ces and the casements of lordly mansions; on, on, amidst a wondering
and admiring populace, and grateful, too, that so great a chief as
Ibrahim should have spared their city from sack and ruin.

At length the grand vizier, attended by the great beglerbegs and pashas
of his army, entered the square of the ducal palace; and as his prancing
steed bore him proudly beneath the massive arch, the roar of artillery
announced to the City of Flowers that the Ottoman Minister was now
within the precincts of the dwelling of the Florentine sovereign. The
duke and the members of the council of state were all assembled in the
court of the Palazzo to receive the illustrious visitor, who, having
dismounted from his horse, accompanied the prince and those high
dignitaries to the council-chamber. When the personages thus assembled
had taken their seats around the spacious table, covered with a rich red
velvet cloth, the grand vizier proceeded to address the duke and the
councilors.

"High and mighty prince, and noble and puissant lords," he said, in the
tone of one conscious of his power, "I am well satisfied with the manner
in which my demands have been fulfilled up to this moment. Two ladies,
in whom I feel a deep and sincere interest, and who were most unjustly
imprisoned to suit the vindictive purposes of the Count of Arestino,
have been delivered up to me: and ye have likewise agreed to make full
and adequate atonement for the part which Florence enacted in the late
contest between the Christians and Mussulmans in the Island of Rhodes. I
have therefore determined to reduce my demands upon the republic, for
indemnity and compensation, to as low a figure as my own dignity and a
sense of that duty which I owe to my sovereign (whom God preserve many
days!) will permit. The sum that I now require from your treasury,
mighty prince and puissant lords, is a hundred thousand pistoles; and in
addition thereto, I claim peculiar privileges for Ottoman vessels
trading to Leghorn, guaranty of peace on the part of the republic for
three years, and the release of such prisoners now in the dungeons of
the inquisition, whom it may seem good to me thus to mark out as
deserving of your mercy."

"A hundred thousand pistoles, my lord, would completely exhaust the
treasury of the republic," said the duke, with dismay pictured upon his
countenance.

"Think you," cried the grand vizier, angrily, "that I shall dare to face
my imperial master, on my return