At a little
distance, the appearance is exceedingly brilliant, for there is no other
light among the populace to diminish its lustre, and the whole scene
is singularly picturesque. The resplendent light issuing from the star
strikes powerfully upon the countenances of the principal actors, while
those more remote receive only a faint and subdued gleam. The silvery
effulgence of the moon, the sombre and deserted look of the buildings
around, and the general stillness that pervades every object, save the
scene of action, might inspire the mind of a Rembrandt, or introduce
to the mere casual beholder feelings at once new and poetical.
After parading through the town, the youths repair in a body to the
residence of some opulent inhabitant, where their arrival is welcomed
with shouts and clapping of hands, and where they are entertained with
a plentiful repast.
G.W.N.
* * * * *
THE JEWS.
Their present actual numbers may, perhaps, not exceed six
millions--numbers, however, probably greater than those over which
Solomon reigned; and of these six millions there may be resident in the
contiguous countries of Moravia, Ancient Poland, the Crimea, Moldavia,
and Wallachia, above three millions. Except within the countries which
formed Poland before its partitions, their population contained in any
one European kingdom, cannot, therefore, be great.
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