a strange thrill. The flowersexhaled an oppressive odor, the birds filled the airwith a kind of anxious twitter, the moon threw whitestreaks of light uncannily over the dark, murmuringstream. The lofty cliffs of the bank seemed likeheads of giants threateningly nodding; the watchman on the tower of a lonely castle opposite blewfrom his bugle a melancholy note, and now soundedforth the death-bell from the abbey of St. Werner,quickly pealing. The wife still carried in her righthand the silver basin, while Abraham kept fast hisclutch upon her left wrist. She felt that his fingerswere icy cold and that his arm trembled, but shefollowed in silence, foreboding she knew not what,while the sights and sounds of the night seemed toher, in her mood, pervaded with such strange terror.Reaching at length a rock which overhung the rivershore, the Rabbi mounted with his wife, lookedwarily in all directions, then stared upward at thestars. The moon illuminated his pale face in aghastly way, showing a mingled expression of pain,fear, and devotion . As he suddenly snatched thelaver from her hand and flung it down into the rivershe could no longer bear it , but throwing herself athis feet, begged him to reveal the mystery. TheTHE BLOODY HAND IN GERMANY. 175lips of Abraham moved, but at first no sound cameforth. At length he stammered: " Do you see theangel of death there hovering over Woistes? We,however, have escaped his sword, praised be theLord! " With voice still trembling with horror hethen related, his spirit growing calmer gradually as itfound utterance, how, while in pleasant frame hesat chanting from the Talmud, he had happened tolook underthe table, and had beheld there at his feetthe bloody corpse of a child. " Then I saw, " he wenton, “ that the two tall strangers were not of thecongregation of Israel, but of the assembly of thegodless, who had taken council to accuse us ofchild-murder, and afterwards excite the people toplunder and slay us. I dared not let it be seen thatI had discovered the work of darkness. I shouldhave hastened our destruction by doing so, and onlycunning and promptness have saved us. Be notanxious, Sarah. Our friends and kindred will besaved. The ruthless men coveted my death alone.Since I have escaped them, they will satisfy themselves with our silver and gold. Let us depart toanother land, leaving misfortune behind us; and inorder that misfortune may not pursue us, I havethrown away in atonement the last of our possessions, the basin of silver. The God of our fatherswill not abandon us. Come down, thou art tired.Wilhelm, the dumb boy, waits with his boat there atthe shore; he will carry us down the Rhine. "Speechless and as if with broken limbs, the beautiful Sarah had sunk away into the arms of Abraham,who bore her slowly down toward the shore. There176 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.stood Wilhelm , who, the support of his old mother,the Rabbi's neighbor, followed the calling of a fisherman, and had here fastened his boat. He seemed tohave already guessed the intention of the Rabbi, andto be waiting for him. About his closed lips played anexpression of gentle pity, his great blue eyes, full offeeling, rested upon the fainting woman, whom hecarried tenderly to the little boat. The look of thedumb boy aroused her from her stupefaction . Shefelt suddenly that all which her husband had told herwas no mere dream, and streams of bitter tearspoured down her cheeks, which were now as whiteas her robe. There she sat in the middle of the boat,a weeping form of marble, --by her side her husbandand Wilhelm, who plied the oars vigorously.Whether it is the monotonous stroke of the oars,or the rocking of the craft, or the fragrance of thosemountainous shores, upon which grow the clustersthat inspire man with joy, it always happens that themost afflicted man is strangely calmed, when on aspring night, in a light skiff, he sails upon the beautiful Rhine. Old good-hearted father Rhine cannotbear, indeed, to have his children weep. He rocksthem in his faithful arms, stilling their sobbing, relates to them his finest tales, promises them hisrichest treasures, perhaps the hoard of the Nibelungen, sunk so long ago. Sarah's tears flowed at lastless passionately. The whispering waves charmedaway her sorrows, the night lost its gloom, and themountains about her home wished her, as it were, atender farewell. As she mused, at length it seemedto her as if she, a child, were once more seated uponTHE BLOODY HAND IN GERMANY. 177the little stool before her father's velvet chair, whostroked her long hair, laughed at her pleasantly, androcked back and forth in his ample Sabbath dressinggown of blue silk. It must have been the Sabbath,for the flower- embroidered covering was laid on thetable. All the utensils in the room shone brightlypolished, the white-bearded servant of the congregation sat at her father's side and talked Hebrew.Abraham too came in, as in his boyhood, bearing agreat book, and wished to expound a passage of HolyWrit in order that his uncle might be convinced thathe had learned much the past week. The little fellow laid the book on the arm of the broad chair, andgave the story of Jacob and Rachel, how Jacob hadlifted up his voice and wept aloud, when he first beheld his cousin Rachel, how he had spoken to herintimately at the well, how he had been obliged toserve for Rachel seven years, how quickly they hadpassed, and how he had married Rachel and hadloved her forever. Sarah remembered that herfather suddenly cried out in merry tones: " Wiltthou not marry just so?" Whereupon the littleAbraham answered earnestly: " That will I, and sheshall wait seven years. "As the figures passed vaguely through the fancyof the fugitive, they became strangely confused .The Rhine seemed at length to murmur the monotonous melodies of the Talmud, and the pictures shehad known in her childhood appeared to rise largeas life, and distorted . Old Abraham dashed inpieces the forms of the idols, which grew quicklytogether again; Mt. Sinai lightened and flamed;178 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.King Pharaoh swam in the Red Sea, holding fast inhis teeth his crown of gold with its points; frogswith human countenances swam behind, the wavesfoamed and roared, and a dark, gigantic hand wasthrust threateningly forth . Coming to herself for amoment, Sarah looked up to the mountains of theshore, upon whose summits the lights of the castles.flickered and at whose foot the moonlit mist wasspread. Suddenly she seemed to see there herfriends and kindred, hurrying along the Rhine fullof terror, with corpse-like faces and white, wavingshrouds. A blackness passed before her eyes, astream of ice was poured into her soul, and vaguelyinto her half swoon came the voice of the Rabbi,saying his evening prayer slowly and anxiously, asby the bedside of people sick unto death. Butsuddenly the gloomy curtain was drawn away.Above the Hebrew woman appeared the holy cityof Jerusalem with its towers and gates. The Templeshone in golden splendor; in its court she beheldher father, in his Sabbath attire, and with joyfulcountenance. From the windows her friends andkindred treated her joyfully; in the Holy of Holiesknelt pious King David, with purple mantle andsparkling crown, sending forth afar the music ofpsalm and harp. Peacefully smiling at length, as ifcomforted by the vision, she slept.When she opened her eyes again upon the world,she was almost blinded by the bright beams of themorning sun. The lofty towers of a great city roseclose at hand, and Wilhelm, standing upright withhis boat-hook, guided the boat through a thick pressTHE BLOODY Hånd in geRMANY. 179of gay-pennoned craft. " This is Niegesehenburg,"said Abraham. " There you see the great bridge,with its thirteen arches, and in the midst the littlecabin , where, they say, dwells a certain baptizedJew. He acts for the Israelite congregation, andpays to whomsoever shall bring him a dead rat six.farthings; for the Jews must deliver yearly to thecity council five thousand rat-tails. " Presently theylanded, and the Rabbi conducted his wife throughthe great crowd on the bank, where now, because itwas Easter, a crowd of wooden booths had beenbuilt.What a various throng! For the most part theywere trades-people, bargaining with one anotheraloud, or talking to themselves while they reckonedon their fingers; often heavy-laden porters ran behind them in a dog-trot to carry their purchases totheir warehouses. Other faces gave evidence thatonly curiosity had attracted them. The stout citycouncillor could be recognized by his red cloak andgolden neck-chain; the iron-spiked helmet, the yellow leather doublet, and the clinking spurs announcedthe man-at-arms. Under the black--velvet cap, whichcame together in a point on the forehead, a rosygirl's face was concealed, and the young fellows whofollowed her appeared like fops, with their plumedcaps, their peaked shoes, and their silken parti-colored dress. In this the right side was green, andthe left side red; or on one side streaked rainbow- like ,the other checkered, so that the foolish fellowslooked as if they were split in the middle. Drawnon by the crowd, the Rabbi, with his wife, reached180 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.the great market-place of the town, surrounded byhigh-gabled houses, chief among them the greatRath-haus. In this building the emperors of Germany had been sometimes entertained , and knightlysports were often held before it. King Maximilian,who loved such things passionately, was then presentin the city, and the day before, in his honor, a greattournament had taken place before the Rath-haus.About the lists which the carpenters were nowtaking away many idlers were standing, telling oneanother how yesterday the Duke of Brunswick andthe Margrave of Brandenburg had charged againsteach other amid the sound of trumpets and drums;and how Sir Walter had thrust the Knight of theBear so violently out of the saddle that the splintersof his lance flew into the air, the tall , fair KingMax standing meanwhile among his courtiers on thebalcony, and rubbing his hands with joy. The covering of golden material still lay upon the balconyand in the arched windows of the Rath-haus; therest of the houses of the market-place were still infestal dress.What a crowd of every station and age wereassembled here! People laughed, rejoiced, playedpractical jokes. Sometimes the trumpet of themountebank pealed sharply, who, in a red cloak,with his clown and ape, stood on a lofty scaffold,proclaimed aloud his own skill, and praised his miraculous tinctures and salves. Two fencing- masters,swinging their rapiers, with ribbons fluttering, methere as if by chance, and thrust at one another inapparent anger; after a long battle, each declaredTHE BLOODY HAND IN GERMANY. 181the other invincible, and collected a few pennies.With drum and fife, the newly-constituted guilds ofarchers marched past. The sound was at last lost,and the long- drawn chanting of an approachingprocession was heard. It was a solemn train oftonsured and bare-footed monks, carrying burningtapers, banners with images of the saints, or greatsilver crucifixes. At their head went acolytes inrobes of red and white, with smoking censers; in themidst, under a beautiful canopy, priests were seenin white robes of costly lace, or in stoles of variegatedsilk, one of whom bore in his hand a golden vessel,shaped like the sun, which he held on high beforethe shrine of a saint in the market-place, while hehalf shouted and half sang Latin words. At thesame time a little bell sounded, and all the peoplefell upon their knees and crossed themselves.The Rabbi drew his wife away by a narrowlane, then through a labyrinth of contracted, crookedstreets, to the Jewish quarter. This was providedwith strong walls, with chains of iron before thegates, to bar them against the pressure of the rabble.Here the Jews lived, oppressed and anxious in therecollection of previous calamity. When the Flagellants, in passing through, had set the city on fire,and accused the Jews of doing it, many of the latterhad been murdered by the frenzied populace, orfound death in the flames of their own houses.Since then the Jews had often been threatenedIwith similar destruction, and in the internal dissensions of the city, the Christian rabble had alwaysstood ready to storm the Jewish quarter. The great182 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.wall which enclosed it had two gates, which onCatholic holidays were closed from the outside, andon Jewish holidays from within .The keys rattled , the gate opened with a jar, asthe Rabbi and his wife stepped into the Judengasse,which was quite empty of people. " Don't be surprised, " said the Jewish gatekeeper, " that the streetis so quiet. An our people are now in the synagogue, and you come just at the right time to hearthe story read of the sacrifice of Isaac. " The pairwandered slowly through the long, empty street,and approached at length the synagogue. Evenat a distance they heard the loud confusion of voices.In the court the Rabbi separated from his wife, andafter he had washed his hands at the spring whichflowed there, he stepped into the lower part of thesynagogue, where the men pray. Sarah, on the otherhand, ascended the staircase, and reached the placeof the women above. This was a gallery, with threerows of wooden seats, dull red in color, whose railwas provided above with a hanging shelf, whichcould be propped up for the support of the prayerbook. Here women were sitting, talking, or standing erect as they earnestly prayed. Often they approached with curiosity the great lattice in the East,through whose green slats they could look down intothe lower part of the synagogue. There, behind tallprayer desks, stood the men in their black cloaks,their pointed beards falling over their white collars,and their heads more or less veiled by a square clothof white wool or silk, and now and then decoratedwith golden tassels.THE BLOODY HAND IN GERMANY. 183The walls of the synagogue were whitened uniformly, and no other adornment could be seen thanthe gilded iron lattice about the square platformwhere the passages from the Law were read, andthe sacred shrine. This was a chest handsomelywrought, apparently borne on marble columns withluxuriant capitals, whose flowers and foliage werebeautifully entwined . On the velvet curtain whichcovered it a pious inscription was embroidered withgold, pearls, and many-colored stones. Here hungthe silver memorial lamp, near a raised stage with alattice, on whose rail, were various sacred vessels,among others the seven-branched candlestick. Before this, his countenance toward the shrine, stoodthe precentor, whose chant was accompanied by thevoice of his two assistants, a bass and a treble singer.The Jews have banished from their worship all instrumental music, thinking that the praise of Godascends more edifyingly out of the warm humanbreast than out of cold organ pipes. Sarah took achild-like pleasure, when now the precentor, an excellent tenor, raised his voice, and the ancient, solemnmelodies which she knew so well rang out with abeauty such as she had never imagined. While thebass in contrast poured forth his deep, heavy tones,in the intervals the soprano trilled with delicatesweetness.Sarah had never heard such music in the synagogue of Woistes. A pious pleasure, mingled withfeminine curiosity, drew her to the lattice, whereshe could look down into the lower compartment.She had never as yet seen so large a number of184 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.fellow believers as she beheld there below, and herheart was cheered in the midst of so many peopleso nearly allied to her through common descent,belief, and suffering. But the woman's soul wasstill more moved when three old men reverentlyapproached the sacred shrine, pushed the curtain toone side, opened the chest, and carefully took outthat book which God had written with his ownsacred hand, and for whose preservation the Jewshad suffered so much misery and hate, insult anddeath, a martyrdom of a thousand years.This book, a great roll of parchment, was wrapped,like a prince's child , in a richly embroidered mantleof velvet, and wound about a pin set off with bellsand pomegranates. The precentor took the book,and as if it were a real child , a child for whom greatpangs had been endured, and whom on that accountone loves all the more, he rocked it in his armspressed it to his breast, and as if thrilled by such.contact, raised his voice in joyful thanksgiving. Itseemed to the woman as if the columns of the holyshrine must begin to bloom, and the wonderfulflowers of the capitals grow constantly higher. Atthe same time, the tones of the more delicate voicebecame like those of a nightingale, while the vaultedceiling of the synagogue threw back the powerfulnotes of the bass.It was a beautiful psalm. The congregation repeated the concluding verse in chorus. To theelevated platform in the midst of the synagoguestrode slowly the precentor, with the sacred book,while men and boys hastily pressed forward to kiss,THE BLOODY HAND IN GERMANY. 185or, indeed, only to touch the velvet covering. Thewrapping at last was drawn off from the sacred book;also the swathings in which it was enveloped, written over with variegated letters, and out of theopened parchment roll, in that intonation, which atthe Passover is strangely modulated, was read theedifying tale of the temptation of Abraham. Atlast a prayer of especial solemnity was intoned,which no one is permitted to neglect. It was performed while the congregation stood with facesturned toward the East, where lies Jerusalem.It is customary in the synagogue for any one whohas escaped great danger to step publicly forwardafter the reading of the Law, and thank God for hissalvation . When now Rabbi Abraham arose in thesynagogue for such a thanksgiving, and Sarah recognized the voice of her husband, she noticed that histone gradually dropped into the solemn murmur ofthe prayer for the dead. She heard the names ofher familiar friends, and the conviction took possession of her that their kindred and loved ones atWoistes had not, after all, escaped the sword. Shefelt that some dread tidings must have reachedAbraham, and hope vanished from her soul.But now from without the walls resounded a heavytumult. While the congregation had been gatheredin the synagogue, a friar proceeding through thestreets, carrying in a monstrance the Host to a dyingman, had come upon a group of Jewish boys, throwing sand at one another in sport. Gravel- stones hadhit the robes of the monk, and those that followedhim had become so enraged that they pursued and186 THE STORYOF THE JEWS.maltreated the boys. The parents of the children.had interfered to free them from the excessive punishment, upon which the friar had run to the marketplace, and cried with a loud voice that the Host, andhis own office , as priest, had been desecrated byJews. The rabble had attacked the Hebrew quarter,and the ominous sounds, at first not understood , thatwere heard within the synagogue, were the tumult oftheir frenzied onset. The Hebrews were overpowered wherever they could be seized-as they rushedfrom their houses, or made their way from the temple, and given the alternative of death or baptism.The persecuted were, with few exceptions, steadfast,and destruction fell upon them. In their desperation they laid hands upon themselves. Fathers slewfirst their families, then took their own lives. Thedetails are two dreadful to be dwelt upon. RabbiAbraham and Sarah had escaped death the nightbefore, only to find it now in a form not less terrible.The synagogue was burned, and the holy Law tornand trampled under foot. Thousands perished thatday and the night following, only here and there afugitive escaping.As the tidings spread in Germany, the venerableRabbi whose authority had become greatest amonghis people, counselled them as follows: " I have beentold of the sufferings which have befallen our brethren of the tyrannical laws, the compulsory baptisms, the exiles, and now at length of the massacres.There is woe within, and woe without. I hear aninsolent people raise its raging voice over the faithful; I see it swing its hand against them. TheJERUSALEM .WAILING ,JEWS 'PLACE OF 187188 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.priests and the monks rise against them and say:'We will persecute them to extermination; thename of Israel shall no longer be named. ' How theholy German brotherhood is handled! We aredriven from place to place. We are smitten withthe sharp sword, flung into flaming fire, into ragingfloods, or poisonous swamps. Brethren and friends!I cry to you that the land of the Turks is a landwhere nothing is wanting. If you consent to gothither, it may still be well with you. You cansafely proceed thence to the promised land. Israel,why dost thou sleep! Up, and depart from thisaccursed soil! " The Hebrews obeyed in multitudes. They sought the far East, and found in thedominions of the Sultan a sway which, as contrastedwith that of the sovereigns of Christendom, wasmerciful, even benignant.What wonder that those who found their wayback to Jerusalem established among the fragmentsof the ancient glory of their fathers, a wailing-place!CHAPTER XII.THE FROWN AND THE CURSE IN ENGLAND, ITALY,AND FRANCE.THE reader will have had a surfeit of tragedy inthe details that have been given of Hebrew tribulations in Spain and Germany, but whoso tells thestory faithfully must give yet more. The treatmentaccorded the Jews by Englishmen was no kinder,though the persecution was less colossal, from thefact that the number of victims was smaller. TheIsraelites probably came to Britain in the Romanday, antedating, therefore, in their occupation, theSaxon conquerors, by two or three centuries, andthe Normans by perhaps a thousand years. Withthe beginnings of English history their presence canbe traced, the inevitable proscription appearing asfar back as the time of the Heptarchy. Saxonstrove with Briton, and Dane with Saxon, and allalike were at enmity with the Jew. Canute banishedthem to the Continent, where they took refuge inNormandy, and were well received. With theconquering William they returned to England, andfor a time were protected by a kindly policy. William Rufus, in particular, showed them indulgence.He appointed a public debate in London between.190 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.rabbis and bishops, and swore by the face of St.Luke that if the churchmen were defeated, he wouldturn Jew himself. This favor, however, was transient; the Hebrews soon found themselves againunder the harrow, their suffering culminating at theaccession of Richard Coeur de Lion, in 1189.The imprudent Israelites, over-anxious to win thefavor of the new reign, thronged to the coronationin rich attire, and bearing costly gifts. The crusading spirit was rife; the presence of such infidel sorcerers at the ceremony was held to be of evil omen.An attempt was made to exclude them from Westminster Abbey, which many evaded, and the boldness of the intruders cost the Jews dear throughoutthe entire kingdom. Not a Hebrew household inLondon escaped robbery and murder, and outrageproceeding through the land wreaked enormities inthe provinces that exceeded those of the capital.The preaching friars, omnipresent, taught that therescue of the Holy Sepulchre could well begin witha harrying of infidels at home; and at York, at last,occurred a tragedy which only in Israelite historycan find a parallel.The great body of the Jews sought refuge in thecastle, whence they defied the fanatics. The people,fired by the exhortations of the monks, who promised salvation to such as should shed the blood of anunbeliever, and who themselves, cross in hand, intheir cowls, led the attacks, soon made it plainthat resistance was hopeless. As in the old days ofthe Maccabees, a priest was at the head of the Jews.The chief rabbi of York, a man of great learning andTHE FROWN AND THE CURSE. 191virtue, thus addressed them: " Men of Israel, thisday the God of our fathers commands us to die forhis Law-the Law which the people have cherishedfrom the first hour it was given, which we have preserved through our captivity in all nations, and forwhich can we do less than die? Death is before oureyes; let us escape the tortures of the Christians, whoprowl about us like wolves athirst for our blood, bysurrendering, as our fathers have done before us, ourlives with our own hands to our Creator. God seemsto call for us; let us not be unworthy! "The old man wept as he spoke, but the peoplesaid he had uttered words of wisdom. As the council closed, night descended, and while the besiegerswatched upon their arms, lo, within the strongholdflared the blaze of a furious conflagration. In themorning an entrance was easily forced, for the wallswere no longer defended. The fathers had slainwith the sword their wives and children, then fallenby the hands of one another, the less distinguishedyielding up their lives to the elders. These in turnhad fallen by the hand of the chief rabbi . He atlast stood alone; upon the congregation about him,man and maid, child and graybeard, had descendedthe everlasting silence. The flames that had been.kindled devoured not only the possessions, but consumed the people like the sacrifice upon an altar. Afinal stroke and the old man lay with his fellows,leaving to the persecutors an ash-heap which entombed five hundred skeletons.For a century longer a remnant of the Israelitesmaintained themselves in England; but Edward I.,192 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.the " English Justinian, " thougħ in so many ways agreat and good prince, drove them forth, 16,500 innumber, and from that time for nearly four centuries, there is no evidence that British soil felt aHebrew footprint. At length sat in the place ofpower a man mightier than Plantagenet or Tudor orStuart, Cromwell, the plain squire, lifted to therulership by the uprisen people. With him pleadedfor tolerance Menasseh ben Israel, a Hebrew of thesynagogue of Amsterdam, wise and gentle, and thepleading was not in vain. The heart of the rulerwas softened, the gates of the land swung open toadmit the descendants of the banished. At first itwas the barest sufferance, limited by every kind ofdisability; but the chain has fallen from the limbsof the children of those men. Just as this record iscompleted, a son of Jacob is made a peer of therealm .Near one of the arches of London Bridge, the"bridge of sighs, " beneath which the sullen currentpours so gloomily seaward, there is a spot in the riverwhere at a certain stage of the tide the waters whirlin a strange, uncanny agitation. There, says tradition, in far off, terrible days, a company of Jews werethrown in and drowned. Men once believed, and itis said there are men who still believe, that the mysterious, uneasy bubbling and rush of the flood datesfrom the day when it coldly stifled the death-cries ofthose perishing victims. It is as if that stream oftragedy, which has helped and hidden so much ofghastly crime, had somewhere a conscience of itsown, and, remorseful through the ages for havingTHE FROWN AND THE CURSE. 193been the accomplice in wickedness so terrible, betrayed its secret trouble even to the present hour.In Italy, the hardships which the Jews were forcedto suffer were somewhat less terrible than elsewhere.The land had no political unity: the great tradingrepublics, Venice, Florence, Genoa, dominated thenorthern portion; the power of the Church held thecentre; the influence of Spain made itself balefullyfelt in Sicily and at the south. There was no harmonious policy in the great peninsula, thus disintegrated. Each little state was, as regardeed theHebrews, sometimes oppressive, sometimes favorable;when in any city or district the skies grew dark forthem, the Jews could often find more easily in theprincipalities than in the great kingdoms a convenientrefuge. In the commercial states no prejudice, ofcourse, was felt toward the Israelites from the fact thatthey were traders and money-lenders. What else wereVenetian, Florentine, Lombard, and Cahorsin? * Theywere the Jew's rivals, not his contemners, and thereis good reason for thinking that these Christian usurerswere harsher and more extortionate than the sons ofJacob, whose calling they had appropriated. Theattitude of the mercantile cities toward the Hebrewswas generally that of surly tolerance, that brought,however, no exemption from insult, or indeed,bodily ill-treatment, if caprice turned that way.In Rome, the fate of the Jews hung upon the personal character of the Popes, who sometimes bravely

• Money-lenders who probably came from Piedmont. See Depping, 175.

194 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.and humanely protected them; sometimes threwover them a shield from the selfish advantage theymight reap from their presence; sometimes droveagainst them with fa*got and sword as bitter persecutors. A little company of Hebrews had dwelt inRome even from ante-Christian days, suffered to remain, it has been said,* as a monumental symbol,presenting the Old-Testament root of Christianity.Unmixed with Romans or barbarians, they had transmitted their blood. The community had seen theancient Roman republic, after Brutus and Cassiushad fallen at Philippi, tumble about them into dust;the immeasurable marble city of the imperial timehad held them in its circuit; when the maces of theGoths had dashed this into ruins they lived on inthe desolation . More indestructible than a columnof brass, the little troop survived the fearful Nemesis of the ages. In the days of papal splendor theyprayed-yes, in our own day they pray-to the Godof Abraham and Moses in the same lanes, on thebank of the Tiber, in which their fathers dwelt inthe times of Consul and Cæsar.Whenever, in mediæval times, a pope was consecrated, the Hebrew congregation were among theattendants, standing with slavish gestures, full of fearor timid hope, while the chief rabbi at their headcarried on his shoulder the mysterious veiled roll ofthe holy Law. They were accustomed to read theirfate in the gloomy or genial countenance of the newpope. Was it to be toleration or oppression? While

• Güdemann: " Die Juden in Italian während des Mittelalters, "

P. 73.THE FROWN AND THE CURSE. 195the rabbi handed the vicar of Christ the scroll forconfirmation, their eyes scanned keenly the face thatturned toward him. As the scroll was handed back,this was the formula which the pope was accustomedto utter: " We recognize the Law, but we condemnthe view of Judaism; for the Law is fulfilled throughChrist, whom the blind people of Judah still expectas the Messiah. " Sometimes shielded, sometimeshounded, they drove their bargains, exercised manya profession,-in particular, as physicians, attendedpeasant and prince, monk and nun, even the popesthemselves; but for them, as they went and came,the frown was never far from the Christian's brow,or the curse from his lip .In Southern Italy the Jews had an especial note asartisans. They were the principal dyers, raisers andmanufacturers of silk, blacksmiths, locksmiths, silversmiths. Ferdinand the Catholic forbade them tocarry on noisy labors upon Christian holidays. Theywere also builders and miners. When the mournfulbanishment of the Jews from the dominions of Spaincame about, the story of which has been related ,Sicily, as a country subject to Ferdinand, sufferedwith the rest. The foremost magistrates and officialsof the island, however, interposed a protest, an eloquent testimony to the character of the exiles, a fewwords of which it will be well to quote:" A difficulty arises from the circ*mstance that inthis land almost all the handicraftsmen are Jews.If, then, all depart at once, there will be a want ofworkmen for the Christians -especially of workmenable to carry on the iron industry, —the shoeing of196 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.horses, the manufacturing of farming-tools, the making of vehicles, of ships and galleys. " The documentcontinues in the same strain, illustrating convincingly,as a Jewish scholar urges, how the Hebrews have labored with eagerness wherever narrow- minded guildsand a spirit of envy did not forbid them to do so . Ifwe may trust Sicilian testimony, relations of unusualfriendliness existed between the island populationand the Israelites thus suddenly banished." It wasan entire race which went into banishment. Another race with which it had lived for centuries, stooddumb, astonished, weeping, upon the city walls, thegalleries, and roofs of the neighboring buildings, togive and receive a last greeting. The Jews abandoned Sicily-the land which had beheld so manysuccessive generations of their forefathers, holdingtheir ashes in its bosom. The despot who thus punished and drove forth the innocent, could not measure the infinite bitterness of such a separation. Thecatastrophe of 1492 remains indelibly inscribed amongthe saddest memories which the rule of Spain has leftin this island. " *It is worth while to dwell for a moment upon thespectacle of this compassionate Christian multitude,gathered there upon the shore of) the summer sea,weeping as they watched in the distance the departing sails of the exiled Hebrews. Rarely indeed didthe dark world of those times afford such a scene.In a night of tempest the clouds will sometimesdivide for a moment and suffer to fall a gentle beam

• La Lumia: " The Sicilian Hebrews, " quoted by Güdem inn,

p. 291.THE FROWN AND THE CURSE. 197of moonlight. For the Jews it was everywherestorm and thick darkness--and how seldom cameany parting of those wrath-charged shadows!For some time after the Jews of England and Germany had found themselves oppressed, the situation.of their brethren in France, was an enviable one.They were spread abroad even among the villageson the farms, and in the vineyards, as well as in thetowns, devoting themselves to agriculture, to medicine, to the mechanic arts, to study; traders andmoney changers, however, they were for the mostpart. The skies were usually favorable, a fitful hail ofpersecution beating upon them only now and then;not until the accession of Philip Augustus, in 1180,did prince and populace, the upper and the nethermillstone, begin their pitiless grinding. For a timeit was less the fanatical hatred of the people, thanthe avarice of the king and lords, that bore hard.The treasures of the Hebrews were wrung from themin all cruel ways; where torture was unavailing,massacre was brought to bear, and at last a plundered remnant were cast as off-scourings beyond thefrontiers. The term of exile was short . The rejected crept once more to their homes, to find theywere henceforth to be held as the serfs of the king—themselves and their havings utterly subject to hisdisposal. The blessed St. Louis, * whom history andlegend have so exalted, could sell his Jews like atroop of cattle, while he did so tearing from them,as a work of blasphemy, the beloved book, which in

• Reinach: " Histoire des Juifs , " p. 160.

