Execution. It is not many Years fince they had before them a great Debate concerning the Punishment of one of their Admirals, which lafted Month together, and concluded in his Condemnation; yet there was none of his Friends, nor of those who had engaged warmly in his Defence, that gave him the leaft Intimation of what was paffing against him, 'till he was actually feiz'd, and in the Hands of Juftice.

The Noble Venetians think themselves equal at leaft to the Eléctors of the Empire, and but one Degree below Kings; for which reafon they feldom travel into Foreign Countries, where they must undergo the Mortification of being treated like private Gentlemen: Yet it is obferv'd of them, that they discharge themselves with a great deal of Dexterity in fuch Embaffies and Treaties as are laid on them by the Republic; for their whole Lives are employed in Intrigues of State, and they naturally give themselves Airs of Kings and Princes, of which the Minifters of other Nations are only the Reprefentatives. Monfieur Amelot, reckons in his time, two thousand five hundred Nobles that had Voices in the great Council; but at present, I am told, there are not at moft fifteen Hundred, notwithftanding the Addition of many new Families fince that time. It is very ftrange, that with this Advantage they are not able to keep up their Number, confidering that the Nobility fpreads equally thro' all the Brothers, and that fo very few of them are deftroyed by the Wars of the Republic. Whether this may be imputed to the Luxury of the Venetians, or to the ordinary Celibacy of the younger Brothers, or to the laft Plague which fwept away many of them, I know not. They generally thruft the Females of their Families into Convents, the better

better to preserve their Eftates. This makes the Venetian Nuns famous for the Liberties they allow themselves. They have Operas within their own Walls, and often go out of their Bounds to meet their Admirers, or they are very much mifreprefented. They have many of them their Lovers, that converfe with them daily at the Grate; and are very free to admit a Vifit from a Stranger. There is indeed one of the Cornara's, that not long ago refus❜d to see any under a Prince.

The Carnival of Venice is every where talk'd of. The great Diverfion of the Place at that time, as well as on all other high Occafions, is Masking. The Venetians, who are naturally Grave, love to give into the Follies and Entertainments of fuch Seafons, when difguifed in a falfe Perfonage. They are indeed under a neceffity of finding out Diverfions that may agree with the Nature of the Place, and make fome Amends for the Lofs of feveral Pleasures which may be met with on the Continent. These Difguifes give Occafion to abundance of Love-Adventures; for there is fomething more intriguing in the Amours of Venice, than in thofe of other Countries; and I question not but the fecret Hiftory of a Carnival would make a Collection of very diverting Novels. Operas are another great Entertainment of this Seafon. The Poetry of them is generally as exquifitely ill, as the Mufic is good. The Arguments are often taken from fome celebrated Action of the ancient Greeks or Romans, which fometimes looks ridiculous enough; for who can endure to hear one of the rough old Romanɛ fqueaking thro' the Mouth of an Eunuch, especially when they may choose a Subject out of Courts where Eunuchs are really Actors, or represent by them any of the foft Afiatic Monarchs? The Opera that D3>

was

was most in Vogue during my Stay at Venice, was built on the following Subject. Cafar and Scipio are Rivals for Cate's Daughter. Cafar's first Words bid his Soldiers fly, for the Enemies are upon them: Si leva Cefare, e dice a Soldati, A' la fugga, A’ lo fcampo. The Daughter gives the Preference to Cafar, which is made the Occafion of Cato's Death. Before he kills himself, you fee him withdrawn into his Library, where, among his Books, I obferved the Titles of Plutarch and Taffo. After a fhort Soliloquy, he ftrikes himself with the Dagger that he holds in his Hand; but, being interrupted by one of his Friends, he ftabs him for his Pains, and by the Violence of the Blow unluckily breaks the Dagger on one of his Ribs, fo that he is forced to difpatch himself by tearing up his firft Wound. This laft Circumftance puts me in mind of a Contrivance in the Opera of St. Angels, that was acted at the fame time. The King of the Play endeavours at a Rape; but the Poet, being refolved to fave his Heroine's Honour, has fo ordered it, that the King always acts with a great Cafe-Knife ftuck in his Girdle, which the Lady fnatches from him in the Struggle, and fo defends herself.

