He on whom none before had breathed reproachHe lived but to disprove it. That hope lost, Death followed. Oh, if Justice be in Heaven, A day must come of ample Retribution ! Then was thy cup, old Man, full to the brim. But thou wert yet alive; and there was one, The soul and spring of all that Enmity, Who would not leave thee; fastening on thy flank, Hungering and thirsting, still unsatisfied; One of a name illustrious as thine own! One of the Ten! one of the Invisible Three !! 'Twas Loredano. When the whelps were gone, He would dislodge the Lion from his den; And, leading on the pack he long had led, The miserable pack that ever howled Against fallen Greatness, moved that Foscari Be Doge no longer; urging his great age; Calling the loneliness of Grief neglect Of duty, sullenness against the laws. "I am most willing to retire," said he: "But I have sworn, and cannot of myself. Do with me as ye please."- -He was deposed, He, who had reigned so long and gloriously; His ducal bonnet taken from his brow, His robes stript off, his seal and signet-ring Broken before him. But now nothing moved The meekness of his soul. All things alike! Among the six that came with the decree, Foscari saw one he knew not, and inquired His name. "I am the son of Marco Memmo." ‘Ah,” he replied, "thy father was my friend." And now he goes. "It is the hour and past. I have no business here.". "But wilt thou not Avoid the gazing crowd? That way is private." 1 The State-Inquisitors. For an account of their authority, see page 234. No! as I entered, so will I retire." nd, leaning on his staff, he left the House, is residence for five-and-thirty years, y the same stairs up which he came in state; hose where the giants stand, guarding the ascent, Ionstrous, terrific. At the foot he stopt, nd, on his staff still leaning, turned and said, By mine own merits did I come. I go, Driven by the malice of mine Enemies." Then to his boat withdrew, poor as he came, Amid the sighs of them that dared not speak. This journey was his last. When the bell rang At dawn, announcing a new Doge to Venice, It found him on his knees before the Cross, Clasping his aged hands in earnest prayer; And there he died. Ere half its task was done, It rang his knell. But whence the deadly hate That caused all this-the hate of Loredano ? It was a legacy his Father left, Who, but for Foscari, had reigned in Venice, He changed not, with a dreadful piety "Veneno sublatus." The tomb is in the Church of St. Elena. And with a brow of care, most merchant-like, Entered at full (nor month, nor day forgot) Ye who sit Brooding from day to day, from day to day MARCOLINI. T was midnight; the great clock had struck and was still echoing through every porch and gallery in the quarter of St. Mark, when a young Citizen, wrapped in his cloak, was hastening home under it from an interview with his Mistress. His step was light, for his heart was so. Her parents had just consented to their marriage; and the very day was named. 66 'Lovely Giulietta!" he cried, "and shall I then call thee mine at last? Who was ever so A remarkable instance, among others in the annals of Venice, that her princes were merchants; her merchants princes. 2 Count Ugolino.-Inferno, 32. lest as thy Marcolini ?" But as he spoke, he topped; for something glittered on the pavement efore him. It was a scabbard of rich workmanhip; and the discovery, what was it but an earnest f good fortune? "Rest thou there!" he cried, hrusting it gaily into his belt. "If another laims thee not, thou hast changed masters!" and on he went as before, humming the burden of a ong which he and his Giulietta had been singing cogether. But how little do we know what the next minute will bring forth! He turned by the Church of St. Geminiano, and in three steps he met the Watch. A murder had just been committed. The senator Renaldi had been found dead at his door, the dagger left in his heart; and the unfortunate Marcolini was dragged away for examination. The place, the time, every thing served to excite, to justify suspicion; and no sooner had he entered the guardhouse than a damning witness appeared against him. The Bravo in his flight had thrown away his scabbard; and, smeared with blood, with blood not yet dry, it was now in the belt of Marcolini. Its Patrician ornaments struck every eye; and, when the fatal dagger was produced and compared with it, not a doubt of his guilt remained. Still there is in the Innocent an energy and a composure, an energy when they speak and a composure when they are silent, to which none can be altogether insensible; and the Judge delayed for some time to pronounce the sentence, though he was a near relation of the dead. At length, however, it came; and Marcolini lost his life, Giulietta her reason. Not many years afterwards the truth revealed itself, the real criminal in his last moments confessing the crime; and hence the custom in Venice, a custom that long prevailed, for a cryer to cry out The fierceness of his soul.1 Thus were the Brides Lost and recovered; and what now remained But to give Thanks? Twelve breast-plates and twelve crowns, By the young Victors to their Patron-Saint Flaming with gems and gold, were in due time At earliest dawn St. Mary's silver shrine; Each in her glittering veil; and on the deck, 1 "Paululum etiam spirans," &c.-SALLUST. Bell. Catil. 59. 2 They are described by Evelyn and La Lande, and were to be seen in the Treasury of St. Mark very lately. 3 Le quali con trionfo si conducessero sopra una piatta pe' canali di Venezia con suoni e canti."-M. SANUTO. 4 An English abbreviation. Rialto is the name, not of the bridge, but of the island from which it is called; and the Venetians say Il Ponte di Rialto, as we say Westminster Bridge. to none. In that island is the Exchange; and I have often walked there as on classic ground. In the days of Antonio and Bassanio it was second "I sottoportici," says Sansovino, writing in 1580, "sono ogni giorno frequentati da i mercatanti Fiorentini, Genovesi, Milanesi, Spagnuoli, Turchi, e d' altre nationi diverse del mondo, i quali vi concorrono in tanta copia, che questa piazza è annoverata |