A198 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.the midst of sufferings was their supreme consolation, the safeguard of their morality, and the bondof their religious unity-the Talmud. St. Louisburned the books of the Jews; Philip the Fairburned the Jews themselves. In 1306, on the morrow of the fast commemorating the destruction ofJerusalem, all the Jews of France, men, women, andchildren, to the number of 100,000, stripped of everypossession for the benefit of the royal treasury, werecast naked out of the land. As in the case of theproscription of Philip Augustus, this, too, did notendure. The kingdom languished for want of them ,and in ten years such as survived were recalled .They were scarcely re-established when there was anew experience of steel and fire; the " Pastoureaux, "bands of fanatical shepherds and malefactors, sweptthem away by thousands. Soon the " Black Pest "was upon the land; the Israelites protected in ameasure by observing the hygienic prescriptions oftheir law, felt the sickness somewhat less; that thepestilence spared them caused them to be suspected;the spear, the caldron, and the devouring flame wereagain at work until victims failed and exhaustion fellupon the persecutors. The cold extortions of heartless princes, enforced by dungeons and the rack—the anathemas of bishop and monk-the whirlingcyclones of popular fury-how among them all coulda single one be saved! From these times a tragicHebrew lay has been handed down to us, whichaffords a glimpse into the souls of those who thussuffered . It describes the immolation upon thefuneral pile of a rabbi and his family, --a chant char-THE FROWN AND THE CURSE. 199acteristically Jewish, pathetic, tenderly affectionate,but bitterly scornful to the last, and audacious inits imprecations. Afew passages from this follow *:" Israel is in mourning, bewailing its brave martyred saints. Thou, O God, dost behold our flowingtears. Without thy help we perish!" O Sage, who day and night grew pale over theBible, for the Bible you have died."When his noble wife saw the flames burst forth,'My love calls me, ' she cried. ' As he died , Iwould die.' His youngest child trembled and wept.Courage! ' said the elder. ' In this hour Paradise.will open. ' And the rabbi's daughter, the gentlemaid! 'Abjure your creed, ' they cry. "A faithful knight stands here who dies for love of thee.'' Death by fire rather than renounce my God! it isGod whom I desire for my spouse. '666' Choose, ' said the priest, ' the cross or the torture '; but the rabbi said: ' Priest, I owe my body toGod, who now requires it, ' and tranquilly he mountsthe pile."Together in the midst of the unchained flames,like cheerful friends at a festival, they raise high andclear the hymn of deliverance, and their feet wouldmove in dances were they not bound in fetters." God of vengeance, chastise the impious!Doth thy wrath sleep?What are the crimes which I am forced to expiate under the torch of these felons?Answer, O Lord, for long have we suffered; answer, for we count the hours!"

• Reinach, 163.

200 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.We need look no further in that lurid mediævalworld. The Hebrew story is everywhere the samesubstantially a constant moan as it were, with variations indeed, but seldom a note in which we miss thequality of agony. In their best estate, the Jews werebut chattels of the sovereign, who sometimes followed his interest in protecting them. The kingkept his Jews as the farmer keeps his bees, creatureswhose power for mischief is to be feared, but tolerated for their marvellous faculty of storing up something held to be of value. As the price of his protection, the prince helped himself from the Jew'shoard, sometimes leaving the Jew enough for a livelihood , —enough sometimes, indeed, to maintain arich state. If they increased, however, the potentatedid not scruple to sell them, as the farmer sells hissuperfluous swarms; and if fanaticism drove out inthe royal mind the sense of greed, as in the case ofRichard Cœur de Lion, St. Louis, and Isabella, theJew had no defence against a world in arms beforehim. If sickness prevailed, it was because the Jewshad poisoned the wells; if a Christian child werelost, it had been crucified at a Jewish ceremony; ifa church sacristan was careless, it was the Jews whohad stolen the Host from the altar, to stab it withknives at the time of the Passover. In many periodsin almost all lands, whoever sinned or suffered , theJew was accused, and the occasion straightway madeuse of for attacks in which hundreds or thousandsmight perish. The wild cry of the rabble, " Hep!hep! " said to be derived from the Latin formula,Hierosolyma est perdita, " might break out at any 66THE FROWN AND THE CURSE. 201time. The Jew was made conspicuous, sometimesby a badge in the shape of a wheel, red, yellow, orparti-colored, fixed upon the breast. In some landsthe mark was square and placed upon the shoulderor hat. At Avignon the sign was a pointed yellowcap; at Prague, a sleeve of the same color; in Italyand Germany, a horn-shaped head-dress, red or green.This distinguishing mark or dress the Jew was forcedto wear, and when the " Hep, Hep! " was heard,he might well raise his hands in despair. He mightindeed flee to the Turk; but the tender mercies ofthe Turk, tolerant as he was as compared with theChristian, were often very cruel.·As time advanced, the spirit of early Protestantismwas often no milder toward them than that of theold faith, though it may have refrained from fa*gotsand the rack. Men wise before their age have notbeen able to rise to the height of charity for theJew.Said Luther: " Know, dear Christian, and doubtit not, that next to the Devil himself, thou hast nomore bitter, poisonous, violent enemy than a Jew,who is set upon being a Jew, ” —a judgment of thegreat reformer perhaps not far wrong, for the Jew is,indeed, the best of haters. Luther's means, however,for opposing Hebrew enmity was not the law of kindness, but to set against it a more energetic enmity.In a similar spirit, the great Puritan body, which inCromwell's day lifted England into glory, throughtheir representative men, the ministers, set theirfaces steadily against all tolerance of the Jew; andit should be counted among the great Protector's202 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.chief titles to a noble fame, that he bore down, withall the weight of his tremendous personality, thestubborn prejudice of his friends and upholders,insisted that the decree of Edward I. should beabrogated, and that the Israelite should once morehave a place in England .sneer.Men standing quite aloof from Christianity, evenin times close to our own, have had regard scarcelykinder. To Gibbon they stand as an obstinate andsullen company who merit only his much-celebratedVoltaire could speak of them as " an ignorant and barbarous people, who for a long time havejoined the foulest creed to the most frightful superstition, and most unconquerable hate against all whoendure and enrich them. " Even Buckle can saynothing kinder than to call them " that ignorant andobstinate race."80.1.7.CHAPTER XIII.SHYLOCK-THE WANDERING JEW.ONE cannot study this many-volumed record ofbloody outrage without feeling almost a sense ofsatisfaction, when sometimes the writhing victimturns and strikes a dagger into the persecutor whocrushes him so cruelly. The Jews have not been,since the dispersion, a martial, combative race, buttheir history shows in them abundant power to smitewhen they have chosen to do so. When the Visigothic king, Sisebut, opened for them the chapter ofpersecution in the Spanish peninsula, they revengedthemselves by smoothing energetically the path ofthe invading Moors. On Palm-Sunday at Toledo,while the people went in procession to church outside the walls, the Jews secretly admitted the Saracens into the city, joined their host, and fell uponthe Christians with the sword as they were returninghome.One reads almost with pleasure of the conduct ofa Jew at Oxford, in 1272. The university was goingin procession to visit the shrine of St. Frideswide,when an audacious figure started from the Jewishquarter, wrested the cross from the hands of the204 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.bearer, and, to the horror of the pious, trampled it ,with loud execrations, into the mire.Among the portrayals of Shakespeare stands onefigure, a figure which perhaps has affected us withaversion, but which as we view him with mindsthrilled by the story I have tried to make vivid , beholding him, as he towers from this mediæval landscape, whose features are torture-chambers, massacre,and the flame-encircled stake, is characterized notonly by fierce barbaric grandeur, but almost by acertain sublime virtue,-the figure of Shylock.Cast as our lot is in a humane age, as we go fromall our softened circ*mstances to sit for an eveningbefore the stage where the great magician reflectsfor us a scene from one of those dreadful times ofblood and iron which we have left behind us, wehave, perhaps, felt the flesh fairly creep as thatarrogant hater, cringing so stealthily, darting so tigerlike, reaches with intense greed for the heart of theChristian. " What news upon the Rialto? " Ah,what news might he have heard , indeed! We aretold only in part how bad match came upon badmatch-the Goodwin sands breaking to pieces theargosies of Antonio, his treacherous daughtersquandering the stolen ducats, and bartering formonkeys the relics of her dead mother. That wasall bad enough; but there was other news, of whichthe poet has told us nothing, which must have cometo those outcasts in the Italian trading-cities, clinging, as it were, precariously to the gunwale, withcruel clubs raised everywhere to beat off their hold,in the midst of the raging sea of persecution andSHYLOCK-THE WANDERING JEW. 205death which tossed all around them. Tubal couldhave told him more from Genoa than of the heartlessness of Jessica-for instance, of a fleet of his countrymen, driven from Spain, who arrived starving offthe harbor; of their being allowed to land only uponthe bleak mole-men, women, and tender children,beaten by the sea-wind, swept by the waves, so paleand emaciated that if they had not moved a littlethey would have passed for corpses; there they wereallowed to lie with the dear land at hand , till hungerand drowning brought the bitter end. This halfcrazed Jewess just arrived in a Lisbon caravel thathas brought a cargo to the Rialto-what tale has sheto tell? That she was cast out of the city; thatseven children were torn from her to be carried tothe Lost Islands-remote places to the West, on theverge of the world, believed to be alive with serpentsand dragons; that when she flung herself at the feetof the king and begged that she might keep the youngest-the babe at her breast , -the king spurned her,and the babe's cries grew faint on her ear as ruffianscarried it away. This young man whose eyes canscarcely meet the gaze of men, as if he were weigheddown by some unutterable humiliation, --what storydoes Shylock hear from him? " Under pain of beingburned at the stake, I was forced to go to the Dominicans of a distant city; to ask that the bones of myfather, buried there, might be dug up and outraged, ashaving died an infidel; then bring back from them acertificate, that at the request of me, the son , thedead father had been insulted . "To some group of fugitives we may imagine206 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.Shylock exclaiming: " And you, poor wanderers ofour household, so bruised and maimed, whencecome ye with your rags, your broken bodies, yourhollow eyes? " " We are from the four quarters ofChristendom, from the Elbe, the Seine, the Thames,the Danube; from the dungeons of nobles; fromgalleys where we were fettered to the oars until thechains ate through the bone, and from the edge ofcauldrons of boiling oil . We poor remnant haveescaped . Ask not how many perished! " In asordid pursuit the soul of the Venetian usurer hasbecome contaminated, but he is not without thenobler affections. He loves his dead wife Leah, hislost Jessica, above all, his sacred nation, so cruellyground, with passion fervid as the Syrian sun whichhas given to his cheek its swarthy color. Thesimoom of the desert is not so fierce as the hatred inhis strong heart, which he has been forced tosmother. He has read well the law of Moses: " Aneye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. " Amid thehumiliations of a lifetime he, for a moment, bya strange chance, has a persecutor within his grasp .As he crouches for an instant before the attack towhet upon his shoe-sole that merciless blade, cannotone see in the flash of his dark eye a light that is notutterly devilish! It is the lightning of revengebut then revenge may be a distorted justice.Is there not something moving in this portraitureof Shylock by his fellow Jew, Heinrich Heine? *"When I saw the Merchant of Venice ' given atDrury Lane, there stood behind me a beautiful, pale(

• Shakespeare's " Mädchen und Frauen."

SHYLOCK-THE WANDERING JEW. 207English lady, who at the end of the fourth act weptearnestly, and cried out several times: The poorman is wronged. The poor man is wronged . ' Itwas a face of the noblest Grecian cast, and the eyeswere large and black. I have never been able toforget them, those great black eyes which wept forShylock! Truly, with the exception of Portia,Shylock is the most respectable personage in thewhole play. The domestic affections appear in himmost touchingly.'Far more than all historic personalities does oneremember in Venice, Shakespeare's Shylock. If yougo over the Rialto, your eye seeks him everywhere,and you think he must be concealed there behindsome pillar or other, with his Jewish gaberdine, withhis mistrustful, calculating face, and you think youhear even his grating voice: " Three thousands ducats,well! "-I , at least, wandering dreamer as I am,looked everywhere on the Rialto trying whether Icould find Shylock. Seeing him nowhere, I determined to seek him in the synagogue. The Jews werejust celebrating here their holy day of reconciliation ,and stood, wrapped in their white robes, with uncanny bowings of their heads, appearing almost like anassembly of ghosts. But although I looked everywhere, I could not behold the countenance of Shylock. And yet it seemed to me as if he stood concealed there, behind one of those white robes, prayingmore fervently than the rest of his fellow believers,with tempestuous wildness even, at the throne ofJehovah. I saw him not! But toward evening,when, according to the belief of the Jews, the gates208 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.of heaven are shut, and no prayer finds admission,I heard a voice in which the tears were trickling asthey were never wept with eyes. It was a sobbingwhich might move a stone to pity; they were tonesof pain such as could come only from a breast thatheld shut up within itself all the martyrdom which atortured race has endured for eighteen hundredyears. It was the panting of a soul which sinks.down, tired to death, before the gates of heaven.And this voice seemed well known to me. I felt asif I had heard it once, when it lamented in suchdespair, " Jessica, my child. "The terrible tale of the Jews' humiliation is completed as far as I dare unfold it, and the effect of itmust be to leave the mind in a fit state to dwellupon the pathetic legend of " The Wandering Jew."Of all the old superstitions there is scarcely one sosad and picturesque as that of the human being whocannot die, but must suffer on through the centuries,until the day of judgment. The medieval chroniclers, from the thirteenth century downwards, reportwith undoubting faith the appearances of the poorfury-scourged pilgrim, and there are men in theworld to-day who think the story not impossible.According to one version, Cartaphilus, gatekeeper ofthe house of Pilate, as Jesus descended fromthe judgment-hall, pushed the Saviour, bidding himgo quicker; and Jesus looking back on him with asevere countenance said to him: " I am going andyou shall wait till I return. "According to the more common tale, Ahasuerus, aSHYLOCK-THE WANDERING JEW. 209shoemaker, had done his best to compass the destruction of Jesus, believing him to be a misleader of thepeople. When Christ was condemned and about tobe dragged past the house of Ahasuerus on his wayto crucifixion, the shoemaker ran home and calledtogether his household that they might have a lookat the one about to suffer. He stood in his doorway when the troop ascended Calvary. As thenChrist was led by, bowed under the weight of theheavy cross, he tried to rest a little and stood still amoment; but the shoemaker, in zeal and rage, andfor the sake of obtaining credit among the otherJews, drove him forward and told him to hasten onhis way. Jesus, obeying, looked at him and said:" I shall stand and rest, but thou shalt go till the lastday." At these words the man left his house andwent forward to behold the crucifixion . As soon asit had taken place, it came upon him that he couldno more return to Jerusalem, nor see again his wifeand child, but must go forth into foreign lands oneafter another, a mournful pilgrim.So the broken, impenitent figure has been seensometimes in the throngs of cities, sometimes indeserts, sometimes in mountain solitudes, the tragedy of Calvary ever haunting him in rock, in forest,in the clouds of heaven, passing ever onward with norest for the sole of his foot, every corner of theearth again and again visited . Whenever a hundredyears have passed, his manhood is renewed for him,so that he stands again at thirty, the age at which hecommitted the sin whose expiation is so terrible.The accounts are so detailed and circ*mstantial, we210 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.are forced to believe that many a half-crazed manhas actually made himself and others believe that hewas the Wandering Jew, and that many an impostor,seeking to affect men with the deepest awe, hasassumed the character. How striking and picturesque are some of the developments of the conception; for instance, where it becomes combined withthe myth of the god Odin, and appears as the WildHuntsman!One of the most philosophic students of moderntimes, Jacob Grimm, has taught the world that manya fairy tale and many a peasant superstition arenothing more or less than the remains of the greatlegends of the old heathen religious faiths, softeneddown, but still living in the souls of the people.Grimm and his school would have us believe that thephantoms of the mighty Norse gods still haunt themodern generations of the Teutonic stock, refusingto be exorcised from the popular mind." Balderthe beautiful is dead, is dead, " sings the Swedishpoet Tegner, after the old saga; and in like mannerwith Balder, we have believed that Odin and Thorand Freya were utterly gone, with the men thatpaid them worship. These students would have us.believe that the ghosts of the gods, at any rate, refuse to be laid. Sometimes in blithe and merryguise they continue to appear in the souls of menbelonging to the great races whose forefathers worshipped them; sometimes the grim circ*mstancethat attended them in their former pre- eminenceis not laid aside. What wonderful grandeur in thethought that these rough hands of the old godsTHE WANDERING JEW.afterDore y212 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.refuse to become decrepit through time, or beatenoff by culture! How they reach round the newaltars that have crowded out their own simple fanes,because the all-conquering Jew has willed it shouldbe so! How they cross the widest oceans to thehomes of the farthest wanderers, still haunting,phantom-like, the hearts of men whose barbarian.sires held them dear!The superstition of the Wild Huntsman, stillcherished by many a simple peasant soul, can bethus traced back through the centuries to an originin the stormy faith professed by the vikings. Thefierce rider who presses unsatisfied, attended by histroop of deathless hounds, 'mid the roar of thewinter's blast, through the heavens torn with thetempest, in pursuit of the stag that forever fliesbefore him, was really the god Odin. As we thinkhow the Wandering Jew has become connected withthis stormy Northern myth, it might seem as if theold dispossessed chief of the Norse deities, wrathfulat the usurpation that had reared the new templesin place of his own ancient fanes, had caught theJew into the heavens in a spirit of weird revenge,compelling him to a companionship with himself inhis desolate and fruitless quest.In this elaboration of the legend of the WanderingJew, Christ asked permission to drink at a horsetrough in his agony, but was refused-the Jewpointing at the same time to the track of a horse'shoof, which was filled with water, as a place where histhirst might be slaked . At this point the heathen andChristian myth become confused . The WanderingSHYLOCK-THE WANDERING JEW. 213Jew, as the Wild Huntsman, must drive forever withhis train through the fury of the tempest. Themoaning of the wind at night through the forestabout the dwellings of men, -will cause the souls.of the most unsuperstitious to thrill, as if it werefilled in some way with the voices of spirits! Imaginethe tumult in the breast of the peasant child of theHarz, or the Black Forest, or the rude districts inFrance, who, as the November blast at midnightwails and hurtles through the hills, believes it thedreary hunt of the everlasting Jew, and sees in thetorn clouds, by the fitful moonlight, the tails of hisphantom horses, the forms of his dogs, the streaming of his own white beard, careering forward in thiseternal chase!There is a tale current among the simple people ofSwitzerland which, to my mind, is as weird and thrilling as this. Whoever has climbed from Zermatt tothe Gorner Grat, and stood with the snowy mass ofMonte Rosa on the left, the Weisshorn on the right,and directly in front the bleakest and boldest of theAlpine peaks, the Matterhorn-its sublimity deepened and made dreadful by the story with whichit is associated , of the men who have fallen from itsprecipices, four thousand feet to the ice below, —whoever has done this will well believe that there arefew spots on earth more full of dreary grandeur.There is a bald, lonely mountain-spur confrontingall the awful desolation , upon which the WanderingJew was once seen standing, solitary, his haggardfigure relieved against the heavens, before theabashed eyes of the dwellers in the vale who214 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.looked up. He had been there before far back inthe dim centuries; again in the fulness of time hewill be seen standing there, his tattered garmentsand dishevelled beard given to the winds, his battered staff in hands shrivelled and wrinkled till theyseem like talons, bent and furrowed by his thousandfold accumulated woes. It will be on the judgmentday; on that bleak summit he is to receive releasefrom his exceptional doom.We shall best interpret the myth if we understandthe Wandering Jew to be the Hebrew race typifiedits deathless course, its transgression, its centuries ofexpiating agony, in this way made for us concreteand vivid.CHAPTER XIV.THE CASTING OUT OF A PROPHET.THE writer who aims at a fair presentation of thesorrowful subject that has occupied us, must takepains to bring into a clear light the palliations whichmost certainly can be urged in mitigation of thishorrible, widespread ruthlessness. The Christianworld was just emerging from the barbarism ofthe dark ages: utter intolerance of all other creedsthan that which it professed itself appeared to bea paramount duty. Without doubt, nothing couldbe more exasperating than the attitude of the Hebrews toward the surrounding Gentiles, whenever,for a moment the clutch was taken from his throat,and he was in a measure free to follow his ownimpulses. The heart of the Jew can be very unamiable; from the mountain of his scorn, the Gentile has seemed to him worthy of contempt moreoften than of any softer feeling. Toward the brethren of his own household indeed, the Jew has not seldom been unkind. Until the army of Titus could bedescried from the pinnacles of the Temple, the factions in Jerusalem wrangled and slew one another.We are about to see how the synagogue excludeda most noble spirit with blasting anathemas. In all216THE STORY OF THE JEWS.ages, in fact, the grandest prophets of Israel havebeen too often cast out and stoned, for of no otherrace of men is the utterance of the disheartenedFaust any truer:" The few by whom high truth was recognized,Who foolishly their full hearts left unguarded,Revealing to the crowd their noble vision,Have always banished been, and crucified. " *One's wrath at the medieval Christian is somewhat lessened, on reading the story of the treatmentaccorded by his own brethren to the illustriousSpinoza.But before we take up the tale of the great teacherwhom his people persisted in rejecting, let us glanceat a false prophet, whom in the same age they seemedvery willing to accept. Their blindness is as plainlyshown, perhaps, by exhibiting the leader they wereready to follow, as the leader whom they reviled andcast off. Throughout their history, the Jews haveconstantly maintained the ancient Messianic hope—a hope again and again disappointed. The twelfth,the thirteenth, and the sixteenth centuries producedimpostors who claimed to be the Prince of the Houseof David, destined to restore the glory of Zion; suchtoo in the more ancient time was Bar Cocheba, thechampion of the reign of Hadrian. No false Messiah,however, has been so successful as Sabbatäi Zevi,† a

• " Die wenigen die was davon erkannt,

Die thöricht g'nug ihr volles Herz nicht wahrten,Dem Pöbel ihr Gefühl, ihr Schauen offenbarten,Hat man von je gekreuzigt und verbannt. "Reinach, p. 270, etc.THE CASTING OUT OF A PROPHET. 217Jew of Smyrna, born in 1626. He was the son of acommercial agent employed by an English house; hisperson was attractive, his manner austere and reticent; by fasts, ablutions, and zealous attention tothe rites in general, he early made himself marked.At the age of twenty-five he announced himself asMessiah, and followed by a troop of disciples whichconstantly grew larger, he travelled from city to citythrough Greece, Syria, and Egypt. A mad fanatic,Nathan of Gaza, went before him to announce hiscoming. At Cairo, meeting a young Polish Jewessof rare beauty, who had escaped by miracle from themassacres of the Cossacks, and afterwards from aCatholic cloister in which she had taken refuge,Sabbatäi married her, declaring that she had beendestined for him from all eternity. Returning toSmyrna, he took openly, in full synagogue, the titleof Messiah, exciting transports of enthusiasm. Thefeeble protestations of a few rabbis of good sensewere smothered in the popular clamor. The renownof the new prophet spread everywhere; he sooncounted ardent adherents at Amsterdam, at Hamburg, even at London. Zealots in many places destroyed their dwellings, collected their wealth, andprepared to set out for the East, where at lengthIsrael was to be restored to glory. In Persia, theJewish laborers refused to cultivate longer the earth.A mad inspiration seemed to have seized upon thewhole Hebrew race.The audacity of Sabbatäi became stimulated byhis success. He made daring changes in the Jewishritual, abrogating and transferring fasts and feasts218 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.ancient as the race itself; he divided the crowns ofthe earth among his brothers and friends, reservingfor himself the title of King of Kings. At lengthhe set out for Constantinople, where, he declared,his mission was to be accomplished. The TurkishGovernment, which left him unmolested while theexcitement which he created was distant, now seizedupon him, threw him into chains, and imprisonedhim at the Castle of the Dardanelles.The fidelity of the proselytes was not at all disturbed by this misfortune. The cunning Turks sawtheir chance. The captivity of Sabbatäi came at lastto resemble a sumptuous hospitality. He lived instate in the castle, whither Jews hastened by thousands to contemplate his divine features, taxedheavily meantime by the Mussulmans, who managedshrewdly to reap advantages. A rabbi from Poland.finally denounced him as an impostor and disturberof the peace. The Sultan, Mahomet IV., had Sabbatäi brought before him, caused him to be fastenednaked to a post, and commanded archers to shoot athim. At the same time he promised to become aJew, if the " Son of God, " by a miracle which oughtto be easy to him, should render his body invulnerable to the arrows. Sabbatäi immediately quailed.The alternative being offered him of becoming a Mussulman or being instantly driven forth, he adoptedthe turban without hesitation, adored the prophet ofMedina, and received the name of Mahomet Effendi.The stupor of his followers may be imagined,The rabbis, undeceived at last, hurried to excommunicate his partisans. Faithful adherents even nowISRAEL'S NEW MOSES. 239hour that he has conquered the world,* and manyare ready, with fear and dread, to concede it. Letus study certain great figures in various departmentsof effort, men whose genius and energy are thoroughlyJewish, so that they can well be regarded as types.In reviewing these careers, the change will soonbecome explicable.As we enter the eighteenth century, though theharshness of men has become somewhat modified,the chain that binds the Jew, nevertheless, throughout the civilized world is firmly fastened . Themassacres and fierce bodily tortures are indeed forthe most part things of the past, except perhaps inSpain, or in outlying regions where barbarism yieldsslowly. In many a city, however, the Jew's presencein the streets is scarcely suffered, and with everynight he is barred pitilessly into the dirt and discomfort of Ghetto and Juden-gasse. Germany wasespecially narrow and cruel toward the Israelites.In many towns they could not live upon the streetcorners; in others only a certain small number couldbe married in the course of a year. In Berlin, theHebrews, to whom, through their creed, swine'sflesh was accursed , were forced to buy the wildboars slain in the king's hunts. Thus exposed toinsult and hardship, the Jews of Germany, the "Askenazim," as they were called, were sunk among theirco-religionists into an especial degradation; progresswas stopped, and wide views became lost. They hada language of their own, a jargon of Hebrew and Ger-

• Beaconsfield's assertion: see p . 2.

