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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78047 ***
+
+  [Illustration: DOGARESSA TEODORA SELVO
+
+  (as Cleopatra with Venetian Zilve).
+
+  PARIS BORDONE.]
+
+
+
+
+                            THE DOGARESSAS
+                               OF VENICE
+
+                      (_THE WIVES OF THE DOGES_)
+
+
+                          BY EDGCUMBE STALEY
+             AUTHOR OF “THE TRAGEDIES OF THE MEDICI” ETC.
+
+                             _ILLUSTRATED_
+
+  [Illustration: THE DOGARESSA]
+
+
+                               NEW YORK
+                        CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS
+
+
+
+
+                          TO THE MEMORY OF MY
+                                MOTHER
+
+                            FINETTA STALEY
+
+
+
+
+                                PREFACE
+
+
+The Story of the Dogaressas of Venice,--the Wives of the Doges,--has
+not hitherto been told in English; but when my many appreciative
+readers have finished this volume, I am confident they will agree
+with me that there is much that is very interesting and unique in my
+narrative.
+
+The influence of good women upon the well-being of Society is
+undeniable: that eloquent French _mot_:--“_Cherchez la Femme_,” has a
+subtle and impressive meaning. In the election of a Doge of the Most
+Serene Republic of Venice the personality of his spouse had often as
+not considerable weight in the decision of the Lords of the Council.
+My long list of the Ducal wearers of the lesser _Corno_ contains the
+name of not one who failed to play her magnificent _rôle_ with infinite
+credit to herself and with conspicuous benefit to the State.
+
+In the compilation of my “_Libro d’Oro delle Dogaresse di Venezia_,”
+I have found “_La Storia di Venezia_” and “_La Dogaressa di
+Venezia_,”--the remarkably able works of Signore Pompeo Giovanni
+Molmenti,--of the greatest service, and I now beg to offer that erudite
+writer, if he is still alive, my heartiest acknowledgments. Mr W. C.
+Hazlett’s “Venetian Republic,”--out and away the best English history
+of Venice,--has been invaluable.
+
+The “Roll” of the Most Serene Dogaressas is unique,--such a complete
+list has never been published,--it will therefore be exceedingly useful
+to students of history and lovers of romance.
+
+With respect to illustrations it will be at once remarked how few
+portraits of Dogaressas I offer. The fact is that Venetian painters,
+great or small, painted fewer than a dozen of the noble First Ladies
+of Venice. This is perhaps what might have been expected. Venetian
+painters excelled all others in the delineation of youthful female
+beauty,--they were the first to paint “_Venus Calva_,”--but the
+middle-aged and the aged did not appeal to them. No, the Dogaressas
+have nothing for which to thank painters, sculptors, or engravers: such
+artists were directly under the patronage of the Doges not of their
+Consorts.
+
+Women of every age and clime care very little about the Fine Arts, so
+called, they are themselves the finest of the Fine Arts, and their
+sympathy goes out rather to the artistic Crafts, in search of objects
+to add, if may be, to their own charms and attractiveness. In Venice
+the “_Fragilie_,” or Trade-Guilds, were directly under the patronage
+of the Dogaressas, and we shall find their personal attributes in the
+beautiful and fragile glass of Murano, and the delicate and chaste
+point-lace of Burano, in the lovely and costly ornaments of the
+goldsmiths, in the superb brocades of silk and velvet and the splendid
+tissues of gold and silver of the costumiers, and in the endless
+fascinating adjuncts of the toilet and the table.
+
+Many of my illustrations are characteristic scenes of Venetian life and
+special features of Venetian fashion, and I think they prove the truth
+of what Mr G. Howell in his “Familiar Letters” says of Venice:--“A
+place where is nothing wanting that heart can wish.”
+
+                                                   EDGCUMBE STALEY.
+
+
+
+
+                               CONTENTS
+
+
+                                                                   PAGE
+
+    PREFACE                                                           v
+
+    INTRODUCTION--
+
+         I. VENICE--“The City of Venus”                            xiii
+
+        II. VENICE--“The City of Saints”                            xvi
+
+       III. VENICE--“The City of ‘Fair’ Women”                     xxiv
+
+    CHAPTER I.
+
+     “To the Lagunes!”--The dreaded Huns--Aquileia la
+     Bella--Adriana the Heroine--La Maga Irene--Degna
+     D’Aquileia--Viragoes--Hawsers of Women’s
+     Hair--_Venezia Seconda_--Longobards--Altino and the
+     Storks--The first Doge of Eraclea--Early Dress and
+     Manners--Charlemagne--The first Dogaressa--Rivo-Alto
+     Parent of Venice--Agnello and Elena Badoero--First Makers
+     of Venice--Houses--Customs--Love of Flowers--First
+     Ducal Palace--Translation of St Mark’s Body--Basilica
+     of San Marco Built--Doges and Dogaresses enter
+     Religion--Position of Women--Lovers--The _Pegne_--Marriage
+     Ceremonies--_Arcelle_--Legend of “La Boccola”--Festa
+     delle Marie--A Slave Dogaressa--The Rape of the
+     Brides--A low-born Mistress--Proud Valdrada da
+     Toscana--A Rich Dowry--Slaves--Athletic Sports--Fire
+     at the Palace--Assassination of Doge Pietro Candiano
+     IV.--Valdrada’s Vengeance--The Love-story of Gerardo Guoro
+     and Elena Candiano                                            1–41
+
+    CHAPTER II.
+
+     Legends--St Pietro Orseolo--The Pala D’Oro--A Hard
+     Biscuit--“Good” Dogaressa Felicia--Dress of the
+     Nobles--Light Blue--_Ninzioletti_--“A Stupid Man”--Seven
+     Sisters--An Amorous Gondolier--A Diplomatic Marriage--The
+     Princess Maria--The Flag of Venice--A Laurel-crowned
+     Dogaressa--“Venice wants for Nothing!”--Dogaressa
+     Teodora--A Splendid Court--Greek Menus--An Exquisite
+     Toilet--The Crusades--The Last of the Giustiniani--A
+     Nun’s Devotion--“A Miracle of Probity!”--Relics of
+     the Saints--The “Bigots”--Tragic death of Doge Vitale
+     Michielo--The Pope and the Emperor in Venice--The
+     “_Bucintoro_”--“The Marriage of the Sea”--Sports
+     Clubs--The Dogal Regalia--Prices current--“The Grand Old
+     Man of Venice”--The Oriflamme of San Marco--Many Widows in
+     Venice--“_Venus Calva_”                                      42–83
+
+    CHAPTER III.
+
+     The Legend of the Coral Net--Origin of Venetian
+     Point-Lace--The _Fragilie_ or Guilds--Dogaressa Maria
+     Baseggio’s son torn to pieces--A terrible Earthquake--A
+     Year of Jubilee--The _Marca Amorosa_--War of the
+     Gallants--Marriage--The Pledge of Peace--Dogal
+     Prerogatives curtailed--Vision of Rose-trees and
+     Doves--The “Flagellants”--Marriage Customs--Madonna
+     Catarussa and the Seller of Brooms--Picnics--A Table
+     of Etiquette--_La Donna della Misericordia_--The
+     Dogaressas-Patroness of the Crafts--A Sumptuous
+     Coronation--The _Ca’ Di Dio_--Prosperous Times--The
+     Dogaressa’s Wardrobe--An Autocratic Doge--State
+     Robes--The Bridge of Fisticuffs--The Castellani and
+     Nicolotti--The Gaiety of Life--The Sweet Legend of “La
+     Beata”--Strange Devotions--Revolutionary Movements
+     and Conspiracies--Giustina Rossi and her stone pan of
+     Carnations                                                  84–125
+
+    CHAPTER IV.
+
+     “A Galley full of Demons!”--The Legend of “The Fisherman
+     and the Ring”--Doge Zorzi Il Santo--Dogaressa Franchesina
+     “Queen of Venice”--The pathetic Story of Soranza
+     Soranzo-Querino--A _Corno_ for the Dogaressa--The Solemn
+     Entry of Dogaressa Elisabetta--Brides of Stuff and
+     Wood--Sumptuary Laws and Bridal Trousseaux--The _Calar
+     Stola_--The Genesis of Venetian Painters--A learned
+     Doge--Infatuation for Isabella de’ Fieschi--The Black
+     Death--Francesco Petrarch--Marino Faliero--Michele
+     Steno’s Insult--The Conspiracy--“The Doge never
+     lies!”--Broken-hearted Dogaressa Aloycia--Frate Paolino
+     on “Woman’s Influence”--Platonic Ideas--Courtesans--The
+     Story of Veneranda Porta--The _Bravi_--A Dowdy
+     Dogaressa--“Slippers, Cabbages and Night-caps!”--Alvise
+     Venier’s Escapade--A Venetian “Brutus”--A Poetic Prophecy  126–166
+
+    CHAPTER V.
+
+     The Zenith of the Dogaressa--A grand religious
+     Function--The Ritual--Dogaressa Marina Galina-Steno’s
+     “_Gran Mercè_”--Venice the Conqueror--_Compagnia della
+     Calza_--_Cacci del Toro_--Sumptuous Dresses--Wooden
+     Pattens--_Zelve_--Pageants--_Uno Balordo_--A Doge
+     with an Iron Will--A Disputed Election--A Brave
+     Dogaressa--The Tragedy of Giacomo Foscari--The
+     longest _Dogado_--Quaint Wedding-customs--A Leg of
+     Mutton--A Magnificent Trousseau--Torture and Exile--A
+     Bitter Enemy--“He has Paid the Debt!”--An injured
+     Dogaressa--Dogaressa Giovanna Dandolo-Malipiero,
+     Patroness of Printing and Lace-making--The First
+     Published Book--_Buranelle_--Patriarchal Doges and
+     Dogaressas--Cheapness--Young Cavaliers’ Long Hair--Good
+     Dogaressa Cristina Sanudo-Moro--An Opulent Doge--Dogaressa
+     Dea--“The Venus of the Century!”--Who was Donna Laura
+     Nogarola?                                                  167–209
+
+    CHAPTER VI.
+
+     The Gardens of Venice--Murano
+     Palace-Villas--Symposia--Pietro Bembo and the
+     _Litterati_--Ariosto and Aretino--“Venus the
+     Fruitful”--Venetian Dialect--Cristina Pisano and
+     Cassandra Fedele--Two Dogaressas--Gold Regalia--Dresses
+     worth £2000 apiece!--A Connoisseur Doge--Dowries with
+     Conditions--Venice Disgraced--Costly Gifts--Wild
+     Beasts--A Disastrous Fire--A Plague-stricken Dogaressa--A
+     Splendid Funeral--A Terrible Pestilence--Dogal-Fraternal
+     Disputes--Beauteous Slaves--Their Prices and
+     Uses--Discovery and Decline--Duchess Beatrice
+     D’Este--“Great Dolls!”--Nepotism--The Man of the Hour--A
+     Widower Doge--The League of Cambrai--Cream-coloured
+     horses for Henry VIII.--Disasters--No “Marriage of the
+     Sea”--_La Pace delle Donne_--Spectacular Plays--Gorgeous
+     Madonna Giovanna Emo--The Grimani Breviary--Wild-fowl--The
+     “_Osella_”--The Dogaressa’s Coronation banned--Doge Andrea
+     Gritti’s pompous Progress--Fat Pork and Onions!--Old
+     Marta--Peep at the Dogaressa in Bed!--Frate Pietro
+     Casola’s Account of Venetian Fashions--“What sort of a
+     wife has he got?”                                          210–251
+
+    CHAPTER VII.
+
+     A Doge and Dogaressa of the Fisher-Folk--Dogaressa
+     Zilia Dandolo-Priuli’s Coronation--“I am delighted
+     with everything!”--Gorgeous Obsequies--The
+     Republic at Peace--Talented Dogaressa Loredana
+     Marcello-Mocenigo--Visit of Henry III. of
+     France--Extravagant dissipation--Bold Courtesans--Veronica
+     Franco--A Venetian Sappho--Battle of Lepanto--A Hero
+     Doge--“The Golden Rose”--An Amiable Dogaressa--Bianca
+     Cappello--“Daughters of Venice”--Caterina
+     Cornaro--Dogaressa Morosina Morosini-Grimani--Lavish
+     Largesse--Laudatory Orations--Stamped gilded Leather--A
+     Magnificent State Robe--A Water-Pageant--Two hundred
+     thousand visitors--A Grand Naval Review--International
+     Sports--Dogaressa’s love of lace                           252–291
+
+
+    CHAPTER VIII.
+
+     The Sun of Venice set!--Many short-lived Doges
+     and Dogaressas--Games at Cards--A stout unwieldy
+     Dogaressa!--Another Hero-Doge--The Morea conquered--“Woman
+     maketh Man!”--A wrinkled face--Loss of Candia--Universal
+     idleness and indulgence--Venice dying as a whirling
+     ballet-dancer!--A virtuous Dogaressa--Her cell a
+     treasure-house--A Princess-costumier--A dress of
+     solid gold!--A costly wedding--The Tragedy of Madonna
+     Francesca Grimani-Mocenigo--A Lady-bountiful--A
+     Cultured Dogaressa--Polissena--A Rope-dancer Dogal
+     spouse, Margherita Delmaz--“Stop that bell!”--Agnello
+     Emo the last Captain of Venice--The Last Scene--Feeble
+     Doge Lodovico Manin--A despairing Dogaressa--The
+     roar of cannon!--Abdication of the Doge--The Regalia
+     burnt--Buonaparte hands Venice over to Austria--“_La
+     Republica xe Morta_”                                       292–314
+
+
+
+
+                         LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+    An Ideal Portrait--Dogaressa Teodora Selvo,  _Frontispiece_
+
+    La Maga Irene holding a Reception,           _To face page_       4
+
+    Il Sposalizio--The Betrothal Ring,                 „             24
+
+    La Cazza del Toro--Bull-running,                   „             36
+
+    A Typical Family Group,                            „             46
+
+    The Dogaressa and her Maids of Honour,             „             62
+
+    Going to a Masked Ball,                            „             76
+
+    A Mystic Dance,                                    „             92
+
+    Doge Reniero and Dogaressa Aloicia Zeno,           „            102
+
+    A Court Ball Parade,                               „            118
+
+    Doge Francesco and Dogaressa Elisabetta Dandolo,   „            138
+
+    Two Courtesans and Pets,                           „            152
+
+    Festa Campestre--Picnic on the Brenta,             „            162
+
+    La Ninfa--A Love Affair,                           „            176
+
+    Marriage Reception in a Palace,                    „            192
+
+    Fashionable Hair-dressing,                         „            208
+
+    Dance in a Villa Garden,                           „            216
+
+    Le Novizze--Brides in Gondolas,                    „            226
+
+    A Bride’s Debut,                                   „            238
+
+    Dogaressas Zilia Dandolo-Priuli; Loredana
+      Marcello-Mocenigo; and Cecilia Contarini-Venier, „            254
+
+    Dogaressa Loredana Marcello-Mocenigo,              „            268
+
+    Dogaressa Morosina Morosini-Grimani,               „            282
+
+    A Game at Cards--“_La Trappola_,”                  „            294
+
+    The Fortune-Teller,                                „            304
+
+
+
+
+                             INTRODUCTION
+
+                     VENICE--“THE CITY OF VENUS!”
+
+
+The “Queen of the Adriatic” came into being quite as mysteriously and
+almost as miraculously as did the “Queen of Beauty.”
+
+Where the iridescent bubbles of the light zephyr-borne foam of the
+ever-flowing sea-wash disperse, with intangible impact, upon the golden
+strand of shallow shoals, all strewn with opal-hued sea-shells--making
+plaintive cadences in the keen sea-breeze--there, there, was Venus
+born--so too was Venice!
+
+The fair form of the fascinating goddess lay prone--partly in and
+partly out, of the generating water until the breath of life, skimming
+over the crested ripples, exhilarated her blushing limbs. Most delicate
+sprays of aromatic seaweed intermingled with the abundant tresses of
+her rich auburn hair, flawless pearls of the ocean threaded themselves
+around her shapely arms and bosom, her cincture was a cunning veil of
+coloured sea-mist, and her feet were covered with glittering scales of
+gold and silver fish.
+
+Upon the aqueous shore the Four Seasons wait with their twelve
+attendant lunar nymphs to cast about their “Venus calva” the emerald
+and topaz girdle of virginity, and the ruby and sapphire mantle of
+royalty. A merrily dancing chorus of seven times fifty-and-two dainty
+fairies of the day, hand-in-hand, are ready to escort their Queen
+through the amber grotto to her royal throne beneath the myrtle-grove.
+
+All this is metaphorical of the “City of Venus”--Venice--for, to quote
+Shelley’s tender ode:--
+
+    “Underneath day’s azure eyes,
+    Ocean’s darling, Venice, lies.”
+
+Sea and silt united were the parents of the “daintie Citie.” Ebbing,
+ever ebbing, the brackish head-waters of the gulf heaped up grain on
+grain of terra-firma--the detritus of many a fruitful river and the
+shifting rolling sea-sand. Thus was Venice formed, “born,” as Goethe
+says, “out of the water.” “Venice calva” laid along the lagunes, her
+graceful form reposed upon the _velme_ or _barene_ of Rivo-Alto,
+Olivolo, and Poveglia--sand and seaweed submerged; her shapely feet
+rested upon the firmer ground of Malamocco and Chioggia; and her comely
+hands grasped the _tumbe_ or sedge-growth,--seldom covered by the
+tide,--of Torcello, Burano, and Mazzorbo.
+
+Rivo-Alto, or Rialto, was the first of sixty sisters of the languishing
+lagunes. Over them silence and solitude reigned supreme, but the sun
+shone with generous warmth and the breeze blew with healthful vigour,
+and, almost imperceptibly variegated moss clothed the naked _rive_ and
+_lidi_. Green math and rush covered the golden dunes, flowers of the
+sea,--pinks and anemones,--and blossoms of the land,--lavender and
+poppies, imparted colour and fragrance to the wastes of mud.
+
+For hundreds of years, and hundreds more, those oozy quicksand swamps
+were nesting-grounds for wild birds of the sea--the feeding-place of
+feathered visitants migrating to other climes. The depths were choked
+with fish, and the shallows reeked with creeping things, but no hold
+was there for foot of man or spoor of beast.
+
+Then, in historic times, into those sandy shifting channels came
+strange forms, scaring both fish and fowl away--the coracles of daring
+aborigines, from the contiguous shores in quest of food and what-not.
+Uncouth men cast their nets and spread their snares amidst struggles
+for proprietorship--the lagunes had changed their character.
+
+Another era dawned, that of fire and storm, and fugitives from the
+devastating wrath of Alaric and the Goths fled, crouching, scared, and
+breathless, for sanctuary to the lagune fastnesses. With them appeared
+corsairs of the coast, preying upon the hunted men and women and
+seeking hiding-places for their pelf. Thus a ribald population grew up
+amid the trackless ways of no-man’s land.
+
+For bare existence had they to fight--no weakling child, no thriftless
+woman, no loafing man could long endure that fierce survival of the
+fittest. Stripped to their loin-cloths men worked to give stability to
+their foothold in the swamp. Balks of timber from submerged forests
+were clamped together and great piles of wood driven deep, deep down
+into the ooze and silt. Women girding up their skirts waded knee-deep
+in the sea-wash, weaving osier basket-work to retain what grains of
+gravel rested beneath their feet. Children fetched and carried.
+
+Flotsam and jetsam all came ready to hands which clawed and thewed for
+mutual advantage. Shelters of dry mud or baked sunslime with boarded
+roofs, windowless and without doors, were the homes of these strenuous
+people. Then, by degrees, every safest stretch of sand had its dotting
+of cottages and its hamlets. Besides the daily struggle to keep the
+greedy water out and the slender soil retain, there was much to do for
+one and all. Fishing, bird-snaring, carrying and piloting of goods and
+craft were obvious occupations; and then came the rendering of salt and
+bitumen, and the gradual cultivation of the bleak wind-swept islets.
+
+Some sort of constitution was in force from the earliest date: the
+best man of each collection of dwellings was looked upon as head and
+guide, and he gathered the wisdom that he lacked from men next him in
+years and influence. The people of the lagunes were not savages--they
+were the descendants of men and women highly civilised. Invention and
+creation were instinct in them all, and they were Christians too.
+Their legislation and religion were based upon the examples of their
+forebears in the mainland. All looked to Rivo-Alto,--the port of Padua,
+it was called,--as the centre of their geographical economy, and there,
+too, in 421, Padua sent consuls to regulate the lives and property of
+the water-settlers and to safeguard the common weal from inroads of
+barbarians.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+                     VENICE--“THE CITY OF SAINTS!”
+
+is quite as appropriate a title as any other bestowed upon the
+“Queen of the Adriatic.” The translation of the body of Saint Mark
+the Evangelist from Alexandria, in 829, excited in every class of
+the population a fervid emotion and an insatiable ambition for the
+possession of relics of the Saints, not alone as objects of devotion
+but as mascots for protection.
+
+Bodies--more or less entire--were exhumed, purchased, or stolen,
+from scenes of fierce martyrdom, or from quiet resting places, and
+reverently conveyed in Venetian galleys to the Lido for distribution
+among the churches of the Lagunes. Each translation was an exhibition
+of manly abasement and womanly devotion: Doge and Dogaressa, no less
+than the poorest of the poor, took part in the ecstatic ceremonies.
+
+Each saintly personage had ascriptions of peculiar benevolence, and
+became the centre of special devotions; indeed many of the holy shrines
+were regarded as objects of perpetual pilgrimages. Venetian manners,
+Venetian poetry and literature, and Venetian vernacular, were all
+marked by the hagiography of the saintly city.
+
+In a very curious volume published in Venice by Giacomo Zoppi, in 1519,
+entitled “Viaggia da Vinegia al Santo Sepolcro et al Monte Sinai,”
+and illustrated by quaint wood-cuts of cities, peoples, and animals,
+encountered by the way, is a list of the bodies of Saints enshrined in
+Venetian Churches, in the following order:--
+
+   _San Marco_ “Messer San Marco”--St. Mark the Evangelist, from
+   Alexandria, under the high altar; (2) The glorious Martyr
+   Sant’ Isidoro, from the Island of Chios, in the Chapel of the
+   Crucifixion--(1125).
+
+   _San Pietro di Castello_:--SS. Sergio and Bacco, in a marble
+   tomb in the crypt of the Confession.
+
+   _San Danicle_:--San Giovanni, martyr from Alexandria.
+
+   _San Giovanbattista in Bragora_:--San Giovanni the Almsgiver,
+   Patron of Alexandria.
+
+   _Sant’ Antonino_:--“Messer San Sabba,” Abbot of Acre--(992).
+
+   _SS. Trinita_:--Venerable monk and martyr, Sant’ Anastatio.
+
+   _San Zaccaria_:--(1) “Messer San Zaccaria,” father of St.
+   John Baptist; (2) San Gregorio Nazanzino, Patriarch of
+   Constantinople; (3) San Teodoro, confessor, from the Island of
+   Samos; (4) San Pancrazio, martyr, in a marble sarcophagus; (5)
+   Santa Sabina, martyr of Acre, in a marble sarcophagus; (6) San
+   Tharaso, martyr, of Roumania, in the crypt; (7) San Ligerio,
+   martyr.
+
+   _San Lorenzo_:--SS. Giorgio, Barbaro, and Paul--Bishop, martyrs
+   all from Constantinople.
+
+   _San Sebastiano_:--Venerable Sebastiano, rector of San Giovanni
+   (head wanting!)
+
+   _Santa Marina_:--Venerable nun and patient martyr Marina, in the
+   choir, from Greece.
+
+   _San Salvadore_:--San Teodoro, martyr, from
+   Constantinople,--_martyr et cavalier di Dio_.
+
+   _San Paterniano_:--SS. Gondino and Epimaeo.
+
+   _San Giuliano Martiro_:--(1) San Floriano, martyr, from Greece;
+   (2) San Paolo, hermit (head wanting!)
+
+   _San Canciano_:--San Maximo, bishop and martyr.
+
+   _San Maria delli Crocichieri (Formosa)_:--
+
+   Venerable virgin and martyr Santa Barbara,--in a “_bella
+   cappella_.”
+
+   _San Geremia_:--Venerable Magno--Bishop of Altino, builder of
+   the first church in Venice.
+
+   _Santa Lucia_:--Venerable Santa Lucia, virgin and martyr, in a
+   chapel. Translated from Saragossa to Constantinople, and thence
+   to Venice.
+
+   _SS. Gervasio e Prothasio_--called “Sa Trovasi”--Santo
+   Grisogono, martyr from Zara.
+
+   _San Niccolo dai Mendigoli_:--San Niceto, martyr.
+
+   _San Raffaelo_:--Santa Niceta, virgin and martyr from Nicomedia.
+
+   _San Basileo_:--San Costantio, confessor, from Ancona, in a
+   coffer before the high altar.
+
+   _Sant’ Apollinare_--called “San Aponal”:--San Gioria, prophet.
+
+   _San Simeone Propheto_:--(1) _San Simeone_, from
+   Constantinople--in a marble sarcophagus before the high altar;
+   (2) San Hermoleo, priest and martyr, from Nicomedia--in a marble
+   sarcophagus in the middle of the nave.
+
+   _Sant’ Elena_:--“The glorious Queen Sant’ Elena”--(1205).
+
+   _San Niccolo di Lio (Lido)_:--(1) San Niccolo Magno, Archbishop
+   of Mirraea (1100); (2) San Niccolo, Bishop and Abbot of Mount
+   Sinai; (3) San Theodoro, Archbishop of Morea.
+
+   _San Giorgio Maggiore_:--(1) San Stefano, first martyr, in
+   a special chapel (1105); (2) San Paolo, Duke and martyr of
+   Constantinople; (3–4) SS. Cosimo and Damiano, martyrs; (5) San
+   Cosima, confessor and virgin, from Constantinople.
+
+   _San Clemente Papa_:--Sant’ Aniano, Patriarch of Alexandria,
+   disciple of Saint Mark.
+
+   _San Servilio_:--San Leo, Bishop of Modon--(819).
+
+   _San Secondo_:--San Secondo, martyr, from Aste.
+
+   _Santa Maria di Murano_:--(1) San Donato, bishop and martyr,
+   in the crypt--(1125); (2) San Gerardo, Bishop of Moravia and
+   martyr--a Venetian by birth.
+
+   _Sant’ Albano di Burano_:--(1) Sant’ Albano, Bishop; (2) Sant’
+   Orso, martyr; and (3) San Domenigo, hermit and confessor, both
+   from Armenia.
+
+   _Santa Maria di Torcello_:--Sant’ Eliodoro, Bishop of Altino and
+   martyr.
+
+   _Basilica di Torcello_:--San Fosca, virgin and martyr from
+   Aquileia.
+
+   _Sant’ Antonio di Torcello_:--Santa Cristina, virgin and martyr,
+   from Armenia.
+
+   _Basilica di Grado_:--(1) San Hermacoro, Patriarch of Aquileia;
+   (2) San Fortunato, archdeacon--both in the crypt.
+
+   _Santa Croce della Zecca_:--“The body of the most holy Doctor
+   Saint Athanasius, Patriarch of Alexandria.”
+
+   _Basilica di Chiosa_ (Chioggia):--SS. Felice and Fortunato (?)
+   from Aquileia.
+
+   _San Rocco di Chiosa_:--San Rocco.
+
+In addition to these Bodies were very many other relics of Saints, for
+example; arms of St. Andrew the Apostle, St. Barnabas the Apostle, St.
+George of Cappadoccia, heads of St. Sixtus the martyr, S. Simeon the
+Apostle, etc., etc. Every Church has its reliquary for veneration, and
+in it a fragment of the True Cross.
+
+Venice, moreover was a nursery of Saints: she numbered among her
+honoured dead scions of nearly every noble family who, for one good
+reason or another, had attained to the pre-eminence of Sanctity. Such
+were San Pietro Orseolo, San Lorenzo Guistiniani and San Vincentio
+Ferrar--to name but three. A religious atmosphere pervaded the islands
+of the Lagunes and kept alight many a kindled shrine on mud-bank pile
+and at _casa_ corner. Inside the homes of the Venetians also,
+according to orthodox custom, were Ikons and Anconas with candles
+burning in honour of favourite saints.
+
+Nevertheless, and in spite of such a wealth of saintly environment, the
+Venetians were undoubtedly backward in sending their sons to fight the
+battles of the Cross in Palestine. On the other hand they were ready
+with no niggard contributions in aid of Crusaders from other lands.
+Venetian gold, Venetian ships, and Venetian seamen, carried the armies
+of the Cross to foreign ports; and Venetian alms endowed hospitals and
+funds for the benefit of the wounded and the sad, upon the islands of
+the Lagunes.
+
+In the “_Viaggia da Vinegia_” is a very simple but doubtless
+efficacious recipe for the treatment of weary Crusaders:--“For pilgrims
+suffering from the heat and tender feet, anoint with wine-lees mixed
+with olive oil overnight; then, in the morning wash in a bath of sweet
+herbs and sweet water.”
+
+Perhaps the reason for the apparent luke-warmness in the defence of
+the Holy Sepulchre may be seen in the isolation of the lagune dwellers.
+They were not in such close touch with other communities as are nations
+with artificial boundaries. Their charity began at home, and their
+customs were unlike those of their neighbours. All islanders are so
+differentiated from inhabitants of continents: citizens of the British
+Isles are remarkable to-day for insular idiosyncrasies.
+
+Venice is still one of the most religious cities in all Italy. Prayer
+never ceases, the Blessed Sacrament is perpetually exposed, the
+churches are open night and day, and the devotions have little that is
+merely perfunctory.
+
+Saint Giustina was one of the saintly patrons of Venice. She was a
+Paduan maiden of Royal birth--a daughter of King Vitalicinio. Haled
+before the Roman Emperor she professed herself a Christian: in vain
+did he strive to shake her resolution. Sentenced to be beheaded the
+sword of her executioner turned upon himself, and this occurred three
+times in succession. Eventually, in 303, she was cast into the sea and
+drowned.
+
+Mariners sailing along the Venetian Coast still, it is said, hear at
+the hour of Vespers, the sighs of the holy martyr, and the devouter
+sort cross themselves reverently and crave her guidance and patronage.
+In Venetian art Saint Giustina accompanies Saint Mark, Saint George,
+and Saint Catherine of Alexandria as assistants at the throne of the
+Virgin Queen of Heaven. The unicorn generally accompanies her--the
+mystic emblem of chastity.
+
+The first church dedicated to her honour was built at Padua in 453 by
+Orpillo, a pious citizen, in times of unrest and disaster. In Venice
+Saint Giustina’s church was erected by Dogaressa Elena, spouse of
+Doge Agnello Badoero: it was situated in the Calle del Te Deum but
+suppressed and dismantled in the seventh century.
+
+A very pretty legend is linked to the memory of Saint Giustina. It is
+recorded that when the people of Altino and the other towns threatened
+by the Longobards flew disconsolately to the islands of the lagunes,
+a white cloud appeared to two holy priests Germaniano and Mauro and
+out of it proceeded the sweetest of all voices--that of Saint Mary
+the Consoler. With her conversed Saint Peter the Apostle, Saint John
+the Baptist, Saint Antonio of Padua, and other holy martyrs. Saint
+Giustina joined the sacred conclave and was deputed to indicate to
+the faithful clerics the spots whereupon it was the will of Heaven
+that churches should be built. Torcello, Burano and Mazzorbo owe their
+sacred edifices to the girl Saint’s instruction. She also told Bishop
+Magnus of Altino that wherever he found a vine there to erect a church.
+At Padua one may see the prison of the Saint--a dungeon seven feet by
+three. The martyrdom of Saint Giustina has tenderly inspired the pen of
+the poet and the brush of the painter, and they have together handed
+down a delightful tradition for Saint Giustina was regarded as the
+“Patroness of the Dogaressa.”
+
+
+                  VENICE--“THE CITY OF ‘FAIR’ WOMEN!”
+
+The two things most famous and most remarkable in Venice, throughout
+the whole of her fascinating story, are first of all the beauty of her
+women, and secondly the splendour of her palaces. No city in the wide
+wide world, ever did, or ever can, compare with Venice in the number
+and magnificence of her palaces. They are as unique and as majestic,
+individually and collectively, as is the Queenly City herself.
+Concerning them, that trenchant epigram of Francesco Sansovino, the
+historian, “_Veni Etiam_” is a truism--Come again and again, and
+you shall always find some fresh beauty, some unimagined delight.
+
+Venice had a greater distinction far, than the elegance of her private
+and public buildings,--she was always full of beautiful women. “I never
+beheld,” exclaimed the Cardinal of Lorraine to Doge Pasquale Malipiero,
+“such a number of lovely women as I see everywhere in your bewitching
+city!”
+
+Nicolo Ciccio d’Arezzo, a poetaster of the fifteenth century, invited
+all true poets to sing with him the praise and glory of “_Tanta
+Donna_,” as he suggestively calls the woman-effigy of Venice.
+He unites with Jacopo d’Albiggotto, and Guido da Firenze, in the
+enthusiastic refrain:--
+
+    “_Di tutta Italia, Lombardia, e Toscana.
+    Secondo che si vede per effeto
+    Vinegia e la piu nobile e sovrana._”
+
+Gianni Alfani, a poet of the thirteenth century, in his “_Gentildonne
+di Vinegia_,” writes thus:--“I wish to sing with you about my
+Mistress, because she is adorned with every virtue and every charm.”
+
+The women of Venice were always distinguished for their natural
+quickness and intelligence, their sprightliness and vivacity of manner,
+their talkativeness and coaxing ways, and their fondness of music, song
+and dance. Perhaps their most characteristic talent however was their
+devotion to the toilet--their love of beauty and of clothes!
+
+In person they were usually somewhat short of stature, but endowed with
+grace of carriage. Their figures, especially their bosoms, were full
+even to the degree of stoutness. This was in a great measure due to the
+softness of the Venetian climate, which induced a natural and becoming
+indolence. Nevertheless they were vigorous in action and quite able to
+give a good account of themselves in marital and other squabbles!
+
+Their features were clearly cut and yet not too severe, their heads
+well shaped and borne, their eyes blue like their skies or grey like
+their seas, and their hands and feet were small. Their most attractive
+attributes were the fair satin peach-like delicacy of their skin, and
+the brilliant lustre and golden sheen of their abundant light auburn
+hair. Speaking of the consummate art and artifice of Venetian women
+Pietro Aretino exclaimed:--
+
+    “_Sotto il nero trasparente velo
+    Veggonsi in carne gli angeoli del cielo!_”
+
+That most fallacious saying,--“Beauty is but skin deep,”--never applied
+to Venetian women. Their fair beauty, like all real beauty, not only
+covered the whole person externally but it was instinct in their
+blood, their muscle, and their nerve,--moreover it was hereditary.
+The early parents of the race, or rather intermingled races, were
+Trojans and Greeks: then Teutonic-Lombard fathers mated with mothers of
+Veneto and the Lagunes, and the stock became stable in its properties
+of strength, grace, and beauty. Pliny, of old time, truly cast their
+horoscopes when he wrote of the first mothers of Venice thus:--“They
+are chaste, simple, and modest, they never give themselves away even
+when their men folk are idle and lascivious, their character and
+demeanour are marked by Grecian calmness.” Surely he had in view the
+line of the Dogaressas!
+
+The treatment of the skin was a speciality of the Venetian women. The
+use of the bath was one of their inheritances, they bathed the whole
+body frequently, sometimes in the sea at the Lido, but every house
+had its bath--in humble homes of wood or common metal, in patrician
+palaces of porcelain, glass, or silver. With the water they mixed
+simple or exotic perfumes. One of their secrets was to remain, with
+the whole body immersed and motionless, for at least half an hour;
+and another was, they never rubbed the skin but just dabbed it and
+let it dry naturally. Then the nostrums of the masseusses’ art were
+exploited. A not uncommon custom was to lay a slice of raw veal, dipped
+in new milk, upon the face at night! For richer women other artifices
+followed suit--puffs and powders to gently temper the epidermis or hide
+unsightly blotches, and pigments,--rouge and others,--with which art
+might most effectively colour crude or enervated nature.
+
+Every woman and girl in Venice, at all times, painted,--even the
+poorest of them. The cult is still practised at Chioggia, where you
+never see a woman without artificial colour. There, by the way, may
+be seen still the true Venetian type of female beauty, and the old
+Venetian trait of sitting leisurely, under shade or shelter, while some
+sympathetic voice reads Ariosto or some other favourite poet.
+
+One very delightful attribute of Venetian women was their
+fragrance,--their skins and their hair were always perfumed. Wherever
+a _gentildonna_ passed she left behind her a delicious aroma, if she
+paused the air around her became saturated with sweetest odours. This
+seductive charm is still characteristic of the real Venetian: her love
+of scent is hereditary and delightful. In a very real sort of way the
+Venetian _gentildonna_ was a living embodiment of Venus--“the fairest
+and the sweetest of all the Goddesses:” hence Venice has been quite
+aptly called the “City of Venus,--the City of Fair Women.” A couplet
+from San Gemignano is quite applicable to this delightful fancy:--
+
+    “_Donzellette, giovane, e garzoni
+    Servir portare amorose ghirlande._”
+
+There was one especial favourite among all the delicious perfumes
+which dispersed their sweet aroma all over Venice, and Count Lorenzo
+Magalotti, in his “_Fiore d’Arancio_” tells us how it was made.
+“Take,” he says, “the empty skin of an orange, with a little powdered
+benzoin, with two pounded cloves, and a small stick of cinnamon, cover
+them with the finest rose water and set to boil upon a brazier.”
+In the sixteenth century the far-famed Portuguese _buccheri_ got to
+Venice,--little charms of sweet-smelling clay--and they very soon
+became every woman’s treasures. The odour dispersed when a _bucchero_
+was dipped in hot water was very refreshing, and resembled the aroma
+which arises from parched ground on a hot summer’s day after a copious
+shower of rain. When dipped in essences they gave forth for ever so
+long the sweetest of perfumes: women wore them in their bosoms, and
+were accustomed to place them often upon their lips, so that their
+kisses might be scented too!
+
+Not only were the girls and women of “Venice--the City of Saints” much
+drawn to the general claims and duties of religion but, in particular,
+they were exponents of some of its minor behests. The Apostle speaks of
+the hair of women and says it was given them to be a protection and a
+glory. The Venetians exactly carried out the apostolic injunction.
+
+From the very first foundation of Rivo-Alto, away in the fifth
+century, the women of the lagunes were accustomed to resort daily to
+the _altane_, or flat-roofs of their dwellings, and there spend much
+time in combing and dressing their hair in the sunshine. This habit
+they undoubtedly inherited from their Greek ancestresses. Homer sings
+about “the beautiful fair hair of the Greeks,” and he has painted the
+captivating Helen of Troy with abundant locks of gold. The general
+colour of Grecian women’s hair was brown,--light and dark,--and such
+naturally was the hue of Venetian women’s tresses. The poets however
+made a dead set against that tint, and stated their case so broadly,
+that brown hair was regarded with aversion as appertaining to traitors,
+murderers, and other evil doers! The painters took up the cue, and we
+rarely see in the pictures of Bellini, Giorgione, Titian, Tintoretto or
+Veronese women with brown hair.
+
+Auburn, or, as they called it,--golden, hair,--was the most popular,
+most beautiful and most expressive. The more it glittered the better
+was it liked, and what Nature marred Art embellished. A primitive but
+withal most effective device in the Venetian artifices of the toilet
+was the superimposition upon the top of the head,--the hair being
+well combed-out and rippling over the shoulders,--of a crownless,
+wide-brimmed straw hat called _solana_,--“sun-frame.” The brim
+shielded the neck and bosom, while the sunlight, not the heat, got
+at the roots of the hair and blanched its growth. Every _altana_ had
+its group of animated “mushrooms”--each woman and girl sitting thus,
+and ever and anon damping the exposed hair and cuticle with a small
+sponge, stuck at the end of a spinning-spindle or some such sceptre,
+and dipped in cunning tinctures. Beneath the brim of the _solana_ big
+long-toothed combs of yellow tortoiseshell were used to keep the hair
+supple, or frizzing-irons, or bones to make it curl or wave. This
+method was admirably effective, and it is still adopted privately
+by many a beautiful Venetian girl and buxom dame. With respect to
+the recipes employed in the concoction of the tinctures little can
+be authoritatively said, for each fair one kept her elixir and its
+secret to herself. Anyhow, generally speaking, one may say that the
+finest of fine Lido golden sand, crushed vitreous plaques of Murano,
+ivory sawdust, pounded sea-shells and,--in exuberant and extravagant
+humour,--even powdered pearls, and precious gold dust were employed.
+Vegetable compounds--the juice of grapes, berberis, ivy-berries,
+lemon-squash and orange-flavour, with aromatic powders of all sorts and
+kinds were also used. Dyes, strictly so called, were not in favour:
+their effect was ephemeral.
+
+Venetian women and girls owed a good deal to Dogaressa Teodora Selvo,
+in the eleventh century, for she introduced toilet batteries, fully
+furnished with all the requisites for skin, hair, and teeth,--together
+with delicious Eastern perfumes. Giovanni Marinello of Modena, in the
+sixteenth century, gathered up all that was known of the artifices of
+the coiffure in his classical work “_Gli Ornamenti delle Donne_.”
+
+Venetians were past-mistresses in the mysteries of hair-dressing.
+The Greek style was always the most in favour, where the hair, not
+being too dry nor too tightly plaited, was drawn off the face and
+neck, tied in a ribbon at the back, and then coiled round and round
+the head, and stuck fast with combs and pins. The hard line of the
+forehead was tempered by a small row of curls under a semi-diadem,
+fillet, or crescent--called _gabbia_--literally “a cage”--and usually
+made of precious metal and jewelled. This style Titian painted in the
+well-known portrait of his daughter Lavinia presenting a golden dish of
+ripe fruit.
+
+Another fashion affected by gay and opulent courtesans was called
+_al Corno_, with reference to the conventional head-dress of the
+Dogaressas. Sometimes only one horn was projected, at others two
+or even three or more. An invisible bandeau was hidden under the
+hair, bearing spikes of tortoiseshell or whalebone, up which single
+strands of hair were twisted and curled until they assumed the
+appearance of vine spirals and tendrils. This vogue lasted quite
+a long time--certainly from 1540 to 1630. It was a very difficult
+feat to arrange these horns becomingly, so as to avoid any idea of
+the ridiculous, the animal, or the demoniacal: _crescenti_ they
+were euphemistically called, as suggestive of the crescent moon of
+Diana,--the Huntress of the Gods! The painters never admired this style
+of hair-dressing, and very few of them, if any, have depicted the _al
+Corno_. Giacomo Franco and other engravers, however, have preserved for
+us illustrations of this peculiar mode.
+
+A third manner of hair-dressing was popular amongst quite young girls
+and aged women--the two extremes--the cap of Juliet. The hair was
+combed out and smoothed down, and then tight-fitting jaunty caps or
+nets were fitted close over the head behind the ears, leaving the long
+locks of hair spread out like fans upon the neck behind or in small
+ringlets. These caps were usually very beautifully made, as often as
+not of gold or silver thread or net, or wire and gemmed. A favourite
+style was a delicate net of silk or very small artificial flowers of
+blue, as contrasting most serenely with the golden glitter of the hair.
+
+Fashionables always carried fans,--not those with which
+we are familiar,--but little flags set on stems or poles;
+_ventolini_--“windguards”--they were called. Strong sea-breezes, not
+strong sunbeams, were to be warded off, for they disturbed the hair
+and roughened the skin. Venetian beauties never, as we say, fanned
+themselves: they had no need to do so, because the sea air always
+tempered the sun’s heat. These fans were from six to twelve inches
+square, and were made of cloth of gold, richly embroidered silk, Burano
+lace, or feathers: they were fringed with beads and shells, through
+which the wind whistled musically when shaken in the air. The stem,--a
+foot or more long,--was usually of tortoiseshell, carved cedar-wood
+or of gold and silver, and jewelled for State occasions. In 1522 the
+_Provvidetori delle Pompe_ published a decree of the Council regulating
+extravagant decoration of the _ventolini_.
+
+Venetians never used parasols or sunshades; they wore their dress
+sleeves short in order to expose the arm,--with its jewelled bracelets
+above the elbow,--and their bare or lace-covered breasts, to the soft
+sea air of the lagunes and the not too ardent rays of the golden
+sun--nature’s assistants in the labours of the toilet.
+
+    “O fairest of the fair was she,
+    Dream of gold and cremisini;
+    Peach-silk her skin, golden her hair,
+              _Gentildonna di Venezia_.”
+
+
+
+
+                       THE DOGARESSAS OF VENICE
+
+
+                               CHAPTER I
+
+
+                                   I
+
+“To the Lagunes!”--“To the Lagunes!”--“Attila Australis
+plaga!”--“Attila Flagello di Dio!”--these were the despairing cries of
+panic-stricken people in dire distress.
+
+Ominous sounds came hustling over ragged peaks, and through dense
+forests from the lofty snow-fields of the distant Alps; and, like the
+storm-borne scum of tempestuous seas,--leaping and hissing,--they tore
+along the hurrying torrents. Sweeping wildly over rippling lake and
+rolling plain the warning cry re-echoes across the ruffled waters of
+the salt marshes, and strikes terror in hearts of oak and pales brows
+of bronze.
+
+The heavy tread of barbarian hordes, their savage oaths, and
+the clashing of their rude weapons, rush upon the wings of the
+_tramontana_, as underfoot they trample the fertile lands of
+Gallia Togata on their way to Rome.
+
+The dreaded Huns are upon the prosperous Græco-Roman cities of Veneto,
+with their noble civilisation, their graceful villas and gardens,
+their well-equipped baths and theatres, their imperial palaces, their
+arsenals, and their mints. “Splendid Veneto,” as Cassiodorus, the
+Emperor Maximus’ famous minister of art and literature, in startled
+admiration, calls the province,--is doomed to destruction.
+
+The walls of Aquileia,--“Aquileia la Bella”--called so from the beauty
+of her women, are the first to fall. Men and children are butchered
+relentlessly--stalwart fathers and helpless babes lie side by side,
+women are stripped and ravished, and the young girls carried along
+by the intoxicated savages--the fairest spoils of war. A weeping
+despairing band of fugitives alone escape the fury, and led by
+Secundus, their Archbishop, with his clergy carrying relics of Saints
+and sacred vessels, they hurry on till their blistered feet feel the
+cool sea-wash at Grado.
+
+Fruitful Concordia rooted up, her people fly to Caprule,--a swamp
+of corncrakes, where, in place of working in the arts and crafts
+as of yore, they are fain to tend sheep and goats for their
+livelihood--Caorle they called it later on. Studious, lordly Padua
+scatters her scholars and her patricians--Greek influence counts for
+nought face to face with brute force--and makes common cause with busy
+thriving Oderzo. Malamocco, with its sand-dunes, offers a shelter in
+the storm to the Paduans; Eraclea and Jesolo, amid their pine-woods,
+conceal the Oderzani; and Altino, smiling and fertile in times of
+peace--in war-time a desert and a tomb, sends stragglers to Torcello.
+
+Padua’s King, alone of leaders, withstands the brunt of battle in
+421--brave Giano. Flight is not for him, and by his side stands, and
+stand she will, or with her master fall, his wife, Queen Adriana the
+Heroine.
+
+Giano challenges Attila to personal conflict, whilst, wild and
+remorseless as they are, the Huns look on with admiration and encourage
+each valiant prince in turn. The Paduan skilfully parries the fierce
+onslaught of the “Scourge of God” and, at last, although nigh bested,
+he lays his enemy low, and the victims of Veneto are avenged!
+
+The Queen has stood all through the fell encounter close behind her
+consort, stripped ready for the fray, for, should Giano fall, then she
+would try conclusions with Attila! Snatching the fallen chieftain’s
+weapon, all gory with her husband’s blood--it had entered nearly into
+his vitals--out of the death-grip of his strong right hand, she holds
+it aloft calling upon Heaven to avenge the blood of her people.
+
+To Rivo-Alto she bears it, in a lordly galley, a ghastly token of
+deliverance, and, there, upon hallowed ground she sets it up, where she
+plants her foot, in pledge of the church and convent which she vows she
+will erect, in memory of a hardly-won victory, to the honour of holy
+Raphael--the Archangelic healer of human wounds.
+
+Quite a different story with respect to the death of Attila is set
+forth eloquently in the erotic poem, “La Venezia Edificata,” composed
+by Giulio Strozzi--a grandson of the great Filippo. Therein Oriana
+Augusta, daughter of the Empress Galla Placida, titular Queen of
+Dalmatia, is represented as consort by rape of the Hunnish King. Making
+her escape from the camp of her captor she fled to Venetia-al-Lido
+pursued by Attila. To prevent violation she leaped from the ship into
+the sea and came near perishing, until rescued by kindly hands from
+Aquileia.
+
+The barbarian chieftain vowed to be avenged upon the Aquileiese, and,
+they in their turn, vowed to guard the Queen. Attila had recourse
+to a famous fortune-teller of Aquileia, “La Maga Irene,” who, in
+consideration of a heavy bribe, consented to aid his vengeance. By
+woman’s craft, or witch’s wiles, Irene contrived to set the people
+of Aquileia all agog with their neighbours of the littoral, and at
+variance with one another,--so that their quarrels might screen an
+attack by the Huns. The enchantment entirely failed in its object,
+for Giovanni Anafesto and Sostinio Rinieri,--leaders at Aquileia of
+rival parties--joined hands to repel the invader. Irene, by the way,
+had fooled them both by crossing them in love. Whether mesmerised by
+the black art of the enchantress, or incited by personal jealousy
+the captains of Attila’s host rose against him and against each
+other. Intrigue and counterplot divided the councils of the Hunnish
+chieftains. Nadasto, Attila’s second in command, made court to
+Fulvia,--a lady of Altino--wife of his rival Aetis, and won over to his
+cause her beauteous young daughter, Idilia, whom Attila had tried to
+seduce.
+
+  [Illustration: LA MAGA IRENE HOLDS A RECEPTION.
+
+  FROM A WOODCUT AFTER A. PINELLI. 1624.
+
+  “La Veneta Edificata.”--Giulio Strozzi.]
+
+One evening, when the incantatrice Irene had cast her spell upon the
+Hunnish leader, and Ariana, her mystic-magic singer, had lulled him to
+slumber in his tent, and when Nadasto had bribed and rendered drunk the
+soldiers of his guard, Idilia stole silently through the darkness to
+the couch whereon Attila was heavily sleeping. Like Jael she hesitated
+not to make use of her opportunity to avenge her wrong and aid her
+lover. Driving, with all the force of a strong desperate woman, the
+sword she found by the sleeper’s side, she pierced Attila through the
+breast, and pinned his body to the bed-board beneath. Thus died the
+“Scourge of God,”--the ravisher of women--by a woman slain!
+
+Not alone was heroic Adriana of Padua in deeds of
+woman-prowess,--Martza d’Aquileia, standing astride her husband’s
+stricken body, his sword in her hand, hurled bold defiance and hardy
+blows together at her foes, until overborne by numbers she fell
+fighting to the last!
+
+Degna too, of Aquileia, daughter of the Queen of Dalmatia, dignified
+and devoted matron that she was, her spouse and sons slaughtered
+before her eyes, took refuge with her young daughters within the
+gateway-tower, and thence threw down coping-stones and coals of fire
+upon the heads of their enemies. Short was that attack on woman’s
+valour, for brawny arms and hands were soon stretched out to seize the
+brave defenders. Degna slew her children by dashing them to the ground,
+and she, fearless of death, followed them to preserve their honour and
+hers!
+
+The skill and courage of the women of Veneto in the use of bow and
+arrow, and in the casting of the javelin, came to be the undoing of
+many a stalwart barbarian. The Huns were amazed at the heroism, no
+less than at the beauty, of their fair opponents. Those viragoes had
+in their veins the blood of Greek heroes, and their muscles were of
+iron like the Romans. Noble and bold in heart were they, vigorous and
+graceful in form and feature, and well dowered with mental capacity and
+resource.
+
+Not once, but many a time, when the rope-hawsers, which worked the
+defenders’ catapults, gave out and the defence seemed doomed to
+failure, the women and the girls of besieged towns cut off their
+tresses of strong, fine, lustrous hair, with which to weave new stout
+cords for the disabled machines!
+
+Those were the women, who either stood shoulder-to-shoulder with
+their lords and masters to repel the hateful foemen, or, blessed
+with families of young children, fled for safety to the islets of
+the lagunes, there to guard them from all ill, and ready to lay down
+their lives in their defence. Among the fugitives men-folk were
+rare,--grandsires and men past service and lads just entering on their
+teens,--but the bones of the strongest and best lay bleaching and
+unburied upon the desolate plains of Veneto.
+
+This earliest settlement was a woman’s commonwealth, and mothers and
+daughters nursed patiently a new generation. They inculcated lessons
+of faith and devotion and inspired their boy-offspring with energy and
+earnestness. Bereaved and comfortless themselves they looked to Holy
+Church for consolation and direction. They listened, in their dreams,
+to the soothing voices of the Saints, and loved to tell sweet stories
+from tradition. Cells for holy men and women, released from the world,
+were fixed on every sandy beach; and chapels, simple and primitive
+enough, called by tinkling bells, holy souls to Mass and vespers.
