exiles from Portugal with favor, merely requiring them to wear a little yellow circle upon their breasts, as a mark of distinction from Christians. Upwards of half a century they continued to dwell in safety and peace; but in 1551 the plague broke out in Ferrara, and the people loudly accused them of having introduced it. In order to prevent worse consequences which might have arisen from the popular fanaticism, the duke was obliged to order the unhappy Israelites to quit his dominions. Enfeebled by the disease, they could scarcely drag themselves to the vessels, which were appointed to convey them to other countries. Some of them fell into the hands of pirates; others, after having been repulsed from all the ports of the Adriatic, found a hospitable reception from their brethren at Pesaro.

The wise government of Venice had long extended its protection to the Jews, whose usefulness they fully appreciated. Their intention, in tolerating them, as announced in several edicts, was to furnish their subjects with the means of always obtaining ready money upon loan. It was as bankers and capitalists that the wanderers were encouraged to settle. The government, however, kept a strict watch over their proceedings, and made various regulations to prevent their taking undue advantage of the protection afforded them. In 1885, they were obliged to confine themselves to a certain part of the city, which has ever since continued to be inhabited by them; and they were forbidden to oppress the poor, as they had previously done, by refusing to lend except upon the most valuable pledges, or by exacting a very exorbitant interest. Venice showed the same favor towards the Israelites, in the various districts which from time to time became subject to her sway. Accordingly, in the beginning of the thirteenth century, when the Latins made themselves masters of Constantinople, the podesta appointed by the Venetians had under his jurisdiction the Jews and Armenians. At the return of the Greek emperors, this functionary lost a considerable portion of his power; but the Israelites, as they found their advantage in being still considered subjects of the republic, paid an annual sum for

that privilege. The podesta received from them presents at his entrance in office, and at stated periods of the year.

The inhabitants of Ravenna, in 1484, were stirred up by the harangues of Bernardino of Feltre, to drive the Hebrew usurers out of their city; and sent deputies to Venice, requesting the senate to pronounce an edict of banishment against the hated race. The magistracy, after having calmly heard both parties, enjoined the Jews to practise usury no more, as a monte di pieta had been established at Ravenna; and shut up their synagogue, which, occupying an eminent position, had thereby attracted too much the attention of the fanatical multitude. At Verona, and other places, the authorities protected the Jews from the danger to which they were exposed by the discourses of Bernardino.

At Genoa it would appear that the Israelites had been long established. The inhabitants of that city, previously to the subjugation of the Greek empire by the Turks, possessed the port of Caffa, which became the emporium of their commerce in the Black Sea. Here the Jews settled, and employed themselves in the slave trade. Purchasing boys and girls from the Russians, Tartars and Circassians, they sold them to the Saracens and Turks; sometimes making such profitable bargains as to clear a thousand per cent. Intelligence of this traffic was conveyed to the court of Rome, probably by the Dominicans resident in the place; when Martin V., who at that time occupied the papal throne, immediately took steps to put an end to it. He first ordered that all the Jews of Caffa should wear a distinctive mark upon their dress. Having thus ensured their detection, he next enjoined the bishop of the city and the Genoese authorities to seize the goods of such as had been engaged in the sale of slaves, and employ the price in the redemption of those unhappy victims of their avarice. If any of them refused to surrender their ill-gotten gains, instructions were given that they should be expelled from the colony.*

* Basnage, book vii. chap. xxix. p. 722. Depping, pp. 490-492, 514520, 523-525. Beugnot, prem. part, p. 176-179.

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CHAPTER XVI.

Italian Rabbis-Leo the Hebrew-His "Dialogues of Love"-Jewish Printing-presses in Italy-The Soncinati-Gerson de Soncino, a renowned Printer-Learned Men-Gedaliah ben Joseph Jachia-Solomon Usque-His "Consolation of Israel "-Leo of Modena-TremeliusThe Jews persecuted by various Popes-Wise Policy of Sixtus V.German Jews-Jews in Russia-Influence of the Reformation on the State of the Jews-They enjoy great Prosperity in Poland-They are protected by the United Provinces-Jews at Constantinople.-From A. D. 1580 to A. D. 1647.