240 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.man. Their religion became corrupted through superstitions; their rabbis came largely from among thePolish Jews, who were usually ignorant and debased.Under these teachers efforts to become enlightenedwere repressed; to speak German correctly, or toread a German book, was heresy. The handicraftswere forbidden them, —to a large extent even trade;the professions were of course closed avenues; tosell old clothes, to wander about as pedlars, andto lend money at interest were almost the onlyoccupations that remained.From the midst of the German Jews, however,sprang at this time a man, who, if of less wonderfulintellect than Spinoza, was yet of spirit most keen andenlightened . In magnanimity and broad charity hewas not surpassed by the great outcast of Holland.In the story which we are following his figure haseven a greater significance than that of Spinoza,from the fact that though persecuted he remainedamong his people, beneficently setting in motionreforms which have been felt by Jews in every land,and which in times following those in which we live,will bring about for Jews a happy future. As hasbeen urged, the intolerance with which the Hebrewhas been treated must not be ascribed solely toChristian narrowness. The persecutor has been provoked to clench his fist by the stern pride withwhich the victim has asserted his superiority andheld himself aloof. Such modifications of prejudicein the oppressor as can be now seen, would be muchless marked than they are had not a more conciliatory spirit begun to manifest itself in the oppressed.MOSES MENDELSSOHN242 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.In the year 1729, in the town of Dessau, was bornthe benign and far- seeing genius, Moses the son ofMendel, who, like Moses of old , the son of Amram,was to lead Israel to better things.Moses Mendelssohn was a precocious child, devouring with passionate appetite the rabbinicalhusks upon which alone his mind was permitted tofeed, until at length his premature labor broughtupon him curvature of the spine, from which henever recovered. As a boy of thirteen he followedto Berlin the rabbi who had been his teacher, hisparents disapproving his course and withdrawingtheir support. The little humpback faced starvationwith unshrinking persistence while he followed hisbent, until, after much suffering, he won over friendswho could help him. As the youth approached manhood he broadened his acquirements, adding almostby stealth German, Latin, mathematics, French,and English to his Talmudic lore, soon beginningalso to seize upon the thoughts of the great philosophers. As his culture widened his old friendsbecame cold; as in Spinoza's case his formerteachers feared his heresies, and soon began tofrown and threaten.When he had reached twenty- one, however, a richsilk-manufacturer of Berlin became his patron, madehim the tutor of his children, also his business assistant, and at last his partner; henceforth, then, Mendelssohn was free to follow his own path, unannoyedby the wolf of hunger, and, later, even in affluence.The young man became a member of a circle ofbrilliant minds, among whom ruled as chief one ofISRAEL'S NEW MOSES. 243the mightiest gods of the German Olympus, GottholdEphraim Lessing, and henceforth, to the day ofLessing's death, Mendelssohn was held in the heart ofhearts of that courageous striver. The slender silkmerchant, while with Hebrew thrift he managed toseize upon gold in the ways of commerce, possessedat the same time strength for the sublimest flights .He early became known as an able writer for theliterary periodicals, and at length found himselfgrowing famous. One day the frank and heartyLessing came with a laugh to Mendelssohn's desk inhe counting-room, holding in his hand a volume.fresh from printer and binder. To the amazementof Mendelssohn, it was a manuscript of his own,which he had modestly withheld from the press;his friend, however, had taken it without his knowledge, and was spreading it far and wide in an ampleedition. Its success was so marked that he washenceforth a maker of books. In literature he wasfruitful and always beneficent, doing much towardthe spread in Germany of an elegant culture andtaste, in the years immediately preceding the glorious sun-burst, when with Goethe and Schiller thegreat day of German letters begins.At first known as a writer upon æsthetic subjects,the excellence of his thoughts was scarcely more remarkable than the beauty of his style; but at lengthin his forty-second year came the book which hasgiven him a note of a far grander kind, and placedhis name among the chief helpers of his age andcountry. This was his " Phædo, " a work upon theimmortality of the soul. In this book Mendelssohn244 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.translated the dialogue of Plato, of the same name,but enlarged and developed the consideration in thespirit of the later philosophy. As an introduction tothe work, a picture of the life and character ofSocrates was given, full of the highest love andveneration for the master-sage. The tone of the"Phædo " of Mendelssohn is most exalted, and soonexcited in the world general admiration . Editionfollowed edition; it was translated into most European languages. Inasmuch as so many Germanthinkers have hidden their speculations within athorny and forbidding entanglement which rendersthem quite inaccessible except to minds of exceptional power of penetration, it is worth while tospeak of the admirable clearness and beauty ofMendelssohn's method of presentment. The workis a series of the sublimest thoughts, fitly framed,pervaded with the broadest and noblest spirit. *Like Maimonides, the grand Hebrew of the thirteenth century, --like Spinoza, —in the spirit, too, ofthat higher and holier soul that came forth fromZion, the supernal Christ, —Mendelssohn, looked andworked toward the broadest tolerance and humanbrotherhood. In the truest spirit of charity helabored with his people, trying to raise them fromtheir ignorance, and to smooth away from the Jewishcountenance the arrogant frown and lifting of theeyelid with which through the ages they have stubbornly faced the Gentile. Of one of his books written for his co- religionists, called " Jerusalem," Immanuel Kant wrote in such terms as these: " With

• Kurz: " Geschicte der deutschen Literatur. "

ISRAEL'S NEW MOSES. 245what admiration I have read your ' Jerusalem '! Iregard this book as the announcement of a greatthough slow-coming reform, which will affect notonly your nation, but also others. You have managed to unite with your religion such a spirit offreedom and tolerance as it has not had eredit for,and such as no other faith can boast. You have sopowerfully presented the necessity of an unlimitedfreedom of conscience for every faith, that at lengthon our side, too, the church must think about it.The Christians must study whether in their creedsthere are not things which burden and oppress thespirit, and look toward a union which, as regardsessential religious points, shall bring together all."As Judaism spurned forth its nobler spirits in theearlier time, so the effort was made to put underban this later liberalizing genius. He, however,though looked at askance by all the stricter members of the synagogue, who to this day have notceased to oppose the fruitful influence that proceededfrom him, clung tenaciously until his death to hisJewish birthright. One finds something most pathetic in the story of a certain grave embarrassmentinto which he was thrown by an over-zealous Christian friend. Lavater, the Swiss clergyman, well knownin the world for his writings upon physiognomy, wasa most earnest upholder of the faith. Having translated from the French a work upon the Christianevidences which he felt to be unanswerable, he dedicated it to Mendelssohn, summoning him, as he didso, either to show that the positions of the workwere groundless, or to renounce the Jewish creed.246 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.Circ*mstances forced Mendelssohn to take somenotice of the challenge. To renounce Judaism ofcourse he was not ready, believing, as he did, that itwas capable of expansion into a faith most beneficent. On the other hand, he was scarcely moreready to controvert Christianity; for he hatedstrife, felt no desire to proselyte, and hoped forsome reconciliation of the jarring creeds by otherthan polemic means. In his trouble he wrote andpublished a letter to Lavater, in which was unfoldedall the beauty of his soul, and which gained for himthe approval of all intelligent men. Without transgressing moderation, he convinced all fair-minded.readers, overcoming even the proselyter himself.A passage from this famous letter of Mendelssohnwill be interesting *:" For all I cared Judaism might have been hurleddown in every polemical compendium, and triumphantly sneered at in every academic exercise, and Iwould not have entered into a dispute about it.Rabbinical scholars and rabbinical smatterers mighthave grubbed in obsolete scribblings, which no sensible Jew reads or knows of, and have amused thepublic with the most fantastic ideas of Judaism, without so much as a contradiction on my part. It is byvirtue that I wish to shame the opprobrious opinioncommonly entertained of a Jew, and not by controversial writings."Pursuant to the principles of my religion, I am notto seek to convert any one who is not born according to our laws. This proneness to conversion , the

• From " Memoirs of M. Mendelssohn, " by M. Samuels, p. 54, etc.

ISRAEL'S NEW MOSES. 247origin of which some would fain tack on the Jewishreligion, is, nevertheless, diametrically opposed toit. Our rabbis unanimously teach that the written andoral laws which form conjointly our revealed religion,are obligatory on our nation only. ' Moses commanded us a Law, even the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob. ' We believe that all other nations ofthe earth have been directed by God to adhere to thelaws of nature . Those who regulate their conductaccording to this religion of nature and of reason,are called virtuous men of other nations, and are thechildren of eternal salvation."Our rabbis are so remote from desiring to makeproselytes, that they enjoin us to dissuade by forcibleremonstrances, every one who comes forward to beconverted. We are to lead him to reflect that bysuch a step he is subjecting himself needlessly to amost onerous burden; that in his present conditionhe has only to observe the precepts of nature andreason, to be saved; but the moment he embracesthe religion of the Israelites, he subscribes gratuitously to all the rigid rules of that faith, to which hemust then strictly conform, or await the punishmentwhich the legislator has denounced on their infraction. Finally, we are to hold up to him a faithfulpicture of the misery, tribulation, and obloquy inwhich our nation is now living, in order to guardhim from a rash act which he might ultimately repent." Thus you see the religion of my fathers does notwish to be extended . We are not to send abroadmissions. Whoever is not born conformable to our248 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.laws has no occasion to live according to them. Wealone consider ourselves bound to acknowledge theirauthority; and this can give no offence to our neighbors. Suppose there were amongst my neighbors aConfucius or a Solon. I could, consistently with myreligious principles, love and admire the great man;but I should never hit on the extravagant idea ofconverting a Confucius or a Solon. What should Iconvert him for? As he does not belong to the Congregation ofJacob, my religious laws were not legislated for him; and on doctrines we should soon cometo an understanding. Do I think there is a chanceof his being saved? ' I certainly believe that he wholeads mankind on to virtue in this world cannot bedamned in the next." I am so fortunate as to count among my friendsmany a worthy man who is not of my faith. Welove each other sincerely, notwithstanding we presume, or take for granted, that in matters of beliefwe differ widely in opinion . I enjoy the delight oftheir society, which both improves and solaces me.Never has my heart whispered: ' Alas, for this excellent man's soul!' He who believes that no salvation is to be found out of the pale of his ownchurch must often feel such sighs rise in his bosom. "The candid Lavater wrote Mendelssohn a publicletter, acknowledging that he had been thoughtlessand indelicate, and begging his pardon.This trial,however, and another, in which he was obliged todefend the fame of Lessing, as he thought, unjustlyaspersed , proved, for his sensitive nature, too severe astrain. He fell ill, and at length , in 1786, came death.ISRAEL'S NEW MOSES. 249Moses Mendelssohn was undersized and alwaysbadly deformed. A habit of stammering, also, madeconversation difficult. He possessed, however, apersonal charm, which overcame all impediments.Lavater, who so disquieted him, was an enthusiasticfriend, and has left a description of his face, which,as coming from the famous physiognomist, has greatinterest. " I rejoice to see these outlines. Myglance descends from the noble curve of the forehead to the prominent bones of the eye. In thedepth of this eye resides a Socratic soul. The decided shape of the nose, the magnificent transitionfrom the nose to the upper lip, the prominence ofboth lips, neither projecting beyond the other, —oh!how all this harmonizes and makes sensible andvisible the divine truth of physiognomy! "A pleasant story is told by Auerbach of the wooing of Moses Mendelssohn." He was at the baths of Pyrmont where he became acquainted with Gugenheim, a merchant ofHamburg. ' Rabbi Moses, ' said Gugenheim oneday, ' we all admire you, but my daughter most ofall. It would be the greatest happiness to me tohave you for a son- in-law. Come and see us inHamburg.'999Mendelssohn was very shy in consequence of his saddeformity, but at last he resolved upon the journey.He arrived in Hamburg and called upon Gugenheimat his office. The latter said: " Go up-stairs and seemy daughter; she will be pleased to see you, I havetold her so much about you. "He saw the daughter, and the next day came to250 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.see Gugenheim, and presently asked him what hisdaughter, who was a very charming girl, had said ofhim."Ah, most honored rabbi," said Gugenheim," shall I candidly tell you? "" Of course.""Well, as you are a philosopher, a wise and greatman, you will not be angry with the girl. She saidshe was frightened on seeing you, because you-"Because I have a hump? "Gugenheim nodded.""" I thought so; but I will still go and take leaveof your daughter. "He went up-stairs and sat down by the younglady, who was sewing. They conversed in the mostfriendly manner, but the girl never raised her eyesfrom her work, and avoided looking at him. Atlast, when he had cleverly turned the conversation inthat direction, she asked him:" Do you believe that marriages are made inheaven? ""Yes, indeed," said he; "and something especially wonderful happened to me. At the birth of achild, proclamation is made in heaven: He or sheshall marry such or such a one. When I was born,my future wife was also named, but at the same timeit was said: ' Alas! she will have a dreadful humpback. ' ' O God, ' I said then, ' a deformed girl willbecome embittered and unhappy, whereas she shouldbe beautiful. Dear Lord, give me the hump-back,and let the maiden be well formed and agreeable.Scarcely had Moses Mendelssohn finished speak-ISRAEL'S NEW MOSES. 251ing when the girl threw herself upon his neck: sheafterwards became his wife; they lived happily together, and had good and handsome children. "Pleasant pictures of the life of Mendelssohn withhis wife and children have been drawn. But theshadow of their origin was always about them . “ Isometimes go out in the evening, " he once wrote,"with my wife and children. ' Papa, ' inquires oneof them, in innocent simplicity, ' what is it thatthose lads call out after us? Why do they throwstones at us? What have we done to them?'' Yes, dear papa, ' says another, they always runafter us in the streets and shout, " Jew-boy! Jewboy. " Is it a disgrace in the eyes of the people tobe a Jew? What is that to them? ' I cast downmy eyes and sigh to myself: ' Poor humanity? Towhat point have things come! ' "The data for this sketch have been derived fromMendelssohn's great-grandson, Sebastian Hensel,from the literary historian Kurz, and other biographers. We have also a beautiful and graphicportrait, drawn by the man who perhaps possessedas sharp powers of discrimination as any mind whichthe world has known. Mendelssohn, as we haveseen, early became the friend of Lessing, and it wasunder the influence of that benign atmosphere thatthe latter created his " Nathan the Wise," in the conception of the Syrian Jew, establishing a memorialof the reforming genius which the world will neverforget.When Lessing * selected a Jew to be the hero of

• See the writer's " Short History of German Literature. "

252 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.his grandest play, the innovation was so unheard ofas to mark his courage more strikingly perhaps thanany act he ever performed—and he was the most intrepid of men. "Nathan the Wise " was writtenlate in life, when Lessing's philosophy had ripened,and when his spirit, sorely tried in every way, hadgained from sad experience only sweeter humanity.Judged by rules of art , it is easy to find fault with it,but one is impatient at any attempt to measure it bysuch a trivial standard. It is thrilled from first tolast by a glowing God-sent fire-such as has appearedrarely in the literature of the world . It teaches loveto God and man, tolerance, the beauty of peace.In Nathan, a Jew who has suffered at the handsof the Crusaders the extremest affliction-the lossof his wife and seven children—is not embittered bythe experience. He, with the two other leadingfigures, Saladin and the Templar, are bound togetherin a close intimacy. They are all examples of nobleness, though individualized. In Nathan, severechastening has brought to pass the finest gentlenessand love. Saladin is the perfect type of chivalry,though impetuous and over-lavish, through the possession of great power. The Templar is full of thevehemence of youth. So they stand, side by side,patterns of admirable manhood, yet representativesof creeds most deeply hostile. Thus, in concretepresentment, Lessing teaches impressively, what hehad often elsewhere inculcated in a less varied way,one ofthe grandest lessons, that nobleness is boundto no confession of faith.It was his thought—and here many will think heISRAEL'S NEW MOSES. 253went too far—that every historic religion is in somesense divine, a necessary evolution, from the conditions under which it originates. What a manbelieves is a matter of utter indifference if his lifeis not good.Goldwin Smith, in a paper in the Nineteenth Century,in which some injustice is done to the Jewish character and the facts of Jewish history, declares thatNathan the Wise is an impossible personage, thepure creation of the brain of the dramatist. Lessing,however, as is well known, found the suggestion forhis superb figure in Moses Mendelssohn, and as Ihave given with some detail the facts of the life ofthe grand Israelite, it must have appeared that thereare abundant data for concluding that Lessing's Jewwas no mere fancy sketch. It may be said, in truth ,that the character is exceptional, and that Jews, asthe world knows them, are something quite different.But among the votaries of what creed, pray, wouldnot such a character be exceptional! If exceptional,it is not unparalleled, as we shall hereafter see.Judaism is capable of giving birth to humane andtolerant spirits, even in our time, and such spirits arenot at all unknown in its past annals .CHAPTER XVI.THE MONEY KINGS.IN no department at the present day will the conspicuous ability of the Jew be so readily conceded asin that of business. Whether as great practicaloperators, or as political economists, like Ricardo, noclass of men have so close a hold of both theory andpractice. It seems strange enough to us that trađe,in all its various forms, than which no human transactions are now considered more honorable andlegitimate, was once held to be disgraceful, to a largeextent unlawful. It was indispensable to the ongoing of society, and therefore, of necessity, tolerated. The agents of business, however, have, for themost part, been held in ill-repute, or at least in lowregard, from antiquity almost to the present day.Says Cicero: "Those sources of emolument arecondemned that incur the public hatred; such asthose of tax-gatherers and usurers. We are likewiseto account as ungenteel and mean the gains of allhired workmen, whose source of profit is not theirart, but their labor; for their very wages are theconsideration , of their servitude. We are also todespise all who retail from merchants goods forprompt sale, for they never can succeed unless theyTHE MONEY KINGS. 255lie most abominably. All mechanical laborers areby their profession mean, for a workshop can containnothing befitting a gentleman. " Toward commerceon a large scale, indeed, Cicero is somewhat morelenient: " As to merchandizing, if on a small scale itis mean, but if it is extensive and rich, bringing numerous commodities from all parts of the world, andgiving bread to numbers without fraud, it is not sodespicable." Still the moralist thinks it is in a measure despicable, for he straightway proceeds to commend the course of the merchant who, in good time,abandons his calling: " If, satiated with his profits,he shall from the harbor step into an estate andlands, such a man seems most justly deserving ofpraise; for of all gainful professions, nothing betterbecomes a well-bred man than agriculture. " *This view of trade, held by one of the wisest ofthe ancients, has prevailed almost to our own time.The ill-repute accorded to the agents of commercehas of course fallen abundantly upon the Jews. Accusations of exceptional sordidness and avaricebrought against them we may be sure are often unfounded. How different from the view of our predecessors has come to be modern judgment with respectto taking interest for money? To take interest isthe unquestioned right of every lender, and whetherthis interest be large or small, four per cent, or fortyper cent. , is a matter, as most sensible men now believe, which should be left to take care of itself, unrestricted by law. If the risk is great the borrowerexpects to pay correspondingly; if the risk is small,

• Offices, 1 , 42.

256 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.the lender contents himself with a trifle. The picture which has been drawn of Jewish avarice is farfrom being an entire fiction, but let the circ*mstances be always remembered. If the Jew grewgreedy in his money-lending, the world often closedto him every avenue of effort except the one narrow,sordid channel. The Christian set himself againsthim like flint. Can the Jew be blamed that heskinned the flint?In some ways, men who in the past have been regarded with abhorrence, are seen by our fuller lightto have been benefactors. The cautious creditorwho looks narrowly at the borrower, who foreclosesthe mortgage promptly and firmly when the duepayment fails , and who exacts to the last cent theprincipal and interest, —has not the time gone by forcalling such men only hard-souled money-getters,and for accusing them of grinding the faces of thepoor? Ought we not rather to look upon them asagents of the greatest value in the discipline andeducation of society? What lessons they enforceupon the idle, the unpunctual, the improvident!The thrifty and industrious have nothing to fearfrom them; the influence of such lenders in a community is to drive out shiftlessness-to make allcareful and diligent. It may be affirmed that theJews, through the long ages when they have beenvilified as so sordid and covetous, administered to theworld a most important schooling. No doubt theyhave been sometimes rapacious, but it could notwell have been otherwise. While all other avenueswere closed to the Jew, the jealousy of artisans onTHE MONEY KING. 257the one hand excluding them from the handicraftsmuch more strictly than American mechanics shutout negroes and Chinese, -on the other hand thehigher professions and public life being quite inaccessible, there was no path for them but in the onedespised direction. What wonder that there wassometimes overreaching, and that a habit of takingthe largest advantage of the hard world which maltreated them so cruelly, should have sprung up andbecome hereditary? When his prejudices have notacted, the Jew has been charitable and generous.Among themselves there has not usually been meanwithholding of aid. Even where his prejudices havestood in the way, the number of instances is notsmall where the Jew has nobly surmounted them,rising into a charity extended even toward his persecutors.In trade and exchange, the Jew in the darkesttimes has had sufficient vigor and shrewdness toflourish; as society has become humane and established, as the rights of property have been recognized and made secure, straightway the children ofJacob step to the front, become the kings of marketand bourse, and by the might of money make a wayfor themselves. Men like Spinoza and Moses Mendelssohn, with their great intellectual power andbeautiful spirit, have caused the world to respecttheir race. Israel, however, has brought to bearcoarser instruments, which have been more effective,perhaps, in breaking for her a path to a better place.And now let us glance at the career of a remarkablefamily.258 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.The streets in the Juden-gasse at Frankfort aredark even by day; the worn thresholds are still inplace that have been stained with blood in the oldmassacres; the houses are furrowed and decrepit asif they had shared in the scourgings which theirowners have undergone. A picturesque, gableddwelling rises not far from the spot where once stoodthe gate within which the Jews were barred at nightfall, and behind which they sometimes sought toshelter themselves when the wolves of persecutionwere upon their track. Here lived one hundredyears ago Meyer Anselm, whose surname, derivedfrom the sign above his door, was Rothschild. Themoney-changer had raised himself from a low position by unusual dexterity. * By a touch of the fingerhe could tell the value of any strange coin; at thesame time he had won a name as an honest man.At length into the Rhine region, in the year 1793,came pouring the legions of the red republicans fromFrance. The princes fled in terror from the invasion, and the landgrave of Hesse Cassel, driving upto the door of the Jew, in the confusion, surprisedhim with this address: " I know of old your trustiness. I confide all I have in the world to you.Here is my treasure; here are the jewels of myfamily. Save the jewels if you can, and do with themoney as you choose. " The landgrave became afugitive, and within an hour or two the sans culottes,taking possession of the city, were plundering highand low. Neither Jew nor Christian escaped, MeyerAnselm suffering with the rest.

• Several interesting facts in this sketch are derived from a letter of

" Junot's " in the Philadelphia Press.WILSUNSIN THE FRANKFORT JUDEN- GASSE.260 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.Ten years later, with the coming of Napoleon intopower, stability was again restored. The landgrave,returning, called at the Red Shield in the Juden- gasseof Frankfort, with small hope of receiving a good report. "Well, here I am, friend Meyer, escaped withnothing but life. " To his astonishment, the faithfultrustee had been able through all . the trouble of thetime to conduct affairs prosperously. While his ownmeans had been plundered, he had saved in somehiding-place in the cellar-wall the treasure of theprince. The heirloom jewels were untouched; withthe money he had made a million; and he now restored all to the wondering landgrave, principal andinterest. This was the beginning of the marvellouscareer of the great house of Rothschild. The princespread far and wide the story of his rescue from ruin.One may well suspect that the shrewd old hawkof the Juden-gasse had had all along a careful eyetoward the comfortable feathering of his own nest.At any rate, no better policy for the advancement ofhis interests could have been hit upon than thishonesty in the affairs of the distressed prince. Inten years he was the money king of Europe, transmitting to his able sons, when he himself died in1812, a proud inheritance which they well knew howto improve.Heinrich Heine has left an interesting account ofbeing conducted by Ludwig Börne through theJuden-gasse of Frankfort, both of them at the time.poor Jewish boys, but destined in after years tobecome the most famous writers of Germany. Itwas the evening of the " Hanoukhah, " the feast ofTHE MONEY KINGS. 261lamps. The story has been told how Judas Maccabæus, after a victory over the oppressor of his race,had caused the altar of the true God to be reconstructed. It was necessary that the lamps in thesacred porches should be rekindled, to the sound ofinstruments and the chant of the Levites. Only onevial of oil, however, could be found in the Temple,but, miraculously, the one poor vial sufficed to feedthe golden candlestick for a week. This wonder itis which the children of Jacob commemorate in thefeast of lamps. Meyer Anselm had gone to hisaccount, but his wife survived, a personality asmarked as the old money-changer himself. " Here,"said Börne to Heine, pointing to the weather-beatenhouse, " dwells the old woman, mother of the Roths-

