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EVENINGS AT HOME, or THE JUVENILE BUDGET, opened by Dr. Aiken and Mrs. Bar- bauld, a new edition, entirely revised, printed in large type, on a very superior paper, illustrated with eight engravings, foolscap 8vo. cloth, emblematically gilt. The same edition, gilt edges, 4s. SANDFORD AND MERTON, new edition, en- tirely revised and corrected, printed in large type, with eight illustrations by George Measom, foolscap 8vo. cloth, gilt, emblematical tooling. 3s. Gd. The same edition, gilt edges, 4s. ROBINSON CRUSOE, illustrated by Phiz, in- eluding his further Adventures, with Life of Defoe, &c., a new and much improved edition, foolscap 8vo. emblematically gilt. 3s. Gd. The same edition, gilt edges, 4s. THE JEW OF DENMARK. A TALE. BY M. GOLD SCHMIDT. TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL DANISH, BY MRS. BTTSHBY. LONDON: GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND" CO., EARRINGDON STREET. 1852. PREFACE. The following translation of " En Jode" was made from the original Danish between two and three years ago,—although circumstances have retarded its publica- tion. It is now offered to the public by the permission, and with the entire approbation, of its author, Mr. M. Gold- schmidt, of Copenhagen. A. S. BUSHBY. Halkin Street, Grosvenor Place, London. THE JEW OF DENMARK. CHAPTER I. "What can all this noise be about?" said Philip Ben- dixen to himself, as he gently undid the bolts of the shutters and opened a window at a very early hour one summer morn- ing. He looked out, and seeing several of the townspeople hurrying along the street, he beckoned to the nearest; but his signal was not observed, and he did not venture to call out, for fear of disturbing his wife. " Methought I heard a drum," said he to himself, as he closed the window; " what can be the matter ? " He crept softly down to the shop, where his journeyman, Benjamin, half-asleep though dressed, had set about slowly removing the thick iron bars from the door. " Stand not there and sleep, hramer,"* said Philip Ben- dixen, in the low tone of suppressed wrath; " run over to my brother-in-law, and try to find out what is going on in the town this morning." Benjamin bestirred himself, and in his hurry let the heavy iron bar fall from his hands. "Oh! maladroit!" exclaimed, Philip, "is that a noise to inflict on my poor wife ? God of Israel! She calls—thou hast awakened her, oes !"f " And what then?" asked the unmoved Benjamin. "Knowest thou not her delicate state, beheimo?" J cried Philip, angry at his phlegmatic reply. But Benjamin awaited no farther parley, and having achieved opening the door, betook himself to the abode of his master's neighbour and brother-in-law. That worthy personage and his wife soon after arrived, and were ushered into a little parlour, where Mrs. Philip Bendixen had just placed herself at the breakfast-table. * Bullhead. f Thou evil one. t Beast. 2 THE JEW OF DENMAEK. "Ah, good madam," said he, "you must keep yourself well to-day; this is not a time for sick fancies. There is the devil to pay with the Spaniards, but you must not be afraid of the guns, for they will not hurt you." " Schema Iisroel !* she is illcried the sister, rushing to the door to call her maid. Philip Bendixen took Isaac Bamberger out of the room. " What could tempt you to speak so as to frighten her ? " he asked angrily. " Heyday ! why, don't you know it was just not to alarm her. Hark—how the drums are beginning to beat, and "the guns to fire! Was it not better to prepare her for all that?" And loud indeed was the uproar—the windows of the houses shook as the drums (to whose measured sound marched the burgher militia with their clanging arms) beat lustily, and the single cannon the town possessed sent forth its thunder, darkening the air with its volumes of smoke. Great was the anxiety of Philip Bendixen, as he paced hurriedly back and forwards, and in vain endeavoured, to busy himself with some out-door occupation. At length the joyful news was brought to him that he was the father of a fine boy. Philip sprung up in the air in his exul- tation, and then laying his hands on his head, " Adaunoi Elauheinu ! Gebenscht sei dein nome ! "f " A son! A son ! " he exclaimed, reverentially. He rushed towards his wife's apartment to see the welcome little stranger; but being repulsed by the females who were in charge therein, he ran into the shop, and kissed and embraced Benjamin, shouting to him at the same time, " A son is born to me ! " " Madsel tauv !"J responded Benjamin. "Thanks, thanks, Benjamin; and now it were well that thou shouldst go with the joyful tidings to Babbi Jokuf, he shall be maul;§ also to Simon Hasche, and all the other Jews in the town. But my brother-in-law—where is he? True, he went home. Bun over to him, and beg him to come back presently—and stop, Benjamin! " cried he, calling him back, when he had got half across the street. " Here, take a pound of coffee, and two or three pounds of sugar, and some rice and flour, and this money, to old Martha. Tell her I send it that she may have a day of feasting and rejoicing in honour of my son's birth—my son! yes, I have a son !" * Hear, Israel! An exclamation of terror or surprise, f Lord, my God! Blessed be thy name! t Blessed be God! § This word may perhaps best be rendered by, " to stand father." THE JEW OF DENMARK. 