The Historical Associations of the Ancient Burial-Ground of the Sephardi Jews

<plain_text><page sequence="1"></page><page sequence="2">The Historical Associations of the Ancient Burial-Ground of the Sephardi Jews. Report of a Paper read by The Rev. D. Bueno de Mesquita, B.A. I. In February 1915, the Mahamad of the Spanish and Portuguese community of London appointed an " Advisory Committee on Con? gregational Records," the object of whose proposed labours was? 1. To investigate the condition of ancient Congregational records, and report to the Mahamad as to the best means for their conservation; 2. To take steps to procure gifts of documents and other objects of historical interest to the Congregation. This Committee has devoted its attention to examining the numerous documents which have been treasured in the congregational archives, and which shed much light on the early history of the Congregation. It has also occupied itself with the records preserved by the graves and inscriptions to be found in the ancient cemetery that lies in rear of the Beth Holim, 253 Mile End Road, in which lie buried the founders of the Community, the men who won for Jews the right to resettle in this country, and who, in their struggles and achieve? ments, wrote the most memorable, as they are the most inspiring and romantic, pages in Anglo-Jewish history. The Advisory Committee took an opportunity of focussing attention on this historic but almost forgotten burial-ground, and the Mahamad issued invitations for a gathering to be held there on Sunday, July 8, 1923, when the Rev. D. Bueno de Mesquita would deliver an address on " The Historical Associations of the Beth Ahaim." The event, which was of sufficient importance to merit more than passing notice, brought together an assembly of some one hundred and thirty ladies and gentlemen interested in the early chapters of Anglo-Jewish .history, some of whom were able to trace their descent, step by VOL. X. Q</page><page sequence="3">226 THE HISTORICAL ASSOCIATIONS OF THE step, from the distinguished people whose remains are sheltered in this. Cromwellian cemetery. Among those present was Mr. Walter Bellr F.S.A., the eminent antiquary, who contributed to the following day's; issue of the Daily Telegraph an article on the afternoon's proceedings, which filled a column of that newspaper. This article is reproduced in reduced facsimile below, with the generous assent of the editor : Mr. Eustace A. Lindo, Parnas Presidente, occupied the chair, andy subsequent to the reading of the paper, speeches of historical interest were made by Mr. Lucien Wolf, Dr. L. D. Barnett, and the Rev. Dr. H. Pereira Mendes. Prior to a tour of the ground, in the course of which the graves of those referred to in the lecture were pointed out, Mr. D. Vaz Nunes da Costa welcomed the gathering in his capacity of Thesoureiro of Beth Holim. Mr. Bueno de Mesquita, having prefaced his remarks with an earnest tribute to Mr. Lucien Wolf, the Nestor of Anglo-Jewish historians, gave a brief account of the circumstances surrounding the early days of the Besettlement. II. The following is a summary of his interesting address : By the middle of the seventeenth century a small number of Jewish settlers, some sixty or seventy souls, had taken up their abode in the City of London. They were Marranos?Jews of Spanish or Portuguese origin?attracted to this country, probably, by the thought that Protestant England would feel some sympathy with the victims of Bomish persecution. In consequence of cruel suffering, which reached its acutest form with the systematised barbarity of the Inquisition, these men had become outwardly converted to Christianity, while in their hearts they still held firm to the faith in which they had been reared. They attended Mass in a Boman Catholic chapel, but in their home life they remained Jews. They were regarded as aliens, subjects of Spain or Portugal. They were prosperous merchants whose commercial activi? ties were so widespread that there was scarcely a part of the known world with which they were not in connection, or with the political condition and possibilities of which they were not familiar.. Besides</page><page sequence="4">ANCIENT BURIAL-GROUND OF THE SEPHARDI JEWS. 227 their formal visits to a Catholic place of worship, they met secretly for divine service according to the rites of their Jewish faith at the houses of various individuals among them. Presently there arose an agitation for the repeal of the decree of Edward I, which had banished the Jews from England. The rise of Puritanism, which brought with it a deeper knowledge of and reverence for the Bible of the Jews, was the genesis of that spirit of religious, toleration for which England afterwards became renowned. A cam? paign was set afoot by Englishmen to bring about the return of the Jews, and various pamphlets were published advocating this policy. It had its opponents, but it found one friend, and that a very powerful one?Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of the Commonwealth. It was not, however, till 1656 that the Marranos in London threw off all disguise and openly professed their Judaism, in circumstances that will be referred to later. They sent to Cromwell a petition in which they proclaimed themselves Hebrews, sought permission to worship in their ancestral way, and asked the right to acquire a burial-ground. Their requests were acceded to, and in December 1656 a house in Cree Church Lane, Leadenhall Street, was leased for conversion into a Synagogue, and in February 1657 a lease for this very piece of land in the manor of Stepney was granted to two of the signatories of the petition, for use as a burying-place. In those days the house that stood on this site was a place of refreshment called " The Soldier's Tenement," and the land adjoining thereto was an orchard " with 40 fruit trees standing and growing, upon same " and extending for an acre and a half. The north wall must soon have developed serious defects, for it was rebuilt, and the tablet, which can still be seen and read, fixed in it in the year 1684. In the month of Elul, 1657, the first interment took place, when Judith Brito was buried. Her husband, Domingo Vaez de Brito, a noted trader to the Near East, known to his brothers in faith as Abraham Israel de Brito, had been one of those to sign the petition for a burial ground, but he had died before the negotiations were carried through9 and was buried in non-Jewish ground in the parish of Hackney. With this short introduction, let us now look back into the lives of some of those who found their last resting-place here, and see what manner of men they were who laid the foundation, not only of our</page><page sequence="5">228 THE HISTORICAL ASSOCIATIONS OF THE own Spanish and Portuguese community, but of that far larger body, the present Jewish community of England. And let us make a beginning with the man who was the first in importance of the little Marano colony, "Mr. Fardinando," otherwise Antonio Fernandez Carvajal, known in the Synagogue as Abraham Hizqiau Carvajal.1 The lecturer then sketched the life and career of Carvajal.2 He recalled his early life in Fundao, Portugal, and his flight from that place, induced by the persecution of the Inquisition, to the Canary Islands, where he, in common with other Portuguese merchants and manufacturers, enjoyed the protection of the King of Spain. From there Carvajal came to England somewhere between 1630 and 1635, ?during the reign of Charles I. He established a home and a ware? house in Leadenhall Street, and in a very short time became one of the most important merchants in the City of London. He possessed his own ships, was a dealer in bullion on a very extensive scale, and at one time was a grain contractor for the Commonwealth armies. He attained a commanding position in business and high State circles, and was able to exert an extraordinary influence. Thus, in 1650, when war broke out between England and Portugal, his goods became liable to seizure because of his Portuguese nationality, but they were specially exempted by a warrant of the Council of State, Later, when England and Spain were at war, his belongings in the Canary Islands, as a result of his English endenization, were open to confis? cation by the Spanish authorities. With the help of Cromwell a plan was devised, by which his merchandise was shipped aboard an English vessel, which flew the neutral Dutch flag for the occasion, and safely brought to England, while British men-of-war were instructed to assist the vessel on its voyage to London. This remarkable influence Mr. Lucien Wolf, his sole biographer, attri? butes to the fact that Carvajal was one of those Jewish political Intelli? gencers who rendered conspicuous service to the Commonwealth by obtaining early and accurate news of the movements of its enemies overseas. Carvajal played an important part in the movement for the 1 Antonio Fernandez Carvajal, Carera I, No. 5. 