James Russell Lowell, A Biography; vol 2/2Scudder, Horace Elisha
History
James Russell Lowell, A Biography; vol 2/2
Scudder, Horace Elisha
Authors, American -- 19th century -- Biography; Diplomats -- United States -- Biography; Lowell, James Russell, 1819-1891
“One evening,” says the writer in the _Atlantic_, “I was dining with Mr.
and Mrs. Lowell and three other friends, and he began to lament the
renaming of old streets which was going on, and the obliteration of the
last traces of the Paris of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries,--the
Paris of the schoolmen and their open-air debates. He spoke of the local
history that lay in the mere names of streets and squares,--Rue du
Fouarre, Rue des Gauvais Garçons, and several more of which he gave the
origin and legend. In the midst of this picturesque and learned
disquisition he stumbled upon the class of a celebrated philosopher of
those times, seated on their bundles of straw,--a well-known teacher
whose name I cannot now recall,--and stated that he was a Jew.
“He instantly began to talk of the Jews, a subject which turned out to
be almost a monomania with him. He detected a Jew in every hiding-place
and under every disguise, even when the fugitive had no suspicion of
himself. To begin with nomenclature: all persons named for countries or
towns are Jews; all with fantastic, compound names, such as Lilienthal,
Morgenroth; all with names derived from colors, trades, animals,
vegetables, minerals; all with Biblical names, except Puritan first
names; all patronymics ending in _son_,--_sohn_, _sen_, or any other
version; all Russels, originally so called from red-haired Israelites;
all Walters, by long descended derivation from wolves and foxes in some
ancient tongue; the therefore Cecilia Metella, no doubt St. Cecilia too,
consequently the Cecils, including Lord Burleigh and Lord Salisbury; he
cited some old chronicle in which he had cornered one Robert de Cæcilia
and exposed him as an English Jew. He gave examples and instances of
these various classes with amazing readiness and precision, but I will
not pretend that I have set down even these few correctly. Of course
there was Jewish blood in many royal houses and in most noble ones,
notably in Spain. In short, it appeared that this insidious race had and
permeated the human family more universally than any other influence
except original sin. He spoke of their talent and versatility, and of
the numbers who had been illustrious in literature, the learned
professions, art, science, and even war, until by degrees, from being
shut out of society and every honorable and desirable pursuit, they had
gained the prominent positions everywhere.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account