+Women prayed and children sang, till phœnix-like out of a cataclysm of
+tribulations, arose a new Venice--“Venezia Seconda.”
+
+Generation followed generation, and family cohesion banded the
+scattered groups of islet dwellers together for mutual protection and
+defence. The terror of invasion by barbarians became old men’s tales,
+and mothers scared their children to make them good with stories of the
+“Scourge of God.” Many lads, now grown, went back to terra-firma, and
+rebuilt the homes of their grandparents, and married and settled there.
+
+One hundred years rolled along almost uneventfully for “Venezia
+Seconda” and the dwellers upon her shores, but, at length, times of
+peace and comparative prosperity were rudely disturbed by another
+fateful cry from the mountains!
+
+Longobards,--Bavarians, Bulgarians, Swabians, and other mixed
+races,--were said to be pouring over the passes into Italy, and late
+in the autumn of 567, a mighty horde began to move over the plains
+marching ever southwards. Terror once more struck home to the hearts
+of the people of Veneto and of the islands of the lagunes. Were the
+horrors of the almost forgotten invasions of the Goths and Huns to be
+re-enacted? What was to become of them, and their children?
+
+The only reply was the old, old cry “To the Lagunes!” Altino led the
+way: her inhabitants were premonished by a startling apparition. The
+storks, which made their nests upon the roof-trees of the houses,
+suddenly began to circle round the city uttering shrill cries, then,
+darting down with one accord they picked up in their long bills their
+little fledgelings and made off right out to sea!
+
+The people looked on amazed, but when they noted that the birds stayed
+their flight over Torcello and her sister islets, they said one to
+another--“This is a warning of Providence--which we must follow--it
+is the ‘finger of God’!”
+
+The Longobards, however, were not intent so much on conquest as on
+settlement. Tales of the fertility of the soil of Italy, and stories
+of the profitable industries of her cities, had found their way to
+northern lands, and had excited, in the hearers, vehement desires to
+share such good things. They came not in serried ranks of warriors but
+in caravans in peaceful guise, with their household goods and chattels
+upon their waggons, and their old folk and little children securely
+mounted on the top. To them Veneto was the Land of Promise.
+
+If the peaceful inhabitants of the province were not slain as in the
+days of Alaric and Attila, they were scattered, for the Longobards
+meant to have and to hold what they seized. Dressed in skins of beasts,
+with linen tunics of many colours, loose breeches girded with leathern
+belts, and shod in wooden and metal sandals, they presented a marked
+contrast to the natives of Veneto. They shaved the back of their heads,
+but wore the hair low upon the foreheads with ringlets, and the men
+were bearded.
+
+Their conduct towards the people they had come to dispossess of lands
+and homes was marked by consideration, and they made an excellent
+impression by not meddling with matters ecclesiastical. Indeed so
+suave and gentle were they in their bearing that not a few of the less
+fearful maidens looked kindly upon the invaders, and not one but many
+brides of Veneto were mated to Longobard grooms! Surely this was a rare
+exhibition of the old and world-wide sentiment--_noblesse oblige_!
+A new and healthy strain was thus intermingled with blue Græco-Roman
+blood, and, whereas, the citizens of the Eastern Empire, at large,
+dwindled and deteriorated, the men and women of “Venezia Seconda” grew
+in numbers, strength, and comeliness.
+
+The Greek protection of Veneto and the lagunes was withdrawn in 641,
+and then at once it was borne in upon the elders of the families and
+the leaders in their councils that unbounded liberty was a dangerous
+expedient. Parliaments representative of every class--work-people,
+middle class, and patricians,--with the clergy at their head, were
+called together for deliberation and unity of action.
+
+If it is true--maybe it is--that each hundred years of a nation’s
+development corresponds to a decade of human growth, then the
+Commonwealth of the islets of the lagunes attained its maturity in 697
+or thereabouts. The infant Venice,--nursed in her Malamocco cradle by
+her father and motherland of Padua some two hundred years before,--was
+now a vigorous maiden and of age.
+
+Her sponsors, wisely chosen, one from each of twelve most important
+settlements, who had exercised their tribuneship to good account,
+forgathered at Eraclea to elect a worthy guardian of the State, a
+leader--“Dux,” “Doxe” or “Doge” of the Venetians. Some of them were
+Veneto-Greeks, like the Partecipazi and the Michieli, and some of them
+were Veneto-Romans, like the Candiani and the Orseoli, with rivalries,
+domestic and political to unite and disunite them, but all were fired
+with the new idea of mutual life and independence.
+
+From every _lido_ and _riva_ came barca and gondola, gaily dressed with
+flowers and greenery: the helm held stoutly by men--brave as they
+were wise, whilst at the prow, beauty and youth sang tuneful melodies.
+Well-stored with food and delicacies were those festal galleys, for
+their crews were bent on pleasure as well as business. Matron and maid
+in holiday attire accompanied their lords and sweethearts to the solemn
+happy ceremonial--it was a domestic celebration in simple homely state.
+
+Where manly strength and wisdom make of life a scene of wear and tear
+ungarnished and uncharmed by women’s ways, true femininity intervening
+administers juice of grapes to gladden man’s heart, and oil of olives
+to make him of a cheerful countenance,--so to paraphrase the holy
+psalmist. At Eraclea grace and force embraced one another.
+
+The women and the girls of the islands brought with them to Eraclea
+armfuls of sea-pinks and sprays of jessamine, red poppies and yellow
+flags, fragrant orange flowers and the sweet bays of myrtle, gathered
+from their gardens. They wove gay garlands with the tenacious dime
+rushes and coiled them about with the tendrils of the vine. Every
+street shrine in Eraclea, every Virgin ikon in her modest homes, was
+adorned with floral offerings, and the altars of her sanctuaries were
+covered with pure white fragrant Mary lilies.
+
+The twelve electors held their parliament in the modest basilica and
+cast their votes in secret, but all were satisfied when Paolo Lucio
+Anafesto of Aquileia was hailed as the first of Venice Doges--judge,
+general, and pope combined.
+
+Promptly the Patriarch of Grado blessed the new Head of the
+State, and the twelve electors joined in crowning him with the
+“_Corno_”--the horned Phrygian bonnet of renown and liberty. The
+day’s solemnities performed all held picnic in the woods; Eraclea kept
+open house. Night fell all too soon and lines of gaily-lighted gondolas
+made off to homes across the phosphorescent waves and the summer moon
+smiled upon a scene of perfect peace and content.
+
+Alas for the stability of mundane matters--two short years were
+scarcely spent when Doge Anafesto met with his death, lamentably
+enough, in a conflict between the citizens of Eraclea and Jesolo. This
+was a calamity, perhaps, rare in Venetian history, for, if Martino
+Sanudo, the quaint and voluminous chronicler, may be believed:--“The
+inhabitants of Venezia were a lowly peaceful people, esteeming love and
+mercy highly, and above all religious--they cared not for honours but
+were ever ready to help one another, regardless of class and station.”
+
+Three Doges only ruled at Eraclea, and then in 742 the seat of the
+Government was removed to Malamocco as being less open to attack, and
+more favourably placed for the development of trade with the east.
+The Doge was elected for life and his family, if of plebeian origin,
+ennobled: his wife however had no precedence and was regarded pretty
+much as one of her spouse’s goods and chattels.
+
+The citizens of the Commonwealth enjoyed a lengthy period of peace
+and prosperity, during which they were building up a national and
+self-reliant character. Men, women, and children gained urbanity
+and repose of manners, and were animated alike by vivacity and
+gravity of bearing. The women especially were remarkable for their
+good-breeding and refinement--vulgarity and pretence were non-apparent.
+As mothers they had a softening yet wholesome influence upon their
+families and households. Many Latin writers have noted these feminine
+characteristics.
+
+In matters of dress and personal adornment the _gentildonne_
+followed more closely than their humbler sisters the Greek modes. The
+mosaics at San Marco’s show that velvets and brocades were worn with
+handsome furs and folds of lace. Blue was the favourite colour with all
+classes--a cerulean tint, like the reflection of the azure skies in the
+still waters of the lagunes.
+
+When Charlemagne came to Friuli to hunt big game in 776, he made
+friends with the heads of noble Venetian families, and adopted their
+more graceful garments in lieu of his semi-savage state. He had set
+his heart upon seeing Venice and seizing what he could of her outlying
+islets. Her romantic story appealed strongly to his imagination and
+he even made proposals that Frankish brides should find their way to
+the lagunes. His ideas were actually adapted in the dogado of Obelario
+Antenorio (804–809), for his consort was a Frank princess.
+
+The Franks shared the sporting instincts of the Venetians and they
+were emulous of the boasts of the men of Venice:--“One can catch
+more fish in a month in the lagunes than in a whole year in all the
+Mediterranean!”, and, “One can entrap more birds at Malamocco than
+anywhere else in Italy!” Grebe-shooting was a favourite pastime, and
+ladies entered into the sport quite as enthusiastically as their lords.
+Cross-bows and clay pellets were the weapons, snaring was barred as
+unsportsmanlike, and heads were nailed on barn doors as trophies.
+
+Whilst Charlemagne and his courtiers were pleased to meet the
+Venetians, in sport, or when on marriage bent, he and they never quite
+concealed their designs upon the lagunes; but the monarch’s chagrin was
+bitter when he was forced to admit the impossibility of success. “As my
+brand sinks out of sight, nor ever shall appear to me again, so let all
+thoughts of seizing Venice vanish from my will,”--he once exclaimed,
+as, standing upon his royal galley off the coast of Padua, he cast his
+sword far, far away, out into the sea!
+
+The first actual Dogaressa--not merely the wife of the Doge, but the
+First Lady in Venice and his official consort, was a Frenchwoman--the
+Countess Carola,--a lady of honour at the Court of Aix-la-Chapelle.
+Obelario Antenorio and his brother Beato, who was associated with him
+in the dogado, were the guests of Charlemagne at Aix, and there the
+Doge saw and wooed his bride. How they got there nobody knows: it was a
+stupendous journey in those days. Perhaps fortune favoured Obelario and
+Beato and brought the maiden in the suite of the Empress into Southern
+France to Aix in Provence! The Emperor approved the match and promised
+his friendship and protection for the island Republic.
+
+Carola was a woman of great energy of character, remarkable for the
+exercise of a strong will, and endowed with the faculty of attracting
+respect and obedience. She had a difficult _rôle_, for the ladies of
+Venice resented the introduction of a Frenchwoman as consort of their
+Doge.
+
+Beato Antenorio, it appears, played a double part, for whilst acting
+as best man to his brother and paying court to Countess Carola, he
+was negotiating with the Emperor at Constantinople for a union with a
+Byzantine princess with a view to supplant the Doge and Dogaressa.
+
+Carola very soon took the measure of Beato’s perfidy, and when he
+brought his imperial bride to Venice, she adroitly placed Valentino,
+her husband’s youngest brother, an attractive youth, in the young
+girl’s way. There was little love lost between Beato and Cassandra,
+and the brothers very soon became estranged, and thus the Dogaressa
+held her own triumphantly. The story goes however that, consistent with
+woman’s ever changing mood, having set Beato against his wife, the
+Dogaressa became her rival in the affections of Valentino.
+
+Perhaps the Venetian saying was true of her in a very special
+way:--“_El segreto dele femene no lo sa nessun altro che mi e vu, e
+tuto il commun!_”--“A woman’s secret is known to none save me, and
+you, and all the town!”
+
+Obelario Antenorio, who had been Tribune of Malamocco, was “an indolent
+man, irresolute and faithless.” When a Greek fleet approached the
+lagunes with peaceful intentions, but viewed by the Doge as supporting
+the pretensions of Beato, he had recourse to the French Court for
+assistance. This was regarded by the Greeks as an hostile act, and they
+attacked and destroyed Eraclea, Jesolo, Fossone, Chioggia, and other
+Venetian ports. The chief men of Venice were slain or taken captive,
+and Obelario and Beato Antenorio were carried away as hostages to
+Constantinople, where they and their wives, Carola and Cassandra, died.
+
+
+                                  II
+
+The first “Grand” Doge and Founder of Venice was Agnello Badoero,
+better known perhaps to historians by his Greek title “Ipato” or
+“Protospataro,”--in the Rialto vernacular Partecipazio. The Badoeri,
+originally from Padua and one of the twelve premier families of the
+Commonwealth, were descended from Giovanni d’Eraclea, who was among the
+twelve Tribunes voting at the election of Paolo Lucio Anafesto as first
+Doge of the Lagunes in 697.
+
+Agnello was Tribune of Malamocco, although a native of Eraclea, a man
+of many parts, he exhibited remarkable talents in almost every walk of
+life. A Greek of the Greeks by descent, he was a pronounced humanist
+in the school of Plato. A born legislator, he was by inclination an
+engineer and builder, and excelled his peers in mercantile industry and
+political acumen.
+
+Long before he was called to the supreme office of Doge he had fixed
+ideas about, and matured plans for, the conservation and development
+of the conditions of the islands of the Lagunes. Immediately after
+his election in 810, he broke with the traditions of the dogado, by
+removing the seat of Government to Rivo-Alto as being far and away a
+more convenient centre and at the same being much more secure from the
+attacks of enemies. Already there was a considerable population in
+the new capital and churches and houses of some importance had been
+erected--many of them of stone.
+
+All the same the ordinary Rivo-Alto dwellings were of modest dimensions
+and few rose beyond one storey in height. A marked feature of them
+all was the outside staircase, which gave access to the living rooms,
+and also led directly to the _altana_ or look-out tower upon the flat
+roof. They were furnished with a _solario_ or _liago_--an open balcony
+whereupon the inmates could sit and take the air and hold chit-chats
+with their friends.
+
+Upon the flat roof the women of the household performed their toilet,
+combing out their hair and exposing it to the sunshine. Various
+domestic duties also were transacted upon the “sun-traps,” for example
+newly-washed linen bleached nowhere as effectively as there. Bedrooms
+occupied the upper part, and the plan of the ground floor provided
+kitchens and offices with rooms for meals and the reception of guests.
+These, in the large structures, were arranged upon three sides of a
+square forming a courtyard or garden patch.
+
+Such a habitation was occupied by Doge Agnello and Dogaressa Elena
+with their growing family. It was situated upon what was subsequently
+known as the Campiello della Cason, adjoining the ancient church SS.
+Apostoli, and facing towards the neighbouring island of Murano, just
+where a small canal, the Rio Hadran, entered the Lagune. The principal
+entrance was in Calle della Cason with a postern at the corner for
+observation and defence. At the back, giving on a narrow back lane, was
+another doorway which led to a small garden and an orchard.
+
+Donna Elena occupied herself in cultivating “simples” and
+sweet-smelling flowers, without which no Venetian considered his home
+complete. Perhaps no people set greater store by fragrant flowers
+and succulent herbs than did those Venetian children of the sea-mists
+and salt-sands. The simplest bloom that the saline breeze allowed to
+grow was as precious as the most luxuriant rambler-rose, or flowering
+laurel. Vines grew everywhere and throve amazingly, and everybody had a
+floral or arboreal hobby.
+
+Having established himself in his primitive palace, Doge Agnello set to
+work to carry out his ideas of utility and expansion. First of all, in
+view of the many inroads of ruthless invaders into Veneto, he turned
+his attention to the strengthening of the defences of the islands.
+Strong cables were slung across the narrower channels, disused hulks of
+vessels were sunk in the deeper water-ways, and a system of signals by
+day and of beacons by night was established.
+
+The chief life’s work of the sapient Head of the State was the
+protection of the low-lying _lidi_ from floods and denudation.
+Thousands and thousands of great timber balks from the Pineta of
+Ravenna were secured and driven far down into the yielding mud and
+sand. From pile to pile was woven a basket-work of unbreakable osiers,
+and then the pumping out of needless channels and the draining of wet
+marsh-lands was followed by the sinking of innumerable loads of solid
+earth and gravel, until the reclaimed areas assumed something of the
+appearance and consistency of terra-firma.
+
+With such primitive appliances as were at hand, the success achieved
+was little short of marvellous. To his new-made plots of land Doge
+Agnello gave the name of “_Fondamenti_.” To Rivo-Alto as the centre of
+his plan, he connected all the neighbouring islands by throwing across
+the water-ways wooden bridges,--thus Venice assumed her present form.
+
+Well may we, in imagination, behold the noble-hearted Doge, habited
+in simple guise and grey-bearded, yet, vigorous of frame with eagle
+eyes and firm set brow and mouth, ferried day by day, over the Grand
+Canal,--the actual channel of the river which Livy calls Præ-altus.
+To the _fondamento_ of San Giacomo--that earliest holy shrine of the
+Venetian fugitives he is bound, there to superintend the works he has
+initiated. With plans in hand, elaborated with Grecian geometrical
+precision, he watches and directs the work-people, both men and
+women--at their toil. No master was more solicitous for the welfare of
+his working people than Doge Agnello Badoero.
+
+Much of her time the Dogaressa spent with her husband on the
+_fondamento_, where her presence cheered him. Thickly veiled, as was
+the custom of good women, and modestly attired she moved among the
+women workers, pouring out sympathy and affording relief.
+
+The crowning labour of Doge Agnello Badoero, so far as the building of
+Venice was concerned, was the erection of the Ducal Palace in 820. This
+was purely Byzantine in design, very large, and built of rare marbles
+and mosaics: “Il Palazzo” it was called, for there was nothing like it
+in new Venice, or at Eraclea. Probably it resembled in some respects
+the _Fondaco de’ Turchi_ built at the same period and by the same
+master-builder--Doge Agnello. Unhappily nothing now remains of this
+earliest official residence of the Doges of Rialto.
+
+Francesco Donato has painted in a few words the character of Doge
+Agnello Badoero:--“He rose,” he says, “easily above all parties, a man
+very stable and dependable, a true Catholic, upright and devoted to
+the true interests of the Commonwealth.” This encomium assuredly was
+deserved by Dogaressa Elena as well.
+
+The times were strenuous and many an one, weary of the toil of the
+world and yearning for the consolation of religion was irresistibly
+drawn to assume the habit of the monastery. Men and women of worth
+became founders of religious houses and, among them, Doge Agnello and
+Dogaressa Elena, who with their eldest son Giustiniano, built the
+monasteries of Sant’ Ilario and San Zaccaria. This they did as the
+Codice Trevisiano records, “revelatione Domini Omnipotentis.”
+
+Following the example of his predecessors in the dogado Doge Agnello
+Badoero, towards the end of his life, associated his two eldest sons
+Giustiniano and Giovanni with himself in the direction in the affairs
+of State. The two young men had been carefully trained for the duties
+of government by their father, and by their mother, in the observances
+of religion and the exercise of moralities.
+
+Doge Agnello died in 827, and his two sons were elected to succeed him.
+No record is preserved concerning the death of the good Dogaressa.
+Probably they were both buried in the church of San Zaccaria.
+
+The example of Doge Agnello and Dogaressa Elena, with respect to the
+daily exercise of religion, was followed by their sons, their wives
+and families. Mass always found them in attendance. Every day at dawn
+the _Marangona_ or Mass-bell awoke the slumbering citizens, and
+again at midday, and at dusk were the faithful summoned to devotion.
+With singular simplicity the pious sons and daughters of Venice served
+their God and served their city in the best way they could: none were
+hypocrites.
+
+The brief and quiet reign of Giustiniano Badoero was remarkable for
+one eminent event--the translation of the body of Saint Mark the
+Evangelist, from Alexandria to Venice.
+
+The pious Venetians were well aware of the importance of possession of
+relics of the Saints. At Aquileia, Eraclea, Padua and the other cities,
+whence their forebears had fled to the islets of the lagunes, the
+churches were the depositories of such treasures, and the revenues of
+the ecclesiastical authorities were greatly augmented by the devotion
+of the religiously minded inhabitants. Besides, such holy shrines
+drew pilgrims and visitors from other states and so enhanced their
+reputation. A quotation from the Zancarol Chronicle in the Library of
+San Marco, exactly expresses the current idea:--“_La qual citade e
+stada hedificada da veri e boni Cristiani_.”
+
+Venetian envoys to Constantinople and travellers generally in the
+Orient were admonished to secure if possible relics for translation
+to the lagune city. Accordingly in 828 news reached Venice that two
+sea captains of Venetian merchant galleys, wintering in the port of
+Alexandria, had entered into relations with the ruler of the city. On
+their part they were to smuggle arms and provisions for the use of the
+Egyptian forces against the Eastern Emperor, and in exchange to take
+whatever they might like from ruined temples near the sea-shore,--one
+was the traditional burial-place of the second Evangelist.
+
+Treasures of all sorts were unearthed, and, at length, the tomb of the
+Saint yielded up a corpse undecayed and arrayed in episcopal vestments.
+Acknowledged and venerated upon the spot the hallowed remains were
+reverently conveyed to Venice, and received there with tumultuous
+acclamations and temporarily enshrined within the ancient church of San
+Pietro di Castello.
+
+Doge Giustiniano and Dogaressa Felicita presided at the religious
+ceremonies, which brought together and cemented the people of the
+outlying islands and the inhabitants of the coast towns of terra-firma.
+Religious fervour overspread all Venice, men and women surrendered
+themselves, their children, and their goods, in honour of the Saint,
+who then and there was hailed one of the patrons of Venice, sharing the
+distinction with St Mary the Virgin, St Teodoro, and St Giustina of
+Padua.
+
+That must have been a busy time for the Dogaressa and her ladies, and,
+indeed, for all the well-disposed women-folk of Venice. There were rich
+hangings to embroider, fine linen to weave and stitch, delicate lace to
+fret out, flowers to arrange, and sweet odours to confection. For St
+Mark nothing was spared, and even the poorest of the poor put on the
+best attire she could obtain and made festival with her richer sisters.
+
+Not content with the splendours of the day of translation, the last day
+of January was for ever set apart as an annual festival in honour of St
+Mark; and with it was associated the ancient and beautiful custom of
+public marriage upon the Eve of the Feast of the Purification.
+
+Giustiniano Badoero very soon wearied of the responsibilities of office
+and retired, with Donna Felicita his wife into the cloister of San
+Servilio, which he had enriched by gifts of lands near the coast city
+of Abondia Vigilia.
+
+To the third Doge of the Badoero family, Giovanni, second son of the
+“Grand Agnello,” belongs the glory of founding “the most resplendent
+Christian shrine in Europe,” San Marco di Venezia. He succeeded his
+brother as sole Doge in 829. What special part he and his Dogaressa
+took in the actual building and first dedicatory celebration, history
+has not recorded.
+
+The reign of Giovanni Badoero lasted seven years--a season of
+consolidation of Venetian power and also of family influence. The house
+of Partecipazio gave seven Doges to Venice,--men of approved probity,
+ruling their households and themselves with simple dignity, and the
+State with firmness and distinction.
+
+They one and all, with their consorts, when public cares and duties
+became excessive, sought the solace of the cloister. What a very
+sensible custom was this, and how conducive to efficiency in the
+service of the State, and withal how indicative of the influence of the
+Church in human affairs!
+
+Women and girls in the times of the first three Badoeri Doges were
+treated less harshly than they had been in earlier days, but still
+they were under restrictions which were almost Oriental in character.
+Their men-folk professed themselves jealous of the family honour and
+were eager to uphold their autocratic rights over their own households
+against all intruders.
+
+In public women were veiled,--matrons in black, maidens in
+white,--except upon festivals, which happily, for the sake of dear
+Prince Cupid, were frequent enough, when they were allowed to appear at
+church, on the Piazza, and in barca or gondola uncovered,--these were
+lovers’ opportunities!
+
+When a youth had become familiar with the form and carriage of a
+girl, and was taken therewith, he was wont to haunt the neighbourhood
+of her father’s house, in order to get a good look at her features
+and expression when she came out. If the opinion he had formed was
+confirmed then he was accustomed of a night to stand beneath the
+iron-barred window of his _innamorata_, and there breathe out his
+love ditty, or twang amorously the strings of his guitar.
+
+If the girl responded to the youth’s ecstasy, she was permitted to
+flash a light through the open shutter. The repetition of this signal
+was an intimation that the wooer might address himself to her father,
+requesting acceptance as a “novice in the form and art of love-making.”
+
+The father’s consent was regarded as the first step of the betrothal,
+and then the happy young couple were required to await the festal day
+of good San Marco, for the public acknowledgment of the suit. Liberty
+was meanwhile allowed for interviews, and negotiations were put on foot
+with respect to equality of family and amount of dowry, etc.
+
+The girl dressed simply in white was permitted to receive visits from
+her lover and his young companions. Upon the eve of the festival when
+many friends were assembled, serious and gay, the bridegroom-elect
+took his bride’s hand in his and slipped upon her finger a
+ring,--_penge_ they called it,--as a pledge of his honourable
+intentions. The girl immediately withdrew with her mother, whilst the
+guests were feasted.
+
+Nobody went to bed that night, for there was much to be done in
+preparation for the morrow’s nuptials. The bride had to be bathed and
+her hair plaited in two great coils, her dress and her ornaments had to
+be arranged, and finishing touches put to the festal decorations of the
+house.
+
+Attendance at early Mass was _de rigueur_, and then the bride,
+covered with a lace or fine net veil knelt to receive her father’s
+blessing, and at the same time she had placed in her hands by her
+two sponsors--the most estimable and influential of her father’s
+acquaintances--a casket or purse, in which was deposited her
+dowry. These receptacles were called _arcella_ and were objects of
+considerable value from an artistic point of view. If caskets they
+were of embossed silver, or carved wood, or painted by hand, and if
+they took the form of purses they were of the richest material, very
+beautifully embroidered, and often enough ornamented with pearls and
+precious stones.
+
+A procession was formed of gaily-decorated gondolas with the wedding
+guests--the bride’s contained herself, and her father with her
+sponsors, and bore silken streamers of blue and white with two captive
+white doves at the prow; and all made for the island cathedral of San
+Pietro di Castello.
+
+  [Illustration: SPOSALIZO.
+
+  LORENZO. LOTTO.
+
+  PRADO MADRID]
+
+The bride bearing her _arcella_ suspended from her neck by a blue
+silk ribbon knelt by her father’s side before the Bishop, and then
+the groom, ushered by his witnesses, took his place at her right hand
+offering the wedding-ring for the episcopal benediction. Removing the
+_penge_,--which he slipped upon his own finger,--he replaced it with
+the golden hoop of matrimony. Lighted candles were placed in the hands
+of the couple, whilst the Bishop blessed their union. An offering in
+their behalf is made by the bridegroom’s next friend, and the religious
+ceremony ended with the singing of a marriage ode.
+
+A merry, happy party betook themselves one and all to the fleet of gala
+gondolas, scattering on their way sweetmeats and small current coins,
+among the bystanders. A banquet with dancing and singing filled the
+afternoon and, at dark, the minstrel band led the newly-married pair to
+the bridegroom’s brilliantly lighted house.
+
+The best man held a position of importance, he it was who found the
+beverages for the guests, toasted the nuptial couple, and gave drink
+and money all round. Early in the morning following the marriage he
+repaired to the nuptial chamber, and knocking loudly at the door,
+offered the happy spouse two fresh-laid eggs,--often enough stained
+and painted exquisitely,--and a casket of aromatic pastilles--tokens
+of good wishes for marital felicity. The bride’s girl friends too laid
+beside the door little wicker-work baskets beautifully trimmed with
+silk and decorated with fresh flowers, and full of delicious sweetmeats
+and fresh fruit--emblematic again of what married life should ever be.
+Such were some of the pretty wedding observances in old Venice.
+
+One of the prettiest of the many charming customs, which illustrate so
+delightfully the ever-fascinating story of Venice,--“the Venus City
+of the Adriatic,”--was the annual presentation of the _boccola_--the
+rose nosegay of San Marco. For its origin we must hie us back to a very
+distant century--the ninth.
+
+Doge Orso Badoero, grandson of the “Grand” Doge Agnello Partecipazio,
+had a lovely only daughter, Maria was her name in baptism, but, by
+reason of the ardent flashes of her brilliant jet-black eyes she was
+known as Vulcana--“Vulcana of the black eyes!” Then one day, there came
+from far Provence a handsome troubadour with his light guitar. He was
+called Tancred--a child of chance as it appears; and he sang outside
+the dark-eyed beauty’s iron-barred window the doughty deeds of knightly
+prowess and the conquering charms of maiden troth.
+
+Prince Cupid set to work, as busy as could be, and began to shoot his
+love-dipped arrows up and down, till he had transfixed both Vulcana and
+Tancredo. Alas! the maiden knew full well her father would never listen
+to the plea of a simple singing youth, and so she wept and sighed, and
+sighed and wept!
+
+“Go, gentle minstrel,” she cried, “tarry not, seek the Court of the
+King of France, and clothe thyself with the glory of martial renown, I,
+thy Maria, will wait for thee!”
+
+With a tender embrace, and the maiden’s thin gauze scarf for guerdon
+tied round his arm, the troubadour set off to fight the Moors.
+
+Seasons came and seasons went and beauteous Maria Vulcana upon the
+_altana_ of her father’s palace scanned in vain the wide lagune
+for signs of the warrior’s return. “Will Tancredo never come back?”
+she asked herself, and she wept and yearned for him. At last rumours
+of bold adventure and the names of many goodly knights were banded
+from tongue to tongue. The dreaded Moors had been vanquished, and the
+hero of the fights was a youthful soldier of fortune one Tancredo of
+Provence!
+
+Well-a-day, an embassy presently arrived in Venice from great
+Charlemagne, its leader was Sir Roland the Invincible. He sought here
+and there for Maria Badoero the Doge’s weeping daughter, but she never
+showed herself--her heart was with Tancredo--she cared for none beside.
+At length they met and Roland bending over her, sighing, said, “Lady
+fair, I kiss thy hand for brave Tancredo, and bid thee weep no more for
+him, he died in these arms of mine breathing out thy name,--see he bid
+me with his last words give thee this red rosebud, which he had plucked
+for thee, saying, ‘Bid her pray for me always.’”
+
+Maria was silent, she paled, her heart gave no more than one big throb,
+as she placed the pledge of her Tancredo’s love between her breasts,
+and then she laid her down and died!
+
+This is the “Legend of the Boccola.”
+
+The day that heart-broken Maria Vulcana breathed her last was the
+name-day of Saint Mark the Evangelist, 25th April. Thereafter every
+lovelorn lad in the islets of the lagunes offered to the girl he
+loved best a freshly gathered red rosebud as a fragrant pledge of his
+devotions. The _innamorate_ were accustomed to place the sweet tokens
+in their open bosoms, as did the beauteous but unhappy maiden of old
+times, and proudly wear it all that livelong day. Sometimes to be sure,
+the girl rejected her admirer’s tender gift, but she who could show no
+rosebud in her bosom suffered mighty heart-burns all the same, and her
+girl companions and the young men of her acquaintance looked askance at
+her.
+
+At the sounding of the curfew all were safe of course indoors, and then
+the simple offering, withered as it was, was taken lovingly between
+both the maiden’s hands, caressed affectionately, and placed in the
+most secret hiding-place she had. It might be a long, or it might be a
+little, while before her parents acknowledged the successful suitor;
+but that frail blossom of early summer never lost its fragrance, and
+many a dewdrop of a tear fell upon the faded petals, whilst the loved
+one waited impatiently for the next _Festa delle Marie_.
+
+
+                                  III
+
+Perhaps the proudest of all the proud families of old Venice was that
+of the Candiani--an offshoot of the ruling clan of Sanudi, in ancient
+times in Padua. Their name they derived from the village whence they
+sprang, just outside the proud city,--_Candiana_. In the eighth and
+ninth centuries, as Counts of the Western Empire, they ruled over Padua
+and Vicenza and were endowed with lands and titles by Otto I.
+
+The first member of the family to wear the ducal bonnet was Pietro, the
+descendant of an earlier Pietro, who, in 697 was one of the twelve
+electors of the first Doge, Paolo Lucio Anafesto. His election in
+886 was due, in a considerable measure, to the extreme youth of Doge
+Giovanni Badoero’s son Orso, but especially in view of the need of
+a strong man to deal with the incipient feuds of the rival families
+of the Polani, Giustiniani, and Barozzi, and the Burbolani, Iscoli,
+and Selvi. Doge Pietro was a man of war, he led twelve armed galleys
+against his city’s constant foes, the pirates of the coasts of Istria
+and Dalmatia, and died at sea after one short year of office.
+
+His son and grandson, both Pietro, were sandwiched between Orso Badoero
+II. and Pietro Badoero,--so keen was the rivalry and so equal the
+opportunities of the two families. All four, with their consorts, were
+conspicuous for their devotion to their public duties and for their
+piety. Daily they attended Mass and evening devotions, and observed
+frugality in dress and table.
+
+Pietro Candiano III. married Archielda or Richielda, who brought him
+neither dowry nor social distinction. Who she was nobody has recorded,
+probably she was the child of one of the Slav women who were brought
+captive to Venice in 887, by the expedition, which destroyed the nests
+of Narentian pirates in the Adriatic, under Pietro Candiano I.
+
+All we seem to know about the Dogaressa Archielda is that, when her
+consort died, she according to Venetian rule, was cloistered. Doubtless
+she suffered much when her son Pietro raised a party against his father.
+
+One other son of Archielda is named by Dandolo the chronicler,
+Domenigo, who became Bishop of Torcello. She survived her husband
+many years, under whose will she inherited a rich vineyard and a
+dwelling-house in the marches of Veneto, which she seems to have passed
+over to the nuns of San Zaccaria.
+
+The name of Pietro Candiano III. has come down to us in gracious
+valiant guise. It was the Feast of the Purification in the year 944,
+and the “Brides of Venice” were kneeling before the Bishop in the
+church of San Pietro di Castello. The Doge and Dogaressa, and their
+household were assisting at the ceremony, when, suddenly wild figures
+of daring buccaneers from Trieste dashed into the sacred building.
+Robbery not rape was their primary intention, for the maidens’
+_arcelle_ were well worth the risk the robbers ran. The girls held
+tightly to their dowries, and so they were borne off bodily by their
+captors, _arcelle_ and all!
+
+Recovering from their consternation the men-folk of the congregation
+and the hangers-on outside laid hands on weapons, tools and anything,
+and were swiftly on the heels of the ravishers. Luckily the barcas of
+the Guild of Marriage-chest makers were moored in the canal, and so
+available for use.
+
+Doge Pietro, divesting himself of his State mantle, and girding on his
+sword, headed the pursuers. Calling on Heaven for vengeance he boarded
+the foremost boat and bade every armed man to follow: it was the barca
+of Andrea de’ Cappelli of the _fondamento_ of Santa Maria Formosa,--the
+quarter of the makers of hats. He was one of the bridegrooms-elect,
+and, mad with rage, he and his companions swore to be avenged and to
+bring back their brides to Venice.
+
+That was a stern chase to be sure, the robbers rowed their hardest,
+and the lovers of the “Brides” bent to their sweeps with all their
+wind and thew. Not till the pirates had crossed the Caorle lagune did
+Andrea de’ Cappelli’s boat grapple with the quarry. Then it was a
+fight hand-to-hand, pole-to-pole,--but at last, Andrea, leaping into
+the _batello_ of the pirate chief struck the villain down, and
+gathered to his breast his fainting bedraggled bride. Bearing her light
+form under his left arm he neatly beheaded his enemy and, holding aloft
+the gory trophy, regained his boat.
+
+Victory,--as by well-bound convention,--crowned virtue, and back to
+Venice rowed swiftly the proud flotilla--the happy maidens waving
+aloft their bridal veils in token of their deliverance. Landing at the
+_campo_ of Santa Maria Formosa all entered the sacred edifice, hard by,
+where the clergy sang “Te Deum.” The assembly broke up hilariously to
+spend the evening in universal merriment.
+
+Coming out of the church the Master of the Guild of Hat-Makers
+requested a favour of the Doge,--by whose side walked the motherly
+figure of the Dogaressa, her face radiant with smiles,--namely that an
+annual commemoration of the gallant rescue of the “Brides of Venice”
+should be instituted whereat the Doge and Dogaressa should preside.
+
+Dandolo gives an amusing account of the interview:--
+
+“But if it rains?” asked Doge Candiano.
+
+“Why, we will give you hats to cover you!”
+
+“And if we come hungry?”
+
+“Well then you shall have the finest catch of fish and the sweetest
+basket of fruit.”
+
+“But if we are thirsty too?”
+
+“We will refresh you with the best vintage we possess!”
+
+And so it came to pass. Every year the Doge and Dogaressa, with
+all their households and the members of the Grand Council, paid a
+ceremonial visit to Santa Maria Formosa. Each dignitary received a
+brand-new straw hat,--richly gilt and decorated with flowers, a flask
+of finest Malvaggia,--ruddy and rare, and a silver fish with a golden
+orange apiece. This is the origin of the _Festa delle Marie_.
+
+The superb painting which adorns the first altar of the right aisle at
+Santa Maria Formosa--Palma Vecchio’s _chef d’œuvre_, and entitled
+“Santa Barbara,” may well have been inspired by the story of the
+“Brides.” She is the patroness of the brave--and the old adage--“None
+but the brave deserve the fair” never had a fuller vindication than on
+that memorable day of the rape of the Venetian brides.
+
+Candiano III. had a son--his second, the stormy petrel of his race, the
+vulture of his family. In 959 Pietro Candiano IV. declared his father
+incapable of reigning, and with the utmost effrontery, he assumed the
+ducal bonnet and estate, apparently no man saying him nay. Alas! How
+soon noble deeds are forgotten, how easily the knee is bent to the
+supplanter!
+
+The good old Doge and Dogaressa were ousted from the ducal palace, and
+the usurper dared to introduce therein the giddy woman with whom he
+cohabited. This was such a glaring scandal that he was obliged to bow
+to public opinion and put away Giovanniccia--a _divorcée_, whom he
+had picked up clandestinely, defying her quondam husband.
+
+No woman of high degree, no _gentildonna_, would cross the threshold of
+the palace so long as the Doge kept his mistress there, none greeted
+her upon the Piazza--and she became an object of scorn and derision.
+At length Pietro yielded to the popular feeling, and fascinating if
+corrupt, Giovanniccia was compelled to take the vow of chastity and to
+enter the noble convent of San Zaccaria,--the refuge of widowed and
+discredited Dogaressas.
+
+In the Museo Civico, in Venice, is an ancient pack of playing-cards
+with illustrations of some of the earlier Dogaressas. The Four
+of Hearts has a representation of Giovanniccia Candiano with a
+_ventilino_,--a fan, in her hand, and accompanied by the following
+legend:--“Giovanniccia, wife of Pietro Candiano, divorced, being able
+to avenge herself did not do it, so, her husband being slain by the
+people, she would not survive--‘If I am not the spouse of Ulysses I am
+Death’s’!”
+
+The chronicler, Pietro Diacono, adds that the repudiated Giovanniccia
+disowned her child, Vitale, and left the little fellow to be fostered
+by a serving-woman who subsequently placed him in a monastery school.
+This Vitale Candiano, in 987, was consecrated Bishop of Aquileia, and a
+few years later was translated to the Patriarchal See of Grado, where
+he ended his days--the last of his family,--in 1018.
+
+No sooner had Pietro Candiano divorced his adulterous wife than the
+Emperor Otto III. stepped in and gave him the hand, if not the heart,
+of Gualdrada--Valdrada in Venetian--the young sister of Ugo il Grande,
+Marquis of Tuscany, of whom Dante speaks thus in his “_Paradiso_,”
+Canto XVI.:--
+
+    “The great Baron, he whose name and worth
+    The festival of Thomas still recalls.”
+
+Ugo’s granddaughter was the famous Countess Matilda, the virile ruler
+of all Tuscany and the beneficent foundress of the liberties of
+Florence.
+
+Countess Valdrada brought to her ducal husband as rich a dowry as any
+of the royal brides of Venice had brought. Estates at Trivigiano,
+Friuli, Ferrara, and Adria, with castles and well-trained retainers;
+a host of slaves, and money-bags well filled with gold, enriched and
+ennobled proud Pietro Candiano.
+
+At her betrothal a custom entirely new to the Venetians was introduced,
+the so-called “Morgencap” or “Mundio” whereby the Doge conferred a
+fourth part of his private income upon his consort. Never stepped
+upon the Piazzetta a prouder Dogaressa. Had she been own daughter
+of the Emperor she could not have borne herself more haughtily, nor
+have treated both her husband and his suite more disdainfully. The
+acclamations of the populace she treated with ill-concealed contempt
+and turned to ridicule the decorations in her honour.
+
+The Venetians were to a man noted for their self-esteem and high
+bearing and the keynote of their character was a spirit of proud and
+contemptuous isolation, but they regarded this display of feminine
+arrogance with annoyance and disgust. To add to the unfavourable
+impression Valdrada made, the armed Florentine guard, which accompanied
+her and stood sentry at her beck and call, called forth violent
+protests. Altogether the Doge’s marriage was not an unmixed blessing to
+himself or his people. Nevertheless Pietro and Valdrada seemed happy
+together: he humoured her petulance and she fanned his self-esteem. Two
+children were the fruits of this union, Pietro and Marina.
+
+Two important questions were exercising men’s minds in Venice what
+time Dogaressa Valdrada mounted the ducal throne--the treatment of
+slaves and the expedition against the Saracens. With the first Valdrada
+was keenly interested, indeed it was the spectacle of her retinue of
+slaves, and their abject condition, that drew special attention to a
+very knotty question.
+
+The Doge tried to persuade his wife to dismiss these unfortunate
+people, or at all events to reduce their number, but her
+ill-conditioned temper would brook no interference. She threw in his
+teeth the fact that she was the special _protégée_ of the Emperor,
+a descendant of a royal race, and the first Italian Dogaressa to share
+the honours of the dogado.
+
+Valdrada was a virago in more senses than one--clever she was and
+talented, as well as strong-willed and hard-hearted. To her directly
+was due the introduction from Tuscany of the Roman bull-fight, and
+this took the quiet and undemonstrative Venetians by storm, and,
+incidentally, led to the division of the community into two camps--the
+Castellani and the Nicolotti.
+
+Rings were formed at the Lido each Monday in September and October
+when the whole of Venice thronged the beach in gondolas. In November
+the rendezvous was moved to the gardens of Olivolo, by the church of
+San Pietro di Castello; and December saw the bull-baiting transferred
+to the site of the Piazza. The Dogaressa was accustomed to preside at
+these combats in person, assuming all the attributes of a sovereign.
+Popular enough were the sports, for very shrewdly, she added prizes for
+athletic contests of all kinds and for regattas on the canals; but the
+patricians looked on with anything but kindly eyes.
+
+Doge Pietro IV. was, perhaps, the proudest of all the proud men who
+ever occupied the highest position in the Commonwealth, and his wife’s
+assumptions and pretensions added greatly to his self-importance. His
+name of derision in Rialto was “Superbossimo,” the “Vain-glorious!”
+His _entourage_ was largely composed of unscrupulous Tuscans,
+truculent Greeks and self-seeking Germans: he kept royal state and
+treated the nobles and the officials with coldness and disdain. At the
+same time he rallied all the different branches of his family, which
+were established in and about Padua and Vicenza, and formed a family
+league which threatened to overthrow the constitution of Venice.
+
+Startled at last, by the imminence of the danger to their liberties,
+nobles and citizens took arms, in the autumn of 976, and marched to the
+Ducal palace. They were received by a deadly volley from the foreign
+mercenaries, and, maddened by this treachery, the people acted with a
+promptitude which admitted of no quarter. Fire was laid to the great
+portal of the palace, and logs of wood dipped in pitch were flung
+through the closed windows.
+
+  [Illustration: LA CAZZA DEL TORO IN CARNIVAL TIME.
+
+  FROM A PRINT. 1560.
+
+  “Habiti Delle Donne.”--G. Franco.]
+
+The flames spread rapidly, and eventually enveloped more than three
+hundred houses, and the splendid churches of San Marco, San Teodoro,
+and Santa Maria Zobenigo. The lust for vengeance and destruction
+swept over the calm, but, if once roused, impetuous, populace, and
+nobody and nothing was spared.
+
+The Doge fled distractedly from room to room, holding in his arms
+his only boy--the infant Pietro. The Dogaressa with Marina rushed
+panic-stricken after him. Escape from the crumbling blazing ruins
+was only possible by a little wicket which gave upon the courtyard
+of San Marco. Here, progress was stayed by a posse of armed nobles
+and citizens, among whom the unhappy Doge recognised several of his
+personal friends. Of the latter he begged his life and the safety of
+his family.
+
+“You, my friends,” he cried in anguish, “have chosen to join in my
+destruction. If I have transgressed in any way, either in words or
+actions, I crave my life, whilst I promise to satisfy every demand.
+Speak and let me pass.”
+
+Words were of no avail, such justice as the popular will required was
+swift and drastic. Not one, but many swords clove through ducal bonnet
+and robe of state, and Doge Pietro Candiano IV. lay quivering, a livid
+mass upon that blood-dyed floor. Not content with this butchery brutal
+hands seized the unoffending princeling, and neither his innocence nor
+Valdrada’s pleas sufficed to save him. She was cast aside as a foul
+thing too hateful for any man to slay, and her child was impaled upon a
+spear, stuck into the body of his father!
+
+At eventide a poor man, one who abhorred the foul deed, Giovanni
+Gradenigo, came with a company of pious friends and took away the
+mutilated bodies and laid them reverently in the crypt of Sant’ Ilario.
+
+The Dogaressa, with her young daughter Marina, succeeded in
+escaping,--perhaps she was allowed to do so to avoid difficulties
+with the Imperial Court and the arrogant Marquis of Tuscany. She fled
+to Verona and threw herself at the feet of the Empress Adelheid the
+Emperor’s mother, who resided there.
+
+To be avenged of the Venetians was now her one and only purpose. Her
+imperious temperament yielded to a violence of hatred almost diabolical
+in its intensity. She appealed to Otto to set fire to Venice, to
+take the nobles captive, to cast the citizens into prison, and to
+make slaves of the women and children! She demanded the repayment of
+the gold she had carried with her to Venice, the restitution by the
+Candiani of the estates with which she had dowered her husband, and
+demanded a huge tribute by way of compensation for her wrongs.
+
+Pietro Orseolo, who had been elected Doge, after the assassination of
+Pietro Candiano, by the tumultuous voice of the people, despatched
+Domenigo Grimani to Piacenza where the Emperor was in residence
+to discuss the claims of the widowed Dogaressa. By a rare display
+of urbanity and tact Valdrada’s vehemence was soothed, her claims
+modified, and an agreement was come to agreeable to all parties.
+
+She acknowledged her love for her husband and exclaimed before the full
+Court:--“A wife is not given by nature to be her husband’s judge but as
+his companion.” She refused however to enter a convent, as became a
+widowed Dogaressa, but returned to her brother’s Court in Tuscany, and
+apparently ended her days at the castle of Pisa at the end of 997. By
+her will, dated 24th November of that year, she bequeathed a castle and
+an estate situated in the Adige to her brother, who gave them to the
+abbey of Vangadizza.
+
+The web of human life, strained at times and knotted, is never long
+spun out before romance and tragedy cross it in the woof. Each man and
+woman’s work in the tapestry of fate is run with needles sharp and
+blunt. None need look to fiction for inspiration whilst fact is so
+devious and so amazing. Cupid and Mars ever were inveterate enemies;
+but “Love’s Labour” is _never_ “Lost”--for Love is stronger, after
+all, than death!
+
+The love-story of Gerardo Guoro and Elena Candiano is as touching as
+any in the gentle annals of romance. She was the daughter of Doge
+Pietro Candiano III.,--a girl in whose veins coursed the bluest of
+noble Venetian blood, whilst her lover was base-born, though of a
+respectable family. He was probably as the Venetian proverb has it
+“_Erser in Candia_,”--“Without a farthing in his pocket!” Such
+unequal affairs of the heart, as the world has always called them, are
+just where the romance of love runs riot!
+
+It was so when Gerardo and Elena, the originals of Shakespeare’s
+“Romeo and Juliet,” plighted their troth secretly, and told nobody but
+Elena’s doting old nurse Marta, who contrived the interviews, bore the
+messages, and shielded the secret from the Doge and Dogaressa.
+
+Perhaps matters might have gone differently “had not Cupid,” as
+the Bard of Avon says, in his “Much Ado About Nothing,” “spent all
+his arrows in Venice!” With the very first bud of their rosetree of
+happiness, alas, gallant Gerardo was summoned to join his company and
+to embark for the Orient. Elena’s mother, noting the girl’s tearful
+pallor, decided that matrimony was the only remedy.
+
+    “A maiden fretting
+    Is cured by wedding.”
+
+A very eligible partner appeared duly on the scene, one Messir Vettor
+Belegno, a patrician of ripe age and wealthy, whose widowed home looked
+for a new mistress. Broken-hearted Elena refused her rich paramour,
+but a daughter of the Doge has no will of her own, and the marriage
+contract was duly signed, and she, more dead than alive, ever fretting
+for her absent Gerardo, was led to her nuptials in San Pietro di
+Castello.
+
+The fatal knot was tied, but it had nearly compassed a fatality,
+for, no sooner had the ring of the wedded wife been slipped upon her
+finger, than poor Elena, clad in her bridal garb of purity, swooned in
+Belegno’s arms. A speechless awe pervaded the brilliant wedding party,
+for when the beauteous bride came not back again to consciousness, the
+Bishop pronounced her dead! The joyous notes of the nuptial ceremony
+were abruptly changed to the dirge of burial, and, there, wrapped in
+her bridal dress, she lay crowned with fresh spring flowers until a
+place was prepared for her cold body in the crypt.
+
+As fate would have it the morrow of her funeral, when the fair
+alabaster-like form of the lovely girl lay alone in that dark place,
+saw brave Gerardo’s troop of gallant warriors landed at the Lido. News
+of the tragedy was swiftly conveyed to the fleet, and the disconsolate
+young husband hastened fearfully to the old church on Olivolo. Slipping
+aside the heavy marble cover of Elena’s tomb, he kneeled upon his knees
+imploring Heaven’s pardon and Heaven’s favour.
+
+Then, in a paroxysm of grief he stretched his body along the silent
+form of his beloved one, and, looking into her eyes, he pressed his
+breast to hers, and there they lay. Presently he is conscious of a
+pulse and a movement in the bridal shrouded corpse, and, joy of joys,
+her eyes open, and she knows that her Gerardo has come home to claim
+her!
+
+Beside himself with transports of love and sorrow he carries the
+unresisting girl to his mother, by whose care and Gerardo’s kisses,
+she is nursed back to life and happiness. But who shall break the
+news to the Doge and Dogaressa? Gerardo answers the query manfully.
+He has gained laurels in the East, and his grateful city has honours
+to bestow. Kneeling before the Doge to receive his guerdon he bravely
+recounts the story he has to tell. The Doge is incredulous, but
+confirmation is ready to hand, when his daughter, running to Gerardo,
+takes his hand in hers, and craves her father’s benediction.
+
+The bridegroom of the tragedy gracefully stepping aside renounces,
+quite nobly, the marriage dowry, and joins the Doge and Dogaressa
+in sanctioning Elena’s secret wedding with Gerardo. As story-books
+relate--they lived ever after in perfect happiness and great content.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER II
+
+
+                                   I
+
+The Legends of the Middle Ages were the fruitful source of the Poetry
+of the Renascence. Greek mythology and Roman mysticism yielded place
+to the humanistic tenets of Platonism and the heroic narratives of
+Christianity. Every temple and church and every monument and monastery
+became the treasury of moral and religious stories. Traditions of the
+past were the foundation of the histories of the present and these
+superstructures the forecasts of the future.
+
+Venice, by the reason of her unique environment, gathered all that was
+fairest, noblest and most moving of the life above and around her. The
+charms of allegory found in the people of the lagunes ready acceptance,
+and the halo of romance shed a brilliant light in the homes of every
+family.
+
+“If to-day be another’s, to-morrow is yours,” was a sentiment deep down
+in the hearts and minds of every man, woman, and child. Venice was the
+apple of each eye; each individual cared for her before self-interest.
+
+    “_La Campagna me consola,
+    Me Venegia ze la sola
+    Che me posa contenter
+        O Venegia benedetta
+        Nole vogio pia la sar!_”--
+
+So ran the popular barcarolle.
+
+Each family had its own legends and its peculiar characteristics,--the
+very names were indicative of an eventful past--each had its symbol and
+its story.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The family of Ursoilo or the Orseoli, “Little Bears!” was one of the
+four great ruling families in the early days of the Venetian Republic.
+They originally came from Aquileia when the Huns devastated Veneto.
+Their arms were two dancing brown bears, shaggy and obese, upon a blue
+field. With the Badoeri, Candiani and Michieli they shared the unique
+distinction of supplying Doges for full two hundred years.
+
+Pietro dal’ Orseolo (976–978) was the first representative of the
+family to mount the ducal Chair of State. He succeeded upon the
+assassination of Pietro Candiano IV., in which atrocious act he was
+reported to have a share, although probably, it was another Pietro, a
+namesake, who plotted against the Candiani.
