Volume VI Part 15 (1/2)
”They wished to knohat banker furnished ot a banker, and that I lived by borrowing fro's body-guard They then askedabout me, and I replied that I had never been presented to him
”'Without the favour of your auard, and you ive you employment where you will stand in need of no commendation;' and so the alcalde left me If the Venetian ambassador does not interpose in your behalf you will be treated in the sae, and sat down on a bed, which I left after three hours, as I foundverht of theht,the bile which consu; Imaterials? However, I resolved to wait in silence; my time must come, sooner or later
At noon Marazzini told me that he knew a soldier for whose trustworthiness he would answer, and ould get ave him the money
”I have no appetite,” I replied, ”and I a to anyone till the stolen crown is restored to , but the soldiers only laughed at hiry, and had no ive hier in my service, and would to God I had never seen hiarlic soup and wretched bread, washed down by plain water, two priests and an individual as styled corregidor excepted, and they sees's servants brought me a dinner which would have sufficed for four He wanted to leave ; but not caring to share the meal with the vile ain at the same time the next day, as I did not require any supper The servant obeyed Marazzini said rudely that I ave him no answer
At five o'clock Manucci appeared, accompanied by a Spanish officer
After the usual coht write to er in prison if they were advised of my arrest
”We are no tyrants,” he replied; ”you can write what letters you like”
”Then,” said I, ”as this is a free country, is it allowable for a soldier who has received certain moneys to buy certain articles to pocket the money and appropriate it to his own use?”
”What is his nauard had been relieved, and no one seemed to knoho or where he was
”I promise you, sir,” said the officer, ”that the soldier shall be punished and your money restored to you; and in the meanwhile you shall have pens, ink, paper, a table, and a candle, immediately”
”And I,” added Manucci, ”promise you that one of the aht o'clock to deliver any letters you may write”
I took three crowns from my pocket, and told my fellow-prisoners that the first to name the soldier who had deceived me should have the money; Marazzini was the first to do so The officerto know et back one, and could not be very avaricious
Manucci whispered to me that the aet my release, and that he had no doubt of his success
When one I sat down to write, but I had need of all my patience The rascally prisoners crowded round , and when they could not understand it they were ih to askthe candle, they put it out However, I bore with it all One of the soldiers said he would keep theave him no answer In spite of the hell around me, I finished my letters and sealed them up They were no studied or rhetorical epistles, but merely the expression of the fury hich I was consuo that it was his duty to defend a subject of his prince, who had been arrested and in power on an idle pretext I shewed hiuilty, and that I had coainst the law of the land
I reminded him that I was a Venetian, in spite of my persecution at the hands of the State Inquisitors, and that being a Venetian I had a right to count on his protection
To Don Emmanuel de Roda, a learned scholar, and the minister of justice, I wrote that I did not ask any favour but only simple justice
”Serve God and your master,” said I ”Let his Catholic majesty save me from the hands of the infain his own innocence and the protection of the laws The person rites to you, my lord, has a purse full of doubloons in his pocket; he has already been robbed, and fears assassination in the filthy den in which he has been i hi that his servants had subjected to vile treatment a ed him to use his influence with his Catholic s
But the orous letter of all was the one I addressed to the Count of Aranda I told him plainly that if this infamous action went on I should be forced to believe that it was by his orders, since I had stated in vain that I came to Madrid with an introduction to him from a princess
”I have committed no crime,” I said; ”what compensation am I to have when I am released from this filthy and abomen to finish their work, for I warn you that no one shall taketo my custom I took copies of all the letters, and I sent them off by the servant whom the all-powerful Manucci despatched to the prison I passed such a night as Dante ined in his Vision of hell All the beds were full, and even if there had been a spare place I would not have occupied it I asked in vain for a ht me one, it would have been of no use, for the whole floor was inundated There were only two or three chaed his occasions on the floor