• childs, the Letitia who has borne so many financial

Bonapartes. In spite of the magnificence of herkingly sons, rulers of the world, she will never leaveher little castle in the Juden-gasse. To-day she hasadorned her windows with white curtains in honor ofthe great feast of joy. How pleasantly sparkle thelittle lights which she has kindled, with her ownhands, to celebrate a day of victory! While the oldlady looks at these lamps, the tears start in her eyes,and she remembers with a sad delight that youngertime when her dear husband celebrated the Hanoukhah with her. Her sons then were yet little children, who planted their silver-branched lamps uponthe floor, and, as is the custom in Israel, jumpedover them in childish ecstasy."On his death-bed Meyer Anselm made his fivesons bind themselves by an oath that they would262 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.remain faithful Jews, that they would always carryon business in company, that they would increasemoney as much as possible, but never divide it, andthat they would consult their mother on all affairs ofimportance. The old mother long survived her husband. She had a singular reason for never sleepingaway from her poor home in the Juden-gasse; shefelt that her remaining there was in some way connected with the fortune of her sons. H. C. Andersen draws a picturesque scene, the open door of thehouse of one of her sons at Frankfort, when he hadbecome a financial prince, rows of servants withlighted candles on heavy silver candlesticks, betweenthem the old mother carried down stairs in an armchair. The son kisses reverently the mother's handas she nods genially right and left, and they bear.her to the poor lodging in the despised quarter.The luxury of sovereigns was prepared for her, butthat the good fortune of her sons depended uponher remaining where she had borne them was hersuperstition.The wish of the father was conscientiously fulfilled . The house abounded in wealth, and in childrenand grandchildren . The five sons, Anselm, Solomon,Nathan, Charles, and James, divided among themselves the principal exchanges of the world, werediplomatically represented in foreign lands, regulatingall their affairs , their dowries, marriages, and inheritances, by their own family laws. Nathan Meyer, thethird son of Anselm, who became head of theLondon house early in the present century, was theleader of the family. He went to England a youthTHE MONEY KINGS. 263of twenty-one, with a portion of about $ 100,000.Establishing himself in Manchester as manufacturer,merchant, and banker, he became a millionaire insix years. Removing then to London, his famouscareer in connection with the government began.In every move he was adroit as a fox, and yet fullof audacity. He managed in surprising ways toobtain news, breeding carrier-pigeons, employing thefastest vessels, discovering short routes for unitingthe great capitals, using his superior informationoften with too little scruple, but in ways which fewbusiness men would question. On the memorable18th of June, 1815 , the sharp eyes of Nathan Meyerwatched the fortunes of Waterloo as eagerly as thoseof Napoleon or Wellington. He found some shotproof nook near Hougomont, whence he peered overthe field, saw the charge before which Picton fell,the countercharge of the Enniskilleners and ScotchGrays, the immolation of the French Cuirassiers,the seizure of La Haye Sainte at the English centre,the gradual gathering of the Prussians, and at lastthe catastrophe, as the sunset light threw theshadow of the poplars on the Nivelles road acrossthe awful wreck, and the “ sauve qui peut " of thepanic-stricken wretches arose, who fled in the duskbefore the implacable sabres of Blücher. When thedecision came, the alert observer cried, exultingly:"The house of Rothschild has won this battle! "Then, mounting a swift horse which all day hadstood saddled and bridled, he rode through the shortJune night at a gallop, reaching, with daybreak, theshore of the German ocean. The waters were toss-264 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.ing stormily, and no vessel would venture forth.The eager Jew, hurrying restlessly along the shore,found a bold fisherman at last, who, for a greatbribe, was induced to risk his craft and himself. Inthe co*ckle-shell, drenched and in danger of foundering, but driving forward, the English shore was atlength gained, and immediately after, through whipand spur, London.TheIt was early morning of June 20th when he droppedupon the capital, as if borne thither upon the enchanted mantle of the Arabian Nights. Only gloomyrumors, so far, had reached the British world.hearts of men were depressed, and stocks had sunkto the lowest. No hint of the truth fell from thelips of the travel-worn but vigilant banker, so suddenly at his post in St. Swithin's Lane. Simply, hewas ready to buy consols as others were to sell.With due calculation, all appearance of suspiciouseagerness was avoided . He moved among thebankers and brokers, shaking his head lugubriously. " It is a sad state of affairs, " his forlorn faceseemed to say; " what hope is there for England? ”and so his head went on shaking solemnly, and thosewho met him felt confirmed in their impression thatEngland had gone by the board, and that it wasperhaps best to get away in time, before the Frenchadvanced guard took possession of the city. But hebought consols, for some unaccountable reason, andhis agents were in secret everywhere, ready to buy,though a panic seemed to be impending. So passedJune 20th-so passed June 21st. On the evening ofthat day the exchange closed, and the chests of NathanTHE MONEY KINGS. 265Meyer were crammed with paper. An hour later,came galloping into the city the government courier,with the first clear news of victory. London flashedinto bonfires and illuminations. The exchangeopened next day with every thing advanced to fabulous prices. In the south corner, under a pillar whichNATHAN MEYER ROTHSCHILD.was known as his place, leaned the operator so matchless in swiftness and audacity. His face was pale,his eye somewhat jaded; but his head, for some reason, had lost its unsteadiness. His face, too , hadlost its lugubriousness, but had a dreamy, happyexpression, as if he beheld some beatific vision. Thelittle gentleman had made ten millions of dollars.266 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.The house of Rothschild, it has been said, wasrapacious, as well as bold and full of tact, oftenshowing toward the hard world the ancient Hebrewimplacability, and stripping it without mercy. WhenEngland in the struggle with Napoleon was sorepressed to supply its fleets and armies, the Rothschilds, buying up all the available food and clothing,are accused of having caused prices to advancelargely; at the same time they possessed themselvesof all the gold. Supplies must be purchased of thehouse, and when the settlement came, gold mustalso be purchased at a great premium. The treasurybought gold of the Rothschilds to pay its obligationsto the Rothschilds, and so the child of Jacob flayedthe Gentile with a two-edged sword. Wellington, itis said, could never afterward endure the family, andput many a slight upon them, even while they heldbetween thumb and finger the princes of Europe.The famous martinet was familiar with military, butnot with business, expedients. It is not probable thatthe financiers of any bourse in the world, at thepresent time, could condemn the methods of theable Hebrews without condemning themselves.So grew great the house of Rothschild. Its wholecourse was a marvel of enterprise. Its boldnessbrought it sometimes to the brink of ruin , but moreoften the Jews' shekels were breeding like rabbits.Now it acquired the monopoly of supplying theworld with quicksilver, now it saved a bankruptmonarchy from destruction, now it turned aside themarch of armies. The five sons of the wrinkled oldmoney-changer of the red shield in the FrankfortTHE MONEY KINGS. 267Juden-gasse, who had played as little children on theMaccabæan festival with their seven-branched silvercandlesticks, held court as money kings in London,Paris, Vienna, Berlin, and Naples. They were financial agents of all the important governments, conductors of every money transaction upon a largescale. Meantime the oath sworn to the dying fatherwas respected. The brothers were bound by thestrongest ties, their children intermarried, they gotall they could, and kept all they got, until menscarcely dared to name their wealth . It was a giddyand harassing eminence. One day in 1836, NathanMeyer, a man scarcely past middle age, left London.to attend the marriage of his eldest son in a distantcity of the continent. Weeks passed; at length alittle incident happened at Brighton, exciting at firstslight wonder, but afterward gaining more fully theworld's attention. An idle marksman, catching sightof a bird which, after breasting the breeze of theEnglish channel, was flying somewhat heavily overthe town, its wings drooping as if from a long passage, brought it down by a lucky shot. It proved tobe a carrier-pigeon, about whose neck was tied a slipof paper, dated only the day before in a far-awaypart of Europe. It contained only the three French.words: " Il est mort. " The marksman wonderedwho the mysterious dead man could be, and speculated with his neighbors over the slip . At length itwas made plain. The bird whose flight was interrupted was carrying to St. Swithin's Lane news ofthe great banker's death, -a timely message, thatsail might be reefed and all be tight and trim for268 THE STORY OF THE JEWS..the shock, when perhaps after a fortnight's time, byslow-moving coach and bark, the news should reachthe world that the money king no longer lived. "Lionel Rothschild, eldest son of Nathan Meyer,and his successor as head of the London house, was,in a different way, not less famous than his father.He was of agreeable person and manners, the friendof royalty and the nobility, himself at last ennobled,and of great political influence, even before he sat inParliament. He became the central figure in thestruggle for the abrogation of Jewish disabilities.He was elected to Parliament in 1847, the first sonof his race so honored; but for ten years, as he stoodbefore the bar of the House of Commons to take theoath, he was each year rejected , because his upliftedhand, upon the enunciation of the words " on thefaith of a Christian, " fell promptly to his side. TheIsraelite yielded by no jot, but the Christian at lastgave way. Baron Lionel's palace in London adjoined Apsley House, the mansion of Wellington,and bore on its front the arms of the German empire,the consul-generalship of which was handed downthrough the generations of the family. Great statesmen were his guests, the princes of the royal familymade a point of being present at the weddings andchristenings of his children , ambassadors of thehighest powers came to sign as witnesses, and thesovereign sent gifts.The career of James, the son of Anselm Meyerwho became head of the Paris house, is no less extraordinary than that of Nathan Meyer in London.THE MONEY KINGS. 269After the overthrow of Napoleon, the allies requiredfrom the restored Bourbon, Louis XVIII. , the immense sum of 200,000,000 francs, as an indemnityfor their sacrifices in bringing about the consummation. James Rothschild first became a great powerin France, through his successful conduct of thisimmense operation. With soul as haughty as theroyal line to whose relief he had come, he demandedsocial recognition for himself and wife. "What! "cried the duch*esse d' Angoulême, daughter of theking, " the chair of a Jew in the royal circle! Theyforget the ruler of France is the most Christian king. "The demand was refused; but Baron James, for hehad acquired a title, established in the magnificentpalace presented by Napoleon I. to his step-daughter Queen Hortense de Beauharnais, waited for hisopportunity. When at length, at the revolution of1830, the house of Orleans supplanted the Bourbons,it was the Hebrew parvenu who made it possible forLouis Philippe to mount the throne. The socialbarrier was now surmounted. The monarchy itselfonly existed at the Baron's pleasure. His familywere as splendidly lodged as royalty itself at theTuileries. Madame la Baronne gave the law to thesocial world. Paris followed her beck, and at thefashionable watering- places, in magnificence of raiment, in ornaments and equipages, she outdazzledthe sovereigns. But the ambition of the Israelite wasinsatiable. He used his high position for furthermoney-making, and was accused of showing littleloyalty except to his own faith and race. The sonsof the various houses of Rothschild in general, with270 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.the exception of the branch in England, even whiledeciding the fate of nations hold themselves, as itwere, above politics. Parties and governments shift,revolutions come and go, dynasty succeeding dynasty; but every turn of the political wheel dropsgold into their ever-hungry coffers.Often they have cared little to respect the feelings,reasonable or otherwise, of the world which they havesubstantially swayed. In the time of Baron Jamesat Paris, the journals were full of hits at the allegedmeanness and vulgarity which, it was insisted, thehouse of Rothschild coupled with their magnificence.Millions, it was charged , went in luxurious display,but rarely a sou for art or public improvements. Onefinds such stories as follow: One day, at a festival,Rothschild was approached by a lady who askedfrom him a contribution for a charitable object. Thebaron dropped a gold piece into her box, which thelady, whose attention at the moment was attractedelsewhere, did not perceive. She repeated her request, whereupon the rich man curtly declared hehad already given. " Pardon," said the lady, " Idid not see you, but I believe you. "" And I, "said a witty princess who stood near, " saw it , but Ido not believe it. " Some one once related beforeScribe, the dramatist, that Rothschild had the evening before lost ten napoleons at play, without anexpression of regret. Nothing surprising in that,"was the quick remark; " great griefs are always voiceless." But Plutus elbowed his way cavalierly forward, caring little for gibes or harsher criticism." How is Madame la Baronne? " politely inquired a""THE MONEY KINGS. 27166man of high rank, who met the Jew at the opera."What's that to you," was the rejoinder, as heturned his back. To Prince Paul of Würtemberg,who was once his guest at dinner, the baron tookpleasure in being roughly familiar. Paul, let mehelp you to some of this Johannisberg, ” at length hebegan. As the prince did not reply, the presuminghost repeated the remark; upon which his highness,with his feathers well ruffled, beckoning to the steward, said: “ Do you not hear? the baron is addressingyou, ” and left the house.Baron James could snub a duke, or even a sovereign,with perfect self-possession, but there was one manby whom he seemed to be cowed and mastered, thebrilliant Heinrich Heine, one of his own race, alreadymore than once mentioned in these pages, and whomwe shall hereafter attentively consider. Heine wasoften at the banker's palace, maintaining his intimacy, not through any obsequiousness, but by a kindof spell which his bitter tongue exercised over thehost. As Heine declared , he was received “famillionairement," because the poor banker wished to bethe first to hear the evil which his reckless guest wasgoing to say about him. One day, as the baron wasdrinking a glass of the Neapolitan wine called " Lacrimæ Christi, " he remarked on the strangeness ofthe name, and wondered how it could have originated. " That's easy enough, " said Heine; “ itmeans, translated , that Christ shed tears to have suchgood wine wasted on Jews like you.As Baron Lionel, in London, was more courtlyand gracious than his pushing father, so Baron272 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.Alphonse, the son of James, showed to the world aless brusque exterior than might have been expectedfrom the atmosphere in which he had been educated.Napoleon III. received him almost as a member ofthe imperial family. A palace of the Orleans house,in the Rue St. Honoré, became his Paris home, whilefor a country-seat he bought the magnificent ducalestate of Ferrières, thirty miles from the city. Herethe display was profuse and ostentatious beyond allexample. A great fête, given to the court in 1869,cost a million francs, and the gold and silver platewhich the sovereign had used was melted down afterthe dinner that it might serve no humbler guests.It was a proper fate that the ruler who could countenance such coarse wastefulness, should be drivenwithin a twelvemonth from his power. The houseof Rothschild, however, floated buoyant on thewaves of the stormy upheaval, saw the Prussiansenter with little regret, and was even spared by theCommune, when all else was subjected to destructionor pillage.CHAPTER XVII.SIR MOSES MONTEFIORE.IN a worldly sense, nothing can be more brilliantthan the career of the great family of Rothschild.Before their time there have been rich Hebrews;but, whether from the extraordinary ability of themen, or whether because now circ*mstances havemade such a thing possible, as never before, such anaggregation of wealth has never before been known.in the hands of a few individuals. The power theyhave wielded in consequence of it has been enormous,and has contributed essentially to lift their wholerace into a prominent position before the world.Can the career of the family be called an honorableone? Before many a transaction of theirs themoralist will shake his head dubiously, as perplexedas poor Nathan Meyer seemed to be on the LondonExchange on those June days in 1815. Let us referfor a moment to an old-fashioned way of looking atthese things. To cite once more Cicero, we aretold in his " De Officiis, " a story of certain vesselswhich, in a time of great scarcity at Rhodes, set sailthither in company from Alexandria, in Egypt,loaded with corn. One ship, swifter than the rest,and with a more skilful captain, outsailed its com-274 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.Ispanions, and arrived at its anchorage near theColossus, while the remainder of the fleet was severalhours distant. The newly arrived captain is straightway surrounded by a hungry crowd, who, quiteignorant of the abundance close at hand, are willingto give him an enormous price for his cargo. "Whatnow does right require? " asks the old moralist.the captain justified in keeping quiet, letting thepeople find out for themselves, and taking the immense price, or is he in duty bound to tell theRhodians there is provision enough three hours awayto feed them all? Put the case to a crowd on ' Changein any modern city, what would the reply be likelyto be? Cicero was in no doubt. In his view, therewas no right course but for the captain to tell thepeople frankly that the other ships were coming; toconceal the fact was to take an unfair advantage.Ought Nathan Meyer to have told the Londoners ofWellington's victory, or did he do right to keepquiet and pocket his ten millions? and in a thousandother instances in the history of the great house, dowe find the dealing fair and above-board; or is itrather sharp practice that trenches all along upondishonesty?That the old heathen would have condemnedmuch of the cunning scheming and adroit manipulation, there can be no manner of doubt. For ourmodern day, let our preachers and moralists speakfor themselves. It would be ludicrous, however, tohear criticisms upon such a course from the American business world . You inquire as you ride with afriend through some great city: " Who is buildingSIR MOSES MONTEFIORE. 275this magnificent palace here on the bon-ton boulevard? " " That belongs to A, so famous for hiscorner in butter last fall. To be sure a hundredweaker operators came to the ground, and manya poor family went with their bread dry, but itwas capitally managed, and perhaps he will be president of the Board of Trade." " Who drives yondersuperb horses and equipage? " That is B, so luckythe other day at the ' bucket-shop '; and he is aboutto dine at the club with C, who makes the world payfive prices for that indispensable commodity whichhe is shrewd enough to control. " Now who are Aand B and C? "Hebrew sharpers "? Far from it.The first is a Vermonter, whose ancestor held thetorch while Ethan Allen broke down the gate atTiconderoga. The line of the second goes back tothe " Mayflower "; and as to the third, his greatgrandfather, in the heart of old Virginia, sold GeorgeWashington the very hatchet which Truth, as we allknow, bears for an emblem, as Hope carries the anchor, and Faith the cross, and Justice the scales, -Americans all , unmixed, and of the finest strains.It may be suggested to Americans inclined to findfault with " Jew sharpers, " that their house is ofglass from which it is not wise to throw stones.Over-harsh judgment of the ways of modern commerce are perhaps possible. The Israelite businessman sometimes trades in old clothes, and sometimes.is finance minister of an empire; his Yankee counterpart sometimes peddles pop- corn on a railroad train,or as a railroad king brings now prosperity, now ruin,to whole States by a nod of his head. Much that276 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.goes for rapacity, over-reaching, criminal indifferenceto human welfare, possibly deserves far milder characterization. With what genius, at any rate, doesthe son of Jacob move in this tangled world ofaffairs-so energetic, so persistent, so adroit, -springing to the leadership so dexterously, whoever maybe his competitors! As he invented banking in themiddle ages, so now in our more complex modernlife , it is the Jew who leads the way in the devisingof expedients, in the planning of adjustments, bywhich order can be brought out of the perplexity—new methods of manipulation coming to pass underhis dexterous hand, the financial domain spun acrosswith bewildering devices, until the plain man findsit all unintelligible, however necessary it may be inthe confusion of immense and intricate relations.Good types of this strange Semitic ingenuity, oftenblameless, often beneficent, but on the other handoften unscrupulous, -in ways, however, which it isnot always easy to find fault with, -full of audacity,full also of cunning, --which sees to it narrowly thatthe bold bound shall not overleap or fall short ofthe precise aim, one may find in the great Frenchoperators Isaac and Emile Pereire. Natives of Bordeaux, they began their careers in Paris as brokers.Growing in wealth, they were the first Frenchmen tobuild railroads, managing to obtain for them moneyand credit when they were looked upon askance asdisturbing, perhaps dangerous, innovations. Theirenterprises became colossal, until, from being therailroad kings of France, they grasped at power overthe whole continent of Europe, organizing and con-SIR MOSES MONTEFIORE. 277trolling companies by the score, buying up, for instance, at a stroke, all the government railroads ofAustria. It is said the Pereires are to be lookedupon as the originators of all those intricacies ofmodern railroad-finance, whose nomenclature is soconstantly in the mouths of the men on ' Change,but before which the plain citizen despairs as havinga meaning quite impenetrable, -common stock, preferred stock, first, second, third, perhaps thirteenthmortgage-bonds, floating- debt, watering, credit mobilier, and what not. The practice of founding jointstock corporations for the sole purpose of negotiating the stock and realizing on it, is said to bestrictly their own invention, copied to a calamitousextent throughout the entire civilized world. ThePereires, the elder brother in particular, were zealousphilanthropists, combining in a most incongruousway heartless selfishness in business matters withuniversal charity. The account which is given ofthem declares: " They illustrate the quaint mixtureof virtue and vice in human nature. They thoughtthemselves honestly virtuous, while stern moralists.may think them simply vicious. In reality theywere a novel mixture of good hearts and egregious business habits which made them rich whileothers were impoverished. "*It is pleasant to be able to show, after the consideration of careers somewhat questionable, such ashave just been detailed, that the Hebrew businessman is by no means necessarily rapacious. One of

• Boston Advertiser.

278 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.the noblest and most picturesque types of modernphilanthropy has come forth directly from the innercircle of these great financial princes, a man whoselabors, journeys, and benefactions, prompted by awise and generous spirit, are as unparalleled as theshrewdness, audacity, and persistence through whichhis kindred and partners succeeded in winning theworld.Sir Moses Montefiore, * whose death is announcedjust as this book goes to press, as full of honors as ofyears, received the homage of the whole civilizedworld, October 24, 1884, upon his hundredth birthday. He united in himself all that is most characteristic of his race in mental and physical respects.A close observer of the old Mosaic law, he showed inhis body the astonishing vigor which a faithful following of the sanitary provisions of Pentateuch andTalmud may bring to pass. In mind he had thecharacteristic Jewish sharpness which won for him onthe exchange a colossal fortune; in spirit he had theJewish intensity, manifested in his case not in anynarrow or selfish way, but in a humanity broad asthe world; at the same time he cherished with perfect devotion the traditions and faith of his forefathers, and anticipated with enthusiasm the daywhen the throne of David should be again establishedon the holy mountain at Jerusalem. Few biographies can be cited which offer so much that isextraordinary as the varied story of this elder of theHebrews, from his youth to his retirement in hisquiet home by the sea, in Kent.

• Life of Sir Moses Montefiore, " by Simon Wolfe.

MOSES SIR MONTEFIORE .280 THE STORY OF the Jews.His blood was of the best Israelite strain. Anancestor of his was the bold sailor, Lamego, thatcaptain of Vasco de Gama, who brought back toEurope the first intelligence that his admiral hadfound the passage about the Cape of Good Hope.Of his particular family, whose Italian origin is madeplain by the name, Montefiore, the earliest memorialpreserved is a silk ritual curtain in the synagogue atAncona, magnificently embroidered and fringed withgold; this was the work of an ancestress as far backas 1630, and is suspended before the ark on thegreat festivals. Like the Disraelis, the Montefiorescame to England, when at length, through Cromwell,the bars had been removed, and with the presentcentury reached fame and wealth. Moses Montefiore's way to fortune was smoothed by his marriagewith the sister- in-law of Nathan Meyer Rothschild.His brother, also, was married to a sister of NathanMeyer; still a third link bound the families together,for the second son of Nathan Meyer married his firstcousin, the niece of Moses Montefiore. With thestrong Jewish feeling of clanship, one can understandhow close the connection must have become withthe great house which possessed such power. MosesMontefiore was, in fact, the broker of the Rothschildsduring the most heroic period of the great operators.No suspicion, however, has ever attached to him, ofthe sharp practice which has sometimes hurt the reputeof the famous bankers. Free from all overweeninggreed, he withdrew early from active business, witha fine fortune indeed, but untainted by the spiritof covetousness, and through constant beneficentSIR MOSES MONTEFIORE. 281activity, has won for himself the best possible renown.He set on foot among his people the movementwhich resulted in the doing away of Jewish disabilities, and at length brought it about that his nephew,Baron Lionel Rothschild, sat in the British Parliament. But most memorable have been his journeys,-one should rather say his lordly progresses, -againand again undertaken, to Africa, to Asia, and throughout the whole of Europe, in behalf of his sufferingco-religionists, whose bonds he has broken and whosepoverty he has relieved , rather as if he were a magnificent potentate than a simple British citizen . Sideby side with his wife , of spirit and energy resemblinghis own, in a kind of princely state, with a coachand six, or a special train, upon land, and upon seain French or British frigates placed at his disposal,he discharged his self-imposed missions with a curious pomp. Nothing can be more picturesque thanthe scenes described as attending these expeditions.Barbaric princes yield humbly to the demand thathumanity shall be respected. Sultan, Czar, andPope, no less than petty princeling and robber captain, give him honor and promise amendment. TheJew's urging, it is felt, is backed by immense power,and his hands scatter largesses such as the coffers offew monarchs could afford.It is scarcely credible that within fifty years civilized men should have aided and abetted in suchenormities as occurred in Damascus and Rhodes in1840. A Jewish persecution sprang up in thosetowns, scarcely less terrible than the dark deeds of282 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.those mediæval zealots to which certain of thesepages have referred. The inveterate blood-accusation, that Jews had committed murder to obtainhuman blood for use in their sacrifices, was againmade, and fanaticism once more expressed itself intorture and slaughter. Men were scourged to death,as of old; others were blinded and maimed for life;sixty little children, from three to ten years old,were taken from their mothers and shut up withoutfood; by their starvation, the parents were to beforced, through anguish of soul, into confession.Damascus and Rhodes are, to be sure, Turkishcities, but the French Consul of the former townwas one of the most active persecutors, and in thelatter, the representatives of several civilized powersconnived at the cruelties.Montefiore, living retired in his beautiful Kentishvilla, felt his heart stirred at the sufferings of thefaithful. He roused civilized Europe to indignation,proceeding himself to the spot where the persecutionswere taking place. The French statesman Crémieux,himself of Hebrew race, was at the same time activeat the court of Louis Philippe, and elsewhere wereheard influential Hebrew voices. It was the BritishJew, however, whose hands and tongue were mosthelpful. He was presently on the spot, backed byall the power of enormous wealth and the might ofEngland. The dead could not be brought back tolife , nor could the blinded and crippled regain theirlost members, but so far as human means could avail,the wrongs were righted . Out of the agitation grewthe powerful " Alliance Israélite Universelle," an or-SIR MOSEs montefiore. 283ganization through which the well-placed Hebrewsof civilized lands have sought to make impossiblehereafter the renewal of medieval barbarities.Sir Moses Montefiore has felt keenly the taunt ofCobbett, that the " Israelite is never seen to take aspade in his hand, but waits, like the voracious slug,to devour what has been produced by labor in whichhe has no share. " In Palestine and elsewhere, hehas sought to make the Jews agricultural and industrial, and in his records seems never more pleasedthan when he can describe Hebrew farmers and artisans. Great though his might has everywhere beenthrough his personal force and the power always behind him, he has met with his rebuffs. Said PrincePaskievitch, the Russian governor of Poland, to him,when he was urging upon that official the proprietyof doing something for the education of his people:"God forbid! the Jews are already too clever for us.How would it be if they got good schooling! "The pictures are touching and dramatic which aregiven in the accounts of Sir Moses Montefiore'sjourneys, and none are finer than those drawn byhis wife, Judith, his frequent companion, a devotedHebrew like her husband. Both believed in therestoration of Israel to the Holy Land, thes oil ofwhich they loved as if they were native to it, withall the wondrous Hebrew patriotism. On one occasion, as they arrive, she breaks out: " Anchor wascast in the Bay of Beyrout, and magnificent was thescene presented to our view. Immediately before.us rose the lofty mountains of Lebanon, precipitousand crowned with snow, in strange contrast with the284 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.yellow, barren shore, and, stranger still, the glowingsky, and the dazzling rays of the sun, wrapping thetown of Sidon itself in a blaze of morning splendor. ""At the ancient Gilead , how many solemn thoughpleasurable thoughts floated through our minds!Oh, how does the heart of the pilgrim cling to andyearn over the words of the prophet! I will bringIsrael again to his habitation , and he shall feed onCarmel and Bashan, and his soul shall be satisfiedupon Mount Ephraim and Gilead. In those daysand in that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity ofIsrael shall be sought for and there shall be none;and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found,for I will pardon them whom I reserve. 'The strain of the writer rises into solemn raptureas Jerusalem is approached: " What the feelings ofa traveller are, when among the mountains on whichthe awful power of the Almighty once visibly rested,and when approaching the city where he placed hisname, whence his Law was to go forth to all theworld, where the beauty of holiness shone in itsmorning splendor, and to which, even in its sorrowand captivity, even in its desolation, the very Gentiles, the people of all nations of the earth, as wellas its own children, look with profound awe and admiration,-oh, what the feelings of the traveller areon such a spot, and when listening to the enrapturedtones of Israel's own inspired king, none can imaginebut those who have had the felicity to experiencethem! "They approach, probably, by the same place"Scopus, " whence Alexander saw in the distance.OLIVESFMOUNT THE FROM JERUSALEM 285286 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.the vision of the Temple, and whence Titus caughtsight of the mighty ramparts which his army mustforce. "Solemn as were the feelings excited by themelancholy desolateness of the rocky hills and valleys through which we were passing, they were suddenly lost in a sense of indescribable joy-for nowthe Holy City itself rose full into view, with all itscupolas and minarets reflecting the splendor of theheavens. Dismounting from our horses, we sat downand poured forth the sentiments which so stronglyanimated our hearts in devout praises to Him whosemercy and providence alone had thus brought us,in health and safety, to the city of our fathers."Passing on, the train encamps upon the Mount ofOlives, separated from the town by the narrowravine. " The pure air of the Mount breathedaround us with the most refreshing fragrance; andas we directed our attention to the surroundingview, Jerusalem was seen in its entire extent atour feet, the Valley of Jehoshaphat to our left , and,in the distance, the dark, misty waves of the DeadSea.""They drew near Jerusalem on the following dayin a magnificent cavalcade. The Turkish governorled the way, attended by his officers, and an escortin costly and brilliant dress mounted upon the finestArab steeds. It would have been impossible to paymore honor to a king. Through the Gate of theTribes the city was entered, and, as the Jewish quarter was reached, bands of music and choirs of singerswelcomed the arrival, while a vast crowd clapped.their hands in joy. Montefiore paid his first visitVALLEY JEHOSHAPHAT OFKIDRON OR. 287288 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.to the synagogue, where, being called to the Sepher,or sacred book, he offered prayer in the Jewish manner for those present and also for English friends.Judith Montefiore was allowed the honor of lighting four lamps in front of the shrine, and puttingthe bells on the Sepher. During this sojourn, andalso at other times, for Montefiore has repeatedlyvisited the Holy Land, charity was bestowed aswisely as profusely, oppression was made to relaxits hold, and provision made for the education ofthe Jews in intelligence and habits of thrift. " Farewell, Holy City! " exclaims Judith Montefiore, atlast. " Blessed be the Almighty who has protectedus while contemplating the sacred scenes whichenviron thee! Thankful may we ever be for hismanifold mercies! May the fountain of our feelings evermore run in the current of praise and entiredevotion to his will and his truth, till the time shallarrive when the ransomed of the Lord shall returnand come to Zion with songs and everlasting joyupon their heads! "In reading the story of Montefiore's life, one feelstransported back to the days of the patriarchs, soastonishing is his long-continued strength. Afterreaching eighty, he undertook four of his great philanthropic journeys-two to Jerusalem, one to Roumania, and one to Russia. Of the feats of his age,none is more interesting than his visit to the Sultanof Morocco, whose half million Jewish subjects hadbecome exposed to persecution, largely, as in theDamascus case, through the incitement of the representatives of Christian powers resident among them.SIR MOSES MONTEFIORE. 289A French frigate conveyed him from Gibraltar toTangier, where his landing had a touch of the comic."Our captain," writes one of his retinue, " had contrived a kind of car, in which, for want of a suitablelanding-place, Sir Moses might be borne over a considerable extent of shallow water between the boatand the shore. His porters, and a great many of thelaboring class of Israelites were wading, and his superior size thus conspicuously moving over the water,surrounded by a shabby amphibious group, appearedto me like a travestied representation of Neptuneamong the Tritons." When matters at Tangierhad been put to rights, Sir Moses set out once morefrom Gibraltar, this time with an English frigate athis disposal, to make his way to the city of Morocco.Arriving with an imposing suite, he was received bythe Sultan with the utmost honor. The barbaricprince, surrounded by the flower of his army, mountedupon a charger whose white color indicated that thehighest deference was shown, met the strangers. Animportant edict was issued, granting all for whichthe guest had asked. Thus relief was afforded notonly to Jews, but to Christians also, for the catholicintercessor had besought of the Mohammedan goodtreatment for men of all confessions.Sir Moses stood in Jerusalem for the last time inhis ninetieth year, on a mission for the improvementof the Palestinian Jews. Something of the fervor ofthe psalms pervades the pages of the old man'sdiary. On the night before reaching the sacredshore, " Myriads of celestial luminaries, each of themas large and bright almost as any of the radiant290 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.over us.planets in the Western horizon, were now emittingtheir silvery rays of light in the spangled canopySure and steady our ship steered towardsthe coast of the land so dearly beloved, summoningall to sleep; but few of the passengers retired thatnight. Every one of them appeared to be in meditation. It was silent all around us-silent, so thatthe palpitation of the heart might almost be heard.It was as if every one had the words on his lips: ' Ah,when will our eyes be gladdened by the first glanceof the Holy Land! When shall we be able to setfoot on the spot which was the long-wished for goalof our meditations! ' Such were that night the feelings of every Gentile passenger on board. And whatother thoughts, I ask, could have engrossed themind of an Israelite? The words of Rabbi JehudaHalevi, which he uttered when entering the gates ofJerusalem , now came into my mind: ' The kingdomsof idolatry will all change and disappear; thy gloryalone, O Zion, will last forever; for the Eternal haschosen thee for his abode. Happy the man who isnow waiting in confiding hope to behold the risingglory of thy light! ' "'But while the heart of Sir Moses could thus rhapsodize, a cool and practical good sense was shown,as always, in his conduct. On the way to Jerusalemhe inspected narrowly the farms which he had beforeset in operation, counted the fruit-trees that hadbeen set out, saw to the efficiency of the machinesfor irrigation, with prudent thrift refused the steamengines that were petitioned for, because he thoughtfuel too scarce and skilled labor too scanty; andGOLDENATE . 291292 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.when he reached at last Jerusalem, set all to workto clean the city to prevent the spread of cholera.Nothing so pleased him as the evidence he foundthat the Palestinian Jews could be made to work.In his appeal in their behalf he declares: " The Jewsin Jerusalem, in every part of the Holy Land, I tellyou, do work; are more industrious even than manymen in Europe; otherwise none of them would remain alive. But, when the work does not sufficientlypay; when there is no market for the produce of theland; when famine, cholera, and other misfortunesbefall the inhabitants, we Israelites, unto whom Godrevealed himself on Sinai more than any other nation, must step forward and render them help. "Practical suggestions follow, which were at onceacted upon. In late years the " Montefiore Testimonial Committee" has helped agricultural colonies,established and loaned money to building societies,and in particular made a beginning at Jerusalem ofa new and beautiful city outside the Jaffa gate, inwhich there are already six hundred houses, wholesome and modern, accommodating a population offour thousand.The generous hand of Sir Moses was a thousandtimes stretched out in aid of the Gentile as well asthe Jew. He helped to build Protestant churches, tofound hospitals for the Turk and the Catholic, to liftup the poor of all races and colors. Naturally andproperly, however, it was upon his fellow-Jews thathis beneficence was for the most part poured out.It is quite possible that at the time of his death, noman upon the face of the earth was more widelySIR MOSES MONTEFIORE. 293known. The civilized world celebrated his hundredth birthday, and many a barbarian city aswell; for his influence has been powerfully felt inBokhara and Samarcand, as well as in St. Petersburg and Rome, -in Timbuctoo and Pekin, as inNew York and San Francisco; the Bedouin freebooter, the Turkoman sheik, the Dahoman savage,not less than Czar and Pope, have found theirruthless hands stayed by his powerful intervention .In face and form the old Hebrew was not less striking than in his years and deeds. He was six feetthree inches in height, and stooped but little even atthe last . His attire was of the fashion of sixty yearsago,--the high- collared coat, the huge white neckcloth and ample frill of the days of George IV.There exists a fine portrait of him, in which thingsincongruous strangely come together, but for him itis all happily conceived . On a hill overlooking Jerusalem, with its walls and the mosque of Omar in thebackground, stands his towering form in the costumeof a deputy- lieutenant of an English county.It helps to the picturesqueness of this curious andinteresting figure of our times, that he remained athoroughly orthodox Jew. No one was more constant at the synagogue until within a few years, andeven at one hundred he read daily every word of theprescribed prayers. He fasted on the anniversary ofthe capture of Jerusalem by the Romans, and on theDay of Atonement. The dietary laws of the Pentateuch he obeyed rigorously, and never tasted theflesh of animals that divide not the hoof nor chewthe cud. For each Jewish man- child he would have294 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.had the ancient rite of circumcision,-at the passovertime must be the feast of unleavened bread, —uponoccasion he wore the embroidered tephillin, the phylacteries upon his front;-he discharged in the synagogue the functions of Gabay, Parnass, and longfilled the office of Lavadore, washer of the dead, conductor of the solemn rites by which the bodies ofthe chosen people are carefully made ready for thesepulchre. The supporters on his arms hold aloftbanners on which the word " Jerusalem " is inscribedin Hebrew characters, and Jerusalem has been thewatchword of his life. When questioned as to hishope of a restoration of Israel, as expressed by therabbis and prophets, his reply was: " I am quite certain of it; it has been my constant dream; Palestine must belong to the Jews, and Jerusalem isdestined to become the seat of a Jewish empire. "Of this man it may, indeed, be said , following thewords of George Eliot, “ he had Oriental sunlight inhis blood."CHAPTER XVIII.HEBREW STATESMEN.THE astonishing deeds of men of Hebrew blood asstatesmen, partly because leadership here always impresses men powerfully, partly because it is not untilrecently that we have seen Jews in this eminence,affect the world more profoundly than the other distinctions. It is startling enough to see within one.decade this remnant of a race, a small fraction of thepopulation of Europe, so far forward that a fewyears ago George Eliot could say: " At this moment the leader of the liberal party in Germany isa Jew, the leader of the Republican party in Franceis a Jew, and the head of the Conservatives of England is a Jew "; while, as others assert, the foremostSpanish republican, Castelar, is of Jewish descent,and the diplomacy of Russia is guided by minds ofthe same race.Upon the career of the eloquent and public- spiritedCastelar we will not here dwell. The name of Lasker,though he died among us, is less well - known to American ears than that of Gambetta, and much less familiar than that of Disraeli. Lasker * was, in the German Reichstag, or Parliament, the recognized leader

• " German Political Leaders, " Tuttle.

