Page images
PDF
EPUB

"The sum is too

"And have you succeeded?" asked Alberto. "Not beyond a promise," answered Hermano. large, and must be had from Mordecai, that Jewish dog.”

Whatever be the sum you require to meet your present exigencies shall be in your possession before noon to-morrow," said Alberto.

"Thou art a generous soul, Alberto!" said Hermano, embracing his friend," and I a melancholy spendthrift."

"

"Tut, tut, tut!-my generosity is like that of most lenders,” answered Alberto, " bottomed upon wanting something in return.' Alberto then related to his friend what had befallen him at the professor's tower; and, Hermano agreeing to assist him, by speaking in a feigned voice through the reed, they proceeded together to the dwelling of Mordecai. There, the reed having been introduced into the window, Hermano applied his mouth to it, and exclaimed

“O, Mordecai, thou son of Hamon! get thee up, and proceed instantly to the house of Rabbi Manasseh, where thou wilt find Henriques, thy subtle debtor, about to decamp with thy money. Arise, I say, arise!"

At the very first sound that issued from the reed, Mordecai started from his sleep, and raising himself from his pallet of straw, listened with terrified soul to the prophetic warning.

"What is it that I hear!" he exclaimed. 66 Henriques, my principal debtor, that dog of a merchant, about to decamp in my heavy debt? Nay-it cannot be-I have been dreaming-my thoughts are but the forgeries of sleep. I saw him here this noon-there was no guilty intention in his eye. But did he not say at parting, Farewell, until we meet again?' There was meaning in those words. Hark! that sound again!"

"Dost thou hear the voice of thy guardian angel, Mordecai, and yet tarriest in thy bed? Up, Mordecai !-up!-shake off sleep— the sixth part of death-or the day will wake instead of your waking it!"

you

"I rise, I rise, O spirits of Abraham and Elijah !" said Mordecai, suiting the action to the word; and he hastily washed his hands, and hurried on his clothes; according to the prescribed rule of the Jews, rinsed his mouth, put on his tephilin, and then pronounced the name of Elohim.

Deborah, who slept in the adjoining room to her father, hearing him getting up at such an unseasonable hour, hastily dressed herself, and came into his apartment just as he was leaving it. "What ails thee, child?" said the Jew; 66 get thee back to thy bed. The night was made for sleep, and not for waking curiosity: get thee to sleep again ;" and, so saying, he hurried out of his house, carefully locking and double-locking the door after him. No sooner had he turned the corner of the street, and gone fairly out of sight and hearing, than Alberto and Hermano coming from the place of their concealment, knocked loudly at the Jew's door, Deborah, thinking that some accident had befallen her father, ran to the window to ascertain what it was; for she knew that the door was doublelocked, and the key in his pocket.

"Light of my soul!" said Alberto, as she appeared at the casement, "if you love me but half as much as you have often sworn you do, fly with me this instant-not a moment must be lost. I will

explain everything to you when we are safely beyond the reach of pursuit."

"Oh, Alberto! what would you have me do? Do not urge me to abandon my father's roof in a manner so abrupt, and to put my name and reputation upon the faithless balances of backbiting and detracting tongues."

"I would root out the mendacious tongue that should profane thy name with lawless ribaldry!" passionately exclaimed Alberto; " but we have now no time for words: stay not here, I implore thee, wasting the precious moments that love has granted us. Hark! I hear the tread of feet-they come this way!-the window is not far from the ground-there is no danger-jump! and my longing arms shall receive thee."

Scarcely knowing what she did, Deborah half jumped half fell into the arms of Alberto, and, followed by Hermano, they hastened to Alberto's house, where, for the present, we must leave them.

Meanwhile, with a hurried and nervous step, Mordecai proceeded to the house of Rabbi Manasseh, where being arrived, his heart responded against his meagre ribs to the lusty and decisive knocks which he gave at the Rabbi's door, so quick and so loud were those noisy appeals, that the whole street echoed and re-echoed with the sounds. The rabbi being a godly man, and of considerable importance in the sanhedrim,-for he was well skilled in the sacred mysteries of the cabali, mishna, and gemera,-thought (especially as he duly estimated himself) that such an authoritative demand of admittance could proceed from no one less than the prophet Elijah, in one of his nocturnal rambles. Somewhat elated at the idea of so signal and unexpected a favour, the rabbi, without even waiting to put on his garments, rushed from his bed to receive his venerable visitor. The surprise, disgust, mortification, and anger he evinced upon opening the street door, and seeing the disturbed and anxious Jew, can be better imagined than expressed.

