Hebrew Loyalty under the First Four Georges

By Dr. I. Abrahams.

Introductory.

In the title of this paper, Hebrew is used where possibly Jewish was expected. But one of the curiosities of the Hanoverian age was the prevalence of loyal poems written in Hebrew by Christians as well as Jews. Nor was the word English introduced in the title, for some remarkable Hebrew compositions in honour of the English throne emanated from foreigners.

We may, therefore, divide our survey into three parts: (1) Academic, (2) Continental, and (3) Liturgical.

I. Academic Tributes.

As regards the English Universities, the eighteenth century was not strong in Hebraists. Oxford, it is true, had Kennicott and Lowth, but Cambridge had lost without replacing the giants of the age of Light foot. In an oration delivered in Cambridge, somewhere about 1654, Isaac Barrow complimented his contemporaries on their Hebrew attain? ments, and declared that there were men, among the juniors, capable of

Written by

I. Abrahams

Published in

Volume 9

1918

Other articles within the volume

• THE JEWISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF ENGLAND
• Tallies and Receipt Rolls
• Some Medieval Notes
• Racial Origins of Jewish Types. Presidential Address (1920)
• Perkin Warbeck and His Jewish Master
• Reflections on the History of the Anglo-Jewish Community. Presidential Address (1920)
• Hebrew Loyalty under the First Four Georges
• Ephraim Luzzatto (1729—1792)
• The Legal Position of the Jews in pre-expulsion England, as shown by the Plea Rolls of the Jewish Exchequer
• Special Taxation of the Jews
• Proposals for Special Taxation of the Jews after the Revolution. Presidential Address (1918)
• The Peace Banquet
• PREFACE.