The Judith College.

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of the Austrian interpreter at Tetuan, and ordered that any Moor sheltering or giving food to the murderer shall be treated as an accomplice."

"If a monarch, ruling over an Empire so far away from Europe, the land of civilization, acts so energetically in the cause of justice and humanity, and expresses publicly his severe displeasure to the officers in charge of the ad- ' ministration of the law of the country, how much more," says Sir Moses, "is there every reason to hope that His Serene Highness, Prince Charles, himself a most enlightened ruler among the Potentates of Europe, who has repeatedly expressed his disapproval of acts of injustice, will not rest in his humane exertions until, even more effectively than the Sultan of Morocco is always able to do, he will have secured to all who dwell under his sway, irrespective of their religious convictions, full protection and the rights and privileges to which every loyal subject is fully entitled."

Sir Moses having done his utmost for the welfare of his brethren in the East, with what conspicuous success has already been seen, he now turned his attention to the affairs of the Hebrew community in England.

Monday, May 11th.-He writes: "I feel rather better; have more energy, and very anxious to be, if possible, useful to my co-religionists. Therefore am reluctant to refuse the proffered appointment of President of the Board of Deputies of the British Jews, as perhaps it may be the means of promoting the general unity of all the Jews in England." "I think," he adds, "our Members of Parliament should be ex officio members of the Board, as the best medium of expressing the sentiments of the Board in the House of Commons. To-day I went over the House of my dear Judith College, and was pleased with it. I wish Dr Loewe would come and at once set it afloat."

It appears to have been the great object of his desire to secure the strict adherence to the Statutes, enrolled by him in Chancery,. on the 26th of February 1866, for the regulation of the College; for, on his referring again in his Diary, four months later, to that institution, in an entry dated East Cliff, Thursday, July 16th, 1868, he writes: "After deep consideration, and with the sincere desire that it may be the means of securing more entirely the fulfilment of my wishes respecting the conduct of the persons selected to fill the buildings of my dear, dear Judith College, and the strict performance of their duties, I have added Dr Loewe to the Trust of the property, in the room of my lamented friend Benjamin Cohen."

He now occupied himself with the selection of the various objects necessary for the internal fittings of the College, such as book-cases, desks, and forms, made after a model he had seen at

the great Exhibition of 1851. Kind relatives and friends sent him costly presents, such as a beautiful velvet curtain, embroidered with gold, for the Ark, and a mantle for the scroll of the Holy Law, from his sisters, Mrs Gompertz and Mrs Cohen; handsome embroidered covers for the pulpit from his nieces, Mrs Sebag-Montefiore and Mrs H. Guedalla; a splendid picture representing the vision of Ezekiel, painted and presented by Mr Hart, R.A., and many other suitable objects, all of which gave Sir Moses great pleasure. He himself deposited in the College whatever he thought interesting to the student of Jewish history, out of his own large collection of valuable objects. His ardent desire to promote the study of Hebrew and theological literature, and his great exertions to ameliorate the lot of his brethren wherever they were persecuted, earned for him the high esteem even of those not belonging to his own faith. As an instance, I will only state that in this year steps were taken by one of the highest and most esteemed in the land to raise Sir Moses to the peerage.

The late Earl of Shaftesbury, a man of unshaken belief in Scripture, in Christian dogma, and in prayer, entertained sentiments of the highest respect for Sir Moses.

Mr Edwin Hodder, the author of "The Life and Work of the Seventh Earl of Shaftesbury," referring to the desire of his Lordship to see Sir Moses raised to the Peerage, thus writes (vol. iii. p. 234):

"To Mr Gladstone, the new Premier, Lord Shaftesbury preferred a similar request to one he had made without effect to Mr Disraeli when he was Prime Minister. It was as follows:

LORD SHAFTESBURY to THE RIGHT HON. W. E. GLADSTONE.

"December 22nd, 1868.

"DEAR GLADSTONE,--The new arrangements you have made in respect of certain young peers in the House of Lords will prove, I doubt not, very beneficial.

"But I have an impulse, which I cannot restrain, an impulse both from opinion and feeling, to suggest another movement; and I make it far less on the presumption of tendering advice than of disburdening myself of a strong desire. The Jewish question has now been settled. The Jews can sit in both Houses of Parliament. I myself resisted their admission, not because I was adverse to the descendants of Abraham, of whom our blessed Lord came according to the flesh, very far from it, but because I objected to the mode in which that admission was to be effected.

"All that is passed away, and let us now avail ourselves of the opportunity to show regard to God's ancient people.

Lord Shaftesbury and Sir Moses.

