convert (rénégat) is not so easily contented. Among Jewish illustrations, he cites Rossini, Madame Pasta, and two French Marshals-unfortunately he forgets to give authorities for his assertions.

"Dispersi, palabundi, et coeli et soli sui extorres, vaguntur per orbem, sine homine, sine Deo et rege, quibus nec advenarum jure terram patriam saltem vestigeo salutare conceditur." Tertullian, "Apolog. adv. Gentes," c. xvi. -BOUDIN. Géographie et Statistique Médicales, tom. ii., p. 128.

SKILL AND INDUSTRY.

In the great synagogue at Alexandria in Egypt, sat in separate rows the goldworkers, the silverworkers, the weavers, the smiths. If a poor man came in, he went to the artisans of his own trade, and received relief from them. In Jerusalem, every company of workmen, such as metalworkers and others, had each its special benches. Sons were directed to follow the employment of their father.

The family Garmi were celebrated for the manufacture of shew bread for the Temple; several men who had come from Egypt having failed to make it properly. The family Abtinos was also renowned for perfumery and frankincense. -Talmud. Various.

THE LAW OF MOSES.

The Law of Moses can never fall into neglect while the principle of Judaism acts on its people; for it possesses a self-regenerating power. This law is not locked up in a clasped volume, to be consulted only by the administrators of the law, but is thrown open among the people, who themselves deliver it one to another. It is one of the "Thoughts" of Pascal to show the distinction between a true and a false revelation, that Mahomet, in order that

his own code might exist, prohibited the reading; but Moses, that his own should subsist, ordered that all the world should read it. It is decreed in the Laws of Moses that children shall be taught it; and to this day, the child's first accents are almost formed by the "holy language," as the Hebrews emphatically call theirs, till they acquire the holy language itself, at least by rote.*

The Law of Moses inculcates that it should form the subject of their conversations, walking or sitting; and so familiar is this knowledge to the Jewish ear, that whenever their law is quoted in conversation, which it frequently is, it is usual with an auditor to chime in with the close of the passage, like a chant often repeated. Never have human efforts, mere human efforts, been so marvellously directed to obtain a perpetuity, as have been exemplified in the preservation of their code; an immaculate condition was designed to equal the sanctity which it inspired. The verses, the words, and the letters, have been counted by the Massorites, in a martyrdom of learned and religious diligence. A redundant or a deficient letter, or the space between each distinct letter, not duly preserved, or the quality of the skin on which it is written, or the strings which bind it, would render the scroll corrupt and the scribe infamous. No word must be written by heart, or without having first been orally pronounced by the writer. The caligraphy of the Sepher Torah, that is, The Book of the Law, is unparalleled for the beauty of its character; and the Hebrews still testify their veneration for the code in a manner which might be considered, by any but an Israelite, as partaking largely of the most superstitious idolatry. A silken bandage protects the roll of the law from any polluting touch; the transit of a mouse across the holy text, or any crumbs found in a Sepher Torah, require a public act

*CARDOSA. Excellencias de los Hebreos: part i., p. 134.

of expiation, and that the polluted roll should be committed to the flames.

The public reader of the Pentateuch holds the holy code, a little unrolled, suspended over the heads of the people, turning it towards the four quarters of the universe. Amid their acclamations, they proclaim that "this is the law which God Himself gave to Moses." On its return to the ark, a gorgeous embroidered mantle covers the sacred roll, and the silver bells in its golden diadem are joyfully rung by the honoured Israelite, who on that day has been called to bear it in his arms. The mantled law scatters a benediction in its passage; but happier those near it, who can kiss the finger which has touched the holy code.-I. D'ISRAELI. Genius of Judaism, pp. 69, 70.

RABBINICAL ANIMOSITY.

The school of Hillel and that of Shamai, by their religious differences, divided Israel into two parties, one siding with the former, and the other with the latter. One school considered as "clean" things which the other school held to be "unclean;" one forbade marriages in certain cases of relationship, which the other permitted. And from this the two parties became so inveterate against each other, that they would not eat together in the same house, nor make any matrimonial alliance with one of the opposite party.— TALMUD Jebamoth, p. 14A.

CLASSICAL ALLUSIONS TO THE JEWS.

