n when they come in contact with gentlemen to ruin
them. On such occasions, the Jew is humble, supercilious, blunderingly
flattering; and if he can become the agent of any dirty work, is only
too happy to be so, in preference to a straightforward and honest
transaction. No man is more vulgarly insulting to those dependent upon
him than the Jew, who invariably cringes to his superiors; above all,
he is not a brave man. It will be seen, from these observations, what
is my opinion of a class of traders who in all parts of the world are
sure to embrace what may be termed illicit and illegitimate commerce.
At the same time, I suspect that the Jew simply avails himself of the
weakness and vices of mankind, and will continue in this line of
business so long as imprudent and extravagant humanity remains what it
is.

Two usurers, who obtained much notoriety from the high game which was
brought to them, were men known by the names of Jew King and Solomon.
These were of very different characters: King was a man of some talent,
and had good taste in the fine arts. He had made the peerage a
complete study, knew the exact position of everyone who was connected
with a coronet, the value of their property, how deeply the estates
were mortgaged, and what encumbrances weighed upon them. Nor did his
knowledge stop there: by dint of sundry kind attentions to the clerks
of the leading banking-houses, he was aware of the balances they kept;
and the credit attached to their names; so that, to the surprise of the
borrower, he let him into the secrets of his own actual position. He
gave excellent dinners, at which many of the highest personages of the
realm were present; and when they fancied that they were about to meet
individuals whom it would be upon their conscience to recognize
elsewhere, were not a little amused to find clients quite as highly
placed as themselves, and with purses quite as empty. King had a
well-appointed house in Clarges Street; but it was in a villa upon the
banks of the Thames, which had been beautifully fitted up by Walsh
Porter in the Oriental style, and which I believe is now the seat of
one of the most favoured votaries of the Muses, Sir Edward Bulwer
Lytton, that his hospitalities were most lavishly and luxuriously
exercised. Here it was that Sheridan told his host that he liked his
table better than his multiplication table; to which his host, who was
not only witty, but often the cause of wit in others,