About this time an Armenian bishop arrived in this country with letters from the pope, in order to see some curious relics; and among other things which he stated――for the truth of which I cannot vouch――he related the extraordinary circumstance about the Wandering Jew; and as at this time the old man is very much talked of, and you see in many windows in large characters THE WANDERING JEW, I will just give you the description the prelate gave of him, as it is recorded by Matthew Paris, a contemporary monkish historian. He tells us seriously that “several persons examined him about this wonderful Jew, and that the prelate gave them his word that he was then living in Armenia; and an officer of his retinue who came along with him, informed the examiners more particularly, that this Jew had formerly been porter to Pontius Pilate, and was called Cataphilus; and that standing by when our Saviour was dragged out of the Judgment hall, he smote him upon the back: at which Jesus being offended, turned about and said to him, ‘The Son of Man will go, but thou shalt stay till he come again.’ That afterwards he was converted to the Christian faith, baptized, and called Joseph, living to be an hundred years old. But then growing sick and impotent, he fell one day into a swoon; upon coming out of which he found himself young again, and as vigorous as a man of thirty the age he was of when Christ was crucified. The same officer assured them that his master was intimately acquainted with this strange person, and dined with him not long before he came into England; that he himself had seen him several times; that he was a man of great seriousness and gravity, never laughing when any questions were put to him concerning ancient history, such as the resurrection of the dead bodies that came out of their sepulchres at the time of the crucifixion, the apostles’ creed, and other circumstances relating to those holy persons; that he was very fearful of Christ’s coming to judge the world, for then he said he was to die; and that he trembled whenever he called to mind the grievous crime of smiting the Son of God, yet hoped for salvation, because it was a sin of ignorance.”¹ A most fit person for examining old relics. ¹ A different account of a Wandering Jew was announced about five centuries later, which I shall notice in the second series. From this time scarce a year was allowed to pass without taxes to a grievous amount being exacted. In the seventeenth year of this reign, the king manifested great zeal for the Christian religion, by taxing the Jews again to the amount of 18,000 marks of silver.