+
+The new Doge was an excellent man, “_laudato di tutti_” as it was
+said of him,--but hardly the sort of ruler needed in such turbulent
+times. His first work was to remedy the excesses of the popular
+outbreak, and next he set himself the task of rebuilding both the
+basilica and the palace. To him is due the unique _Pala d’oro_ or
+Altar-front of beaten and embossed silver-gilt, made at Constantinople.
+
+His spouse, of a gentle loving nature like his own, was Donna Felicia
+Malipiero, by whom he had two sons--Pietro and Domenigo. The Doge
+and Dogaressa were devoted to the exercises of religion and their
+modest home during the rebuilding of the Ducal palace was thronged by
+ecclesiastics, both regular and secular, native and foreign-born.
+
+Everything which had to be done was laid before these clerical
+advisers--quite naturally exciting the resentment of the nobles of the
+Council. The Ducal _mênage_ was very staid and meagre, and the
+merry maidens and modish matrons of the city had no countenance from
+devout Donna Felicia.
+
+By degrees the Doge and Dogaressa altogether withdrew from State
+affairs: partly because they were weary of the importunities of Dowager
+Dogaressa Valdrada, whose dowry the Doge at length paid out of his
+privy purse, and partly because they had ceased to be in touch with
+the worldly occupations of their fellow-citizens. To pious works they
+addressed themselves, and first, in memory of Doge Pietro Tradonico,
+who, in 837, was murdered on the patronal festival of Saint Mark,
+they founded a hospital for poor pilgrims on their way to Palestine.
+The site chosen was a piece of waste ground (now included in the
+Piazza) belonging to the nuns of San Zaccaria. Whilst the Doge spent
+his leisure in devotions before the shrine, the Dogaressa visited the
+patients in the hospital and performed the most menial of offices.
+
+After two years of dignity Doge Pietro Orseolo abdicated his high
+office, and, accompanied by the Abbot Guarino of the Monastery of
+Saint Michele de Cassano in Aquitaine--a priest, of whom he had made a
+personal confidant--he withdrew secretly to France, and died many years
+after in his lonely cell at Longuedére near Cassano.
+
+A characteristic story is told of the cloistered Doge, who had placed
+himself under the guidance of the far-famed and ascetic Abbot Romoaldo,
+the founder of the strictest rule of the Camaldolites. Being unable
+to bear the austerity of his life, and suffering from hunger and the
+hardships of heavy manual labour, Brother Pietro Orseolo asked the holy
+man for some relaxation.
+
+“Father,” said he, “I have a gross body and I cannot, for my many sins,
+support my strength upon the daily morsel of hard biscuit, grant me, I
+pray thee, a more generous fare.”
+
+“My son,” replied Romoaldo, “thy body must be kept under, nevertheless
+I will allow thee one half biscuit more a day.”
+
+Dogaressa Felicia survived her husband many years--cloistered in
+the convent of San Zaccaria. She was much comforted by the filial
+devotion of her two sons, to whom she was never tired of repeating
+their father’s pious advice:--“Take care to preserve the rights of the
+Church, and be drawn aside from doing justice neither by love nor hate.”
+
+The fame of Pietro Orseolo’s renunciation and good works reached the
+ears of the Sovereign Pontiff, who authorised the necessary steps to
+be taken for his canonisation; and thus Saint Pietro Orseolo took his
+place among the many venerated saints of Venice. In the year 1732, his
+right arm was brought back from Cassano, and was deposited in San Marco
+among the holy relics.
+
+In the Museo Civico, in Venice, is a quaint painting, quite Byzantine
+in style, by the Venetian painter Giovanni Santacroce of the Madonna
+and Bambino attended by a choir of cherubs. Upon either side of
+Saint Mary kneel Pietro and Felicia Orseolo. He is clad in an ermine
+cape over a monkish habit and upon his head he wears a plain horned
+bonnet. The Dogaressa is attired in the rochet of a nun and wears the
+close-fitting wimple of the cloister.
+
+The ordinary dress for nobles and men of commanding talent and wealth
+consisted of long stuff tunics or cassocks with leather belts, full
+cloaks of silk lined with fur and fastened on the left shoulder, in the
+Greek fashion, by a plain gold brooch. Upon their heads they wore caps
+or bonnets of a Phrygian pattern with a band of interlaced coloured
+silk ribbons. Full beards and flowing locks were worn by all classes
+of the community until the middle of the tenth century, when the Roman
+mode of clean-shaven faces and short cropped hair became universal.
+
+The gentlewomen of Venice had long trailing skirts of coloured stuff
+or silk,--blue most favoured,--the bodices were cut square and low
+exposing the breast. In winter they superimposed silken mantles,
+generally of light blue--much like their lords’ cloaks. A cincture
+with a jewelled clasp made of metal, beads, or amber kept the folds
+of the garment in position. The hair was well combed out, not plaited
+but worn loose beneath natty light blue caps of silk cord or chenille.
+Girls had _tonde_,--circular white veils,--in public and matrons
+black _ninziolette_--mantillas. Jewels were sparingly worn,--a
+single row of pearls round the throat, one ruby or red-stone ring, and
+a tortoiseshell comb. The richer ladies added chains of gold with cameo
+pendants of Greek origin.
+
+  [Illustration: A NOBLE VENETIAN FAMILY.
+
+  Lorenzo Lotto.
+
+  NATIONAL GALLERY, LONDON.]
+
+Pietro Orseolo II. was the second “Grand” Doge of Venice. The son of
+pious, if misguided, parents who sought the good of others rather
+than their own, he learnt, at his mother’s knee, lessons of
+self-restraint and generosity. He was but seventeen years old when the
+abdication of his father left the Ducal office vacant.
+
+Too young of course to succeed he was placed under able tutors who
+inculcated the duties appertaining to the _rôle_ of a leader and
+ruler of men. The hereditary principle was constantly and repeatedly
+affirmed in Venice notwithstanding the universal fear of a personal
+rule. Given a wise father and a good mother, the child was bound to be
+a worthy citizen--so they held.
+
+The dogado of Tribolo Memo (979–991) was disturbed by the feuds of the
+Morosini and Caloprini. The former supported by the Orseoli were in
+favour of a democratic alliance with the Empire of the East, whilst the
+latter, aided by the Candiani desired an aristocratic arrangement with
+the Emperor of the West.
+
+The Doge was much too weak a man and far too feeble a ruler to deal
+effectively with the situation, they stigmatised him in Venice as “a
+stupid man!” Matters came to a head in 983 when, one day Domenigo
+Morosini was found stripped of his clothes and dead in a ditch near
+the Piazza of San Pietro di Castello. His followers accused Stefano
+Caloprini of being privy to the deed. He fled to the Court of the
+Emperor Otto and sought protection from the Imperial Court sitting at
+Verona, and he gained the ear of the gracious old Empress Adelheid, she
+who had befriended the imperious Valdrada.
+
+A truce was effected and the two parties joined in the deposition of
+the Doge. As by convention bound he sought the repose of religion and
+Dogaressa Marina, the daughter of Pietro Candiano IV.--who had escaped
+almost miraculously with her mother Valdrada from the fire at the Ducal
+Palace,--assumed the nun’s veil in the convent of S. Trinita.
+
+It was in the dogado of Memo that seven unmarried sisters--a prodigious
+number of spinsters as Venice society went--lived together in their own
+house opposite the Ponte della Maravigie just below the Palazzo Bembo.
+Six were plain and one was fair, the youngest--and their spinsterhood
+was regarded with suspicion. One day there chanced along the Rivo di
+San Trovaso a gondolier who had just gained laurels at the regatta.
+Something constrained the stalwart youth to linger by the iron-grilled
+window of the spinsters’ home, but strange sensations pervaded his
+whole anatomy so that he became weak and incapable of movement.
+
+His companions chided him and threw the name of the least prepossessing
+of the sextet, Dulcina, in his teeth, and they said he was bewitched!
+No face was shown at the lattice, and no sound issued from the darkened
+room, still poor Giovanni was rooted to the spot. At last with a fierce
+effort he threw off the enchantment, if such it was, and determined to
+unfathom the mystery, and if the sisters were witches to out upon them!
+Good Friday came round and Giovanni sought once more the mysterious
+dwelling. It was broad daylight and climbing up the grille he peered
+into a room, and there beheld not Dulcina, but Marina, the pretty
+sister, upon her knees before a crucifix!
+
+The athlete entered the room, and, as he did so, he beheld in the water
+of the canal the reflection of seven brilliant stars,--all paled, as he
+looked up, but one,--and that one flashed its beams upon the kneeling
+girl. She was astounded at his presence, and, when he straightly
+charged her with witchcraft, she weepingly replied:--“My art is not
+that of a witch, goodly youth, but of Cupid. I have prayed for thee,
+that Heaven would make thee strong and true. See, my star is shining
+o’er thy head--”
+
+“And my arms,” exclaimed the enraptured Giovanni, “are around thy
+breast, witch or no witch thou hast gained me for thine own.” With that
+he held her tightly to his bosom, and, unresisted planted hot kisses
+upon her lips and with his finger removed her tears.
+
+No doubt there was a wedding, and possibly the six plain bridesmaids
+were transformed into comely brides as well: but the story has no such
+ending. No,--alas,--brave Giovanni was stabbed in a night affray and
+beauteous Marina drowned herself in the canal! Sometimes they say,
+an eerie sound comes round the corner of the bridge--people call it
+“Marina’s Wail.”
+
+Young Orseolo, now grown into man’s estate, was hailed as sole Doge of
+Venice. At once he showed his mettle by crushing party differences.
+Such feuds never assumed the terrible proportions which made Florence,
+Siena and other Tuscan towns the scenes of fraternal bloodshed times
+out of mind. The new ruler proclaimed a strong policy abroad, and set
+to work to equip a navy of armed vessels, wherewith to make the name of
+Venice feared in all seas.
+
+The Dogaressa was Maria the only daughter of Vitale Candiano, brother
+of Pietro Candiano IV. Very diplomatic was this union, linking, as
+it did, the two most renowned families in Venice, and offering a
+safeguard to the ambitions of the rival Caloprini and Morosini. Seven
+children were the offspring of this marriage, and their baptisms and
+marriages the Doge tactfully made the occasions of adding to the
+honours of the family and to the renown of Venice.
+
+Giovanni, the first born, was betrothed to the Princess Maria, daughter
+of the younger brother of the Emperors Basil and Constantine,--Prince
+Agroupoulos. The wedding was celebrated in Constantinople with great
+pomp, the bride’s dowry was rich and rare, and upon the groom was
+bestowed the rank and privilege of a Prince of Byzantium. The two were
+crowned, at their nuptials, with imperial diadems of gold. A Venetian
+navy escorted the bridal pair to the lagune city, where royal honours
+were rendered. It was an auspicious home-coming, and the pigeons,
+which had already made their home in the Piazza, flew round the young
+couple’s heads in emulation of the popular ovation.
+
+They were a remarkably handsome couple: Giovanni possessed all the good
+looks for which his family was famed, and Princess Maria, according
+to old Giovanni Diacono,--the busy chronicler of Venice and the
+Venetians,--was “a lovely bride.” Her effigy, if not her portrait, is
+preserved upon the Ten of Spades in the suit of playing-cards preserved
+at the Museo Civico with the following legend:--
+
+“Dogaressa Maria Orseolo, niece of two Emperors of the East, Basil
+and Constantine, wife of Giovanni Orseolo, son of the Doge of Venice,
+fair and compassionate, a goddess who is so beautiful can never be
+hard-hearted!”
+
+Some historians say that the Princess Maria took after her aunt, the
+Empress Teofanea, wife of Otto II., Emperor of the West, who introduced
+into Germany the luxury and extravagance of her brother’s court at
+Constantinople. She was greatly admired for her beauty, her grace,
+and her erudition. German chroniclers speak of Teofanea’s “modesty
+and strong compassionate character,” and praise her as “a woman of
+unsullied virtue.”
+
+Giovanni’s imperial consort probably prepared the way for a still more
+luxurious and attractive Greek Dogaressa, Teodora, the consort of Doge
+Domenigo Selvo. Alas, both Giovanni and Maria Orseolo, with their only
+child, died of the plague in 1006.
+
+Doge Pietro Orseolo’s conduct of state affairs, in spite of the
+limitations placed upon the Ducal prerogatives by the jealousies of
+the nobles, was marked by a vigour quite new to the Venetians. His
+enthusiasm fired their imaginations for they saw that the favourable
+commercial treaties he contracted, both in the East and in the West,
+opened out new possibilities of aggrandisement and opulence.
+
+The flag of Venice was unfurled in every foreign port and was accorded
+a respect shown to no other national emblem. Pirates of the Gulf alone
+braved the displeasure of the Lion of San Marco, and, to overawe
+them, a punitive expedition was despatched to the coast of Istria
+and Dalmatia,--the first actual fleet of battleships sent forth from
+Venice. The Doge took command in person and Bishop Gradenigo, in the
+church of San Pietro di Castello, delivered into his hand the great
+red oriflamme of the Patron Saint, which had been embroidered by the
+skilful hands of the Dogaressa and her ladies. Upon the finial of the
+pole she tied, with a great bow of blue silk ribbon, a floral wreath of
+sea-pinks and carnations.
+
+The expedition was an unqualified success. Everywhere Venice triumphed,
+and, when Lesina, the pirate capital, capitulated, the climax was
+reached. The Doge forthwith annexed the whole littoral to the dominions
+of Venetia, assuming for himself and his successors the title of “Duke
+of Dalmatia and the Islands of the East.”
+
+The conquered towns were laid under heavy contributions:--Pola in two
+thousand pounds’ worth of purest olive oil, and one thousand yards of
+fine spun linen, twenty sables and a bale of thinnest silver gauze,
+for the Dogaressa’s use. Thus Doge Pietro Orseolo laid the foundation
+of Venetian greatness abroad just as Doge Agnello Badoero had done at
+home, at Rivo-Alto a hundred and twenty years before.
+
+The home-coming of the fleet was a magnificent triumph, the first of
+those splendid aquatic pageants which became so remarkable in the
+annals of Venice. Among those who hastened to welcome the Venetian Doge
+was the Emperor Otto III. who spent seven days as the guest of the Doge
+and Dogaressa.
+
+Peace with honour having now placed laurel leaves around the heads
+of the Ducal pair they addressed themselves to the pleasant task of
+decorating the new basilica of San Marco and adorning the new ducal
+palace; but, alas, whilst superintending these undulatings, Doge Pietro
+Orseolo “fell ill of a fever” and died on the tenth anniversary of the
+fall of Lesina, at the early age of forty-nine. By his will he divided
+his property into three parts:--one third for the one observance of
+the “_Festa delle Marie_,” one third to the Church and certain
+monasteries, and one third for his widow and his children.
+
+“Pietro Orseolo has come down to us as a good prince, beloved by his
+fellow-citizens and feared by the enemies and the rivals of Venice.”
+The Dogaressa Maria took, as it behoved her to do, the vow of chastity
+and became an inmate of the convent of the nuns of San Zaccaria. In
+the crypt of the monastic church was laid the body of her husband,
+“buried,” as chroniclers have related, “_per la trista Citta e
+lachrimosa_”; and she found a last resting-place by his side--“a
+good woman and a great Dogaressa.”
+
+The Doge’s second son named Pietro,--but renamed Otto or Ottone, in
+honour of the visit of the Emperor of the West,--married Grimelda,
+sister of Geiso, King of Hungary, in 1003, and succeeded to the ducal
+Estate on the death of his father. Little is recorded of him save that
+he had been created by his father Count of Ragusa after the Venetian
+conquest of Dalmatia. He and his consort were not made of their
+parents’ grit, for, alas, when the rising family of Gradenigo preferred
+claims to the dogado, they fled to Constantinople, and there they died.
+Dandolo, the historian, says:--“The Dogaressa Grimelda was a woman
+of sweet disposition, of considerable attainments and of remarkable
+nobility of character.”
+
+The third son of Pietro Orseolo II. and Maria was christened Orso and
+early dedicated to a monastic career. Domenigo, the youngest of the
+family married Imelda, granddaughter of Pietro Candiano III. and
+Richielda. The three daughters were, Icella married in 999 to Stefan,
+son of Surigno, Prince of Croatia; Imelda who died young and unmarried;
+and Felicia, Abbess of Sant’ Antonio di Torcello.
+
+With the death of Pietro,--grandson of the “Great” Pietro, son of
+the fugitive Ottone, in 1038 ended the famous family of Orseolo. The
+“dancing bears” ceased their gambols but the blue sky of Venice still
+cast its effulgence upon the mirrored waters of the canals.
+
+
+                                  II
+
+The long reign of Doge Domenigo Contarini (1043–1076)--the longest on
+record--was uneventful. It presented no special features--for Venice
+was at peace both at home and abroad. Family feuds were hushed, though
+doubtless the Morosini ill-brooked the elevation of a rival house.
+
+Those were days of repose and plenty when it was boastfully said by
+her citizens:--“Venice wants for nothing!” Such seasons of rest are
+occasionally granted to States, when leisure is found to apply the
+lessons of the past and to prepare for the developments of the future.
+
+Contarini was the premier of a triumvirate of Doges--the “Tribunal
+system”--as it was called,--being again enforced to limit personal
+autocracy. His co-Doges were Domenigo Selvo and Vitale Faliero--the
+former being especially the representative of the democratic section of
+the community.
+
+Selvo belonged to an ancient family of Greek extraction. In the eighth
+century his ancestors the Dorsoduri, or, in the Venetian vernacular,
+Spinalunge, were exiled by the Emperor Emmanuel from Byzantium and
+settled at Aitino in Veneto. By the time, however, of Domenigo, all
+such antecedents were forgotten, and he was received cordially as
+the Ambassador of Venice by the Emperor Constantine Ducas. Upon the
+death of the venerated Doge in 1071, Domenigo Selvo was unanimously
+chosen by the Council and vociferously acclaimed by the citizens as
+his successor. The cry was raised upon the Piazzetta:--“_Noi volemo
+Dose Domenigo Selvo, e lo laudiano!_” and hoisted upon the shoulders
+of his friends he was borne in riotous procession to his coronation.
+Passing the open doors of the grand basilica he leaped out of the arms
+of his bearers, and, kneeling humbly upon the tesselated pavement, he
+devoutly implored the help of Heaven and the blessing of the Church.
+
+The dogado of Selvo was perhaps less remarkable for the potentiality of
+the new Doge--strong man as he was no doubt--than for the personality
+of the haughty princess he brought to Venice to share the honours of
+the ducal State.
+
+Dogaressa Teodora Ducas was the daughter of the Emperor Constantine and
+her betrothal to the Doge of Venice was brought about by her brother
+Michael, who in 1067 succeeded his father as Emperor of the East. She
+landed on the Lido first for Mass, and then at the Piazzetta, wearing
+the imperial diadem with which her brother had crowned her at the
+nuptials in Constantinople.
+
+At the same time everybody noted that His Serenity the Doge’s bonnet
+of Estate was encircled by a richly wrought band of pure red Grecian
+gold, encrusted with precious stones! No Doge had ever worn such a
+conspicuous mark of royalty, and many a noble lord looked askance at
+the wearer--doubting in his mind whether it was intended as an emblem
+of sovereignty! Feelings of alarm filled the minds of the citizens and
+the welcome accorded to the ducal pair was cold and formal.
+
+The new Dogaressa was accompanied by a very numerous retinue, such as
+no previous consort of the Chief Magistrate had presumed to gather
+round her. Secretly the Venetians liked well their Doges and their
+nobles to contract splendid foreign marriages, and no “Brides of
+Venice” were more thoroughly admired than the “_donne Greche fonte di
+cortesia at amorevolezza_!”
+
+Teodora unfortunately did nothing to propitiate the insular
+prejudice of the men and women of Venice. Her autocratic bearing
+and her ill-disguised contempt for the “women of the Rialto” caused
+head-shakings and tongue-waggings in every circle of society. From the
+first she was as unpopular as her consort, the Doge, was beloved.
+
+In the Ducal Palace the Dogaressa set up an Imperial Court and required
+the nobles and state officials to render the honours to which she had
+been accustomed at Constantinople. She had her ladies of honour, her
+chamberlains, her pages and her slaves. Superbly robed and glittering
+with precious ornaments, Teodora Selvo offered an amazing contrast to
+Elena--the homely consort of the first “Grand” Doge--Agnello Badoero!
+
+Teodora was an Athenian of the Athenians, with all the predilections
+of a Sultana of the harem. Pomp and pettiness were strongly mingled in
+her character. The corruption of the Byzantine Court, in which she had
+been reared, had laid their indelible marks upon her: she shocked the
+susceptibilities of the simple, homely Venetians by her voluptuousness,
+her petulance, and her extravagance.
+
+Still, there was something about the Dogaressa which attracted
+sympathy, for were not the people of Rialto and her linked-up islets,
+descendants of Greek colonists in Veneto, and did they not preserve
+many traits and idiosyncrasies of their ancestors! Then, too, many a
+sea-faring Venetian, conquered by the artifices of Cupid in the Orient,
+had brought home a Greek bride to be the mother of his children, so the
+ways of the Dogaressa were not altogether without appeal.
+
+Teodora lived delicately: the plain fare and simple service of her
+consort’s establishment, which also obtained too in the casas of the
+nobles, were not to her liking. She introduced exquisite cooking--the
+Greek cuisine in place of the crude joints and inartistic concoctions
+of the Roman menu. Costly wines and liqueurs from Syria and the remote
+East supplanted the heavier beverages of the lagunes. Her table service
+was of pure gold and costly rock-crystal.
+
+Unlike the primitive ways of the unsophisticated Venetians, who were
+content to convey their food to their mouths with their fingers or
+with ladles, and to share cup and plate, the Dogaressa introduced a
+Grecian fork--an entirely new instrument in Western Empire--which
+was of solid gold, two-pronged, and beautifully chased, with which
+she ate dainty morsels, neatly carved and arranged by the eunuchs
+of the table. Moreover, she made constant use of fingerglass and
+finger-napkin--things which were unknown in Venice. Great wax candles
+were lighted after dark, and stuck into costly sconces--in spite of the
+archaic regulations of the curfew.
+
+Teodora Selvo rarely walked in the Piazza--the gondola was for her
+an ideal conveyance, it ministered to her love of ease and admirably
+served her secret flirtations. In public she always wore gloves,
+scented with aromatic herbs, and in this she set a fashion, which, no
+Venetian noble or simple of to-day, fails to observe.
+
+Into the mysteries of the Dogaressa’s toilet we may also most
+fortunately be admitted, through the grace of those who kept her
+diaries. The air of her apartments was perfumed each day before she
+rose for her _levée_. Beautiful scent-scatterers of blown grass,
+and elegant pastille stands were carried up and down by her attendants.
+This little bit of extravagance we may all thoroughly endorse, for
+doubtless, in her day, the odours of the canals were as bad if not
+worse, than in our own!
+
+The morning bath was administered with perfumed water, or white wine,
+and sometimes with freshly-gathered dew from the flower petals and
+green sward of her garden. If the Latins were especially careful as
+to washing their feet, the Greeks were equally particular about their
+heads: they found the douche healthful and invigorating. The more
+exquisite Athenians had a special perfume and wash for each portion of
+the body. It was said that simple-minded peasant Paris was directly
+influenced, in the bestowal of his golden apple, by the seductive
+odours exhaled by the massaged, painted, powdered, well-laved person
+of the fascinating Queen of Beauty!
+
+No doubt Teodora carried with her into the Ducal Palace a full battery
+of toilet requisites and delicacies--for example: for her arms,
+sweetened mint, clearest oil of palms for her lips and breast, sweet
+marjoram mixed with the pomades for hair and eyebrows, and for knees
+and neck essence of ground-ivy--such was the custom of her people.
+
+The Dogaressa’s clothing, if not quite “of fine gold” was of the
+richest damask and the fairest linen procurable; her marriage coffer
+was full of marvels. Everything she wore was heavily scented, so that
+wherever she went a delicious perfume was scattered around and about.
+
+Probably Cleopatra was Teodora’s best-loved model, not indeed that she
+ever went so far as to dissolve pearls in sour wine or place biting
+vipers in her bosom! There is a very beautiful painting by a pupil of
+Paris Bordone--perhaps by the master himself--of a “_Gentildonna
+Venetta_” in the dress of the Eastern queen--may it not have been
+inspired by the story of the Dogaressa Teodora!
+
+What a thousand pities it is that art was too crude in the eleventh
+century to permit of an actual portrait of the Venetian Queen of
+Fashion Teodora!
+
+We know not whether she was fair or dark, tall or short, embonpoint
+or thin. The probabilities are that she was blonde, as most Greek
+beauties were, but any attractions her figure may have offered as a
+bride possibly were diminished when she became a matron. High living,
+sensuous conduct and idleness bring their punishment to most men and
+women, and Teodora Selvo was no exception to the rule.
+
+Plain old Pietro Diacono,--that unmercifully exact chronicler of
+things Venetian,--speaks of Teodora’s “_Tanta delicatezza_.”
+He says:--“Her Serenity’s sinful voluptuousness and inordinate
+self-indulgence brought with them a judgment. About two years after her
+marriage with the Lord Selvo the Dogaressa was attacked by a putrid
+fever. The malady became at last so insufferably distasteful that the
+proud daughter of Constantine was an object in her latest moments of
+mingled compassion and abhorrence to all around her. She was left to
+die alone almost, the victim of outrageous splendour and outrageous
+uncleanness!”
+
+The Dogaressa Teodora died in 1083.
+
+As to the exact negotiation which ended in Domenigo Selvo leading home
+an imperial bride, we have no information. That he was astute enough
+to get the best of a bargain goes without saying, for, in common with
+the generality of Venetians he was able to weigh the promises of one
+favourable alliance against the presumed advantages of another.
+
+Possessed of immense wealth and of the faculty of ever adding to it,
+fortuitously enough for him, the Imperial Government at Constantinople
+was at the period of Selvo’s embassy in dire need of funds. The Army
+was mutinous through the non-payment of the troops, the Navy was
+undermanned and unready for action, and the Exchequer was depleted.
+
+Selvo, and those who saw what he saw, feared oppression from the
+Germans and the French, and when another power,--the Norsemen,--as
+mighty or mightier than Venice on the Seas pushed conquests along
+the Mediterranean shores, all eyes turned to their natural ally at
+Constantinople. An alliance was arranged, Venetian ships and men were
+placed at the service of the Imperial Government, and the hand of the
+Emperor’s sister was thrown into the bargain.
+
+The Doge took command in person of the fleet which gave battle to the
+bold Norsemen under Roberto Guiscardo at Durazzo and vanquished them,
+but, alas, he was defeated later on at Corfu. Nevertheless, Selvo
+showed splendidly the grit that was in him and wore the laurels he
+gained triumphantly.
+
+One other enterprise--a peaceful one also endeared him to his
+fellow-citizens--his love for the Ducal Palace and for San Marco. With
+rare munificence he embellished both edifices with rare marbles and
+mosaics which he had collected in the Orient, and dowered both edifices
+with revenues.
+
+The manner of his death is not recorded, some say he abdicated, soon
+after the arrival of the Dogaressa, in favour of his son, Michele, and
+ended his days in a monastery. Anyhow he survived his unhappy wife but
+a short twelve months and left the direction of State affairs to the
+care of his former coadjutor Vitale Faliero who in 1085 assumed the
+proud title of Doge of Venice, Croatia, and Dalmatia.
+
+Teodora Selvo was not forgotten by the Venetians. She had, in all her
+recklessness of life, been a splendid figure-head for the State, no
+less than a generous patroness of the industries of her adopted city.
+Much of the extravagance which marked the manners of the nobles, at the
+end of the eleventh century, was due to her example.
+
+One very excellent fashion survived her--and still survives--the love
+of perfumes. The botteghe of the apothecaries and perfumers in the
+Merceria were made, by the Dogaressa’s example, the fashionable daily
+rendezvous of the best people in Venice and so they have remained. None
+to-day are so fond of scent and cosmétiques as the Venetians of all
+classes. Still in Chioggia, and other outlying portions of the lagunes,
+women of every station, are remarkable for the painting of the face,
+the dyeing of the hair, and other gentle artifices.
+
+The Tuscan motto:--“L’Uomo fa le legge--la donna i costumi”--was true
+of Venice what time the fascinating Dogaressa Teodora set the fashions
+in the Piazza.
+
+
+                                  III
+
+The last of the four chief or “Apostolic” ruling families of Venice
+to gain the _dogado_ was that of the Michieli. The designation
+“Apostolic” was assigned to each of the twelve foremost families in the
+roll of nobility--the families of the twelve Tribunes who joined in
+the election of the first Doge Paolo Lucio Anafesto. Their names were
+enrolled in 709 at Eraclea:--Badoeri (Orseoli), Candiani, Contarini,
+Morosini, Gradenighi, Memi, Falieri, Michieli, Dandoli, Poli, Barozzi,
+and Tiepoli.
+
+The very name “Michielo” indicates their origin--descendants of Greek
+colonists in Veneto. They were among the fugitives from Altino, who
+fled to the lagunes on the approach of the Longobards, and settled on
+the _lido_ of Torcello.
+
+  [Illustration: A DOGARESSA AND HER MAIDS OF HONOUR.
+
+  FROM A PRINT. 1560.
+
+  “Habiti d’Huomini e Donne.”--G. Franco.]
+
+The first Michielo to be elected Doge was Vitale, in 1096, in
+succession to Vitale Faliero, under whom the new Republic shattered
+the last shreds of vassalage to the Byzantine Empire. Vitale Faliero’s
+consort was Cornella Bembo, who presented her spouse with a daughter to
+whom he gave the name of Enrica, after her sponsor, the Emperor Enrico,
+thus confirming the new alliance with the Germanic powers.
+
+The Bembi came from Eraclea and were reckoned one of the four noble
+families of the second grade, who, in 800, signed the roll of nobility
+in the church of San Giorgio Maggiore. They, with the Giustiniani,
+Cornari and Bragadini, were styled “Evangelistic.”
+
+Vitale Michielo married Donna Felicia Cornaro,--“gracious in speech,
+modest in bearing, the goodness of her soul shone out in the sweetness
+of her countenance,”--so is she spoken of by the chronicler. Perhaps
+too Sansovino’s estimate of the women of the Michielo period may be
+most strictly applied to the Dogaressa Felicia:--“Having made it their
+aim to be peaceful and religious, they kept on an equality with one
+another, that equality might induce stability and concord. They made
+their dress a matter of conscience, conformable to their seriousness
+of demeanour--concealing the figure.” This was undoubtedly a reaction
+from the dazzling personality of Dogaressa Teodora and the fascinating
+frivolities of her regime.
+
+Tales of the sufferings endured by Christian pilgrims in Palestine
+reached Venice what time the virtuous Dogaressa Felicia influenced
+the counsels of her husband for good. At first they attracted little
+sympathy, for the Venetians were too much absorbed with their own
+domestic development and with the condition of their home politics, to
+take much heed to foreign affairs.
+
+To the Dogaressa directly was due the initiations of efforts on behalf
+of the poor Syrians and the strangers within their gates. She persuaded
+the Doge to convene a meeting of the heads of families in support of
+the Crusade so eloquently preached by Peter the Hermit, and other
+holy men. By way of raising funds to assist in the sacred enterprise
+Dogaressa Felicia set an example of self-denial and liberality, by
+giving up her splendid jewels and dresses for sale; she also greatly
+restricted her personal pleasures and the hospitalities of the Ducal
+Palace.
+
+This noble conduct, which was provocative of the best results, was
+recorded upon her tomb in the portico of San Marco. The lengthy
+inscription states that “Felicia Vitalis lived and died in the fear and
+love of God; she hated luxury and was an example for all good women.”
+
+So great was her influence that in 1099 two hundred ships assembled at
+the Lido, each of which carried at her helm the hallowed ensign she
+presented to their commanders. Sailors, troops and equipment from every
+European state were poured into Venice, and her fleet conveyed them
+safely to Syrian ports.
+
+The Doge and Dogaressa spared not their own family, for their
+first-born, Giovanni, a mere youth, sailed with the leader of the
+Venetian contingent, Arrigo Contarini, Bishop of Castello. Mothers of
+Venetian lads hastened to follow the good Dogaressa’s example, and
+parted tearfully but prayerfully with their dearest and their best.
+
+After the departure of the Crusaders the Dogaressa busied herself in
+the foundation of hospitals and homes of rest for pilgrims on their
+way to the Holy Sepulchre. Preparations too were made for the care of
+the wounded, the ailing and the sad on their return from service under
+the Cross. Women’s work is never so noble as when it links the care of
+suffering humanity to the cause of faith and hope. Dogaressa Felicia
+was messenger of pity and angel of love to all around her.
+
+The Crusade met with vicissitudes of course, but at length, their aim
+attained, the saintly Crusaders returned to Venice, bearing with them
+the body of Saint Nicholas of Myra or Morea. Well may we imagine the
+rejoicings of the mothers and sweethearts of Venice when they descried
+the coloured sails of the home-coming vessels making for the Lido! The
+battle-songs and hymns of the Christian warriors were wafted over the
+gently rippling blue water, and they found an ecstatic response in the
+sweet voices of women and children gathered all along the sandy beach.
+
+The holy relics were landed ceremoniously at the Lido, and, with pomp
+and circumstance escorted to the church of San Niccolo: they were the
+undeniable tokens of fervent and successful devotion in the service
+of Christ’s cross and sepulchre. Women almost forgot the sadness of
+bereavement,--for many homes were desolate,--in their joy and gladness
+at the accomplishment of the holy enterprise.
+
+One other notable event in the _dogado_ of Vitale Michielo I. was
+the appeal of the great Countess Matilda of Tuscany to the Dogaressa
+Felicia to use her influence with the Venetians,--who were devoted to
+her,--for the recovery of Ferrara which had revolted. She recognised
+that the noble spouse of the Doge of Venice possessed all the
+attributes of religion, justice, and benevolence. The plea was not in
+vain, and ships and seamen of Venice regained for the Countess the
+rebel city.
+
+Doge Vitale Michielo died in 1102, and Dogaressa Felicia in 1111. They
+were both buried at San Zaccaria.
+
+The most famous of the Michieli Doges was Domenigo (1117–1130) grandson
+of Vitale I. His immediate predecessor was Ordelafo Faliero whose
+_dogado_ was memorable by reason of its terrors--earthquakes, floods,
+fires and pestilence! Dogaressa Matelda, cousin, or as some say, sister
+of Baldwin, King of Jerusalem, headed the crowd of panic-stricken
+women who thronged the churches to supplicate Heaven for pity and
+forgiveness. She tried to dissuade her husband from personally leading
+the naval demonstration, which Venice made against the Greeks, saying
+that:--“The place of the Doge, as the father of his people, is in
+their midst during tribulation.” Dandolo speaks of her as a “miracle
+of probity,” and says, “Her fame was widely spread about as a model of
+what a good wife should be.” Nevertheless Doge Faliero went on board
+his war-galley and met under the walls of Zara a hero’s death.
+
+Sad was Dogaressa Matelda as she met the returning warships, and
+broken-hearted as she took possession of her beloved husband’s body.
+Slightly comforted was she however, when his lieutenant placed in her
+hands holy reliquaries, wherein reposed a splinter of the True Cross,
+and relics of St James the Less, and of Saint Plato the Confessor
+of Constantinople. She assisted in the solemn procession which
+accompanied these holy treasures to their last resting-place in San
+Giorgio Maggiore. Then she quietly retired, as a good example, to her
+contemplative cell at San Zaccaria.
+
+Another story relates that Doge Faliero was only wounded at Zara, and,
+having accomplished his mission and administered punishment to the
+Greek pirates of the Gulf, he sailed on to Constantinople, and there
+secured the venerable relics and with them returned to Venice. With
+the Dogaressa he shared the honours of the translation of the precious
+prizes he had obtained, and helped to bear on his shoulder the body of
+Saint Stephen to its last resting-place in the chapel of San Giorgio
+Maggiore; then he and she renounced their high station and humbly
+dedicated the residue of their lives to the peace of the cloister.
+
+Domenigo Michielo was cast in a sterner mould. Pious, no doubt as most
+Venetians were, and imbued with a spirit of reverence as a devoted son
+of the Church, he has come down to us with the title “_Cattolico Uomo
+e Audace!_”
+
+The desire that the people of Venice expressed for the possession of
+relics of the Saints became almost an infatuation. It was the popular
+belief that the terrors of Heaven and the disasters of earth could best
+be met by the deposition of the bodies of martyrs on Venetian ground.
+Hence Doge Domenigo acquired the body of Saint Isidoro from the island
+of Sio, and that of Saint Donato Bishop of Eurœa from Cephalonia, and
+with the latter the bones of the dragon, which beast he slew!
+
+These were some of the spoils of the Second Crusade wherein Venice
+took an active and noble part, and from which she obtained great
+political results and immense booty. Very acrimonious were the debates
+and consultations on the part of the Crusader chiefs and keen their
+rivalries for saintly distinctions and profit. Each of them had an eye
+to personal advancement and shirked the hardships of the campaign.
+Domenigo reproved them sternly:--“Those,” he said, “who share the glory
+of our enterprise must be prepared to share its trials.”
+
+The fleet of Venice not only aided greatly the pilgrims and the forces
+despatched from all lands to Palestine, but, turning homewards, ravaged
+the Grecian Archipelago. The name of Venice was renowned as that
+of--“The Greatest Sea Power of Europe,” and Doge Michielo was hailed
+as--the epitaph upon his tomb in San Giorgio Maggiore--“The Terror of
+the Greeks and the Glory of Venice.”
+
+In his train he brought to Venice many distinguished captives, among
+them the Lady Sofia--a beautiful Eastern houri, who was carried off
+by Domenigo Morosini, by him raised to the Ducal seat, and, at last,
+buried with him in the church of Santa Croce.
+
+Years of peace and prosperity followed, such as Venice had rarely
+experienced. She was coming to be looked upon as the nursery of the
+Fine Arts and the boudoir of the Graces, as well as Patroness of the
+Crafts and the “Mistress of the Seas.”
+
+The frequent and often protracted absences of the Doge in command of
+fleets, from time to time despatched to punish pirates and marauders
+and maintain the prestige of the flag of Venice in foreign waters, by
+no means diminished the importance and privileges of the Dogaressa.
+
+As the First Lady of the Commonwealth she had many responsibilities
+which were greatly enlarged when her Consort was not in residence.
+If she had no position with respect to the Council of State and had
+nothing whatever to do with politics, there were numerous duties
+which devolved upon her. The patronage and direction of charities of
+all kinds--whether eleemosynary or educational, the maintenance of
+the Ducal hospitalities, the reception of ambassadors, the claims of
+family, and the encouragement of arts and crafts gave her Serenity much
+to devise and do.
+
+As Consort of a militant Head of the State she was expected to exhibit
+all the virtues of a virago, and to introduce virility into all the
+feminine avocations of the day. If indeed her powers for usefulness
+were limited by restrictions she easily cast aside many of the
+conventions of her position. Such was the _rôle_ in particular of
+the Donna Alicia, the able wife of Doge Domenigo Michielo. She lived up
+to the reputation of her husband, sharing his anxieties, his ambitions
+and his success.
+
+When stricken by the labours and responsibilities of his office he
+sought relief in abdication and seclusion in the monastery, Dogaressa
+Alicia, however, asserted herself, and, instead of retiring to a
+convent, as she was expected to do, she determined that neither the
+prayers and meditations of the cloister, nor the self-effacement and
+bigotry of a recluse should enslave her energies.
+
+The _Societa de’ Pinzocchere_--“Bigots!”--to which many of the
+noble widows of Venice belonged, had no attraction for Donna Alicia.
+To be merely a hired mourner at State funerals was no life for her.
+She had her children to put out into the world and, in particular, she
+had her sons to prepare for high places under Government. Whilst, by
+necessity she had to yield the pre-eminence to the actual Dogaressa,
+her successor, she remained a free agent and a very useful and
+dependable confidante for men and women who had shared the toils and
+the rewards of her husband’s _dogado_. In due time Dogaressa
+Alicia’s prescience had its reward. Her son Vitale Michielo II.--the
+child of his mother’s solicitude, was elected Doge in 1156.
+
+By his high tone and probity he raised the position of Doge to its
+highest level and reigned almost as a Sovereign Prince. His two sons
+he married well--Leonardo, created Count of Osero, to Alecia daughter
+of the King of Servia, and Niccolo, Count of Arbe, to Maria niece of
+Stefano, King of Hungary. To him was due the admission annually of
+forty young nobles to the rank of “Barbarini” among the members of the
+Grand Council; and the first silver coinage of Venice, together with
+the foundation of the first public Bank.
+
+Alas Doge Vitale, who espoused the cause of the Papacy against the
+Emperor Frederic Barbarossa, came to an untimely end. Seeking sanctuary
+one day from a crowd of ruffians,--many of alien origin,--who demanded
+largesse he knocked at the gate of the convent of San Zaccaria. Before
+the porter could open to him the ill-conditioned wretches were upon
+him and offering personal violence if their claims were not satisfied.
+The Doge turned to address the men, and as he did so, one, Casiolo, a
+discharged gondolier lately in the Ducal service, struck him with his
+stiletto. This was the signal for a brutal assault, and before succour
+could arrive Vitale Michielo’s body was hacked to pieces in the street!
+
+Dogaressa Felicita Maria, daughter of Boemodo Prince of Antioch, it was
+said was at the time paying a visit to the nuns: so dumbfounded was
+she at the tragedy that nothing could shake her resolution never to
+leave the convent,--and there she remained and died. She and her sons
+were great benefactors to Venice. They greatly enriched the patrimony
+of San Zaccaria, and endowed the monastery and built the church of San
+Giovanni Evangelista.
+
+A very pathetic and romantic episode in the history of the family of
+Doge Vitale II. and Dogaressa Felicita Maria Michielo was the marriage
+of their daughter Anna. Inspired by the holy example and goodly
+precepts of her mother Anna Michielo had taken the vows of an enclosed
+nun at the convent of Sant’ Adriana d’Amiano, where she meditated
+deeply upon the trials of the Christians in Syria, and prayed for the
+weal of sons of Venice gone forth to the Holy War.
+
+In the disastrous expedition in 1170 against the Emperor Emmanuel
+Commeno all the young men of the Venetian family of Giustiniani were
+slain--save one. Niccolo Giustiniani was a monk in the Benedictine
+monastery of San Niccolo di Lido, where he had been professed when Anna
+Michielo renounced her love for him to become, by fervent self-denial,
+a Bride of Christ.
+
+The extinction of a noble family in those days was a thing of
+rare occurrence: the State usually stepped in to prevent such
+a catastrophe. This was the course adopted with respect to the
+Giustiniani. Niccolo at San Niccolo and Anna at Sant’ Adriana were
+summoned from their cells, and, with the express permission of Pope
+Alexander III., were joined together, vows or no vows, in the holy
+estate of matrimony.
+
+Never was there a happier conjunction of kindred souls, and never so
+auspicious a resuscitation of a family-tree. Anna Giustiniani gave
+to her husband--her true and only love--twelve pledges of marital
+affection. Nine of them were sons. So worthy Anna was in truth and deed
+the “Mother of the Giustiniani!”
+
+All twelve olive-branches reached maturity and then, Niccolo and Anna,
+freed from family cares, agreed to separate once more and, as the
+highest act of self-denial, to renew the sacred vow of chastity, and
+again entered upon the seclusion and the silence of the cell. With holy
+Anna went her three young daughters Martha, Margherita and Bartoletta.
+The two former returned to the world upon their marriage, but
+Bartoletta followed her mother’s example and became a nun. Soon after,
+and during saintly Anna’s life, the nuns were removed from the island
+convent of Sant’ Adriana to Venice proper, and took possession of their
+new home at Santa Caterina, of which Bartoletta was named first Abbess.
+
+Anna died in the odour of sanctity, and she is still remembered by
+devout Venetian women in prayer and example as “Beata Anna Giustiniani.”
+
+It was in the days of Doge Vitale Michielo II. that three brothers
+came to Venice from Morea, and settled themselves and their goods
+in a small _casa_ on the Fondaco de’ Mastelli. Rioba, Sando,
+and Africo were their names, but because of their origin they were
+popularly called Mori, and their arms displayed a Moor leading a laden
+camel--the most stupid of beasts. They soon acquired wealth and set
+about rebuilding their humble residence. At the corner of the new
+palace, on the Campo de’ Mori, they stuck up three sculptured figures
+of themselves under the guise of Saints Mark, Theodore, and John
+Baptist. They were very highly coloured and soon became laughing-stocks
+to passers-by.
+
+Two of the figures disappeared mysteriously, and the Baptist alone
+remained, but his name was changed to “Sior Antonio Rioba Pantaleone.”
+It became a custom for jocular Venetians to send unsophisticated
+youths and over-trustful strangers with messages to the “Sior,” much
+as we were wont to treat our friends on “April-Fool Day!” At a later
+date “Sior Rioba’s” mouth became the receptacle for denunciations of
+enemies--so fitful are the customs of people!
+
+
+                                  IV
+
+The splendid _dogado_ of Sebastiano Ziani (1172–1178) was remarkable
+for one event, at least, of romantic and historic interest--the first
+“Espousals of Venice and the Sea.”
+
+In March 1177 Pope Alexander III. arrived at the Lido after weary
+stately wanderings through Europe. He was received with joy and honour
+by all classes of the community: they were fervent Catholics and cared
+little about questions and parties for or against Papacy which moved
+other States. Residing pompously at the Palace of the Patriarch of
+Grado, his Holiness entered fully into the ecclesiastical and political
+affairs of the city.
+
+Doge Ziani was absent in command of the Venetian fleet, and in May news
+reached Venice that he had gained a decisive victory at Salboro over
+the Emperor Frederic Barbarossa, and that his son and heir, Prince
+Otto, was a prisoner of war. The whole city turned out to welcome the
+victors, with their rich booty and many captives. Upon the beach of
+Lido stood the Pontiff--the centre of a notable group of dignitaries
+in full robes of state. Alexander was the first to congratulate the
+victorious Doge, and at the same time he publicly blessed the brave
+seamen and their leaders. Raising the kneeling Doge to his feet the
+Pope embraced him, and, taking off one of his own signet rings, he
+placed it upon Ziani’s thumb.
+
+“Take this, my son,” he said, “as a token of the true and perpetual
+dominion of the sea, which thou and thy successors shall wed every year
+upon this auspicious festival of the Ascension, that all men may know
+that the sea belongs to Venice, and that she is indissolubly joined
+thereto as a bride to her husband.”
+
+Then the whole company adjourned to the venerable church of San Niccolo
+where “Te Deum” was sung pontifically. By gondola, and barca, and in
+flat-keeled galley, a water pageant made its way to the Piazzetta, and
+the rest of the day was spent in general merry-making.
+
+The annual commemoration was made the occasion of universal rejoicing
+and pageantry. The Doge and the most distinguished members of the
+Council and the foreign ambassadors to Venice took their places on
+board a wonderful vessel “_Bucintoro_,” it was called, and in stately
+procession went off to the Lido. We must not suppose that only
+statesmen and seamen took part in the pageant, for, obviously, it was
+an occasion for the display of the personal charms and elegant fashions
+of the _gentildonne_. For the use of the Dogaressa and her ladies a
+splendid galley was built, shaped like a Grecian temple, and tethered
+to a pair of wooden sea-monsters, wherein the forty rowers were seated.
+
+Arrived at the historic spot the Doge and Dogaressa, with their
+ecclesiastical and official attendants, embarked in a gaily decorated
+boat and set out to sea. Thence the Doge cast a superb ring into the
+deep--a ring of gold, enriched with onyx, lapis-lazuli, and malachite,
+engraved with the sign of St Mark holding a book of the Gospel.
+“Sponsamus te mare nostrum in signum veri et perpetui dominii,”
+were the words he uttered solemnly, whilst the clergy from golden
+vases sprinkled holy water upon the company and upon the smiling
+rippling sea. The Dogaressa and the ladies of her suite cast into the
+clear water the lovely nosegays they had brought with them--roses,
+carnations, and lilies.
+
+Returning to Venice, after devotions in San Niccolo, the Doge gave a
+magnificent banquet in the palace to the notables of the city, and
+then all the lovely girls and the comely youths of every class were
+entertained at a vast ball, which overflowed the Piazza, and found
+relief only in the most distant _calli_. By old prescription
+the workmen of the Arsenal were entertained at supper by the Doge
+and Dogaressa. Each man had the privilege of keeping his knife and
+spoon, his glass and his napkin, and he received besides a silver
+medal--bearing the effigies of the Most Serene couple, a case of useful
+medicines, a beautiful box of comfits, and a flask of Greek Muscat wine.
+
+In later times the “Marriage of the Sea” was made a second
+carnival--lasting fifteen days, during which a great fair was held in
+the Piazza with fireworks such as Venetians only knew how to make, each
+evening at the Lido.
+
+From Doge Ziani’s day came the annual athletic festival on the Lido.
+Lads turned fifteen, and young men up to thirty, after careful
+training in their various _sestieri_ or city wards, went off to
+the butts and tracks set up upon the beach to contest for prizes
+in shooting, wrestling, boxing, running, and other sports. The
+competitors were arranged in twelve groups called, “_Duodene_” and
+every one was expected to be a proficient bowman. Merchant ships always
+carried a certain number of such expert young bowmen. All “catches”
+were permissible--indeed kicking, wringing the neck, and all the
+features,--brutal as they were,--of the Olympian grievous boxing were
+not disallowed. Bamboos as well as fists were used! All classes of the
+male folk of the islands were eligible to compete in every contest and
+upon equal terms. Matrons and maids thronged to watch and encourage
+sons and sweethearts, each fair one scrupulously careful about her
+dress and veil. Many a Venetian “Venus du Milo” doubtless longed to
+try herself against her companions, but such maiden contests were
+inadmissible by the State laws.
+
+  [Illustration: GOING TO A MASKED BALL.
+
+  FROM A PRINT. 1560.
+
+  “Habiti d’Huomini e Donne.”--G. Franco.]
+
+Incidentally these sports, which revived the athletic contests
+inaugurated by the Dogaressa Teodora Selvo, gave rise to rivalries
+between the inhabitants of the eastern and western halves of the
+City, which were ultimately resolved into two opposing parties--the
+“_Castellani_” and the “_Nicolotti_.” A neutral zone was ultimately
+marked out, whereupon stood the church of San Trovaso. The sacred
+building had doors opening west and east so that adherents of both
+parties might attend the Divine Offices without encountering one
+another. Difficulties however soon arose through the wantonness of
+women: maidens of one party were constantly falling in love with men of
+the other, and then trouble ensued!
+
+The Emperor Frederic Barbarossa himself came to Venice in July
+1177--reconciling himself to the power of the world in the person of
+Doge Sebastiano Ziani, and to the power of the Church in the person
+of Pope Alexander III. He was sumptuously entertained by the Doge and
+Dogaressa. Conquerors and conquered joined together in scenes of gaiety
+and splendour. The Doge appeared in regal guise, accompanied by the new
+insignia of office, bestowed by the Sovereign Pontiff,--a folding Chair
+of State, a Royal Cushion, a golden Sword of State, a great painted
+lighted candle, and four silver trumpets. The Dogaressa wore a jewelled
+diadem around her Ducal horned cap, the gift of the Pope, and a cape or
+mantle of gold brocade, bearing the Imperial cognisance placed around
+her shoulders by the Emperor.
+
+Happily Sebastiano Ziani was a wealthy man and so was able to maintain
+the Ducal dignity without reproach. He was born in 1102--the son of
+Marino Ziani of Santa Giustina in Castello, a noble of ambassadorial
+rank. A curious legend was treasured in the family: an ancestor at
+Altino, discovered among the ruins of the Temple of Juno, a cow
+moulded in solid gold! This was the foundation of the vast riches of
+the family,--the wealthiest by far of all in Venice, and known by the
+sobriquet “_Famiglia della Vacca d’oro_.” “_L’haver de Ziani!_” became
+a proverb--synonymous of the possession of great wealth.
+
+Sebastiano lavished munificence unstintingly in Venice--new bridges,
+new facades to buildings, new churches, were witnesses to his
+benevolence, and dying, in 1175, he left the bulk of his fortune for
+the decoration of San Marco. He abdicated in 1170 and entered the
+monastery of San Giorgio Maggiore. No historian has preserved the date
+of Dogaressa Cecilia’s death,--probably she too found a refuge in the
+ducal convent of San Zaccaria.
+
+It may be interesting to note the prices current during the
+_dogado_ of Sebastiano Zani for certain commodities of everyday
+life. The following is a brief table of the Autumn sales in 1173:--
+
+   Wine (except Greek)                   21 soldi per libbra (pound)
+   Beef--a fair average quality          21    „    „   „
+   Oil    „      „      „                25 lire    „ 1000 libbre
+   Corn   „      „      „                16–17 soldi per staio (bushel)
+   Eggs                                  25 soldi per 400
+   Fish, sturgeon, trout, and ray        3½   „    „  libbra
+    „ tench and pike                     3    „    „    „
+    „ gudgeon, red-mullet and gunard     2½   „    „    „
+
+These prices were quoted on the Ponte di Rialto and at the retail
+markets on the _fundamenti_: they were controlled by the _Corte
+della Giustizia_ which Doge Ziani empanelled.
