“I have no doubt that I shall see you sometimes, Francis; for Polani will be sure to give you an opportunity of making a trip to England, from time to time, in one of his ships trading thither.  Unless anything unexpected happens, your future appears assured.  Polani tells me he shall always regard you in the light of a son; and I have no fear of your doing anything to cause him to forfeit his good opinion of you.  Do not be over adventurous, for even in a merchant ship there are many perils to be met with.  Pirates swarm in the Mediterranean, in spite of the efforts of Venice to suppress them; and when war is going on, both Venice and Genoa send out numbers of ships whose doings savour strongly of piracy.  Remember that the first duty of the captain of a merchant ship is to save his vessel and cargo, and that he should not think of fighting unless he sees no other method of escape open to him.

“It is possible that, after a time, I may send one of your brothers out here, but that will depend upon what I find of their disposition when I get home; for it will be worse than useless to send a lad of a headstrong disposition out to the care of one but a few years older than himself.  But this we can talk about when you come over to England, and we see what position you are occupying here.

“I fear that Venice is about to enter upon a period of great difficulty and danger.  There can be little doubt that Genoa, Padua, and Hungary are leagued against her; and powerful as she is, and great as are her resources, they will be taxed to the utmost to carry her through the dangers that threaten her.  However, I have faith in her future, and believe that she will weather the storm, as she has done many that have preceded it.

“Venice has the rare virtue of endurance—­the greatest dangers, the most disastrous defeats, fail to shake her courage, and only arouse her to greater efforts.  In this respect she is in the greatest contrast to her rival, Genoa, who always loses heart the moment the tide turns against her.  No doubt this is due, in no slight extent, to her oligarchic form of government.  The people see the nobles, who rule them, calm and self possessed, however great the danger, and remain confident and tranquil; while in Genoa each misfortune is the signal for a struggle between contending factions.  The occasion is seized to throw blame and contumely upon those in power, and the people give way to alternate outbursts of rage and depression.

“I do not say there are no faults in the government of Venice, but taking her altogether there is no government in Europe to compare with it.  During the last three hundred years, the history of every other city in Italy, I may say of every other nation in Europe, is one long record of intestine struggle and bloodshed, while in Venice there has not been a single popular tumult worthy of the name.  It is to the strength, the firmness, and the moderation of her government that Venice owes her advancement, the respect in which she is held among nations, as much as to the commercial industry of her people.