The National Register. — London, England, 1817-05-26 00:00:00

. I: ti PO E T It Y. Lines on Lord Exinvm!h's spleNdid and glorioas Victory over the piratical and 6arbarons Algerines. TUN E " Rule Britannia." Fr..cdont's dame, in double splendour Smile. o'er Europe's happy Land ; Afrie's ,ons no I Languish On the 'rnins.tti . autic strand. Yet Numidia's mid despot View'd not eis delighted star, But to ignominious bondage Dootu'd his cuptievs ta'cn in war. Britain's genius could no lonzer Brook the tyr‘nt's baught• trio t But her Ex 3401•11 wh• taught him To submit, and loose their chain. Long in peace may Britain flourish And her dauntless glOns maintain Freedom on their native mountains. Freedom on their home, the main ! AMERICAN LITER:I7'ITE. REVIEW. ale Histor y of the Jews from the Destruction af Jeresa km, to the 19111 Century. By Hannah Adams -2 t Ws. Boston . EVERY importation of Literature from the United 'States, cannot fail to excite our interest and to deserve peculiar notice—this work of a female, whose mind discovers an assiduity and discrimination, which would have done no discredit to an English University, will be read with gratification, and cherished as an useful appendage to theological study. In the absence of any table of contents, the preface and its following intro duction help us to a knowledge of the previous chan nels and history, by which we are led from the year .536 before Christ, to the ruin of the Temple under Titus—and we cannot but a Loire the clear manner in which she has developed this preparatory duty as a skil ful pioneer, who well discerns where to level mountains and raise rallies, to afford a free channel for the conse quent journey. The chief merit of a compilation con sists in the judicious selection, and accurate references; and in both these points, as well as in the style of the author's diction, we cannot avoid the just tribute of • our praise. She opens her work at the period when the sacred -historians leave it, and makes us acquainted with the in fluence of the Roman power and its officers in the East. The subsequent attempts of the Jews to reinstate them selves, the persecutions which they endured, and the favours which they received ;—the introduction of new sects, the power of the s.!:tlots, the internal contests, and the reviving strength of Jesus at the period of Titus and his conquest in A.D. 70. She then adverts to the wretched state to which they were afterwards reduced, their state of Literature, and the institution of Petri . archs in the West, and the history of the Cabala and its philosophy. In passing through the reigns of the subsequent Emperors, we arc made fully acquainted with the insurrection under Barchocheba, who declared himself to be the Messiah, his hill, and the cruel massa -cres which followed, A.I). 132. Adrian's conquest and rebuilding of Jerusalem, and the princes of the capti .vity in the East, introduces a curious delineation of the . character of Judah, the saint who compiled the Misora, with a very interesting account of the Jews under Con stantine, and the effect which his assuming the Chris tian faith had in regard to them, and Julian's defeated effort in rebuilding the Temple, wherein we perceive that she adopts the authority of Am. Mar. respecting the miraculous fires by which the design was frustrated. The indiscreet zeal of Cyril, and the death of Hype- Ala arc related with much interest from Basnage and slortin nt the opening of the sth century : and this is followed by the abolition of the office of Patriarch - in 429. and the base conversion, by the Emperor, of the tax fin. his support, to the use of the Emperor himself. In the account giVen of the Jewish Academies of that .period, a brief' detail is selected of the Misora, of the Sabureans and (fauns—and the state of the Jews in the Persian empire. The insurrection of Antioch, and .the conversion of the island of Cyprus, follow Li due course, until the appearanc? of Mehotnet in 606 ; the 'oaquests of the Caliphs and the revival of the sect of Sadauces under Annanns occupied much of the eighth .century. The empire of the west in the eighth century was greatly agitated by the civil dissentious between the Iconoclasts and the worshippers of images,and the Jews were unjustly accused of Ihmenting these discussions :. their :sufferings under Leo Isauricus are shortly noticed Smut Fleury. Little seems to have been recorded of *he Jews during this period in Europe, except that we "find Serenus, another imposter who presented himself as , a Messiah, and deluded many followers to the holy city, A.D. 724.. They altentately received favour and perse cution from Charlemigne ; among the latter of which was his decree, that they should three times every year 'be buffeted at the church door—which opened them to :many insults, and at 'leviers in Languedoe, it was the .custom to throw stones at them from Palm Sunday to .the Tuesday in Easter wecl:—which indignity they re •deamed by a tribute to the biOtop. ft is observable Aisrovgh the course of the Jewish history, that this ex. THE NATIONAL REGISTER. traordinary people were chastised but not destroyed— were dispersed but not lost—were conquered but not subverted—were reduced to poverty, but enabled to amass new treasures—broken, but not overwhelmed— and though their city was destroyed, yet it was always an cl!iect of attack, and its citizens rendered feeble and suffering ruin, vet had the means of becoming formid able wherever they wen: re-established. In