+
+Games of chance and gambling were always restricted in old Venice, but
+in 1175 Niccolo Barattieri, as a reward--_onesta grazia_,--in
+the words of the Doge,--for having succeeded when many others had
+failed, in lifting and placing the two great pillars of Samos granite
+at the end of the Piazzetta, claimed the privilege of opening a
+gaming saloon or tent, between the columns. The promise could not
+be gainsaid--“whatever the successful engineer likes to ask”--but
+to prevent so far as possible the success of the undertaking it was
+ordained that all public executions should be carried out on the spot.
+Between the two pillars a raised flat stone was placed, and upon it
+“are laid, and hath ever been, for the space of three days and three
+nights, the heads of all such as are enemies or traitors to the State,
+or some notorious offender.”
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In all the gorgeous pageantry of Venetian Story, perhaps, no scene is
+more striking and more affecting than that which was enacted upon the
+Feast of the Nativity of Christ in 1202, within the storied walls of
+the most wonderful of all the basilicas of Christendom--San Marco.
+
+In due order within the noble choir were gathered together
+representatives of the seventy-and-two churches, and more than
+seventy-and-two monasteries of the islands. Before the great screen
+stood Christian knights from every European state--clothed in complete
+armour and bearing upon their hearts the red cross of pilgrimage. The
+great white oriflamme of the Crusade, charged with the red cross of the
+Captain of Salvation, was held unfurled by Lord Boniface, Marquis of
+Montferrat, commander of the French contingent. It had been wreathed
+by ladies of the Doge’s household with white lilies of the Annunciation
+and red carnations of the Crucifixion. Around the great pulpit was
+assembled all that was fair and virtuous and all that was frail and
+voluptuous in Venice. The women’s great black veils, and the girls’
+veils of purest white linen, modestly gathered in around their full
+open bosoms, revealed beauteous classical features and abundant golden
+tresses.
+
+All were fired with ecstatic devotion as, kneeling humbly upon the
+stone pavement, they uttered with deep emotion their “_Aves_” and their
+“_Paternosters_.” Like the chromatic ripples of a summer sea re-echoed
+the orisons aloft upon the resonant mosaics of the lofty roof, and the
+devout dropping of innumerable rosary-beads resembled the rolling of
+beach pebbles by the beating waves. The women of Venice were gathered
+together to encourage their men folk to be true and brave for Christ
+and home!
+
+The age and youth of Venice alike mustered there no less wrapt in
+devotion than their wives and sweethearts; each man’s _berretta_
+is in his hand, his right grasps his sword-hilt, and his knees are bent
+in self-dedication. The stripling kneels alongside his sire, and he
+again supports a more venerable man,--the grandsire, for the Crusaders
+knew no age limit.
+
+A wide avenue down the centre of the great church is left for the
+progress of the magistrates, and furtively are eyes turned to the
+great open portal as the solemn procession comes into view. Their
+Excellencies pass to their places, and, last of all, wearing his full
+Ducal State, marches, with the stalwart step Arrigo Dandolo--the Doge.
+Lightly, as upon few, sit his ninety-and-four years, his lameness is
+hardly noticeable, his back is no longer bent, and his eyes are keen:
+his Serenity bears the marks of a hero approaching the zenith of his
+career. All eyes are riveted upon the “Grand Old Man of Venice.”
+
+Dandolo makes his obeisance to the Sacred Host,--exposed above the
+famous _Pala d’oro_, but, to the universal wonderment, he ascends
+not his Ducal seat beside the altar, but mounts the stairway of the
+pulpit. With hand raised aloft, and voice piercing and full of purpose,
+he cries out:--“Sirs, we are here assembled to engage in the highest of
+all human enterprises, Christ calls Venice to fight for His sepulchre
+profaned by the hated Turk. I that speak in His Name, am old and feeble
+in appearance, but my heart is that of the Lion of Saint Mark. If you
+bid me, I am ready to lead you right on to Jerusalem. I will take up my
+cross now, and set forth to conquer and to die!”
+
+An intense sensation runs through the immense concourse, and every
+man’s sword is raised on high, as the white-headed leader kneels humbly
+before the Patriarch, who places the red cross upon his jewelled horned
+cap. Women’s sobs mingle in the “_Te Deum_” chanted by the clergy
+and choristers, and every bell in every campanile clangs, if not in
+harmony still in full-toned sympathy.
+
+Not a man hesitates longer, if Venice has been lukewarm in the matter
+of the Crusades, she shall be so no more. The women and the girls
+emulously pin the Crusaders’ badges upon the breasts of fathers,
+brothers, husbands, sons, and sweethearts, and lead them ungrudgingly
+to the water-side, where boats are waiting to carry the warriors
+on board the galleys--three hundred of them. The fleet sailed
+that evening. In the van were three giant vessels--“_Pelegrina_,”
+“_Paradiso_” and “_Aquila_”--upon the latter Doge Dandolo
+embarked--holding in his hand the gorgeous crimson banner of San Marco.
+
+“_Veni Creator_” resounded from church to church, _fundamento_ to
+_fundamento_, ship to ship, as the fleet sailed out of sight, and then
+upon every _riva_ and in every _calle_ were girls and women weeping and
+disconsolate--theirs was the true sacrifice, for had they not dedicated
+all that was dearest to them to the service of their Lord! The bride
+of a day lay clasped in the arms of her who had kept her jubilee, and
+little children left their games crying bitterly for fathers and for
+brothers they would never see again.
+
+Venice was a city of the dead, no one was there to sing and dance:
+women had to turn their hands to manly avocations,--none repined,
+and their devotions were redoubled. From noble church, before humble
+shrine, and out of simple homes arose passionate appeals. All the nine
+patron saints of Venice were invoked, along with Christ’s gracious
+Mother. They knew that their suppliant cries would be as efficacious
+for the rescue of the Holy Places as the deeds of daring of their men.
+
+The Crusade was a glorious success: wreaths of fame crowned the brow of
+Christian warriors and the women of Venice wove garlands of sweetest
+flowers to wind lovingly around their necks. The heroes came not
+however straight home to Venice but went aside to punish the hateful
+Turk in his capital. Doge Dandolo led the attack, but alas, with the
+fall of Constantinople fell many of the bravest Venetians, and among
+them the venerable Doge. They buried him in the basilica of Saint
+Sophia and put up his epitaph:--“_Mult ere sages et proz_”--“One
+of the wisest and the best of the Sons of Venice!”--and then they
+set sail for home. It was the time of the budding of the rose tree:
+the fresh fragrant blossoms of a new life,--a new world,--a new
+people,--the year 1205.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The prelude of the “Cantata” of the new century was pitched in the
+minor key, but the feeble treble of fatherless children harmonised
+pathetically with the full contralto of their mothers:--
+
+    “_Misere nobis infelicissime, Maria
+    Requiescant in pace omnes, Domine._”
+
+Fathers, brothers, husbands, sons and sweethearts returned not to
+Venice. She was once more “_Venus Calva_”--Venice, bereft of her
+stalwart sons, stripped of her trusty councillors, naked and bereaved.
+
+    “Some lay unshrouded in Palestine, and
+    Some lay in the deep.
+    For man must go forth to fight and to die
+    And women must weep.”
+
+There were many widows in Venice.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER III
+
+
+                                   I
+
+Upon the smiling little islet of San Giorgio in Alga, midway between
+the Punta di Santa Maria--the westernmost limit of Venice proper, and
+Fusina--the principal port of the Laguna Morta, there lived, once upon
+a time, a good-looking young fisherman. Zian Zorzio della Laguna,--so
+named after his patron Saint, Saint George of Cappadoccia,--as skilful
+in his calling as he was comely in his person.
+
+Zorzio had wooed and won the prettiest girl in all Rialto, as
+hard-working as himself and as good to look upon. One day Bella offered
+her lover an extraordinarily fine fishing-net which she had, unknown
+to him, knotted with her own fair hands; and, Zorzio delighted with
+the gift, tossing it over his shoulder, went off to dedicate it to his
+saintly patron in the island Sanctuary.
+
+Kissed on both cheeks, coloured with the ripest peach-bloom, her golden
+hair coiled neatly around her shapely head, save for one rebellious
+love-knot upon her brow, the beauteous _innamorata_ waved loving
+farewells to her Zorzio as he sculled off in his light _barca_ to
+make trial of his treasure.
+
+With a daring cast the spider-web-like mesh sank beneath the gentle
+ripples of the lambent water, and the young fellow, confident of a
+worthy haul, presently began to pull in his net. “Per Bacco!” cried he,
+for something eerie had caught itself in the all but invisible strands
+of Bella’s handiwork. A piece of petrified seaweed,--very delicate in
+form, very beautiful in colour, very exquisite in texture, verily a
+scudding flake of opalescent sea-foam transformed by the mermaids of
+the deep into lovely coral lace,--yielded itself to his ready hand.
+Zorzio had never beheld such a perfectly beautiful object, and in a
+transport of delight he hailed his prize as the pledge of his success
+in life. Speeding homewards in the evening he made Bella the sharer of
+his good fortune, and she locked up the bit of coral lace safely in the
+simple home they had prepared against the next festival of the “Brides.”
+
+Alas, the even tenor of their lives was rudely shattered by a call to
+arms, and brave Zorzio was enrolled among seamen drafted for service
+in the Orient. Broken-hearted Bella surveyed his empty seat, and her
+tears fell fast. Should she ever see her Zorzio again she wondered and
+whispered. Looking up at last, her eyes fell upon her lover’s gift--the
+lovely spray of coral seaweed. An inspiration seized her mind, and with
+alacrity she reached down her lace-pillow, and guided by an unseen
+power, she crossed and crossed her bobbins of fine thread until she had
+completed, in interlacing arabesques, a similitude of her treasured
+model. Thus was invented the far-famed and precious _merletto a
+piombini_--the point-lace of Venice. It is a charming story and it
+has a striking moral. That piece of coral seaweed was the mascot of the
+Venetian Renaissance.
+
+In the morning of the “_Vita Nuova_”--it was the hour of
+“Lauds,”--Commerce,--strenuous father, and Industry,--faithful mother,
+were busy rearing their numerous family--the vigorous progeny of the
+Crafts. Away back in the ninth century, in the days of the “Grand” Doge
+Agnello Partecipazio, the Emperor Lothair issued his “_Constitutiones
+Olonenses_,” wherein eight cities and towns of Northern Italy are
+named as suitable centres for the establishment of the revived Roman
+“_Collegia_” or “_Scholæ_”:--Bologna, Cremona, Firenze, Ivrea, Milano,
+Padua, Torino and Rivoalto (Venice). In each place the designation of
+the _Scholæ_ varied: in Venice they were called “_Fragilia_,”--from
+“_Flagelli_,”--whips,--the exact meaning of which it is difficult to
+state, perhaps “training schools” wherein learners were _whipped_ into
+shape!
+
+Each “_Fragilia_” had its teachers, its pupils, its officers, its
+constitution, its duties, and its bylaws. The earliest distinct
+mention of a “Trade” is in 826, when a maker of lead pipes for
+organs was working away near San Giacomo di Rialto: doubtless the
+artificer in question was a Greek, his name has not been preserved.
+Orso Partecipazio employed clock-makers in 864 and silversmiths
+and carvers of ivory: these craftsmen were Greeks however. The
+“_Cassellari_”--makers of _arcelle_ and _cassoni_--formed already a
+vigorous Corporation in the time of the rape of the “Venetian Brides.”
+The first notice of “_Fabbri_”--blacksmiths, was in 1184 as forming
+a “_Fragilia_,” but the _Calle de’ Fabbri_ was a well-known lane in
+the tenth century. The Altino Chronicle names Fishermen, Smiths,
+Saddlers, Carriers by water, Shepherds, Butchers, Masons, Carpenters,
+Cabinet-makers, Shoemakers and Furriers as the earliest incorporated
+craftsmen in the islands of the lagunes. “_Marzeri_” or silk-mercers
+were established in Rivoalto in 942.
+
+Doge Pietro Polani, in 1143 drafted a “Table of Precedence,” which
+established as the premier “_Fragilia_” or Trade-Guild, the Corporation
+of Fishermen. Thirty years later Doge Sebastiano Ziani set up the first
+“_Corte della Giutizia_” in the interest of traders and operatives.
+Thereafter numerous other Crafts are named in Venetian history; but
+Venice never attained to the eminence of Florence in the development
+of her Guilds--she was _sui generis_ a great sea-port rather than a
+metropolis of industry. The thirteenth century first saw the cradle
+of the Crafts rocking effectively,--just as the fourteenth furnished
+the nursery of the Fine Arts,--and Venice felt the impulse of the new
+industries, along with the rest of Italy.
+
+Doge Arrigo Dandolo had annexed one-fourth of the old Roman Empire
+to the tutelage of Venice, and ten great Turkish galleons brought
+home, with the remnant of her forces, vast treasures,--the loot of
+Constantinople and the islands of the Greek Archipelago. Upon the
+Piazzetta was outpoured the wealth of the Levant. Never before had
+Venetian eyes and hands beheld or handled such creations of art and
+craft. Every church and monastery, every palace and mansion, and every
+poor man’s home, were enriched by things of joy and beauty. Mothers
+and maidens laid up in honoured hiding-places tokens of their heroes
+resting in Paradise, and all the sons of Venice gathered objects of
+interest which engrossed their intelligences and set their minds and
+hands at work to imitate--the fall of Constantinople was the rise of
+craftsmanship in the Lagunes.
+
+The Conquest of Constantinople--a notable turning-point in the history
+of Venice--was the initial mark of a new era throughout Europe. By
+common consent every class of the Venetians welcomed the promise of
+new conditions,--social and political,--and set to work to exchange
+Oriental ideas and sympathies for the pushful methods and modes of
+Northern and Western Europe. The first step was the election of a Doge,
+who should be, not only a desirable figure-head for the State, but who,
+by his force of character and personal experience, should lead the
+Commonwealth along progressive ways.
+
+The qualifications for the _Dogado_ were: (1) Ripe age; (2) Urbane
+temperament; (3) Good birth; and (4) Ample private means. One man,
+and one man alone, stood out head-and-shoulders above his peers,
+as possessed of these four qualities, a man whose thirty years of
+distinguished public service placed him in the unique position of first
+citizen of Venice. By universal acclamation Pietro Ziani was chosen
+to wear the laurel-wreathed _berretta_ of the great Dandolo. The son
+of one of the most distinguished of the Doges--Sebastiano Ziani--he
+had borne himself nobly as a successful naval commander, a tactful
+ambassador, and an upright magistrate. Handsome above the ordinary,
+pious without hypocrisy, talented in linguistic and forensic aptitude,
+and passionately loyal to the Constitution, he was calmly awaiting his
+destiny at his country residence at Arbe in Dalmatia.
+
+A deputation of the Lords of the Council boarded the magnificent
+“_Bucintoro_,” and accompanied by thirty galleys, all splendidly
+decorated with rare brocades and tapestries, set off to meet and escort
+the new Doge. Pietro Ziani’s progress was a triumphal procession,
+calling to mind the unanimous and felicitous election of Domenigo Selvo
+one hundred and fifty years before. Almost the first act of the new
+regime was the affirmation of the cordial relations which his father,
+Sebastiano, had entered into with Guglielmo II.--“The Good,” King of
+Sicily. Dante refers to the death of this distinguished Sovereign in
+Canto XX of the _Paradiso_:--
+
+    “William whom the land bewails
+    So well beloved in Heaven.”
+
+In confirmation of the new treaty the new Doge, in 1213, sought and
+gained the hand of the Princess Costanza, daughter of King Tancredo,
+Guglielmo’s son and successor. She was the first Norman Dogaressa of
+Venice, daughter of a brave and ardent race, a woman of conspicuous
+ability and ambition, and an ideal consort for the Head of a
+rejuvenated Venice.
+
+Pietro Ziani had but lately buried his first wife, the modest and
+beautiful Countess Maria Baseggio--whose father held the high
+office of Procurator of San Marco--_nobilis et decora nimis Maria
+Dukessa_--as she is called in the Altino Chronicle. The sole
+offspring of this union was a son, Giorgio, but, alas, when yet a
+child, he was torn to pieces by the savage mastiff watch-dogs of the
+monastery of San Giorgio Maggiore. It was said that the Doge was so
+infuriated by this misfortune that he ordered the church and monastery
+with all the animals,--_the poor monks as well_,--to be consumed
+with fire: one may hope the innocent Religious escaped the fury. Anyhow
+the rest were all burnt, and then the remorse of Ziani was pitiable. By
+way of reparation he set to work at once to rebuild and re-endow what
+he had so petulantly sacrificed.
+
+Dogaressa Costanza was handsome and gracious, and wore her Royal
+honours with distinction. Palazzi wrote thus of her--“A Queen by birth,
+Dogaressa of Venice by marriage, she exhibited all the attributes
+of her royal station,--she was also Duchess of Calabria,--and her
+high breeding, no less than her beauty, raised her above all petty
+jealousies.” In the ancient pack of playing-cards, at the Venetian
+Museo Civico, we find her represented upon the “Ten of Spades,” with
+the following legend:--“Costanza, daughter of Tancredo King of Naples,
+wife of Doge Pietro Ziani, was accustomed to meet all the malcontents
+against the Doge and herself with the saying:--‘I have nothing to do
+with you!’”
+
+The State being involved in tremendous financial difficulties on
+account of the cost of the Crusades, and also in behalf of the
+purchase of the island of Crete, in view of the Doge’s great private
+wealth,--“_L’haver Ziani_” was quite as true of Pietro as of
+Sebastiano--reduced his official salary to 2800 lire, with 100 thrown
+in as a free gift. It was further decreed that all tributes to the Doge
+should henceforth be shared between him and the treasury of San Marco.
+Moreover he was required to make an offering of three silver trumpets
+for ceremonial processions, and to undertake the repairs of the Ducal
+Palace,--rather a one-sided bargain!
+
+Fifteen years of marital happiness fell to the lot of the Doge and
+Dogaressa. Three children were borne by imperious Costanza--Marco,
+Marchesina, and Maria. Some authorities say that the Dogaressa died
+suddenly in 1228 and that the Doge, broken-hearted, followed her
+within a month. The Altino Chronicle however records the abdication
+of Pietro Ziani, and adds that he and his Consort, with their family,
+retired into private life and went to reside in their palace upon the
+_fondamento_ of Santa Giustina, where he died, and then received
+sepulture in the church of San Giorgio Maggiore, in the tomb of his
+father Sebastiano.
+
+There is still a third version of the deaths of Doge Pietro and
+Dogaressa Costanza. In the terrible earthquake of 1220, when the
+church and monastery of San Giorgio Maggiore were destroyed, and the
+islands of Amiano and Costanzina swallowed up, it was said that many
+people died of fright, and among them the Dogaressa. The Doge, sharing
+the universal sense of insecurity in Venice, proposed to move the
+seat of Government to Constantinople, but, upon the cessation of the
+seismic disturbances, wiser counsels prevailed, and he set to work to
+rebuild the shattered edifices. In 1229 Pietro Ziani exchanged the
+silk-brocaded robe of State for the worsted habit of a Benedictine, and
+ended his days in the new monastery of San Giorgio which he had built.
+
+During his _dogado_ a year of Jubilee was appointed by the
+Pope--1214--in thankfulness for the general peace; and every Italian
+State held festivals and fêtes. Treviso led the way, for nothing could
+exceed the beauty and the human interest of the “_Marca Amorosa_.”
+The centre of the most fruitful and delightful region of all Northern
+Italy, Treviso, with her borders, was renowned for the richness of her
+vegetation, the salubrity of her climate, the beauty of her women,
+and chivalry of her cavaliers. The rallying-point too of knights and
+champions from the vigorous Teutonic north and the vivacious Frankish
+west Treviso was the fascinating rendezvous of all that was romantic,
+brave and fair.
+
+The Crusades had been the making of the soldiery of all Europe,--not
+indeed in the elements of warfare but in the courtesies of the
+battle-field. Men went forth to fight the Saracen and the Turk to
+vindicate the nobility of the Cross and the gentleness of the Son of
+Mary. For the weak and the oppressed they gave and took sword-thrust
+and arrow-tip, and not as men fighting men alone. Heroes returned to
+Venetian, Trevisan and Paduan homes famous for their valour and their
+virtue: the Crusades were schools of Christian chivalry. To fight for
+women and for children in Palestine meant to honour and exalt those of
+their own dear land, but this was quite a new idea. Saint Mary and the
+Saints of God held the hands of their own babes and youths, the hands
+of their own girls and women, and men worshipped at human shrines as
+well as in saintly sanctuaries.
+
+  [Illustration: MYSTIC DANCE.
+
+  Michelino da Bedozzo.
+
+  PALAZZO BONARDO, MILAN.]
+
+Treviso put forth her best efforts in the way of pageant, spectacle,
+and mask--albeit she did not forget to dress her altars, light
+her candles, and burn her incense, in honour of the Jubilee. In
+the centre of the Piazza della Spineda, the Guild of Carpenters
+erected a grandiose palace--“Castle of Love” it was named, overlaid
+with gilding and painting, and decorated with rich silk velvets,
+costly furs, and precious tapestries. Trophies from Palestine and
+spoils from Constantinople were raised aloft, with rose-trees full
+of roses, myrtles in white flower, and jessamine, the marriage
+bloom, and many another decorative feature. All this bravery was the
+_mise-en-scène_ for such a castle garrison as no knight’s eyes had
+beheld nor indeed his heart imagined.
+
+Two hundred of the fairest damsels of Treviso and Padua, and with them
+not a few noble matrons of attractive personality, manned or shall we
+say “womaned” the lofty battlements. Dressed in most becoming garbs and
+covered with jewels, with faces painted and hair coiffured in exquisite
+taste, the fascinating amazons have at hand no weapons or grenades
+of lethal warfare, but baskets of sweet flowers, cornucopias of ripe
+fruit, and crystal vases filled with delicious scents, ready for the
+besiegers.
+
+Three Companies in turn assault the “Castle of Beauty”--gallant
+knights and esquires of Venice, Padua, and Treviso. Strange are their
+battle-cries. Lately singing Litanies to the Saints, their lips have
+learned compelling dulcet tones, as they have prayed at or for the
+Holy Sepulchre, and now they again give forth the refrain “_Ora pro
+Nobis_”--addressed not to St Giustina, St Catherine, or St Barbara,
+but to Donna Beatrice, Donna Fioretta, Donna Felicita, and to all the
+beauteous two hundred!
+
+Amid the plaudits of thousands of spectators on pavement, in window,
+on balcony, on roof, drawn from all the plains of Lombardy the
+Company of Treviso--as gallant goodly lads as ever donned tight
+hose and well-shaped tunic,--deliver the first attack, making trial
+of their knighthood. Appealing to the tender unsullied hearts of
+the fair defenders of the Castle, with gentle words, they shower
+such things as affect most the eye of woman--lovely flowers, amorous
+_billets-doux_, and delicate scent-sachets. Not so can they
+gain the battlements, and falling back, the second line of attack is
+opened out by the Company from Padua. Clever pleasant youths are they
+and full of artistic fancies, well groomed too, they rally to the
+charge with such things as may please their ladies’ palates,--boxes of
+expensive sweetmeats, baskets of delicious fruits, and fresh rissoles
+of fish and chicken. The fair ones catch all they can, but yield
+not their portcullis. Now comes the turn of the fresh-complexioned,
+well-figured, fair-haired, silent, haughty young Venetians. They step
+boldly forward, in silken tights, each lad a lord in self-esteem:
+they have special ammunition for their service, attractive to all the
+senses of woman-kind,--scented walnuts, Oriental sweeties, and sugared
+rose-leaves, but, in their scarlet satchels they have a wealth of good
+gold ducats, and with them the day is won, for the maidens toss the
+glittering spoil from hand to hand and laugh and sing right merrily!
+
+But before the conquerors can carry off their bewitching prisoners,
+the defeated warriors rally to the call of “Down with Venice,” and
+rush the standard-bearers. In a trice the red banner of San Marco
+is trailing on the ground and the Venetians have whipped out their
+swords! Messer Paolo da Sermedole, the Master of the Pageant, and his
+assistants intervene, and the tears of the captured maidens arrest the
+flow of blood, but the Venetians leave the “_Marca Amorosa_”
+vowing vengeance for the insult. War was declared forthwith against the
+sister cities and the end of it came not till two years had passed,
+when at Bebe near Chioggia, the Paduans accepted the Venetian terms.
+Doge Pietro Ziani stipulated, as a condition of peace, that twenty-five
+Paduan Knights, who had participated in the “_Marca Amorosa_” at
+Treviso, should present themselves at the Ducal Palace, submissive to
+the orders of his Serenity.
+
+In Venice the gallant Company was welcomed right nobly, as became
+magnanimous foes, feasted for ten days, and well laden with costly
+presents, and so were speeded home again. History has not exactly told
+us whether any, or all of that gallant band, took away things more
+precious still than the splendid offerings,--the hearts of Venetian
+maidens! The revenge of the conquered, in true chivalry, is the
+spoiling of the conqueror. Anyhow at least one Venetian bride was led
+away to Padua, and with her went a goodly trousseau:--“One bed, two
+down-quilts, a whole piece of scarlet ‘noble’ cloth, four linen sheets,
+two feather pillows, two striped silk petticoats, two robes, or gowns,
+of silk brocade, four bodices of lawn, one fur mantle with silver
+buttons, one silver bell, a silver rosary, seven ornaments of gold, two
+of pearls, a coronal of pearls, seven fine amber beads, etc., etc.”
+
+When she reached Padua the bride was to receive from her husband a
+purse full of money, to pay for musicians at the home-coming, for the
+cooks, and for her chaperon--one Donna Riccidoni--and for herself she
+might retain twelve silver _soldi_ as pin-money. The bridegroom was
+mulcted at the same time in dealings in beef, veal, fresh fish and
+fruit, cakes, eggs, bread, wine and oil, and for the payment of the
+boatmen who had rowed them up the Brenta. Alas the chronicler in the
+“_Archivio_” has failed to give the names of the interesting couple,
+but apparently Venice and Padua were at one upon the question of
+matrimony!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+    “_Maridite! Maridite! Donzela;
+    Che dona maridada è sempre bela:
+    Maridite! finchè la foglia è verde,
+    Perchè la zoventu presto se perde!_”
+                            VENETIAN “BARCAROLLE.”
+
+    (“Marry! Marry! pretty maid,
+    Lest ye lose your youth and fade--
+    The young girl’s her husband’s Queen
+    Marry whilst the leaves are green!”)
+
+
+                                  II
+
+The last years of Doge Pietro Ziani were embittered by the rivalries of
+the families of Tiepolo and Dandolo--partisans of both sides eagerly
+grasping the Ducal chair, and impatient of the demise of its occupant.
+The Doge and Dogaressa were so worried and oppressed by these unseemly
+contentions that he executed a deed of abdication, and returned to his
+private residence, leaving the distinguished but thankless office to be
+filled by another.
+
+Giacomo Tiepolo represented the _old_ ideas and Marino Dandolo the
+_new_, and the votes of the Council were equally divided; but at last,
+a majority was found for the former. Tiepolo was out and away the most
+enlightened and intellectual man of his time. He came of an ancient
+family, one of the “Apostolic” order of nobility--“Teupolo” in the old
+spelling, and originally from Rome. Bartoldo Teupolo, the head of the
+family in 697, was one of the electors of Doge Paolo Lucio Anafesto.
+In 1204, when so many Venetian nobles assumed territorial titles of
+sovereignty over islands in the Greek Archipelago consequent upon the
+fall of Constantinople, Giacomo Tiepolo was named Duke of Candia. His
+father was Lorenzo, Procurator of San Marco in 1207, and Podesta of
+Treviso.
+
+“Duke” Tiepolo took to wife Maria Storiato--a Venetian gentlewoman
+of no high degree, but a good and faithful spouse and mother. She
+was received as Dogaressa the day of Giacomo’s election in 1228, but
+alas, she died in 1240, having given him three sons as pledges of
+her devotion--Pietro, Lorenzo, and Giovanni. The eldest became Count
+of Sant’ Agostino and Podesta of Milan and Treviso, but, being taken
+prisoner by the Emperor Frederic II., he was treacherously beheaded.
+
+A two years’ widowerhood found the Doge once more at the feet of an
+attractive woman, not indeed a simple Venetian maiden but a Princess
+of Royal degree,--Valdrada, the daughter of King Tancredo of Sicily.
+The new Dogaressa, like her brother King Ruggero, was famed for good
+commonsense, and sound probity of life, and she assumed at once an
+unquestioned control over the actions of her Consort, strong man though
+he was. Like her sister, the Dowager Dogaressa Costanza, she was a
+_virago_, in the sense of a strong personality; and she followed
+in her sister’s steps, ruling not alone her husband, but bending to
+her will all with whom she was thrown in contact.
+
+Perhaps the new Dogaressa’s ostentation of Regal rank in the Venetian
+Court was a decisive factor in the promulgation of what was called
+the “_Promissione_”--perhaps best translated by the French term,
+_Protocol_--of 1242, the provisions of which greatly restricted the
+power and liberty of the Doge and Dogaressa. The Doge was henceforth
+to be, not the executive Head of the State, but the executor of the
+orders of the Council. Acts of homage were no longer to be rendered to
+him, nor was he to be addressed as “_Domine Dominus_.” In times gone by
+the deputation of nobles, commissioned to acquaint a new Doge of his
+election, were accustomed to greet him thus:--“Welcome, Messer Doge,
+God give you Messer Doge a good morrow, we are come to dine with you,
+we await your orders, and we wish to kiss your hand.” The Dogaressa
+also shared the new restrictive conventions, and neither relatives
+of hers, nor of the Doge, were eligible for any public office. Their
+household was limited--only twenty-five free retainers were allowed and
+a like number of unpaid dependent slaves.
+
+“_Il Statuto di Giacomo Tiepolo_,” or “_Il Statuto Veneto_,” as it was
+called, was a compilation, by Doge Tiepolo, of laws in five books,
+which treated of the domestic relations of married people. The husband
+was required to render an account to his wife of his use of her dowry,
+and the capital sum remained in her power to will as she chose. An
+unfaithful wife forfeited her dowry, but a widow enjoyed her husband’s
+patrimony till her second marriage or death. If ever a couple decided
+to renounce secular life and enter Religion, the united property was
+shared equally, each being free to do what he or she liked with the
+money. Children, if any and under age, were provided for equally by
+each parent. Many sections of the “_Statuto_” dealt with the vexed
+questions of Slavery and Prostitution--all aiming at the amelioration
+and moralisation of manners.
+
+Doge Giacomo Tiepolo’s time was much occupied with the settlement of
+internal jealousies and factions, and by the conduct of naval and
+military expeditions. While he was so employed Dogaressa Valdrada
+gave her whole time to the patronage and support of the Trade
+Corporations--a _rôle_ maintained by all her successors.
+
+At length, in 1209, the Doge, wearied alike by the exertions of his
+foreign enterprises and by the keenness of political rivalries at home,
+executed a deed of abdication, and, with Dogaressa Valdrada and her two
+young children retired to his private residence at Sant’ Agostino, in
+the _sestiere_ of San Polo or Paolo. He did not long survive his
+retirement from office, and both he and his Consort, who outlived him
+three years, were buried in SS. Giovanni e Paolo. In every sense of the
+word Giacomo Tiepolo--“The Legislator”--was a “Grand” Doge--the sixth
+upon whom that title may be properly bestowed.
+
+In his “_Stones of Venice_” Ruskin tells a well-known and
+characteristic story of Doge Giacomo Tiepolo. The noble church of
+SS. Giovanni e Paolo--San Zanipolo in the vernacular--was begun by
+the monks of San Domenigo in the year 1234, under the patronage of
+the Tiepolo family. Three years before Giacomo was called upon to
+succeed Pietro Ziani, he dreamed a dream wherein he beheld all the
+ground around the rising building covered with rose-bushes in full and
+fragrant bloom. Flitting to-and-fro and imbibing the floral nectar were
+numbers of white doves with golden crosses upon their breasts. Whilst
+the dreamer wondered what it all meant forty angelic beings appeared
+out of a crimson cloud, bearing in their hands smoking censers, and,
+circling around the lovely garden, they flung hither and thither
+their sweet incense smoke. Then a rich clarion voice proclaimed from
+somewhere above the rose-trees:--“This is the place I have chosen
+for my preachers.” The solemn words awoke the sleeper, and he went
+straightway to the Council and declared what he had seen and heard.
+They agreed to grant forty paces of ground for the extension of the
+monastery and Messer Tiepolo, out of his private munificence, endowed
+the brotherhood with a noble revenue.
+
+Upon either side of the entrance of the church are the two Roman
+sarcophagi, in which were interred the bodies of Doge Giacomo and
+his son Doge Lorenzo Tiepolo. Ever after Doge Giacomo Tiepolo’s
+solemn obsequies the bodies of all the Venetian Doges and many of the
+Dogaressas were laid in State and their funeral rites were performed
+within the choir of the great Dominican church.
+
+Marco, or Marino Morosini’s _dogado_ (1249–1252), was quite uneventful,
+except for the establishment of the Holy Inquisition in Venice. Its
+operations however were only allowed upon sufferance, and its decrees
+required the _imprimatur_ of the Council before being carried into
+effect. Doge Morosini, nearly seventy years of age at the time of
+the election, was of venerable appearance, amiable disposition, and
+irreproachable character. His Consort’s name has not been preserved. He
+is credited with the initiation of the _Scola de’ Battitori_,--Guild
+of Flagellants,--which attracted very many of the more devout of
+the citizens. Men and women were equally affected by this call to
+asceticism, and were accustomed to lash themselves both publicly and
+in private with “_Scope_” birchrods or “disciplines,” whilst they sang
+_Miserere_ and other doleful chants! The _furore_ had a brief duration,
+for the commonsense of all classes checked exhibitions of infatuation.
+There was however one admirable feature in the movement--the devotion
+of vast sums of money, rich lands, and fine houses, to the cause
+of charity: in one year (1251), 80,000 _lire_ were contributed to
+deserving objects, and the “_Battitori_” numbered at least 12,000.
+
+Marco Morosini was buried with full honours, clad in State robes with
+his jewelled sword by his side, whilst women made loud lamentations
+and men forsook their avocations to touch his bier, and pray for his
+soul. These solemn burial scenes were swiftly followed by the gorgeous
+installation ceremony of the new Doge--Reniero Zeno (1252–1268).
+
+Where had been scattered branches of yew and cypress, and where had
+swayed great lengths of dismal black cloth, now flaunted in the fresh
+sea-breeze, the emblazoned banners of the “_Fragilie_” and the splendid
+silk draperies of the nobles, whilst garlands of freshly woven fragrant
+blossoms shed their painted petals upon the path where along a comely
+Dogaressa was borne by gallant escort to the Palace. There was just
+one “fly in the ointment” of satisfaction--for Loicia da Prata,--as
+attractive as any of her predecessors, indeed she had charms surpassed
+by few,--was alas from Friuli, and “nothing good for Venice,” it was
+said, “ever came thence!”
+
+The new Doge belonged to the most recent order of the nobility,
+that composed of men whose ancestors had purchased their patents in
+celebration of the last war with Candia--the Videmani, Labio, Zenobio,
+Fini, Manini, Gambarri, Zeno, and others. Whether Messir Reniero,
+the son of Ser Pietro Zeno, possessed all the qualifications sought
+in the person of the Head of the State we know not, but we know that
+he was a man of great wealth--perhaps, as times went then and as
+they go now, _the_ most valuable consideration! This being so, the
+Council considered it a favourable opportunity for further curtailing
+the privileges of the Doge and Dogaressa, for, by the way, it was a
+certainty that they would be the recipients of considerable offerings
+on behalf of the Trade Corporations, seeing that the Doge was engaged
+in active commercial pursuits and was a great employer of labour.
+
+  [Illustration: DOGE RENIER ZENO AND DOGARESSA LUICIA DI PRATA.
+
+  Palma Il Giovine.
+
+  ORATORIA DE’ CROCIFERI. VENICE.]
+
+By the new “_Promissione_” the Doge, the Dogaressa, their sons and
+daughter, and daughters-in-law, were debarred from receiving food
+stuffs, cattle and horses, poultry and game, etc., etc., except upon
+due payment. The Dogaressa was directed not to promise situations or
+offices to those who sought her aid, nor to write recommendations of
+such suppliants to the Doge or to the Council, and also not to make
+gifts to any official dependant. If she bestowed her patronage upon
+Craftsmen they were forbidden to make capital out of it. On the other
+hand, no limits were put to the private charities of her Serenity,
+and, as Dogaressa Loicia was famed for her benevolence, this freedom
+of action granted to her by the _Promissione_, had an astute and sly
+significance. As a matter of fact she did exhibit her piety in a
+remarkable way by the erection and endowment of a Hospital, upon the
+site originally occupied by that of Doge Pietro Orseolo II., with an
+Oratory,--_Oratorio del Crocifisso_,--still in existence near the great
+Campanile of San Marco.
+
+During the _dogado_ of Reniero Zeno, in 1255, a writ was put forth
+by the Government regulating the marriages of nobles and citizens.
+Banns of marriage had been asked, time out of mind in all the Venetian
+churches, but gradually they had ceased to be regarded as necessary,
+and clandestine unions were the fashion. A priest had come to be
+regarded as at anybody’s beck and call, whether in a public consecrated
+building or in the privacy of the domestic parlour; and, instead of
+many sponsors, one witness was deemed sufficient. Often as not a
+priestly personage was not requisitioned at all--times were easy, so
+were manners.
+
+Quite a characteristic and amusing story has been preserved
+illustrating the new mode of wedding contracts. Madonna Catarussa of
+San Gervaso, lingering one evening at her house door, awaiting her
+late home-coming spouse, was accosted by one, Ser Pierino da Trento,
+an itinerant seller of brooms and brushes. Noting the Madonna’s
+abstraction he passed a courteous greeting:--“Good Lady,” he said,
+“can you find a poor devil like me a pretty girl I wonder?” Madonna
+Catarussa was indignant and used pretty freely not too pretty Venetian
+expletives!
+
+“No! no! not that dear Lady, not that,” interjected Ser Pierino, “I
+mean marriage now and honourable, a little wife and a modest dowry!”
+
+“Well, well, if that be your true wish I will see what I can do. Come
+again to-morrow about this time. Fare you well fond lover!”
+
+Madonna Catarussa knew well a very charming girl, just what the amorous
+pedlar wanted,--Donna Marina Contarini. She broached the subject of Ser
+Pierino’s commission, and because he was of good reputation and withal
+a good-looking fellow, the girl agreed to the assignation. Without
+delay or preparation, upon the morrow, in Madonna Catarussa’s best
+parlour, the couple met and with them one, Menigo Moïse, a friend of
+the Madonna, prepared to carry out an impromptu matrimonial _rôle_.
+
+“Ser Pierino, does Donna Marina suit you?--Donna Marina, does Ser
+Pierino please you?--Say ye both”--asked he.
+
+A ready double “Yes” sprang from the nuptial couple and promptly and
+with glee Ser Moïse joined their hands. Thereafter congratulations
+were showered upon the newly-married pair, and a merry party sat down
+to a hearty wedding breakfast. Company is never wanting when marriage
+festivities are on the go, and so it was in Madonna Catarussa’s
+_calle_--perhaps Ser Giovanni was at sea--fishing!
+
+Doge Zeno died in 1208, but Dogaressa Luicia survived him many years.
+He left to her absolutely the bulk of his property and she continued
+to reside in the great _Casa Zeno_, whence she administered the
+munificent gifts he and she had made to religious bodies, to churches
+and hospitals. At her death,--the date is not recorded,--she devised
+her personal effects for the benefit of her _Ospedale di Santa Maria
+per gl’Incurabili_, namely bedding, mattresses, coverlets, gowns,
+furs, her nuptial chests, plumes of feathers, six reading easels,
+chests of medicines, and very many personal and domestic comforts. Thus
+the attractive, virtuous, and benevolent Dogaressa passed quietly, and
+we may hope peacefully, from the people and the scenes she loved so
+well. Many warm hearts beat for her and salt tears fell, for she was
+well beloved in Venice.
+
+
+                                  III
+
+Lorenzo Tiepolo mounted the Ducal throne in 1268, with a splendid,
+well-nigh unique, reputation, and he sustained its dignity admirably
+for seven eventful years. He was the Head of a strong and wealthy
+republic, which, surrounded with high honours, was rejoicing in
+every kind of delight and ostentation. The son of a “Grand” Doge,
+blessed by his father’s reputation, renowned for his personal bravery
+and courtesy, and endowed with the wherewithal to minister to his
+own luxuries and to the dissipations of a brilliant court without
+restraint, the second Tiepolo Doge was the man of the moment, the
+plaything of fortune.
+
+Venice was like a spoilt woman, dowered with beauty and ability,
+jealous of her freedom, a fierce foe to her enemies, a dangerous
+vixen to her friends, loving adulation, commanding obedience, proud,
+selfish, cruel, and revengeful--this was the Venice which Lorenzo,
+the champion of the _Giostre_ had to control. The spirit of the
+time was wholly favourable to the new Doge’s government. Harmony and
+healthful rivalry existed between the craftsmen and the masters. In
+1271 the _Gastaldi_--Heads of Guilds--met under the presidency of
+the Doge; and agreed to devote a goodly portion of their Guild revenues
+to the relief of the poor and sick, provide pensions for the widows
+and families of deceased members, attend funerals, and keep the lamps
+burning in their Guild Chapels. They gave, as their incentive to these
+pious works, the sententious aphorism:--“_Stare in lo amor di Dio e
+di Santa Paxe_.”
+
+Venetians loved music, dancing, birds, and flowers. Picnics were held
+in the gardens of Murano, in the orchards of San Giorgio Maggiore, in
+the vineyards of San Zaccaria, in the olive-yards of Malamocco, and
+by the aviaries of San Giobbe. Everyone had his own garden,--great
+or small,--and in it rare exotics mingled with homely plants. At
+all windows and balconies were boxes of carnations and cages full
+of singing birds. Venice too was the shop of Europe, whether for
+tasty culinary delicacies or for the fashionable fripperies of the
+fair sex. All the good things of the East were displayed upon her
+_fundamenti_ and in her markets. The banquets she set before her
+guests were sumptuous and unrivalled: the beef of Aquileia, the veal
+of Chioggia, and the pork of Friuli were as famous as the sausages of
+Bologna. Her wines, her fruits, and her sweetmeats were celebrated.
+
+Two meals a day were the rule in Doge Lorenzo Tiepolo’s time--dinner
+before noon, supper between seven and eight. For dinner, the better
+classes had soup,--_grasso_ or _magro_,--fish and meat with vegetables,
+fruit, cakes, and wine. Elegant little baskets of silver and gold were
+placed upon the tables filled with freshly-made sweetmeats. The poorer
+people’s dietary was chiefly fish, bread, oil, and fruit,--meat was
+beyond their means and vegetables were also dear.
+
+The Venetians had not been noted for refinement of manners, in fact
+they had rather prided themselves that they were “less effeminate” than
+their neighbours on the mainland; but, under the patronage and example
+of the foreign modes of the nobles and richer citizens, there sprang
+up, in the middle of the thirteenth century, a marked improvement with
+a corresponding growth of courtesy. Very quaintly a worthy friar of
+Milan, Bonvesino da Riva, drew out a “Table of Etiquette.” “Thou shalt
+remember,” he wrote, “the poor when thou sittest at table. Thou shalt
+be gentle in offering water for the hands. Thou shalt not eat nor drink
+to excess. Thou shalt sit easily, show courtesy, be cheerful, thy dress
+well arranged. Thou shalt not fill thy mouth too full. Thou shalt take
+thy cup of wine and put it to thy lips with both hands, so as not to
+spill any, and, when thou hast moderately drank, thou shalt not pass
+it on to another but place it carefully upon the table. If thou shalt
+happen to sneeze or cough, draw thyself away a little, never complain
+of the seasoning of the dishes. Thou must not soak thy bread in thy
+wine. Thou shalt always offer thy guest the best cut. Thou shalt be
+scrupulous about the cleanliness of thy servants; thou and they must
+always have clean hands. Thou shalt not thrust thy hands into thy mouth
+nor pick thy teeth. Thou shalt not fondle thy neck, nor thine ears. At
+table thou shalt not relate sad news....” And so the writer goes on
+giving excellent lessons in good deportment.
+
+Lorenzo Tiepolo had made himself a great name before he came to the
+_dogado_. He had humbled Genoa and in the East he had commanded
+a victorious Venetian fleet which had brought back twenty-five prize
+galleys, great stores of booty, and above all, the venerated body
+of Santa Saba. In 1264 he was Podesta of Padua, and, when there, he
+married Donna Agnese Ghisi, whose family held the titular marquisate of
+Stampiala in the Greek Archipelago. She gave her husband two sons who,
+when grown, married, Giacomo,--a princess of Dalmatia, and Pietro,--a
+rich countess of Vincenza. Very little is known about Dogaressa Agnese
+except that she was a patroness of Hospitals and a friend of those
+in distress. Out of her dowry she endowed a Maternity and Lying-in
+Hospital for poor women, and a Hostel for prisoners condemned to death.
+The good Dogaressa went by the gracious title--“_La Donna della
+Misericordia_.”
+
+Soon after the death of his first wife Lorenzo Tiepolo married again.
+The Venetians, whilst controlling the privileges and the liberty of the
+Consort of the Doge, were exigent that he should have a spouse, if for
+no other reason, than as an additional ornament to the State. The new
+Dogaressa was Marchesina, daughter of Boemondo da Brienne, King of
+Rascia and Servia, who was brother of the Emperor John. If we have no
+authentic portrait of her, Palazzi’s pack of cards in the Museo Civico
+has upon the “Nine of Clubs”:--“_Dogaressa Thiepolo aggrandisce ed
+arrichisce cole noze la prole Nobilita langue ove ricchezzo manca_.”
+Perhaps briefly Englished “A noble and a wealthy heiress!”
+
+The recognition ceremonies of the new Dogaressa were accompanied by a
+splendid pageant two days later. Whilst the citizens were content to
+leave all matters of State policy and the details of the Administration
+to the governing class, represented by the Doge without demur, to
+the Dogaressa, craftsmen looked for protection and patronage in the
+prosecution of their industries. Accordingly the _Gastaldi_, or
+Masters of the several Guilds,--there were just thirty of them,--met in
+Council, and resolved to arrange an exhibition of their various Crafts
+at the Ducal Palace in honour of the new Dogaressa.
+
+To accompany her Serenity to her Coronation and to secure her presence
+at the inauguration of the Exhibition a huge procession set off to
+the Tiepolo palace, which Doge Giacomo had enlarged and decorated so
+lavishly. Headed by banners and trumpets and drums first march the
+“Smiths” with garlands upon their heads; next the “Furriers,” wearing
+costly furs; the “Wool-weavers” followed,--an imposing detail of the
+pageant,--singing ballads to the accompaniment of horns and cymbals,
+and carrying silver goblets and flasks full of red wine. Fourth in
+order came the “Tailors” in white garments covered with scarlet stars
+and over their shoulders cloaks lined with fur; “Woollendrapers”
+succeeded with branches of olives in their hands and olive crowns
+upon their heads--the Masters of the Craft wore fustian mantles;
+“Makers of Doublets and Coverlets” were ranged alongside, wearing
+white capes sewn with blue lilies. The eighth Guild by reason of the
+costliness of its manufactures commanded universal admiration--the
+“Makers of gold and silver cloth,”--whose members wore caps decorated
+with fine filigree work and sewn with pearls; following came the
+“Shoemakers,” the “Mercers,”--clothed from head to foot in silk; the
+“Pork-butchers,” in scarlet cloaks lined with vair; the “Glass-blowers”
+and the “Carding-comb Makers” made way for a gorgeous detachment--the
+“Goldsmiths,” adorned with gems and precious stones. It would be
+tedious to name all the “Trades” in that vast procession, which wound
+up with the “Barber-surgeons,” who certainly made the most of their
+opportunity. They marched with their heads dressed in the latest
+fashion and wearing gold ornaments and pearls. Two mounted men, in the
+armour of Knight-errants, conducted four lovely young girls in white,
+their rich golden hair all over their shoulders, and each supposed to
+represent one of the four great foreign States,--France, Germany, Spain
+and England.
+
+Having passed under the windows of the Dogaressa, the two Knights
+dismounted and addressed her Serenity as follows:--“Duchess, we are two
+wandering Knights, and we have ridden forth in search of adventures and
+have carried off from persecution and wrong these noble maidens. Now if
+there should be any warriors who will come forth to prove their valour,
+we are prepared to defend the damsels and sustain our honour.” The
+Dogaressa smiled her approval, and waved her hand that she was ready to
+accompany her honourable escort to the Palace.
+
+Taking her place by the side of the Doge she received the courteous
+salutation of the assembled nobles, and then passed through the
+ante-room and reached the Hall of Exhibition, where she was received
+by the Masters and Officials of the Guilds, and from whom, in spite of
+all “_Promissioni_” she accepted characteristic presents. To each
+Master she addressed a few pleasant words and invited him to sup with
+her that night in the Ducal Palace, whilst the Doge entertained the
+Lords of the Council and other Dignitaries of State.
+
+The Dogaressa Marchesina was part-founder in 1272 of the celebrated
+Ca’ di Dio--House of God--for the reception of ladies of good birth
+but reduced to poverty. Hitherto such unfortunate gentlewomen had been
+cared for along with the widows of craftsmen, and they felt keenly the
+degradation: they were certainly “the poor who feel shame.” Not many
+years elapsed before the joy of prosperity in Venice was turned into
+the sorrow of want--the splendid hospitalities of the Ducal Palace gave
+place to plain spreads for starving people. Famine followed feasting
+and Doge and Dogaressa were occupied with the leading nobles in dealing
+with scarcity and unemployment.
+
+Doge Lorenzo Tiepolo died in 1275, and Marino da Canale, the
+chronicler, wrote of him:--“There was no one in all the Venetian nation
+who did not lament with reason the loss of such an excellent ruler.” He
+was buried with his father, and his brother Giovanni, at SS. Giovanni
+e Paolo. Of the Dogaressa Marchesina’s death and burial we have found
+no record.
+
+Lorenzo Tiepolo’s successor, Giacomo Contarini,--a member of a
+prominent family of the “Apostolic” order of nobility,--was in
+every way an estimable man and not suspected of any ulterior aims
+with respect to the aggrandisement of his family. Nevertheless the
+Government demanded sworn promises that “neither he nor Madonna
+Jacobina, his spouse, should accept any fee or fief, nor undertake
+commissions of any kind and, in particular, that the Dogaressa
+should on no account contract debts with the citizens nor enter into
+speculations, in salt, cheese, or wine!”
+
+The Doge was forbidden to hold land outside Venice, his sons were
+forbidden to marry foreign wives, except with the approval of the
+Council (two were already married and the third was a Religious), and
+whatever was required for the Ducal household was ordered to be paid
+for within eight days. The Dogaressa and her daughters were expressly
+prohibited from receiving gifts or samples from tradesmen. In other
+respects the _dogado_ of Contarini was uneventful, and after
+a short reign of five years in 1280 he abdicated his office, and
+retired into private life upon a pension of fifteen hundred _lire di
+piccioli_,--a beggarly sum indeed, but he was glad enough of it, for
+he was a poor man, perhaps the least wealthy of all the Doges, though
+he came of a wealthy family.
+
+How Dogaressa Jacobina submitted to the severe restrictions upon her
+liberty of action we know not, nor indeed anything whatever about her,
+except her name. The Doge died shortly after his vacation of office,
+and was buried quietly in the church of the Frati Minori,--Santa Maria
+Gloriosa de’ Frari,--in a marble sarcophagus which was enriched with
+mosaic figures of the Doge and Dogaressa upon their knees,--comely
+in their lives: in death they were undivided. The epitaph is very
+brief:--“_Heic requiescit Dominus Jacobus Contarinus, Dux inclytus
+Venetiarum, et Domina Jacobina, ejus uxor, Ducissa_.”
+
+Bearing a great name Giovanni Dandolo a descendant of the “Grand” Doge
+Arrigo Dandolo was peacefully living at his country villa at Arbe in
+Dalmatia,--that favourite resort for wealthy Venetians who there could
+indulge in the chiefest of their hobbies the cultivation of flower
+gardens, and fruit orchards, and in the pleasures of the chase,--when
+news of Doge Contarini’s abdication reached him. Apparently neither
+he nor his good spouse were unprepared for a summons home, for they
+started towards Venice before the deputation of nobles sent to salute
+them reached their domicile.
+
+The new Doge had all the high moral tone, firmness, and energy, of his
+great ancestor, but he was lame and somewhat uncourtly in his manner.
+Morose in disposition and possessed of peculiar habits, he seemed to
+be hardly the sort of man for the onerous post to which he was called,
+moreover he was credited with democratic tendencies.
