Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Alvise Sanuto. A Tale Of The Venetian Republic.
ALVISE SANUTO . A TALE OF THE VENETIAN REPUBLIC .
{ From the Italian , ' ) THE strictest discipline reigned throughout every grade of society in Venice , and though the nobles often attained to the highest offices of the statethey suffered equally with the
, poorest citizen for any infringement of the laws . The suspicious eyes of the Government watched them unceasingly , and amidst all their gaiety and revelry , the sword still hung by a single hair suspended over them . Amongst other most severe laws , the council enacted that no citizen should leave Venice without the especial permission of the state ( a license
not readily granted ) ; that a Venetian could not possess property in any other country , lest , in the event of his betraying the Republic , he should find a home elsewhere ; nor , under pain of death , could he hold private communication with any of the foreign ambassadors . This last regulation was so strictly enforced , that not only the ministers of state , but their very
secretaries and servants , avoided the ambassadors , as if they were plague-stricken . It is to an infringement of this last law that our story relates . Alvise Sanuto was a youth of whom his country formed the highest expectations : he had given brilliant proofs of his courage at the battle of Lepanto , and in political matters had delighted the council by his forethought and prudence . His father idolized him as the pride of his heart , and Venice looked up to him as one of her most promising citizens .
About the time of which we speak , the ambassador from the court of France arrived at Venice , and astonished the islanders by the magnificence of his retinue , and the rich and strange costumes of the ladies and attendants who accompanied his daughter . In those times the customs of the Venetian ladies were more strict than those of other
nations ; they seldom left their dwellings , but to perform their acts of devotion in the churches , and even then with their faces carefully concealed by a veil . Amalia , the daughter
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Alvise Sanuto. A Tale Of The Venetian Republic.
ALVISE SANUTO . A TALE OF THE VENETIAN REPUBLIC .
{ From the Italian , ' ) THE strictest discipline reigned throughout every grade of society in Venice , and though the nobles often attained to the highest offices of the statethey suffered equally with the
, poorest citizen for any infringement of the laws . The suspicious eyes of the Government watched them unceasingly , and amidst all their gaiety and revelry , the sword still hung by a single hair suspended over them . Amongst other most severe laws , the council enacted that no citizen should leave Venice without the especial permission of the state ( a license
not readily granted ) ; that a Venetian could not possess property in any other country , lest , in the event of his betraying the Republic , he should find a home elsewhere ; nor , under pain of death , could he hold private communication with any of the foreign ambassadors . This last regulation was so strictly enforced , that not only the ministers of state , but their very
secretaries and servants , avoided the ambassadors , as if they were plague-stricken . It is to an infringement of this last law that our story relates . Alvise Sanuto was a youth of whom his country formed the highest expectations : he had given brilliant proofs of his courage at the battle of Lepanto , and in political matters had delighted the council by his forethought and prudence . His father idolized him as the pride of his heart , and Venice looked up to him as one of her most promising citizens .
About the time of which we speak , the ambassador from the court of France arrived at Venice , and astonished the islanders by the magnificence of his retinue , and the rich and strange costumes of the ladies and attendants who accompanied his daughter . In those times the customs of the Venetian ladies were more strict than those of other
nations ; they seldom left their dwellings , but to perform their acts of devotion in the churches , and even then with their faces carefully concealed by a veil . Amalia , the daughter