r,
who, on account of his knowledge of the French and Italian languages,
acted as one of the secretaries to the French Synhedrion under
Napoleon I., in the year 1806. At the last session of that assembly he
had moved a resolution to the effect that "the Jews in France,
Germany, and Italy do now forget all the misfortunes (_i.e._,
persecution) which befell them, and only engrave in their hearts the
kind acts which have been done towards them, and that they acknowledge
with deep gratitude the kind reception which the Popes and other
representatives of the Catholic Church had given them at a time when
barbarity, prejudice, and ignorance had persecuted and expelled them
from society." The resolution was unanimously adopted, and entered in
the minutes of the proceedings.

Unfortunately, Pius VII., the Pope who declared that he represented
Aaron, the Prophet of God, cannot be numbered among those who
protected the Jews. Immediately after the restoration of the Bourbons,
in the year 1814, as soon as he was able to resume the government of
the Papal States, he re-established the Inquisition.

Monsieur Avigdor had the mortification of witnessing the distressing
consequences of the Pope's new edicts. The Jews in Rome were obliged
to quit the houses which, under the French Government, they had been
permitted to own in all parts of the city, and return to the Ghetto.
They had to give up counting-houses and other places of business which
they had in the Corso. In vain did they offer large sums of money to
induce the Minister of State to withdraw his order. The applications
made by numerous deputations from Jewish communitiesin various towns
likewise proved fruitless. They were even forced to attend sermons
preached in the churches for the purpose of their conversion, heavy
fines being imposed upon all those who absented themselves; and those
who were detected either asleep, or not paying sufficient attention to
the sermon, were unceremoniously aroused by one of the priests.

I noticed during my stay in Rome a Hebrew inscription over the
entrance of one of these churches (Chiesa della divina pieta), which
runs as follows: "I have spread out my hands all the day unto a
rebellious people, which walketh in a way that was not good, after
their own thoughts, a people that provoketh me to anger continually to
my face." (Isaiah lxv., 3 and 4)

Mr Avigdor often spoke on the above subject to Sir Moses and Lady
Montefiore. He related some