-and therefore indulge in the impenetrable mazes of mysticism and to build castles in the air, maintain that some extraordinary mysteries are attached to this ceremony. But the mass of the Jews, who are not initiated in all the cabalistic theories, are decidedly of opinion that they literally and to all intents and purposes "cast all their sins into the depths of the sea;" and they moreover maintain, and tell you very gravely, that the fishes devour the cast-off sins, as the only rivers eligible, for the performance of the mystic ceremony, are those having fishes in them. The Hebrew word for "thou wilt cast," is Th, Tashlich, this ceremony goes, therefore, by that name. Dr. M. Erter, one of the most learned Jews of Brody, but no supporter of Rabbinism, wrote a most clever satire, in the Hebrew language, about this Tashlich, and exposes very skilfully the frightful superstitions connected with this institution. I observed but few Jews, at a retired place at the sea-side, engaged in prayer and violent shaking of the skirts of their garments.

I paid a visit to the Jewish school, which is situated close to the synagogue, I found there about seventy boys, taught by a principal master and several assistants. Both principal and assistants are very intelligent; speak Hebrew and Spanish, as well as the vernacular French, very fluently. I asked for permission to examine the children, which was readily granted. I found many of the boys remarkably intelligent. Some are destined for the Rabbinical College, established at Metz. When I complimented the principal on the progress of the boys, he observed in reply: “Would to God they were allowed to remain at school till their education is completed; but no sooner are the children able to read Hebrew fluently, and translate the Pentateuch into French, than they are moved from school,

and placed under training for business. The Jews of Marseilles seem to have but one object in view, the worship of the golden calf. With the exception of these three (pointing to those boys intended for Metz), I fear all will forget the little knowledge they have acquired of Hebrew; they will soon be better versed in the works of Alexander Dumas, Eugène Sue, &c., than in the sublime books of Moses, or the majestic compositions of the Prophets." Thus spoke, fervently, the Jewish principal teacher of Marseilles.

The day I visited the school was the one before the new year; there were, therefore, several pious Jews in the neighbourhood, and seeing a stranger enter the school, they soon followed, and we enjoyed a good deal of amicable conversation together. The principal frequently complimented me before all, in rather extravagant and exaggerated terms, and applied an adage of Solomon to me, and declared that he could see in my face that I was a savan, for,

"A man's wisdom maketh his face to shine."*

You may think that all this fuss pleased my vanity, but I assure you I felt exceedingly uncomfortable. I felt -using a vulgar expression-that I was made a great flat, by the weight of flattery imposed upon me so generously and unsparingly. However, when I perceived that they formed so high an estimate of my abilities, I ventured to introduce the question at issue between Jews and Christians, in order to see the effect it would have, both upon my panegyrists as well as upon myself. The Jews

* Ecclesiastes VIII. 1.

seemed considerably startled; nevertheless, the good opinion they had so often expressed toward me, exercised a favourable influence over them. I took occasion to refer to the prayers which were to be used on the New Year's Day, and endeavoured to convince them that unless those prayers were offered up in the name of Jesus, their petitions would remain unanswered. I appealed to their own works in proof of the necessity of a Mediator. I quoted a passage from the "Yalkout Simeoni" and "Medrash"both works, as you are aware, of great authority amongst the Jews. The passage I allude to purports to be an exposition of Ps. XCI. 15; and is the following: “What is the reason that the Israelites, during this present dispensation, pray and are not heard? Because they know not the ineffable name; but at the coming of the Messiah, the Holy and Blessed God will make them acquainted with it; for it is written: Therefore my people shall know my name.' At that time, they shall pray and be heard; for it is said: 'He shall call upon me and I will answer him.'" I then referred to another Rabbinical passage, to show that the Jewish sages considered the Messiah to be the " only Mediator between God and man." It is a remark of Rabbi Joseph Albo-which occurs in his Sepher Ekarim"-on Jer. xxIII. 6-and is as follows: "The Scriptures call Messiah's name 'Jehovah our Righteousness,' because He is to be our Mediator, that we may obtain God's righteousness through Him." I endeavoured to keep my newly acquired acquaintances in good humour all the time. I determined not to give the least encouragement to excitement, so that we enjoyed a most dispassionate and amicable discussion.

To give you an idea of the laxity of some of the Jews in this place, is to tell you that many of the stalls

at the fair, which is at present taking place here, are kept by Jews; and what do you think the majority of them exhibit as articles for sale? Why! crosses, crucifixes, and all sorts of Roman Catholic household gods. Well might a Jewish teacher call them "worshippers of the golden calf." Many young Jewesses keep confectionary stalls, and as they happen to be pretty, vast numbers of the Marseillian hopefuls crowd around them, to the utter disgust of decency and order, with which feeling I am about to leave France. For, taking it as a whole, it is a disgusting country.

RIGHT REV. LORD BISHOP OF DOWN AND CONNOR.

My dear Lord Bishop,

Leghorn, Sept. 1847.

I should have written to you, according to your desire, before I left France, but the number of letters I had to write from thence was so great, that it was next to impossible to make it greater. I scarcely did anything else but see, hear, speak, and write. I allowed myself but little rest, and slept less than ever. Besides, I knew that your to the Bishop of Cork,

Lordship would see my letter which I wrote to him from Paris, for I asked of him in a PS., that my epistle be read in the Palace of Down and Connor. However, I shall make up for my delay by a very long letter from here; I will not leave Leghorn

before I have dispatched a voluminous epistle to your Lordship. I shall endeavour to furnish you with a coherent narrative of all I saw, heard, and said-if the latter is worth writing down—since I left Marseilles.

One very early and beautiful morning, this week, I embarked on a French steamer, bearing the name of 'Le Bosphore,' to bring me hither. The sky was perfectly cloudless the whole day, and a soothing breeze played on the ocean, so that the whole day was lovely. Every face was mantled with delight, so that the countenances of all the passengers seemed to bathe in smiles. Every language sounded harmonious, nothing grated on my ear. Polyglott was spoken on board: viz. Hebrew, Arabic, Modern Greek, Persian, Turkish, English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese; and the following creeds professed on board: Protestant, Armenian, Jewish, Romish, Greek, Mohammedan, Socinian, and infidelity—if the latter can be termed creed.

I enjoyed a great deal of conversation with my Jewish and Armenian fellow-passengers, who were by far the most intelligent of the whole crew, as well as a little chit-chat with many others. I dare not attempt to give a minute account of all the conversation I had on board—though it might furnish very interesting scraps of information— for I should be obliged to remain here longer than I dare. There was a Jew on board, who said that he accompanied Bishop Alexander to Jerusalem, as Interpreter; he spoke of the lamented prelate and family in the highest possible terms; and says, if he were permitted to remain with the Bishop, he would not have met with so premature a death. He supposes that some of his attendants, who were Roman Catholics, were bribed to poison the Bishop. However, I do not vouch for the correctness of my narrator's conjec