Angel. Stern hast thou been and stubborn from To do that for thee, which thou should'st have done

MARINO FALIERO, DOGE OF VENICE,

AN HISTORICAL TRAGEDY.

"Dus inquieti turbidus Adriæ."-Horace.

PREFACE.

authorities are Sanuto, Vetter Jandi, Andrea Nar agero, and the account of the siege of Zara, first

THE conspiracy of the Doge Marino Faliero is published by the indefatigable. Abate Morelli, in his one of the most remarkable events in the annals" Monumenti Veneziani di varia Letteratura," of the most singular government, city, and people printed in 1796, all of which I have looked over in of modern history. It occurred in the year 1355. the original language. The moderns, Daru, SisEvery thing about Venice is, or was, extraordinary mondi, and Laugier, nearly agree with the ancient -her aspect is like a dream, and her history is like chroniclers. Sismondi attributes the conspiracy to a romance. The story of the Doge is to be found his jealousy; but I find this no where asserted by in all her Chronicles, and particularly detailed in the national historians. Vettor Sandi, indeed, the "Lives of the Doges," by Marin Sanuto, which says, that "Altri scrissero che.. dalla is given in the Appendix. It is simply and clearly gelosa suspizion di esso Doge siasi fatto (Michel related, and is perhaps more dramatic in itself than Steno) staccar con violenza," &c. &c.; but this any scenes which can be founded upon the subject. appears to have been by no means the general Marino Faliero appears to have been a man of opinion, nor is it alluded to by Sanuto or by Navtalents and of courage. I find him commander-in-agero, and Sandi himself adds, a moment after, chief of the land forces at the siege of Zara, where that "per altre Veneziane memorie traspiri, che he beat the king of Hungary and his army of 80,000 non il solo desiderio di vendetta lo dispose alla men, killing 8000 men, and keeping the besieged at congiura ma anche la innata abituale ambizion sua, the same time in check; an exploit of which I per cui anel ava a farsi principe independente." know none similar in history except that of Cæsar The first motive appears to have been excited by at Alesia, and of Prince Eugene at Belgrade. He the gross affront of the words written by Michel was afterwards commander of the fleet in the same Steno on the ducal chair, and by the light and war. He took Capo d'Istria. He was ambassador inadequate sentence of the Forty on the offender, at Genoa and Rome, at which last he received the who was one of their "tre Capi." The attentions news of his election to the dukedom; his absence of Steno himself appear to have been directed being a proof that he sought it by no intrigue, towards one of her damsels, and not to the "Dogasince he was apprized of his predecessor's death ressa" herself, against whose fame not the slightest and his own succession at the same moment. But insinuation appears, while she is praised for her he appears to have been of an ungovernable temper. beauty, and remarked for her youth. Neither do 1 A story is told by Sanuto, of his having, many find it asserted (unless the hint of Sandi be an years before, when podesta and captain at Treviso, assertion) that the Doge was actuated by jealousy boxed the ears of the bishop, who was somewhat of his wife; but rather by respect for her, and for tardy in bringing the Host. For this, honest Sanuto his own honor, warranted by his past services and "saddles him with a judgment," as Thwackum did present dignity

Square; but he does not tell us whether he was I know not that the historical ...uded punished or rebuked by the Senate for this outrage to in English, unless by Dr. Moore in his View of at the time of its commission. He seems, indeed, Italy. His account is false and flippant, full of stale to have been afterwards at peace with the church, jests about old men and young wives, and wonderfor we find him ambassador at Rome, and invested ing at so great an effect from so slight a cause. with the fief of Val di Marino, in the march of How so acute and severe an observer of mankind Treviso, and with the title of Count, by Lorenzo as the author of Zeluco could wonder at this is Count-Bishop of Ceneda. For these facts my inconceivable. He knew that a basin of water spilt

