THE BRAVO

A TALE

BY J. FENIMORE COOPER


"Giustizia in palazzo, e pane in piazza."


1872.





PREFACE

It is to be regretted the world does not discriminate more justly in its
use of political terms. Governments are usually called either monarchies
or republics. The former class embraces equally those institutions in
which the sovereign is worshipped as a god, and those in which he
performs the humble office of a manikin. In the latter we find
aristocracies and democracies blended in the same generic appellation.
The consequence of a generalization so wide is an utter confusion on the
subject of the polity of states.

The author has endeavored to give his countrymen, in this book, a
picture of the social system of one of the _soi-disant_ republics of the
other hemisphere. There has been no attempt to portray historical