revolution he had planned would not only be practicable, but to the generality of the people, acceptable; nay, of the nobility, not a few were difcontented with the govern ment, and rejoiced in all the miffortunes of the ftate, as the effects of measures which they had difapproved. The more neceflitous of that order, the marquis knew by experience, might be prevailed on, if not to act a part in the tragedy, yet to give fuch intelligence as might in reality promote the cataftrophe of Venice. Another ground of encouragement was, that the flower of the Venetian army confifted of Hollanders and Walloons, mercenaries, whofe officers he trufted might be feduced by the powerful allurements of gold, to betray the caufe of Venice, and to efpoufe that of Spain. The fleet of the republic was indeed formidable, but there too he hoped to make dreadful havoc with the fame weapons he propofed to employ in weakening the Venetian army. It only remained, that he fhould attach to his perfon, and to the terrible object he had in view, a fufficient number of determined confidants, by means of whom he might combine the efforts of thoufands in a fcheme, with the nature of which they were not to be entrusted until the moment of execution. He imparted his project to the marquis of Villa Franca, and the duke of Offuna. Thefe minifters were delighted with the novelty and the boldness of his ideas, and without hefization promifed to contribute all in their power towards its accomplishment. It does not appear that he communicated his delign to the court of Madrid; but he was fufficiently acquainted with the ideas of ambition that still reigned in the council of Spain, to know, that if the pro

ject fhould be carried happily into execution, of which he did not entertain any doubt, it would meet with their hearty applaufe and admiration. But while this project was ripening by degrees, the court of Spain was obliged, by the vigour of the young king of France, to make gradual advances towards a general peace in Italy. This would have difarmed the troops of Spain, and deprived the confpirators of thofe inftruments with which they hoped to fubject to the monarchy the ftates of Venice. Hence the various artifices of Toledo and Offuna to prolong the war, and to prevent a final accommodation of differences. The marquis had by this time entered into the most intimate correfpondence and confidence with a number of men, who, confiding in the tranfcendent powers of his mind, and contemplating the mighty rewards that were exhibited to their view, were ready to execute his orders with promptitude and alacrity. Thefe men were highly diftinguished from the multitude, by conftancy in the moft trying fituations, by unfhaken fidelity to their engagements, and by a bold and daring courage. Nothing was wanting to entitle them to the higheft degree of praife, but the exertion of thefe virtues in a worthy caufe.

"The principal arrangement in this confpiracy were thefe: fifteen hundred veteran troops, chofen from the Spanish army in Milan, by Don Pedro himfelf, were to be introduced into the city of Venice, not in a body, but a few at a time, and unarmed. They were to receive arms from the marquis of Bedmar. But left any unforeseen accident should marr the intentions of Toledo, five thoufand Hollanders, who lay at the Lazaretto, not above two miles

M 2

diftant

men.

diftant from the city were ready to be introduced, man by man, at firft, and afterwards, in the tumult and confufion that was expected to enfue, in a body. Brigantines and barks were to be fent from Naples into the channels and ports of Venice, having on board fix thousand A number of large fhips were afterwards to caft anchor on the fhores of Friuli. Under the countenance of the latter, and amidft the confufion and horrors to be excited by the former, the confpirators were to act their feveral parts in the intended tragedy: one was to fet fire to the arfenal, others to different parts of the city; fome were to take poffeffion of the mint; fome to feize the principal places of ftrength; and the part allotted to many, was, to annihilate the conftitution of Venice by murdering the fenators. Artillery was to be drawn up to the highest eminences, for the purpofe of laying the city in ruins, in cafe the inhabitants fhould attempt refiflance. Field pieces were to be difpofed in different quarters of the city, pointing into the principal streets. And as it was neceffary to be in poffeffion of fome inland town in the territories of the republic, which might ferve as a barrier against the return of the Venetian land army, if called to Venice to oppofe the confpirators, and as a magazine for the Spanish army, Don Pedro held a clofe correfpondence with certain officers of the garrifon of Crema, who were to betray that town into the hands of the Spaniards. Another plot was yet neceflary to give full effect to the grand confpiracy. A port was to be occupied in the Venetian Gulf, which might receive the Spanish fleet, if, by any accideat, it should be obliged to feek a retreat, when employed in that fea.

There is a place of confiderable ftrength, called Marano, in an island bordering upon Iftria, with a harbour capable of receiving a large fleet. The officer fecond in command in the garrifon of Marano engaged to affaffinate the governor, whenever he should receive orders from Toledo, and to hold the town in the name of the Spaniards.

"Such was the complicated fcheme formed for the deftruction of the renowned city and republic of Venice: a fcheme which involved in its nature whatever human ingenuity could plan, or the courage of man dare to execute, but which failed of fuccefs from fome of thofe unforeseen accidents that fo often happen to intimidate the hearts of affaffins, and to difconcert the projects of confpirators.

