=De Sola, Abraham=, LL.D.—The late Dr. de Sola was one of the most distinguished scholars who ever graced an American-Jewish pulpit. His reputation as an Orientalist, theologian and linguist, was not confined to his own people; the profundity and extraordinary intellectual acumen which characterized his numerous writings and researches having won for him wide renown among the _savants_ both of this continent and of Europe. He was descended from a very ancient and celebrated Jewish family, his ancestors having, in their migration from Judea, gradually moved across Northern Africa, until, crossing the Straits of Gibraltar, we find them settled in Spain as early as the close of the sixth century. Here the de Solas became very distinguished in the higher walks of life. They assisted the Saracens, when the mighty sons of the desert overran the Iberian Peninsula, and in return were received in high favour at the court of the Caliphs. The Gothic princes also treated them with distinction; and in Navarre, where a branch of the family settled, Don Bartolomé de Sola attained to such influence as to be ennobled and created a minister of state, and at one time exercised the functions of Viceroy. Another de Sola won renown by his prowess in battle, when fighting under the Infante of Aragon, in the fourteenth century. For several centuries they continued to flourish in Spain, the family being famed for the large number of illustrious men it produced, eminent as authors, rabbis, physicians, and courtiers. In 1492, in consequence of their adherence to Judaism, they suffered the fate of all Spanish Jews, being condemned to exile by the edict of the bigoted Ferdinand and Isabella. They fled to Holland, where they soon again rose to distinction in the world of letters. One member of the family, however, lingered behind in Portugal, eluding the vigilance of his persecutors by professing to become a New Christian (as Jewish converts to Christianity were styled), while he secretly continued to follow Judaism. During several generations some of his descendants continued to reside in Lisbon, where they possessed much wealth, remaining ever true to their ancestral faith, and all resorting to the same hazardous expedient to escape the notice of the Inquisition. But the fact that they often sent their children to Holland, that they might be the better able to follow Judaism, at length aroused the suspicions of the Holy Office; and towards the close of the seventeenth century David de Sola was suddenly pounced upon and incarcerated in the cells of the Inquisition-House. He bore the most frightful tortures heroically, and, as no confession could be forced from his lips, nor aught proved against him, he was released; but his shattered frame never recovered from the terrible agonies he had suffered. Years afterwards the suspicions of the Inquisition were again aroused, and two members of the family were seized, tortured, and having