3 Almost as rapidly as events had been happening in Philip's house, had the militia of this little town in Funen been deli- vered from their apprehensions. The Spaniards had taken their departure in the English ships, and it might have been a question whether they or the townspeople were the most satisfied. The latter now fell on the Jews. Because they had not taken any part in the warlike preparations, they were called cowardly wretches, who were strangers to all patriotic feel- ings and regard for their native land. Knots of people, on their way to the public houses, stopped before the habitations of the Jews, and gave vent to their wrath by shouts of im- precations, groans, and injurious words. " These Christians are a droll set," said Isaac Bamberger, with a sneer, to Philip, at whose door a group of common people had stopped for a few minutes hooting and hallooing. " They will not suffer the Jews to enter any of their militia corps while there is peace, but when any disturbance hap- pens, they rail at us for not serving with them. I trow I will go over and kick my dog, that is always chained up, because he stays ever at home." " And how will that punish them ? Let them scream them- selves hoarse," said Philip Bendixen, as he betook himself to his wife's apartment. Eight days after this, the little family were all assembled in the invalid's chamber, on the occasion of the infant's admis- sion into the Jewish community, and many were the excla- mations of surprise and satisfaction at the boy's size and beauty. Old Babbi Jokuf laid on the cradle a horro—a gold eoin on which was inscribed a Hebrew benediction, which was to preserve the child from the evil eye—and said, in an elevated tone of voice, "He shall become strong as Judah, and blessed with wisdom like Assur! " Isaac drank a bumper of wine, and cried, " Yes, that were well; but I must maintain that his arrival in this world took place upon a day by no means the most fortunate for such an event. Had the boy been a Christian, the martial uproar that ushered in his birth would have betokened that he should become a great hero; but as a Jew, it will but give him double aversion for war and warlike matters. He is des- tined to be so timid, that even the Jews will call him coward." All laughed except the mother; for women are by nature chivalric in soul, and love courage in their sons. She replied, " Ho, no, Isaac; when the boy is brought up under thine b 2 4 THE JEW OF DENMARK. eyes, and sees every day thy big sword, perhaps he will not turn out such a craven." " A bargain!" cried the uncle. " I will bring him up ! After he is weaned, let him be my pupil." It is time to make our readers somewhat acquainted with this uncle, who had volunteered to play the part of an Aris- totle to this Philip of Funen's son. He was what is rarely found among the Jews, a tall and very powerful man. It was told of him, that on one occasion, when two peasants began to fight in his shop, he lifted one up in each arm, knocked them several times together, and then flung them forth. Though he was hated as a Jew, and envied as a rich man, all his fellow-citizens stood in awe of him, and dared not but treat him with respect when they saw his athletic figure among them, and shrunk beneath the half-laughing, half- threatening glance of his keen eye. His hair was already beginning to turn gray, for he was past fifty. In his youth, in Germany, his native land, he had been engaged in military service against the French ; and after a variety of adventures and changes of fortune, he had settled himself in Denmark, where he married a woman without fortune, and where unforeseen losses had at one time plunged him into the most abject poverty. He used in after-days to tell, with a degree of pride and complacency, how he and his wife had subsisted a whole winter on a capital of two rix bank dollars, which he laid out in small wares, and, pedlar-like, went about the country selling. When he came home one Friday evening, he found his house burned down, his wife ill, and his only child dead. Unconquered in spirit by these calamities, he devoutly kept his sabbath, then burying his child on the Sunday, he set forth with all his worldly goods made into a bundle, tied up in a pocket-handkerchief, which he carried under his arm. He now lived in a large house, and was a wealthy man; but whenever he saw a small coin, he failed not to observe that his present fortune had commenced with a similar insignificant sum, and therefore that he entertained the greatest respect for such small money. Philip Bendixen, the newly-made father, was a quiet and peaceful man. The servants in his family, and servants often give the truest character, averred only that he was terrible when he was angry, but that his anger never lasted long. It was rumoured that, during his bachelor estate, he had lived a very gay, and not over strict life; but this was merely a report which might have had no foundation in truth, while it was certain that after his betrothal he had become exceed- ingly religious, and bitterly censured those who erred. THE JEW OF DENMARK. 