th dandies?
On Potosi, who meets a buffoon?
But, for fear I'd get prosy,
I'll stop at Potosi,--
So, huzza for the air-balloon!

_Monthly Magazine_.

* * * * *

ALVISE SANUTO.

_A Venetian Story_[7]

[7] The nobility of Venice were subject to the most rigorous
_surveillance_, and dearly paid, occasionally, for the small
degree of power conceded by the ducal house. The jealousy of
the government with regard to these men was carried to excess.
I may mention three regulations among the many that related to
them, as illustrative of the galling yoke that pressed on them,
amid all their pride and splendour. The first forbade them to
leave the dominions of the state without the special permission
of the council of ten; and this was granted with difficulty.
The second prohibited them from possessing foods and chattels
out of the state. This was with a view of preventing the danger
that might arise from attempts to betray the republic under an
idea of finding an asylum elsewhere. The third and most severe
decree forbade communication with foreign ambassadors, under
pain of death! The terror inspired by this was such, that not
only the ministers of the court, but their secretaries and
domestics, fled from the ambassadors as if they were infected
with the plague. This decree had numerous results, and among
others, one that was attended with truly tragical circumstances.

Alvise Sanuto was a young man of whom his country entertained the
proudest hopes. His courage had been gloriously tried in the battle of
Lepanto, in which he had performed prodigies of valour. His prudence
and foresight had been often the subject of admiration in the great
council of the state. The old man, his father, esteemed him as the
ornament and grace of his family: Venice pointed to him as one of her
best citizens. Alvise was destined to fall by an infamous death.

At that period both public and private manners were exceedingly
severe. The ladies, who gave law to them, only issued from their homes
to go to church, wrapped up in a veil which hid their face and figure.
The balconies of the palaces still present signs of this ancient
severity, the parapets being purposely made so high and large, as to
render it difficult to see from them. Alvise had a heart