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 sian King fifteen thousand florins that their settlement might be spared. But it was not only then that the people had reason to complain; it had long vexed them that the Jews enjoyed privileges which were not granted to the Christians. The Jews had always enjoyed the protection of the upper classes; if they ever got into trouble the nobility interposed and helped them out, because they willingly submitted to be the instruments of all their intrigues.

Even the Empress, the steward assured the Hlohov people, knew that the Jews were planning some intrigues with the Prussians, for she issued a decree in which she strictly ordered the Jews to move out of Prague and not to settle in any of her dominions. This was no small treat for the Prague people, who at once expressed their feelings in anti-Jewish songs. The songs, however, did not live very long; their composers were captured, and many of them were punished. The steward still knew many of these songs, and when he spoke of the event he always sang them. The Jews,