the minstrel; and, though this perseverance was only a fulfilment of his previous expectations, he felt all the pain of a disagreeable surprise.

Throwing himself, for a few hours, on the bed, Lorenzo, after he had risen from a feverish slumber, felt little desire to pursue his daily toil: the appearance of Morde cai, however, warned him to commence his labour, for the Jew would have at least demanded half the price of a sitting, if he had been dismissed with a request to give an hour to the artist another day; and, anxious to avoid the storm of words, and the extortionate proposals which an alteration of arrangements never failed to produce, he began as usual to work at the picture. Disinclined for conversation, and absorbed in his own meditations, it was some time before Lorenzo observed the crest-fallen and agitated countenance of his visitor: the dejected aspect, which he had so frequently assumed, now bore the stamp of truth; no flash from the quick eye, no sign of suppressed mirth, betrayed the triumph of deceit; but plunged, himself. in melancholy musings. Lorenzo forbore to inquire the reason of this striking alteration, and worked on in silence. At length, the Jew began to mutter, in an under tone:-" Holy father, Abraham! if there were any one in this dreary wilderness that I could trust, -but no, no,-who is there that would not rejoice at spoiling the dog Jew? who would not bereave him of his goods, his chattels, his gold, ay, even to the last florin ? My own tribe? ha! ha! they, too, bow the knee to Mammon; they, too, would make their profits of my misfortune. And for these Christian dogs!”—“ Unbeliever!" exclaimed Lorenzo, "how darest thou revile the followers of the true faith, in my presence ?"- "Master," cried the Jew, throwing himself, in utter agony and abasement, at his astonished auditor's feet, "good young man, I have observed that thou art just in all thy dealings -thou hast not cheated the poor outcast of Israel of his hard earnings. The strong hand is against me; the

Philistine thirsts after my coffers: the monies I have saved-it is but a small matter-I have not pressed the wine-cup to my lips, or fed on delicates, yet I have little for the robber's clutch-bulky it is, and that will deceive them-perchance, then-but it is household stuff, poor, and of little value." "What is that to me?" said Lorenzo; “I neither know, or desire to know, aught about your private concerns." "I know thou dost not," returned the Jew. "Thou hast not pried into my secrets, and, for that, I trust thee-but by what oath? Will not thy shaven priests absolve thee from thy promise to the Jew?" The painter betrayed his impatience by an angry gesture, and Mordecai continued, with great velocity of speech-" There is not much-much that I can call my own; I hold it in trust for the brethren of my tribe; and he who would lay the finger of violence upon it, would have the cry of the widow, the curse of the orphan, the fearful vengeance of heaven, alight in bitter plagues upon his house for ever. We are despised and sorely treated; but the years of our suffering shall he at an end; then the dangh ters of Jerusalem shall rejoice, and the exact Christian eat dust beneath their feet!" "Art thou mad, or intoxicated with wine, old man?” said Lorenzo, contemptuously, and Mordecai, making strong effort to collect his wandering thoughts, told his tale with some degree of precision. The painter gathered that persecution hovered over the Jews; that he himself was marked out for destruction, and though he might be saved by a timely flight, there was no chance of conveying away his property, and of this he besought Lorenzo to take charge. Refusal only rendered the Jew more importunate, though advised to bury his treasures in the ground, in some place only known to himself. Mordecai, wretched at the idea of leaving his riches to the chance of an accidental discovery, would not listen to the suggestion, and at length prevailed upon his humane companion to be the depositary of his gold. Lorenzo's apartments offered many

facilities for the concealment of the Jew's coffers, and of free egress without the knowledge of the neighbours. That very evening the confederates commenced their operations: bags and chests were carefully removed and placed in security, during several successive nights: Mordecai one moment imploring the painter, in the most abject terms, to accept the unwelcome office which he pressed upon him; in the next, exacting repeated assurances that he would account for the vast sums entrusted to his hands, to the last groschen.

