fifty thousand pounds, to be repaid by instalments, without interest. This relief, though given in the most absurd manner, was sufficient to enable the retired governor to live in comfort, and even in luxury, if he had been a skilful manager. But he was careless and profuse, and was more than once under the necessity of applying to the Company for assistance, which was liberally given. He had security and affluence, but not the power and dignity, which, when he landed from India, he had reason to expect. He had then looked forward to a coronet, a red riband, a seat at the Council Board, an office at Whitehall. He was then only fiftytwo, and might hope for many years of bodily and mental vigour. The case was widely different when he left the bar of the Lords. He was now too old a man to turn his mind to a new class of studies and duties. He had no chance of receiving any mark of royal favour while Mr. Pitt remained in power; and, when Mr. Pitt retired, Hastings was approaching his seventieth year. tables in England. He sent for seeds of a very fine custard-apple, from the garden of what had once been his own villa, among the green hedgerows of Allipore. He tried also to naturalize in Worcestershire the delicious leechee, almost the only fruit of Bengal, which deserves to be regretted even amidst the plenty of Covent-Garden. The Mogul emperors, in the time of their greatness, had in vain attempted to introduce into Hindostan the goat of the table-land of Thibet, whose down supplies the looms of Cashmere with the materials of the finest shawls. Hastings tried, with no better fortune, to rear a breed at Daylesford; nor does he seem to have succeeded better with the cattle of Bootan, whose tails are in high esteem as the best fans for brushing away the musquitoes. Literature divided his attention with his conservatories and his menagerie. He had always loved books, and they were now necessary to him. Though not a poet, in any high sense of the word, he wrote neat and polished lines with great facility, and was fond of exercising this talent. Indeed, if we must speak out, he seems to have been more of a Trissotin than was to be expected from the powers of his mind, and from the great part which he had played in life. We are assured in these Memoirs, that the first thing which he did in the morning was to compose a copy of verses. When the family and guests assembled, the poem made its appearance as regularly as the eggs and rolls; and Mr. Gleig requires us Once, and only once, after his acquittal, he interfered in politics, and that interference was not much to his honour. In 1804, he exerted himself strenuously to prevent Mr. Addington, against whom Fox and Pitt had combined, from resigning the Treasury. It is difficult to believe that a man so able and energetic as Hastings, can have thought that, when Bonaparte was at Boulogne with a great army, the defence of our island could safely be intrusted to a minis- to believe that, if from any accident Hasttry which did not contain a single person whom flattery could describe as a great statesman. It is also certain that, on the important question which had raised Mr. Addington to power, and on which he differed from both Fox and Pitt, Hastings, as might have been expected, agreed with Fox and Pitt, and was decidedly opposed to Addington. Religious intolerance has never been the vice of the Indian service, and certainly was not the vice of Hastings. But Mr. Addington had treated him with marked favour. Fox had been a principal manager of the impeachment. To Pitt it was owing that there had been an impeachment; and Hastings, we fear, was on this occasion guided by personal considerations, rather than by a regard to the public interest. The last twenty-four years of his life were chiefly passed at Daylesford. He amused himself with embellishing his grounds, riding fine Arab horses, fattening prize-cattle, and trying to rear Indian animals and vege ings came to the breakfast-table without one of his charming performances in his hand, the omission was felt by all as a grievous disappointment. Tastes differ widely. For ourselves we must say that, however good the breakfasts at Daylesford may have been and we are assured that the tea was of the most aromatic flavour, and that neither tongue nor venison-pasty was wanting we should have thought the reckoning high if we had been forced to earn our repast by listening every day to a new madrigal or sonnet composed by our host. We are glad, however, that Mr. Gleig has preserved this little feature of character, though we think it by no means a beauty. It is good to be often reminded of the inconsistency of human nature; and to learn to look without wonder or disgust on the weaknesses which are found in the strongest minds. Dionysius in old times, Frederic in the last century, with capacity and vigour equal to the conduct of the greatest affairs, united all the little van 1 ities and affectations of provincial blue- visited England, Hastings appeared in their train both at Oxford and in the Guildhall of London: and, though surrounded by a crowd of princes and great warriors, was everywhere received by the public with marks of respect and admiration. He was presented by the Prince Regent both to Alexander and to Frederic William; and his Royal Highness went so far as to declare in public, that honours far higher than a seat in the Privy Council were due, and should soon be paid, to the man who had saved the British dominions in Asia. Hastings now confidently expected a peerage; but, from some unexplained cause, he was again disappointed. At He lived about four years longer, in the enjoyment of good spirits, of faculties not impaired to any painful or degrading extent, and of health such as is rarely enjoyed by those who attain such an age. length, on the 22d of August, 1818, in the eighty-sixth year of his age, he met death with the same tranquil