At first, all the public concerns of the republic were subject to the controul of that assembly. In 1172, a great council was established, which insensibly drew to it the whole administration of affairs. It was chosen out of the body of the people, by twelve tribunes, elected for that purpose at a general meeting. In 1298, the council was made hereditary. A conspiracy in 1310, to restore the antient form of government, gave rise to an appointment of twelve commissioners to discover its secret accomplices. That appointment, under the appellation of the Council of Ten, was, soon after, made permanent. In this form, till the late revolution, the government of Venice continued. It was a pure and severe aristocracy:-the council was omnipotent, the doge, almost a pageant, the people, quite a cipher.

About the beginning of the eleventh century, Venice became generally known in Europe, by her extensive and lucrative trade with the sovereign princes and states of Italy, Germany, Greece and Egypt. From a merchant, she became, like our own East India Company, a conqueror: by degrees, she turned her factories into fortresses, and, by conquest or treaty, made herself mistress of many towns and ports of Dalmatia, Albania, and the Morea, and of the islands of Candia, Corfù and Cephalonia, in the Archipelago.

Having taken a leading part in the famous League of Lombardy, in support of pope Alexander the

third, his holiness, in testimony of his gratitude to her, conferred on her the Seignory of the Hadriatic This gave rise to the singular and splendid ceremony of the Doge's marrying the Sea, on the Feast of the Ascension, by throwing into it, his ring, as a symbol of their Espousal.

With equal success, but perhaps without equal wisdom, Venice afterwards extended her conquests over a considerable part of the adjoining continent of Italy. They often proved to her a source of dispute and war, and drained her of the wealth which she received from the sea.

Of the wealth and magnificence of Venice, during the reign of her prosperity, the following account is given by the elegant and nervous pen of Dr. Robertson, (Historical Disquisitions concerning Antient India, p. 130). "The revenues "of the republic, as well as the wealth amassed by

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individuals, exceeded whatever was elsewhere "known. In the magnificence of their houses, "the richness of furniture, in profusion of plate, "and in every thing which contributed either to"wards elegance or parade in their mode of living, "-the nobles of Venice surpassed the state of the greatest monarch beyond the Alps.-Nor was "all this the display of an inconsiderate dissipation, "it was the natural consequence of successful industry, which, having accumulated wealth with ease, is entitled to enjoy it in splendor." About the year 1420, (Ib. Note 50), "the naval force of

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"the republic consisted of 3,000 trading vessels "of various dimensions, on board of which were

employed 17,000 sailors: of 300 ships of greater "force, manned with 8,000 sailors and of 45 66 large galleasses or carracks, navigated by 11,000 "sailors. In public and private arsenals, 16,000 "carpenters were employed."

It was during this height of her glory, that Sannazar addressed to her the celebrated verses,

"Viderat Hadriacis Venetam Neptunus in undis
"Stare Urbem, et toto ponere jura Mari:
"Nunc mihi Tarpeias, quantum vis, Jupiter, arces
"Objice, et illa tui mænia Martis, ait:

"Si Pelago Tiberim præfers,-Urbem aspice utramque ; "Illam homines dices, hanc posuisse Deum."

With a liberality equally honourable to the poet and the patrons, the Senate of Venice presented the poet with one hundred Crowns of Gold for every verse.

To this splendid state of prosperity, the new system of commerce, introduced into Europe, in consequence of the discovery of America, and the opening of a direct course of navigation to the East Indies, by the Cape of Good Hope were fatal. From that time, Venice declined; but, though shorn of her beams, she preserved a dignified independence, and some rays of her antient glory played round her, till the treaty of Campo Formio consigned her to Austria.

It is observable that the two first classes of the

nobility of this Commercial Island, produce a pedigree, supported by certain and positive evidence, of more remote antiquity, than any sovereign, or any private family. The certain Pedigrees of the Houses of Guelph, Savoy, Lorraine, Hohenzollern and Baden reach no higher, than the eleventh century; the pedigree of the House of Capet, equally certain, and more remarkable, as it uniformly consists of males through males, without a single female descent, extends to the ninth. But the first class of the Venetian nobles is of a much higher date. It is composed of the Contarini, Morosini, Gradenigi, Baduari, Tripoli, Micheli, Sanudi, Memmi, Falieri, Dandoli, Polani and Barrozi,-twelve families, that lineally descend from the twelve tribunes, who elected the first Doge, in 697;-and of four other families, the Justiniani, Cornari, Bragadini and Bembi, who signed, with the former, the act of foundation of the great church of St. George Major, in the year 800.

III.

The Genoese imitated, and, at one time, rivalled the Venetians in trade and conquest. They established factories at Caffa, in the Tauric Chersonesus at Asoph, on the mouth of the Don; at Smyrna, and in the suburbs of Constantinople. They conquered the islands of Scio, Mitelené and

them and they reached the East Indies, before the Venetians.

It would have been fortunate for the happiness and prosperity of Venice and Genoa, if a spirit of rivalship had not been carried on between them too far and the former had confined her enterprises in the Mediterranean to its eastern, and the latter to its western coasts. But in 1376, they broke out into open war: At first, the Genoese were successful, and once threatened Venice with total destruction but, the superior wisdom and firmness of the Venetians prevailed; and, at the sea fight at Chiozza, gave the Genoese, a total overthrow. The Venetians acquired by it, the complete command of the Hadriatic, the Archipelago, and almost the whole of the Mediterranean. From that time, Genoa dates her decline. The politics of the Genoese have always fluctuated with some intervals of rational liberty, under the forms of her old constitution, Genoa, in general, has been, either in a state of anarchy, or subject to the dukes of Milan, the kings of France, or the marquises of Montferrat. Her misfortunes have been equally owing to the turbulent disposition of the people, and the contentions of her great families, the Dorias, Spinolas, Grimaldi, Fiesqui, Adorni, and Fregosi.