"A confpiracy fo important in its end, and at the fame time fo various in its means, does not occur in hiftory. That of Cataline against the Roman republic, pointed to equal horrors, and to fill greater revolution; but the means by which he hoped to accomplish it were more fimple, and confequently lefs abfurd than thofe employed by the bold imagination, rather than the folid judgment of the marquis of Bedmar. It was probably in imitation of that circumftantial and interefting narrative which the Roman hiftorian has given of the Catalinarian confpiracy, that the eloquent and profound Saint Real com. pofed his beautiful account of the Spanish confpiracy against Venice. This copious narrative, though heightened in small inftances by the colourings of poetry, and the circumftantiality of fiction, is yet true in the moft material particulars, and ferves, in the words of the author, to difplay the "power of prudence over human affairs, and the do

"Secondly: They were fierce and courageous. This was owing, not only to their activity and neceffitous life, but also, in part, to their religion; which taught them to undervalue life, and to wifh rather to die in battle, or by violence, than in the common courfe of nature. For they believed, that the fouls of thofe who fell in war, or were put to death, had a better right than others to happiness in a future life; and paffed immediately into the hall of Odin (fo in latter times they called heaven), where they were to be regaled with feafting and feftivity through innumerable ages. Agree ably to which opinion, in fome of the nations adjoining to Hudfon's bay, who are thought to be of the fame race, it is ftill customary, for the old men, when they become unfit for labour, to defire to be ftrangled; a fervice, which they demand as an act of duty from their children; or, if they have no children, request, as a favour, of their friends.

"A third peculiarity in the character of these people is, their attention to their women. With us, the two fexes affociate together, and mutually improve and polifh one another but in Rome and Greece they lived feparate; and the condition of the female was little better than flavery; as it ftill is, and has been from very early times, in many parts of Afia, and in European and African Turkey. But the Gothick warriors were in all their expeditions attended by their wives; whom they regarded as friends and faithful counsellors, and frequently as facred perfons, by whom the gods were pleased to communicate their will to mankind. This in part accounts for

the reverence wherewith the female fex were always treated by thofe conquerors: and, as Europe still retains many of their customs, and much of their policy, this may be given as one reafon of that polite gallantry, which diftinguifhes our manners, and has extended itself through every part of the world that is fubject to European government.

"Another thing remarkable in the Gothick nations, was an invincible spirit of liberty. Warm and fruitful countries, by promoting indolence and luxury, are favourable to the views of tyrannical princes; and commonly were in ancient, as many of them are in modern times, the abode of defpotifm. But the natives of the North, more active and valiant, are for the most part more jealous of their privileges. Exceptions may be found to all general theories concerning the influence of climate in forming the human character: but this will be allowed to have been true of the an tient Germans, and thofe other nations, whereof I now fpeak. All the Gothick inftitutions were, in their purest form, favourable to li berty. The kings, or generals, were at first chofen by thofe who were to obey them: and though they acknowledged, and indeed introduced, the distinction of fuperior and vaffal, they were careful to fe cure the independence, and respective rights of both, as far as the common fafety would permit. To them there is reafon to believe that we are indebted for those two great establishments, which form the bafis of British freedom, a parliament for making laws, and juries for trying criminals, and deciding differences."

1

OBSER

WHILE I segret the inattention of many parents to one of the most indifpenfable of all human duties, I cannot adopt the fentiments of thofe, who maintain that parents in general are not to be intrusted with the care of their young ones. For if children and their parents were forced to live feparate, the attachments of kindred would be greatly weakened, if not entirely loft. Now this must be unfuitable to the views of Providence; who would not have made the ties of natural affection fo ftrong in every animal, and especially in man, if it had been for the advantage of animal life, or of human fociety, that they fhould be diffolved or difre, garded. That nature intended the mother to be the nurfe of her own infant, and that the worst confequences are to be apprehended when we wilfully contradict this intention of nature, is too plain to require any proof. And when the mother has with the father's aid, difcharged that part of her duty, in which, in ordinary cafes, every mother finds the greatest delight; and when thus the attachment of both parents to their child is heightened by long acquaintance, and by thofe thrillings of ineffable fatisfaction, wherewith every exercife of parental love is accompanied when, I fay, the parental affections are thus wound up to the highest pitch, where is the child likely to meet with fo much tenderness, and fo zealous a concern for his temporal and eternal

welfare, as in the houfe of thofe who gave him birth?

"An interchange of the parental and filial duties is, moreover, friendly to the happiness, and to the vir tue of all concerned. It gives a peculiar fenfibility to the heart of man; infufing a fpirit of generosity and a fenfe of honour, which have a moft benign influence on public good, as well as on private manners. When we read, that Epaminondas, after the battle of Leuctra, declared, that one chief cause of his joy was the confideration of the pleafure which his victory would give his father and mother; is it poffible for us to think, that this man, the greatest perhaps and the best that Greece ever faw, would have been fo generous, or fo amiable, if he had not known who his parents were? In fact, there are not many virtues that reflect greater honour upon our nature, than the parental and the filial. When any uncommon examples of them occur in hiftory, or in poetry, they make their way to the heart at once, and the reader's melting eye bears teftimony to their loveliness.

"Amidst the triumphs of heroifm, Hector never appears fo great, as in a domeftic fcene, when he invokes the bleffing of heaven upon his child: nor does Priam, on any other occafion, engage our esteem fo effectually, or our pity, as when, at the hazard of his life, he goes into the enemies camp, and into the prefence of his fierceft enemy, to beg

M 4

the