+
+The times were tranquil and, as a consequence, prosperous, and Venice
+and the Venetians were approaching the zenith of success. She was the
+emporium of the world: the business of all Europe and of the East was
+transacted in and about the Piazza di San Giacomo di Rialto. Each
+trading nation had its warehouses and its consular staff. In front of
+the _Fondaco de’ Tedeschi_, just beyond the bridge, were anchored ships
+from Northern ports, and upon the wharves were dumped all sorts of
+foreign merchandise. Higher up the canal were fleets of great barges
+laden with casks of oil and wine. The _Fundamenta Toscana_ was filled
+with Florentine merchants and choice wares from Tuscany, the _Fondaco
+de’ Turchi_ and the _Campo de’ Mori_, were thronged with traders from
+the radiant East. Jews and Armenians traversed _calli_ and _rive_ at
+will, bartering their commodities.
+
+Right away from the Rialto bridge to the Piazza di San Marco, all
+along the Merceria, were shops overflowing with costly objects, rare
+perfumes, and the latest modes. There strutted young gallants of Venice
+with slender, graceful figures, fair-haired, and clad in well-fitting
+hosen and tunics, richly trimmed, with natty shoes and jaunty red
+_berrette_, peering as they sidled up and down into screened doorways
+for revelations of feminine charms and fashions. If, as it was said,
+matrons frequented that famous rendezvous to study mannikins draped
+to show forth the smartest costumes, and ostentatiously to give their
+alms, we may be sure maidens, perhaps clandestinely, found themselves
+there too, with their white veils coyly arranged to please their
+admirers--young and old.
+
+Giovanni Dandolo splashed no red mark upon the escutcheon of the
+City, the white lily of a virtuous life was not denied him, but he
+wearied of his dignity, and, in 1289, retired to his restful home
+in Dalmatia, and there he lived till 1320. When dying he left by
+will to his lamenting consort, the Dogaressa Caterina, “many chests
+full of fair linen, vests, shawls, and coverlets, with a couple of
+_ningoli_--chemises (?), and many other things.” The wearing of
+under linen was unusual then, and, be it said _sotto voce_, little
+care was taken in the matter of cleanliness--the wearer went on wearing
+till the garments were worn out! A _Sonetto_, written about the
+Venetians, by Antonio Beccario da Ferrara, refers amusingly to this
+_peccadiglio_:--
+
+    “_Nun s’no da mutar lur pani lini
+    E cho’ mantegli vannu dimezatti,
+    Porton solete chalzertti.
+    Tal che impegna boriz e cholterlini._”
+
+The chemise--and its complement--were luxuries in the year 1307, when
+Donna Sofia Battango, in her will, bequeathed one of each garment, with
+special injunctions, to two of her dearest friends--Donne Reni and
+Donadi.
+
+Dogaressa Caterina Dandolo survived her husband many years and died,
+if the record may be believed in 1341, when she must have been quite a
+centenarian. At any rate there is extant the Inventory of her wardrobe,
+which contained a wealth of rich and costly dresses, viz.: “a robe of
+white silk serge pleated with silver; a robe of cerulean-blue cloth
+lined with grey fur; a tunic of red brocade trimmed with braid and
+buttons of silver; a cape or cloth of gold and watered silk; and train
+of fine thin scarlet cloth covered with silver trimmings; two silk
+hoods lined with ermine, several lace caps covered with pearls--etc.,
+etc.” Possibly some of her belongings got into the hands of _Venditori
+di Panni Vecchi_,--dealers in old clothes, who in 1283 had been
+subjected to strict inspection. Women were allowed to buy and sell, but
+all shops had to be closed on festivals and Sundays, which, in Venice,
+totalled up to half the year. Perhaps the good Dogaressa bestowed
+her wardrobe, or some of her garments, upon the members of that most
+curious Guild of all the Guilds of Venice--the “_Zonfi_”--the lame and
+blind; for it was incorporated under her patronage.
+
+Of those days indeed the words of the quattrocento poet of Padua,
+Giovanni Sanguinacci, were true:--
+
+    “Venice rich and free wears the world’s crown high--
+    Queen of the Sea, of the Shore, of the Sky.”
+
+
+                                  IV
+
+Upon the abdication of Giovanni Dandolo the popular choice of a
+successor fell upon Giacomo, Doge Lorenzo Tiepolo’s eldest son,--a
+prudent and unselfish man--“_un huomo de bene_” as he was called;
+but he refused the honour, and promptly went off to his estate at
+Mestre, and set to work farming. Eventually Pietro or Perazzo--“Proud
+Peter”--Gradenigo was elected. His character was marked by gentleness
+of disposition, equability of temper, tenacity of purpose, and strength
+of will,--all very desirable traits in one chosen to fill such a
+cumbered-about and difficult position as the Dogeship of Venice.
+
+Moreover he had strong views concerning the status of the Dogaressa.
+He had himself sought no foreign Princess, as had the men of the
+house of Tiepolo, but had taken his wife from a Venetian family,
+as illustrious as his own--both were of the “Apostolic,” or twelve
+premier, families--Tommasina Morosini. She presented him with five sons
+and a daughter,--Paolo, Marco, Niccolo, Giacomo, Giovanni, with Anna,
+who lived to be the consort of Giacomo da Carrara, Lord of Padua.
+
+Convinced, by diligent study and close observation, that an autocracy
+was the only satisfactory form of government for Venice, as opposed
+to the intricate jealousies of the aristocracy, and to the varying
+pretensions of the democracy, the new Doge caused the Great Council
+to pass a law which fixed the administration of the State in the
+hands of the Doge and the Council of Ten. With a stroke of the pen
+the popular Government, established under Doge Sebastiano Ziani,
+in 1172, was abolished, and the Venetian Republic came perilously
+near being controlled by the will of one strong man. More or less to
+allay the apprehensions of his fellow-nobles Gradenigo instituted
+the “_Libro d’Oro de’ Quarantia_.” Almost the first action of
+“the Forty,”--quite characteristic, but at the same time grimly
+humorous,--was to hedge the ambitious Doge about with greater
+restrictions than ever. He was never to leave Venice under any pretext,
+and never to walk about the City unattended. His official income was
+fixed at 14,000 ducats (say £2000) for the worthy support of his family
+and for the entertainment at dinner, four times a year, of the Lords
+of the Council. The State robes to be worn by Doge and Dogaressa were
+also exactly indicated:--for the Doge, over a close-fitting long tunic
+or cassock of silver cloth, a full mantle of cloth of gold lined with
+ermine, and an ermine hood. The _Corno_ was of crimson silk-velvet
+with a plain band of gold, and he was shod with crimson shoes. The
+Dogaressa’s Court robe was similar to that of her husband; she wore
+her bodice cut low, her veil was white gauze,--other ladies wore
+black,--and she exhibited what jewels she liked.
+
+In 1312 the Dogaressa was required, by a pettifogging edict, which the
+Council passed ironically, to be careful about her payments. She was
+not to incur debts, but to pay ready cash, and to be particular to
+pass no longer the smaller copper coins, but to make use of new silver
+ducats. Her alms too in the Basilica and other churches were to be in
+gold--perhaps the Dogaressa Tommasina had been chary of her offerings!
+
+Doge Pietro Gradenigo was a politician pure and simple, he cared
+neither for military or naval questions, nor did he give heed to the
+interests of the industrial classes. A fluent speaker, he dissembled
+where he could not convince; and he gained the people’s ears by
+his much talking, while he restrained their tongues with lavish
+hospitalities. Like the Medici of Firenze, in later times, his motto
+was:--“Do nothing without the people,” and his practice was to amuse
+them. Call this Macchiavellian if you like--that mischievously misused
+designation for two-faced and hypothetic policies and politicians.
+
+  [Illustration: THE PROMENADE AT A COURT BALL.
+
+  FROM A PRINT. 1610.
+
+  “Habiti d’Huomini e Donne.”--G. Franco.]
+
+Venice became a vast pleasure fair,--all kinds of vulgar excesses were
+tolerated, and incentives to abstention from politics were scattered
+broadcast, in the form of constant panderings to popular fancy.
+Shooting-butts were set up in the piazzas, and boxing and general
+pugilistic encounters were established upon the bridges. These latter
+sports took fast hold upon the people’s taste, and resulted in pitched
+battles between champions of the various _sestieri_. The Ponte di
+San Barnaba was the favourite “coign of battle,” or as it came to be
+called “_Ponte de’ Pugni_”--“Bridge of Fisticuffs!” At Carnival
+and on Public Holidays the whole city forgathered to applaud those who
+held the Bridge, and to deride those who toppled over into the water.
+Combatants usually ranged themselves under two flags--the red of the
+“_Castellani_” and the black of the “_Nicolotti_.” Their
+rivalries were fierce and entered into their daily lives, where lie met
+lie and boast foiled boast. “Reds” mocked “Blacks” and vice versa:--
+
+    “Swine that ye be, all ye Nicolotti
+    How can ye expect the girls to love ye?”
+
+           *       *       *       *       *
+
+    “Have ye no care for Donne--Domini?
+    Thieves that ye be, all ye Castellani!”
+
+Regattas were ever popular and Doge Gradenigo and Dogaressa Tommasina
+emulated the far-off example of Doge Domenigo and Dogaressa Teodora
+Selvo by presiding at the contests and personally distributing the
+prizes. The first prize was a crimson silk purse full of gold ducats;
+the second, green full of silver coins; the third, blue filled with
+coppers; the fourth, yellow and empty, but with the addition of a model
+of a little black pig! Whilst Padua had its Passion Plays and Fruili
+its Religious Masks, Venice, under the Gradenigo Doges, had no such
+pious orgies: Venetians loved the drama and the ballad--the mysteries
+and the passions of actual life. Dancing in the piazzas, and serenades
+upon the Grand Canal--such were their manners.
+
+We gather very little of the Dogaressa Tommasina from the history of
+her husband’s _dogado_: Some say she died in 1300, and that the
+Doge married, in the following year, Donna Agnese, the daughter of
+Pietro Zantani--“a woman of the people”--who survived him, and dying,
+left her personal property to her only son Pietro. Another woman’s name
+is associated with that of the Doge, one Sabba Minotti, but who and
+what she was we do not know. Domestic morality under Pietro Gradenigo
+did not attain a very distinctively high mark!
+
+At the close of the thirteenth century, and throughout the whole of the
+fourteenth, Venice was agitated by revolutionary projects. The year
+1300 was marked by the conspiracy of Marco Bocconio, a man of great
+wealth with a great following of suborned adherents. He aimed at the
+deposition of Doge Pietro Gradenigo and the substitution of himself as
+Supreme Lord of Venice. Bocconio and ten of his principal supporters
+were hanged between the two marble columns of evil augury upon the
+Piazzetta.
+
+The conspiracy of Marco Quirino and Baiamonte Tiepolo was a more
+serious affair, and the ancient families of the Badoeri, Barozzi and
+Dori and many others, were implicated. Pietro Gradenigo was again the
+obstacle in the way of the conspirators, he appeared to have attained
+to such a measure of personal pre-eminence that nothing less than his
+head could save the situation. Never before in all her history had
+Venice witnessed such a spectacle of personal ambition and personal
+animosity. Marco Quirino,--the father-in-law of Baiamonte Tiepolo,
+aimed at the absolute Lordship, with its devolution upon his second
+in command. They were possessed of immense resources, and had large
+retinues of highly-trained servants and well-drilled slaves. Baiamonte
+appealed to the populace in his character of “_Il gran Cavaliere_”
+by which title he was known and respected. The Doge, with a firmness
+of the hard man that he was,--he was in truth “_Un’Atila_”--“a
+merciless man,”--crushed the rebellion. Marco Quirino was beheaded and
+his mansion, on the Grand Canal, turned into a shambles, and Baiamonte
+Tiepolo exiled with the confiscation of all his property.
+
+There is a story in connection with the Quirino-Tiepolo rising which
+is quite worth while the telling. Baiamonte Tiepolo, at the head of
+his armed mercenaries, was passing noisily along the Merceria, on
+his way to the Ducal Palace, when suddenly the lattice of a window
+was thrown back and a woman looked out,--an action unwarrantable and
+criminal. Without a moment’s hesitation she seized the heavy stone
+pan, full of growing red carnations, and dropped it upon the head of
+the standard-bearer! The confusion which followed the fall of their
+leader’s banner gave the Doge’s men the chance of a decisive charge,
+and the rebels were driven back. Giustina Rossi, such was her name, was
+taken before his Serenity, publicly thanked, and offered a handsome
+reward. However she declined every proposal but at length she said she
+would accept two favours:--“that she might hang out of her window a
+banner of San Marco upon the anniversary of St Vito’s day; and that
+her rent should never be raised beyond fifteen gold ducats a year.”
+Both requests were at once granted, and the “Casa Giustina” as it was
+called, just beyond the Arco del Cappello, was ever after a landmark in
+Venice. A white stone on the pavement still marks the spot, and a bust
+of the heroine Giustina was placed near the arch in 1841.
+
+Little more can be recorded of “Proud Peter.” That he raised the
+position of Doge to the highest point cannot be doubted, and his
+treaties with European States,--England included,--caused his fame to
+resound far and wide. His death was somewhat inglorious, he had gained
+no man’s goodwill and no one mourned for him. The usual burial rites
+of Doges were not accorded him, but privately his remains were removed
+to the island of Murano, and secretly buried in the vaults of San
+Cipriano:--it was in the winter of 1310.
+
+One of the sweetest stories of old Venice is that of “La Beattina” or
+“Beata.” In the Campo San Vio (Vito), close to the Palazzo Loredan,
+there was, in the thirteenth century, a notable _casa_, where
+resided Count Pier Nicolo Tagliapietra, a soldier of fortune in the
+service of the Republic, and ennobled by the Emperor. One bright sunny
+day in June, in the year 1289,--when Pietro Gradenigo was Doge,--the
+Countess Elena presented her husband with a lovely baby girl--as
+delicate as a daisy, as lovely as a lily. No name was found for the
+child more suitable than “Maria Beata”; and, as she grew, the beauty of
+her little person was matched by the sweetness of her disposition. “A
+little saint come to earth,” was she called. Like all the mothers of
+Venice Countess Elena was as devout in her religious duties as she was
+devoted to her husband and her child. Daily she was one of the foremost
+at Mass and Vespers, and, as soon as little Beata could toddle across
+the _riva_ she accompanied her good mother in her visits to the
+church of her choice, San Maurizio, across the Grand Canal.
+
+There were no gondolas in those days so little Beata made friends with
+the _barca_ men at the landing-place, any one of whom would ferry
+the little Countess to the other side as often as she willed. After
+a time the Count became uneasy at his daughter’s marked predilection
+for Church and Convent,--he had in his mind a favourable marriage
+scheme;--for girls were betrothed often as not whilst barely in their
+teens. Beata would not listen to his proposals, and moreover disobeyed
+his prohibition of her devotional exercises. The only way to check
+his daughter’s visits to San Maurizio was to bribe the boatmen not to
+ferry her across. A day came when, in spite of the girl’s startled
+entreaties, not a man of them would do her service,--almost with tears
+they refused her request. So Beata knelt upon the rough pavement of
+the _riva_, and, holding up her hands to Heaven, she begged
+Saint Mary and Saint Maurice both to help her in her trouble. Then,
+approaching the canal side, she untied her pinafore, and, in sight of
+her admirers, she spread it out upon the water, and stepped gently upon
+it. It bore her weight and, wonder of wonders, began to move her from
+her supporting boat-pile, and, wafted by a gentle breeze, La Beata was
+soon at the other side of the canal!
+
+Dumbfounded the boatmen and the _riva_ loungers stood gazing at the
+wondrous scene, and then, with one accord all shouted “_Uno miracolo!
+Uno Miracolo!_” The news was carried over the Campo, right down each
+_riva_ and _calle_, until all Venice knew that they possessed another
+Saint,--a holy virgin, a new companion for their beloved Santa Giustina.
+
+Whatever might have been Count Tagliapietra’s plan for Beata’s
+betrothal mattered little, for every eligible youth in Venice promptly
+made an offer for her hand; but no suitor received encouragement, for
+“La Beata” professed herself a “Bride of Christ,”--the bride of none
+beside,--the convent cell should be her marriage bed, the altar her
+_cassone_,--so resolved she prayed most earnestly for death; life had
+no charms for her.
+
+A merciful Providence, perhaps, granted the child-saint’s request, for,
+from no apparent cause, save only her earnest wish, she surrendered her
+young beauteous life on the eve of All Saints’ in 1308--it was in her
+one-and-twentieth year. All Venice followed “La Beata” to her burial
+at San Vito with tears of joy and words of sorrow. Never since the
+strict sumptuary laws were passed did so many wax candles illuminate
+church and _casa_. Everybody burned one to the young saint’s
+honour, and then her sepulchre became a shrine,--a place for special
+prayer, a rendezvous for pilgrims. Annually the Doge and Dogaressa
+with their official household made a State visit to San Vito and left
+their offerings at “La Beata’s” altar. Strangest of all strange
+devotions,--a custom sprang up in Venice, “the City of Saints,” on All
+Saints’ Day. “La Beata’s” coffin was uncovered, and mothers came from
+far and near to lay their new-born babes upon the saintly bones--a
+certain preventive from drowning! The devotion to Santa Beata became
+so absorbing that at last, to avoid scandals, it was decided by the
+Ecclesiastical authorities to seal her tomb and forbid her votaries.
+Nevertheless from that time to this the church of St Vito is thronged
+at the yearly festival of All Saints with mothers and their young
+children who have learned from them the story and the virtues of “the
+sweetest of the Saints of Venice.”
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER IV
+
+
+                                   I
+
+“A Galley full of demons” is by no means an inapt title for the
+fourteenth century in Venice! The legend of “_Il Pescatore e
+l’Anello_” is as well-known as any of the stories in the boudoir
+of the “Queen of the Adriatic,” moreover, in a strangely weird and
+prophetic way, it epitomises the storm and calm of the new century’s
+course from start to finish.
+
+“An old boatman, caught in the raging flood of February the
+twenty-fifth, in the year 1340,--when all Venice was three feet under
+water,--and hardly making St Mark’s quay, with his frail craft, was
+told by a haughty stranger to ferry him across the wild waves to San
+Giorgio Maggiore. There, another passenger joined the pair, and the
+timorous gondolier was directed to make for San Niccolo di Lido. ‘Row
+boldly and thou shalt be well rewarded’ was the order. At the Lido
+another stranger came on board, and the oarsman was commanded to push
+his boat out into the open sea. The ocean churned in fury, and, out of
+the fume, the affrighted boatman beheld a huge galley bearing down upon
+his barca; it was full of mad demons! But lo, at the sign of the Cross
+the awesome vessel vanished, and the tumultuous elements became still.
+Back to Venice rowed the old man, and demanded his due. ‘Go to the
+Procurator, he shall pay thee for me,’ replied the stranger. ‘Who art
+thou?’ asked the man,--‘I am Saint Mark, and my companions are Saint
+George and Saint Nicholas,--take this ring and give it to the Doge.’”
+
+Andrea Dandolo was the Procurator and Bartolommeo Gradenigo the Doge,
+Paris Bordone and Palma Vecchio painted the legend and their pictures
+hang in the Accademia.
+
+The new century saw the demise of the first political Doge of
+Venice--Pietro Gradenigo, and his successor was not sought among men
+of like sympathies,--the electors were afraid. Meeting after meeting
+was held, apparently in vain, no noble appeared willing to accept, or
+eligible for, the vacant dignity. At last, one day, standing at an open
+window of the Ducal Palace, which gave upon the Piazza, some weary
+nobles of the Council discerned an old man hobbling upon his stick and
+bearing a basket filled with loaves of bread, he was Messir Marino
+Zorzi or Giorgio.
+
+“That’s our Doge!” they cried together, and so it came to pass that the
+vacant _dogado_ went to a man unknown in political and warlike
+circles but very highly esteemed for his philanthropy. He was in fact,
+at that very moment on his way to the Hospital of San Domenigo for
+destitute children, which he had recently founded. His fame for charity
+was so widely spread, that he had gained the popular title of “_Zorzi
+il Santo_.” He and his Consort, Madonna Agnese, were greatly
+interested in the prosperity of the silk industry in Venice, and when
+the people of Lucca fled from the troops of the Condottiere Castruccio
+Castracane, thirty families of spinners and weavers of silken tissue
+were welcomed by the Doge and Dogaressa, and, by their influence,
+housed in the Calle della Bissa, near the church of San Giovanni
+Crisostomo, in the very centre of the silk quarter of the city. By
+Dogaressa Agnese’s intervention Lucca silk-masters were appointed to
+train apprentices and generally to superintend the production of silk
+fabrics in the workshops of the Venetian “_Fragilia_.”
+
+“Zorzi il Santo” and his Consort reigned but one brief year, and then
+once again the electors had to find a new Head of the State. Almost
+unanimously Messir Giovanni Soranzo was chosen, who, although turned
+seventy years of age, was one of the most active men of the day. Among
+his exploits were the command of a victorious fleet against Genoa, the
+capture of Jaffa and the Syrian littoral, the humiliation of Padua,
+the re-conquest of Dalmatia, and the reconciliation of Venice to the
+Papal See. Under his patronage, and that of Dogaressa Franchesina,
+the silk industry flourished exceedingly and Oriental brocades and
+tissues were driven out of the market. The glass-workers of Murano
+reached the zenith of their fame, and no more mirrors from Germany
+and hanging-lamps from Greece were imported. The Arsenal was greatly
+extended, and was made capable of maintaining fully equipped at least
+40,000 men. For the poor man too Doge Soranzo’s rule was fortunate,
+for a silver ducat could purchase enough food, and wine, and fuel, for
+himself and his family for a week.
+
+The Doge was a wealthy man, and indeed he had need to be, for in his
+time ambassadors from every civilised State took up their residence
+in Venice. Foreign princes also came to make their bows to the
+Head of the Serene Republic. There was much entertaining and much
+expense. Dogaressa Franchesina was in all but name, “Queen of Venice”;
+her toilet, her boudoir, her receptions were modish, tasteful, and
+splendid. The Soranzi were one of the eight considerable families, who,
+in the tenth century, were classed with the “Apostolic” twelve and
+“Evangelistic” four, in the first grade of Venetian nobility. Their
+palace was one of the grandest in Venice and it was full of costly
+treasures; it was even said that the table-service of the Doge and
+Dogaressa was of gold and silver-gilt, whilst the most lustrous glass
+of Murano glittered in every room.
+
+Although Doge Soranzo’s public life was so successful and so
+popular,--in private, his heart, and that of the Dogaressa were broken
+by anxiety and sorrow,--thus evenly are mundane affairs balanced. The
+story of Donna Soranza, their dearly-loved daughter, is as sad as sad
+can be. Married to Niccolo, eldest son of Marco Quirino, the leader
+of the Quirini-Tiepolo conspiracy, he was exiled with his wife, the
+very day his father’s head fell to the executioner’s axe. They made
+their home at Zara, but Messir Niccolo survived his expatriation but
+four years, when he too fell, stabbed by an unknown hand. The widowed
+Madonna sought to return to Venice and to her father’s home, but her
+appeals were all in vain; Doge Soranzo, like another Brutus, treated
+his daughter’s pleas with quite uncalled-for severity. At last she
+determined to throw herself upon the mercy of the Council of Forty,
+and taking her way hopefully, she presented herself dutifully to her
+father and mother.
+
+That was a mournful home-coming, and mother and daughter, clasped in
+each other’s arms, resisted the austere ruling of the Doge, who had
+informed the Council of his daughter’s return. In spite of all good
+Dogaressa Franchesina could say or do her unhappy child was torn from
+her embrace and condemned to perpetual exclusion in the Convent of
+Santa Maria delle Vergine. Gentlewomen of Madonna Soranza Quirini’s
+position were styled “Canonesses,” and each had her own little
+_casa_ and a domestic servant, who was allowed to go out washing,
+and was permitted to make purchases for her mistress, and even to
+convey messages to her friends. The poor ladies were not suffered even
+to visit each other, and they could only take exercise in the Convent
+garden at rare and stated intervals.
+
+Every year the Doge paid a ceremonial visit to the Convent, where
+he was received with great honour by the Abbess and the superior
+Canonesses, who were all arrayed in magnificent white silk-brocade
+robes, and each wore two veils,--one black and one white,--signifying
+that though in the world they were not of it. The Abbess handed the
+Doge a bouquet of sweet flowers in a golden jewelled holder, and he
+bestowed in return caskets of sweetmeats upon the devout recluses.
+Never once did father and daughter meet; she yearned to embrace him
+and her mother, but he never even made enquiries about her: she was
+dead to the world, to the family, and to him,--a Spartan father’s
+discipline! Letters and messages were all in vain; unhappy Madonna
+Soranza’s only consolation was the companionship of another Quirino
+widow,--Andreola,--who remained a very short time in the Convent, for a
+suitor appeared, in the person of Angelo Bembo, and he was permitted to
+remove his _innamorata_ to the Convent of Santa Maria di Valverde,
+upon the island of Mazzorbo, where they were married.
+
+Alas! poor Madonna Soranza had no such fortune, but she pined and pined
+in her solitude, and, after twenty-five years of suffering, she laid
+her down and died--twenty years after the death of her stern father.
+Certainly an edict, passed in 1313, sentenced the wives of rebels and
+outlaws, with their children, to perpetual exile: and they were warned
+that unsanctioned return to Venice would be visited with perpetual
+confinement. Undoubtedly this proved the rule, as sententious writers
+have noted:--The sternness of justice is superior to the tenderness of
+affection.
+
+Nevertheless to the practical historian Giovanni Soranzo ranks as the
+sixth “Grand” Doge of Venice. His was a majestic burial--in State he
+lay at SS. Giovanni e Paolo, watched by the sorrowing Dogaressa and
+her ladies of honour. His very simple tomb in the Soranzo Chapel at
+San Marco is eloquent of splendid public work simply done. The State
+purchased his gorgeous table-service of gold, and much of the furniture
+of his palace for use at Court functions. Of Dogaressa Franchesina we
+hear no more: perhaps she joined her unhappy daughter, and when she
+died, perhaps she was interred in her husband’s tomb. Very striking,
+in the story of the Dogaressas of Venice, are the silence and the
+secrecy which shrouded each Ducal lady’s latter days: as a rule they
+survived their Consorts--some entered convents and some retained their
+homes,--but their glory departed like that of the tropical sun which
+leaves no twilight.
+
+Francesco Dandolo succeeded to the Dogeship: he was the great-grandson
+of Messir Andrea Dandolo, who died in 1153, brother of the “Grand”
+Doge Arrigo. His election was very popular, for his ancestry and his
+own achievements were both famous. He was the third Dandolo Doge, an
+honour never attained by any family in Venice since the ancient times
+of the Particepazio, the Candiani, the Orseoli and the Michieli.
+Borne to his investiture upon the shoulders of stalwart craftsmen, he
+called a halt at San Marco, and there he knelt in silent prayer where
+his great-great uncle, the “Grand” Doge Arrigo Dandolo, had knelt one
+hundred years or more before. Then, standing in the choir, he was
+invested with the regalia of his high office. Grasping the great banner
+of San Marco, handed to him by the Patriarch he marched at the head of
+the huge procession to the Ducal Palace. Mounting the grand staircase
+he bared his head, and, holding up his hands on high, subscribed the
+oath and received the _Corno_. It was the first Ducal bonnet to
+be provided by the State: hitherto the Abbess of San Zaccaria had held
+that prerogative. With the new _Corno_ was also a smaller horned
+head-dress for the Dogaressa.
+
+It seemed as though Madonna Elisabetta would enter upon a less
+trammelled position, and obtain a larger measure of official
+recognition than had been the lot of her predecessors. Later
+developments confirmed this idea as we shall see. Immediately after
+the installation of the Doge the customary lordly deputation went off
+to the Dandolo Mansion. It was noteworthy that at the head of the
+noble Lords was, for the first time, the imposing figure of the High
+Chancellor, a dignitary second only to the Doge, and it was he who
+addressed her Serenity:--“We have come,” he said, “to congratulate
+the Dogaressa of Venice upon the election of her noble Consort as our
+Doge, and to request the honour of your Serenity’s adhesion to certain
+provisions of the new _Promissione_.”
+
+Dogaressa Elisabetta notified her pleasure at the compliment, which was
+paid her, and her acceptance of the conventions of her new dignity.
+Moreover she presented to each of the noble Lords a magnificently
+embroidered silk purse containing ten golden ducats, in recognition
+of their courtesy and as a pledge of her favour. This was a notable
+victory for the Dogaressa who, whilst under the old _Promissioni_,
+was debarred from giving and receiving presents of any kind. What had
+brought about this change in the policy of the Council no one has
+recorded. Was it due to the awakening consciences of the nobles who,
+perhaps, now saw the meanness and unworthiness of the restrictions
+imposed upon the Head of the State and his Consort by former
+enactments? Or was it due to the worthy records created by the latest
+holders of the Dogaressaship in their manifestations of the advance of
+gracious womanhood? Who shall say?
+
+A further step in the honour rendered to the new Dogaressa was,
+that, instead of the somewhat impromptu and tumultuous escort of the
+members of the “_Fragilie_” to conduct her Serenity at once to the
+Ducal Palace, a delay of seven days was ordered before her public
+recognition. Then the great state barge “_Bucintoro_” was manned and
+decorated as for the annual “Marriage of the Adriatic,” and steered
+right up to the steps of the Dogaressa’s residence, whence she was
+conducted on board with great circumstance and pomp. Clad in full
+robes of State but bare-headed,--her hair like that of a young bride,
+rippling around her shoulders,--Dogaressa Elisabetta was attended by
+a graceful suite of _gentildonne_, all dressed in festal white with
+floral wreaths and bouquets. Escorted, not by companies of craftsmen
+on foot, but by a fleet of _bregantine_,--each vessel splendidly
+decorated, and bearing the banner of its “_Fragilia_” with the Masters
+and officials of the Craft in full regalia,--the water-pageant started
+upon its course to the Piazzetta. Passing under the glorious arch of
+the Ponte di Rialto, crowded with sympathetic and admiring citizens,
+with difficulty it steered its course amid hundreds of barcas and
+gondolas filled with cheering holiday-makers all in the very best of
+good-humour.
+
+Arrived at the Piazzetta her Serenity and her following were conducted,
+not as usual to the Ducal Palace, but into the Basilica, where she
+knelt in prayer, whilst the Patriarch blessed her as he had the Doge:
+then she laid an offering upon the high altar--a purse of crimson
+silk-brocade containing ten gold ducats. From San Marco she was
+attended by a company of nobles, one holding over her head the Ducal
+umbrella, to the _Sala de’ Signori di Notte_, within the Ducal Palace,
+passing through the _Sala del Consiglio Maggiore_--the greatest and
+most splendid hall in Venice, where the painter Guariento was already
+busy with his famous frescoes,--and there she finds the Doge seated and
+crowned upon his throne. Descending the steps of the dais, her Consort
+takes her by the hand, and places her in the Dogaressa’s Chair of State
+under the Ducal canopy. The Chancellor tenders the solemn oath and the
+Dogaressa swears to maintain certain clauses of the “_Promissione_;”
+then, in the name of the assembled noble Lords, he places upon her
+bared head the miniature _Corno_, which the State had newly provided;
+and, lastly, the nobles offer their congratulations and their homage.
+
+Stately ceremony, ever wearying by its formalities, gives way to social
+hospitality, and, as by custom bound, Dogaressa Elisabetta issues
+invitations to all the Masters of Crafts and their officials to sup
+with her in her private apartments. Meanwhile the busy hands of her
+serving-maids have arranged the flowing locks of the Dogaressa’s hair,
+and have added a new feature to her State head-dress,--a delicate coif
+or veil of the finest embroidered cambric. It was a very necessary
+adjunct, for, when the jewelled _Corno_ was removed, the dignity
+of a covered head remained,--besides it was a most becoming mode. Thus
+with unwonted pomp, and amid universal approbation Doge Francesco
+Dandolo and Dogaressa Elisabetta were hailed almost as King and Queen
+of Venice. Right royally they maintained their high station, for daily
+they made progresses to different parts of the city or to the more
+distant islands, in support of local charities or local interests; and
+everywhere they were acclaimed by sympathetic crowds of citizens and
+craftsmen.
+
+The austere rule and the haughty personality of Doge Giovanni Soranzo
+were things of the past, and the sad lot of unhappy widowed Madonna
+Soranza Quirino was forgotten. Men and women were only too thankful
+for the auspicious conditions under which they found themselves,--care
+gave place to joy,--unrest to revelry. One outcome of the better state
+of things,--and it was a very unexpected and withal amazing,--was
+an innovation with respect to the “_Feste delle Marie_”--the annual
+marriage of the “Brides of Venice” at San Pietro di Castello. The
+ancient marriage rites,--which we have already noted,--had been
+gradually modified, until there were scarcely any rites at all. In the
+year of Dogaressa Elisabetta Dandolo’s Coronation, upon the natal Feast
+of San Marco, a quaint marriage pageant was provided, and, instead of
+twelve or more beauteous damsels in nuptial attire glittering through
+Venice _calle_ and _canale_ to the marriage altar, twelve lay figures
+were substituted. Dressed in bridal garb these dolls,--borne through
+crowds of uproarious citizens,--were greeted up and down and everywhere
+with derision as “_Marie di tola e di legno!_”--“Brides of stuff and
+wood!”
+
+Alas for the permanence of things human! The larger liberty granted by
+the _Promissione_ to Doge and Dogaressa Francesco Dandolo in matters
+social and sartorial, was curtailed considerably after five years of
+general exuberance, and in 1334 fresh sumptuary laws were enacted.
+Gentlewomen were not to wear trains at Court, or at home, or on
+Piazza. Jewelled girdles, above the value of twenty gold ducats, were
+forbidden. Gold and silver rouge jars and _scarcelle_, or handbags,
+with jewels and gold filigree work, were no longer to be used. No
+gentlewoman was to possess more than two capes of ermine and only one
+big cloak lined with taffetas. Pearls, on the shoes, were disallowed,
+and the wearing of peacocks’ feathers. The value of a bridal trousseau
+was not to exceed five hundred ducats, whilst the bridal dress itself
+was not to cost more than two hundred ducats--a very liberal allowance
+as things went! The bride however was not permitted any robes of cloth
+of gold nor ermine linings. Boys, under twelve could not wear gold
+or silver ornaments, pearls, velvet, or fur: over twelve and up to
+twenty-five, youths and young men were forbidden to wear belts and
+_scarcelle_ exceeding twenty-five ducats in value. All were to wear a
+strip of blue cloth hanging from the shoulder to the feet, which they
+rolled up, and then threw over the left arm: “_Calar Stola_” it was
+called.
+
+The dogado of Francesco Dandolo lasted ten years,--a period
+of prosperity for Venice,--and much of it was due to the wise
+and tactful conduct of the Doge. If he may not be reckoned a
+“Grand Doge,”--although Ruskin calls him so in the “_Stones of
+Venice_,”--it is perhaps because, as a Dandolo, he was overshadowed
+by the stronger personality of his relative and successor Doge Andrea
+Dandolo, whose times were far more stirring and presented greater
+opportunities for distinction. On the other hand Elisabetta was
+a “Grand Dogaressa”--one of the few who rose to high station and
+maintained it with distinction.
+
+Both Doge and Dogaressa were patrons of the new-born Fine Arts, for, in
+addition to the fresco painter Guariento, Giacomo del Fiore, Lorenzo
+Veneziano, and others were painting altar-pieces and anconas in the
+earliest Venetian studios--a hundred years or more before the brothers
+Vivarini founded the School of Murano. In the Sacristy of the church
+of Santa Maria della Salute is a picture by an anonymous Venetian
+painter, representing the presentation, by their patron Saints, of
+Doge Francesco Dandolo and Dogaressa Elisabetta upon their knees, to
+the Madonna and Bambino. The picture is dated 1338, and is one of the
+very earliest paintings of the great School of Venice. Originally this
+notable painting was placed over the tomb of Doge Francesco Dandolo and
+Dogaressa Elisabetta in the Chapter-House of the church of the Frari.
+The sarcophagus also has been removed, and now it is in the cloisters
+of the _Seminario Patriarchale_. The year of the Doge’s death we
+know, 1339, but there is no record of that of Dogaressa Elisabetta.
+
+
+                                  II
+
+Andrea Dandolo (1342–1384) was the fourth and last Doge of his family.
+It is not a little remarkable, that in the History of Venice, the
+families which gave several Doges, up to the end of the fourteenth
+century, did so within severally restricted periods:--for example,
+the seven Partecipazi Doges held office between the years 827–942,
+the five Candiani 886–977, the three Orseoli 976–1009, the three
+Michieli 1096–1172, the four Dandoli 1192–1354 and the three Gradenighi
+1283–1356. It would seem as though the “Apostolic” families came to
+honour and power, and swayed the destinies of the Republic, and then,
+in some mysterious manner, declined, fell away, and the Ducal Throne
+knew them no more.
+
+  [Illustration: DOGE FRANCESCO DANDOLO AND DOGARESSA ELISABETTA.
+
+  STEFANO DA VENEZIA. 1340.
+
+  SACRISTY. SANTA MARIA DEL SALUTE, VENICE.]
+
+Doge Andrea was the son of Messir Fantino Dandolo who was descended
+from Marco Dandolo Procurator of San Marco in 1161, and first cousin of
+the “Grand” Doge Arrigo. The first Venetian noble to study at Padua and
+obtain the Doctor’s degree there, Andrea Dandolo was, from his boyhood,
+studious and reserved. He served the State in many public offices, a
+member of the Council of Ten, in 1340 he was called to the important
+position of Procurator of San Marco.
+
+Upon his election as Doge in 1342 an edict was issued barring his three
+sons, Fantino, Lionardo and Pietro, when grown, from holding public
+office during their father’s _dogado_. As to who was their mother
+no chronicler has apparently recorded, and this is astonishing, seeing
+that Andrea Dandolo’s “_Cronaca_” is one of the fullest and most
+reliable of all Venetian annals, and deals exhaustively with his own
+family affairs. Consequently we must make the most of the romance of
+Madonna Isabella de’ Fieschi, the Consort of Luchino Visconti, Lord of
+Milan.
+
+This fascinating Princess visited Venice attracted by the fame of the
+young Doge,--he was only thirty-five years old when elected to the
+Ducal Throne,--for his sobriquet all through Lombardy and the Marches
+was “Count of Courtesy.” He was tall, well-built, and handsome, a
+poetaster, a man of letters, perhaps a genius, the most accomplished
+nobleman in Venice. Fair Isabella had, as all women have, her own
+ideas of love and witchery, and she was not too conscientious in her
+duty to her husband: he was a man of boorish manners, and there was
+no love lost between them. Gifted too in many ways, she conceived a
+violent passion for Doge Dandolo which he returned in a dreamy sort
+of way. Anyhow, she soon became leader of the Venetian Court, as well
+as mistress of the Doge. Alas! bewitching Isabella’s intimacy and
+influence were cut short by a terrible outbreak of the Black Death,
+which claimed very many noble victims and Isabella de’ Fieschi among
+them.
+
+Between 1344 and 1346 it was estimated that sixty noble families were
+absolutely exterminated, whilst the Council of Forty was reduced to
+less than twenty. The only preventive, and it was only partially
+successful that the Guild of the Physicians could prescribe, was a
+concoction of aromatic herbs, amber, and ivy berries--“_Teriaca_”
+it was called. The Government guaranteed this panacea, which everyone
+was ordered to take--it was procurable at the _Speziale della Testa
+d’Oro_ by the Rialto bridge. It was an ancient Greek remedy revived,
+and one may purchase it to-day at the still existent “Golden Head.”
+
+Venice was depopulated and families from outlying islands near the
+mainland were welcomed by the Government, and granted privileges on
+settlement. This sensible move was due to the Doge’s advocacy: he
+had in view the advantages of introducing new blood into the veins
+of the population enervated by prosperity and weakened by epidemic.
+Earthquakes and famine followed relentlessly upon the heels of the
+pestilence, and great distress and reckless outrage were added to the
+evil lot of the Venetians.
+
+The Doge alone kept calm and resourceful--master of the situation,
+whilst men were losing their heads and women their minds; but the
+anxieties, sufferings, and fatigues of the years of visitation preyed
+greatly upon his highly-strung and sympathetic temperament, and he died
+almost suddenly and, quite alone when no more than fifty years of age.
+
+Andrea Dandolo is renowned as the eighth “Grand” Duke of Venice, by
+reason of his remarkable personal qualities, and of his noble devotion
+to the Republic. He was buried in the Baptistery of San Marco, the
+last Doge to be there interred, and Francesco Petrarch wrote his
+epitaph:--“He earned such glory and honour as no other Venetian
+Doge did before him!” One very pleasant episode in his career was
+his intimacy with Petrarch. After the decisive Chioggian war with
+Genoa, when the “Queen of the Adriatic” subdued the “Queen of the
+Mediterranean,”--Francesco Petrarch was sent, as one of an embassy from
+Milan, to seek mitigation of the Venetian terms of peace. The mission
+was unsuccessful, but the “Grand” Doge and the “Great” Poet became fast
+friends and constant correspondents.
+
+Ruskin, in his “_Stones of Venice_,” writes thus of the Baptistery
+and of Andrea Dandolo’s tomb:--“We are in a low vaulted room ... in
+the centre a bronze font ... and a small figure of the Baptist ... a
+single ray of light falls from a window ... the only thing it strikes
+brightly is a tomb, and it rests upon the sleeper’s face for ever, a
+man of middle life, but there are two deep furrows right across the
+forehead, the features are small and delicate, the lips sharp ... and
+there is a sweet smile upon them. It is Doge Andrea Dandolo, a man
+early great among the great of Venice, and early lost ... he died,
+leaving behind him that History to which we owe half of what we know of
+the former fortunes of Venice.”
+
+The mosaics in the Baptistery show the Doge kneeling in devout prayer,
+but, alas, no Dogaressa keeps him company.
+
+The Conspiracy of Marino Falier or Faliero, like its predecessors,
+under the leadership respectively of Marco Bocconio and of Marco
+Quirino and Baiamonte Tiepolo, in aim and animus, was very unlike
+in means and methods. They tried to grasp the supreme magistracy
+from the aristocratic standpoint. Falier, although an “aristocrat
+of aristocrats,” sought the suffrages of the democracy to make him
+Over-Lord of Venice. Head of one of the noblest and most ancient
+families, Marco or Marino Falier was born in the Casa Falier, upon
+the Rio de SS. Apostoli in the year 1280. The Falieri were one of the
+twelve “Apostolic” families at Eraclea in 697. The lad’s parents were
+Messir Vitale Falier and Madonna Beriola Loredan,--daughter of Messir
+Giovanni Loredan of San Canciano,--and he was destined for a commercial
+career but early he turned to politics.
+
+Marino Falier held many important State appointments, and, by
+his ability and disinterestedness, gained the confidence of his
+fellow-nobles and the citizens at large. His patriotism was
+unquestioned, for no one displayed greater enthusiasm in hunting down
+the adherents of the Quirino-Tiepolo conspiracy. When still under
+thirty he was admitted to the Council of Ten, and became ambassador,
+in turn, to the Duke of Austria, the Genoese Republic, and to the
+Emperor Charles V. Falier also held with distinction both naval and
+military commands. Upon his appointment as Podesta of Treviso he
+took the title of Count of Val di Morena. Francesco Petrarch, in his
+“_Epistolæ_,” speaks of Marino Falier’s wisdom and public spirit:
+“_Ducatus honor non petat uno quidem ignaro sibi obliget._”
+
+Falier was married twice. When a mere youth he wooed and won Donna
+Tommasina Contarini, his equal in rank, but as delicate as she was
+beautiful. Within a year she was torn from his embrace and carried away
+in the black chariot drawn by black oxen in the “Triumph of Death.” One
+sweet pledge of love fair Tommasina left her sorrowing young husband,
+but the relentless “Mower” reaped the baby girl, soon after her sweet
+mother’s death. Prostrated by this double bereavement Falier plunged
+into the vortex of politics, hoping thereby to heal his wounds. Time
+gave him consolation and revenge for when he was fifty-five he found
+himself once more a prisoner of the “Triumph of Love.”
+
+Aluycia Gradenigo was a very fascinating woman,--a full-blown rose
+ready to be gathered by a gallant suitor. She was a daughter of
+Messir Nicolo Gardenigo of San Maurizio and grandniece of Doge
+Pietro,--“Proud Peter.” In her veins ran the blood of Greek ancestors,
+who, driven out of Byzantium by the Emperor Emmanuel settled at Altino,
+in the seventh century. Falier was Podesta of Treviso at the time
+of his second marriage and Treviso was always the “Court of Beauty
+and of Love,”--the centre of the “_Marca Amorosa_.” Naturally,
+gay young fellows gathered there, many of them drawn from Venice,
+among them Pietro Bollani, Michele Molino, Rizzardo Marioni, Moretto
+Zorzi, Maffio Morosini, and the two brothers Giovanni and Michele
+Steno--“_Giovinastri_”--“Insolent Young Dogs,” were they nicknamed.
+
+Madonna Aluycia Falier did not want for admirers, and, if Martino
+Sanudo, and other chroniclers, may be believed, she greatly encouraged
+their advances. She was a good deal younger than her husband, and
+cared little for his engrossing affairs of State, whilst, naturally,
+she sought consolation and companionship among those of her own age.
+Between Michele Steno and the Countess sprang up a warm attachment,
+and gossips have not been at pains to shield the young wife’s honour.
+Anyhow the Podesta got wind of the _liaison_ and warned the hardy
+lover off. Steno was not the man to take his _congé_ readily, and
+very soon he learned that directly lovely Aluycia was “off with the
+old love, she was on with the new!” He made up his mind to be revenged
+of the stern Podesta and his bewitching wife, so he left Treviso in
+dudgeon and went back to Venice to watch for his opportunity.
+
+During the festivities which marked the election of Marino Falier to
+the Doge’s seat in 1354, was a Court Ball at the Ducal Palace, and
+Michele Steno was among the guests. He was greeted by the Doge and
+Dogaressa quite cordially, but all the same he chose to carry out
+his plan of humiliating them there. Pressing his attention upon one
+of Dogaressa Aluycia’s maids-of-honour he let fall a remark which
+concerned his previous relations with her Serenity. Greatly shocked,
+the Court lady repeated what she had heard to others at the Ball and
+presently it reached the Doge’s ear. The Doge beckoned him, and turning
+aside, insisted upon his leaving the assembly at once. Steno resisted,
+and was beginning to repeat his slander for all to hear when the Doge
+ordered his removal. Passing through the Throne-room of the Palace he
+scratched upon the marble Chair of Estate the following couplet:--
+
+    “Marin Falier--da la bela moier
+    Altri la galde--e lu la mantier.”
+
+The Doge was furious. Steno was arrested and accused before the Council
+of his misdemeanour. His offence was as gross as gross could be and
+he fully deserved much more than he got;--a sound thrashing with a
+fox-tail,--a mark of ignominy,--a year of imprisonment, and a fine
+of one hundred gold ducats. This mild sentence troubled Doge Falier
+greatly: he looked for the death sentence at least, seeing that the
+offence was against the sacred person of the Doge, as well as against
+his Consort. He was quite conversant with the fact that the majority
+of the nobles were actuated by anything but kindly feelings towards
+himself. No doubt they viewed his prominence, not alone as Doge but as
+the most able and ambitious man among them, with disquietude.
+
+Marino Falier was quite in touch with the opinions of the wealthier
+citizens and members of the prosperous “_Fragilie_.” Of course the
+Crafts were under Dogaressa Aluycia’s special patronage, but he shared
+her interest in the prosperity of the industrial classes. If the nobles
+looked askance at his pretensions, could he not turn to the great
+democracy, and pose as the champion of their liberties! This was the
+policy which grew more and more upon him. Michele Steno’s affair passed
+over but it opened the Doge’s eyes to the peril of his position, and,
+to safeguard that was his first concern. He could not trust the nobles,
+could he trust the people?
+
+Notwithstanding that the chivalrous discipline of the Crusades had
+enduring influence upon the sentiments and manners of every class in
+Venice, and especially upon the nobles, there remained, of course,
+beneath the outward marks of courtesy and good-breeding very much of
+the old Adam of insolence and profanity. Year by year young men and old
+frequented, in ever-increasing numbers, Church, Piazza and Palace with
+nothing in the world to do but to kill time and incidentally their own
+and others’ reputations.
+
+Many of these idlers were out-of-elbow noblemen--“_Barnabotti_”
+they were dubbed in derision, as hangers-on to anybody with money or
+influence. Proud, dissolute, discontented, and ever ready for insult
+or injury, this ill-conditioned mob was a menace to the peace and
+well-being of the Republic. Sometimes after more than usually prolonged
+devotions in the Temple of Bacchus, these good-for-nothings sallied
+forth to commit acts of vandalism in the city: at other times, their
+visitations to the Court of Venus fomented jealousies, which found vent
+only in deeds of personal violence against those they feared or hated.
+
+One such outburst occurred only a few days after Michele Steno’s insult
+in the Palace. The Admiral of the Arsenal was Bertruccio Isarello, a
+man ambitious, unscrupulous, and intolerant to his subordinates. A
+very quarrelsome _Condottiere del Mare_, one Francesco Barbaro,
+considered himself wronged in some way by the Admiral, and, obtaining
+no satisfaction, he had the audacity to strike his chief in the Council
+Chamber! Admiral Isarello reported the circumstance to the Doge, and
+sought, through him, redress.
+
+“How can I help you, remember,” replied Falier, “how grossly Michele
+Steno insulted me, and see how leniently the Forty treated him!” Then
+seeing that the Doge’s rancour was unabated and, knowing something of
+his Serenity’s sentiments with respect to the democracy, the Admiral
+exclaimed:--
+
+“My Lord, why should we suffer these ‘_Barnabotti_’ and these
+‘_Bravi_’ any longer. You, my Lord Doge, have a ready remedy, and
+I am prepared to aid you in punishing them and in humiliating some
+of our great lords, if you will confide in me and in my men of the
+Arsenal, who are your friends and mine.” This was the first step in
+the conspiracy of Marino Falier, and he did not linger long before he
+stepped again.
+
+Everything was ordered secretly, and the conspirators were ready
+for the summons of the Great Bell of San Marco on the morning
+of 15th April,--the usual official notice that a meeting of the
+Council demanded the immediate presence of the Forty. The Admiral’s
+instructions were to strike down every nobleman who obeyed the summons,
+and, in the confusion, to proclaim Falier Sovereign of Venice. There
+was however a traitor in the camp, one Beltramo a Bergamesque furrier,
+a client of Stefanello Trevisan the Doge’s stockbroker at Santa
+Margherita. This man gathered something of the existence of the plot,
+and forthwith made his way to one of his barber associates, a valet
+in the household of Messir Nicolo Lioni of San Stefano, a member of
+the Council, who informed his master. Without much ado the chief
+conspirators were arrested--some thirty to forty in number. When
+charged with being privy to the plot Doge Marino Falier tossed up his
+proud head, and laying his hand upon his sword-hilt exclaimed:--“_Il
+Doxe nol seppe ingane!_”--“The Doge never lies!”
+
+The Doge had short shrift: he was allowed to make his will and his
+confession, but not to see his miserable wife Dogaressa Aluycia or
+any member of his family or household. Early upon the morrow of the
+detection of his conspiracy, the great bell of the Basilica, which
+had all but clanged forth the death-knell of the Lords of the Council
+gave forth the funeral peal as for the burial of a Doge. Arrayed in
+his State robes and wearing his Ducal _Corno_ Marino Falier was
+led into the great Courtyard of the Ducal Palace, and stepped forth
+to death bravely and contemptuously. His proud appeal for a hearing
+was refused, and then, stripped of his panoply of office, the old man
+knelt unresistingly upon the hard stones and bared his neck before the
+executioner. One swift blow sufficed and the gory grey-bearded head
+rolled to the feet of the chief of the Council, who picking it up in
+his arms, hurried into the _loggia_ which gave upon the Piazza,
+and there, exposing his ghastly trophy to the excited multitude, cried
+out:--“Look!--all of you!--look!--Ripe justice hath been done to the
+arch-traitor!” Then he cast the foul thing from him into the middle of
+the Courtyard, where the populace thrust and fought to gaze at, revile,
+and dishonour the corpse of the old Doge whom they had so lately
+venerated and trusted. At dark the remains were gathered together and
+taken secretly in a covered barge, with eight big burning torches, and
+buried in the Faliero vault in the chapel of Madonna della Pace, within
+the great church of SS. Giovanni e Paolo.
+
+We must now turn aside from this terrible tragedy, and contemplate a
+tragedy far more pathetic, the sad tragedy of Dogaressa Aluycia. The
+execution of the Doge involved the confiscation of his property, his
+palace, near the bridge of SS. Apostoli, with its marble columns, and
+a _casa_ by the church of San Severo which had been built for
+Falier by the architect Calendario, and their valuable contents. Marino
+Falier and his Consort had been keen collectors of beautiful objects
+and antiques: in an Inventory of their treasures,--made by a priest,
+Giovanni, of the church of SS. Apostoli, in 1351, mention is made of
+the _Camera rubea_,--a museum,--and of another apartment, filled
+with objects of art,--collected by the famous explorer Marco Polo
+during his travels.
