for the great labour which these most learned rabbins had, together with himself, undergone, for the sake of the advancement of literature and learning in his kingdom, confirmed the Jews in their ancient rights and privileges, by the imposition of heavy penalties upon all who should infringe upon the same. Since, however, in his time the Hebrews became possessed of too much liberty and committed divers crimes, he forbad them in one of his laws of Partidas, on pain of death, to preach to or attempt to convert any Christian." He likewise commanded them all to wear a

13

that this sum had not been employed in actual observation of the heavens. A full account of their contents may be seen in Delambre, Hist. de l'Ast. du Moyen Age, p. 248. Till the time of Copernicus and Tycho Brahé, they continued in general use, being, in truth, with some modifications, a body of Ptolemæan astronomy. They were first printed in 1483 by the celebrated Ratdolt of Venice. A copy of this editio princeps is in the Royal Library at Paris. Subsequent editions appeared in 1488, 1492, 1517, 1521, 1545, 1553."Translator.

13" His enemies have endeavoured to deprive this learned prince of the merit of having been the author or compiler of Las Partidas, pretending that this code was written by his father. It is, however, worthy of remark that every one of the Partidas begins with one letter of his name, forming the following acrostic:

1st Al servicio, &c.

2nd La fé católica, &c.

3rd Fizo nuestro Señor, &c.

4th Onras señaladas, &c.

5th Nascen entre, &c.

6th Sesudamente, &c.

7h Olvidanza y atrevimiento, &c."

Penny Cyclopædia.— Translator.

14 Partida 7a, tit. 24, ley 2a: "Moreover, they must take special care not to preach to nor attempt to convert any Christian to Ju

badge of red cloth on their left shoulder, that they might be known to be Jews, according to the injunction issued by Gregory the Eleventh to the bishop of Córdova, and the direction of the Lateran Council, and threatened all who should disregard this law with the penalty of ten gold maravedis, and, in default of payment, with ten lashes, to be inflicted on them in public:15 this king also spoke of the many improper and outrageous doings between Christian men and Jewesses, and also between Jews and Christian women, for (says he) in the country houses they live and dwell together. He ordained that the Christians should not receive medicine from the hands of the Hebrews, nor eat with them, nor drink wine made by them, nor would he allow of their getting into the same bath together." At the same time, in the second law of the twentyfourth title, in the seventh partida, he made the fol

16

daism, either by eulogizing their law or reviling ours. Whoever shall offend in this particular, will render himself liable to capital punishment and confiscation of property."

15 Same partida and title, law eleventh: "If any Jew shall neglect to wear that badge, we order him to pay ten gold maravedis every time that he shall be discovered without it; and if he cannot pay the money, then let him receive ten lashes in public."

16 Same partida and title, law eighth : "Let no Christian accept medicines or purges prepared by the hands of Jews; but he may take them by the advice of a Jewish physician, provided only that they be prepared by a Christian who knows and understands the nature of their ingredients."

17 Same partida and title, law eighth: "Let no Christian man or woman invite a Jew or Jewess, nor accept an invitation from one of them to eat and drink together, nor drink wine prepared by them. We further command that no Jew have the audacity to bathe in the same bath with Christians."

lowing ordinance: "Because we have heard say that in some places the Jews have commemorated and do still commemorate the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ on Good Friday in a scoffing manner, stealing children and crucifying them, and making waxen images and crucifying them when they cannot procure children; we order that, in case a report of any such thing having been done shall henceforth arise, if it can be proved, all engaged in such act be taken, seized, and brought before the king, and whensoever he shall be convinced of its truth, it shall be his business to issue his warrant for putting them to an ignominious death, how many soever they be. We moreover forbid all Jews from quitting their barrier on Good Friday, and enjoin them to remain in it, and keep close till the Saturday morning; and if they act in defiance of this law, we declare them no longer entitled to any compensation for damages or for insults then offered them by the Christians."

The framing of this law by Alfonso the Tenth for the punishment of those Jews who crucified children in commemoration of the death and passion of Jesus Christ, was owing to the idle tales which ran upon the tongues of a gossiping and superstitious people. Even the monarch himself who ordered this law to be written, was not sure that the observers of the Mosaic ritual were guilty of such atrocities: this may be proved by a mere glance at those words because we have heard say, and also by his excluding the magistrates from the hearing of charges brought against the authors of this crime; for the accused were to be

F

brought into the immediate presence of the king, in order that he, after satisfying himself of the truth of the charges, might condemn them to an ignominious death. If Alfonso the Learned had been sure that such deeds were perpetrated, he would have spoken of them in the same way as of any other crimes, and not have declared in his law that he acted upon hearsay evidence, nor would he have declined committing the investigation of such causes to others, reserving the hearing of them to himself and his successors in the crowns of Castile and Leon.

These crucifixions of innocent children by the Jews were mere fables, invented by ignorant old women, in order to frighten into good behaviour those naughty children that try to obtain whatever they want by crying for it. As the vulgar are pleased with every thing that is odd and strange, they hit upon the expedient of giving out that so barbarous an amusement as this was commonly practised by the Jews; and hence it was, no doubt, that these lying stories came to be reported to king Alfonso the Learned, who, unwilling to let persons guilty of such offences (if peradventure such persons existed) escape the punishment they deserved, spoke of the authors of those crimes in the manner and form briefly described above.

If this be not the case, then let those who still strive to defend as truths the words which passed from mouth to mouth among the blind and ignorant vulgar respecting such acts of the Jews, tell us what object the latter could have in perpetrating such barbarities? Was it

written in the books of their law that all who observed the Mosaic ritual were under any obligation to commemorate in so brutal a way, on Good Fridays, the death to which their ancestors put Jesus Christ?

The story is a fiction made to pass current among the people by reason of the frivolity of the Spanish Christians, as well as by reason of their hatred and contempt for all the Hebrews, and is just like that now current among the vulgar that the Jews have tails: for as the learned in their law were called rabis,18 whence the name rabbins, the people, doubtless, for the purpose of ridiculing them, or else because they really believed the truth of such an absurdity, began to circulate this story, which has no more truth" in it than the one told of persons employing themselves in crucifying children in commemoration of our Saviour's passion.

Let not those who differ from me imagine that they upset my arguments by saying that this story is mentioned in the laws; for all know that legislators are men, and

18 Rabo is the Spanish for a tail.- Translator.

19 One cannot help being struck with the gravity with which the author concludes this paragraph. Truly, Spaniards are very odd people, and Spain is a very odd country. I cannot resist the temptation to give an extract, in this place, from a book lately published by my friend, Mr. Clark. "Some sceptic present interposed with a doubt as to whether Jews had tails really or not. The majority held that it was unquestionable; but as one or two still questioned it, the dispute was referred to Señor Vazquez, a travelled man. He quietly decided the matter in the affirmative; for,' said he, when I was in London, I saw Baron Rothschild, who is a Jew of a very high caste, and he had a tail as long as my arm.' So the sceptics were silenced, and smoked the cigar of acquiescence." (Gazpacho; or, Summer Months in Spain.)—Translator.