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ojf mpxe thaa three h ^ uadred authors aroong them , b ^ tvv « eit tfee eleventh $ &d sixteenth centuries ; and the erudite Pe Castro has a Hat of above s § yeu huudred Hebrew books written
by them , o £ i $$ greater part of which be gives some account . * At a time wfreo th $ Christian worW appeared slumbering in indifference and darkness , they 3 , wofce to the sunshine of intellect and kaowledare . They had their poets ,
their orators , their philosophers , their mathematicians , their astronomers , f In the midst of ignorance and intolerance , ( of which they were often the \ ictims , ) the meanest and least among them could read and enjoy the sacred books *! while th < eir JRabbies were
raising to themselves a monument of fame , which will not now be permitted to , decay . It is impossible ( in the narrow limits of this paper ) to record even the tnrost illustrious names among the Jew The
P ^ nLu ^ uter s . learning of Arisba , the ingenuity of Aubonet Abraham , the profound skill of Isaac Israel Riccini , the various merit of the Abarbanels , the historical knowledge of Zacuth , the controversial dexterity
of Cardozo , deserve particular attention . Nor should Dtiarte Pinel and Usque , the translators of the Bible , § J&amora and * Coronel , who assisted ^ im ^ nez Cisneros in the publication of his Polyglot , be passed over in silence . I ) To a Jew ( Baena ) we owe
* No doubt many volumes have been destroyed by the ravag-es of time , and tbe repeated attacks which the Inquisition directed against Hebrew MSS . f Eichhorn ' s List ( in his History of Literature , II . vi . Sect . 237—243 ) , of Illustrious Jews , though tolerably correct as far as it g * oes , is- very imperfect indeed .
J Mainaonides says , that every Jew was required to possess at least one copy of the Pentateuch . ^ I am tempted to introduce here a literal rendering of their translation of the famous passage of Isaiah ix . 5 :
" For to us a child was born , to us a son was given , and the authority was . on his shpuldiir ; and the Wonderful , the Counsellor , the Mighty God , the Eternal Father , called bis name Sar Salom . " P . 187 .
And this interpretation was universally adopted by the Spanish Rajbbies . ( 1 | t is stated by Michael is , a . nd has been repeated over and over agajn , ( and among others by tfie , Editors of the Improved
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a tnQ $ t iatererfiiig ca $ ectio » of tfy » poetry of th ^ e Old Trob ^ adores , the fethers of mod era song , th « e ^ rix masters of th , e Qw S £ iep § ia * ( tbq cheerful art , ) as it was thea beautifully called . The verses of Santo * Carrion , ( who wrote in the beginning pf tbe fourteenth century , ) are often both touching ajjd sublime- * He asks , Shall the gay sky-lark be despised Because bis nest is low and lotteljr > Shall sojfcgf s sweet music be unpriced Wlien heard from Hebrew minstrels only ?
So elevated was tbe rank m society held by the Jews , that it is asserted , and 1 believe justly asserted , that there is hardly a noble family in Spain which may not trace its origin in the female branches to a Jewish head ; and the illustrious race of Davila are
descended in a direct paternal line from Hebrew ancestors , t The history of the Spanish Jews , through the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries , is but a record of varied
calamity . J Tb ^ ir sacred books de * stroyeel , their dwellings devastated , their synagogues razed , imprison ** ments , tortures , assassinations and extensive massacres , make up the melancholy detail . To preach their doctrines was blasphemy , to hear
Version , ) that the MSS . employed by Ximenez have been destroyed . The learned professor of Hebrew at Alcala de Henares , assures me that they all exist at the present moment in the Library of that University . * 8 ce " Coleccion de los Poetas Cas ~
tellanos anteriores al Siglo XV . "" ir . 12—15 . We may gather from his writing's , ( as from the complaints of the Christian authors of this period , ) that king Pedro conferred maify honourable employments on the Jews :
Ca non so para tnenos Que otros de mi ley , Qae ovieron muchos buenos Donadios-del Key . f Llorenle , Histoire Critique de Tin qimition , xxvi .
JOne cannot but be amused ^ vith the repeated attempts of popes saints and bishops to convert the Jews , by forcing them into controversy witb " holy and eloquent Catholic preachers . " These disputes generally ended by a transfer of tbe u neon vincible und un tractable combatants to the civil pow ^ r t <* be puuished for their
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S 5 jE ) v The NQtico * $ frm& No . 2 ^ f .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1819, page 350, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1773/page/6/
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