_posthumous_ son of the marriage of the
Doges with the Adriatic, who fought his frigate with far greater
gallantry than any of his French coadjutors in the memorable action off
Lissa.
Doges with the Adriatic, who fought his frigate with far greater
gallantry than any of his French coadjutors in the memorable action off
Lissa.
Byron
Vide letter of
February 2, 1821. ]
[471] {456}[In his reply to the envoys of the Venetian Senate (April,
1797), Buonaparte threatened to "prove an Attila to Venice. If you
cannot," he added, "disarm your population, I will do it in your
stead--your government is antiquated--it must crumble to
pieces. "--Scott's _Life of Napoleon Bonaparte_, 1828, p. 230. Compare,
too, _Childe Harold_, Canto IV. stanza xc. lines 1, 2--
"The fool of false dominion--and a kind
Of bastard Caesar," etc. ]
[472] Should the dramatic picture seem harsh, let the reader look to the
historical of the period prophesied, or rather of the few years
preceding that period. Voltaire calculated their "nostre bene merite
Meretrici" at 12,000 of regulars, without including volunteers and local
militia, on what authority I know not; but it is, perhaps, the only part
of the population not decreased. Venice once contained two hundred
thousand inhabitants: there are now about ninety thousand; and THESE! !
few individuals can conceive, and none could describe, the actual state
into which the more than infernal tyranny of Austria has plunged this
unhappy city. From the present decay and degeneracy of Venice under the
Barbarians, there are some honourable individual exceptions. There is
Pasqualigo, the last, and, alas!
_posthumous_ son of the marriage of the
Doges with the Adriatic, who fought his frigate with far greater
gallantry than any of his French coadjutors in the memorable action off
Lissa. I came home in the squadron with the prizes in 1811, and
recollect to have heard Sir William Hoste, and the other officers
engaged in that glorious conflict, speak in the highest terms of
Pasqualigo's behaviour. There is the Abbate Morelli. There is Alvise
Querini, who, after a long and honourable diplomatic career, finds some
consolation for the wrongs of his country, in the pursuits of literature
with his nephew, Vittor Benzon, the son of the celebrated beauty, the
heroine of "La Biondina in Gondoleta. " There are the patrician poet
Morosini, and the poet Lamberti, the author of the "Biondina," etc. , and
many other estimable productions; and, not least in an Englishman's
estimation, Madame Michelli, the translator of Shakspeare. There are the
young Dandolo and the improvvisatore Carrer, and Giuseppe Albrizzi, the
accomplished son of an accomplished mother. There is Aglietti, and were
there nothing else, there is the immortality of Canova. Cicognara,
Mustoxithi, Bucati, etc. , etc. , I do not reckon, because the one is a
Greek, and the others were born at least a hundred miles off, which,
throughout Italy, constitutes, if not a _foreigner_, at least a
_stranger_ (_forestiere_).
[This note is not in the MS. The first eight lines were included among
the notes, and the remainder formed part of the Appendix in all editions
1821-1831.
Nicolo Pasqualigo (1770-1821) received the command of a ship in the
Austrian Navy in 1800, and in 1805 was appointed Director of the Arsenal
of Venice. He took part in both the Lissa expeditions, and was made
prisoner after a prolonged resistance, March 13, 1811. (See _Personaggi
illustri delta Veneta patrizia gente_, by E.
February 2, 1821. ]
[471] {456}[In his reply to the envoys of the Venetian Senate (April,
1797), Buonaparte threatened to "prove an Attila to Venice. If you
cannot," he added, "disarm your population, I will do it in your
stead--your government is antiquated--it must crumble to
pieces. "--Scott's _Life of Napoleon Bonaparte_, 1828, p. 230. Compare,
too, _Childe Harold_, Canto IV. stanza xc. lines 1, 2--
"The fool of false dominion--and a kind
Of bastard Caesar," etc. ]
[472] Should the dramatic picture seem harsh, let the reader look to the
historical of the period prophesied, or rather of the few years
preceding that period. Voltaire calculated their "nostre bene merite
Meretrici" at 12,000 of regulars, without including volunteers and local
militia, on what authority I know not; but it is, perhaps, the only part
of the population not decreased. Venice once contained two hundred
thousand inhabitants: there are now about ninety thousand; and THESE! !
few individuals can conceive, and none could describe, the actual state
into which the more than infernal tyranny of Austria has plunged this
unhappy city. From the present decay and degeneracy of Venice under the
Barbarians, there are some honourable individual exceptions. There is
Pasqualigo, the last, and, alas!
_posthumous_ son of the marriage of the
Doges with the Adriatic, who fought his frigate with far greater
gallantry than any of his French coadjutors in the memorable action off
Lissa. I came home in the squadron with the prizes in 1811, and
recollect to have heard Sir William Hoste, and the other officers
engaged in that glorious conflict, speak in the highest terms of
Pasqualigo's behaviour. There is the Abbate Morelli. There is Alvise
Querini, who, after a long and honourable diplomatic career, finds some
consolation for the wrongs of his country, in the pursuits of literature
with his nephew, Vittor Benzon, the son of the celebrated beauty, the
heroine of "La Biondina in Gondoleta. " There are the patrician poet
Morosini, and the poet Lamberti, the author of the "Biondina," etc. , and
many other estimable productions; and, not least in an Englishman's
estimation, Madame Michelli, the translator of Shakspeare. There are the
young Dandolo and the improvvisatore Carrer, and Giuseppe Albrizzi, the
accomplished son of an accomplished mother. There is Aglietti, and were
there nothing else, there is the immortality of Canova. Cicognara,
Mustoxithi, Bucati, etc. , etc. , I do not reckon, because the one is a
Greek, and the others were born at least a hundred miles off, which,
throughout Italy, constitutes, if not a _foreigner_, at least a
_stranger_ (_forestiere_).
[This note is not in the MS. The first eight lines were included among
the notes, and the remainder formed part of the Appendix in all editions
1821-1831.
Nicolo Pasqualigo (1770-1821) received the command of a ship in the
Austrian Navy in 1800, and in 1805 was appointed Director of the Arsenal
of Venice. He took part in both the Lissa expeditions, and was made
prisoner after a prolonged resistance, March 13, 1811. (See _Personaggi
illustri delta Veneta patrizia gente_, by E.
