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Excerpt from The Lion of St. Mark: A Story of Venice in the Fourteenth Century I had stayed at home, and I have learned to speak your tongue. But I do not know that I like it better than home. Things are different, you see. There was more fun at home. My father had two or three apprentices, whom I used'to play with when the shop was closed, and there were often what you would call tumults, but which. Were not serious. Sometimes there would be a fight between the apprentices of one ward and another, a shout would be raised of Clubs 1' 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 in uence 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 any one did wrong he got an open and fair trial. There was no fear of secret accusations. Every one thought and said as be 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 any one 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 to-'morrow morning be lying in the dungeons of St. Mark without the slightest idea in the world as to what his crime has been. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."
