Miscellania Misc 3

<plain_text><page sequence="1">10. Miscellanea, i. The Early Days of the Melbourne Community. (The letter here printed was written in 1848 to the Chief Rabbi, Dr. N. M. Adler, by the President of the newly-formed community at Melbourne. It throws a remarkably vivid light on the early days of Australian Jewry and the difficulties which the courageous Jewish pioneers had to confront before their religious life could be organised on a proper basis. The letter was first published, from the original manuscript, in the Jewish Weekly News, of Melbourne, of November 2nd, 1934.) 8 Rep. 143, fol. 327. 6 Rep. 143, fol. 385. 7 A. Henriques Valentine, Jewish Encyclopedia, iii. p. 396.</page><page sequence="2">miscellanea* 95 (per barque "Jane Cain") Melbourne, Port Phillip. June 27th, 1848. Most Rev. and Dear Sir, I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your kind and valued letter bearing date November 14th last, and in reply, I beg you to believe that the members of this little congregation fully appreciate the benevolent and spiritual care with which you watch over your scattered flocks even to the remote corner of the earth. Ten years since and the whole of what is now a flourishing city was a wild forest inhabited only by aboriginal savages. Since two years after, a few Jews from the surrounding colonies took up their abode in the newly formed town of Melbourne and on the approach of the New Year managed to collect sufficient number to form a minyan. The usual service was performed on both days and on the Day of Atonement following. For two successive years this is all that could be done, but after that time matters began to improve and it was determined that Divine service should be performed on Friday evenings, Sabbath morn? ings and Holydays. A Sefer Torah was procured from London and subsequently a second and I had the gratification of officiating at the general desire of my brethren as Reader, in which office I performed all the duties both within and without the Synagogue, as well as my abilities, which are very limited, permitted. To continue my narrative (which I hope is not tiresome) my Jewish fellow colonists thinking with me that a private house was no longer suited to our circumstances determined on building a more suitable place wherein to celebrate the rites of our Holy Religion, and a Synagogue with dwelling attached, on a small scale suited to our means was forth? with commenced (on a piece of land generously presented to us for the purpose by the Governor of New South Wales) and is now near completion. The Synagogue was sufficiently forward to be consecrated some time since and the Ordinances of our religion are now performed with as much regularity as in the larger Synagogues of Europe, and it is pleasing to reflect that the handful of Israelites resident here had unaided done this. There have been registered in our Book besides three marriages, nearly forty births and six deaths (two adults and four children). Of the births about half were boys and you will be pleased to know that all are circumcised by a self taught tho' skilful operator, a resident member. We have a most eligible site for a Burial Ground (also a gift from the Government) and at our own expense we have enclosed it, and erected thereon a substantial and necessary building. Within the last few months, we have engaged a young man, son of Mr. Lindenthal,</page><page sequence="3">96 MISCELLANIES. of the New Synagogue, St. Helen, to teach Hebrew and English to the children who are mostly very young. The Congregation provide him a residence and school room, and allow him an annual sum to assist in the service of the Synagogue. His pupils number seventeen and in the course of another year, if he remains among us, there will be an addition of at least six male and female pupils. I am sorry I am not able to say there is a good choice of elementary books, of which I believe there is a great scarcity even in England. My countrymen are unfortunately being much behind their co? religionists in the neighbouring nations. Having now started what I hope you will not think an unnecessary account of the origin and present position of this little community appropriately denominated Shaaris Yisroel, I will most willingly embrace your kind and generous offer to advise us on matters of difficulty, and assist us with your Spiritual council on such matters as may submit to you; without therefore wishing to be troublesome or intrusive, I beg your attention and consideration of the following to which at your leisure we hope for a reply. Firstly.?If there be not ten persons present on Kereyus Hatorah should we or not take out the Sefer and read the portion. Second.?At the