In the morning he had a bed and some food from his own house. I was
burdened with this wretched fellow for two months, for before condemning
him to the Fours the secretary had several interviews with him to bring
to light his knaveries, and to oblige him to cancel a goodly number of
illegal agreements. He confessed to me himself that he had bought of M.
Domenico Micheli the right to moneys which could not belong to the buyer
till after the father of the seller was dead. "It's true," said he, "that
he agreed to give me fifty per cent., but you must consider that if he
died before his father I should lose all." At last, seeing that my cursed
fellow did not go, I determined to light my lamp again after having made
him promise to observe secrecy. He only kept his promise while he was
with me, as Lawrence knew all about it, but luckily he attached no
importance to the fact.

This unwelcome guest was a true burden to me, as he not only prevented me
from working for my escape but also from reading. He was troublesome,
ignorant, superstitious, a braggart, cowardly, and sometimes like a
madman. He would have had me cry, since fear made him weep, and he said
over and over again that this imprisonment would ruin his reputation. On
this count I reassured him with a sarcasm he did not understand. I told
him that his reputation was too well known to suffer anything from this
little misfortune, and he took that for a compliment. He would not
confess to being a miser, but I made him admit that if the Inquisitors
would give him a hundred sequins for every day of his imprisonment he
would gladly pass the rest of his life under the Leads.

He was a Talmudist, like all modern Jews, and he tried to make me believe
that he was very devout; but I once extracted a smile of approbation from
him by telling him that he would forswear Moses if the Pope would make