far ends of
the world. Never before in human history had the news of a Messiah
travelled so widely in his own lifetime. To console those who could
not make the pilgrimage to him or to Jerusalem, Sabbatai promised
equal indulgence and privilege to all who should pray at the tombs of
their mothers. His initials, S.Z., were ornamentally inscribed in
letters of gold over almost every synagogue, with a crown on the wall,
in the circle of which was the ninety-first Psalm, and a prayer for
him was inserted in the liturgy: "Bless our Lord and King, the holy
and righteous Sabbatai Zevi, the Messiah of the God of Jacob."

The Ghettos began to break up. Work and business dwindled in the most
sceptical. In Hungary the Jews commenced to demolish their houses. The
great commercial centres, which owed their vitality to the Jews, were
paralyzed. The very Protestants wavered in their Christianity.
Amsterdam, under the infection of Jewish enthusiasm, effervesced with
joy. At Hamburg, despite the epistolary ironies of Jacob Sasportas,
the rare _Kofrim_, or Anti-Sabbatians, were forced, by order of
Bendito de Castro, to say Amen to the Messianic prayer. At Livorne
commerce dried up. At Venice there were riots, and the _Kofrim_ were
threatened with death. In Moravia the Governor had to interfere to
calm the tumult. At Salee, in Algeria, the Jews so openly displayed
their conviction of their coming dominance that the Emir decreed a
persecution of them. At Smyrna, on the other hand, a _Chacham_ who
protested to the Cadi against the vagaries of his brethren, was, by
the power of their longer purse, shaved of his beard and condemned to
the galleys.

Three months of princely wealth and homage for Sabbatai had passed. In
response to the joyous inspiration of Melisselda, he had abandoned all
his ascetic habits, and lived the life of a king, ruling a world never
again to be darkened with sin and misery. The wine sparkled and
flowed, the choicest dishes adorned the banqueting-table, flowers and
delicate odors made grateful the air, and the beautiful maidens of
Israel danced voluptuously before him, shooting out passionate glances
from under their long eyelashes. The fast of the seventeenth of Tammuz
came round. Sabbatai abolished it, proclaiming that on that day the
conviction that he was the Messiah had been borne in upon him. The
ninth of Ab--the day of his Nativity--was again turned from a fast to
a festival, the royal edict, promulgated throug