J E W. 80 [J 
With. Tii the eighteenth year of his reign, upon a peti¬ 
tion of the inhabitants of Newcallle, he granted them the 
inhofpitable privilege, that no Jew fhould ever refide 
among them. This prince was not free, from the confif- 
catory policy fo common in the dark ages; but frequently 
pillaged the Jews; his neceffities, however, would have 
continued to tolerate them, had not the pope fent over 
the Caurfini, Chriltians and Lombards, who were gradu¬ 
ally to fuperfede the ancient practitioners of ufury, by 
conducting it in a manner not diffipproved by the church. 
To fuch a pitch of hatred was the prejudice, which had 
been gradually inftilled into the people againft the Jews, 
arrived, during this.reign, that in 12.62, when the king, 
refuting to hand to the agreement lately made with his 
barons at Oxford,.withdrew into the Tower, and threat¬ 
ened the Londoners for taking part with his enemies ; 
the barons fuddenly entered London with great forces, 
and (to keep the citizens more ftrongly in their intereft) 
gratified them with the Jlaughter of /even hundred Jews at 
once , whole houfes they firft plundered, and then burnt 
their new fynagogue to the ground. It was, how'ever, 
rebuilt; but, in 1270, taken from them, upon complaint 
of the Friers Penitents, that they were not able to make 
the body of Ghrift in quiet, for the great bowlings the 
Jews made there during their worlhip. 
In the third year of Edward I. a law paffed the com¬ 
mons concerning Judaifm, which feemed to promife a 
qualified fecurity ; notwithftanding which, in the year 
1290, and the 18th of his reign, the king feized upon all 
their real eftates, and the whole community was baniflied 
the kingdom. Yet no fooner (adds the hiftorian) was 
•the inventory made, and every thing fold to the bell: bid¬ 
der, than the whole produce was unaccountably fquan- 
dered away, without one penny being ever put afide for 
thofe pious ufes which the king had talked of. From 
fifteen to fixteen thoufand Jews were thus ruined, and 
then expelled. During the preceding century, they mult 
conltantly have been in a ftate of rapid and progreflive 
diminution ; neither is it probable, thatt'he more refpeCta- 
ble portion of them fhould have put fo much confidence 
in edifts of recal, thus frequently and perfidioufly re¬ 
voked, as to have been found fettled in England. Yet 
even thefe left behind them feveral valuable libraries, one 
particularly at Stamford, and another at Oxford, which 
fall being purchafed among the fcholars, molt of the He¬ 
brew books were bought by the famous Roger Bacon, 
who, by a Ihort note written in one of them, declared 
they were of great fervice to him in his lludies. This 
expulfion was fo complete, that no farther traces of Eng- 
lilh Jews occur until long after the reformation. 
It was referved for the generous policy of Oliver Crom¬ 
well to attempt reltoring to Great Britain the induftry 
and wealth of the Jews. During ages of unrelenting 
perfecution, they had, however, lolt many of the virtues 
of their early character. Opprefiion had imprinted an 
air of meannefs, of lervile timidity, upon their demeanor. 
The undiftinguilhing contempt of men, who ought to 
treat them as equals, had leffened the importance, and 
therefore the frequency, of refpeftable character among 
them. This inferior degree of delicacy in points of re¬ 
putation occafioned their being employed in ufurious and 
other illegal tran faction s; and thefe practices kept alive 
the prejudices of the magiltrate. Scarcely allowed a 
home, they contracted the habit of all itinerant pedlars, 
who, never expefting to fee the fame cuftomer twice, 
have nothing to apprehend from making an exorbitant 
gain upon each tingle tranfaflion. Schools, lynagogues, 
and other inllitutions of public inftruftion, were fo un¬ 
willingly'allotted them, and their appearance in Chrif- 
tian fchools fo (hamefully refitted, that they were funk 
into a degree of ignorance, which increafed to themfelves 
and others the ditficulty of bettering their condition.' 
