I. _The History of the Jews in England._ The policy of the Crown towards those aliens of the Hebrew race who sought its protection varied at different times, and three periods may be distinguished. From the Norman Conquest to the coronation of Richard I. the Jews were fleeced and tolerated; during the reigns of Richard and John and the minority of Henry III. they were fleeced and protected; and finally they were fleeced and persecuted, this last stage extending from the formation of the alliance between Henry and Innocent IV. down to the ordinance of 1290, which banished in perpetuity all Jews from England. The details of this long story of hardship and oppression, tempered fitfully by royal clemency, which had always to be well paid for, can here be glanced at only in the barest outline. There were Jews in England before the Norman Conquest; but the first great influx came in the reign of Rufus, whose financial genius recognized in them an instrument for his gain, and who would the more gladly protect them, as likely to prove a thorn in the side of his enemy the Church. A second influx resulted from the persecution of Israelites on the Continent of Europe, consequent on the failure of the first Crusade. This new alien immigration seems to have excited mistrust in England, and led to the disarming of all Jews in 1181, a measure which left them at the mercy of the Christian rabble. Accordingly, when a disturbance occurred at the coronation of Richard I., on 3rd September, 1189, owing to the imprudence of some officious Jews, a general massacre took place in London, while York and other towns were not slow to follow the example. The king was moved to anger, not so much by the sufferings of the Jews, as by the destruction of their bonds, since that indirectly injured the Crown; for the more the Jews had, the more could be extorted from them, and when the written bond had been burned, no evidence of the debt remained. Richard, returning from his captivity a few years later, in urgent need of money, determined to prevent a repetition of such interference with a valuable source of revenue. His motive was selfish, but that was no reason why the Israelites should not pay for a measure designed for their own protection. Assembled at Nottingham they granted a liberal aid, in return for a new expedient devised to secure their bonds. This scheme, for the details of which Richard was probably indebted to the genius of his great justiciar, archbishop Hubert Walter, was of a comprehensive and practical character. In London, York, and other important cities, offices or bureaus were established under the Crown’s protection, containing treasure chests, called _archae_, fitted with triple locks, to be opened only at stated intervals in the presence of special custodians, known as chirographers, who kept the keys. These custodians were usually four in number, two Christians and two Jews, chosen by