than the government itself, bought largely of
securities which, in twenty-four hours, almost doubled in value. Moses
Montefiore, sharing in these transactions, found himself at forty-five a
millionaire.

Instead of slaving away in business to the end of his life, adding
million to million, with the risk of losing all at last, he took the
wise resolution of retiring from business and devoting the rest of his
life to works of philanthropy.

When Queen Victoria came to the throne in 1837, Moses Montefiore was
sheriff of London. The queen had lived near his country-house, and had
often as a little girl strolled about his park. She now enjoyed the
satisfaction of conferring upon her neighbor the honor of knighthood,
and a few years later she made him a baronet. Thus he became Sir Moses,
which has an odd sound to us, but which in England seems natural enough.

During the last fifty years Sir Moses has been, as it were, a
professional philanthropist. Every good cause has shared his bounty, but
he has been most generous to poor members of his own race and religion.
He has visited seven times the Holy Land, where the Jews have been for
ages impoverished and degraded. He has directed his particular attention
to improving the agriculture of Palestine, once so fertile and
productive, and inducing the Jews to return to the cultivation of the
soil. In that country he himself caused to be planted an immense garden,
in which there are nine hundred fruit trees, made productive by
irrigation. He has promoted the system of irrigation by building
aqueducts, digging wells, and providing improved apparatus. He has also
endowed hospitals and almshouses in that country.

In whatever part of the world, during the last fifty years, the Jews
have been persecuted or distressed, he has put forth the most efficient
exertions for their relief, often going himself to distant countries to
convey the requisite assistance. When he was ninety-one years of age he
went to Palestine upon an errand of benevolence. He has pleaded the
cause of his persecuted brethren before the Emperor of Russia, and
pleaded it with success. To all that part of the world known to us
chiefly through the Jews he has been a constant and most munificent
benefactor during the last half century, while never turning a deaf ear
to the cry of want nearer home.

In October he completes his hundredth year. At present (January, 1884),
he reads without spectacles, hears well, stands n