Bosone, your friend Manoello is dead, Still keeping fast to his false, idle creed; Methinks to the regions of hell he is sped, Where no unbeliever from anguish is freed. Yet not 'mongst the vulgar his soul doth abide, But Dante and he still remain side by side. Bosone's Answer. Manoel, whom thou hast thus consigned Unto the dark domains of endless night, Has not within those regions been confined, Where Lucifer holds sway with awful might. Lucifer, who once 'gainst Heaven's lord, In lust for empire drew rebellion's sword. And though he in that loathly prison pine, Where thou hast brought him though he willed it not; What fool will trust this idle tale of thine, That he and Dante should be thus forgot; Well, let them for a time endure their fate, God's mercy will be theirs or soon or late!^[87-1] As already stated Immanuel wrote various books on Hebrew grammar, exegesis, and cabbala, and composed, in addition to several Biblical commentaries, a collection of Hebrew novelettes and poems. But while his _Eben Bochan_ and _Migdal Oz_—which exist only in MSS. and treat of Hebrew grammar and cabbala respectively—would, at the present day, hardly be considered to have any literary or scientific value, his commentaries on the Bible, and more especially those on the Book of Proverbs (published at Naples in 1487), deserve some attention. The latter is particularly interesting, inasmuch as it throws some light on the author's views on the study of secular subjects by his Italian co-religionists, and gives us some idea of the general feeling and spirit of the time. The following example will give an idea of Immanuel's method when commenting on a passage that seemed to him to offer an opportunity for adding a thought of his own. Thus, in the commentary on the Book of Proverbs (xxvi. 13), Immanuel explains the passage, “The slothful (man) saith, There is a lion in the way; a lion in the street,” as follows:—