the Arfenal, carry him by Turns round the Place of St. Mark on their Shoulders. The Doge thus feated, one of his Children, or fome near Relation, ftands behind him, holding two Bafons filled with Money, which he distributes among the Populace.

Having killed one Prince, and proclaimed another, I think I may decently take my Leave for the prefent; and should you be as tired with reading, as I am with writing, you will wish you had never heard of his Serenity. I hope you will think my next more interesting, which will treat of the different Councils of Venice.

Addio Sempre fuo, &c.

LET

LETTER LI.

Dr. A to Mr. HULL.

Venice, April 12, 1766:

AVING in my laft difpatched his, Sere-..

HA

rity the Doge, I now proceed with Alacrity to give you an Account of the Coun-/ cils, of which, according to AMELOT DE LA HOUSSAIE, there are three principal; the great one, which comprehends all the Nobility y the College, which gives Audience to Ambaffadors; and the Pregadi, which is the Senate. The Great-Council meets every Sunday and Holiday to chufe Magiftrates, which is done by Ballotation. Right to enter into it, five Years old, but the

The Nobles have no

until they are twentySeignory dispense fome

times with their being under Age. This Affembly has a Right of confirming or annulling the Decrees of the Senate, and to make or repeal Laws. The most remarkable standing Laws are thefe, viz. that all Ecclefiaftics are

excluded

excluded from every civil Employment and public Affembly. The Nobles cannot arrive at the principal Offices, but by Gradation ; nor can they hold more than one Office at once, be it ever fo fmall. Thofe who refufe any Employment, are fined two thousand Ducats, and banished for two Years from the Great Council and Broglio; (this Name they give to an Apartment under the Procuratia Nuova, where the Noblemen meet in a Morning, and those who are trying to attain any Place in the Government, ufe this Opportunity to folicit the Votes of their Friends for their Ballotation in the Great Council.) No Magiftrate can refign, or leave the City. All the Sons of the Nobility have equal Portions: if a Daughter has more than five thoufand Ducats, (about fix hundred Pounds sterling) fhe receives the Income of the Overplus for her own feparate Ufe, and if fhe dies without Children, it returns to her Family. All Subjects of the Republic (the Doge not excepted) pay Taxes in Proportion to their Fortune. The Magiftrates in civil Caufes can receive no Vifits or Recommendation of the Parties, but may in criminal ones, if they are not State VOL. II. Affairs.

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Affairs. No Nobleman can enter into Trade. The Great Council corrects all public Errors, and redreffes all Grievances imposed by those who use their Authority unlawfully, fo that this may be called the firft Tribunal, and the Bafis, as well as Support of the Republic.

To gratify the young Nobility, they admit thirty by Lot every Year into the Great Coun cil, who are only twenty Years of Age, and allow them the fame Privileges as those who are twenty-five; thefe young ones are called Barbarint, because they are chofen on the Day of St. BARBARA. This Affembly fits from eight in the Morning until Noon; it is held in the largest Room of the Palace: at the upper End are raised Seats, on which the Doge and his Counsellors are placed. The Chief of the Council of Ten, the Avogadores and the Cenfors are feated round the Hall, upon raised Benches. The Counsellors of the Doge can convoke, at Pleasure, the Great Council, and for this Purpose they cause the Bells of the principal Churches in the fix Quarters of the Town to be rung, and at this Signal, the Nobles attend the Council without Arms,

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Arms, which they are forbid to carry there on Pain of Death.

When AMELOT DE LA HOUSSAIE wrote his Hiftory of the Republic of Venice, the Nobles were computed at five and twenty Hundred; but they now fall very short of that Calculation. The Great Council ufually confifts of about eight hundred, and nearly the fame Number is fuppofed to be employed in the Provinces, on Embaffies, and other public Services; or, for private Reasons, are not in a Situation to attend in Council.

THE COLLEGE.

THE College is formed of twenty-fix Members, viz. The Doge and his fix Counsellors, three of the Quarantia Criminale, (who are changed every two Months) fix Savi Grandi, five of the Savi of the Terra Firma, and the five Savi of Order. The College has the Right of affembling the Senate, and propofing what is to be debated therein; but yet they must obey its Refolutions, and act in Con

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