tural villains of that kingdom.* The rapid increase of their population, beyond all possible maintenance by trade, embarrasses the government. They cannot ascend or descend; they may not become possessors, they are averse to becoming cultivators of the soil; they swarm in all the towns. In some districts, as in Volhynia, they are described by Bishop James as a fine race, with the lively, expressive eye of the Jew, and forms, though not robust, active and well-proportioned. Of late years, much attention, under the sanction of the government, has been paid to their education, and a great institution established for this purpose at Warsaw.

The number of Jews in the Austrian dominions is estimated, including Gallicia, at 650,000. In the Prussian dominions at 135,000. In the rest of Germany, 138,000. The emperor of Austria has afforded to Europe the novel sight of a Jew created a baron, and invested with a patent of nobility. In Denmark and Sweden the Jews are in considerable numbers; those resident in Copenhagen were stated in 1819 at 1,491. They enjoy freedom of trade and the protection of the government.

The Netherlands contain 80,000.

In France, now deprived of the German and Italian provinces of the empire, the Israelites are reckoned at about 40 or 50,000.

In Spain, the iron edict of Ferdinand and Isabella still excludes the Israelite. At the extremity of the land, in Gibraltar, 3 or 4,000 are found under the equitable protection of Great Britain.

In Portugal they have been tolerated since the time of the late king, John VI., who remunerated their services in introducing large cargoes of corn during a famine, by the recognition of their right to inhabit Lisbon.†

In Italy their numbers are considerable. It is said that many have taken refuge in Tuscany from the sterner government of Sardinia; where, under the French dominion, among a Jewish population of 5,543, there were 182 landed proprie

A Jewish free corps served under Kosciusko during the insurrection in Poland.

+ Europe:-In Russia and Poland, 608,800; Austria, 453,524; European Turkey, 321,000; States of the German Confederation, 138,000; Prussia, 134,000; Netherlands, 80,000; France, 60,000; Italy, 36,000; Great Britain, 12,000; Cracow, 7,300; lonian Isles, 7,000; Denmark, 6,000; Switzerland, 1,970; Sweden, 450. Total number of Jews in Europe, 1,918,053; or a proportion of a 113th part of the population, calculated at 227 millions.-Weimar Statement.

tors, 402 children attended the public schools: 7,000 is given as their number in the Austrian territories in Italy.

In Great Britain, the number of Jews is variously stated from 12 to 25,000. They are entitled to every privilege of British subjects, except certain corporate offices and seats in parliament, from which they are excluded by the recent act, which requires an oath to be taken on the faith of a Christian. In the city of London they are prevented by municipal regulations from taking out their freedom; a restriction which subjects them to great occasional embarrassment and vexation, as no one can legally follow a retail trade without having previously gone through this ceremony.

In America the Jews are calculated at about 6,000; the few in the former dominions of Spain and Portugal, are descendants of those who, under the assumed name of Christians, fled from the inquisition; in Surinam a prosperous community is settled under the protection of the Dutch; they were originally established at Cayenne: there are some in Jamaica. In the United States, their principal settlements are at NewYork, Philadelphia, and Charleston.*

Such, according to the best authorities to which we have access, is the number and distribution of the children of Israel; they are still found in every quarter of the world, under every climate, in every region, under every form of government, wearing the indelible national stamp on their features, united by the close moral affinity of habits and feelings, and, at least, the mass of the community, treasuring in their hearts the same reliance on their national privileges, the same trust in the promises of their God, the same conscientious attachment to the institutions of their fathers.

America:-North America, 5,000; Netherlandish Colonies, 500; Demerara and Essequibo, 200. Total, 5,700. New-Holland, 50.-Weimar Statement.

CHAPTER II

RELIGIOUS CUSTOMS AND CEREMONIES OF THE JEWS.

Three classes of Cus

THE religious customs of the Jews of modern times are not all of equal authority; neither are they observed by all alike; for this reason they are divided into three classes. The first contains the injunctions of the written law, viz. those included in the Pentateuch, or five toms among first books of Moses. The second class relates the modern to the oral law, or that which was delivered by word of mouth. It comprehends those comments which the rabbins and doctors made in their days upon the Pentateuch, and an infinite variety of ordinances. These were collected

Jews.

into one large volume, called the Talmud. The third class includes such things as custom has sanctioned in different times and places, or which have been lately introduced among them. These are properly termed customs.

Of these three

classes, the first and second are received by all Jews, where soever dispersed; but in regard to the third, they differ greatly from each other, because sojourning in various parts of the world, many of them have adopted the names, and fallen into the manners of the nations among whom they dwell. In this respect, the greatest difference lies between the Eastern German, and Italian Jews.

