Diaries of Sir Moses and Lady Montefiore, Volume I

CHAPTER I.

BIRTH OF SIR MOSES MONTEFIORE AT LEGHORN--HIS FAMILY--EARLY YEARS.

The neighbourhood of the Tower of London was, a hundred years ago, the centre of attraction for thousands of persons engaged in financial pursuits, not so much on account of the protection which the presence of the garrison might afford in case of tumult, as of the convenience offered by the locality from its vicinity to the wharves, the Custom House, the Mint, the Bank, the Royal Exchange, and many important counting-houses and places of business. For those who took an interest in Hebrew Communal Institutions, it possessed the additional advantage of being within ten minutes or a quarter of an hour's walk of the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue and the Great German Synagogue, together with their Colleges and Schools, and several minor places of worship.

Tower Hill, the Minories, and the four streets enclosing the Tenter Ground were then favourite places of residence for the