appropriate seasons should we or not read the prayers appointed for rain and dew, the seasons in this Hemisphere, as you are aware being opposite to those of our native country. The same question refers to the time of saying Tal ve Mottor. Third.?In case a Barmitzvah be a Cohen should the father or son be called to the reading of the Torah first, and at what part of the Section. Fourth.?Your Law No. 23, says, "In every Synagogue where there are Cohanim Buchen must take place," thus making it imperative. In these Colonies, unfortunately, and I dare not attempt to conceal the fact, there are Cohanim, as well as others who do not scrupulously adhere to the duties appertaining to the keeping of Shabbos. Is it intended that such persons shall be compelled to Buchen, they having always and of their own desire withdrawn prior to the commencement of ve Seerav Lefonecho which prayer I have in consequence and with reluctance invariably omitted. Fifth.?Have you or not sanctioned the omission of Bame Madlikin, Vitium Haktores and Azehu Mekomon, or any portion of the Customary Services, it having been asserted by a person lately from London that you have. Sixth.?Our Mohel having lately operated on two children of the respective ages of 6 and 8 years at some distance from town took on himself the responsibility in the presence of a medical gentleman to administer the lately discovered soothing agent "chloroform" before</page><page sequence="4">MISCELLANEA. 97 operating, will you be kind enough to say whether such a thing is allowable under similar circumstances. Lastly.?The desire to know whether, under favourable circumstances, you would authorise the making of female proselytes, there being one or two special cases that have very frequently been brought under our notice, but which we have invariably refused to entertain; not thinking it a matter suitable for laymen (most of whom are young and inex? perienced in such affairs) to legislate upon. I omitted to state that we have twenty-five Privileged Members, ten Seat-holders (only); 13 occupants of ladies' gallery. I cannot close this letter without calling your serious attention to the various articles that are sent out to these colonies for religious purposes?a greater evil I know not of, prayer books (especially Festivals) are all misprints?altho' the prices are never objected to we (the Congre? gations) have some dozen sets of Tsitsis quite useless, from being too short and slight. The Tephilin and Mezuzos are shameful impositions, and the worst misfortune is the remedy is too far off to be available. Hence the wrong both morally and civilly. Again apologising for the length of this epistle and with my earnest prayers that you may long live to guide Israel in the paths of Righteousness, assisted by a numerous and affectionate offspring. I beg to subscribe myself, Revd. and Dear Sir, Yours Faithfully, (Signed) A. H. HART President Melbourne Congregation. P.S.?Our Mohel who has been in practice eight years wishes me to apply to you for a certificate under your hand. I can say from experience he is a very skilful man, and has always been successful, therefore we should be obliged by your acquiescence. His name is Isaac Lazarus Lincoln. (Notes upon the life of Asher Hyman Hart have been published in a brochure on the early history of the Jews of Victoria written by Mr. Newton Super, M.A., LL.B., of St. Kilda.) ii. The Jews and the French Invasion, 1797 When, on the occupation of Venice by the French Army, in 1797, the British Minister left that city, the Consul, John Watson, acted as charge d'affaires. He appears to have been something of a Judeophobe, and lost few opportunities of introducing references to the Jews into</page><page sequence="5">98 MISCELLANIES. his despatches?how they were represented on the new Republican administration, how the popular opinion resented their progress, how they participated in the regatta in honour of the change of Government and so on. One passage has a particular bearing upon Anglo-Jewish history. Public Record Office. F.O. 81/12. Venice, 1st December, 1797:? The French here avow publicly their intention of invading Great Britain with their armies, which I hope with the help of God will be punished; however, I must signify to your Lordships that they reckon very much on the Emigrants and on the Jews. By the connivance of the Jews here, which came to my knowledge, I have reason to think that they hold a regular correspondence with their brethren in England to this purpose. It is pretty obvious, on the face of it, that this is the merest canard. Nevertheless, it would not have been natural, or even right, had the Government paid no attention whatsoever to this warning, improbable though the information patently was. It is not by any means unlikely, accordingly, that this information was one of the contributory causes of the new regulations framed in England in 1798, when the Wardens of each synagogue were instructed to furnish a complete return of all aliens in their respective communities. CR. iii. Curiosities from the Records David the Jew paid two marks because he denied having the venison which he carried in the forest. (Derby).?Pipe Roll, 3 John (1201). King Henry ordered a penny daily to be paid to Abraham the Jew, who was a cripple, for his support, by the hands of the Sheriff of Essex out of the charity of the King.?Close Rolls, 1228, p. 65.