great part to dread of the Inquisition, and of its prying enquiries
into the actions and affairs of individuals. Amidst the sea of faces
that thronged roofs, windows, balconies, streets, and quays, the
minority only were uncovered, and the immense collection of masks, of
every form and colour, had something in it peculiarly fantastic and
unnatural, conveying an impression that the wearers mimicked human
nature rather than belonged to it.

Venice, whose trade and mercantile importance were at this period
greatly on the decline, saw nevertheless, on occasions like the
present, strangers from the most opposite nations of Europe, and even
Asia, mingling peaceably on her canals. Here were Turks in their
bright red caftans and turbans; there Armenians in long black robes;
and Jews, whose habitually greedy and crafty countenances had for the
nonce assumed an expression of eager curiosity and expectation. The
mercantile spirit of the Venetians prevented them from extending to
individuals the quarrels of states; and although the republic was then
at war with Spain, more than one superb hidalgo might be seen, wrapped
in his national gravity as in a mantle, and affecting a total
disregard of the blunt or hostile observations made within his hearing
by sailors of the Venetian navy, or by individuals smarting under the
loss of ships and cargoes captured by Spanish galleys.

Scattered here and there amongst the crowd, Antonio's searching eye
soon remarked a number of men, to whom, accustomed as he was to
analyse the heterogeneous composition of a Venetian mob, he was yet at
a loss to assign any distinct class or country. Their sunburnt and
strongly marked features were partially hidden by the folds of ample
cloaks, in which they kept themselves closely muffled; and it appeared
to Antonio, that in their selection of places they were more anxious