after the brief existence, for a few months in 1808, of a separate Society which did not contemplate Jews exclusively as its object, the present Society was founded, as we have before noticed, in the beginning of 1809.

With respect to the necessity for a distinct Institution, the Committee of the new Society thus speak in their first Report:-" It is sufficient on the present occasion to state that your Committee are of opinion, that the Jewish interest constitutes sufficient employment for a Society, exclusive of any other objects; that no practical good can be expected from any Society whose attention is divided by multifarious views. Your Committee have already experienced that to do justice to the objects of the Institution, it would be quite improper for them to be embarrassed with other considerations."

The constitution of the newly-formed Society was of a mixed character, as it was composed both of Churchmen and Dissenters. "Your Committee," they say, in their second Report, "anxious to avoid all appearances of party spirit, have, from the first, invited the co-operation of Christians of every denomination." And again they add, "The Bible Society, established in 1804, has been their model; a Society in which the dignitaries of the National Church have taken a prominent part, aided and supported by all classes of Protestant Dissenters. Your Committee do not apprehend that any fair or valid objection can be made to a similar union in support of the London Society."

It was found, however, that the circumstances of the two Societies were scarcely parallel, and practical working difficulties were felt at the very outset.*. This, together with the fact that, to use their own words, "an anxiety to carry forward the objects of the Institution had led them to form too sanguine an estimate of their future resources," and that, in consequence, a very heavy debt had been incurred, led to the final reconstruction of the Society in 1815.

The Dissenting members amicably retired from its management, and its liabilities having been discharged by the late Rev. Lewis

They found, for example, that Ministers of the Established Church could not legally officiate in the same place of worship with Dissenters.

Way's munificent donation of £10,000, it entered on the present phase of its existence as a Church of England Society on the 14th March, 1815. Alluding to the circumstance of Lewis Way's donation, the Report of that year uses language which we feel to have been true. “The extraordinary circumstance of so large a sum of debt being provided for in so short a time, may be regarded as a ground of hope that it is the Divine purpose that this Institution shall continue to prosper, and be the instrument of extensive good to the House of Israel."

We cannot fail of being struck with the marvellous way in which powerful friends were induced to lend a helping hand to this cause. Prior to this period, H.R.H. the Duke of Kent, the father of her present most gracious Majesty, had become Patron of the Society,* and had laid the foundation stone of the Episcopal Chapel; but there is one thing that strikes us still more, that is, the number of God's praying people who were among its early supporters. To the second Report there is appended a list of individuals who had kindly con

*The following letter, which was written by H.R.H., will be perused with interest:

MY DEAR LORD,

KENSINGTON PALACE, 4th May, 1813.

As the return of the Anniversary of the Duchess of York's Birthday will render my attendance at Windsor on Friday the 7th instant unavoidable, and that being the day fixed for the Meeting of the London Society, I shall thereby be precluded from the possibility of fulfilling the conditional promise I gave of presiding at it. I have to solicit the favour of your Lordship to fill the Chair upon that occasion in my stead, and in doing so, that you will further oblige me by taking an opportunity, in the course of the proceedings, of assuring the Meeting that although unavoidably prevented from personally attending it, my heart will be with them, as I am most sincerely and warmly interested in the success of the grand object they have in view, which I consider not only highly laudable, but at the same time most important; always, however, bearing in mind, that every idea of proselytism must be excluded therefrom, the freest exercise of conscience upon all matters of religion being, in my own opinion, the only basis on which the plan can thrive. Your Lordship will recollect that I felt it incumbent upon me to express, in the strongest and most unequivocal terms, at the dinner of the 7th of April, that although holding as I do the Christian religion, agreeable to the manner in which it is professed and taught in the Established Church of this country, to be the purest guide to true happiness and morality, still I could not consider a right spirit of Chris

sented to promote the objects of the London Society. That list numbers only eighty, but among them we find enumerated Thomas and John Scott, Charles Simeon, Thomas Robinson of Leicester, Robert Hall, Legh Richmond, J. S. Grimshawe, Robert Hawker, G. S. Faber, J. H. Stewart, and W. Marsh; men whose names have become as "household words" among us. It is to the prayers of these, aye, and of others too, unknown to man, but of whom God has said, "They shall be mine in that day when I make up my jewels," it is to the fact that they were the Lord's remembrancers concerning Israel, that the Society owes its tenacity of existence, and its steady onward progress.

