rise no higher; and now that the world closes none of its avenues at his approach, the talents which made him attain distinction when under persecution render every career he selects in this age of his toleration a brilliant one.

The Hebrew has all the qualities which lead men to prosperity. A keen brain, intense perseverance, great industry, great nervous energy, frugality, an ambition that never loses an opportunity, a conscience somewhat dulled by that cunning which is hereditary in the persecuted, pushing, active, knowing instinctively what to accept and what to reject, it is not surprising that his success is marked. Between the Jew and the Scotchman-though both cordially dislike each other-there is much in common. Both comprise within themselves all that is good and bad in human nature in a marked degree; both clan together, seldom working singly, so that the success of one brings other successes in its wake; both carry their nationality in their face; both are eager after the main chance, and somewhat indifferent as to the means, provided the end be gained; both are frugal and persevering; both are imbued with strong religious prejudices and both sold their king. It is in society that the position of the Jew has become the most conspicuous. Men now not elderly can remember the time when the Jew was

never met

with at the houses of the great. He lived apart, formed a community of his own, and was regarded as a pariah outside the pale of social existence. A dame of fashion would have felt her selfrespect wounded had she permitted a Jewess to enter her drawingrooms, whilst a peer would as soon have asked a Jew to his country house as he would the

hangman. But as wealth became more and more the idol of the age, as one by one the barriers set up by prejudice were uprooted, and as Judaism, gradually losing its distinctive characteristics, developed into a kind of deism, society had to march with the times and extend its frontiers. The Jew was admitted, and his tact soon transformed the bare inch which was reluctantly doled out to him into the lengthiest of ells. It is a curious fact that whilst the middle classes still entertain a strong prejudice against the Jew, nowhere is he more cordially welcomed than amongst what are termed the higher classes. Whether this is due to the fact that the more rarefied the social atmosphere the freer is it from the vulgarities of intolerance and the artificialities of civilisation, or that Hebrews, themselves strongly tinged with aristocratic sentiments, take more pains to please when in the society of the great than when amongst their equals, I know not.

There is one member of the Caravanserai to whom not a few of these remarks refer. It is now many years since Hermann Wertheim left his native city of Magdeburg to seek his fortune and build up a prosperous career for himself. Obscure, penniless, unbefriended, he began life dependent entirely upon his own resources. What the history of his lineage was none of us know, though, since he has attained to celebrity, malice and imagination have been busy with his name. Yet whatever his parentage may have been, there can be no doubt as to his Hebrew origin. There are various types of Jew. There

is the low-caste Jew-bulletheaded, bull-necked, olive-hued, snub-nosed, with low brow, greasy curls, negro lips, and redeemed

chairman or director of a mine, a line of railway, a joint-stock bank, or any other financial association, inspired the public with confidence and sent up the price of its shares. His terms were heavy, yet speculators were only too glad to pay what he asked, provided he would promote the companies they proposed to him.

When it was known that Wertheim had consented to bring out a company, the competition for allotments set in fast and furious, and the shares once floated were bought up at a heavy premium. His offices were always crowded with eager capitalists anxious for an interview-not always granted -with the great man, imploring him to take their money and invest it in any undertaking he thought best. At first the great City houses looked somewhat askance at the adventurer,' as he was called; but they ended, as the rest of the fraternity had ended, by hanging about his magnificent anterooms and invoking his aid. It is better to be born lucky than rich, says the proverb; but when a man is both lucky and rich the ball lies at his feet. Wertheim was lucky. Numerous as had been the enterprises in which he had been engaged, none had been miserable failures, none had led to investigations which reflected upon his honour. Some were paying twenty per cent, some were only paying four, but there was not one of them at a discount. The official liquidator had never had occasion to intrude himself unpleasantly upon the presence of Hermann Wertheim. It was computed that within ten years he had realised nearly a couple of millions.

And now the self-control and sagacity of the man appeared. At the very zenith of his prosperity, when he was worshipped in the streets and

lanes around the Exchange, when every continental Bourse was applauding his ventures and exaggerating his successes, when committees of the House of Commons listened to his opinions as conclusive, when he was looked up to both by the Treasury and the Bank of England as the soundest of financial advisers, Wertheim sold his offices in the City and retired from every undertaking in which his name appeared. Jews are, of all people, the most pleasure-loving and the least given to ennui or satiety. They drink the cup of life to the dregs, and find the last quaff almost as pleasant as the first. Wertheim had worked and won; he would give ill-luck no opportunity; the rest of his days he would pass in leisure.

A brilliant position east of Temple Bar signifies at the present day a brilliant position west of that now happily removed obstacle. Gradually, first through dandies and politicians who had sat with him at the same Boards of Directors, then through Ministers who had asked him for counsel, and then through certain great ladies of a speculative temperament, who had been indebted to the famous promoter for allotments, shares, and early information as to railway amalgamations, Wertheim entered society, and his wealth soon made him a personage in the circles of its leaders. It is difficult to understand how a race, ostracised and oppressed like the Jews, should have obtained that social tact and power of pleasing, when it suits them, which is eminently their characteristic. There is hardly a capital in Europe, where a Jewess by her brilliant social gifts is not amongst the leaders of its society; and the Jew, whether he be one by religion or by blood, who has mixed much in the world, is always a