en Mrs. Masham's gown deprived the duke of Marl-character; surely truth belongs to the dead, and to borough of his command, and led to the inglorious the unfortunate, and they who have died upon a peace of Utrecht-that Louis XIV. was plunged scaffold, have generally had faults enough of their into the most desolating wars because his minister own, without attributing to them that which the was nettled at his finding fault with a window, and very incurring of the perils which conducted them wished to give him another occupation-that Helen to their violent death renders, of all others, the lost Troy-that Lucretia expelled the Tarquins from most improbable. The black veil which is painted Rome and that Cava brought the Moors to Spain-over the place of Marino Faliero amongst the that an insulted husband led the Gauls to Clusium, doges, and the Giants' Staircase where he was and thence to Rome-that a single verse of Fred-crowned, and discrowned, and decapitated, struck eck II. of Prussia on the Abbé de Bernis, and a forcibly upon my imagination, as did his fiery jest on Madame de Pompadour, led to the battle of character and strange story. I went in 1819, in Rosbach-that the elopement of Dearbhorgil with search of his tomb more than once to the church Mac Murchad conducted the English to the slavery San Giovanni e San Paolo, and as I was standing of Ireland-that a personal pique between Maria before the monument of another family, a priest Antoinette and the duke of Orleans precipitated came up to me and said, "I can show you finer the first expulsion of the Bourbons-and, not to monuments than that." I told him that I was in multiply instances, that Commodus, Domitian, and search of that of the Faliero family, and particCaligula fell victims not to their public tyranny, ularly of the Doge Marino's. "Oh," said he, but to private vengeance-and that an order to "I will show it you;" and conducting me to the make Cromwell disembark from the ship in which outside, pointed out a sarcophagus in the wall with he would have sailed to America destroyed both an illegible inscription. He said that it had been king and commonwealth. After these instances, in a convent adjoining, but was removed after the on the least reflection, it is indeed extraordinary in French came, and placed in its present situation; Dr. Moore to seem surprised that a man used to that he had seen the tomb opened at its removal; command, who had served and swayed in the most there were still some bones remaining, but no important offices, should fiercely resent, in a fierce positive vestige of the decapitation. The equesage, an unpunished affront, the grossest that can trian statue of which I have made mention in the be offered to a man, be he prince or peasant. The third act as before that church is not, however, of a age of Faliero is little to the purpose, unless to Faliero, but of some other now obsolete warrior, favor it.

"The young man's wrath is like straw on fire,

But like red hot steel is the old man's ire."

"Young men soon give and soon forget affronts,
Old age is slow at both."

although of a later date. There were two other Doges of this family prior to Marino: Ordelafo, who fell in battle at Zara in 1117, (where his descendant afterwards conquered the Huns,) and Vital Faliero, who reigned in 1082. The family, originally from Fano, was of the most illustrious in Laugier's reflections are more philosophical :- blood and wealth in the city of once the most "Tale fu il fine ignominioso di un' uomo, che la sua wealthy and still the most ancient families in nascità, la sua età, il suo carattere dovevano tener Europe. The length I have gone into on this lontano dalle passioni produttrici di grandi delitti. subject will show the interest I have taken in it. I suoi talenti per lungo tempo esercitati ne' maggiori Whether I have succeeded or not in the tragedy, I impieghi, la sua capacità sperimentata ne' governi have at least transferred into our language an e nelle ambasciate, gli avevano acquistato la stima historical fact worthy of commemoration. e la fiducia de' cittadini, ed avevano untiti i suffragj| It is now four years that I have meditated this per collocarlo alla testa della republica. Innalzato work, and, before I had sufficiently examined the ad un grado che terminava gloriosamenta la sua records, I was rather disposed to have made it turn vita, il risentimento di un' ingiuria leggiera insinuò on a jealousy in Faliero. But perceiving no foundnel suo cuore tal veleno che bastò a corrompere le ation for this in historical truth, and aware that antiche sue qualità, e a condurlo al termine dei jealousy is an exhausted passion in the drama, I scellerati; serio essempio, che prova non esservi eta, have given it a more historical form. I was, bein cui la prudenza umara sia sicura, e che nell' uomo sides, well advised by the late Matthew Lewis on restano sempre passioni capaci a disonararlo, quando that point, in talking with him of my intention, al non invigili sopra se stesso."-Laugier, Italian Venice, in 1817. "If you make him jealous," said translation, vol. iv. page 30, 31. he, "recollect that you have to contend with estab