"Am I in time?" ejaculated the unhappy Mordecai with an air of distraction; " is he off yet?-Henriques, with my twenty thousand dobleros ?—a large sum, rabbi, to trust a Christian with, without a bond!"

Justly exasperated, and perhaps the more so from his disappointment in regard of the prophet Elijah, the rabbi exclaimed,

"Thou malignant and nocturnal sprite! what dost thou mean by this unseasonable interruption ?"-and, without another word, unceremoniously slammed the door in Mordecai's face, then with a ferocious inward oath he hurried back to his chamber.

As Mordecai could fancy nothing else, from the rabbi's strange and uncouth behaviour, but that he was in league with, and affording protection to Henriques, he wrought himself into a desperate and ungovernable rage, and renewed his knocking more boisterously, if possible, than before; head, hands, and feet were all employed in the office of battering-ram against the patient, but steadily-resisting door. The rabbi was unaccustomed to bear with meekness such intolerable insolence and presumption; he therefore opened his window, and discharged without remorse the contents of

The Jews believe that Elijah is always wandering about the world as an ambassador of God, and visiting the most holy and virtuous rabbis.

a capacious utensil upon the offending head of his bearded besieger. At length the noise occasioned by the bombardment, as earnest as that of Titus against Jerusalem, mingled with the angry vociferations of Mordecai, disturbing the whole neighbourhood, brought the alguazils to the scene of action, who, like most others invested with petty authority, not stopping to inquire into the merits of the case, fell upon the disconcerted and enraged Mordecai, and soon, with handcuffs and fistycuffs, silenced the thunder of his artillery, and led him away captive by the collar to prison. More mercifully and tenderly does an eagle bear away the timid hare in his sharp talons, than did those sprigs of brief authority carry off the poor Jew. They pinched, kicked, and pulled him, first this way and then that, in order that they might the more conveniently and unsuspectedly ease his pocket of its contents.

In the morning he was brought before the alcady, who, being an unprejudiced judge, instead of sentencing the miserable Mordecai to death, merely condemned him to pay an exorbitant sum for midnight brawling,—an additional sum because the offender was a Jew,

a farther sum, because he hated the Jews,—and a still farther sum, because the offender was rich, and ought to pay; for it was not often that he dared to condemn a person that could afford to pay. In failure of paying these various fines within twelve hours, the Jew was to be sent to the galleys for ten years, and at the expiration of that term to be brought back to prison, and hanged the following morning at sunrise.

With this mild and merciful sentence Mordecai had nothing to do but comply; and Mordecai was one of those philosophers who think it better to be regarded as a patient ass than an impotent lion; though the payment of such large sums was worse to him than even the loss of his life-blood, yet he knew that in Toledo it was useless to kick against the pricks, for whatever sentence the alcady pronounced was unalterable. The poor Jew was conducted to his house by alguazils sufficient in number to keep in awe at least ten robust obstreperous clowns. What was his horror, what his distraction on arriving there, to find his home deserted, his daughter fled ! He plucked his hair from his beard, he smote his breast, he stamped his feet; but to no other purpose than the amusement of his gentle and benevolent guardians, who laughed at his sorrows, and seemed to enjoy his agony.

Mordecai now remembered the harsh treatment to which he had subjected his daughter, and was stung to the quick by remorse of conscience. "Where is my daughter," he cried aloud, "for whom I have broken my sleep with anxious thoughts, loaded my soul with usurious crimes, and left myself without a friend? Give me my child, sirs, and you shall have your money without interest-without a sigh! Oh! some bloodthirsty Christian has kidnapped and murdered her! Give me my child, or you will lash me into madness!" The ravings of the Jew and the merriment it occasioned to his guardians soon collected a crowd round the house; and as even among the Jews, whatever the Christian may think to the contrary, there are kind-hearted Samaritans who pour oil into the bleeding bosom, and assuage the griefs of the sorrowful, some of those humane persons, upon hearing the state of matters from the alguazils, undertook to supply the mulcts inflicted upon their distressed

brother, and in a short time cleared his house of the mercenary crew by handing them over the money leaving poor Mordecai to the condolence of his friends, who proffered their assistance to find his daughter. What was the effect of their kindness will shortly

appear.

It was Easter Sunday, and the Christian inhabitants of Toledo were assembled in the magnificent cathedral to hear high mass performed by the archbishop. Among the catechumens present was a maiden proselyte of surpassing beauty, whose large black corruscant eye darted into the coldest hearts the flames that sparkled in its orb. She was a convert from the Jewish to the Christian faith, and had been the day before* publicly baptised in the presence of the whole congregation. She was now devoutly kneeling at the altar, and seemed absorbed in sincere and humble orisons to the throne of grace, where even the solitary prayer of a contrite heart is more acceptable than the united formal prayers of the fullest congrega. tion collected by mere duty, custom, or necessity.

