442 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 84. 



" A compleat History of the late War, or Annual 

 Register of its Rise, Progress, and Events in Europe, 

 Asia, Africa, and America, &c." London, 1763. 



This work weut tlirougli more than one edition. 

 My copy, containing 559 pages, is a Dublin edi- 

 tion of the date of 1763, printed by John Exshaw. 



As there seems to be no question that what is 

 contained in this volume is the composition of 

 Burke, and as it has never yet been superseded 

 as a spirited history of the stirring period to which 

 it relates, it ought undoubtedly to be attached as 

 a supplement to the 8vo. edition of Burke's Woi-ks, 

 with his "Account of the European Settlements 

 in America," his title to wiiicli is now placed be- 

 yond dispute. 



It is greatly to be regretted that some of Burke's 

 early publications are yet undiscovered, amongst 

 which are his poetical translations from the Latin, 

 and his attack upon Henry Brooks, the author of 

 the Fool of Qualittj. Jas. CbossI/Ey. 



JEWS IN CHINA. 



Tlie mail which arrived from East India and China 

 about tlie middle or end of March last, brought news 

 of the discovery of a race of Jews in the interior of the 

 latter country, of which I have seen no notice taken by 

 the English press. 



It being a subject in which a number of your 

 readers will probably feel interested, and but compara- 

 tively few of them see the China newspapers, I beg to 

 enclose you an account from the Overland Cliina Mail, 

 dated Hong Kong, Jan. 29, 1851. 



The existence of a fragment of the family of 

 Abraham in the interior of China has been cer- 

 tainly known for upwards of two hundred years, 

 and surmised much longer. The Jesuit llicci, 

 during his residence at Peking in the beginning of 

 the seventeenth century, was the means of exciting 

 the attention of foreigners to the Jews of Kal-funij- 

 fu, the ancient capital of Ilo-nan province. In 1618 

 they were visited by Aleni, a i'ollower of Illccl ; 

 and a hundred years later, between 1704 and 1723, 

 Fathers Gozani, Domenge, and Gaubil were en- 

 abled from personal investigation on the spot to 

 give minute descriptions of the people, their syna- 

 gogue and sacred books, the latter of which few 

 could even then read, while the former was, with 

 the peculiar institutions of Moses, fast falling to 

 decay. Beyond a few feeble and ineffective efforts 

 on the part of Biblical critics, nothing was subse- 

 quently attempted to maintain a communication 

 with this handful of Jews until in 1815 some 

 brethren in London addressed a letter to them in 

 Hebrew, and offered a large reward if any one 

 would bring an answer in the same lanouao-e. 

 The letter was entrusted to a Chinese bookseller, 

 a native of the province, who is reported to have 

 delivered it, which was doubted, as he brought no 

 written answer. 



Recently the Jews' Society in London, encou- 



raged by the munificence of Miss Cook, who 

 placed ample funds at their disposal, instituted 

 enquiries on the subject, and sought the co-ope- 

 ration of the Bishop of Victoria, who having pre- 

 viously opened a correspondence with Dr. Med- 

 hurst on the subject, during his Lordship's recent 

 visit to Shanghae, the plan of operations was agreed 

 upon. This was to despatch two Chinese Chris- 

 tians, one of them a literary graduate, the other a 

 young man with a competent knowledge of En- 

 glish, acquired at the London Missionary School. 

 The North China Herald of the 18th January 

 contains an interesting account of their mission, 

 from which we gather the following particulars. 



The two emissaries started on the 15th No- 

 vember last, and after an .absence of fifty-five 

 days, returned to Shanghae, the distance between 

 the two cities being about six hundred miles.* 

 Arrived at their destination, they found in the 

 decayed city of Kai-fung-fu, both Mohamedans 

 and Jews, the latter poverty-stricken and de- 

 graded, their synagogue in a state of dilapidation, 

 and the distinguishing symbols of their religion 

 nearly extinct. The books of the Law, written 

 in a small square character on sheepskin, are 

 however still preserved, although it would seem 

 for many years they have been seen by no one 

 able to read them. 



The Jesuits mention the existence of the sacred 

 books, but were not suffered to copy or even to 

 inspect them ; but the Chinese Christians encoun- 

 tered no such scruples ; so that, besides taking 

 cojilcs of inscriptions on the stone tablets, they 

 were enabled to bring away eight Hebrew manu- 

 scripts, six of them containing portions of the Old 

 Testament, and two of the Hebrew liturgy. The 

 correspondent of the North China Herald states 

 that — 



" The portions of Scripture are from the 1st to the 

 6lh chapters of Kxodus, from the 3Sth to the 40th 

 chapters of the same book, Leviticus 1 9th and 20th 

 chapters, Numbrrs l;3th, l-tth, and 15tli chapters, Deu- 

 teronomy from the 11th to the 16th cliapters, with the 

 32nd chapter of tliat book. Various portions of the 

 Pentateuch, I'salins, and Ilagiographa occur in the 

 books of prayers, which have not yet been definitely 

 fixed. The character in Avhich these portions are 

 written is an antique form of the Hebrew, with points, f 

 They are written on thick paper, evidently by means 

 of a style, and the material employed, as well as the 

 silk in which the books are bound, exhibit marks of a 

 fureign origin. Two Israelitish gentlemen, to whom 

 they have been shown in Shanghae, say that they have 

 seen such books in Aden ; and the occurrence here and 



* Kai-fung-fu, according to Williams's map, is situ- 

 ated about a league from the southern bank of the 

 Hwang-ho, or Yellow River, in 34° 55' N. Lat., and 

 114° 40' E. Long. 



t The Jesuits state expressly that the Hebrew was 

 without points. 