Where did Dr. Moore find that Marino Faliero lished writers, to say nothing of Shakspears, and begged his life? I have searched the chroniclers, an exhausted subject ;-stick to the old fiery Doge's and find nothing of the kind; it is true that he natural character, which will bear you out, if propavowed all. He was conducted to the place of erly drawn; and make your plot as regular as you torture, but there is no mention made of any can."-Sir William Drummond gave me nearly the application for mercy on his part; and the very same counsel. How far I have followed these incircumstance of their having taken him to the rack structions, or whether they have availed me, is not seems to argue anything but his having shown a for me to decide. I have had no view to the stage; want of firmness, which would doubtless have been in its present state it is, perhaps, not a very exalted also mentioned by those minute historians who by object of ambition; besides I have been too much❜ no means favor him: such, indeed, would be con- behind the scenes to have thought it so at any trary to his character as a soldier, to the age in time. And I cannot conceive any man of irritable which he lived, and at which he died, as it is to the feeling putting himself at the mercies of an auditruth of history. I know no justification at any ence:the sneering reader, and the loud critic, distance of time for calumniating an historical' and the tart review, are scattered and distant

DRAMATIS PERSONE.

Men. -MARINO FALIERO, Doge of Venice.
BERTUCCIO FALIERO, Nephew of the Doge
LIONI, a Patrician and Senator.
BENINTENDE, Chief of the Council of Ten.
MICHEL STENO, one of the three Capi of
the Forty.

calamities; but the trampling of an intelligent or same individuals. For the real facts, I refer to the of an ignorant audience on a production which, be extracts given in the Appendix in the Italian, with it good or bad, has been a mental labor to the translation. writer, is a palpable and immediate grievance, heightened by a man's doubt of their competency to judge, and his certainty of his own imprudence in electing them his judges. Were I capable of writing a play which could be deemed stage worthy, success would give me no pleasure, and failure great pain. It is for this reason that even during the time of being one of the committee of one of the theatres, I never made the attempt, and never will. But surely there is dramatic power somewhere, where Joanna Baillic, and Milman, and John Wilson exist. The "City of the Plague" and the "Fall of Jerusalem" are full of the best "materiel" for tragedy that has been seen since Horace Walpole, except passages of Ethwald and De Montfort. It is the fashion to underrate Horace Walpole; firstly, because he was a nobleman, and secondly, because he was a gentleman; but to say nothing of the composition of his incomparable letters, and of the Castle of Otranto, he is the "Ultimus Romanorum," the author of the Mysterious Mother, a tragedy of the higher order, and not a puling love-play. He is the father of the first romance and of the last tragedy in our language, and surely worthy of a higher place than any living writer, be he who he may.

In speaking of the drama of Marino Faliero, I forgot to mention that the desire of preserving, though still too remote, a nearer approach to unity than the irregularity, which is the reproach of the English theatrical compositions, permits, has induced me to represent the conspiracy as already formed, and the Doge acceding to it, whereas, in fact, it was of his own preparation and that of Israel Bertuccio. The other characters (except that of the duchess), incidents, and almost the time, which was wonderfully short for such a design in real life, are strictly historical, except that all the consultations took place in the palace. Had I followed this, the unity would have been better preserved; but I wished to produce the Doge in the full assembly of the conspirators, instead of monotonously placing him always in dialogue with the

• While I was in the sub-committee of Drury Lane Theatre, 1 can vouch for my colleagues, and I hope for myself, that we did our best to bring back the legitimate drama. I tried what I could to get "De Montfort" revived, but in vain, and equally in vain in favor of Sotheby's "Ivan," which was thought an acting play; and I endeavored also to wake Mr. Coleridge to write a tragedy. Those who are not in the secret will hardly believe that the

ISRAEL BERTUCCIO, Chief)
of the Arsenal,
PHILIP CALENDARO,
DAGOLINO,
BERTRAM,

Signor of the Night,

First Citizen.
Second Citizen.
Third Citizen.
VINCENZO,
PIETRO,
BATTISTA,

Conspirators.