Thus we have endeavoured to give, in outline, the history of the Society as such. We have purposely abstained from entering on any account of its operations, leaving that for future chapters. The present one we cannot better conclude than in the words of the Jubilee Report :-" Let us remember those who, under God, were the fathers of this work, now gone to their rest, or waiting to depart."

tian benevolence as going beyond the extending our arms to receive into the bosom of our Church either the Jew or Mahometan, who from unbiassed conviction, becomes a convert to Christianity. It is therefore under the impression of these sentiments conveying the exact principles acted upon by the London Society, that your Lordship will have the goodness to name me as their continual Patron and supporter, and to offer my best wishes for the success of the Meeting, which I trust a correct knowledge of its real object cannot fail to ensure.

I remain, with sincere regard and esteem,

My dear Lord,

Ever yours faithfully,

EDWARD.

The Right Honourable Lord Dundas.

CHAPTER IV.

The Home Mission-The Jews under Rufus-Charges in Stephen's reignThe real principle of their treatment-Popular tumults at the Coronation of Richard I.-Superiority in commerce a source of hatred-Langton's decreeGrievous massacres-Edward I. executes 280 on a charge of clipping the coin -Expels them from England-Cromwell and Menasseh Ben IsraelConference at Whitehall-Collier's tract-Charles II. connives at their return -Bill of Naturalization passed and repealed, 1753-Reflections.

As our Society's earlier labours were almost exclusively confined to this country, indeed we may say, practically, to the Jews of the metropolis, the Home Mission naturally claims our first attention; not only as being the centre of all our operations, but as the first in chronological order; and even if this were not the case, still so many undertakings of the highest importance and most general utility, such as the publication of the Scriptures, the translation of the New Testament into Hebrew, and other works of a like character, are connected with its story, that the first place obviously belongs to it.

Before, however, we come to these, we shall endeavour to give, what we trust will not prove uninteresting to our readers, a rapid sketch of the history of the Jews of England; for which, in order to save the trouble of frequent reference, we at once inform the reader that we are mainly indebted to Tovey's "Anglia Judaica."

of

Though there are some historians who place the settlement of the Jews in Britain before the conquest, yet the generality give us to understand that they came over with the Conqueror. This point is one very little consequence; suffice it to say that the first striking notice of them occurs in the annals of the reign of William Rufus. In his time we find the Jews tolerably prosperous, and seemingly in favour to such an extent, that we find that godless king, "upon great presents made him by the Jews, not only permitting but encouraging them to enter into solemn contests with his bishops concerning the true faith ;" and yet, even at this period, there is not wanting proof of the oppressive laws under which they suffered; for though we read that they were wealthy and prosperous in Oxford and other places, yet, in the whole

realm, there was but one place allowed them for interment, near the City of London; and thither, from every part of the kingdom, they were obliged to carry their dead. The next prominent notice of them occurs in the reign of Stephen, and there we find several of those calumnious charges gravely brought against them, which have not ceased to be repeated in one form or another, even to our own day. "The scene," says Tovey, "opens in this reign with a barbarous crucifixion; said to be committed by them on one William, a boy, at Norwich, but we have no particulars of it." We shall dismiss this subject with a shrewd remark, made by the same author. "The reader," he says, "will do well to suspend his judgment till he comes hereafter to read how often this same crime is objected;" and he further observes, "that the Jews are never said to have practised it but at such times as the king was manifestly in great want of money."

Indeed, in this last sentence, we have the explanation of much of the treatment, not only harsh but favourable, that the Jews experienced at the hands of princes. If religious bigotry and intolerance for a while were permitted to slumber, and the benefit of fair and equal laws was extended to this people, it was simply, for the most part, to give them an opportunity of accumulating that wealth, which, in the hour of necessity, cupidity found a ready means of extorting in that religious bigotry which had for a time been lulled to rest. This, to anticipate, was strikingly illustrated in the reign of King John. That monarch used every art to induce the Jews to flock to his dominions; he confirmed to them old privileges, and granted new ones; in consequence of these things, great numbers came to England, and for a while all went on smoothly, till A.D. 1210, when "the king began to lay aside his mask, and finding that no new comers made it worth his while to stay any longer, he set at once upon the whole covey which he had drawn into his net, and commanded all the Jews of both sexes, throughout England, to be imprisoned till they would make a discovery of their wealth." Confession was enforced by torment, and most of our readers are familiar with the story of the Jew of Bristol, one of whose teeth the tyrant commanded to be extracted daily till he complied with his demands,