and decorous fortitude which he had opposed to all the trials of his varied and eventful life. With all his faults and they were neither few nor small-only one cemetery was worthy to contain his remains. In that temple of silence and reconciliation, where When Hastings had passed many years in retirement, and had long outlived the common age of men, he again became for a short time an object of general attention. In 1813 the charter of the East India Company was renewed; and much discussion about Indian affairs took place in Parliament. It was determined to examine witnesses at the bar of the Commons, and Hastings was ordered to attend. He had appeared at that bar once before. It was when he read his answer to the charges which Burke had laid on the table. Since that time twenty-seven years had elapsed; public feeling had undergone a complete change; the nation had now forgotten his faults, and remembered only his services. The re-appearance, too, of a man who had been among the most distinguished of a generation that had passed away, who now belonged to history, and who seemed to have risen from the.dead, could not but produce a solemn and pathetic effect. The Commons received him with acclamations, ordered a chair to be set for him, and, when he retired, rose and uncovered. There the enmities of twenty generations lie were, indeed, a few who did not sympathize with the general feeling. One or two of the managers of the impeachment were present. They sate in the same seats which they had occupied when they had been thanked for the services which they had rendered in Westminster Hall; for, by the courtesy of the house, a member who has been thanked in his place, is con-hind the chancel of the parish-church of sidered as having a right always to occupy Daylesford, in earth which already held the that place. These gentlemen were not bones of many chiefs of the house of Hastdisposed to admit that they had employed ings, was laid the coffin of the greatest man several of the best years of their lives in who has ever borne that ancient and widely persecuting an innocent man. They ac- extended name. On that very spot procordingly kept their seats, and pulled their bably, fourscore years before, the little hats over their brows; but the exceptions Warren, meanly clad and scantily fed, had only made the prevailing enthusiasm more played with the children of ploughmen. remarkable. The Lords received the old Even then his young mind had revolved man with similar tokens of respect. The plans which might be called romantic. University of Oxford conferred on him the Yet, however romantic, it is not likely that degree of Doctors of Laws; and, in the they had been so strange as the truth. Not Sheldonian theatre, the under-graduates only had the poor orphan retrieved the welcomed him with tumultuous cheering. fallen fortunes of his.line. Not only had he repurchased the old lands, and rebuilt the old dwelling. He had preserved and extended an empire. He had founded a polity. He had administered government and war with more than the capacity of Richelieu; and had patronized learning with the judicious liberality of Cosmo. He had These marks of public esteem were soon followed by marks of the favour of the crown. Hastings was sworn of the Privy Council, and was admitted to a long private audience of the Prince Regent, who treated him very graciously. When the Emperor of Russia and the King of Prussia buried, in the Great Abbey which has for ages afforded a quiet resting-place to those whose minds and bodies have been shattered by the contentions of the Great Hall, the dust of the illustrious accused should have been mingled with the dust of the illustrious accusers. This was not to be. Yet the place of interment was not ill chosen. Be been attacked by the most formidable com- | cure the production of a work which rebination of enemies that ever sought the flects the greatest credit upon the resources destruction of a single victim; and over of the noble institution over which they that combination, after a struggle of ten rule. years, he had triumphed. He had at length gone down to his grave in the fulness of in peace, after so many troubles; in honour, after so much obloquy. age England has not of late years produced many distinguished Hebraists, but it can boast of the two finest collections of Hebrew books in the world. For a long time that of the Bodleian library was without a rival. A number of favourable circumstances had contributed to its pre-eminence. From the year 1659, in which it obtained the numerous works collected by the learned Selden, it continued increasing till at last, in 1829, it was enabled to surpass all its competitors by the incorporation of the collection formed by David Oppenheimer. That learned man, a Rabbi of Prague, made it the object of his life to gather together rich and rare specimens of Jewish literature; but as he lived under the Aus Those who look on his character without favour or malevolence will pronounce that, in the two great elements of all social virtue, in respect for the rights of others, and in sympathy for the sufferings of others, he was deficient. His principles were somewhat lax. His heart was somewhat hard. But while we cannot with truth describe him either as a righteous or as a merciful ruler, we cannot regard without admiration the amplitude and fertility of his intellect his rare talents for command, for administration and for controversy his dauntless courage his honourable pov-trian rule, he feared to keep his treasures erty his fervent zeal for the interests of the state his noble equanimity, tried by both extremes of fortune, and never disturbed by either. -- From the London Review. near him, and was obliged to allow them to accumulate at a distance. The collection flourished then at Hanover, and after its owner's death, which took place in 1735, it was removed to Hamburg. Eventually, after passing through many vicissitudes of fortune, it was secured in 1829 for the Bodleian. Thither also came De Rossi's fifteenth-century books, and, in 1851, the collection left, after his death, by Auerbach. THE HEBREW BOOKS IN THE BRITISH Well might Steinschneider say that Oxford MUSEUM.