of the manners and customs of the English ;which must account for her having been placed at a first-rate seminary in Great Britain; where, mingling with English females, she imbibed their principles, and became a secret admirer of the tolerant and charitable creed of the Protestant Church. Her mother, one of the best of women, was strict to her religion. Her father, by birth a German, having been brought up and educated at the French court, and, subsequently, a physician in the French army, partook of all the levity and thoughtless, not to say profligate, manners of the ancient French court. In Holland, he married. her mother against the consent of her friends. She was both rich and beautiful; and to accomplish his purpose, he turned Jew.

Her father was a man of great abilities as a physician; but he was also most eccentric in his manners. He was an only son; and had been placed with his uncle, then physician to the royal family of France; consequently he resided in the palace, as did also her father. When the Revo

lution burst forth, this uncle was guillotined, because he would not turn Republican; but the nephew saved his head by entering into the army; where, having changed his name, he afterwards enjoyed the confidence of Napoleon, and became one of his personal physicians.

The Authoress is married to a Christian: and she must inform her readers, that when a Jewess does so, she is considered as dead by her relatives, and they mourn for her, as though she were consigned to the cold and silent tomb. It is also considered such a stigma and disgrace to her family, that for THREE generations it is not forgotten nor removed; for no greater reproach nor infamy can attach to a Jewish family, than to have it said, that a female of the family had married a Goyer, or Christian. She has often heard her brothers exclaim, that they would sooner have stabbed her to the heart, and drunk her blood, than that she should have married a Goyer. Those young men have, indeed, since married Christians; but not from the enlightened feelings of the

breast; neither from having imbibed the rays of light shed by Christianity;-nor from being conquered by that universal captivator-LOVE. No! it was for the sordid love of gold, that they forsook their religion! It is, however, just, to observe, that no respectable Jewess would marry either of them, because their sister had disgraced her family by having married a Christian; yet, strange to say, if a Christian should turn Jew, and a Jewess were then to marry him, she would be considered as having devoted herself as a sacrifice, and would be honored for so doing. In Eastern nations, the same antipathy and stigma is attached to an individual who marries out of her caste: and, were the Jews now possessed of their ancient power, the Authoress would expiate her crime by being stoned to death! Thanks to the Redeemer, for the blessings conferred by the blessed precepts and examples which He and His apostles have revealed in the New Testament!

Christians, in general, are unacquainted with the manners and customs of the Jews: it is true,

the Bible furnishes us with both their history and their rites and laws: but the application and practice of their religious ceremonies are known only to themselves, and even their language is peculiar. In a moral view, a strict Jew, who adheres to the laws of Moses, must be a good man; as must also a Christian be, who follows the precepts of Christ: the moral law, promulgated on Mount Sinai, being obligatory on both.

From what the Writer has observed of mankind, she finds, that men of every religious denomination, are governed by the same passions, and influenced alike by their prejudices; and it is only by toleration, liberality, and charity towards others, that the fierce passions engendered by ignorance, bigotry, and sectarianism, can be overcome; when such is the case, it may be truly said of religion, that "Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace."

It will be a source of great pleasure if the Authoress can, by any means, lessen the religious

rancour and animosity which, she is grieved to say, is not only still too prevalent with the children of Israel, but is also a crying sin with some Christians; and she has attempted, in the following pages, to inculcate a kindly feeling of different sects towards each other.

The Notes appended to this Work, by way of illustration, are mostly taken from Broughton's Historical Dictionary of all Religions; a work of great learning and research, though incorrect as to many of the rites and ceremonies of the Jews; which is in some degree excusable, as none but a Jew can know the reason for their customs; and the Authoress has corrected such errors in her quotations.