5 Late oil the evening of the day when the somewhat noisy ceremonial of congratulations had taken place, Philip Ben- dixen stole softly into his wife's little apartment. She was reclining behind the white curtains of her bed in a calm slumber, his child, its soft cheek tinted like a rosebud, was sleeping sweetly in its cradle, whilst the night-lamp cast a mellowed light upon its little face; and the Jewish matron who had undertaken to watch by them had sunk into a deep sleep on a low stool by the bedside. Philip gazed in silence for a few moments on this scene of comfort and repose ; his heart swelled, and he bowed his head and prayed:—" Almighty Father! Ruler of the universe ! I -humbly thank thee that thou hast given me a son to read Keadish* over my grave. If it be thy will to call me hence soon, take, I pray thee, all good fortune from my head, and shower it over that of my son. I will bow down to the dust and worship thy name, if thou wilt bestow prosperity on him !" Such was the blessing invoked over the cradle of the child who is to be the hero of this tale. CHAPTER II. As tlxe boy grew older, his father began to think of his future education. " He shall not go to school. He shall not have to put up with risches," f said he, " and, being exposed to the sneers and gibes of the other children, learn rudeness from them. When he is old enough, I will teach him myself all that a Jew ought to learn; and afterwards I will send him to Copen- hagen." Ho one was more rejoiced at this determination than the uncle, as it would permit of his amusing himself with the child to his heart's content. Often did he come for the boy, and taking him from his mother, carry him over to his own house. There he would retire with him to a remote room, and lock the door, so that it might have been supposed he was instructing him in the art of magic. Had any one seen Isaac Bamberger on these occasions, they might have indeed imagined he was bewitched. He would seize up the child in his arms, and jump about the floor with him, while * A prayer for the soul of the dead; a requiem, f Malignity towards the Jews. 6 THE JEW OF DENMARK. he howled in his ear, and made sundry noises resembling trumpets, drums, the neighing of horses, the lowing of cows, and the barking of dogs. When the infant laughed loudly and scratched him in the face with his little nails, he would set him on his knee to ride, and gallop him so violently that the child, after trying to be amused, would end by crying. The uncle would then take him by the ears, and hold him tight until he was quiet, exclaiming, " I will teach you to be afraid, youngster!" He then would make droll grimaces until the child began to laugh, when he would catch him up and hug him so closely that he would cry again. As the boy ripened in intelligence, he would add to these exercises tales about warriors and knight-errants, legends from distant lands,- and Bible anecdotes respecting the Jewish heroes of old, so that the boy in after-years, not remembering where he had acquired all this legendary knowledge, almost fancied that it had been born with him. The father one day remarked to Isaac, who had as usual come for the child, " The boy is so often with you, Isaac, that he really will not know who is his father." " I should make just as good a father to him as you," said Isaac ; " and the child is turning quite clever under my care. He can already say his Krischmo*—who taught him that, I wonder ? and now I will teach him to say the grace after meals too." " Yery well, Isaac, teach him what you like until he is six years old; I shall then take him in hand and instil into him our Jewish lore. " You teach him a great deal too much," said his mother, with an air of anxiety; " you tell him things he cannot com- prehend. It would be much better for the boy if he were allowed to play and prattle with other children, and sport about in the open air." The child looked at its mother as if he acknowledged the truth of what she had said, and felt that she had prescribed the best remedy for that infantine longing which made his little cheeks so pale. " To-morrow," cried the uncle, " he shall go with me on a nice excursion into the country!" * The Jewish creed, which is introduced into their form of daily prayer. the jew of penmaek, 7 CHAPTER III. Happy the man who can exclaim " He was'a schoolfellow of mine—a companion of my childhood !" Ah! what meanings does that one word schoolfellow convey! Does it not speak of the green meadow where you and your little friends played together with hearty and exuberant glee ? or of the little court-yard where you and your neighbours' children met and wrestled until you quarrelled and cried ?