2 Trans. Jew. Hist. Soc. vol. ii. p. 14 : " The First English Jew," by Lucien Wolf.</page><page sequence="6">ANCIENT BURIAL-GROUND OF THE SEPHARDI JEWS. 229 readmission of the Jews to England. He had already made it possible for divine service to be held in London ; and that this was due to his personal initiative is shown by the fact that the first Rabbi of the first Synagogue established there ? that in Cree Church Lane ?was his cousin, Moses Israel Athias. In public, however, Carvajal and his friends followed the practice of the secret Jews of Spain and Portugal, passing as Roman Catholics, and regularly attend? ing Mass at the Spanish Ambassador's chapel. In this condition they remained throughout the agitation, which commenced in 1643, for the revocation of Edward I's banishment decree ; and when, in 1654,. Menasseh ben Israel's brother-in-law, and in October 1655 the great Rabbi himself, arrived in England on their historic mission to Cromwell,, to seek for their brethren the right to return to England, the London Jews still gave no indication of their true religious identity, although this could no longer have been a secret to the authorities. But when Menasseh's mission failed to draw any more definite concessions than the Council of State's bare decision that Jews were free to settle in England, Carvajal resolved to throw in his lot openly with his fellow Jews. He associated himself with Menasseh ben Israel and five Marranos then living in London, and petitioned the Protector, in March 1656, for formal permission to continue to hold divine service in their private houses and to acquire a burial-ground. These privileges, and more, Cromwell granted; the Cree Church Lane Synagogue was established in December of that year, and in February 1657 Carvajal, jointly with Simon de Caceres, leased the piece of land on which they were then standing for the purposes of a Jewish cemetery. While these negotiations were pending, an incident occurred that led to a more public avowal of the faith that still burned in the hearts of these sons of Judah. A state of war existed between England and Spain, which rendered the possessions of such of them as were of Spanish origin liable to confiscation. One of their number, Antonio Rodrigues Robles, was denounced by an informer as a Spaniard and a Papist, and the forfeiture of his property was demanded. Robles declared that he was a Portuguese and a Jew, and pleaded, that although he had lived for a time in Spain, he had fled that country because of the tortures inflicted on members of his family by the Inquisition. In the course of the inquiry that was ordered to be held,</page><page sequence="7">230 THE HISTORICAL ASSOCIATIONS OF THE and before which Carvajal and other Marranos deposed in favour of Robles, it became clear that a number of distinguished merchants, "who had hitherto been regarded as Spanish or Portuguese Papists, were really Jews, ready when the occasion should arise to throw off the disguise which a pitiless, inhuman persecution had driven them to assume. The Council of State ordered that the warrants against Robles be discharged and that his ships and goods, which had been confiscated, be restored to him. Carvajal, who was no longer a young man when he first set foot in England, died in November 1659, and was buried in the fifth grave of the first carera. He left a widow and two sons, Alonzo Jorge and Joseph Ferdinando ; both men died in middle age, apparently unmarried, and were buried in that cemetery. Records of Carvajal's activities preserved in State papers and petitions from him to the authorities provide the chief means of arriving at any estimate of his standing, his nature and personal character. His interests were varied and widespread ; his business transactions were on a very large and extensive scale. He was a man quick in defence of his rights, who claimed his due, not as one begging favour, but as cognisant of his privileges as an Englishman (he had been endenizened by Cromwell in 1655) and of his value to the country as a merchant whose influence ranged far beyond the land of his adoption. Even before the status of an Englishman had been con? ferred on him, and while still a subject of the King of Spain, he more than once protested vigorously against what he considered excessive taxation, and on one such occasion sent the following petition, recently unearthed by Mr. Wilfred Samuel and now published for the first time, to the House of Lords : 3 To the Right Honourable the Lords assembled in Parliament. The humble Petition of Anthony Fernandez Carvaiall, Subject to the King's Majesty of Spaine, sheweth, That the petitioner, in humble Obedience to the Ordinances and Proceedings of Parliament, hath paid Three Hundred Forty-eight Pounds, Twelve Shillings, as by the Particulars annexed appears, besides Five Shillings Weekly, to maintain Soldiers for the Parliament's 3 Lords' Journals, Jan. 24, 1643, vol. vi.</page><page sequence="8">ancient burial-ground of the sephardi jews. 231 ^Service, and also Double Duties in the Parish where he lives, and Double Custom for Exportation and Importation of Goods ; ;and all this he hath hitherto undergone, for not to engage His Majesty's Ambassador of Spaine in so just complaints of the Breach of the Conditions accorded by the Articles of Peace; which if strictly compared, and the like put in Execution upon the English Subjects residing in Spaine, would at this rate and Respect exact from them above Twenty Thousand Pounds yearly ; and now again, towards the Levy made in Form of Fifty Subsidies, the Petitioner is assessed at Four Hundred Pounds ; which His Majesty's Ambassador of Spaine taking Notice of (and that it is .as much as Four Aldermen be assessed at) hath required and forbidden the Petitioner to make any Contribution thereto, with? out the special Order and Direction of this Honourable Assembly, that, in Conformity thereof, he may give Account to His Majesty of Spaine how His few subjects here are used and dealt withall. The Petitioner humbly prayeth this Honourable Assembly to take the Premises into Consideration that his former Readiness and Obedience may not be to his future Prejudice ; and to Order and Declare, that the aforesaid Assessment may be suspended for the re-heard Considerations. And the Petitioner shall ever pray, &amp;c. Anto. Fernandez. Carvaiall. Paid in Subsidies. Sent for the Service of Ireland Paid for Poll-money Sent to the Parliament upon the Public Faith . Paid to the Weekly Assessments Paid towards arming Soldiers Paid for the Relief of the Poor in Ireland 85 ! 00 100 13 100 40 5 5 ?348 12 'The lecturer continued : The opening lines of his will, which he made prior to an operation</page><page sequence="9">232 THE HISTORICAL ASSOCIATIONS OF THE under which he succumbed, reveal Carvajal as a man of godly feeling and as an affectionate husband. 441, Anthony Fernandez Carvajal of London Merchant, beinge infirme and weake of bodie but of good sound and perfect memorie judgement and understanding, thanks be given to Almightie God for the same and all other mercies to me, doe make this my last will and testament in writing. I do committ my soule into the hands of my Creatour and my Bodie to be decentlie buried accordinge to the discretion of my most deare and lovinge wife Marie Fernandes Carvaiall." His epitaph bore testimony to his hospitality, his generosity to the poor, his truthfulness, and his high sense of honour. The tombstone itself, except for a small frag? ment, has disappeared, but a copy of its inscription, made while it was still in position, has been miraculously preserved in the Raths bibliothek at Leipzig. The following is a translation into English of the original metrical Hebrew, made by the late Professor David Kaufmann, its discoverer: 44 The stone is witness, as also the heap To the honoured man who is buried here. The good qualities which he made his own Will speak for him before the Most High. An open house he kept by the way, For he was generous to the needy and the poor. His doings and his dealings with men were truth, Truth was familiar in his mouth, his words ever pure. Abraham Hhizqiah Carvajal, His memory is honoured, blessed with children. On Heshvan 26th. he was mown down In a ripe old age, for his years were full. In the year 420 his eye was dim, But the eye of his soul rejoiced to see realms of bliss." His widow, Mary, or Esther Carvajal,4 who lies buried next to him, survived her husband forty-two years. Her father was one Nunes of La Guarda in Spain, and she was Maria Rodrigues Nunes. Even after her husband's death she was regarded as a woman of first 4 Mary Carvajal, Carera, I No. 4.