She
took their congratulations in a very frigid manner, and said that it was
her wish not to marry at all, but to devote herself to the practice of
medicine altogether, and to helping the sick and needy of her people.
Indeed, although she did not go to any public meetings, she was as
benevolent a creature as the world ever saw: the poor blessed her
wherever they knew her, and many benefited by her who guessed not whence
her gentle bounty came.
But there are men in Jewry who admire beauty, and, as I have even heard,
appreciate money too, and Rebecca had such a quantity of both, that all
the most desirable bachelors of the people were ready to bid for her.
Ambassadors came from all quarters to propose for her. Her own uncle,
the venerable Ben Solomons, with a beard as long as a cashmere goat's,
and a reputation for learning and piety which still lives in his nation,
quarrelled with his son Moses, the red-haired diamond-merchant of
Trebizond, and his son Simeon, the bald bill-broker of Bagdad, each
putting in a claim for their cousin. Ben Minories came from London
and knelt at her feet; Ben Jochanan arrived from Paris, and thought to
dazzle her with the latest waistcoats from the Palais Royal; and Ben
Jonah brought her a present of Dutch herrings, and besought her to come
back and be Mrs.
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