—Tears such as these are not shed in after-years !—Of the oranges that lay piled up in pyramids in the grocers' windows, and which to his great vexation always rolled down when you mischievously knocked against the panes of glass ? Of the old woman's cat, to which you used to tie bladders and chase it away, that she might have a hunt after it ? Or of the many games whose mysteries are only known to schoolboys ? Does it not speak of the dark room, where you had to remain perfectly quiet, because your aged grandfather had fallen asleep, and where, in the dreamy stillness that prevailed, your thoughts had flown to a little world of joy of their own, until your grand- father, and every one, and everything in the real world around you were forgotten ? Does it not speak of the little damsel for whom more than one of you would pluck pretty flowers, and on whose account you learned to dislike each other—you hardly yourselves knew why ? Then was the time that you received your first insight into that stirring game which is called—the world; then was the time when your unsuspicious mind freely sought and easily found the two brightest blossoms of life — friendship and love; then also were you all stamped in the same mould, and beheld in each other's characters little more variety than in each other's clothes! Jacob grew up alone. He had no playfellows, for the other Jewish families in the little town had no children of his age, and the Christian children jeered at him when they saw him. They never gave him his own name, but called him Moses in. derision. Amd when he approached them they would chuck him under the chin by way of showing their contempt for him. If ever he attempted to join in their games, they would hiss him off, shouting at " the Jew usurer." He would then walk slowly away,"and, standing at a distance, cast many a wistful look upon their merry play. Their rudeness discomfited the lonely child, but it could not utterly annihilate the longing 8 TIIE JEW OF DENMARK. which, he felt to make one among them. This sense of his own solitary situation, this vain yearning after companionship, had been awakened so early in his childish mind, that he felt as if it were inherent in him, and formed, as it were, a part of himself from which he could not escape. On one occasion his mother's brother came from another town to visit her, and brought his little son with him. The child went familiarly towards Jacob, who drew back timidly; but when his cousin spoke to him in a friendly tone, Jacob— his large dark eyes staring with surprise—exclaimed, " Why do you not call me Jew usurer ?" Every one present started at this unexpected outbreak. "They have been abusing the poor boy," said his mother's brother. His father kissed him tenderly, but his uncle Isaac asked, " Who called thee Jew usurer, Jacob ? " " The children down on the beach always call me so," said Jacob. The next day his uncle took Jacob down to the beach ; but when the children who were playing there saw this tall man, they naturally kept silence. Nevertheless, Isaac Bamberger could not control his indignation, but striding up to them he seized one boy, and flung him with force among the group of children. On seeing this, it suddenly occurred to Jacob why his father had kissed him so affectionately the preceding day, and why his uncle had accompanied him that morning to the sea-shore. In an instant a bitter "spirit of revenge seemed to start up in his young mind as he remembered the insults to which he had been subjected;—like a tiger just let loose from confinement, he sprung upon one of the children, knocked him down, and fell upon him furiously with tooth and nail. His uncle, who supposed it to be a common boy's fight, stood by applauding and encouraging his nephew; but when he ob- served that blood was flowing from the other boy, he ran up and dragged him away. On seeing Jacob's ashy pale cheeks, blue lips, clenched teeth, and bloodshot eyes,—his hands filled with hair from the other boy's head, his whole figure con- vulsed with strong passion, the "uncle feared he would be ill, and taking him home, immediately sent for a physician to see him. The child soon after fell into a deep sleep, in which he remained many hours, and from which he awoke weak and languid, but without any recollection of what had taken place. But Isaac Bamberger was summoned before the magistrate THE JETS" OP DENMARK. 