</page><page sequence="10">ANCIENT BURIAL-GROUND OF THE SEPHARDI JEWS. 233 importance. With the return of Charles II in 1660, attempts were made to deprive the Jews of the privileges won by them under the Cromwellian regime, and petitions were presented to the Privy Council, in which the King was asked to advise Parliament to expel all professed Jews from the country. The little community met in the house of Senora Carvajal, and there drew up a counter-petition to His Majesty, praying for permission to continue in his dominions, and this petition the widow Carvajal signed first. In the end, the position as established by Cromwell was maintained. In 1670 two Sepharim, which had previously been deposited in the Ehal of the Synagogue, were purchased from Donna Esther Carvajal for ?30. She died in 1701. Her tomb? stone, which is in a fairly good state of preservation, is notable in that it bears an inscription in three languages?Hebrew, Spanish, and English. In the last-mentioned tongue she is described as " the mirror of virtue and piety." Closely associated with Carvajal was Simon or Jacob de Caceres,5 another of the early London Marranos. De Caceres was a prominent merchant, having mercantile connections with Hamburg, South America, and the West Indies. Though he himself came from Ham? burg, his family was connected with Altona, and was known to the Synagogue there. Altona, though contiguous to Hamburg, was in Holstein, and Danish, and de Caceres was thus a subject of the King of Denmark. He and his brothers had enjoyed not only the pro? tection of that sovereign, but the special favour of Queen Marie Christina of Sweden, who at times used her influence on their behalf. Thus she interceded for them with Cromwell for certain commercial privileges in Barbados. Simon de Caceres was something of a military strategist, and was consulted by Cromwell in regard to the defences of Jamaica, which island had in 1655 been taken from Spain by the expedition sent out by Cromwell under General Venables. Later, de Caceres submitted to the Protector a plan for the conquest of Chile ;. he offered, moreover, to organise the expedition and actually to raise a force of Jews to man it, and to command them himself ! 6 He was foremost in all movements which concerned the welfare and safety 6 Simon de Caceres, Carera VII, No. 35. 6 Trans. Jew. Hist. Soc. vol. iv. p. 96: " American Influences in the Resettlement," by Lucien Wolf.</page><page sequence="11">234 THE HISTORICAL ASSOCIATIONS OF THE of the community, and in March 1656 he was one of the signatories to the petition of the London Marranos to Cromwell, which was repro? duced on the invitation to this afternoon's function; in this petition they sought permission in writing from the Head of the State to meet in their own houses for private prayers without the fear of molestation, and asked, also, to be allowed to acquire a cemetery. "... And being wee ar all mortall wee alsoe Humbly pray yor. Highnesse to graunt us Lisense that those which may dey of owr nation may be buryed in such place out of the cittye as wee shall thinck conuenient with the Proprietors leaue in whose Land the place shall be. . . As we have already seen, the lease for this cemetery was granted to Carvajal and de Caceres in 1657. The latter was also witness in the Robles case and had no hesitation in describing himself, when making his deposition, as " of the Jewish nation, of the tribe of Judah," from which it may be inferred that he was a staunch Jew, impulsive, enthusiastic, and highly proud of his Hebrew descent. He died in 1704, and was buried in the seventh carera, near to the east wall. Closely concerned with the early strivings of the Marrano com? munity was a man we have already referred to Moses Israel Athias.7 He came of a distinguished Marrano family, which had given at least one martyr in Spain, provided several learned Hahamim in Hamburg, Amsterdam, and Leghorn, and produced, as printers, some of the most beautiful specimens of Hebrew press-work. Moses Athias was a cousin of Carvajal, who brought him to England to be the first Rabbi of the congregation, and who left him ?20 in his will. Athias lived under the Synagogue, which was on the first floor of the house in Cree Church Lane, and also carried on as a business man, doubtless in the employ of Carvajal. The Synagogue balance-sheet of 1664 showed a deficit of ?113, which sum twenty-three Yehidim covered by their voluntary contributions, and among these Moses Athias gave ?1. He had relations with non-Jewish scholars of the day, for whom he used to procure Jewish books. He is known to have provided Christian theologians with their copies of the Zohar and the works of Maimonides.8 Athias fell a victim to the Plague 7 Moses Israel Athias, Carera I, No. 6. * Trans. Jew. Hist. Sog. vol. viii. p. 99: " Isaac Abendana's Cambridge Mishna and Oxford Calendars," by I. Abrahams, M.A.</page><page sequence="12">ANCIENT BURIAL-GROUND OF THE SEPHARDI JEWS. 235 which in 1665 wrought such havoc in this country, and he was buried in the sixth grave of the first car era. In the same row there are two other graves, of children, daughters of Abraham de Morais, and they, too, were victims of the same dread scourge. It has recently been established that Jews and Quakers were given their own dead for burial, and Mr. Wilfred Samuel is doubtless right when he now suggests for the first time that the blank space in this cemetery at the western end of the second row, with estimated room for fifteen graves, really contains the bodies of Plague victims. The speaker then went on to outline the career of David Abrabanel, also known as Manuel Martinez Dormido, whose grave is the fifth in the second carera.9 Dormido was a man of many and varied activities, whose life bore those touches of romance that invest the early history of their Congregation with an undying interest. He was a Marrano by birth, a native of Andalusia, Spain, a man of great wealth, the holder of high public office. He had been treasurer of the Customs and of the royal revenues in Spain. For five years, from 1627 to 1632, the Inquisition inflicted on him the miseries of prison, and then tortured him, his wife, and his sister. Eventually they succeeded in escaping the country and went to Bordeaux ; from there, in 1640, he passed to Amsterdam, and at once took his place as a Jew in the community there. He became one of the chiefs of the Synagogue and a very wealthy merchant engaged in the Brazil trade. When the Dutch lost Pernambuco, the port of Brazil, to the Portuguese in 1654, Dormido suffered very heavy losses, and turned bis steps to England, where he hoped to find new scope for his undoubted business capacity. It is possible, too, that his brother-in-law, Menasseh ben Israel, entrusted him, at the same time, with the negotiations for the readmission of the Jews to England. On his arrival in London in 1654 he sent two petitions to Cromwell, one concerning his personal position, the other, the affairs of his race. In the former he expressed the desire to become a resident in England, and concluded by asking the Protector to intercede with the King of Portugal for the restoration of his lost property. The second petition prayed for the readmission of the Jews to England, " graunting 9 Manuel Martinez Dormido, Carera II, No. 5.