Her spirits were flown, her eyes were
frequently obscured with tears. She grew daily paler and paler,
till the Doge, who doted on her, was seriously alarmed for her
health. At length Rosabella grew really ill; a fever fixed itself
upon her; she became weak, and was confined to her chamber, and her
complaint baffled the skill of the most experienced physicians in
Venice.
In the midst of these unpleasant circumstances in which Andreas and
his friends now found themselves, an incident occurred one morning,
which raised their uneasiness to the very highest pitch. Never had
so bold and audacious an action been heard of in Venice, as that
which I am going to relate.
The four banditti, whom Flodoardo had seized, Pietrino, Struzza,
Baluzza, and Thomaso, had been safely committed to the Doge's
dungeons, where they underwent a daily examination, and looked upon
every sun that rose as the last that would ever rise for THEM.
Andreas and his confidential counsellors now flattered themselves
that the public tranquillity had nothing more to apprehend, and that
Venice was now completely purified of the miscreants, whom gold
could bribe to be the instruments of revenge and cruelty; when all
at once the following address was discovered, affixed to most of the
remarkable statues, and pasted against the corners of the principal
streets, and pillars of the public buildings:-
"VENETIANS!
"Struzza, Thomaso, Pietrino, Baluzza, and Matteo, five as brave men
as the world ever produced, who, had they stood at the head of
armies, would have been called HEROES, and now being called
BANDITTI, are fallen victims to the injustice of State policy.
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