roof
how dangerous it is to take any authorities at second-hand.--_Note to
Fourth Edition._ Much clamour has been made about the mistake of Maclaine,
which was innocent and not unnatural. It has been commented upon,
particularly by Dr. Arnold, as a proof of the risk we run of
misrepresenting authors by quoting them at second-hand. And this is
perfectly true, and ought to be constantly remembered. But, so long as we
acknowledge the immediate source of our quotation, no censure is due,
since in works of considerable extent this use of secondary authorities is
absolutely indispensable, not to mention the frequent difficulty of
procuring access to original authors [1848.]

[540] Mr. Turner has collected many curious facts relative to the
condition of the Jews, especially in England. Hist. of England, vol. ii.
p. 95. Others may be found dispersed in Velly's History of France; and
many in the Spanish writers, Mariana and Zurita. The following are from
Vaissette's History of Languedoc. It was the custom at Toulouse to give
a blow on the face to a Jew every Easter; this was commuted in the
twelfth century for a tribute. t. ii. p. 151. At Beziers another usage
prevailed, that of attacking the Jews' houses with stones from Palm
Sunday to Easter. No other weapon was to be used; but it generally
produced bloodshed. The populace were regularly instigated to the
assault by a sermon from the bishop. At length a prelate wiser than the
rest abolished this ancient practice, but not without receiving a good
sum from the Jews. p. 485.

[541] Greg. Tur. 1. ii. c. 40. Of Theodebert, grandson of Clovis, the
same historian says, Magnum se et in omni bonitate praecipuum reddidit.
In the next paragraph we find a story of his having two wives, and
looking so tenderly on the daughter of one of them, that her mother
tossed her over a bridge into the river. 1. iii. c. 25. This indeed is a
trifle to the passage in the text. There are continual proofs of
immorality in the monkish historians. In the history of Ramsey Abbey,
one of our best documents for Anglo-Saxon times, we have an anecdote of
a bishop who made a Danish nobleman drunk, that he might cheat him of an
estate, which is told with much approbation. Gale, Script. Anglic. t. i.
p. 441. Walter de Hemingford recounts with excessive delight the
well-known story of the Jews who were persuaded by the captain of their
vessel to walk on the sands at low water, till the rising tide drowned
them; an