</page><page sequence="13">236 THE HISTORICAL ASSOCIATIONS OF THE them libertie to come with theire famillies and estates, to bee dwellers here with the same eaquallnese and conveniences wch yr inland sub? jects doe enjoy." Cromwell, influenced probably by the fact that Dormido had done intelligence work for him from Amsterdam, received these petitions in a most generous spirit: he referred them at once to the Council of State, with an endorsement which read : " His Highness is pleased in an especial manner to recommend these two annexed papers to the speedy consideration of the Councell, that the Peticion may receive all due satisfaction and withall convenient speed." The Council resolved, however, that it " saw no excuse to make any order," and Cromwell, determined that Dormido should have the satisfaction he sought in his personal petition, then addressed an autograph letter in Latin (the text of which may still be read) to the King of Portugal, asking him as a personal favour to restore Dormido's property, or to make him full compensation for his losses. Dormido established himself in London. He resided in Great Saint Helen's, and was found taking part in all matters that affected the well-being of the community. He was a witness in the Robles case, and signed, as David Abrabanel, the 1656 petition to Cromwell. The first set of Ascamot, their congregational laws, drawn up in 1663, were signed in 1664 by the men who were the virtual founders of the Congregation, and David Abrabanel's signature comes immediately after that of Haham Sasportas. He was, doubtless, the first Parnaa of Kahal Kados " Sa'ar Asamaim," and was, in all likelihood, the man described by John Greenhalgh (an Englishman who attended the Synagogue service one day in 1662) as " the chief Ruler, a very rich merchant, a big, black, fierce and stern man, to whom I perceive they stand in as reverential an awe, as boys to a master." In 1664 an attempt was made to blackmail the community, which was enjoying the same recognition and protection under King Charles II as under Cromwell. It was one day startled by an intima? tion from the Earl of Berkshire that His Majesty had verbally handed over to him the care and protection of the Jews, and that he (the Earl) would seize all Jewish estates and property unless some " speedy agreement " were come to with him. Dormido played the man, and refused to be bullied or blackmailed. He, together with his colleagues on the Banco, Moseh Baruh Lousada and Elias de Lima,</page><page sequence="14">ANCIENT BURIAL-GROUND OF THE SEPHARDI JEWS. 237 at once exposed the conspiracy in a petition to the King, in which they prayed to be allowed to remain in the Kingdom, " under the like proteccon with the rest of your Majesties subjects." The original of this petition, which reposes in the archives of the Congregation, bears the King's reply, headed " Whitehall, August the 22th, 1664." In this, His Majesty graciously declared that he had not given any order for disquieting the petitioners either in their persons or estates " but, that they may promise themselves the effects of the same favour as formerly they have had, so long as they demean themselves peaceably and quietly with due obedience to His Majesty's laws and without scandal to his Government." In 1667 David Abrabanel, pioneer and fighter in the cause of toleration and equality, died, and was borne to his last resting-place in that ground. Thither he was followed one year later by his widow, who was buried at his side. The speaker continued : Another distinguished family, three of whom lie side by side in the fourth row near the east wall, was the Francia family. The Francias were of Spanish descent, and Domingo Rodrigues de Francia,10 otherwise Israel Roiz Francia, was the first to settle in London, in the seventeenth century. He lived in Leadenhall Street, and was the founder of a firm distinguished for its wealth and enterprise. He banked, as did several others of the early congregation, at Alderman Backwell's in the Strand, which afterwards became Child's Bank. Domingo was endenizened in 1676. He was a friend and associate of Carvajal, and was a witness in the case of Robles, whom he had known when they were both living in the Canary Islands. He died in 1688, and was followed, one year later, by his nephew, who was buried next to him. This was Benjamin or Simon Francia, junior, of London, merchant. He was a Parnas in the early days of the Bevis Marks Synagogue, and, with his colleague Doctor Joseph Mendes Bravo, gave the order for the making of the stately Ehal of walnut wood, which is such a distinctive feature of that venerable building. He died, unmarried, at the early age of thirty-four. His tombstone is in a good state of preservation, and bears an inscription in 10 Domingo Rodrigues de Francia, Carera IV.</page><page sequence="15">238 THE HISTORICAL ASSOCIATIONS OF THE Hebrew, Spanish, and English. It bears, too, the family coat of arms, as well as the skull and cross-bones, and crossed spade and pickaxe. Another prominent and useful man in those days was Isaac Alvarez, also known as Isaac Alvarez Nunes, or Isaac Israel Nunes, who was buried in grave No. 8 in the second row.11 The London Directory of 1677 gives him as living in St. Mary Axe. He died in 1684, and had known the grief of burying here his son, Jacob Israel, and his daughter Gracia, who were, in all probability, victims of the Plague. He was a wealthy Marrano jeweller, according to his epitaph, of great skill and renown. He took a prominent part in the affairs of his community. When, in 1664, there was an excess of expenditure over income, he contributed the maximum sum of ?12 to help wipe off the deficit. He was one of those who in 1674 signed the builder's agreement in connection with the structural changes in the Cree Church Lane Synagogue, when the new twenty-five years' lease was entered upon. In 1675 he was Parnas, in company with Abraham do Porto and Jacob Gomes Serra. In that year the Synagogue had been rebuilt and enlarged, and he, in conjunction with his colleagues, presented to it various articles of furniture. They provided the Tebah and the steps that led up to it, four copper candle-sticks, a covering for the Tebah of plain red cloth with silver fringe, and a cloak for the Sepher. This Tebah cover, together with much silver, was lost to the congrega? tion in 1689, when thieves despoiled it of many valuable objects. A Sepher Torah also, complete with silk mantle and silver bells, had been placed in the Ehal by Alvarez Nunes.12 In an unlooked-for way the inscription originally placed on his tombstone has been preserved. In a work by the Rev. D. Lysons, published about 1800, a short account of this cemetery appears. Mr. Lysons mentions the names of seven important men buried here, including that of Isaac Alvarez Nunes, and he quotes in full the somewhat quaint epitaph that marked his grave, of which, however, but a very faint trace can now be made out. 11 Isaac Alvarez Nunes, Carera II, No. 8. 12 Hist, of the Ancient Synagogue of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews (by the Rev. the Haham Dr. Moses Gaster), pp. 17, 50, 52.</page><page sequence="16">ANCIENT BURIAL-GROUND OF THE SEPHARDI JEWS. 239 " Under this marble all that's left behind Of Isaac Alvarez Nunes lyes confin'd ; Of Hebrew race, by birth a Portugall, In London his abode and funerall: Whose far-gain'd knowledge in mysterious gems Sparkled in the European diadems. A loving husband, a tender parent, a true friend, Sincere in all his dealings to the end : And this, to give his name continu'd life, The monument of a most loving wife." Towards the end of the first row we find the tombstone of a woman' whose memory appeals to our interest, and incidentally to the interest of every Freemason, through the man who was her husband. As the inscription upon it tells us, she was Rachel, wife of H. H. Jahacob Jeuda Leao, who was surnamed Templo.13 He was Haham in Amster? dam, a learned Talmudist, and author of a notable paraphrase of the Psalms in Spanish. He vocalised the entire Mishna, an edition which was printed at the establishment of Menasseh ben Israel. In addition to his great distinction as a scholar, he was an ingenious draughtsman, with an inclination towards heraldic designs, and it was he who designed the Masonic coat of arms now used by the English Grand Lodge of Freemasons. Lea? also made detailed studies of the structure of King Solomon's Temple, from his life-long interest in which he derived his surname Templo. A model of this temple, which he made him? self, he sold to Queen Henrietta Maria, wife of Charles I of England, probably on the occasion of her visit in 1642 to the Amsterdam Synagogue, when Menasseh ben Israel preached a sermon in her honour. Thirty years after, in 1675, Templo came to London to exhibit before King Charles II another model and a printed plan of the same' temple. Apparently his wife accompanied him on this journey and died while here. Her husband returned to Amsterdam and died there three years later. The language in which the tombstone inscriptions were written was at first Portuguese only, very occasionally Spanish or an admixture of Spanish and Portuguese ; later on Hebrew was used with the 13 Rachel Leao Templo, Carera I, No. 5.