tion than that of the letters, which some credulous ecclesiastical historians ascribe to our Savior and Abgar, a king of Edessa. Indeed some writers of high respectability consider the Jewish account of the Chasars as altogether. fictitious.* Bartolocci, while he states that the name is of frequent occurrence in Jewish books, and that the Nubian geographer places their country on the borders of the Black and Caspian Seas, does not hesitate to employ the following very decided language. "Inasmuch as no geographical authority of any weight to my knowledge, mentions this region, nor even Benjamin in his Itinerary, I consider the account of it, as given by the Rabbins and others who have borrowed from them, as wholly without historical authority." The fictitious character of the correspondence just mentioned, and also of the colloquy which forms the subject of the book Cosri, is, in the opinion of the same very learned authority, indubitable.

The value and importance of the book, however, is wholly independent of the historical correctness of either the corespondence or the colloquy, or even of the authorship of the work. The supposed reply of the King of the Chasars suggests to the writer the plan and subject of his work Cosri, the name of which (a Cosrite, ) denotes the nation of one of the leading par

* Basnage, Book ix. chap. i. sec. 4, 14.

Bartolocci, Part iii.

p. 62.

ties. The book consists of five divisions. It contains a defence of Rabbinical Judaism against Philosophers, Christians, Mohammedans and Karaites. The form of the work is as follows: The king repeatedly hears in a dream a voice announcing, "thy views are good, but not so thy conduct." In order then to ascertain what religion was best adapted to instruct him to do well, he applies in course to an Epicurean philosopher, a Christian and a Mohammedan. A philosophical religion, he soon perceives, must rest on arguments of mere probability, and cannot be reduced to certainty. Christianity and Mohammedanism recognize the divine authority of the Jewish religion, while they are themselves open to objections. Hence he concludes to attach himself to the despised people of the Jews, whose doctrines are divine and uniform, however diversified their conditions and settlements in the world.*

In order to lead to this agreeable result, he introduces a Jew, who engages the yet doubting monarch in a long conversation on the subject of religion, in the course of which he lays before him a sound exposition of the Hebrew doctrines respecting God and the divine government of the world. The general sentiments contained in this

*Seo Bemerkungen zum Alten Testament aus dem Buch Cosri, Remarks on the Old Testament from the Book Cosri, by DR. FR. KOESTER, in the Theologische Studien, und Kritiken for 1837, No. 1. p. 153 ss.

work are such as may be found in some other Jewish productions of that period, and are designed to show that the Hebrew system of religion and its rites are in unison with philosophy and enlightened reason. The author proves

the God of the Israelites to be the true God, the creator and preserver of all things. He treats successively, and with much eloquence, of the Deity, his existence, name and attributes, of the creation of the world and of angels; of scripture and its divine authority; of Providence, divine decrees, free will, the resurrection, and everlasting life; of divine worship, prayer, idolatry; of the dignity of the Jewish people, of the promised land, the Hebrew language and sacred poetry; of the soul, its faculties and immortality; of prophecy, the caballa and caballistic mysteries.

This valuable work of Rabbi Judah was originally written in Arabic, and the Hebrew now existing is a translation, which retains very considerably the idiom of the original language. It was rendered into Latin by the younger Buxtorf, and published with notes at Basle, in 1660, 4to. In the preface the translator has inserted the correspondence ascribed to Hasdai and king Joseph. Another version of the Cosri in Spanish was published by Abendana, a very learned Jew, at Amsterdam, in 1663, whose translation, Simon prefers to that of Buxtorf.*

*Biographie Universelle, Tome xxii. p. 101.

ABEN EZRA.

RABBI ABRAHAM BEN MEIR EZRA was born in Toledo, probably about the beginning of the twelfth century, and descended from one of the most distinguished Jewish families. He was nearly related to Rabbi Judah Hallevi, their mothers being sisters. But he must have been considerably younger than his distinguished cousin, as he formed a still more intimate connection with him by marrying his daughter, a short time before her father made his pilgrimage to Jerusalem. He is saidt to have been indebted to his genius and wit for the possession of this fair and wealthy heiress. Her mother had so often and importunately solicited her husband to furnish their daughter with a suitable partner, that Rabbi Judah swore one evening (not very like a good father and a wise man, it must be confessed,) to

* Or, Rabbi Abraham, son of Meir and grandson of Ezra. Aben is used to denote grandson. He is also called by way of distinction, the wise, and is designated by abbreviations, which may be seen in Wolf, Vol. I. p. 71.

+ I give this amusing account on the authority of Jost.

give her to the first Jew who should offer himself on the following day. This was none other than Aben Ezra, dressed as a traveller, whose reputation had not failed to reach the ear of the Rabbi, although they were personally unknown to each other. As might well be supposed, the mother was shocked at the thought of bestowing her lovely daughter and only child on a youthful Stranger so meanly apparelled, but her husband very soon observed that he had a young man of mind before him, who gave promise of ripe scholarship, and without hesitation admitted him into the number of his pupils. Aben Ezra affected ignorance, and employed himself in the first rudiments of knowledge, making, as may readily be supposed, rapid and satisfactory progress. On a certain evening Rabbi Judah remained unusually long in his study, and it was only after repeated entreaties that he was prevailed on to leave it for the supper table. The stranger's inquiries being unable to draw from his host the true cause of his delay, the Rabbi's wife went to his study and brought thence the fragments of a Hebrew poem which had engaged his attention, and which he had not been able to finish to his satisfaction. Aben Ezra ran through the composition, made with his pen some corrections, and finished the whole to the great delight of his teacher, who, immediately on reading it, embraced his pupil and exclaimed, "you are certainly the celebrated Aben Ezra, and welcome to me as a