296 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.of the great national liberal party ( the majority ofthe body), the ablest debater in Germany, a manwith a brave following. It was he who, in companywith his fellow- Hebrews, the Frankfort banker Bamberger, and Oppenheim, dared to put a hook intothe jaws of leviathan himself, the haughty Prince Bismarck, in his too cavalier dealing with the liberties ofthe people. One reads with great satisfaction of thetriumph of this able, high-minded champion, overthe sneering, supercilious Junker party, the GermanSquirearchy, which makes it its special work tothrow obstacles in the path of freedom. They, naturally, beyond the rest of the nation , have felt thetraditional dislike of the Jews, and have been accustomed to ask, when any financial scandal came out,with elevated eyebrow and curled lip: " Well, whois it this time, Isaac, or Abraham, or Moses? " asif a swindler must of necessity be a Jew. It wasa complete turning of the tables, when Lasker, withadroitness and boldness equally remarkable, broughthome some most discreditable railroad delinquenciesdirectly to the doors of Count Itzenplitz and PrincePuttbus, high-born functionaries in especial favorwith the great chancellor and the emperor. Withall their influence, there was no escape for them fromthe exposures of the fearless deputy; they hung gibbeted in their fraud, and the scoffers were silenced .A peculiarity of Lasker's oratory was that in hisenunciation the syllables were curiously detached,as his speech flowed on in its fluent course. Whenhe rose in his place, a small unimpressive figure,with a high piercing voice pouring itself out inHERR LASKER.298 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.this singular staccato, all heads bent forward in respectful listening; there was not a man in the empire that could cope with the Hebrew in the intellectual wrestle.If it excites alarm in Germany that the Jews, nottwo per cent. in the population, are elbowing themselves into all the best places, France perhaps hasscarcely less reason for fear. Those spiders, thebrothers Pereire, entangling France, then all Europe,in a web of railroads, then sucking out the life andforces of the ensnared in a revenue of millions, arerepresentatives of a class of great bankers. Much ofwhatever success and glory the Second Empire canlay claim to is due to the work of Achille Fould,four times Finance Minister; and in the times since,how frequent upon the lips of men have been thenames of the republican deputies Crémieux andGambetta.Gambetta! * A year or two since, there was perhaps in the world no more interesting name. In thehumiliations of his country , in 1870, his efforts tosave her were colossal. He was afterwards, aspremier, virtual ruler of France, and was almost ascertain to become the real ruler had he lived as if theunswerving primogeniture of the old régime werestill in force. He was descended from Jews of theItalian city of Genoa. A curious story is told of himin boyhood, which is of interest as betraying in himthat strange characteristic intensity of the childrenof Jacob, and which in Gambetta was manifestedconstantly afterward in his career. His father sent

• "Certain Men of Mark: Gambetta, " Towle.

GAMBETTA.PG300 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.him to a school which for some reason was distastefulto him. He wrote home that if he were not takenaway he would put out one of his eyes. His fatherlaughed at the threat and disregarded the request,and was presently shocked at hearing that the boyhad actually put out one of his eyes, at the sametime coolly writing that if he were not removed fromthe hated place he would put out the other. Only aJewish boy could have resorted to such a measure,so outré, so grotesque in the midst of its horrors, forbringing his parent to terms. In 1868, the day came atlast when Gambetta, then an active, ambitious younglawyer, was to take the first step toward a wide fame.In defence of newspapers arbitrarily handled by thecensors of Napoleon III . , he made a speech which,for vivacity, strength of invective, and beauty, is saidto be almost without parallel in the French language.It was delivered on a dull afternoon in December, ina little police court of the city. Gambetta spoke forseveral hours with an audacity and earnestness thatcompletely overawed the tribunal, and he was notinterrupted. What he uttered was the rankesttreason, a veritable thunderbolt upon the imperialhead. If it had been delivered by an ordinary manin an ordinary way, imprisonment would have followed at once. As it was, judge and people sat spellbound. Rumors ran through the city that a greatrevolutionary address was in progress, till prudenttradesmen got their shutters ready, and called theirchildren home from school, fearing there would beriots in the streets. Police were on the alert; thecavalry were held ready as on days of barricade. TheHEBREW STATESMEN. 301daring advocate was, however, left untouched, andnext morning was famous.News of his speech was breathed mysteriously fromtown to town, though the government watched thetelegraph, and within a week printed copies were inthe hands of the electors of all France. He was thenjust thirty years old, always carelessly dressed, nervous, with olive complexion, and intense, brusqueways. Aspeech soon followed at Toulouse, in whichhostility to the empire was more plainly shown , andat once the republicans took him up as their champion. He soon appeared in the Corps Législatif.As the central figure of a group of men sworn tooppose the empire, he pointed out unshrinkingly thefollies and knaveries of the imperialist policy, nothesitating to declare his belief that a new order ofthings was at hand. He once cried out to the minister of Napoleon III. , Olivier: "We accept you andyour constitution as a bridge to the republic; that'sall ." When at length those days of 1870 came, so darkfor France, like Frenchmen in general, he had no conception of the abyss upon the brink of which theystood. Not sympathizing with the cry for war withGermany, he yet made no vigorous opposition, andawoke overwhelmed with surprise at the afflictionswhich prostrated his country. As the forces of the empire were so dismally parried and beaten down, theolive-skinned, one-eyed young deputy sprang to thefront with an astonishing vigor. Then first the world atlarge began to read in the crowding despatches thatodd Italian name which afterwards became so familiar. He attained at once to prominence in the302 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.Committee of National Defence, and presently was-Minister of the Interior. For some time after thebeginning of the Prussian siege, he was at his postin Paris, acute and bold, always crying out againstinaction, lavishing upon his disheartened countrymen, as he lashed now the poltroons, now utteredwords of hope, such an eloquence as the Frenchchamber has seldom heard. The great Bossuet, inthe seventeenth century, was called " the eagle ofMeaux." In our time the eagle of France for soaringspeech was this impetuous son of the Jew; andappropriately enough, when he had tried in vain bymiracles in the forum to make good disasters in thefield, there came that picturesque balloon flight ofhis, in which he sailed through the clouds above thehostile belt of fire about Paris, and from a new eyrieat Tours, while France lay for the most part beneaththe foot of the German, faced the danger with voiceand talon undismayed!In those days there was such unheard of impotencyin ruler, in generals, in troops, that we knew almostnothing of the few real heroes who fought againstfate with gigantic vigor-an astonishing struggle,worthy of the best hearts in any age of that chivalrous nation, though they were borne down. Thewrestle of Gambetta was prodigious. Paris for thetime was blotted out of France by the Prussian cordon. Elsewhere Gambetta was dictator, minister ofwar and of peace. By wonderful speech and unfaltering courage in the face of the desperate circ*mstances, he concluded loans, raised armies, appointedgenerals, quelled dissensions and revolts, combiningHEBREW STATESMEN. 303in himself, as has been said, the executive facultiesof half a hundred officers. If he had known how tohandle the sword, those who studied the strugglebelieve that even then, after Metz and Sedan, hemight have saved France. Such armies and leadersas were still left, he tried to make receptacles of hisown abounding enthusiasm . His voice was heardeverywhere in the southern provinces always counselling advance. He hoped against hope that a littleexperience would make solid troops out of raw peasant levies, inspirited his colleagues with confidentdespatches, fired the disheartened soldiers with proclamations that were Napoleonic, to face again andagain the iron Prussians. He was undaunted evento the end.For a moment he retired , but was forced into public life in 1871 , being elected deputy by ten departments. After the return of quieter times, Gambettastood in the fore-front of the Republicans, with apower of moving the masses beyond that of anycontemporary. He grew more moderate, passingfrom a revolutionary leader into a prudent statesman.In quiet times his eloquence is described * as “ rich,sensuous, full of heats, showers, lightnings, perfumesof the south. " He spoke with an infinity of gesture,a constant play of thought and fancy in his mobileface, leaving upon all an impression of reservedpower. But when the occasion called, there was a wildpassion in Gambetta absolutely indescribable. " Hishollow and resounding voice was like that of somefurious prophet of doom. His intense face would

• Towle.

304 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.sometimes fly out of the mass of listeners, themore timorous of his side would catch him by theclothing, but he could not be restrained . His armwould be outstretched, and he would cry defiant contradiction or hurl the lie in the teeth of those whoventured to oppose him."In fact there is nothing reported of those greatand burning spirits of the old Revolution, of CamilleDesmoulins, of Vergniaud, the Girondin, of thegolden-mouthed Mirabeau, indeed, which surpasseswhat we hear of this towering descendant of theHebrew. Says a writer describing a stormy scene inthe Assembly: " Gambetta was astonishing in themidst of the tumult. He went on with his hollow,resounding voice, with a retort for every aggression,his grand, powerful gestures knowing so well how togive such terrific explosion to anger, such comic forceto irony. He went on in disorder, his hair fallingover his brow, shaking his head, throwing taunts athis interrupters, distributing sledge-hammer blows,sowing apostrophes and sarcasms broadcast. "Americans in general know little of the politics ofFrance. We have been inclined to belittle the nation, though less of late than in 1870, when the bravepeople were so strangely panic-struck and deliveredover. But down the dark future the wise reader ofthe signs of the times seems to hear even now a newclash of arms, a sudden, overwhelming spring uponAlsace and Lorraine, an outpouring of molten zeal,as in the revolutionary days, consuming, as it consumed before, Teutonic power and prestige. Therewas the other day, in France, a man of burning soulHEBREW STATESMEN. 305and commanding intellect, fully determined, if occasion served, to attempt this. The idol of masses ofhis countrymen, with his hand already on the stringsof power, a soul perhaps scarcely less potent thanthat of the other Italian, the earth-shaking man ofdestiny. Had he lived, the Genoese might have re-e-/peated the career of the Corsican.And now we take up the most singular and fascinating of characters, the adventurer born among outcasts, who had the address to make himself the leader of the haughtiest and most conservative ofaristocracies, the Tories of Great Britain. * Born aJew of the " Sephardim, " the élite of the race, of afamily of Spanish derivation, which, after a sojournin Venice, came in the last century to England,the Earl of Beaconsfield, Benjamin Disraeli, whentwelve years old, throughthe instrumentality ofSamuel Rogers, the poet, who felt that the brightboy ought to have a career, was baptized a Christian. We shall, however, find no better type ofthe Jew than he. His descent was written in everytrait of his character, as in every feature of hisface. The persistency with which he fought his wayupward, handicapped by limitations of every kind,by outward circ*mstances, by personal peculiaritieswhich brought ridicule, his origin in the eyes of theworld so contemptible—it is that extraordinary Jewish force. Without dwelling upon his lighter titleto fame, his literary career, let us take up at once the

• Brandes: " Life of Beaconsfield. "

His father was Isaac Disraeli, an author of some reputation.306THE STORYOF THE JEWS.story of his first speech in Parliament, into which heat last pushed himself after disappointments andlabors that can scarcely be measured. At length hestood there, the strange, fantastic figure, the olive skin,the thick Jewish nose, the black curl on his forehead,the Oriental passion for glitter and adornment in hisblood manifesting itself in excess of jewelry, finicalattire, curling and scented hair, -and presumed tocall to account Daniel O'Connell, then in the veryheight of his influence. The great agitator, with hishat tipped on the back of his head, leaning back inan attitude of easy insolence, stared at him in surprise, presently shaking his burly figure as he laughedin his face. The whole House of Commons at lengthwas roaring with mockery at the dandy upstart, whoseemed to most of them like some intruding pawnbroker. Showing no pity to the untried and friendless speaker, they laughed him into silence, butbefore the silence came, there was a memorablemanifestation . Raising his voice to a scream whichpierced the uproar, and shaking his thin hand at thehostile house, he cried, " The time will come whenyou will be glad to hear me! "Thence onward he runs in his marvellous Parliamentary career, speaking on every question, moreoften the mark of obloquy than eulogy, advocatingoften policies which few Americans can approve, butalways with pluck and fire perfectly indomitable,rising slowly toward leadership, battered as his headbecame prominent, by every Parliamentary missile,mercilessly lampooned, written down by able editors,ever pushing his way undismayed, until one day theISAAC DISRAELI.308THE STORY OF THE JEWS.world gave in to him and knelt to kiss his feet. Itis interesting to read how he was borne up by hisnoble wife, whom he loved with all his soul. Hereis a slight incident, one of many similar ones. Disraeli was to speak in Parliament at an importantcrisis. He entered the carriage with his wife todrive to Westminster. The coachman, slamming thedoor violently, caught the lady's hand, injuring itseverely. Fearing to disturb her husband, on theeve, as he was, of a great effort, she wrapped it inher handkerchief hastily, without uttering a sound orchanging her face, drove, cheerfully chatting to theHouse, and not until the arrow had been sent withall his steady strength, did the great archer know thecirc*mstance which might have impaired his aim.Disraeli's public course furnishes points enough towhich exception might be taken; perhaps his personal character may have been in many ways opento criticism. But certainly, if a tonic influence goesforth into the world from every man who boldlywrestles with difficulty, no one has done more in thisway to brace his generation than this superblystrong and courageous champion, rising from thedust to guide the mightiest and haughtiest powerupon the face of the earth, so that it was obedientnot only to his deliberate will, but to his caprices.A Christian and an orthodox Christian he wasthroughout his career, but none the less the mostarrogant of Jews. He feared, says his able biographer,Brandes, if he dropped the supernatural origin ofJesus, he would be depriving his race of the nimbuswhich encircles it, as the people among whom God.LORD BEACONSFIELD,310 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.himself, as the Redeemer of the world, was born.To him Christianity was only Judaism completed,Judaism for the multitude. " He hate Christ! Heis the fairest flower and eternal pride of the Jewishrace, a son of the chosen royal family of the chosenpeople, -the people which in an intellectual sensehas conquered Europe, and the quarters of theworld peopled by Europeans. Northern Europeworships the son of a Jewish mother, and gives hima place at the right hand of the Creator; SouthernEurope worships besides, as queen of heaven, aJewish maiden.” Commemorating the glories ofJerusalem, Disraeli bursts out in his " Tancred ":"There might be counted heroes and sages whoneed shrink from no rivalry with the brightest andwisest of other lands, —a lawgiver of the time of thePharaohs whose laws are still obeyed; a monarchwhose reign has ceased three thousand years, butwhose wisdom is still a proverb in all the nations ofthe earth; a teacher whose doctrines have modelledthe whole civilized world. The greatest of legislators, the greatest of administrators, the greatest ofreformers-what race, extinct or living, can` producesuch men as these? " "Suppose," exclaims theJewess Eva, with an earnestness which we may besure is the real feeling of the author, " Suppose theJews had not prevailed on the Romans to crucifyChrist, what would have become of the atonement?The holy race supplied the victim and the immolators. What other race could have been entrustedwith such a consummation? Persecute us! if youbelieve what you profess you should kneel to us.You raise statues to the hero that saves a country.HEBREW STATESMEN. 311We have saved the human race and you persecute usfor doing it! "Elsewhere Disraeli eloquently dwells upon themagnificent influence of Hebrew literature. " Themost popular poet of England is and has been David,the sweet singer of Israel. There never has been arace that sang so often the odes of David, and itsbest achievements have been performed under theirinspiration. It was the " sword of the Lord and ofGideon " that won the boasted liberties of Englandin Cromwell's days; chanting the same canticles thatcheered the heart of Judah among the glens, theScotch upon their hill-sides achieved their religiousfreedom." Staying their souls upon the same brace,he might have continued, the Pilgrim Fathers liftedinto place the foundation pillars of America. Thereare no bounds to the exultation of the patriotic enthusiast. Men of other lands have been deified, hesays, -Alexander the Greek, Cæsar the Roman-butonly in the case of Jesus, the Hebrew, has theapotheosis endured.For pride of race what can surpass such utterances!"Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hathshined "; " The seed of Jacob the chosen people; "God himself stooping from heaven to command theEgyptian, " Let my people go! " What an echo dothese soaring claims of the old biblical writers findfar down the ages from the nineteenth century! oneand the same exultant utterance from ancient David,who before the ark of the Lord wore the diadem ofHebrew sovereignty, and from him who in the ṣupreme places of the world just now wore the coronetof an English earl!&CHAPTER XIX.A SWEET SINGER IN ISRAEL. *HAS the spirit of this race, so intense, so persistent,so trampled by persecution, ever found in modern.times an adequate voice in poetry? Yes; a voicewhich is pervaded with all the melancholy that suchlong-continued suffering would cause, in which weseem to hear sometimes the saddest wailing; thenagain a terrible wit, sometimes indeed lightly playful, but more often resembling the laughter of a manmad through despair; in which, too, there is at timesa gall and bitterness as of the waters of Marah,poured out too indiscriminately upon the innocent, asupon those worthy of scorn,-the voice of Heinrich.Heine.66He was born of Jewish parents at Düsseldorf onthe Rhine. " How old are you? " says a personageto him in one of his works. Signora, I was bornon New Year's Day, 1800." " I have always toldyou,' said the marquise, that he was one of thefirst men of the century."" The Heine family camefrom Bückeburg, a little principality whose insignificance Heine merrily hits off. Alluding to a sayingof Danton, in the French Revolution, who, when he

• Adapted from the writer's " Short Hist. of Germ. Lit. "

A SWEET SINGER IN ISRAEL. 31366 was urged to leave his country to save his life ,exclaimed: What! can a man carry his fatherlandon the soles of his feet! " he says:" O Danton, thou must for thine error atone;Thou art not one of the true souls;For a man can carry his fatherlandAbout with him on his shoe-soles.Of Bückeburg's principalityFull half on my boots I carried.Such muddy roads I've never beheld;Since here in the world I've tarried . "When Heine was nineteen he was sent to Frankfort to learn business. Waterloo had come fouryears before, and in the restored order the Jewswere thrust back into their old condition from whichNapoleon had freed them. As one passes throughthe Juden-gasse in Frankfort, it is perhaps the mostinteresting reminiscence that can be recalled, thatthere, in the noisome lanes, moved the figure of theyoung poet, hearing with his fellows, at the strokeof the hour, the bolting of the harsh gates. Soonafter we find him in Hamburg, where his uncle,Solomon Heine, was the money-prince of NorthGermany, and a man famous for his benefactions inall directions. Convinced at length that a business.career would never be to his taste, he was for a timeat the University of Göttingen, then in Berlin,where he became intimate with Varnhagen vonEnse and his Hebrew wife Rahel, people of elegantculture and brilliant gifts; whose salon fills almostthe place in the literary history of the northerncapital that is filled by the Hotel Rambouillet in314 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.France. His gifts grew ripe in this literary atmosphere, and he presently entered upon his poeticcareer. He hoped at this time for a governmentposition or a university professorship, for either ofwhich the abjuration of the faith of his ancestorswas necessary. This was resolved upon, and he wasbaptized into the Lutheran Church. The changewas made purely from motives of expediency; hehad no faith in the doctrines of the Church intowhich he was received; in his attachment to his racehe remained a genuine Jew. For years after, Heine'smind was ill-at-ease for this apostasy. " I will be aJapanese, " he writes. " They hate nothing so muchas the cross. I will be a Japanese. ” The advantagehe sought he did not secure; his position, on theother hand, becoming more uncomfortable than before. In this period of his life Heine strikes intothat mocking vein of writing which he preserved soconstantly afterward, both in his prose and hispoetry. Leaving Göttingen for a journey in theHarz, after having contracted a spite against thesociety of the town, he laughed mercilessly at hisold associates."I have especial fault to find that the conceptionhas not been sufficiently refuted that the ladies ofGöttingen have large feet. I have busied myselffrom year's end to year's end with the earnestconfutation of this opinion, and in the profoundtreatise which shall contain the results of thesestudies, I speak, 1 , of feet generally; 2 , of the feetof the ancients; 3, of the feet of elephants; 4, ofthe feet of the ladies of Göttingen; then if I can getHEINRICH HEINE.316THE STORYOF THE JEWS.paper big enough, I will add thereto some copperplate engravings, with portraits, life-size, of theladies' feet of Göttingen. " Again, to hit off thepedantry of the town, he says: " In front of theWeender gate two little school- boys met me, one ofwhom said to the other: ' I will not walk withTheodor any more; he is a low fellow, for yesterdayhe did not know the genitive of mensa.He soon arrived at fame. A multitude of readersfollowed his pen with delight. His songs wereeverywhere sung; his witty and graphic prose commended itself no less . His nonchalant irreverence,which not infrequently runs into insolence and blasphemy, his disregard of proprieties, his outspokenscorn of the powers that ruled, brought down uponhim, not unnaturally, fierce persecution. He travelled in various directions, not only in Germany, butvisiting Italy, France, and England, his sparkling .record keeping pace with his steps . At length, outlawed in Germany, he made his home in Paris. Hewas constantly writing, did much as a critic of artand literature, much in the field of politics. Hispoems are numberless; sometimes simple and sweetthroughout as an outgush from the heart of the most.innocent of children; sometimes with an uncannyor diabolic suggestion thrown in at the end, as thered mouse at length runs out of the mouth of thebeauty with whom Faust dances on the Brocken inthe Walpurgis-nacht; sometimes, again, full of a veryvitriol of acrid denunciation.The story of Heine's last years is one of almostunparalleled sadness . He was attacked with a soften-A SWEET SINGER IN ISRAEL. 317ing of the spinal marrow; it stretched him upon hisbed where he lingered eight years, enduring greatagony. He wore out the weary time on his " mattress-grave, " as he called it, nursed by his wife, anignorant but good-hearted grisette. The terriblechastening brought no change to his spirit. It is adark life almost everywhere; but as he lay stretchedupon his mattress-grave, there was a bitterness in hismocking, an audacity in his blasphemies, which thewildest declarations of his preceding years had notpossessed. No moanings from an Æolian harp wereever sweeter than the utterances which occasionallycame as the tempestuous agony swept down uponhim. We see, too, a better side in his will: " I die inthe belief of one only God, the eternal creator of theworld, whose pity I implore for my immortal soul.I lament that I have sometimes spoken of sacredthings without due reverence, but I was carriedaway more by the spirit of my time than by my owninclinations. I pray both God and man for pardon. "At length came Feb. 16, 1856. A friend bendingover him asked him if he were on good terms withGod. " Let your mind rest, " said Heine. "Godwill pardon me; that's what he ' s for. " And sowith a devil-may- care mock upon his lips, the child ofthe Jew, in whom the spirit of the race, cruelly beset through so many slow-moving centuries, at lengthfound utterance for its sorrow, its yearnings, its implacable spite, went forth to his account.That Heine was the most unaccountable of menwill hardly need further illustration. In one breath.he writes " The Pilgrimage to Kevlaar, " a poem318THE STORYOF THE JEWS.which one would say must have come from theheart of an artless, ignorant peasant, full of unquestioning Catholic piety; in another, it is the grotesquesatire Atta Troll, in which the Catholic conception.of heaven is burlesqued with unshrinking, Mephistophelean audacity.The difficulties of rendering in Heine's case areperhaps quite insurmountable. Nothing was ever soairy and volatile as his wit, nothing ever so delicateas his sentiment. In the process of translation thearoma half exhales. What, as Heine has distilled it,is most searchingly pungent, becomes insipid in aforeign phrase; what causes tears, as it flows on inthe German rhythm in pathetic, child-like artlessness,in English words sinks to commonplace. Let us,however, attempt it. There has not lived in ourtime such a master of brilliant, graphic description.Here are passages from his child-life at Düsseldorf,quoted from the " Book Le Grand. " The book isnamed from an old drummer who fills the child withNapoleonic inspirations."As I woke the sun appeared, as usual, throughthe windows, and a drum was beating below; andas I stepped into our parlor and bade my father, whostill sat in the white gown in which the barber had.been powdering him, good-morning, I heard thelight-footed hair- dresser tell , while he was plying thecurling-tongs, that that day, at the Town Hall, homage was to be rendered to the new Grand Duke,Joachim Murat. As he spoke, drums were beatingonce more; and I stepped to the house-door andsaw in full march the French troops, the light-A SWEET SINGER IN ISRAEL. 319hearted sons of glory, who went singing and clinkingthrough the world, the grave and gay grenadierguards, the tall bear-skin caps, the tricolored co*ckades, the glancing bayonets, the voltigeurs full ofjollity andpoint d'honneur, and the great silver- stickeddrum-major, who could reach with his stick up to thefirst story, and with his eyes up to the second, wherethe pretty girls sat at the windows. "At length Napoleon appears. " The emperor worehis unpretending green uniform, and the little worldhistoric hat. He rode a white pony; negligent, almost hanging, he sat, one hand holding high thereins, the other patting good-naturedly the pony'sneck. His face had that color which we see inmarble heads of Greek and Roman sculpture; itsfeatures were nobly impressed, like those of antiques;and on this countenance it stood written: ' Thoushalt have no other gods before me. ' A smilewhich warmed and quieted every heart hovered aboutthe lips; and yet we know that those lips had onlyto whistle, and Prussia would no longer exist; thoselips needed only to whistle, and all the clergy wouldbe rung out; those lips needed only to whistle, andthe whole Holy Roman Empire would dance; andthose lips smiled , and the eye, too, smiled . It wasan eye clear as the heavens; it could read in theheart of man; it saw with sudden quickness all thethings of this world, while the rest of us only lookedat one another and over colored shadows. The browwas not so clear; the ghosts of future battleshaunted it; sometimes, it moved convulsively, andthose were the creating thoughts-the great seven-320 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.mile-boots thoughts -with which the emperor's spiritinvisibly strode over the world. The emperor rodequietly through the avenue; behind him, proud onsnorting horses, and loaded with gold and ornaments,rode his suite; the drums rolled, the trumpetssounded and the people cried with a thousand voices:' Vive l'empereur!The Germans have been accused of wantinggreatly in wit and humor,* but certain it is that thisGerman Jew, more than any man probably of thepresent century in the civilized world possessed thesegifts; we must regard him as a genius coördinatewith Aristophanes, Cervantes, and Montaigne. Hisconversation was full of wit, even when he lay in thegreatest misery on his " mattress-grave."He wasasked if he had read one of the shorter pieces of acertain dull writer. " No, " said he, " I never readany but the great works of our friend .his three , four-, or five-volume books.large scale-a lake, a sea, an ocean-is a fine thing;but I can't endure water in a spoon. "I like bestWater on aOnce at a time of great distress, the physician whowas examining his chest, asked: " Pouvez-voussiffler? " "Hélas, non! " was the reply.même les piéces de M. Scribe. "" PasIn many of his poems he rattles on in the merriest,most nonchalant carelessness, shooting out, nowand then, the sharpest darts of spite. Poor Germany was forever his butt, as in the following:From Cologne, at quarter to eight in the morn,My journey's course I followed;

• J. R. Lowell: Essay on Lessing.

A SWEET SINGER IN ISRAEL. 32166Toward three of the clock to Hagen we came,And there our dinner we swallowed.The table was spread , and here I foundThe real old German cooking.I greet thee, dear old " sauer- kraut, "With thy delicate perfume smoking!Mother's stuffed chestnuts in cabbage green!They set my heart in a flutter.Codfish of my country, I greet ye fineAs ye cunningly swim in your butter!How the sausage revelled in sputtering fat!And field-fares, small angels pious,All roasted and swaddled in apple- sauce,Twittered out to me, 66' Only try us! "Welcome, countryman , " twittered they," To us at length reverting.How long, alas! in foreign parts,With poultry strange you ' ve been flirting! "A goose, a quiet and genial soul,Was on the table extended.Perhaps she loved me once, in the daysBefore our youth was ended.She threw at me such a meaning look!So trustful , tender, and pensive,Her soul was beautiful-but her meat!-Was tough I'm apprehensive.On a pewter-plate a pig's head they brought;And you know, in the German nation ,It's the snouts of the pigs that they always crownWith a laurel decoration. *

• Deutschland, ein Wintermärchen.

