Part 2 (1/2)

Signor Racah, being his great-uncle, performed the duties of G.o.dfather and ever from that day, and up to the year of his death, he evinced the liveliest interest in the welfare of his G.o.dson; when the latter was grown up the affection proved mutual.

Sir Moses when speaking of him used to say that he had greatly endeared himself to the people in Leghorn by his abilities and high character. He cherished the most benevolent feelings towards all good and honest men, and often, in times of grief and calamity, rendered help and consolation to all cla.s.ses of the community. Sir Moses held him in great veneration, and during his stay in Italy gave special orders to have a copy of his likeness procured for him. A facsimile of the portrait is here given, with an inscription in Sir Moses' own handwriting.

In his will, Sir Moses, referring to him and to the Synagogue at Leghorn, thus expresses himself--

”To the trustees of the Synagogue at Leghorn in Italy, of which my honoured G.o.dfather (deceased) was a member, in augmentation of the fund for repairing that building, I bequeath 500; and to the same trustees, as a fund for keeping in repair the tomb of my said G.o.dfather and my G.o.dmother, Esther Racah, his wife, 200.”

Two or three years before his death, Sir Moses ordered a coloured drawing of these tombs, with a complete copy of the epitaphs, to be sent to him, and it is now preserved in the library of the College at Ramsgate.

After a stay of several months at Leghorn, Mr and Mrs Montefiore returned to England. I have often heard descriptions of that homeward journey from Mrs Montefiore, when she used to visit her son at Park Lane.

”Moses,” she said, ”was a beautiful, strong, and very tall child, but yet on our return journey to England, during a severe winter, I was unwilling to entrust him to a stranger; I myself acted as his nurse, and many and many a time I felt the greatest discomfort through not having more than a cup of coffee, bread and b.u.t.ter, and a few eggs for my diet.” ”No meat of any description,” she added, ”pa.s.sed my lips; my husband and myself being strict observers of the Scriptural injunctions as to diet.” ”But I am now,” she said, with a pleasant smile, ”amply repaid for the inconvenience I then had to endure.”

”What I thought a great privation, in no way affected the state of my health, nor that of the child; and I feel at present the greatest satisfaction on account of my having strictly adhered to that which I thought was right.”

[Ill.u.s.tration: Moses Racah of Leghorn, G.o.dfather and Great Uncle of Sir Moses. _See Vol. I., page 10._]

In the course of time several more children were born to them, all of whom they reared most tenderly, and over whose education they watched with the greatest care. They had the happiness of seeing them grow up in health and strength, endowed with excellent qualities, Moses, the eldest, and the subject of these memoirs, being already conspicuous for his strength of understanding and kindness of disposition. They continued for many years to reside at Kennington Terrace, Vauxhall, in the same house in which they took up their residence immediately after their marriage. After their death it was occupied by members of their family till a few years ago, when it pa.s.sed into the hands of strangers.

It was there that Mr Benjamin Gompertz (the author of the ”Principles and Application of Imaginary Quant.i.ties”) resided and the mother of Sir Moses breathed her last.

Joseph Eliahu, his father, was a well educated and G.o.d-fearing man, upright in all his dealings. He was extremely fond of botany and gardening. There is still in the library of Lady Montefiore's Theological College at Ramsgate, a book which formerly belonged to him, and in which remarks on the cultivation of plants are written in his own handwriting.

Sir Moses, when speaking of him, used to say, ”He was at one time of a most cheerful disposition, but after he had the misfortune to lose one of his daughters at a fire which occurred in his house, he was never seen to smile.”

CHAPTER II.

EARLY EDUCATION--BECOMES A STOCKBROKER--HIS MARRIAGE.

At an early age, we find young Moses Montefiore attending school in the neighbourhood of Kennington. After he had completed his elementary studies, he was removed to a more advanced cla.s.s in another school, where he began to evince a great desire to cultivate his mind, independently of his cla.s.s lessons. He was observed to copy short moral sentences from books falling into his hands, or interesting accounts of important events, which he endeavoured to commit to memory.

