Yosef Kaplan Amsterdam’s Jewry as Perceived by English Tourists and Other Christian Visitors in the Seventeenth Century * The Comparative Ethnological Dimension “The French are generally speaking very curious, confident, inquisitive, credu- lous, facetious, rather witty than wise, eternal bablers; and, in a word, they are at all times what an English-man is when he’s half drunk.” 1 So said John Ray in his travel book, which conveys his impressions from visits to various coun- tries in Europe, including the Netherlands, France, Germany, and Italy, as well as a number of places in the Middle East, in the years 1663–1666. Ray was an English naturalist who published important studies in botany, zoology, and natural theology. He studied and taught in Cambridge University and took holy orders in 1660. He set out on his journey in Europe with three of his students after resigning his fellowship at Trinity College. 2 * The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Research Council under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (EP7/ 2007–2013)/ERC grant agreement No. 295352. 1 John Ray, Observations Topographical, Moral and Physiological; Made in a Journey through Part of the Low Countries, Germany, Italy, France. London 1673. All the quotations are taken from Navigantium atque Itinerarium Bibliotheca, a Complete Collection of Voyages and Travels Consisting of Above Six Hundred of the Most Authentic Writers . . . Published by John Harris, Rev. ed. London 1748, vol. 2, p. 107. 2 On Ray’s biography and scientific work see Charles E. Raven, John Ray, Naturalist: His Life and Works. Cambridge 1986. On the travelling experience in early modern Europe see Antoni Maczak, Traveling in Early Modern Europe. Cambridge 1995; on British travelers in the early modern period see John W. Stoye, English Travellers Abroad: 1604 –1667. London 1952; Jeremy Blake, The British and the Grand Tour. London – Sydney – Dover, N. H. 1985; idem, The British Abroad: The Grand Tour in the Eighteenth Century. New York 1992; on British travellers in Holland in the early modern period see C. D. van Strien, British Travellers in Holland during the Stuart Period. Leiden 1993; Kees van Strien, Touring the Low Countries. Accounts of British Travellers, 1660 –1720. Amsterdam 1998.