</page><page sequence="6">miscellanea. 99 In the sacred relics of saints in a casket entrusted to William the Prior of Holy Trinity, Norwich, are included " . . . one piece of Zechariah the prophet and one piece of Aaron's rod."?Patent Rolls, 1234, p. 39. A Jew in Ipswich, 1572. Book of accounts of the Chamberlains of the city of Ipswich, 1572. . . . Paid for whippinge of an Jewishe man, vi'd. Paid for whipping a Welchman, ii.d.?Historical Manuscripts Commission Report, vol. ix p. 249.b. _ The Unwitnessed Ketubah In a number of marriage documents (Ketuboth) dated between 1804-1814 belonging to the New Synagogue and now in the British Museum (Or. 1434), there is one of the year 1810 which bears no attesting signatures. To it is attached a note to the effect that "on Acct. of the Young Woman not being willing to marry, the hazanim and Shamashim were obligated to return home without being able to Perform the Ceremony."?In a transcription of the documents by the late Dr. I. Abrahams. See Miscellanies i, Ixxx. M.A. iv. The London Jews' Yearly Gift to the Lord Mayor For exactly one hundred years?from 1679 to 1779?a propitiatory present of plate, together with a purse of ?50, was given to each incoming Lord Mayor by the rulers of Creechurch Lane, afterwards Bevis Marks, Synagogue. Some specimens of the plate are still to be seen at The Jewish Museum and at Bevis Marks, and on these Dr. Cecil Roth has based an illuminating and well illustrated article in The Connoisseur for May 1935.1 That the Jews were not alone in this practice is proved by an entry in MS. 100, Guildhall Library, an official diary kept apparently by the Lord Mayor's Secretary and lettered " Office of Mayor?Mansion House luThe Lord Mayor's Salvers," pp. 296/9 with eight illustrations. See also James Picciotto's Sketches of Anglo-Jewish History, (London, 1874) p. 182.</page><page sequence="7">100 MISCELLANIES. arrangements 1756-7." Preceding the first entry for "Thursday, 20th Jan." one reads:? "The Elders of the French and Dutch Churches used to wait on the Mayor yearly to desire his favour &amp; protection, &amp; presented him with 2 Silver Flaggons, but from the Mayoralty of Alderman Perry* they have Discontinued so to do." Two pages previously is the interesting entry:? "Wednesday 19th (Jan. 1757). "At Mansion House till 6 in the Evening. Received Deputation from Jews who brought present of ?50 to desire favour &amp; protection. Entertained them with Chocolate &amp; their Servants with Wine, &amp; gave their Servants ?1 3 6." I am indebted to Mr. F. Raymond S. Smith of the Guildhall Library for obligingly bringing these entries to my notice. w.s.s. v. Isaac Alvarez, Court Jeweller Isaac Israel Nunes was a devoted son of the Creechurch Lane Synagogue, its Treasurer during the Great Plague and the Great Fire, and its President when these had subsided. He again assumed that office in 1675 when he was the prime mover in the enlargement and virtual rebuilding of the synagogue. All this and more has been set down by the chroniclers of the congregation.1 Of his separate existence as Isaac Alvarez, Court Jeweller, not much has been known hitherto. His will2 made in that name and proved on the 21st February, 1683/4, * Micajah Perry, Lord Mayor of London, 1738-9. The descendant and namesake of Sir Charles Peers has recently shown me the flagons given to the Lord Mayor of 1715-16. They are a pair, plain, and without badges, and engraved "From the French Church" and "From the Dutch Church" respectively. 1 M. Gaster, History of the Ancient Synagogue (London, 1901), pp. 13, 17, 50, 52. W. S. Samuel, "The First London Synagogue of the Resettlement," in Transactions x. 58/59 &amp; 63/64. D. B. de Mesquita, "The Historical Associations of the Ancient Burial Ground of the Sephardi Jews" in Transactions x. 238/239. L. D. Barnett, El Libro de los Acuerdos (Oxford, 1931), pp. 20, 26, 31, 35, 39, 45, 47, 62, 70f, 72-75, 76, 78-86, 86-88, 90, 97, 99, 102, 105, 108, 117 and 120. ?P.C.C. 11, "Hare."</page><page sequence="8">MISCELLANEA. 