Even in the most cultivated society,
the dialect is habitually spoken; and if Italian is used, it is only in
compliment to some foreigner present, for whose sake, also, topics of
general interest are sometimes chosen.
The best society is now composed of the families of professional men, such
as the advocates, the physicians, and the richer sort of merchants. The
shopkeepers, master-artisans, and others, whom industry and thrift
distinguish from the populace, seem not to have any social life, in the
American sense. They are wholly devoted to affairs, and partly from
choice, and partly from necessity, are sordid and grasping. It is their
class which has to fight hardest for life in Europe, and they give no
quarter to those above or below them. The shop is their sole thought and
interest, and they never, never sink it. But, since they have habits of
diligence, and, as far as they are permitted, of enterprise, they seem to
be in great part the stuff from which a prosperous State is to be rebuilt
in Venice, if ever the fallen edifice rise again.
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