to the total of 156,000 ducats ($195,000), for which no special security was given besides the written acknowledgment of the august debtor, claimed a more substantial safeguard of their interests. The Pope granted it at once in the form of a motuproprio, dated September 25, 1521, and containing the following stipulations: First, the brothers Bini were authorized to sell to the highest bidder the offices of the papal Curia, as fast as they became vacant through the death of their present titular. Secondly, the proceeds of the sale up to the sum of 39,000 ducats ($48,750) were given to the Bini, the surplus to be divided in equal shares between them and the Apostolic Chamber. Thirdly, the compact was to last until the Bini had fully recovered their capital of 156,000 ducats and the interest. Fourthly, as a token of his good faith, the Pope entrusted to the firm the safe-keeping of the mitre of Paul II, the mitre and tiara of Julius II, and the "sacred pontifical silver vessels, including those used for the celebration of divine service!" (vasa argentea, etiam ad sacra ministranda deputata).

These three magnificent specimens of the skill of the goldsmiths and jewellers of the Renaissance were usually kept in the strong-room of the castle of Sant' Angelo, which the humanists of the period called pedantically the "Aerarium Sanctius" in imitation of the sacred treasury of the Temple of Saturn, which was never touched except in case of extreme peril. The description of the triregnum, or triple tiara of Julius II, occupies not less than four closely written pages in the inventory of the contents of that strong-room (May 30, 1572). This gorgeous head-gear was studded with 39 diamonds, 29 emeralds, 22 sapphires, 69 rubies, 27 balases, and 571 pearls, besides an inscription written in small diamonds, and punctuated with small rubies, which read: IVLIVS

LIGVR PP II ANNO · VII.

The house and banking premises of the Bini, in which these affairs took place, were demolished in 1888. They stood at the corner of the Via del Consolato and the Via dei

The coat of arms of the Bini, painted by Pierino del Vaga on the ceiling of their banking premises

Banchi, near the little church of Santa Maria della Consolazione, a structure severe and heavy on the outside, enclosing, however, a court and a loggia so graceful and elegant in design that they were commonly attributed to Raphael or Lorenzetto. The hall, where the clerks and cashiers sat at their counters, had a vaulted ceiling, in the centre of which was one of the most captivating compositions of Pierino del Vaga, - two Cupids holding a round frame of fruit and flowers with the coat of arms of the Bini in the centre. Other such compositions by the same master are still to be seen in the Palazzo Baldassini, in the Via delle Cappelle, in the chapel of the Crucifix at San Marcello, and in the transept of the church of the Trinità del Monte these last especially praised by Vasari. The materials of the portico, drawn, photographed, and numbered piece by piece before their removal, are now preserved in the garden of the Municipal Antiquarium at the Orto Botanico, where we hope to be able to set it up again as one of the best specimens of sixteenth century domestic architecture. Part

of the coat of arms of the Bini, detached from the ceiling and transferred to canvas, is preserved in the Palazzo de' Conservatori.

To come back to state bonds or "Luoghi di Monte: " the capital raised by their founder, Clement VII, was only $200,000, bearing an interest of ten per cent.; but having found out how easy it was to replenish the coffers of the Holy See by means of these loans, the burden of which could be distributed over a long long period of years, Clement VII and his immediate successors increased the public debt to such an extent that all the revenues of the Pontifical States could hardly suffice for the payment of interest. It is said that from the time of Paul III to that of Paul IV, that is, in the short period of twenty years, the Apostolic Chamber had spent sixteen millions of dollars in subsidizing German princelets who had remained faithful to Rome, borrowing the money sometimes at twelve and a half per cent.

Another pernicious effect of the institution of the Luoghi di Monte was the gradual abandonment and depopulation of the Campagna. The Roman farmers, whose average income from tilling the soil did not exceed five per cent., and whose very life was in constant danger from bandits and malaria, grasped at once the chance offered them by the consols of earning double without risk or anxiety. Agriculture revived only towards the end of the eighteenth century, when the troubles with France and the outrageous impositions of the French invaders compelled Pope Pius VI to reduce the interest on the public debt (amounting to one hundred and thirty millions of dollars) to three per cent. In fact, for the space of four years no interest at all was paid on the bonds, and it was not till March 19, 1801, that the good Pope was able to announce the resumption of payments at the reduced rate of two per cent.

When Agostino Chigi opened his offices in the Contrada dei Banchi at the time of the Borgias, so general and so great was the ignorance of the court and of the public in financial matters, that a skilled and daring speculator like him could quickly gain control of the market without peril or fear of competition. Once only he seems to have run a certain amount of risk, when all his small rivals joined in a conspiracy to raise a panic among the "correntisti " 1 and take Agostino unawares. He himself addressed the excited crowd that besieged his counters, declaring himself ready to meet their demands, whether they preferred to be reimbursed in silver or gold, or in any kind of foreign currency which had a legal value in the Pope's dominions. The crowd withdrew without cashing a single cheque. Fabio relates another episode, connected with the fair of Foligno, where the best products of central Italy in every branch of industry were periodically brought to market. Agostino, happening to be present at one of these gatherings, bought the whole stock, asking for three days' grace to settle the accounts. At the end of the third day every article had been resold at a premium, and the heavy balance added to the yearly profits of the bank. Historians have attempted to give an estimate of his wealth, but Agostino himself, having once been asked by Leo X, whom he was fond of entertaining in his garden by the Porta Settimiana, if he could state within certain limits the amount of his fortune, said that the number and variety of affairs in which he was engaged, both in Europe and in the East, made the answer a difficult if not an impossible one. He could only say that besides the central house at Rome, he had a hundred branch houses in Italy, and five abroad, at Constantinople, Alexandria, Cairo, Lyons, and London. One hundred vessels sailed

1 Holders of current accounts.