evolutionary crew wrought up, "without the least
remorse, with fire and sword t' exterminate" all who bore the stamp of
nobility; and _not_ as the most fitting depository in which Belvidera's
honour might be lodged as a security for that of her irresolute husband.

[15] Nani, iii. p. 169. He was to have commanded the naval part
of the enterprise.

Whatever hypothesis may be adopted, be this conspiracy true or false,
there is no bloodier, probably no blacker page in history than that
which records its development. Were it not for the immeasurable weight
of guilt which must press upon the memory of the rulers of Venice if we
suppose the plot to have been altogether fictitious, we should assuredly
admit that the evidence greatly preponderates in favour of that
assertion. But respect for human nature compels us to hesitate in
admitting a charge so monstrous. Five months after the commencement of
the executions, either a tardy gratitude or a profane mockery was
offered to Heaven; and the Doge and nobles returned thanks for their
great deliverance, by a solemn service at St. Mark's.

(Among the master-spirits who have commemorated the olden glories of
Venice, but more especially her association with our dramatic
literature, must not be forgotten Lord Byron:

But unto us she hath a spell beyond
Her name in story, and her long array
Of mighty shadows, whose dim forms despond
Above the dogeless city's vanish'd sway;
Our's is a trophy which will not decay
With the Rialto: Shylock and the Moor,
And Pierre cannot be swept away---
The keystones of the arch! though all were o'er,
For us repeopled were the solitary shore.

* * * * *

I lov'd her from my boyhood--she to me
Was as a fairy city of the heart,
Rising like water-columns from the sea,
Of joy the sojourn, and of wealth the mart;
And Otway, Radcliffe, Schiller, Shakspeare's art
Had stamp'd her image in me, and ever so,
Although I found her thus, we did not part,
Perchance even dearer in her day of woe
Than when she was a boast, a marvel, and a show.

Returning to the "Sketches," we must observe that we beg to differ with
the Editor in merely applying the epithets "coarse and boisterous," to
Otway's play, and pointing to "_coups de Theatre_" as its only merits.
He surely ought not to have omitted its originality of whatever order it
may be.

The volume before us brings the history of Venic