as grass of the earth;" after which he washes his hands at a pump erected for the purpose, and with the recital of another text, the ceremony is over. If, however, many deaths occur rapidly in the same family, "the nearest surviving relative takes a padlock and locks it, lets it down with the coffin into the grave, and then throws away the key to another part of the ground."-(Mills, 42, 43.) This is done to arrest the mortality in a family.

The time of mourning lasts for seven days, and fortunate is it for the hapless sons of grief that it continues for no longer period. It may be simply a curious, singular, or eccentric habit, to take leave of a deceased friend by shaking his great toe, to show one's grief for him by suffering our outer garments to be cut and rended "to the extent of a span"-(Mills, p. 42), which rent is not to be touched by sartorial fingers for thirty days;-but to sit barefoot on the ground during the seven days of sorrow (p. 44), to abjure chairs, benches and couches of all kinds, to enjoy no washing or change of linen, and to make our first meal-after that gloomy ride with the undertakers-not on "funeral baked meats," but hardboiled eggs and bread (p. 44), with the cold comfort of being gazed at by visitors, "not to be denied entrance" (p. 44), is indeed testifying the reality of sorrow in a way unknown to Christians, and too painful to become general among the most lacrymose.

The very misery of shaving would be a luxury; but even this is forbidden. Hair-powder, in the shape of ashes, is allowed; but the razor, the comb, soap and water, shoes, amusement, work, or even a walk in the open air, are strictly tabooed. Thus strictly do the sons of Israel mourn for their dead; in grimy silence. A like degree of strictness attends the modern Jew in many other matters of every-day life. No flesh of poultry or cattle can be eaten unless slaughtered by a Jew, according to a thousand and one rules of minute particularity, too complicated for mention of more than one example;-e. g. "if the Schochet (butcher or killer), in slaying a sheep, cut a little of the throat, then stop and cut again,-if he effect the cutting by pressure, or use the knife like a hatchet or sword" (p. 63), the meat is as unlawful as forbidden flesh. The conscientious Jew, therefore, can accept no Gentile invitation to dinner, nor get a chop in the city, nor a basin of soup at Verey's. Moreover, if he choose a slice of cold meat for breakfast, he must eat it with dry bread, it being unlawful to partake of flesh and butter at the same meal. The delights of lobster-salad, crabs, oysters, and all other shell-fish, are unknown to him; all fish without fins and scales being strictly forbidden. If a conscientious follower of the law of Moses, on every seventh day he is hampered and restricted by a multitude of trivial and unmeaning laws, which bear on him as hardly as the laws of lobster-salad and fish without

scales. For example, to carry a handkerchief without offence, it must be not loose in the pocket, but pinned fast, or tied round the waist. He cannot, conscientiously, ride on horseback, or in a carriage, or walk more than a mile from home; he must not touch pens or ink, or any instrument of music, not even a Jew's harp; nor take a bath, nor comb his hair. Above all, he must kindle neither fire nor candle throughout his dwelling on the day of rest; so that, if rich enough, he must keep a Gentile servant to commit the sin for him. "We believe, says Mr. Mills, that nothing could wound the conscience of a Jew more deeply than to be under the necessity of putting fuel on his own fire or snuffing his candles on the Sabbath day" (p. 145).

Such is the general picture, drawn by Mr. Mills, of the state of the British Jews, as regards the requirements of the Mosaic Law, and the restrictions under which it places them. The system is clearly one to which, as a whole, no great body could submit implicitly at least in this age; and so we find the case to be. The whole body of the Jews may be divided into three classes; of which, the first measure their piety by the length of their prayers and their scrupulous fidelity to the traditions of the Rabbismodern Pharisees, in fact; the second, who retain little or nothing but the name of Jew, mingling freely with the world, following that business most profitable, and occasionally visiting the synagogue*; the third, who have a manly love for their religion, and, while obeying it's precepts, are not blind to the sacrifices it imposes, but recognize that they live under the shadow of a dark dispensation." -(A few Words to the Jews, pp. 16, 17.)

Let us now glance for a moment at another phase of Jewish life, not less singular than those already noticed, in the region peculiarly sacred to Old Clo'. It is computed that more than eight thousand Jews gain a scanty living by uttering those two dull monotonous words (so annoying to the philosopher of Highgate)†, and by the petty transactions which follow. The eight thousand bags of these, with their various and dilapidated contents, ultimately form one mighty and miscellaneous congress in the dens and recesses of Houndsditch and Petticoat Lane. From thence they soon pass into the great Clothes Mart, or Exchange, erected for the wholesale business of merchants, who meet here from all parts of Great Britain, as well as France, Belgium, and Holland. Between two and three thousand persons daily frequent the Exchange, each paying a toll of one halfpenny on entering, and thus producing a good annual rental to Mr. Isaac, for his outlay in the erection of the

In all England there are 53 Synagogues, and on the day of the Census 4150 Jews attended the services.

+ Coleridge's Table Talk, p. 98.

building. Attached to this department is a retail branch, where a poor man, his wife, and three or four children, may procure decent clothing for about half-a-sovereign! seemingly an impossibly small sum for the total equipment of even one person, far less of five. But let facts speak for themselves out of the pages of the City Missionary Magazine, quoted by Mr. Mills. A gentleman was desirous of really ascertaining the price of clothing in Rag Fair, and commissioned an agent to discover two deserving poor persons, and thoroughly clothe them, himself bargaining for the articles. The persons selected were a bone-gatherer and dunghill raker (nevertheless a man of languages, being able to speak English, German, Dutch, Swedish, and Danish), and a lady whom, to confess the truth, he ought to have married at an earlier opportunity. The dresses were, in fact, bridal costume for both.

