of their being expelled from
it. In whatever country they established themselves, the Jews carried on
most of the mechanical and manual industries with cleverness and success;
but they could not hope to become landed proprietors in countries where
they were in such bad odour, and where the possession of land, far from
offering them any security, could not fail to excite the envy of their
enemies.

If, as is the case, Oriental people are of a serious turn of mind, it is
easy to understand that the Jews should have been still more so, since
they were always objects of hatred and abhorrence. We find a touching
allegory in the Talmud. Each time that a human being is created God orders
his angels to bring a soul before his throne, and orders this soul to go
and inhabit the body which is about to be born on earth. The soul is
grieved, and supplicates the Supreme Being to spare it that painful trial,
in which it only sees sorrow and affliction. This allegory may be suitably
applied to a people who have only to expect contempt, mistrust, and
hatred, everywhere. The Israelites, therefore, clung enthusiastically to
the hope of the advent of a Messiah who should bring back to them the
happy days of the land of promise, and they looked upon their absence from
Palestine as only a passing exile. "But," the Christians said to them,
"this Messiah has long since come." "Alas!" they answered, "if He had
appeared on earth should we still be miserable?" Fulbert, Bishop of
Chartres, preached three sermons to undeceive the Jews, by endeavouring to
prove to them that their Messiah was no other than Jesus Christ; but he
preached to the winds, for the Jews remained obstinately attached to their
illusion that the Messiah was yet to come.

In any case, the Jews, who mixed up the mysteries and absurdities of the
Talmud with the ancient laws and numerous rules of the religion of their
ancestors, found in the practice of their national customs, and in the
celebration of their mysterious ceremonies, the sweetest emotions,
especially when they could devote themselves to them in the peaceful
retirement of the Ghetto; for, in all the countries in which they lived
scattered and isolated amongst Christians, they were careful to conceal
their worship and to conduct their ceremonial as secretly as possible.

The clergy, in striving to convert the Jews, repeatedly had conferences
with the rabbis of a controversial character, which often led to quarrels,
an