and so forth, saving him rather the expense of the double basses, as he need not use these except for giving the chords at the beginning. The Symphony is to consist of a French time, or _prestissimo_ of semiquavers in major, which as usual must be succeeded by a _piano_ of the same key in minor, closing finally in a minuet, gavotte, or jig, again in the major, thus avoiding fugues, _legature_, themes, etc., etc., as old things outside of the modern fashion. He will endeavour to give the best airs to the prima donna, and if he has to shorten the opera he will not allow the suppression of airs or roundels.’ The same master observes wittily that the authors of the words to accompany this sort of music generally excused themselves from reading the works of older writers, on the ground that the latter had not been able to read their successors, but had, nevertheless, done very well. When the playwright or musician had succeeded in pleasing the actors, the actresses, the manager, the scene-painter, and all the rest of the company, he still had to please the Council of Ten, not to mention the Inquisitors of State and the Inquisitors of the Holy Office, for they all had something to say in the censorship of the theatre. The infamous Jacopo Casanova, who amongst a number of ignoble occupations acted as a confidant or spy to the Council of Ten, called attention [Sidenote: _Molmenti, Nuovi Studi, 300._] in 1776 to a piece called _Coriolanus_, which was being given in the theatre of San Benedetto. It appears to have been a sort of pantomime, which presented on the stage a starving population, a cruel nobility, the unjust condemnation of Coriolanus, the tears of Virgilia and Volumnia, everything, in short, which, according to the scrupulous Casanova, could pervert the Venetian people; and the Inquisitors accordingly suppressed the piece. Sometimes these gentlemen shut up the provincial theatres altogether for a time with a view to stopping the advance of modern ideas. Here is an edict relating to these measures of prudence, signed by the Doge one year before the fall of the Republic. The first paragraph is in Latin, the rest is in Italian. Ludovicus Manin, by the grace of God Doge of Venice, [Sidenote: _Molmenti, Nuovi Studi._] to the noble and wise man, Federicus Bembo, by his commission Podestà and Captain of Mestre, Fid. Dil. Sal. et Dil. Aff. [_Fideli dilecto salutem et dilectionis affectum._]