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TO WILLIAM GODWIN, ESQ. 131
the dear butterflies, cannot approach
hinr
without some danger.
Venice, at present, is
in a state of absolute decay ; the descendants
of her ancient great men promenade its
purlieus with profound indifference. Surrounded
with the monuments of their ancestors,
those monuments seem no part of their
inheritance. The expHcation of their singular
character may be found in the apartments of
the Ten; in the terrific passages that lead from
these to the pozzi, or dungeons, and to the
piombi; also in the chamber where stranghng
without noise was too common a practice;
and in the window or iron grate, through
which the dead bodies of the victims of
tyranny were hurled by night into the canal.
By such sanguinary modes, pubhc opinion and
public spirit, which are the soul of nations,
were exterminated.
The tyrants have justly
faUen in the way of retribution for such
enormous turpitude ; a warning may it prove