pied with the formidable business of the night. The Doge, Mancini, had already, in long and pathetic harangue, related the circumstances of the unexpected catastrophe which had overwhelmed the Venetian army; and had given his opinion, bitter to the pride of the great republic, that they should send ambassadors to treat for peace. The mo ment was terrible. The blood of the chief Venetian families had been shed in that disastrous battle; the last army of the state been driven with ruinous loss and shame out of their last territorial possession. The palaces of the nobles on the Brenta were in the pow. er of their plunderers; a day might bring the whole hostile armament to Venice; and the queen of cities, with all her glories, might be extinguished in her own slaughter. "The question was put, and the council had risen to give their ballots, when an offi cer arrived, announcing the demand of the Count de Montalto for an immediate audience. It was granted from the emergency of the time. He entered, accompanied by some of his captains, and his presence excited an involuntary murmur of admiration. The first cessation of effort had left him pale; and when he took off his crimson cap, of which the emerald band was won by him from the neck of a Moorish Bey, and the heron plume from the turban of an Arab Emir, and bowed before this august tribunal, he seemed fainting with fatigue and loss of blood. His crimson cloak covered a wound ed arm, and the ray that now shot down from between the pillars, fell on his tunic, and shewed the trace of blood on the gold-embroidered cuirass within. CHAPTER XIV. He's traitorous, there are stains upon his palm : "ON being questioned on his business with the council, he advanced to the foot of the table, and, in a firm tone, pronounced the words, I come to accuse a traitor among you of his treason.' The surprise was indescribable; every man looked at his neighbour in astonishment. But the feeling of the offence was stronger than the suspicion ; and Montalto was ordered to be seized, to an swer for his insult. "Hold" said he, turning to the guard; 'I have not yet named the traitor! There was a pause, and all eyes were fixed on the lofty and composed coun fenance of the accuser. Name the traitor if thou darest, if thou canst,' said the Doge, in a low but distinct tone. Mancini was the answer. The Doge, who had sat with his eyes fixed on the Count, at the word sprung upright from his throne, as if he had been pierced by an arrow, stood for a moment in unconsciousness, and then sank feebly into his seat again. 6 "The cry for the accuser's seizure was now universal; but his bold voice was heard through all. The Venetian troops,' said he, have shed their blood and tarnished their honour; but it was through treachery. The enemy were already beaten, when your Doge led his army into a defile where no valour could save them. I saw gallant squadrons crushed by rocks and trees without the sight of an enemy. I saw their chieftain the last to enter the field, and the first to fly.' "Mancini rose to contradict the charge. It is the business of a traitor not to ask for justice, but to solicit mercy,' Montalto, in an appalling tone. want proofs, here take them;' a packet from his bosom. pronounced But if you and he drew 'Here is the se cret correspondence of your Doge with the Duke of Mantua and the Pope. Here,' and he flung one of the papers on the table,'here is the secret treaty by which the Doge Mancini binds himself to deliver up the army of the state to the enemy. Here,' drawing out another, is the secret treaty by which Sforza, Prince of Mantua, and that holy fox, Innocent of Rome, pledge themselves to give the Doge Mancini the full investiture and Sovereignty of Venice and her isles on his betraying the army and abandoning your provinces on the terra firma.' "The confusion in the council had now, risen to its height. No suspicion had hitherto dared to breathe against the Doge. Mancini had risen through all the ranks of public office; he had distinguished himself in successive wars as a daring, prompt, and dextrous leader; in office he had been remarkable for the vigilance and sternness of its execution. In the government and the council he was sagacious and splendid, eloquent and bold. On this terrible emergency he was not wanting to himself. He laughed the charges to scorn; he showed the strong improbability of their truth; he descanted on the daring and desperate subtlety which had made a tool of the unsuspecting soldier before them. He asked, what honour could be expected for his gray hairs higher than that which encircled them in the ducal coro10* VOL. II. net; what room was there for ambition in a mind that must so soon be closed upon the world? what frantic passion for dominion in a bosom that must so soon have all its territory in the narrowness of a grave? or for whom could he be ambitious, if not for himself? He once had a son; that son had exiled himself by his vices,-had been unheard of for years, and was now probably lying among the unburied dead of some re mote field or unfathomed ocean. "The elements of oratory had been nobly combined in this man. Stung by the feeling of the hour, he rose into a magnificence of thought and language that held the council as in a chain of enchantment. The burden of years was thrown off, and he stood before them in the freshness and vigour of youth; his voice rich, deep, and solemn, at one, while melted them with a recital of his services and sufferings in the cause of their common country; then rising into full volume, it thundered out resistless indignation on the gloomy artifice and subtle, satanic guilt, that rejoiced to seek its prey among the noble in rank and nature, the pure, the aged, the faithful servants of the state, and the generous, long-tried, and stainless friends of mankind. "An universal shout of applause burst from that grave assembly; and Montalto, as |