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274 A^uilar

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

'AKunah

AGUILAR, EPHRAIM LOPEZ PEREIRA,

BARON

D'



Snond

liarnn

ilAjruiliu

Vieiiua in 1739; ditd al I^nuion.

1.SU2.

liorii

in

In 1757

lie



England, where lie had seltK'd with his father. He married in 17o8the daughter of Moses blendes da Costa, who is reported to have brought him a fortvme of i'l.")l).(IO. He sueeee<led lo his father's titk' and fortune in ~')',). and for a time lived in luxurious styh- with twenty servants

was natiimlizfd

in

Broad Street Hnildings." But by the HevohitionWar in Ameriea he lost an estate there of l."),0(M) acres, and subsequently beeaiue known as a miserly and eccentric person, giving up his man.sion in Broad at

ary

eimntry houses at Betlnial Green. His establishment TAvickenham. and Sydenham. al Colebrook Kow, Islington, was popularly styled street as well as his

274

electi-d to ollice in 1770, and for some years thereafter remained a member of the synagogue.

again

Bini.ioc.RAruT:

.liif;l<>-Jri/i«)i

//W. Krbih.

ISST;

<'iilnli>iiiif.

1S74 : Wilson. Wmulcrtul nidriictcn, pp. IMcloIto. ^)ll7c/ll,v III Anolu-Jcwuli Hirt'irii.

Jiu: Chrtiu. Jan., 114-iS*



G.

AOTJILAB, GRACE:

English

L.—

novelist

.1.

and

writer on .Jewish history and religion born at Hackney, Lomlon, .Iiiiie 2, ISIO; die<lat Krankfort-on-theMain, September 1(5, 1847, where her remains were buried in the .Jewish cemetery. She was the oldest child of parents descended from Portuguese Manuios who sought asylum in England in the eighteenth century. To strengthen liir constitution, which from infancy had been feeble, she was taken lo the .seashore and to various rural localities in England. Her love of nature was cultivated by these experiences; and at the age of twelve .she devoted herself of her own accord to the study of natural science, augmenting a collection of shells begun by her at Hastings, when only four years old, and supplementing it by miiienilogicai and botanical collec;

tions.

Grace Aguilar was educated mainly by her paHer mother, a cultivated woman of strong

rents.

religious feeling, traiiu'd her to read

Early

Scriptures systematically and she was fourteen her father read aloud to her regularly, chiefly history, while she was occuiiied with drawing jind needlework. She wasan assiiluous musician till her health became impaired. Her reading, especially in history, was extensive; her knowledge of foreign literShe evinced a literary tendency at ature was wide. the age of seven, when she began a diary, which she continued almost uninterruptedly tuilil her death. Before she was twelve she had written a drama. "Gustavus Vasit." Her first verses were evoked two years later by the scenery about Tavistock iu Devonshire. The first products of her ])en to be published (anonymously in 1S3.>) were her collected poems, which .she issued under the title "The JIagic Wreath.'' Her productions are chiefly stories and The religious works dealing with .lewisli subjects.

Training,

the



when

former embrace domestic

tales,

tales

founded on

Marano history, and a romance of Scottish history. "The DaysofBruce" (1«'>2). The most popular of is "The Vale of Ced;irs. or the Martyr: ASloryof Siiaininthe Fifteenth ('cnturv,"

the .Jewish tales

written before

Literary

Works. Baron

d'Airuilar

on Starvation Farm.

(From Wilson, " Wonilerftil Ch.iracters.")

"Starvation Farm," because of the scanty food provided for the cattle. He died there in 1802, leaving, hidden in variois pans of his dwelling, a fortune valued at £200,000 to his two daughters who survived him. D'Aguilar held various positions in his own community, and served as treasurer of the PortugiU'se Synagogue; the minutes of the proceedings of the Mahamad liear the signature of Ephraini d'Aguilar. He was elected warden in l~(>'>. but he declined to serve, and refused, on technical grounds, to pay the fine. Eight days were given him to accept or to submit to the penalty. He evidently submitted, for in 1767 he married the widow of Benjamin Mendes da Costa, which he would not have Ijeen able to do had he been lying under the ban. When he took up his eccentric life the couple separated. After twenty years a partial reconciliation took place between the baron and his wife, but only for a short time. He was

18.3."),

jjublished in

18"")0,

and twice translated into German and twice into Hebrew. Herother stories founth'd on .Jewish episodes are in-

cluded in a collection of nineteen tales, "Home Scenes and Heart Studies"; "The Perez Family" (1843) and "The Edict," together with "The fcscape," had appeared as two separate volumes; the others were reprinted from magazines. Herdoniestic tales, of which new editions still appear, are " Home Influence" (1847) and its sequel, "The Mother's Kecompensj " (18.50), both of them written early in 1S30, and "Woman's Friendship " (18.-)1). The first of Miss Aguilar's religious works was a translation of the French version of "Israel Defended," by the .Marano Orobio de Castro, printed for private circulation. It was closely followed by

"The Spirit of .Judaism." the publication of which was for a lime prevented by the loss of the original Sernions by Rabbi Isaac Leeser, of Philadelphia, had fallen into her hands and, like all other accessible .Jewish works, had been eagerly read. She requested him to revise the manuscript of the " Spirit of .Judaism," which was forwarded to him, but was lost. The authoress rewrote it; and

manuscript.