By the time appointed, all the Jews had left England; the numbers have been estimated by some at 15,060, by others at 16,511. The following few particulars are to be met with in the histories of the Jews themselves, respecting their changes, chances, troubles, and sufferings in this country. Ben Virga, in his chronicle _Shaivet Y’hudah_, states: “A.M. 5018, in the island which is now called England, a great and mighty destruction occurred in all the congregations, great and powerful in wisdom, knowledge, and honour, which were in those days. And especially that great city called London, which contained about two thousand Jewish householders; all of them were possessed of wisdom and wealth. It was there that Rabbi Abraham Aben Ezra, composed his epistle which he called, ‘The epistle of the Sabbath.’ The cause of their destruction was, that they [i.e. the Jews] should change their creed; and when they insisted on the sanctification of God’s name, they [i.e. the Gentiles] accused them of counterfeiting the coin. This calumny was brought before the king; the king examined and investigated the matter, and found that the false accusers invented that calumny against the Jews; and they escaped. After a time, the Nazarenes resumed their calumnies, and sought for persons to witness against the Jews, and they found such persons as they desired [who stated] how they saw a Jew clipping a coin; and though the king knew that it was all false, but on account of the murmuring of the populace, he wished to throw off their displeasure, and fearing lest the nation should rise with a sword in their hand, as was generally the case with them, and there would be no one to deliver, he commanded and banished them [the Jews], and this expulsion took place A.M. 5020.” It is my firm conviction that Ben Virga’s account is the true one, as far as the facts of the case are concerned. There seems certainly to be a disagreement in the dates.¹ ¹ See Appendix G. Rabbi G’daliah mixed up several incidents together, and also added a little of the marvellous out of his own vivid imaginations, which give his narrative altogether the air of fiction, which is the following:――