DIGITISED MANUSCRIPTS

( 18D citizens. William Rufus, the son of the Conqueror, was even so partial to their race and faith that he is said to have thought of embracing Judaism. As the Jewish body grew stronger and more prosperous, it excited the greed and animosity of the Plantagenet kings and their nobles. Accused of crimes they never committed, the Jews were systematically plundered, tortured, and massacred, then occa- sionally respited only to be more freely plundered and tortured again, until in 1290 they were summarily expelled from these shores. About four centuries later Cromwell allowed them to return. Yet they gained little by this permission. For upwards of another century, during the en- lightened reigns of Queen Anne and the Georges, they were legally, if not virtually, forbidden to hold land; they were excluded from every profession and trade, from every political, civil, and municipal office, and the commonest duties of a citizen. Until 1828 only twelve Jews were suffered to carry on business as brokers in the City of London. Until 1832 no Jew was allowed to open a shop in London. Until the Reform Bill of 1831 no Jew was allowed to vote. It has been the privilege of our age to redeem the iniquities of the past. Crurtty.—The change which the influence of public opinion has wrought has not been confined