The number of autograph documents brought to
light from the Genizah is equally large. They ex-
tend over nearly seven hundred years ( eighth century
to the fourteenth). What a rich life these long rolls
unfold to us! All sorts and conditions of men and
situations are represented in them: the happy young
married couple by their marriage contract; the mar-
riage that failed by its letter of divorce; the slave by
his deed of emancipation; the court of justice by its
legal decisions; the heads of the schools by their
learned epistles; the newly-appointed "Prince of the
Exile" by the description of his installation; the rich
trader by his correspondence with his agents in Mala-
bar; the gentleman-beggar by his letters of recom-
mendation to the great ones in Israel; the fanatics by
their thundering excommunications; the meek man
by his mild apologies; the fool by his amulet; the
medical man by his prescriptions; and the patient by
his will. To these may be added a vast amount of
miscellaneous matter, philosophical and mystical as
well as controversial, which is the more difficult to
identify as almost every fragment bears witness to the
existence of a separate work.

All these treasures are now stored up in the Libra-
ry of the University of Cambridge, where they are
undergoing the slow process of a thorough examina-
tion. The results of this examination will certainly
prove interesting alike to the theologian and the his-
torian.

-11-