Page:John Adams - A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America Vol. I. (1787).djvu/106

68 to many, that any man will accept the office of doge. Thee agacious nobles, who always know at lead the vices and weaknees of the human heart better than princes or people, aw that there would be generally vanity enough in an individual to flatter himelf, that he had qualities to go through his adminitration without incurring cenure, and with applaue; and farther, that the frivolous ditinction of living in the ducal palace, and being the firt man in the nation, though it were only the firt among equals, would tempt mot men to rique their lives and fortunes, and accordingly it has o happened. There has been an uncommon olicitude all along to retrain his power: this no doubt was to prevent him from a poibilitv of negociating with the people againt them: on the other hand, there has been uncommon exertions to annihilate every power, every hope in the people: this was to prevent them from having a legal poibility of applying to the doge for aitance. All this together, would not however have ucceeded, if death, in the hape of the inquiition, had not been made to tare both doge and people in the face, upon the firt thought of conferring together.

The nobles are divided into ix claes. 1. Twelve of the mot ancient families. 2. Four families that in the year 880 ubcribed to the building of the abbey of St. George. 3. Thoe whoe names were written in the golden book, in 1296. 4. Thoe that were ennobled by the public in 1385. 5. Thoe who purchaed their nobility for one hundred thouand ducats in 1646. And 6. The trangers who have been received into the number of nobility: the whole make about two thouand five hundred. There