the ninth and tenth centuries the Jews acquired considerable celebrity in their academies, which pro (laced several learned men, among whom Hay, a pro fessed descendant of the house of David, published the famous eabalistical work entitled, " The Voice of God in Power." And, " even in the dark ages of their history, they cultivated their language with assiduity, and were never destitute of grammarians, or subtle in terpreters of the scripture. But, generally speaking, it was only during their union with the Saracens in Spain, or in the flourishing ages of the Caliphs of Bug that, that they ventured into general literature, and used in their writings a foreign, and, consequently, a profane language." But. Ho. Bib. The commencement in i 095, and continuance of the crusades, were severe visitations upon the Jews; for, " under the idea of procuring a blessmg on their expedi tion, they destroyed the deseendan t s oft ru tse who crucified our Saviour." Still their learned labours were cherished; for, " to facilitate the study of Aristotle among the Jews, his writings were transl a t e d from the Arabic to the Hebrew tongue. Several other ancient works, par ticularly the Elements of Euclid, and the medical writ ings of the Greeks, towards the close of the thirteenth century, appeared in a Hebrew dress." These, and other parts of their literary history in the eleventh cen tury, prove their numbers and established respect ; and we trace them in this character, becomit:g great in Ger many with lesser synagogues at Treves, Colo/pi, Metz, and Fninkfort ; they assisted the Christians against the barbarians, and thus acquired considerable alleviation in their persecutions, particularly from the Emperer Henry IV. whose favour seems to have increased the fury of the crusaders. Metz is the only city in Ger mans, where the crusaders did nut imbrue their hands in the blood of the Jews. (Grego. ti 1.2.) It is hap pily recorded, that the Bishop of Spires and some other of the Christian clergy aflbrded them an asylum against this general barbarity. (I ;id.) Yet in all these suf . - ferings, the historians seldom if ever advert to their being the fulfilment of the prophets concerning them. The journey of Benjamin of Tudela, in the twelth century is briefly related, and that in his course from Bagnlat he found, on the banks of the Chcbar, the tomb of the prophet Ezekiel, which is recognised by Calmet. He also found the Samaritans settled at Si diem and Cesarea, having abandoned their own city, but they were reduced to :100 in both places, and in Jerusalem to only '2OO. In the east they had become opulent, and had recovered from the massacres of the holy war. He speaks of their acatlemies and ardour for study, particularly of the divine law—lt were much to be wished that this ardour had not been lost in the subsequent lapse of time. The author is far too concise in her account of Mai monides and his sturdy defence of the sacred writings of Moses, which at that time were opposed 1w sonic infidels who had charged them with Laving been or dainul upon a principle purely arbitrary—the contro versy, which lasted forty years, is (I;sposed of in one page! but the fa Mod. Un Hist. will assist the re search of the English student. It is very remarkable that the Israelites in this century furnished several formidable impostors boasting themselves to be Mes siahs, and that every one of them caused the severest calamities as well to themselves as to their deluded followers—none escaped with life or property : they who had crucified the real Messiah could have little claim to succeed in assuming falsely his title, and that for sinister and temporary purposes only. See Jortin Rem. ii. .'f 49. The establishment of Jets in Englund is generally dated at the Norman invasion ; but on the authority of Basnag,e and Adams, we arc led to infer that they were here in much strength previous to that date : they were men of learning, of polite manners, and of opulence, being the bankers of that age and the chief merchants to Europe. As they dealt in bullion, they were branded with the odium of usury—they were also suspected of necromancy, and their desire to be present at the coronation of Richard I. was assailed with every prejudice of tviekcd desitrn—they stifll.red a severe per secution in London and throughout the country. The canon law prohibited them building a synagogue under pain of its being seized to the Crown. (M. Paris.) They were limited to particular places of residence to gether, and wore a badge on their garments. (Molloy, 407.) King John opened the thirteenth century with exactions upon tiwin, which he continued during his reign. Henry 111. declared that no Christian should sell them any provisions, and the crimes of murder, &c. were charged upon them tier the sole purposes of ex tortion ; and thus penalties were the best evidence of their innuveuc,•. In France tloy sofrerel by an inconsistency in the Government scarcely to be paralleled-Ihr they were at one tim, bani:ilted, and their property confiscated; and at another, miters they embraced Christianity, (117 WAY 28. were sentenced to the same privations : and many of these were exacted upon them by the Order of St. he was a prisoner in the I loly Land, 1248 to 1270, and the Councils of Lyons and Vienna sane. tinned those oppres,,ions. Our Author leads us through the Jewish persecuti►nns in Germany and Spain during the same periods, and then places before us a more tolerating spirit iu the Court of