SECT. I.-FUNDAMENTAL DOCTRINES.

We shall here transcribe the thirteen articles of the Jewish creed, which contain all that they believe, according to what rabbi Moses, or Maimonides, the Egyptian, has Articles of said of it, in his commentaries on the Misna, in belief.

the discourse Sanedrin, Chap. Helec; which

the Jews have received without any opposition, and from which they are never permitted to swerve.

I. I believe with a strong and lively faith, that there is one God, the Creator of all things, and first principle of all beings, who is self-sufficient and independent, and without whom no created being can subsist.

II. I believe, &c. that God is one, and indivisible; but of an unity peculiar to himself alone:-that he has been, is, and shall forever be, the only God, blessed for evermore.

III. I believe, &c. that God is an incorporeal being; he

has no bodily quality of any kind whatever, which either is possible, or can any ways be imagined.

IV. I believe, &c. that God is eternal, and all beings, except himself, had once a beginning; for God is the beginning and end of all things.

V. I believe, &c. that none but God is the object of divine adoration; and no created being ought to be worshipped as a mediator or intercessor.

VI. I believe, &c. that whatever is written in the books of the prophets is true; for there have been, and still may be, prophets qualified to receive the inspirations of the Supreme Being.

VII. I believe, &c. in the truth of the prophecies of our master Moses, (peace be with him,) for Moses was a prophet superior to all others; and God Almighty honoured him with a peculiar gift of prophecy which was never granted to any of the rest.

VIII. I believe, &c. that the law left by Moses (peace be with him) was the pure dictate of God himself; and consequently, the explication of those commandments, which were handed down by tradition, came entirely from the mouth of God, who delivered it to our master Moses, as we have it at the present day.

IX. I believe, &c. that this law is unchangeable, and that God will never give another; nor can there be the least addition to, or diminution from it.

X. I believe, &c. that God perfectly knows the most secret thoughts, and governs all the actions of mankind.

XI. I believe, &c. that God will reward those who observe this law, and will severely punish such as are guilty of the least violation of it. Eternal life is the best and greatest reward, and damnation of the soul the most severe punishment.

XII. I believe, &c. that a Messiah shall come, more deserving than all the kings that have ever lived. Although he thinks proper to delay his coming, no one ought on that account to question the truth of it, or set an appointed time for it, much less produce scripture for the proof of it; since IsRAEL will never have any king to rule over it, but one that shall be of the line of David and Solomon.

XIII. I believe, &c. that God will raise the dead, and though I know not when, yet it will be when he sees most convenient. Hallowed be his name for ever and ever. Amen.

There are other articles besides these fundamental ones, which, though not universally received, are not absolutely rejected.

The Jews go to prayers three times every day in their synagogues, and when they enter, they bow towards the HECHAL, or Ark, repeating some verses from the Psalms, Prayers and in an humble tone. The first four hours after thanks givsun-rise, are appointed for the morning service, ings.

which is called SCIACRID: the second service is in the afternoon, and called MINCHA: the third, at the close of the evening, which they call HARUID. But in several places, on such days as are not festivals, the afternoon and evening prayers, for convenience sake, are said together, at sun-set.⚫

The prayers which they use at present may be called a supplement to their ancient sacrifices; and for this reason they have given the title or name of small temples to their synagogues. And as two sacrifices were offered every day in the temple of Jerusalem, one in the morning, and the other in the evening, so they have morning and evening service in their synagogues, to correspond with those two sacrifices.

Besides these, there was another sacrifice offered up on holidays, for the solemnity of the festival; and for this reason they add a new prayer on feast-days, called MUSAPH, that is, addition.

They must not eat, drink, or do any kind of thing, or salute even a friend, till they have been at morning prayers—they are obliged, however, to wash their hands before they enter the synagogue.

At their first entrance into the synagogue, having put on a devout and humble demeanour, they cover themselves with a white embroidered linen cloth, of an oblong figure, called the TALED, and then pronounce vice. the benediction contained in Numbers, chapter

X.

Divine Ser

"Blessed be thou," &c. Some Jews only cover their heads with the Taled, but others bring it close about their necks, that no object may divert their thoughts, and that their attention to the prayers may in no ways he interrupted.

In the next place they put on the armlets and fore-headpieces, called TEPHILIM, or Phylacteries ;-meaning that which is worn during the time of prayer.

The Tephilim are made as follows:-they take two slips of parchment, and write on them with great accuracy, and with ink made for that particular purpose, these four passages, in square letters, from Exodus, chapter xiii. 1-3, 5-6, 8-10, 11-13.

These two slips of parchment are rolled up together, and wrapped in a piece of black calf's skin-after which the latter is fixed upon a thick square piece of the same skin, leaving