CONVERSIONISTS AT JERUSALEM.

Reserving a visit to Siloam for a future day, our travellers rode up the steep path which led to the city walls, and making a circuit of the whole town, re-entered Jerusalem by the Jaffa Gate. On their way they passed by the magnificent hospital built by Sir Moses Montefiore for the poor Jews. Nothing can be more abject and miserable than the position of the "chosen people" at Jerusalem. They are divided into two sects, the "Sephardim,” or Spanish Jews, descendants of those expelled by Ferdinand and Isabella in 1497, and who still speak Spanish; and the "Askenazim," or Polish and German Jews, almost the whole of whom are supported by charity. The efforts to convert them, tried by every Christian sect, have been singularly unsuccessful. Nominally a certain number come to the Christian schools or workshops, but they are, like the Irish "yellow male" converts, people driven by the stress of hunger to pretended objurations. Of course there are one or two noted exceptions; but as a rule, every honest person must confess to the total failure of the efforts made in their behalf in a religious sense, in spite of the large sums yearly expended for this object.-LADY ELIZABETH HERBERT. Cradle Lands, pp. 87, 88.

PLACE OF WAILING.

Our travellers proceeded to the "Place of Wailing” of the Jews, who assemble here every Friday to weep and pray for restoration to their own country. Here alone the Jews are permitted to approach the walls of their Temple, which they literally bathe with their tears. It is the most touching scene possible, from its intense reality, and it would be as inhuman to go to it as a mere sight, as it

would be to pay a visit of curiosity to a house of mourning which death had just visited. Jews of every age and country, and of both sexes, were there, leaning their heads against the sacred walls, now repeating verses of the Psalms, now sobbing as if their hearts would break! The stones are large, bevelled, and perfect, except where they have been literally worn away by the kisses of the mourners. -Ibid., p. 82.

GRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENT.

Some rich Hungarian Israelites wishing to celebrate the emancipation of their co-religionists, have collected among themselves the sum of 20,000 florins, and commissioned their countryman, the sculptor Engel, to execute a statue representing civil and religious Liberty. This statue will be placed in one of the Chambers of the Diet.—Arch. Israel. April, 1868, p. 479.

DOCTOR MEISEL.

Doctor Meisel, chief rabbi of Pesth, who died recently (1868), and who was chief at Stettin before coming to Hungary, enjoyed a great reputation for eloquence and Israelitish zeal. A strange anecdote is related of his early years. His father had been influenced to embrace Christianity. According to the then existing laws (he lived in Bohemia) the children of a proselyte were constrained to adopt the new religion of their father.

The mother of Meisel, then still young, had scarcely been informed of the apostasy of her husband, than she took her two children, fled with them during the night an immense distance on foot till she reached Saxony. From there she went to Hamburg, thus escaping the Austrian power, and as an expiation for the act of her husband, brought up her son for the Jewish Ministry.—Ibid., p. 491.

CAVE OF MACHPELAH.

At page 172 of Lady Herbert's" Cradle Lands" may be found a plan of the mosque, which was originally a basilica, built by the Crusaders in the twelfth century. The plan is supplied by Lord Bute, who says that "it is quite faithful and made on the spot." Full details of the marquis's entrance into the mosque at Hebron will be found in the work in question; it may suffice here to note that in the plan the tombs of Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob and Leah are clearly indicated.

"To the right and left were doors closed with ancient massive gates of silver bars. That on the right contains the cenotaph of Abraham, that on the left of Sarah. The doors were not open, but we looked through the bars. On the threshold were stands for lamps. From the ceilings hang canopies or sails of silk, which rest on the top. On the side of Abraham's cenotaph was a piece of black with the inscription in gold, 'This is the place of our Lord Abraham, the friend of God;' and on Sarah's, 'This is the place of Sarah, the wife of Abraham, the friend of God.' The tombs of Isaac and Rebecca are ugly buildings, like low cottages, they have cenotaphs like Abraham and Sarah, but are not so handsome, and are without canopies." "There is a tradition that a certain pascha once had the temerity to enter the cave. He saw Sarah combing her hair, but became almost immediately blind." "I was asked not to enter the shrine of Leah out of deference to her sex, but looked in freely. A Muslim entered and pushed me aside from her black and gold inscription, which was thus: This is the place of Leah, the wife of Jacob. Let us pray our Lord that we may be with her in eternity.'"

ZONARIA.

About this time (723) there appeared an impostor in

Syria, named Zonaria, who gave himself the title of the Messiah, whom the Jews expected. At this news, all those who then inhabited Spain, of whom there were great numbers, led on by blind superstition, stronger even than the love of riches, abandoned their landed possessions, their property, their homes, and without delay took the route for Syria. Ambisa (the then ruler) let them depart peaceably, but he confiscated all their property.-JOSEPH CONDE. Hist. de la Domination des Arabes, etc. Transl. from the Spanish par M. De Marlés, tom. i., p. 129.

THE ARABS AND THE JEWS.

Circa 960. Commerce, it is true, was almost entirely in the hands of the Jews, for the Arabs were rather agriculturists than merchants; while the Jews, who, wheresoever their worship is proscribed, are a scourge for the people among whom they reside by the concentration of wealth in their hands, enjoying special protection from the Arabs, contributed to the prosperity of the State; whether it was that they augmented its population and its strength, or because they added to its riches by undertaking the exportation of all the surplus of natural or industrial productions.-Ibid, p. 470.

JEWS AT LUCENA.

In 1107, Jusuf, King of Morocco, visited his European dominions; on his route to Algeciras, passing through Lucena (a small town near Ecíja), he was detained some days by a singular circumstance. There were several Jews in that town; and a short time previously an ancient book of Aben Mucerra, of Cordova, had been discovered, in which was read that in the days of the Prophet, the Jews had promised to embrace Mahometanism in 500 years

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after the Hegira, if their Messiah had not appeared during that interval. That that promise either had or had not been fulfilled, and as they were now entering the appointed year, they reminded the Jews of their self-imposed obligation, and the Jews of Lucena had been condemned to assume the turban. They, therefore, availed themselves of the passing of the king through their town to implore his justice. The affair was ultimately arranged by the payment of a large sum of money, which the Jews had to disburse, and the king continued his journey.—Ibid., tom. ii., p. 292.

HIGH CRIMES AND MISDEMEANOURS.

As a specimen of the virulence displayed against the Jews at the time of the projected Naturalization Bill (1752), the following is extracted: "We look upon the Jews who lived in the time of Christ as traitors, as rebels against God. The act of rebellion was rejecting Jesus for the Messiah, and crucifying him as a malefactor; for this Jesus was the true God, and is still the God of the Christians. He is the King of all the world, and according to our laws he has all power in heaven and in earth. And was it not then by our laws rebellion to attempt to dethrone and murder this Sovereign Lord of the universe? Doubtless it was the highest act of treason which man can commit.

"The present Jews are guilty of the same treason by aiding and abetting traitors, for they defend their ancestors' rebellion; they justify the crucifying of the Son of God, and if they had him in their power they would crucify him again. Their books are full of the bitterest curses and blasphemies against Jesus Christ, and they say such shocking things about him as we dare not repeat. Now this we bring in high treason, because the aiders and abettors of