David Nieto and Some of his Contemporaries

<plain_text><page sequence="1">THE JEWISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF ENGLAND. David Nieto and some of his Contemporaries. By Israel Solomons. Paper read before the Jewish Historical Society of England, March 15, 1915. [Editorial Note : Mr. Israel Solomons was a noted bibliophile who formed a collection of Anglo-Judaica, especially strong in pamphlets, prints and portraits, for the study of the modern period. He con? tributed two papers to the Transactions (" The Jews' Naturalisation Bill of 1753/' vol. vi., and " Lord George Gordon," vol. vii.). At the time of his death, in July 1923, he was engaged in completing the bibliography of the writings of Haham David Nieto, and the final revision of this paper was carried out by Dr. Lionel D. Barnett, Dr. C. Duschinsky, Dr. Cecil Both, Mr. Elkan N. Adler and Mr. J. M. Kich. The collections mentioned in this paper have now been dispersed, those of Mr. Solomons and Mr. Elkan Adler having gone to the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, whilst most of the MSS. formerly in the possession of Haham Dr. M. Gaster are in the British Museum.] One of the most eminent of the Babbis who have ministered to a Jewish Congregation in this country was unquestionably David, son of Phineas Nieto. He was born in the city of Venice on Sunday, the 29th day of Tebeth 5414 (January 18, 1654).1 Little is known of his family history 1 Dr. M. Gaster, in his " Presidential Address," Transactions, vii. 299, gives 28 Tebeth 1658 as the date of birth. VOL. XII. B</page><page sequence="2">2 DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. or early career. In a volume of Responsa,2 by Samuel Aboab, the Haham of Venice (1650-1690), No. 180, dated 1674, is headed " To R. Phineas Nieto," at Rome,3 and No. 192, undated, bears the same super? scription. Dr. Meyer Kayserling, in a footnote to page 76 of his Biblio teca Espanola-Portugueza-Judaica, 1890, suggests that he was probably the father of our Haham.4 Francisco da Silva, in a paragraph on " David Neto" in his Diccionario Bibliographico Portuguez, i. 128, suggested that his parents were New Christians, who had fled from Portugal in consequence of the persecutions under Dom Pedro II (brother of Queen Catherine, the consort of our Charles II). The Nietos may have been Portuguese Marranos, but it is obvious that, as they were already settled in Venice in 1654, when the future Haham first saw the light, the persecution under the rule of Dom Pedro was not the cause of their emigration. David Neto, a physician, who died April 6, 1617, one of the first Presidents of the first synagogue in Amsterdam, and Abraham de Joseph Netto, a printer at Venice circa 1622 (Kayserling, ibid., p. 76), were probably related to them. The Rev. Daniel Lysons, in his Environs of London, 1735, iii. 478, writes that Mr. Daniel T. de Castro, the Secretary of the Bevis Marks Synagogue, informed him that Nieto had studied at the University of Padua, where, on account of his religion, he took his degree in Physic. In a Hebrew letter to Christian Theophilus Unger (1671-1719),5 theologian and bibliophile, dated Tamuz 5479 (now in the Stadtbiblio thek, Hamburg), Nieto writes that before coming to London he resided in Leghorn, exercising the functions of Dayan, Preacher, and Physician, and there in the year 1693 composed a work in Italian, his native language, entitled Pascalogia. It is a discourse about Easter, in which are shown the reasons for the discrepancies in the time of its celebration between the Greek and Latin Churches as well as between these and the Hebrew Synagogue. From the introduction " Al Benigno Lettore " we gather that the work was occasioned by the celebration of the Easter of the Roman Church on March 22 and of Passover on April 21 in the 2 VfcO?ttf -DT *1D0 Venice, 1702. 3 fl?T)1? W?a DJ12D YTD1? [4 According to a document in the collection of Dr. Cecil Roth, Phineas Nieto was in 1657 a member of the Mahamad (governing body) of the Portuguese com? munity in Rome.] 5 See p. 38.</page><page sequence="3">DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 3 year 1693, contrary to the usual occurrence, which is that Passover precedes Easter. The Pascalogia is divided into five parts, in the form of dialogues between " Pascalogo " and " Filomate." The first dialogue treats of the " Explanation of the Terms necessary for the understanding of the work." The second, " Of the differences which have occurred between the Universal Church and the Synagogue con? cerning the time of the celebration of Easter from the Council of Nice in 325 to the date of the Gregorian Keformation, 1582." The third, " Of the discrepancies which have arisen between the Church and the Synagogue, concerning the time of celebrating Easter, from the year of the Gregorian Keformation 1582, to the year 1700 exclusive." The fourth, " Of the new differences which will arise between the Church and the Synagogue concerning Easter, from the year 1700 exclusive, and so on in perpetuity." The fifth, " In which are shown the grave discrepancies which have arisen and will arise between the Latin and Greek Churches concerning the time for the celebration of Easter, since the Gregorian Keformation." The dedication, dated from Leghorn, March 2, 1700, is addressed to Cardinal Francesco Maria de' Medici.6 It is pleasing to note the amicable relations of Rabbi and Cardinal at this early stage of the eighteenth century. Nieto brought the manuscript with him to London when he came over to fill the office of Haham at the Bevis Marks Synagogue, and he had it printed here in the year 1702.7 It was his purpose to conceal the origin of the work, and, in the letter to Unger, he writes that the author and the city were considered heretical, and therefore " Colonia " (Cologne) was substituted for London on the title-page, as he was under the appre? hension that the Christians in Italy would otherwise not receive it favourably. This argument would have been convincing had it been an anonymous or pseudonymous work, but as the imprint proclaims the author to be David Nieto, Kabbi and Professor of Medicine, the sub? stitution of " Colonia " for " London " seems inconsequent and purpose? less. Neither can I appreciate why " Colonia " was supposed to avert suspicion ; surely there were other cities in Europe whose loyalty to Kome was absolute. The dedication to a high dignitary of the Church, 6 Third son of Cosimo III, Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1670 to 1723. 7 Dr. Gaster, ut supra, p. 301, gives 1704.</page><page sequence="4">4 david nieto and some of his contemporaries. which one may surmise was accepted, should have been a sufficient guarantee as to the orthodoxy of the work for followers of the Roman Catholic faith. My copy, I am inclined to think, was the author's own. It is ex? quisitely bound in contemporary red morocco, with gold gauffered edges. The gold tooling of the cover is in the Harleian manner; upon it is impressed " david neto " in gold letters. The spelling of the author's name, which means grandson or descendant, varies. Neto is Portuguese, Nieto 8 is Spanish, but Neto has been frequently used by the family, and occasionally it is spelt Nietto. In 1765 Isaac de Pas 9 issued a second edition at Leghorn, in the preface of which he writes : " Most benignant reader, it has seemed to me that I could do nothing more conducive to the public welfare, than to reprint the Pascalogia of David Nieto, Rabbi, and doctor of medicine, one of the most celebrated authors of his century, by whom it was given to the world in the year 1702. By the sublimity of its conceptions and the erudition of its period, it has deserved the esteem of all those who have a perfect discernment of the subject of which it treats, the proof whereof is that copies of this work are ever very scarce because everyone wishes to possess it; therefore for the advantage of all, and encouraged by those best qualified to do so, I resolved to issue a fine new edition. I must first caution you not to be surprised when in reading this work you find the word pasca times out of number when according to the present usage it should be pasqua, but I was minded not to alter so much as a syllable of what I found written in the first edition, and therefore I thought proper to use the same word as the author, calling it Pasca, as it was likewise called by the Greeks and Latins, which word is not derived from the Greek word Ilacr^a as Lactantius imagined but rather from the Hebrew word nOD as others maintain; leaving your subtle wits to discover the true arguments?May you live in happiness." The first edition is very scarce?only a few copies exist, and these are in the large public libraries ; but of the second edition, which is first alluded to by Giovanni Bernardo de' Rossi (1742-1831), the biblio? grapher, in his Dizionario Storico degli Autori Ebrei, 1802, ii. 78, no copy is to be found in any public library, and it is evidently rarer 8 Under the name of " David Nieto Redivivus," Heinrich Deutsch published Beleuchtung der Dogmentheorie. Leipzig, 1871. * See Dr. M. Kayserling's Biblioteca Espanola-Portugueza-Judaica, p. 85 (where, however, there is no mention of the Pascalogia).</page><page sequence="5">DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 5 than the first edition. I have traced two copies in private collec? tions, one in the library of Mr. E. N. Adler and another in that of Dr. Samuele Colombo, Chief Rabbi of Leghorn. A transcription of this edition, from the Almanzi Collection, is in the British Museum MSS. department. (Add : 27, 226.) Haham Abraham Benedetto Piperno (1793-1863) published a collection of Hebrew poems by Italian Jews, entitled V)p [Leghorn, 1846]. In the notes and additions on p. 78 he states that Nieto was n?Dn TWiH T\TVP ttNH (an institution no longer extant) in Leghorn; and that a tablet10 still exists there upon which are pictured a light and two hands kindling a taper from it; and below it a Hebrew poem, which is printed in the notes and additions, appealing to the wealthy to support the Study of the Law, signed and dated, T'inn TWD ]'"T. ]""T are the initial letters of the author's name, l?^ TTT. This is the first instance (1694) of this pen-name, which subsequently became famous by his works, p H?? and p uytf ? The first six lines of the poem rhyme alternately, and end in a rhymed couplet. I have found a coloured sketch of the design and the poem in the British Museum [MS. Or 8140], in a collection of manuscript poems and riddles formerly bound up with some of Nieto's printed sermons, etc. There are very slight variations in the poem, and the sketch has the additional inscription, TIN mim mSfc and on a label behind the light, -JOHN KV, which give the design meaning. The whole is enclosed in a double-lined square, and signed as in the Leghorn tablet, *?d3x ]'"T, but without the date. There are six other pages of poems and riddles, some without a signature, and others signed *?d3k p and *?d3x p p. They were missed by the British Museum cataloguer, and first referred to in the late Dr. Michael Friedl?nder's biography of David Nieto in the Dictionary of National Biography, 1905.11 With the exception of a few lines in Spanish Rabbinical script, all the poems and riddles are in square characters, apparently the work of a professional scribe. The first page is headed : : mtrr? -pn man m pm? *atro rvnrwi mim kVi nrnn rrns 10 Dr. Carlo Bernheimer of Leghorn has kindly, at my request, made searching inquiries for this tablet, but without success. It apparently has been destroyed. 11 But see Gaster, History of the Ancient Synagogue, 1901, pp. 102^.</page><page sequence="6">6 DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. This riddle consists of thirty-four double lines in rhyme, followed on p. 2 by six lines rhyming alternately, ending with a rhymed couplet. This is unsigned, but is probably by a son of David Nieto, as the poems following on the same page are signed ?ojk p p. They consist of four poems on the occasion of the enlargement and decora? tion of a synagogue at Tetuan (Morocco). The first three consist of rhymed couplets, the first on the Ark, the second on the building of the House (of God), the third on the Eeading-desk; the fourth poem consists of six lines rhyming alternately and ending with a rhymed couplet, on the completed Synagogue. The donors were Jacob Cansino, who defrayed the cost of the Ark; Jacob Dias Arias and Emanuel Senior, who paid for the rebuilding and enlargement, and the 0*mn3 Phineas 12 and Isaac, the sons of H.H. . . . David Nieto, who pre? sented the Reading-desk in the year (5)408 = 1720. The dedication took place on a Sabbath, the 13th of II Adar, 5480. It is from here we gather that the Haham had a son Phineas, named after his own father. Page 3 is headed nmiS KTJ nKtl IYW *p HTnn miS, which is enclosed in a parallelogram with a very finely executed coloured border. It is a riddle on the Greek letter Chi, consisting of twenty-five double lines in rhyme signed *03tf p. The fourth page is headed mis dh?i? ?pk ??warn ? iwrn wp on ^a nrnn, a riddle set forth in twenty-eight double lines of rhyme extending on to the fifth page, also signed ?ojk p. Underneath this is the coloured sketch of the design on the tablet in Leghorn referred to above. This is followed on the same page by a poem of six lines rhyming alternately and ending with a rhymed couplet, again signed *02N p, apparently on the dedication of a synagogue, perhaps the one at Tetuan mentioned previously; it is headed: thV nVnn min1? ti?t?i ? msn bnpb ? mvb nat *?nn. On the sixth page are a number of epitaphs. The first is on H.H. Raphael Supino of Leghorn, consisting of six lines rhyming alternately, ending in a rhymed couplet; the second on Judah del Medico of Leghorn, con? sisting of a rhymed couplet; the third on Raphael Crispin, consisting 12 A Phineas Nieto appears as a subscriber to A New English Translation of the Pentateuch. . . . By Isaac Delgado, Teacher of the Hebrew language. Lon? don : . . . m.dcc.lxxxix. 4to, 11.+ xiv + 239 pp. (my collection). He, how? ever, was probably a son of Haham Isaac Nieto.</page><page sequence="7">DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 7 of five double lines in rhyme; the fourth on Moses Vigevena, con? sisting of six double lines in rhyme ; the fifth on David Franco Mendes, consisting of four double lines in the alliterative style. The seventh page ends with an epitaph on H.R. Daniel Perez, consisting of nine double lines in rhyme. Two of these epitaphs have reference to persons buried in Leghorn, and although neither these nor the others bear any signature, I think we may assume that they were composed by Nieto in honour of certain distinguished men of that congregation, where he was Dayan before coming to London.13 In Piperno's volume, Vlp, referred to before, the first poem is headed in thh?d1?. It consists of ten eight-lined stanzas, the first six lines of each stanza rhyming alternately and ending in a rhymed couplet. In it the learned Haham bewails the neglect of the Muse. In the notes and additions, p. 78, the editor writes that he has other poems of Nieto, and would publish them, God willing, in a second volume. I am afraid this was never done, and I wonder where these poems are now.14 The Library of the Seminary o^n *^S7 of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews in Amsterdam possesses a Responsum on business matters by Nieto, dated towards the end of 1700 ; he was then still Dayan in Leghorn. The last lines read : (Gen. ix. 9) p'D1? DDhX TVnn DN D^pD 'Wl rWll "HOD ynn ptn mVrni m-n&amp;n Triam yf?m to Another is on a discrepancy in Maimonides between vd 'd n?nn rroVn and t"? 'd nmoa rvrVsx? rvoVn [13 Daniel Perez was for 11 years, however, a teacher ("Ruby") to the London Congregation (Gaster, op. cit. p. 153). He was buried at Mile End in the autumn of 1715 (Bevis Marks Burial Register). John Strype in his 1720 edition of Stow's Survey of London (Vol. II, p. 100) prints the Hebrew epitaph of Perez (ob. August 30, 1715) together with a Latin translation, both of which had been furnished to him by Nieto. A David Franco Mendes had been interred at Mile End in the autumn of 1706. For Raphael Supino, see Roth's "New Light on the Resettlement" in Transactions, xi.] [u An attempt was made to trace them by Dr. Cecil Roth in 1923, but without success.]</page><page sequence="8">8 DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. The last lines are : in??1? nm p nrnV nsnn "isa in? nm hd imam mawa *wk \t ivdt fpV win fan This one is undated, but both were transcribed in the Spanish Rabbinical script in 1767 by David Franco Mendes [1713-1792] and bound up in one of the series, published by the Seminary,15 entitled o^n nD rvnp. In the year 1701, Solomon Judah ben Jacob Ayllon (1664 (1660 ?) April 10, 1728), the Haham of the Bevis Marks Synagogue, vacated the office, having accepted a similar position in Amsterdam. On the fourth of Sivan 5461 (1701), a letter was addressed to the Haham Rabbi David Nieto of Leghorn, by the Mahamad?Isaac Israel Correa, Isaac Lopes Pereira, Abraham Vaes Martines, Isaac Israel Henriques, and Mordecai Francia, Gabbai?offering him the post if he would confine his energies to the spiritual needs of his flock and no more practise the healing art as he did at Leghorn.16 (Gaster's History of the Ancient Synagogue, 1901, p. 102.) He arrived in London towards the end of EM 1701,17 and was then in his forty-eighth year. On the 29th Kislev 5462 == December 19/30, 1701, following, he published a quarto pamphlet in Spanish, his first literary effort in this country. The English version of the introductory lines reads : "A fervid and humble prayer addressed to the Great and Omnipotent God of Israel by the Congregation of Jews in London, in which they implore the assistance and help of Heaven at the Deliberations of His Majesty the Invincible King William III, their Sovereign, of his Supreme Council, and of both the Chambers of his August Parliament." It is without the conventional title-page and without the writer's name ; none the less there is little doubt as to its authorship. The British 15 Information from J. S. da Silva Rosa, sub-librarian of the CPTI f 5? Seminary at Amsterdam. 16 Eliakim Carmoly, in Histoire des Medecins Juifs Anciens et Modernes, i. 227, and Dr. Michael Friedl?nder, in his biography of David Nieto in the Dictionary of National Biography, state that he did continue to practise medicine in London. 17 Goodman Lipkind, in his biography of David Nieto in the Jewish Encyclo? pedia, and Dr. M. Seligsohn, in his biography in the Hebrew Encyclopedia, "ISDN *?N*1t2T, state that he received a call to London in 1702.</page><page sequence="9">DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 9 Museum copy is apparently a special one, printed on stout paper, and is bound up with several other tracts, and the manuscript poems and riddles I have referred to. This volume was probably the author's own copy, and from an inscription in Portuguese on one of the blank preliminary leaves, it apparently passed into the possession of one of his sons, who has written Foi Ds de Israel recolher a meu Amado Pae de esta . . . n? em 29 de Tebeth 5414 j s? em 29 de Tebeth 5488 J Sua Santa Gloria18 The only other copy known is in the collection of Mr. Lucien Wolf, from the library of the well-known scholar and bibliophile, the late Haim Guedalla. On the second day of Passover 5463 (1703) Nieto delivered a sermon on the following texts : Psal. Ixviii. 6 : Wlp ]w?3 DVtVk IV??Vx pi d^VT? x"d Tibm mod: riV1 iV*o niron vbv nVs?? wa -pm Dirr Vnan in celebration of his appointment as " Ros Yessiva " and the founding of the first Jewish orphan asylum in this country, which institutions were named " Sahare Ora Vaavi Ietomim." It is dedicated to the "Parnassim," Abraham de Mercado and Isaac Senior Henriques. and the " Tesorero " Isaac Jesurun Mendez. On the Sabbath, the 28th of Nissan following, one of the orphans, Isaac Henriques Lopes, gave an oration, and the " Talmidim Moseh,19 e Yshac 20 Nieto, Hijos del Senor Haham," held forth in a " Dialogue in the' Yessiva ' of the Institution on the texts "? Leviticus xi. 44: Wlp Orpm DDttnpnm r\rh ms? irVtt in??m naxw msan *?d hid npis nVipw *?ox m im x"d n"i roo? : msa kVk 10x2 x1? mso rwa Vpwn nur?1?? irVs? 18 " The God of Israel gathered unto Him my beloved Father from this . . . born on 29 Tebeth 5414 j _ buried on 29 Tebeth 5488 J His Sacred Glory." 19 Born at Leghorn Iyar 1, 5446 (April 25, 1686) (extract from the Synagogue Archives by Dr. Carlo Bernheimer) ; buried at Mile End, 2 Elul 5501 (1741), No. 23 Settima Carera Grande (extract from the Be vis Marks Synagogue Burial Register). 20 For Isaac Nieto, see Appendix I.</page><page sequence="10">10 DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. Only two copies of this sermon can be traced. One is in the British Museum, and the other in the collection of Mr. Lucien Wolf (from the library of the late Haim Guedalla). James Picciotto, in his Sketches of Anglo-Jewish History, 1875, p. 151, refers to a Moses Netto, who begged permission of the Mahamad to publish a translation of the prayer book in English, and was refused. I am inclined to think that he is identical with the son of the Haham. The following year was one of stress and storm for the learned Haham. On the Sabbath, when the portion of the law was " Vaiesseb Jahacob" 21 (23 Kislev 546422 = November 20, 1703), he delivered a discourse in the Yesiba on the subject of " Divine Providence." Many of his hearers were alarmed at the doctrines expounded. It was pantheism, it was in accord with the philosophical speculations of Spinoza, it was rank heresy, they contended. Dissensions arose in the congrega? tion.23 On the 6th of II Adar following, a Mr. Joshua Zarfatti,24 a guest at the wedding of a Mr. David de Avila, declined to enter the house, as he refused to be under the same roof as the Haham, con? sidering him to be a heretic. This he told Mr. Moses de Medina, another of the guests, who reported it to the Gentlemen of the Mahamad. Zarfatti was sent for, reiterated his charges, and challenged them to submit the matter to any congregation in Israel. If in the wrong, he would be willing to forfeit ?100.25 His challenge was declined, and it was announced from the Tebah that he would not be permitted to enter the Synagogue. He called on the Parnassim to protest against his exclusion from a building towards whose erection he had contributed.26 He was told that he did not understand the sermon, and that he had better put his case in writing before the next meeting of the Mahamad. 21 Gaster's " Presidential Address," loc. cit., p. 300, gives " Shabbat Vayetse." 22 Carmoly in his biography of David Nieto (Histoire des Medecins Juifs) states that this occurred in 1712, and Gaster's History of the Ancient Synagogue, p. 106, gives 5420 (1760) as the date. 23 George Alexander Kohut, in " Early Jewish Literature in America," p. 112, vol. iii. Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society, 1895, writes, " David Nieto was temporarily deprived of his office on the suspicion of Spinozism in his discourses." 24 Buried at the Bet Holim ground, " Principio de la 16 Carera," Jeosuah Sarphaty 23 Tebeth 5583. Folio 21, Bevis Marks Synagogue Burial Register. 25 Relacion del Caso de Jehosuah Zarfatti. 26 Gaster's History of the Ancient Synagogue, subscription lists, pp. 74, 76, 78, 92, 94 and 96.</page><page sequence="11">DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 11 This he did, and the matter was discussed, but the Parnass, Mr. Jacob Nunes Miranda, returned the document, telling him to go to the Haham, who would satisfy his scruples. To this he objected, and was therefore declared to be no longer a Yahid of the congregation. The petition, which was subsequently printed with other papers in connection with the case, is dated London, 6th Ab 5464.27 Zarfatti, in his petition, says : " I have this day come to learn that the said Haham has presented to you Gentlemen the said pro? positions proved by numerous passages from the Holy Law. ... It is just and right that you Gentlemen furnish me a copy of the said document." This was the famous treatise De la Divina Providentia. It was printed a few weeks after Zarfatti's petition in the month of Elul by " James Dover en Tower Hill." It is in the form of two "Dialogues" between "Reuben" and " Simhon." The subject is identical with that of the alleged heretical discourse, but enlarged and simplified for the enlightenment and pacification of his congregants. In the Hebrew letter to Unger that I have previously quoted Nieto mentions this work, and says that his name was not openly associated with it in consequence of the dissensions in the congregation, but that the printer's register (at the foot of the pages) reads " Sr H.H.R. David Netto Rab de K.K. de Londres." 28 The publication of this treatise failed to appease the Yehidim who were in accord with Zarfatti's convictions. They refused to be coerced and were excommunicated. The opinion of the Attorney-General was taken as to such excommunication.29 It was not alone the narrow minded zealots who doubted the orthodoxy of the sermon, for we find that, in consequence of the violent attack on the Haham, the Mahamad dismissed Riby Joseph Ben Jacob Ben Moses Ibn Danon 30 (d. 1740), 27 Relation del Caso de Jehosuah Zarfatti. [28 The letters and numerals at the foot of pp. 1-83 actually spell out:? "S* HH DAVID NETO RAB DEL KK DE LONDRES YLUL ANNO 5464 in."] 29 Gaster's History of the Ancient Synagogue, p. 127. 30 Buried at the Bet Holim ground " Principio de la Carera 19 Riby Joseph Abendanon 25 Kisleu 5500." Folio 25, Burial Register of the Bevis Marks Syna? gogue. His wife Ribca was buried at his side 9 Si van in the same year. Isaac Broyde, in his biography of Joseph Ibn Danon in the Jewish Encyclopedia, states that he was born at Belgrade about 1620, and died towards the end of the seven? teenth century, both of which dates are obviously incorrect.</page><page sequence="12">12 DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. a scholar and a poet of some distinction, from the office he held in the congregation. In an historical sketch of the Alderney Road Cemetery (Laws and Bye-laws of the Burial Society of the United Synagogue, 1902, p. xvi), by Mr. Philip Ornstein, he records the interment there in the year 1705 [23rd Tamuz, 5465] of a Rabbi Joseph Eliau Ha-Cohen D'Azevedo. In my rambles among the tombs I have come across his grave. It is situated at the far end of the ground, near the wall, and is marked by an imposing altar tomb with long Hebrew inscriptions, which have in the course of time become obliterated. Other members of the Bevis Marks Synagogue were buried in this ground, and were no doubt either seceders or excommunicates. At last the Mahamad yielded, and agreed, at the request of a number of Yehidim, to submit the matter to an independent authority, as had been desired by Zarfatti. The case was drawn up in Spanish,31 and placed before H.H.R. Solomon Ayllon andH.R. Solomon de David Israel d'Oliveyra (d. 1708), who constituted the Beth Din at Amsterdam. In the meantime certain Yehidim, in their private capacity, had also addressed a communication to the Parnassim of the Amsterdam Congregation?David de Pinedo, Aaron de Jacob de Pinto, Abraham Mendez da Costa, with the Gabbai Isaac Henriques Farro?requesting that they should place the matter before their Beth Din for an authoritative judgment as to the orthodoxy of Nieto's sermon.32 Whether they were merely seekers after truth, or eager for an opinion adverse to the Haham, to serve their own selfish ends, can best be judged from two letters in Spanish that I discovered in the Bibliotheca Rosenthaliana at Amsterdam (from the library of David Henriques de Castro ; No. 777 in the auction sale catalogue of his books). Each letter bears fourteen32* signatures, and they are dated about two months and four and a half months respectively after the publication of De la Divina Providencia. The Chairman of Jews' Col? lege (Mr. Joshua de Moses Levy) has kindly prepared the following English version of the letters :? " To the very magnificent Gentlemen, the Parnassian and Gabbai of the Holy Congregation of Talmud Torah : " It must be known to your Excellencies that this Holy Congregation is at present in a turmoil through the doctrine which was preached in our 31 Gaster's History of the Ancient Synagogue, p. 106. 32 Information from J. S. da Silva Rosa. 32a The first letter has thirteen signatures.]</page><page sequence="13">DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 13 pulpit on 23rd of Kislev 5464 corresponding with 20th November 1703, on the Perasa of Vayeseb Yahacob, and it is as follows : ' They say that I have said in the Yesiba, that God and Nature and Nature and God are the same. I did say so. I affirm it, and I will prove it, since King David confirms it in Psalm 147 : " Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving ; who covereth the heaven with clouds, who prepareth rain for the earth, who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains," &amp;c. (pay attention to this, ye Jews, because it is the principal point in our religion). But necessarily the word Tebah = Nature is the invention of our modern authors of about 400 to 500 years back, since it is not to be found in the literature of our ancient sages, who used to say : " The blessed God causes the wind to blow," " God causes the rain to descend," " God sends the dew," from which we may infer that God does all that which the moderns ascribe to Nature. Thus it may be said there is no Nature, but that which is Providence, which people call Tebah, Nature, and this is why I said that God and Nature, Nature and God, are all the same thing. This doctrine is devout, pious, and holy, and those who do not subscribe to it are heretics and atheists.' " And as the said pronouncement has been rejected by some and embraced by others, it is necessary that we should trouble your Excellencies, pray? ing that as zealous and God-fearing men you should give orders to the gentlemen Hahamim of the Beth Din of your noble Congregation that they should declare to us and expound the truth of our Holy Law on the point in question, so that we may by their decision know that which should be believed, and so obviate different opinions in such an important matter, before they become deeply established. We therefore beg your Excellencies with all submission to favour us with an answer, so that our minds may be relieved and our consciences remain quiet. And may God keep your Excellencies, and may He cause you to prosper for the conservation and for the augmentation of our Holy Laws. " London, the 7th of Hesvan in the year 5465. " Isaac Lopes Pa Aron Pacheco Abraham Nunez fonca Abraham arias Abraham fonca da Costa Dauid De Caseres Pinedo Jacob fonseca da Costa Ishac R? Brandao moseh da sllua abraham lopes de cordoba Joseph Cohen d'Azevedo Phineas Gomes Serra " Jeosuah Gomez Serra " To the very magnificent Gentlemen, the Parnassim and Gabbai of the Holy Congregation of Talmud Tordh : " We are informed that Mr. Aron Levy Rezio delivered to the President our petition of 7th Hesvan last, and that your Excellencies, as zealous and</page><page sequence="14">14 DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. God-fearing men, committed it to the Beth Din, so that they should determine the matter (for which we render to your Excellencies our best thanks). Our intention was none other than to emerge from the confusion which it appeared to us would be the result of the words preached to us, and we insisted and prayed your Excellencies to remit it to the said gentlemen, so that we might be free from the heavy responsibility which weighs on us as Jews. By the last mails which have arrived it has been learned that the Hahamim have not been able to settle the point (no doubt not without good and sufficient reasons). We feel that our consciences are relieved, considering that we have done our duty in submitting the point to the greatest Beth Din which is known to us in Europe, a Beth Din which is well aware when and how we are responsible one for the other. We do not ignore how pernicious and sinful it is to originate dissensions in a Congregation. We also know that this truism is made the pretext by some men to suppress the truth. As we also recognise the integrity and the zeal with which your Excellencies always act, we assure you that as far as we are concerned this matter comes to an end, as regards the Beth Din of your holy Congregation, whose eyes may God open in his Holy Law, and may your Excellencies prosper and increase in number so that the name of the Almighty may always be exalted at your hands. Amen. " London, the 17th Tebett, the year 5465. " Isaac Lopes Pereyra Jeostjah Gomez Serra Abraham fonseca da costa Jahacob Gomes Serra Abraham Nunes da fonca Aron Pacheco Moseh da Silua Abraham dias arias Jacob fonseca da Costa Datjid De Caseres Pinedo Joseph Cohen d'Azevedo Abraham Lopes de cordoba Ishac R? Brand ao Phineas Gomes Serra " There is nothing in the letters showing prejudice ; the case seems to be very fairly and concisely put, apparently with an honest desire for a true and faithful decision. From the second letter it may be gathered that judgment was withheld, as " hostile influences were at work at Amsterdam."33 The Mahamad of the Bevis Marks Synagogue objected to a few individuals being held of more account than a whole congregation, and resented such treatment. They accordingly passed a resolution that in future no Mahamad, for any reason hitherto or hereafter imagined, may request a Din or any other judgment from the Beth Din or Mahamad of Amsterdam. This but added fuel to the fire, 33 Gaster's History of the Ancient Synagogue, p. 106.