374 TRAVEL, ADYEXTUEE, AND SPOET. 



most striking feature of this striking scene was to be 

 found in the custom of masking, then almost universal 

 in Venice, and the origin of which may be traced in 

 great part to dread of the Inquisition, and of its pry- 

 ing inquiries 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 never- 

 theless, 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 Avar 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 smart- 



