The system of censorship, as now completed, proved both cumbersome and irritating, and must have seriously interfered with the development of the publishing business of Venice. It was, however, not quite so exacting as might have been expected from the stringent nature of its provisions, for the reason that these were not and could not be effectively enforced. The Government of Venice lacked the means to enforce its literary regulations, and had no police adequate to the special requirements of these regulations. While the censorship of the State became more or less nominal, that of the Church was enforced with comparative rigour, and exercised a very material influence on the selection of the literature to be printed. The Church had at hand a very effective machinery for the enforcement of its supervision, as every priest and every friar was ready to act as a policeman for the cause of ecclesiastical control over the Press. =Copyrights in Venice=, 1500-1600.--Up to the middle of the fifteenth century the average term of a copyright had been ten years. From the year 1560, the terms began to increase, until towards the close of the century the average is nineteen years. There are, however, examples of terms as short as one year, and as long as thirty; while it is not easy to trace the grounds for the discrimination. The fines inflicted for contraband publications also varied very considerably. The amounts collected were usually divided into three parts, which were assigned one to the informer, one to the author, and the third, either to the court, the arsenal, or to one of the three asylums. There is record of but one instance during the century of a piratical printer being deprived of his licence to print. It was the case of a copyright granted to Pappa Alesio, of Corfu, the infringer of which was fined two hundred ducats, and ten ducats for each unauthorised copy printed, and was forbidden to print for ten years.[152] The number of works for which copyright was secured varied very much from year to year. The largest number of entries during the century was one hundred and seventeen in 1561, and the smallest seven, in 1599. The decrease during the last quarter of the century was in part due to the Great Plague. There were but two instances during the century in which the Senate refused to grant an application for copyright, one of these refusals being for the _Lettere Amorose_ of Pasqualigo. While the greater number of the copyrights were issued in the names of the publishers, there is, after the middle of the sixteenth century, an increasing number of entries in the names of the authors. A copyright was given, in 1515, to Ariosto for his _Orlando_, to last for his lifetime; and in 1535, a copyright was given to his heirs for a period of ten years for certain of the poet’s works. Copyrights were also issued directly to Tasso, Aretino, Giraldi, and other authors.