</page><page sequence="15">DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 15 and the feud increased in bitterness. An anonymous pamphlet34 was circulated, and considered to be a libel on the treatise De la Divina Providentia. The reputed authors were barred the Synagogue, and threatened with excommunication. The following thirteen Yehidim : Isaac Lopes Pereira, Aaron Franco Pacheco, David de Caseres Pinheiro (Pinedo ?), Phineas Gomes Serra, Abraham Fonseca da Costa, Moseh da Silva, Jacob Fonseca da Costa, Joshua Gomes Serra, Abraham Nunes da Fonseca, Elijah Salom Morenu, Joseph Lopes de Britto, Joseph Coen d'Azevedo, Abraham Dias Arias, protested against the action of the Mahamad, contending that an anonymous publication could not be considered libellous, and, furthermore, that it was written in the interest of the Sacred Law.35 Eleven of these thirteen signatories were among those who signed the two letters addressed to the Parnassim and Gabbai of the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue, Amsterdam, and one of them was the Joseph Coen d'Azevedo, who was interred in the Ashkenazi Cemetery in the Alderney Road. On the 25th of Tebeth 5465, eight days after the date of the last letter, the Parnassim and Gabbai of the Bevis Marks Synagogue re? ceived another petition 36 signed by thirteen Yehidim (probably the signatories of the previous petitions), declaring that their intention was, and ever would be, to seek peace, but that they desired the case should be submitted to some Beth Din of Israel, and that the decision should be published, that everyone might know whether the doctrine preached was conformable to the Law or not. The Mahamad were now in a quandary. The appeal to Amsterdam, as we know, was a fiasco. Hamburg, the next Sephardi community of importance, was at that time without a Haham,37 Advice and assistance were tendered from quite an un? expected source. The Parnass of the Synagogue of the Ashkenazim in Broad Court, Mitre Square, Abraham of Hamburg, or Reb Aberle (b. ante 1650, d. post 1721), as he was called, was a man of wealth and learning, and persona grata with the exclusive and aristocratic members 34 Gaster's History of the Ancient Synagogue, p. 106. No copy of this pamphlet is known to exist. 36 Ibid. p. 107. 36 Decision del ... H.H. ... R. Zevi Asquenazi . . . Elul 5465, p. 3. 37 Gaster's History of the Ancient Synagogue, p. 107.</page><page sequence="16">16 DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. of the Bevis Marks Synagogue. It was probably he who suggested that the case should be placed in the hands of the Haham Zevi of Altona 38 (1658-1718). Reb Aberle 39 was empowered to open up negotiations, and received a letter from the Haham dated September 28, 1704, stipulating that any documents forwarded should not be written in the Spanish Rabbinical script.40 On the 29th of Tamuz 5465, the Gabbai of Sedaka, Moses de Medina, at the request of the Parnassim, Solomon Mendes and Joseph Israel Henriques, forwarded the docu? ments as requested,41 and the Haham's judgment in favour of Nieto, 38 Carmoly, in Histoire des Midecins Juifs, p. 227, Dr. M. Friedl?nder, in his article on David Nieto in the Dictionary of National Biography, 1905, and Dr. M. Seligsohn, in his biography in the Hebrew Encyclopedia, all describe Haham Zevi as Rabbi of Amsterdam at that time, a position he did not occupy until 1710, about six years later. 39 Gaster, in History of the Ancient Synagogue, p. 107, asserts that negotiations were opened up with Haham Zevi through the intermediary of Joseph Vieira, the Parnass of the Altona Congregation. 40 " Rabbi Zevi Ashkenazi and his Family in London," by Dr. David Kauf? mann, in Transactions, iii. (pp. 107-8). It is also curious to note that when David Nieto wrote to LTnger he requested that the reply should not be in the Ashkenazi Hebrew cursive characters, which he was unable to read. 41 Decision del ... H.H. ... R. Zevi Asquenazi . . . Elul 5465, p. 1. The justificatory documents of Haham Zevi and his coadjutors were issued in quarto pamphlets, Hebrew and Spanish, in 1705. My copy is from the press of 44 James Dover en Tower Hill," who printed De la Divina Providentia. This issue is unknown to bibliographers. The edition known, of which there is a copy in the British Museum, was printed by " Tho. Hive en Aldersgate Street," who subse? quently printed other works of Haham Nieto. Joseph Jacobs and Lucien Wolf, in Bibliotheca Anglo-Judaica, 1888, p. Ill, No. 774, and Kayserling, in Biblioteca Espanola-Portugueza-Judaica, 1890, p. 14, quote an edition printed by Thomas Hine. Kayserling, in " Additions and corrections," points out that " Hine " should be Hive. I only know of three copies, which are in each instance bound up with (a) Relation del Caso de Jehosuah Zarfatti, and (b) De la Divina Providentia. In my copy all are on similar paper, and although the Zarfatti pamphlet and Haham Zevi's Responsum, in Hebrew, bear no printer's name, one may assume that they are also from the press of James Dover. In the British Museum copy, De la Divina Providentia (of which there is only one quarto edition, that of James Dover) is bound up with the Tho. Hive edition of Haham Zevi's Decision ; and the original Hebrew of the Decision and the Zarfatti pamphlet, although without name of printer, are no doubt, by the type and paper, from the press of Tho. Hive. They were republished in octavo form, and, although issued to? gether, the Decision is dated 5472 and De la Divina Providentia 5476. In the British Museum copy of this edition, obtained in the year 1854 from Elias Haim</page><page sequence="17">DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 17 dated Friday 17 Ab (August 7, 1705), was sent to London. In the last two paragraphs of the decision he writes : " We must thank H.H.R. David Nieto, whom God preserve, for the sermon he preached to warn the people not to allow themselves to be led away by the opinion of philosophers who treat on Nature, because great injury arises therefrom, and he enlightens the eyes with the true belief, which is that everything comes from the providence of God. I say, may God fortify his strength and valour, and all, who, after having seen these words, shall think hardly of him, in my opinion, incur sin. And although all these things are clear and plain, that they do not require corroboration, yet, not to give the opportunity to murmurers and disputants, I have chosen two of the principal Hahamim of this City to join with me, and after discussion we all three agreed, that all the foregoing are true and just. " Zevi ben H.H. Jacob Ashkenazi Solomon ben Nathan 42 Aryeh ben H.H. Simha of the holy congregation of Wilna." 43 On two occasions at least this famous Rabbi placed his profound scholarship at the service of Anglo-Jewry, which he later on honoured with a visit, and three members of his family held high office in our community. Zevi Hirsch ben Jacob, ben Benjamin Zeeb Ashkenazi of the p"T family, was born in Moravia, a descendant of a long line of eminent Rabbis. He pursued his studies under the direction of his father and of his maternal grandfather, Ephraim ben Jacob Ha-Cohen (1616-1678), the Rabbi of Alt Ofen (now incorporated as the Third District of Buda-Pesth). He then went to Salonica and Constantinople, Lindo, the author of The History of the Jews in Spain and Portugal, there will be found bound up with it an English translation he had made of a part of the Decision. The late Chief Rabbi, Dr. Nathan Marcus Adler, exhibited at the Anglo Jewish Historical Exhibition, 1887 (Catalogue, p. 34, No. 811), a quarto manu? script in English by the same translator, dated 1853, of Nieto's De la Divina Provi? dentia, together with the Zarfatti and Zevi Tracts. It is now in the library of Mr. Elkan Nathan Adler. The case is also reported in the Responsa of Haham Zevi (Amsterdam, 1712), p. 23, ? 18. [Translation since published by Leon Roth in the Chronicon Spinozanum, i. 278-282.] 42 Solomon ben Nathan Hildesheimer, Dayan at Altona, was buried there on Wednesday, Tebeth 6, 5479 (December 28, 1718). 43 Aryeh L?b Lodzker ben R. Simchah of Wilna, Dayan at Altona, died on Friday, Heshvan 17, 5479 (November 2, 1718), and was buried on the same day. VOL. XII. C</page><page sequence="18">18 DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. to continue the study of Talmudic dialectics under Sephardi teachers. His erudition and astuteness were such that, although an Ashkenazi, he was termed Haham, a title reserved by the Sephardim for their own Eabbis. The honour conferred evidently nattered his vanity, for he was known throughout his career as the Haham Zevi. During his stay in the East he was an eye-witness of the moral ravages engendered by the Sabbetai Zevi delusion, to the followers of which he was ever after an unrelenting foe. On returning to Alt Ofen he married the daughter of a prominent citizen of the town. In 1686 the place was besieged,44 and he suffered the horror of seeing his wife and daughter killed before his eyes and his father and mother dragged into captivity by the Prussian mercenaries. In consequence he went to Sarajevo, where he remained as Kabbi until 1689. The following year he went to Altona, where he held the com? paratively obscure position of Klaus Rabbiner, occasionally assisting the first Rabbi of the United Congregations of Altona, Hamburg, and Wandsbeck (vn'K), Meshullam Zalman ben Jacob David Neumark, of the Mireles family (1620-1706,) whose daughter Sarah he had taken for his second wife. In 1705, as we have seen, he was called upon to give his opinion concerning the orthodoxy of Haham Nieto's sermon on Divine Providence. The following year the Ashkenazi community of London was, in its turn, in a ferment. Rabbi Aaron Hart (1670-1756) had granted a divorce, it was alleged, in an illegal manner. He was denounced by one Mordecai Hamburger45 (1660-1703 ?). Rabbi 44 It was taken by the Imperial troops on September 2, 1686. This was an incident of the " War of the Holy League " (Austria, Poland, and Venice) against the Turks. 45 Known as Marcus Moses. His father, Moses ben Loeb, was one of the founders of the Altona community. Mordecai married Freudchen (Fradche), daughter of the celebrated Glueckel von Hameln (1646 ?-1724) (Kaufman, I.e. p. 112). Their eldest son, Moses (b. 1701), became a Christian (" The Origin of the Hambro Synagogue," by Lucien Wolf, in the Jewish Chronicle, November 18, 1892, p. 7), and was the author of The Principal Motives and Circumstances that induced Moses Marcus to leave the Jewish and embrace the Christian Faith . . . London . . . m.dcc.xxiv ... 8?, xxi + 126 pp. It has been translated into Dutch : De voornaamste beweegredenen en omstandigheden die aanleyding hebben gegeven tot het verlaaten van den Joodschen Godsdienst . . . uit</page><page sequence="19">DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 19 Aaron Hart suggested that the matter should be adjudicated upon before a Beth Din of which he should be a member. To this Ham? burger agreed, provided it was the Sephardi Beth Din; but when Haham David Nieto and his Dayan David Perez, with Rabbi Aaron Hart, were in attendance, he failed to put in an appearance, and was ex? communicated. Hamburger belonged to a Continental family that wielded great power and influence, and they endeavoured to get the ban annulled by an ecclesiastic of higher rank and authority on the ground that it was unwarranted. Haham Nieto advised Rabbi Aaron Hart to appeal for support to Rabbi Jacob Moses Judah ben Kalonymos Hakohen (Loeb Charif) [d. Sabbath, Tebet 13, 5467 = December 18, 1706] of Amsterdam, but it was not accorded to the extent desired. The Hamburgers for their part enlisted the services of Haham Zevi, who was still Klaus Rabbiner in Altona, and of Rabbi Jehudah Loeb ben Ephraim Anschel (d. 1720) of Rotterdam 46 (the predecessor of Rabbi Aaron Hart in London). Zevi, as Mr. Lucien Wolf, in his paper, " The Origin of the Hambro Synagogue " (Jewish Chronicle, November 18, 1892, p. 7), tells us, paid a special visit to London to make his opinion known. The Herem was annulled, and accordingly on Tuesday, September 14, Tishri 6, 1706, Mordecai Hamburger was released from its pains and penalties.47 Rabbi Meshullam Zalman died on November 28, 1706, and was succeeded in the Rabbinate by his son-in-law the Haham Zevi, who held the office jointly with Rabbi Moses ben Mordecai S?sskind (Alexander) Rothenburg (1665-1712). The arrangement was an unpleasant one, and, finding the conditions intolerable, Zevi resigned, and again became Klaus Rabbiner; but not for long, for, on January 10, 1710, he was invited to become the Rabbi of the Ashkenazi Jews in Amster? dam. Here he encountered some of his old foes, the arch-rogue and het Eng. overgezet door J. C. Weyerman. Amst. (1750 ?), 4to. Marcus also translated from the Latin, with additional notes, A Defence of the Hebrew Bible . . . by the Reverend Dr. Carpzov of Leipsic (London, mdccxxix), on the title-page of which he describes himself as " A Converted Jew, and Teacher of the Oriental Languages." See Orders of the High Court of Chancery, by George Williams Sanders, vol. i., Orders. London, 1845, pp. 457-9 and pp. 524-6 re maintenance from his father. 46 See Appendix VI. 47 Kaufman, I.e. p. 113.</page><page sequence="20">20 DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. impostor Nehemiah Hiya Hayyun (1650 ?-1730), and Hayyun's admirer and supporter Solomon Ayllon, the Haham of the Sephardi Jews in that city. They and their adherents were too much for the unfortunate man, and he fled to London in the beginning of the year 1714. Here he was received with great honour and acclamation by both the Sephardi and Ashkenazi Jews. It is related that during his visit here his portrait was painted without his knowledge, as he doubted whether an orthodox Jew might have his likeness taken, but the artist was placed in an adjoining room where he could see him without being seen. Recently there has come into my possession a portrait (30 in. X 25 in.) of Haham Zevi, with the following parchment certificate : d^pVa urn Tonn bmn maan mn mix tim i"? "tk ybx Vmpan i?it? trmp npsp rws "imn mn p ms '"lY'irr? V'^pTST ??Da anpan pia p"p? ddh P"dV n? nro mivwmi timwx "p"pi "T2"xb nnm uns "?Vk 7?vd pi "?d nt^n nrsoa ia? rrrwD V'S"T The oil-painting is certainly a couple of centuries old, and this opinion has been corroborated by experts, but the parchment certificate accompanying it by the son of Elijah Posener may be of somewhat later date.48 It is related that Zevi Ashkenazi was offered the post of Haham of the Bevis Marks Synagogue, but this is scarcely credible, as his friend Haham Nieto was then its incumbent.49 The first member 48 Heer Seeligmann informs me that the portrait was formerly in the posses? sion of an Amsterdam family named de Jongh, and that he is unable to trace the identity of the ^ItlD 'ftYD who accompanied Haham Zevi at sea. At the auction sale of the effects of Rabbi Solomon Hirschel, which were sold by George Robins, the famous auctioneer of the period, at the Rabbi's house, 5 Bury Court, St. Mary Axe, on the second day of the sale (Thursday, February 16, 1843), there were three portraits of Haham Zevi (his great-grandfather), Lots 4, 5, 6. One of these portraits was purchased by a Mr. Abraham Joseph of Ply? mouth. It is now in the possession of his daughter Sarah, the widow of the late Raphael Harris, Hazan of the Bayswater Synagogue. It is from this portrait that the frontispiece of vol. iii. of our Transactions was taken. 49 Kaufman, I.e. p. 108.</page><page sequence="21">DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 21 of his family to hold office in this country was Rabbi Hart Lyon (1721? 1800) (a son of his daughter Miriam), who was Chief Rabbi from 1756 to 1763. In 1802 Rabbi Solomon Hirschell (born in London in 1762, during the Rabbinate of his father, Rabbi Hart Lyon) succeeded Rabbi Tevele Schiff in the high office which he occupied until his death in 1842. The famous Rabbi Jacob Israel Emden (1697-1776), the eldest son of Haham Zevi, came to London on financial matters in which his family were concerned 50 in the winter of 1771, and remained here until the middle of 177S. One of his sons, whom he named after his own maternal grandfather (Israel) Meshullam Zalman, was at one time Rabbi of the Hambro Synagogue. On leaving London, Haham Zevi went to Poland, and towards the end of 1717 was called to the Rabbinate of Lemberg. He held office but a very short time, for on May 2, 1718, his romantic if troubled life came to an end. When the news reached London, great was the lamentation occasioned by this irreparable loss. Not alone were the Ashkenazim grief-stricken, but the Sephardim too honoured his memory. The Bevis Marks Synagogue was draped in black, as is customary on the demise of one of its own Hahamim, and a catafalque was erected, before which the " Haskaba " was probably recited by his friend and admirer the Haham David Nieto.51 Dr. Israel Abrahams, in " A Note on the Bodleian Bowl " (Trans? actions, vol. v. p. 185), referred to a letter, dated January 18, 1705/6, written by Nieto to Dr. John Covel, the Master of Christ's College, Cambridge, acknowledging and commenting on a copy of Isaac Abendana's calendar 52 (1638-1722). It is in Italian, and is preserved in the manuscript department of the British Museum (Add. MSS. 22910). The following is an English version of the correspondence :? " Most Reverend Sir,? " After having received your letter with the Calendar, and having thought it over, I find that the treatise on the ' Judicature of the Sanhedrin ' and other of our Judges is true and correct, but not at all appropriate for a Calendar, so that I decided not to include it in mine; and more so, 50 Ibid. pp. 118-120. 51 Ibid. p. 118. 52 He was the purchaser of the famous " Bodleian Bowl " when it was dug up in Norfolk. See Miscellanies of our Society, vol. i. ? i.</page><page sequence="22">22 DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. that it has already been printed, and reprinting it would only be * crambem recoquere,' to recook cabbage; so instead of it, I think it proper to explain in a preface the rules of our Calendar with many hidden, new and perhaps never yet heard of curiosities; and in order that it may be well accepted and pleasant, I will take out from it the ' Thorns of Theories,' leaving in their place the ' Flowers of Practice.' ' Out of Use,' on the title-page of Abendana's Calendar,53 and which truly is neither practised nor looked for, it is of no real value to know; what benefit may be drawn from know? ing whether the day in which Joshua stopped the sun was the 10th or 16th of the month and ' sic de singtdis' ? It will then be more profitable to substitute the number, the kind and the order of the sacrifices which were offered in the Holy Temple daily and on the solemn days, the difference between the public and the private ones, with other details; and what is the practice of the Synagogue in substitution of the sacrifices which have now ceased. One will see here of the reading of the Pentateuch on Mondays, Thursdays, and Sabbaths, as also of the Portion of the Prophets, which is read on Sabbath, on Solemn Days, and on other days with the quotation of the chapters, there will also be indicated the origin and reason of the solemn fasts. The title will be 1 Kalendarium Hebraicum Ecclesiasticum et Civile.' The author will call himself the Anonymous, as this suits me for several reasons. I have the intention thence to insert in it the above said things, and this in the case that it should please you, if not, it will not be so, because my only thought is to obey and serve you, most Reverend Sir, and so, pray tell me, whether you are pleased with that which I have decided, or let me know what you rather wish, and I will serve you with that punctuality which I owe you. The greatest difficulty consists in the language; I am obliged to write in Latin, because I do not know English. It will be necessary to have it trans? lated, but as I do not know anyone, I do not know how to find a faithful 53 AI (false title-page) : " An Almanack for the Year of Christ, 1698. Being The Second after Bissextile Or Leap-year. Oxford, Printed at the Theater." A2 (title-page) : " The Jewish Kalendar : Containing An Account of their Feasts and Fasts, whether observ'd at present, or out of use ; with their Sabbaths and Proper lessons : Beginning at the 28th. of the Moon Tebeth, in the Year of the Creation, 5458, and continuing to the 10. of Sebatt 5459, inclusively. To which is Added a Short Account of the Courts of Judicature among the Jews. With a Chronological Summary of several remarkable things relating to the People of the Jews." A3 : " To The Reverend Dr. Jonathan Edwards (1629-1712), the Worthy Principal Of Jesus College In The Univers. of Oxford; This Discourse Concerning the Courts of Judicature Among the Jews; As an acknowledgment of His great And constant Favours, Is humbly Dedicated by Isaac Abendana. 12mo. 42 11." For a further account of these Calendars see I. Abrahams in the paper on Isaac Abendana published in Transactions, viii. 98-121.</page><page sequence="23">DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 23 and intelligent translator, not because in this city, which is the epitome of the World, one may be wanting, but because for a foreign Jew, who has no knowledge and no friends, everything fails. I doubt that my Calendar may be published before March, but for this year patience is necessary: next year, having become through this one more expert in this kind of literature, I hope, God helping, that it will be published in time.54 When mine is published, I will send you back yours of Abendana. Please tell me whether you like my Spanish work De Divina Providentia. To Him I pray instantly that He may keep you for many years in perfect health and every fulness of happiness, as is the wish of the most humble, most devoted, and most obliged servant of your reverence David Neto. " London, Jan. 18, 1705/6. " Pray do answer soon ; I will not begin my work before having received your ' beneplacito.' " In reply, Dr. Covel sent the following letter, also in Italian :? " Most Illustrious learned Sir,?I rejoice to hear that you have received the Calendar. Your observation is very just. The treatise on the * Judicature of the Sanhedrin ' is quite outside the design of the Calendar. But Signor Abendana used to add every year some small treatise to his Calendar to amuse or rather to instruct his reader, explaining some custom or other matters touching the Hebrews; for example, * The Calendar of the Jews, their schools, their prayers, the fasts, the Rabbis, the Laws con? cerning tithes,' &amp;c. It would therefore be very appropriate if you could write on the origin of the Calendar, of the Practice of the Sacrifices ; and of that which the Synagogue does to-day instead of them, and such similar things, because these additions will be very useful and very agreeable to the reader. The title which you propose is right, but to tell the truth, if your Calendar were written in Latin, I am afraid it would not have the great success which it might have if written in English, because very few people (outside the two Universities) understand Latin, but if it were in English, anyone who had the least curiosity would buy it. Really, I am sorry for you that you don't understand English, but a man so learned and so noble as you are will certainly find some true friend who will translate your very learned works ; the pleasure will repay his labour. I have read with great pleasure your excellent Dialogues on * Divine Providence,' but patience is 54 Neither issue, Latin or English, is known to exist.</page><page sequence="24">24 DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. so necessary to wait till next December, because it is late now before beginning that of the next year, still I find myself agreeing with you. Universal Nature seem* to m3 not more or less than the Platonic Chimera, that is, the soul of the world, or a blind and vicarious Spirit, senseless, without reason, which, I do not know by what plastic virtue, leads the particular Nature of every? thing. How I laugh about these foolish things ? From God alone proceeds every good thing, to His most gracious conduc and government I recommend you, most affectionately, Your most humble and devoted servant, John Covel." Some years ago I spent a day in the Library of the DTI f 57, the Rabbinical Seminary of the Sephardi Jews in Amsterdam. I was par? ticularly interested in the incomparable collection of Mr. David de Raphael Montezinos. This he presented to the library in 1889, and, although now (1915) eighty-six years of age, he attends daily to be near his treasures. Amongst the many rarities I saw were two tracts by Haham Nieto, that seem to be quite unknown to bibliographers.55 They are entitled Bakasoih (Supplications). The one for New Year consists of a Spanish translation of six Piyutim in the Sephardi ritual, and the last two pages conclude with " Confession Compuesto por el Senor H.H.R. David Netto A Senor y Dios Mio." It was published with the licence of the Gentlemen of the Mahamad, and distributed gratis, with an intimation that others would follow for daily use, for the three Festivals, the Fasts, and the Days of Contrition, if approved by the public. It is undated, but was probably issued towards the end of the year 5465. The experiment having apparently proved a success, the following Elul (5466), " Por orden de Joseph Bueno Bibas y David Fernandez Tabago," Bakasoih de Kipur were published.56 They consisted of a Spanish translation of four Piyutim of the Minha service that are not included in the present-day Sephardi ritual. It is probable that Nieto was the first to translate these, as they are not to be found in the first Ferrara (5313) or the first Amsterdam (5364) edition of the Spanish translations of the Order of Service for " Ros Asanah y Kipur." 55 Jewish Chronicle, November 23, 1908, p. 20 : Transactions, vii. 302. 56 The following note is printed on the back of the title-page : " Estas Bakasoth se hallan en los libros de reza de Ros Asanah y Kipur : estampados en Amsterdam por Eliau Aboab Ano 5404 y Joseph Athias Ano 5449. En las ojas y paginas indicadas en el Principio de cada Bakassah."</page><page sequence="25"></page><page sequence="26">DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 25 I do not think that Nieto prepared these Bakasoth for his usual congregants. Marranos, unacquainted with the Holy Tongue, were continually arriving. They attended the Synagogue on sacred days, and were handed these tracts gratis, as the occasion did not permit of pay? ment being made. The tracts just consist of a few hymns and a prayer in Spanish, to be used until their proficiency in Hebrew would permit them to j oin in the regular service. Bound up with these two pamphlets is a " Homily," an English version of the introductory lines of which reads : " A fervid, pious exhortation to the children of Israel, calling them to the observation of the precepts of the Law. Published by a zealous one, to whom the author remitted it." It is without the usual title-page, and Mr. D. de R. Montezinos attributes it to the same author. In celebration of the founding on the first day of Adar 5469 (1709) of the " Hebra de Bikur Holim " (a society no longer extant) Nieto delivered a sermon on Sabbath, the 17th day of Iyar following, entitled Los Triunfos de la Pobreza (" The Triumphs of Poverty"), on Leviticus xxii. 8 : " That which dieth of itself, or is torn of beasts, he shall not eat to defile himself therewith : I am the Lord." It is dedicated to Abraham Nunez, Tesorero, and Ab. Fernandez Salazar and David de Meza, Administradores. With the sermon were published the rules of the confraternity from the press of David Fernandez, a Jewish printer. There are two copies in the British Museum, one in the Stadtbibliothek, Hamburg, and another in the collection of Mr. Lucien Wolf, from the library of the late Haim Guedalla. The work with which the name of Haham David Nieto will always be associated, and by which he is generally known among Hebrew literati, is his *w pVn ]1 HDD. In the preface he states that he has named the book The Rod of Dan, because it is a powerful and just rod to smite the foreheads of the Karaites; incidentally he notes that yi are the initial letters of his name. He gave it the sub-title Cuzari, as he regarded it as a supplement or continuation of the " Cuzari of Jehudah Ha-Levi," the purpose of which was to demonstrate the veracity of the written law, while the object of his own work was to prove the validity of the oral law. It is divided into five parts, and takes the form, as in its prototype, of a dialogue between the pagan King of the Chazars and a Jew who is termed Chaber (Comrade). The</page><page sequence="27">26 DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. fifth essay deals principally with the problems of the Jewish Calendar, and concludes in the following way : " Chaber:? ... Having fulfilled my promise and finished my dia? logues, I beg you will give me permission to return to my country. Chazar:?If you will remain in my kingdom I will appoint you a large income, for I shall feel your absence very much. Chaber:?Were you to give me all the gold in the world, I cannot stop longer, being obliged to pro? ceed to the City of London, to serve the holy Congregation established there, as I have done since the beginning of Elul 5462 [1701]. Chazar-.?The whole of my State is at your disposal, choose then the best situation, for I have resolved to make you my Lieutenant and Steward. Chaber:? It is impossible, for I have promised that holy Congregation that I would return to serve it; and God punishes those that do not keep their promises. Chazar:?Go, then, in a good hour. May God in His infinite mercy guide you, for you have put us in the correct and right way to understand our holy law, through the true tradition of the Sages of the Mishna and Guemara. May He deliver you from every enemy in your journey and be your help. Chaber:?God grant you long life, with peace, wealth, and every blessing: fulfil all your wishes, enlarge your Empire and aggrandise your throne higher than your Ancestors', until our Messiah comes. May that be soon. Amen." In Nieto's letter to Unger to which I have referred, he writes : " In the year 54741 printed the book * Matteh Dan' in the Holy Tongue, and translated it into the Spanish language." The " Dedicatoria A Los muy Ilustres, y Nobles Senores Parnassim, y Gabay, del K.K. de Sahar Hassamaym Los Senores Ishac Fernandes Nunes, Presidente, Yahacob Yessurum Alvares, Pinhas Gomez Serra, Yahacob Haym Gabay, Semuelda Costa Alvarenga, Gabay," 57 is dated from "Londres, lmo Veadar 5474," about two years previous to its publication. It was issued " Con Licencia delos Senores del Mahamad," in three quarto editions, Hebrew,58 Spanish, and Hebrew with Spanish in parallel columns. All three issues are scarce, but the Spanish edition is quite a rarity, unknown to the bibliographers Johann Christoph Wolf and Kayserling. I found a copy in the library of Jews' College, and Dr. 57 Kayserling, in his Biblioteca Espanola-Portugueza-Judaica, 1890, p. 77, has omitted " Semuel da Costa Alvarenga, Gabay." 