322 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.What power of scornful utterance Heine possessed,the potentates of Germany, who persecuted him,felt to the uttermost -none more than FriedrichWilhelm IV., of Prussia, and Ludwig II . , of Bavaria.Both were monarchs possessed of intellectual giftsand with some good purposes. Each, however,was in his own way weak and sensual. Stupidlybrutal were the heels that sought to crush Heine;but like a snake, writhing and rearing its crest, hestrikes with fangs so full of diabolical venom, thatwe are almost forced to pity the oppressor.The brilliant wit and poet must be judged withseverity, however beneficial the scourging which headministered may sometimes have been. His witwas often distorted to cynicism, his frivolity to insolence and vulgarity. It is hard to believe he was inearnest about any thing. In multitudes of passages,both prose and poetry, he suddenly interrupts theexpression of intense emotion by a grotesque suggestion which makes the emotion or its object ridiculous. For Napoleon one would imagine that he feltthe most genuine and earnest enthusiasm of his life .There is a certain passage in the " Book Le Grand "full of power, in which he denounces England forher treatment of the emperor at St. Helena; yet asif an actor, after giving the curse in Lear, shouldsuddenly thrust his tongue into his cheek and drawhis face into a grimace, Heine ends his denunciation with a laughable turn , in which he gratifies hispetty spite at his old university. 'Strange! a terrible fate has already overtaken the three principalopponents of the emperor; Lord Castlereagh has cut66A SWEET SINGER IN ISRAEL. 323his throat, Louis XVIII. has rotted on his throne,and Prof. Saalfeld is still always professor at Göttingen!"Among English writers, Heine has points of resemblance to Sterne, still more to Byron; but to mymind his closest English analogue in genius andcharacter is Dean Swift. In Swift's career, it is perhaps the pleasantest incident that he could attractthe love of Stella and Vanessa, and feel for them afriendship which perhaps amounted to love. InHeine's honorable affection for two women, his wife" Nonotte " and his mother, the " old lady of theDamm Thor, " we see him at his best. Heine andSwift were place-hunters, who sought for advancement in questionable ways, only to be disappointed;for both there was disease at the end that wasworse than death. Such gall and wormwood asthey could pour upon their adversaries, what sinners elsewhere have tasted! With what whips ofscorpions they smote folly and vice, but who willdare to say it was through any love of virtue? Bothlibelled useful and honorable men with coarse lampoons; in both there was too frequent sinking intoindecency.""But there was a field in which the bitter dean hadno part with the sufferer of the " mattress-grave.'Heine was not altogether a scoffer; his power oftouching the tenderest sensibilities is simply wonderful. In his plaintive songs the influence of Romanticism can be clearly seen, and also of the popularballad, whose character he caught most felicitously.He assumed a certain negligence, which gave his324 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.poems an air of pure naturalness and immediateness,whereas they were the products of consummate art. *But no poet has ever been able to convey so thoroughly the impression of perfect artlessness. The"Princess Ilse, " for instance, one would say couldhave been written by no other than the most innocent of children.ILSE.I am the Princess Ilse,To my castle come with me, -To the Ilsenstein, my dwelling,And we will happy be.Thy forehead will I moistenFrom my clear- flowing rill,Thy griefs thou shalt leave behind thee,Thou soul with sorrow so ill!Upon my bosom snowy,Within my white arms fold,There shalt thou lie and dream a dreamOf the fairy lore of old.I'll kiss thee, and softly cherish,As once I cherished and kissedThe dear, dear Kaiser Heinrich,So long ago at rest.The dead are dead forever;The living alone live still;And I am blooming and beautiful;My heart doth laugh and thrill.O come down into my castle,My castle crystal bright!There dance the knights and the maidens;There revels each servant wight.

• Kurz: " Geschichte der deutschen Literatur, "

A SWEET SINGER IN ISRAEL. 325There rustle the garments silken , —There rattles the spear below.The dwarfs drum and trumpet and fiddle,And the, bugle merrily blow.Yet my arm shall softly enclose thee,As it Kaiser Heinrich enclosed;When the trumpets' music thundered,His ears with my hands. I closed.It is very pleasant, too, to read these lines to hiswife, written on his death-bed:I was, O lamb, as shepherd placed,To guard thee in this earthly waste.To thee I did refreshment bring;To thee brought water from the spring.When cold the winter storm alarmedI have thee in my bosom warmed.I held thee folded, close embracing,When torrent rains were rudely chasing ,And woodland brook and hungry wolfHowled, rivals, in the darksome gulf.Thou didst not fear-thou hast not quivered,Even when the bolt of thunder shiveredThe tallest pine; upon my breast,In peace and calm thou lay'st at rest.My arm grows weak. Lo, creeping thereComes pallid Death! My shepherd care ,My herdsman's office , now I leave.Back to thy hands, O God, I giveMy staff; and now I pray thee guardThis lamb of mine, when ' neath the swardI lie; and suffer not, I pray,That thorns should pierce her on the way.From nettles harsh protect her fleece;From soiling marshes give release;And everywhere, her feet before,326THE STORYOF THE JEWS.With sweet grass spread the meadows o'er;And let her sleep from care as blestAs once she slept upon my breast.Once at a critical time in our country's history, ithappened to me to visit a negro school. We wentfrom room to room among the dusky faces, until atlast one said: " Let us have them sing. " Presentlythe voices rose and fell in a marvellous song. Outof the windows the heavens hung sombre about us;the dark faces were before us, the children of therace whose presence among us has brought to them,in each generation, tragedy so pathetic, -the racethat has brought to us so innocently such subjectfor controversy, such occasion for bloodshed, and onaccount of which we still sometimes seem to hearsuch fateful thunder-mutterings of approaching disaster. The news of the morning had predisposed usto gloom; the associations now conspired to deepenit; the strange melody which came pouring forthseemed, somehow, singularly in keeping. There wasin my spirit no defined feeling, but a vague unrest,at once a foreboding of calamity and yearning afterpeace. It was precisely the sentiment of the song.The singers seemed to feel it; we who listened feltit, and there were eyes whose lids trembled with thecoming tears. It was the " Lorelei " of Heine:""I cannot tell what it forebodeth,That I am so sad to-day."The words so simple-so infantile almost in sense,and yet with which is marvellously bound such tender feeling! As one repeats the lines, they are al-A SWEET SINGER IN ISRAEL. 327most nothing; yet caught within them, like somesad sweet-throated nightingale within a net, therepants such a pathos! What could have been fartheraway! What cared we then for the Rhine, and thesorceress who sings upon its banks, and the boatmanengulfed in the whirlpool! What knew or caredthe singers! But something indescribable camepulsing forth to us from out of the words, and Ifelt that somehow it was the appropriate utterancefor the mood in which we found ourselves thething to hear from the dark-faced youths before us,-an undefined sorrow, -a foreshadowing of dangerall unknown and vague! Mighty the poet, I thought,whose verse can come home with such power in landsand among races so far away!The child of the Jew he was-of the race amongthe races of the earth possessed of the most intensepassionate force—and in him his people found a voice.Now it is a sound of wailing, melancholy and sweetas that heard by the rivers of Babylon, when theharps were hung upon the willows; now a Hebrewaspiration, lofty as the peal of the silver trumpets before the Holy of Holies in the Temple service, whenthe gems in the high- priest's breast-plate flashed withthe descending deity; now a call to strive for freedom, bold and clear as the summons ofthe Maccabees.But think of the cup that has been pressed to theJew's lips for almost two thousand years! Thebitterness has passed into his soul, and utters itself in scorn and poisoned mocking. He cares notwhat sanctities he insults, nor whether the scofftouches the innocent as well as the guilty. Perse-328· THESTORYOF THEJEWS.cution has brought to pass desperation, which uttersitself at length in infernal laughter.A touching story is told of Heine's last walk inthe Boulevard, from which he went home to thedeath in life he was doomed to undergo for manyyears. It was in May, 1848, a day of revolution." Masses of people rolled along the streets of Paris,driven about by their tribunes as by storms. Thepoet, half-blind, half-lame, dragged himself on hisstick, tried to extricate himself from the deafeninguproar, and fled into the Louvre close by. Hestepped into the rooms of the palace, in thattroubled time nearly empty, and found himselfon the ground-floor, in the room in which the ancient gods and goddesses stand. Suddenly hestood before the ideal of beauty, the smiling, entrancing goddess, the miracle of an unknown master-the Venus of Milo. Overcome, agitated, strickenthrough, almost terrified at her aspect, the sick manstaggered back till he sank on a seat, and tears, hotand bitter, streamed down his cheeks. The beautiful lips of the goddess, which appear to breathe,smiled with her wonted smile at her unhappy victim. " * Heine says himself in a letter:66 Only with pain could I drag myself to theLouvre, and I was nearly exhausted when I enteredthe lofty hall where the blessed goddess of beauty,our dear lady of Milo, stands on her pedestal. Ather feet I lay a long time, and I wept so passionately that a stone must have had compassion on me.Therefore the goddess looked down pityingly upon

• Meissner.

A SWEET SINGER IN ISRAEL. 329me, yet at the same time inconsolably, as thoughshe would say: ' See you not that I have no arms,and that therefore I can give you no help?999Of the spots associated with Heine, there is noneso interesting as that room in the Louvre. I stoodthere on a day when disturbance again raged in thestreets of Paris. It was the end of August, 1870.In Alsace and Lorraine the armies of France hadjust been crushed; in the next week was to comeSedan. The streets were full of the tumult of war,the foot-beat of passing regiments, the clatter ofdrill, the Marseillaise . On the Seine, just before, aband of ouvriers had threatened to throw us into theriver as Prussian spies. In the confusion, the shrineof the serene goddess was left vacant, as at thatformer time. I found it a hushed asylum, the fairestof statues, rising from its pedestal, wearing upon itslips its eternal smile. The rounded outlines swelledinto their curves of perfect beauty; within the eyeslay the divine calm; on the neck a symmetry morethan mortal; -all this, and, at the same time, the mutilation , the broken folds of the drapery, the dintsmade in the marble by barbarian blows, the absentWhen one stands before the Venus of Milo,it is not unworthy of even so high a moment to callup the image of that suffering man of great genius,shamed from his sneer, and restored to his best selfin the supernal presence. May we not see in thestatue a type of Heine's genius, so shorn of strength,so stained and broken, yet in the ruin of beauty andpower so unparalleled!arms.CHAPTER XX.SOME HARMONIOUS LIVES.FELIX MENDELSSOHN BARTHOLDY shall be ourtype of the Hebrew artist; but since he was scarcelyless interesting in his character than he was as amusician, and since the household of which he was amember were in great part as fair in their lives, andalmost as gifted in their genius as he, we must nottake him as an isolated figure, but look at him in hisrelations. In this way we shall best understand thebeauty of his spirit, while some idea is formed of thekindred, some of whom scarcely less than he, deserveto be celebrated .The family of Moses Mendelssohn, the little children who walked with their father through thestreets of Berlin, and could not understand why theChristian boys hooted at them and called themnames, became men and women remarkable in themselves, and noteworthy also as the parents, in theirturn, of children who have led , in times near ourown, famous and charming lives. The noble thinkerwas, with all his liberal spirit, as we have seen, nevertheless, thoroughly a Jew, answering the over- zealousLavater, with true Hebrew haughtiness, when hefelt that the sanctities of his hereditary faith wereSOME HARMONIOUS LIVES. 331too rudely touched, In minor matters of disciplinehe was faithful to the ancient standards, maintaining,for instance, in his family the rigid patriarchal rulewhich did not relax, even though the child grewgray, until the father died .Of the three sons and three daughters of MosesMendelssohn, Dorothea was probably in her timethe most distinguished , a woman of brilliant mindand admirable qualities, whose career in spite ofgreat eccentricities, deserves a glance from us. Shewas the least exemplary of the children; her irregularities, however, were due to her strange surroundings, and do not cancel her substantial worth.According to Hebrew fashion, the sons of a familyhad small liberty in the choice of wives, and thedaughters none at all in the choice of husbands.Moses Mendelssohn married Dorothea, with no consultation of her wishes, to the Berlin trader, Veit, aman worthy but thorougly uncongenial to the brightminded girl. After some years of union, duringwhich she bore to him children , she forsook her husband to form an irregular connection, similar to thatbetween George Eliot and G. H. Lewes, with thedistinguished Friedrich Schlegel. Strangely enoughhonest Veit remained thoroughly friendly, acquiescing in the separation, in fact, with an equanimitywhich seems to imply that the discomfort had notbeen entirely on the side of the wife. Schlegel soonrose to brilliant fame, with which Dorothea, whoseliterary gifts were remarkable, was closely connected.Schlegel's story " Lucinde " a memorable utteranceof " Romanticism, " of which literary tendency he332 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.was the founder and best type, was an outgrowth ofthis left-handed relation , a book not edifying, butcurious as an expression from a strange world, nowpassed away. Schlegel and Dorothea at last weremarried. The latter became a Christian, and, withher husband, a Catholic. Removing to Vienna theywere at last distinguished personages at the courtof Austria, where the political course of Schlegelbecame as reactionary as his course in religion; forhe used his fine powers to uphold against all revolutionary tendencies the threatened House of Hapsburg.Another of the daughters of Moses Mendelssohn,a bright and amiable woman, also became a devoutCatholic. The sons possessed characters of betterbalance than the daughters. They advanced fromthe position of their father as far as he himself hadgone beyond the ancient landmarks. Joseph, theelder, became a prosperous banker, but maintained agreat interest in intellectual pursuits, having especial note as an important friend and helper of Alexander von Humboldt. Abraham, however, thesecond son, is, of all the children of Moses, the mostattractive, a sweet enlightened soul, as devoid ofextravagance as of narrowness, a most engagingfigure in himself, and the parent of children whosememory the world will not willingly let die. Thegreat composer, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, washis second child . The modest father deemed himself inconspicuous and unimportant between theillustrious names that preceded and followed him." Formerly, I was the son of my father," he used toSOME HARMONIOUS LIVES. 333say, “ but now I am the father of my son."But hewas really in himself a vigorous and independentcharacter. With his wife, Leah Salomon, a BerlinJewess, he was suitably mated. Her portrait, in thebook of her grandson, Sebastian Hensel, which isthe authority upon which this sketch of the Mendelssohn family is based, shows a face in which.power and amiability are blended, the eyes in particular looking forth with a light that suggests genius.Of the four children, Fanny, the elder, as well asFelix, early showed remarkable musical genius.Rebecca, the third, perhaps surpassed the others inintellectual power, though inferior to Fanny andFelix as regards their special gift. Though Abraham and Leah themselves preferred, until late inlife, to remain Jews, they resolved that their children should be brought up as Christians, and here wereach a point which some will find it hard to approve.How can parents, without insincerity or culpableindifference, while retaining one faith, cause theirchildren to be educated in another? What justification is possible can best be given in the words ofAbraham Mendelssohn himself; whether it is sufficient the reader must judge. The perusal of the explanation, however, will satisfy all that the fatherwas delicately conscientious, and that he himself hadno scruples. In reaching his conclusion, he wasmuch influenced by a brother of Leah, who hadhimself become a Christian, whose expressions allwill admit to be wise and broad. Wrote the brotherin-law, when Abraham at first felt that the childrenmust be brought up as Jews:334 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.

"You say you owe it to the memory of yourfather. * * You may remain faithful to anoppressed, persecuted religion-you may leave it toyour children as a prospect of life- long martyrdom ,as long as you believe it to be absolute truth; butwhen you have ceased to believe that, it is barbarism . " Abraham had ceased to believe that. Hewrote to Fanny, at the time of her confirmation, aletter that might have been penned by Nathan theWise:"Does God exist? What is God? Is He part ofourselves, and does He continue to live after theother part has ceased to be? And where and how?All this I do not know, and, therefore, I have nevertaught you any thing about it . But I know thatthere exists in me and in you and in all humanbeings an everlasting inclination towards all that isgood, true, and right, and a conscience which warnsand guides us when we go astray. I know it , I believe it; I live in this faith, and this is my religion.Everybody has it who does not intentionally andknowingly cast it away. When you lookat your mother, and turn over in your thoughtsall the immeasurable good she has lavished uponyou by her constant, self-sacrificing devotion as longas you live, and when that reflection makes yourheart and eyes overflow with gratitude, love, andveneration, then you feel God and are godly.The outward form of religion your teacher has givenyou is historical and changeable, like all humanordinances. Some thousands of years ago, theJewish form was the reigning one, then the heathen

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SOME HARMONIOUS LIVES. 335form, and now it is the Christian. Your mother andI were brought up by our parents as Jews, and without being obliged to change the form of our religion,have been able to follow the divine instinct in usand in our conscience. We have educated you andyour brothers and sisters in the Christian faith, because it is the creed of most civilized people, andcontains nothing that can lead you away from whatis good, and much that guides you to love, obedience,tolerance, and resignation, even if it offered nothingbut the example of its founder, understood by sofew and followed by still fewer. "Felix could sing and compose almost before hecould talk; he was a skilful pianist at six, and gavea public concert at nine. Compositions publishedwhen he was fifteen are regarded as classical. Before he had passed beyond boyhood he had becomefamous through the beautiful overture to the " Midsummer Night's Dream. " Fanny was equally precocious. At thirteen she gave a proof of anuncommon musical memory, by playing withoutnotes twenty-four preludes of Bach, as a surprise forher father, and had not passed beyond her girlhoodbefore she had produced lovely music of her own.In her early womanhood she won the love of a youngartist destined to fame, Wilhelm Hensel, whom sheat length married after an interval of some years,spent by the painter in Italy. The good sense andbrightness of the faithful mother, Leah, are wellshown in the following letter to the young lover, inwhich, with the authority of a true Hebrew mother,she shields her daughter:336THESTORYOF THEJEWS."Seriously, my dear Mr. Hensel, you must not beangry with me, because I cannot allow a correspondence between you and Fanny. Put yourself, in fairness for one moment in the place of a mother, andexchange your interests for mine, and my refusalwill appear to you natural, just, and sensible; whereasyou are probably now violently denouncing my proceeding as most barbaric. For the same reason thatmakes me forbid an engagement, I must declare myself averse to any correspondence. You know thatI truly esteem you, that I have, indeed, a real affection for you, and entertain no objection to you personally. The reasons why I have not yet decided inyour favor, are the difference of age and the uncertainty of your position . A man may not think ofmarrying before his prospects in life are, to a certaindegree, assured. At any rate, he must not blamethe girl's parents, who, having experience, sense, andcool blood, are destined by nature to judge for himand for her. An artist, as long as he is single, is ahappy being; all circles open to him, court favoranimates him; the small cares of life vanish beforehim; he steps lightly over the rocks which difference of rank has piled up in the world; he works atwhat he likes, the most delighted, happy being inthe whole creation. As soon as domestic cares takehold of him, all this magic disappears, the lovelycoloring fades, he must work to sustain his family.Indeed, I made it a point in my children's educationto give them simple and unpretending habits, so thatthey might not be obliged to look out for rich marriages; but in the eyes of parents a competency, aSOME HARMONIOUS LIVES. 337moderate but fixed income, are necessary conditionsfor a happy life; and although my husband canafford to give to each of his children a handsome.portion, he is not rich enough to secure the futureprosperity of them all. You are at the commencement of your career, and under beautiful auspices;endeavor to realize them, and rest assured that wewill not be against you when, at the end of yourstudies, you can satisfy us about your position .Fanny is very young, and, Heaven be praised, hash*therto had no concern and no passion . I will nothave you, by love-letters, transport her for years intoa state of consuming passion and a yearning frameof mind quite strange to her character, when I haveher before me now blooming, healthy, happy, andfree."In the letters which have been quoted, father andmother have been sufficiently reflected, and now wemust look at the home. "The rooms were stately,large, and lofty, built with delightful spaciousness.One room, especially, overlooking the court, andopening by means of three arches into an adjoiningapartment, was beautiful and most suitable for theatrical representations. For many, many years, atChristmas, and on birthdays and festive occasions,this was the scene of interesting performances. Generally it was Leah's sitting-room . The windowsopened upon a spacious court, closed by a onestoried garden-house, over which looked the tops ofancient trees. In summer the garden-house, in whichFanny and Hensel lived after their marriage, wasperfectly charming. The windows were embowered338THE STORYOF THE JEWS.in vines, and all opened on to the garden, with itsblooming lilacs and avenues of stately old trees.The large court and high front building kept offevery sound; you lived as in the deepest lonelinessof a forest, -opposite, the magnificent trees, withmerrily twittering birds, no lodger above or below,after the noise of the streets the quietest seclusion,and at your windows green leaves. The centre partof the house, and its most invaluable and beautifulportion, consisted in a very spacious hall, too largeto be called a drawing-room. There was space in itfor several hundred people, and it had on the gardenside a movable glass wall, interrupted by pillars, sothat the hall could be changed into an open portico.The hall commanded a view of a park, which, inFrederick the Great's time, had been part of theThier-garten, and was therefore rich in most superbold trees. In this house and garden arose a singularlyengaging, poetic life.The Mendelssohnchildren loved Shakespeare, especially the ' Midsummer Night's Dream. ' By a singular coincidence,in that very year, 1826, in their lovely garden,favored by most beautiful weather, they themselvesled a fantastic, dream-like life. For them and theirfriends, the summer months were like one uninterrupted festival day, full of poetry, music, merrygames, ingenious practical jokes, disguises, and representations. The whole life had a higher and loftiertendency, a more idyllic coloring, more poetry, thanis often met with. Nature and art, wit, heart, andmind, the high flow of Felix's genius, —all this gavecoloring to their doings, and on the other hand this

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SOME HARMONIOUS LIVES. 339wonderful life gave a new impulse to his creativespirit. The most brilliant result of that strangelypoetic frame of mind is the overture to the ' Midsummer Night's Dream. ' "Any thing more ideal than this charming life, it isscarcely possible to conceive. The Mendelssohns,one would say, had found for themselves a paradisewithout the serpent. An abundant basis. of wealth,the father and mother so wise, and of spirit so pleasant, the children maturing in beautiful promise, —noshadow of disease, sorrow, or anxiety. Felix wasalready famous, for the overture to the " MidsummerNight's Dream " caused the world to think that asuccessor to Beethoven was born; Fanny, his equalin gifts and talents, but remaining modestly within thebounds which custom had set for women; Rebecca, inher way not less remarkable and attractive than theelder brother and sister; and Paul, the younger son, athoroughly good and clever youth, if less highly endowed than the rest. The circle of friends aboutthem, whom they visited , or who came to their sunbright home, were present at the sports and representations at Christmas, and who sat looking out uponthe beautiful garden while the wonderful childrenfrom their instruments conquered the nightingales, asthey now rendered the works of the old composers,now improvised, now gave their own compositions,which have come to be esteemed as the most preciousthings in music, -this circle of friends comprehendedthe best and brightest men of the time in art,philosophy, science, and literature, -Goethe, Hegel,Humboldt, Heinrich Heine, Encke the astronomer,340 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.Paganini, Moscheles, Spontini, Schadow, and Devrient. No more serious ripple disturbed the evenflow of the life than some such little incident asfollows, narrated by Fanny. Alexander von Humboldt had arranged an observatory in the garden, onaccount of the silence and quiet of the place, wherehe and Professor Encke often met by night, as wellas by day." I hear somebody entering our bedroom, andpassing out again at the other side . I call . No answer. Wilhelm awakes, and cries out, ' Who imTeufelsnamen is there? ' Enter, with majestic step,Louise (Hensel's sister) , saying that she heard thievesrummaging about in the hall, and then going into thegarden with a lantern. She had thought it her dutyto wake somebody, but had only wanted to call theservant, and was very sorry for having disturbed us.Wilhelm gets up, wraps himself in a red blanket, andgoes into the hall with a drawn sword, Louise in herdressing-gown and night-cap showing him a light.He opens the door just in time, for the thief withhis lantern is on the point of escaping toward thegarden. When he hears the noise he looks around,and seeing a red spectre with a drawn sword, runsaway, Wilhelm after him. The thief makes straightfor the gardener's lodge. When they both are inthe gardener's room, pursuer and pursued burst intoa peal of laughter. Professor Hensel! ' ' ProfessorEncke! I beg you a thousand pardons, but I tookyou for a burglar! '"From this home Felix went forth to become in hissphere a conqueror, the favorite of princes, and atFELIX MENDELSSOHN.342 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.the same time of peasants, the recipient of homagethe most enthusiastic and intoxicating, in all thelands of Europe, an outpouring which he seems tohave undergone without injury to his character, forto the end of his too short life he remained simple,affectionate, and dignified . The music that he wrote,like the lyrical poetry of Goethe, reflected accuratelythe mood for the time being of the spirit from whichit proceeded. The " Scottish Symphony " and the" Isles of Fingal " suggest the wild beauty of theHighlands and Hebrides, the far North, upon whosesoil they were elaborated . The reading of " Faust "brought forth the " Walpurgis Nacht, " the study ofGreek, the music for the "Antigone " and the “ Œdipus. " He found the best appreciation in England,chiefly for his sacred music, and this appreciation,reacting upon him, perhaps brought it to pass thathis works in this field are his masterpieces. Hisgreat oratorios, " St. Paul " and " Elijah, " must be regarded, it is said, as " the main pillars of his fame. " *It is indeed marvellous how complete a dominionMendelssohn exercised over those who came underhis spell. He was short and slight, and in his features strongly Jewish. The countenance was verymobile, the brow full, the eyes possessed of a powerof expression quite extraordinary. When he wasextemporizing they seemed to dilate to twice theirnatural size, the brown pupil becoming a vivid black.His slender hands upon the key-board of piano ororgan became like living and intelligent creatures.His form bent over the instrument, heaving and

• Grove: Musical Dictionary.

