witness that they decay, and that Thou alone dost endure.’ The German astronomer and philosopher, Humboldt, said of this composition of Gabirol’s that it was a worthy and noble echo of ancient Hebrew poetry. It has a certain scientific as well as a theological value, for the first part of the prayerful poem gives a scholar’s rendering of the truth that ‘the heavens declare the glory of God,’ by presenting to the reader a faithful picture of what was the astronomical knowledge of the period in which the author lived. The כֶּתֶר מַלְכוּת has been translated into almost every European language. Another work of this many-sided man was the composition of a Hebrew grammar in verse, and a more interesting one was a small collection of wise and witty saws and sayings. This little book was called a ‘Choice of Pearls,’ and here are a few sample jewels:―― ‘Questioning is halfway to wisdom.’ ‘Courtesy is halfway to cleverness.’ ‘Thrift is halfway to wealth.’ ‘He who soweth hatred soweth regret.’ ‘Man’s friend is his reason, and ignorance is his enemy.’ ‘Who is wise? He who seeketh wisdom.’ ‘A body without wisdom is like a house without foundation.’ ‘Kings rule the land, wisdom rules kings.’ ‘Forbearance is the best counsellor, courtesy the best companion.’ ‘What is a test of good manners? Being able to bear patiently with bad ones.’ The string on which these pearls, and such as these, were strung, was a neat system of headings, such as ‘Friendship,’ ‘Patience,’ ‘Wisdom,’ and so on, under each of which headings the maxims were arranged. Gabirol did not live to be an old man; he died at Valencia before he was quite fifty years old, but, as Ben Jonson says,―― ‘It is not growing like a tree In bulk, doth make man better be, Or standing long an oak, three hundred year, To fall a log at last, dry, bald, and sere.’ It is not the number of our years, but the things done in them, that will be counted to us in eternity. Ibn Gabirol lived his life to the full, although it was twenty years short of the allotted sum.