Erter succeeded in infusing a new life and spirit into the Hebrew tongue, which is generally classed among the dead languages. To quote the words that he himself uses on behalf of the genius of the Hebrew language, “I am dead in the mouths of my children, but I live still in their hearts.” Erter did more than only protest against the lack of originality in later Hebrew writers; he himself supplied the deficiency. But he was no mere writer of Hebrew prose. He had the welfare of his Jewish countrymen constantly at heart, and it was with the object of improving their low mental and social position that he wrote those satires, in which their shortcomings and follies were censured and ridiculed. He spared no class; Rabbi and layman alike felt the sting of his scorn, and it was by this means that he really did some good. For some time he also edited, in co-operation with some friends, a Hebrew periodical under the name of _He-Chaluz_ (‪החלוץ‬), which continued to appear after his death. This journal was intended to promote the enlightenment and learning of the Jews in Galicia, and gradually to win their sympathies for his favourite project, namely, the establishment of an agricultural colony in his own country, in which Jewish young men should be employed in tilling the ground, and in farming tracts of land on their own account. This healthy and useful occupation, he maintained, would help to decrease, to a great extent, the misery and poverty, which are, even now, the characteristic feature of that particular part of the Austrian empire. And strange to say the very plan, which was drawn up so many years ago by Erter without being carried into effect, has quite recently been taken up again in the capital of Austria by the most influential members of the Jewish community, at the instigation of the late Baron Hirsch. Erter's writings form but a slender volume, but it may safely be said that they will outlive many a more pretentious work. True humour is a rare possession, and Erter's style will never cease to be a source of delight to those who have a relish for keen satire, and for an elegant and poetical employment of the language of the Bible. Footnotes: [129-1] Vienna, 1858; second edition, 1864. XIII LEOPOLD ZUNZ^[140-1]