* CENTURIES ago, a monk was making a catalogue of the books contained in the library of his convent. Over the greater part of the volumes which came before him, he lingered lovingly, but whenever, at distant intervals, he met with a Hebrew book, he dismissed it at once in utter disgust, condensing its record into the brief notice, "Here is yet another book beginning at the end." It is in a very different spirit to this that the work now before us has been composed. It is a catalogue of the Hebrew books contained in the British Museum, which form, we are assured on excellent authority, the largest Hebrew library in the world, and it has been compiled with a zealous industry deserving of the highest praise, by one of the most erudite Hebraists of the day. The Trustees of the British Museum may well be congratulated on having been able, without going beyond their immediate staff, to command the services of so thorough a scholar as Mr. Zedner, and thereby to se *Catalogue of the Hebrew Books in the Library of the British Museum. Printed by Order of the Trustees. contained the first of all Hebrew libraries, at the time when he published the two ponderous volumes which are occupied by his singularly discursive catalogue of the contents of that collection. Since that time, however, the accessions to the library of Hebrew books contained in the British Museum have been so numerous and so extensive, that it now surpasses that of the Bodleian in magnitude. We learn from the interesting preface, which Mr. Winter Jones, the Principal Librarian, has contributed to the present work, that Mr. Zedner has exerted himself as much in creating that branch of our national collection as in cataloguing it, having kept himself on the alert for years in order not to throw away any opportunity of making a valuable purchase, and having hunted out many a curiosity which lay hidden in obscure corners. The result is that the collection which he has now described consists of upwards of 10,100 bound volumes, comprising works in all branches of Hebrew and Rabbinical learning. And to this growth it has attained from a very small beginning. In 1759, when the Museum was first opened to the public, we are told, "the THE HEBREW BOOKS IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 159 Editio Princeps' of the Talmud was the task, one in which the compiler has to strugonly Hebrew work it contained, and this in- gle with many obstacles, among which may cluded in the Royal library presented to the be mentioned the fantastic, and often unMuseum by King George II." About the meaning, titles of works, and the fact that same time, a Jewish merchant, named Sol- books are so often far better known by those omon da Costa, who had come over to Eng- titles than by the names of their authors. land from Holland, made a present to the The poetic nature of an Eastern writer reMuseum of 180 volumes, containing the volts against the prosaic realism of a Westmost valuable works of Rabbinnical litera- ern title-page, and he delights in allowing ture. Nearly ninety years passed, and the even the exterior of his work to give an collection still only mustered about 600 idea of the brilliant imagery which illubooks. "In 1848, however, 4,420 volumes mines its contents. But on the nature of were purchased from the famous collection those contents the title too often throws no of Mr. H. J. Michael, of Hamburg." Since light. We find, for instance, in the catathat time fresh acquisitions have constantly logue, four works by certain Isaacs, who been made, the most recent being due to have imbedded their names in the Biblical the purchase of a part of the Hebrew li- title of Isaac's Well," the first of which is brary formed by the late Joseph Almanzi,of Padua. a volume of sermons, the second contains "Lessons for Sabbatical Reading," the The catalogue comprises not only Hebrew third is a "Sub-commentary, or a Commenbooks, but also translations of post-biblical tary on a Commentary on Aben Ezra;" Hebrew works, works in the Arabic, Span- and the fourth treats of ceremonies. Such ish, German, and other languages printed titles are generally taken from Scripture, with Hebrew characters, bibliographical but they are often borrowed from other works with special reference to post-bibli- sources at the author's pleasure, as may be cal literature, catalogues of Hebrew works, seen in the case of the three works entitled and biographies of the authors of Hebrew" works; so that it offers a complete key to all who wish to make the most of the treasures contained in our national collection. Of the nature of that collection some idea may be given by the following syllabus of its contents: 1. Bibles 2. Commentaries on the Bible 4. Commentaries on the Talmud C 700 The Comet," one of which treats of geometry, the second is, "On Morals for Women," and the third is a commentary on the Talmud. Such commentaries, we may remark, are very numerous, more editions of them having been published during the last thirty years than during the previous three hundred, a singular fact, considering that Vols. the modern Jews are generally supposed to 1,260 to give less time to the study of the Tal510 mud than was their wont in former days. 730 Mr. Zedner has arranged the contents of his catalogue under the authors' names in 1,260 alphabetical order; but in order to meet 520 one of the difficulties to which we have re160 ferred, he has given at the end a copious 460 index of titles of books. Another index 400 gives a list of names, Jewish aud Gentile, 1,200 in Roman and Hebrew characters. A third 690 contains a list of abbreviations