</page><page sequence="17">240 THE HISTORICAL ASSOCIATIONS OF THE Portuguese, and still later English was added to these two, so that some stones have a trilingual inscription. Such a stone is the one that marks the resting-place of Gracia Escudero in Row 5, the twenty-fifth grave.14 This stone was erected 240 years ago, and the inscription on it is perfectly legible to-day. Round the edge runs the English description of the deceased; on the upper part of the body of the stone is found the Hebrew equivalent, and below, in Spanish, a tribute expressed with poetical imagery. Mrs. Escudero died, aged twenty-eight, in giving birth to a child, and the Spanish inscription tells us that this is the " grave of the blessed lady Senora Gracia Escudero, wife of Jacob Escudero, whom God was pleased to gather while in flower, to plant her in the Garden of Eden, the place of just and virtuous women, where her great glory makes amends for the shortness of her life." Below this are the cross-bones, which figure on several other tombstones, flanked on both sides by a tree in flower. At the bottom is the verse from Job, in Hebrew, " The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away: blessed be the Name of the Lord." Jacob Escudero was a liberal supporter of the Synagogue, and, in 1702, just before the inauguration of the new building, he presented to Bevis Marks a Scroll of the Law written on brown parchment. The fifteenth grave in the sixteenth row is that of Reuel or Rohyel Abudiente.15 Abudiente, or more properly Gideon-Abudiente, was the name of a Marrano family of deep culture, living at Lisbon, which produced poets, grammarians and theologians. The one who is buried here became known as Rowland Gideon. He was a West Indian merchant. Of Iberian birth, he lived in his youth in Barbados. An entry found in the Public Record Office for the year 1679, under " Barbados," shows that a ticket was granted in that year to " Gidion Rowland," for his departure to Antigua where the family probably had a plantation. He came to England, and became endenizened in 1680. He was married at Bevis Marks, for the second time, by Haham Ayllion. On February 17,1697, he was admitted to the Painter Stainers' Company, and was thus, probably, the first Jew to become a freeman of 14 Gracia Escudero, Carera V, No. 25. 15 Rohyel Abudiente, Carera XVI, No. 15.</page><page sequence="18">ANCIENT BURIAL-GROUND OF THE SEPHARDI JEWS. 241 the City of London. Judging by his contributions to the Synagogue funds, he must have been a man of considerable wealth. He was Gabay in the year that the new Synagogue in Bevis Marks was opened (though he was not in office at the actual inauguration), and his accounts, an example of which is reproduced in Dr. Gaster's History of Bevis Marks, are a model of clearness and care. He was Hatan Torah in 1701, and he, with Jacob Mendes the Hatan Bereshith,. presented to the Congregation the fire-engine, which was kept in the Synagogue courtyard. He died in 1722. It is interesting just to glance at the names of some of his descendants. He was the father of the famous Sampson Gideon, an extremely influential man in the City who died in 1762, leaving a sum of ?580,000. The son of this Sampson Gideon, who was brought up in the predominant faith, was made a baronet while a boy at Eton, and was subsequently created Baron Eardley in the Irish peerage. The most eminent of his descendants was Hugh Culling Eardley Childers, Chancellor of the Exchequer in one of Gladstone's administrations. Rohyel Abudiente also had a daughter, Rachel de Paiba, and from her was descended the first wife of his Grace the late Duke of Norfolk. Two names that figure largely in the burial register of this cemetery are Mendes and da Costa, distinguished names which were held by many prominent and honoured men in the Anglo-Jewish community. The respective heads of these two families in London were Fernao Mendez Gutteres16 and Alvaro da Costa, who were uncle and nephew. These two were associated in business, and da Costa had married his first cousin, the daughter of his senior partner. Fernao Mendes Gutteres was the father of an eminent and learned son, Dr. Fernao Mendes, who was buried in this ground under his Jewish name, Moses Mendes. He was born in Portugal and studied medicine. He became M.D. of Montpellier, and afterwards studied at Leyden. He came to England in 1669, for several years engaged in private practice, and became F.R.C.P. in 1687. He must have won great distinction in his profession, for he was appointed a Physician-in Ordinary to King Charles II, and was among the physicians who 16 Dr. Fernao Mendes, Carera XI, No. 36. VOL. X. R</page><page sequence="19">242 THE HISTORICAL ASSOCIATIONS OF THE attended that monarch during his last illness. He was a favourite physician of Charles's queen, Catherine of Braganza. Dr. Mendes married, in 1678, Isabel, or Rachel Marquez, daughter of Antonio Haim Marquez, and niece and heiress of her uncle Diego Rodrigues Marquez, more of whom we shall hear later. To Dr. and Mrs. Fernao Mendes a daughter was born in the Royal Palace of Somerset House. The names given her were Rachel Catherine, the one her mother's name, the other, that of the Queen who stood as her godmother. This girl developed artistic abilities, and it was she who painted the striking portrait of her father, in his robes of Court Physician, that still adorns the walls of the Vestry Room in Bevis Marks. She married Anthony da Costa, who held the responsible position of a director of the Bank of England. A widowed grand-daughter of Dr. Mendes, Catherine da Costa Villareal, was the successful defendant in breach of promise pro? ceedings brought against her by her cousin Philip (Jacob) Mendes da Costa ; her daughter Elizabeth married the Viscount Galway. A grandson of Dr. Mendes was Moses Mendes, banker, poet, wit, and successful dramatist. Fernao Mendes died in 1725. Alvaro da Costa,17 the head of the da Costa family in this country, married Lianor Mendes Gutteres, sister of the physician, and from this marriage sprang a large family, which played an important part in communal and civil life. Alvaro da Costa came to England in 1660, and in 1667 he was naturalised. Naturalisation differed from endenization : the latter was an act of the King, and did not confer the fullest rights of the native-born: while naturalisation, which brought with it all the privileges of a British-born subject, proceeded by Bill through both Houses of Parliament. Thus Alvaro da Costa appeared in person at the Bar of the House of Commons and " took the oath of allegiance and supremacy before the Speaker at the Clerk's table in order to his naturalisation." Later, the Royal assent was given in the House of Lords to " An act for the naturalisation of Alvaro da Costa and others." He was a man of great wealth, and lived in no small state. He had a house in Budge Row, Cannon Street, where he spent ?500 a year on the entertaining for which he was renowned. When his cousin Dr. Fernao Mendes first came to London he lived with his cousin Alvaro at Budge Row, each of them keeping his separate 17 Alvaro da Costa, Carera XI, No. 32.</page><page sequence="20">ANCIENT BURIAL-GROUND OF THE SEPHARDI JEWS. 243 carriage. Alvaro also had a country house at Highgate, which stood in large and beautiful grounds. He died at an advanced age in 1716, and was buried as Jacob da Costa in carera 11, grave 32. One of his daughters, Esther or Johanna, married a French cousin, Abraham, otherwise John Mendes da Costa, and they became the parents of Emanuel Mendes da Costa,18 who lies in the fourth grave of the eighteenth row. Emanuel, who was born in 1717, became a man of great distinction, whose renown spread far beyond the limits of the Jewish community. He was famous as botanist, naturalist, philosopher, and collector of valuable notes and manuscripts. He was a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, a member of the Aurelian Society and of the Gentlemen's Society of Spalding. In 1747 he was elected Fellow of the Royal Society (a signal honour in the world of science, which was attained by other members of our Congregation) and later he was made the Society's librarian. This was followed by his election as a member of the Botanical Society of Florence. He published A Natural History of Fossils (a subject on which he was considered the greatest master in England) ; Elements of Conchology, or an Introduction to the Knowledge of Shells ; and British Conchology. He also contributed valuable papers to Philosophical Transactions and other scientific publications. He collected a very valuable library of printed books and manuscripts, of engravings and drawings of natural history, which was dispersed after his death, and it was in this library that two pieces of paper were found which proved to be documents of rare interest and importance, for on them were written the names of the original Jewish settlers in England?of men who came here some in Cromwell's day, others in the reign of Charles I. These lists were given to Mendes da Costa by Dr. Charles Chauncey, F.R.S. They were drawn up in December 1660, probably by informers, in connection with the campaign for procuring the re-expulsion of the Jews, and it was these lists that provided the basis for the study of the resettlement of the Jews in England.19 The British Museum volumes in which they are now bound (Add. MSS. 29867-8) contain many notes by Emanuel Mendes da Costa concerning the doings of 18 Emanuel Mendes da Costa, Carera XVIII, No. 4. 