training she
developed an alarming precocity. At the age of twelve she had written a
heroic drama on her favorite hero, Gustavus Vasa. At fourteen she had
published a volume of poems. At twenty-four she accomplished her chief
work on the Jewish religion, 'The Spirit of Judaism,' a book republished
in America with preface and notes by a well-known rabbi, Dr. Isaac
Leeser of Philadelphia. Although the orthodox priest found much in the
book to criticize, he was forced to commend its ability.--It insists on
the importance of the spiritual and moral aspects of the faith delivered
to Abraham, and deprecates a superstitious reverence for the mere letter
of the law. It presents Judaism as a religion of love, and the Old
Testament as the inspiration of the teachings of Jesus. Written more
than half a century ago, the book is widely read to-day by students of
the Jewish religion.

Four years later Miss Aguilar published 'The Jewish Faith: Its Spiritual
Consolation, Moral Guidance, and Immortal Hope,' and 'The Women of
Israel,' a series of essays on Biblical history, which was followed by
'Essays and Miscellanies.' So great was the influence of her writings
that the Jewesses of London gave her a public testimonial, and addressed
her as "the first woman who had stood forth as the public advocate of
the faith of Israel." While on her way to visit a brother then residing
at Schwalbach, Germany, she was taken ill at Frankfurt, and died there,
at the early age of thirty-one.

The earliest and the best known of Miss Aguilar's novels is 'Home
Influence,' which rapidly passed through thirty editions, and is still a
favorite book with young girls. There is little incident in the story,
which is the history of the development of character in a household of
six or seven young persons of very different endowments and tendencies.
It was the fashion of the day to be didactic, and Mrs. Hamilton, from
whom the "home influence" radiates, seems to the modern reader somewhat
inclined to preach, in season and out of season. But the story is
interesting, and the characters are distinctly individualized, while at
least one episode is dramatically treated.

'The Mother's Recompense' is a sequel to 'Home Influence,' wherein the
further fortunes of the Hamilton family are so set forth that the
wordly-minded reader is driven to the inference that the brilliant
marriages of her children are a sensible part of Mrs. Hamilton's
"recompense." The story is vi