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eludes capital punishment , but this , we presume , must be an error , for have not the Jews themselves , at various times , repudiated the power of condemning criminals V They also profess , and really make noble efforts , to relieve the poor , but all their attempts are neutralized by a bad and vicious system of administration . Our traveller expresses his complete horror at the condition of the Jewish hospital at Smyrnaand tells

, us that when the Sultan granted them a site at Constantinople , on which to erect an hospital , they commenced the building , but have left it unfinished to this hour . Their schools , he tells us , are of the very worst description ; ' education is looked upon with a distrustful eye , and any interference on its behalf hy the -western brethren is jealousl y resented as coming from a source suspiciously liberal . Early marriages seem to be the curse of the

. Jewish ' race in the east , inducing premature decay , and the dependence of a family on parents who are themselves little else but children . This is sought to be palliated on the ground of preventing worse consequences , but it weakens the community so much that in some places they seem to be gradually dying out under its effects . To the surprise and indignation of the ' western and more civilized Jew , polygamy , to the extent of a second wife ,

is pot uncommon where tiie first wife has no children , or the children are all females . They arc also a very superstitious race , and Dr . Erankl is a minute recorder and indefatigable collector of strange stories of their belief in the supernatural . The most prominent notion of this kind is the belief that women are regarded by spirits ancl demons with love and jealousy . The Hatti Humayoum is more feared ancl dislikedthan looked upon as a-

, hopeful indication in their favour . The military sen-ice which they are called upon to render to the sultan is hateful in the extreme , as thej' believe it to be a secret attempt to undermine their reli gion . So far has this feeling extended , that in the Hebrew slums of Constantinople Dr . Erankl heard it made the subject of a song , and tells us : —•

" 1 asked the man if he knew any new songs . " ' You have come to a king in the realm of' song . ' " We laughed at this haughty Spanish answer , aud ordered him to sing . He sang a song , just out . tho production of some unknown poet , the subject of which is the Jews of the place , showing how they have violated all that is old ond highly prized , have cast aside their piety and their reverence for tbe Supreme Being , ancl lieen rendered apostate and godless by the Tansimat and Hat Humayoum . "

This feeling also coincides with a subject that , at the time , wrought the most dismal dismay among them when the chalebi ivas prohibited , of which he says ' : — " The chalebi is the old traditional head-dress of the Jewish women ; its ugliness is only equalled by the difficulty of describing it . Imagine a ball of linen rags , about the size of an ostrich ' s egg . tightly compressed , and placed on the crown of the head of the woman who is about to be

adorned with the chalebi . Then a female attendant holds this ball in its place , while another winds a shawl over it in curious folds . Thus the . chalebi rises aloft like a tower , and carefully conceals the hair of the wearer ; it not only detracts from the personal appearance of those who wear it , but also exposes them to the derision of the Mohammedans , by showing that they are Jewesses . _ " Redschid Pasha signified , when the Ohaeham of Nischnn paid him his official visit

, that it would be agreeable to hiin if the women reformed their style of dress , and laid aside the chalebi . On this the Ohaeham Baschi ordered the chalebi to bo prohibited in the synagogues . The old women shed tears , and lamented as if they were about to lose a favourite child , and persisted in wearing tho chalebi . Then the Chacham Baschi gave forth an anathema against it , and the souls of the old women were overwhelmed with a feeling of profound sorrow , as they . saw iu this innovation the prestige of the ruin and decay of the sacred Jewish religion , in the same way as tho old Polish . Tews , when the young men laid aside the long black caftan , and impiously cropped their long unshorn locks .

" But there is a tale of mystery connected with the ehnlebi . " Soon after the anathema had been hurled at the heads of the aged women , one night , a female , concealed by a grey veil , made her appearance at a place of embarkation on the Bosphorus . and stepped into a caique . When the boatman asked her where he should row , her answer was , 'Row on . ' Having arrived at a landing-place , he ceased rowing , and asked her if she would land . 'Bow on , ' was her only answer , ami this occurred several times . It struck the boatman that his boat passed h the water

throug as lightly as if there had been no one in it . At length they arrived at the landing-place at Ohaskoi , where most of the . lews reside . The woman with tiie grey veil stepped from the caique to tho land , and said to the boatman' 'Know that I am the cholera , ami that I have come to punish the Jews , because their women havo laid aside the chalebi . ' " There followed a fearful outbreak of cholera at Chaskoi . " On Dr . Frank !' s journey to Jerusalem , whither he has been commissioned to go b y a benevolent Austrian lady in order to open a