High mass was completed, and the archbishop in the very act of exposing the host to the veneration of the faithful, all upon their knees, whilst the anthem, "O sacrum convivium," was being chanted, when all was suddenly interrupted by a violent uproar occasioned by the rush of upwards of fifty Jews up the aisle of the cathedral towards the high altar, and upon whose entrance a sudden darkness overspread the building. At this strange and unceremonious intrusion each individual looked aghast at his neighbour, the anthem ceased, the priests and acolytes were dismayed,-all was confusion. The archbishop alone remained undaunted, though somewhat surprised, his deep-set hazel eye flashing liquid fire, as in his sonorous voice he peremptorily demanded the cause of that unholy and sacrilegious interruption of the worship of God, upon a day pre-eminent amongst the festivals of the Church. The Jewish proselyte, alarmed at the noise, was roused from her pious reverie. She looked up, and beheld her father; for it was Mordecai himself that headed the Hebrew rabble. She uttered a wild and piercing shriek, and fell senseless into the arms of a richly-attired cavalero who was kneeling beside her.

The mouth of Mordecai, as if in the act of speaking, began now to open and shut, "like that of a crow gaping in hot weather," and so did the mouths of all the Jewish intruders, but not one sound issued therefrom. The archbishop, thinking that the Jews were mocking him and the service of the church, ordered them all to be instantly seized, bastinadoed, and ejected from the cathedral; but the congregation, men, women, and children, arose simultaneously, as if by an irresistible impulse, and massacred the whole of the unbelieving curs at the foot of the altar. Frightful was the slaughter, and heart-rending ought to have been the dying groans, the gnashing of teeth, and the moans of the poor Jews, who were unable to utter one word of explanation or complaint, for by a miracle they had all become dumb. No sooner, however, were the last gasp for breath and the last death-rattle heard in their throats,

• A day peculiarly appropriated to the baptism of Jewish converts, then and since.

+ The words of the contemporary writer are, "Nunc ore patulo, more corvi præ aloris æstibus rostra aperientis."

than the unnatural obscurity which had overspread the place on their entrance, vanished; the whole sacred edifice glittered with the brightness of lightning, and a heavenly choir was heard singing. The supernal strains as they died away were succeeded by the howlings and barking of bloodhounds, who (either attracted by the carnal smell of Jewish blood, or perhaps miraculously sent by the saint presiding over the cathedral of Toledo) yelped into the church, and made a gory banquet of the remains of the unfortunate unbelievers.

Twelve months after this memorable slaughter of fifty Jews in the cathedral of Toledo, that being the earliest period which decency permitted, the nuptials of Don Alberto de Ximenes and Christiana (for Deborah at her baptism had dropped her Jewish name, and assumed a new one more appropriate to her adopted belief) were celebrated with great pomp and splendour, on the very spot where Mordecai had been slaughtered. The archbishop, on the conclusion of the ceremony, delivered a long inflated monitory on the subject of disobedience, the necessity and sacred obligation of keeping promises, vows, and so forth, and wound up by declaiming against the wickedness and immense absurdity of a belief in the black art and occult sciences.

Don Alberto felt the full force of his uncle's oration, every word of which came home to his heart, for he had offended in all the particulars about which his uncle had preached; but it was not until forty years afterwards, when the archbishop was unfortunately drowned in the Rhone, that he learnt the truth of the facts stated in this little narrative.

DELTA.

A GLEAM OF THE PAST.

I SLEPT, and o'er my wand'ring senses came
A scene of childhood, beautiful and bright;
Methought I rushed again with joyous bound
To greet the coming of the new-born day,
And taste her many-scented od'rous breath.
Fair Nature spread a rich and boundless store
To charm my sight; the rainbow-tinted flow'r
Unclosed her virgin beauty to the sun,
Courting his truant smiles and golden beams;
And wild-bees tarried on their lazy flights
To steal with murmured song the luscious spoil:
Again I looked upon the smiling wave,
And traced its fairy gambols on the deep,
Leaping to wanton music of the breeze.
Wearied at length, methought I found my rest
In the soft haven of a mother's arms:
Loving and loved, I basked within the gaze
Of ever-watchful eye, till misty gleams
Stole o'er my brow, and pictured to my view
Those visions of a far and distant land

That glitter in an angel-revelry.

Could I but taste that blissful dream again,

Thoughtless of change, and reckless of the storm,
That slumbers in the cloud of woe to come!

JULIAN.

« PreviousContinue »