The Lion of Saint Mark | Page 2

of 'Clubs!' and all the 'prentices would catch up their sticks
and pour out of the shops, and then there would be a fight till the city
guard turned out and separated them. Then there used to be the
shooting at the butts, and the shows, and the Mayday revels, and all
sorts of things. The people were more merry than you are here, and
much more free. You see, the barons, who are the same to us that your
great families are to you, had no influence in the city. You are a nation
of traders, and so are we; but in London the traders have the power, and
are absolute masters inside their own walls, caring nothing for the
barons, and not much for the king. If anyone did wrong he got an open
and fair trial. There was no fear of secret accusations. Everyone thought
and said as he pleased. There was no Lion's Mouth, and no Council of
Ten."
"Hush! hush! Francisco," the other said, grasping his arm. "Do not say
a word against the council. There is no saying who may be listening."
And he looked nervously round to see if anyone was within earshot.
"There it is, you see," his companion said. "So long as we have a safe
conscience, in London we are frightened at nothing, whereas here no
one can say with certainty that he may not, before tomorrow morning,
be lying in the dungeons of St. Mark, without the slightest idea in the
world as to what his crime has been."
"There, there, Francisco," Matteo said uneasily. "Do talk about other
things. Your notions may do very well in England, but are not safe to
discuss here. Of course there are plenty here who would gladly see a
change in some matters, but one cannot have everything; and, after all,
when one has so much to be proud of, one need not grumble because
everything is not just as one would like."
"Yes, you have much to be proud of," Francis Hammond agreed. "It is
marvellous that the people of these scattered islets should be masters of
the sea, that their alliance should be coveted by every power in Europe,
that they should be the greatest trading community in the world. If I
were not English I should like to be Venetian."

The speakers were standing at the edge of the water in front of the
Palace of St. Mark. In the piazza behind them a throng of people were
walking to and fro, gossiping over the latest news from Constantinople,
the last rumour as to the doings of the hated rival of Venice, Genoa, or
the purport of the letter which had, as everyone knew, been brought by
the Bishop of Treviso from the pope to the seignory.
The moon was shining brightly overhead, and glittering in the waters of
the lagoon, which were broken into innumerable little wavelets by the
continual crossing and recrossing of the gondolas dotting its surface.
There was a constant arrival and departure of boats from the steps, fifty
yards to the right of the spot where the speakers were standing; but
where they had stationed themselves, about halfway between the
landing steps and the canal running down by the side of the ducal
palace, there were but few people about.
Francis Hammond was a lad between fifteen and sixteen years old. His
father was a merchant of London. He was a man of great enterprise and
energy, and had four years before determined to leave his junior partner
in charge of the business in London, and to come out himself for a time
to Venice, so as to buy the Eastern stuffs in which he dealt at the
headquarters of the trade, instead of paying such prices as the agents of
the Venetian traders might demand in London.
He had succeeded beyond his expectations. In Venice there were
constantly bargains to be purchased from ships returning laden with the
spoils of some captured Genoese merchantman, or taken in the sack of
some Eastern seaport. The prices, too, asked by the traders with the
towns of Syria or the Black Sea, were but a fraction of those charged
when these goods arrived in London. It was true that occasionally some
of his cargoes were lost on the homeward voyage, captured either by
the Genoese or the Moorish pirates; but even allowing for this, the
profits of the trade were excellent.
The English merchant occupied a good position in Venice. The
promptness of his payments, and the integrity of his dealings, made
him generally respected; and the fact that he was engaged in trade was
no drawback to his social position, in a city in which, of all others,

trade was considered honourable, and where members of even