Rabbi Joseph, to ensure success. It was brought to light that one Juan de Vera had owed money to the owner of the house in which the corpse had been found, and that he was extremely anxious to be quit of his debt without the disagreeable necessity of paying the money. His accomplices confessed that, at his instigation, they had broken open a tomb, from which they had abstracted the corpse which had been found in the Jew’s house. The grave was again opened by the king’s order, and found to be empty. The acquittal of the Jew followed; and the king sent away the deputies in friendly sort, yet not without a recommendation to them to reduce their rate of usury and abate the costliness and ostentation of their mode of living; for that these things provoked the enmity of the Christians towards them. This is a remarkable tale, from the contrast it presents to the numberless similar occurrences which the history of this and succeeding centuries records. The calm judicial inquiry, in which the evidence given on both sides was attentively listened to and dispassionately sifted, stands out in strong relief against the incoherent and contradictory charges, the refusal to listen to explanation or argument, and the invincible prejudice displayed on other occasions. But it may be doubted whether the most remarkable fact is not the character of King Alphonso himself. It is wonderful that a man so enlightened as he showed himself on many points[119] could have adopted the monstrous bigotry he proclaimed on others. We must, I suppose, conclude that, like the philosopher in Coleridge’s ‘Friend,’ he thought it better to roll in the mire of the common prejudice of his fellow men, than remain isolated from them in solitary cleanliness. Interesting evidences of the numbers and wealth of the Jews are to be found at this period. An assessment was made in 1286 of the Jews in the three kingdoms of Sancho, the son of Alphonso X., two years after his accession. It appeared that there were in Leon, Castile, and Murcia, 700,000 male Jews above the age of sixteen. The total number, therefore, including women and children, must have exceeded two millions. The annual dues paid by them amounted to 2,310,021 maravedis, nearly one hundred thousand pounds of our money. Considering the enormous difference in value of the precious metals in those times and our own, this proves that the wealth of the Jews must have been extraordinarily great. It is proper, however, to add that both the numbers of the Jews and the amount paid are given somewhat differently by other writers.