1
Bravo, The
The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Bravo, by J. Fenimore Cooper This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
Title: The Bravo
Author: J. Fenimore Cooper
Release Date: December 1, 2003 [EBook #10363]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BRAVO ***
Produced by Distributed Proofreaders
THE BRAVO
A TALE
BY J. FENIMORE COOPER
"Giustizia in palazzo, e pane in piazza."
1872.
PREFACE
It is to be regretted the world does not discriminate more justly in its use of political terms. Governments are usually called either monarchies or republics. The former class embraces equally those institutions in which the sovereign is worshipped as a god, and those in which he performs the humble office of a manikin. In the latter we find aristocracies and democracies blended in the same generic appellation. The consequence of a generalization so wide is an utter confusion on the subject of the polity of states.
The author has endeavored to give his countrymen, in this book, a picture of the social system of one of the _soi-disant_ republics of the other hemisphere. There has been no attempt to portray historical characters, only too fictitious in their graver dress, but simply to set forth the familiar operations of Venetian policy. For the justification of his likeness, after allowing for the defects of execution, he refers to th