France at the head of the League of Cambrai-formed by the extraordinary jealousy excited against her by her grow ing powers and immense resources. A single blow had shattered in pieces the goodly fabric of continental dominion which it had cost Venice the toil of a century to erect; but it seems, throughout the History of this most singular people, that their seasons of deepest calamity were those which produced, also, the most overflowing harvests of glory.

In a spirit similar to that which animated the Romans after their overthrow at Cannæ, they despatched messengers to Petigliano, expressing thanks for his great constancy. Then, by a stroke of master policy, of which we know not whether most to admire the wisdom or magnanimity, they issued a decree releasing the endangered provinces from all obligation of fidelity to a state no longer able to afford them protection.*

I cannot do better than to add to these notices of Venice the eloquent remarks of an article in the Quarterly,† whose only fault is being anonymous. "The achievements of Venice "in the east are as a silken thread of romance, continually "interwoven in the long tissue of her annals. Her whole

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history is invested with a peculiar and striking character. "Her deadly and protracted rivalry with Genoa; her heroic "defence against that republic in the desperate war of Chi66 ozza ; the singular career in which, with a native population composed only of marines, she extended her sway over a "great part of Lombardy, and held the political balance of + No. xxxiv.

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* Sketches of Venetian History, vol. ii.

Italy; the envy and hatred which she excited in other "nations; and the general coalition of Europe which she pro"voked and repelled ;-all these are circumstances of the very

highest historical attraction. But even these yield in in"terest to the fearful and imposing spectacle which is offered "by the institution and policy of her government-the gloomiest fabric of real despotism ever erected for the pre"tended security of republican freedom. History has no "parallel to that silent, mysterious, inexorable tyranny."... ".... And yet how many lamentations have been poured "forth over the lost independence of Venice! Such a charm, "then, has the empty name of a Republican constitution, that " it can blind the judgment to the horrors of the foulest system "of assassination and tyranny, the most deliberate violation "of the laws of God, and the obligations of morality, that ever assumed the shape of human government!"

*

"If the state had not been perfidiously overthrown by the "French, the epoch had arrived when it must have sunk "under the weight of its own corruption; and our detesta"tion of the tyranny of its betrayers, is mingled with the "conviction, that humanity has, at least, nothing to regret " in the catastrophe."

XV.

Yet wherefore wert thou crushed at once?

In the political storm which followed the French Revolution, the Republic maintained a cautious neutrality. But

this moderation, dictated by a sense of weakness, could neither engage respect nor secure independence :-" The sea-girt "metropolis," says Simond, "might easily have been de"fended; it was the pusillanimity of the nobles which

gave confidence to the party opposed to them. They be"trayed themselves into the hands of an enemy, whom they "had first provoked by an imprudent display of hatred, and, "when threatened, had encouraged by their submissiveness. "Accustomed to a life of mere sensual gratifications, the "noble Venetians could not endure the idea of losing the "revenues of their estates on the Continent, and of enduring "the dangers of a protracted war with such a man as Na"poleon. Finally, they suffered a small force of five thou "sand men to traverse the Lagune in boats, and, without a "shadow of resistance, take possession of a city till then im"pregnable. The French general, Baraguay d'Hilliers, was as"tonished at his conquest. On the very day of his arrival, May "15, 1797, the ancient government of Venice, self-deposed,

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proclaimed, as "its last official act, the instalment of demo"cratic municipality, which, they declared in a public mani"festo, was to give the last degree of perfection to the republican system of government: intimating, besides, that "the French general, in paying them a friendly visit, meant nothing but the greatest glory and prosperity of the Re"public !"

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Napoleon was justified in saying of them, "Ce'st une population inepte, lâche, et nullement faite pour la liberté: il Simond, pp. 25, 53.

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paroit naturel qu'elle soit laissée à ceux à qui nous donnons “le continent, nous prendrons les vaisseaux, nous depouille

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rons l'arsenal, nous enleverons tous les canons, nous de"truirons la Banque, et nous garderons Corfu et Ancone !"— A strange contrast to his professions to the deluded Venetians—and an impressive warning to all degenerated nations that their liberty must be retained, as gained, by exertion: that prostration entails contempt, which, of itself, provokes to insult; but that a vanquished resistance always commands respect, and almost always attains success and honour. "In "the ultimate crisis of Venetian liberty," says Hallam finely, "her solemn mockery of statesmanship was exhibited to contempt; too blind to avert danger, too cowardly to with"stand it, the most ancient government of Europe made not "the least resistance; the peasants of Underwalden died 66 upon their mountains; the nobles of Venice clung only to "their lives."

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That hereditary Aristocracy-so prudent, so jealous, so ambitious-which Europe regarded with astonishment; immovable in principle, unshaken in power; uniting some of the most odious practices of despotism with the name of liberty; suspicious and perfidious in politics; sanguinary in revenge; indulgent to the subject; sumptuous in the public service, economical in the administration of the finances; equitable and impartial in the administration of * Sketches of Venetian History.

justice; knowing well how to give prosperity to the arts, agriculture, and commerce; beloved by the people who obeyed it, while it made the nobles who partook its power tremble.*

XX.

The Greek-the Goth-the Saracenic joined:

Though most of its materials come from Greece, their "combination is neither Greek, nor Gothic, nor Basilical,

nor Saracenic, but a fortuitous jumble of all. A front "divided by a gallery, and a roof hooded with mosquish cupolas, give it a strange unchristian look. Nowhere have I seen so many columns crowded into so small a space. Near "three hundred are stuck on the pillars of the front, and "three hundred more on the balustrades above. A like pro"fusion prevails in the interior, which is dark, heavy, bar"barous, nay poor, in spite of all the porphyry, and oriental "marbles, and glaring mosaics that would enrich the walls, "the vaults, and pavements. In fact, such a variety of "colours would impair the effect of the purest architec"ture."

In despite of these severe but just censures of Forsyth, whose pen, when touching on the arts, is ever polished by the finest taste, neither he nor any man ever surveyed the front of St. Mark, and seriously wished one stone of that grotesque edifice different from what it is: it is a part of Venice, the crowning point of the marvel which crowns the whole.

* Sismondi.