+
+The unhappy Dogaressa was dispossessed of all her Consort had left her
+and ordered to vacate her home and go where she would. In one swift
+moment plunged from the lofty height of the Ducal Throne into the abyss
+of ignominy, she was reduced to absolute poverty and became the mark
+of every evil tongue, an object of aversion and suspicion. Prostrated
+by her bitter woe she besought Heaven to let her die,--madness was
+the only alternative,--she sought comfort and release but both were
+denied her. Her mind became a blank, her reason tottered, and when at
+length two lifelong friends dared, at the risk of their own lives, to
+penetrate her hiding-place, Messiri Giorgio Giustiniani and Niccolo
+Contarini, they found her a raving lunatic.
+
+By permission of the Council Dogaressa Aluycia was placed in the
+Convent of San Lorenzo on the _fondamento_ of San Severo, where
+she received a small gold brooch and some other trifling mementos
+of her husband. After a while she was moved to Verona where she had
+property and friends, but the change wrought no relief and sorrowfully
+she was sent back to Venice, where she ended her days in 1385, in a mad
+asylum, forgotten by the world, with no child or friend to mourn her,
+alone with God.
+
+The conspiracy and execution of Doge Marino Falier shook the
+constitution of Venice to its deepest foundations. Suspicion and
+revenge lurked at every corner of church, palace, and piazza. Every
+man’s hand was upon his poignard, each woman’s knee was bent in
+intercession, and the children ceased their games.
+
+Venice was once more “_Venezia Calva_”--but “Venice naked” in shame,
+dismay, and tragedy.
+
+
+                                  III
+
+Doges came and Doges went, and, with them, their Dogaressas: the last
+half of the fourteenth century saw seven Heads of the State. Their
+Consorts are named in the MS. _Dolfin Gradenigo_, in the Museo
+Civico, but about only three of them have the chroniclers given us
+much information. Calling to mind a quaint entry in the “_Archivio
+Veneto_” of the year 1288, which deprecates matrimony and woman’s
+influence as far as regards the Rulers of States, we may perhaps gather
+the subtle meaning of the _excursus_ of Frate Paolino, a Minorite
+of Venice.
+
+“Whilst a man” he writes, “ought to seek a wife tall and well-formed,
+that she may give him fine and comely children, he should, all the
+same, never be ruled by her advice, for a woman has not sound counsel,
+because she usually has not a strong constitution, and her mind is
+apt to yield to the infirmities of the body.” Be this as it may, we
+must look wider afield for circumstances which greatly altered the
+conditions of the _dogado_.
+
+The middle of the fourteenth century was remarkable as a period of
+unusual political unrest and of unprecedented immorality. The great
+middle-class of Venetian citizens had not only gradually acquired
+wealth and influence, but they were determined that the Government
+of the Republic should no longer rest exclusively in the hands of the
+nobles. The City was agitated with measures against the aristocracy,
+which were greatly strengthened by the consequences attending the
+execution of Doge Marino Falier. The dreaded revolution was however
+averted and the new Doge, Giovanni Gradenigo, though a grandson of the
+aristocratic “Proud Peter,” was known to be a man of particularly suave
+and considerate character--“_Il Nasone_” he was called because of
+his bottle-nose. His Consort was Madonna Marina Cappello,--a lineal
+descendant of Andrea Cappello, the hero of the “Rape of the Brides of
+Venice” in Doge Pietro Candiano IV.’s time.
+
+Amid all the political commotions, women came very much more into
+public life. Hitherto restrained by almost Oriental enactments they now
+began to throw off the conventions which so narrowly prescribed their
+position. The Senate and the domestic hearth were alike imperilled:
+women lost their modesty, and men their continence. Dress and manners
+yielded to the infatuation: women’s breasts were bared, and men’s hose
+became indecent. Delicate living and pleasure unrestrained changed the
+proverbial decorum of Venice. New ideas Platonic and otherwise were
+rife concerning the relations of the sexes. Venice was full of light
+women, not natives only, but frail beauties from beyond the lagunes,
+drawn thither by the fine figures and fat purses of the men. In the
+year 1360 the number of courtesans exceeded twelve thousand!
+
+  [Illustration: COURTESANS.
+
+  Vettore Carpaccio.
+
+  ACCADEMIA, VENICE.]
+
+The scandal was so glaring that the Government of Doge Giovanni
+Delfino (1356–1361), issued an edict forbidding such women from
+occupying common lodging-houses, joining supper parties of men, and
+going about the city--except on Saturdays: at the same time they were
+required to reside within the _sestiere_ of Castelletto, near the
+Ponte di Rialto. Very strict laws were passed by the Council of Forty
+for the preservation of morals; hanging was the punishment meted out
+to offenders. The story of Madonna Veneranda Porta, who lived in the
+second half of the century,--still recounted among the gondoliers,--is
+indicative of the state of society. She had an unsympathetic husband,
+and as a consequence, a lover, and he slew Messir Giorgio Porta. The
+lovers were arrested and condemned to suffer the extreme penalty of
+the law. Madonna Veneranda protested “that Venice had never yet hung a
+woman,--it would be too indecent,--and she would not be the first to be
+so punished.” “You shall hang,” replied the chief of the Council, “in a
+sack!”
+
+Doge Giovanni Delfino, in 1357, founded an Hostel for Fallen
+Women--“_redire ad penitentiam et contriciam_”; and, he and his
+Consort,--whose name we do not even know,--established as many as
+seventeen receiving houses for children exposed in the byways and
+water-ways. His _dogado_ was calamitous for Venice abroad as well
+as at home. “He was,” the historians tell us, “nevertheless, a true
+soldier, honourable and patriotic.” He died in 1361, his body was laid
+in State,--the first Doge so honoured,--in the _Sala de’ Signori
+di Notte_, and was buried at SS. Giovanni e Paolo,--where his
+sarcophagus, enriched with sculptures has bas-reliefs of the Doge and
+Dogaressa kneeling at the feet of the enthroned Christ.
+
+There were several candidates for the vacant Throne and much delay was
+experienced in the selection of the new Doge, but, whilst the electors
+hesitated, news came of a famous naval achievement of the Venetian
+fleet, under Lorenzo Celsi, “the Captain of the Gulf.” He was a brave
+man and the idol of the people, with no claims whatever to nobility of
+rank, possessed of only moderate means, and under fifty years of age.
+His name was shouted in the Piazza, and a vast concourse of craftsmen
+and gondoliers rushed pell-mell to the Ducal Palace, and demanded his
+election as Doge. The people’s caprice was for the nonce the nobles’
+choice, and they bowed to the popular outcry.
+
+The Dogaressa, Marchesina, daughter of Messir Girolamo Ghisi, a member
+of one of the rising families of merchant-craftsmen, with her maids of
+honour and an immense following set off to meet the sailor Doge on his
+return to Venice. Without precedent for any such demonstration, the
+“_Bucintoro_” was rowed out to sea, and signalled to the Lido the
+first sail of the approaching squadron. Once more a popular hero was
+borne shoulder-high into the Basilica, and in the Ducal Palace crowned
+“Doge of Venice and of her Dominions beyond the Sea,” so ran his title.
+
+Lorenzo Celsi was prepared to be all things to all men and made endless
+promises of democratic reforms, such as the manner is of men not to the
+manner born. A man of splendid physique and brimful of ambitious ideas
+he determined not only to make the most of his good fortune, but to
+render his _dogado_ as magnificent as possible.
+
+For his own protection he took very wise precautions: sailors were not
+quite the kind of guard he and his family required, so, very adroitly,
+as he thought, he enrolled scores and scores of lawless men of the
+city,--the “_Bravi_”--as a body-guard to deal with disagreeable
+persons. These men soon had the measure of the Doge, and assumed a
+demeanour which imperilled the personal safety of all against whom they
+had any grudge whether public or private. Meetings to mark persons
+for assassination were held secretly at the out-of-the-way laundry of
+a woman named Tommasina Gobba, who was, by the way, laundress to the
+Dogaressa. The worthy body turned Doge’s evidence, and the villains
+were disbanded, but the Doge came in for fierce aspersions and serious
+suspicions. It was easy to say that he instigated measures of violence,
+so as to safeguard himself and his position.
+
+Very fortunately for Celsi’s vindication of his _bona fides_ came
+the visit of Francesco Petrarch to Venice: “a place of peace and rest”
+he imagined it, but he found it “full of depravity and profanity.” A
+very amusing story is told of the poet’s treatment of an importunate
+visitor. The man would take no refusal, he sought alms and patronage.
+Failing to convince Petrarch he set to work to insult him with odious
+language,--“such as only Venetians used,”--whereupon the poet seized
+him by the throat and kicked him down the stairs!
+
+Petrarch was treated royally by the Venetians, the Palazzo de Quattro
+Torri, on the Grand Canal, was assigned to him as his residence, and at
+Court functions he was seated on the right hand of the Doge. The first
+of the pageants he beheld, was held in celebration of the Conquest of
+Candia,--where “the most comely youths in Christendom displayed their
+forms and prowess before the most beauteous maidens upon earth”: the
+splendid spectacles inspired his “_Trionfi_.”
+
+        “Questa leggiadra e gloriosa Donna
+    Ch’ è oggi nudo spirto e poca terra,
+    E fugià di valor alta colonna,
+        Tornava con onor della sua guerra
+    Allegra, avendo vinto il gran nemico,
+    Che con suo’ inganni tutto ’l mondo attera.”
+
+           *       *       *       *       *
+
+        “La Bella Donna, e le compagne elette
+    Tornando dalla nobile Vittoria
+    In un bel drappelletto ivan ristrette.”--
+
+No such brilliant tournament had ever been held in Venice: the Doge
+himself, superbly mounted, broke a lance with the Prince of Cyprus. The
+Poet, in an ecstasy of delight describes the Venetians as a “nation of
+sailors, horsemen, and beauties!” He says “the Dogaressa placed crowns
+of pure gold upon the victors’ heads, and clasped silver belts around
+their hips.”
+
+Petrarch lived seven years in Venice (1361–1368). In 1364 he wrote to
+Giovanni Boccaccio:--“Come then to my call,” and the gay writer of the
+“_Decamerone_” spent three months in Venice. Before his departure
+Petrarch wrote to the Council of the Forty:--“I wish with the good
+will of my Saviour and of the Evangelist, to make St Mark the heir of
+my Library.” The bequest was gratefully accepted, but, alas, like many
+more such benefactions, nothing now remains but a few mouldy worm-eaten
+volumes.
+
+Doge Lorenzo Celsi’s day of popularity went too the way of the world.
+Like all risen men he became autocratic and presumed upon the liberties
+and antecedents of the nobles, and they took their revenge. Upon
+the thirtieth of July 1365, the Council of Ten passed a resolution
+reflecting upon the Doge’s assumption of authority, and putting upon
+record that the status of the nobles was in jeopardy. The wording of
+the concluding sentence is quaint yet convincing:--“_quia non est de
+neccessitate_”--“because we have no further need of him!”
+
+The Doge was deposed, being suspected of favouring a reform in the
+Government, which, whilst retaining the Ducal office, proposed
+to transfer the powers of the Councils of Nobles to a parliament
+representative of the citizens and craftsmen.
+
+The circumstances attending the election of Doge Marco Corner, or
+Cornaro (1365–1367) are amusingly pathetic. He was a very old man, well
+over eighty years of age, and only remarkable for his uprightness, his
+studiousness, and his poverty. To be sure he came of an “Evangelistic”
+noble family,--equal in antiquity and distinction to the Giustiniani,
+the Bembi, and the Bragadini,--but this accident of birth was neither
+a ground for boasting nor an incentive to ambition. The electors
+doubtless turned to him as being a simple-minded man, and one who would
+not follow his predecessor in affectation of lordly superiority. When
+the choice was made public very many people, in every class cavilled at
+the selection:--“Surely there were more distinguished candidates for
+the Supreme Office, at all events some who were less homely in their
+surroundings,” they said; and they poked fun at old Corner’s lack of
+means and at his old wife’s dowdy ways.
+
+Dogaressa Caterina was an unaffected simple-hearted, domesticated
+woman, with no claim to nobility or social distinction of any kind, but
+a very worthy helpmeet to her spouse. Idle tongues wagged about her and
+her ways and made fun of her little economies. The Doge bridled up at
+the disparaging remarks, and, with dignity, rebuked the scoffers. “My
+old wife,” he said, “is so good and so virtuous, that she has always
+been respected by all the women of Venice quite as highly as if she
+had come of one of the most distinguished families!” Some busybody had
+seen the Madonna Caterina, quite lately, busy turning an old stuff
+dress that she might wear it a little longer, and the gossip went round
+the Palaces. Marco Corner met the sneer in a characteristic manner.
+“Well, what of that?” he asked, “there are many noble lords and worthy
+citizens in Venice, who would be only too thankful for such a useful
+wife as mine. She is a good woman, and I will thank you to let her
+alone.”
+
+Certainly Dogaressa Caterina Corner was not born in the purple nor had
+she any taste for ceremonial: we do not read of any imposing procession
+of Guilds setting forth to conduct her to the Ducal Palace for her
+coronation. The probability is that, with shrewd commonsense and no
+great display of dress or jewels, she quietly took her place beside
+her husband, bent on doing her duty in her new position, as she had
+done all through her life. Whatever responsibilities devolved upon her
+as Dogaressa, such as were connected with charity, education, and the
+encouragement of industries were borne right nobly.
+
+To good Marco Corner was due the issue of licenses by the Government
+for poor people, past work at their usual avocations, to earn pittances
+as itinerant street merchants. Besides this he was instrumental, with
+good Dogaressa Caterina, in the establishment of hospitals for the aged
+poor so that “none might end their days in misery nor die of hunger.”
+Doge Marco Corner gained the respect of all and died regretted by those
+who had mocked him. His tomb in SS. Giovanni e Paolo is one of the most
+beautiful examples of fourteenth-century Gothic. Probably Dogaressa
+Caterina was laid in the same grave, but there is no record of her
+death. Hers was the harvest of a quiet eye, the satisfaction of the
+simple life, and the reward of a good conscience.
+
+Marco Corner’s successor was quite a different sort of man, but still
+one likely to be amenable to the Lords of the Council, and not one to
+make pretensions beyond the limits of the _Promissione_. When
+the news of Doge Corner’s death reached him, Andrea Contarini was
+peacefully tying up his vines in his estate at Gambarre on the Brenta.
+Very many Venetian nobles had villas in that delectable district, and
+the Contarini country-mansion was one of the most handsome. Directly he
+was told that he had been elected Doge he declined the honour,--indeed
+he twice refused,--having in mind the ominous prediction of a Syrian
+dervish, who had warned him:--“If thou ever become Doge of Venice
+untold disasters will fall upon her!”
+
+The Electors would take no refusal and warned Contarini that he laid
+himself open to the confiscation of all his property, and to a sentence
+of banishment for life, both for himself and for his family. He
+cared very little for public life: he took as his motto the Venetian
+proverb:--“_Zocoli, brocoli, capelo, e poco cervelo_”--“Slippers,
+gardening, and a night-cap, with nothing to worry about!” He came
+however of a ruling family, one of the “Apostolic” twelve, just one
+hundred years after his ancestor, Doge Giacomo Contarini had upborne
+his name and his City nobly.
+
+Doge Andrea Contarini’s _dogado_ was marked by restrictions at
+home and troubles abroad. His _Promissione_ was, perhaps, the most
+tyrannical of any required of a Doge. He and his family were expressly
+forbidden gifts of every kind. Neither he nor the Dogaressa (whose name
+has not been recorded), nor any of their children, were allowed to
+possess land and property of any kind in the neighbourhood of Treviso,
+Padua and Ferrara: and this was a personal hit, for it was just in
+those districts that the Contarini family had interests. The Dogaressa
+was further denied liberty of action in various small ways, and every
+good work she proposed required the explicit sanction of the Council
+before she could carry it out. Abroad the interests of the Republic
+were seriously jeopardised; her bitter rival Genoa was preparing to
+attack her, and peace-loving Doge Contarini had to lay aside his
+implements of husbandry and take in hand his sword.
+
+“Arms and the Man”--was true of Venetian tactics, for two famous
+captains of her ships and her men came to the front to direct her
+warlike progress--Carlo Zeno and Vettor Pisani. Success and failure
+in turn followed Saint Mark’s banner, but the soothsayer’s words came
+true, for disaster settled down upon Venice, what time Andrea Contarini
+was Doge. Still his sun went down with shouts of victory from Chioggia,
+where he and his captains and his men crushed the enemy effectually. He
+was buried in the Augustinian church of San Stefano and his tomb bears
+the brief epitaph:--“_MCCCLXVII Dux creatus: MCCCLXXXII in Cœlum
+sublatus_.”
+
+Under the Dogaressa the _gentildonne_ of Venice, headed by Donne
+Anna Falier, Francesca Bragadini, Margherita Michieli, and Marliana
+Bembo,--“Good angels of love and pity,” they were called,--organised
+special ministrations for the benefit of the wounded in the war, the
+widows of the fallen, and the fatherless children. They were inspired
+by the same patriotic spirit, which had been voiced by the valiant Doge
+himself, “All for Venice--I will not see her Palaces again until she is
+victorious!”
+
+What a curiously different saying was that of Doge Contarini’s
+successor, Michele Morosini:--“What matters,” said he, “the fall of
+Venice, so long as I am strong!” He was a mean fellow and a miser, a
+disgrace to the noble name he bore, but, happily for Venice, he held
+the _dogado_ no more than three months. He was one of the twenty
+thousand Venetians who perished in the plague, and no one regretted
+him. His Consort was Donna Cristina Condulmiero. The Condulmieri were
+merchants of woollen-cloth, refugees from Pavia: they lived in the
+Campo Santa Lucia.
+
+The last Doge of the century was Antonio Venier. The Venieri ranked
+with the Cappelli, Loredani, Malipieri, and the remainder of the
+twenty families in the second class of Nobles: their names having
+been enrolled by the “_Serrar del Consiglio_” in the “Libro
+d’Oro” of 1289. One special proviso was attached to the continuance
+of their order:--every child had to be registered within three months
+of birth, or he or she forfeited rank and inheritance. Nevertheless,
+the Venieri went back to the eleventh century when their forebears
+settled at Chioggia. Doge Antonio Venier was urbane if austere,
+moral if gracious, and, in character and personality, as unlike
+his selfish unpatriotic predecessor as could well be imagined. He
+was, by his liberal-mindedness, an illustration of the Venetian
+proverb:--“_Tedeschi in la stala, Francesci in cusina, Spagnoli in la
+camera, Venetiane in casa!_” His title of “_Magnifico_” he well
+deserved, for no more magnanimous Doge ever wore the Ducal bonnet.
+
+The last eighteen years of the century were as peaceful and as
+uneventful as any like period in Venetian history: a wide contrast
+to the pushful times of Doge Pietro Gradenigo. We might write of his
+_dogado_ as of:--
+
+    “Roses! roses! all the way
+    With wild myrtle mixed like mad.”
+
+There was however a thorn, and a very sharp one too, in Antonio
+Venier’s career; it was one which sprang out of his own branch of
+the family tree. Alvise, or Luigi, his eldest son, was if not a
+ne’er-do-weel, a very wild sort of lad. Probably the serenity of the
+life at the Ducal Palace palled upon the youth, who sought relief in
+romantic attachments. Among his escapades was one, in company with
+his friend, Marco Loredan, which compromised the fair fame of Madonna
+Felicita, the wife of Messir Giovanni dalle Boccole--a rosebud and a
+thorn!
+
+  [Illustration: FESTA CAMPESTRE ON THE BANKS OF THE BRENTA.
+
+  Bonifazio di Pitati.
+
+  BRERA, MILAN.]
+
+Messir dalle Boccole discovered the intrigue and watched his
+opportunity for chastisement, but the gay Lotharios anticipated his
+purpose and in a moment of peculiar sportiveness,--it was at midnight,
+11th June 1388,--they stuck up, over Messir dalle Boccole’s front door
+a Phallic symbol, and scribbled upon the lintel some opprobrious words.
+Such an insult was intolerable, and, as the culprits did nothing to
+conceal their identity, nor make amends, dalle Boccole complained of
+their conduct to their respective fathers. How Marco’s father acted we
+know not, but Doge Venier visited his son’s offence with the severity
+of a Brutus. The lad was put on his trial before the _Signori delle
+Notti_,--the Police Court of Venice,--a fine was imposed of one
+hundred lire, and two months’ imprisonment in the _Pozzi_,--where
+only political prisoners were confined. “Horrible, dark, damp cells,
+that would make the saddest life in the free light and air seem bright
+and desirable,” so wrote George Eliot in 1860.
+
+In this terrible place of confinement, with a steady depth of two feet
+of stagnant putrid water, the only dry rest his hard bench, which
+did duty for table and for bed, poor young Alvise lost heart and
+health. He pleaded desperately with his father to release him from
+his terrors and his infirmities, but the Doge gave no reply and made
+no sign. He was, he plumed himself the impersonation of all that was
+just, honourable, and unimpeachable in Venice, and, not for his own
+offspring, could he suffer any relaxation of the sentence. His son had
+transgressed the law, he must abide the consequences, so he ruled.
+And the consequences, in spite of his mother, the Dogaressa Agnese’s
+impassioned intercessions, were that the young man, left to his fate,
+died miserably in the filthy Gehenna, in the springtide of 1388.
+
+This was the parental justice of the urbane and gracious Antonio
+Venier, but the “thorn” pierced his own hand and heart, and after two
+years of useless remorse and self-accusation, the unnatural if judicial
+Doge passed away in mental anguish in the Palazzo Venier ai Gesiusti
+near the Ponte dell’ Acqua-vita.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+There is quite a touching little story which concerns the burial of
+poor young Alvise Venier. The sister who loved him best, Antonia, was
+so greatly distressed by her father’s attitude that she professed
+herself a Canoness of San Zaccaria, and, when her brother’s dead body
+was refused decent burial by the Doge, she obtained possession of
+it and carried it away from the foul Casa degli Spiriti,--where all
+the dead rest before their final course to San Michele,--the common
+cemetery,--and placed it reverently in an unoccupied piece of land of
+the _fondamento_ of Cannaregio, the most distant _sestiere_
+from the Ducal Palace. Directly the Doge was dead she put into
+effect a resolution she had made,--after earnest prayer to St Mary,
+St Giustina, and the good Bishop Lodovico, her patron,--to build a
+church and a Canonica, and dedicate them in the name of her brother as
+Sant’ Alvise. In the crypt she buried him and, by her will, directed
+that her own dead body should be laid beside his. Alas the _Orto
+Botanico_, where,--when not beset by picnic parties of bird-lovers
+at the neighbouring aviaries of St Giobbe,--devout Antonia Venier
+meditated and prayed, and whence she watched her church arise, has lost
+all traces of its original condition, it is now a torpedo factory!
+
+Dogaressa Agnese, although her heart and brain were lacerated by pain
+and sorrow, survived her Consort a few years, then, in 1411, she was
+buried near his tomb with their daughter, Orsola, in the left transept
+of the church of SS. Giovanni e Paolo.
+
+Doge Antonio Venier died in the first year of the new century: it was
+in January, when snow and ice coated _calle_ and _canale_--a white
+shroud to cover the dead body of a century, pitted with blanes and
+boils of private wrong and public turpitude.
+
+Ring down the curtain and hide the traces of tragedy: maybe the next
+scene will be a transformation! A plaintive echo of a voice--one of the
+sweetest that ever sang upon the Lido of Venice, steals into our ears,
+amid the muffled clang of all the _Campanili_ bells, and bids us
+take heart of grace. It is fair Laura’s _innamorato_ who in his
+“_Africa_” thus prophesies of Venice:--
+
+    “Our Sons shall live in days more bright and fair.
+
+           *       *       *       *       *
+
+    Then noble intellect and docile mind
+    Shall renovate the studies of mankind
+    The love of beauty and of truth the cult
+    Shall make life’s pilgrimage less difficult.”
+
+
+
+
+                               CHAPTER V
+
+
+                                   I
+
+“LA SERENISSIMA DOGARESSA DI VENEZIA”--“the Most Serene Duchess of
+Venice”--attained her highest dignity and splendour in the attractive
+personality of Signora Marina Galina da Santa Marina--the Consort of
+Doge Michele Steno. The reality of the “First Lady of Venice” had
+become more and more emphatic as each gracious wearer of the smaller
+_Corno_ had made her solemn Entry into the City.
+
+The ancient family of Galina, in 960, founded the Church and Monastery
+of San Felice, on the Campo of San Felice, a little way back from the
+Grand Canal. They belonged to the third division of the first grade of
+nobles, immediately after the “Apostolic” twelve and the “Evangelistic”
+four, and were among the ten families of considerable importance
+anterior to the _Serrar del Consiglio_ of 1289. The termination of the
+name “da Santa Marina” was indicative of the _sestiere_ in which the
+family originally dwelt: their church of Santa Marina, built in 1030,
+was destroyed by fire in 1820.
+
+The date of Donna Marina’s marriage with Messir Micheletto, or Michele,
+Steno is nowhere recorded. His family was one of those ennobled after
+the Chioggian War: they were neither wealthy nor influential. Messir
+Giovanni Steno, his father, was a poor man, as men went in Venice, and
+lived in a small _casa_ in the _sestiere_ of Santa Maria Zobenigo, upon
+the neutral zone which separated the dwellings of the Castellani from
+those of the Nicolotti. His mother was Madonna Lucia Lando, and her
+family was equal in antiquity and distinction to that of her spouse--an
+arrangement quite usual and conventional in Venice, where the different
+grades of the aristocracy rarely intermarried.
+
+Michele Steno’s parents were blessed with another son--the elder of
+the two--Fantino, and three daughters, Franchescina, Donata, and
+Cristina,--who became a cloistered nun in the Convent of San Lorenzo.
+Messir Giovanni, with Messir Paolo Gradenigo, went on an embassy of
+peace to Genoa, and, on his return in 1351, he executed a will, leaving
+to his second son, Micheletto, one thousand gold ducats and the half of
+his house property and other belongings.
+
+Probably young Micheletto acquired some of the dare-devilry and
+impetuosity, for which he and other young smarts were notorious, from
+his early association with the rival factions of his _sestiere_.
+Incessant insults, quarrels and commotions characterised their
+mutual dealings, and their jests and oaths were indecent and
+sacrilegious:--“_Corpo di Bacco!_” and “_Sangue di Dian!_” were no
+less common in daily intercourse than “_Sangue di Dio!_” “_Corpo di
+Crist!_” Youth, aping strident manhood, not unusually delights itself
+in profanity and abuse. Marino Sanudo, who lived fifty years after Doge
+Michele Steno’s death, states in his “History of Venice,” that as a
+young man he was “poor but ambitious, ardent and astute.”
+
+Sabellico has a note concerning the future Doge, and says, that, as
+co-ambassador to King Pietro d’Arragona in 1350, when he was no more
+than twenty-five years old, he displayed both tact and talent, and
+concluded a treaty very much to the advantage of the Republic. Michele
+Steno served the State with distinction and made himself an eligible
+candidate for the highest offices: in 1375 he was chosen one of the
+three Captains of the Council of Forty.
+
+It certainly comes, however, with something of a shock to find him,
+the precocious, daring, and romantic lover of women,--from Elizabetta,
+his uncle Paolo’s attractive maid-servant to Aluycia Gradenigo, the
+fascinating Consort of Count Marino Falier,--mounting the Ducal Throne,
+which he had once stretched out his hand to profane! Forty-five years
+have come and gone and the hot-headed youth has developed into the sage
+septuagenarian. How true it is that the sowing of wild oats in young
+days provides for the harvesting of ripe corn in old age! Michele Steno
+and his Consort Marina could not have imagined that this consummation
+of their lives was in the lap of Fortune. If time and opportunity had
+modulated his character in tune with his environment, he was “still
+remarkable” says Sanudo, “for strength of will and irascibility
+of temper: a man of noble appearance and noted for the polish and
+gallantry of his manners.” His election to the _dogado_ was
+effected in November 1400, but his installation as Doge was postponed
+to the following January. The usual ceremonies were duly celebrated
+and a new feature was added--a panegyric of the Doge and Dogaressa
+delivered in San Marco by Bishop Lionardo Delfino of Castello.
+
+Indirectly his _Promissione_ suggests that his aggressive temperament
+still caused men to look doubtfully at him. The legal titles of the
+Doge and Dogaressa were depressed, the idea of personal sovereignty
+was eliminated, and their Serenities were greeted as plain “_Messir
+le Doxe_” and plain “_Signora la Dogaressa_.” This new designation,
+however, was not altogether derogatory, for the great Patron Saint of
+Venice was styled:--“_E stato galant’ uomo Messir San Marco!_”--“What
+a brave fellow is ‘Mr’ Saint Mark!” Venetians were great sticklers
+about titles: everybody liked to be addressed with ceremony and to have
+assigned a rank higher than that actually held--but perhaps this was no
+Venetian peculiarity, it is rather the natural, if persistent, egotism,
+of all times and peoples.
+
+In the “_Trionfo della Dogaressa di Venetia nel Secolo XV_,”--a
+document of the period, in the Museo Civico,--is a full account of the
+ceremonial observed and of the dresses worn at the solemn Entry of
+the Dogaressa Marina. The Government issued an order to the different
+_Fragilie_ to prepare for the Festival. Each Guild had a portion of
+the Piazza and also of the Ducal Palace assigned for decoration with
+tapestries, carpets, and banners, and was also required to furnish a
+gala barge adorned with standards and decked with garlands, to form
+part of the water escort for the _Bucintoro_, which was prepared for
+the reception of the Dogaressa, her relatives and her suite.
+
+Upon the day of the Entry the Doge, accompanied by a number of
+Councillors, made a progress from the Ducal Palace to his private
+residence to assist the Dogaressa in embarking upon her water progress.
+She awaited her Consort in the principal reception room, where each
+of the noble Company saluted her and received from her hands a very
+beautifully embroidered purse of cloth of gold. Then, preceded by
+State trumpeters and standard-bearers, and Grooms of the State to the
+Doge, she passed down the stairway. Following her came sixty beauteous
+damsels in superb costumes, and the ladies of her family in costly
+robes with many jewels.
+
+The dress of the Dogaressa was magnificent: she wore a robe of cloth
+of gold fastened at the neck, with deep hanging sleeves, caught up by
+gold brooches upon the shoulders, a girdle of gold cord jewelled, and
+a mantle of stiff gold brocade embroidered with coloured silk like
+the Doge’s. Her head-dress was a coif of lace under a cap of crimson
+silk velvet raised in such a way as to support a miniature jewelled
+Ducal _Corno_, and a thin gauze veil fell with her wealth of
+unrestrained hair from under the _Corno_, over her shoulders.
+A massive gold chain encircled her bust. Her shoes were of crimson
+velvet. Her train, also of cloth of gold brocade, was borne by young
+girls in white dresses, and crowned with fresh flowers.
+
+At the Dogaressa’s side walked the wife of the High Chancellor,--the
+first citizeness of Venice, a wise concession to popular
+sentiment,--and the stately procession was brought up by the
+Procurators of San Marco, Councillors of Honour, Senators and
+Gentlemen, two and two, every one being in full state costume. Upon
+the _Bucintoro_ her Serenity was placed in the Doge’s seat at the
+bows. The Doge and his following meanwhile returned to the Ducal Palace
+to await the arrival of his Consort. The progress of the Dogaressa
+along the Grand Canal was a “Triumph.” The whole city had embarked upon
+every available craft and everybody tossed enthusiastic greetings to
+the stately, comely Dogaressa Marina as she passed along her glittering
+way. The great vessel breasted untossed the lapping ripples of the
+newly perfumed waters of the Canal, and made her way through floating
+sprays of gaily coloured flowers, submerging, as she passed them, many
+a daring gondolier and his heedless gala freight.
+
+Arrived at the Piazzetta the august company landed, and, after being
+led past the Basilica, made a stately progress all round the Piazza,
+adorned as for a great Church festival and packed full of perspiring
+people. All the beauty and fashion of the moment looked out of window
+casements and from _altane_ roofs. Flowers and confetti were
+showered upon her Serenity who marched with the utmost dignity under
+the great Ducal umbrella of State, supported by the high officials of
+the Government. At the grand portal of San Marco the Dogaressa was
+received by the whole of the Chapter in gorgeous vestments, bearing
+lighted candles in great silver-gilt candelabra, and the principal
+gold crucifix, the while acolytes tossed their silver censers high.
+Sprinkled with holy water her Serenity stood reverently whilst the
+rector recited with her the following liturgy:--
+
+
+                             LET US PRAY.
+
+    O Lord, preserve Thine handmaiden, our Dogaressa.
+    _My trust, O God, is in Thee._
+    Send her help from the Sanctuary, O Lord.
+    _And strengthen her out of Sion._
+    Let no foe approach her.
+    _And let not the son of wickedness come near to hurt her._
+    Grant peace in thy borders.
+    _And abundance in thy palaces._
+    O Lord, hear my prayer:
+    _And let my cry come unto Thee._
+    The Lord be with you:
+    _And with thy Spirit:_
+
+
+                             LET US PRAY.
+
+   “We beseech Thee, Almighty God, that this Thy servant, our
+   Duchess, may be instructed and comforted by Thy wisdom and ever
+   remain true to Thy Holy Church, Through Christ our Lord, Amen.”
+
+   “O God, whose providence never faileth in the ordering of human
+   affairs we pray Thee to extend Thy ineffable loving-kindness
+   to our prayer, that as Queen Esther, the chosen servant of
+   Thy ancient people, caused the sceptre of King Ahasuerus, her
+   consort, to rule wisely, so this Thy Servant, our Duchess, the
+   chosen of Thy Christian people, may do everything according
+   to Thy will, so that she may please Thee in everything and,
+   inspired by Thee, may with her whole heart, exercise her high
+   office to Thy glory and to the welfare of us Thy Servants,
+   through Christ our Lord. Amen.”
+
+Then “Te Deum” was solemnly sung in the open air, the Dogaressa
+standing with her face to the people. The clergy next led the imposing
+procession up the central passage of the basilica and placed the
+Dogaressa ceremoniously upon the Doge’s throne by the High Altar,
+where seated she bestowed her thanks and many gold ducats upon the
+ecclesiastical dignitaries.
+
+The State Chancellor now approached, and bowing low, addressed
+Dogaressa Marina as follows:--
+
+“Most Serene Duchess, I am about to administer to you the Oath of
+Allegiance to the government of the Serene Republic of Venice. Will you
+promise to observe and maintain it intact?”
+
+“I will do so most assuredly,” she replied.
+
+The procession being re-formed the Dogaressa was conducted to the
+Ducal Palace, where, on ascending the grand staircase, she was met by
+a deputation of Masters of the _Fragilie_ who invited her to take
+her seat at a table furnished with sweetmeats in golden baskets and
+red wine in silver cups; and whereat officials of the Guild were in
+attendance. Acknowledging their salutations graciously she replied:
+“_gran mercè non se sentimo_.”
+
+Proceeding on her way the Dogaressa, with her escort of noble lords,
+chamberlains, and gentlewomen, passed through all the State rooms of
+the Palace, and entered the _Sala dei Pioveghi_ where she took her
+seat upon the Doge’s throne and gave attention to the following solemn
+address by the High Chancellor:--“Your Serenity has deigned to come to
+this place which will be your home as long as you remain Dogaressa of
+Venice. Should you die, here your body will lie in State for three
+days before it is consigned to the tomb.”
+
+To which very lugubrious oration the Dogaressa meekly replied:--“I am
+quite content to abide by what you say so far as it may please the
+Majesty of God.” Then, rising, she passed on once more, and entered the
+_Sala del Gran Consiglio_, where she was placed with much ceremony
+upon the great Throne of the Doge,--whence extending her hand everybody
+in the Presence advanced to kiss it.
+
+These solemnities being accomplished her Serenity was conducted to
+the Presence Chamber, there she was greeted by the Doge and his two
+Councillors of State, and then she retired to her private apartments.
+The public festivities in celebration of the Induction and Proclamation
+of the Dogaressa continued for three days. She presided at banquets
+offered to the noblewomen, the wives of foreign ambassadors, and the
+wives and daughters of the more prominent citizens. Sports of all kinds
+and tournaments were held in the Piazza in presence of the Doge and
+Dogaressa, and upon the Grand Canal were fêtes and serenades. Indeed
+for a whole twelvemonth Venice kept holiday and witnessed a succession
+of splendid pageants.
+
+The _dogado_ of Michelo Steno and Marina Galina Steno was distinguished
+in many ways. First of all, and by way of leaving his mark upon Venice,
+in 1400, he caused the ceiling of the great Council Chamber of the
+Ducal Palace,--which its architect, Calendario, who was implicated
+in the conspiracy of Doge Marino Falier, had partly built, and where
+Guariento painted his “Paradise” walls,--to be covered with golden
+stars--the reflex of his name “Steno”--“Stellifer.” In the arena
+of arms, Genoa, Verona, Padua, and Friuli were humbled and the King
+of Hungary was routed. Carlo Zeno, the great _Condottiere_, led the
+victorious Venetians against the two first cities; but the Doge in
+person gained laurels at Padua and Friuli. Quaint ceremonies followed
+the defeat of the four cities, for forty nobles from each,--dressed
+respectively in red, white, purple, and green, came and made obeisance
+to Venice in the persons of the Doge and Dogaressa seated upon thrones
+set up in the Piazza. Each deputation laid at their Serenities’ feet
+the keys and the banner of their city, and, at the same time, craved
+the consideration and protection of the Republic.
+
+Great rejoicings accompanied these demonstrations of fealty wherein
+the _Fragilie_ took an active and splendidly organised part. Always
+under the patronage of the Dogaressas, the various crafts had, through
+one hundred and fifty years of progressive industry, attained both
+perfection in the details of their several interests, and also a
+dominant position in the social economy of the State. At the same time
+Literature was reaching out towards distinction and the Fine Arts were
+starting upon their pageant of renown. Truly the first decade of the
+fifteenth century was pregnant with great issues and great events, it
+was the hour before the glorious noontide of expectation--“_Venetia
+riccha, saggia, e signorila_,”--“Venice, rich, wise and gentle-born.”
+
+  [Illustration: L’INNAMORATO CON “LA NINFA.” ARIOSTO’S
+  CANZONE. “BIRENO E OLIMPIA.”
+
+  FROM A PRINT. 1560.
+
+  Habiti Delle Donne.“--G. Franco.]
+
+An obvious and visible token of the opulent greatness of the new
+century was the foundation of the famous “_Compagnia della Calza_,”
+directly under the auspices of the stylish Doge and fashionable
+Dogaressa, old folks as they really were. This remarkable Society
+took its rise at the period of the pageants held during the first
+year of Doge Steno’s rule. The designation “_Calza_” was quite an
+arbitrary choice for the purview of the _Compagnia_ had regard to all
+and every detail of dress and manner. It was first entitled “_della
+Berretta_,”--“Company of the Cap,” but the woven silken or worsted
+garment which clung to and exhibited the whole figure, was the emphatic
+feature of the sumptuary modes--hence came “_Calza_,”--“Company of the
+Tights.”
+
+The society or union consisted of a number of clubs of young men--gay,
+rich and physically fit. The officers of the _Compagnia_ consisted
+of a Prior or chief,--who went about in a gorgeous costume of cloth
+of gold,--two Councillors, treasurer, chaplain, painter, sculptor,
+architect, poet, annalist, and a notary. The _Compagnia_ consisted of
+clubs, and each club bore a distinguishing name. _Immortali_, _Reali_,
+_Perpetui_, _Semprevivi_, _Pavoni_, _Ortolani_, etc., etc.,--there were
+forty of them. Every member wore striped silk tights, embroidered in
+gold and coloured silks with pearls and gems: each club had its special
+arrangement of stripes.
+
+Their doublets of silk velvet embroidered with gold, fitted close to
+the body, and bore the badge of the particular club. They had slashed
+sleeves through which puffings of fine white linen shirts were pulled.
+Upon their shoulders they wore short cloaks of cloth of gold or crimson
+damask velvet, lined with choice fur. Their flowing locks of hair were
+restrained under jaunty little caps of red or black silk or cloth,
+with a handsome jewel at the side and a heron’s feather. Their pointed
+shoes were of fine red leather pierced at the toes and adorned with
+gold and pearls. Waist-belts of leather, jewelled and embroidered, with
+beautiful _scarcelle_, or pouches, at the side, a golden chain
+bearing a jewelled pendant, and rings on the fingers completed the
+superb costumes.
+
+Women associates were freely admitted, upon the hems of whose tight
+fitting silken petticoats, was embroidered in gold, the word “_Calza_”;
+foreigners also were admitted to honorary membership. The _gentildonne_
+wore long sleeves,--lined with fur, and beautifully worked cinctures of
+gold and embroidery: their hair was arranged in plaits and rolled under
+golden nets, and their feet were shod in jewelled golden shoes. Their
+fine gold chains of interlaced and jewelled rings encircled throats and
+breasts.
+
+The purpose of the “_Compagnia della Calza_” was however not
+merely the wearing of fine clothes, but the direction of State
+pageants, the reception of foreign princes and ambassadors, the
+performance of spectacular games and plays, and attendance at solemn
+Ecclesiastical functions. They also assisted at weddings, birthdays,
+baptisms, and funerals, and acted as elegant and audacious State
+masters of ceremonies in general.
+
+With enthusiasm, each Maundy-Thursday, the gay young fellows entered
+the annual _Caccia del Tori_, which had originated after the first
+defeat of Friuli in 1164. Three other dates were added,--Santa Marta’s
+day, the first Monday in September, and the first in October, and the
+“rings” were on the Lido and in the Piazza. Later on every _campi_
+had its _Caccia_, and, degenerating as such festivals usually do, the
+places of the _gentildonne_ were taken by courtesans dressed, masked,
+and mannered _à l’ outrance_.
+
+    “_Con atti, adorni assai, polite e belle,
+    Le Donne vedi andar, con tal maniera
+    E con la fresca ziera.
+    Che ’l par, che le vegna del Paradiso!_”
+
+The love of sumptuous dress gave a grand impetus to Venetian trade,
+but it led of course to many corruptions and exaggerations,--one of
+these was the wearing of enormously high pattens--_zilve_, they were
+called. The condition of the _calli_ unfortunately required some such
+protection from mud and dirt, but women went about on shoe-stilts of
+poplar wood and leather which effectively dwarfed the slim tall figures
+of the men. At last an edict was issued which forbade this absurd
+fashion, especially in the case of pregnant women:--“_filios abortivos
+in perditione corporis et animæ suæ_.” This fashion, by the way, led
+to many ludicrous situations, for many a gallant admirer of a _calle_
+beauty, tall, commanding and superfine,--discovered her in her boudoir
+reduced to natural if disappointing dimensions, and forthwith declined
+her charms, and made a not too dignified exit!
+
+The splendid _dogado_ of Michele Steno, continued for twelve years:
+he died early in the year 1413, at the great age of eighty-four. His
+obsequies were consonant with his fame, and after the excision of his
+bowels and the embalming of his body, he was kept many days in State
+with a cloth of gold pall over him and burning torches of pinewood
+resin beside him in the old church of Santa Marina. Over his tomb were
+hung the keys of Padua, now in the _Seminario Patriachale_, and the
+marble sarcophagus had carved reliefs and an epitaph “_amator justitiæ
+pacis et ubertatis_.” He left behind him the finest stable of horses in
+Venice and the cleverest stand of falcons, and, beside and beyond these
+treasures, a disconsolate widow.
+
+Seven years after her Coronation Dogaressa Marina, suffering from
+plague and expecting death made a will whereby she bequeathed fifty
+gold ducats to poor criminals, awaiting execution, six gold ducats to a
+monk of San Stefano, who preached to her in the Palace, for prayers for
+the repose of her soul. To the Rector of Santa Maria Zobenigo, Nicolo
+Fusolo, a velvet robe out of which to make a cope, and three hundred
+gold ducats, a gold chalice, a cross, a surplice, and other ornaments
+necessary for the sacerdotal office. All of these objects the worthy
+priest was to use during his lifetime, and then they were to be the
+property of the monks of San Domenigo.
+
+The devout testator however recovered from her illness and in the
+_Archivio Notarile_ is preserved a second will, dated 25th August 1420,
+seven years after the demise of her Consort, to whom she erected the
+superb marble monument, now, unhappily destroyed. The figure of the
+Doge was placed above a marble urn embellished with a rich _intaglio_
+frieze in which was the bust of the Dogaressa in mosaic. After the
+funeral she entered the Convent of Sant’ Andrea, upon the lonely
+_Campo_ of that name, far away from the gorgeous tumultuous scenes of
+her reign in the Ducal Palace. In her second will Dogaressa Marina
+directs that she shall be buried, vested in a nun’s habit, in the
+cemetery of the Convent, and she leaves twenty-five gold ducats to
+cover all expenses. Upon her gravestone is the following inscription:--
+
+   “_Hic jacet corpus Serenissimæ D. Marina, Uxoris Q. Sereniss.
+   et Excellentiss. Princeps D. D. Michaelis Stenus, olim inclyti
+   Ducis Venetiarum, quæ obiit die 4 mensis Maii MCCCCXXII. Amina
+   cuius requiescat in Pace._”
+
+This quiet ending to a splendid career is full of pathos. She, who had
+been crowned Duchess of Venice amid circumstances more splendid than
+any of her predecessors is laid without worldly honours in the simple
+grave of a pious nun. No canopy is now over her save the free air,
+no gorgeous tapestries surround her save the painted clouds and the
+distant Alps, whilst the wide salty lagune is her carpet of estate.
+
+
+                                  II
+
+Upon the death of Doge Michele Steno the choice of his successor fell
+first upon Messir Paolo Giustiniani, the head of as famous a family
+as any in Venetian story, but a family which had, strange to say,
+never placed a representative upon the Ducal throne. The “Forty”
+however reconsidered their vote, and because Messir Paolo was a poor
+speaker they passed on the _Corno_ to Messir Tommaso Mocenigo. When
+his election was in the balance Giustiniani spoke up warmly in the
+Council:--“My Lords,” he said, “I thank God that you have nothing more
+serious to lay to my charge. Messir Antonio Venier was no spokesman but
+he came to the _dogado_ and found his tongue, so shall I!”
+
+The family of Mocenigo came from Treviso. Ser. Giovanni Moceni was
+among the earliest councillors of the infant Republic at the end of
+the eleventh century. The Mocenighi were enrolled in the “_Libro
+d’Oro_” of 1289, in the fourth division of the first grade of nobles.
+Messir Tommaso’s spouse was a Cappello, of equal rank to himself, but
+her Christian name is not recorded and there is no account of her
+coronation or her death.
+
+Anyhow the pageants, which celebrated Doge Tommaso Mocenigo’s election
+were perhaps the most splendid of any ever witnessed in proud, wealthy
+and fashionable Venice. Twenty foreign princes and ambassadors sat
+in the Ducal tribune, eighty thousand citizens and strangers packed
+themselves in the colonnades of the Piazza, at the windows of the
+Piazza were hundreds of noble gentlewomen and the prizes in the
+_Giostre_,--wherein the Marquises of Mantua and Ferrara took
+part,--were burnished silver helmets encrusted with precious stones,
+and costly jewelled golden collars. Everybody of note wore heavy cloth
+of gold or rich silver brocade. Never before had such a wealth of
+pearls and gems been displayed even in superlatively modish Venice.
+Every craftsman and craftswoman was kept hard at work making things of
+beauty and of value in honour of their new patroness.
+
+In addition to the State tournaments and pageants the Guild of
+Goldsmiths,--the richest trade corporation in Europe, and always
+specially under the patronage of the Dogaressa--arranged and dressed a
+_Balordo_--spectacle or revel,--wherein a cavalcade of knightly
+figures rode a quadrille arrayed in scarlet velvet,--horses as
+well,--and wearing chains of gold and ropes of pearls. The fabulous
+wealth of Venice was never so strikingly displayed and this prodigality
+added immeasurably to her fame and power. Peace was assured for
+no State could dare to try conclusions with her, knowing her vast
+resources.
+
+Her population exceeded two hundred thousand,--one thousand being men
+of noble rank, each worth from seventy to four thousand gold ducats
+per annum. The State revenues figured at one million and a half gold
+ducats. The navy consisted of three hundred sea-going armed vessels
+manned by eight thousand sailors. Three thousand lighter vessels had
+trained crews of seventeen thousand men and the arsenal and dockyard
+hands numbered eleven thousand. Well was it said:--“_El Mar Xe ’l
+fachin de la Terra!_”--“The Sea is servant of the Land!”
+
+Doge Tommaso Mocenigo proved himself to be the man of the hour.
+“Venetian of the Venetians, Venice and Venice only was his one and only
+love, indeed he carried his devotion so far that he narrowed his views
+of her, to the proportions of a “little Venice” in territory. With an
+iron will he bent all others to his behests, and, as a past-master in
+strategy, he undermined all opposition. He has come down to us as “one
+of the wisest and noblest rulers of the Venetian Republic,” the ninth
+“Grand” Doge of Venice.
+
+His death-bed was the scene of a remarkable demonstration of his
+strength of character and of his solicitude for the welfare of Venice.
+He sent for the principal members of the Council of Forty, and, when
+they were assembled, he pronounced a valedictory address wherein he
+summed up statistically the condition of the State, enlarged upon his
+own share in its stability, and expressed his wishes with respect to
+the choice of his successor and the maintenance of his ideals.
+
+There were seven candidates for the succession and the dying
+Doge succinctly reviewed the qualifications, or the reverse, of
+each:--“Marmo Caravello is too old, Cavaliere Bermbo limps and is blind
+of an eye, Lionardo Mocenigo is my brother after the flesh, Antonio
+Contarini has too many children and his wife still brings him one every
+year, Pietro Loredano is a proud man and too young, Gianbattista Badoer
+is Captain-General, let him be satisfied, and Francesco Foscari is an
+ambitious man who sets fire to things but is careful not to burn his
+own fingers. I pray you my Lords not to entertain his candidature,
+for I am convinced, that if you elect him Doge, he will bring untold
+disasters upon our beloved city.”
+
+The Doge died in 1423 and his tomb is in the church of SS. Giovanni
+e Paolo with the inscription “_Huomo oltre modo desideroso della
+Pace_.” The effigy, sculptured upon the monument represents very
+exactly what Tommaso Mocenigo must have looked like in life--a noble
+form, comely features, the curve of the lip indicating masterfulness,
+the great round eyes daring, the high arched brow and cheek
+determination.
+
+The week which followed the demise of Doge Tommaso Mocenigo was one
+of deep anxiety on the part of all the candidates for the Ducal
+office, probably none of them felt the strain more heavily than
+Messir Francesco Foscari and his spouse Madonna Marina. The fact of
+the late Doge’s animadversions roused their ambition and fired their
+determination to prove by fortune of election the erroneousness of his
+strictures.
+
+Ten times in as many days the votes of the Council of Forty were cast
+without result, a clear majority of two-thirds was required for a
+constitutional decision. Apparently a policy of exhaustion was followed
+until only two candidates were left in the contest, Pietro Loredano and
+Francesco Foscari, and the latter and his wife were very hopeful of the
+result. Advocates of the rivals in the Council spoke long and bitterly:
+Pietro Orso was for Pietro Loredano,--Bernardo Pisani and Paolo Corner
+for Francesco Foscari. Bulgaro Vetterino also took part in the debate
+and denied that Foscari was too poor for the position--as was alleged.
+He stated that his client stood with his family for no fewer than one
+hundred and fifty thousand gold ducats.
+
+At length Francesco Foscari received twenty-eight votes out of
+the forty-one, and Captain-General Badoer, who also supported his
+candidature, made the usual announcement--“This is your Doge”--to the
+huge body of citizens in the Piazza. At once a tumultuous response was
+made “_Sia! Sia!_”--“Agreed! Agreed!” and the first contested
+Dogal election Venice had known ended in general satisfaction.
+
+Francesco Foscari was the youngest of the seven candidates for the
+Ducal Throne, aged just fifty-one. He came of a notable family and his
+forebears had rendered yeoman service to the Serene Republic. They
+belonged to Maestre but migrated to Rivoalto in the ninth century:
+the Foscarini were a branch of the same family. Equal in rank to the
+Mocenighi, Vernieri, and Malipieri, who had given Doges to Venice, they
+reckoned many warriors and statesmen in their generations.
+
+The new Doge was born in 1373: his father was Messir Nicolo Foscari
+and he had two brothers--Donato and Marco. It was said they were
+in somewhat straitened circumstances and lived away from Venice to
+economise. Francesco however threw himself into political controversy
+and obtained several important posts under Government: in 1407 he was
+named chief of the “Forty.”
+
+When a very young man, in 1395, he married Donna Maria, daughter
+of Messir Andrea Priuli dal Banco: she bore him several sons and
+daughters, but she died somewhere about the year 1414. Very little
+has been recorded of her but Palazzi, who refers to the famous pack
+of playing-cards at the Museo Civico with effigies of the earliest
+Dogaressas reads upon the “Knave of Clubs”:--“The first wife of
+Francesco Foscari, Doge of Venice, who whilst she was assisting at
+the Coronation of the Dogaressa (Agnese Cappello) narrowly escaped
+a thunderbolt which fell from heaven, but heaven never hurts the
+guiltless.”