Afterwards, as he grew up in life, this became a habit with him, which he did not relinquish even when he had attained the age of ninety years. His diaries all contain either at the beginning or the end of the record of his day's work, some beautiful lines of poetry referring to moral or literary subjects: mostly quotations or extracts from standard works. Young Montefiore showed on all occasions the greatest respect for his teachers, bowing submissively to their authority in all cases of dispute between his fellow-students and himself.

He was acknowledged to be most frank and loyal in all his intercourse with his superiors. The respect due to const.i.tuted authorities he always used to consider, when he had become a man in active life, as a sacred duty. He was in the habit of saying, in the words of the royal philosopher, ”Fear thou the Lord and the King, and meddle not with them that are given to change.” Whatever might be his private opinion on any subject, he would in all his public and private transactions be guided only by the decision of an acknowledged authority.

Montefiore did not remain many years at school. There was at that time no prospect for him to enter life as a professor at a university, or as a member of the bar. There was no sphere of work open to him in any of the professions; and even to enter the medical profession would have been difficult. There was nothing left for him, therefore, but to enter a commercial career. He used often to speak about the days of his apprentices.h.i.+p in the business of one of their neighbours in Kennington, and how hard he had to work; when subsequently he was in a counting-house in the city, the hours were late, and he sometimes had to take letters to the post on the stroke of midnight. There were no copying machines, and all letters had to be copied by hand. He also spoke of the great distance he had to walk every night from the city to Kennington Terrace, during the cold winter months as well as in the summer time. There were then no omnibuses or other conveyances at hand such as we have now, and if there had been, he was of too saving a disposition to make any unnecessary outlay on his own person; he used to keep a strict account of the smallest item of his expenses. It was not with the object of complaining, or of regretting his early mode of life that he gave his friends these descriptions; his object was to impress on the mind of the rising generation the necessity of working hard and spending little, in order to make their way in the world.

By his habits of industry, by his strict compliance with the instructions of his superiors, and more especially by his own clear judgment in all matters connected with the business entrusted to him, he soon succeeded in obtaining promotion.

Having had the opportunity of seeing business transactions among brokers on the Stock Exchange, he decided upon securing for himself the privilege of being one of the limited number of Jewish brokers.

According to the law of England at that time only twelve such brokers could be admitted, but Moses Montefiore had the satisfaction of soon seeing himself in possession of the much-coveted privilege. He took an office, and this owing to the prosperity with which his straightforward dealing and courteous manners were rewarded, he soon had to change for a larger one, which again he did not keep long. As his business had now to be conducted near the bank, he took up his quarters in Bartholomew Lane, where he remained to the last day of his life. It was there, after nearly the whole of that thoroughfare had become the property of the Alliance Life and Fire a.s.surance Company, and the houses had been rebuilt, that many an important meeting of the Board of Deputies of British Jews and other boards of benevolent inst.i.tutions was held; and the very book-case, in which all important papers connected with his business in that office were preserved, is now in one of the houses of Lady Montefiore's College, where he used now and then to take his breakfast on a Sabbath morning, when it was his intention to be present at a lecture in the college.

His brother Abraham, seeing young Moses successful in business, subsequently joined him as a partner, and the firm of Montefiore Bros.

soon became known in England as one ent.i.tled to the respect of all honourable men.

However profitable or urgent the business may have been, the moment the time drew near, when it was necessary to prepare for the Sabbath or solemn festivals, Moses Montefiore quitted his office, and nothing could ever induce him to remain.

Sir Moses was scrupulously honourable in all his transactions, and it is a noteworthy fact, that during all his long life no whisper was ever heard against his reputation, although he was intimately connected with the management of financial and commercial undertakings of great magnitude and international character. His name stood so high, that thousands of people from all parts of the world entrusted him with money to be forwarded to the Holy Land, or for other charitable purposes, never asking for a receipt, and in many instances leaving the distribution of it to his own discretion.