be to their own advantage, both in this life and the next, to labor for the defence of liberty and the establishment of unity and concord.  When asked to seek the King and endeavor to persuade him to leave, he cheerfully undertook the task and hastened to the royal abode.  The officers and lords in attendance were at first inclined to refuse him admittance, fearing that his visit might defeat their plan of pillaging the treasures of this sumptuous palace.  But, remembering the veneration in which the friar was held by the King, they dared not refuse his demand and allowed him to pass.  Charles, surrounded by his barons, received him very graciously, and Savonarola went straight to the point by saying:  “Most Christian Prince, thy stay here is causing great injury both to our own city and thy enterprise.  Thou losest time, forgetful of the duty imposed on thee by Providence, and to the serious hurt of thy spiritual welfare and worldly fame.  Hearken now to the voice of God’s servant!  Pursue thy journey without delay.  Seek not to bring ruin on this city, and thereby rouse the anger of the Lord against thee.”

So at last, on November 28th, at the twenty-second hour of the day, the King departed with his army, leaving the people of Florence very badly disposed toward him.  Among their many just causes of complaint was the sack of the splendid palace in which he had been so liberally and trustfully entertained.  Nor were common soldiers and inferior officers alone concerned in this robbery; the hands of generals and barons were equally busy, and the King himself carried off objects of the greatest value; among other things a precious intaglio representing a unicorn, estimated by Comines to be worth about seven thousand ducats.  With such an example set by their sovereign, it may be easily imagined how the others behaved; and Comines himself tells us that “they shamelessly took possession of everything that tempted their greed.”  Thus the rich and marvellous collections formed by the Medici were all lost, excepting what had been placed in safety at St. Mark’s, for the few things left behind by the French were so much damaged that they had to be sold.  Nevertheless, the inhabitants were so rejoiced to be finally rid of their dangerous guests that no one mourned over these thefts.  On the contrary, public thanksgivings were offered up in the churches, the people went about the streets with their old gayety and lightheartedness, and the authorities began to take measures to pro vide for the urgent necessities of the new republic.

During this interval the aspect of Florentine affairs had entirely changed.  The partisans of the Medici had disappeared from the city as if by magic; the popular party ruled over everything, and Savonarola ruled the will of the whole population.  He was unanimously declared to have been a prophet of all that had occurred, the only man that had succeeded in controlling the King’s conduct on his entry into Florence, the only man who had induced him to