+
+Messir Francesco Foscari’s young family needed a second mother and he
+another helpmeet, accordingly, in 1415, wedding-bells again rang in a
+new bride at the Casa Foscari. Donna Marina was the eldest daughter of
+Messir Bartolommeo Nani a member of a family in the same category as
+the Foscari. She became the mother of four sons and five daughters, but
+most mysteriously they all died of the plague in 1425 and 1427, except
+the second boy--Giacomo.
+
+When his election was completed the new Doge determined that
+nothing should be wanting to prove his nobility and the financial
+resources at his command. At the same time the Lords of the Council,
+knowing their man perfectly, added three new conditions to the
+_Promissione_:--1st. The Doge was required to fund all his private
+property with a reserve of twenty thousand gold ducats invested in
+silver plate; 2nd. Each of the State servants was to receive from the
+Doge two livery-suits per annum; and 3rd. His effigy and that of the
+Dogaressa were not to appear upon the new coinage.
+
+Her Serenity Dogaressa Marina Nani-Foscari made her Entry into Venice
+and went to her Coronation attended by the most imposing procession
+ever marshalled for the purpose. Her supporters were the Marquises of
+Mantua and Ferrara, and among her train-bearers were scions of the
+noble houses of Padua, Vicenza, Treviso, and Friuli,--it was a regal
+pageant. The new _Sala del Gran Consiglio_ within the Ducal
+Palace, with all its wealth of painting, gilding, carving, tapestry
+and mosaic in all its fresh and unsullied glory--“the most magnificent
+room in Europe,”--was opened by the Dogaressa that she might be crowned
+therein with the minor jewelled _Corno_.
+
+All Sovereigns and States gazed at Venice with amazement--at the moment
+the supreme power of the world, the most splendid court on earth,
+and the shining example of peace, honour and prosperity. Her proud
+neighbour Florence sought her help, and cap in hand, her ambassadors,
+Palla negli Strozzi and Giovanni de’ Medici, knelt humbly before Doge
+Foscari. The King of Poland craved from the Doge and Dogaressa the
+honour of standing sponsors for his heir, and princes from all round
+entered the city in State and were regally entertained. The private
+apartments of their Serenities were crowded with splendid offerings,
+and the Pope bestowed his Pontifical blessing.
+
+A dark side there was however to this glorious panorama. Intercourse
+with the East introduced the seeds of pestilence, and in 1424 and 1427
+cholera raged in every part of fair Venice, sixteen thousand and twenty
+thousand deaths respectively made huge gaps in every family circle.
+The Doge and Dogaressa, indifferent of their own security, mixed
+freely with the stricken sufferers, and, by their efforts, the first
+pest-house in Europe was established upon Santa Marina di Nazaret.
+These dark clouds rolled away at last, and Venice was once more all
+smiles and blushes; but upon the domestic horizon of the Doge’s
+family appeared an evil meteor, small at first but soon to burst in
+overwhelming calamity.
+
+The tragedy of Giacomo Foscari is as well known as any among all the
+affecting stories of Venice. The only survivor of a promising young
+family of fourteen children, Giacomo was the one and only domestic
+joy of his bereaved parents. Upon him they lavished all their
+affection, upon him they fastened all their hopes. Gentle and loving
+in disposition and possessed of talent and ambition, the lad grew to
+manhood petted and pampered, in the artificial environment of the
+Ducal Court. Skilled in all the exercises of the _Giostra_ and
+approved in all the elegancies of the _Compagnia della Calza_, the
+Doge’s son was the most eligible of all the prospective bridegrooms in
+Venice. He had not long to wait, nor far to look, for his bride. By
+the _Promissione_ of his father he was certainly limited in his
+choice to Venetian maidens but that was of course no bar sinister to
+matrimony, for no damsels were more lovely, more lively than the young
+_gentildonne_ of the Piazza.
+
+Lucrezia Contarini was out and away the most beautiful girl in all the
+gay city of Venice. Her family was one of the very first--“Apostolic,”
+her physical charms were of the healthiest, her mental attainments
+the most exalted: indeed Giacomo and Lucrezia were an ideal couple,
+and nothing but distinction and prosperity were prophesied of their
+auspicious union. Her father gave his daughter a goodly dowry of
+sixteen thousand gold ducats and one thousand more as a loan, and he
+also provided a sumptuous marriage feast. Five palaces still exist to
+prove the influence and high condition of the family. Lucrezia’s home
+was the Palazzo Contarini degli Scrigni,--or Money-chests,--upon the
+Grand Canal, called so because of the big iron safes full of treasures
+of all kinds it contained.
+
+The marriage was celebrated on 29th January 1441, and the nuptial
+ceremonies and festivities were the most gorgeous ever seen in opulent
+Venice. Upon the morning of the auspicious day Cavaliere Eustachio
+Balbi, Chief of the _Compagnia della Calza_ and Master of the
+Ceremonies, with eighteen young nobles sumptuously attired and
+splendidly mounted,--their horses were caparisoned in silver brocade
+of Alexandria, the most costly known,--assembled at the Balbi Palace
+as the nuptial escort of the bride. With all the pride on earth the
+glittering cavalcade, having crossed the Grand Canal by a bridge of
+boats, curvetted through the narrow _calli_ and deployed upon the
+Piazza, round which they galloped furiously, on their way to salute
+the Doge and Dogaressa awaiting them in the State balcony of the Ducal
+Palace. Then retracing their caracoling steps amid showers of kisses
+and laurel wreaths thrown to and from admiring maidens at every window,
+they recrossed the Canal and drew rein before the Contarini Palace.
+
+Fair Lucrezia, in her flashing bridal-dress of white silk and silver
+tissue and wearing, among many precious jewels, a high golden comb
+set with enormous pearls, awaited her escort at the portal of the
+Palace. She was supported by her sponsors the Procurators of San Marco,
+and attended by sixty young noblewomen garbed in cloth of gold and
+costly lace, each with her golden casket full of white carnations, the
+Contarini emblem, to scatter before the bride.
+
+The lovely procession--a pageant of fair girls and comely
+youths--moved in stately grace to the Church of San Barnaba hard by,
+where already the Doge and Dogaressa had been received by the clergy
+and escorted to their thrones. Giacomo Foscari, the bridegroom, with
+his supporters,--men of his house and young nobles of the Council,--all
+in superb costumes, stood before the altar. He and his bride, her hand
+in his, knelt in the centre of the prostrate congregation whilst the
+nuptial Mass was sung.
+
+Venetian weddings were the most magnificent in Europe, for the
+citizens’ nuptials were as splendid as Royal marriages. There was a
+strange blending of Orient mysticism and romance with the Western
+spirit of progress and reality. One very quaint custom was the visit
+of the bridegroom-elect and his best men to the house of the bride,
+upon the eve of the marriage morn. Every door was barred, every window
+and jalousie closed, save one far up the wall. A crazy ladder, all too
+short, was left at hand, scaling which, with a fall or two assured, the
+venturesome youth attained the open window-sill. Inside the house every
+door was shut, but, running down the stairs, the young fellow drew back
+the bolts of the great door and admitted his friends. Then, every room
+door flew open, and, headed by the father and mother of the girl, the
+family and the guests entered the reception-room. Bearing in his hand
+a leg of mutton the happy groom approached the father, and, offering
+it to him, said:--“See, your Excellency, take this bit of dead meat in
+exchange for a bit which is alive, namely your daughter.” The happy
+couple then knelt and received the parental blessing: a banquet and a
+dance followed in due order.
+
+Whether Giacomo Foscari went through all these old-world and
+traditional observances we know not, but, after the nuptial Mass, the
+Doge and Dogaressa returned to the Ducal Palace where a noble banquet
+was spread before the Lords of the Council, the foreign ambassadors,
+and the nobles of the Court and City. Meanwhile the “_Bucintoro_”
+was steered in front of the Contarini Palace,--with many attendant
+boats, both great and small, all gaily decked with banners and wedding
+favours,--to convey the bride and bridegroom to the presence of their
+Serenities. One hundred and fifty damsels of noble birth, all in festal
+white and richly jewelled, with as many stylish young companions of
+_La Calza_, accompanied the happy couple. At the Piazzetta an
+equal company of the beautiful and the brave was in attendance to
+escort the water-pageant into the Ducal Palace, and there, at the head
+of the Great Staircase, the Doge and Dogaressa, in robes of State and
+surrounded by the great officers of the Court, gave an affectionate
+and dignified greeting to their son and daughter. A grand ball was
+given and a rich collation and the night was far spent before the
+happy, weary guests found their link-lighted way to their brilliantly
+illuminated gondolas, and so home and to bed.
+
+Lucrezia Contarini-Foscari’s trousseau was superb:--A robe of cloth
+of gold and crimson velvet, lined with squirrel, and a train of white
+satin brocade two yards long; a robe of cloth of gold and peacock blue
+satin, the deep sleeves lined with ermine; a robe of cloth of gold and
+green brocade with open sleeves of fine lace; and a fourth robe
+of cloth of gold and yellow damask lined with ermine:--the four cost
+Messir Contarini two thousand gold ducats!
+
+  [Illustration: A MARRIAGE RECEPTION.
+
+  FROM AN ENGRAVING AFTER TEODORO BERNARDO.
+
+  NATIONAL LIBRARY, PARIS.]
+
+Accompanying these were four magnificent jewels for the hair with high
+combs--one of rubies, another of emeralds, a third of diamonds and
+the fourth, a huge Balax ruby--the four were valued at three thousand
+eight hundred gold ducats. Fortunate Lucrezia’s coffer of jewels also
+contained a necklace of diamonds and pearls, which had belonged to the
+unfortunate Queen of Cyprus, Caterina Conaro; a superb shoulder strap
+of diamonds and pearls en suite, and a range of gem rings--four of
+large rubies, worth two thousand gold ducats. The rest of the trousseau
+would require pages to enumerate, anyhow the bride of Giacomo Foscari
+entered the palace,--purchased by his father, the Doge in 1428 from
+the Giustiniani for twenty thousand gold ducats,--with four immense
+_cassoni_ full of valuables!
+
+Everything about the young couple promised human happiness of the
+highest and the best, and all went well with Giacomo and Lucrezia
+Foscari until, in the very midst of their gaiety and fame, a crushing
+calamity befell them with a suddenness and an awfulness unspeakable. In
+1445 Giacomo was accused before the Council of Ten of receiving bribes,
+not only from men in Venice who sought social and political gains, but
+also from Duke Filippo Maria Visconti of Milan--the best hated and
+most feared of all the foreign sovereigns. This situation was created
+by the extravagance of the young couple, but surely every excuse was
+admissible: he, the petted child of parents who denied him nothing,
+and she, whose head was turned by her almost fabulously wealthy
+marriage. They were in heavy debt and how to meet their liabilities
+(they dared not consult their parents) was the question.
+
+On the 15th of February, a _Zenta_ or Commission, appointed to
+examine into the charges, and Giacomo showed at once the weakness
+of his character and of his case by precipitate flight to Trieste.
+His chief accuser was the very Pietro Loredano who had lost the
+_dogado_ to Francesco Foscari and had sworn to be avenged for his
+defeat. It was a stunning blow to the old Doge and Dogaressa but they
+maintained their dignity with the highest fortitude in face of the
+declaration of the _Zenta_:--“Considering the base, disgraceful,
+and abominable, excesses committed by Giacomo Foscari, son of our Lord
+the Doge, against the honour and dignity of our State and Government,
+it is resolved that he be condemned to exile, and the confiscation of
+his goods in default.”
+
+In vain the broken-hearted Dogaressa pleaded for her son,--her
+only living child, but stern duty was the master of those Venetian
+councillors, of human sympathy they had little, and the Doge forced
+himself to side with them against his boy,--an heroic figure,
+externally impassive inwardly a wreck. Other charges were preferred
+against the absent Giacomo,--murder or accessory thereto included.
+He was brought back to Venice to be tortured into a confession of
+crimes of which he was wholly innocent, and then banished for life
+to Candia. He made a last and painful appeal to his father, but the
+broken-hearted old man spoke firmly in the bitterness of his soul.
+“Go,” said he, “my son, my dearly loved son, go, and obey the commands
+of your country and seek nothing more.”
+
+As a last favour, however, his mother the Dogaressa, and his wife,
+Lucrezia with her two little children were allowed to bid him
+farewell in the Torricelli prison within the Ducal Palace. Never
+was there a more affecting scene; poor Giacomo’s mutilated body and
+distorted features terrified them, and both mother and wife were borne
+fainting away. The wretched man sailed away to his place of exile,
+but he survived his arrival only a few short months. Death was a
+friend-in-need, and yet he had not needed to die so young, if Pietro
+Loredano had not again interfered to delay the free pardon granted in
+1457.
+
+This Loredano was a devil in disguise; he even protested that the
+sobs and tears and lamentations of the afflicted Doge and Dogaressa
+indicated imbecility and unfitness for office, and he urged upon the
+“Ten” the risk they ran of his Serenity summoning the “Forty” and
+haling them for their harshness and barbarity before the Greater
+Council. In a panic they hastened to demand the abdication of the Doge.
+The Dogaressa sought the detractor of her husband and appealed to
+him for pity, but he pushed her away and scandalously accused her of
+unfaithfulness as spouse and of treason as Dogaressa!
+
+When acquainted with the decree of the “Ten” the grand old man bowed
+his proud white head, and with dignity exclaimed:--“I never for a
+moment thought that my old age would prove injurious to Venice but
+I yield to the decision of the Council” and then with full meaning
+he addressed to Pietro Loredano who had the effrontery to be one of
+those to convey the sentence of deprivation, he added, “Your malice
+has driven me from the eminence to which I have been raised and which
+I have maintained unsullied for thirty years.” Loredano made no reply
+but upon that day’s page in his _priorista_ or diary, he wrote in
+a crabbed hand “_’L ’la pagati_,”--“He has paid his debt.”
+
+On 24th October 1457 the brave and noble old Doge and the faithful
+and virtuous Dogaressa Marina bade farewell to the Ducal Palace and
+sought the seclusion of their own palace at San Pantaleone. “Now,” said
+he, “we shall have peace in our old age if no joy.” A pension of two
+thousand gold ducats was accorded to the ex-Doge. All this brutality
+and haste was apparently kept from the knowledge of the people with
+whom the Doge and Dogaressa were highly popular, but directly the
+facts became known a revolution was threatened and matters became so
+serious that the “Forty” decreed that no man should name “the affair of
+Francesco Foscari under pain of instant death.”
+
+Francesco Foscari was a “Grand” Doge with respect to the length and
+distinction of his reign, and also with respect to the dignity with
+which he met and bore his heavy trials. Still in his time Venice lost
+her foreign possessions and her fame as the greatest of European naval
+powers. Too much attention was given to trivial matters of domestic
+policy and too little to the imperial demands of a strong navy and a
+forceful foreign policy.
+
+
+                                  III
+
+The long _dogado_ of Francesco Foscari,--thirty-four years, the most
+extended of any in the whole range of the one hundred and twenty Chief
+of Magistrates of Venice,--in a sort of way paralysed the life of the
+Court and the action of the Government. Doge Francesco abdicated at
+the advanced age of eighty-four, and his _entourage_ and that of the
+Dogaressa had grown old as well:--she was seventy-two. Youth, beauty
+and gaiety at home were at a discount and the maintenance of the naval
+and military services abroad were inefficient and decadent. The times
+were worn out, and what enthusiasm remained in the hearts of nobles and
+citizens went out to other men and other measures.
+
+The advent of Doge Pasquale Malipiero was hailed with a feeling of
+relief and a spirit of hopefulness. He was a man of gentle disposition
+and noted for the consideration and urbanity of his character. He
+was most scrupulous not in any way to derogate from the high esteem
+accorded to his predecessor, nor to wound the susceptibilities of the
+Dogaressa.
+
+Two days after his abdication Francesco Foscari died of a broken heart
+and Doge Malipiero was the first to offer Dogaressa Marina sympathy and
+assistance. The State decreed a public funeral but she emphatically
+refused to surrender the dead body of her husband. “No,” she said,
+“posthumous honours are a mockery after official injustice; I will bury
+my dead how and where I like.” Her strong and unforgiving attitude is
+recorded by the pack of Playing-Cards, so often referred to in this
+volume, upon the “Eight of Swords”:--“Nani, the second wife of Doge
+Foscari, determined to vindicate the fair fame of her husband, by
+burying him at her own expense and not at that of the State. Nothing is
+more fierce than offended innocence.”
+
+The Council of Ten expostulated with her and declared that, if she
+refused the order of burial, her husband’s corpse would be taken away
+by force. It was perfectly well understood however that this peremptory
+action was influenced by abject fear of the consequences to the Lordly
+Councillors should full State funeral rites not be accorded to the
+remains of the beloved old Doge.
+
+At length the Dogaressa yielded reluctantly but positively declined
+to follow the usual custom and appear as chief mourner. A pompous
+procession bore from the Foscari Palace to the “_Bucintoro_” the
+dead ruler’s earthly casket which was steered through kneeling weeping
+crowds afloat and on _rive_ to the Piazzetta and thence into the
+choir of San Marco. The great bell of the basilica,--which had scarcely
+ceased its clear, crisp emphatic clang announcing the succession of
+the new Doge,--gave forth slow and muffled tones. In the middle of the
+Piazza a halt was called and Messir Bernardo Giustiniani, the oldest
+noble, holding aloft the sword of the deceased Doge pronounced a
+funeral oration.
+
+Upon the bier rested the jewelled _Corno_ and the Ducal State robes
+which Pasquale Malipiero had so sympathetically laid aside whilst he
+walked bare-headed immediately behind, clad in the purple of a simple
+Lord of the Council. After the _Requiem_ the procession re-formed, and,
+with the casket under its pall of cloth of gold placed under the Ducal
+canopy, the “_Bucintoro_” carried all that remained of Doge Francesco
+Foscari in stately silence to his last resting-place before the High
+Altar of the Church of Santa Maria Gloriosa de’ Frari.
+
+The following day the new Doge re-assumed the regalia of his office
+and helped to prepare his Consort for her State Entry and Coronation.
+In 1414 he had married the woman he loved,--Donna Giovanna,--daughter
+of Messir Antonio Dandolo, above himself in station, for the Malipieri
+were of an inferior grade of nobility to the “Apostolic” Dandoli.
+26th January, 1457–1458, was the auspicious day chosen for the
+Dogaressa’s ceremonial. The funereal cloths which had swathed the
+“_Bucintoro_” were rent away and banners,--blazoned in gold and
+colours,--and great swaying garlands of greenery transformed the
+noble vessel into a gorgeous Argosy which, with the Dogaressa and her
+attendant ladies and many maids of honour on board, swept gracefully
+down the Grand Canal.
+
+The ritual of the inauguration rites was similar to that arranged for
+the Dogaressa Marina Galina-Steno, but the new First Lady of Venice
+managed to project quite a personal feature into the proceedings.
+As the patroness in particular of the printing-press and of the
+lace-cushion and of the respective craftsmen and craftswomen these two
+guilds were specially honoured. Palazzi, in “_La Virtu in Giuocco_”
+records that Dogaressa Giovanna was “a princess of splendid physical
+and mental gifts but possessed of no private fortune” ... in 1469
+Giovanni Spira dedicated to her the first book ever printed in
+Venice--“_Epistolæ ad Familiares_” of Cicero.
+
+In that quaint pack of Playing-cards at the Museo Civico, the “Knight
+(King) of Swords” bears an eulogy of Dogaressa Giovanna with a
+wood-cut of a printing-office, and the following inscription:--“The
+Art of Printing was introduced in Venice by the Dogaressa
+Dandolo-Malipiero--the Press has made the name Dandolo immortal.”
+
+This is perhaps a piece of special pleading but, inasmuch as Dogaressa
+Giovanna Dandolo-Malipiero was a woman of culture and the friend of
+men of letters, her patronage of the earliest printers undoubtedly
+gave the premier place to Venice in the history of printing. Missals,
+Service-books and other books, used in the churches, were printed from
+wooden blocks as early as 1441 by unknown craftsmen. With Giovanni
+da Spira (of Speyer) came to Venice his brother Wendelin, and they
+were joined by a French engraver of coins,--Nicolo Jenson of Tours,
+who turned his attention to cutting wooden letters and making wooden
+blocks. Their family of pupils and followers, between 1470–1500,
+numbered no fewer than one hundred and fifty-five printers of note.
+Of early books printed in Venice, four were produced in 1469,--all
+with grateful allusions to the Dogaressa,--sixteen in 1479, and
+ninety-eight in 1489:--they were chiefly Classics, Bibles, and Morals.
+In 1480 appeared the first illustrated book the world had seen in print
+“_Hypnerotomachia_”--“The Dream of Love.” Venice thenceforward
+became and, remained for two hundred years, the greatest of all centres
+for books, printers, and publishers.
+
+As the patroness of Venetian lace-workers Dogaressa Giovanna
+Dandolo-Malipiero made for herself unquestionable renown. She knew,
+of course, by heart the fascinating story of Bella di Giovan d’Isola
+di San Giorgio in Alga, and probably she was herself a skilful artist
+in the exquisite craft. Burano was the earliest metropolis of the
+_Merletti a Piombini_--the offspring of fine thread and beaded
+bobbins,--and the “_Buranelle_,” or lace girls of Burano were
+as famous then as now for their manipulative talent. The gracious
+Dogaressa gathered around her a number of young gentlewomen and
+encouraged them to twist and knot the delicate threads. Perhaps they
+called to mind the tradition of the heroines of Aquileia, for the early
+Burano lace is as fine and as strong as the interlaced locks of hair,
+which made such stout hawsers for the catapults in that famous siege.
+
+Just as the bewitching Bella was inspired to imitate a beautiful
+piece of coral seaweed so the clever lace-workers of Burano went to
+Nature for their models. Already, in the fourteenth century, they
+had noted the swirling whirlpools of the gondolier’s pole and the
+rippling eddies of the tide on the steps of the _rivi_; and had
+observed the rolling clouds above their heads and the distant indented
+Dolomites beyond the Lagune; and had produced their _opus araneum_ or
+_punto-in-aria_,--openwork. Then followed quite naturally, imitations
+of moving objects around them--the sailors, the cordage, and the nets
+of fishing vessels, with bits of flotsam and jetsam, shells, seaweed
+and fish scales, evolving _punto-a-reticelli_,--network.
+
+Very easily foliage and flowers of Venetian gardens prompted lace
+ideas; hence we have _punto-a-folgiami_,--spraywork. Next, fish
+in ships’ holds or in crystal bowls, birds on wing and insects,
+appeared in twisted thread as _punto-a-groppo_,--raised work; and
+fabled animals, domestic pets, and arabesques formed another range of
+subjects,--_punto-a-maglia_,--figure work. Effigies in Church, people
+on Piazza, faces on the Rialto, and many other human models came out
+of leaded bobbins as _punto-a-quadra_ and _punto-a-burato_,--portrait
+work, and so forth.
+
+Dogaressa Giovanna must have been a woman of marked erudition and
+consummate taste to combine two such dissimilar avocations as printing
+and lace-making in her heart’s interest. Her patronage of Burano and
+its craft directly interested the votaries of fashion everywhere, and
+the women of all lands should ever hold her in high estimation. Burano
+became the mother of Honiton, of Valenciennes and Alençon, of Mechlin
+and Brussels, and the delicate meshes of her lace-work have enriched
+woman’s realm with the most decorative attribute it possesses.
+
+Doge Pasquale Malipiero died in 1462 and was buried in the great
+church of SS. Giovanni e Paolo, in the left aisle, where his
+Florentine sarcophagus may still be seen. With him was laid all that
+remained of noble Dogaressa Giovanna, but the date of her death is
+not recorded--“Giovanna, the Queen of Lace, the Empress of Printing.”
+In the Museo Civico is a medal which has, on the obverse, the bust
+of Doge Malipiero, and on the reverse that of Dogaressa Giovanna,
+with the legend:--“_Inclite Johanne ... Alme ... Urbis ... Venatiar
+... Ducise_.” She wears the _Corno_ with an ample coif or veil which
+hides somewhat the marks of age: the face is thin, the cheeks hollow,
+the forehead high, and the eyes somewhat sunken. The medal is very
+delicately chiselled and is said to have been the work of Pietro
+Guidizzaro,--a noted medallist of the fifteenth century. In the
+Berlin Museum is another medal with a similarly incised portrait of
+Dogaressa Giovanna, but in place of that of the Doge, her husband, are
+represented two beauteous Venetian maidens,--representing “Printing”
+and “Lace-making,”--with the legend:--“_Vincit ... Honia ... Bona ...
+Volontas_.”
+
+Cristoforo Moro and his Consort Cristina Sanudo mounted the Dogal
+throne in 1462. He was an ill-conditioned sort of man, very
+parsimonious but in a way very devout, and as we say now, an advocate
+of “peace at any price.” His personal appearance was hardly in his
+favour,--for he was short of stature, very stout, and his features were
+marred by a decided squint. The Mori belonged to the least honourable
+grade of nobility, having purchased their title after the war in Candia
+for one hundred thousand gold ducats. They also bought the Palazzo
+Lin, the property of an extinct Venetian family upon the Grand Canal,
+and henceforth gave themselves all the airs and graces of hereditary
+nobles. Their good conceit of themselves was quite effective and quite
+in the order of Venetian social convention.
+
+The Dogaressa Cristina was the daughter of Messir Lionardo Sanudo
+and Madonna Barbara Memo his wife; her marriage was celebrated in
+1412. Once more the Venetians had the spectacle of a patriarchal
+couple installed in the Ducal Palace. Notwithstanding her age the new
+Dogaressa went through all the ceremonies of her Entry and Coronation
+with dignity and charm. “She was a woman,” Marino Sanudo, her nephew
+the historian says, “of a remarkably gentle disposition and held in
+reverence for her works of charity.”
+
+Palazzi wrote of her in his “_Fasti Ducales_” that “she was an
+example to other gentlewomen in her care of the poor.” Upon the “Knave
+of Swords” in the pack of Cards at the Museo Civico is the following
+inscription:--“Sanuta, wife of Cristoforo Moro, Doge of Venice, raised
+her voice to Heaven only for the good of the people, the gift of
+Heaven, and the Seal of justice.”
+
+A few notable events occurred during the reign of Doge Cristoforo
+Moro. His _Promissione_, like its forerunners, cut down the Ducal
+prerogatives and also severed the last strand of the coil which feebly
+held the rights of the people. The title of the Republic passed from
+“_Comune Venetiarum_” to “_Dominium_, or _Signoria Venetiarum_.”
+War with Friuli broke out afresh and the Doge shrank from the
+responsibilities of leadership until twitted by _Condottiere_ Vettor
+Cappello:--“Have,” said he, “my lord less care for thy skin and more
+for thine honour!” The Venetians had gradually lapsed into a state of
+false security: their fame on land and sea made them confident that
+Venetian supremacy was assured. No new battleships were laid down and
+the manning and armament of the fleet were neglected until, in 1469,
+the “Mistress of the Seas” received a stunning awakening--the Turks
+wrested from her for ever her superiority afloat.
+
+In the world of craft and fashion Dogaressa Cristina was the
+recognised patroness and leader, but skill and beauty yielded to
+cheapness and frivolity. She set her face against the introduction
+of foreign-made goods and insisted upon the craftsmen improving both
+the materials and the manner of their industries. The Church, in the
+person of Frate Mauro Lapi, of the Frari monastery, appealed to her
+to redress the effeminacy of young courtiers in the wearing of long
+hair--“_capiliaturas nimis longas al faciunt mulieres_.”
+
+Both the Doge and Dogaressa were much occupied in arranging and
+furnishing the newly completed private apartments in the Ducal Palace.
+Whilst superintending this undertaking, and assigning positions for
+the almost numberless “Spoils of Venice,” taken by her Doges, after
+their victories afloat and ashore, Dogaressa Cristina was called upon
+in 1471, to resign her lifelong partner and to go into retirement. Year
+after year spent its slow course and at last no one remembered the
+gracious _Signora_ when, in 1533, Martino Sanudo came to make his will.
+“I bequeath” he wrote, “to the Church of Messir San Sebastiano a very
+venerable relic--a bone of the Saint which belonged to my Aunt Sanuta
+Moro, and which she had religiously preserved by way of a charm against
+the plague.” This sacred benefaction demonstrated the piety of the old
+Dogaressa, as, by her will, executed in January 1471, she proved her
+charity.
+
+To the clergy of the monastery of San Giobbe Dogaressa Cristina
+assigned a goodly benefaction to provide Masses for the repose of
+her own soul, her husband’s--the Doge and her father’s, mother’s, and
+her brothers’. The building of this church was due to the Doge and
+Dogaressa: in the choir is his tomb bearing the sculptured recognisance
+of his family--the _Moro_--mulberry, and over the door of the
+Sacristy is his portrait. Perhaps the natural modesty of the Dogaressa
+forbade hers, as a pendant, but her patron Saint San Bernardino da
+Siena stands as a statuette along with Sant’ Antonio da Padua and San
+Giobbe--the patrons of the Doge.
+
+Doge Nicolo Tron (1471–1473) was a very different sort of man from
+his predecessor, both in appearance and in character. Tall and
+extremely handsome, an athlete in form and practice, he had however
+two unpleasing idiosyncrasies--a repulsive expression and a stuttering
+tongue. He was not a man of good family, but what he lacked in heredity
+he more than made up in wealth. When a young man he settled in
+Rhodes,--a land of gold in that day--and acquired by his industry and
+profitable speculations an immense fortune,--said to be at least one
+hundred thousand gold ducats.
+
+In 1424 he married Aliodea, daughter of Messir Silvestro Morosini of
+the _sestiere_ of Santa Giustina, a significant union of rank and money
+and a new phase in Venetian matters matrimonial. Ambitious to prove to
+his fellow-citizens and the proud nobles his worthiness and opulence
+the new Doge departed from the ordinary festive arrangements of the
+_Fragilie_, and himself spread the banquet for them in honour of his
+Consort. Every attribute of dignity, every emblem of sovereignty, and
+every decorative feature of the installation ceremonies, were mounted
+upon a magnificent scale. The robes of State were the richest ever worn
+by Doge and Dogaressa, and right nobly, we may be sure, the Serene
+couple bore themselves. If he was handsome she was beautiful--all the
+Morosinis were--a trait which never failed in that splendid family.
+
+The Palazzo Tron, on the Grand Canal, was most extravagantly furnished,
+the decoration of one room alone with marble, sculptures, carved wood,
+gilding, and rare glass cost more than two thousand gold ducats.
+
+Aliodea Morosini-Tron was the most attractive, and the best dressed
+gentlewoman in Venice. Palazzi goes into ecstasies over her
+fascinations, and he makes delightful play with her popular name “Dea.”
+“Dea” he says, “corresponds with ‘love’ and ‘beauty’ and such were the
+characteristics of the Princess who was truly and indeed the ‘Venus
+of the Century.’” Once more the old pack of Playing-cards sets forth
+the Dogaressas virtues:--The “Knave of Coins” (Diamonds) has:--“Dea
+Morosini, wife of Nicolo Tron, Doge of Venice, a most religious
+Princess, her humility caused her to choose a private burial--_Dea
+se a Dio_.” She gave her husband two children, both boys, the
+elder Giacomo became Procurator of San Marco, and the younger,--a
+soldier,--fell at the terrible battle of Negroponte.
+
+Doge Tron died in 1473 and was buried in the church of Santa Maria
+Gloriosa de’ Frari under a huge monument by the High Altar. He was the
+last Doge of Venice whose effigy was stamped upon the coinage of the
+Republic. His was a very prosperous _dogado_, and the decline of
+Venice was for a brief space stayed. Victories in the East led to the
+acquisition of Smyrna, and the littoral of Asia Minor. Cyprus too came
+under the banner of San Marco.
+
+Of Dogaressa “Dea’s” good works and influences we seem to have
+no records, save what her epitaph recites upon her simple last
+resting-place at San Giobbe:--“_Deæ rariss. mulieris illustriss. Dom
+Nicolai Throni inclyti Ducis Venetiarum, Conjugis, humili hoc in loco
+Corpus jussu tuo conditum est, animan vero ejus propter vitæ virtutum
+et morum sanctitatem ad cœlestem patriam advolasse credemdum est._
+Ann. Salutis MCCCCLXXVIII.” She survived her husband just five years
+and probably kept her cell in the fervour of devotion at the convent of
+San Giobbe, far, far away from the madding crowd.
+
+  [Illustration: COURTESAN AT HER TOILET.
+
+  FROM A PRINT. 1560.
+
+  “Habiti d’Huomini e Donne.”--G. Franco.]
+
+  [Illustration: A CHARMING COIFFURE.
+
+  (The hair falls full at the back).
+
+  FROM A PRINT. 1610.
+
+  “Habiti Delle Donne.”--G. Franco.]
+
+There is an apocryphal story affecting Doge Nicolo Tron namely that
+he was twice married, first to Donna Laura Nogarola, daughter of
+Messir Lionardo Nogarola of Verona, and sister of the celebrated
+Isotta,--famed as a writer of interesting letters and as a profound
+classical scholar. Madonna Laura herself was conspicuous for her
+beauty of person, her devout disposition, her charm of manner, and her
+erudition. It is a moot point with historians whether Messir Nicolo
+Tron divorced the illustrious Laura before he married the divine Dea,
+or whether after all the former fair gentlewoman was not the wife of
+Messir Cristoforo Pellegrino Ambassador from Verona to Venice during
+the _dogado_ of Doge Nicolo Tron. A third supposition refers to
+the handsome and wealthy Doge’s adventures in the regions of Platonic
+affection, but of this only surmise is possible--facts are wanting, and
+here comes romance!
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER VI
+
+
+                                   I
+
+The Gardens of Venice!
+
+--“_Veri paradisi terrestri, per la vaghezza dell’aiere e del sito
+lioghi di ninfe e di semedei!_”--in an ecstasy of delight wrote Andrea
+Calmo, in one of his characteristic “_Lettere_.” He was not the first
+by any means who had felt the gentle influence of those earthly bits of
+Paradise, for an observant monk, Frate Felice Faber, of Ulm, goes into
+raptures, in his “_Evagatorium Terræ Sanctæ_,” over the roof-gardens
+he beheld in 1457, as he passed through Venice on his pilgrimage to
+the Holy Sepulchre. “Full of aromatic trees and perfumed blossoms,” he
+wrote, “nothing can be more wonderful, nothing more delicious.”
+
+From the very first foundations of the _campi_ and _fondamenti_ gardens
+had been the chief home-joy of all the dwellers in the lagunes; a
+sweet-smelling flowering-plant was as acceptable to them as a piece
+of bread and cheese. Spread over all the _sestieri_, chequer-like,
+they added immeasurably to the amenities of the city. Time had grown
+the sapling into a shady tree, the sprig into a blossoming bush. Upon
+the Giudecca, gardens,--“_delicati e rari_,” belonged to the Bandoli,
+Conari, Barbari, Gradenighi, Mocenighi, Vendramini, and Gritti. At
+Villa Catteneo was the loveliest of them, all built up with rockeries,
+splashed by fountains, and running over with roses, lilies and
+carnations.
+
+At Murano were the most famous of all Venetian gardens. Sixteen
+sumptuous Villa-Palaces sprang up like magic upon that sandy sea-shore,
+and, still more wonderful, the magician’s wand brought forth from
+alluvial sea-wash, hanging gardens and terraced orchards fairer far
+than ever were those of Babylon.
+
+Afternoon and evening, fleets of gondolas cut through the murky water,
+full of visitors bent on pleasure, or to view the splendid frescoes at
+Villa Mocenigo and the glorious statuary at Villa Trevisan.
+
+Every islet had its garden-patch, every family spent half at least
+of each day’s playing-hours _al fresco_: everybody was wise in
+Nature’s laws, and inspired romance and poetry amid the lights and
+shadows of the greenery, in the music and the measure of the rustling
+leaves, and from the delicious air perfumed by fragrant blossoms.
+
+To realise something of what those _villa_ and _casa_ gardens were
+like, one must traverse sea and land to bonny Baveno, and there tell
+the affable boatman to steer his course to “_Il Palazzo_.” There,
+resting upon the azurine-green bosom of beauteous Lago Maggiore, is a
+palace like unto a jewelled crown, a garden like fabled Eden, all built
+and laid out, doubtless, by garden artists from Venice and Murano. Upon
+that delectable spot are gathered all the loveliest things of Nature’s
+second kingdom;--so it was at Murano what time Pietro Bembo walked and
+thought and talked, leading the muses of the grove and the mermaids of
+the shore in mystic dance and song.
+
+    “The strange flowers’ perfume turns to singing,
+    Heard afar, o’er brightest moonlit seas
+    The Syrens’ song, grown faint in ringing,
+    Falls in sweet odours on dancing trees.”
+
+Alas, where men of letters and women of fashion once forgathered in
+sumptuary and sympathetic symposia are wanton weeds and raw rank grass,
+with patches of unpoetic potato and uncultured cabbage. Rag-pickers
+and goat-herds hold unclean orgies where peach and cherry trees were
+wont to scatter scented painted petals upon the heads and breasts of
+those that discoursed philosophy and whispered love. “True love,”
+as the Poet-Laureate declared, “that seeks not only perfect beauty
+but god-like also:” expressing thus, in Venetian terms, the Greek of
+Plato,--“The desire to possess in one perfect union the beloved being
+and the lovely soul.” To kiss the hand and not the lips was the theory
+of those romancists--the reddest features of the human frame, the
+danger-signal of the soul, and so they grimaced and so they postured
+under overhanging boughs of acacia and catalpa. In his “_Asolani_”
+Bembo sang:--
+
+    “_Vita giojosa e cara
+    Chi da te non l’impara Amor non ave._”
+
+The children of Murano now offer visitors humble nosegays of sea-pinks
+and flowering flags, but in the springtide of Venetian poetry and
+literature, the orchards were carpeted with hyacinths and anemones,
+violets and scented stocks. The terraces and borders yielded light
+begonias, banksia roses,--red and yellow,--and carnations of
+many hues, all as brilliant as the painted faces and the tinted
+bosoms of the beauties, who clasped them from the hands of their
+_innamorati_, to place upon their bare and ample breasts.
+
+Bushes of daphne ordorifica and many another aromatic exotic attracted
+swarms of luminous butterflies, linnets sang in the laurels, and in
+the myrtle, nightingales; but the strings of guitars and the keys
+of flutes, vibrated by the gallants of _La Calza_, yielded sweeter
+music far. Pergolas were laden with golden grapes and purple, quinces
+struggled with pomegranates to delight sight, smell, and taste. Figs
+vied with oranges, melons with pines in fullness and in flavour.
+Solomon’s gardens poured out no more richly seductive treasures.
+Shadows were cast only by solemn cypress and rocking hollyhocks, but
+through them flashed saffron bees laden with pelf from honeysuckle,
+musk, and lavender.
+
+Men and women, with gay peacocks on the lawn, preened themselves in
+gorgeous costumes, conversed in arboreal arbours of all things high
+and low, tossed salutations where the spray of fountains cast rainbows
+in the scented air, and sang, and danced, and flirted to their hearts’
+content. Not that the gardens of Venice were given up wholly to love
+and romance, for many a venerable Doge and Dogaressa presided at
+feasts of reason, and received the reverences of men of letters and of
+women of culture, who have left their finger-prints upon the pages of
+literature.
+
+If Pietro Bembo was the Poet-Laureate and the leader of the
+literary revels, as great as he, were Aldo Manuzio and Andrea
+Navagero,--court-printer and courtier-poet. Then Francesco
+Colonna,--lover of “_La Polia_” and Roman king of pageants,--shared
+with Ermolao Barbaro,--the humorist and the satirist,--passionate
+love of Venice. Lodovico Ariosto and Pietro Aretino,--empirics and
+critics both,--made love also to the Venus of the Lagunes, in the
+new Bohemia of the island gardens. All the poets sang of “_Venus
+Physizone_,”--“Venus the Fruitful,”--Venice sweetheart and wife.
+Benozzo Gozzoli, the Florentine, painted, in the Campo Santo at Pisa,
+the song and dance of Venice--the _Rispetti_ and _Ballate_,--love
+ditties of youth, and the _Frottole_ and _Madrigali_--murmurings of
+adult romance,--movements in life-tragedies.
+
+Music, step, and cadence, traditional and patriotic, were the
+actualities of lagune life in the open: for stage, the garden-plot, the
+well-head, the gondola-herse, and the open _campi_. Refrains, piped
+and warbled, in _calli_ and _rive_, and, graceful and heavy measures
+stepped there, were carried off to sea in the galleys of commerce and
+of war. Sympathetic language is everything, in expressive popularity,
+and, if cultured Venetians used Latin and Tuscan in lecture and
+conversation, no tongue of any time was so rich in scenes of caressing
+endearment as the common-talk of Venice, no dialect was anything like
+so soft, sensuous, and melodious.
+
+Historians, great and small,--Martino Sanudo and Marcantonio Coccio and
+many another--forgathered in the gardens, and wrote delightful records
+of fascinating and learned women, as well as of bewitching butterflies
+of fashion. Cristina Pisano, in the fourteenth century, “Mother of
+women writers,” and Cassandra Fedele, in the fifteenth,--“_Decus
+Italia_,” Angello Poliziano, the Medicean, called her,--were leaders
+in the great Venetian pageant of the Graces and the Liberal Arts.
+Moderata Fonte sang sympathetically the glory on Venetian womanhood:--
+
+    “_S’ornano il ciel le stelle
+    Ornan le donne il mondo
+    Con quanto e in lui di bello e di giocondo._”
+
+There were lovely gardens also at Friuli, Asolo, and all along the
+Brenta, where Venetians,--fair and brave, wise and dignified--held
+revels and communings, masked balls and stately receptions.
+
+If you would see and know the _Messiri_ and the _belle Donne_
+of Venice, in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, you will find them
+resting or disporting themselves in their villas and their gardens.
+There, arrayed in his official crimson velvet robe of semi-State,--you
+will make your reverence to his Serenity the Doge, and, at his side you
+will bend your knee to kiss a gracious Dogaressa’s hand. She has not
+to bear the weight of her stiff State robe of cloth of gold; she is
+in crimson silk, and her fair hair, hardly showing streaks of white,
+is covered with a becoming veil of lace, fixed with great gold and
+jewelled pins. They are the most affable and most approachable noble
+couple in all history, and the younger people are all the gayer for
+their presence, strangers are completely at their ease, noble Lords of
+the Council, dignified matrons, the cultured, the artistic, and the
+seriously-minded, find pleasure and distinction in their company.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+By electing Nicolo Marcello, in succession to Doge Nicolo Tron, in
+1473, the Lords of the Council returned to their traditional usage. He
+was a member of one of the eight considerable families before 1289,
+ranking third in the premier grade of the nobility immediately after
+the “Apostolic” and “Evangelistic” families. He had, however, in the
+eyes of the very select, lowered himself by his marriage in 1427, with
+Donna Bianca Elena, daughter of Messir Francesco Barbarigo, Procurator
+of San Marco, a distinguished member of a family rising rapidly in
+wealth and influence, but only ennobled, with nineteen other families,
+after the Genoese war of Chioggia. Madonna Bianca died, probably of
+plague, two years later, and then Messir Marcello again entered the
+estate of matrimony with Madonna Contarina, widow of Messir Francesco
+Morosini. She was a Contarini, a daughter of one of the most exalted
+and wealthiest families on the Roll of Nobles.
+
+Very little is recorded of either the Doge or Dogaressa, for their
+reign was the shortest of any in the line of Doges of Venice,--less
+than a twelvemonth. There is a very ambiguous notice in “_La Storia
+di Venezia_,” a manuscript history in the Museo Civico, which states
+that:--“Messir Nicolo Marcello, aged seventy-six, would not allow the
+Dogaressa, his Consort, to enter the Palace.” This of course refers to
+the usual solemn Entry and Coronation, but the why and wherefore are
+not stated, and no amount of surmise will explain the matter.
+
+  [Illustration: A VILLA-GARDEN DANCE ON THE GIUDECCA.
+
+  FROM AN ENGRAVING. 1562.
+
+  MUSEO CIVICO, VENICE.]
+
+“This Doge,” the manuscript goes on to say, “was a very pompous
+sort of man, and he caused the regalia of his office,--including
+the State umbrella and cushion, which had hitherto been both of
+crimson velvet,--to be made entirely of gold and cloth of gold. He
+had a _Corno_ entirely of gold and jewels, like the crown of an
+independent Sovereign, and he added, to the State robe of cloth of
+gold, a costly tippet of ermine, fastened down the front with solid
+gold clasps and buttons.” His ordinary dress was scarlet, but at State
+functions and in Council he wore white or cloth of silver under the
+State robes.
+
+In his will, executed on 24th July 1473, the Doge made some recompense
+to his spouse for the denial of dignity. “To my dearly-loved Consort,”
+he deposed, “I leave eighteen hundred gold ducats (her dowry) together
+with two thousand gold ducats. I also bequeath to her the contents
+of my wardrobe, and assign to her, for use during her lifetime, my
+_Casa_, on the Campo di Santa Marina, together with all my
+equipages, horses, furniture, tapestries, and everything necessary for
+her honourable maintenance as my widow.” Doge Marcello died in January
+1473–1474, and was buried in the ancient, but no longer existent,
+church of Santa Marina. His monument is now in SS. Giovanni e Paolo,
+whither it was removed along with that of Doge Michele Steno. The death
+and burial of Dogaressa Contarina Morosini-Marcello are unrecorded.
+
+The _dogado_ of Pietro Mocenigo (1474–1476), was almost as brief
+as that of his predecessor. He was a veteran leader of the armies of
+the Republic, fighting for years against the forces of the Turks. His
+monument in SS. Giovanni e Paolo bears the epitaph:--“_Ex Hostium
+Manubis_,” in recognition of his invaluable services. In life he
+was something of an old-man-in-a-hurry, for his energy was unbounded
+and his love of Venice enthusiastic. The Dogaressa was Donna Laura,
+daughter of Messir Giovanni Zorzi. We look in vain for records of
+his reign and notices of her virtues: all we have is a clause in his
+_Promissione_, which granted to her and her family, in the event
+of his predemise, the use of the private apartments in the Ducal Palace
+for three months after his death--“so as to avoid unseemly haste.”
+
+Fresh sumptuary laws were passed affecting dress and fashions under
+Dogaressa Laura: she herself, as were all the Dogaressas, was
+expressly excluded along with her _Dozete_ or daughters, from
+their operation. In 1474 long trains were forbidden, but quite easily
+this was disregarded for some inventive mind or other,--a stylish
+craftswoman doubtless,--created a new thing of beauty, which became a
+joy to train wearers, a jewelled gold bangle, through which the corner
+of the offending garment was caught up when occasion demanded!
+
+Lionardo Bota, the Milanese ambassador to Venice in 1476, put on record
+that the _gentildonne_ of Venice had reached such a lavish style
+of dressing that he “could not conceive how their costumes could ever
+be more gorgeous: many ladies boasted that several of them cost more
+than five thousand ducats apiece!” A decree of the _Tribunale delle
+Pompe_ was issued to check and moderate the excessive expenditure.
+Costly gold and pearl embroideries were forbidden together with
+point-lace with gold and silver thread, and gold tassels with drops of
+precious stones. Belts and charms were ordered to be less jewelled and
+less massive.
+
+Andrea Vendramin and Regina Gradenigo were acclaimed as Doge and
+Dogaressa of Venice in 1476. He belonged to a family ennobled after
+the Chioggian War and accounted among the wealthiest. Messir Vendramin
+appears to have made his fortune in the commercial pursuits of his
+family, and, settling for some years in the Greek island of Rhodes,
+as a purveyor and provision merchant amassed a fortune of no less
+than one hundred and sixty thousand gold ducats. Tradesman, or no, he
+was a man of rare artistic tastes and a keen antiquarian. Upon the
+dispersal of the collections of Doge Marino Falier his grandfather
+purchased everything of special value and interest, and through his
+father, Messir Andrea inherited the treasure, to which he added very
+considerably. The Catalogue of the Vendramin Museum and Gallery filled
+sixteen portly volumes.
+
+The Dogaressa was a daughter of Messir Andrea Gradenigo of an
+“Apostolic” family, and much the superior of her husband in rank: she
+married the future Doge in 1426. Six daughters were born to the noble
+couple, for each of whom their father apportioned the very goodly dowry
+of seven thousand gold ducats, but upon one condition that he should
+choose their husbands! As a young man Andrea Vendramin was said to have
+been one of the handsomest and most courtly gentlemen of the city.
+
+Dogaressa Regina made her solemn Entry with all the pomp and
+circumstance customary for that event,--but she was not crowned.
+This was the first step in the declension of the splendour and
+quasi-sovereignty of the First Lady of Venice. Gradually the Dogaressa
+had been accorded, and had assumed dignity upon dignity: henceforward
+she was as gradually to lose her distinctions.
+
+The _dogado_ of Andrea Vendramin synchronised with the most
+disastrous period in Venetian history. “He died,” wrote Ruskin in his
+“_Stones of Venice_,” “leaving Venice disgraced by sea and land,
+with the smoke of hostile devastation rising in the blue mists beyond
+Friuli.” His death in 1478, was due to pestilence, which followed the
+ravages of the Turks, carried to the shores of the lagunes, “from the
+Orient by the ships of the new Mistress of the Seas, the supplanter
+of the Supremacy of the Queen of the Adriatic.” He was buried in the
+now ruined Church of Gli Servi, but during the nineteenth century his
+monument was removed, with many others, to the Venetian Pantheon of SS.
+Giovanni e Paolo.
+
+Dogaressa Regina survived her Consort many years, but of her end we
+have no account. There is, in the Museo Civico, a curious picture,
+apparently commemorative of her Solemn Entry, with the following
+inscription:--“_Regina Gradenigo Andreæ Vendram, Veni, Princeps,
+Uxor, Senioribus ac Propinquis comitata ingenti populi plausa Regiam
+Aulam ingreditur MCCCCLXXVI._”
+
+Giovanni and Taddea Mocenigo assumed the _Corno_ in 1478. He was a
+younger brother of Doge Pietro Mocenigo, the third member of his
+family within the century to mount the Ducal throne--a circumstance
+only paralleled by the Dandoli since the far-off days of the
+Particepazi, Candiani, Orseoli, and Michieli. The Dogaressa was a
+daughter of Messir Giovanni Michielo and vindicated in her person
+the assertion often made, that “succession through the female line
+is always more certain than through the male,”--the last Michielo
+Doge,--Vitale II.--died in 1172.
+
+In the February of the year of their accession the Sultan of
+Constantinople sent an embassy to Venice seeking terms of amity and
+reciprocity and bearing costly gifts to their Serenities, and also
+many presents for the principal nobles. Among the offerings was a
+magnificent Oriental carpet,--the like of which the Venetians had
+never beheld,--a number of handsome jewels for the Dogaressa, and a
+weird collection of new animals. Both the Doge and his Consort had
+a hobby for wild animals and greatly added to the number of such
+creatures in the Venetian Zoological Gardens--now the _Giardino
+Reale_--established in 1310 under the _dogado_ of Pietro
+Gradenigo.
+
+The arrival of these beasts, among them a giraffe,--hitherto an unknown
+animal save in fiction,--caused wild excitement in Venice, and, like
+its brother in Florence, it was the recipient of caresses by the nuns
+in the convents to whom it was exhibited. Unfortunately, the whole
+collection perished in a calamitous fire which burnt out, not only the
+beasts’ dens, but also ravaged the private apartments of the Doge and
+Dogaressa, and destroyed the whole sequence of portraits of former
+Doges, besides many priceless art treasures.
+
+Unhappily Dogaressa Taddea, herself, perished in October of the
+year of her Coronation,--a victim, with many of the gentlewomen of
+her Court,--of the terrible scourge of the Black Death. Her funeral
+obsequies were conducted upon the most lavish scale,--quite the most
+sumptuous of any public funeral in Venetian history. The ceremonial
+was identical with that observed at the burial of a Doge, but far more
+impressive by reason of universal mourning--a “Mother of Israel” was
+borne through a sea of human tears to her last resting-place. After the
+operation of embalming, her body was first exposed in State within the
+_Sala de’ Pioveghi_, within the Ducal Palace, thence it was escorted
+to the no longer existent parish church of San Geminiano, in order
+that the poorer people might the more easily view the remains of their
+benefactress. Arrayed in her Coronation robes, with the smaller Ducal
+_Corno_ on her head, and the face covered with a delicate lace veil of
+Burano, she was watched by a succession of nuns from San Zaccaria and
+of _Pinzocchere_, or noble recluses, in the exercise of their functions
+as State mourners.
+
+The place of ultimate sepulture was the grand church of SS. Giovanni
+e Paolo. The _cortège_ was accompanied by the clergy of the City
+churches, members of the various monastic Orders, the chapters and
+officials of San Marco and San Pietro di Castello, the five _Scuole
+de’ Battudi_, the three _Ordini delle Pinzocchere_, the Lords of the
+Council, the foreign ambassadors and a large following of Masters and
+officers of the Craft Guilds with their banners furled. Twenty noble
+relatives of the Doge and Dogaressa held the pall, and the bier was
+carried by relays of workmen from the Arsenal. The Ducal regalia
+was borne by the Officers of State, but the one absentee was the
+widowed Doge,--broken-hearted he remained inconsolable in his private
+apartments.
