this period; nor are we enabled to correct their errors, or to supply their deficiencies, by the writers of other Italian states, who were too much occupied with the affairs and the discords of their own cities, to give more than a few meagre details concerning Venice. It appears, however, that the new laws were not promulgated without bloodshed; and we are probably safe in conjecturing, that the acquiescence of the people was the effect of terror, and not of indifference or approbation.

Besides those massacres which, from the fewness or obscurity of the victims, were little known at the time they occurred, and of which nothing more than vague and indistinct rumours have come down to us, others, so sanguinary, as to force themselves upon the notice of the historians of Venice, prove, that long and increasing servitude had not yet subdued the national spirit into patient resignation to the last fatal blow which extinguished its liberties.

Two conspiracies broke out within two days of the proposal and adoption of the law, which Gradenigo, after placing the Great Council exclusively in the hands of the ancient families, caused to be received as a fundamental statute of the republic: That no one should henceforward be elected nor eligible to sit in the Great Council, except those who were then members of it, or their descendants: That this privilege should be Hereditary in their families in perpetuity: That the Great Council should be the sovereign power of the state, and that it should elect all the magistrates from among its own body. The Great Council, at that time, consisted of about six hundred members.

1309.)

(A. D.

From this point, we may date the second period in the history of the republic, which ended only with the fall of its power. We shall find it totally unlike the former-rather, however, in its substantial effects, than in its external appearances. To us, contemplating, within the space of a few pages, the steps of this mighty change, the contrast between the earlier character of the government, and that which it bore till its dissolution, appears immense. When, however, we reflect, that this revolution was the result of changes so slow as to be almost imperceptiblechanges tending to one conclusion, through a long course of ages, by the very nature of human society-we shall perceive that the nation was scarcely aware of them until it was too late to repair the evil, and that familiarity with slavery and forgetfulness of obsolete rights, gradually prepared it for deeper degradation. The revolution which we have now endeavoured to trace, unexampled for the skilful combination of its causes, and the permanence of its effects, was conducted in he arbitrary spirit

of oligarchy, under the mask of republican equality-with premeditated iniquity, under the forms of justice-with a discretion which presented no front to its adversaries, but rather appeared to shrink from danger, and thus lulled suspicion, whilst it secretly extended and increased its powers. When, therefore, the moment arrived, in which the aristocracy of Venice established itself in the undisputed and permanent possession of Hereditary authority, the conspiracies formed against it served but to increase its strength, and to arm it with new terrors.

The first of these conspiracies originated with a portion of the people, guided by certain citizens distinguished for courage and for opulence. Their vengeance was directed against Gradenigo. Their designs were no sooner discovered than defeated; and, after a few hours spent in legal forms, they were all delivered into the hands of the executioner. A conspiracy more formidable in its elements, and more secret in its operations, was next formed by veteran soldiers, under the conduct of patricians of ancient family, at the head of whom was Bagamonte Tiepolo. The Doge, though almost entirely unprepared, collected all the disciplined troops within his reach. They were fewer in number, but had the advantage of not being intermixed with the mob, who, hastening to take part with the conspirators, brought confusion, panic, and flight into their ranks. The followers of Tiepolo, believing themselves betrayed on both sides, abandoned their chief, who perished by a blow from a stone thrown from a window by an old woman. His associates were all taken, and were branded with the name, and punished with the death, of traitors.

He

Shortly after this event, Gradenigo suddenly died in the full vigour of manhood, and not without suspicion of poison; a suspicion strengthened by the manifest danger to aristocratical ascendency from his ambitious and enterprising character. had already betrayed his secret designs, by his endeavours to ingratiate himself with the people. In accordance with their wishes, he had permitted the Republic to extend her conquests, for the first time, on the continent of Italy, and forcibly to withstand the political interference of the popes in the affairs of other

states.

Azzo of Este, Marquis of Ferrara, died, leaving a brother and a natural son; the latter of whom had attempted to murder his father, and had actually wounded him; but, as his mother was a native of Venice, the Republic, in spite of the opposition of the Ferrarese, recognised his claim to the Marquisate, and his right to dispose of it, to the total exclusion of the lawful heir; after which, they purchased it of him for an annuity of a

thousand ducats, to be paid him during his life; and immediately sent an army to occupy the territory. Clement V., insisting upon that feudal supremacy over Ferrara, which his predecessors had ever laid claim to, incited by that hatred to the republic, which he had inherited from them, and eager to seize the opportunity of extending his temporal dominions, lent a favourable ear to the entreaties of the Ferrarese, and of the rightful heir; insomuch, that he not only deputed apostolical nuncios to receive their oaths of allegiance, but threatened the Venetians with the visitation of those canonical penalties which the Church had denounced against usurpers. The Venetians, disregarding these threats, were immediately assailed with a papal bull, which denounced them as despoilers of St Peter's patrimony, and infamous, even to the fourth generation; deprived them of their mercantile property in foreign ports, of the right of property at home, and of the power of testamentary disposition; declared their goods and possessions the lawful prey of the first taker, themselves slaves in every region of the globe; and proclaimed that God would look with an approving eye upon every act of hostility, cruelty, and perfidy, which should tend to blot themselves and their posterity from the memory of mankind.* Such decrees were then believed to proceed from the immediate inspiration of God; and, sanctifying rapine, readily found execution

ers.