school there fi-r the benefit of the Jewish children , he experienced a proof how a poetical and touching custom had degenerated into a burlesque ; and he gives the following account of his approach to the holy city : — " I was now some hundred yards in advance of the caravan , and quite close to the walls of the city . . Suddenly a man . whom I had not

previously observed , rushed upon me , and seized the collar of my great coat with his left hand , while he brandished a long glittering knife in his right . My reverie , from which I was suddenly roused by this unexpected attack , gave place to a feeling of indescribable terror , and I wns almost mechanically drawing my pistols from the holster , when the man quickly loosened his hold , lowered his arms , and , with pale lips ,

exclaimed" ' Schema Israel ! what are you going to do ? " All this happened in less than a minute , and recognizing one of the same creed , I , who may have been just as pale with terror myself , could not help bursting into a laugh . He explained to me that every Jewish pilgrim , before he enters the city , must tear his dress from sorrow at its destruction , in the same way as on the occasion of the death of a relative . So I allowed Mr . Mosche Kural , who derives a small income from this office , ' a krie cut '—i . e .. I allowed him to make a rent in my dress , while I repeated after him the usual f ormula— ' Zion is turned into a desert , in lies in ruins . ""

At Jerusalem he found the degradation , degeneration , immorality , and superstition of his race at the lowest possible depth : ancl however accustomed we may be to the denunciations of the Christians of the Latin and Greek churches located there , among themselves , or to the slanders of the Anglo-Prussian Bishop Gobat , with all the abuse the latter has heaped on those who differ from him—yet in comparison to Dr . Frankl ' s indignant

description of the ways and doings of the Jews at Jerusalem , the former are comparatively mild and inoffensive . The Jews have a favourite practice , particularly those of Germany ancl Poland , and they leave the lands of their birth when advancing in years , in order to lay their bones in the tomb of their forefathers at Jerusalem ; and as many of them reach the holy city not overburthened with wealththey arc supported by alms collected for that

pur-, pose in almost every city of Europe . Three consequences follow this continual immigration ancl collection . The first is an immense amount of peculation and fraud amongst the rabbis and other persons through whose hands the money passes . Another is the idleness , falsehood , sycophancy and selfishness of professed mendicants , which inflames the ferocious party quarrels among the various sects of eastern ancl western origin , who fight their battles

in the holy city , each to secure the greatest amount of assistance derived from the pious offerings of their people abroad . And lastly , these immigrants bring their families with them , who lapse into the evil habits of the country , contract premature marriages , lose all habits of industry , ancl add to the number of the enfeebled and depraved race who prey on the benevolence , and frustrateall the munificent plans for their welfare , formed by such nobleminded Jews as Sir Afoscs Alontefiore , who came with barrels of

dollars to distribute among his people , but all whose schemes for permanent ]) - improving them have wellnigh come to nought , ancl who was ultimately excommunicated by them for offending their superstition by visiting the Mosque of Omar . Dr . Erankl , though a Jew , does not consider himself bound to accept the ideas , or hide the faults of his race . Even while conforniingto their customs , he expresses no respect for some of them .

He openly proclaims the iinworthiness , fraud and rascallity of most of their rabbis . He enumerates , with bitter precision , the varieties of their parties . He descants at large on the greediness , the unfitness for anything useful or good , of the poorer population ; and though he does not tell us that bis own benevolent errand was unsuccessful , he dwells on what he had to endure from the malice and calumnies of unscrupulous opponents , and

scarcely leaves much reason to hope that his schemes would prove more lasting than those of his noble and openhearted predecessors , Sir Afoscs Montefiore ancl Air . Cohen . A darker ancl more miserable picture could hardl y be drawn of a race lost to every feeling of self-respect ancl good , sinking deeper and deeper each generation into sensuality and corruption of mind and body , eaten up with the grossest superstitions , and

grossly , ruthlessly , and systematicall y oppressed and plundered by rulers professing to govern , ancl even to feed them , in the name of God ! He epiotes the indignant expression of a Polish merchant who went to Jerusalem expecting to find it the seat of sanctity , but found nothing there save immorality , hypocrisy , ancl utter ' helplcssness . The Pole said : — " He tliat will enjoy ituhm haze ( the p leasures of this world ) , must live in Moldavia " ; he that wishes to renounce them ayid to obtain auhmi iutl'o , ( the pleasures of the