9 on account of tlie cliildren to whom he had been the cause of so much injury. He was condemned to pay a good deal of his treasured gold to make amends to the parents of these children; and to avoid any similar assault in future, it was ordered that Philip Bendixen's meadows, which extended to the shore, should be enclosed by a high wooden paling. * There many and many an hour sat Jacob, separated from all the rest of the world, the Broad Belt with its few sails spread out before his fixed eye. In silence and solitude he often wandered thither, and half hidden among the trees and shrubs, he would gaze upon the majestic ocean when its ever- rolling waves were glancing in the bright sun, or dark and threatening, came dashing furiously on the shore. There, in his loneliness, he would give the reins to his imagination, and create a whole world for himself, wherein he and the few he loved played conspicuous parts ; but whenever a dark shade would cross these waking visions, it was the remembrance of the children on the beach, his longing after them, and his quarrel with them. If, however, by chance one of these children met him in the street and smiled to him, or greeted him in a friendly way, he would hurry to his favourite spot, and please himself by thinking over all the nice things he would like to give that child. He would weave a little story in his own mind of that child being in some great danger, of his rescuing him from it, and of the child in gratitude coming to him, helping him over the wooden fence, and offering to play on the sea-shore with him. But—which more frequently happened — had one of the children met Jacob when without his uncle's protection, and commenced abusing him while disdainfully passing him, he would retreat to his favourite spot, and thus discourse to him- self:—" Suppose I were to set fire to the corn-fields and put it upon them .... There would be a search after me ; but they should not catch me, unless I were to fall asleep, and then they would find me and bind me fast. Perhaps they would take me to their temple, and place me between the pillars that support it; — and then, thinking they had me in their power, they would gather round me, and cry, ' Jew usurer !' — ' Jew—can you eat pork ? ' Oh ! then I would seize the pillars with all my might, and pull until I pulled down the house upon them and myself, and " Then he would shudder all over at the scene his fancy had conjured up, and finish by almost shedding tears at the bare idea of having nearly killed so many human beings. 10 the jew of denmark, CHAPTER IV. These sort of dreams took stronger and stronger*- hold of the boy's mind; but instead of trying to conquer such way- ward fancies, he would encourage them until his head swam and his limbs trembled with excitement; yet this morbid excitement had such charms for him, that he sought every opportunity of flying to his solitary haunt near the sea, secretly to indulge in these strange castles in the air. As he sat there one day with his eyes half-closed, and his mind absorbed in some gloomy vision, which gave an air of 5ain to his countenance, his father happened to pass near him. t was a day on which the shop was closed, and there was nothing going on in the house. " What art thou doing there ? " he called out to his son. Jacob started up, and answered hurriedly, " Nothing." " It is now high time that thou shouldst learn something regularly," said Philip. " Thy uncle fills thy ears with stories and fables. Come with me, and we shall begin the Hebrew alphabet." Jacob felt an instinctive joy at the prospect of some occupation, and he gladly took his father's hand. " I have not yet given thee thy Arbakampfaus,* although thou art in thy seventh year," said his father. "We must bestir ourselves, Jacob; from this time forwards thou shalt learn thy religion, and be instructed in our Jewish faith." "Yes, father," said Jacob, secretly proud of being spoken to as a reasonable being. The father after this allotted a portion of every day to the instruction of his son, and Jacob devoted his whole time to his lessons, which began to obliterate from his mind his fan- tastic day-dreams. He grew like a well-watered plant, and became cheerful and rosy like other children; yet his mother often complained that he studied too much. One day that she was lamenting this, his father endea- voured to convince her that he was not called on to do more than his own inclination prompted. "However, he knows what I have promised him if he be diligent. WTiat is it, Jacob ? " said he to the boy, winking, as if there were a great * A quadrangular piece of stuff, with a hole in the centre to draw it over the shoulders. In every corner is a string of plaited thread, called zizis, or ziziths. This article is symbolical of the religion of the Jews, and of their covenant with God. THE JEW OP DENMAEK. 