SOME HARMONIOUS LIVES. 343swaying with the emotion which was born amid thetones. When with slender wand, at the performanceof the " St. Paul " or " Elijah," he stood among thegreat multitude of singers and instruments, all turnedto the magician with one soul, and the listening thousands beyond trembled to the music in sympathy notless intense. To illustrate this magical power, theaccount of a musical enthusiast, the authoress of"Charles Auchester, " may here be well transcribed .Mendelssohn, described under the name of Seraphael,conducts a performance of sacred music in Westminster Abbey.66 Entering the centre of the nave, we caught sightof the transept, already crowded with hungering,thirsting faces. The vision of the choir itself, as it isstill preserved to me, is as a picture of Heaven toinfancy. What more like one's idea of Heaven thanthat height, the arches whose sun-kissed summitsglowed in the distance, whose vista stretched from thelight of rainbows at one end to the organ at theother, music's archetype? Below the organ stoodSeraphael's desk, as yet unhaunted, the orchestra,the chorus beneath the lofty front. Seraphael entered so quietly as to take us by surprise.-" Down the nave the welcome rolled, across thetransept it overflowed the echoes; for a few momentsnothing else could be felt, but there was, as it were,a tender shadow upon the very reverberating jubilance, subdued for the sake of one whose beautylifted over us, appeared hovering, descending fromsome late-left heaven, ready to depart again, but notwithout a sign for which we waited. Immediately,344 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.and while he yet stood with his eyes of power uponthe whole front of faces, the solo singers entered alsoand took their seats all calmly. We held our breathfor the coming of the overture."It opened like the first dawn of lightening, butscarce yet lightened morning, -its vast subject introduced with strings alone, in that joyous key which sooften served him. But soon the first tromboneblazed out, the second and third responding withtheir stupendous tones, as the amplifications of fugueinvolved and spread themselves more and more.Then, like glory filling up and flooding the height ofHeaven, broke in the organ, and brimmed the brainwith the calm of an utter and forceful expression,realized by tone. In sympathy with each instrument, it was alike with none. The vibrating harmonies, pulse-like, clung to our pulses, then drew outeach heart, deep- beating and undistracted, to adoreat the throne above, from which all beauty springs.Holiness, precious as the old Hebrew psalm of allthat hath life and breath, exhaled from every modulation; each dropped the freshness of everlastingspring." I cannot describe the hush that hung above andseemed to spiritualize the listeners; nor how, aschorus after chorus rang, our spirits sank upon thestrains and songs. Faint supplications, deep acclaims of joy, all surcharged the spirit with the mysterious tenderness of the uncreate and unpronounceable Name. When at length those two hours, concentrating such an eternity in their perfection of allsensation, had reached their climax, —or, rather, when,SOME HARMONIOUS LIVES. 345in the final chorus, imprisoned harmonies burst downfrom stormy-hearted organ, from strings all shivering alike, from blasting, rending tubes, -it was as ifthe multitude had sunk upon their knees, so profound was the passion-cradling calm. The bluegolden lustre, dim and tremulous, still crowned theunwavering arches. So many tears are not oftenshed as fell in that time."During the last reverberations of that unimaginable Alleluiah, I had not looked up at all; now Iforced myself to do so, lest I should lose my sight ofhim, his seal upon all that glory. As Seraphael hadrisen to depart, the applause, stifled and trembling,but not the less by heartfuls, rose for him. Heturned his face a moment; the heavenly half- smilewas there; then the summer sun, that falling downward in its piercing glare, glowed gorgeous againstthe stained windows, flung its burning bloom, itsflushing gold, upon that countenance. We all sawit, we all felt it, the seraph strength, the mortalbeauty, —and that it was pale as the cheek of thequick and living changed to death. His mien wasof no earthly triumph! "While Felix grew great, the beautiful life in Berlinproceeded. Paul matured into worthy manhood;Rebecca, fulfilling her promise, becoming a womanof real intellectual power, was chosen as a wife byone of the most distinguished mathematicians of histime. The fame of Hensel grew, and under the influence of Fanny the Berlin home became the centreof a culture more than ever rich and brilliant. Hensel had a habit of sketching their guests, and in the346THE STORYOF THE JEWS.series is contained almost every interesting man andwoman known to fame, who lived in or visited thePrussian capital of that time-painters and singers,actors and sculptors, poets, statesmen, scientists, andphilosophers. " The musical parties, from smallbeginnings, became at last regular concerts, withchoral and solo-singing, trios and quartets of thebest Berlin musicians, and before an audience thatfilled all the rooms. Fanny took the greatest pleasure in rehearsing her splendidly schooled little choir,which she generally did on the Friday afternoons.On a beautiful summer morning, nothing prettiercould be seen than the Garten-saal, opening on tothe trees, filled with a crowd of gay, elegantly-dressedpeople, and Fanny at her piano, surrounded by herchoir, performing some ancient or modern masterpiece. When Hensel had a picture nearly finished,the doors of the studio stood open, and a graveChrist might look down upon the throng, or Miriam,leading her own people, would symbolically expressupon the canvas what was in living truth passingin the music-room ." Last month, " wrote FannyJune, 1834, " I gave a delightful fête—' Iphigenia inTauris, ' sung by Madame Decker, Madame Bader,and Mantius. Any thing so perfect will not soonbe heard again. Bader especially was exquisite, buteach rivalled the other, and the sound of these threelovely voices together had such a powerful charmthat I shall never forget it . Every thing went offbeautifully. "66In this home the parents accomplished their days,-the mother so full of good sense and watchfulSOME HARMONIOUS LIVES. 347affection, the father broad-minded and religious.Always they bear in their hearts their children andgrandchildren. " O Sebastian! " breaks out Abraham, during a visit to London, thinking of his littlegrandchild; " I thank God you are not the childfour and a half years old which a few days ago wasadvertised in thousands of placards as missing. Thethought of it never leaves me, and is interwoven asa black thread with my London life. The poorchild has surely not been brought back, but wasmost probably stolen and thrown into the street,starved and naked, to be brought up by a gang ofbeggars and thieves. And all this because perhapsthe parents lost sight of it for half a minute! "And yet one does not have to go far back in thegenerations to find the intense Jewish fierceness,such as glared in John of Giscala, in Shylock, andin the elders of the Amsterdam synagogue, whopoured out malediction upon Spinoza. The motherof Leah was an unrelenting Israelite, who denouncedher own son, an apostate from the ancient faith toChristianity, with blasting curses. In the grandchildren, however, we find nothing but affections of thegentlest and the sweetest. Paul, the youngest, ofwhom little mention has been made, thoroughly unobtrusive, but a highly successful man of business, wasdistinguished for his charity, and was in no way lesslovable than the more conspicuous Felix and Fanny.It is of these two only that we have the full record,and we must draw from it still more to make plaintheir loveliness of soul, and the peace and happinessof their lives. Upon the christening-day of her boy,348THESTORYOF THE JEWS.Fanny writes to her father: " I cannot allow such ajoyful and beautiful day to come to an end, dearfather, without writing to tell you how we havemissed you. An event like this will make one'spast life rise vividly before one, and my heart tellsme I must again thank you, dear parents (for thisletter is meant for mother also), at this moment, andI hope not for the last time, for guiding me to whereI now stand, for my life, my education, my husband!And thank you for being so good-for the blessingof good parents rests on their children, and I feel sohappy that I have nothing left to wish for but thatsuch happiness might last. I truly know and feelhow blessed I am, and this consciousness is, I think,the foundation-stone of happiness. "At another time Fanny writes from Rome, at theend of a long sojourn , during which she and her husband had given and received much joy, in the midstof a brilliant company, many of them great men, orabout to become so. Fanny's music had been aconstant source of delight: "The instrument hadbeen moved into the large hall, the twilight wasrapidly deepening, and a peculiar sensation stoleover the whole company. For a long time I preluded as softly as possible, for I could not haveplayed loud, and everybody talked in whispers, andstarted at the slightest noise. I played the adagiosfrom the concerto in G major, and the sonata in Csharp minor, and the beginning of the grand sonatain F sharp minor-with Charlotte, Bousquet, andGounod sitting close beside me. It was an hour Ishall never forget. After dinner we went on to theSOME HARMONIOUS LIVES. 349balcony, where it was lovely. The stars above, andthe lights of the city below, the glowworms, and along-trailing meteor which shot across the sky, thelighted windows of a church on a hill far away, andthe delicious atmosphere in which every thing wasbathed,--all combined to stir in us the deepest emotion. Afterwards we went to the end of the halland sang the part-songs, which gave great satisfaction. I repeated, by general request, the Mozartfantasia to finish with, and the two capriccios, andthen the part songs were asked for once more, andthen midnight had arrived and our time was over.'They weep they know not why! ' was our lastmusic in Rome."A glorious time has passed away! How can webe thankful enough for these two months of uninterrupted happiness! The purest joys the humanheart can know have succeeded each other, and during all this time we have scarcely had one unpleasant quarter of an hour. The only drawback hasbeen that the time would go so fast . Our last farewell from St. Pietro in Montorio was not easy work;but I retain in my mind an eternal, imperishablepicture, which no lapse of time will affect. I thankThee, O God! "She describes her father as he lay in death: " Sobeautiful, unchanged, and calm was his face that wecould remain near our loved one, not only without asensation of fear, but felt truly elevated in lookingat him. The whole expression was so calm , theforehead so pure and beautiful , the position of thehands so mild! It was the end of the righteous, a350 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.beautiful, enviable end, and I pray to God for a similar death, and will strive through all my days todeserve it as he deserved it . It was death in itsmost peaceful, beautiful aspect. "That Felix could receive the homage of thegreat without compromise of his independence ofcharacter, appears in the following: " Prince Alberthad asked me to go to him at two o'clock, sothat I might try his organ before I left England . I found him alone; and as we were talkingaway the Queen came in, also alone, in simple.morning dress. She said she was obliged to leavefor Claremont in an hour, and then, suddenlyinterrupting herself, exclaimed: ' But, goodness!what a confusion! ' for the wind had littered thewhole room, and even the pedals of the organ, withleaves of music from a large portfolio that lay open.As she spoke she knelt down and began picking upthe music; Prince Albert helped, and I , too, wasnot idle. Then Prince Albert proceeded to explainthe stops to me, and she said that she would meanwhile put things straight." I begged that the Prince would first play mesomething, so that, as I said , I might boast about itin Germany; and he played a choral by heart, withthe pedals, so charmingly and clearly and correctly,that it would have done credit to any professional;and the Queen, having finished her work, came andsat by him and listened, and looked pleased . Thenit was my turn, and I began my chorus from ' St.Paul'—' How Lovely are the Messengers! ' BeforeI had got to the end of the first verse they had bothSOME HARMONIOUS LIVES. 351joined in the chorus, and all the time Prince Albertmanaged the stops for me so cleverly; first a flute,at the forte the great organ, at the D major partthe whole register; then he made a lovely diminuendo with the stops, and so on to the end of thepiece, and all by heart, that I was really quite enchanted. The Queen asked me if I had written anynew songs, and said she was very fond of singing mypublished ones. 'You should sing one to him, ' saidPrince Albert; and after a little begging she said shewould try. * * * After some consultation withher husband, he said: ' She will sing you somethingof Gluck's.' While they were talking I had rummaged about amongst the music, and discovered myfirst set of songs. So, of course, I begged her ratherto sing one of those than the Gluck, to which shevery kindly consented; and which did she choose?'Schöner und schöner schmückt sich ' -sang it quitecharmingly, in strict time and tune, and with verygood execution. * The last long G I havenever heard better or purer or more natural fromany amateur. Then I was obliged to confess thatFanny had written the song (which I found veryhard, but pride must have a fall) , and to beg her tosing one of my own also. If I would give her plentyof help she would gladly try, she said, and then shesang the Pilgerspruch, ' Lass dich nur,' really quitefaultlessly, and with charming feeling and expression.

• * *
• *

"After this Prince Albert sang the Aerndte-Lied,'Es ist ein Schnitter,' and then he said I must playhim something before I went, and gave as themes352 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.the choral which he had played on the organand the song he had just sung.

• As if I

were to keep nothing but the pleasantest, mostcharming recollection of it, I never improvised better.I was in the best mood for it , and played a longtime, and enjoyed it myself so much that, besidesthe two themes, I brought in the songs that theQueen had sung, quite naturally; and it all went offso easily that I would gladly not have stopped. Itwas a delightful morning! If this long descriptionmakes Dirichlet set me down as a tuft-hunter, tellhim that I vow and declare I am a greater radicalthan ever. "The following letters show touchingly his manlypiety and the depth and purity of his love as ason and a brother: " The wish which of all othersevery night recurred to my mind was that I mightnot survive this loss, because I so entirely clung, orrather still cling, to my father, that I do not knowhow I am to pass my life; for not only have I to deplore the loss of a father, but also that of my bestand most perfect friend for the last few years, andmy instructor in art and life. When in later yearsyou tell your child of those whom you invited to hisbaptism, * do not omit my name, but say to him thatone of them, too, on that day began his life afresh,though in another sense, with new purposes andwishes, and with new prayers to God."After the death of Fanny, in the spring of 1847,which preceded his own by a few months only, Felix

• The letter was written in reply to one inviting him to a christening which was to take place on the day on which he heard of his father's death.

SOME HARMONIOUS LIVES. 35366 wrote thus to her husband and son: Ifyou ever wanta faithful brother, who loves you with his wholeheart, think of me. I am sure I shall be a better manthan I have been, though not such a happy one.But what shall I say to you, my dear Sebastian?There is nothing to say or do but this one thing:pray to God that He may create in us a clean heartand renew a right spirit within us, so that we mayeven in this world become more and more worthyof her who had the purest heart and spirit we everknew or loved. God bless her, and point us out theway which none of us can see for ourselves; and yetthere must be one, for God himself has inflicted thisblow upon us for the remainder of our lives, and mayHe soften the pain . Alas, my dear brother andfriend! God be with you and with Sebastian, andwith us three, her brothers and sister! "These children and grandchildren of Moses Mendelssohn were as fortunate in their deaths as in theirlives. Abraham and Leah, before the weaknessesof age had made themselves felt, sank painlesslyaway in the arms of their children. Felix, Fanny,and Rebecca, in like manner, without knowing longcontinued suffering or any benumbment of the powersof spirit and body from advancing years, closed theireyes quickly and quietly upon the world. As onereads of their careers, it seems almost the ideal life.Where can be found more charming pictures of refinement, happiness, brilliant powers, achieving atonce the best success! Rare and beautiful as weretheir gifts, these are less interesting than theirspiritual graces, the unobtrusive piety, the sweet354 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.domestic affections, the tender humanity, the largeminded superiority to prejudice, which constantlyappear. The trace of human infirmity is plain enoughin the household, as, for instance, in the irregularitiesof Dorothea. According to the universal lot of mortals, we may be sure that each man and woman ofthem had his and her share of shortcomings. Butas one reads, the drawbacks make little show, and itis a natural aspiration, would that men in generalwere as fortunate and as good!GCHAPTER XXI.OUR HEBREW CONTEMPORARIES.WE have traced the Jew from his first appearance,in the most remote antiquity, until the present time.The pride and force with which he confronted themost powerful nations of the ancient world have beenportrayed; the unyielding spirit with which he defiedthe Roman, even while he was driven from his landto wander as an outcast; the spiritual intensitywith which he subdued his very conquerors to hisideas, even at the moment when he was himselfcrushed; the gulf of woe through which he haspassed; the new glory which he is at length seizing.upon now that the chain is broken, and his imperishable energy has once more free course. It is apeople of astonishing vigor, the wonderful characterof whose achievements it is hardly possible to exaggerate.In some parts of the world the idea seems to begaining ground that we are all to be pushed to thewall by the all- conquering Israelite; that the moneypower is falling into his hands, and political power isfollowing; that he is, in fact, seizing upon the bestplaces in every direction; that the time is at handwhen the Jew, with all his haughty pride of race, is356THESTORYOF THEJEWS.to grasp the headship of the world; that, holdinghimself apart more arrogantly than ever, he will suffer no contact between himself and those whom hehas brought under, except where his scornful foot ispressed upon the Gentile neck.Said Dr. Stöcker, not long since, a well-knownpreacher of Berlin, who is a leader in the anti-Jewishmovement in Germany: " At the post-mortem examination of a body lately, there were present thedistrict physician, the lawyer, the surgeon, and afourth official , all of whom were Jews. None butthe corpse was a German. Behold a picture of thepresent!The best business men of Germany, it is declared ,are Hebrews; banking they almost monopolize; thejournals are largely in their hands; they have seventyprofessors in the universities; they have the most brilliant parliamentary leaders. Strong as the Germansare, a great party among them appears actually tofeel that the one and one half per cent. of Hebrewsin their population is likely to crowd on until Teutonic power and prestige, by their hands, are deftlyand properly laid out and interred. The hate entertained against the Israelites by the rabble, and evenby those higher in station, has uttered itself at thepresent day in the old medieval cry, " Hep! Hep! "The days of proscription are scarcely passed, andmen have even been tortured and murdered in timesquite recent, under the old accusation of poisoningwells and crucifying children . This mingled fearand repugnance finds a half-humorous but forcibleexpression in certain stanzas by Franz Dingelstedt, apoet of Vienna, which may be thus translated:OUR HEBREW CONTEMPORARIES. 357Gone are the days of bitter tribulation;Changed are the times which now we see emerge.The cunning Jew, amid our lamentation,From our unskilful hands doth wrest the scourge.He crowds the farmer hard with scheming knavish,The trader from the mart he elbows well;And half with gold and half with mocking slavish ,Buys from the spirit of the age his spell.Where'er you turn , the thrusting Jew will meet you , —The chosen of the Lord in every view.Lock them in Juden- gassen I entreat you,Lest in some Christen-gasse they lock you!Whether the apprehensions of the Germans arereasonable or not, we will not stop to inquire; butwhat testimony is this to the astonishing power ofthe Jew, that one of the greatest of modern nationsseems to shudder with the fear that this fraction ofJews in its population is about to reduce it to subjection!While the heart of the Christian cannot be said tohave thoroughly relented, can the heart of the Jewbe said to have lost its scorn? " Be on your guardwhen you enter a synagogue, " it was, once said tome. The Christian needs to take heed if he enters atemple in some parts of Europe, whether it be someancient low-walled sanctuary, like those in little townson the Rhine, or the superb structures that may befound in the great cities, where shrine and canopyare beautiful as frost-work, —with fringe of gold andlamp of silver, -the Oriental arches throwing backfrom their purple vaults the sound of the silvertrumpets and the deep chant of the high-priest.358THESTORYOF THEJEWS.The Jew comes in his sanctuary to the most vividsense of his race and faith; even while he reveres thesacred tables of the Law, his eye can darken, and hislip spit forth contumely upon the unwelcome Nazarene.I well remember also going into the shop of a Jew,in an ancient city, and during our bargaining, crossing his purpose in a way that aroused his anger. Theflash in his dark eye was of the hereditary wrath bequeathed to him from many generations of persecutedfathers, called out by the son of the Christian whostood before him; in the hiss with which his wordscame forth, I seemed to hear a serpent that had beengathering its poison for a thousand years.Even those among the Hebrews who are leadersfor intelligence, and whose minds have becomebroadened by contact with the Gentiles, like MosesMendelssohn and Sir Moses Montefiore, cling tenaciously to the traditions and usages of their forefathers. If one studies the race where it has beenshut off in a measure from contact with other men,many heirloom customs and prejudices from the darkold days come to light, sometimes picturesque,sometimes startling, sometimes, indeed, terrible.strange interest attaches among them to the burial.of the dead, and there is a curiously affectionate careof the sepulchres of their lost ones. As has beenmentioned, the office of lavadore, the one who prepares the body for the grave, is one of high honoramong them; their cemeteries are tended and madebeautiful, even when the descendants of the sleepershave utterly disappeared, by fellow- Hebrews, whoAOUR HEBREW CONTEMPORARIES. 359will not suffer an Israelite grave to go uncared for,even though it holds a stranger. Longfellow'sstanzas upon the Jewish cemetery at Newport contain a sentiment most sweet and pensive:How strange it seems! these Hebrews in their graves,Close by the street of this fair sea-port town,Silent beside the never silent waves,At rest in all this moving up and down!The trees are white with dust, that o'er their sleepWave their broad curtains in the south wind's breath,While underneath such leafy tents they keepThe long mysterious Exodus of Death.And these sepulchral stones, so old and brown,That pave with level flags their burial-place,Seem like the tablets of the Law, thrown downAnd broken by Moses at the mountain's base.The very names recorded here are strange,Of foreign accent and of different climes;Alvarez and Rivera interchangeWith Abraham and Jacob of old times.Closed are the portals of their synagogue;No psalms of David now the silence break;No rabbi reads the ancient DecalogueIn the grand dialect the Prophets spake.Gone are the living, but the dead remain,And not neglected; for a hand unseen,Scattering its bounty like a summer rain ,Still keeps their graves and their remembrance green.How came they here? What burst of Christian hate,What persecution , merciless and blind,Drove o'er the sea, that desert desolate,These Ishmaels and Hagars of mankind?360THE STORYOF THE JEWS.They lived in narrow streets and lanes obscure,Ghetto and Judenstrass in mirk and mire;Taught in the school of patience to endureThe life of anguish and the death of fire.All their lives long, with the unleavened breadAnd bitter herbs of exile and its fears,The wasting famine of the heart they fed,And slaked its thirst with Marah of their tears.Anathema Maranatha! was the cryThat rang from town to town, from street to street;At every gate the accursed MordecaiWas mocked and jeered , and spurned by Christian feet.Pride and humiliation, hand in hand,Walked with them through the world where'er they went;Trampled and beaten were they as the sand,And yet unshaken as the continent.For in the background figures vague and vastOf patriarchs and of prophets rose sublime,And all the great traditions of the past,They saw reflected in the coming time.And thus forever with reverted lookThe mystic volume of the world they read,Spelling it backward like a Hebrew book,Till life became a legend of the dead.But ah! what once has been shall be no more!The groaning earth in travail and in pain,Brings forth its nations, but does not restore,And the dead nations never rise again.In a book * which gives many a curious picture ofthe Jews of Poland, an account is contained of aburial-place, a story which may well follow theplaintive lines just transcribed. Until within a few

• " Die Juden von Barnow, " by Emil Franzos.

OUR HEBREW CONTEMPORARIES. 361years, it was the only soil the Hebrews were allowedto own, and it was cherished until the grass wasgreen upon every mound; elders grew by everyhead-stone, with purple berries among their leaves,giving forth in spring a powerful perfume, while inautumn the heather glowed with a deep red. Aboutstretched the level landscape, to where in the distance could be seen the faint hue of the distantCarpathian mountains. On four hundred headstones was chiselled the same date. These markedthe graves of the victims of a massacre. Two rivalnobles had claimed a town, from both of whomthe Jews had sought to buy protection. Both, however, turned upon them in wrath, slaying them forthree days and nights. Other graves again hadfound their tenants, when a magnate of the land,because there was no other game in the neighborhood, hunted the Jews. The head-stones are allshaped alike, differing only in size, with no carvedfigures, for the prohibition of Moses must be obeyed.Stones which bear no name mark the graves of thoseheld to have committed some great sin, and thereare many nameless graves in this Podolian field.They are left uninscribed rather in mercy than inpunishment; for at the last day, the angel of eternallife will call the sleepers, reading the names upon thestones, the good to inherit bliss, the wicked, tosuffer. If the stone is without a name, the sleepermay be passed over.As a visitor one day approached the burial-ground,he saw two old Israelites engaged in the ancientcustom of " measuring the boundaries. " Each car-362 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.ried in his right hand a short, yellow stick; a continuous thread united the two, being wound uponeach stick into a close, thick ball. First, the menstood still, holding the sticks near together, andsinging in unison a strange traditional chant. Thenone paused, standing fixed and holding his stickvertical, while the other, walking on slowly andgravely by the side of the inclosing hedge, singingmeantime in high nasal tones, unwound the threadas he went, keeping it straight and tight. At aboutthirty paces distance, he in turn stood fixed andsilent, while his companion, singing in his turn,advanced, winding up the thread as he did so,the ball on the one stick becoming larger, as thatupon the other grew less. As the measurers stoodtogether, the chant in unison once more took place,followed, as before by the single voice, as anotherthirty paces was accomplished. It is said the boundsare measured by some such ceremony, whereverJews are to be found, but never in this peculiar wayexcept in the province , of Podolia, upon the anniversaries of the deaths of near relatives. The thread isused afterwards for some pious purpose, as to formthe wick of candles used in sacrifice, or to sew aprayer mantle.The visitor had observed a nameless head-stone ina hollow alone. Its shape indicated that it markedthe resting-place of a woman; to the right and leftwere the unmarked graves of babes. What couldbe the fearful crime which had condemned themother to a nameless grave in such isolation? Atlength, from one of the old measurers of the bounds,1OUR HEBREW CONTEMPORARIES. 363he obtained the story. Leah Rendar had beenmarked, as a girl, among her companions for a wealthof shining, golden hair. She had been very beautiful,of a German rather than Jewish type, and her chiefcharm had been her sunny locks, of which she wasvery vain. They wrapped her like a veil, so that shewas called " Leah with the long hair. " It is prescribed among the Jews of Poland, that no marriedwoman shall wear her own hair, which must be cutshort, perhaps even shaved, before the wedding. Ahigh head-dress of wool or silk must crown the headin its place. To neglect this rule is a terrible sin .In due time came to Leah the day of betrothal,then of marriage. At the latter she appeared without the golden hair, and with the great head-dress.All went merrily, and for a year to come happinessattended bridegroom and bride. Leah's first child,however, came dead into the world. When a year ortwo more had rolled by, a second child came, but livedonly six days, and the rabbi of the synagogue suspected that some law had been broken by themother. At length, on the Day of Atonement, husband and wife spent the hours with the people in thecrowded synagogue. The odor of the candles, andthe close air, caused Leah to fall fainting from herprayer-stool. In the effort of the women to restoreher, her head- dress became displaced , when lo! theiniquity was revealed: the golden locks fell as ofold about her form . Her vanity had induced her toviolate the law, and leave her hair uncut. Bothhusband and wife were straightway excommunicated. Neither they nor their belongings could betouched except in enmity. They were outcasts.364 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.In course of time another son was born to Leah.Said the rabbi: "The parents are outcasts; thefather is under the ban, the mother wears her ownhair. The child is innocent, but if it remains withits parents, it must share their fate." When thechild was six days old, masked men broke into thehouse, dragged the mother from her bed, and cut offher hair. She died two days after, her child following her, and the poor mother was placed apart fromher fellows in the lonely dell. So she lies under herhead-stone which is uninscribed, that the recordingangel may, perhaps, at the great day of judgment,pass her by, and her soul, with its sin, not be castforth into the outer darkness.An ancient custom, not yet forgotten in someparts of Germany, is that daughters who apostatize,are counted as dead, mourned as such by their parents, and that graves even are prepared for them.The poet Meissner has described this usage in verseswhich have been translated as follows: *The anthems for the dead are sung;The old Jew's garb in grief is rent;And yet no corpse is sunk to earth,For she still lives whom they lament.The grave awaits her.From oldest days and earliest times,The Jews such saddening custom have,That she who leaves their Father's God,They count as dead and dig her grave.The grave awaits her.

• Translated by Henry Phillips.

OUR HEBREW CONTEMPORARIES.365In Venice city, bright and gay,Upon the purple flood there flies ,In swift gondol, a soldier fair,And on his breast a Jewess lies.Her grave awaits her.He kisses tresses, lips, and cheek;He calls her his own darling bride;She nestles in his golden hair;She gazes on her love with pride.Her grave awaits her.In noble halls, at banquets rare,She strikes the zither's golden chords,Till wearied deep by pleasure's sway,Refreshing sleep its joy affords.Her grave awaits her.But once, as sped a dream of bliss,When daydawn broke she was alone.With traitorous flight beyond the seas,Her faithless love for aye was gone!Her grave awaits her.She tears her silky curling locks;She wanders on the sea-beat shore;When lo, her father's words return!" Be thou accursed forevermore!Thygrave awaits thee. "A beggar-wench on Alpine roadWanders toward home through night-wind wild .Unwept, within a deep ravine,Unblest, lies tombed her ill- starred child .Her grave awaits her.The ancestral graves mourn sad and lone;Their silent , solemn rest, who breaks?366THE STORYOF THE JEWS.A shadow falls on church-yard walls,The moonbeam shows a form that seeksThe grave that waits her.She rolls the slab from off the grave,With wearied limbs and failing breath.In silent prayer she lays her formWithin the tomb, and welcomes death.The grave had waited.But dismissing these melancholy pictures, let usinquire for a moment what we need to fear from theHebrews. Some one has defined the type of shrewdness to be: " A Jewish Yorkshireman of Scottishextraction with a Yankee education." Such a combination would indeed be likely to bring to pass avery sharp result. We are to notice that if the Jewis to be taken as the Alpha of shrewdness, the American is at the same time the Omega. The two endsbalance each other, and I for one have too muchfaith in my compatriots to expect ever to hear itsaid that the American end of the tilting board hasgone up. In the competitions of American life it isdiamond cut diamond; it is hard to say whetherJew or Yankee will show most nicks as marks of thegrinding power of the other. Take your real downEaster that has been honed for a few generations onthe New England granite. Can Abraham or Jacobor Moses show a finer edge? We may hope that inany competition upon this lowest plane the Americanwill be able to hold his own. Would that we mightbe as sure that we shall match them in those higherspheres in which Hebrew genius, wherever the jessesOUR HEBREW CONTEMPORARIES. 367have been thrown off, has soared with such imperialsweep!Do we like our Hebrew neighbors and rivals? * SaysFelix Adler, the scholar and teacher of ancient Jewish blood, but who has cast off all narrow Judaismto stand upon a platform of the broadest: "TheJews have certain peculiarities of disposition; theyhave Asiatic blood in their veins. Among the highbred members of the race the traces of their Orientalorigin are revealed in noble qualities, in versatility ofthought, brilliancy of imagination, flashing humor,in what the French call esprit; these, too, in powerful lyrical outpourings, in impassioned eloquence, inthe power of experiencing and uttering profoundemotions. The same tendencies among the uneducated and illiterate give rise to unlovely and unpleasing idiosyncrasies, a certain restlessness, loudness ofmanner, fondness of display, a lack of dignity, reserve, repose. And since one loud person attractsgreater attention than twenty who are modest andrefined, it has come about that the whole race isoften condemned because of the follies of some of

• In " Imperfect Sympathies, " Charles Lamb frankly writes:

