Whilst this Abraham was imprisoned, he promised to the king that if his liberty were granted to him, he would discover to his majesty, his brethren’s misdemeanors, stating that they had a great deal of wealth concealed from the king. Accordingly, as soon as he was set free, a royal search was instituted for all the Jewish estates, and was conducted in the most barbarous manner, inasmuch as that unprincipled Abraham went along with the commissioners appointed for that purpose, and urged them to make diligent search, threatening them, if at all lax, to inform against them to the king. This man proved to them a source of immense trouble. It is a gratifying fact that no Jewish convert caused them willingly any trouble whatever.¹ ¹ See p. 250. It is an unjust insinuation on the part of Mr. Moses Samuel, in his “Address on the Position of the Jews in Britain,” p. 27, that the Jewish converts――as he peevishly calls them apostates――of that time were “breeding mischief against the sons of Judea, and vituperating their holy religion.” Oh, no, Mr. Samuel; the unconverted Jews breeded mischief against each other, but not the converted ones. I am almost ashamed to proceed with my monotonous lecture. I have once more to tell you that the king was in trouble for want of money. He determined, once more, to see what the Jews could do for him. To begin with, they were obliged to furnish the king with 5,000 marks previous to his leaving for Gascony.¹ Whilst there, a match was made up between Prince Edward and Eleanora of Castille. The intended marriage was necessarily attended with extravagant expenses. The king, therefore, commissioned his brother Richard to extort from the luckless Jews the sum required for the nuptial festivities of his heir.² But Henry was insatiable; he wanted more money, for which he applied first to the barons, conjuring up a pitiable tale, viz., that he apprehended a Spanish invasion. But the barons happily could refuse to be caught with chaff, and therefore boldly confessed their unbelief, and declined to give money. The king, therefore, commissioned his brother, once more, to levy money from the Jews: and a very large sum it was. ¹ W. Prynne. ² “As soon as Henry received the glittering fruits of this iniquity, he sent for Eleanor to assist him in squandering it away in the light and vain expenses in which they mutually delighted, and to grace with her presence the bridal of their eldest son, Prince Edward. King Henry waited at Bourdeaux to receive his son’s bride. He had prepared so grand a festival for the reception of the young Infanta, that he expended 300, 000 marks on her marriage-feast, to the indignation of his English peers.”――_A. Strickland._