So, sweeping the
money into his pocket, he went out hastily to find a safe and secret
hiding place for his mules.
"Pray," said Lady Mabel to L'Isle, while they were waiting for their
horses, "what is a New Christian?"
"The explanation of the term does not tell well in the history of the
country," said he. "When Ferdinand and Isabella expelled the Jews from
Spain, many of them took refuge here, where John II. gave them
shelter, on condition that they should quit the kingdom in a limited
time. This king endeavored to keep faith with them. Nevertheless, in
his and the following reign, they were subjected to unceasing
persecutions, being required to become Christians, or leave the
country; at the very time every obstacle was put in the way of their
escape. At length their children were taken from them to be reared in
the Christian faith, and numbers abjured Judaism in order to recover
possession of their own offspring. But such a conversion failed not to
furnish for many a generation a crowd of hapless inmates for the
'Tremendous House of the Inquisition' in every town. Even in the last
century, no diversion delighted the Lisbon mob like the burning of a
relapsed Jew.
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