Rome during the 12th to the kith century, in which the Holy Pontiffs are recorded, chiefly by writers of the Roman Church, to have extended their protection with few exceptions to the Jews, and one curious tact is stated, upon the authority of Rossie's Hely. Biog. that in 1492, when the Portuguese exiles fled into Italy, the University of Jews ut Rome, of fered Pope Alexander 1000 ducats, on condition of hi►► refusing those of Spin permission to settle in his terri tories. But Alexander rejected this ofli2r with disia►in, and reproved them fbr their barbarity towards their brethren. He also decreed that they should he ba nished from his dominions, and the Spanish Jews re ceived in their place ; and they were obliged to pay vast sum bethre they could obtain a revocation of this order. And to this fact our author adds that, " they were, however, sometimes persecuted in Rome, yet it must be admitted that there is no country in the world in which less Jewish blood has teen spilled, and in which the rites of h►m►anity have been more re spected with regard to their Nation than in the Ec clesiastical State." Jortin has, In wever, stated also the crafty policy of this kindness. (Item. v. 2.) Their general sufkrings have fully verified all the prophecies concerning them, from the time of Moses in Deut.2B. to that of our blessed Saviour throughout the Gospel. " For 18 centuries the Nations of the Furth have been treading under fixit the remains of Israel." (Tube uottinned. DREsses or Wont.N.—Could a school be instituted for the study of true taste in the thrills us well as co. lours, proper to female attire, somethiug like data might b.: established for the few, who would be found willing to give up heterogeneous variety tir elementary principles. Whatever might be the result with regard to the many, the enlightened few must approve of sag , . g.‘stons, which tend to improve the taste, and adorn the natural beauty of the fair sex, when advanced in that clear, candid, and instructive manner. It would appear, that the most clear and brilliant complexions wii I admit of, and agree with, the most clear and pri.. motive colours in dress and ornament, but not of too deep a tincture. The primitive colours being red, yellow and blue, any two of those colours, equally mixed, becomes the direct opposite to the remaining one.. The three principal compounds being orange, green and purple ; when any one of these secondary colours is compounded with one of the primitive, the purity of both is lowered, or (as the artist terms it) neutralized, because it is a compound of the three primitives.— Orange is the compound which is opposite to blue ; green opposes red : purple is the grel.test contrast to yellow. Either of the three primitive colours as well as the three compounds, blends harmoniously with white. —.llllll LA DV HARRIET ONSLOW A!, I/ MR. PENN.—The ingenious pesse%sor of St)ice Park. near Eaton, which hie has enriclird with .tirls taste, was lately much ;111110 Cti at a dance, where he asked her Lady•hip's hand as a partner. Luly Harriet, nerhaw, eoneei , Mg him to be not the first of dancers, it is refused tl:t i honour of his hand, but was unthinking iiinigh to dance•afterwards with another gentleman. Thia II r. Prun name. Lord ()lislow, mini, seeing him sery se ri lye 01;40411 with Ilk duitgliti r's conduct, sent him the next morning the following expiatory lines:— TO MR. PENN. My daughter, I fear, appeared mid last night, Because you don't dance quite 7/0 well as you write. Were the fashion but changed, and folks danced on the head, There's very 11:w partners she'd clime in your stead ; For each girl of discernment this sentiment feels_ You'll gain mor.: by your head than you'll lose by your heels. A friend, on seeing the above well-wi itten hues, subjoinad the following eouph.t : Your case, little Onslow, is v.•ry well put, But a mighty good Pen has no eeed to be cxt ! TA I.MA.— Extract of a letter from Dunkirk, May 18.-- " Telma will be in London in a few days. The object of his journey is tt) revisit the country where lie was brought up— tn compare tine declamation of the Tragic Actors of England with ours, anal therm by to iinpros e the art. But I can assure you. that lie is quite determined not to recite Verses iu pni. v ate streictit s, either for money or from complaisance ; nor is lie to be expected to play at the French Theatre at London, the space is too small, and the Actors do not play Ttagcd t It is not yet known whether Mademoiselle Georges will accom. pally hint in this trip." He writes as follows to Mr. Howard Payne, from Dun. " 1 left Paris the 13th of April, and went to Lisle, where I was engaged for seven nights. 1 ant now at Dunkirk, al most in sight It f Old England. As soon as my exhibitions twee and in the adjacent towns will be over, I will set ott for where I'll commit myself to the winds, uu the briny deep, to he wafted over mire more to That happy breed of men—that little world— That precious stone set in the silver sea." ENSINGTON Cr in nt:vt.--Nlonday, for the first time. the new appointed eate-keepers and putt 'de of Kensington Gar dens spotted their new State Liveries. Females may now tirjoy these beautiful promanirtle, without tear. The , pa trole, ith their staffs of oniee, are ttationed all over the wounds. 'I to comptete this elegant resort, all liandsoineepen eaten r o y is only wanted at the Ila)swati. r entrance, the only cons enient place for catriagte to act duwu company immediately lute the audon.