11 secret between them. " Canst thou not whisper what I have promised thee when thou shouldst know the eighteen prayer si What have we on Monday? " " Purim," * replied the boy ; " shall we go disguised, father ? " "No; but thou shalt go with me to the school,f and hear megillen,\ and get leave to cudgel Hainan." " Who is he, father, and why should I cudgel him ? " " Dost thou not know him 1 He it was who wished to have all the Jews killed in one night; but our God was with the Jews, and Haman was hanged himself. See, this is what thou must do. When thou drawest a certain cord, a hammer will fall and strike on Haman's name ; every time that thou hearest his name read in the story of Esther and Haman, pull thou the cord and strike him." " I would rather strike the real Haman, father." " He is dead, my child," said his father, laughing at his warmth, and patting him on the head. " If thou eontinuest to be very diligent, thou shalt sit at my side at JPeisach,§ and read the Ilagod, || and I twill tell thee all that happened then." "Oh! tell me now," cried Jacob, eagerly. "No ; we only talk of that at the time of Peisach." " How long is it till JPeisach, father? " "Four weeks. Be thou diligent and well-behaved till then." The anxiously-expected feast of the Passover came at length, its approach having been announced by manifold pre- parations. A ship brought a large well-fastened case from Copenhagen, which was forthwith conveyed to an empty room at the top of the house, to be kept apart from every- thing else, as it contained the unleavened bread. All the glass-ware in the house was steeped three days in water, the vessels of copper and iron purified with fire, and on the last day before the festival the whole house was thoroughly cleaned out. All the domestic vessels and articles in common use were put to one side, and those reserved for this great festival were brought forth from the keeping-places where they had been locked up since the preceding year. Towards the evening, when the first star twinkled in the heavens, the master of the house wandered through the rooms * A Jewish festival. t The church. t The history of Esther and Haman. § The Passover. H The hook in which is related the departure from Egypt, 12 THE JEW OF DENMARK. with a feather in one hand and a wooden pan in the other, to sweep into it every atom of the usual food of the family which he might find, and thus assure himself of the purity of the house. Some crumbs of leavened bread had been pur- posely left by the mistress of the house lying about that he might find them; but she had hidden under a sofa a large jar of butter, which she intended to use after the festival had commenced. When Philip Bendixen, inwardly praying, had brushed away the crumbs, and was about to leave the room, Jacob, who had been following him about, and attentively watching his proceedings, stopped him, exclaiming, " Father, mother has hidden a jar of butter under the sofa." " Hush, boy ! " cried his father; " I must not see that, or I shall have to take it and burn it." "But, father," persisted Jacob, "you are, then, like the custom-house officer, when you bribe him with a little money." " Be quiet, boy, for G-od's sake! " replied his father, with a look of vexation, as he hurried from the room, " thy tongue may bring me into trouble." The following day, the first of the Passover, was passed in devout preparation for the festival. The father fasted on his son's account; for it was on that day that the angel of the Lord had slain the first-born of the Egyptians, and spared the first-born of the Jews. "This day do I fast, and for years now have I fasted, for thee," said Philip affectionately to his son; " when thou readiest thirteen years, thou shalt thyself pay thy debt to our Lord and Master." The other members of the family dared not on that day eat anything that was leavened, neither dared they taste the unleavened bread until the sun had set, and the stars were visible in the firmament; until that hour, they were bound to preserve a rigid fast. When it became dark, Isaac Bamberger and his wife came over, for they had no children for whom to prepare a feast, and all repaired to the eating-room, where the Passover-table was laid out, and which was brilliant with lights. A high seat, covered with cushions, was there placed for the head of the family; on the table stood, covered with a napkin of snowy whiteness, the Passover dish,—a shoulder of lamb, with sweet and bitter herb3,—while a flask with sweet raisin-wine was placed before each person. The father took his place on the raised seat, clad in the fine white linen garment, a sort of blouse, which the bride presents to her bridegroom on the wedding-day, and which is never worn by him but during the commemoration of the THE JEW OP DENHAKK. 