Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1827-11-24
PRISONERS IN VENICE.
Nv On. MosELEY.

Lines 10 his body, and shows no more synp'
tone mr. prescience Of Immortality, than II that
hodv were on bed Of down, canopied in gor-
geous palace.
Tn The morning, hen set out on this gloomy
.xnedition, Dominicho Zacchi, my Venetian
ssryan, who had attended Lord ST. Asaph
Sir George Beaumont, and several other Eng
,,sh travellers during their residence al Venice
took his leave Of me. This was on the 10th OF
Senten,ber, 1897 Dominicho thought that
would never return, or il did might"a tale
unfold" that would endanger my safely at We"
nice. But he said, from what he had heard, he
did no, think il possible for me TO survive the
foul and pesilential air had TO encounter.
1t was with SOME difficulty tha, obtained
permission from the Inquistors, which was
granted me merely on account OF my being an
English Physician; character much respected
at tia, time in Venice. wished to have seen
the Scauo Piombi, where the stale prisoners
were KEPT, but that was refused. Here under
the roof of the public buildings, they are con
fined, exposed 10 the rigour oil winter , c"'o,
and summers heat, and the vicissiiudts OF
scorching days, ard chilling nights.
Twas conducted through the prison, by one
If i,s inferior defendants We had torch
with us. We crep, along narrow passages, as
dark as pitch IN some Of them two people
could scarcely pass each other. The cells are
made Of massy marble; The architecture oi INC
celebrated Sansovine.
The cells are not onv dark and black as ink,
but being surrounded ard confined with huge
walls, the smallest cath Of air can scarcely
find circulation IN them. They are About pine
fee. square on he floor, archcd at the top, an"
between six and seven feet high in the higAes,
| mart There is 10 each Gel! a round hole 81
! eigA, inches diameter through which the prI-
soner's daiIy allowance Of twelve ounces oil
bread and pot of water is delivered. here
! is small iron door in The cell. The furniture
Of The cell is lil,le straw and small tuN no.
thing else. The straw /, removed, and Inc 'GO
emptied, through The iron door occasionally.
The diet is iDgeniousIy contrlveG Tor ths per-
duration Of punishment Animal food, or a
cordial, nutritious regimen, in such situation,
would bring or disease & defeat the end oil This
Venetian Justice. Neither Can the soul, IT SO
inclined, sink away, wrap, up i'll slumberng
delusion. or sink 10 rest, from the admoniIion
of her sad existence, by the gao'cr's daily re-
turn.
saw one man who bad been in cell thirty
Years; two had been twelve years; and several
who had been eight and nine years in their re-
spective cells
prisoners h0rrjd countenanCes They were
all naked The man who had been there thirty
wears had his face and body covered with long
hair: he had lost the arrangement o. words
and der of language. When spakc 10 him
!s s1frs,, with nave Suffered by The treacbcr,
ct The human race, or have an instructive alb
horrence Of it, he would have fed like light.
nlng from me it he could
One whose faculties were not so contracted
who still recoectcd the difference between day
and night, whose eyes aud ears, though long
closed with silent blank, still laneuishcd 10
perform their natural function, implored in the
most piercing manner that ould prevail on
the soaler to murder him, or TO give him some
instrument to destroy himself | told him I
had no power 10 serve him in this request. He
then enlreaed | would use my endca,ors with
the inq'risi,ors 20 get him hanged, or drowned
III the canal d'Orfano. But even in this could
not serve him. Death was favor had not
interest enough 10 procure for him. This kind
ness u death, however, was, during my stay in
! Venice, granted TO enc man who had been
IRON the Cheerful. ways oil man cut off" thir,
teen years
Before he left his dungeon, had some con.
versa'ion with him; this was six days previous
to his execution. His ,ranspor, at the pros
pect OF death was surprising: he longed for the
happy moment. No saint ever exhibited more
tervour in anticipating the joys Of future
state. than this man did at tine thoughts of be-
ing released from life, during the four DAYS
mockery OF his trial
1t is in The canal 'Orfana where yesscis from
Turkey and the Levant perform quarantine:-
his place is the watery grave Of many who
have committed political or personal offences
aSaInt The state or senate; and Of many who
have committed no offences at all They are
Carried only through the city in the middle OF
night, tied up in a sack with a stone fastened
to II, and thrown into the water. Fishermen
are prohibited, on forfeiture Of their lives, a.
gainst t'hing IN This district The pleience is
The plague. This is the secret history Of PEG.
pie being lost in Venice.
What now unfold in regard to the prison
III Venice, is known but to few people. | have
reason to believe that no foreigner, besides N.Y.
sell, ever witnessed the scene have related
the exploring OF which nearly cost my life The
heat and want of air in the passages so oppos-
ed my strength aud respiration, that | could