58 The dedication in the Hebrew edition is in Spanish, the catchword on the fourth of the preliminary leaves being " Prefaccion " instead of H?lpH? but this has been rectified in the Hebrew with Spanish edition.</page><page sequence="28">DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 27 M. Gaster has recently acquired one, but unfortunately without the title-page. The library of the Ets Haim Seminary, Amsterdam, can boast of a copy, and another will be found in the recently issued Cata? logue des Manuscrits et Limes Rares Hebraiques de la Bibliotheque du Talmud Tora de Livourne (Leghorn, 1915). Inscribed on one of the preliminary blank leaves of the Hebrew with Spanish edition at the Bodleian is " Ex dono Doctissimi Authoris Davidis Nieto." My own copy is in a very fine state of preservation, and has an interesting association. It is bound in contemporary Spanish mottled calf, with panelled gilt sides and gauffered edges. It was probably a presentation copy from the author, as on the outside of one of the covers is impressed the legend : " Al Muy Ilustre Sr. Iacob Lopez Berahel" (d. 12 EM 5506 = August 28, 1746, buried at the Beth Holim Ground, Mile End).59 Berahel was a wealthy and influ? ential member of the Bevis Marks Synagogue, and gave liberally to its funds.60 The first two dialogues of the Matteh Dan were reprinted in Berlin in 1765 by Dob Baer b. Aryeh Loeb, " a student of the healing art," so as not to waste the twenty-two blank pages at the close of his edition of the Milot ha-Higayon of Maimonides. For a complete reissue it was necessary to wait for another fifteen years (Metz, 1780). In his approbation, Rabbi Aryeh Loeb ben Asher, the learned author of the JTHX rttXtP, relates that the work had become so rare that in Metz, of which distinguished congregation he was ecclesiastical head, not even a single copy could be found. A request had been made to R. Nathan Mai, at one time a member of the Metz community, but then of Hamburg, that he should have it reprinted at the press of his brother-in-law, Gottschalk Sarlouis, at Metz. It was accordingly enacted that no one else should reprint the work for a period of eight years, and that whoever did so would be banned. In Heimann Joseph Michael's Or Ha-Chayim, pp. 342-3, it is stated that this 1780 edition 59 Copied from inscription on tombstone at the Beth Holim Ground, Mile End. In the burial register of the Bevis Marks Synagogue, the following entry has been made on the margin of folio 3 by a later hand : "Ja. Lopes Berahel, Jan. 29, 1746/7, Sebat 29, 5507." 60 Gaster's History of the Ancient Synagogue, subscription lists, pp. 74, 75, 91, 93, 95.</page><page sequence="29">28 DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. was printed by Nathan Mai in Hamburg, but that in consequence of dissensions it bore the Metz imprint. In 1794 there was published in Florence a work on the Hebrew Calendar entitled tinn ^iri?, by Moses Haim ben Samuel Rimini, with (22) strictures on the 5th section of the Matten Dan, which also treats of the same subject. In recent times the Matteh Dan has been frequently reprinted. Some issues are in square characters and others in Rashi type. It is the only work of Nieto that has a popular demand, and in the Bibliography I give a list of all the editions that have come under my notice. I think I have come across the author's manuscript in the catalogue of the Library of the College of Portuguese and Spanish Jews in London, compiled by E. H. Lindo, and dated 1st Nisan 5595 = March 31, 1835. The greater part of this library has since that date disappeared, including this manuscript, but the catalogue is in the possession of Mr. E. N. Adler. Transcriptions in the Italian Rabbinical script are to be found in the collections of Dr. M. Gaster, Mr. E. N. Adler, and the late Dr. H. B. Levy,61 the last now in the Stadtbibliothek, Hamburg, My manuscript has the first three dialogues only, and ends with twenty lines of laudatory verse. These were all written about the middle of the eighteenth century. Another, written by E. Pontremoli, Rabbi of Nice, in 1843-5, and accompanied by a short biography of the author, is now in the library of the Alliance Israelite, Paris. In the Oriental Department of the British Museum there is a manuscript Italian translation, and Mr. E. N. Adler has one in Yiddish. An English version of the first dialogue was published in 1842, and reissued in 1845,62 with the addition of the second dialogue by the late Dr. Louis Loewe. His purpose was similar to that of the author, to combat Karaism, fot it was in that light that he viewed the inception of the Reform movement in London. In an autograph 61 See the catalogue of his collection fctffc EHp?, P- 13, n. 117. 62 Dr. Hartwig Hirschfeld, in his Descriptive Catalogue of the Hebrew MSS. of the Montefiore Library, 1904, p. 95, No. 307, states that these dialogues were both issued in 1853, and Dr. Michael Friedl?nder, in his biography of David Nieto in the Dictionary of National Biography, says that they were both published in 1842. Both statements are incorrect.</page><page sequence="30">DAVID NIE TO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 29 letter in my collection addressed to Dr. L. Loewe, dated September 21, 1848, from 4 Castle Street, St. Mary Axe, E. H. Lindo writes : " My dear Sir, . . . Agreeing in opinion with you that the p HDD of Hah. Nieto ought to be read by others beside ourselves ... I have trans? lated (not in your elegant style) the three last parts of that excellent work, and write to you for the two first parts so as to have the work bound complete." In whose possession this manuscript now is, I cannot say, but in the Montefiore library of Hebrew manuscripts, now de? posited at Jews' College, London, there is another manuscript of the three dialogues by the same translator,63 accompanied by a letter to Sir Moses Montefiore, addressed from 7 Liverpool Street and dated September 20, 5616 : " My dear Sir, . . . Shortly before your departure you wished to see my translation of the Mate Dan, which you returned, from not then having time to peruse it. Under the impression that you might like to see it when at leisure I have, during your absence, made for you the copy I have the pleasure of transmitting you herewith, which I hope you will favour me by accepting." The revival of the cult of Sabbetai Zevi at the beginning of the eighteenth century had degraded the moral and intellectual state of quite an appreciable part of Jewry to a pitiful extent. Propagandists sprang up in various centres, nearly all of whom eventually became apostates. The most prominent of this band of deluders was Nehemiah Hiya b. Moses Hayyun, an old adherent of Sabbetai Zevi, who, although born in Bosnia, asserted that he was a native of Safed, in the Holy Land. He posed as a mystic, a cabbalist, and taught a trinitarian view of the Godhead, although not quite from the Christian stand? point. One of his infamous teachings was that sin could only be over? come by superabundance of sinfulness, by the satisfaction of all desires, even the most depraved. He was excommunicated by several Rabbis, including the great Talmudist and scholar, Rabbi Moses ben Jacob Hagiz (1681-1750), and Haham Zevi, the unrelenting foe of all charlatans and schismatics. He it was, it will be remembered, who 63 The last three dialogues of the J*7 The Rod of Judgement, by R. David Nietto (sic), translated by E. H. Lindo. The first two dialogues are trans? lated by Dr. Loewe, 5615. 4to, 211. + 256 pp. Hirschfeld, I.e. p. 95, No. 307 (this MS. does not include Dr. Loewe's translation of the first two dialogues).</page><page sequence="31">30 DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. defended Nieto against charges of heresy brought against him by certain members of his congregation, who, it was suspected, were secret adherents of the new Sabbatsean movement. It is strange, never? theless, that Hayyun beguiled many learned Rabbis and scholarly laymen, whose orthodoxy was unimpeachable. Solomon Ayllon, the Haham in Amsterdam and predecessor of Nieto in London, was one of his admirers and supporters, but subsequently discovered his real character. At one time Hayyun threatened to embrace Christianity, as his son subsequently did, if his needs were not immediately relieved. He was again excommunicated in Hamburg in 1726, and subsequently at Altona, and finally died in obscurity about 1730 in some part of North Africa. London Jewry, it is suspected, was not quite immune against the false doctrines and insidious teachings that were under? mining the moral and religious character of their co-religionists on the Continent. It was necessary to adopt measures to combat the danger, and London became the centre of a certain amount of literary activity to that end. In 1714 Rabbi Moses Hagiz published here his D*W1D nuttf, in which he attacks Nehemiah Hiya Hayyun, Abraham (Miguel) Cardozo (1630 ?-1706), and the Haham Solomon Ayllon. On the title-page he refers to them as the NnttSH^DT Kfi1??? " the three calamities." In the following year, 1715, Nieto edited and published here in one volume two polemics by Joseph ben Immanuel Ergas (1685-1730), nV?? nnDW against Hayyun's trnVtf1? VIS and mi against his TP rnnVlP. Although Nieto had but the previous year published the Mattsh Dan directed against Karaism, another schismatic teaching, he was ready with his m tPN, a diatribe against Hayyun's heresies. It was published by the order of the Gentlemen of the Mahamad, and printed by Thomas Hive in 1715. It is in the form of a dialogue between Dan and Naphtali. With it was issued a translation into Spanish 64 (as the title-page has it, " traduzido en Romance "), pre? faced by a ten-paged introduction, which addition is lacking in the original Hebrew. The author, in the first page of the preface, writes that the translation was done " por expressa orden de los muy 64 Dr. Michael Friedl?nder states that the work was written in Hebrew, but published in Spanish, which is incorrect. It was published in Hebrew as well as in Spanish.</page><page sequence="32">DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 31 Illustres Senores del Mahamad." This was for the Marranos, who did not understand Hebrew, in order to fortify them against the abominable doctrines the new movement was spreading. On page iv of the pre? face he alludes to Boker Abraham, a Cabbalistic work of heretical content by Abraham Cardozo, two manuscripts of which are in the Bodleian Library.65 Another manuscript of this work, formerly in the collection of Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex, was exhibited at the Anglo-Jewish Historical Exhibition, 1887 (Catalogue, p. 31, No. 775), by Sir Julian Goldsmid, Bart., from whose possession it passed into that of the late Asher Isaac Myers, of the Jewish Chronicle. A reduced facsimile of the title-page appears in Dr. M. Gaster's History of the Ancient Synagogue, p. 110, from which we gather that the manuscript, which is dated London, Thursday, 16 Elul 5476, was translated (from the Spanish ?) and edited by Solomon da Costa Athias (d. 1769).66 In the concluding paragraph of the preface to Es Bat, Haham Nieto writes: " Much more could I say of the pernicious consequences of this schism, but I omit it for very strong reasons; but not to deprive my people of what affects it so much, I reserve it in manuscript in my possession, and I offer it with affec? tionate interest to anyone who would like to read it or to translate it." Dr. M. Gaster, in his History of the Ancient Synagogue, p. 109, writes : " Who knows where this manuscript might be ? " and further remarks that the author intended publishing it; but I see no grounds for any such inference. I think I have identified the manuscript, and discovered three transcriptions of it. At an auction by Messrs. Hodgson and Co., on Friday, April 26, 1912, of books sent in for sale by the London Society for Promoting Christianity among the Jews, I purchased Lot 674, containing, besides other volumes, a copy of the Es Bat 67 in Hebrew and Spanish, not specified in the catalogue, but described as " one other." The Hebrew part had no title-page, but between it and the Spanish version I found a manuscript of nineteen folios. It is 65 Neubauer, Catalogue of Hebrew Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, 1441 (2) Fol. 49, and 1537 (5) Fol. 109. 66 See Appendix VII. 67 No. 100, Case L, p. 56, in the " Catalogue of the Library, Founded by the late Rev. Lewis Way, M.A., in the year 1827, Belonging To The London Society For Promoting Christianity Amongst The Jews. At The Society's House, No. 16, Lincoln's Inn Fields." 8?.</page><page sequence="33">32 DAVID NIE TO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. written in a small, neat hand, certainly contemporary, and entitled " Reflexiones Theologica, Politicas y Morales sobre el execrable Systema de Nehemy? Hiy? Hayon." Since then, I have come across another copy in the Bodleian, purchased in 1850 from Hirsch Edelmann. Curiously enough, the title-page of the m tPX is also wanting, as in my copy, and the Spanish manuscript consists only of thirteen folios, which at the end has this addition, " Compuestas por el excelentissimo Senor H.H.R. David Nieto." There are several variations in the ortho? graphy, and Hebrew quotations in my manuscript are here given in Spanish. Affixed to the inner cover of the Bodleian copy is a printed leaflet, of which the following is a transcription : " Sr. mio. Mi avancada edad, y achaques, no me permiten ir personalmente ? besar ? Vm. la mano, en agradecimiento de los favores, que recibi de todos los Sres. de este santo Kaal. Va este pequeno Libro, ? buscar el desempeno, a los pies de Vm. ya que el Autor no puede tener la dicha de hazerlo. Espero que su lectura, le grangear? el Titulo de Grande ; pues lleva su mayor Recomendacion en el Assumpto. Y yo en la buena voluntad con que lo ofrezco. el de mas obligado servidor de Vm. Q.S.M.B." It bears the autograph signature ]vn K^TI IT?ni and on the top margin " Al Sr. Moseh de Abram Franco " 68 is inscribed. It probably accompanied a book of his sent to admirers and possible purchasers, and intended to apologise for the fact that, owing to his advanced age and ill-health, 68 Buried at the Bet Holim Ground, " Principio de la Carera 25. 8 Ab 5504." Be vis Marks Synagogue Burial Register, folio 33. He came from Leghorn, and married Simha, daughter of David Vesinho of that city. His second son, Jacob, married his niece Simha, a daughter of his brother Abraham. He died on July 5, 1777, and was buried at Mile End. His son Raphael, of Fenchurch Street, married, on April 8, 1761, Leah, a sister of Ephraim Lopez Pereira, the eccentric Baron d'Aguilar (1739-1802). He died on May 8, 1781, and was buried at Mile End; his wife died on November 11, 1808, at Bath. Their son Abraham, of Clapham, was born June 1765, and died at Lucknow July 1, 1799 ; he married Esther, the daughter of Mordecai Rodriguez Lopez, of London, in April 1785. She was born in January 1757, and died on February 18,1795, in Charlotte Street, and was buried at Mile End. Their son Raphael Franco was born on September 10,1788 (Wednesday, Elul 8, 5548), and on succeeding to the estates and baronetcy of Sir Menasseh Massey Lopez, his maternal uncle, became known as Sir Ralph Lopes, Bart. He died on January 23, 1854. His eldest son, Sir Lopes Massey Lopes (1818-1908), was Civil Lord of the Admiralty under Benjamin Disraeli from 1874 to 1880. His third son, Sir Henry Charles Lopes (1828-1899), Lord Justice of the Court of Appeal (1885-1897), was created Baron Ludlow in 1897.</page><page sequence="34">DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 33 he was unable to make a personal call. Professor Richard Gottheil, of the Columbia University, New York, has a third manuscript which, he writes me, he purchased at an auction sale held in Amsterdam by J. L. Joachimthal on February 13, 1899, of books from the libraries of the Rabbis Meyer Lehren, Akiba Lehren, and Moses de Lima. It is Lot 233 in the catalogue, and bound up with the Hebrew and Spanish editions of the m WK, the TSm H^tt? nrDlfi of Joseph Ergas, and the Amsterdam edition of ?'WID "DIP of Moses Hagiz. My friend, the late Solomon Conquy, the scholarly Hazan of the Bevis Marks Syna? gogue, was good enough, just before his premature death, to prepare an English version of the pamphlet, which seems to be a continuation of the Spanish preface of the Es Dat. In it Nieto refers to the detestable system and abominable principles of Hayyun. " What is to become of us," he exclaims, " if these teachings reach the ears of the rulers and peoples among whom we dwell ? " He refers to Hayyun's "a2 TEH, rr DUnVw and DTI*?**1? W&gt; which he suggests should rather be DTI1?^ f 1p. He depre? cates the insulting and offensive remarks to which the Haham Zevi and Haham Ergas have been subjected by this impostor, and passionately appeals to his co-religionists to remain '4 in the holy and true faith and belief which we have received from our saintly and pious ancestors, and that we should refuse, abhor, and detest the new gods and new rituals which we do not know, nor our fathers, but in faith unite ourselves with the only one and true God, so that He may have pity on us, and favour us, and fulfil His promise to bring us out of Captivity. Amen." It may be interesting to note how books travel, and to what unexpected corners of the globe even an early London printed Hebrew book may find its way. In the University Library, Cambridge, there is a copy of the Es Dat [12. 43. 86.], with the following note on a printed slip on the cover : " This book was found in the Library of the White Jews of Cochin in India by the Rev. Claudius Buchanan in the year 1806." A similar entry is found in a copy of Nieto's Matteh Dan also at Cambridge. In the EmfcH IV2 of the United Synagogue there is a short manu? script treatise in Spanish Rabbinical script on Ritual Baths by Nieto dated Elul 5475. Our author, as we may judge from his Pascalogia and the con? cluding essay of the Matteh Dan, was an astronomer and a mathematician VOL. XII. D</page><page sequence="35">34 david nieto and some of his contemporaries. of no mean order. An adept in the intricacies of the calendar, he issued in 1717 a calendar entitled DTIS71? Tin for the years 5478-5531. It is quite small, measuring but 4J in. x 3 in. The dates for the New Moons, the Holy Bays, and Fasts are given for a period of eighty-three years. The dates when, according to the Sephardi use, wVtt *p:i is read in the HT?B in place of irOK UD^, or, as in the Ashkenazi ritual, is added, are given for fifty-three years.69 Nieto also gives the date of the Eclipses, calculated for the meridian of London, for a period of twenty-three years, from 5478 to 5501. In his History of the Ancient Synagogue, p. 105, Dr. Gaster tells us that in 1723, by a resolution of the Mahamad, Nieto's Calendar was officially adopted. My copy is from the collection of Naftali Herz Van Biema (No. 288 in the auction sale cata? logue, compiled by Sigmund Seeligmann) of his books, which were sold at Amsterdam on Monday, February 13, 1904. On the title-page a former owner, jnD has inscribed his name in the Ashkenazi cursive script. There is another copy in the Stadtbibliothek, Hamburg, and on the fly-leaf of the one in the Bodleian " Calendarium Hebraicum Ex Dono Doctiss. Authoris, Davidis Nieto " is inscribed. A Spanish edition was issued in conjunction with it entitled Repertorio de los Ros-Hodes, Fiestas, y Ayunos, and on the back of the title-page the " Yerros " are noted. The heading of page 25, which is Tabla 10, should be Tabla 11, and the author further naively remarks, " If there should be any other errors it is left to the correction of the discreet reader." It contains, in addition to the dates given in the Hebrew issue, a Chronology from the time of the Flood 3822 b.c.e. to the opening of the Synagogue in Bevis Marks in 1701, the times of the beginning of Sabbath in Amsterdam and the variation for London, and the hours of prayer for the K.K. de Londres. The copy in my collection I found in a dustbin in the cellar of a London Hebrew bookseller.70 David Miguera (Noguera ?) Matta (Malta ?) is inscribed on the title-page. Only one other copy is known to exist, which is in the Stadtbibliothek, Hamburg. Dr. M. Kayserling mentions in his Biblioteca Esjpanola Portugueza-Judaica, p. 77, that Thomas Illive [sic] was the printer of 69 The date for the variation may occur on December 3,4, or 5 (pp. *D, HD, *TD). Dr. M. Gaster's Book of Prayer . . . of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews, 5561 1901, vol. i., p. 32, gives only the 4th and 5th. 70 Formerly in the private library of Philip Valentine, the Almanac publisher.</page><page sequence="36">DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 35 this Calendar, but the copies in the Bodleian, the Stadtbibliothek, Hamburg, and in my collection do not bear any printer's name. Hive, as we know, was the printer of Matteh Dan and Es Dat, and is no doubt the (skilled mechanic) who cast the various Hebrew types for him and to whom Nieto refers in his letter to Unger. It is remarkable that the only Almanac of Nieto known to biblio? philes and bibliographers is the Hebrew and Spanish one for 5478 5561. From his correspondence we know that he was at work on others. In the letter to Dr. John Covel, quoted above (p. 23), he writes : " I doubt that my Calendar may be published before March, but for this year patience is necessary : next year, having become, through this one, more expert in this kind of literature, I hope, God helping, that it will be published in time." An English translation was to be prepared from the Latin original of the author. The last ten pages of the WTtih nm contain the bWtiV "J?V msipn, and on the back of the title-page the author notes : "I have not printed the niDlpD 21 VtP here, as it is in my mind to make of them an almanac for one hundred years, God willing." In the correspondence with C. T. Unger, dated 1719, he states that he had printed a calendar in Spanish for the years 5470-5500 inclusive, and that errors had occurred in it, but having no opportunity to correct them in consequence of being very much occupied with communal matters he had published it anonymously. In the coming winter, however, he would print another calendar up to 5511, and would then correct the mistakes. None of the five calendars alluded to here have ever come to light. They are quite unknown to all bibliographers, and must be numbered among the undiscovered Desiderata. In continuation of his letter to Unger, Nieto writes that on the previous day he had given the Secretary to the Envoy from the King of Poland, with other works of his, the Spanish Calendar for the years 5470-5500. It is strange, however, that he makes no mention of the Spanish Calendar that was issued with the mV entitled DTW1? just about two years before.71 71 H. J. Michael's Or Ha-Chayim, p. 343, notes that in 5478 a Hebrew and Spanish Calendar, entitled DT)S?V TlFZt, was issued by Nieto for the years 5470 5500. This is obviously an error, as it is highly improbable that a calendar for 5470 was not published before 5478. The 5470-5500 almanac was a Spanish issue only, and would scarcely have been called 7W2&gt; which is in fact the title of the XVh issued in 1717, for the years 5478-5561.</page><page sequence="37">36 DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. The faculty of calendar-making seems to be inherent in the family. In New York, in the year 1902, the Rev. Abraham H. Nieto72 published a Jewish almanac for one hundred years, dedicated to the memory of the illustrious Chief Rabbis David and Isaac Nieto, and of Phineas Nieto, all famous almanac-makers. On the fourth of the preliminary leaves he writes : "In publishing this almanac, the compiler is only resuming the work so ably begun and carried on by his family for nearly two centuries. The illustrious Haham David Nieto, being a profound astronomer, established the form of calendar now followed by Jews in all parts of the world. His calendar was published in 1718. Haham Isaac Nieto, his son and successor in office, published an almanac for twenty-two years (from 1740 to 1762) ,73 Phineas, son of the latter, published his almanac for forty-seven years (from 1791 to 1838). This was the famous Nieto's Almanac so much enquired for. . . ,74 The good work is now resumed by one of the Nieto family. ..." Among the treasures that the Bodleian Library obtained from the collection of that great bibliophile H. J. Michael are " Medical Notes in Roman Characters, begun by Nieto in 1717." Bound up with these notes is an alphabetical list of sayings to be found in the tractates Hagigah and Bezah of the Babylonian Talmud ; of the latter tractate only up to the word *1DS7. It is in the Spanish Rabbinical script, 72 Abraham Haim Nieto was the son of Jacob Nieto (married at Leghorn), the son of Phineas Nieto the almanac maker, at one time Secretary of the *")T157 ?"Hltf1? Society, London (E. H. Lindo's Jewish Calendar, 1838, p. 104). 73 Calendario Hebraico; Que Contiene Los Novilunios, Fiestas, y Ayunos; las Parasiot que se juntan; La Bendizion de las Lluvias; Las horas en que se toma Sabath, y se reza Minha y Harbit; y las que se reza Tephilah en esta Ciudad. Desde el Afio 5501 hasta 5522, que corresponde con la Epoca Vulgar, desde el Ano 1740 hasta 1762. Impresso En Londres, Afio 5501. 8?, 12 11. (Own collec? tion.) This will be found as an adjunct to his " Orden De Las Oraciones De Ros Ashanah Y Kipur . . . En Casa de Ricardo Reily, Ano 5500." Some volumes contain a later calendar, " Desde el Anno 5523 hasta 5536, que corresponde con la Epoca Vulgar, desde el Anno 1762 hasta 1775. Impresso En Londres, Anno 5523." 8?, 8 pp. (Own collection.) This was apparently unknown to the Rev. A. H. Nieto. (See Appendix I.) 74 A New Calendar Containing The New Moons, Festivals, and Fasts, Annually Celebrated; Together With The Sections Of The Bible, That Are Read Every Sabbath Day : Likewise, The Time Of Taking The Same, From the Year 5551, till 5600. Corresponding to the Year 1790, Till 1840. Printed : By Permission of the Gentlemen of the Mahamad. m,dcc,xct. 12mo. 3011. (Own collection.)</page><page sequence="38">DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 37 and is part of the work entitled p *)Bttf. Dr. M. Gaster is the fortunate owner of another section of this work, viz. on Moed Katan and Rosh ha-Shana, the latter tractate from 1 to n only. This manuscript varies from the Bodleian one in the fact that the letter heading each alpha? betical section is contained in a parallelogram embellished with Cupids' heads and other decorative designs. In Rosh ha-Shana, of which the letter 1 has unfortunately been cut out, the artistic work has been done with pen and ink, which in Moed Katan has been printed from an etched plate, in anticipation, no doubt, of its publication. The owner is inclined to think that the pen-and-ink drawings are by the hand of the author, and that he was also responsible for the design of the engraved title-page of the Matteh Dan (History of the Ancient Synagogue, p. 112). On this assumption Albert Wolf, in Etwas ?ber j?dische Kunst und ?ltere j?dische K?nstler, Nachtrag in Mitteilungen zur j?dischen V?lk? erkunde . . . Berlin, 1905, i. 4, includes Nieto in his list of artists of the Jewish race. Personally I have my doubts. If Nieto designed the engraved title-page of the Matteh Dan, would he have pictured Itabbenu ha-Kadosh bareheaded ? A third section of the p is mentioned in the manuscript cata? logue of the library of the College of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews in London, compiled by E. H. Lindo in 1835. This, it is sad to relate, has disappeared, as has the manuscript of the p both no doubt in the author's autograph. It is greatly to be deplored that the Spanish and Portuguese Jews here take absolutely no interest or pride in the greatest of their Rabbis. No work of his printed or written or any portrait painted or engraved is to be found in their Medrash or in their vestry room.74a The p ^tfttf was probably never completed. J. C. Wolf, in the third volume of his Bibliotheca Hebraea, p. 205, issued in 1727, the year before Nieto's death, states that the Haham was preparing a Talmudical concordance, and had then completed four volumes. Nieto was also concerned in the publication of Daniel Lopez Laguna's Esjpejo Fiel de Vidas, a versified Spanish rendering of the Book of Psalms. This is one of the most remarkable products of Spanish Jewish literature. The author of this paraphrase, who may be truly deemed a poet, was the son of Marranos of Southern France. In his youth he went to Spain to pursue his studies, and there fell into the clutches 74a Two portraits of Haham Nieto are now in the Vestry.