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undergo the same formalities as those of Venice; and, even when aggregated, it required a century or two, entirely to eradicate the prejudices existing between them and the old nobility. For instance, they could not belong to the Savio Consiglio di Dieci, or Council of Ten; they could not be of the Inquisitori di Stata; nor Doge; nor ambassadors extraordinary; nor Podesta of Venice, &c.

Under the old Venetian Republic, the tribunals were composed of one hundred and twenty members, called the Quarantia; out of whom, forty were chosen by ballot, to preside, both as judges and jurors, in all civil matters. They were divided as follows: 1. La Quarantia civil vecchia; 2. La Quarantia civil nuova; 3. La Quarantia della Terra Ferma.

The members were called Quaranta, because they belonged to the Quarantia. Every patrician was eligible to the situation, as soon as he had attained the age of five-and-twenty. They much resembled an English jury; only they held the office for life. They must have been men who had been regularly educated for the bar. They were not under the necessity of coming to an unanimous verdict, as is the case in British courts of justice; but decided by a majority of votes, entirely from the evidence

which had come out before them, while sitting in the character of judges. If, by chance, it came to be known, that any member of the Quarantia had given a legal opinion upon the case, previously to its coming before him in his judicial capacity, he was declared incapable of sitting upon that trial, and his place was filled by another.

As the members of the Quarantia were generally either men of small fortunes, or belonging to the order called Bernabotti, they each received an annual salary, out of the public purse, of a hundred and twenty golden ducats, called in the Venetian dialect zecchini, to distinguish them from the ducato, of which there are two sorts; one of silver, of the value of four French francs; the other a nominal money, like our pound sterling, called ducato di Banco, worth something less than three francs.

The Venetian Republic, during its beneficent and truly paternal sway, bestowed a pension on all the children of the Bernabotti, from their cradle upwards. That which, in other countries, is too often considered a misfortune, was, to the above-mentioned class, a source of comfort and of emolument. They therefore cheerfully obeyed, as early as nature would permit, the sacred injunction-" Increase and multiply!"

When Buonaparte flagitiously overturned the antient Venetian power, many of these unfortunate Bernabotti were deprived of the means of procuring a subsistence; and, if some of their own countrymen had not generously stepped forward to relieve their immediate wants, they must inevitably have perished; for their new masters quitted them, without making any other provision for them than two livres a day. This scanty pittance has, however, been deemed too large by their present rulers; for, all those who have praise-worthily endeavoured to add to this wretched allowance by their own industry, and to gain a trifle by engaging themselves as clerks in mercantile houses, have actually been deprived of it, by a decree of his gracious Imperial Majesty, declaring all persons incapable of enjoying the luxury of this enormous pension, provided they happen to have any other means of procuring a subsistence for themselves and families.

As it is quite impossible to live on this pittance, many have actually chosen to trust to the chance of getting employment, and have preferred to renounce their claim altogether, rather than exclude themselves, by accepting it, from every prospect of bettering their deplorable condition.

CHAPTER VIII.

VENICE.

Austrian treatment of the Company of Venetian Couriers...... Conduct of Marshal Chatlaire and his horde of Croats, on the destruction of the Palazzo di Andrea Cornaro by fire. ......Austrian Mode of indemnifying the Sufferers thereby ......Stamped-paper Memorials to the Emperor......Revenue derived therefrom.......Deplorable effects of the Austrian system of rule on the Arts and Sciences......And on "La Bella Litteratura Italiana."

WHEN the Venetian States were first honoured with a visit from the Emperor of Austria, his Majesty was pleased to designate the unprincipled acquisition as "the brightest jewel and most valuable gem" of his imperial diadem. When I have reflected on the treatment which Venice has met with at the hands of her new master, I have often wondered within myself, what his conduct towards her would have been, if, instead of being a bright jewel," and a "most valuable gem," that royal personage had happened to consider her mere French paste!

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This bombastic language wrought like a charm on the ears of the two and-thirty pro

prietors of the General Post, who had been robbed of their property, and deprived of the exercise of their functions, by the Corsican freebooter. Accordingly, the Company of Venetian Couriers, as they are called, went up in a body, and presented to his Imperial Majesty a memorial, praying for the restitution of their property; and begging to be either replaced in the exercise of their dearly-purchased immunities, or to be paid the sum which, centuries before, the Republic had resolved on granting them, if it should ever come to the determination of making the post-office a public concern. To which memorial, the Emperor most feelingly replied, that "it was but fair and just that the Company should be indemnified, since the Government were then reaping the benefit of the concern; but, in consequence of the expensive wars which Austria had, for so many years, been compelled to carry on, the public treasury was at that time too much exhausted, to admit of any additional burthens; however, if the Venetian States were willing to submit to the levying of a tax for that purpose, the produce should be duly applied to the liquidation of their claim."

This proposition was accordingly made to the States, and was most patriotically acquiesced in;

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