19 Trans. Jew. Hist. Soc. vol. v. pp. 5-34 : " The Jewry of the Restoration," by Lucien Wolf.</page><page sequence="21">244 THE HISTORICAL ASSOCIATIONS OF THE his relatives and forbears, and from these the preceding information has been derived. With the erection of the Synagogue in Be vis Marks in 1701 there began a new era in the history of the congregation. It had grown considerably since its establishment in 1657, and, with increasing numbers, there came not only greater possibilities, but more serious responsibilities. It was assuming the full proportions of a complete, self-contained community, in which none of those activities was to be lacking which would spring, as a matter of course, from the practice of a vigorous and self-respecting Judaism. A useful and important career lay before it, if only, at this critical time, a straight course could be shaped and held, and a skilful, far sighted helmsman be found to direct and to steer it. The community was fortunate enough to obtain the services of such a leader and guide in the person of its greatest Haham, David Nieto,20 whose ministrations commenced practically with the opening of the dignified and imposing building in Bevis Marks, the Cathedral Synagogue of the Jews of Great Britain. Nieto, of Spanish origin, was born in Venice in 1654. He was of that extraordinary type of Spanish Jew to whom nothing in learning or culture was strange or impossible. He wrote fluently in Hebrew, Portuguese, Spanish, Latin, and Italian. He was distinguished as physician, theologian, philosopher, mathematician, astronomer, historian, and poet. From Venice he went to Leghorn, where there was a Spanish and Portuguese community renowned for its scholarship, its political privileges, and its wealth. It was this community that, later on, was to provide London with yet another learned Haham, Raphael Meldola^ and with a devoted and beloved minister, the late Hazan Piperno. At Leghorn Nieto was appointed to the dual office of physician and preacher, and it was as a scholar of sound reputation and con? siderable experience that he was invited, in 1701, to fill the position here, vacated by Haham Ayllion. The period during which he held this office was one of intellectual achievement and of great material progress, and the community gained in reputation among the Jewries of the world. His congregation numbered among its members such men as the renowned scientist Dr. Jacob de Castro Sarmento, F.R.S. 20 H.H. David Meto, Carera XXI, No. 1.</page><page sequence="22">ANCIENT BURIAL-GROUND OF THE SEPHARDI JEWS. 245 "(author of works on medicine and theology); Dr. Isaac de Sequeira Samuda, L.R.C.P. and F.R.S. ; Abraham Mocatta ; Moseh de Francia ; Alvaro da Costa ; his son Anthony (Moseh) da Costa, a director of the Bank of England; Ishac Rodrigues Mogadouro; Antonio Lopes Suasso, second Baron Avernas-le-Gras ; Elias Lindo ; Sir Selomoh de Medina, the financier who accompanied the Duke of Marlborough as his contractor in all his campaigns and who was the first professing Jew to receive the honour of knighthood ; Rohyel Abudiente ; Jacob Gomes Serra ; Abraham Fernandez Nunes ; Samuel da Costa Alvar enga ; and Selomoh da Costa Athias. It was the last mentioned who, later on, presented a collection of Hebrew books to the British Museum, " in gratitude for having been enabled to live in London for forty-five years without fear or trouble." All were men of im? portance and standing, whose position in the outer world did not prevent them from taking active part in the affairs of their own community. Under the ministration of Nieto there was established, in 1703, the first Jewish orphanage in England, an institution that still carries on its beneficent work, and Haham Nieto preached a sermon on the occasion of its foundation. In the latter part of the same year exception was taken by some of his congregants to one of his sermons, on the ground of its alleged tendency to Spinozism, then looked upon as nothing less than atheism. The moving spirit in this agitation was one Josua Sarphaty, who addressed a petition in protest to the Mahamad. In reply, Nieto wrote his treatise on Divine Providence. But the controversy con? tinued. The decree of Herem, or excommunication, was pronounced against Sarphaty, and thirteen other Yehidim who attacked the sermon in a pamphlet were excluded from the Synagogue and threatened with Herem. Some of these withdrew from the Congrega? tion, and one, R. Joseph Coen d'Azevedo, who apparently never became reconciled, was buried in the Alderney Road cemetery of the Ashkenazi Jews, which adjoins this ground. His grave can be seen, and its Portuguese inscription may be read, by looking over the north wall of this graveyard. The large majority of the congregation stood by their Haham, and eventually the dispute was referred to the Haham Zevi Asquenazi of the Altona community, who, in a responsum which lias recently been translated into English by Dr. Leon Roth, declared</page><page sequence="23">246 THE HISTORICAL ASSOCIATIONS OF THE emphatically for his London colleague, rising the words, " I approve the opinion of the great and distinguished scholar Rabbi David Nieto." Following this, a reconciliation was effected and peace was restored. Nieto was a powerful controversialist, remarkable for depth of scholarship, clearness of thought, conciseness of diction, and fearless? ness of expression. In 1714 he published his Matteh Dan, written in Hebrew and Spanish, on the model of Judah ha-Levi's Cuzari. In this work he defended the oral Law against the disruptive teachings of the Karaites. He waged tireless war against the supporters of the pseudo-Messiah Shabbetai Zevi, whose principles he regarded as dangerous, heretical, and subversive of the best interests of his people. In this connection he published his Esh Dat in 1715, in which he attacked the doctrine of Nehemiah Hayon and the mystical inter? pretation of religion and tradition taught by the pretended Messiah. His powerful mind and facile pen were also moved against the persecutors of his brethren. In 1722 he published a book, in which he exposed to the world some of the horrors and cruelties perpetrated in the name of Religion on his unfortunate brethren in Spain and Portugal, then still exposed to the barbarous and inhuman attentions of the Inquisition. This work, half of which was written in Portuguese and half in Spanish, was published anonymously, and was quickly followed by another under the pen-name of Carlos Vero in answer to* the sermon preached by the Archbishop of Cranganor in Lisbon, preliminary to an auto-da-fe?one of the many occasions on which our forbears suffered the torture of flames for their devoted adherence to their faith. The Portuguese sermon and Nieto's reply, written in advanced age and while suffering tormenting infirmities, were trans? lated into English by Moses Mocatta and published in 1845. Nieto was also an authority on astronomy and on calendaristic calculations based thereon ; it was he who established the calendar that is followed by the Jews of England, and who fixed the hour for the beginning of the Sabbath in this country. Nieto devoted twenty-six years of valuable and successful work to the London community. He was one of the greatest men of his day, and by his profound knowledge, his wide interests, his ceaseless and single-hearted endeavour, no less than by his fearless independence of spirit, he shed a lustre on his high office, which the passing of two centuries, with all their changes and vicissitudes, has not yet entirely</page><page sequence="24">ANCIENT BURIAL-GROUND OF THE SEPHARDI JEWS. 247 obscured. The extraordinary range of his learning and the depth of his culture were admirably set forth by Dr. Isaac de Sequeira Samuda in the Portuguese epitaph which he wrote for the Haham's tombstone, an English translation of which, made by Dr. Lionel D. Barnett, the learned Chairman of our Records Committee, runs as follows : " Sublime theologian, profound sage, eminent physician, illustrious astronomer, sweet poet, eloquent preacher, subtle logician, ingenious scientist, fluent orator, ready in tongues, famous in histories?since so much in little is here confined, in death a little earth holds what is much and little." Near the spot where lie the remains of David Nieto was buried another distinguished Haham, Raphael Meldola,21 who died in 1828, just one hundred years after his great predecessor. He was born in Leghorn in 1754, and was appointed the spiritual head of the London congrega? tion in 1805. He came of an ancient family, which was noted for its men of learning, especially for the many Rabbis it