It is recorded, that a Venetian ambassador crawled on his hands and feet to the foot of the papal throne; patiently endured the epithet of "soulless dog," with which he was regaled by the consistory, and, by dint of much entreaty, at length obtained absolution for the Republic;+ which, however, be it remarked, she did not apply for, until Ferrara had been wrested from her hands by a murderous insurrection of the inhabitants.

At this period begins the reign of the council of ten, which, in its origin, was nothing more than a committee of the council of forty, specially appointed for the limited period of two months, to proceed judicially against those who were implicated in the conspiracy of Bajamonte Tiepolo, and to explore its secret ramifications. (A. D. 1310.) Afterwards, its powers were extended for a farther period of two months; then, for the successive periods of one, five, and ten years; and ultimately, it

* The bull which we have here abbreviated is quoted by many historians; and is to be found in the original, in the Collection of Papal Bulls, vol. iii. p. 118-120. Rome, 1741.

Foscarini, Lituratura Venegiani, lib. iii.

was established in perpetuity, with ample authority to make, alter, and repeal the regulations which were to govern its procedure and its judgments. (A. D. 1335.) It had hardly received this extension of its powers, when it carried them into decisive effect, for the purpose of suppressing the last fruitless attempt on the domination of the hereditary aristocracy. The attempt to which we advert, is the celebrated conspiracy of the Doge Falier; whom they had placed in the ducal throne, at the advanced age of eighty, to obviate the probability of such an incident, and to deter his successors from similar enterprises; had studiously degraded, by an insult which in every age must be insufferable, and, in that, could only be expiated in the blood of the offenders. After his execution, the president of the council of ten appeared at a window of the ducal palace, holding a sword in one hand, and displaying the trunkless head of the old man in the other; and proclaimed to the assembled multitude, that the traitor had but paid the penalty justly due to his crime. D. 1355.)

(A.

Henceforward, the body of the nobles acted in strict unison, without perceiving that their power was gradually arrogated by a narrow oligarchy, which, with all possible diligence, proceeded, at the same time, to abridge the authority of the Doge, to hold him up to the people as a fit object of jealousy, and to make him responsible for every error of the government. Falier was held unworthy of that sepulture in the church of St Mark with which his predecessors had always been honoured; and the privilege itself was thenceforward abolished, to the prejudice of those who should succeed him. The law which forbade the Doges to take wives not natives of Venice, was extended to their sons, who were also excluded from every place in the magistracy, and were requited for these incapacities by the empty title of Cavalieri del Doge. So long as he lived, the family arms were displayed upon the ducal palace, but might not be affixed, like those of other patricians, upon the family mansion. A fine was imposed upon any who should address him, by writing or orally, in any other style than that of Messer Doge. Every one employed about his person, of whatever rank he might be, was excluded even from the lowest office connected, directly or indirectly, with the government. (A D. 1400.)

These restraints, however severe they may appear, were still not strict enough in the eyes of the aristocracy. Whilst the naval and military force of the Republic was no longer placed at the disposition of the Doge, every war in which she engaged was ascribed to him as its author: by this subtle policy, the popular indignation was drawn down upon him by a doubtful or unsue

cessful issue. Nor can it be inferred from this description, that this miserable throne was only filled by vain-glorious aspirants, since no one, when elected, could refuse to accept the office, nor, having accepted, could resign it. Another change went hand in hand with the degradation of the ducal authority. For the people were deprived, even in appearance, of that power of confirming the appointment of the Doge, of which they had been despoiled in substance at the election of Pietro Gradenigo, about a century before this period. On that occasion, the nobility ventured, for the first time, to announce to the people, without waiting for the appropriate reply,-" The Doge is elected-if you approve him." But, during the period to which we have just adverted, the nomination of Francisco Foscari was proclaimed to the people in this more concise and less respectful formula,"The Doge is elected." (A. D. 1423.)

Nor did the encroachments of the oligarchy stop here. The despotism of the last-named Doge sufficiently evinces, that it afterwards assumed the power of making, as well as of unmaking, the head of the state: though it so shrouded its usurpations under cover of the State Inquisition, which was established on this very occasion, that Venice, to appearance, remained under the government of a large and liberal aristocracy.

We have now arrived at the end of the ten first centuries of the Venetian history, and at the commencement of that constitution, which, owing to the impenetrable secrecy wherewith it veiled its conduct, was preserved from any violent shock during nearly four centuries more, and only ended with the destruction of the state itself.

To examine and illustrate this intricate and interesting subject, would lead us beyond the limits which are assigned to writers in periodical works. Probably, in a future article, we shall exhibit somewhat at large, the structure and policy of the Oligarchical State Inquisition: A body which, though it checked or stifled the internal prosperity of the Republic, yet saved her from the causes of dissolution wherewith she was beset externally; skilfully concealed the progress of her decay, and covered her intrinsic weakness, down to the hour of her agony, with a specious and imposing appearance of strength and dignity.