13 Passover, the feast or fast of the Atonement, and when he is laid in his coffin. After a solemn thanksgiving to God, who ordained the Passover feast, the bread, the wine, and the herbs were blessed. Two large pieces of the Passover bread were laid aside, in order to be afterwards distributed among all pre- sent as amulets, or charms against dangers by sea and land. After that the Ha god,—the book of the servitude in Egypt, and the deliverance from thence,—was read aloud by the -head of the family to the small but pious assemblage. On the recital of the Plagues of Egypt, each dipped his or her little finger into the wine, and cast a drop on the table for every plague. "When the account of the deliverance of the Israelites was read, Philip rose and made a sign to Benjamin., Amidst pro- found silence, the latter rose and opened every door in the house. Philip then poured out a glass of wine, and placed a piece of unleavened bread close to it on the table by his side, as if expecting another guest. When Benjamin had returned and resumed his seat, all the company joined aloud in a prayer to God that He would send his deliverance and peace to those of his people over the whole earth who at that moment opened their doors in honour of Him. All during this prayer bowed down their heads, as if not to behold what at that instant might enter the door. When the prayer was ended, the doors were shut, and the bread and wine were removed to a side-table, there to be left till morning, that the house during the whole of the festival night might be prepared for the reception of those much-to-be-honoured and expected visitants, the Pro- phet Elias and the Jews' Messiah. Now was the house sanctified and hallowed -to receive God's messenger, and now cast the chief of the family a well- pleased look on those around him, while he stretched, out his hands as if to beat time to the following hymn, which was sung in the Hebrew language :— " God is great! The temple soon shall be by Him rebuilt. Soon, soon shall this be seen ! Soon, soon shall this be seen ! In our days it shaU be built! Erect thy house! Erect thy house ! Oh build the Temple in our days! He is faithful, he is great, he is a banner, he is all-seeing! " The enthusiasm then became great; Danish, German, and Hebrew were all sung together, and every one called 14 THE JEW OF DENMAEK. upon God by tbe most affectionate names,—" Merciful God! Great God! Blessed God!" Higher and higher rose the joyous hallelujahs ; the elders sang with tears in their eyes, while the chiid heat time on the table, with his glass in one hand and his bottle in the other, and absolutely cried with excitement. The frugal meal was then served up, for on that evening, unlike on the other feast days, they only ate the simplest food, in remembrance that their forefathers on that same evening had, in anxious haste, and arrayed for their journey, partaken hurriedly of their last meal in the land of Egypt; and they vied with each other in recalling all the wonderful works which God had done for his people at that time. Philip then painted in strong colours the captivity of the Jews, and their sufferings, and how the king caused all their male children to be killed, that the Jews might not increase in number, and rise up against their oppressors ; " but," said he, " notwithstanding this inhumanity, the Israelites obtained their liberty, as Moses was brought up in Pharaoh's own palace, and became a leader and a lawgiver. " The wicked Pharaoh soon begau to perceive what there was in Moses, and was troubled with ill-boding dreams about him; and without God's protection the child would have been slain," continued Philip, "for the king called together his soothsayers and expounders of dreams, and took counsel with them. And they counselled him to prove the child, by bringing before him two vessels, the one filled with gold, the other with flaming fire. If the child sought to grasp the gold, that should be a bad omen, and he should die; but if he tried to grasp the flames, then was he harmless, and there was nothing to fear from the dreams. When the vessels were brought, Moses was stretching out his hand towards the gold, but the angel of the Lord seized his hand and directed it towards the fire. The child took up a live cinder, and when it burned his tender fingers, he put them, after the manner of children, into his mouth, from whence it came that Moses never spoke plainly." "And," said the uncle, smiling, "it is from this that all Moses's people became wise, and always sought after gold."- " That may be," replied Philip, laughing. The hour was now getting late, and after having said grace, the party separated and retired to rest. On Jacob's going to bed that night, he felt no inclination to call up the visionary scenes that used to fill his mind when alone and in darkness. The images of the Christian children no longer haunted his thoughts; they were centred in that THE JEW OF DENMAKK. 