101 describes him as "merchant of the Parish of St. Andrew Undershaft, London," and shows him leaving specific bequests of ?2,000 to his wife (her dowry money), as well as ?1,000 to each of six children who were minors. He had been blest with three sons and seven daughters, not all of whom reached maturity. That he had influential connections and sometimes used them for the benefit of his synagogue seems indicated by an interesting entry for 1675 in the congregational account book:? "By outlay in the house of Ishack Alvarez with the Duchess of Bokingam3 . . . 10 : 17 : 6." He lived in St. Mary Axe and is so shewn in the first London Directory, printed in 1677. Moreover, a census of April, 1678, made for tax purposes by the Ward authorities4 establishes that the Alvarez house stood on the western side of the road near the corner which it makes with Camomile Street. The only occupants were Alvarez and his wife, five children, and their nurse?her wages were ?5 yearly?and finally a maidservant, Jane, who received ?2 per annum. The evidence that he was a Court Jeweller has hitherto rested mainly on the claim made in his rhymed epitaph that his " . . .far gain'd knowledge in mysterious gems sparkled in the European diadems." That Isaac Alvarez did have dealings with the Court can now be seen from the urgent petition here printed for the first time in which he entreats King Charles II. to pay an overdue account of ?4,000. I owe the discovery at the Public Record Office of this document to my friend the late Mr. P. A. S. Phillips.5 "At the Court at Whitehall "The 21st January 1675-6. Isaac Alvarez Upon reading this day at the Board the humble Referred to ye peticon of Isaac Alvarez of London Merchant, setting Lord Treasurer. fort^ That tiere ^ due unto tie ^ for geverall Jewells bv him furnished &amp; sold to Mr. Isaac le Gouche for * L. D. Barnett, op. cit. pp. ix and 90. 4 Guildhall Records, Assessment Box 16, MS. 9. 5 Privy Council Register, October, 1675, to April, 1677. (P.C. 2 65.)</page><page sequence="9">102 MISCELLANIES. his Maties use, the sume of Four Thousand pounds, for paymt whereof Mr. le Gouche did make over severall Orders or Letters of Privy Seale, &amp; Tally &amp; upon the Customes, Which are yet unsatisfied; And the petr. being engaged to severall persons as well here, as in parts beyond the Seas in great sumes of Money, Who of late had drawne upon him severall Bills of Exchange to a Considerable Value; which he is unable to satisfy unless he receives the Money so assigned unto him by the said Mr. le Gouche. And praying That he may receive his just Debt of 4,00011 or at least the sufhe of l,150h part thereof, due by the Order or Letters of Privy Seale &amp; Talley of the 13th. January 1670. It was Ordered by his Matie in Councill, That it be, and hereby it is Referred to the Right Honoble The Lord High Treasurer of England who is desired to do therein for the peter satisfaction as his Lop shall finde fitt and convenient." Isaac Le Gouche when naturalised on the 15th July, 1678, was described as "jeweller born in Antwerpe son of Abraham Le Gouche"6 and is likely to have been a Huguenot. That the dealings of Isaac Alvarez were on a substantial scale is attested too by the following extract from the will, dated 10/20th November, 1675, of a wealthy Marrano merchant of London.7 "Isaack Alvares oweth me by a writing One Thousand one hundred and Twenty Three pounds . . . the said Alvares doth owe me a Sixth parte of a parcell of Diamonds, which he sent to Paris to his brother Lewis Alvares being Eighty one Diamonds of Twelve Graines each. The said sixth part did cost One Hundred and Eighty nine pounds Starling I have an account with the said Isaac Alvares not yet adjusted wherein he oweth me One Hundred and Sixty Pounds Starling per Contra whereof he is to have One h?lfe of the proffitt of the Diamonds which were brought in Company which will be about Two Hundred and Fifty pounds for his share." 6 House of Commons Journal IX. p. 503. 7 Will of Diego (=Abraham) Rodrigues Marquez, P.C.C. 113, "Reeve."</page><page sequence="10">MISCELLANEA. 