The news of the terrible fate of the Berber princes was heard with undisguised consternation by the King of Granada. His own unpopularity and the disaffection of his subjects were well known to him. The great number of Arabs and infidels in his dominions was an incessant menace to the stability of his throne, now rendered less secure than ever through the example of Ronda; and even the resource of habitual intoxication could not make him forget the catastrophe which, at that very moment, might be impending. Tortured by frightful suspicions, he determined to remove at one blow all the Arabs in the capital. For the accomplishment of this atrocious deed, he selected Friday, when the Moslems would be assembled at service in the mosque, the commission of such a sacrilege being a matter of indifference then compared with the greater crime. In vain the Vizier Samuel, to whom the design had been communicated, attempted to represent its folly. The King was inexorable. Then the Jew took measures to warn the chief personages of the Arab party. In consequence of this, on the appointed day, the great Moslem temple, usually crowded with worshippers, was almost deserted. It was evident that the bloody project had been betrayed, and the King, having become convinced of the dreadful evils it must inevitably produce, was finally prevailed upon to relinquish it. Not long afterwards the wise counsellor, whose commanding abilities had almost caused the prejudice against his nation to be forgotten, died. His son, Joseph, a man of finished education and more than ordinary talents, inherited the honors but not the influence of his father. His haughty behavior, the magnificence of his dress, the number and pomp of his retinue, which equalled that of Badis himself, provoked the envy of all classes. Moslems and Jews alike were appalled by his blasphemous speeches. He was more than suspected of apostasy from the religion of Moses, and was so imprudent as to publicly hold up to derision the doctrines of the Koran. It was determined by the enemies of the young minister, whose power over the King was unbounded, to make his unpopularity the excuse for the plunder of the members of his sect, whose wealth had long excited the cupidity of the populace of Granada. In furtherance of this plan, the vilest calumnies were invented concerning him. Impossible crimes were attributed to the promptings of his malignity and injustice. He was accused of a secret understanding with the Prince of Almeria, an enemy of Badis; and the public mind having been inflamed by the publication of satirical poems which depicted in exaggerated terms the dishonesty and rapacity of the Jews, the detested vizier was finally seized in the royal palace by an infuriated mob and crucified. Four thousand unhappy Hebrews were involved in the ruin of their countryman, and paid the forfeit attaching to successful thrift and a proscribed nationality. Their