nd squalid appearance when they walk abroad, in their own houses
they are to be seen clothed in costly furs and the richest silks of
Damascus. The women are covered with gold, and dressed in brocades stiff
with embroidery. Some of them are beautiful; and a girl of about twelve
years old, who was betrothed to the son of a rich old rabbi, was the
prettiest little creature I ever saw; her skin was whiter than ivory,
and her hair, which was as black as jet, and was plaited with strings of
sequins, fell in tresses nearly to the ground. She was of a Spanish
family, and the language usually spoken by the Jews among themselves is
Spanish.

The Jewish religion is now so much encumbered with superstition and the
extraordinary explanations of the Bible in the Talmud, that little of
the original creed remains. They interpret all the words of Scripture
literally, and this leads them into most absurd mistakes. On the morning
of the day of the Passover I went into the synagogue under the walls of
the Temple, and found it crowded to the very door; all the congregation
were standing up, with large white shawls over their heads with the
fringes which they were commanded to wear by the Jewish law. They were
reading the Psalms, and after I had been there a short time all the
people began to hop about and to shake their heads and limbs in a most
extraordinary manner; the whole congregation was in motion, from the
priest, who was dancing in the reading-desk, to the porter, who capered
at the door. All this was in consequence of a verse in the 35th Psalm,
which says, "All my bones shall say, Lord, who is like unto thee;" and
this was their ludicrous manner of doing so. After the Psalm a crier
went round the room, who sold the honour of performing different parts
of the service to the highest bidder; the money so obtained is
appropriated to the relief of the poor. The sanctuary at the upper end
of the room was then opened, and a curtain withdrawn, in imitation of
that which separated the Holy of Holies from the body of the Temple.
From this place the book of the law was taken: it was contained in a
case of embossed silver, and two large silver ornaments were fixed on
the ends of the rollers, which stuck out from the top of the case. The
Jews, out of reverence, as I presume, touched it with a little bodkin of
gold, and, on its being carried to the reading-desk, a silver crown was
placed upon it, and a man, supported by two others, one on each si