The firft intereourfe between Cromwell and the Jews 
was managed by means of one Henry Marten, upon whofe 
intimations, a deputation from the Jews at Amiterdam 
Vol.X. No. 720* 
waited on the Englifh ambaffadors there, whom they en¬ 
tertained with concerts of mufic in their fynagogue, and 
by means of whom they obtained permiftion from the 
parliament to fend a public envoy with propofals. Af¬ 
ter fome deliberation, they fixed upon Manaffeh Ben If- 
rael, a divine and doftor of phylic, as he ftyled himfeif; 
in reality, a printer and bookfeller; and of whom Huet 
tells us, that he was a chief ruler of the fynagogue, and 
married to a wife who was related to the family of the 
Abrabanels, which pretends to be of the tribe of Judah 
and of the houfe of David, by which wife having feveral 
children, he would fometimeS boaft of having railed up 
feed unto David. He was otherwife a man of great mo- 
delty and moderation, a perfect matter of the letter-of 
feripture, and very little addicted to the myftical fuper- 
ftitions of the cabbala. This Manaffeh, 611 his arrival in 
England, prefented an addrefs to the Lord Protector, re¬ 
cognizing his authority, and foliciting his' protection : 
“For our people (fays lie) did in their own minds pre- 
fage, that, the kingly government being now - changed 
into that of a commonwealth, the ancient hatred toward 
them would alfo be changed into good-will; that thole 
rigorous laws, if any there be yet extant, made under the 
kings, againft fo innocent a people, would happily be re¬ 
pealed.” He alfo prefented, printed, and difperfed, a de¬ 
claration to the commonwealth, and a treatife. containing 
feveral arguments for toleration, addreffed to the juftic.e 
of the principled, to the prudence of the reflecting, and 
to the prejudices of the multitude. O11 the 4th of De¬ 
cember, 1655, Cromwell fummoned a convention, meet¬ 
ing, or privy-council, confining of two lawyers, feven ci¬ 
tizens, and fourteen noted preachers, to confult upon this 
requeft of the Jews. Among the latter, Mr. Godwin and 
Mr. Peters (whofe works were burnt along-with thofe of 
Milton at the reftoration), and Mr. Nye (of celebrated 
beard), particularly exerted themfelves in favour of put¬ 
ting the Jews upon the like footing with other lefts. -So 
many fymptoms of prejudice and intolerance efcaped 
from others, that, after a conference of four days, Crom¬ 
well began to think the rneafure would not be introduced 
to the people from the pulpits in a manner to aflilt its 
popularity ; and therefore difmiffed the meeting, faying, 
they had rendered the matter more doubtful to him than it 
was before. On the firft of April he took leave of Ma- 
nafleli, by a polite, but ev,alive, anfwer. Whilft this affair 
was pending, the rabbi Jacob Ben Azahel profeffed to 
entertain fufpicions, that Cromwell was the expected 
Mefiiah ; an opinion propagated, no doubt, for the pur- 
pofe of attracting a vaft concourfe of the lower claffes of 
Jews into England, in cafe the political equality, for 
which Manaffeh petitioned, could have been obtained. 
Some few mult from this period have fettled in London 
by connivance, fince, in 1663, their regifter of births con¬ 
tained twelve names; find during the whole reign of 
Charles II. who introduced the fale of patents of deni¬ 
zation, their numbers increafed. 
In 1684, James II. remitted the alien duty upon all 
goods exported in favour of the Jews. This was univer- 
fally refented by the Englilh merchants, who were appre- 
lienfive that the fame duties would alfo be remitted upon 
all imported goods. Petitions from the Hamburgh-com- 
pany, from the Eaftland-company, from fifty-feven of the 
leading merchants in the city, from the weft, and from 
the north, were offered to the king againft this equitable 
regulation. After the revolution, this order was l'uper- 
feded, to the great joy of the Chriftian merchants. 
In the firft year of queen Anne, a detettable ftatute was 
paffed, to encourage the converfion of young Jews, by 
emancipating fuch converts from all dependence upon 
their parents. And in the fixth year of George II. Rea- 
fons were offered to the Lord Mayor and Court of Aider- 
men, for applying to Parliament for the fuppreffion of 
Jew brokers. No public proceeding, however, enlued; 
equity for once overpowered felfiflinefs. 
The church of England, jealous from its infancy, had 
9 U ' obtained, 
