Page:Forget Me Not (1826).djvu/52

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THE BRIDGE OF SIGHS.

an age to form his own opinion of things, than he expressed with great freedom his disapprobation of the mystery which pervaded the political and judicial administration of that state: and if no notice seemed at first to be taken of this, perhaps on account of his youth, it was certainly nothing but the fair hopes which he authorised, that subsequently screened him from severe punishment. With a bold and vigorous mind he united a commanding and handsome person. Victorious in all the chivalrous sports common at that period in Italy, he chiefly delighted to employ his superior powers in the protection of the weak. Hence it is not surprising that he should have been at once the darling of the people and of the fair sex. All these brilliant qualities, nevertheless, excited the envy of many, who attached a malicious interpretation to each of his actions. None, however, cared less for these strictures than the high-spirited Frangipani; he let people talk as they pleased, and did what was right. Arrived at maturer years, he looked about for a wife worthy of himself. Such a one he found in Apollonia, Marchioness of Modrusa. On returning, after the nuptial ceremony, from attending mass in the church of St. Mark, with this lovely female hanging on his arm, through the concourse of people in the piazza, the rare beauty of the new-married couple extorted on all sides expressions of the