thirty or forty per cent., many a credulous nobleman has fallen a victim to his own avarice, and has thereby lost the whole of his substance: for, at the expiration of eight days from the time fixed for the paying in of these taxes to the public treasury, the government seizes upon the estates of the unhappy guarantee, and disof them, without loss of time, to the best

poses bidder.

Some of these tax-gatherers have taken to their heels, when they have found themselves unable to collect a sufficient sum, before the expiration of the two months allowed for the payments. Others have contrived to make good their engagements by the following device: the wretched farmers, and landed proprietors, when their estates are seized on for arrears of taxes, in order to obtain a suspension, or indulgence, for a short time, are glad to make great sacrifices to the local authorities, both in money and effects; besides giving their land and its produce, by way of security for the due fulfilment of the exorbitant engagement. This indulgence they are under the necessity of renewing every eight or ten days, making every time some fresh sacrifice. And, when at length these local authorities, who are in league with the tax-collectors, discover that they can no

longer spunge upon the unhappy victims of cupidity, they dispose of their effects at a mock auction, for a twelfth of their value-become themselves, under fictitious names, the actual purchasers-sell them again for their real value -fix the credulous proprietor with the guarantee to government-and, finally, decamp with the plunder !

When my reader considers, that agricultural produce does not at present fetch, throughout the Venetian States, more than a tenth part of its former price, he will at once see, that it is morally as well as physically impossible for the people to pay the present enormous amount of taxes. They are, nevertheless, now called upon, when the sack of corn of four bushels sells for only seven francs, to pay as much as they were called upon to pay when the same quantity sold for fifty francs. Every other commodity bears the same proportion: for, throughout Italy, corn is the standard by which the price of every article is regulated, and consequently rises or falls. But, though there is now this astonishing difference, the government has hitherto turned a deaf ear to the heart-rending complaints of its miserable subjects.

At Venice, the currency chiefly consists of a base metal, with which the government pays

both its civil and military servants: nevertheless, it will only take to the extent of a third part of the public taxes in this almost valueless coin; the other two-thirds it insists upon receiving in gold. And, as the revenue is collected every two months, genuine specie is become a regular article of speculation, and, at these stated periods, is with difficulty to be procured at any rate; for those who are employed in collecting the taxes, make a point of monopolizing, every two months, all the national money. Against this there is no remedy. The decrees of the government are rigidly enforced; and in case the good currency is not forthcoming, the defaulter has an additional five per cent. added to the two-thirds of the taxes which should have been paid in sterling gold.

This is the first instance, I believe, of any government depreciating its credit, by thus dis gracefully refusing to take back its own debased circulating medium, in payment of taxes. Heaven grant it may be the last! for it is certainly a practice

"More honour'd in the breach, than in th' observance."

CHAPTER V.

VENICE.

General Character of the Venetians......Males......Females...... State of Society.......Casinos......Marriages......Dress of the Nobles in the time of the Republic......Gondolas........ Treatment of the Meretrices......The Free-Masons' Lodge suppressed.

GENERALLY speaking, the Venetians are gentle, affable, polite, courteous, hospitable, and more civilized and better informed than the inhabitants of any other part of Italy. Their conversation is at once entertaining and instructive. The vast number of men of talent, in every art and science, to which the Republic has given birth, is a proof that its lakes are as abundant in genius, as they are fertile in the productions of their native element. To mention only a few of the illustrious names who have rendered the Venetian nation immortal-Titus Livius, Petrarca, Trissino,* Algarotti, Goldoni, Titian,

* Voltaire acknowledges, that it was the perusal of the writings of this great Venetian dramatist, that first induced him to set about the greater part of his theatrical productions; and especially his "Sofonisbe," which is little more than a copy of the Italian, adapted to the French stage.

Tintoretto, Paul Veronese, Palladio, Sansovino, Scarlati, Buranello, Bertoni, Tartini, Canova, &c. are names which, in their respective departments, remain unrivalled, and will be the admiration of the world, as long as mankind shall continue to entertain a taste for science and the fine arts. As navigators, the Venetians claim the foremost rank; as warriors, they stand on an equality with the bravest; and as politicians, they are superior to every other civilized nation in Europe.

The men are above the middle stature, rather inclined to be tall, and remarkably well made. They have good clear complexions, fine expressive countenances, with an elegant and easy deportment. So remarkably constant are they in their attachments, that it is no uncommon thing to hear of friendships, between the sexes, of fifty and sixty years' standing. A Venetian rarely abandons the object of his primitive affection, except for ill-treatment or infidelity; and, even in those instances, he never fails to lend her his assistance, should she happen to stand in need of it.

The females, who, generally speaking, are handsome, have very fine figures, with beautifully clear skins, expressive features, and eyes that penetrate the inmost recesses of the soul.