commercial policy of those merchant princes, the Medici,
had, during the primal glories of their administrative sway in the
Florentine Republic, relaxed the severity of the laws against the Jews,
and recognizing in the persecuted Israelites those grand trading and
financial qualities which have ever associated the idea of wealth with
their name, permitted them to follow unmolested their specific pursuits.

But at the time of which we are writing--the year 1521--the prince who
had the reins of the Florentine Government, had yielded to the
representations of a bigoted and intolerant clergy, and the Jews had
once more become the subjects of persecution. The dissipated nobles
extorted from them by menace those loans which would not have been
granted on the security proffered; and the wealthy members of the
"scattered race" actually began to discover that they could repose
greater confidence in the refuse of the Florentine population than in
the brilliant aristocracy, or even in the famous sbirri themselves. Thus
had many rich Jews established themselves in the quarter of Alla Croce;
and by paying a certain sum to the syndic, or magistrate of this
suburb--a functionary elected by the inhabitants themselves, and in
virtue of a law of their own enactment--the persecuted Israelites
enjoyed comparative security and peace.

We now return to the man we left plunging into the suburbs of which we
have afforded a short and necessary account.

This individual was dressed in simple attire, but composed of excellent
materials. His vest was of dark velvet, slashed, but not embroidered;
and on his breast he wore a jazeran, or mailed cuirass, which was not
only lighter than a steel corselet, but was equally proof against
poniard or pike. In his broad leather belt were stuck two pairs of
pistols, and a long dagger; a heavy broadsword also hung by his side.
His black boots came up nearly to the knee--in contravention of the
prevailing fashion of that age, when these articles of dress seldom
reached above the swell of the leg. A large slouched hat, without
plumage or any ornament, was drawn down as much as possible over his
features; and the broad _mantello_, or cloak, was gathered round the
body in such a manner that it covered all the left side and the weapons
fastened in the belt, but left the sword arm free for use in any sudden
emergency.

Behind the wayfarer stretched the magnificent city of Florence,
spreading over the deep vale, o