366 
its own laws, and separate directors; 
its capital is immense, its credit 
universal, and the security as firm 
as the defenceless condition of Ge- 
noa will admit. In 1746, it sup- 
ported the republic in its distress, 
by advancing 750,0001. the whole. 
of which (as I am informed) has 
been liquidated. The interest it 
gives for money is two and a half 
er cent. 
I shall conclude this letter with 
an anecdote related to me by a 
French gentleman who resides here, 
and which will give you a much 
better representation of the national 
character than any thing which I 
could otherwise write upon the 
subject. 
Some months ago two Venetians 
(whose countrymen and the Geno- 
ese still keep up that inveterate 
hatred to each other which distin- 
guished their ancestors) were pre- 
sent at an osteria, of wine-house, 
where the conversation of the tom- 
pany arose, not, as it would in Eng- 
land, on politics or pleasure, but 
upon the merits of St. Jobn, the 
protector of Genoa, who, it was 
asserted, had worked innumerable 
miracles, and was the greatest of 
all saints. If Nature be so much 
the parent of patriotism as to create 
in us an affection for those minuter 
objects in our native land which 
the citizen of the world would re- 
gard with an eye of indifference, 
how much more powerfully must 
she operate on our passions, when 
we remember that on which the 
prosperity of our country is sup- 
posed to depend! The two Vene- 
tians were precisely in this predi- 
cament. They probably knew as 
ANNUAL! REGISTER, 1792. 
little of St. John as they did.of St. 
Denis; but St. Mark was the guar- 
dian of Venice, and consequently 
their all in all. Resolved therefore 
to maintain his' honour in opposition 
to this provoking eulogium of ‘the 
Genoese on their patron, one of 
them observed, that the bones of 
his saint had worked more miracles, 
particularly in healing diseases, than 
all the apostles and saints ; thatin 
heaven he was next in rank to’ the 
Virgin and popes, and as’ much 
superior to their St. John as the 
Patriarch of Venice was to the 
Archbishop of Genoa. To prevent 
any reply to this, he and his friend 
left the room, but were soon fol- 
lowed by one of the company, who 
had the honour of bearing the great 
cross of a religious order in their 
church-processions. This desperate 
enthusiast, on overtaking the Vene- 
tian who had spoken, stabbed him 
to the heart, crying out with the 
blow, Tz manda questo San Giova-= 
ne, che ti guariano le osse di San 
Marco*. His friend, astonished at 
a deed so bloody, applied to a ma- 
gistrate for justice; who, having 
heard the particulars, told him, that 
had a Venetian murdered a Geno- 
ese in Venice, no notice would have 
been taken of it, but that his com- 
plaint would probably be considered 
in a few days:—and ‘so indeed it 
was, even sooner than he had pro- 
mised; for early the next morning 
he too was found assassinated at the 
door of his lodgings ; and the bearer 
of the great cross still maintains his 
post of honour!—Now determine 
on the character of a people set 
whom such crimes are committe 
with impunity. 
* St. John sendsthce this, thit the kone; of St. Mark may heal thee. 
Interesting — 