WE have seen that the exiles from Spain and Portugal were kindly received in various Italian states. Among those refugees there were several distinguished rabbis, such as David ben Joseph ben Jachia, who was chosen governor of the Jews at Naples; and Joseph ben Don-David, who, for twenty-two years, was the head of the synagogue at Imola. The former was celebrated as a grammarian, poet and philosopher; the latter, besides being a commentator on some books of the Bible, was the author of several works on the Talmud. But the most famous of the exiles was the oldest son of Abarbanel, named Judah, but better known by the appellation of Leo the Hebrew. On his expulsion from Spain, he retired to Genoa, where he practised medicine, and taught such philosophy as was received among his people in those days; namely, a species of eclecticism, combining the opinions of Plato and Aristotle with the dogmas of Averroes, Avicenna, and other Arabian sages, as also the doctrines of the various rabbinical schools. Leo has left us a curious specimen of his sentiments in his "Dialogues of Love; "" a work in which there are two interlocutors introduced, by name Philo and Sophia, the former of whom instructs the latter in the loves of the angels, planets, elements, and other beings generally supposed to be beyond the reach of human affection. It has been remarked of this

book, that the author seems to have accurately described the verdict of posterity on himself in the words which Philo addresses to his fair auditor: "Your reasonings demonstrate the ingenuity of your fancy, rather than the solidity of your understanding." Yet the "Dialogues of Love" were popular in their day. Originally written in Italian, they were several times printed at Rome; and being soon afterwards translated into French by the Sieur de Parc, were published at Lyons, with a dedication to Catherine de Medicis.

The Jewish inhabitants of Italy, who cultivated literature, as well as the exiles from Spain and Portugal, gave sufficient evidence of their fondness for it, by the number of printing presses which they established about the end of the fifteenth century. They published books, not merely on religious. subjects, but also such as were connected with history, jurisprudence, and medicine; and, as they were printed-with the greatest care from the best manuscripts, are highly valued by collectors. The impressions, however, appear to have been generally small, so that copies of most of them have become exceedingly rare. It was in 1475 that their press in Italy sent forth its first work. This was the commentary of Solomon Jarchi on the Pentateuch, a small folio, printed by Abraham Garton, at Reggio in Calabria; and the only copy of it known to exist was in the possession of J. B. de Rossi, the author of a learned treatise on Hebrew typography. The next work printed was the Arba-Turim, or "Four Orders" of Jacob ben Ascer, which is a system of Hebrew law, and consists of four volumes in the first edition. Some verses at the end, according to the fashion of the times, announce the name of the printer to have been the rabbi Mesculam, surnamed Kosi; and his establishment was at Plebisacio, or Pieve-di-Sacco, a town of the Paduan territory. Printing presses being speedily established at Bologna, Mantua, Ferrara, and various other cities, were kept in active employment. The most celebrated of them was that under the direction of the Soncinati family, who, originally from Germany, came to reside in Soncino, a little town of the Milanese, at present in a state of obscurity. The mem

ber of this family who obtained the greatest celebrity was Gerson, whose press was stationed at the above-mentioned place in 1484, and continued during six years to send forth a The number of works, principally on theological subjects. first book which issued from it was a portion of the Talmud, namely, that which relates to benedictions, with the comThe mentaries of Jarchi, Maimonides, and other rabbis. most important was a complete copy of the Old Testament, with points and accents, remarkable for the number of various readings it contains, which are stated by Kennicott to amount to several thousands.

While the press of Soncino was thus active, that of Naples likewise began to distinguish itself. Its first work was a Psalter, with the commentary of David Kimchi; which was so far from rivalling the correctness of the other Hebrew books, that the printer was obliged to excuse himself, by pleading that he had not been able to perfect his typographical arrangements. Various other portions of the Bible followed, with the expositions of the most celebrated doctors. Among these there appeared the first complete edition of Aben Ezra's Commentary on the Pentateuch; a book which has now become exceedingly rare, as De Rossi, after all his investigations, was only able to ascertain the existence of one copy in Italy, besides that which he himself possessed. In addition to the theological works of the great rabbis, the Neapolitan press supplied treatises on subjects of secular interest; as, for example, the Makre Dardeke, or Teacher, a rabbinical dictionary, in Hebrew, Arabic, and Italian, a compilation of which the author is unknown; and also a translation of a medical work by Avicenna, which proves that the Israelites in the south of Italy did not neglect the study of the healing art, in which their ancestors had been so famous. One of the latest issues of the press at Naples, was an edition of the Mishna, which made its appearance in 1492: the expulsion of the Jews from the Two Sicilies, of course, putting an end to their typographical operations in that part of Europe.

Meanwhile, Soncino having left the town from which he