traders in the fullest sense of the term, reaping
therefrom not alone constant additions to their material wealth, but
also all the miserable consequences contingent upon so vile a
connection. This was perhaps the greatest promoter of the sensuality,
gluttony, and gambling propensities which prevailed to such a
demoralizing and shameful extent among the members of the brotherhood.

These famous champions of the church had also their schisms, their petty
jealousies and quarrels, like all the rest of the world. There were in
the code of laws, to which they solemnly subscribed, stringent rules
against premeditated dueling, but these were easily and frequently
evaded. Fatal infractions often occurred, the outcome of quarrels
started over the gaming-table or the wine-cup. Punishment was somehow
escaped. The law was plain enough, but the misdeed seems always to have
been condoned. Men who live by the sword are very liable to die by it.
Deaths arising from personal conflicts were by no means rare among this
priestly fraternity. If a Knight was challenged by one of his
brotherhood for what was deemed to be good and sufficient cause, and did
not promptly respond, no matter why, he was denounced among the
fraternity as a coward, and was punished by social ostracism. The
inconsistency of such a state of affairs, existing in a pretended
religious community, will at once suggest itself to the reader. The
profession of Christianity did very little to separate the armed priest
from the brute. This fact was not only illustrated in this dueling
propensity, but in the recklessness of their daily habits. Human life
was held at the lowest possible estimate, and its sacrifice for trivial
causes was taken little if any notice of by those in authority. Men who
make a profession of arms are very liable to resort to weapons of
warfare, rather than to reason, in the settlement of any question which
may arise among them.

There is a narrow street which runs the whole length of the city,
parallel with the Strada Reale, which was celebrated as the dueling
ground of the Knights. The reason for this selection was because a
combat in this circumscribed passageway might be looked upon in the
light of a casual encounter, or an accidental collision. This was a very
weak deduction, but it appears to have sufficed for the purpose. The
fact was, that a challenge which had passed between two Knights, no
matter what the circumstances were, could not be igno