had given to various Jewish communities. Raphael Meldola himself had held important positions in Leghorn, and came to England with a high reputation for rabbinical and secular attainments. Meldola directed his efforts chiefly to improving the education of the young, and did all that lay in his power to strengthen the position of the congregational schools. It was his privilege to perform the ceremony when that prince among men, Sir Moses Montefiore, was married to Miss Judith Cohen. Meldola was the grandfather of one of England's most famous scientists (the eminent chemist who bore his name, Professor Raphael Meldola, F.R.S.), and through his daughter Rica who married the learned Hazan of Bevis Marks, David Aaron de Sola, he was the forbear of a large family, which rendered conspicuous service in many directions to the cause of Judaism. By his own desire he was laid to rest at the feet of Haham Nieto. For this occasion the cemetery, which had been closed for just on a century, was specially reopened, as it was again later on when other Meldolas were interred here. In the fourth grave of the twentieth carera there was buried a man to whom life brought sad changes and bitter disappointment. His history should interest us, because many of us remember a woman who was much loved and respected, and who was his lineal descendant. 21 H.H. Raphael Meldola, Carera XXIJ, No. 1.</page><page sequence="25">248 THE HISTORICAL ASSOCIATIONS OF THE Don Jose Cortissos22 was born in 1656. He was fifth in descent from Emanuel Jose Cortissos, Marquis de Villa, a grandee of Spain, who flourished about 1475. Jose Cortissos was Spanish Ambassador to Morocco. In the war which swept over the Spanish Peninsula at the beginning of the eighteenth century he was invited, as a man of known reputation, to contract for the supply of provisions to the allied English and Portuguese forces under the Earl of Peterborough in the year 1706, but, through lack of confidence in the Portuguese Govern? ment, he declined. However, on the personal assurances of the Earl Galway, Commander of the English forces, and Earl Stanhope, British Ambassador to the Court of Spain, that the British Government would answer for the payment on the part of the Portuguese Govern? ment, he undertook to provision the army. It is authentically stated that Cortissos actually saved that army from starvation. Notwith? standing the assurances given, he never obtained full payment for his services, and in 1712 he came to England to urge his claims in person? one of ?25,000 against the British Government, and one of ?70,000 against the Portuguese. All he succeeded in obtaining was ?11,000 of the first-mentioned sum. He willed his interest to his grandchildren, and their grandchildren were still urging the claim in 1867. The unfortunate Cortissos, worn out by his unceasing attempts to recover what was due to him, died in poverty, and no memorial stone marks his resting-place. His portrait painted in oil, representing him in the Court dress of the reign of Queen Anne, and holding in his hand the petition concerning his claim, was preserved by his de? scendants for several generations. Miss Cynthia Cortissos, his direct descendant, was for many years the devoted teacher of the congrega? tion's National and Infant School, which was founded in 1835 by Mrs. Solomon Almosnino. In the twenty-sixth grave of the first carera was buried a man who, for a deed of generous philanthropy, is remembered to this day. He was Abraham Hizquiau Marquez, known as Diego Rodrigues Marquez.23 His principal heir was his niece Isabel, who married Dr. Fernao Mendes. 22 Jose Cortissos, Carera XX, No. 4. 23 Diego Rodrigues Marquez, Carera I, No. 26.</page><page sequence="26">ANCIENT BURIAL-GROUND OF THE SEPHARDI JEWS. 249 By his will he appointed that a sum of ?1,000 should be put out by his wife, Marquesita Henriques, upon good security, and that the interest should be applied yearly towards the marriage of an orphan girl of his nation in London. He died in 1675, and his widow survived him by only two years. The Court of Chancery thereupon decreed that the sum of ?1,000 should be paid into Court, that the interest on the said sum should be applied for the advancement of a female orphan of the Jews' nation in London, and that the church wardens for the time being of the Jews' Synagogue in London were from time to time to attend the Master of the Court, for the better information of the Master of what persons should be fit to receive the charity. The sum, including certain accumulations of income, now consists of ?2,295, and produces ?63 per annum. The kindly thought of Diego Rodrigues Marquez has brought an added ray of sunshine to the lives of many of the girls of our congregation. Marquez was a man of wealth, who had important business relations with India ; he had a number of argosies on the sea. His wife continued trading after his death, and on one occasion sought and obtained permission to import an uncut diamond of great value from Surat. Reference to this kindly philanthropist brings to mind yet another of those generous benefactors, of whom this congregation knew so many, and who did so much to help those of their brethren whose lives lay not in such pleasant places as their own. Ishac da Costa Villareal,24 who is buried in the twenty-second row, was an enthusiastic educationist, and for 200 years no name has been more closely identified with primary education in this congregation than that of Villareal. The idea of endowing the education of the poorer girls of the community had originally presented itself to Isaac's brother, Joseph da Costa Villareal, the husband of Catherine da Costa. It would appear that he had made a will in his bachelor days by which he left a sum of ?80 a year to be devoted to the education of a number of poor girls of the congregation. Subsequently he married the beautiful Kitty, and, by a will drawn up after his marriage, he left all he should die possessed of to his wife. Within three years he died, and his brother Isaac, resolved that 24 Ishac da Costa Villareal, Carera XXII, No. 50.</page><page sequence="27">250 THE HISTORICAL ASSOCIATIONS OF THE his brother's original intention should be carried out, established the Villareal School for the education of twenty girls, and endowed it with ?2,100 South Sea Annuities. He reserved to himself and his heirs the right to take part in the management of the school, and to-day his descendant, Mr. Eustace Almosnino Lindo, administers the pious benefaction of his ancestor. The subjects of instruction were carefully set forth by the founder, and were to include the Hebrew prayers, reading, writing, counting in Spanish and English, and needlework. Villareal set an example in the cause of education that bore good fruit in the congregation, and that was emulated by other generous members in the years that ensued. A peculiarity that naturally distinguishes this little cemetery is that it holds the remains of many men who were the first of their respective families to settle in England. Thus we find here the graves of the first Lindo, the first de Paz, the first de Caceres, the first Andrade, the first Lousada, the first Henriques?names which have persisted for 250 years in the London community to this very day. In the twentieth grave of the first row there was buried Jacob Cohen Henriques, who died in 1674.25 Although he was interred here, a large portion of his life was spent in New York. He was one of the first six Jews to reside in New York, or New Amsterdam as it was then called, and his life there was full of varied activities. He was a signatory to a number of petitions sent at different times to Pieter Stuyvesant, the Dutch Governor of the colony, or to the municipal authorities of the city. Thus he signed the petition in 1655 praying for the right of the Jews to purchase a burial-place of their own. Henriques then made application for permission to " bake and sell bread within the city," which was refused. He also signed the petition which won for these colonial Jews the privileges of citizenship in 1657* as well as petitions regarding the Jewish ownership of real estate, and the right of Jews to trade to South River. There are records of lawsuits to which he was a party, and he was known to have given his services in the capacity of interpreter. He came here to London to die, and the inscription on his tombstone, which is almost completely legible, describes him as " virtuozo e onrado vara? " (a virtuous and honoured gentleman). 25 Jacob Cohen Henriques, Carera I, No. 20.