the treasury of St. Mark's, right below them; to the mint, looking towards San Giorgio and the sea; to the otiose crowd of nobles sauntering on the broglio; to the unarmed throng of citizens at the piazza's end. "A handful of stout men with sticks might make themselves masters of it all, and drive this herd of pantaloons into the water." "Is it not a wonder,” he cried, "that Venice has remained so long a virgin?" Then he turned and pointed to the two ports of Lido and Malamocco, promising that the Neapolitan fleet should sail in there to second their enterprise when the right moment arrived. But Osuna's ships, whether promised to Pierre or only sailing in the gulf to damage Venetian shipping, never came. They were wrecked off Manfredonia; and the chief had to tell his followers that the execution must be delayed till autumn, as he and Langlade had been ordered to join the fleet. So the company separated-Pierre and Langlade to their posts; the two brothers, Desbouleaux, to Naples; Regnault for France, to see the duke of Nevers. The Ten had received an anonymous warning to be upon their guard; hence the orders to Pierre and Langlade. Pierre endeavoured to avoid compliance by submitting to the government an elaborate statement of alleged designs entertained by Osuna against some place and some power not named. He hoped that the desire to read to the bottom of this communication would induce the Ten to keep him in Venice.

his turn.

In the middle of April had come to Venice.

But the ruse did not serve

another young Frenchman His name was Balthassar

Juven; a man well connected, the nephew of Marshal Lesdigueres, and altogether of a better character than the men with whom he chose to associate. He lodged at the Locanda Trombetta, and there he fell in with Moncassin. The two compatriots soon became friends, and Moncassin, who was uneasy under the weight of his secret, unbosomed himself to his new acquaintance. Balthassar made up his mind at once. He took Moncassin with him to the doge's palace, on the pretext of some business, and left him in the anteroom, while he related all that he knew to the doge and his council. Moncassin was then called in and frightened and cajoled into completing Balthassar's story where it was wanting. Then, having gone so far, he offered his whole services to the Signory. The name of Osuna had alarmed the council, and they desired to have proof of his complicity. Moncassin assured them that such proofs would be found, in the shape of letters under Osuna's signature, upon the person of Bedmar's secretary. At first the council proposed to arrest Bruillard at the Palazzo di Spagna, but this course was abandoned as too violent. Moncassin then offered to tempt Bruillard to a certain house where he might easily be seized. The secretary, however, proved wary. He had already committed a murder, and refused to venture beyond the embassy, whose right of asylum the government were unwilling to violate. The Venetians never obtained any conclusive proof that Osuna was the author, or even an accomplice of the plot. Foiled here, the government, with the help of Moncassin, introduced a spy at one of the conspirators' meetings, and the faces of all

were noted. The brothers Desbouleaux and Regnault were arrested, examined by torture, executed, and hung on the piazza. Four others suffered death in the ducal prisons. Pierre and another conspirator, Rossetti, were drowned at sea by order of the admiral. Langlade was shot at Zara, along with a soldier and a boy, whom he had attached to himself. These twelve men were all who suffered death; but the excitement of the moment made the popular voice multiply these twelve into five hundred, and the sudden flight of so many foreigners from the city, gave some colour to their calculation. The fury of the populace fastened upon the Spanish ambassador, and Bedmar was soon afterwards recalled.

The discovery of the conspiracy coming with such startling rapidity, and in the midst of apparent security, gave a violent shock to the Venetian imagination, and the danger was magnified beyond all reasonable bounds. The government kept silence because they were unwilling to exaggerate an event which they knew to be, after all, more mad than perilous. But their silence had an effect the reverse of that intended. Indeed, the conspiracy in itself was of no vital moment. It is only as a symptom that it acquires importance, and as a symptom it is terribly significant. That it was localized at Venice draws attention to the curious and abnormal social condition of the sea city-sure precursor of her decline and ruin. Her vital force was gone, her growth stayed. Death and decay were at her heart. That beautiful body, beautiful still with a siren's fascination, was irrevocably doomed. "Esto perpetua," the last prayer, the last

words of her great patriot Sarpi, could not save Venice from the fate that was coming past reprieve. The prophet of the "sun-girt city," looking upon her from her campanile's top, might well have wept and closed his prophecy with these words: "Piangi, che ben hai donde."

OLIVER CROMWELL AND THE

VENETIAN REPUBLIC.

DURING the course of these essays we have frequently had occasion to point out the excellence of the Venetian diplomatic papers-the "Relazioni," or reports made by ambassadors on their return from their missions, and the almost daily despatches from the courts to which they were accredited. The despatches contain the minister's first impressions, the details of court life, and the events of the political world; while the "Relazioni" are elaborate synopses of the general aspect and conditions of those kingdoms whence the ministers had returned. The reports are largely based upon the despatches; but, being written at leisure, they are frequently cast in a more literary form.

The Venetian school of diplomacy has always enjoyed a deserved reputation. Our readers will not have forgotten Lord Chesterfield's advice to his son to cultivate, in whatever capital he found himself, the Venetian ambassador as the man from whom he would learn more than from any other. There were two classes of diplomatic agents employed by the republic, ambassadors and residents. Ambassadors