</page><page sequence="39">38 DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. of the Holy Office. After several years' confinement in the dungeons of the Inquisition, he eventually effected his escape to Jamaica, and openly avowed the Jewish faith. This Spanish paraphrase was the labour of twenty-three years, and another twenty-three years, we are told in the preface, " disturbed by war, fire, and tempests," elapsed before it reached the public. In several of the Psalms he makes allusion to his sufferings at the hands of the Inquisition, and his hatred of the Holy Office and his cruel torturers [Psalms x., xxxix., xvi. 2, xliv. 23 sqq., lxxiii. 14 sqq., cvi. 44-5, cix. 16, cxxxix. 19 sqq.]. His work procured him a triumphant reception on his coming to London to publish it, and Mordejay Nunes Almeyda, the dedicatee, became his patron. On the fourth of the preliminary leaves will be found " Aprobacion del Ex celentissimo Sr. H.H.E. David Nieto, Rab del k.k. de Londres." It contains a glowing encomium of the work. In gratitude and in honour of the Haham, the author heads the eighth preliminary leaf " A David Neto que en Anagrama, Vida Denota." This is followed by " Dezimas Acrosticas " on the following laudatory lines : " Sy David Nieto, Teologo y Doctor, Almas Ganando, y Vidas Concordando orlas se conpvso Sapiente, y la Ancora a Logrado Felize," and " Con lo Mas Necto Y Pvro Te A Socorido, Y Goteado Ley, Doctrina Dando Y Las Divisas, Fieles Gualardonando, La Corona Goza En Paz." 75 I have several times quoted a Hebrew letter that was addressed to Christian Theophilus Unger, pastor in Herrenlaursch?tz, by Haham Nieto. It is written on one side of a quarto sheet of paper, in the Spanish Rabbinical script, and is dated from London, Tamuz 27, 5479. To students of Anglo-Jewish history of the early part of the eighteenth century it is teeming with interest. As a bibliophile, Unger was natu? rally concerned about books and their makers, and sought information from our Haham. A transcription by Leopold Dukes is to be found in the Bodleian from the collection of H. J. Michael, but by an error of the copyist it is dated 5476.76 It has also been printed in aitt 5637-8, 75 See Appendix V. 76 This has given rise to a considerable amount of confusion to the Jewish historian and chronologist. See Dr. B. Felsenthal's " The Jewish Congregation in Surinam," note, p. 30, vol. ii., 1894, and George Alexander Kohut's " Who was the First Rabbi of Surinam ? " pp. 121-2, vol. v., 1897, Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society.</page><page sequence="40">*f*u n$w.una t. mir* Jytiirla?tzdeaitrBsr&amp;Q t.//*7 . t/n mifUri* v ' ?atJrw vi d.rf zw Xatrictcrta dt ys&amp;ael. OF.,- p? ^?tvm^ Za coroxa drlfxk ?j Mr tolael.. Frontispiece to D. L. Lacuna's Spanish Translation of the Psalms (1720).</page><page sequence="41">DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 39 pp. 85-6, the Hebrew Supplement to the Magazin f?r die Wissenschaft des Judenthums, vol. iv., Berlin, 1877 ; but here again the copyist has been at fault with the date. In the original letter the last line has but two words, tt"S7nn which were not transcribed at all, this omission, unknown to Dr. Salzbach, causing him to note in the Magazin, pp. 234-5, that the letter could be assigned to a date after 1714. The reason for this is obvious, as reference is made to the p which we know appeared in that year. Of this letter I have prepared an English version:? " Greatest of Sages, Chief among Preachers, Ornament of Saints, My Master, Distinguished One and Friend, the Great Sage who is adorned with all manner of wisdom and prudence, the exalted, honoured, and distinguished Christian Theophilus Unger, Peace, from one who proffers peace. " I have received a letter some days ago from your exalted distinguished honour, and it revived my spirit when I saw that cognizance had been taken of me, and that I had found grace in the sight of a man possessing wisdom and a man of accomplished understanding, and behold I am ready to answer the questions in his gracious epistle in the order he has put them as is his desire ; and also to serve him, and to minister unto him according to all the Master may command. " At first I will say I have neither seen nor heard of a work by Jacob son of Amram in any language, nor of the book Gate of Truth. The Haham Rabbi Menasseh ben Israel died and was buried in Amsterdam, and an old man told me that he expired in the year 1655 or 1656 according to your calculation,77 but I do not know anything about his books in manuscript. R. Isaac Abendana was not a physician,78 and I do not know the year he died, and in my time I have neither heard of nor seen the book Faith Strengthened in Spanish, neither in manuscript nor printed.79 Neither he nor his brother had children.80 The Haham, Rabbi Jacob, mentioned 77 Died at Middelburgh, but was buried at Oudekerk, Amsterdam, in 1657. 78 In J. C. Wolf's Bibliotheca Hebraea, vol. i., 1715, p. 627, and in Carmoly's Histoire des Medecins Juifs, p. 178, he is described as a Doctor of Medicine. 79 There was, however, a work of this name (Fortification de la Ley) trans? lated in 1621 by Isaac Athias (not Abendana) of Hamburg, from the Hebrew of Isaac of Lithuania. See Kayserling's Biblioteca Espanola-Portugueza-Judaica, p. 15, " Athias Yshac " ; p. 109, " Yshac de Abraham Troki " ; Catalogue . . . M.D. Henriques de Castro Mz., No. 511, p. 54, " Isaac de Lituania." 80 S. R. Abendana, in the Jewish World, December 12, 1879, p. 3, claimed to be a great-grandson of Isaac Abendana. Dr. M. Gaster, in " Leaves from the History of the Sephardim in England " (Jewish Chronicle, August 2, 1902, p. 22), refers to</page><page sequence="42">40 DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. previously, translated the Cuzary into Spanish with a slight commentary,81 and it is one which I have sent among the books to your exalted distinguished honour; he was Rabbi in this holy congregation many years, and died on Tishri 3, 5456 Anno Mundi.82 Before him Rabbi Joshua da Silva was an Isaac Abendana who had married a convert to Judaism as his second wife. In the reduced facsimile of the Ketubah illustrating the paper, " Daniel," it can be seen, is the father-in-law of " Rachael Bat Abraham Abinu," as she is termed in the marriage contract, nevertheless Dr. Gaster is fain to identify this Isaac de Daniel Abendana with Isaac de Joseph Abendana of the above letter, and brother of H.H.R. Jacob Abendana. S. R. Abendana is probably a great-grand? son of Isaac de Daniel Abendana by his first or second marriage. 81 Cuzary | Libro | De grande sciencia mucha doctrina. | Discursos que passaron entre el Rey Cuzar. y un singular Sabio | de Ysrael, llamado, R. Yshach Sanguery. | Fue compuesto este libro en la Lengua Arabiga, | por el Doctissimo R. Yeuda Levita ; | Y traduzido en la Lengua Santa, por el | famoso Traductor, R. Yeuda (Bensaul) Aben Tibon | En el ano de 4927, a la Criacion del mundo. Y agora nuevamente traduzido del Ebrayco en Espafiol, y comentado. | Por el Hacham, | R. Jaacob Abendana. | Con estilo facil y grave. | En Amsterdam, Ano 5323. I (Dedicated) " Al Ilustrissimo Seilor Guilielmo Davidsone, Cavallero Baronet, Gentilhombre Ordinario de la Camara privada de su Magestad Honorable ; Senor Conservador y Residente sobre los subditos de su antiguo Reyno en los 17. Provincias ; Primero Comissario y Agente de su Real Magestad de la Gran Bretana y Yrlanda en Amsterdam ; Comissario y Agente de la Real Compania de Ynga latierra." 4to, 4 11. + 306 pp. (own collection), Notes and Queries, Davidsone, Guilielmo, 11 s., vol. xi. pp. 148, 192. The Jews' College Library has a manuscript translation of " The Book Cuzari, written originally in Arabic by the most learned R. Iudah a Levi, translated into the Hebrew Language by R. Iudah aben Tibon, a.m. 4927 = 1167 o.e., now trans? lated into English by E. H. Lindo, Author of the Jewish Calendar, and translator of the Conciliator of R. Manasseh ben Israel. London, 5603 = 1842. . . . This translation finished the 9th Tisri 5603 = 13 September, 1842." 4to, 287 pp. 82 This date is followed by Dr. M. Kayserling in Biblioteca Espanola-Portu gueza-Judaica, p. 1, and in the biography of the learned Haham in the Jewish Encyclopedia, by Dr. Heinrich Graetz, on p. 227, vol. v. (London edition), of his History of the Jews, and by Mr. A. M. Hyamson in his History of the Jews in England, 1901, p. 227. He, however, died on the first or second day of the New Year 5446 and was buried on the day following at the ground in the rear of the Bet Holim " Principio dela quarta Carera (No. 1), H.H.Rb. Jahacob Abendana, 3 Tisri 5446." (Extract from folio 4 of the first Register of Burials of the Bevis Marks Synagogue.) J. C. Wolf, vol. i. p. 578, gives this date 5446, and Dr. M. Gaster, in his History of the Ancient Synagogue, p. 37, was the first to point to the evidence of the burial record. With regard to the pass issued to Jacob Abendana, and dated 1692, see Miscellanies, I, xxvi.-xxvii. This pass complicates the problem; but as there was a second Isaac there may also have been a second Jacob Abendana. Ad? mittedly, however, it is rather a strain to believe in the contemporary existence in London of two pairs of Abendanas with the same names.</page><page sequence="43">DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 41 Haham; he died on the 17th of Iyar 5439, and was the author of a book of sermons in Spanish on the thirteen articles of faith.83 It is a charming 83 Discursos | Predycaveys | Que o Doctor Haham | Yeosuah Da Sylva | Pre gou no K.K. I Sahar A Samayn | Em Londres. | he o Assumpto delle, tratar sobre os Treze Arti- | culos, de nossa Sancta Ley. | Estampado em Amsterdam | Em Caza de Yahacob De Cordova | Anno 5448. | 4to, 811. + 497 pp. (own collection). " Dedicatoria " signed " Sara Viuva do Haham Yeosuah da Silva de felice memoria." The first " Aprobacion " is endorsed and dated from " Amsterdam a 25. de Ilul Anno 5448. Yshak Aboab " ; and the second, " Amsterdam a 25 Elul Anno 5448, Selomoh De Oliveeyra." Pp. 487-9 contain " Sermao Que Pregou o Insigne Senhor Haham Yshak Aboab. As obsequias do seu estimado discipulo o Haham Yeosuah Da Sylva. Faleceu em Londres, a os 32. do Homer, no Anno de 6439. Sua Memoria para Bendicao." On the last page will be found " Epitaphio De bayxo desta, est? sepultado o Gloriozo Corpo, a Eroyca Virtude, a Exemplar Umilda de, a Singular Sciencia, do Fa mozo Haham Raby Yeosua Da Sylva, Morenu a Rab, Ab Beth-Din do Kaal Kados de Londres ; que para sy recolheo o Senhor Deos, em dia de Sabath, sendo trinta &amp; dous do Homer, que sao desasete de Yyar de 5439 Sua Alma goze da Gloria." It is fortunate that the widow had this inscription printed in the volume, as the tombstone has utterly perished (see also M. Gaster, op. cit., p. 36). The Hebrew epitaph, which is not given here, has also been preserved in a somewhat similar manner. It is to be found, written on a small quarto sheet of paper, in a collection of Hebrew documents belonging to Johann Christopherus Wagenseil (1633-1705), the Hebraist, now in the Leipsic Rathsbibliothek (Codex B.H. 18). I Londinensis In Sepulcrum Josua di Silva, Rabbina. [Carrera III., 30 ; 17 Iyar 5439.] Metre :-|-| nT mi on psnn vm trimm? [nnt] T'm *pxi *?d mit T&amp;n nmp r*m wnV m oto srcnrr mm (The word T'ni is incomprehensible, and is probably an error of the copyist for</page><page sequence="44">42 DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. book, and I searched for it, and could not find it, and therefore could not send it; but if I find grace in your sight, my Master, and you return me an answer, I will [again] search for it and send it. After the Haham Rabbi Jacob, as mentioned above, the Haham Rabbi Solomon Ayllon of Salonica was received here as Rab; he guided the Congregation eleven years, and from here he went to Amsterdam in the year 5460, and was received as Rab, and he is still there. After him, I received a call from London from the City of my habitation, Leghorn, where I was Dayan and Preacher of the Congrega? tion and Physician, and came here at the end of Elul 5461 ; and the city of my birth is Venice. And here I have printed four books, one in Italian, Pascallogia [sic], which I composed in Leghorn in the year 5453, that is 1693, and published here in the year 1702. Although Colonia is printed on the title-page, it is not correct, as I was forced to state so from fear that the Christians in Italy would not receive it: Ratione Auihoris et Urbis ab eis Hereticam appellatam. Afterwards I printed a book in Spanish,84 entitled Divine Providence, in the year 5464. In the year 5474 I printed the book Matteh Dan in the holy tongue, and translated it into Spanish ; and sought for a skilled mechanic to cast type of the holy tongue, and also tTpttf?j85 or Rashi type, and now they are in my possession. I also printed a calendar in Spanish, from the year 5470 until the year 5550 86 inclusive, but my name is not inscribed on it because at that time I was very much troubled with *1J1T-) Included are also transcriptions of the epitaphs of Abraham Israel de Sequeira, Carrera III. 31, 21 Kislev 5439 ; Rahel Gomes Serra, Carrera III. 4 Hesvan 5439 ; and Abraham Fernandez Caravajal, 24 Heshvan 5420, the founder of the London Jewish Community. At the end appears the following note in Wagenseil's hand : " Inscriptiones Londinenses communicatae a Cl[arissimo] Peringero." G. Peringer (1651-1710) was born in Sweden, studied under Wagenseil at Altdorf, and was ennobled in 1693 under the name of Lilienbad. On his visits to London, 1675-80, he made these transcriptions for Wagenseil. (" Epitaphs after Resettlement of Jews in England." By David Kaufmann. The Jewish Quarterly Review, 1889, i. 89-94.) 84 Dr, M. Seligsohn, in his biography of Nieto in the Ozar Israel, erroneously states that the Divine Providence was published in Italian. 85 For explanation of this word, in use by ancient authorities, see Zunz, Zur Geschichte und Literatur, I., 206. " I have never seen a satisfactory explanation of the word. They used to say it was Arabic, and no doubt some such meaning might be wrung out of the root, but then we ought to have a Q, and the form is impossible. It means writing which is not in square characters. I think it was used by the Sephardim " (Dr. Arthur Ernest Cowley). " If the dates of the occurrence of the term were suitable I should suggest that it is an abbreviation of the words : * The writing which they call J?disch-Teutsch (ft'"* D'HlptP 2DD?).' But dates seem against this sugges? tion " (Dr. I. Abrahams). 86 Unknown to bibliographers.</page><page sequence="45">DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 43 communal matters, and there were a few errors in it, and I had no oppor? tunity to correct them. If Providence grants me life, it is possible that in the coming winter I will print another calendar up to the year 5511,86a and there I will correct the errors. Some time ago I heard that the author of the book Faith Strengthened was a Karaite. What your highness wrote about this was quite new to me, and I was as pleased as one who finds a great treasure, and in order that I should not forget it I have put the note at the beginning of his book. I also would inform your exalted and distinguished honour that the Haham Rabbi Jacob Fidanque, his memory be for a blessing, died in the month of Heshvan 5462.87 I was here during his illness and visited him, and buried him and delivered a funeral oration. His son died on the 4th day of Elul 5469, and he only composed the books known to you. Rabbi David Pardo 88 died in Surinam in America, nearly three years ago, and he only composed what your honour knows. The Haham Rabbi Phoebus 89 is living and well: long may he live. There is no tombstone on the grave of Isaac Abendana,90 and I know nothing about our teacher, Rabbi David Mungon,91 nor his book. I have sent a letter to the Haham, Rabbi Moses Hagiz, to Embden, the place where he has resided the past year, but I have not yet received his reply, as he is ill in consequence of the climate of the country not agreeing with him ; when it arrives I will forward it immediately. I would request my master to write to me in Latin, in plain Roman letters, as I am unable to read the Ashkenazi Hebrew script92 ; for this I most humbly apologise to my master, and I will also reply in the Latin tongue to your exalted distinguished honour. 86a Also unknown to bibliographers. 87 Jacob ben Abraham Fidanque was buried on Hesvan 7, 5462, " Prin cipio de la Settima Carera " at the Bet Holim ground at Mile End. (Extract from folio 8 of the Burial Register of the Bevis Marks Synagogue.) 88 See Appendix III. 89 R. Uri Phaibush b. R. Naphtali Hirsch Hamburger, commonly known as Aaron Hart. Phoebus is an appropriate kinnui for " Uri," but " Aaron," or Philip, as he is commonly styled, is quite indefensible. At the time of Unger's inquiry, in 1719, he was in his forty-ninth year, and continued to hold office until his death in 1756. 90 There is no entry of his interment in the Burial Register of the Bevis Marks Synagogue, so he probably died abroad. 91 Probably R. David (d. 1629) ben Abraham Mugnon (not Mungon), author of Tratado de la Oracion y meditation y conocimento proprio y del Dio, Venetia, 1654. 4to, 128 pp. See Wolf, iii. 200 ; Kayserling, p. 75. 92 Haham Zevi, in his letter to Reb Aberle concerning Haham Nieto's alleged heretical sermons, stipulates that he should not be written to in Spanish Rabbinical script.</page><page sequence="46">44 DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. " Yesterday I handed the Secretary of the Envoy of the King of Poland 93 (May his Glory be exalted), these books? The Kuzari in Spanish. Matteh Dan Vekuzari Chelek Sheni. De La Divina Providencia. In this book I have not inscribed my name openly on account of the squabbles of a minority of the Yehidim of the Holy Congregation with me ; but if your Highness will look at the letters that the typesetters use to index the printed matter he will find under A vel B, from leaf 1 up to leaf 53, Sr H.H.R. David Netto [sic] Rab del K.K. de Londres.94 " I am also sending as a gift an almanac I have written, as described above. I will implore of God the Creator of Heaven and Earth to prolong his days in goodness and his years in pleasantness, such is the soul's [desire] of his servant and attendant seeking his peace and welfare here in London. Tamuz 27, 5479. " Faithful Servant in his covenant, " David Neto." The body of this letter was no doubt written by an amanuensis, but it bears Nieto's signature. I have carefully compared the writing with a large number of his signatures in a Ketubah book in the Archives of the Bevis Marks Synagogue. It was customary that a new Ketubah book was commenced on the accession of a new Haham. This one, which is dated 1701-10, has the following quaint inscription on one of the preliminary leaves: '' Kegister's of Marriage's by the Eight Keverend Father in God David Netto Archacinnagogue " (sic). Although not a calligraphic expert, I am unable to find any similarity between the writing of the Bodleian MSS. of the p *iS7tP and that of Dr. Gaster's copy nor between the Bodleian MS. of " Reflexiones, Theologicas, Politica Morales, sobre el execrable Systema de Nehemiah Hiya Hayon " and my own, although all are apparently contemporary. They are without corrections, and apparently transcripts made, probably for the Haham, from his own originals. It is impossible definitely to assert which manuscripts are in the autograph of the author. On the I Adar 6, 5480 (1720), Nieto preached a sermon on the thirty-eighth verse of the twenty-eighth chapter of Exodus, "And it shall 93 Frederick Augustus, Elector of Saxony, afterwards Augustus II., King of Poland (1670-1733). 94 This is not quite accurate ; the letters placed consecutively read from pp. 1 to 83. " Sr H.H. David Neto Rab del K.K. de Londres, Ylul Anno 5466 m "</page><page sequence="47">DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 45 be upon Aaron's forebead, that Aaron may bear the iniquity of the holy things, which the children of Israel shall hallow in all their holy gifts ; and it shall be always upon his forehead that they may be accepted before the Lord." It was delivered at the Orphan Asylum, " Sahare Ora Vaavi Ietomim," at the obsequies of Yahel Mendez. She was the widow of Selomoh Mendez, the Parnass Presidente at the time of the correspon? dence between the Mahamad and Haham Zevi, relative to the orthodoxy of Nieto. In his will (1. Young. 47), dated August 31,1705, and proved July 2, 1712, by Abraham Mendez, Selomoh refers to his wife Jael and his three sons, Abraham, Isaac, and Moses. On the title-page of the sermon Yahel Mendez is referred to as the mother of Isaac?his two brothers had apparently predeceased their mother. In the Bodleian there is a sale catalogue of the books of an Isaac Mendez, and in my collection of Ex Libris of Jews there is one of an Isaac Mendes, London, dated 1746, and engraved by Benjamin Levi, a Jew of Portsmouth.95 Dr. M. Gaster, in his History of the Ancient Synagogue, p. 112, states that Yahel was the widow of Jacob Mendez and the mother of Abraham Haim Mendez, but this is obviously an error. The only copy of this sermon I am able to trace is in the Stadtbibliothek, Hamburg. In the catalogue 2YO, Amsterdam, 1868, p. 354, No. 5184, the bibliographer Meyer Eoest mentions a manuscript sermon in Portu? guese by Nieto, delivered in London on Sabat Tesuba, on Deuteronomy xxxii. 6 : *4 Is he not thy father that hath bought thee ? Hath he not made thee and established thee ? " This work, the date of which is unknown, remains inedited. In 1712 was published " Conjeturas Sagradas Sobre Los Prophetos Primeros Colegidas de los mas celebres Expositores, y dispuestas en Contexto Paraphrastico ; Por el R.H. Yshak De Acosta, Las Dirige A Los Muy Ilustres YMagnificos S.Sres- Parnasim Y Gabay Del K.K. De Nephusoth Yeuda. En Ley den, En Casa de Thomas Van Ge'el. 5482." 4to, 4 11. + 906 pp. (Own collection.)96 This book contains an approbation by David Nieto, dated London, Sivan 12, 5482 (1722). 95 " Engraving in Seals, Stamps, Plate, Copper Plate and Pewter, by B. Levi at the corner of Union Row, in Queen Street, on Portsmouth Common." (Inscrip? tion on trade card.) (Own collection.) 96 It is dedicated to Jacob Pereira Brand?o (President), Isaac da Silva Cardoso, Isaac Rs- de Silva, and Daniel Henriques de Sousa (Gabay), all of the K.K. Nephusoth Yeuda of Bayonne.</page><page sequence="48">46 DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. In the same year that this " Censura y Aprovacion " was signed by Haham Nieto, there was published in London an anonymous work on the Inquisition: " Noticias Reconditas y Posthumas del Procedimiento de las Inquisiciones de Espana y Portugal con sus Presos. Divididas^n dos Partes; la Primera en Idioma Portuguez. La Segunda en Cas tellano ; deduzidas de Autores Catholicos, Apostolicos, y Romanos ; Eminentes por Dignidad, o por Letras. Obras tan Curiosas como instructivas, compiladas, y anadidas por un Anonimo. En Villa Franca 1722." 97 In English this means " Secret and Posthumous History of the Inquisitions of Spain and Portugal, with their prisoners, divided in two parts ; the first in the Portuguese idiom, the second in Castilian, derived from Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman authors, eminent for their dignity and learning. A work both curious and instructive. Compiled, with additions, by an Anonymous Author. In Free Town, 1722." Although the first part is in Portuguese, the title-page is in Spanish, and is identical with that of the second (Spanish) part; the " Prologo" for the Portuguese part and the Index to both parts are all in Spanish. The first eight pages, with separate pagination, treat of the Edict issued by King John IV of Portugal on February 6,1649, " that the property of all persons, of whatever nationality, imprisoned by the tribunal of the office of the Inquisition, be not confiscated, for so it befits the common welfare of his kingdom and colonies, as therein appears. ..." A " Relation " of the Portuguese Inquisition during this reign, occu? pying 138 pages, concludes the first part. The compiler relates in the " Prologo " that the author of the narrative was Secretary of the Inquisition, and, in consequence of the horrors perpetrated by the Holy Office, left for Rome in the year 1672. His purpose was not to destroy the Inquisition, but rather to reform it, in order that it might become a powerful aid to the Roman Catholic Church, of which he was a zealous member. He interviewed several Cardinals, placed this report before them, and succeeded in enlisting their interest and influence. His efforts were crowned with success, and in 1674 the Holy Office in 97 Dr. Michael Friedl?nder, in his article on David Nieto in the Dictionary of National Biography, states that the author was Carlos Vero, which is an error. Carlos Vero was the pseudonym of the printer of Bespuesta Al Sermon Predicado por el Arcobispo de Cangranor (1729 ?), another anonymous work of Haham David Nieto.</page><page sequence="49">DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 47 Portugal ceased to exist. However, the Inquisitors were not to be wholly thwarted ; certain influences from Home were brought to bear upon the King, and the Inquisition was reintroduced in 1681 with even greater cruelties and injustice than hitherto. The author dared not return to Portugal, and, fearing the vengeance of the Inquisition, ended his life in Home. The compiler continues to say that he obtained his own copy of the report from Lisbon, the author having taken the precaution before his death to circulate many manuscript copies throughout the principal cities of Europe.98 The second part of this work contains (besides a Preface) (a)? Reflections on the Secret History of the Proceedings of the Inquisitions in Spain and Portugal with their prisoners, pp. 1-31 ; (b) Extract of the letter of Innocent XI (1611-1689) 99 in favour of the New Christians of Portugal, translated from the Latin (pp. 31-65); (c) Sacred Arsenal, or practice of the office of the Holy Inquisition, newly corrected and enlarged by Sebastian Zequini, 1653 (pp. 65-86); (d) Account of the detention of Luiz Rame in the prisons of the Inquisition of Mexico in New Spain, and of his happy deliverance, sent by him to Madame de ?? (pp. 87-137); and (e) Post-Scriptum, pp. 139-140. In the " Prefacion " the compiler declares that he has sought with zeal and energy to discover the name of the writer but failed; he had learned that he was an illustrious Spanish gentleman, who in his youth had been taken to Rome by his father, and left there in charge of an eminent Cardinal, who was a relative. During his stay there, a copy of the report on the Portuguese Inquisition by this anonymous author (which was creating a great sensation) came into his hands and produced in him a terrible indignation. He obtained an interview with the author, and, after a heated argument, was promised that the brochure would not be published until such a time when he could judge the matter from his own personal research and inquiries. He went to Spain to wind up the estate of his father, who had recently died, and during the time obtained information in exact detail of the proceedings of the Inquisition 98 For a later examination of this work (and for identification of the compiler and the author), see M. B. Amzalak, " David Nieto, noticia bibliografica " (Lisbon, 1923). 99 Benedetto Odescalchi, Pope from 1687 to 1689.</page><page sequence="50">48 DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. both in Spain and Portugal. He returned to Rome after an absence of a year and a half, and admitted that, after his investigations, he was convinced of the righteousness of the report, and he promised to prepare some " Reflexions," which would ratify the statements made by the anonymous author of the charges against the Portuguese Inquisition. These "Reflexions" comprise the second part of the present work. The editor then explains how the manuscript came into his hands. Two years after the Spanish gentleman returned to Rome he was stricken with small-pox, and before his death appointed a friend as trustee of his estate. He gave him instructions as to its disposal, with a particular injunction to send a sealed chest containing valuable papers to Spain. The trustee neglected to forward the chest, and when he died, shortly afterwards, it was stolen by one of his servants. The thief, imagining he had secured a great treasure, decamped with it to England. On opening the chest he found nothing but documents, which he expected were at least bills of exchange. He took them to a valuer, and, finding they were of no account, left them with him. The latter handed them to an intelligent person, and at the same time intimated that if the manuscripts were of public utility he would defray the cost of publication. The " intelligent person " read them and pondered over them; and, finding them curious and useful, added whatever he thought was desirable on the subject. " These works were posthumous when they came into my hands in the year 1700. I must therefore warn my curious reader that any authorities quoted subsequent to this period are the work of the compiler and not of the author." Responsibility of editing and compiling this book is attributed to Nieto. J. C. Wolf, in his Bibliotheca Hebraea, iii. 204, includes it with other of his publications. Another anonymous work, generally attributed to Nieto, on the subject of the Inquisition, is described on the title-page : " Por el Autor de las Noticias Reconditas de la Inquisicion." In an engraved portrait issued shortly after his decease Nieto is seen in his library seated at a desk on which is an open volume inscribed " Noticias." His claim to authorship, however, remains undecided. J. C. Wolf, in his Bibliotheca Hebraea, iv. 810, notes that Maturinus Veyssiere de la Croze, French Orientalist (1661-1739), drew his attention to the fact that Noticias Reconditas was almost entirely a translation of Memoires</page><page sequence="51">DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 49 historiques pour servir a Vhistoire des Inquisitions, " 1716, 8?," a book issued at Paris, although it bears the imprint " Cologne." Dr. Julius F?rst remarks (Bibliotheca Judaica, iii. 34) that much use was made of the Memoir es historiques in the second (Spanish) part of the work. Henry Charles Lea, in his History of the Inquisition in Spain, iii. 285, writes: "I see no reason to doubt that the Noticias Reconditas is an elaborate statement drawn up by Vieira for Innocent XI. ... It is no more bitter than his other writings on the subject, and its somewhat florid style is natural to so popular a preacher." The author of the Authentic Memoirs Concerning the Inquisition, London, 1761 100 and 1769,101 gives a translation of a passage of this work, which he says he made from a well-attested manuscript in Portugal. There were, Lea adds, several copies in the handwriting of Father Antonio Vieira, and also in that of a secretary of the Inquisition who fled to Venice. We may remember that in the " Prologo" it is asserted that the anonymous author of the first part of the book had been formerly Secretary of the Portuguese Inquisition. The question may occur to one : was he perhaps joint author with the Jesuit Antonio Vieira (1608-1697) ? There are some grounds for maintaining, however, that Vieira was the sole author, since we find in his Relaca? Exactissima Instructiva, Curioza, Verdadeira, e Noticioza, Do Procedimento das In quizig?is de Portugal. Prezentada a o Papa Ignocencio XI. Pello P. Antonio Vieyra D.F.M. Da Companhia de Jesus (Venice, 1750), that pp. 1 to 95 are a reprint of pp. 1 to 138 of the Noticias Reconditas. 