Green silk Paletot*, lined with crimson silk,

trimmed with black velvet, quilted and wadded 0 10

Black beaver, fly fronted, double breasted Paletot,

lined with silk, very superior article.

Cloth Cap, bound, with figured head..

Pair of black cloth Gloves..

0

1

0

1

0

1

Total 3 3

We were not, until now, aware that Paletots were numbered among the articles of Ladies' attire.

F

:

The greater Exchange, for wholesale traffic, is frequented chiefly by Irish traders on the Saturday (the Jewish Sabbath), but by both on Sunday. On neither of these days is any toll exacted for entrance to the wholesale domain, little business being then transacted. But on the Christian Sunday the whole of the minor courts, as well as the entire neighbourhood, are intolerably thronged with a crowd of the lowest class of buyers, sellers, and thieves. The ordinary rental for a stall is, on this day, raised from two to three shillings about ten thousand buyers are pushing their way up to or from the five hundred stalls, while about two thousand thieves of all ages (ex rapto vivere nati) hover on the ragged edges of the dense crowd, or, silently intent on plunder, permeate it's inmost and securest recesses. Twenty policemen are on duty; but to what extent they are able to discharge it, is a moot point. The whole scene, if eye witnesses are to be believed, defies description; though it's existence and toleration in these days of morality is a wonder and a disgrace. One fact concerning it we are bound to add ;that during the week, when chiefly frequented by Jews, the locale is said to be honest enough, several witnesses having again and again frequented it without touch of friendly fingers at pocket or purse. The Gentile admixture, therefore, to a greater or less extent, appears to involve the introduction of the vicious element, and the degraded Old Clo' is, after all, not always a just synonym for swindler, extortioner, or rogue. For one more picture we must be indebted to Mr. Mills's valuable labours, in saying a word as to Jewish literature and liberality. "The Jews, it is well-known, have cultivated a literature in all ages, hitherto chiefly confined to the Hebrew, Chaldæ, and Rabbinic languages; and thus the labour of their learned men has never had it's legitimate influence on the mass of the people." (p. 324.) But since the time of Mendelssohn, their literary taste has received a great impulse, and the people are now cultivating a literature in the vernacular languages of their dispersion. A people of forty thousand, living as a community within their own circle, could scarcely be expected to produce an extensive literature. From the time, therefore, of Rabbi Abraham, Jegel's Hebrew and Latin Catechism, in 1679-to explain and defend Judaism,-to our own enlightened days, their works have been few and far between. Most of those published within the last few years have been Translations of and Commentaries on different parts of Hebrew Scripture, all of which have been executed with skill and intelligence. Besides these, we find books of devotion for ladies, and for sick people, Dictionaries, Essays, Sermons, and some few attempts at Poetry; as well as two weekly Newspapers.*

One of the recent volumes bears a curious title, "Joshua and the Sun and Moon philosophically explained."

Their chief Collection of Books, in London, comprises about 3,000 printed Volumes, and 200 Manuscripts. The following names, if not famous, are at least well-known in the world of science, art, and learning as Linguists,-Professors Waley and Hymans; at the Bar,-Goldsmid, Waley, and Jessel; in Medicine,-Van Oven, Behrend, and Laurence; in Music,-John Barnett and Salamons; in Painting,-A. Solomons; and Hart, the Royal Academician and Lecturer.

Of Jewish liberality we have need to say little more than that, while they support their own Charities almost entirely out of their own funds, there are few Christian Charities whose lists of subscription do not contain many Jewish donors to a considerable amount*. Mr. Mills gives a list of nearly fifty different Charities, in London alone, which are entirely supported by Jewish funds. This list comprises Hospitals, Schools, Alms-houses, Benevolent Societies, and Asylums; besides which, the private charities attached to each Synagogue are many in number, and liberal in extent. The great Season of offering, in the Synagogue, is the Day of Atonement, at which time, in the year 1852, the contributions amounted to upwards of £2,000. The Public Schools in London, for the children of the poor, are eleven in number; and if the instruction given in them may not yet rank with that now given in our own smart National Schools, under government inspection, the deficiency is chiefly owing to their lack of stimulus, in the absence of that inspection found so beneficial elsewhere.

Their greatest educational deficiency, however, lies not in want of school-rooms, books, or mere routine teaching. "Schools and Synagogues," says one of themselves, "alone, will not suffice to instil a pure Judaism, or truly educate ;" and again, "we must give our poor more air, more sunshine, more vigour.' (p. 158-9.)

As a nation, they have been trampled on, crushed, and kept down, in mind and body, for long centuries of toil, tears, and despair. The lower classes especially have been forced into the lowest and foulest places of abode, the reeking dens and alleys of great cities; driven by taunts and desperation to the grimiest and worst modes of gaining a living. What wonder then that, even now, in this enlightened age of patent societies and endless moralities, there should be a larger amount of dregs than becomes a well-constituted and healthy society? The true wonder is, that even a small moiety ever escape what the great lexicographer calls "sedimental destruction."

But why should such a state of things continue? Why should it be infamous to deal in antique hats? or why should moral guilt lurk

On turning to the yearly Report of one of the largest of the London Charities, we find, in their List of Subscribers, half-a-dozen Jewish names in the first few pages that meet the eye.