Thomaso. "What?"

Struzza. "You laughed? Hang me if I can see what there is to laugh at."

Abellino. " Why surely you are not afraid of receiving what you are so ready to bestow on others? What is your object? What can we expect as our reward at the end of our labours, except the gibbet or the rack? What memorials of our actions shall we leave behind us, except our skeletons dancing in the air, and the chains which rattle round them? He who chooses to play the bravo's part on the great theatre of the world must not be afraid of death, whether it come at the hands of the physician or of the executioner. Come, come, pluck up your spirits, comrades."

Thomaso. "That's easy to say, but quite out of my power."

Pietrino. " Mercy on me, how my teeth chatter !”

Baluzzo. "Prithee, Abellino, be composed for a moment or two, your gaiety at a time like this is quite horrible."

66

Cinthia. "Oh me! oh me! Poor murdered Matteo." Abellino. Hey-day! Why, what is all this? Cinthia, my life, are you not ashamed of being such a child? Come, let you and I renew that conversation which my sending you to wake these gentlemen interrupted. Sit down by me, sweetheart, and give me a kiss.”

Cinthia. "Out upon you, monster!"

Abellino. "What, have you altered your mind, my pretty dear? Well, well; with all my heart! When you are in the humour, perhaps I may not have the inclination."

Baluzzo. "Death and the devil, Abellino, is this a time for talking nonsense? Prithee keep such trash for

a fitter occasion, and let us just now."

consider what we are to do

Pietrino. " Nay, this is no season for trifling."

Struzza. "Tell us, Abellino, you are a clever fellow, what course is it best for us to take?"

Abellino (after a pause).

great deal.

Nothing must be done, or a One of two things we must choose. Either

-

murder

we must remain where we are, and what we are honest men to please any rascal who will give us gold and fair words, and make up our minds to be hung, broken on the wheel, condemned to the gallows, burnt alive, crucified, or beheaded, at the long run, just as it may seem best to the supreme authority; or else

Thomaso." Or else? · well?"

Abellino. "Or else we must divide the spoils which are already in our possession, quit the republic, begin a new and better life, and endeavour to make our peace with Heaven. We have already wealth enough to make it unnecessary for us to ask,' How shall we get our bread?' You may either buy an estate in some foreign country, or keep an Osteria, or engage in commerce, or set up some trade, or, in short, do whatever you like best, so that you do but abandon the profession of an assassin. Then we may look out for a wife among the pretty girls of our own rank in life, become the happy fathers of sons and daughters, may eat and drink in peace and security, and make amends by the honesty of our future lives for the offences of our past."

Thomaso." Ha! ha! ha!"

Abellino. "What you do, that will I do too; I will either hang or be broken on the wheel along with you, or become an honest man, just as you please. Now, then, what is your decision?"

Thomaso. "Was there ever such a stupid counsellor ?" Pietrino. "Our decision? Nay the point's not very difficult to decide."

Abellino. "I should have thought it had been."

Thomaso. "Without more words, then, I vote for our remaining as we are, and carrying on our old trade; that will bring us in plenty of gold, and enable us to lead a jolly life."

Pietrino. 66 Right, lad; you speak my thoughts exactly."

Thomaso. "We are bravos, it's true; but what then? We are honest fellows, and the devil take him who dares to say we are not. However, at any rate we must keep within doors for a few days, lest we should be discovered;

for I warrant you the doge's spies are abroad in search of us by this. But as soon as the pursuit is over, be it our first business to find out Matteo's murderer, and throttle him out of hand as a warning to all others.'

All. "Bravo! bravissimo!"

Pietrino." And from this day forth I vote, that Thomaso should be our captain."

Struzza. " Ay, in Matteo's stead."

All. "

Right! right!"

Abellino. "To which I say amen with all my heart. Now then all is decided."

END OF THE FIRST BOOK.

BOOK THE SECOND.

CHAPTER I.

THE BIRTHDAY.

IN solitude and anxiety, with barred windows and bolted doors, did the banditti pass the day immediately succeeding Matteo's murder; every murmur in the street appeared to them a cause of apprehension; every footstep which approached their doors made them tremble till it had passed them.

In the mean while the ducal palace blazed with splendour and resounded with mirth. The doge celebrated the birthday of his fair niece, Rosabella; and the feast was honoured by the presence of the chief persons of the city, of the foreign ambassadors, and of many illustrious stran◄ gers who were at that time resident in Venice.

On this occasion no expense had been spared, no source of pleasure had been neglected. The arts contended with each other for superiority; the best poets in Venice celebrated this day with powers excelling any thing which they had before exhibited, for the subject of their verses was Rosabella; the musicians and virtuosi surpassed all their former triumphs, for their object was to obtain the suffrage of Rosabella. The singular union of all kinds of pleasure intoxicated the imagination of every guest; and the genius of delight extended his influence over the whole assembly, over the old man and the youth, over the matron and the virgin.

The venerable Andreas had seldom been seen in such high spirits as on this occasion. He was all life; smiles of satisfaction played round his lips; gracious and condescending to every one, he made it his chief care to pre

vent his rank from being felt. Sometimes he trifled with the ladies, whose beauty formed the greatest ornament of this entertainment; sometimes he mingled among the masks, whose fantastic appearance and gaiety of conversation enlivened the ball-room by their variety; at other times he played chess with. the generals and admirals of the republic; and frequently he forsook every thing to gaze with delight on Rosabella's dancing, or listen in silent rapture to Rosabella's music.

Lomellino, Conari, and Paolo Manfrone, the doge's three confidential friends and counsellors, in defiance of their grey hairs, mingled in the throng of youthful beauties, flirted first with one, and then with another, and the arrows of raillery were darted and received on both sides with spirit and good humour.

"Now, Lomellino," said Andreas to his friend, who entered the saloon, in which the doge was at that time accidentally alone with his niece, “ you seem in gayer spirits this evening than when we were lying before Scardona, and had so hard a game to play against the Turks."

Lomellino. "I shall not take upon me to deny that, signor. I still think with a mixture of terror and satisfaction on the night when we took Scardona, and carried the half-moon before the city walls. By my soul, our Venetians fought like lions."

Andreas. Fill this goblet to their memory, my old soldier; you have earned your rest bravely."

Lomellino. 66 Ay, signor, and oh, it is so sweet to rest on laurels! But, in truth, 't is to you that I am indebted for mine; it is you who have immortalised me. No soul on earth would have known that Lomellino existed, had he not fought in Dalmatia and Sicilia under the banners of the great Andreas, and assisted him in raising eternal trophies in honour of the republic."

Andreas. " My good Lomellino, the Cyprus wine has heated your imagination."

Lomellino. 66 Nay, I know well I ought not to call you great, and praise you thus openly to your face; but faith, signor, I am grown too old for it to be worth my while to flatter. That is a business which I leave to our young