100 " Authentic Memoirs Concerning the Portuguese Inquisition, Never before Published : With Remarks on the infamous Character given of the British Nation, by a late Apologist for that horrid Tribunal, also reflections on Ancient and Modern Popery, and The Causes of its present alarming Progress in this Kingdom. To which are added, Several striking Facts relating to the Portuguese Jesuits, and the Conduct of the Court of Rome ; with a recent Instance of the execrable Prac? tices of their Brethren in England, wherein is shewn the Tendency of Jesuitism to promote universal Corruption of Manners. In a Series of Letters to a Friend. London : Printed for W. Sandby, in Fleet Street, m.dcc.lxi." 8?, xvi + 528 pp. (Bodleian, Mason, F, 35.) Letter iv., " Remarkable instance of the iniquitous proceedings of the Holy Office, from the celebrated Padre Vieira," pp. 47-62. 101 A reissue of the 1761 edition, with a new title-page :- London : Printed for John Murray (Successor to Mr. Sandby), No. 32, Fleet Street, m.dcc.lxix. (See catalogue of Doctor Williams' Library, i. 173, s.v. Inquisition.) Neither issue is in the British Museum. VOL. XII. E</page><page sequence="52">50 DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. Again, in his Noticias Reconditas Do Modo De Proceder A Inquisiagao De Portugal Com Os Seus Prezos. Informag?o, Que ao Pontifice demente X. deo o P. Antonio Vierra (Lisbon, 1821),102 pp. 3 to 205, are similar, though in more modern Portuguese, to pp. 1 to 138 of Noticias Reconditas, Villa Franca, 1722. We may, therefore, consider Vieira's authorship established. Although a Jesuit, he was a champion of freedom, and strongly urged the abolition of distinctions between old and new Christians, the reform of the procedure of the Inquisition, and the admission of Jewish and foreign traders, with guarantees for their security from religious persecu? tion. At different periods King John IV sent him on diplomatic missions to Paris, The Hague and Rome, and in 1646-7 he spent much of his time in Holland, where he associated freely with his Marrano com? patriots who had fled from their native land in terror of the Inquisition. He was supposed to be of Jewish origin, and was at times seen in the Synagogue at Amsterdam. He was on intimate terms with Menasseh ben Israel, whom he was anxious to convert to his own faith. Once he was asked his opinion as to the merit of the two preachers Isaac da Fonseca Aboab and Menasseh ben Israel; he very adroitly replied: " Aboab knows what he says, and Menasseh says what he knows." Having aroused the enmity of the Inquisition, he was cited to appear before the Holy Office at Coimbra to answer points smacking of heresy in his sermons, conversations, and writings, and for his leniency to the Marranos. He was kept in prison from October 1665 to December 1667, and prohibited from preaching or teaching. He went to Rome, where he resided from 1669 to 1675, and was heartily welcomed by Pope Clement X,103 at whose request he drew up a report of 200 pages on the Portuguese Inquisition. After a judicial inquiry, Clement's successor, Pope Innocent XI, suspended the Holy Office for five years, from 1676 to 1681. Vieira died in 1697, in his ninetieth year. His name will ever be identified with great causes, and many of his troubles were caused by the fact that his opinions were in advance of his age. 102 E. N. Adler in Auto da Fe and Jew, note (6), p. 167, wrongly refers to this book of Vieira's [with a copy of which he was presented by Dr. H. C. Lea] as having been printed in Villa Franca in 1722. 103 Emilio Altieri, Pope from 1670 to 1676.</page><page sequence="53">DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 51 The 1722 Noticias Reconditas y Posthumas is of great rarity. Meyer Roest, in his catalogue of the library of Isaac da Costa (Amsterdam, 1861) notes (Lot 2448): " Cet ouvrage extremement rare du celebre et savant Grand-Rabbin des Juifs Portuguais de Londres ..." The writer of the article " David Neto" in the Diccionario Bibliographico Portuguez, i. 128, in referring to the 1722 Noticias Reconditas y Posthumas, says it was always very scarce in Lisbon, on account of its very offensive attack on the tribunal of the Holy Office, which prohibited it rigorously.104 104 Since reading this paper on March 15, 1915, I have come across certain books on the Inquisition in the British Museum which have caused me to entertain further doubts as to the participation of David Nieto in the production of this work. I have found Antonio Vieira's " Relation of the Portuguese Inquisition " in An Account of the Cruelties Exercised by the Inquisition In Portugal, To which is added, A Relation of the Detention of Mr. Louis Ramk in the Prisons of the Inquisi? tions in the Kingdoms of Mexico and Spain, and of his happy Deliverance. Written by one of the Secretaries to the Inquisition. London : Printed for R. Burrough and J. Baker, at the Sun and Moon in Cornhill, 1708. 8?, vii + 164 pp. + 2 11. [B.M. Inquisition, 866, g, 6] : reissued with a new title-page, The History Of The Inquisition : With An Account Of The Cruelties Exercised Therein. Written by one of the Secretaries to the Inquisition; London : Printed for J. Downing in Bartholomew Close near West-Smithfield; And J. Baker at the Black-Boy in Pater-Noster Row, 1713. Price one Shilling six Pence. 8?, 2 11. -f- 164 pp. [B.M. Inquisition, 866, g, 7 (1)]. The " Indice " and the " Edict issued by King John IV " which precede it in the Portuguese section of the 1722 Noticias Reconditas y Posthumas are, however, omitted, and the volume ends with " Account of the detention of Mr. Luiz K?me in the prisons of the Inquisition in the Kingdoms of Mexico and Spain and of his happy deliverance, sent by him to Madame de-," which in the Noticias Reconditas is the concluding essay of the Spanish part. Nieto has been regarded as the writer of the " Prologo," in which it is asserted that the manuscript was obtained from Lisbon, the author having taken the precaution to circulate many copies before his death throughout the principal cities of Europe. But precisely the same tale is told in the preface of this Account of the Cruelties Exercised by the Inquisition in Portugal . . ., published fourteen years previously. Moreover, the " Reflections on the Secret History of the Proceedings of the Inquisitions in Spain and Portugal with their prisoners," in the second [Spanish] part of the 1722 Noticias Reconditas y Posthumas, is to be found in An Account Of The Rise and Present State Of The Inquisitions : Shewing That those of Spain and Portugal are contrary to the Divine and Political Laws, and more cruel and tyrranical in their Proceedings than that in Italy. Written Originally in Spanish by a Roman Catholick, and never before translated into English. To which is added, The remark? able Tryal and Sufferings Of a Protestant by the Inquisition in New Spain. London : Printed for J. Brotherton at the Bible in Cornhill, and sold by J. Roberts near</page><page sequence="54">52 DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. On the Day of Atonement of the year 5484 there was preached, in the Bevis Marks Synagogue, a sermon subsequently printed under the title " Exemplar | De | Penetencia, | Dividido Em | Tres Discursos, | Para o Dia Santo de | Kypur; | Dedicado | A o Grande, E Omnipo? tente I Deos de Israel. | Pello Doutor | Iahacob de Castro Sarmento. | Ille dolet vere, qui sine teste dolet. | Martial, Epig. xxxi. | Em Londres, Anno 5484. [ Com Licenca dos Senhores do Mahamad, E I Aprovac?o do Sr Haham deste K.K." 8?, 28 + 116 + 27 pp. (Own collection.) Haham David Nieto was now over seventy years of age, and the editor of his posthumously printed sermon [" Respuesta Al Sermon Predicado por el Arcobispo de Cangranor"] tells us that he was " tormented by infirmities." Unable to address his congregants on the most solemn day of the year, his intimate friend, the erudite Jacob de Castro Sarmento, was requested by the Mahamad, with his sanction as Haham, to act as his delegate. The sermon was submitted for Nieto's approval before it was delivered from the " Tebah." It was published with an " Aprovacao Do Senhor H.H.R. David Netto, Rab deste K.K. de Londres" beginning " Muy Ilustres Senores del Mahamad " and concluding :?" en Londres 4 Elul, 5484. Servidor de Vmds, David Nieto " (pp. 25-8). This was his last literary effort published before his decease.105 J. C. Wolf, in his Bibliotheca Hebraea, iv. 810, attributes to Nieto a prayer-book, published in 1727, entitled rttttfn flWH IWpH, with a the Oxford-Arms in Warwick-Lane. 1730. Price [Is. 6d.] 8?, viii -f- 92 pp. [B.M. Inquisition, 866, g, 7 (3).] The extract of the letter of Innocent XI and the " Sacred Arsenal ..." which follow in the Noticias Reconditas are omitted, but both works end with an account of the detention of Luiz Rame. The preface, which is both prolix and fantastic, gives a similar account of the acquisition of the manuscripts to that given in the " Prefacion " of the Spanish part of the Noticias Reconditas. Although this volume is dated 1730, it does not at all follow that it is the first issue ; it was not always usual to indicate the edition on the title page, so that it may well have appeared originally in 1708, when An Account of The Cruelties Exercised by the Inquisition in Portugal . . . was published. In the British Museum catalogue D. Nieto is given as the probable author of the Noticias Reconditas y Posthumas, but since the discovery of these two volumes his association with the book becomes somewhat dubious. 105 See Appendix, No. II.</page><page sequence="55">DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 53 Spanish translation.106 This entry seems to have been copied by Julius F?rst, who describes it in his Bibliotheca Judaica, iii. 34, as m^DD iWn BNH mtn?V Mr. David de Raphael Montezinos, who is the greatest authority on this branch of literature, and a collector for over half a century, is convinced that Wolf was in error, that no such prayer-book was ever issued, and that F?rst without warrant varied the title and reprinted Wolf's entry without investigation. On Kipur 5466 (September 6,1705), an auto da fe was celebrated in the public square of the city of Lisbon, near the office of the Inquisition, and in the presence of the Court.107 There were sixty-six108 hapless victims of the Inquisition, a majority of whom had to choose death or apostasy. The sermon 109 on the occasion was delivered by Diogo Justiniano Alvares da Annunciac?o (1654-1713), who had been Arch? bishop of Cranganor (1692-5), in Portuguese India, but had never occu? pied the archiepiscopal seat.110 Quoting Isaiah xlii. 22?" But this is a people robbed and spoiled ; they are all of them snared in holes, and they are hid in prison houses: they are for a prey, and none delivereth; for a spoil, and none saith, Restore"?he addressed the martyrs as follows : " Oh ! degraded remnants of Judaism, unhappy fragments of the Synagogue ! the last spoil of Judea ! opprobrium of the Catholics ! abhorrence and laughing-stock of the Jews, for your ignorance is such that you know not how to observe the very law you profess. You are the opprobrium of the Catholics; for, being born within the 106 Bakasoth de Bos Asanah. Spanish text only was printed, 1705 ; see supra, p. 24. 107 Dom Pedro II (1648-1706) and his second wife, Maria Sophia Isabella of Bavaria. 108 Lea, History of the Inquisition in Spain, iii. 302. But Kayserling, Geschichte der Juden in Portugal, p. 321, gives sixty as the number of penitents. 109 Serrnao do Auto da Fe que se celebrou no Rocio de Lisboa em 6 de Setem bro de 1705. Ibi. por Antonio Pedroso Galv?o, 1705. 4to, de 48 pag. No Catalogo Livraria de Francisco Jose Maria de Brito vem este serrnao qualificado de rarissimo. (Diccionario Bibliographico Portuguez, ii. 143.) 110 Dr. M. Gaster, in his " Presidential Address " (Transactions, vii. 305), states that this Auto da Fe " was lit in Cranganor, in Cochin." The incident, however, actually took place at Lisbon on the Day of Atonement. In the original Portuguese version, in the third paragraph, the day is referred to as " Purim." Moses Mocatta, in his English translation (1845), and Isaac Leeser, in his Philadelphia edition (1860), both retain the error without comment.</page><page sequence="56">54 DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. pale of its Church, your voluntary apostasy has banished you from its bosom; you are the last spoil of Judea, for (to our shame) your lot is cast here in Portugal to disgrace and scandalise us in the opinion of the whole world?in our quarter of the globe as well as in your native East. You are the wretched fragments of the Synagogue, for all its former greatness is come to an end in your present misery. Finally, you are a degraded remnant of Judaism, the wretched offshoots of Israel, who, since the destruction of your country, have spread throughout Europe to infect whole nations by your presence." A reply to the sermon in Portuguese was published at Turin in 1709,111 and, although without the author's name, is apparently the work of a Jew. After a lapse of about twenty years, a further refutation in Spanish was issued at Villa Franca, which is obviously London, entitled Reply to the Sermon preached by the Archbishop of Cangranor [sic] at the Auto de Fe celebrated in Lisbon on 6th September, 1705. By the Author of the Secret History of the Inquisition. A posthumous work. Imprinted in Free Town by Carlos Vero (Truth), at the sign of Truth.112 The writer of 111 Sermam Do Auto Da Fe. Que se celebrou na Praza do Rocio desta Citade de Lisboa, junto dos Pazos da Inquisicam, en 6. de Setembro do Anno de 1705. Em Presenza De Suas Altezas, Pregado Pelo Illustrissimo, &amp; Reveren dissimo Senhor D. Diogo Da Annunciazam Justiniano, do Conselho de S. Mages? tade, que Deos guarde, &amp; Arcebispo que foy de Cranganor. Lisboa, Na Officina de Antonio Pedro Ozogalv?o. Com todas as licenzas necessarias. M.dcc.v. 8?, 1 1. + 73 pp. (Reprint of original issue to accompany the following reply.) : " Ante exordio ? Resposta Do Sermam Que 0 Arcobispo de Cranganor, Pregou no Auto da Fe. Que se fes em Lisboa, em 6. de Setembro, de 1705. Eeyta por hum Anonimo. So por Gloria de Deos, a quern toda a dedica, para que toda a fun da, para que claramente se veja ; e por desengano de Supersticoens, a todos os Papistas para que se arrependam, e desenganem dos Erros, e Enganos, com que este seo Pregador, e todos os mais lastimosamente os trazem enganados. Impresso em Turim, Na Officina de Jorge de Cervantes. Com todas as Licencas necessarias. Anno de 1709." 8?, 115 pp. (B.M.) 112 Sermam do Auto Da Fe que se celebrou na Praza do Rocio desta cidade de Lisboa, junto dos Pazos da Inquisizam, em 6 de Setembro do Anno de 1705. Em presenza de suas Altezas, pregado pelo Illustrissimo e Reverendissimo Senhor D. Diogo da Annunciazam justiniano, do Conselho de S. Magestade, que Deos guarde, e Arcebispo que foy de Cranganor. Lisboa na Officina de Antonio Pedro Ozo Galv?o, com todas as licencas necessarias. M.dcc.v. 8?, 1 1. + 89 pp. Mr. E. N. Adler, in Auto da Fe and Jew, 1908, note 1, p. 142, in referring to this issue of the sermon, remarks that it "is evidently a reprint, prob? ably of 1722." This is an error; it is a reprint of about 1729, to accompany the following reply: " Respuesta Al Sermon Predicado por el Arcebispo de</page><page sequence="57">DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 55 the preface states that" it is the posthumous work of an eminent person known in the republic of letters by his excellent and judicious produc? tions ; and although his advanced age and distracting and tormenting in? firmities little disposed him to engage in controversy, yet, to comply with the wishes of some of his friends, who were most anxious to see a refuta? tion of the boasted sermon, he composed that which is hereto subjoined. . . ." Although Haham David Nieto's name does not appear on the title-page, his authorship has generally been accepted. As in the case of the refutation in Portuguese that appeared in 1709, it is accompanied by the Archbishop's sermon, expressly reprinted from the original Portuguese published in Lisbon in 1705, which precedes it in the binding. Not a single copy is known to exist in any public library, and, besides my own, the only other I know of belonged to the late Mr. Solomon David Schloss, of London,113 and is referred to by Mr. E. N. Adler in his Auto da Fe and Jew, 1908, note, p. 142. De Rossi, in his Bibliotheca Judaica Antichristiana, p. 78, writes that the book is of the greatest rarity, and that only with the greatest difficulty could he obtain a loan of a copy, of which he made a transcript with his own hand. This manuscript is now in the public library at Parma, Italy.114 It was translated into English, together with the Archbishop's sermon, in 1845, under the title of The Inquisition and Judaism, by Moses Mocatta.115 Cangranor [sic], Enel Auto de Fe; Celebrado en Lisboa, en 6 Setiembre Anno 1705. Por el Author de las Noticias Reconditas de la Inquisicion. Obra Post huma. Impresso En Villa-Franca. Por Carlos Vero. A la Insignia de la Verdad.'' 8?, x + 112 pp. (incorrectly numbered 104). 113 A copy is mentioned by Meyer Roest, in his catalogue of Isaac da Costa's library, 1861, No. 2332, p. 89, where he notes, " L'ecrit de D. Nieto est encore plus rare que ses Noticias Reconditas " ; and another is in the catalogue of the library of D..Henriques de Castro, 1899, p. 90, No. 781. 114 See De Rossi, MSS. Codices Hebraici, iii. 199. A memorandum is inserted that he made the copy himself from the original printed at London or Amsterdam, lent him by a provincial Rabbi. (Information of Rabbi D. Camerini of Parma.) 115 Lea's History of the Inquisition in Spain, iii. 302, note 2, refers to the " Exortacion al Herege, fol. 6 (Bodleian Library, Arch. Seid. 130). Sermam do Auto da fe em 6 de Setembro do anno de 1705, p. 5 (Lisboa, 1705). This sermon was translated by Moses Mocatta, together with a reply to it by Carlos Vero, London, 1845." Mr. Herbert Loewe, M.A., kindly made a thorough search for the manuscript " Sermam do auto da fe," but without success; and it is there? fore suggested by Mr. Falconer Madan, the librarian of the Bodleian, that Lea's note is erroneous. See, however, Bibliography (32b), p. 77.</page><page sequence="58">56 DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. The introduction is dated 24th Ab 5605, and the title-page inaccurately gives "Carlos Vero" as the author, instead of the printer, of the " Reply to the Sermon." The Sermon and the refutation were also reprinted in the supple? mentary extracts from Spanish authors in vol. viii. of a certain monumental work entitled Antiquities of Mexico.11* The promoter and editor, Edward King, Viscount Kingsborough (1795-1837), spent ?32,000 on the work, and, being seized for a debt to a paper manu? facturer, he was incarcerated in the Sheriff's prison in Dublin, and died there of typhus. The work was propaganda with a view to the colonisation of Mexico by Israelites. The sermon of the Archbishop of Cranganor will be found on pp. 91-115, with the following note :? "... the . . . Sermon, which must carry with it all the weight of evidence usually attached to an official document, proves that at a period as late as 1705, when the Archbishop of Cranganor preached before the Royal family on the occasion of the Auto da F6 which at that time took place at Lisbon, the Jews were dragged to the flames by the Inquisition. The perusal indeed of a discourse so full of rancour and of invective against them might well lead one to suppose that a much more recent although a secret page of history, and not the recollection of events nearly two thousand years old, had excited the feelings of the archbishop, and dictated to him the language to which he then gave utterance. This sermon itself was printed in Lisbon, as the title-page states, in 1705. The answer to it, however, has never been printed,117 since neither in Spain nor Portugal would the necessary licence have been granted; and the declaration on the title-page, " Impresso en Villa Franca por Carlos Vero, a la Insignia de la Verdad," is merely ironical. It is a very remarkable, defence of the Jewish religion by a Jew. Indeed, as regards a main argument brought forward (viz. that it is cus? tomary with the Rabbis always to interpret literally the texts of Scripture, whilst Christians, on the contrary, give to it, as it may suit their purpose, a literal, a metaphorical, a typical, or an allegorical sense), a reply not likely to be pleasing to the Jews might easily be made." The reply follows on pp. 117-149, with the following note in Spanish : " It is without doubt by reason of its style of language, so 116 Published by Henry G. Bohn in nine imperial folio volumes and 60 pp. of vol. x. London, 1830-1848. Four copies were printed on vellum, with coloured plates. 117 This statement is remarkable, as it is followed closely by " Impresso En Villa Franca."</page><page sequence="59">DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 57 heroic and so polished, that many have had cause to believe, and I to say, that the Senor H.H. Hijo de Londres is the author of the following reply." Cardozo de Bethencourt, in his biography of Diogo Justiniano Alvares da Anunciacao, in the Jewish Encyclopedia, states that, in a note in the Antiquities of Mexico, Isaac Nieto is said to be the author of the anonymous book. As both the Portuguese and the Spanish replies may be considered anonymous productions, it is doubtful to which he refers. I have carefully gone through the Supplement, viii. 91 and 117, referred to in the bibliography of Bethen? court's article, but failed to discover the name of Isaac Nieto. I think he has merely ventured the opinion that " Senor H.H. Hijo de Londres" may be "Isaac Nieto," who probably edited his father's posthumous work and wrote the " Al Lector " which prefaces it.118 An English version was also published in Philadelphia. The Rev. Isaac Leeser, in a preliminary note, remarks : " We think we render a service to the cause of Judaism by reprinting this controversial work which we received some years ago from the late Moses Mocatta, and which he had translated from the Portuguese." With this posthumous work I conclude my survey of the literary labours, extending over a period of thirty-five years, of Haham David Nieto.119 From the number of his publications one gathers the many 118 H. H. are the initial letters of Haham Hashalem, the official title of the Chief Rabbi of a Sephardi Congregation. [Hijo (= son) is possibly a slip for Nieto (? nephew, etc.).] 119 In an extract from The Occident and American Jewish Advocate, iii. 138 (September 1, 1859), which appeared in the Jewish Chronicle and Hebrew Observer, No. 253, October 21, 1859, p. 5, a reference is made to a Spanish manuscript of six folio volumes, each of an average of 400 pages, that was sent by the Reverend David Aaron de Sola (1796-1860) of the Bevis Marks Synagogue to the purchaser, Mr. Gershom Kursheedt of New York. Mr. De Sola described the manuscript as the most remarkable he had ever seen, the writing of the illuminated title-pages being superb, and added that he intended making an abstract in English for the pur? chaser. The work is entitled : " Respuesta al doctissimo Isaac Jacquelot (1647 1708) intitulado Discertaciones sobre al Messias donde se prueba a los Judios que j.c. es el Messias prometido en el viejo Testamente" It is remarkable that the whereabouts of this colossal work is unknown. Messrs. Manuel and R. S. Kur? sheedt, nephews of the purchaser, know nothing of it, and doubt whether it was ever sent to America. The first edition of the work, to which this MS. is a reply, is entitled : Dissertations Sur le Messie, Ou Von Prouve AuxJuifs Que Jesus-Christ Est Le Messie Promis Et Predit Dans UAncien Testament. Par M. Jacquelot. A La</page><page sequence="60">58 DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. and remarkable attainments of this distinguished scholar. He was an astronomer, a maker of calendars, historian, mathematician, philosopher, physician, poet, apologist, preacher, Talmudist, and theologian. His knowledge of languages embraced at least Hebrew and its cognates, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Latin, French, Greek, and English. He died on Saturday, 28 Tebeth,120 5488 (January 10, 1728), the day on which he completed the seventy-fourth year of his age. He was laid to rest on the following day, which was the anniversary of his birth, in the " House of Life,'' situate in the rear of the Beth Holim at Mile End. His grave is facing the entry to the ground on the left-hand side, by the wall, under an overhanging tree. An unpretentious low altar tomb marks the spot. The inscription is in Hebrew and Portuguese, with an epitaph by Dr. Isaac de Sequeira Samuda.121 By his side rests Haye, Chez Etienne Foulque, Marchand Libraire, dans le Pooten, m.dc.xcix. Avec Privilege des Etats de Hollande G. Westfrise. 8?, Eng. Frontis. + 13 11. + 304 pp. In Steinschneider's Hebr?ische Bibliographie, iii. 35-6, it is suggested that it is probably by David Nieto, as he was the author of a similar work : Respuesta Al Sermon, Predicado por el Arcobispo de Cranganor . . . 1705. This surmise is, how? ever, incorrect, as this manuscript is referred to by Kayserling, in his Biblioteca Espanola-Portugueza-Judaica, p. 12, as the work of Jahacob de Andrade Velosino, who was born at Pernambuco in 1657, and that it was sold to America in 1859. In Carmoly's Revue Orientale, ii. 112 seqq., there is a " Catalogue D'Une Col? lection de Manuscrits A Constantinople." Item 5 on p. 113 reads: " Libro intitulado Daniellio de Liorne, respuestas contra christianos. MS. in folio, de 86 pages." In the Hebr?ische Bibliographie, iii. 36, it is again suggested that David Nieto may be the author, on the ground that he came from Livorno, and that Daniel was probably meant for David. Another suggestion is that the writer was Daniel Levi de Barrios (1625-1701), who in 1659 publicly proclaimed his Judaism in Livorno. 120 Seligsohn, in his biography of Nieto in the Ozar Israel, incorrectly gives 7 Sebat as date of death. 121 Portuguese ; Bachelor of Medicine of the University of Coimbra, May 21, 1702; admitted Licentiate of the College of Physicians, March 19, 1721-2. He was admitted a Fellow of the Boyal Society, October 24, 1724. His name dis? appeared from the College list in 1731. (M?nk, The Roll of the Royal College of Physicians of London, 2nd ed., ii. 82.) He was the friend, colleague, and associate of the celebrated Jacob de Castro Sarmento, and author of an unpublished work entitled: " Viriadas do doctor Isaac de Sequeira Samuda, Medico lusitano, e Socio da R. Sociedade de Londres. Obra posthuma digesta e concluida pelo doctor Jacob de Castro Sarmento, medico lusitano etc., que offerece ao maior</page><page sequence="61">DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 59 his wife Sarah, who died at the age of eighty-eight, surviving her husband fourteen years. After a lapse of exactly a century, when Haham Raphael Meldola (1754-1828), his compatriot and successor in office, died, he was, in compliance with a death-bed request, buried at the foot of Nieto's grave. Several funeral sermons were delivered at Nieto's obsequies, including one in Portuguese by Dr. Isaac de Sequeira Samuda, which was subsequently published. At p. 99 is to be found the epitaph he composed in Spanish for the Haham's tombstone. The only copy I can trace is in the Montezinos collection.122 Nieto's son, Isaac, delivered a sermon in Spanish after the seven days of mourning on the 7 Sebat, and another at the end of the thirty days of mourning on the 28 Sebat. It was published, but, besides my own copy, I know of only one in the British Museum and another in the Montezinos collection. Another memorial sermon in Portuguese, by Dr. Jacob de Castro Sarmento, is also excessively rare. In addition to the copy in my library, there is one in the British Museum, and another is to be found in the Montezinos collection. protector das letras, o muito alto e poderoso senhor D. Jo?o V, rei de Portugal." Fol. It is a poem in thirteen cantos, in ottava rima, containing 1465 octaves or stanzas in all. The Duke of Palmella possesses a manuscript copy of this work, in which there is a marginal note in red ink after the 58th stanza of canto 13, as follows: " So far the Author." From this it is concluded that the following stanzas up to stanza 108, with which the poem ends, were written and added by Jacob de Castro. It is composed in accordance with the taste of the Spanish school, which the author followed, and, in the opinion of those who have examined it, shows genius and poetic inspiration. Besides this copy, and another which is included in the collection of Sr. F. de P. Ferreira da Costa, no other is known. (Silva, Diccionario Bibliographico Portuguez, iii. 233.) The London Magazine and Monthly Chronologer, April 1743, p. 205, mentions " Dr. Samuda, an eminent Jew Physician." 122 Antonio Ribeiro dos Santos, who in 1793 published at Lisbon an account of the sacred literature of the Portuguese Jews, possessed a copy of this rare sermon. " There was another in the valuable collection of Monsignor Hasse, which must have passed into the library of the University of Coimbra, but I do not know if it is still to be found there." (Silva, Diccionario Bibliographico Portuguez, iii. 233.) The work is dedicated to " Os Senhores Parnassim e Gabay do K.K. de Sahar Hassamaym de Londres?Jacob Jessurum Rodriguez (Presi dente), Joseph Teiles da Costa, Jacob de Moses Mendes da Costa, Moses Lopes Dias, &amp; Jacob de Moses Franco (Gabbai)." See Bibliography (27), p. 76.</page><page sequence="62">60 DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. The Haham's friend and pupil Abraham Mendez Chumazero also delivered a sermon on the mournful occasion in Spanish : " Dedicatoria a los muy inclitos y Magnificos Senores Joseph Rodrigues Sequeyra, Thes., Abraham Aboab Osorio, Parnas." This, too, was published, but the title-page does not bear the usual licence of the " Gentlemen of the Mahamad " nor the place of issue. The only known copy is in the Montezinos collection. Kayserling, in his Biblioteca Espanola-Portu gueza-Judaica, p. 70, has omitted " Chumazero," and entered it as the work of " Abraham Mendes." On the fourth page there is a memorial sonnet by Jacob Mendez Chumazero, father of the author. J. C. Wolf, in his Biblioiheca Hebraea, iv. 810, has the following entry : " Memorial to the Reverend Dr. David Netto, late High Priest of the Jews, with an Epithalamium on the marriage of Mr. I. N." F?rst, in Biblioiheca Judaica, iii. 34, has a similar entry, with the addition : " Memorial to the Reverend Dr. Dav. Netto, late High Priest of the Jews, with an Epithalamium on the marriage of Mr. I. N. (Is. Netto) : London, 1729, 8." From this one would surmise that it was a book, and for years I failed to identify it, until I discovered a folio broadside (16 X 10J) in the Douce collection (A, 49, No. 148, folio 180) in the Bodleian Library, which is, no doubt, the item referred to. It contains an elegy, " In commemoration of the late Pious, Learned, and Reverend Dr. David Netto," and " An Epithalamium on the Nuptials of Mr. I . . . N . . . &amp;c." The initial letters are those of his son Isaac Nieto, who on Nisan 4, 5488, married Ribca 123 de Abraham Carri?o de Paiba. The " Introduction " heading the sheet says : " Perhaps it may be alleg'd as an Error to blend the melancholy Scene of Death with the agreeable Entertainment of Marriage : But a wise Man (as an excellent Author 123 Buried at Mile End, Elul 10, 5501 (1741), Outtava Carera Grande N? 2, next to the grave of her husband (extract from Burial Register, Bevis Marks Synagogue). Her brother Moses married Rachel, the sister of Sampson Gideon, the eminent financier and father of Lord Eardley (1744-1824). Moses and Rachel Carri?o de Paiba's descendants number, among others, Lord Donnington (1822 1895), his daughter the Duchess of Norfolk (1854-1887), and his son the 11th Earl of Loudoun; the 23rd Baron Grey de Ruthyn (1858-1912) and his brother the 24th Baron, and their sister Lady Bellingham. Another brother of Mrs. Isaac Nieto was Isaac Carri?o de Paiba, the Mohel of Isaac Disraeli. (Lucien Wolf, "The Treves Family," Jewish Chronicle, October 2, 1896, p. 16.)