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The Bravo: A Tale
Paperback
Mystery & ThrillerHistorical FictionLiterary Fiction
Publisher: Millers Print
Published: Sep 2 2026
Pages: 454
Weight: 1.33
Height: 0.92 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
stood in Venice on the Bridge of Sighs, A palace and a prison on each
hand; I saw from out the wave her structures rise, As from the stroke of
the enchanter's wand; A thousand years their cloudy wings expand Around
me, and a dying glory smiles O'er the far times, when many a subject land
Looked to the winged lions' marble piles, Where Venice sat in state, throned
on her hundred isles. BYRON.
The sun had disappeared behind the summits of the Tyrolean Alps, and the
moon was already risen above the low barrier of the Lido. Hundreds of
pedestrians were pouring out of the narrow streets of Venice into the square
of St. Mark, like water gushing through some strait aqueduct, into a broad
and bubbling basin. Gallant cavalieri and grave cittadini; soldiers of Dal-
matia, and seamen of the galleys; dames of the city, and females of lighter
manners; jewellers of the Rialto, and traders from the Levant; Jew, Turk,
and Christian; traveller, adventurer, podestà , valet, avvocato, and gondo-
lier, held their way alike to the common centre of amusement. The hur-
ried air and careless eye; the measured step and jealous glance; the jest and
laugh; the song of the cantatrice, and the melody of the flute; the grimace
of the buffoon, and the tragic frown of the improvisatore; the pyramid of
3 JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
the grotesque, the compelled and melancholy smile of the harpist, cries of
water-sellers, cowls of monks, plumage of warriors, hum of voices, and the
universal movement and bustle, added to the more permanent objects of the
place, rendered the scene the most remarkable of Christendom.
On the very confines of that line which separates western from eastern Eu-
rope, and in constant communication with the latter, Venice possessed a
greater admixture of character and costume, than any other of the numer-
ous ports of that region. A portion of this peculiarity is still to be observed,
under the fallen fortunes of the place; but at the period of our tale, the city
of the isles, though no longer mistress of the Mediterranean, nor even of the
Adriatic, was still rich and powerful. Her influence was felt in the councils of
the civilized world, and her commerce, though waning, was yet sufficient to
uphold the vast possessions of those families, whose ancestors had become
rich in the day of her prosperity. Men lived among her islands in that state of
incipient lethargy, which marks the progress of a downward course, whether
the decline be of a moral or of a physical decay.
At the hour we have named, the vast parallelogram of the piazza was filling
fast, the cafés and casinos within the porticoes, which surround three of its
sides, being already thronged with company. While all beneath the arches
was gay and brilliant with the flare of torch and lamp, the noble range of
edifices called the Procuratories, the massive pile of the Ducal Palace, the
most ancient Christian church, the granite columns of the piazzetta, the tri-
umphal masts of the great square, and the giddy tower of the campanile,
were slumbering in the more mellow glow of the moon.
Facing thewide area of the great square stood the quaint and venerable cathe-
dral of San Marco. A temple of trophies, and one equally proclaiming the
prowess and the piety of its founders, this remarkable structure presided
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