FREDERICK THE GREAT, AND THE JEWS OF BERLIN. 547 



After often doubling them with considerable cunning and skill, the 

 old fox at length thought that the hunters were tired out, and the chase 

 at an end. But what were his astonishment and vexation, after count- 

 ing himself out as the proprietor of more pistoles than any other Jew 

 in Berlin, at receiving a summons from the officers of Frederick's 

 chancery to pay ten thousand of the said coins within three days for 

 the king's use ; the same being the customary due or offering neces- 

 sary to be made by one rich Israelite inheriting from another. 



This was too much. Isaac consulted a friend or two, took his reso- 

 lution without delay, and, going to the church of St. Martin, was 

 publicly baptized, and received the cognomen of that famous patron 

 saint. Although this rapid conversion created no small degree of 

 scandal amongst the peoplsh, still the preservation of his great wealth 

 formed a sufficient excuse with his more sensible and worldly-minded 

 relatives and acquaintances. It being well known that if a converted 

 Jew do but attend a distant synagogue one day in the yearj(that is, on 

 the day of expiation), and there undergo the necessary penance and 

 perform the customary ablutions and oblations, his sins of omission and 

 commission will thereby be forgiven, and he is considered by the 

 learned doctors and rabbins to be merely a renegado from neces- 

 sity^ and not from choice. 



Our friend Isaac congratulated himself in the idea of being a match 

 for the great Frederick, as well as at being thus left in the quiet and 

 undisturbed possession of his vast property. The king, who was used 

 to enter into familiar conversation with him whenever he met him on 

 the public walks, took no further notice of the matter than one day to 

 wish him joy on his new prospects of salvation ; at the same time, 

 however, he hinted that probably a love of lucre and an attachment 

 to worldly interests had something to do with his conversion. This 

 the Jew disavowed in the most strenuous manner, offering to take a 

 solemn oath as to the sincerity of his change, and stated that,* although 

 his brother had been reputed rich, he had, in fact, died in but very 

 indifferent circumstances. Nay, he even went so far as to endeavour 

 to convince his Majesty that his own present possessions were so far 

 from being affluent, and being now a Christian, he had serious 

 thoughts of soliciting some place under government for ^his future 

 support. Frederick shortly replied, if such were really the case, he 

 certainly should feel great pleasure in providing for so old a friend 

 and so sincere a Christian, by putting him into some office in the 

 royal household, and near to his own person, for the remainder of his 

 life. Isaac expressed his humble gratitude to his Majesty, and, bowing 

 to the ground, retired from the parade, chuckling with joy at having 

 outwitted Frederick, who, although a great captain in the field, was, 

 in his (Isaac's) opinion, no match for a descendant of that famous pa- 

 triarch who had induced his brother to sell his birthright for a mess of 

 pottage. 



Two days afterwards Isaac was congratulated by his friends on the 

 appearance of his appointment in the " Berlin Gazette," as Courier ex- 

 traordinary to his Majesty, but all were puzzled to account for so ex- 

 traordinary an appointment. They concluded that the printer of the 

 " Gazette,'' or some other person, must have committed an error in the 