</page><page sequence="63">DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 61 said) in the greatest Enjoyment of Life, looks on Death with an even Countenance ; for as it is the End of his Pleasure, so it is the Period to his Misfortunes." The broadside also contains quotations from Seneca, Pindar, Marcus Aurelius, Milton, Dryden and others on Death and Marriage. Under the " Introduction" is an allegorical engraved vignette, entitled " The Happy Marriage." At the bottom of the broadside there is an illustration of " Rebecca and Jacob," with five explanatory lines of verse; and adjoining it another of " Moses on the Mount," with seven lines of explanatory verse containing allusion to Hab am David Nieto. I conclude my survey with an English version of the epitaph composed by Dr. Isaac de Sequeira Samuda, which appears on his tombstone :124 Sublime Theologian, profound Sage, distinguished Physician, famous Astronomer, sweet Poet, elegant Preacher, subtle Logician, ingenious Physicist, fluent Rhetorician, pleasant Author, expert in Languages, learned in History : Since so much is here, enclosed within so little ; In Death a little earth holds what is much and little. PORTRAITS. (A) El Muy Ilustre, y Excelenmo Sr H.H. y Dr David Nieto Rab del K.K. de Londres, Tisri 5465. Line engraving, 9| in. X 7J in., without name of artist or engraver (own collection). Below the portrait, on a medallion, the initials of the Haham D.N., NO! are reversed and interlaced. The only other copy known is in the Montezinos collection, printed on blue paper. A Catalogue of Engraved Portraits ... By Henry Bromley. (Anthony Wilson), London, 1793. Page 226?" David Netto, or Nietto? Tisri 5465 ; i.e. 1705, fol." This is the only reference to this engraving in any catalogue of prints. 124 For the original of this and other epitaphs, see Appendix VIII.</page><page sequence="64">62 DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. Exhibited at the Whitechapel Art Gallery (Jewish Art and Antiquities), November 7-December 16, 1901. Reprints of this Engraving are found in Gaster's History of the Ancient Synagogue, 1901; the Jewish World, September 6, 1901, p. 105 ; and in the Transactions of the Jewish Historical Society of England, vii. 291. Where the original drawing or painting is, or whether it exists, is unknown. (b) David Netto M : D &amp; Mathematicus Synagogae Judaeorum Lusitanensium Londinensis Doctor Rabbinicus. Ob. 1727. Padua, quern Coluit Medicum Newtonius Astris Fert Socium Haebreis Gloria Netto Fuit. David Estevens pinx* I. McArdell Fecit n^nn kVi na d^ms mm m? man mis mnx ns nbs* p?n nw *w *\t?m *o msno nVpa w1?? ??Vod wi w is^rr ?on1? nrv Mezzotint, 15J in. X llf in. (own collection). From a collection of engravings made by Thomas Pennant (1726-1798) the antiquary [a friend and correspondent of Emanuel Mendez da Costa (1717-1791)], and his son David Pennant (d. 1841), whose granddaughter and heiress (Louisa, d. 1853) married (1846) the late Earl of Denbigh (1823-1893). Lot 160 : Catalogue of Mezzotint and other Portraits, the property of the Bight Hon. The Earl of Denbigh, C.V.O. Sold Monday, the 15th of May, 1905, by Messrs. Sotheby, Wilkinson &amp; Hodge, 13 Wellington Street, Strand. Exhibited at the Whitechapel Art Gallery (Jewish Art and Antiquities), 1901. Reprints of this Engraving are found in Mr. Albert M. Hyamson's History of the Jews in England, 1908, and the illustration in the Illustrated London News, April 4, 1908, p. 490. The painter of this portrait, " David Estevens," may be added to the list of artists of the Jewish race. Although I have not succeeded in tracing the entry of his burial in the register of the Bevis Marks Synagogue, there are other entries of a similar surname occasionally varied for obvious reasons to " Stevens," but the original form " Esteves " occurs more frequently. On folio 17 of the oldest burial register we have " Abigail de David Esteves 26 Nisan 5477 and Mos. Hisquiau Esteves 18 Sivan 1718 (?)." On folio 25, " Iahacob Estevens 1 Tebeth 5500." In the second register, " N? 5 David Haim Esteves 10 Nissan 5501 " ; " No. 6 Rachel Esteves 24 Yiar 5516." Note on margin of register, " N? 6 reserved for Rachel Stevens." Notes and Queries (10 s. ix. 409), " Estevens David." The date 1727 on the margin of the engraving is an error for 1728. Whether the original oil-painting exists is unknown. It was probably destroyed in a fire that occurred, I have heard, during the Rabbinate of H.H.R. Raphael Meldola (1805</page><page sequence="65">DAVID NIETO AND SOME OP HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 63 1828). Notes and Queries [11 s. xii. 100 (Bevis Marks Synagogue) 1915]. The engraving itself is a great rarity. On Tuesday, March 14, 1786, the thirty-ninth night of the sale by Mr. Greenwood, at his room in Leicester Square, of the famous collection of British and Foreign Portraits formed by Joseph Gulston (1745-1786), a Mr. Wotton purchased Lot 53 "... David Nieto," page 159 in the catalogue, and, although this occurred about 130 years ago, it is described as " a very rare print." On Wednesday, March 25, 1812, the ninth day's sale by Mr. Thomas Dodd, at his room, No. 101 St. Martin's Lane, of the collection of British Portraits formed by General William Dowdeswell (1761-1828), Lot 1009, page 67 in the catalogue, " Nieto, David, Jew Rabbi," was purchased by Mr. Graves, and is described as "fine and rare." John Chaloner Smith (1827-1895), the great collector and authority on mezzotint engravings, in the auction sale catalogue of his own collec? tion and in his monumental work on the subject, mentions that only one copy was known to him. However, one was sold by auction by Messrs. Frederik Muller &amp; Co. on Tuesday, May 12, 1885, in Amsterdam, No. 1000 in the sale catalogue, " Nach? gelassen von dem wohlehrwurden Herrn Jacob Ferares, Oberrabbiner der Portu gies-Israelitischen Gemeinde im Haag, Ritter der Niederl?ndischen L?wenorden u.s.w."; it is probably the one now in the Montezinos collection. The late Chief Rabbi, the Very Rev. Dr. Hermann Adler, had one on his walls, but a somewhat inferior specimen. Besides the Pennant copy now in my collection, another was purchased for me from the collection of John Chaloner Smith, at Sotheby &amp; Co.'s auction on March 21,1887?No. 1579, "Netto, David (135),from Gulston collection, no other known, inscription space slightly injured." It is from this print that the illustrations in the Jewish Chronicle, June 28,1901, p. vi supplement, and p. 114 in Gaster's History of the Ancient Synagogue, are taken. It was exhibited by me at the Anglo-Je wish Historical Exhibition, 1887, but inadvertently not catalogued. It is now in the collection of the late Asher I. Myers. Vide A Catalogue of Engraved Portraits . . . By Henry Bromley, p. 226; Catalogue of Engraved Portraits, by Edward Evans (1789-1835), N? 7609 ; British Mezzotint Portraits, Being a Descriptive Catalogue by John Chaloner Smith. Part the Second, 1883. Page 884, N? 135, and " Additions and Corrections . . . one known" ; British Mezzotinters, James McArdell (1729 ?-1765). By Gordon Goodwin . . . mcmhe. Page 101. N? 131. [Reproduced as Frontispiece to this paper from the collection of Mr. Alfred Rubens.] (C) A similar portiait transferred on glass and painted by hand (own collection), formerly the property of the late Lionel Van Oven (1829-1905). It is N? 854a in the catalogue of the Anglo-Jewish Historical Exhibition, 1887. It was then inaccurately described, and not on view; and is mentioned by Dr. Michael Friedl?nder in his biography of David Nieto in the Dictionary of National Biography, Exhibited at the Whitechapel Art Gallery (Jewish Art and Antiquities), 1901.</page><page sequence="66">64 DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. In a little Hebrew MS. volume of Miscellanies written by *Vin3n? Solomon ben Isaac da Costa Athias, London, 1717 (Codex Adler 2247), the concluding lines are ltrn th n mn im? nbwn nsnn rnrs nnn x"sp trrnn1? p"p hd anrrn? ?m p rva n? mi What the inscription was is not given, but probably it was the one inscribed on the margin of the mezzotint engraving done by James McArdell. BIBLIOGRAPHY. (1) Codex Montezinos d^H yS7 ns dtp 4to. 4J folios in Rashi characters, dated (5)461 [1701], on a business matter. Transcribed by David Franco Mendes in 5527. (2) Codex Montezinos ?"n ftf "HS n'VW 4to. 14J + 6J folios in Rashi characters, undated, on the dietary laws. Tran? scribed by David Franco Mendes in 5527. (3) Begins :? Devota, | y Humilde Suplicacion, | Dirigida al Grande, Y Omni- | potente. A. Dios De Is- | rael, por la Congrega de los He- | breos De Londres, en la | qual implora la assistencia, y auxilio | del Cielo alas deliberaciones dela | Majestad del inuicto Rey | Guillelme III. su Senor, de su I Alto Consejo, y de ambas Cameras | de su Augusto Parlamento. [1701.] A in fours. [B.M. Jews?Service Books. [Special Forms.?England.] London, 4033, h, 31 (7).] (4a) Pascalogia | Overo | Discorso | Delia | Pasca. | In cui si asse gnano le ragioni delle discrepanze vertenti, | circa il tempo di celebrar la Pasca, tr? la Chiesa | Latina, e Greca, come anche tra queste, e la Si- | nagoga Ebrea rispettivamente ; Dal Concilio Nice- | No sino alia Ri formazione Gregoriana, Da questa | sino ? tutto Tanno 1699, &amp; indi in perpetuo; di- | visa in Cinque Dialoghi, e consacrata | Air Altezza Reverendissima | Di | Francesco Maria | Cardinale de Medici. | Da David Nieto | Rabbino, | e Professore di Medicina. | In Colonia. 1702.I 12mo. 8 11. + 184 pp. [B.M. 295 k, 38.]</page><page sequence="67">DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 65 (4b) Pascalogia | Ovvero | Discorso Delia Pasca | In cui si asse gnano le ragioni delle discrepanze | vertenti, circa il tempo di celebrar la Pasca, I tra la Chiesa Latina e Greca, come anche tra | queste e la Sina goga Ebrea respettivamente, | dal Concilio Niceno sino alia Riforma zione | Gregoriana, da questa sino a tutto Tanno | 1699, ed indi in perpetuo : | Divisa In Cinque Dialogbi | E consagrata air Altezza Reverendissima | Di | Francesco Maria | Cardinale De' Medici | Da David Nieto Rabbino, e Professore | di Medecina.? In Colonia 1702, e in Livorno 1765. ] Per Matteo Strambi sotto le Logge. I Con Approvazione. | 8?. 8 11. 152 pp. [Isaac de Pas1 Edition.] (4c) Pascalogia. Codex British Museum Additional Italian, 27226. Sm. 4to. 167 ff. Eighteenth century. Purchased by Asher &amp; Co., October 14, 1865. (5) Sermon, | Oracion, | y Problematico Dialogo, | Que se hizi eron | En la celebridad dela Fundacion de la Santa, y pia Hermandad de I Sahare' ora\ vaavi ietomim. | Estampados | Em Londres. | Ano 5463 [1703] | . 4to. 32 pp. [B.M. 4033 h, 31 (8).] (6a) De La | Divina Providencia, | 0 Sea | Naturaleza Universal, | 0 I Natura Naturante, | Tratado Theologico. | Dividido en dos Dia? logos. I Enlos quales, se prueva la identidad destos | Terminos, autenti cada con Autoridades | dela Sagrada Biblia, del Talmud, | Zohar, y Medrassim, y con= | =firmada con irrefragables | razones, deduzi das I delas mismas Au = | =toridades. | En Londres. | Por James Dover en Tower-Hill. | Enel Mes de Elul. Ano 5464 [1704]. 4to. 2 11. + 89 (90) pp. [B.M. 4033, b, 41] and [4033, h, 31 (1).] (6b) De La | Divina Providencia. | O Sea | Naturaleza Universal, | O I Natura Naturante. | Tratado Theologico, | Dividido en dos Dia? logos, I Enlos quales, se prueva la identidad destos | Terminos, autenti cada con Autorida- | des dela Sagrada Biblia, del Tal- | mud, Zohar, y Medrassim, y | confirmada con irrefraga- | bles razones, deduzidas | delas mismas Autori- | dades. | VOL. XII. F</page><page sequence="68">66 DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. Segunda Edicion corregida. | En Londres, 5476 [1716]: | 8&lt;&gt;. 2 11. + 176 pp. [B.M. 702, d, 24.] (6c) De la divina providencia, parte escrita, parte impresa. Manuscripten in Quarto, p. 31, No. 113, Catalogus . . . Boeken, . . . 250 Manuscripten, . . . R. Salomo Jessurun . . . Amsterdam . . . 1811. (6d) Codex Adler. On Divine Providence, or whether it be a Uni? versal Nature or a Naturing Nature. A Theological Treatise, divided into two dialogues, wherein the identity of these terms is proved and authenticated from authorities in the Holy Bible, the Talmud, the Zohar, and Medrasim ; and confirmed by irrefragable proofs from the same authorities. London, 5476. Translated into English by E. H. Lindo, 5613 = 1853. 4to. 61 folios numbered 112 pp. This manuscript includes : " Statement of the case of Joshua Zarfati " ; " The Decision of H.H.M.A.A.B.D.R.M.R. Zevi Askenasi with his Beth Din, on the problem whether God and Nature is the same as preached by H.H.R. David Nietto [sic] in the Holy Congregation of London on the 23rd Kislev 5464 " ; " The answer of H.H.R. Zevi Askenasi with his Beth Din, to the letter of the Illustrious Gentlemen of the Mahamad. Translated from the Hebrew." Superscription: "To the Illustrious from his good name and reputation, Moses de Medina, Esqr., Gabay of the Holy Congregation of Shaar a Shamaim of the great city of London, which God preserve. Amen." Gf. 6e, ix. to xi. below. (6e) Literature on the Last Four Items. (i.) Relation del Caso de Jehosuah Zarfatti. [1705.] 4to. 5 pp. [B.M., 4033, b, 40.] (ii.) Another issue. [1705.] 4to. 6 pp. [B.M., 4033, h, 31 (2).J (iii.) Another issue. [1716.] 8?. 9 pp. [B.M., Nieto (David ben Phineas) De La Divina Providencia, 702, d, 24.] (iv.) Decision | del | Doctissimo, y Excelentissimo | Senor H.H. Hassalem, M.A.: A.B.D. | R.M.R. Zevi Asquenazi, | con su Betdin, sobre el Problema | Si Naturaleza, y Dios, y Dios, | y Naturaleza es todo uno ? Segun lo predico el Senor H.H.R. David | Nieto en el K.K. de Londres, | En 23 de Kisleu 5464. | Elul 5465 [1705]. I En Londres : | Por James Dover en Tower-Hill. 4to. 2 11. + 4 pp.</page><page sequence="69">DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 67 (v.) Decision | del | Doctissimo, y Excelentissimo | Senor H.H. Hassalem. M.A. A.B.D. I R.M.R. Zevi Asquenazi, | con su Betdin, sobre el Problema | Si Naturaleza, y Dios, y Dios, | y Naturaleza es todo uno ? Segun | lo predico el Senor H.H.R. | David Nieto en el K.K. de | Londres, | En 23 de Kisleu 5464. | Elul 5465 [1705]. | En Londres : | Por Tho. Hive en Aldersgate-street. | 4to. 2 11.+4 pp. [B.M., Tsebi, ben Jacob Asnenazi, 4033, h, 31 (3).] (vi.) Decision | del | Serior H.H. Hassalem, M.A.A.B.D. | R.M.R. Zevi Asque? nazi, I con su Bet din sobre el Problema | Si Naturaleza, y Dios, y Dios, | y Naturaleza es todo uno ? Segun | lo predico el Senor H.H.R. | David Nieto en el K.K. de | Londres. | En 23 Kisleu 5464. | En Londres : | 5472 [1712]. | 8?. 3 11.4-7 pp. [B.M., Tsebi, ben Jacob Asnenazi, 702, d, 24.] (vn.) v/j aViyn DDnn nnrw | mixn 'prwn rfrvrt? ?"??? kib1? p"pa ?"n t'm | mi ras TvmaD n"d n"s r1? I nron ?ai I k"sp wmii1? ts?1? d^n nyty nmso | p"p ??on? nni v,n | rrna h nra t' to nVnrfri 310 nvb nVsni oanan Tain [1705] I: k"sr? ?mn1? nVnin Tsn nwt own p"pn 4tofl n pp. (viii.) Another issue. [1705.] 4to. 31 u. (ix.) Respuesta | del | Doctissimo, y Excelentissimo | Senor H.H. Hassalem. M.A.A.B.D. I R.M.R. Zevi Asquenazi, | con su Beth Din, ala Carta delos muy | Ilustres Senores del Mahamad ; | Traduzida de nuestro Santo Idioma Hebraico, | al Vulgar Espanol. | Sobrescrito dela Carta. | A mano del Muy Ilustre Senor, por buena | Fama, y Encomio, Mosseh de Medina, | Gabay del K.K. de Sahare Samaim, dela | gran Ciudad de Londres, que Dios con- | serve. Amen. | [1716.] 4to. 9 pp. (x.) Respuesta | del | Doctissimo, y Excelentissimo | Senor H.H. Hassalem. M.A.A.B.D. I R.M.R. Zevi Asquenazi, | con su Bethdin, ala Carta delos muy Ilustres Senores del Mahamad ; | Traduzida de nuestro Santa Idioma He- | braico al Vulgar Espanol. | Sobre? scrito dela Carta. | A mano del Muy Ilustre Senor, | por | buena Fama, y Encomio, Mosseh de Medina, | Gabay del K.K. de Sahar Asamaim, dela gran | Ciudad de Londres, que Dios conserve. Amen. [1705.] 4to. 10 pp. [B.M., Tsebi, ben Jacob Asnenazi, 4033, h, 31 (4).] (xi.) Respuesta | del | Senor H.H. Hassalem. M.A.A.B.D. | R.M.R. Zevi Asquenazi, | con su Betdin, a la Carta delos muy | Ilustres Senores del Mahamad ; Traduzida de nuestro Santa Idioma He- | braico al Vulgar Espanol. |</page><page sequence="70">68 DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. Sobrescrito dela Carta. | A mano del Muy Ilustre Senor, por buena Fama, y Encomio, Mosseh | de Medina, Gabay del K.K. de | Sahar Asamaim, del gran Ciudad | de Londres, que Dios conserve. Amen. | Segunda Edicion. | En Londres : 5472 [1712.]. | (xii.) v/a a^n DDnn nrow | rnaxn 'pnsn p"pn I nai nna h n?a ttd nVnnVi nit: dp1? rfrsm aanan tmt nynn mrt | rvw ?du |: ?"??? wvm1? \ nVran tm ton tmm nat? 8?. 14 11. (without pagination) + 11. (Indice delo Contenido en esto Libro, Spanish and Hebrew, on alternate pages.) Not catalogued, but see [B.M., Tsebi, ben Jacob Ashenazi, 702, d, 24]. (xiii.) Codex Rosenthaliana. Letter in Spanish (10f in. X 7 in.), single sheet. From fourteen Members of the Bevis Marks Synagogue to the Presidents and Treasurer of the Talmud Torah Synagogue in Amsterdam; 7 Heshvan 5465 (1705). (xiv.) Codex Rosenthaliana. A second Letter, dated 17 Tebett 5465 [1705]. (7) Codex British Museum (Add. 22911, Folio 50), Neto-Covel. 1705 ,, " To the Reverend Dr Couel Mr of Christ College Cambridge Jan. 18 yfQQ' Single sheet folio (14| in. X 8| in.), letter in Italian. (8) Bakasoth | De Kos Asana | Conforme el Beal y verdedero sen- | tido Del sagrado Idioma Ebraico | Traduzidas | Por | El Senor H.H.R. David Netto | Rab del K.K. | De Londres. | [1705 ?] En Londres. | Con licencia delos Senores del Mahamad. | Gratis, j Siendo esta Traduccion aprovada del Publico, | proseguir? ?la delas Rezas de todo el ano ; a saber Cotidiano, las 3 Pasquas, Ayunos, y Dias de I Contricion | 8?. 11. -f 14 pp. (9) Bakassoth | DeKipur. | Idest | Amonestaciones, y Reflexiones, para | el Alma Penitente, y devota. Traduzidas, y Paraphraseadas por el | Senor H.H.R. David Nieto, | Ros Yessiba, Y Ab Bet | Din del Kahal Kados de Lon- | dres. | En Londres, | Por orden de Joseph Bueno Bibas, y David | Fer? nandez Tabago. Elul, 5466 [1706]. 8?. 14 pp.</page><page sequence="71">DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 69 (10) Begins :? Exhortacion | Pia y severa ? los hijos de Israel IIa- | mandolos ? la observancia de los pre- | catos del Senor Publicada por un Zeloso, acquien la remetio el | Autbor della. | [1706 ?] 8?. 16 pp. (11) Los Triunfos | dela | Pobreza, | Panegirico | Predicado enla solemnidad dela fundacion de | la pia, y santa Hebra de | Bikur Holim. I Londres 5469 [1709]. Issued with? En Nombre | de el | Dio Bendito. | Esta Santa Hermandad | de | Bikur Holim | Aviendose fundado en Londres, en Pri- | mero Adar 5469. Con intento de ve- | lar Enfermos Pobres, y otros, que | pueden Careser dello, sin Interes ningu- | no ni menos intento de pedir cosa algu- I na a este K.K. de Saar Asamaim, que el Dio prospere y au- | mente, que su asistencia | en execution de nu- | estras Escamot Sigui entes. | Impreso en Londres. Ano 5469 [1709]. | Por David Fernandes. 4to. 31 + 10 pp. [B.M. 4403, k, 31 (5)] and [4426, aaa, 52.] (12a) rvrtop rv??M mm mv I *w pVn | nroi I p naa ??arm ^na nVmpan hd bvnw rnin | nnaa o^Vna tfnDiMi mpm rvpim I ytd pan b^mn p in Ysran vrmm *\x | vnis^o'^m natran I yth nan anwi own ]wb \ r\w | rrvan wnrb hd | nrr'Vt wa onas [1714.] I Tayan ?wax nVra rvrann | ff?"?* ok/7?id oisin 4to. 8 (2 blank) + rTp 11. (12b) Matteh Dan | Y | Segunda parte del | Cuzari | Donde se prueva con Razones naturales, | irefragables demonstraciones, y Reales Consequen- | cias, la verdad dela Ley Mental, recebida | por nuestros Sabios Autores de | la Misn?h, y Guemara | Compuesto por el H.H.R. | David Nieto | en Londres Ano 5474 [1714]. | Impresso por Thomas Hive. I Con licencia delos Senores del Mahamad. | 4to. 6 11. + 272 pp.</page><page sequence="72">70 DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. (12c) Two title-pages, Spanish and Hebrew, identical with 12a and 12b above [1714]. 4to. 10 + 254 11. [B.M. (Zedner) 1932, c, 6.] (12d) Another Hebrew edition? [Dpn] p? [Metz, 1780]. 8?. BS 11. [B.M. (Zedner) 1932, c, 7.] (12e) Another edition? ybl2 Kusrie Druck von D. H. Schrenzel in Lemberg, 1857. 8?. 69 11. (without pagination) in Rashi character. (IM) mnb mn [1857]. N? 1090 Hebraica Katalog 9, M. Poppelauer (Inh. : J. Saenger), Berlin, 1901 (12g) ybl2 Kosrie Druck von D. H. Schrenzel in Lemberg, 1859. 8?. 10 11. in Rashi character. (12h) Wien, 1865. Judaica und Hebraica Katalog 5, N? 2100, M. Poppelauer (Inh. : J. Saenger) Berlin, 1897. (12i) [Warsaw]. aaVanain pn^ 'i lanwi nratma'nn ans? n bw vnnn oiDia [1865.] p"DV rrsnn nit^ Sm. 8?. TD 11. in square characters. (12j) mnV Kusry Verlag v. Mendel Seegel. Druck von Kail Budweiser in Lemberg, 1874. 8?. 64 11. (without pagination) in Rashi character. (12k) *rarwn"am No. 1036, p. 322, Ozar-Ha-Sepharim?I. A. Benjacob, 1880. (121) aman p"?V T'tnn mm 1884. 8?. 150 pp. (HS711.) in square characters. (12m) KttnKYI p"D*? lit) JW 1890. 8?. 150 pp. (HS? 11.) in printed wrapper as issued. A reissue of the 1884 edition by another publisher.</page><page sequence="73">DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 71 (12n) Codex 1060. p naa Catalogue of the Library of the College of Portuguese and Spanish Jews in London, with Short Biographical and Historical Notes of some of the Authors : nro ]m tinn mi am tznpn ihm roaVa Vd aVwrn vnbb ddmVh ???? ms im ansatfam nym msan nan ? ? ? k"sr? jnn1? hd "pp tnaV nw?1? dddk London, 1st Nisan 5595 (March 31, 1835). E. h. Lindo. P. 75, Manuscripts t mtd (12o) Codex Gaster, 269. p naa MSS. 54 folios. Italian Rabbinical script. About the middle of the eighteenth century. (12p) Codex Adler, 930. Small folio. (79) folios in Italian Rabbinical script. (12q) Codex Levy. o"nn mnan ... Dr. h. b. Levy... t ??anai oibt naa na^tn a?a tznpa P. 13, No. 117 p HBa Apologie des m?ndl. Gesetzes von Dav. Nieto 17 Jahrh. Ital. Hand. Papier. Quart 155. (12r) Codex. 152 Nieto, Dav. ntlD) p H&amp;a, Rehgionsphilosophie. Fol. Ital. Hand. Mk. 3. J. Kaufmann. Katalog No. 25. Frankfurt a M. (12s) Codex Alliance Israelite Universelle. Folio. 37 + 258 + 43 ff. p H&amp;a Italian Rabbinical script. (12t) Codex Solomons. p n&amp;a Small 4to. aS7 = 71 folios in Italian Rabbinical script. Dialogues i., ii., and iii. only. (12u) *W pVn "HrDI p n?a The Rod of Judgment, Being a Supple? ment To The Book Kuzari, Which Demonstrates By Natural Inferences The Truth Of The Oral Law, Transmitted To Us By The Sages of Israel, The Authors Of The Mishna And The Talmud. By the Rev. David Nieto (Of Blessed Memory), Chief Rabbi of the Spanish And Portuguese Congregation of London (in the year 5474). Translated from the Hebrew by Dr. L. Loewe, Member of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, and of the Asiatic Society of Paris. Oriental Linguist to His Royal Highness the Duke of</page><page sequence="74">72 DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. Sussex. Author of the Origin of the Egyptian Language; Letters from the East; and translator of Efes Dammim. London : Printed by J. Wertheimer &amp; Co., Circus Place, Finsbury Circus. Sold by the Translator, 55 Mansell Street, Goodman's Fields, 1842. 8?. 29 pp., in printed wrapper as issued. " Price, One Shilling " printed on wrapper only. The First Conversation only. [B.M. 1352, i, 18 (2).] (12v) Another issue. London : D. Nutt, 158 Fleet Street. 1845. 8?. 76 pp., in printed wrapper as issued. " Parts i. &amp; ii., Price, Six Shillings " printed on wrapper only. (12w) Codex Montefiore. The three last Dialogues of the p ntta The Rod of Judgement. By R. David Nietto [sic]. Translated by E. H. Lindo. 4to. 2 11. + 256 pp. See " Descriptive Catalogue of the Hebrew MSS. of the Montefiore Library by Dr. Hartwig Hirschfeld . . . 1904," p. 95, No. 307. (12x) Codex E. H. Lindo. English translation, by E. H. Lindo, of the last three essays of the p (12y) Codex B.M. MSS. Oriental 8004. Matteh Dan. 4to. 229 folios (Italian translation), circa 1750 (?) Inscription on flyleaf, " Sig Raffael David Vitta Maestro." (12z) Codex Adler, 180. p f|?? 4to. Dp (180) folios in Judisch Deutsch. (13) Nsr mans 'n naap | m m nms? frn i x^n rram nson m nam yn ??d? rown | pwm nn ppipna aw vnwsm | vrnaaVa sti na^anm wvrpn | larmn np*?s7 npisn nman i Vm Vipiwanm nans | nas? um? pa oV?Dttr? rnnio1? main naw i ran f?a rvnp Emai1? nD |: bvnw* nn *?s; to lVip raw ?V pa1? oisnra i rar laran ??rasp nVsa rnsan | f'D1? ^pm par onbx 'n nna; 8&lt;&gt;. 1 + nV 11. [B.M. (Zedner), 1932, a 18.]</page><page sequence="75">DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 73 (14) m I Es Dat | ? | Fuego Legal | Compuesto en Ydioma Hebraico | y traduzido en Romance. | Por | El Excelentissimo Sr. H.H.R. I David Nieto. | En Londres | Ano 5475. | Por orden de los muy Ilustres | SSres del Mahamad. | Impresso por Tho. Hive. | 8?. xii + 169 pp. [B.M. (Zedner), 1932, a, 18.] (15a) Codex Solomons. Reflexiones Theologicas, Politicas, y Morales sobre el execrable Systema de Nehemy? Hiy? Hayon. [1715?] MSS. 19 ff. 8o. (6J in. x 4-J in.) (15b) Codex Bodleiana. Reflexiones. Reflexiones Theogicas [sie] Politicas, y Morales Sobre el execrable Systema de Nehemiah Hiya Hayon. MSS. 13 ff. 8?. (6Jin. x 4J in.) CatalogusLibrorumHebraeoruminBibliotheca Bodleiana . . . M. Steinschneider . . . 1852-1860, Column 882 m pk . . . 2, Reflexiones. (15c) Codex Gottheil. Reflexiones, Theologicas, Politicas y Morales Sobieel [sie] execiable [sie] Systema de Nehemyah Hiya Hayon. MS. Sch?ne Schrift. Catalog . . . Hebr?ischer und J?discher B?cher, Handschriften . . . Rabbi Meijer Lehren, Rabbi Akiba Lehren und Rabbi Moses de Lima ... 13, Februar bis 2. M?rz 1899 . . . durch J. L. Joachimstahl in Amsterdam . . . ?ffentlich versteigert werden sollen ... 8?, 4 11. + 248 pp., in printed wrapper as issued (own collection). Die Lehren'schen Sammlungen, p. 16, Lot 233 ... 2. Re? flexiones . . . (16) Codex 22, folio 143, Spanish Rabbinical characters. 8vo, paper. ns?nn ViVk tsrmnV na in -nnaa nbwn aannV mxipa ma Catalogue of the Hebrew Manuscripts in Jews' College, London. (pllf? b^tiwk p"pl tman IVa). Compiled by Ad. Neubauer, M.A., Exeter College, Oxford. Oxford : Printed for private circulation by Horace Hart, Printer to the University, 1886.</page><page sequence="76">74 DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. (17) I -.KV'pn r\w iv I n?"nn nitr?? ir1?? "pa |: ao"pn iw is? wnn nawa natr? | rrvnn um?1? ne | :Kp"nn | nit^ is; | ns?"nn nraa | ivnw?n mpV 4J in. X 3 in. 2 11. + Ifc pp. (18) Repertorio | Delos | Ros-Hodes, | Fiestas, y Ayunos, | Que se celebraran annualmente en | Ysrael; desde el Ano 5478. | hasta el 5560 ; que cor- | respondem a la Epoca | Vulgar, desde el | 1718. hasta I el 1800. | En Londres. Ano. 5478 [1717]. | 4| in. X 3J in. 3 11. + 55 (6) pp. + 1 1. (19) Codex. p -ISP 1. a. On the tractate Hagigah of the Babylonian Talmud. 2. b. (Fol. 140b.) On the tractate Bezah (only the word the remainder blank leaves). 2. Fol. 164. Medical notes in Roman characters, begun by the author in November 1717. Spanish Rabbinical characters. 4to, paper, 167 folios. Michael, 322 (01. 816). Catalogi Codd. MSS. Bibliothecae Bodleianae, Pars XII., Pt. I. Catalogue of the Hebrew Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, and in the College Libraries o Oxford ... A. Neubauer . . . Oxford, 1886. Column 786, No. 2265. (20) Codex Gaster 60. p *)5nP a. An alphabetical list of sayings to be found in the Babylonian Talmud pp Wi? from K to n. 4to. Spanish Rabbinical characters, on paper, *7*?p folios in double columns. b. On r\W7\ ttNH from T to n. r + BD folios. (21) Codex. p An unedited work ... It is an Index of various verses in the Talmud. Catalogue of the Library of the College of Portuguese and Spanish Jews in London, with Short Biographical and Historical Notes of some of the Authors. . . . London, 1st Nisan 5595 = March 31, 1835. E. H. Lindo. Manuscripts T fllTD, p. 76.</page><page sequence="77">DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 75 (22a) 335.318 Codex. 3 Briefe an Christ. Gottl. (Theophilus) Unger, . . . David Nieto, 1719. Catalog Der Hebr?ischen Handschriften in der Stadtbibliothek zu Hamburg . . . Von Moritz Steinschneider . . . Hamburg, 1878. Pp. 162-3. Fragmenten u. Miscellen, Verzeichnisse von B?chern, etc., wovon nicht Alles hier verzeichnet ist. (22b). Codex No. 1180. 36. Fol. 205 Letters: a. From David Nieto to Th. Chr. Uuger [sie], dated London, the 27th of Thammuz 5476 [sie] = 1716 [sie]. Copied by L. Dukes from MSS. of the Library of Hamburg. Spanish Rabbinical characters. 4to, paper, 228 folios. [Michael, 146 (01. 846).] Catalogi Codd. MSS. Bibliothecae Bodleianae, Pars XII., Pt. I. Catalogue of the Hebrew Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, and in the College Libraries of Oxford ... A. Neubauer . . . Oxford, 1886, Column 381. (23) Sermon Funebre | Predicado | En las Exequias dela Bien aventurada | Yahel Mendez. | Muger del Sr. Yshak de Selomoh Men dez. I En la Santa Hermandad de Sahare Ora Veaby | Yetomim. En 6 de Adar primero. | Por el Sr. H.H.R. David Nieto. | Con Licencia delos Senores del Mahamad. | Londres, 5480 [1720]. | 4to. 30 pp. (24) Sermao pregado Sabat Tsuba em Londres. A sermon on Deut. xxxii, 6. 4to. 24 folios. (25) Noticias Reconditas | Y Posthumas | Del | Procedimiento | Delas I Inquisiciones | De | Espana Y Portugal | Con sus Presos. | Divididas en dos Partes; la Primera | en Idioma Portuguez. La Segunda | en Castellano ; deduzidas de Autores | Catholicos, Aposto licos, y Roma | nos ; Eminentes por Dignidad, | o por Letras. | Obras tan Curiosas como instructivas, compi- | ladas, y anadidas por un | Anonimo. | En Villa Franca. 1722. | 8?. 3 11. + 8 + 138 pp. (Portuguese). viii + 140 pp. (Spanish). [B.M. 4071, b, 5.]</page><page sequence="78">76 DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. (26) Edidit idem Hispanice niPH WCI fWp3 seu Preces sub initium No vi Anni recitandas. Londini, 487, c, 1727, 8 (Io. Christoph. Wolfii . . . Bibliothecae Hebraeaeiv, 1733, p. 810). (Bibliotheca Judaica . . . Dr. Julius F?rst . . . III., 1863, p. 34.) (27) Sermam | Funebre | Pera | As Exequias dos trinta Dias, | Do I Insigne, Eminente, e Pio Habam | e Doutor, | R. David Netto, j Composto pelo | Dr Ishac de Sequeyra Samuda, | Medico do Real Collegio de Londres, | E Socio da Real Sociedade. | Em Londres, 5488. Com licenca dos Senhores do Mahamad. | 8?. 