Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 8.djvu/188

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [9 th B. vm. AUG. 31, 1901,

success of the Pretender seemed to be assured, and when statesmen, merchants, and all classes were seized with panic, the Jews stood firm, and the poorer classes among them, notwithstanding their custom of not bearing arms except in cases of great emergency, enlisted in the militia, while the wealthy rendered valuable financial support. John Francis, in his 'Chronicles and Characters of the Stock Exchange '(Longmans, 1855), relates how Sampson Gideon, the great Jew broker and founaer of the house of Eardley, profited by the panic of the Gentile merchants, bought all the stock in the market, advanced every guinea he possessed, and pledged his name and reputation for more. When the Pre- tender retreated, and stocks rose, the Jew experienced the advantage of his foresight. In the course of his transactions he obtained an advance from Mr. Snow, the banker, of 20,000/. Mr. Snow, Francis relates, got alarmed, and wrote a piteous appeal to Gideon, who went to the bank, procured twenty notes, and, rolling them round a phial containing hartshorn, sent it to Mr. Snow.

Gay, the poet, celebrates Thomas Snow for his sagacity during the South Sea Bubble panic. It is worthy of note that the Jews remained aloof from the scheme. No Jewish name occurs among the bankrupts of the time. Mr. F. G. Hilton Price, in 'A Hand- book of London Bankers ' (Chatto & Windus, 1876), states that in 1798 the firm of Snow admitted Mr. J. D. Paul into partnership, and that after 1843 it was styled Strahan, Paul & Bates.

It was fitting that the Lord Mayor should take part in the Bevis Marks celebration, for from the time of the Royal Assent being given to the Sheriffs' Declaration Bill in 1835 the City has been foremost in advocating for the Jews the rights of equal citizenship. The first Jew to hold the office of sheriff was David Salomons (1835), and in 1855 he became Lord Mayor being the first Jew to attain that distinction. He was created a baronet in October, 18(59. One of the earliest acts of Victoria's reign was to confer the honour of knighthood on Moses Montefiore, elected sheriff in 1837, and five years afterwards, by Royal licence, permission was granted to him to bear supporters to his family arms. It took twenty-three years from 1835 to secure entire freedom, the final triumph dating from the 26th of July, 1858, when Baron Rothschild took his seat as member for the City. The Jews, to show their gratitude to Lord John Russell, caused a medal to be struck in his honour. The inscription contains these words :

Have we not one Father ? Hath not one God created us ?

Thus one by one the barriers have fallen ; while under the Factories Act the Jews are specially favoured, as it grants them the right to work on Sunday, provided they rest on their own Sabbath.

The establishment of the "Gates of Hope " in 1664 showed how anxious the Jews were in the matter of education ; in later years their schools have rapidly increased both in size and efficiency. The passing of the Act in 1846 enabling Jewish charities to hold land was a great boon. The school in Bell Lane now instructs more than three thousand five hundred children, at an annual cost con- siderably above 12,000^. There are over fifty class-rooms for boys, and nearly as many for girls. A few years ago the Rothschild wing was added (specially devoted to technical in- struction) and the school generally enlarged. Free clothes, provided by the Rothschilds, are distributed to each scholar. Among other important schools is the Westminster Jews' Free School, where about three hundred boys and over three hundred girls attend. The head mistress, Miss Hannah Hertzon, has just completed twenty -five years of service. There are a swimming class and a good library, and in the winter the children are provided, when necessary, with dinner. There is also a clothing and a boot fund.

The Government Inspectors report most favourably of the Jewish schools, and state that of all religious denominations the Jews have proportionately the smallest number of scholars destitute of the knowledge of reading and writing. N. S. S.

( To be concluded. )

SHAKESPEARE'S BOOKS.

( Continued from p. 79.)

MANY years ago, in Archiv. f. n. Sprachen in Germany, and subsequently in 'Shake- speare illustrated by Old Authors' in England, I called attention to Shakespeare's pro- found knowledge of Puttenham's 'Arte of Poesie,' and although I have made many illustrations of obscure passages from this source, I have not yet finished the work I ventured to begin. I have found it easier to make my illustrations from old authors as the passages to which Shakespeare refers came to my memory than to attempt to have done with one old author before making use of another. Following this method, I leave the ' Life of Scanderbeg ' for a time.

Shakespeare often uses anaphora, or the