During the period thus employed, Lorenzo observed that the house of Ephraim Manasses was closely shut up. Poor Miriam was no longer to be seen, decked in her rich attire, with one hand caressing a favourite bird, and the other parting the locks that clustered beneath her turban, on the warm and crimson cheek: the music of the serenader had ceased; yet, once or twice in his midnight excursions with the Jew, Montesecco thought he caught a glimpse of his commanding figure stealing through the gloom. He spent hours in watching for Reichendorf's return, resolved, upon the slightest pretext, to punish his intrusion; but no opportunity offered, and he was obliged to remain quiescent. A few days after the final removal of the miser's wealth, and when Lorenzo supposed him to be far beyond the frontiers of Bavaria, happening to pass through the principal streets, he saw an immense multitude of people pressing forward with tumultuous cries: the whole city was in a state of uproar, on account of a report that the Jews had sacrificed a Christian infant in some of their religious ceremonies. This accusation, like many others raised against the persecuted Israelites, was unjust, but it was dangerous for any of the tribe to appear in the streets. The roar of the maddened populace increased: the rabble had hunted Mordecai from some den which he had chosen for his asylum, and Lorenzo beheld him flying with ineffectual speed from the blood-hounds who pursued. He was

surrounded; a wild yell pronounced his doom; and his mangled body, dragged along by his inhuman murderers, attested their atrocious triumph. Montesecco rushed, horror-stricken, to his home: it was many hours before the image of the Jew faded from his eyes; but when the first burst of indignation at the barbarous spectacle he had witnessed had subsided, the recollection of the hidden wealth flashed upon his mind. Mordecai's repeated declarations assured him that he did not possess a single relation, or even friend, who, in case of his death, could claim the gold he should leave behind; and even admitting that he had been entrusted with the property of others, to whom must restitution be made? Lorenzo felt that he had suddenly become a rich man: too much occupied to observe the lapse of time, night had closed in upon his meditations: his first impulse, when convinced that he might justly consider himself the heir of the murdered Jew, led him to the window, whence he could contemplate the residence of his beloved Bertha, with whom, in imagination, he had already shared his good fortune. A fearful shock awaited the lover, for, on the pavement below, stood a tall form, holding tender parley with the Baron's daughter, who, covered with the black veil which she always wore in her excursions abroad, leaned from the open lattice, and whispered to the stranger: in the next moment the flower-pots were removed, and Reichendorf, for it was he, climbing the projecting posts of the door-way, sprang lightly into the chamber, and the window was immediately closed.

Half suffocated with rage and despair, Lorenzo poured curses on the head of the false fair girl who had deceived him with a show of innocence: too easily won to deserve a brave man's sword, he flung down the weapon, which, in the first flow of indignation against the libertine seducer, he had drawn to avenge her dishonour, and, seating himself on the ground, gave loose to all the agony of a disappointed and wounded heart. Ashamed, at length, of permitting his

spirit to be overcome by a worthless woman, he retired to his couch until mid-day; when, resolving to seek out a lodging in some distant quarter of the city, in which he proposed to stop no longer than the affairs connected with Mordecai's now little valued wealth obliged him to stay, he left the house. Crossing the street, Lorenzo's path led him to the door of his neighbour, the Jew: it was a-jar; and he felt his cloak gently pulled by some one within: he obeyed the summons, and was ushered, with much caution, into a back apartment, where Ephraim and his wife were sitting in great dejection on the ground. "Save us! save our daughter Miriam, the corner-stone of our house, the vine branch that gladdened our hearts," they both cried, as Lorenzo entered; "they will seize on our substance, and we shall be cast out-we and our little ones—in a land more desolate to our devoted race than the sandy soil of Arabia, unless thou wilt befriend us:" and then, relinquishing even their religion in their distress, they offered Miriam to him for a wife, assuring him that she would gladly turn Christian for one whom she had long loved in secret.

The painter, almost utterly regardless of his future doom, touched to the heart by the haggard looks and imploring voices of the miserable parents, and proudly conscious that, in possession of Mordecai's treasures, he could not be influenced by the dowry of the dark-browed maid, was tempted to perform an act of mercy to the suppliants who knelt before him; he cast a glance around, in search of Miriam. "She is not here," said Ephraim;

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we have conveyed her to a place of greater safety." "But," cried the mother, observing that their guest's countenance betrayed much emotion, when the sufferings that awaited her darling were mentioned, "she can soon be here; we have given her to the kind guardianship of the Christian maiden at the next door."-" Ha!" exclaimed Lorenzo, in an ecstacy of delight, " then look to your daughter, old man!" But before he could explain