e as the Greek
cities of antiquity were artificial), subsisting mainly upon commerce
and on the tribute levied from dependencies, had in the eighteenth
century dwindled into dotage, through lack of natural resources and
revolutions in the world-trade. The rulers of Venice, reduced to
insignificance among the powers of Europe, occupied their brains with
parochial affairs and the contests of comedians. _Op. cit._, pp.
130-134.

[79] This reads like a satire upon Renier, whose elevation to the
Dogeship was attended with a pomp and profligate expenditure, not to
mention a lavish use of bribes, pernicious to all public and private
morals. Compare Gratarol's account of an interview he had with Renier
(_op. cit._, p. 79). The man made on Gratarol exactly the same sort of
impression by his eloquence, philosophy, urbanity, and learning, mixed
with a sense of untrustworthiness, that he did on Gozzi.

[80] See above, p. 267. Mme. Tron called Gasparo _Father_ and Carlo
_Bear_.

[81] The Riformatori dello Studio di Padova were three noblemen of
Venice, who controlled the university in that city and other educational
establishments belonging to the State.

[82] Gratarol indignantly denies that he had anything to do with this
attack upon Vitalba, and says he was at Vienna when it happened. _Op.
cit._, p. 178.

[83] Gozzi has, in fact, told the story of Mme. Ricci's return to
Venice, but it is without importance.

[84] Sacchi, the last great representative of the _Commedia dell'Arte_,
was a Ferrarese, born at Vienna in 1708. After leaving Venice he sank
into poverty, and died at sea in 1788 between Genoa and Marseilles. His
body was committed to the waters.

[85] Compare the pregnant phrase at the close of the _Memorie_ (vol.
iii. p. 290; translation, above, p. 329) with the tone of the
_Manifesto_ and the address _A' suoi amati concittadini_ (vol. i. pp.
3-15 and iii.-xv.), and the close of the _Ragionamento del cittadino
Carlo Gozzi_, vol. ii. p. xvii.

[86] See Masi's Essay, _Fiabe_, vol. i. p. clxxxix.; Malamanni, _Nuova
Rivista di Torino_, Nos. lviii.-x.

[87] _Memorie_, vol. iii. ch. vii.

[88] If I wished to comment on Gozzi's humour--subrisive, slightly
bitter, acid and yet genial, preserving the main points of humane
feeling intact, scoffing at revolutions in politics and fashion--I
should select the above-translated passage as combining its essential
qualities, together with something of the man's graphic power