[211] It is a singular fact that, although the bishops had nothing to do with the promotion of this Bill, the principal odium of it was cast upon them. It was held that they were bound in conscience to prevent its passing, or at all events to do their best to prevent it. William Romaine affirmed, in a pamphlet which attracted much attention, that ‘the set of bishops then on the bench were the only ones from the time of Christ who would have countenanced so anti-Christian a measure.’ The general charge made against bishops is that of intolerance. It is curious to observe that, if they ever are in advance of the laity in tolerance, it is at once made the subject of bitter reproach to them. [212] It is a most curious illustration of this that, up to the middle of the present century, although all bequests made by Jews to their countrymen for charitable purposes, such as building hospitals, endowing almshouses, etc., were held valid, and would be enforced, if necessary, by the Court of Chancery, any provision for the education of their children in their own faith was accounted void. A bequest made about the middle of the century, by a Jew named De Pass, of £1,200 for the purpose of building a college for Jews, was similarly declared void by the Law Courts, because it tended to propagate a false belief, and the money was given to the Foundling Hospital. [213] During the No Popery riots of 1780, the Jews in Houndsditch, fearing that the violence of the mob would be attracted to them, as it had so often been on occasions of popular tumult, wrote up each on his door front: ‘This is the house of a true Protestant.’ The father of Grimaldi, the clown, is said to have exercised a still more comprehensive caution, and to have inscribed on _his_ door, not ‘No Popery,’ but ‘No Religion.’ Lord George Gordon, the leader of the riots, consummated his erratic career by professing the Jewish faith, in which he died. CHAPTER XLI. A.D. 1800-1885. THE JEWS IN ENGLAND—_continued_.