" I have, in the abstract, no disrespect for Jews. They are a piece .of stubborn antiquity compared with which Stonehenge is in itsnonage. They date beyond the pyramids. But I should not care tobe in habits of familiar intercourse with any of that nation . Centuries of injury, contempt, and hate on the one side, —of cloakedrevenge, dissimulation, and hate on the other, between our and theirfathers, must and ought to effect the blood of the children . I cannotbelieve it can run clear and kindly yet; or that a few fine words,such as candor, liberality, the light of the nineteenth century, canclose up the breaches of so deadly a disunion. A Hebrew is nowhere congenial to me. "368THE STORYOF THE JEWS.the coarsest and least representative of its members. "The characteristics which Felix Adler thus describes as belonging to a portion of his countrymen,have no doubt sometimes repelled. It is, however,great narrowness to allow our estimation of the raceto be determined in this way. In the popular play,"Sam'l of Posen, " the hearty young Jew, of bloodquite unadulterated , just from the frontiers of Poland, where we are told the Jew is at his worst, is nomore remarkable for his love of money and hardbusiness push than he is for his good nature, hisgratitude, and kindness of heart. The voice of thepeople declares it a portrait faithful to the life.This Semitic flotsam and jetsam thrown upon theAryan current, after that current had wrecked socruelly ancient Israel-always upon it and in it, yetnever of it, -soluble by no saturation, not to be pulverized or ground away by the heaviest smitings,unabsorbed, unoverwhelmed, though the currenthas been rolling for so many ages ever westward,until at length the West is becoming East, is it tosubsist forever apart, or will it some time melt intothe stream that bears it? Whatever Judaism mayhave lost through abjurations of its creed, there hasso far always remained a compact nucleus firmlyclinging to the old Judaic standards. From the immemorial rites and traditions, they say, there shallbe abatement of neither jot nor tittle. Circumcisionand Passover, Talmud and Torah, -be these to usas they were to our fathers. They are no more aproselyting body, it has been said, than the Houseof Lords; they are the aristocracy of the humanOUR HEBREW CONTEMPORARIES. 369race, though for the time they may be pawnbrokers,or sell old clothes. " Intermarriage with the Gentileis a thing abhorrent. Let the chosen people holditself aloof until a time shall come when Jehovah shallgive to it the headship of the nations. " Such anucleus there is to-day. Meantime, however, thereare Hebrews of a spirit quite different . Moses Mendelssohn looked not so much toward any headshipfor his race, as toward a brotherly coming togetherof men, a recognizing in the spirit of charity of thenecessity of differences between creeds, -an era oftolerance and mutual forbearance.When in the eye of the Hebrew there beams thusa gentle and conciliatory light, what can the Gentilebetter do than hail it with gladness and meet it withcordiality? The path into which Moses Mendelssohnstruck has been followed by his disciples farther,sometimes, than he would have approved. His ownchildren and grandchildren proceeded to lengthsfrom which he, with all his noble breadth of soul,would have recoiled , holding as he did to various Israelite limitations. In laying his foundations he buildedmore wisely than he knew, for the superstructure wasto be a beautiful and all- embracing charity. Howhopeful is the influence proceeding from this gentleteacher! The world in these latter days has seenfew men and women more richly adorned with giftsand graces than his descendants. As from a bed ofrepulsive refuse will sometimes spring blossoms ofperfect loveliness, so out from the askenazim, thatdegraded German Judaism, with its foul Juden-strassen, from among the people despised even by those370 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.of their own faith, have come those who in beneficentgenius, in gentle virtues, in all forms of sweetnessand light, present a most delightful picture. It is avery fair flowering of humanity. Our story has hadmany a page of horror; it has been pleasant at lastto turn to things so tranquil and lovely. One cannotbut wish that the lot of the Mendelssohns were theuniversal lot , and that the world in general deservedas thoroughly as they, to have so much happinessgiven them for a portion. Would that the children.of Israel, following their new Moses, the son of Mendel, might all come out into such a Canaan of kindliness, wisdom, and breadth of soul; and would that theGentile world, leaving behind their thousand forms ofcruel narrowness, might meet them through gaininga similar loveliness of spirit! Through all the agesno gulf has seemed so deep and wide as that whichsevered the Jew from the world which he would nothave and which would not have him. Even to-dayit seems almost utopian to imagine that the chasmcan be filled. As, however, in the slow evolution ofman his heart gradually refines and softens, it is nota vain hope that there will some time be such acoming together of those as yet unreconciled, eachadvancing from his shadows into a space made beautiful with the radiance of charity.AINDEX.Aaron and the oral law, 77 Abarbanel at the court of Spain ,158 Abraham, Rabbi, story of, 168,etc.Abram goes southward from Ha- ran, 12 Adler, Felix, on the Jews, 367Elia Capitolina, Roman city on site of Jerusalem, 133Ahasuerus, see Wandering Jew Alexander the Great at Jerusalem, 60Alexandria, its library destroyed,55; its large Jewish popula- tion , 64, 133 Alliance Israélite Universelle,282America, number of Jews in, 235 American rapacity, 274, 275Ammonites subdued by the He- brews, 12Ananus, high-priest, slain, III Antiochus Epiphanes oppressesthe Jews, 64 Antiochus of Commagene at thesiege of Jerusalem , 120 Antonia, fortress of, described,104; destroyed, 117 Apelles slain by Mattathias, 65Apocrypha, how composed, 76Apollonius defeated by Judas Maccabæus, 66Aramaic, spoken in Palestine, 75 Ark, of the Covenant, described ,16Arnold, Matthew, on Spinoza,230Artorius, Roman soldier at Jeru- salem , 120Aryans, first contact with Jews,61; origin and spread of, 62;spiritually conquered by the Jews, 126 Askenazim, name for the German Jews, 239; give birth to Moses Mendelssohn, 240; beautifuloutgrowth from, 369 Asmonæus, ancestor of the Maccabees, 64Assyrians, threaten Palestine, 26;their prominence in Hebrew annals, 27; relics of, in BritishMuseum, 29, 30; sources of information concerning, 32;how they told their own story,34; discoveries of Botta andLayard, 35; the cuneiform ,36; nature of the dominion of,37; conquests in Palestine,38; splendor of, under Senna- cherib, 39; progress in arts,40; commerce of, 42; mag- nificence of the kings, 43;palaces of, 44; decadence of,54; their imperishable records,55; their cruelty, 56 Atonement, fast of, 56 "Atta Troll, " satire of Heine, 318Auerbach, and Spinoza, 229;first German novelist, 238Auto-da-fe in Spain, 161 , etc. Averroes and Avicenna, Moorishphilosophers, 138371372 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.BBabylon, captivity at, 57 Bacchides defeats Judas Macca- bæus, 69Badges worn by medieval Jews,201Bamberger, Jewish statesman inGermany, 296 Barak defeats Sisera, 18 Bar Cocheba, rebels againstRome, 133; a false Messiah,216 Beaconsfield, see DisraeliBeautiful, gate of the Temple, 104 Benfey, Sanscrit scholar, 238 Ben Hadad, of Syria, conquered by the Assyrians, 38Bernays, Jewish scholar, 238 Bernhardt, Sarah, Jewish artist,238 Bismarck and Lasker, 296 Black Death in the 14th century,167, 198 " Book Le Grand, " work ofHeine, quoted, 318, etc. Börne, Ludwig, with Heine in the Frankfort Juden-gasse,230Botta, Assyrian explorer, 36 British Museum, Assyrian collec- tion at, 29Buckle, harsh toward Jews, 202CCabala described , 222Cahorsin, money-lenders, 193Caleb, ancient Hebrewchampion,18Canaanites, their civilization,their conquest by the Israel- ites , 18Canon, of the Old Testament,formation of, 76Canute banishes the Jews from England, 189Cartaphilus, see Wandering Jew Castelar, Spanish statesman of Jewish origin, 295Cerealis leads Romans to thefinal attack on Jerusalem, 117Chaldeans, their ancient empire,37 Charlemagne and the Jews, 139 " Charles Auchester, " description of Felix Mendelssohn from ,343, etc.Chasidim, a division among the Hebrews, 77Christian idea of the Jews, 2Cicero, depreciates trade, 254;the corn-ships at Rhodes, 273 Cobbett taunts the Jews, 283Coleridge introduces Spinoza toEnglish thinkers, 229 Commerce, how the Jews came to follow it, 136; skilful pur- suit of, in modern times, 237Conqueror, " battering- ram of Titus, 114""Crémieux, French statesman of Hebrew birth, 282, 298Cromwell brings Jews back to England, 192, 201 Cuneiform inscriptions, 36 Curse pronounced upon Spinoza,224Cyrus, the Mede, conquers As- syria, 54; restores Jews to Pal- estine, 57DDamascus, seat of a Syrian king- dom, 25; conquered by Assyria, 38; Jews persecuted at,in 1840, 281David, conquests of, 20; themost popular poet in England,311Deborah inspires the Hebrews,18 Dingelstedt, Franz, his anti-Se- mitic poem, 357Dispersion of the Jews, 133 Disraeli, Benjamin, Earl of Bea- consfield, his assertion of Hebrew superiority, 2; his ori- gin, a typical Jew, 305; hisINDEX. 373entrance into Parliament, 306;his public career, devotion ofhis wife, 308; enthusiasm of,for his race, 310, 311Disraeli , Isaac , father of LordBeaconsfield , 305 Dominicans prominent in persecuting the Jews, 162 Domitius Sabinus, the centurion ,at the siege of Jotapata, 99EEdomites subdued by Hebrews,12Edward I. banishes Jews from England, 192 Eleazar, brother of Judas Mac- cabæus, death of, 69Elijah and Elisha protest against idolatries, 26 " Elijah, " oratorio of Mendels- sohn, 342England , Jews in, 189, etc.Essenes, a Jewish sect, 80 Ezra, restores the power of Is- rael, 58; establishes the canon,75 FFalse Messiahs, 216 Fasts and feasts, 84 Ferdinand , King of Spain, persecutes the Jews, 140; expatriates them, 158 Fichte influenced by Spinoza, 229Finance, skill of Jews in, 237;not exceptionally sordid andharsh, 255 , etc. Fine Arts, Jews as cultivators of,237 Flagellants destroy the Jews, 167 Florence, Jews at, 193 Fould, Achille, French statesmanand financier of Hebrew birth ,298France, Jews in, 197 , etc. Franke, famous in medicine, 238Frankfort, Juden-gasse in, 166,259Friedrich Wilhelm IV. and Heine, 322Froude and Spinoza, 230GGalilee, Romans attempt to conquer, 95, etc.Gambetta, descended from Genoese Jews, 298; puts out an eye in his boyhood, 300; steps into fame in 1868 , 300; in the CorpsLégislatif in 1870, 301; hisastonishing energy, 302; his oratory, 303, 304 Gemara, combined with the Mischna to form the Talmud,143 Germany, Jews in, in medieval times, 165 , etc.; in moderntimes, 239, 240; ridiculed by Heine, 321.Gessius Florus, Roman procurator, attacks Jerusalem, 94; is defeated , 95Gibbon sneers at the Jews, 202 Gideon, ancient Hebrew champion, 18 Goethe, his " Faust " quoted, 216;admirer of Spinoza, 229; friend of the Mendelssohns, 339Goldwin Smith unjust to the Jews, 253 Göttingen, Heine's hatred for,314Grace Aguilar quoted, 154, 158 Graetz, Jewish historian, quoted,161Grimm, Jacob, studies of, in folk- lore, 210 Gugenheim, father - in - law of Moses Mendelssohn , 249HHalévy, Jewish musician , 237 Handicrafts, Jews restrained from , at the dispersion , 136;followed in Sicily, 195; He- brew dislike of, in modern times, 236374 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.Hanoukhah, feast of, its origin, fend Jerusalem against Titus,ΙΙΟ 66 Ilse, " poem of Heine, 32468, 84; celebrated by the Rothschilds, 260Hazael, of Syria, conquered by Inquisition and the Jews, 155 ,Assyrians , 38 Hebrews, see Jews.Hegel, admirer of Spinoza, 229 Heine, Heinrich, his " Rabbi ofBacharach, " 167; admirer of Spinoza, 229; called by Matthew Arnold first German poet since Goethe, 238; with Börne in the Frankfort Juden-gasse,260; with James Rothschild atParis, 271; his origin and career,312-317; his inconsistency, his descriptive power, 318; his wit and bitterness, 320; his frivolity, 32 2;analogues in English literature, 323; his poetic powerand sweetness, 324, etc.; asvoicing the Jewish heart, 327;before the Venus of Milo, 328,329etc.Iron Maiden, " apparatus fortorture, 156 Isaac the patriarch , 12 Isaac, ambassador of Charlemagne, 139 Isaac Arama, Jewish poet, quoted,161Isabella, queen of Spain, a perse- cutor, 140; assents to exile ofthe Jews, 158Isaiah, the prophet, counsels Hezekiah, 52 Israel, kingdom of, 25; conquered by Assyria, 39 Israelites, see Jews.Italy, Jews in, 193 , etc.JJacob the patriarch, 12 Heine, Solomon, uncle of the Jaddua, high-priest, meets Alex- poet, 313 Heliodorus tries to rob the Temple, 72 Hensel, Wilhelm, brother-in-law of Felix Mendelssohn, 335,340, 346 66 Hep! hep! " cry of the perse- cutors, 200, 356Heptarchy, Jews under the, 189 Herod, rules Judea, 73; slays the children, 88Herodians, Jewish sect, 79 Hesse Cassel, Landgrave of, and Rothschild, 259Hezekiah, King of Judah, 39;his good reign, throws off theyoke of Assyria, 48Hillel, Jewish teacher, 81 Hiram of Tyre and Solomon, 23Holland, the refuge of the oppressed , 219IIdumæans, subdued by Judas Maccabæus, 68; come to deander the Great, 58Jael slays Sisera, 18Jehovah, Hebrew name for God,16Jephthah, ancient champion of Israel, 18 Jerusalem, founded, 22; embellished by Solomon, 23;sacked in time of Jeroboam bythe Egyptians, 26; described,102 , etc.; besieged by Titus,109, etc.; its capture and de- struction, 119; visits of Sir Moses Montefiore to , 284, 289;the new town near the Jaffa- gate, 292 Jerusalem, " work of Moses Mendelssohn, 24466Jesus , of Nazareth , his birth , 86;in the Temple, baptism, 88;his temptation , gospel, passion,death, and resurrection, 89;his character the beauty of hol- iness, 92; in the legend of the Wandering Jew, 209INDEX. 375Jews, their assertion of superior- ity, I; character of their literature, 3; tenacity as a race, 4,5; their force and passion , 6;religious nature, 7; at theirorigin, 12; valor under David,20; vigor declines, 22; thekingdoms of Judah and Israel,25; force of, as shown in thestruggle with Assyria, 32; at Nineveh, 41; their defiance ofSennacherib, 52; captives at Babylon, 57; restoration to Palestine , 58; contact withAryans, 61; dispersion , 64;civilization in time of the Maccabees, 74; parties and sects ,75, etc.; oppressed and at lastcrushed by Rome, 94, etc.;their spiritual conquest of the Aryans, 126, etc.; dispersion,133; temper rarely concilia- tory, 134; how they became traders, 136; their services in commerce, 137; contact withthe Moslems, 138; enter Spain,138; at the Renaissance, 139;favored by the Saracens , and byCharlemagne, 139; persecuted in later times, 140; in Spain,152; insincere converts, 153;a Hebrew shrine, 154; before the Inquisition , 155, etc.;driven out of Spain, 158 , etc.; in other lands, 160; lamentations over Spain, 161; an auto-da-fè, 162 , etc.; in Germany, 165, etc.; lightly touchedby the Black Death, 167; pic- ture of their mediæval life ,168, etc; in England, protected by early Plantagenets,189; Richard Coeur de Lion persecutes, massacre at York,190, etc.; driven out by Ed- ward I. , 192;"restored byCromwell, 192; drowning of,near London Bridge, 192; in Venice, Florence, Genoa, andPapal states, 193; at Rome,66194; in Southern Italy andSicily, 195, 196; in France,under Philip Augustus and St. Louis, 197; sufferings from the Pastoureaux," in time ofthe " Black Death, " 198; become chattels , 200; badges,narrowness of Protestants, 201;of unbelievers, 202; sometimesretaliate, 203; as typified in Shylock, 204, etc.; in theWandering Jew, 208, etc.; in- tolerance and unamiability of,215; false Messiahs, 216; en- thusiasm for Sabbatäi Zevi, 217;they seek refuge in Holland,219; respect for the Cabala,222; the persecution of Spin- oza, 223, etc.; total numberand distribution , of at present,their eminence, 235; seldom soldiers, farmers, or artisans,236; as financiers, as artists,237; as philosophers andscholars, 238; their degrada- tion in Germany, 239; influ- ence of Moses Mendelssohn,240, etc.; their distrust of him,245; as business men; 254;their ill- repute undeserved,255, etc.; their genius for af- fairs, 276; persecuted in the Levant in 1840, 281; helped in Palestine and elsewhere by Montefiore, 283; in Morocco,288; incited to work in Pales- tine by Montefiore, 290, 291;as statesmen, 295; Disraeli's enthusiasm for, 310, 311; find a voice in Heine, 312, 327;dreaded for their energy and power, 355, etc.; their invet- erate scorn, 357; curious cus- toms of, 358, etc.; cemetery atNewport, 359, 360; in Poland,360, etc.; measuring the boundaries, " 361; treatment of apostates, 364; compared with Yankees, 366; described by F. Adler, 367; orthodox nucleus,""376THE STORYOF THE JEWS.368; reformers, 368, 369; | Lavater, his connection withpromise of a better day, 369Joachim, Jewish musician, 237 John the Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth, 88John of Giscala defends Jerusa- salem against Titus, 110, etc.; dies in prison, 119John Hyrcanus, descendant of the Maccabees, 71Jonathan, son of Saul, 20Jonathan, brother of Judas Mac- cabæus, 70 Joseph, son of Jacob, 12 Joseph, husband of Mary, 86 Josephus, commands in Galilee,45; the prisoner of Vespasian,100; counsels the defenders ofJerusalem to yield , 115; value of his history, he follows Titusto Rome, 121Joshua, an ancient champion, 18 Joshua, the priest, surrenders the Temple treasures to Titus, 118Jotapata, defended by Josephus against Vespasian, 95, etc. Judah, kingdom of, 25; invadedby Sennacherib, 49 Judas Maccabæus, defeats Apol- lonius, Seron, and Lysias, 65,66; his later career, 67 , 68;his death, 69; his burial at Modin, 70Juden-gasse, at Frankfort, 166;birthplace of the Rothschilds,258; Heine's account of, 260;his association with , 313KKant, Immanuel, his tribute to the " Jerusalem of Moses Mendelssohn, 245Karaites, Jewish sect rejecting the Talmud, 148LLamego, Portuguese ancestor of Sir Moses Montefiore, 280 Lasker, German statesman of Hebrew birth, 296Moses Mendelssohn, 245; hisdescription of Mendelssohn,249 Law given on Sinai , 14; written,included in the canon , 76; origin of, 76; scrolls of, 155 , 184,194Layard, his Assyrian discoveries,36 Leah Rendar, story of, 363Leibnitz, his treatment of Spi- noza, 229Lessing admires Spinoza and spreads his fame, 229; friend of Moses Mendelssohn, 243;his " Nathan the Wise, " 251,etc.Libraries, cities as, 33; destruc- tion at Alexandria, 55Literature, Jews in, 238 Lombard traders, 193London Bridge, Jews drowned near, 192Longfellow, his " Sandalphon, "146; " Jewish Cemetery atNewport, " 359, 360 "Lorelei," poem of Heine, 326 Lost tribes of Israel, 39, 133Louis IX. (St. Louis) persecutes the Hebrews, 140, 197Louis XVIII. helped by Roths- child , 269Louis Philippe helped to the throne by Rothschilds, 270 Lucius, Roman soldier at thesiege of Jerusalem, 120 Ludwig II. , of Bavaria, and Heine, 322Luther intolerant toward Jews,140, 201Lysias defeated by Judas Macca- bæus, 67MMaccabees, their origin, 64; their career, 65, etc.; the power of the successors of Judas, 70 Macedonians, contact of, with theJews, 63INDEX. 377Maria Theresa, unfriendly to He- brews, 140Mary, the mother of Jesus, 86 Massena, Marshal, his Jewish origin, 236 Mattathias, founder of the line ofthe Maccabees, 64; slays Ap- peles, 65; death and burial atModin, 66Matterhorn in the legend of the Wandering Jew, 213Maurice, F. D. , admirer of Spi- noza, 230 Maximilian, Emperor, at Niegesehenburg, 180 66' Measuring the bounds, " pic- turesque custom, 361 , etc.Meissner, German poet, friend of Heine, quoted, 328, 364 Menasseh ben Israel obtainsfrom Cromwell the restorationof Jews to England, 192 Mendelssohn, Abraham, son of Moses and father of Felix ,332; his letter as to the religious education of his children,334; his death, 349Mendelssohn, Dorothea, daugh- ter of Moses, marries Veit,her connection with FriedrichSchlegel, 331 , 332 Mendelssohn, Fanny, daughter of Abraham, 333; marries Wilhelm Hensel, 335; her homein Berlin, 337, 345; letters,348, 349; death, 352 Mendelssohn - Bartholdy, Felix,his birth, 332; his precocity,335; his boyhood in Berlin ,339; his early success, 340;character of his music, his fame in England, appearance,342; described in CharlesAuchester, " 343; with Victoria and Prince Albert, 350, etc.; letters on death of his fatherand sister Fanny, 352 , 353;his death, 352 Mendelssohn, Joseph, son of Moses, 332Mendelssohn, Leah Salomon,wife of Abraham, 333; her let- ter to her daughter's lover,336 Mendelssohn, Moses, his birthand education , 242; his litera- ry work, 243; his breadth of spirit, 244; his attachment toJudaism, 245; his letter to Lavater, 246, etc.; his death, 248;his wooing, 249, 250; portrayed in " Nathan the Wise, "251; his fine spirit and beauti- ful influence, 368, 369 Mendelssohn, Paul, 339, 347Mendelssohn, Rebecca, 345 Mesopotamia under the Assyri- ans, 40 Messiah expected, 85 Meyerbeer, Jewish composer, 237 " Midsummer Night's Dream, 'overture to, by Mendelssohn,338 Mischna, combined with the Gemara to form the Talmud, 81 ,142 Moabites subdued by Israel, 12Modin, home of the Maccabees,64 Montefiore, Judith, wife of Sir Moses, her diary, 283, etc.Montefiore, Sir Moses, a typical Jew, 278; his ancestry and early career, 280; his philanthropic journeys, 281; at Da- mascus, 282; in Palestine andRussia, 283; enters Jerusalem,286; his strength in age, 288;at Morocco, 289; incites theJews to industry and thrift,290; his breadth of mind, 292;his widespread fame, personalappearance, orthodoxy, 293;belief in the restoration of theJews to the Holy Land, 294 Moors, see Saracens Moriah, Mount, site of the Temple, 103Morocco, Montefiore visits , 288 Moscheles, Jewish composer, 237378 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.Moses, the ancient lawgiver and leader, 14Moslem contact with Hebrews,138 NNapoleon I. frees Jews tempo- rarily, 313; admired and de- scribed by Heine, 319Napoleon III. and Gambetta,300, 301 " Nathan the Wise, " drama ofLessing, 251 , etc. " New Christians, " insincere con- verts from Judaism, 153 Niegesehenburg, a mediæval German city, 179 Nineveh, see Assyria Nonotte, wife of Heine, 323;lines to, 325Novalis on Spinoza, 229Nuremberg, torture- chamber at,155O'Connell, Daniel, and Disraeli,306Odin, connection with the legend of the Wild Huntsman, 210" Old Lady of the Damm Thor, "mother of Heine, 323Old Testament, origin of, 76 Oppenheim, German statesmanof Jewish birth, 296 Oxford, insult to the cross at, 203РPalestine, physical description of,9, 10, 12; conquered by As- syria, 38; Montefiore's work in, 290Passover, the feast of, 84; its celebration in medieval times,169 Pastoureaux in France persecuteJews, 198 Paul, conversion of, 90Pedanius, Roman horseman atJerusalem, 120Pentecost, feast of, 84 Pereire, Isaac and Emile, rail- .road kings of France, 276, etc. " Phædo, " work of Moses Men- delssohn, 243Pharisees, 78; their tenets, 79Philip Augustus, of France, per- secutes the Jews, 197 Philip the Fair, of France, per- secutes the Jews, 198 Philistines as conquerors, 18; asconquered, 20 Philosophy, eminence of Jews in,238Phoenicians, contact with Jews,23; subjected by Assyria, 47 ' Pilgrimage to Kevlaar, " poem of Heine, 317" "Poland, Jews in, 360 Pompey takes Jerusalem, 73 Popes, their changing policy tow- ard the Jews, 194Portugal, cruelties in, 160 Prince Albert and Felix Mendelssohn, 350, etc. Prophets, account of, 22 Protestants intolerant of Jews,201 Punch on the conversion of the 、Jews, 155 Puritans intolerant of Jews, 201RRabbi Abraham, story of, 168,etc.Rachel, Jewish actress, 238 Rahel, wife of Varnhagen vonEnse, her salon at Berlin , 313 Rationalist idea of the Jews, 3,etc.Renan, admirer, of Spinoza, 230Rhodes, Jews persecuted at, in 1840, 281Ricardo, political economist of Hebrew birth, 254 Richard Cœur de Lion persecutesthe Jews, 140, 190 Romans, first contact of, withthe Jews in time of JudasINDEX. 379story of, 169, etc.Saul, king of Israel, 20 Savonarola unfriendly to theJews, 140Maccabæus, 70; their coming | Sarah, wife of Rabbi Abraham,to Palestine, 73; their oppression of the Jews, 94; under |Vespasian and Titus, they crush Palestine , 95 , etc.Rome, Jews in, 193 Rothschild, Baron Alphonse, andNapoleon III., 272 Rothschild, Baron James,Paris, 268; helps Louis XVIII. ,269; helps Louis Philippe, his brusqueness, 270; his fear of Heine, 271atSchlegel, Friedrich, and Doro- thea Mendelssohn, 331Schleiermacher, his tribute to Spinoza, 230Science, distinction of Jews in,238 Seleucidæ oppress the Jews, 64 Semiramis, legend of, 29Rothschild, Baron Lionel, Lon- Semites, origin of, 12 don, 268Rothschild , Meyer Anselm ,founder of the house, in Frankfort Juden-gasse, 258; the Landgrave of Hesse Cassel ,260; wife of, 261; her attachment to the Juden-gasse, 262;their five sons, 262Rothschild, Nathan Meyer, goes to London, 262; at Waterloo,263; his great speculation , 264;his death, 267Rubenstein, Jewish musician, 237Russia, large Jewish population of, 235; testimony to their ability, 283; diplomacy of,guided by Jews, 295SSabbatäi Zevi, a false Messiah,216 , etc.Sadducees, origin of, 77; their tenets, 78Samaria, capital of Israel, 26;conquered by Assyria, 38;people of, 82; cursed by theJews, 83 " Sam❜l of Posen, " popular play,367 Samson, ancient champion , 18 Samuel, the prophet, 20 66" Sandalphon, " the legend ver- sified from the Talmud byLongfellow, 146 Saracens and Jews, 138 , 203Sennacherib, his accession, 39;his palace at Nineveh, 46; at- tacks Judah, 48; his magnifi- cent array, 49, etc.; destruction of, 53Sephardim, a name for the Span- ish Israelites , 152; give birth to Spinoza, 220; to Disraeli,305for Felix Septuagint, how prepared, 76 Seraphael, a nameMendelssohn, 343Seron defeated by Judas Macca- bæus, 66Shelley inspired by Spinoza, 230 Shylock, what he might have heard on the Rialto , 204, 205;palliation for his cruelty, 206;Heine's portrayal of, 206, etc. Sicily, Jews in, 195 Simon, son of Gioras, defends Jerusalem against Titus, III ,etc.; slain at Rome, 123Sisebut, Visigothic king of Spain,152; Jews rise against, 203 Sisera slain by Jaël, 18Solomon, his splendor and wis- dom, 22; his folly, 25Spain, Jews in, 152 , etc. Spinoza, his high and pure spirit,219; falsely accused of atheism,220; his origin and childhood at Amsterdam, 220; his precocity, revolts at the Cabala,222; escapes assassination, but is excommunicated , 223; the380 THE STORY OF THE JEWS.curse pronounced upon him,224, 225; his magnanimity,polishes crystals for a liveli- hood, 225; his catholicity, his death, 226; his philosophy outlined, his humanity, 227,228; history of his fame, 229;his present supremacy, 230;tribute to his worth, 231Standing Men in the ancient Temple service, 83 Stephen, Paul at the stoning of,90Stöcker, German anti - Semitic |leader, 356 " St. Paul, " oratorio of Mendels- sohn, 342TTabernacle, description of, 18 Tabernacles, feast of, 84 Taine, admirer of Spinoza, 230Talmud, its origin, 141; the Mischna and Gemara, 142,143; subtleties of the rabbis,value of, 143; its incoherency,144; its wisdom and beauty,145, 146; its hygienic value,148Targums, Aremaic paraphrases of Scripture, 76 Temple of Solomon, building and consecration of, 23 , 24;rebuilding of, after captivity at Babylon, 57; in the time ofTitus, 103; destruction of, by the Romans, 118Tenth legion at the siege of Jer- usalem, 112Titus storms Jotapata, 99; ad- vances upon Jerusalem, 108;his army, 109; his narrow escape, III; besieges the city,112, etc.; his victory, 119; his triumph, 121 , etc.; the arch of, 124Torah, see Law Torquemada, as grand inquisi- tor, persecutes the Jews, 159Tribes of Israel, their position on the march, 16Turks, their comparative human- ity to the Jews, 159; their treatment of Sabbatäi Zevi,218VVarnhagen von Ense and Heine,313 Venus of Milo, Heine in presence of, 328, 329Vespasian, besieges Jotapata, 95,etc.; becomes emperor, 100;at the triumph of Titus, 121 Victoria, Queen, and Felix Men- delssohn, 350, etc.Visigoths and Jews, 152 Voltaire harsh toward Jews, 202WWagner, his futile effort to bring the Jews to confusion, 238 Wandering Jew, different versions of the legend, Carta- philus or Ahasuerus, 208; his pilgrimage, 209: becomes blended with the Wild Huntsman, 210, etc.; before the Matterhorn, 213Wellington, his dislike of the Rothschilds, 266 Werner, Saint, his shrine on the Rhine, 168 Wild Huntsman becomes blended with the Wandering Jew,210, etc. William the Conqueror protectsthe Jews, 189.William Rufus befriends theJews, 189 Woistes, medieval German town,Jews at, 168, etc.YYankee and Jew, 366York, tragedy at, 190, etc.INDEX. 381ᏃZadikim, division among the Jews, 77 Zealots, a Jewish sect, 79; at thesiege of Jerusalem, 110Zion, symbol of Hebrew nation ,I; the ark finds a sanctuary there in the time of David; atthe time of the siege by the Romans, 102

The Story of the Nations.MESSRS. G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS take pleasure inannouncing that they have in course of publication aseries of graphic historical studies, intended to present tothe young the stories of the different nations that have attained prominence in history.In the story form the current of each national lifewill be distinctly indicated, and its picturesque and noteworthy periods and episodes will be presented for theyoung reader in their philosophical relations to eachother as well as to universal history.It will be the plan of the writers of the differentvolumes to enter into the real life of the peoples, and tobring them before the reader as they actually lived,labored, and struggled —as they studied and wrote, andas they amused themselves. In carrying out this plan ,the myths, with which the history of all lands begins, willnot be overlooked, though these will be carefully distinguished from the actual history, so far as the labors ofthe accepted historical authorities have resulted in definite conclusions.It is proposed to have the series present the resultsof the latest investigations in the progressive departmentof historical research. Disputed points will, however,not be discussed, but, instead, the writers will present, ina simple, direct, and graphic style, the story of each land ,utilizing also, to illuminate the narrative, the side lightsthat the poets and novelists have cast upon it .Possessing a knowledge of and sympathy with theyouthful way of looking at such subjects, the writers willnot offer annals, arid and unconnected, nor bare chronological statements of events, however complete. Theywill not expect to include all details of minor importance;but, on the contrary, will try to present pictures adaptedto leave faithful impressions of the essential facts.The editors will endeavor to preserve a unity ofdesign and execution that will enable the series to giveto the reader a survey of the rise and progress of thenations sufficient to form a sound basis for subsequentreading and study; but it will not be attempted to coverin detail the entire ground of universal history.The subjects of the different volumes will be plannedto cover connecting and, as far as possible, consecutiveepochs or periods, so that the set when completed willpresent in a comprehensive narrative the chief events inthe great STORY OF THE NATIONS; but it will, of course,not always prove practicable to issue the several volumesin their chronological order.The " Stories " will be printed in good readable type,and in handsome 12mo form. They will be adequatelyillustrated and furnished with maps and indexes. Theywill be sold separately, at a price of about $ 1.50 each.The following is a partial list of the subjects thus fardetermined upon:THE STORY OF EGYPT. Prof. GEORGE RAWLINSON."" 66 "" *CHALDEA. Z. RAGOZIN.46 """ *GREECE. Prof. JAMES A. HARRISON,

• ROME. ARTHUR GILMAN.

" *THE JEWS." "" ""Prof. JAMES K. HOSMER,Washington and Lee University.Washington University of St. Louis.University College, London.CARTHAGE. Prof. ALFRED J. CHURCH,BYZANTIUM. CHARLTON T. LEWIS.EARLY BRITAIN. Prof. Alfred J. Church.THE GOTHS. HENRY BRADLEY.THE NORMANS. SARAH O. JEWETT.PERSIA. S. G. W. BENJAMIN.SPAIN. Rev. E. E. and SUSAN HALE.46 46 "" GAUL.44 " "666 ་ ་ 6666 64 64 66 66 66 44 66 "6 64 ""66 "" 44 66 "6 ""66 66 "" 66 ""GERMANY. S. BARING GOULD.THE ITALIAN REPUBLICS.HOLLAND. Prof. C. E. THOROLD ROGERS.NORWAY. HJALMAR H. BOYESEN.THE MOORS IN SPAIN. STANLEY LANE-POOLE.HUNGARY. Prof. A. VAMBERY.THE ITALIAN KINGDOM. W. L. ALDEN.

• (The volumes starred are expected to be in readiness for the season of 1885.)

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See also

• Jewish people