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"There is a noble member of the house of Israel, Sir Moses Montefiore, a man dignified by patriotism, charity, and self-sacrifice, on whom Her Majesty might graciously bestow the honours of the Peerage.

"It would be a glorious day for the House of Lords when that grand old Hebrew were enrolled on the lists of the hereditary legislators of England.— Truly yours, SHAFTESBURY."

66

Mr Disraeli (Mr Hodder writes) had replied in a "gushing letter, expressing his great willingness to do anything, but stating that he was, for obvious reasons, less than any other Prime Minister in a position to grant the request.

Mr Gladstone replied that the case should be carefully "considered," and made enquiry as to what Sir Moses Montefiore's fortune was supposed to be, and whether he had children, but there he allowed the matter to rest.

It was a great disappointment, the same author writes, to Lord Shaftesbury, who had the highest admiration for the character of the great Hebrew philanthropist. The admiration was mutual, and lasted to the end of their lives

On one occasion, he relates, Sir Moses sent to Lord Shaftesbury a cheque for £95 to be used for the Field Lane Ragged School, or any other purpose he might think proper. It seems a curious amount. It was sent on the day that his wife would, had she lived, have attained her 95th year.

The last letter Lord Shaftesbury ever received from Sir Moses Montefiore was written with his own hand in his hundredth year, and was as follows:

SIR MOSES MONTEFIORE to LORD SHAFTESBURY.

"EAST CLIFF Lodge, "RAMSGATE, July 9th, 1884.

"MY DEAR LORD SHAFTESBURY,-Your able appeal in this day's Times on behalf of the fund to provide the means of giving the poor children of the Ragged Schools a day's enjoyment in the country has this moment been read to me, and, sympathising as I do with the desirable object, I enclose, with very much pleasure, cheque for £15, with the hope that the appeal may be both liberally and cheerfully responded to.

"Believe me, my dear Lord Shaftesbury, that I am delighted with the opportunity thus afforded me of evincing my heartfelt appreciation of the noble and benevolent works in which you have for a very long period taken so benevolent an interest.

"May God help you and prosper your labours. Hoping you are in the enjoyment of good health.—I am, my dear Lord Shaftesbury, very truly yours, "MOSES MONTEFIORE."

Lord Shaftesbury sent the letter and cheque to Mr Kirk, the Secretary of the Ragged School Union, with the following

note:

"July 12th, 1884.

"DEAR KIRK,-You may keep the letter as a record of a man in his hundredth year, who can feel and write like one of five-and-twenty. Do not suppose that I have omitted to thank him. That grand old Hebrew is better than many Christians.-Yours, "SHAFTESBURY."

Having during the last two months often complained to his medical attendant of being weak and unwell, the latter advised a change of climate. Accordingly, on the 6th of November, accompanied by Mrs Gompertz, his sister, Mrs Helbert, his sister-in-law, and Dr Canham, his physician, he left England on a visit to the south of France and Italy.

CHAPTER XXIX.

1869.

THE PRINCE OF WALES AND SIR MOSES-CONSECRATION OF JUDITH COLLEGE-NAPOLEON III. A PRISONER OF WARSERIOUS CHARGES AGAINST THE JEWS OF DAMASCUS IN THE TIMES NEWSPAPER-SIR MOSES' ANSWER-DEATH OF SIR MOSES' SISTER, MRS GOMPERTZ.

ΟΝ

N January 1, 1869, Sir Moses was in Rome, and on March 4th at San Remo. There Sir Moses and Mrs Gompertz were preserved from a serious accident. They had been traversing the sides of very steep mountains, and after entering French territory commenced a long drive down the hills. Sir Moses had cautioned the driver to go " piano, piano," more than once, as he felt very nervous, but when they had nearly reached the level road, not far from the French Custom-house, a great rut in the road broke the hind wheel of their carriage, and they were thrown with a great jerk on the side. At first Sir Moses thought they were in a ditch, but "Heaven did not expose them," he says, "to such a misfortune." The coachman pulled up, and they were soon released from a perilous situation.

A few minutes after the accident a very neat open carriage arrived at the spot. The occupant, a lady, alighted, and most kindly and courteously obliged Sir Moses and his sister to enter her carriage. "She was only taking a drive," she said, “and they must go to Mentone in it; " which they did, and were most thankful to her for her kindness to them.

That lady was a Mrs Coste. "I shall never forget her kindness," Sir Moses observes.

It may truly be said that the frequent rescues from perilous positions with which Providence favoured Sir Moses recalls part of a verse in which Solomon says (Prov. xxiv. 16), “A just man falleth seven times, and rises up again."

Sir Moses returned home on March the 10th, the change of