CHAPTER XV

Giovanni sat in his father’s own room at home, with shut doors, and he was writing.  He had received as good an education as any young nobleman or rich merchant’s son in Venice, but writing was always irksome to him, and he generally employed a scribe rather than take the pen himself.  To-day he preferred to dispense with help, instead of trusting the discretion of a secretary; and this is what he was setting down.

“I, Giovanni Beroviero, the son of Angelo, of Murano, the glass-maker, being in my father’s absence and in his stead the Master of our honourable Guild of Glass-makers, do entreat your Magnificence to interfere and act for the preservation of our ancient rights and privileges and for the maintenance of the just laws of Venice, and for the honour of the Republic, and for the public good of Murano.  There is a certain Zorzi, called the Ballarin, who was a servant of the aforesaid Angelo Beroviero, a Dalmatian and a foreigner and a fellow of no worth, who formerly swept the floor of the said Angelo’s furnace room, which the said Angelo keeps for his private use.  This fellow therefore, this foreigner, the said Angelo being absent on a long journey, was left by him to watch the fire in the said room, there being certain new glass in the crucibles of the said furnace, which the said Zorzi, called the Ballarin, was to keep hot a certain number of days.  And now in the torrid heat of summer, the canicular days being at hand, the furnaces in the glass-house of the said Angelo have been extinguished.  But this Zorzi, called the Ballarin, although he has removed from the furnace of the said Angelo the glass which was to be kept hot, does insolently and defiantly refuse to put out the fire in the said furnace, and forces the boys to make the fire all night, to the great injury of their health, because the canicular days are approaching.  But the said Zorzi, called the Ballarin, like a raging devil come upon earth from his master Satan, heeds no heat.  And he has no respect of laws, nor of persons, nor of the honourable Guild, nor of the Republic, working day and night at the glass-blower’s art, just as if he were not a Dalmatian, and a foreigner, and a low fellow of no worth.  Moreover, he has made glass himself, which it is forbidden for any foreigner to make throughout the dominions of the Republic.  Moreover, it is a good white glass, which he could not have made if he had not wickedly, secretly and feloniously stolen a book which is the property of the aforesaid Angelo, and which contains many things concerning the making of glass.  Moreover, this Zorzi, called the Ballarin, is a liar, a thief and an assassin, for of the good white glass which he has melted by means of the said Angelo’s secrets, he makes vessels, such as phials, ampullas and dishes, which it is not lawful for any foreigner to make.  Moreover, in the vile wickedness of his shameless heart, the said Zorzi,