103 It is on record that Isaac Alvarez banked at The Unicorn in Lombard Street with Alderman Edward Backwell, the celebrated Royal goldsmith, who 'kept running cashes'. The Backwell ledgers for 1663 to 1671 have been preserved to this day (at Child's Bank in Fleet Street) and in a recent analysis of their figures the account of Isaac Alvarez is named among the six most important Jewish commercial accounts on the Alderman's books.8 W.S.S. vi. Anglo-Jewish Ships' Names In the issue of the London Magazine or Gentleman's Monthly Intelli? gencer for July, 1753, is a satirical article headed, " The Jewish Journal" It heralds the successful agitation for the repeal of the Jewish Naturali? zation Act, which Act had received the Royal Assent only three weeks previously. The article purports to give "News for One Hundred Years hence in the Hebrew Journal, by Authority" and it includes this sprightly paragraph:? "Yesterday was launched at Woolwich the Benjamin Salvadore being the largest ship ever built at that place, and she is immediately to be fitted out for the Mediterranean, and it is said, the board of admiralty have given the command of her to rear admiral Suasso."1 Actually the London Magazine writer might have looked backward for a century instead of forward for a Jewish-owned ship which, albeit no man-of-war, sailed under the English flag and bore a Jewish name. In 1651 a Hamburg-owned vessel named " The Michael" had been seized at Barbados by the Island authorities, and, as her unfortunate owner afterwards complained, "she was sold for 200 1, though of great value 8R. D. Richards, The Early History of Banking in England (London, 1929), pp. 28 and 222. 1 Vol. xxii. pp. 302-3. There was an oddly prophetic touch about this journalistic blague of 1753. A century later?from 1843 to 1885?an Anglo-Jewish naval architect, Joseph d'Aguilar Samuda, was building and launching on the Thames the earliest ironclads ever constructed and among these were a number of British battleships, but they did not carry Jewish names, nor, so far as I am aware, a Jewish admiral! Moreover, the yard of Messrs. Samuda Brothers was only two or three miles distant from Woolwich Dockyards (Dictionary of National Biography, vol. 1, pp. 240-1).</page><page sequence="11">104 MISCELLANIES. to Simon de Carcerts, the Jew . . . her name is changed."2 This is almost certainly the ship of that chauvinistic Sephardi Jew, Simon, alias Jacob, de Caceres, who owned her jointly with his brother Benjamin, named her "The Prophet Samuel," and submitted a petition from London early in 1654 for a Pass for her to go to Barbados.3 Another Sephardi stalwart was Andrew, Andreas or Abraham Lopez, who lived very handsomely with his wife Rebecca, his three sons, four daughters and three serving maids in Sugar Loaf Alley, hard by the old Portuguese Synagogue in Creechurch Lane and its successor in Bevis Marks, of both of which he was a staunch supporter.4 There are references to the ships of this London Jew in the letters written to his English agents by Mr. William Bolton, an English merchant of Madeira. Thus in September, 1695, an unnamed English brigantine was reported captured and taken into Corunna, "Tis said belongs to Senr. Andrew Lopez." On the 6th April, 1708, Mr. Bolton forwards his letter "Per ye Isaac . . . belonging to Mr. Lopez of yr. citty: she came here from Lixa (Lisbon) and loads home with white wines." Abraham Lopez' ship "The Isaac" was back in Madeira on the same errand in February, 1709, and is mentioned in some detail in three further letters of Mr. Bolton.5 In the Calendars of State Papers for this period are long lists of ships' names, many of them deriving from the Old Testament, and I hope one day to examine these more closely in the hope of discovering further Jewish ship owners. For, whilst the "King David" may prove on enquiry to have belonged to a Scotsman, I fully expect to find that her contemporary the "King Solomon" was so called by a Jewish owner. A final example?an actual one?is that of Rowland Gideon, 2 Petition to Oliver Cromwell of the 22nd January, 1655-6 in Calendar of State Papers, Dom. 1655-6, p. 128, No. 483. 3 Transactions xiii. 17-18, note 13a. 4 Guildhall Records, Assessments 1693, Box 13, MS. 4. Assessments 1695, Box 26, MS. 20. fol. 8. M. Gaster, History of the Ancient Synagogue (London, 1901), pp. 62-6, 68-71 and 96. J. Picciotto, Sketches of Anglo-Jewish History (London, 1874), pp. 48 and 57. 5 Andre L. Simon, The Bolton Letters (London, 1928), vol. i. to ii. pp. 23, 255, 268, 269, 270. The author has kindly allowed me to inspect vol. ii. in manuscript, since, although ready for the press, it has not been published yet.</page><page sequence="12">MISCELLANEA. 