cu. XIV.] Bulwer Lytton^s Novels. 201

" Each year the hand of age falls cold
And colder on the heart ; and all
Our fondest hopes, as we grow old,
Flit by, like phantoms past recall."

The verse added by Lady Montefiore was charac-
teristic : —

" But is there not one cheering hope yet left ?
That which should animate succeeding years ?
For if of transient joys we are bereft,

Our trust in heaven will chase away our tears."

The second diary is a record of the journey of
1838. That expedition, it will be remembered, had a
distinctly Jewish and humanitarian aim, and Lady
Montefiore's journal fully reflects its giiast-public
character. It is less of a personal diary, and more of
a serious narrative of travel than the former work.
Full of important memoranda on Jewish questions, it ,
forms a really useful book of reference on the con-
dition of the Continental and Eastern Jewish com-
munities forty-five years ago. The facts mentioned by
Lady Montefiore have already been summarised in a
preceding chapter. There remains, however, several
interesting passages that may be quoted here.
On the way to Ghent the diarist amused herself with
reading Bulwer's last new novel, " Leila, or the Siege
of Granada," a work in which there is a strong Jewish
element. These are Lady Montefiore's shrewd re-
flections on the book : —

" I admire Mr. Bulwer's delineations, but not his
sentiments, which give a colouring to the character of



202 The Life of Sir Moses Montefiore. [ch. xiv.