11.+ viii + iv + 118 pp. + 2 11. (28) Sermones Funebres | A Las Deplorables | Memorias | Del muy Reverendo, y Doctissimo | H.H. y Doctor | R. David Nieto. | Rab del K.K. de | Sahar Hashamaym. | Predicados en las Exequias de los I Siete y Treinta Dias. | Por su hijo | Ishac Nieto. | I nsn ]nm *]odh Vsn nasnn Van *o j Eccl. vii. 12. .rrVsn rrrm nasnn En Londres, Ano 5488. | Con Licencia de los Senores del Mahamad. 8?. ix. pp. -j- 3 11. + 74 pp. + Sub-title page to second sermon, p. 37 [B.M. 702, d, 26]. (29) Sermam Funebre | As Deploraveis | Memorias | Do muy Reverendo, e Doutissimo | Haham Asalem Morenu, A.Ro Doutor | David Netto ; | Insigne Theologo, Eminente Pregador, | e Cabeca da Illustre Congrega de | Sahar Hassamaym. | Composto pello Doutor | Jacob de Castro Sarmento. | Stat sua cuique dies ; breve, et irreparabile tempus | Omnibus est Vitae ; sed famam extendere factis, j Hoc Virtutis opus. | Virgil | Em Londres, Anno 5488. Com Licenca dos Senhores do Ma? hamad. I 8?. 64 pp. [B.M. 702, d, 25.] (30) Sermon | Funebre | Ala | Gloriosa Memoria | Del muy Rever? endo, y Doctissimo, [ H.H. y Doctor, | R. David Nieto, | Rab del K.K.</page><page sequence="79">DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 77 de Sahar Hashamaim | Em Londres. | Compuesto | Poi su mas Amante, y menor Discipulo, | Abraham Mendez Chumazero. | I .*]trnn p man pnrvo | mVson p msrb jruv? ww ^a warn Eccl. ii. 13. Ano 5488. 8?. 1 1. + 4 -f 72 pp. + 1 1. (31) In Commemoration of the late Pious, Learned, and Reverend Dr. David Netto. Pr. 6d. Folio Broadside (16 in. x 10J in.). (32a) Respuesta | AI | Sermon, | Predicado por el Arcobispo de | Cangranor, [sic] | En el Auto da Fe; Celebrado en | Lisbon, en 6. Setiembre Anno 1705. | Por el Author de las Noticias Re- | conditas de la Inquisicion. | Obra Posthuma. | Impresso | En Villa-Franca. | Por Carlos Vero. | A la Insignia de la Verdad. | 8?. x + 112 pp. (incorrectly numbered 104). (32b) The Inquisition and Judaism. A sermon addressed to Jewish Martyrs, on the occasion of an Auto da Fe at Lisbon, 1705, by the Archbishop of Cranganor. Also a reply to the sermon by Carlos Vero. Translated by Moses Mocatta. London : Printed by J. Wertheimer &amp; Co., Finsbury Circus. 1845. 8?. xiv pp. + 1 1. + 191 PP- [B.M. Diogo (Alvarez da Annunciam), 4033, d, 86.] (32c) A reissue. (With an introduction by the Rev. Isaac Leeser.) Philadelphia : Barnard &amp; Jones, Printers, Ridgway Buildings, No. 510 Minor Street. 5620. 8?. xv + 221 pp. (32d) R. David Nieto Respuesta al Sermon del Arcobispo de Cangranor [sic]. Chart, in 4? sec. xxii. Mss. Codices Hebraici Biblioth. I. B. De-Rossi. . . Accedit Appendix qua continentur Mss. Codices Reliqui Al Linguarum. Vol. iii. Parmae, 1803. Codices Hispanici, Cod. 4, p. 199.</page><page sequence="80">78 DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. APPENDIX I. Isaac Nieto and his Works. Isaac, the son of David Nieto, was born at Leghorn on Tishri 5, 5448. = September 15, 1687 (extract from the Synagogue Archives by Dr. Carlo Bernheimer). Rabbi E. Slijper, in his biography of Isaac Nieto in the Jewish Encyclopedia, states that he was born in 1702. Dr. M. Gaster, in his History of the Ancient Synagogue, p. 102, seeks to identify him with an " Isaac Nieto who commsnced his education in Amsterdam in the year 1675." In 1675 a sermon was delivered by an Isaac Netto on the occasion of the consecration of the present Sephardi Synagogue at Amsterdam. It is " Serma? Quarto Que pregou o Doctor Talmid H. Yshac Netto pregador da Illustre Irmandade dos Orfa?s, &amp; Ros Yesiba da Insigne Hebra de Temime Dareh que Deo augmente " in a volume entitled " Sermoes | Que Pregara? | Os | Doctos Ingeni?s | do K.K. de Talmud Torah, desta | Cidade de Amsterdam, | No alegre Estreaments, &amp; Publica celebridade da Fabrica | que se Consagrou a Deos, para Caza de Oraca?, | cuja entrada se festejou em Sabath Naham? | Anno 5435. | Estampado | Em Amsterdam. | Em Caza &amp; a custa de | David De Castro Tartaz. | Anno 5435." | 4to. 8 11. + 155 pp. (Own collection.) It is a volume of excessive rarity, with four pages of etch? ings of the Synagogue by Roman de Hooghe (1638-1720). He was certainly not the Haham in London, but probably the first Haham in Surinam, arriving there in the year 1674 (1680 ?). " El Senor Ishac Netto " was one of the persons to whom Menasseh Ben Israel dedicated his De La Fragilidad Humana y Inclination del hombre al pecado (Amsterdam, 1642). In the Gentleman's Magazine, xliii. 103, the following announcement will be found among the deaths : " Jan. 26, 1773, Isaac Netto, Notary Public, and once archsinagogus of the Jews' Synagogue." " H.H.R. Isaac Netto 3 Sebat 5533 Outtava Careira Grande No. 1." (Extract from the Burial Register of the Bevis Marks Synagogue.) The inscription on his tombstone at Mile End is entirely obliterated. Of his works, the best known are the translations of the Liturgy :? (1) Orden | De Las | Oraciones | De | Ras-Ashanah | Y | Kipur. | Nuevamente traduzidas, conforme el genuino | Sentido del Original Hebraico, por Estilo I corriente, y facil, con todos los Pizmonim | que se dizen. | Por | El H.H.R. Ishac Nieto. | Rab Del K.K. de Londres. | Impresso En | Londres, | En Casa de Ricardo Reily, Ano 5500. | Con Licencia de los Senores del Mahamad. | 8?, xvi + xxvii + 578 pp. Then follow the Keter Malchut translated in xxvii pages?and the Galendario Hebraico, Calendar from 5501-5523 (1740-1762), 24 pp. (Own collection.)</page><page sequence="81">DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 79 (2) Orden | De Las | Oraciones | Cotidianas | Ros Hodes Hanuca | Y | Purim. | Nuevam^nte traduzidas, conforme el genuine* | Sentido del Original Hebraico, por Estilo | corriente, y facil, con las Parasiot que se di- | zen en Ros Hodes, Hanuca, y Purim. | Por | El H.H.R. Ishac Meto. | Impresso En | Londres, | En Casa de la Viuda Moore Ano 5531. | Con Licencia de los Senores del Mahamad. | 8?, 11. + vii + viii + vi + 277 pp. + 11. (Own collection.) Three months after the loss of his father, he delivered a memorial sermon on the death (April 10, 1728) of H.H.R. Solomon Ayllon of Amsterdam, the former's predecessor in London. " Serm?o Pregado Pelo Hm R. Ishac Meto Nas Exequias, do Mt0; [Mu?o] Eminte [(sic) Eminente] H.Hm:M:V. Selomoh Ailyon Em o k k : de DWH nSNPEm Londres A?. 5488." 8?, ff. 50. The title-page, a Chippendale design, is initialled G.V.F. It was not pub? lished, but the manuscript is in the Montezinos collection, Amsterdam. In 1733, five years after his father's decease, he was officially appointed Haham of the London Congregation, and in the self-same year gave the follow? ing approbation, " He visto el Libro de los Dinim de Sehita y Bedica, que traduxo el Sr. Aaron de Mendoca, del Idioma Portugues, al Castellano, y des pues de emendado, y corregido de los yerros, y omissiones, que cometid enel Imprimir, podr? passar, Londres ? 18. Adar 5493. Ishac Meto," to a book entitled " Dinim | De Sehita, y Bedica. | Colegidos del | SulhanAruh. | y Tra ducidos, I En Idioma Espanol. por Estilo corriente | y Breve. | Con Apro bacion | del Senor | Haham. | y Licencia, ( de los | Senores del Mahamad. | Por I Aaron Mendoza. | En Londres, a 15. de Tebet 5493. [Precio 2s.]" | 8?, 2 11.+ 34 pp.+ 1 1. X 4 etchings "Aaron Mendoza Delin." + 2 11. explanatory letterpress + 1 etching + 11. + 1 etching +11. (Own collection.) On the Sabbath preceding the Day of Atonement in 1737, he delivered the sermon at the Bevis Marks Synagogue entitled: " De la | Facilidad | De la | Penetencia, | Sermon | Predicado en Sabat Tesubah. | Por El H.H.R. Ishac Meto, I Rab | Del K.K. de Sahar Ashamaim. | Impresso por orden delos SSres. del Mahamad, | En Londres, | Ano 5498." | 4to,25pp. Two years later, on a similar occasion, the sermon he addressed his congregation was entitled, " Del I Engano Y Desengano | Del Hombre | Sermon Penetencial, | Predi? cado en Sabath Tesubah. | Por El H.H.R. Ishac Meto. | Rab | Del K.K. de Sahar Ashamaim. | De Londres. | Ano 5500. | Con Licencia de los SSres. del Mahamad." | 4?, 30 pp. Neither is mentioned in F?rst or Kayserling's bibliographies ; the former is in the Montezinos library of Amsterdam and a copy of the lattar is included in the collection of the late Rev. A. L. Green (1821-1883), at the Jews' College, London. The only reference to them I have found is in No. 48 of Ha-Carmel ^?^D)"!, vi. 384 (Ab 5627), where they are referred to respectively as rDWlH DlVp and OIKH VtPn&amp;KnnTnnin?nn. Haham Isaac Nieto's next publication was the item numbered (1) above, the Spanish version of the prayers for New Year and Day of Atonement, having</page><page sequence="82">80 DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. as an adjunct a Calendar for 22 years beginning 5501. In 1741 he resigned office and went abroad, but returned to England in 1751, and in the same year, on the death of his successor, H.H.R. Moses Gomez de Mesquita, delivered an oration on the seventh day after the funeral. He now became by request Ab Bet Din (Head of the Rabbinical Court) of the Congregation, and, although retaining his title " Haham Hashalem," he had ceased to be officially " The Haham." A certain Isaac de Moses de Pas edited and published at Leghorn in 1753 a small volume of penitential prayers entitled " *V)nt3 D1?. ? ? ? Per Anton Santini, e Compagni. Con Approvazione." 8?, 211. + 115 pp. (own collection), and in the Hebrew preface he writes that devotion can only be induced by understanding the utterances of one's lips, and therefore his Hebrew prayers are accompanied by a Spanish translation by Isaac Nieto. The reverse of the second preliminary leaf is headed, " Exhortacion y el Ladino de este Libro es traducion del Seflor H.H. Isaque Nieto Rab del K.K. de Londres." Doubtless Isaac Nieto had visited Leghorn, his birthplace, while on his Continental journey and this work was an outcome of his stay there. Three years later was published, " Sermon | Moral | Predicado | Enel Solemne Dia de Ayuno y Penetencia, que | por mandado de su Magestad el Rey Nu- | estro Senor, se celebro en 5. de Adar 5516. | y 6. deFebrero 1756. | Por I El H.H. Isaac Netto, A.B.D. de este K.K. de Sahar Ashamaim. | Dedi cado I Alosmuy Ilustres SSres delMahamad, y por su Orden | Impresso. | En Londres | En Casa de Richard Reily." | 4t0,11. + iv+ 19 pp. (own collection). It appeared also at the same time in English: " A | Sermon | Preached in the I Jews Synagogue, | On Friday, February 6, 1756 ; | Being the Day appointed by Authority for a | General Fast. | By Isaac Netto, Archsinagogus of the Portuguez Jews Synagogue. | Translated from the Spanish Language by the Author. | Published at the Desire of the Rulers of the Synagogue, and addressed to them. And God doth it, that Men should Fear before Him. Eccl. cap. iii. ver. 14. London: | Printed by Richard Reily, for the Author: | And Sold by | H. Whitridge, at the Royal-Exchange. 1756. | [Price One Shilling.] " 4*&lt;&gt;, 11.+ iii + 18 pp. (Own collection.) The fast was the outcome of a royal proclamation for a general Fast and Humiliation " to implore God's blessing upon our fleets and armies, and for humbling, in view of His late visitation by earthquake, more particularly in neighbouring countries in alliance and friendship with us." (The Lisbon earthquake had occurred in 1755.) The following year he again resigned, as he would not tolerate the appointment of Moses Cohen D'Azevedo (1720 ?-1784), a son-in-law of H.H.R.</page><page sequence="83">DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 81 Moses Gomez de Mesquita, as an associate with him on the Beth Din. He then became a public notary, but took nevertheless a great deal of interest in communal affairs. Since 1755 there had been considerable commotion in London Jewry about the Shehita (ritual slaughter). On account of this, Rabbi Hart Lyon, of the Ashkenazi community, it is said, had left London in 1763 for Halberstadt, as he had found his position here intolerable. A Responsum on the subject by Jacob Kimhi (born at Constantinople 5480 (?) and buried at Mile End on the 17 Kislev 5524 in grave No. 32 in the 22nd row, according to the Burial Register of the Be vis Marks Synagogue) was published in Altona, (5)520. n^W Y'H *?n?j? npSP Y"liTI?D . . . Tin? MTW!. 4to, 12 11. without pagination (own collection). In the following year Moses Cohen D'Azevedo was appointed Haham, despite the spirited protest of H.H.R. Isaac Nieto. The Shehita scandal continued up to about the year 1766, but in 1761 a small Spanish volume was published in Salonica containing a resume of the whole affair, and the correspondence that passed as far as Haham Isaac Nieto himself was concerned. The following is a transcription of the title page: " Recopilacao | DeVarias | Cartas &amp; Actos Autenticos, | Concernentes A I Bedica | Ou | Examinaca? das rezes. | Publicadas, a fim que cada hum possa vir, a | conhecimento da verdade. | " : rnno? nana? n^? nnDin mid Mehhor he a reprehenca? manifesia, que o amor | occulto. Prov. Cap. 27. v. 5. | : p"*h bvmr* m ommm nw In 4? (6 in. x 4 in.), 11.+ 134 pp. From its contents, it is undoubtedly the work of Isaac Nieto, and, from the type and paper, the product of a London press. It is unrecorded in any bibliography, and the only known copy is in the library of Dr. M. Gaster. (See Transactions, vii. 272-290, for further details of the Shehita scandal.) In 5523 Isaac Nieto issued another Calendar for fourteen years, in con? tinuation of the one which had appeared in 5501, and had now expired. It is usually found as an adjunct, as was the 5501 Calendar, to the " Orden De Las Oraciones De Ros-Ashanah Y Kipur," which he published in 5500. The preliminary leaves of this " Book of Prayer" contain the " Keter Malchut," xxviii pp., which, after a lapse of twenty-nine years, appeared as a separate publication in Leghorn : " Keter Malchut | De | R. Selomoh | Hi jo de Gabirol | Que se suele dezir la mafiana de Kipur ] antes de Tephil? | Traduzido | Conforme el genuino Sentido del Ori- | ginal Hebraico por Estilo corriente | y facil | Por El Exc. Sr. I H.H.R. Ishac Nieto | Rab del kk. de Londres. | Imprimido nuevamente VOL. XII. G</page><page sequence="84">82 DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. por el Maskil | Isahe De Mosen De Paz. | En Liorne 1769. | Por Antonio Santini pres Carlo Giorgi. | Con Aprobacion." | 8?, 45 pp. [B.M. (Zedner), 1980, b. 13]. His last work was his Spanish translation of the Daily Prayers, etc., published in 5531 (item No. (2) at the head of this Appendix). He was then eighty-three years of age. On his death, two years later, the following Hebrew Elegy was published in his memory : onntw rniiao ?ana oT^a onan w d^tStttS ?dtiVk pia npVn Vs?- omian ?ona'Dnuon imn to brm nn pisan j^in nbvn oonn- n*pmn *?nan wan Tin w?i in T'nnaon pns*? T'imao viVan *poV?sn p'sV yVpnn uro onw ?nnVi om-Kir? omiV? ownt?1? ? -t - : Djatf tfilj? onon *6a ?o;n ni.? to isoai 22h oon o^i o^an oVis? aVa iVofr lim ma *?oi naon Voi t ? t : t : t t : nsn Dir..&amp;a oiim t ?? : : - t : ?5 mm nininua o?3}9 ifoo * ? toiM : a^in ^n1? o?osa h? P1"?1? ^0 ^ o^nstfaV wiri nnina"' a^anpi lira ni fVa^ n? ^ o^nisi1? nio Vom ago mon o^sk fan jn xtiisj? aniiitf*? o^ma pan *?ptf a pan nxVn irwf? o?t? pni iun pa1? ids intw aVa ooiannb dw V?na ? : t ? : o^so via nnw Von t t aan *?atf p?TK 'Of 02 iiiiV J OYDTa ?tt : - : ?0' t t : iV nooaV aim nfrsr norm t t v : ~ ?? na nnr o^rp Vipa "TiyVa ni? oVia Tiir p^is^o?.ro nrs tfw o^itf ja^i iai oVtfoj; ^rr o^ss airon pis '??s" tpa iniy iaV ??a V? a?3 lag *?n *?ni inoian rnx nil1? ^21 t t v : t inpV pna ?sjtfa a._w aV " w ox ?sjiisr"V rnatp ^ ma am li^^s??aVa tt ?: I t ?? -: t 131 ^i~ v o^ag~ an ?o pi pasa^psw pnV oiaiai iso pVr&gt;-"v im ??ntf TwVa p Vs? t t ? : ? t ? : I ?? ifc nVwo ^aa nVi-; j ^ '? 3 iiax "?rrn isn io^ rcnV pn^ iatp mV inaonn !in^ inpjTjinn a m nVs"* 'IDllX'" t ? t ~: mi " t ? t Vianx ovn " a ok</page><page sequence="85">DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 83 : o?n?gD sow wni tts? ddi;-a&amp; i*n ! mn d'wf-isn : DwanaV biv rpa? n ntf natf-a s?ia Vaa nnq i V? : d$?tv Tjin nna tb? ran te? " oht n? 7? ?pD rrsm pipai naia : Tna Vkd^ rrs rasn Broadside, 10j in. x 6? in. The only known copy is in the Montezinos collection in Amsterdam. The writer may be identified with the author of the following work:?" Critica Sacra Examined Or An Attempt To Show That A New Method may be found to reconcile the seemingly glaring Varia? tions in Parallel Passages of Scripture. And That Such Variations, conse? quently, are no Proofs of Corruptions, or Mistakes, of Transcribers. By Mr. Raphael Baruh. London : Printed for the Author, By W. Hay; and sold at his Shop, next to the Academy of Artists, near Exeter Exchange, Strand, mdcclxxv." 8?, 2 11. + viii + 254 pp. (Own collection.) APPENDIX II. Dr. Jacob de Castro Sarmento. On the blank preliminary leaf of my copy of Jacob de Castro Sarmento's sermon for Kipur 5484 (see supra, p. 52) a former owner has made the following note : " Estes Discursos forao escritos para vindicacam do falso testemunho que Da ... el de Fl . . . res divulgen maliciozamente contra o Autor no Anno 1724." (These discourses were written in vindication of the false testimony divulged maliciously against the author by Da(ni)el de Fl(o)res in the year 1724.) For a considerable time these lines were a problem ; to what incident in the life of the preacher did they allude ? I had referred to the various writers about Sephardi Jews and physicians, but without result, when I alighted upon the solution quite by chance in the only known copy of a printed broadside (13 in. x 8 in.) in the Bodleian Library (Rome MS. C. 437, g, Pamph. 1675 (15) ), of which the following is a transcription : Dr. Jacob de Castro Sarmento, having been proposed to be admitted a Fellow of the Royal Society, and a certain Gentleman having industriously propa? gated a most scandalous Report, highly reflecting on the Doctor's Character : It is thought proper to publish the following Extract, which is a true Copy of the Entry in the Registry-Book of the Synagogue. Conclusion of the false and malicious Testimony, that was rais'd against Dr. Jacob de Castro Sarmento, and the Result of the second Meeting of the</page><page sequence="86">84 DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. Elders of the Synagogue, after a very exact and true examination of the same, in which Meeting were present the following Gentlemen, viz. It having been divulg'd among our holy Congregation, that Dr. Jacob de Castro Sarmento had been the Cause of many of our Brethren's Imprisonment of the City of Beja, in the Kingdom of Portugal, (a very Inhumane and Cruel Crime of itself) he the said Doctor petition'd the Elders of the Synagogue, that they would be pleas'd to examine the Case, either to punish him with all the Rigour and Severity (if he should deserve it) or (if innocent) to acquit and free him from such a Scandalous Imputation, and the Consequences thereof, which still he unjustly suffers, without Examination or Conviction : The Elders of the Synagogue, being touch'd with Zeal and Justice, summon'd an extraordinary Meeting, and after mature Consideration of the Case, found there was not sufficient Proof to decide it, and adjourn'd to another Meeting, that better Evidences might appear. Several Gentlemen of very great Credit and Reputation, having since come over from Lisbon, do declare the said Report to be false and malicious; besides several Letters, which have come from faithful Persons, who were themselves in the said Prisons, and then suffer'd very rigorously, do likewise confirm and attest the said Report as false and groundless ; and all the above-said appearing very manifestly and evidently before the Elders of the Synagogue, and their Assistants, at a second Meeting, which they had only upon this Account, unanimously resolved to make a publick Declaration in this * Holy Place, to the end, that the Truth might appear, and that the said Dr. Jacob de Castro Sarmento might be re-established to his entire Credit. And we pray God to keep his People from raising false Witness against their Fellow-Creatures, and to give Peace upon Israel. David Lopes Pereyra, Gabay or Treasurer. Inscribed in a contemporary hand just above the last line is "24 Yyar 5484 or 6 May 1724." Mosseh de Medina, Ishac Cohen Peixoto, Joseph de Crasto, Ishac Vas Martines, Ishac Nunes Fernandes, Joseph Teiles da Costa, Ishac da Costa Alvarenga, Abraham Dias Fernandes, Mosseh Lopes Dias, President. Parnas, Parnas, Parnas, Adjunto,1 Ad junto, Adjunto, Adjunto, Adjunto, or Wardens of the Synagogue. or Elders' Assistants. * The Synagogue.</page><page sequence="87">DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 85 In honour of Purim, that had just passed, Sarmento published a para? phrase in Spanish verse of the Book of Esther, of which I am unable to locate a copy in any public or private library. Dr. M. Kayserling, in his Biblioteca, p. 37, gives the following transcription of the title-page : " Extra ordinaria Providencia, que el gran Dios de Ysrael uso con su escogido pueblo en tiempo de su mayor aflicion por medio de Mordehay y Ester contra los protervos intentos del tyranno Aman. Compendiosamente deduzida de la sagrada Escritura en el seguinte Romance. Londres, 5484." I. F. da Silva, in his Diccionario Bibliographico Portuguez, iii. 248, in referring to Castro Sarmento's funeral sermon on the death of Haham David Nieto, and the two works just described, mentions that they were excessively rare, and that of Extraordinaria Providencia he only knew of two copies. Castro Sarmento was also the author of a large number of books on medical and other sciences (Diccionario Bibliographico, iii. 248-9 and x. 111-13), and was an early advocate of the use of quinine. One of his unfulfilled literary projects was the translation into Portuguese of certain of the works of Francis Bacon. Dr. M. Gaster, in his History of the Ancient Synagogue, p. 117, writes : "... there is only one Dr. Jacob de Castro Sarmento and not two, of whom it is alleged that the one was called only De Castro and the other Castro Sarmento." But there were two medical men in London at one time, both authors of books on medicine, one called Mr. Jacob de Castro and the other Dr. Jacob de Castro Sarmento. Mr. Jacob de Castro was born in 1704 (?), died November 28, 1789, and was buried at Mile End (Lyson's Environs of London, vol. iii. p. 479 ; European Magazine, vol. xvi. p. 471); Gentleman's Magazine, December 1789, p. 1150: " November 28. Aged 85, Mr. De Castro, who was the first person admitted into the corporation of surgeons after their separation from the barbers. He retained his senses till a few hours before his death, and daily read the newspapers at the Rainbow Coffee-house without the use of spectacles." The following works of his are in the British Museum : (a) A Dissertation On the Methods of Inoculating The Small-Pox; With Critical Remarks On the several Authors who have treated of this Disease. By J. O, M.D. Printed for T. Bickerton at the Crown in Pater-Noster-Row. 1721. (Price Is.) (8?, 1 1. + 48 pp.) (b) Dissertatio In Novam, Tutam, ac JJtilem Methodum Inoculationis, sen Transplantationis Variolarum, Thessaliae, Constantinopoli, &amp; Venetiis Primo Inventam nunc que hac in Civitate Authoritate Regiae Majestatis Britannicae Comprobatam. 28 Julii 1721, Cum Criticis Notis in Varios Autores de hoc Morbo Scribentes Per Jacob ? Castro Medicum Londinensem. Editio Secunda. Londini. 1722. (8?, 211. + 40 pp.) (c) Dis sertationes In Novam, Tutam, ac Utilem Methodum Inoculationis, seu Trans? plantationis Variolarum. Prima Methodus Auctoritate Regiae Majestatis Brittannicae Comprobata 28 Julii 1721. &amp; publicata Cum Criticis Notis in varios Autores de hoc Morbo scribentes ? Jacobo ? Castro Medic. Lond. Altera Methodus praelecta ? Gualtero Harris. Tertia Byzantina dicta pro Gradua</page><page sequence="88">86 DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. Doctoratus Lugduni Batavor. publice ventilata Ab Antonio le Due, Constantino politano. Lugduni Batavorum, Apud Joann. du Vivie. 1722. (8?, 11.+ 117 pp.). (d) Reprinted in Richardi Morton, M.D. et Reg, Collegii. Med. Lond. Soc. atque Censoris Opera Medica . . . Editio Novissima . . . Tomus Secundus . . . Lugduni . . . m.dccxxxvii. (4?, pp. 47-80.) Dr. Jacob (otherwise Henrique) de Castro Sarmento was born about 1691 at Braganca in Portugal. Dr. M. Kayserling (his biographer), in the Jewish Encyclopedia, also confounds him with Mr. De Castro by including a work of the latter, the Dissertatio in Methodum Inoculationis . . . (Londini, 1721), in his list of Castro Sarmento's works. The British Museum manuscript department (Add. 20, 799, f. 92-7) con? tains correspondence of his with the vestry of S. Catherine Coleman, 1742, addressed from Fenchurch Buildings. He declined to pay the church rate, his contention being that, as he was physician to the Portuguese Envoy, he was privileged. He was ultimately distrained on for 10s. 8d., as it was argued that the privilege did not extend to property. An affidavit concerning the matter was sworn by Solomon da Costa, notary, before Solomon Sch?mberg, notary, half-brother of Dr. Isaac (1714-1780), Dr. Ralph (1714 1792), and Sir Alexander Sch?mberg (1716-1804). Witnesses, Jacob Torres, Moses Lindo, on the 27th of August 1742. The following announcement is made on p. 113 of the Annual Register for the year 1758, October 11: " Doctor de Castro, a member of the Royal College of Physicians, and Fellow of the Royal Society of London, separated himself from the community of the Jews, by a letter which he wrote to the elders of the Synagogue in the following words : ' Gentlemen, The different opinion and sentiments I have entertained long ago, entirely dissenting from those of the Synagogue, do not permit me any longer to keep the appearance of a member of your body; I now therefore take my leave of you, hereby renouncing expressly that communion in which I have been considered with yourselves. I do not however renounce the intercourse I may have with you in the general society of men of honour and probity, of which character I know many among you, and whom, as such, I shall always esteem. I have sent the key of my drawer, that you may dispose of my place. J. De Castro Sarmento.' " Lucien Wolf, in the Jewish World, May 24, 1907, p. 8, says Sarmento became a Christian, and only survived his conversion four years. In the Burial Register of the Bevis Marks Synagogue I find the following entry : " Dezi setimo Carera N? 52. Sarah de Dr. Ja: de Castro Sarmento 24 Sebat 5516 (1756)." [Two reprints of papers relating to Dr. Sarmento have recently been published (1931) in Lisbon by A. D'Esaguy, called " Apologia da agoa de</page><page sequence="89">DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 87 Inglaterra da realfabrica" (1812), and " No tolas relativas as agoas delngla terra inventadas perlo Dr. Jacob de Castro Sarmento." M. D'Esaguy has also written a life of Dr. Sarmento.] Additional Note (by one of the revisers): The two following works contain a full account of Dr. de Castro Sarmento's medical, scientific, and theological publications, all of which were published in London, and (with the exception of the Spanish verses about Queen Esther and an English dictionary) were in the Portuguese language : (1) Dr. Maximiliano de Lemos, Jacob de Castro Sarmento (Oporto, 1910). (2) Francisco M. Alves, Os judeus no distrito de Braganqa, pp. xcv-xcviii (Braganca, 1925). Dr. de Castro Sarmento's withdrawal from the Synagogue is explained by his will (P.C.C. 374 St. Eloy, signed 12th November, 1759, and proved 14th Sep? tember, 1762), which shows that he contracted a second marriage, apparently with a non-Jewess. The Registers of St. Andrew's, Holborn, establish that husband and wife were both buried in that church, which was their parish church, since the doctor's practice was in King's Road, Holborn. The will is interesting, has not been printed before, and runs as follows : I desire to be buried at the discretion of my Wife for whom I have the greatest regard and in whom I have the greatest confidence and I give all my money securities for money goods chattels and estate of which I shall be possessed of or entitled to at the time of my decease except as hereinafter is mentioned unto my said Wife, and unto my natural son Henry de Castro Sarmento and my son Charles de Castro Sarmento In Trust thereout in the first place to pay my debts and funeral expences and afterwards my will is that they become entitled to and interested in the residue thereof unto and for their own use and benefit for ever in equal shares and proportions. And whereas I am possessed of a valuable Recipe or secret in physick which is unknown to the publick and which I have enclosed in a paper which will be found in my Iron Chest and upon which is superscribed by me the following words " ffebrifugum Anglicanum Doctoris Jacobi de Castro Sar? mento commonly called Aqua de Ingleterre de Doctor Castro Sarmento." Now I do hereby order and direct that the said Recipe or Secret shall not be discovered or made public until my said son Charles shall arrive at the age of eighteen years but that Medicines shall be from time to time prepared there? from and sold for the benefit of my said wife and children and I do hereby entreat my wife to be particularly carefull that the said Recipe or Secret be not made publick untill the time aforesaid. And I do hereby further will that my said wife shall within three months after my decease take my said two sons into partnership with her in the business of making and vending the said</page><page sequence="90">88 DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. Medicine which said partnership shall continue untill my son Charles shall arrive at his age of eighteen years as aforesaid and until such partnership shall take effect I will that all sales of the said Medicines shall be made in the joint names of my wife and two sons. And Lastly I appoint my wife and said two sons, Henry and Charles joint Executors of this my last Will and Testament. Witnesses :? Nicholas Coulthurst. Matt. Coulthurst, J. Gordon. Proved:? 14 Sept. 1762 by Elizabeth de Castro Sarmento, widow, the relict of the said deceased and one of the Exrs. named. Power reserved to Henry de Castro Sarmento and Chas. de Castro Sarmento the other Exrs. named. [A portrait of Sarmento appears in Gaster's History of the Ancient Synagogue, p. 116.] APPENDIX III. The Pardo Family and their Shulhan Tahor. David Pardo the younger (16 ? -1677) initiated the English tradition of scholarly Hazanim. Joseph Pardo, his great-grandfather, came from Salonica to Amsterdam, and became the first Haham in that city, holding the position from 1597 until his death in 1619 (5380). His son David, whom he brought with him from Salonica, also filled the position of Haham in Amsterdam, and died in 1657 (5417). He left two sons, Josiahu and Joseph. Josiahu married a daughter of Haham Saul Levi Morteira (1596 ?