e, keeping her faith firm, and her honour
scrupulously clear, in all treaties and conventions with other
states--fewer instances being given of Venetian falsehood or treachery
towards neighbouring nations, than of any other European power,
excepting only Britain, her truly-beloved ally; with whom she never had
a difference, and whose cause was so warmly espoused last war by the
inhabitants of this friendly state, that numbers of young nobility were
willing to run a-volunteering in her defence, but that the laws of
Venice forbid her nobles ranging from home without leave given from the
state. It was therefore not an ill saying, though an old one perhaps,
that the government of Venice was rich and consolatory like its treacle,
being compounded nicely of all the other forms: a grain of monarchy, a
scruple of democracy, a dram of oligarchy, and an ounce of aristocracy;
as the _teriaca_ so much esteemed, is said to be a composition of the
four principal drugs--but can never be got genuine except _here_, at the
original _Dispensary_.

Indeed the longevity of this incomparable commonwealth is a certain
proof of its temperance, exercise, and cheerfulness, the great
preservatives in every body, _politic_ as well _natural_. Nor should the
love of peace be left out of her eulogium, who has so often reconciled
contending princes, that Thuanus gave her, some centuries ago, due
praise for her pacific disposition, so necessary to the health of a
commercial state, and called her city _civilis prudentiae officina_.

Another reason may be found for the long-continued prosperity of Venice,
in her constant adherence to a precept, the neglect of which must at
length shake, or rather loosen the foundations of every state; for it is
a maxim here, handed down from generation to generation, that change
breeds more mischief from its novelty, than advantage from its
utility:--quoting the axiom in Latin, it runs thus: _Ipsa mutatio
consuetudinis magis perturbat novitate, quam adjuvat utilitate_. And
when Henry the Fourth of France solicited the abrogation of one of the
Senate's decrees, her ambassador replied, That _li decreti di Venezia
rassomigli avano poca i Gridi di Parigi_[Footnote: The decrees of Venice
little resemble the _edicts_ of Paris.], meaning the declaratory
publications of the Grand Monarque,--proclaimed to-day perhaps, repealed
to-morrow--"for Sire," added he, "our senate deliberates long before it
decrees, but what is once decre