Signore di Notte," one of the Officers belonging to the JRepublic.

Officers belonging to the
Ducal Palace.

Secretary of the Council of Ten.
Guards, Conspirators, Citizens, The
Council of Ten, The Giants, &c., &c.

Women.-ANGIOLINA, Wife to the Doge.
MARIANNA, her Friend.
Female Attendants, &c.

Scene VENICE-in the year 1355.

ACT I.
SCENE I.

An Antechamber in the Ducal Palace.
PIETRO speaks, in entering, to BATTISTA.
Pie. Is not the messenger returned?
Bat.
Not yet;

"School for Scandal " is the play which has brought least money, averaging I have sent frequently, as you commanded, the number of times it has been acted since its production: so Manager But still the Sigorny is deep in council, And long debate on Steno's accusation. Pie. Too long-at least so thinks the Doge. Bat. How bears he

Dibdin assured me. Of what has occurred since Maturin's "Bertram," I am not aware; so that I may be traducing, through ignorance, some excellent new writer; if so, I beg their pardon. I have been absent from England nearly five years, and, till last year, I never read an English newspaper since my departure, and am now only aware of theatrical matters through

With struggling patience.

the medium of the Parisian Gazette of Galignani, and only for the last twelve These moments of suspense?
roonths. Let me then deprecate all offence to tragic or comic writers, to Pie.
whom I wish well, and of whom I know nothing. The long complaints of Placed at the ducal table, covered o'er
the actual state of the drama arise, however, from no fault of the performers.

I can conceive nothing better than Kemble, Cooke, and Kean in their very dif With all the apparel of the state; petitions,
ferent manners, or than Elliston in gentleman's comedy, and in some parts of Despatches, judgments, acts, reprieves, reports,
tragedy. Miss O'Neill I never saw, having made and kept a determination to He sits as rapt in duty; but whene'er
see nothing which should divide or disturb my recollection of Siddons. Siddons

and Kemble were the ideal of tragic action; I never saw any thing at all He hears the jarring of a distant door, resembling them even in person; for this reason, we shall never see again Or aught that intimates a coming step, Coriolanus or Macbeth. When Kean is blamed for want of dignity, we Or murmur of a voice, his quick eye wanders,

should remember that it is a grace and not an art, and not to be attained by

study. In all not super-natural parts, he is perfect; even his very defects And he will start up from his chair, then pause, belong, or seem to belong, to the parts themselves, and appear truer to And seat himself again, and fix his gaze nature. But of Kemble we may say, with reference to his acting, what the Upon some edict; but I have observed Cardinal De Retz said of the Marquis of Montrose," that he was the only man he ever saw who reminded him of the heroes of Plutarch." For the last hour he has not turn'd a leaf.

Bat. 'Tis said he is much moved, and doubtless | And secret as the grave to which they doom
Itwas

Vin. Calm, but not overcast, he stood resign'd 'Tis To the decree, whate'er it were ;-but lo! It comes, for the perusal of his highness.

MARINO FALIERO, Doge; and his Nephew, BER- Within the rescript which I now present.

Ber. F. His peers will scarce protect him; such Why do you tremble thus ?-nay, doubt not, all

Ber. F. Are you aware, from aught you have per- Cheer up, be calm; this transport is uncall'd forceived,

Ber. F. True; but there still is something given The sentence is too slight for the offence

Which a shrewd gleaner and quick eye would catch To affix so slight a penalty to that