On this subject, B. H. A. writes (in No. 234, vol. ix., Series I., of "Notes and Queries"):-In answer to your correspondent, B. H. C., I beg to say that I have found out the following passages in classic authors bearing on Judea and the Jews, all of which I have authenticated my

self, except where I had not the book at hand :-Tacitus, Annales," ii., 85; xii., 23, 54; xv., 44; "Historiæ,” i., 10; ii., 1, 4, 5, 78, 79, 81; v. passim. Horace, "Satires," i., 4, 143; i., 5, 100; i., 9, 70. Juvenal, "Satires," ii., 14; vi., 158-160, 537-547; xiv., 96-106. Persius, "Satires," v., 180-189. Martial, iv., 4. Suetonius, "Tiberius," 36; "Augustus," 76; "Claudius," 25; "Vespasian," 5, etc.; "Julius Cæsar," 84. Pliny, v., 14, 15, 16, etc.; vii., 15; xxviii., 7. Dio Cassius, lx., § 6; xxvii. § 17. Lucan, ii.

Fr. Carolus Meier has most of these authors, as well as some others, in a work published by him at Jena, 1832, under the title, "Judaica, seu, Veterum Scriptorum Profanorum, De Rebus Judaicis Fragmenta."

In addition to the authors cited by B. H. A., he mentions (with an elaborate index of reference) Herodotus, lib. ii., c. 104; lib. iii., c. 5; vii., c. 89. Lysimachus and Manethon with references to Josephus; Polybius, "Histor.,” lib. v., c. 70 (ed. Schweigh, tom. II., p. 364); xvi. (ed. Schw., tom. III., p. 642). Cicero, "Orat. de Provinciis Consularibus," c. 5; "Pro Flacco," c. 28. A slight allusion in Ovid, "De Art. Amat.," i., 75. Strabo, lib. xvi. Diodorus Siculus, "Bibl. Hist.," tom. I., lib. i., p. 32 (ed. Wess, p. 17; ed. Rhodomani, p. 64 or 35, according to the respective editions 105 or 59); lib. ii., p. 92 (ed. Rhod.); tom. II., Eclog. xxxiv., 1, 524 or 901; Eclog. xl., tom. II., 542 or 921. Martial (in addition) lib. vii., ep. 29, 34, 54. Plutarch, "Sympos.," lib. iv., quaest 5, tom. II. Petronius, "Catal.,” p. 683 (ed. Burin). Justin, lib. xxxvi., c. I ; C. 2.

There are also quotations from Celsus, p. 63, in loco; from Minucius Felix, p. 65, ditto; as also details of the various decrees by the emperors against the Jews, "Imperatorum de Judæis decreta," with many references to Procopius, Suidas, etc.-Compiled.

THE APOCRYPHA.

The books termed the Apocrypha (ȧñóкρupa) were originally written, some of them in the Greek, but most of them in the Hebrew or Chaldee. They were all, or nearly all composed before the Christian era. Several of the pieces contain authentic narratives of events, and are highly valuable in supplying the historical deficiencies of the canonical books, and illustrating the circumstances of the age to which they refer. A large number must be considered as mere historical fictions, having perhaps their foundation in matters of fact, but embellished according to the fancy of the author, often ingenious and amusing; yet framed only for moral and religious purposes. Some of the books are more purely and directly didactic in character, consisting of proverbial reflections and maxims of prudence and wisdom. "The Song of the Three Children" is the only one which can be justly called poetical; in form and structure it almost exactly resembles the Psalms of David. What interest these apochryphal writings excited, or to what extent they were circulated among the Greek literati, it may be impossible now to determine; but it is manifest. from the reply of Josephus to the attack of Apion, that about the commencement of the Christian era, the antiquities and historical records of the Jews had become interesting subjects of enquiry among pagan scholars.

At first, the Greeks very generally looked upon the Jews. with profound contempt, classing them without distinction under the levelling epithet of barbarians. Occasionally they honoured them with a tribute of derision for their proud claims as a nation favoured of heaven, and their bigoted adherence to a system of burdensome ceremonies. But at length the Greeks became more acquainted with their sacred books, and conversion from paganism to Juda