105 position of "having a Shipp or Vessell called the Queen Hester of the burthen of one hundred and fifty Tuns?ready to sail from the Port of London for the Island of Madera."6 No doubt Mr. Gideon had been prompted by domestic as well as Biblical considerations in so naming his vessel, for his spouse was Esther do Porto, mother of a three-year old boy named Samson Gideon, Junior, who grew up and became famous as an English financier. W. S. S. vii. A Jewish Naval Officer under the Stuarts? For some years I have been investigating the statement of Picciotto, our first Anglo-Je wish historian, that:?"our co-religionists have fur? nished several distinguished naval officers to their country; among these we may name Commodore Chamberlain, who flourished at the time of William and Mary."1 There are four possible captains named Chamberlain mentioned in Charnock's Naval Biography,2 of whom three must be rejected on the ground of dates, and also because one belonged to an outstanding Hugue? not family, whilst another lost his command for being a Eoman Catholic. Thus, the only sea officer called Chamberlain who might have attained flag rank under King William III. was a Captain Clifford Chamberlain, and there seem to be at least five good reasons why Picciotto?and the unknown earlier writers whom he presumably followed?should have assumed him to have been a Jew. In the first place he was an alien and had to be endenizened3 in 1671 at a time when numbers of Jews were undergoing that useful if expensive process. Secondly and thirdly he was born in the Netherlands and had served for a long time at Bar? bados, and both countries have a certain Jewish connotation. The fourth 'clue* is that young Captain Chamberlain was a polyglot as well as a ?Public Record Office, C. 5. 344/13. 1 James Picciotto, Sketches of Anglo-Jewish History (London, 1875), p. 54. 2 John Charnock, Biographia Navalis (London, 1794). 3 Public Record Office, CTflb (Patent Roll 23 Charles IL, pt. 5), and S. P. 38/25/107 Docquett, 24th Aug., 1677. H</page><page sequence="13">106 MISCELLANIES. traveller and a writer. At the age of twenty-three he had translated a book of moral maxims, to be followed by a text book on geography.4 The fifth and most striking 'evidence' of his Jewishness is that his full name was Peregrine Clifford Chamberlain and that he usually dropped the first name which, of course, means pilgrim, and is the surname given to proselytes by seventeenth and eighteenth century Sephardi Jews. Thus, a French Capuchin friar, who had embraced Judaism and married a French Jewess, and was living in London about the time that P. C. Chamberlain was born, was known here as Abraham Peregrino.5 Many similar examples can be adduced, but when used as a first name Peregrine is merely the equivalent of Gershom, and did not designate a convert at all.6 In point of fact, Picciotto and those earlier authorities whom he doubtless followed were utterly in error when they wrote down Peregrine Clifford Chamberlain as a Jew, and one can only suppose that they were misled by the apparent 'clues' which I have tried to reconstruct. His father was Dr. Edward Chamberlain7 (1616-1703), an English scholar who, being a Royalist, journeyed abroad during the Interregnum, acting as a sort of travelling tutor, and visiting so many countries that he was styled 'the peregrinator.' He married Susannah Clifford in 1658, and Peregrine Clifford Chamberlain, born at The Hague two years later, was the eldest of their nine children. P. C. Chamberlain had only been three or four years in the Navy when through the deaths of senior officers he was commissioned by the Governor of Barbados to be captain of H.M.S. "Mary Rose" ;8 he after? wards commanded H.M.S. "Griffin" and was captain of the "Foresight" when he died at Deptford in 1691.9 He may have held local rank as a 4 Moral Instructions of a Father to his Son. . . . With an hundred maximes . . . translated from the French by P. C. Chamberlayne (London, 1683). P. C. Chamber layne, Compendium Oeographicum . . . (London, 1685). 5 Pedro d' Azevedo, "Denunciations made against the New Christians of London," in Boletim da Segunda Classe da Academia das Sciences de Lisboa, vol. ix. liv. 2. 1914-5, pp. 461-4. 8 Lucien Wolf, "The Treves Family in England," pp. 154, 159, in Essays in Jewish History (London, 1934). 7 See article in Dictionary of National Biography. 8 Acts of the Privy Council (Colonial Series), vol. ii. 1680-1720. (Hereford 1910), pp. 116-7. No. 272. 9 J. Charnock, op. cit., vol. ii, p. 307.</page><page sequence="14">MISCELLANEA. 107 commodore in the West Indies. As his sorrowing old father said in the epitaph outside Chelsea Parish Church, "he was well skilled in the learned languages and liberal sciences ... he visited the four parts of the world and . . . deserved well both of the King and Country."10 It is indeed a pity that we can no longer claim him as the earliest Anglo-Jewish naval officer; for apparently this title belongs of right to Sir Alexander Sch?m? berg11 who was born in Germany, came to London during George I.'s reign, and was the son of the Duke's Place physician, Dr. Meyer Loew Sch?mberg. W. S. S. 10 Thomas Faulkner, Ar Historical and Topographical Description of Chelsea . . . (Chelsea, 1829), pp. 242-8. 11 Alfred Rubens, Anglo-Jewish Portraits, (London, 1935). p. 109. Jewish Ency? clopedia, xi. p. 106.</page></plain_text>