the frequency of which is, to inexperienced scholars, so dire a cause of offence, as the uninitiated may imagine from the instance of the cele770 brated Maimonides, whose name, Rabbi Moses Ben Maimon, is never written out in full, but is represented by the initial letters R. M. B. M., forming the name by which he is generally referred to orally, and which All catalogue-making is tedious and thank- may be written Rambam. The fourth and less work, so many difficulties present them- last index contains a list of places of printselves during its course, so hard is it to re-ing, and is not without interest in itself. A spond to the requirements and satisfy the demands of different classes of students. But the compilation of a catalogue of Hebrew books in an especially troublesome 9. Sermons 10. Liturgies 11. Divine Philosophy 13. Grammars and Dictionaries 180 450 320 Among these are thirty-eight books "of which no other copy, or only one or two other copies, are known to exist." new and improved edition has been lately published of Cotton's " Typographical Gazetteer," but there are numbers of them which are not to be found in it. Many of Of books in the Judæo-German patois, the dreadful jargon which passes current over all the north and north-east of Europe, there are numerous specimens in the Museum Library, including no small number of novels and tales, such as translations of the "Arabian Nights," of "Sir Bevis of Southampton," and the like. them convey very little idea to the ordinary German Jews, and until quite lately absoungeographical mind, such as Berdyczew, lutely refusing to intermarry with them. Hrubieszow, Ixar, Kuru Tshesme, Miedzyrecz, Sudzilkow, and Zytomierz. At some of the places mentioned, in the list, only one book was printed, as for instance, at Tunis and at Casal Maggiore; also at Pieve di Sacco, a spot which derives additional interest from the fact that the second Hebrew book was printed there, if not the first. This book, we are told, has been generally There are many other interesting subjects considered to be the second Hebrew book which the catalogue illustrates, as, for inprinted, the date of the colophon being stance, that of the satirical productions cirnearly five months after that of the Com-culated during the Feast of Purim, in which mentary on the Pentateuch by Rabbi Solo- it is considered allowable to jest upon submon Ben Isaac, extant in Parma, and print- jects at all other times held sacred, and to ed in the same year by Abrabam Ben Gar parody writings even of the holiest characton, in Reggio, but De Rossi thinks it really ter; but we have reached the limits of time is the first, for it is in four volumes, whereas and space, and all that is now left to us is the other is in one only; the probability, to conclude with an expression of gratificatherefore is, that it was commenced first. tion at finding that in the branch of Hebrew It is interesting to remark from the names literature, as well as in so many others, our contained in the list of printing-places, how national library stands specially prominent, widely spread has been the flow of the Jew- and that its riches have been rendered ish race across the world - Europe, Asia, available in so excellent a manner to the Africa, and America, are all represented. learned world, thanks to the wise liberality Australia does not figure in the list at pres- of the Trustees of the British Museum and ent, but it will probably do so at a future the untiring industry and profound learning period, for wherever Jews congregate in of Mr. Zedner. any number, they usually set up a printingpress of their own. At present, Salonica, Leghorn, and Wilna appear to be the headquarters of Hebrew printing. Among other points of interest illustrated in the present catalogue are the translations, the works in other languages printed in Hebrew characters, and those in patois. Of translations, numbers have existed from the early times, when the Jews translated the works of the Greek philosophers from the versions of them made by Arabic writers, to the present day, in which the Jewish periodicals abound with renderings of modern writers in all sorts of languages. Thus of works of imagination we find in this catalogue translations of Goethe's "Faust," of a selection from Schiller's and from Byron's poetry, and of Eugene Sue's "Mysteries of Paris," besides many others. Among the Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian Jews, there have been few writers who printed works in those languages in the Hebrew character, but works of a corresponding nature are rife among the Jews of Germany and the whole north of Europe, including Russia and Poland. The Spanish Jews have always represented the aristoc racy of their race; the members, for instance, of the congregation of Spanish and Portuguese Jews in London holding very little intercourse in olden times with the From the London Review. HEROIC LITERATURE. IF we descend the stream of literature from the earliest times to our own, we find that the heroic principle appeared in men's writings just in the same measure as it actuated their lives. When successive Buddhas became incarnate, when Bacchus conquered India with his army of men and women armed with cymbals and thyrsuses, when Odin revealed his heavenly hall, and Thor shook the hearts of the Norse with his thunder; when Orpheus and Homer sang hymns to the gods, the deification of heroes pervaded every branch of literature, and formed the staple of every work of the imagination. When gods had ceased to become men, and only inspired them; when Miriam, Deborah, and Anna were prophetesses, and Balaam took up his parable; when Baal had his prophets, and Greece its far-famed oracles; when Mahomet fled to Medina, and his followers stamped the idols of nations into the dust,prophetic verse came into vogue, divine responses were written down from the beaks of Dodona's |