The arrival of the French ambassador at Venice, in great pomp, excited
public curiosity. The manners of the strangers bore an aspect of
perfect novelty to the inhabitants of the republic, as the ladies who
accompanied Amalia, the ambassador's daughter, displayed a fire and
vivacity, which to many seemed scandalous as well as astonishing.
Amalia was in her seventeenth year, and to cultivated and sprightly
powers of mind, added those French graces, which, if they do not
constitute beauty, are still more effectual than beauty itself in
seducing the beholder. Alvise saw her when she was presented to the
Doge, and regarded her as a being more than human. He gazed on her as
if beside himself; and what female could have beheld him without
admiration? Amalia read in the noble countenance of Alvise what he
felt at that moment; she was affected, and, for the first time, her
heart palpitated within her bosom.
Alvise from that day was another being. He knew his unhappy state, and
that his misfortunes could end but with his life, since the severe and
unyielding laws of his country rendered all hope chimerical of ever
being united with the stranger lady.
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