rs," and were in danger of being attacked by
the populace and by their powerful neighbours. These persecuted and ill-
used people, except indeed where humane individuals took compassion on
them at their own peril, or when they could command riches to purchase
protection, had no place of refuge left but the distant country of
Lithuania, where Boleslav V., Duke of Poland (1227-1279) had before
granted them liberty of conscience; and King Casimir the Great
(1333-1370), yielding to the entreaties of Esther, a favourite Jewess,
received them, and granted them further protection; on which account,
that country is still inhabited by a great number of Jews, who by their
secluded habits have, more than any people in Europe, retained the
manners of the Middle Ages.

But to return to the fearful accusations against the Jews; it was
reported in all Europe that they were in connection with secret superiors
in Toledo, to whose decrees they were subject, and from whom they had
received commands respecting the coining of base money, poisoning, the
murder of Christian children, &c; that they received the poison by sea
from remote parts, and also prepared it themselves from spiders, owls,
and other venomous animals; but, in order that their secret might not be
discovered, that it was known only to their Rabbis and rich men.
Apparently there were but few who did not consider this extravagant
accusation well founded; indeed, in many writings of the fourteenth
century, we find great acrimony with regard to the suspected
poison-mixers, which plainly demonstrates the prejudice existing against
them. Unhappily, after the confessions of the first victims in
Switzerland, the rack extorted similar ones in various places. Some even
acknowledged having received poisonous powder in bags, and injunctions
from Toledo, by secret messengers. Bags of this description were also
often found in wells, though it was not unfrequently discovered that the
Christians themselves had thrown them in; probably to give occasion to
murder and pillage; similar instances of which may be found in the
persecutions of the witches.

This picture needs no additions. A lively image of the Black Plague, and
of the moral evil which followed in its train, will vividly represent
itself to him who is acquainted with nature and the constitution of
society. Almost the only credible accounts of the manner of living, and
of the ruin which occurred in private life during this pe