In the eastern parts of the world less change is observable among the Jewish inhabitants. Throughout the Ottoman Empire the Jews are not ill-treated, and they keep to the old paths in the somewhat sluggish fashion of Orientals. In Turkey, Persia, and Afghanistan they are not very prosperous nor very enlightened, but the efforts of the Alliance Israélite and of the Anglo-Jewish Association in establishing schools for secular study, and for the teaching of handicrafts, are gradually leavening the mass. In Palestine the chief Jewish settlements are at Jerusalem, Safed, and Tiberias, and there are small agricultural colonies at Jaffa and Safed. At Nablous there is a remnant of Samaritans who, as in the old days, are quite distinct and aloof from their Jewish half-brothers. At Jerusalem all sects and many nationalities are represented. Ashkenazim, Sephardim and Karaites, Russians and Poles, and Rabbis from all parts of the world, come to weep and to pray, and to lay their bones among the ruins of the city which was once the joy of the whole earth. In these days, the leaders among us are wisely endeavouring to direct this beautiful religious and historic enthusiasm into healthy and useful channels, and to impress on these simple pious souls that labour is one form, and not the least admirable form, of praise. CHAPTER XXXIX. TWO CENTURIES AND A QUARTER IN ENGLAND. (1660‒1885.) =1. First Fifty Years.=――Manasseh ben Israel’s petition for the return of the Jews to England met, as we have seen, with no formally favourable response; but nevertheless, from the date of his visit, (1656), Jews began to settle in England, and no serious attempts were ever made to dislodge them. In 1662 there was a well-attended little synagogue in King Street, City; and by 1664 the small community had grown sufficiently in numbers and in importance to draw up for itself a regular constitution, and to appoint wardens and a treasurer to administer the laws and the funds of the congregation. These laws, or _Ascamoth_,[71] were written in Spanish, and it was not till 1819 that they were rendered into English. The _Ascamoth_ settled the service of the synagogue in its spiritual and financial aspects, provided for the raising of the necessary funds, and, under penalty of _Cherem_, or excommunication, dictated most stringent rules of conduct. A standard of honour as well as of honesty was set up in the congregation, and it was distinctly and authoritatively announced that any member who dropped below this fixed high level, depending on his community to be raised again, would be disappointed. ‘No time and no money’ would be expended on the defence of such culprits; they must expect the law of the country to take its course, and to be ‘chastised according to their crimes.’ The _Mahamad_, or council of the congregation, was endowed with almost despotic powers over it. It could equally interdict