Literary cadet, and Saturday evening bulletin. [volume] (Providence, R.I.) 1826-1827, 1826-04-22
VENETIAN STORY.

The circumstances relat e d in the following mar.
ratiye, (from Sismonds IL tory of the Italian Re
publics) furnished the ms / erials of one of Lord By.
rons tragedies. Marine Falieri Doge of Venice
elected In 1854; a man Sc enty-s six years Of age, wa
married to a young and !, ~eautiful woman. Of whom
hn %. ~-t-'ue-.tiyJ e; . ious. Ills suspicious were
particularly excited by ldichael Steno, one of the
chiefs OF the forty, Of tie criminal tribunal, whose
attentions were, howev CIR, directed not to the wife OF
the Dose, but to one o 1 the ladies of her household.
At a public festival, % the last day of the carnival.
Falieri having observ G d indecorum in the manners
OF tins woman and st . no towards each other, ORDER
ed the latter to ieav's the assembly. Irritatcd BY
tins command, Steno. following the first impulse of
indignation, lnccribtSl upon the ducal throne, in an
adjoining apartment { two lines, rejecting upon the
honour OF the doge and the fidelity Of his wife. To
a man Of Falieris '9a>cz4 disptit:on Ibis was an in
suit ri a moe. deat ly nature. He recognized Steno
as its author, and making his complaint to the Avo-
gadors, denounc's / the offender before them. He
expected the council OF ten to avenge his injury
with exemplary severity but the Avogador., in
stead OF appealing to that tribunal, re.erred the
cause to the Il Ety themselves, of whom Steno wa.
president. IbN impulse of resentment, the excite.
ment OF a festi, raj, the license authorized by a mask.
which the cul prit wore ut that time, all these cir
cumstancesw ere considered as excavations of his
fault. and Ste alo was only condemned to a months
imprisonmer Il. The doge. more irritated by this
indulgence han by the original affront, extended his
hatred and desire of vengeance not only to the forty
who had so slightly chastised the offender, but to
all the ord sr Of nobility. who had evinced so little
interest in his cause. There always prevailed a.
mong the people of Venice a secret feeling of eomi-
y towa!es' that nobility, who had deprived the ma
ton OF lis rights, and gained exclusive possession of
the sove = eighty. This animosity was redoubled
by the 'G,solence of some young patricians. They
availed themselves of the impunity afforded them
by pow srful friends, to dishoneur the families of the
citizen =, by the seduction oftheir wives aud daugh.
tiers, a id to insult the fathers and husbands whom
they Trad thus injured. Israel Bertuccio, pelbeian,
the cliief of the arsenal, had received an afront of
this - nature. lie carried to the doge his complaints
agalp st a gentleman of the house of Barbara.
FalT,ri, with many expressions of unavailing COM
pass ion, assured him tina. he never would obtain
JUS ice.-"H Have not | too" said he, Z" received u
sipi liar insult, and has rd the pretended punish
me mt of the offender only added to my dishonour,
and that Of the ducal co,onet ~ These juridical
ae %cusations were soon succeeded by projects of ven
ea,ance. Bertuccio introduced the principal NAL
contents to the dose; tb Y held meetings for many
successive nights in hi. presence, in the ducaI
palace, and fifteen plebeians pledged themselves,
with Falieri, to overthrow the government. The
conspirators agreed that erth should gain over forty
friends, and hold them in readiness for action the
night of the 18th Apri, 1855. But in order to
ensure secresy, it was re solved only to tell their as
s~ociates that their assistance was required, to sur
prise and punish, by order of the government, the
young noblemen whose ~prohigacy had excited the
Indignation Of the people. The alarm-bell Of St.
Marks, which could only be rung by order Of the
doge, was to be the signal for action.
The conspirators, however, were to admit no as
s~ociates but citizens distitC aished by their hatred
Of the nobility, in order to secure the preservation
Of the secret which was thus partially confded to
them. At the moment when the larm-bell sound
ed, they were to spread a rumour that the Genoese
fleet was before the city u direct their course from
every quarter simultaneously towards st. Marks
place, to make Themselves masters Of its avenues,
to massacr e all the patricssns as they should arrive
to the assistance Of the 'enate. All the prepara- |
lions were completed, AID the secret Of the con-
spiracy had been faithful kept till the evensng be- |
fore its execution, when 4 furrier, named Bertrand,
who had been chosen as one Of the leaders to con-
duct his forty associates, learned some details re-
speeding the Conduct required Of him, which did not
seem to accord with the supposed orders Of the gov
eminent. He Immediately disclosed TO Nicholas |
Lioni, one OF the council Of ten, the conspiracy in
which he had been thus unconsciously involved.
Neither the one or the other suspected the doge to
De at the head Of the enterprise, and both immedi-
ately repaired to his presence to make the disclo- |
sure. Fslieri had neither the resolution nor the
presence OF mind necessss , to avoid betraying him
sell; ne alternately expressed the doubts Of the
circumstances already disclosed to him, and de-
clared himself fully acquainted with them, and pre-
pared for the result. This inconsistency excited
the suspicious Of Lions; he quilted the doge 10