Volume II Part 65 (2/2)

He visited h; my constitution did the rest, andof Septe from no actual ills except the heat, the ver Boethius

One day Lawrence told o out ofe of the favour to walk up and down for the ten minutes taken by these operations, and as I walked hard the rats were alarave ht himself in as my debtor to the amount of thirty livres, which however, I could not put intohi sure that he would make quite a different use of it, and he thanked ave him the money every month, and I never saw a priest's receipt Lawrence ise to celebrate the sacrifice at the tavern; the money was useful to so ht that the next day I should be at liberty; but as I was each day deceived, I decided in my poor brain that I should be set free without fail on the 1st of October, on which day the new Inquisitors begin their ter to this theory,as the authority of the present Inquisitors, and thus was explained the fact that I had seen nothing of the secretary, ould otherwise have undoubtedly coate, examine, and convict me of my crimes, and finally to announce my doom All this appeared to me unanswerable, because it seemed natural, but it was fallacious under the Leads, where nothing is done after the natural order I iined the Inquisitorsthey had done me, and that they only kept me in prison for form's sake, and to protect their repute fro injustice; hence I concluded that they would give me my freedom when they laid down their tyrannical authority My ive the that they had done me ”How can they leave ht, ”to who me?” I could not believe that my sentence had been pronounced and confir told of it, or of the reasons by which ht on ly; but this was not the attitude I should have assumed towards a court which stands aloof from all the courts in the world for its unbounded absolutisuilty, it is only necessary for the Inquisitors to proceed against him; so there is no need to speak to him, and when he is condemned it would be useless to announce to the prisoner his sentence, as his consent is not required, and they prefer to leave the poor wretch the feeling of hope; and certainly, if he were told the whole process, imprisonment would not be shortened by an hour The wise man tells no one of his business, and the business of the Tribunal of Venice is only to judge and to doouilty party is not required to have any share in the matter; he is like a nail, which to be driven into a wall needs only to be struck

To a certain extent I was acquainted with the ways of the Colossus which was crushi+ng s on earth which one can only truly understand by experience If ast ive the likeness to injustice; but let me tell them that they are also necessary, as a tribunal like the Venetian could not subsist without theour are senators, chosen frost the fittest for that office, and with a reputation for honour and virtue

The last day of Septeht, and was on thorns to see the dawn appear, so sure was I that that day would n of those villains who had made me a captive drew to a close; but the dawn appeared, Lawrence ca new

For five or six days I hovered between rage and despair, and then I iined that for some reasons which to me were unfathomable they had decided to keep me prisoner for the reh, for I knew that it was intime, but only till I should take it into my own hands to break my prison I knew that I should escape or die: 'Deliberataof Nove froan to rackthe idea into execution, and I conceived a hundred schemes, each one bolder than the other, but a new plan always

While I was iht, an event happened which brought ho up in the garret looking towards the top, andon its right side, and then, by slow and interrupted ain and replacing itself in its original position As I lost my balance at the same time, I kneas the shock of an earthquake

Lawrence and the guards, who just then came out of my room, said that they too, had felt the earth tremble In such despair was I that this incident

Four or five seconds after the sa,

”Another, O uards, terrified hat they thought the is of a desperate one, as I was pondering the matter over, I found that I looked upon the overthrow of the Doge's palace as one of the events which ht throw me safe and sound, and consequently free, on St Mark's Place, or at the worst it could only crush me beneath its ruins Situated as I was, liberty reckons for all, and life for nothing, or rather for very little Thus in the depths of row mad

This earthquake shock was the result of those which at the same time destroyed Lisbon

CHAPTER XXVII

Various Adventures--My Coe of Cell

To ed to escape from a place like the Leads, I must explain the nature of the locality

The Leads, used for the confinement of state prisoners, are in fact the lofts of the ducal palace, and take their nae plates of lead hich the roof is covered One can only reach thes, or by the bridge of which I have spoken called the Bridge of Sighs It is ih the hall where the State Inquisitors hold their e of the key, which he only gives to the gaoler for a short ti to the prisoners This is done at day-break, because otherwise the guards as they came and ould be in the way of those who have to do with the Council of Ten, as the Council uards have to cross every tio to the Leads

The prisons are under the roof on two sides of the palace; three to the west ( the number) and four to the east On the west the roof looks into the court of the palace, and on the east straight on to the canal called Rio di Palazzo On this side the cells are well lighted, and one can stand up straight, which is not the case in the prison where I hich was distinguished by the name of 'Trave', on account of the enorht The floor ofof the Inquisitors' hall, where they co of the Council of Ten of which the whole three are round and the habits of the Inquisitors perfectly well, the only way to escape--the only way at least which I deemed likely to succeed--was to make a hole in the floor of my cell; but to do this tools must be obtained--a difficult task in a place where all communication with the outside world was forbidden, where neither letters nor visits were allowed To bribe a guard a good deal ofthat the gaoler and his two guards allowed theled--for uard on duty at the door of the passage, which he locked and would not open till his felloished to pass through gave him the password In spite of all these difficulties ave me no hints on this point I read him no more, and as I was certain that the difficulty was only to be solved by stress of thinking I centered all hts on this one object

It has always been my opinion that when a , and thinks of nought but his design, he must succeed despite all difficulties in his path: such an one may make himself Pope or Grand Vizier, he s--provided that he kno to seize on his opportunity, and be afortunate and despise all ill success, but it is a most difficult operation

Towards the middle of November, Lawrence told me that Messer-Grande had a prisoner in his hands whom the new secretary, Businello, had ordered to be placed in the worst cell, and who consequently was going to sharehim that I looked upon it as a favour to be left alone, he answered that I had groiser in the four months of my imprisonment I was not sorry to hear the news or that there was a new secretary This M Pierre Businello was a worthy man whom I knew at Paris He afterwards went to London as ambassador of the Republic

In the afternoon I heard the noise of the bolts, and presently Lawrence and two guards entered leading in a youngoff his handcuffs they shut hi on my bed, and he could not see , fortunately for hiht inches shorter than I, he was able to stand upright, and he began to inspect ht washe saw Boethius, took it up, opened it, and put it doith a kind of passion, probably because being in Latin it was of no use to hi his inspection of the cell he went to the left, and groping about was much surprised to find clothes He approached the recess, and stretching out his hand he touched ed my pardon in a respectful manner I asked him to sit down and ere friends