It was not without difficulty that the late emperor could procure three or four pieces to satisfy these simple wants; and if he bestowed the gold to relieve the more painful distress of a friend, the sacrifice is of some weight in the scale of humanity and religion.

Four years after his abdication, Andronicus or Antony expired in a cell, in the seventy-fourth year of his age: and the last strain of adulation could only promise a more splendid crown of glory in heaven than he had enjoyed upon earth.

[12] [121] [Footnote 10: I follow the chronology of Nicephorus Gregoras, who is remarkably exact.

It is proved that Cantacuzene has mistaken the dates of his own actions, or rather that his text has been corrupted by ignorant transcribers.] [Footnote 101: And the washerwomen, according to Nic.

Gregoras, p.
431 .-- M.] [Footnote 11: I have endeavored to reconcile the 24,000 pieces of Cantacuzene (l.ii.c.