Appendix A: Manuscript Essay: "A History of the Jews" Editorial symbols: 1. < >-Words appearing between< >are those which Shelley crossed out. 2. [? ] - Words appearing between brackets and preceded by "?" are uncertain readings. The MS consists of sixteen quarto leaves and appears to have been loosely bound, perhaps in a notebook. The leaves are watermarked "J. Hall 1810". All <the> ideas <that these people had formed> upon the creation of the world & upon <all> natural phenonoma formed by so illiterate a people were of course false <[?grose] and betrayed> at a time when even the <civilized> conceptions of the enlightened Greeks were rude & unformed no great proficiency in phisical knowledge could be expected from a herd of Arabian robbers-yet as Moses had <formed> received most of his opinions in Egypt then the most civilized country in the world-it appears <wonderful> extraordinary that his tenets should be in every respect those of the most unenlightened savage. Thier notions of the sun and moon were of a greater & a lesser light placed in heaven. the one to rule the day the other the night. God they said had created the world in six days- before this time all was void & his spirit floated on the face of the waters - he had ordered light to be & there was light - he had ordered all animals & all plants to bring forth abundantly after their kind & to increase upon the face of the earth - on the sixth day he finished his labour & rested on the seventh- He then <found> discovered that the earth still <wanted> needed 190 Appendix A: "A History of the Jews" 191 a being of superior intelligence who might superintend & adorn it - he created man of the dust of the earth & blew into his nostrils the breath of life - But man was alone and as unfortunately he was of a sociable disposition- <of course> he could not be perfectly happy­ But God remedied this evil by <take> casting him into a deep sleep and then taking out one of his ribs which he moulded <it> into a woman- He placed this first pair in the beautiful garden of Eden there to live happily & for ever if they touched not of the fruit of the tree of Knowledge of Good & Evil. This tree, the Jews affirmed, was the cause of all the unhappiness that afterwards befell <till then crime & death was unkown upon earth- but the spirit of this tree infused [? all] [ ] upon man> the children of men - <for this man & woman> the blessed pair (named Adam & Eve) disobeyed the command of God <they ate one of the apples> for the <lady> woman being tempted by a serpent (who like Asops foxes could speak in those days) ate <one> one of the apples which grew on the tree and finding it of a fine flavour (a quality not to be resisted <untempting> by a lady of the Jewish race) she presented one to Adam who also ate - till this fatal deed crime & death was unknown upon earth but the*l1l God <for this misdemaenor> also enraged at their disobedience turned them out of <t>his garden, took from them the gift of immortality & for their sake cursed the earth so that it should not bring forth fruits without cultivation. Women were also sentenced to <bring forth> bear their children with pain to punish to all posterity the fault of the first mother. Mter their expulsion from Eden Eve had two sons - Cain a tiller of the earth & Abel a <shepperd> guarder of flocks. God, for no apparent reason was favourable to the youngest of these bretheren while he refused the sacrafises of the other - the elder therefore, Cain, conceived a jealousy towards his brother & one day slew him with a club. This fraticide had a mark set on his forehead that all might know him & be detered by a heavy curse from killing him - he was condemned to be a wanderer & a vagabond on the face of the earth - It appeared afterwards however that he dwelt very quietly with his wife in the land of Hod <& had rna a child> - The Jewish author does not mention who his wife was or indeed that Eve ever had any daughters- <but> but as the earth was peopled solely from <the first pair> Adam & Eve commentators agree the <first> men must at first have married their sisters. Eve had afterwards another son called Seth. 192 Appendix A: "A History of the Jews" Section II <The children of Cain are recorded to the 6th generation- one was an inventor of the harp & organ-another an artificer in brass & iron. The great grandson of the grandson of Cain was also a murderer but escaped <all> punishment by alledgeing that God would revenge <77 fold> him on his slayer seventy seven fold & the people of those days believed him.> The <from Seth down however> is the human race is descended from Seth- his children in a direct line to Noah were virtuous so that one Enoch was taken up into heaven. he had other descendants however who were the most wicked of the sons of man - so that it is affirmed that however the present race may haved erred from the paths of Righteousness thay cannot even in their minds form an idea of the crime that existed in those times. Now the Jewish God we must suppose <could> did not foresee what kind of beings men would tum out to be else of course he <must> would have altered the whole plan of things from the beginning - but when he found that his creation which when he first made <it> he declared to be good disappointed his fond hopes in so cruel a manner it repented him that he had ever made man & he determined to destroy them & all other animals, who perhaps took after their masters in their way of life, from off the face of the earth. But, while he was thus exasperated it was the good fortune of one Noah the only virtuous man & a descendant of Seth to find grace in his sight. <Noah was commanded to pre and as a last hope God commanded him to preach to his bretheren. This was however with him> God determined to save him & therefore ordered him to build a clumsy kind of machine called an ark, made of wood & to retire into it with his wife & his sons with their wives -he was to take with him seven of each sort of clean animal & two of the unclean with food for all this large company to last them forty days and nights- the ark was- All ancient mythology has agreed in an account of a deluge which at one time drowned the world & its inhabitants - Deucalion & Pyrrha except that they are by far more amiable persons have a strong resemblance to Noah & his wife. <their being saved at the top of a high mountain> The Greek fable is, however, in much better taste than the Jewish. This concordance of circumstance renders it very probable that some great & unexampled flood did at once time destroy the inhabitants of <as> a part of Asia this might have been Appendix A: "A History of the Jews" 193 the violent eruption of the Mediteranean sea - but it impossible to form an thing but conjectures on such a subject. Be this as it may the Jewish historian continues to relate that God opened the windows of heaven and broke up the fountain of the great deep and overwhelmed the whole world with a frightful deluge of waters which lasted with such violence for forty days & nights that the tops of highest mountains were <destroyed> covered everything was destroyed but the Ark which floated on the surface of the waters - if any vessels <ships were built> existed in those days they were all wrecked. for God would show no mercy to any but Noah & his sons. In forty days the rain ceased <as as the> & a great wind was sent from heaven to dry the earth- such were Jewish notions upon natural objects -if the water was thus evaporated we must suppose it to have been very cloudy weather for some time afterwards. Noah as he observed the flood to abate sent out a raven who did not come back he afterwards sent a dove who returned with a branch of olive in his beak - a good sign - accordingly in a very short time the ark rested on dry ground and God ordered its inhabitants to quit it & promised this favoured race as a peculiar mark of <favour> kindness that for their sake he would never more drown the earth <again> but when one day it must be again destroyed it should be by fire & but <only bum it> as a <sign> token of this covenant with earth he placed a rainbow in heaven (a proof that it had not entirely ceased raining) and told Noah that he might remember every time he looked at that his <might remember> God promised that he would never inflict such watry punishment on earth again. Noah in gratitude made a scarifice of one of every clean beast on an alter before the Lord. a rather imprudent action considering the scarcity of animals. Section ill Now we may suppose that although Noah was very tolerably virtuous in comparison with his wicked fellow creatures he had not entirely escaped the contagion of their vices. Accordingly we soon find that (perhaps in his rapture at his deliverance) he having planted a vineyard drank of the wine and was drunken Such are the feelings of a Jew & befitting the father of their race but surely the sentiments of Deucalion & Pyrrha were of a much <softe gentler> milder and more amiable nature when they wept for the loss of their 194 Appendix A: "A History of the Jews" fellow creatures & companions.