The Italian Poets, befides the celebrated Smoothnefs of their Tongue, have a particular Advantage, above the Writers of other Nations, in the difference of their Poetical and Profe Language. There are indeed Sets of Phrafes that in all Countries are peculiar to the Poets; but among the Italians there are not only Sentences, but a Multitude of particular Words, that never enter into common Difcourfe. They have fuch a different Turn and Polishing for Poetical Ufe, that they drop feveral of their Letters, and appear in another Form, when they come to be Fanged in Verfe. For this Reason the Italian Opera

feldom

feldom finks into a Poornefs of Language, but, amidst all the Meannefs and Familiarity of the Thoughts, has fomething beautiful and fonorous in the Expreffion. Without this natural Advantage of the Tongue, their prefent Poetry would appear wretchedly low and vulgar, notwithstanding the many ftrained Allegories that are fo much in use among the Writers of this Nation. The English and French, who always ufe the fame Words in Verfe as in ordinary Converfation, are forced to raise their Language with Metaphors and Figures, or, by the Pompoufnefs of the whole Phrafe, to wear off any Littleness that appears in the particular Parts that compofe it. This makes our Blank Verfe, where there is no Rhyme to fupport the Expreffion, extremely difficult to fuch as are not Mafters in the Tongue, efpecially when they write on low Subjects; and 'tis probably for this Reafon that Milton has made use of fuch frequent Tranfpofitions, Latinisms, antiquated Words and Phrases, that he might the better deviate from vulgar and ordinary Expreffions.

The Comedies that I faw at Venice, or indeed in any other Part of Italy, are very indifferent, and more lewd than those of other Countries. Their Poets have no Notion of gentile Comedy, and fall into the moft filthy Double Meanings imaginable, when they have a mind to make their Audience merry. There is no Part generally fo wretched as that of the Fine Gentleman, especially when he converfes with his Miftrefs; for then the whole Dialogue is an infipid mixture of Pedantry and Romance. But 'tis no wonder that the Poets of fo jealous and referved a Nation fail in fuch Converfations on the Stage, as they have no Patterns of it in Nature. There are four standing Characters which enter into every Piece

D 4

that

that comes on the Stage, the Doctor, Harlequin, Pantalone, and Coviello. The Doctor's Character comprehends the whole Extent of a Pedant, that, with a deep Voice, and a Magifterial Air, breaks in upon Conversation, and drives down all before him: Every thing he fays is backed with Quotations out of Galen, Hippocrates, Plato,Virgil, or any other Author that rifes uppermoft, and all Answers from his Companions are looked upon as Impertinencies or Interruptions. Harlequin's Part is made up of Blunders and Absurdities: He is to mistake one Name for another, to forget his Errands, to stumble over Queens, and to run his Head against every Poft that stands in his way. This is all attended with fomething fo comical in the Voice and Geftures, that a Man, who is fenfible of the Folly of the Part, can hardly forbear being pleafed with it. Pantalone is generally an old Cully, and Coviello a Sharper.

I have feen a Tranflation of the Cid acted at Bolonia, which would never have taken, had they not found a Place in it for thefe Buffoons. All four of them appear in Masks that are made like the old Roman Perfona, as I fhall have occafion to observe in another Place. The French and Italians have probably derived this Cuftom, of fhewing fome of their Characters in Masks, from the Greek and Román Theatre. The old Vatican Terence has, at the Head of every Scene, the Figures of all the Perfons that are concerned in it, with the particular Disguises in which they acted; and I remember to have seen in the Villa Mattheio an antique Statue mask'd, which was perhaps defign'd for Gnatho in the Eunuch; for it agrees exactly with the Figure he makes in the Vatican Manufcript. One would wonder indeed how fo polite a People as the ancient Romans and Athenians fhould not look on these borrowed Faces as un

natural.