</page><page sequence="28">ANCIENT BURIAL-GROUND OF THE SEPHARDI JEWS. 251 In the fourteenth grave of the third carera was buried the founder of an English family that has had continuous existence in this country since the earliest days of the resettlement, Moseh Baruh Lousada,26 whose record of long and devoted service to the interests of early English Jewry merits a tribute of respect, not only from his descendants, in whatever community they now may be found, but from the members of this congregation whose welfare he had so deeply at heart. He was descended from the Dukes of Lousada, grandees of Spain, in which title an English descendant of his, Isaac de Lousada, was confirmed as recently as 1848. Moseh Baruh Lousada's name figures on the Mendes da Costa list of Jews as one of the few who were living in London in December 1660, and he is therein described as residing in Cree Church Lane, " at Mr. Linger, a plummer, against (i.e. opposite) the Church." He had then, evidently, not long since come to England, as the house of this plumber was used as a sort of clearing-house for Jewish new arrivals. When, in the year 1663, a definite constitution was drawn up and adopted by the congregation, two wardens and a treasurer were elected, and one of them was Moseh Baruh Lousada, so that he was one of the first two Parnassim of the oldest congregation in England. In this capacity he signed the statutes of its first constitu? tion, and later his name is found among the twenty-three who volun? tarily contributed to wipe off the deficit in the congregational funds in 1664. He was on the Banco again in 1681, and was one of the Parnassim to appoint Haham Abendana. He must have been a man of importance and reputation in the City^ because, despite the various disqualifications that handicapped a Jew, he was admitted as a broker to the Exchange in 1679, under the name of Moses Barrow. When the attempt was made in 1664 by the Earl of Berkshire to levy black? mail on the little community, he was one of the three signatories of the petition to Charles II, which evoked from the King the confirma? tion of the rights which had been so strenuously fought for and won in the days of Cromwell. It was the brave and uncompromising attitude of Lousada and his colleagues that prevented the hands of the clock being set back, and allowed the struggling community to continue on its road of progress and prosperity. 26 Moseh Baruh Lousada, Carera III, No. 14.</page><page sequence="29">252 THE HISTORICAL ASSOCIATIONS OF THE Yet another family, for whom this ground enshrines sacred memories, is that of Lindo, a family of antiquity and distinction, whose first representative, Antonio Rodrigues Lindo,27 known to his Synagogue as Isaac Lindo, is buried in the seventh grave of the eleventh row. His father was Joao Rodrigues Lindo, of Campo Maior, in Portugal; his mother was Constanca Nunes, sister of Esther, or Maria Rodrigues Nunes, who married Antonio Fernandez Carvajal. Thus Antonio Rodrigues or Isaac Lindo was a nephew of the 44 first English Jew," so that it is not surprising to find him, after much persecution and travelling, turning his steps towards England and settling in London. He was born in Campo Maior in 1636, was in France in 1648, and at Lisbon in 1654. From the record of the Lisbon Inquisition procured by Mr. Lucien Wolf, we learn that he fell into the hands of the Holy Office. He was 44 penanced," and escaped from its clutches in 1662, making his way again to France. Thence he came to London, where he finally settled. He became the head of a very numerous and wide-spread family, which for more than two and a half centuries has rendered valuable service to the Anglo-Jewish community. His descendants were allied in marriage with the most illustrious Sephardi families, including the Abrabanels, the d'Aguilars, the d'Israelis, the Mocattas, and the Mendes da Costas. He was one of the earliest Jewish brokers of the City of London, and from him there descended an unbroken line of Oity brokers down to Mr. M. A. N. Lindo, the present Thesoureiro of Heshaim. In 1694 he signed the Ascamot, and his name figures in the first list of subscribers to the building of the Bevis Marks Synagogue. He died in 1712. Another family which can be traced back to one of the earliest English Jews is that of Mocatta, and the earliest Mocatta grave is the fourteenth of the second carera.28 In it were buried three children of Moseh Mocatta, who was the founder of the Anglo-Jewish family of that name. He was a merchant resident in Camomile Street, and he took an active part in communal life that has been maintained con 27 Antonio Rodriques Lindo, Carera XI, No. 7. 28 Children of Moses Mocatta, Carera II, No. 14.</page><page sequence="30">8 ?0 I ?! ? ? C ^ &lt;? ^ A ? ^ -2 &lt;??""rt 2? c; ix, -&gt; ?/? ^&gt; -5 ? -a .8 SIS 8 3 o q T3 1 _ , . * CS fa? u ?s 3 ? g s.a.f'? si * ;m&gt;!U'J.! a 73 fr ? ^ u ? 1j .3 '"S. En o {-&gt; O 03 D O &lt;! s q c So S i g s ; 50 o li a 8 S &lt; a &lt; S 5 ! 1 a ?" Hi Infill 5 2" ? u a J &amp; ? o gIgj -P? i?? SlZ ZqZS I* ?""8 ..12 #Si ; I,? fits ?'"(?s-a *o ^ -5 co ^3 s-g fliIII p Jit i iif? &lt;3 &lt;! H P "-3 c? c? P</page><page sequence="31">ANCIENT BURIAL-GROUND OF THE SEPHARDI JEWS. 255* tinuously by bis family for eight generations. His descendants* amongst whom were the late Abraham Mocatta and the late Frederick David Mocatta, linked the family by marriage with such other prominent families as the Ximenes, Lumbrozo de Mattos, Lamego, Lousada, Mendes da Costa, Montefiore, and Goldsmid. An early reference to Moseh Mocatta goes back to 1673, in which year he provided the Synagogue with the citron for use on Succoth, and with the leather thong, which was used by some for the purpose of voluntary chastisement on the Eve of Kippur.29 In 1677 he signed the first revision of Ascamot, and he is men? tioned in the indenture of 1699 as being the occupant of a house or garden in Plough Yard, which he surrendered when the present Bevis Marks Synagogue was about to be erected. In 1682 he had the grief of losing a child, Esther, and a few years later, in 1686, a son died at birth. From the inscription on the tomb? stone we gather that not only these two, but a third child, were buried in the one grave. A rhymed couplet in the Portuguese language, that concludes the inscription, makes tender reference to a loving father's loss : " May the three angels buried here Find the presence of their God." With this we close our short and incomplete survey of the his? torical associations that cling to this old-world Beth Ahaim. Its interest for Anglo-Jewry, and for our own congregation especially, cannot but be absorbing and profound. Besides those already men? tioned, it shelters the remains of men whose names were Rodrigues, Delgado, Gomes Silva, de Paiva, Musaphia, de Miranda, Nunes Navarro, de Paz, de Mesquita, Carvalho, Peixotto, Aguilar, Martinez, Mendoza, Gabay, Salzedo, de Pinto and de Castro. The men whom we have referred to this afternoon in some detail were those who, from very small beginnings, laid the foundation of the important edifice which is the Anglo-Jewish community of to-day. When they came to this land the Jew had no rights or privileges whatsoever; but they caused it to be made clear that, whatever their religion, a community 29 Hist, of the Ancient Synagogue (by the Rev. the Haham Dr. Moses Gaster),,. p. 50.</page><page sequence="32">254 ANCIENT BURIAL-GROUND OF THE SEPHARDI JEWS of men who were industrious, intelligent, cultured, endowed with a high sense of honour and withal loyal, were fit for admission to any community, and could not but help forward its development and pro? gress. They were compelled to hasten slowly, as a false step would have imperilled all they were striving for. With so much persecution still active, they were playing for a high stake indeed, when they sought to establish in England a place of refuge, where the oppressed might enjoy the blessings of tranquillity, of common fairness and justice. And then their hopes, their yearnings, were realised : those civil and religious rights, which are the truest test of freedom, were won, and not for themselves alone, but for every Jew who since has turned longing eyes towards England's hospitable shores. And once relieved of anxiety and doubt, the Marrano life, which circumstances too tragic for us to comprehend had forced upon their fathers, was cast off ; the privileges they won, they won as Jews, and as Jews they sanctified the Name of the God of Israel on the soil of free and tolerant England. They left us, who are their heirs, a past of which any community might well feel proud, and no sacrifice on our part should ever be refused, if it will in any way serve to safeguard and maintain that congregational existence, for which such men planned and toiled, and which they thought worthy of the best and the utmost that was in them.</page></plain_text>