15 gracious and adored Being who was called God. He said to himself, as lie slid under his down covering, " I will now no longer wish evil to these children ; when they deserve it, the God of the Jews will punish them." On the evening of the second festival day,* Philip Ben- dixen repeated the history of Joseph and his brethren, of the journey to Egypt, of the anxious endeavours of his brothers to take Benjamin back with them, and of his father's unwil- lingness to part with him. He told how the money had been put into the sacks of corn, and the golden cup into Ben- jamin's; and that, when this was discovered, Judah uttered a cry so loud, that all Egypt trembled, and the king fell from his throne and broke some of his bones ; but Joseph's son, Manasseh, uttered a cry quite as loud. Then turned Judah to Joseph in terrified amazement, and exclaimed, "Thou art no Egyptian — thou art one of our people. Thou art Joseph, whom we believed to be dead !" Then Joseph made himself known to him. "There are no more such mighty men now among the Jews," added Philip, sorrowfully; " and therefore it is that we are so much oppressed." " That is too true, Uncle Isaac!" cried Jacob. " Think'st thou so, youngster?" said his uncle with a smile. " At any rate, it was only in these days that such shouts were heard." " But it was wonderful that Judah should be able to shout so loud as to make the king fall from his throne," remarked J acob. " Even in my time," said Isaac, turning with a mysterious air towards Philip, " whilst I was in Germany the cries of the Erench nation were so loud, that their monarch fell from his throne, and his neck was brokeit." "Yes, then came the Plagues of Egypt over the great ones," said Philip. " Ay, and they found it prudent to be friendly with us Jews, and call us patriotic." " What is that you are saying, uncle?" asked Jacob. " Nothing, boy—nothing; we Germans were but fighting with the Erench." " Oh, uncle, tell me about these Erenchmen as you used to do. Tell me the story of their taking you prisoner, and mistaking you for a woman ; you promised me this." * The festivals of the Jews are always double. The Jews' calendar is com- puted from the creation of the world, and they hold that the most exact calcu- lation may err.a day or two, and that therefore no one can pronounce upon what exact day the world was formed ; consequently, in order not to miss the right day, they keep holy two days. 16 THE JEW OE DENMABK. " Not tliis evening, my cliild; on Jaumtavim* sueli tilings should not be spoken of. But I will tell thee now why the Jews in Gnesen do not wear the kittel at Jaumkipur."f " What is a Jcittel, uncle ?" " It is such a linen robe as thy father wears this evening. Seest thou, the Jews in Grnesen had not for a long time had any rest in their houses. Every night something slipped in through the door, now at one house, now at another; and always next day there was one taken ill in the house where this had happened. Then the priest commanded them all to place new mezussaus,\ as the old seemed to have become joosul.§ Shortly after that, the feast of the Atonement took place, and almost in the twinkling of an eye, whilst they were saying MasTcir neschommos, || there came a great crowd into the church; they poured through the doors in swarms, and the congregation were readjr to sink, while one could not recognize the other, for all wore the kittel and the thallis therewith over the head ; the dead are burned in their kitler and thalleisim. Then rushed the priest to Oraun hakau- desch,^[ seized the holy volume, and stretching it forth towards the congregation, cried with a loud voice, ' In the name of the Almighty God! all ye whose homes are here take your kitler off!' At these words there soon became space enough; but from that time to this the Jews of Gnesen have never worn the kitler at Jaumkipur." " But surely such supernatural things never could have happened in reality ?" said Jacob's mother. "Never could have happened!" exclaimed Isaac Bam- berger angrily; " was not I myself on the point of buying a horse from the devil ? " " Oh, tell me about that, uncle! " cried the child. Isaac pretended not to notice the incredulous look and half smile visible in Jette's countenance, and he began forthwith. " What I have seen with my own eyes no one can gainsay. And as truly as I hope to see my little Eebecca again—God rest her soul!—so truly have I seen that which I am now about to relate. Before the commencement of the war, when I was a youth about twenty years of age, tall and strong as I am now, and afraid of nothing whatsoever, I was employed to buy horses for a French horse-dealer, then in Frankfort. One Thursday afternoon—I remember that afternoon as well as if it were yesterday—I went on horseback to a public- * The great festival. t The feast of the Atonement. t A kind of talisman, attached to the frames of the doors. § Worn-out, useless, unclean. || The penitential prayer for the sins of all the congregation.