-
Articles/Ads
Article CHAPTER II. ← Page 2 of 6 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Chapter Ii.
day their commerce , doubling their connection , and establishing their influence . By degrees their fortunes increased . At first they trafficked in merchandise , but soon they dealt in money . The Jews became the bankers of the middle ages . When once their wealth was known , and they imagined they coidd reckon on the futuretheir jealousy ancl avarice combined to
, destroy their work ; they were driven from place to place , and their wealth was confiscated . The banishment of the Jews became at one period quite a resource—it was a simple means of coining money . There have been kings , who drove them out of their territories , and then recalled them no less than six times . In Spain , the civil power was not contented with
banishing them—it positively massacred them .... Such conduct was assuredly most inhuman , but , after all , it was the least dangerous , since the Jews perceived , the moment the alternative was given them of being converted or burnt , that it were wiser to prefer conversion . It is reckoned that in the twelfth century more than a million of Jews renounced the law of
Moses to embrace the faith of Jesus Christ . For the most part their conversion was only feigned , as almost all returned to Judaism at the first opportunity . After having been baptized , they were unbaptizecl , and there the matter ended . Bernhard was received by an old woman , who , without asking him what he wantedconducted him longstraiht
, across a , g corridor into a vast and spacious room , which was lighted ° by a single lamp . A smouldering fire burnt in the chimney ; the floor was composed of black earth , which damp had rendered soft and slippery . From one end to the other of the apartment a chilliness prevailed , which pierced and froze the very bones .
_ The old woman begged Bernhard to wait a few minutes , and disappeared , leaving him a prey to an indescribable terror , which had been inspired by the recollection of the capricious phantom which had dogged his steps to the Jews' quarter , the recollection of which was by no means dispelled by the aspect of the large and desolate chamberHe feebldrew
. y a chair near to the fireplace , and sat down . As his courage at length returned , he began to look about him , and to endeavour to distinguish the various objects through the gloom , by which he was surrounded .
The lamp was placed upon a miserable worm-eaten table in the middle of the room ; on the right and left stood several large carved cabinets , such as wero made at that epoch , when the richness and finish of such work were only ex-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Chapter Ii.
day their commerce , doubling their connection , and establishing their influence . By degrees their fortunes increased . At first they trafficked in merchandise , but soon they dealt in money . The Jews became the bankers of the middle ages . When once their wealth was known , and they imagined they coidd reckon on the futuretheir jealousy ancl avarice combined to
, destroy their work ; they were driven from place to place , and their wealth was confiscated . The banishment of the Jews became at one period quite a resource—it was a simple means of coining money . There have been kings , who drove them out of their territories , and then recalled them no less than six times . In Spain , the civil power was not contented with
banishing them—it positively massacred them .... Such conduct was assuredly most inhuman , but , after all , it was the least dangerous , since the Jews perceived , the moment the alternative was given them of being converted or burnt , that it were wiser to prefer conversion . It is reckoned that in the twelfth century more than a million of Jews renounced the law of
Moses to embrace the faith of Jesus Christ . For the most part their conversion was only feigned , as almost all returned to Judaism at the first opportunity . After having been baptized , they were unbaptizecl , and there the matter ended . Bernhard was received by an old woman , who , without asking him what he wantedconducted him longstraiht
, across a , g corridor into a vast and spacious room , which was lighted ° by a single lamp . A smouldering fire burnt in the chimney ; the floor was composed of black earth , which damp had rendered soft and slippery . From one end to the other of the apartment a chilliness prevailed , which pierced and froze the very bones .
_ The old woman begged Bernhard to wait a few minutes , and disappeared , leaving him a prey to an indescribable terror , which had been inspired by the recollection of the capricious phantom which had dogged his steps to the Jews' quarter , the recollection of which was by no means dispelled by the aspect of the large and desolate chamberHe feebldrew
. y a chair near to the fireplace , and sat down . As his courage at length returned , he began to look about him , and to endeavour to distinguish the various objects through the gloom , by which he was surrounded .
The lamp was placed upon a miserable worm-eaten table in the middle of the room ; on the right and left stood several large carved cabinets , such as wero made at that epoch , when the richness and finish of such work were only ex-