-1660), and, after holding various official positions in Rotterdam and Amsterdam, was in 1674 appointed Haham at Curacao, and in 1683 occupied a similar position in Jamaica. His son David became Haham in Surinam, and died there in 1716-17. Josiahu's brother Joseph was the Hazan of the first Sephardi Congregation in London. He died in Amsterdam on Wednesday, 27 Ab 5437 = 24 August 1677. After his death his son David, who held a similar position to his father in London, discovered among his effects a small manuscript, called Shulhan Tahor, being an epitome of Codes I. and II. of Joseph Caro's "JVlS? jH1?^? It is so precisely similar to a little work in manuscript entitled U^Ti JTimiX, by Joseph Abraham Monteles, that Hazan Joseph Pardo's authorship is somewhat in doubt (Henriques de Castro, Keur Van Grafsteenen. Leiden, 1883, note pp. 65-6). However, Hazan David edited and published it in 1686 under the following title:?</page><page sequence="91">DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 89 : dt7S7? otPDi t?rf? | onnn on*? aV mno iVd^ moa | uro ]nVt2? psi nponV | osia ? op*?na imw? paV | jap *poa ?in ?nn m run | pan oon | : ^m1? an )n rrf? *o rwa |: V2F niao | in i"o pin1? tm via | : i1? m? T'ino rraa 001:1 12mo. 10 + IS 11. (Own collection.) Dedycatorya | Aos muy Magnificos SSres Do Maamad | Do Kaal Kados | De Londres, | Osenor Abraham Ysrael | Enriques, | Osenor Jacob Gomez | Serra, | E osenor Aaron Franco | Pacheco, Gabay . . . . . . David Pardo. A prohibition against infringing the proprietary rights of David Pardo for a period of ten years will be found in the preliminary leaves endorsed by Isshac Abuab, Jaacob Sasportas, a former Haham of the Sephardi Jews in London, Selomo de Oliveira, and Mosseh Yehuda Coen (Loeb Charif). (Catalogue of Anglo-Jewish Historical Exhibition, 1887, No. 851.) It is a rare little volume, and has been frequently republished. One of the reprints was issued in 1697 without the introductory paragraphs or place of issue. This reprint has been attributed to Frankfort-on-the-Main, and the title-page tells us that it is the work of Rabbi Baer of the Holy Congregation of London. onnn nnb a1? nno iVair? woa | mo jnVw inw jyaV ? pp I -paa ?rrm aVa: trnn m nxi j: tmm nvzi aVa1? | nnsn ? pirfr p'pa is?a | una ? pan oon ?r?x ??"? oipa | ? 0012 ? ipvia iwD I b"i xa"ina mmn nv mw | ? nVsaV nana noowa &amp;nna | oon P^dV ia,,l?n aa^pya 71 nrw rw |: antra | mmn ddv? 32mo. 4 + ?S 11. [B.M. (Zedner), 1958, a, 2.] In the 1882 p?^H TUlbW p ??? l^tf pVn M 110 100 (1660 ?-1746 ?) this is apparently recorded with an additional error, the p'pa are omitted between the words and pill1?, so that we find in the index of authors, p. 8, and in the entry of the work, p. 98, that it is by tyrh 1573 7a Mr. Baer, London. (See Joseph Pardo, Column 1517, No. 5974, Steinschneider's Catalogue, 1852-1860.) In a modern reissue (lIHOn pVtP 100 . ? . Szylchon Hatohor. w. Warszawie, 1840. 12mo. 1 -f la 11. (B.M. (Van Stralen) 1958, b, 11)) the author's name on the title-page is niKD ^OVTHaO ODnH ^11)1 ail OllOtfaa p"pl a,7n T'3K V'plST- This is an error, as that Rabbi was the grandfather of Hazan Joseph Pardo of London ; a similar blunder occurs in the 1880 Wilna edition, 12mo, 192 pp. or IS U. (own collection). Dr. M. Gaster, in History of the Ancient Synagogue, p. 47, asserts that it is "a</page><page sequence="92">90 DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. production of David Pardo himself, and not a posthumous work of his grand? father." Hazan David Pardo certainly produced the work, although he was not the author, but I do not think that the name of his grandfather, Haham David Pardo, had ever been associated with it. Three years after the publi? cation of the original edition, a Spanish rendering appeared, entitled: " Compendio | De | Dinim | Que todo | Israel Deve | Saber y Observar. | Compuesto por Estilo Fasil | y Breve. | Por David Pardo, Hazan | del K.K. de Londrez. | Imprezo en Amsterdam, | Anno 5449." | 12mo, xxiii. + 321 pp. + 11. [B.M. 4034 a, 20.] P. in, " Dedicatoria | AI Nobilissimo | Sr Ishac Nunnes Belmonte | (d. 1704) Conde | Palatino y Residente | De su Magestad Hispanica | En las Provincias Unidas. | . . . David Pardo." P. xvi, " Approvasao Dos Sr H.H.R. Selomo de Oliveira . . . Em Amsterdam a 4 Elul 5448." APPENDIX IV. Israel Meshullam Zalman, Rabbi of the Hambro Synagogue. Israel Meshullam Zalman was born in 1723, and was the second son of Rabbi Jacob Emden by his first marriage in 1716 with Rachel, daughter of Mordecai Cohen, the Rabbi of Ung-Brod, in Moravia, and granddaughter of Naphtali ben Isaac Cohen (1649-1718), the great Cabbalist and Chief Rabbi of Frankfort. As was customary at that time, Rabbi Israel Meshullam Zalman married at the early age of seventeen, and before coming to England was Rabbi of Podhaice in Podolia, a district infested with the Sabbatian heresy, and the birthplace, it is alleged, of the notorious London Baal Shem, Hayyim Samuel Jacob Falk (1708 ?-1782). On the resignation in 1763 of Rabbi Hart Lyon (Zalman's maternal uncle), the post of Chief Rabbi of the three existing London synagogues for German Jews became vacant. Rabbi Jacob Emden was eager to obtain the coveted position for his son. Through the influence of friends in London, Rabbi Meshullam Zalman became in the month of Nissan 5525 the nominee of the Hambro Synagogue, but the Great Synagogue's candidate was Rabbi David Tevele ben Solomon Schiff (Ha-Kohen), of Frankfort-on-the-Main. Uncompromising hostility towards Rabbi Meshul? lam Zalman was shown by an influential body of members of the Great Syna? gogue, resulting in his installation in the middle of Tamuz in the same year as Rabbi of the Hambro Synagogue only, whilst at the same time Rabbi Tevele Schiff became the ecclesiastical head of the Great Synagogue. In a pamphlet, whose title is mnV ??nrrtw pioa nron odi? : &amp;2vb tdddi napm: MnwV nnaw t'nna vna pain jr'?V frVpn] nmtfr purf?... pbi .t"oa : i^arn oiVw ppn vsr pbr Vanr?</page><page sequence="93">DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 91 it is incidentally mentioned that, in addition to his position at the Hambro Synagogue, Zalman was also the Rabbi of the New Synagogue. This was in 1774, nine years after his first appointment. His ministration of the New Synagogue did not necessarily commence in 1774, and may have coincided with his Hambro appointment. (In the British Museum there are four pam? phlets in Hebrew addressed to him by Haham Shalom Ben Moses Buzaglo (d. 1780) on a matter of divorce (B.M. (Zedner) 1931, dd. 7 (1-4)). The one quoted above is, however, missing, but is in the collection of Heer Seeligmann of Amsterdam. It has been edited by Dr. Charles Duschinsky, and reprinted in nan *pK? HDISn (1914), iv. 133-141. That he did hold this additional position is corroborated by the transcription of the title-page of a sermon delivered at the time of the revolt of the American colonies, which I came across in the Jewish World for December 19,1879. " A Constant Reader " (Rev. A. L. Green, 1821-1883), on p. 3, in a letter on " The English Rabbinate," refers to the only copy known to him of " A Sermon preached on Friday, the 13th December, 1776, by the Rev. Israel Meshulam Solomon, Rabbi of the Jews' Synagogues in Church Row, Fen-Church Street, and Leaden-Hall Street. Being a Moral Discourse suited to the solemn occasion of the day appointed by Royal Proclamation for a General Fast, to pray for the success of his Majesty's Arms. A free translation from the Hebrew. Printed by A. Alexander, No. 78, Whitechapel, High Street." [Jacobs and Wolf, Bibliotheca Anglo-Judaica, 1888, p. 190, No. 1792, "Solomon, Israel Meshulam.?Sermon on General Fast and Prayer, 1777."] One can well picture the hostile attitude of these congregations after the election, and the strained relationship of their Rabbis, each with the assumed claim to be Spiritual Head of all the Ashkenazi Jews in the kingdom. We find in a cabbalistic work by Haham Shalom Buzaglo [Amsterdam, 1769, 8V0] ""'aimn ^IpTl tflTD NOD IDC an approbation dated London, 22 II Adar 5529, and signed p*on V'?Ka p*?T ?Vltf? bVClW ppH ?"s?i maan p"pa nVuo ??naa ^in roinn rm yasr? nr'na ??naan : k"sp nmam rnnV p"pa D7/2$ai is an abbreviation for JIOVIS IDTIS?I? a term used by Rabbis on appointment, but before actually taking up a position in another congrega? tion. Could this possibly refer to Zalman's acceptance of the additional charge of the New Synagogue, in consequence of which he felt warranted to assume (possibly on invitation by the two congregations) ecclesiastical authority over all their co-religionists of their own rite in the whole country, particular^ as his antagonist was the Rabbi of only one community ? However, Chaim Nathan Dembitzer, in his Kelilath Jofi, Krakau, 1888, i. 94, insistently main? tains that any such pretensions are not supported by history. Rabbi Tevele Schiff, even in his own time, was acknowledged in European Jewry as the</page><page sequence="94">92 DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. Chief Rabbi of England, and Rabbi Meshullam Zalman only as the Rabbi of the Hambro Synagogue. When he died, or where he is buried, is unknown. He apparently inherited the contentious idiosyncrasies of his father. Buzaglo tells us (Duschinsky's " Jacob Kimchi and Shalom Buzaglo," Transactions, vii. 289) that his congregations were dissatisfied with him, and would have liked to send him away. Perhaps he died abroad. The fil?tttt niDTH on the High Festivals at the New Synagogue does not include his name in the list of their Rabbis, but the Hambro Synagogue still pray for the soul of 12110 H11? apsr ?ai am mi? rnia p oVwa bmvr* n (He died at Hamburg, 29 Kislev 5555 (1794). See Dukes, 'MD, p. 91.) APPENDIX V. Daniel Lopez Laguna and his Translation of the Psalms. [See Engraving of the Frontispiece of the Psalms, p. 38.] Daniel Lopez Laguna is without doubt the most distinguished of the Spanish-Jewish poets whose names are associated with England. He is principally remembered in connection with his famous version of the Psalms : Espe jo Fiel de Vidas | Que Contiene | Los Psalmos de David | En Verso I Obra Devota, Vtil, y Deleytable | Compuesta por | Daniel Israel Lopez Laguna | Dedicada al muy Benigno y Generoso | Senor | Morde jay Nunes Almeyda. | En Londres con Licencia delos Senores del Mahamad | y appro vacion del Senor Haham | Ano 5480 | 4to. Engraved frontispiece (Abm Lopes de Oliveira Fecit) + 4 11. + Engraved Plate (Abm Lopes de Oliveira Fecit) + 21 11. + 286 pp. + 11. (own collection). An account of the circumstances of the writing of this work, and of David Nieto's connection with it, has been given above (p. 37). On the reverse of the fifth preliminary leaf is an approbation in Aramaic verse by Joseph aben Danon. On the twentieth is a playful " Aprobacion (o sea Cenzura) de Jahacob Henriques Pimentel, (alias) Don Manuel de Humanes, a pedi mento del Mecenas, y lo mas cierto al merecimiento digno del Autor." On the reverse of the ninth preliminary leaf " Del autor, a su intimo amigo Jahacob Henriques Pimentel alias Don Manuel de Umanes, Corrector de la orthorgraphia, y Poesia. Dezimas." This is followed on the thirteenth pre? liminary leaf by "De Jacob Henriques Pimentel al autor Soneto " and by " Soneto con tres acorosticos con el nombre del Autor, el titulo del Libro, y el del que Lo Hiso." On the reverse of the twentieth preliminary leaf Pimento's son has written, " Prefacio. De Abraham de Jahacob Henriques Pimentel. Al Lector " ; and on the reverse of the thirteenth preliminary leaf,</page><page sequence="95">DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 93 '* AI Espejo de Vidas fiel p?r Abraham Henriques Pimentel. Soneto " ; followed by " A Daniel Ysrael Lopez Laguna por su Amigo Abraham Henriques PimenteL Soneto." Some ten further well-wishers and two anonymous writers all acclaim the poet and his poems in Spanish verse, as was the custom prevalent at that time. These include David Henriquez Pimentel (a brother of Abraham), Mordejay Nunes Almeyda, who furnished the funds for the publication of the work, his mother, Dona Manuela Nunes de Almeida, his two sisters, Dona Bienbenida Cohen Belmonte and Dona Sarah de Fonseca Pina y Pimentel, her husband Manuel Fonseca Pina, their son Moseh de Manuel Fonseca Pina, Jahacob Lopez Laguna, grandson of the author, David de Daniel Lopez Laguna, the author's son, and Abraham Gomez Silveira (Member of the Academy of Poets founded in 1676 by Isaac Nunez Belmonte (Don Manuel de Belmonte) (d. 1704) (see Dr. M. Kayserling's biography of Silveyra (Silveira) Abraham (Diego) Gomes in the Jewish Encyclopedia). Two members of the medical profession, Dr. David Chaves, who resided in London at the time, and Dr. Yshac de Sequeira Samuda, who delivered a sermon in Portuguese on the death of Haham David Nieto, and composed the Spanish epitaph for his tombstone, sang praises in Latin hexameters. Three of Laguna's laudatory effusions are in English. One on the reverse of the four? teenth preliminary leaf is "By Samson Guideon, Junior, to the Author." This Samson Gideon (1699-1762), whose uncle of a similar name was still alive, was then in his twenty-first year, and was destined to become the leading financier in England during the first part of the eighteenth century. His contribution is followed by a whole page of verse, by an anonymous writer, on the reverse of the fifteenth preliminary leaf, headed, " Left at the Printer's, by an unknown Hand." The page facing begins : " To my Worthy and most Ingenious Friend Mr. Daniel Lopes Laguna, on his Publishing his Excellent, and Inimitable Paraphrase of King David's Psalmes." This is followed by a six-lined stanza and eight four-lined stanzas signed by Abraham Bravo. Very little indeed is known of Lopez Laguna and his family. Gaster relates in his Histo y of the Ancient Synagogue, p. 117, that persons of a similar name had preceded the poet's arrival in London, and one of them had married here. In the Burial Register of the Bevis Marks Synagogue, I found the two following entries : folio 18, " angel Leah de Daniel Laguna," and on folio 20 " Principio dela 16 Carera - Lopes Laguna 22 Sivan 5482" (1722). Dr. M. Kayserling, in his article, " The Jews in Jamaica and Daniel Israel Lopez Laguna" (Jewish Quarterly Review, xii. 712-17), relates that he returned from London to Jamaica to Rika his wife and his three sons, David, Jacob, and Ishac. It is presumed that the family remained on the island. The date of Lopez Laguna's death is unknown, but he was probably about seventy when he died.</page><page sequence="96">94 DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. APPENDIX VI. Judah ben Ephraim Cohen, First Rabbi of the Hambro Synagogue. Jehudah Loeb ben Ephraim Asher Anschel came from Lissa. (Johanan ben Isaac's [(London ?) Amsterdam, 1707]) . . . p"p hd 21 tobd 4to 1 + r 11. (own collection), folio n, column B: Vn*n p^h p"pi T'na jVid nmzn ao^a n"n yb mirr'T^nna V'ST mimi Professor Dr. David Kaufmann, in " Rabbi Zevi Ashkenazi and his Family in London " (Transactions, iii. 105), tells us that he came from Hamburg, and was Rabbi of the first place of worship of the Ashkenazi Jews in England after the Return, i.e. the synagogue in Broad Court, Mitre Square, Aldgate. Mr. Lucien Wolf (" The Origin of the Hambro Synagogue," Jewish Chronicle, November 18, 1892, p. 7), followed by Mr. A. M. Hyamson (A History of the Jews in England, 1908, p. 239), has identified him as an uncle of Haham Zevi Aschkenazi; but this is an error, as Dr. David Kaufmann points out (Trans? actions, iii. 122, n. 12). Haham Zevi's uncle emigrated to Jerusalem, and his, somewhat similar, name was Jehudah ben Ephraim Cohen of Ofen. Having incurred the enmity of Reb Aberle, the Parnass of the Broad Court Synagogue, conditions became intolerable, so that Rabbi Jehudah Loeb left London and became Rabbi in Rotterdam (Johanan ben Isaac's d^l^n rmtPfl, 4?, 1 + rpU-&gt; Amsterdam, 1705) (own collection), f. 17b. ^nprrn misn V? rrn rrnpm ^Vm mai ? rai ivavh its rrn mm mTo*n p"pV wim t? He must have left London early in the year 1700, for we find in the fiTti? *TlXan [Amsterdam, 1700] an approbation which he signs as Chief Rabbi of Rotterdam, dated Rosh Hodesh Adar 5460 (1700). In the Jatter part of 1705 he paid a visit to his former community in London. By March 4, 1707, he had accepted the position of Acting Chief Rabbi of Amsterdam on the death there of Chief Rabbi Loeb Charif, but he apparently had not relinquished the Rabbinate at Rotterdam [. . . ?n21K)n ftl?lVn? ibid., folio 14, a and 6], In an undated approbation to the nilftK ''V'QtP of Meir ben Isaac Aldabi (Amsterdam, 1708), he refers to his previous position at Rotterdam. Preceding this is another testimonial from Haham Solomon Ayllon, also a former London Rabbi, dated Nisan 11, 5466 (1706), but Rabbi Jehudah Loeb's approbation was probably not given for quite a year later. In the meantime the Amster? dam Ashkenazi community had invited Rabbi Saul of Cracow (paternal grand? father of Rabbi Hart Lyon of London, and a son of Rabbi Joshua Heschel (d. 1663/4) of Cracow) to become their ecclesiastical chief, but he died on his</page><page sequence="97">DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 95 journey thither at Glogau on Thursday, May 19, 1707. Rabbi Jehudah Loeb continued as Acting Chief Rabbi at Amsterdam, and we find that on the eve of the New Year 5468 (September 26, 1707) he appended his signature to an approbation of the "JTSP^N ^31 ?'plD (The Sayings of Rabbi Eleazar) (Amsterdam, 1708). In addition to a further testimonial from Haham Solomon Ayllon, this last-named work has a " Dedicatoria" in Spanish signed Moseh Gomes Mesquita, then a young man of twenty. In 1744 he became the Haham of the Bevis Marks Synagogue, which position he occupied until his death in 1751. (Sr H.H. Mos. Gomes Mesquita, 24 Yiar, 5511, Onzena Carera Grande N? 1? extract from the Bevis Marks Synagogue Burial Register.) The only known copy of his funeral sermon is in the Montezinos collection?" Oraca? Funebre | As Deploraveis | Memorias | Do muy Reverendo e Docto | H.H. | R. Moseh Gomes de Mesquita, | Rab do K.K. de | Sahar Ashamaym. | Feito | Por Jacob de Jeoseph de Mattos. | Impresso para o Autor com Licence des | Sen hores do Mahamad, em Londres a 4 Tisri, | Anno 5515." | 8?, iv -f- 32 pp. See also Steinschneiders Catalogue, 1852-1860, Column 1070, No. 18, Moses Gomez di Mesquita (ntTpE^?), and Column 2999, No. 3877, Moses Gomez Mesquita (n?^pt^?) b. Isak. On the fifth of Tebeth 5468 (January 1, 1708) Rabbi Jehudah Loeb signed an approbation to Moses ben Jonathan Galante's work D^?V^H HIT 1D? [Amsterdam, 1708.] About the middle of the year 1708 Judah Aryeh Loeb ben David Kalisch came to Amsterdam to fill the office of Chief Rabbi. His signature to the approbation of the folio edition of the 3p5P ptf (*T)X miDD), printed in Berlin in 1709, from Amsterdam type, is dated Ab 6,5468; and another, dated about nine months previously, bears the signatures also of J3 yfy KTliT f DWmaan V'T VW* 1W nn?? Tnm? V? (Rabbi Jehudah Loeb ben Ephraim Asher Anschel) and the three other Dayanim of the city. This is apparently the only instance that fDtP is used by Rabbi Jehudah Loeb as a surname. Chaim Nathan Dembitzer, in his Kelilath Jofi, Cracow, 1888, i. 98, has added a *? and transcribed the name as *pStP, but in all other signatures, including the registration of burial, mattH, WDttH or ma?H? is alone to be met with. Rabbi Aryeh Loeb Kalisch was the author of the JTHN *Tfl 1D?. [Amster? dam, 1733.] He did not long remain in office. Dissensions in the community so affected his health that, it is said, his death resulted. This was on 7 Kislev, 5470 (November 9/10, 1709). Rabbi Jehudah Loeb again became Acting Chief Rabbi of Amsterdam, as we find his signature to an approbation of the Hl^iHl iWHS [Amsterdam, 1711], dated Shebat 5, 5470. Two of his Responsa are published in DH^n 100, Wandsbeck, 1733, by Moses ben Jacob Hagiz : No. 8 is dated Shebat 9, 5470 (1710); No. 9 is undated.</page><page sequence="98">96 DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. Again the Amsterdam community sought a Chief Rabbi, and their choice fell upon Haham Zevi Ashkenazi, who entered into office on March 10, 1710. In 1712 Solomon Proops printed the Selihot with a commentary Masbir by Joseph b. Moses Kashman, the editor of which states that he had received an approbation from Rabbi Loeb, Hamburg, but he had lost it, and did not wish to trouble him again. As we know, Haham Zevi Ashkenazi's Rabbinate in Amsterdam was not a happy one, and he left in 1714, but it does not appear that Rabbi Jehudah Loeb was again requested to assume office, and no approbations of his are found after this date. It may have been on account of the infirmities of age, since we find that in 1705 he is already described as an old man (" Rabbi Zevi Ashkenazi and his Family in London," Transactions, iii. 105). He died at Amsterdam on the 14th II Adar, 5480 (March 24,1720)? Vnsna maan yb Tmna ]pim ?w?n napn n&amp;ai t*i"n] *w rra t"?'k 'v : nna 7iatz? Vsa n^ona (Extract from the Burial Register of the cemetery of the Ashkenazi Jews at Muiderburg.) His son Isaac, who predeceased him (a son is referred to in o^iain lYDI^D, ibid., folio 146), dying on Nisan 5, 5474? "&gt;n am maan yb Tnma p pra napn ibdi rnu irn] pn 7n n nv : naVw mna tqw Vsa omap V^sna napn r\"i atr?ip nnana ^na (Extract from above Burial Register.) (Information from Heer Sigmund Seeligmann.) APPENDIX VII. Solomon da Costa Athias' Gift to the British Museum. Solomon da Costa (Athias) was the donor of a collection of Hebrew books and manuscripts to the British Museum. Accompanying them was a letter of presentation and a catalogue in Hebrew, of which there are two copies in the British Museum, one catalogue having a Latin translation. (Descriptive Lists of the Hebrew and Samaritan MSS. in the British Museum . . . G. Margoliouth . . . 1893, p. 79. "Add. 4710-11, Catalogue of the Hebrew MSS. (Add. 4707-4709) and printed books presented by Solomon da Costa to the British Museum in a.d. 1759 ; Hebrew and Latin. Paper, ff. 27 and 12, folio.") The following English version of the letter of presenta? tion is transcribed from a unique broadside (11 in. by 9 in.) in the possession of Mr. A. M. Hyamson, F.R.Hist.S. :? My Translation from the Hebrew of a Letter I wrote in that Language the 31st Day of May, 1759, to the Trustees of the British Museum ; and</page><page sequence="99">DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 97 sent with a Collection of Manuscripts and Books, of which I made a Present to the said Museum. Go forth I pray thee, and appear in the Presence of Persons endowed with wisdom, Skill and Knowledge : Behold these are the Honour? able Gentlemen (whom God preserve, Amen) nominated and appointed Trustees of the great and famous Depository renowned by name, the British Museum. I Solomon, son of my honoured Father, the pious, meek, and praise? worthy Isaac Da Costa, surnamed Athias, late of the City of Amsterdam, deceased (of the people called Jews; dispersed and scattered amongst the Nations, and descended from those that were led Captives from Jerusalem into Spain) do send greeting. Whereas I have already sojourned fifty-four Years and upwards, with Peace of Mind, Content and Confidence, undisturbed and unmolested in this famous Metropolis : Great amongst the Nations, Princess amongst the Provinces : eminent above all others, for the Number and Wisdom of its inhabitants, and for being Mother to the Arts and Sciences; there not being any one too mighty for their investigation ; be the same in Physick, Mathematicks, Astronomy, or Philosophy ; or any which they have not improved, and excelled therein, so that their Equals are not to be found in any other Nations, or any where else upon the whole Earth. And more so now, that a most stately and magnificent edifice had been purchased and endowed by the Munificence of the Legislature (May the Lord open unto them His good Treasure the Heavens, and reward them according to the Works of their Hands) an House full of good Things, abounding in the choicest Curiosities of Nature, which God created and made ; and also of Art; remarkable for their Singularity, being peerless: or for the Exquisiteness of their Workmanship : or for being the Labour of Artists, whose Names are gone forth in the World ; there they are to be found, by Thousands and Ten Thousands : and there they will remain as Signs and Wonders for ever. And spacious apartments filled with Books, almost without Number, ancient and modern, written and printed, in many Languages ; the like hath not been seen in all the World, since the Creation thereof, untill now. With Intent to preserve the same to succeeding Generations ; as a benefit in common, to the Race of Mankind in general, as well Natives as Foreigners, whose Hearts shall stir them up to come unto the Collection, to contemplate and speculate upon it. May the same multiply and increase. And whereas / am but little worthy of the many Favours which have been bestowed upon me by several Noble, Honourable, and Worthy Personages of the British Nation; and conscious within myself that mine Hand is short, and that it is not in my Power to make unto them suitable Returns ; therefore then said I, Lo I come with a Parchment Roll, written in a beautiful character, VOL. XII. H</page><page sequence="100">98 DAVID NIETO AND SOME OP HIS CONTEMPORARIES. containing the Law of Moses (whose Soul rests in Peace) as it is used in our Synagogues ; and likewise with a very ancient Parchment Manuscript Book, oontaining the Posterior and the Twelve Minor Prophets ; as also, with another Parchment Manuscript Book, containing the Pentateuch, or Five Books of Moses; the Songs of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Psalms, Proverbs, Job, and the After Lessons of the whole Year ; and I have added to them 180 Volumes of printed Books, old Editions, which were collected, and richly bound, by Order of Charles the Second, late King of England, &amp;c, and are marked with his Cypher, all in the Hebrew Language ; which I purchased in the Days of my Youth ; the Particulars whereof, Behold they are written in the Book, or Catalogue, that accompanieth this letter. And I said unto myself, let these be likewise deposited in the said Museum, that they may stand as a Witness for me, that I have the Love of this Nation always present in my Mind, and that I am not ungrateful for the Favours I have received. And therefore one Thing I have to desire of you, and that I do seek after, that you will receive this Handful of my Present with a cheerful Countenance ; and that these my Books be placed amongst the other, there to remain from Generation to Generation : and that there they may find Rest : Let this be called an Offering of Sweet Savour. And my Prayer is unto Thee, 0 Lord, in the Hour of Grace, for this mighty Nation, that it may rise up as a great Lion, and lift up itself as a young Lion : Yea, cry, roar, and prevail against all its enemies ; that its Dignity and Fame be raised to the highest Degree ; and that its Palace be filled with Glory ; so that the People may see the King, in his greatest Comeliness, elevated on the highest Pinnacle of Prosperity, with Fullness of Success and Joy. He is our Sovereign Lord George the Second, that leads his Subjects as a Shepherd does his Flock ; he is a Shield and Buckler to all that come to shelter themselves under the shade of his Dominion: His Righteousness and Pity endure for ever. May the Lord continue unto him Life and Health : and may Peace flow like a River, upon him and his Seed after him ; and may he and they govern and reign over the People, with Justice and Equity (as he does at this present Time) in Fullness of Peace and Tranquility, 'Till the Moon shall be no more. Agreeable to their own Desire, and conformable to the fervent Wishes of him, that with a sound Heart, Truth and Faithfulness, daily prays for their Quiet of Mind and Welfare. The Minor of Minors, Solomon da Costa. London, the 5th Day of the Week and 5th day of the Month Sivan, in the Year 5519, from the Creation. The letter appeared in the Gentleman's Magazine, vol. xxx. pp. 51-2, February 1760, with the following heading: "A Copy of an original Letter,</page><page sequence="101">DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 99 written by Mr. Soloman Da Costa, and sent to the Trustees of the British Museum, with a Present of near Two Hundred curious Manuscript Volumes in the Hebrew Language, which were originally intended by the Jews as a Present to King Charles II." The London Magazine for November 1769, p. 592, "... Deaths . . . Mr. Soloman Da Costa, an eminent notary public." APPENDIX VIII. Epitaphs on David and Sarah Nieto. The following inscription is to be found on the tombstone of David Nieto and his wife Sarah in the Beth Holim Burial Ground (Carera xxi. No. 1):? SA Do Bemaventurado Eminente &amp; Insigne HH &amp; Dr R. Dauid Netto Rab Que f oy deste K.K. &amp; Recollieu Deos para Sua Santa Gloria Em dia de Sabath 28 Tebet 5488 sendo o mesmo Dia Que Cumpriu 74 Annos S. B. A. G. D. G. Theologo Sublime Sabio fundo Medico insigne Astronomo famoso Poeta doce Pregador f ecundo Logico arguto Physico engenhoso Rhetorico fluente Author jucundo Nas Linguas prompto Historias noticios[o] * Posto que tanto em pouco aquy se encerra Que o muito e pouco em morte he pouca te[rra] * No room on the stone for the *' o." naxb niprn rn?in nsrosn miaon miap nn nn tfrm oonn nao*?k rvw mo rwan a bb wi nnVt id** in twud nn misv na apnn r\w iboo wirf? nw nnV 02 kVi nr? nnno vb rutf mo&amp;n nmo nv</page><page sequence="102">100 david nieto and some of his contemporaries. SA nasin Da Bemaventurada Sarah Viuva do Exmo HHm Asalem M.A.R. David Netto Falleceo Noite de Segunda Feyra 5 de Kislev do Anno 5502 de Idade de 88 Annos S. B. A. G. D. E. G. Dan tf&gt;K bw nrV rva ns tt * VT* mn rraa rnin rsna t ? - : t i ? : - anna xbia^t is? ran t : - t ? - ? t jx? naan ]x? bp napt arm natf? mW no t t : t ? ? V ' nV pn??5! nV xari xm nnaoi VidVs ntr or tt : : ? tt dws rnlV?1? nfe ran ? T - T " T Ds?n nx nsn to1? xin T T V - " " * xnainxVip nnnTiox T : Til V V T " T I T *? T *nDp nap (tibd avn pH? pns? Vx it nfra x^j? V? VxnantfDi n^nn ninsa nm1? : nnjra x ?n TjVan The following epitaph for Haham David Nieto, the author of which is unknown, is to be found in a manuscript entitled pfilP IW, by Isaac ben Elijahu Hezekiah Cohen Belinfante (d. October 9,1780), poet and preacher, of the D^n fS7 Synagogue in Amsterdam. This is a catalogue of printed books and manuscripts, with extracts and biographical notes of the authors, especially the Spanish and Portuguese Jewish writers of Amsterdam and London.</page><page sequence="103">DAVID NIETO AND SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 101 Belinfante remarks that he transcribed the epitaph, in order that future generations might appreciate the many qualities of the learned Haham. The manuscript is in the Montezinos collection of the library of the yv Um Seminary of the Portuguese Jews in Amsterdam. Belinfante's epitaph, by David Franco Mendes, was published by Gabriel Polak in JVDX? Oil DHIDO D^nn, which appeared in Hamagid, Lyck (March 1869), iii. 77-8. Belinfante's epitaph on Nieto has also been published by Gabriel Polak in excerpts of the manuscripts entitled JTPJl?lp, which appeared in ha-Carmel (Heshvan 5628), vi. 392. mom mm dVph osnn miap nsnn rw nao imn1? ri:6 j?tfr or rw</page><page sequence="104">Haham David Nieto (1654?1728) [Frontispiece</page></plain_text>