_Emancipation of the Jews._--In Francis' _History of the Bank of
English_, p. 24., mention is made of an offer on the part of the Jews to
pay 500,000l. to the state on the following conditions;--1. That the
laws against them should be repealed; 2. That the Bodleian Library
should be assigned to them; 3. That they should have permission to use
St. {402} Paul's Cathedral as a Synagogue. It is stated, on the
authority of a letter in the Thurloe State Papers, that this proposition
was actually discussed. The larger sum of 800,000l. was demanded; but,
being refused, the negotiation was broken off. This proposition is said
to have been made shortly before the elevation of Cromwell to the
Protectorate. The subject is an interesting one in these days, when
Jewish disabilities are under discussion.
I wish to offer two queries:--1. Is this story confirmed by any
contemporary writer? 2. Is it conceivable that the Jews would have
consented to worship in a _cruciform_ church, such as was old St.
Paul's, which was standing at the time this offer is supposed to have
been made?
H.M. AUSTEN.
St. Peter's, Thanet.
_The Complutensian MSS._--Has not there been an account of these MSS.
published in London in 1821? My authority for this Query is to be found
in a work of Dr. D. Antonio Puigblanch:--
"En el año 1821 per encargo que hice desde Madrid _se imprimio
mio aca en Londres_, de que es falso este rumor[2], pues en la
biblioteca de la Universidad de Alcala quedaban pocos meses
antes en gue estune en ella siete manuscritos biblicos en
aquellas dos lenguas[3], que son sin duda los mismos siete de
que hace mencion en la Vida del Cardenal Cisneros, Alfonso de
Castro, doctor téologo de la misma Universidad, i escritor
contemporaneo o de poco tiempo después, parte de los cuales
manuscritos, es a saber, los caldéos, son de letra de Alfonso de
Zamora, que es uno de los tres judíos conversos editores de la
Complutense."--_Opusculos Gramatico-Satiricos del Dr. D. Antonio
Puigblanch_, Londres [1832], p. 365.
If the Chaldee and Hebrew MSS. of the Complutensian Polyglot were at
Alcala in 1821, when were they removed to Madrid, and in what library at
Madrid are they now? The Greek MSS. are supposed to have been returned
to the Vatican Library. If the Chaldee MSS. are in the handwriting of
one of the editors, as stated by Puigblanch, they cannot be of much
value or authority. I shall add another Query:--Are they paper or
parchment?