Like the advocates, they are often men of
letters: they write for the journals, and publish little pamphlets on
those topics of local history which it is so much the fashion to treat in
Venice. No one makes a profession of authorship. The returns of an
author's work would be too uncertain, and its restrictions and penalties
would be too vexatious and serious; and so literary topics are only
occasionally treated by those whose main energies are bent in another
direction.
The doctors are very numerous, and a considerable number of them are
Hebrews, who, even in the old jealous times, exercised the noble art of
medicine, and who now rank very highly among their professional brethren.
These physicians haunt the neat and tasteful apothecary shops, where they
sit upon the benching that passes round the interior, read the newspapers,
and discuss the politics of Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, with all
the zest that you may observe to characterize their discussions in
Goldoni's plays.
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