+
+A splendid catafalque erected in the nave of the church was guarded by
+the Doge’s body-guard of one hundred Captains of Marine. This “Triumph
+of Death” ended with the interment of the beloved Dogaressa in the
+grand sarcophagus which Doge Mocenigo had prepared for himself and his
+spouse. He poor man was not only utterly prostrated by the sudden and
+unlooked-for death of his dearly-loved wife, but he was also deeply
+distressed by the ravages of the pestilence. Venice was for the nonce
+a pest-house, full of dead and dying people, with few able and willing
+to bury them. Scenes of savagery were to be witnessed in every _casa_
+and _calle_ and the _Beccamorte_ went about collecting corpses for
+submersion in remote deep waters of the lagunes,--funeral pyres were
+lighted in the distant _campi_. In 1485 Doge Giovanni Mocenigo followed
+his lamented Consort in a similar “Triumph,” and his body was laid
+beside hers under the huge monument which occupies the whole wall-space
+near the grand portal of SS. Giovanni e Paolo.
+
+
+                                  II
+
+For a graphic account of Venice and the Venetians, at the close of the
+fifteenth century, the pen-pictures drawn by a Milanese monk, passing
+through Venice in his “_Viaggio a Gerusalemme_,” and published in
+1494, are most interesting. He affirms first of all that “it is not
+possible to describe fully the charm, the magnificence, and the wealth
+of the City.” He assisted at the High Mass and Procession on Corpus
+Christi Day at San Marco and on Piazza. “The robes of velvet, crimson,
+purple, and yellow, and the togas of cloth of gold sweeping the ground,
+each finer than the last, were wonderful.” There was “great silence,
+such as I never before observed even at the very large gathering of
+nobles. Everything was well ordered as though ruled by one master.
+I have considered the quality of these Venetian courtiers, who for
+the most part are fair complexioned, slim, and tall, and I can quite
+readily believe their reputation for astuteness in their dealings. You
+must if you would treat successfully with them, keep your eyes and
+ears wide open. They are very proud, and I think it is because of the
+eminence of Venice afloat and ashore. When a son is born to Venetian
+parents they say ‘another young Lord has come into the World.’ At home
+they are fairly simple in their living but abroad, in public, they are
+lavish with their gifts and enjoyments. The richness of their dress is
+indescribable, but out of doors every man wears a full toga of black
+and none but a born fool would venture without it.”
+
+The worthy Frate goes on to talk about the women and girls and their
+dress. “The married ladies and those no longer of the company of the
+_belle giovane_ are all covered, in the streets and in church, in
+sombre cloaks, they look like widows or nuns of the Benedictine Order;
+it needs but the bell or the trumpet announcing the _festa_ for
+them to assume the most splendid garments that women possess, and
+their jewels are wonderful. The young girls are beautiful and full of
+fun.”
+
+Monk as he was Casola was taken, as was the Venetian custom, when a
+marked distinction was paid to an honoured foreign guest, to witness
+“the unique spectacle” as he calls it of a lying-in-mother. She was the
+wife of Messir Agnello Delfino, of that noble family. With him went
+an envoy of the King of France, and he judged that Messir Delfino’s
+motive in this particular case was to astonish his visitors by Venetian
+magnificence even in the privacy of the home. “The room,” he says,
+“had a charming piece of Carrara marble picked out with gold, and
+chiselled so as Praxiteles and Pheidias could not have bettered; the
+ceiling was so finely decorated with gold and deep blue, and the walls
+so finely hung that I cannot describe the effect. There was so much
+gold everywhere that I am not sure whether Solomon in his golden glory
+would not have looked small. Among the ornaments was a dish of gold
+valued at about five hundred gold ducats. The bed was of cedar or some
+such sweet scented wood and gilded, but of the ornaments and dress of
+the noble lady I think it best to keep silence rather than speak for
+fear no one would believe me. My attention was called off perhaps by
+the five-and-twenty lovely young noble ladies, each one fairer than her
+neighbour, seated around the bed, their blonde hair elaborately puffed
+and their features touched up with colour. Their dresses were discreet
+_alla Venegiana_: they showed no more than six finger-breadths
+of bare breast below their shoulders, back and front. These damsels
+had so many jewels on their heads and around their throats, and wore
+so many costly rings,--precious stones, pearls, and gold,--that we,
+who talked the matter over afterwards, came to the conclusion that the
+total value far exceeded one hundred thousand gold ducats. Their faces
+were superbly painted and so was the rest of them that was bare.”
+
+This “unique spectacle,” later, became a scandal, and the authorities
+stepped in to amend the customs attending child-birth. Lying-in-women
+of all classes were forbidden to receive the visits of strangers in
+their bedrooms, near relatives alone were admitted, under a fine of
+thirty gold ducats. The Chief of the Cabinet of Ceremonials was the
+officer charged to see that the decree was duly observed. He had the
+right of entry at child-birth into the very presence of the mother,
+and was directed to remove in custody any unauthorised person. The
+penalty was absurdly severe--three months’ imprisonment in the dungeons
+and three months in the penal galleys! This edict however was easily
+evaded, servants, midwives and even police were open to receive bribes
+for silence and acquiescence.
+
+The noble mother was usually dressed entirely in white silk, her cap
+was of fine Burano lace, upon her fingers she wore her rings. Her
+pillows were of embroidered white silk, and trimmed with white lace,
+the coverlet was rich damask-silk padded and stitched, and often as
+not fringed and tasselled with gold. Midwives were required to notify
+a birth within three days and to give the name and residence of the
+putative father. The parish priest had to register the sex and name of
+each child offered for baptism.
+
+  [Illustration: “LE NOVIZE.”--BRIDES VISITING THEIR RELATIVES.
+
+  FROM A PRINT. 1560.
+
+  “Habiti Delle Donne.”--G. Franco.]
+
+With respect to the entertainment of visitors very many more friends
+and neighbours looked in after the birth of a boy than that of a girl.
+They were served in vessels of gold and silver with spiced cakes, iced
+confectionery, figs, grapes, and coffee, and each was expected to leave
+a present behind for the child and ample largesse for the servants.
+This duty fell constantly to the lot of the Doge and Dogaressa who
+frequently went from house to house to honour this or that noble
+couple, with their presentations. The Doge’s gift was a gold cup, the
+Dogaressa’s a gold chain.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The last two Doges of the century were the brothers Marco and Agostino
+Barbarigo, sons of Messir Francesco Barbarigo and Madonna Caterina
+Morosini. The Barbarigo came originally from Trieste and claimed to be
+collaterals of the ancient and extinct family of Zobenico, which, in
+the tenth century was already settled in Rivo-Alto. Marco Barbarigo
+was elected Doge in 1485,--“a man,” if his epitaph may be believed,
+“upright in his dealings with his neighbours, he never sought praise or
+profit, but laboured for the public good.” The Dogaressa was Madonna
+Lucia Ruzzini,--beautiful and talented, although Marino Sanudo refers
+to her incidentally as nothing more than “a very tolerable kind of
+woman.” She was always ailing, and yet by way of proof that “a creaking
+gate hangs long,” she outlived her Consort ten full years, but her
+reign was as uneventful as it was short, one brief year, no more.
+
+The Doge and his younger brother Agostino were never on good terms,
+and the disputes between them became so acrimonious that, one day,
+after an unusually harsh quarrel, Doge Marco fell ill of excitement and
+worry, and was seized with severe cardiac pains. Feeling the stringency
+of his attack and fearing the imminence of death, he summoned to his
+couch his four sons. He set before them their duty to the State and
+commended their suffering mother to their filial care, then he embraced
+them and her tenderly and blessed them, and, forgiving his headstrong
+brother, he quietly passed away. His body was laid in State with full
+honours in the _Sala de’ Pioveghi_ and then ceremonially buried
+in the church of Santa Maria della Carita, the conventual buildings of
+which, and the _Scuola Grande di Santa Maria della Carita_,--the
+oldest of the religious corporations of the thirteenth century,--are
+nowadays the Palace of the _Accademia_.
+
+Dogaressa-dowager Lucia Ruzzini-Barbarigo’s will was executed in 30th
+July 1496,--fourteen days before her death,--wherein she directs
+that her burial shall be “conducted simply in the Church of Santa
+Maria della Carita, where reposes the body of my husband.” ... “To
+Sister Margherita, Prioress of the _Ospedale d’Ognissanti di Murano_
+I leave five gold ducats and my new silken robe.” To her daughters,
+both cloistered nuns of Ognissanti, she left her State robes and
+her _Corno_, with five gold ducats apiece. She was interred by her
+husband’s side.
+
+The Dogaressa had, among other dependants a Circassian slave, who bore
+the name of Maddalena, and to whom she was much attached. She had
+served Madonna Lucia and her family with fidelity for many years,
+now the testatrix declared her “free from every chain” and bequeathed
+to her a comfortable competence. This mention of a “slave” opens out
+a vexed subject. Far away in the eighth century the early Venetian
+merchant-adventurers, vigorous and amorous by nature and disposition,
+saw and loved beauteous maidens in Eastern ports. The harem life
+appealed to them and many an one became the happy possessor, by right
+of purchase, of helpless friendless damsels.
+
+Oriental slaves were gladly welcomed as workers by the Trade Guilds,
+especially by the Carpet-weavers, the Makers of cloth of gold
+and silver tissue, and the Armourers. Public slave auctions were
+established at San Giorgio in Rialto. The average price for boys and
+girls seems to have been twenty-five gold ducats; but as many as
+eighty or one hundred changed hands for a particularly fine specimen
+of humanity or for one skilled in craftsmanship. These human chattels
+were well protected by State enactments and often as not they exercised
+considerable influence in the families of their owners. The wills of
+Venetians of property generally contained clauses indicative of wishes
+concerning their slaves.
+
+In Florence, as Madonna Alessandra negli Strozzi has related in her
+“_Lettere_,” people preferred dark-haired, swarthy Tartars, who
+she says, “are the best for work, and most simple in their ways,” but
+in Venice,--where the sun turned all maidens’ hair into strands of
+gold,--fair-skinned auburn-haired Circassians, like Dogaressa Lucia
+Ruzzini-Barbarigo’s devoted Maddalena, were in most request. They were
+usually skilful in the artifices of the toilet and well adapted for
+the Venetian _sol fa nienti_ sort of life. The presence of slaves
+in Venice and their absorption into the private life of the nobles and
+the citizens were paramount factors in the evolution of the courtesan.
+Whilst marriage with a slave was absolutely forbidden, the mutual
+relations of the races and of the sexes were such that perhaps the
+motto of our British Royal House is the best vindication:--“_Honi
+soit qui mal y pense!_”
+
+The painful circumstances which led to Doge Agostino Barbarigo’s
+succession were soon forgotten in the revived life and prosperity of
+the Republic. It appeared as though, after flickering fitfully for many
+a weary year, the golden wax candles of Venetian shrines were again to
+burn with their wonted brilliancy. Venice recovered Rimini, Faenza,
+Brindisi, Otranto, and many other possessions on the Adriatic, and her
+flag once more flaunted proudly on the high seas. The following couplet
+succinctly set forth the glories of the departing century:--
+
+    “_Polente in guerra et amica di pace
+    Venetia el ben’ commun sempre le piace._”
+
+Still the discovery by the Portuguese in 1486, of the water-way to the
+Orient round the Cape of Good Hope augured ill for Venetian commerce.
+So, directly, too, that other great maritime achievement,--the landing
+of Amerigo Vespucci of Florence, and Cristoforo Colombo of Genoa, upon
+the shores of the New World affected adversely the supremacy of the
+“Mistress of the Seas.”
+
+Doge Agostino Barbarigo, born in 1419, had a brilliant career before
+he mounted the Ducal throne. Podesta of Verona and of Padua, Procurator
+of San Marco, he was a personal friend of the Pope Alessandro VI., who
+sent him the rare distinction of the “Golden Rose.” He married in 1449
+Donna Elisabetta, daughter of Messir Andrea Soranzo dal Banco, “One of
+the proudest ruling families in Venice.” One son, Francesco, and four
+daughters blessed their union,--two of the latter entered Religion as
+nuns of Santa Maria degli Angeli di Murano.
+
+Seven years after their succession Doge Agostino and Dogaressa
+Elisabetta were called upon to entertain a very distinguished
+visitor, Duchess Beatrice d’Este the consort of Duke Lodovico il
+Moro of Milan. As imperious and intriguing a beauty as ever boarded
+the “_Bucintoro_” the Princess was conducted in a pageant from
+Fusina to the Ducal Palace. Her suite counted princes and ambassadors
+and a host of attendants, so large indeed that three Palaces,--the
+Foscari and Guistiniani were requisitioned for her use. Very splendid
+fêtes were given in her honour. She remained in Venice for some time
+delighted with the pleasant society of the Dogaressa, and the ladies of
+the Court, and astonished at the beauty of the younger noblewomen and
+the comeliness of the young nobles, and perhaps, woman-like more than
+all at the splendour of their costumes and the magnificence of their
+jewels.
+
+Her mission was diplomatic, to gain over Venice to the Milanese
+League against Charles VIII. of France. In this she was completely
+successful; few of the proud and unemotional Lords not yielding to her
+blandishments. Her correspondence with her Consort is quaint as quaint
+can be. She likens the older nobles and their ladies to “great dolls”
+or “Stately Deities,” and makes sly remarks about the scanty dress and
+easy manners of the girls. “They are,” she wrote, “clothed in pearls
+and gold chains from head to toe, but little else ... cloth of gold is
+as common here as fustian is with us....”
+
+Whether caused by weariness of a prolonged _dogado_ the old Doge
+began to feel the years heavy, and worn by the declension of the fame
+of Venice, Agostino Barbarigo expressed a desire to be relieved of
+his official responsibilities. The abdication of a Chief Magistrate
+had become a very rare event, and none of the Lords of the Council
+having any special wish for office, the idea was dismissed. However,
+on 13th September 1501, the Doge called a special assemblage of the
+Council,--an expedient rare enough and always ominous of trouble,--and
+presented a formal act of abdication of the Dogal throne. The
+proposition was received in silence, but drawing slowly off the Ducal
+ring, he handed it to the Senior Lord of the “Forty” and said:--“I
+leave this Palace to go to my own home at San Trovaso, there to end my
+days, and I pray you to be so good as to accept my profound regrets.”
+The Council however declined to permit the vacation of office and the
+Chancellor, speaking for the noble Lords, replied:--“Your Serenity
+must retain your high station and trust in God to heal you of your
+infirmity.”
+
+Ten days later the Doge breathed his last at the advanced age of
+eighty-two. His end was sudden and painless. At first his career had
+been viewed with satisfaction and his many excellent qualities highly
+extolled, but disappointed suppliants for his patronage and that of
+the Dogaressa hinted at nepotism and favouritism and complained of
+corruption in his bestowal of favours.
+
+What special part Dogaressa Elisabetta took in maintaining the dignity
+and prerogative of her station we know not, nor do we know anything
+about her Entry and Coronation, or her death and burial. Her Consort
+left an inordinately lengthy will with many codicils: he appeared to
+be determined to spread his bequests over as wide a field as possible.
+Almost every public institution received a legacy and personal gifts
+were numbered by the dozen. To his widow, “Ixabela,”--he calls
+her,--the Doge left the use of their private residence, with the
+furniture and decorations, the ornaments of the private chapel, the
+revenues from certain wool and silk weaving factories, ten thousand
+gold ducats, and, quite quaintly, the proprietary rights over her State
+robes and the jewellery he had given her.
+
+The funeral of Doge Agostino Barbarigo was conducted with the usual
+impressive ceremonial at SS. Giovanni e Paolo, where orations were
+delivered by Bishop Domenigo Venier of Castello and _Condottiere_
+Vettor Cappello--who appears to have taken the Doges of his time under
+his special tutelage. The actual burial was conducted at Santa Maria
+della Carita, alongside the grave of Doge Marco Barbarigo. His monument
+bears the somewhat pedantic epitaph:--“He was the most popular man in
+Venice: a grand orator and a splendid soldier.”
+
+
+                                  III
+
+Lionardo Loredano was the eleventh “Grand” Doge of Venice. Mentally
+and physically he was a perfect type of the Venetian noble,--not that
+his family was especially ancient,--they belonged only to the first
+division of the second grade of nobility,--nor that his wealth and
+influence were remarkable, but there was about him something or other
+which manifested the highest expression of Venetian dignity.
+
+Called to the supreme magistracy in 1501, Loredano roused himself,
+although past sixty-six years of age, and beginning to show signs of
+failing health, to stand foremost among the men of the new Century.
+Tall and spare of figure, massive and reticent of feature, passionate
+yet kind-hearted in disposition, pushful yet tactful in bearing, he was
+recognised by the Lords of the Council as the man of the hour. All this
+is forcibly expressed in the lifelike and superb portrait by Giovanni
+Bellini in the National Gallery in London.
+
+Nevertheless his election was challenged by the populace, gathered
+tumultuously on the Piazza. The cry was for Filippo Tron, son of old
+Doge Nicolo, older by ten years than Messir Loredano, very fat, very
+indolent, and very self-indulgent, but ever ready for a joke and to
+make fair promises. Moreover his estate totalled eighty thousand
+gold ducats against Lionardo Loredano’s modest thirty thousand.
+Happily with the sane constitution of Venice, the unintelligent and
+ill-directed will of the people was kept under restraint. Tron died
+suddenly of apoplexy after a heavy gorge within three months of
+Loredano’s election. Messir Filippo was no opponent of the old Venetian
+proverb:--“_Dieta magga le medico!_” “Diet dishes the Doctor!”
+
+The new Doge had four sons, Lorenzo, Girolamo, Alvise, and Bernardo,
+but he was a widower,--a rare, perhaps unique, circumstance so far
+as the _dogado_ was concerned. The mother of his sons, Giustina
+Giustiniani, died the year before the death of his predecessor--Doge
+Agostino Barbarigo. It appeared as though he was expected to contract a
+second marriage for his _Promissione_ required that “the Dogaressa, his
+sons, nephews and nieces and other near relatives, should receive no
+gifts under a penalty of twenty-five gold ducats for each ducat value.”
+An oath was enjoined for “the Dogaressa-to-be to observe strictly all
+the conventions of her exalted position.”
+
+The reign of Lionardo Loredano was one of the most important in all the
+long succession of Doges, for Venice passed through the most exigent
+crisis of her history. “The famous League of Cambrai” was aimed at
+nothing short of the annihilation of the Republic. The Pope Julius II.,
+the Emperor Maximilian IV., the King of France, Charles XII., with the
+Dukes of Florence and Milan were allied, and they tried to win over
+the Kings of Spain and Naples, of Hungary, and of Scotland, with the
+Duke of Saxony. England was neutral, but friendly; indeed Henry VIII.
+championed the cause of the Republic, and ultimately offered to attack
+France, Spain and Scotland, and, by way of a pledge of amity, he sent
+an embassy to Venice. The Venetian Government gratefully acknowledged
+the English support, and despatched among other costly gifts to the
+King, a team of eight cream-coloured horses, with crimson and gold
+caparisons, the forebears of our present State equipage.
+
+The year 1509 was a black one for Venice and her people. Her armies
+were severely defeated, and the strain upon the manhood of the Republic
+was excessive. Widows and orphans besought the compassion of the
+charitable, and hospitals and private houses were full of wounded
+heroes craving creature comforts. Every noble house was smitten and
+the gallant companies of _La Calza_ lost their comrades and their
+joy. That Ascension Day--“_La Sensa_”--was a day long remembered;
+there were no festivities, no “_Bucintoro_” set forth to the
+“Marriage of the Sea,” there was nobody on the Piazza, and no visitors
+had entered the city for many a day, the Lords of the Council were
+broken down with grief and apprehension, and the Doge neither spoke
+nor smiled, he was like a man in a nightmare. At length a faint rift
+was seen in the darkling clouds, and Loredano, born discerner of times
+and judge of men, opened the precarious game of statecraft, after the
+manner of the chess-gambit he loved best, and adroitly played off his
+country’s foes one against another, until he succeeded in creating a
+position of mutual jealousy and mistrust. Spain declared for Venice
+and offered ships and men, James IV. of Scotland followed suit with
+promises of one hundred and fifty vessels, and ten thousand trained
+footmen. France made the first warlike advance, and the Doge met the
+danger by setting up floating corn-mills in the tidal ways of the
+lagunes, by acquiring vast stores of grain and ammunition, and by
+throwing chains across the chief canals. All suspects were expelled
+the City and every citizen was invited by proclamation to rally to
+the standard of San Marco and to contribute as much money as possible
+to the State exchequer. Loredano set a noble example for he sent all
+his gold and silver plate and the jewels of his late wife to the Mint
+to be melted down for money wherewith to meet the enormous expenses
+of resistance. His speech before the Grand Council was a model of
+patriotism and eloquence and was rapturously greeted.
+
+War was waged in the mainland for eight weary years, during which the
+Pope placed Venice under an Interdict. At last a truce was proclaimed
+and “_La Pace delle Donne_,” as it was called, left Venice strong
+by sea and land. The ultimate arbiters of a settlement were two
+Royal Princesses--Louise,--Queen-Dowager of France, and Margaret of
+Austria,--the Emperor’s aunt. The public rejoicings in Venice were
+exuberant and the pageants were the most splendid ever organised in
+the sumptuous city. New Companies of _La Calza_ were enrolled for
+the special purpose of emphasising the resources, the grandeur, and
+the independence of the “Queen of the Adriatic.” A very favourite
+spectacular play was “Miles Gloriosus” of which a particularly gorgeous
+representation was given by the “_Fausti_” in 19th February 1514 in the
+_Corte dell’ Orefici’_ in the rear of the Ducal Palace, which Marino
+Sanudo describes as “_bellissimo_” in its mounting and because of the
+distinguished part taken in it by the four sons of the Doge and his
+nieces. The Director of the romance was the Commander of the garrison,
+and the interlude consisted of an oration by a French master of
+rhetoric. The chorus was composed of a number of gentlemen and ladies
+of the Court very richly dressed,--in particular Madonna Giovanna Emo,
+who appeared in a robe of cloth of gold embroidered in coloured silk
+with silk velvet appliqué work and literally blazing with jewels. The
+play began at seven o’clock in the evening, followed by a sumptuous
+banquet, and winding up, long past midnight, with a ball. Every one
+regretted the fact that the popular Doge, who presided at the banquet,
+was a widower,--a stately Dogaressa would have added greatly to the
+distinction of the spectacle.
+
+The recovery of Padua was the crowning victory of the Venetians. The
+news reached Venice on the festival of the Translation of Santa Marina,
+and the transports of the people made the popular ecclesiastical
+ceremonial a doubly impressive celebration. The “_Eterni_” and
+“_Immortali_” companies of _La Calza_,--especially concerned in the
+rendition of High Mass and Vespers with the utmost grandeur,--assisted
+the Doge in offering the keys of Padua upon the altar of the Saint.
+Venice was delirious: Mass and “Te Deum” were sung between dramatic
+representations and serenades,--for the triumph of the Republic was
+the triumph of Religion. But when the festivities were at their height
+in 1524, the _Provveditori alle Pompe_ stepped in and forbade many
+splendid ornaments of the person and personal vanities. Amber beads,
+agate and rock crystal _intagli_, diamond buttons, chased gold and
+silver buckles and clasps, enamelled and gold jewellery for the hair,
+feathered and jewelled fans, lace sleeves, many-hued damasked cloth of
+gold gowns, velvet with gold and silver _piqué_ threads, painted and
+gilded leather belts and shoes, gemmed embroideries, etc., etc., were
+placed upon the _Index expurgatorium_. The extravagant decoration of
+gondolas and sedans, table adjuncts of gold, resplendent liveries, and
+many more things of joy and beauty were severely cut down.
+
+  [Illustration: THE BRIDE-ELECT’S DEBUT.
+
+  FROM A PRINT. 1610.
+
+  “Habiti Delle Donne.”--G. Franco.]
+
+Through all these scenes of martial ardour and sumptuary magnificence
+Doge Loredano maintained supremely the dignity of the _dogado_ and
+his twenty years of office were the _ne plus ultra_ of the gorgeous
+panorama of Venetian history. He died full of years and honours in
+1521, and he was buried by the High Altar of SS. Giovanni e Paolo.
+
+The Loredanian tradition for patriotism and nobility was handed on
+in the gracious personage of Dogaressa Caterina Loredano, sister of
+Doge Lionardo Loredano,--the Consort of his successor Doge Antonio
+Grimani. He was an old man of eighty-seven,--one more example of
+Venetian fruitful longevity and senile ability, but his election was
+a narrow thing for after several attempts at a decision, the Lords of
+the “Forty” approved it by a bare majority of twenty-eight votes. Once
+more a popular candidate appeared on the scene in the person of another
+Messir Antonio Tron, son of the sybarite Messir Filippo.
+
+The Grimani belonged to the second grade of nobility, their name being
+among the twenty families enrolled by the _Serrar del Consiglio_
+in 1289. Nevertheless they were as ambitious, able, and patriotic as
+any of the Lords of Venice. Messir Antonio had filled every office
+of State, previous to his _dogado_ with rare distinction, and
+his spouse had acceptably participated in his honours and shared his
+fortunes. The date of their marriage is not recorded, but two of
+their sons rose to high positions. Domenigo, the eldest, entered Holy
+Order, and was ultimately preconised a Cardinal. His fame in the roll
+of literature is great for as a sapient collector of books and prints
+he was the patron of that most exquisite production, perhaps the most
+sumptuous illuminated manuscript in existence, the celebrated Grimani
+Breviary. The second son, Giovanni entered the service of the State,
+and brought his talents to bear upon the details of the Tariff reform
+of those days, much to the advantage of the City and her purveyors.
+At the Election and Entry of his parents, as Doge and Dogaressa, he
+headed a deputation of the Fruiterers’ Guild which made an offer of one
+hundred and thirty gilded lemons--surely a parallel to painting the
+lily!
+
+  [Illustration: OBSEQUIES OF SAINT URSULA.
+
+  VETTORE CARPACCIO.
+
+  ACCADEMIA VENICE.
+
+  [The kneeling figure is Madonna Maria Eugenia
+  Caotorta-Loredano, who died 1493.]]
+
+The new _Promissione_ contained some arbitrary, yet almost ludicrous
+clauses:--for example, the Doge was forbidden to speak alone with
+ambassadors and foreign agents, his two State Councillors were required
+to be present at all such interviews. Like most of the nobles and
+wealthy citizens Doge Antonio Grimani had a passionate love of sport.
+Among them all, fowling was a favourite pastime, the reeds and rushes
+of the smaller islets of the lagunes were splendid cover for aquatic
+game. Sportsmen wore high boots which they called _fisolari_, after
+the birds held most in esteem-- _fisoli_,--divers. The coveys
+were approached in shallow boats, each manned by eight oarsmen, in
+blue and green liveries,--the colours most in affinity with the law
+of natural concealment. The _Signore_ sat in the bows ready with his
+_pecce_ or miniature cross-bow. Doge Antonio Grimani was forbidden to
+shoot, as had been his wont, whenever pleasure invited him, for he was
+restricted to four annual sporting excursions. Just before Christmas
+he was expected to assume his fowling dress and make a water excursion
+for the purpose of shooting not divers but wild ducks--_oselle_. His
+bag had to be enormously capacious for each Lord of the Council,
+of the “Forty” and of the “Ten,” required five birds dead in the
+feather! The sportive Doge usually failed to bring down sufficient
+game by his own cunning, and in returning to Venice, he directed his
+_provvidetore_ to purchase the balance in the Poultry market! Even
+so the requirements of the Lordly blackmailers were not met quite to
+their satisfaction, for some received fat birds whilst others had those
+in poor condition. The only way out of the dilemma was conceived by
+the Doge himself, for, to square accounts, he dealt out so many birds
+apiece and sent the complement in cash value! This he effected in a
+novel and characteristic manner, he engaged the services of a stamper
+of medals and issued a neat little silver coin, a quarter ducat, worth
+four shillings English money. Upon the obverse it bore the similitude
+of a gold duck, and on the reverse, the quaint legend:--“_Par osculata
+sunt_,” and this was ever after a yearly Christmas-box to all and
+sundry of their Excellencies,--it went by the name “_Osella_!”
+
+The Dogaressa’s _Promissione_ was also restricted. An outcry from
+the baser sort of Venetian loafers and out-of-elbows nobles, was
+raised against her solemn Coronation. She was denied the customary
+salutations of the Masters of the Trade Guilds at the Ducal Palace,
+and the ceremonial reception of ambassadors. Poor Dogaressa Caterina
+had to be content to be the domestic helpmeet of her Consort not his
+State wife as well! It does not seem that for her the wealthy makers
+of cloth of gold had any commission for State robes! She wore simply
+the _dogalina_ of crimson velvet with full deep sleeves of lined satin;
+her _Corno_,--very much reduced, in size,--bore pearls, rubies and
+diamonds; the _velo sottile_ of thin net, not lace, fell from her head
+to her waist, and her golden girdle was shortened and unjewelled. Who
+was the Emperor of Fashion and the arbiter of sumptuary conventions
+nobody knows, possibly his office was in commission to the officials
+generally of the Tribunal of Ceremonies, and held by pettifogging
+busybodies and ill-natured nobodies.
+
+There were and are several Palazzi Grimani in Venice. Doge Antonio
+Grimani’s residence is that called Grimani della Vida, on the Grand
+Canal, near the far-famed _Ca d’Oro_. He died in 1523 but the date
+of Dogaressa Caterina’s demise has not been preserved, nor do we know
+where their Serenities were buried.
+
+Doge Andrea Gritti assumed the State robes and _Corno_ in 1523. At
+once he made a strong bid for popular favour and distributed so vast
+an amount of largesse upon his election, that people looked askance at
+him, and cried out in return “_Um! Um!--Trum! Trum!_” This was
+an entirely new departure, but Doge Gritti set a fashion in making
+a pompous progress around the Piazza wearing his full regalia, when
+coins were scattered broadcast among the spectators, and a movable
+_pozzetto_, pulpit, or throne, was borne in the procession, and,
+when the Doge reached the centre of the Piazza, the youngest Lord of
+the “Forty” placed upon his head the _Corno_, and an address was
+offered him in the name of the citizens.
+
+There is no record of the Dogaressa’s Entry and Coronation,--possibly
+the Doge’s progress was, in a way an alternative pageant. She was Donna
+Benedetta Vendramin,--a niece of Doge Andrea Vendramin. The Doge’s
+family was of no great distinction,--one of the sixteen families,
+ennobled when the new _Libro d’Oro_ of 1450 was compiled.
+
+His _Promissione_ of 13th May 1513, was, like his predecessor’s,
+the work of the purist-faddist section of the Council. He was forbidden
+to go beyond the narrow limits of the City proper, the gardens of
+Murano, and the sea-baths of the Lido,--the pleasant places on the
+mainland and up the Brenta, were all beyond bounds! A fine of one
+hundred gold ducats was actually fixed for each breach of this
+ridiculous restriction. Letters, to and from his Consort, and his
+children were subject to official inspection, and statements therein
+considered by the “Ten” open to objection, placed the whole family at
+the risk of a fine of two hundred gold ducats--remarks affecting the
+status and privileges, the opinion and actions of the Council were
+marked down for banishment for a term of five years!
+
+A further instance of the insolent intolerance of the Councils “The
+Forty” and “The Ten” and of their exercise of tyranny against the
+idol they had set up, to wit the Doge, was in connection with the
+_Oselle_ issued by this Serenity. Doge Gritti presumed to have
+his token-medals stamped with the effigy of himself kneeling before
+Saint Mark, this was disallowed. At the same time the nobles sold their
+_oselle_ to collectors, and then disputed the value of the Ducal
+gift! The “Ten” decreed the withdrawal of this largesse, together with
+the yearly dole of wild duck and instead demanded from the Doge the
+circulation among their Excellencies, at his expense, of a new coin of
+the value of one and a quarter gold ducats,--to which they gave the
+name “_ducato d’osello_.” Whether the unfortunate Doge was able
+to meet this very heavy annual tax or no, we know not. To be mulcted,
+without the right of remonstrance, in a yearly useless expenditure of
+£1000 was a heavy drain even on a rich man’s purse.
+
+Doge Gritti, according to the chroniclers “was a very pliant sort of
+man,” indeed he had need to be! He was also a great eater, and his
+gustatory tastes ran to somewhat vulgar and common-place delicacies:
+his table was served every day with “fat pork, onions and garlic.” He
+had a shrewd old slave-housekeeper, one Marta, who alone was able to
+curb his appetite. He gave her permission to remove any dish of which
+she considered he had partaken sufficiently, or which she thought was
+bad for him! In person Andrea Gritti was of handsome graceful figure,
+his temperament was sympathetically voluptuous, and he was much admired
+by the fair sex--a lover through all his life of wine and women. It
+was reputed that he maintained a great establishment, after the fashion
+of an Oriental seraglio; he had many Greek and Circassian slaves and
+some of them were of gentle birth.
+
+Fond as he was of pomp and circumstance he was able to gratify his
+tastes with respect to his domestic appointments. His table service
+was unique, mostly of gold and precious crystal; his gondola, alone
+among the ten thousand gliding over the water-ways, was decorated with
+crimson and gold. The sumptuary laws became more and more exacting,
+and, on one occasion, when a niece of the Dogaressa appeared at a
+reception at the Ducal Palace in a very magnificent costume of velvet
+embossed cloth of gold with scarlet and jewelled embroideries, Doge
+Gritti felt obliged to order her to leave the Court, and return in a
+less costly confection.
+
+With all his extravagant and ambitious fancies Doge Andrea Gritti was a
+patriot. Called upon to make a retort to the insulting language of an
+ambassador of the Sultan, who declared openly that, “Till now Venice
+has wedded the Sea; henceforth it belongs to us who have supreme power
+thereupon.” The Doge quietly replied:--“We shall see, Constantinople
+will fall again perhaps to Venice.” This menace was followed up by
+an attack in force by the Turkish fleet in 1535. The Doge at once
+expressed his determination to lead the Venetian forces against the
+invader. His ardour however met with a snub from the Council, and he
+was advised to reconsider the terms of his _Promissione_.
+
+Indeed the jealousy and meanness of the majority of the members of the
+“Forty” and of the “Ten” knew no bounds. The Doge was subjected to
+many insults, and to a secret code of espionage. Quite lately proof
+of this was found, when alterations were undertaken in the saloon
+occupied by the Archæological Museum in the Ducal Palace. Two narrow
+staircases were discovered, at the back of what had been the Doge’s
+bedroom, where Doge Agostino Barbarigo had erected Pietro Lombardo’s
+noble chimney-piece. These steps led to a space immediately behind the
+bed itself, where two movable panels in the wall permitted any one to
+have a peep at the Doge and Dogaressa (?) in bed and see what they were
+doing!
+
+Among the pious works of Doge Andrea and Dogaressa Benedetta was the
+rebuilding of the ancient church of San Giovanni Elemosinario. The
+splendid picture over the high altar of the Saint bestowing alms was
+painted by Titian upon the Doge’s commission. In the chapel of San
+Clemente, within St Mark’s is a bas-relief with Doge Gritti kneeling
+before Saints Nicholas, James and Andrew. The famous painting by
+Paris Bordone, now in the Accademia, of “The Fisherman and the Ring,”
+although ostensibly offering a portrait of Doge Pietro Gradenigo really
+shows the handsome figure and features of amorous and ambitious Doge
+Andrea Gritti. Probably he and his Consort were buried in their fine
+new church, but records are wanting.
+
+“What sort of a wife has he got?” was the constantly recurring
+question, which, upon the death of a Doge, was tossed from side to
+side in the deliberations of the Council of “Forty,” with respect
+to the nomination of a successor. “_Cherchez la femme!_” has no
+satisfactory equivalent in English phraseology, but the French axiom
+exactly suits the condition created in deciding the Ducal vote. The
+_Promissione_ of each succeeding Head of the State, one after the
+other, tended more and more to eliminate individuality and initiative.
+
+As often as not the physical attributes of a candidate weighed
+considerably in the election. The question of the spouse also resolved
+itself pretty much upon the same lines. The candidate whose wife
+was of commanding appearance, and had a fascinating manner, and who
+could display to advantage the richest robes ever woman was called
+upon to assume; and also was likely to add decorative distinction
+and artistic taste to the State functions had an excellent chance of
+election. All this was exemplified in the case of Doge Cristoforo
+and Dogaressa Dea Moro:--he was a cripple and proud, but she was a
+beautiful and accomplished woman. Certainly this reasoning is natural
+and not altogether fatuous, for the same economy of selection has
+ever determined the bestowal of honours in every nation--and does so
+to-day--incidentally and very aptly illustrating the quaint French
+_mot_.
+
+In the long Roll of the Doges and Dogaressas of Venice there were
+periods where short reigns followed one another in succession. During
+the second half of the fifteenth century, 1471–1485, six pairs of
+Serenities bowed themselves on and off the Ducal throne; whilst the
+middle years of the sixteenth century, 1545–1571, saw an equal number
+of Ducal couples assume the _Corno_. Many of these reigns were
+uneventful and inconspicuous, and very little is on record for the
+story-teller to relate. Happy is it, perhaps, for the peace of a State
+and its prosperity, when the pen of the historian dips seldom in the
+red ink of episodes.
+
+Messir Pietro Lando and Madonna Maria Pasqualigo-Lando followed Doge
+Andrea Gritti and Dogaressa Benedetta Vendramin-Gritti in 1538. Both of
+them belonged to comparatively recently ennobled families; the Landi
+as late as 1450, and the Pasqualighi, one of the thirty advanced to
+honour after the Chioggian War in 1391. The new Doge took up manfully
+the cudgels of the State, ready to lead against and fight its foes; but
+the military element of the lagunes was weary of debauches and defeats.
+Accommodations with the enemy accorded better with the degenerate
+spirit of the times, than open hostilities. The acutest phase of
+Venetian retrogression had set in.
+
+In an inverse ratio the political ascendancy of Venice diminished,
+the while her artistic temperament became emphatic. She waited, for
+example, until every other painting school had grown to maturity before
+she began to nurse her native painters; but, under Doges Lando and
+Donato, she crowned Titian and his comrades with golden chaplets. They
+were the first in the Renaissance to portray the natural and unadorned
+charms of women.
+
+The study of the classics and researches in philosophy never appealed
+to Venetians generally and gave no tone to society. Venice had
+neither permanent teachers nor libraries; and her sons and daughters
+had profound contempt for humanists. Cosimo de’ Medici, “_Il
+Vecchio_,” when an exile within the boundaries of the Republic,
+deplored the want of scholarship. The ensigns of Venice were “Make
+money and spend it,” and “Grasp power and keep it!” However Doge and
+Dogaressa Lando had literary tastes, and several Venetian writers
+dedicated their works to them. Pietro Contarini, of the school of
+Francesco Colonna, in 1541, inscribed their Serenities’ names upon the
+fly-sheet of his “_Argo Vulga_,” and addressed them as “_O Sacio
+Phœbo_--_O Radienta Luna_!”
+
+The _dogado_ of Francesco Donato, 1545–1553; of Marcantonio Trevisan,
+1553–1554; and of Francesco Venier, 1554–1556, were uneventful. The
+position of Venice was wholly changed: what advance she made before the
+menace of the “League of Cambrai” was checked, and she began to sink
+into the position of a second-rate power, despoiled of her territorial
+acquisition and robbed of her naval glory. Her rulers and her citizens
+yielded themselves to the trivialities of fashion and the intrigues of
+party, and all the industries felt the influence of disaffection and
+indolence.
+
+Doge Francesco Donato, whose Consort was Madonna Alicia
+Giustiniani-Donato, certainly strove manfully to stem the tide of
+disaster and the ebb of decay, and both he and the Dogaressa did all
+that was in their power to encourage art and craft. For example he took
+Tiziano Vecellio under his special patronage. He was appointed Head
+of the “_La Senseria_” or Broker of the _Fondaco de’ Tedeschi_ at an
+annual salary of three hundred gold ducats, with the condition that he
+should paint portraits of all the Doges of his time at eight ducats
+a head to be paid by each. He painted Doges Grimani, Lando, Donato,
+Trevisan, and Venier.
+
+Furthermore Doge Donato added greatly to the decoration of the Ducal
+Palace and the Dogaressa Alicia refurnished the private apartments. To
+them also was due the building by Iacopo Sansovino of the _Libreria
+Vecchia_, called by Symonds in his “Renaissance in Italy” “the crowning
+triumph of Venetian Art,” and praised by Aretino as “_Superiore all’
+invidia_.” The _Zecca_ or Mint was completed at Doge Francesco Donato’s
+instigation, as was also the church of San Sebastiano.
+
+During the years 1547–1549 discontent was rife among the glass-workers
+of Murano. Members of this most highly privileged Trade-Guild
+complained that, what with the observance of Church and State festivals
+and the time restrictions of labour under legal enactment, the working
+year was reduced to less than thirty-five weeks. From another point of
+view they saw increasing disabilities in the introduction of foreign
+manufactures, as Luigi Conaro, in his “_Discorso Intorno alla Vita
+Sobria_,” published in 1543, has recorded:--“cloth of gold from
+India, porcelain and glass from Sevres, earthenware from Birmingham,
+and other manufactures entered Venice freely to the disadvantage of
+Venetian workers.”
+
+Strangers of rank and wealth were always charmed with the rare
+specimens of glass shown, and often bestowed upon them, and invitations
+poured in upon the craftsmen to accompany the visitors back to their
+homes. Such advances were promptly declined, for a Murano glass-worker
+who left Venice to ply his calling in a foreign land was declared an
+outlaw! Besides this the export of materials, the elucidation of
+methods, and the sale of finished articles outside the Republic, were
+crimes visited by heavy fines and imprisonment.
+
+The _Gastaldi_ or Masters of the Guild laid their complaints
+before their patroness, Dogaressa Alicia, and she was instrumental
+in obtaining the removal of certain restrictions, and, through her
+influence, in 1550, a party of Murano glass-blowers were permitted
+to travel to England, Flanders, Spain and France. King Henry VIII.
+cordially welcomed them in London, and assigned them suitable quarters
+where they might instruct native workmen. The King moreover formed a
+remarkable collection of masterpieces of Murano glass-ware.
+
+There was a quaint saying in Murano:--“The first woman was made of
+Murano glass--beautiful and brittle!”
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER VII
+
+
+                                   I
+
+The Doge and Dogaressa of the Fisher folk!
+
+If imitation be the sincerest form of flattery, then must the Most
+Serene Doges and Dogaressas of Venice, during the fifteenth and
+sixteenth centuries, have experienced gratification combined with
+amusement at the spectacle of the mock Court of the Zattere.
+
+The fisher-folk of the parishes, wherein they principally resided, San
+Raffaele, Santa Marta, and San Nicolo degli Orfani, and others, were
+accorded the privilege of electing annually a Doge and Dogaressa to
+preside over the affairs of the fishing industry. They were chosen by
+vote and by acclamation, they were accountable to a Council of “Forty,”
+and they had their installation and coronation ceremonies. They were
+attended by duly appointed officers: the Dogaressa had her attendant
+maids of honour, the Doge his body-guard. At functions,--joyous or
+sad,--they wore official costumes, modelled upon those of the Doge and
+Dogaressa at the Ducal Palace--robes of State, the _Corno_ and the
+regalia.
+
+Upon the Election of a Doge of the Republic, the Fisher Doge and
+Dogaressa proceeded in mock State to the Palace to offer the
+congratulations of the fisher community, and then they went on to
+the Palace of the Dogaressa to salute her Serenity. Each Ascension
+Day--“_La Sensa_”--the Head of the State and his Consort entertained
+the fisher folk generally at collation, and the subsequent proceedings
+partook of the character of a saturnalia,--full license being granted
+by the _Signori della Notte_, or police, but no one was at all the
+worse for their conviviality.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+There was no little stir in official circles, when, in 1557, the
+Council of “Forty” determined that, after being in abeyance nearly
+eighty years, the ceremonials of Entry and Coronation should be revived
+in honour of Signora Zilia Dandolo-Priuli. Two generations of Venetians
+had come and gone and had not beheld the most striking of all Venetian
+pageants. To be sure they had not been without gorgeous processions and
+bountiful festivals; the twelve annual _Andate_ of the Doge and
+the Lords of the Council had been scrupulously carried out under each
+succeeding Head of the State; but demonstrations of magisterial dignity
+and military pomp are very poor equivalents for feasts of grace and
+beauty, love and chastity.
+
+The Election of Messir Lorenzo Priuli to the Ducal throne, in 1556,
+was in a very great measure due to the attractive personality and
+ancestral dignity of his Consort. She was acknowledged to be the most
+distinguished noblewoman in Venice. Daughter of Messir Marco Dandolo,
+in direct descent from Doge Andrea Dandolo, and with the blood of the
+hero Doge Arrigo Dandolo coursing through her veins, she was in the
+best and truest sense a _virago_. Her marriage took place in 1526,
+but was as a matter of rank, a _mésalliance_, for the Priuli were
+one of the latest ennobled families,--dating their title only from 1450.
+
+The Palazzo Priuli, upon the Fondamento dell’ Osmarin, was in its
+day one of the most magnificent in Venice, being entirely faced with
+superb frescoes by Palma Vecchio--alas they have all perished. Another
+Priuli palace belonged to Messir Girolamo Priuli, Procurator of San
+Marco, and brother of the new Doge: it was situated on the opposite
+_riva_ of the Grand Canal, near the church of San Barnaba. A third
+Palazzo Priuli, or perhaps Casa Priuli, existed in the Cannaregio, a
+_sestiere_ with its distinctive customs, peculiar physiognomy of
+its people and its special dialect. Built in 1520 by Messir Agnello
+Priuli youngest brother of the Doge, who married in 1517 Donna
+Andreiana Venier, daughter of Messir Francesco Venier, a two years’
+Doge in 1554–1556, it was famous for its orchards and its great shady
+trees--the rendezvous of many a gay company under Dogaressa Zilia’s
+patronage.
+
+  [Illustration: I.
+
+  II.
+
+    (I) DOGARESSA ZILIA DANDOLO-PRIULI, 1557.
+    (II)     „    LOREDANA MARCELLO-MOCENIGO, 1570.
+
+  FROM “LIBRO DE’ CERIMONIALI.”
+
+  (Archivio del Stato di Venezia).]
+
+  [Illustration: I.
+
+  II.
+
+    (I) DOGARESSA ZILIA DANDOLO-PRIULI, 1559.
+    (II)     „    CECILIA CONTARINI-VENIER, 1578.
+
+  (In Mourning Attire).
+
+  FROM LIBRO DE’ CERIMONIALI.
+
+  (Archivio del Stato di Venezia).]
+
+The preparation for the Dogaressa’s solemn Entry and Coronation were on
+a very elaborate scale. The “_Bucintoro_,” which had borne no bevy of
+Venetian beauties for well-nigh one hundred years, was overhauled and
+covered with gold and blazonry. The Trade-Guilds--the _Fragilie_--were
+hard at work with new costumes, new banners, and new gifts for her
+Serenity. The clergy carefully recensioned their office-books and
+looked out their richest vestments. Music-masters and chorus-leaders
+furbished up their instruments, wrote festal marches, and rehearsed
+odes of welcome. The companies of _La Calza_ gave busy work to all the
+Trades for new festal garbs. The dignified Lords themselves needed
+new robes, their consorts new dresses. Venice was alive with craftsmen
+and craftswomen, for the time was short, and very much to do.
+
+Although the Election of Doge Francesco Priuli was effected late in the
+year 1556, the solemn Entry of the Dogaressa did not take place until
+the autumn of the year following. The reason for this unusual delay
+we need not canvass but assign it to the want of preparedness for the
+revival of a long disused observance.
+
+On the 18th of September 1557, the “Forty,” the “Ten,” and fifty other
+nobles, assembled in the _Sala d’Udienza del Doge_, to inaugurate
+the solemnity. They despatched Cavaliere Giovanni Cappello,--the father
+of his Serenity’s son-in-law Andrea Cappello,--habited in a magnificent
+costume of richest red damask cloth of gold, stiff as herald’s tabard,
+with a distinguished and splendidly appointed suite to welcome in
+their name, in the Piazza, the ambassadors of the Emperor and of the
+Dukes of Savoy and Urbino. Passing under a triumphal arch erected near
+the public slaughter-houses, by the Guild of Butchers, the procession
+advanced to the quay of the Piazzetta and there embarked upon the
+gala-decked “_Bucintoro_.” A short cruise took the party, at the
+landing-steps of the palace of Messir Girolamo Priuli, which was hung
+from top to bottom with draperies of silk and cloth of gold, to pay
+their respects to her Serenity.
+
+Dogaressa Zilia awaited her distinguished visitors at the entrance of
+the palace, accompanied by one hundred young noblewomen and attended
+by the Officers of State. She wore the full robes of her rank, her
+veil was of the finest white net of Candia, her chemisette and the
+edging of her great ermine sleeves were of the richest Burano lace, her
+_Corno_ was of crimson velvet with a jewelled bandeau, and shoes
+of velvet, to match her head-dress, completed her costume. The jewels
+she wore were the most gorgeous owned by any gentlewoman in Venice,
+heirlooms in the Dandolo family, and taken from the Sultan’s treasury
+by Doge Arrigo Dandolo at the capture of Constantinople,--they were
+barbaric in magnificence.
+
+Very graciously the Dogaressa bowed her acknowledgments of the
+reverential greeting of visitors, and, when the Cavaliere offered her
+the _Promissione_ of her Consort, she assented to the clauses affecting
+herself, and thereafter bestowed upon each member of the deputation
+a richly embroidered purse of cloth of gold containing ten golden
+ducats. Then, seated in tribunes erected along the _riva_, the noble
+company witnessed a regatta of _fisolere_--long and narrow unprowed
+gondolas. This popular feature in the day’s proceedings was followed by
+a gorgeous water-pageant, undertaken by the _Fragilie_, the _Compagnie
+della Calza_, and other notable organisations.
+
+Fourteen galleys, almost as big as the “_Bucintoro_,” belonging
+to the great Guild of Goldsmiths, covered with crimson damask and gold
+lace, led the way. The Canal was a mass of moving craft of every sort
+and size, full of merrymakers, and bands of music, space being riskily
+found for the bulky “_Bucintoro_” to steer her course with the
+Dogaressa seated on the Ducal throne at the prow, her gallant and
+beautiful Court around her. Salvoes of artillery, clangings of bells,
+soundings of horns and trumpets, and the clamour of the spectators
+accompanied the Progress to the Piazzetta. At the Butchers’ triumphal
+arch two hundred and fifty young girls of the city welcomed her
+Serenity. They were arrayed in crimson satin, green silk damask and
+white taffetas, and were adorned with magnificent jewels which had
+not been displayed in public for well-nigh one hundred years. Many
+wore great pearls, the biggest ever seen in Venice,--and gold chains
+of cunning workmanship with numerous rubies, emeralds, and sapphires:
+upon their heads were diamond coronets and lace veils spangled with
+brilliants. In this constellation of grace, beauty, and affluence, was
+a striking group of twelve brides,--recalling to everyone the romantic
+Venetian story of the past. Their golden hair, falling at will over
+their bare and painted shoulders, was restrained only by coronets of
+gold and silver leaves of myrtle: their costumes were of white satin
+and lace with golden girdles worn _à la Grecque_. Behind the
+brides were ranged two-and-twenty older matrons, clothed in black
+velvet, and covered with precious stones. This feature in the reception
+must have been arranged by a scenic painter or a master of costumes,
+for nothing so well tones masses of strong and vivid colours as here
+and there a sable touch.
+
+The procession thus doubled in numbers, passed superlatively between
+the hundred German guards in the service of the Republic, making
+for the Basilica. Immediately before the Dogaressa came the wives
+of the Procurators of Saint Mark, with Madonna Marina, the wife
+of Messir Vettor Grimani at their head, all robed in black satin
+with long hanging scarves like those of the Dogaressa’s State
+robe. Attended by the Secretaries of the High Chancellor marched
+the Doge’s two sons-in-law,--Cavalieri Antonio Morosini and Pietro
+Cappello,--supporting Cavaliere Giovanni Priuli, their Serenities’ only
+Son, all vested in Ducal dress,--tabards of emblazoned cloth of gold,
+with trains or long togas of crimson silk velvet, worn over silver-gilt
+suits of armour.
+
+Most becomingly costumed in richest silver damasked white silk
+velvet walked the Doge’s two daughters Madonne Antonio Morosini and
+Pietro Cappello followed by Cavaliere Matteo Dandolo, brother of the
+Dogaressa, in full Ducal robes, who immediately preceded her Serenity.
+He was attended by two Councillors of the Doge,--Messiri Antonio
+Giustiniani and Marco Centanni. Under the State Umbrella of cloth of
+gold, with erect figure and stately carriage, passed along the new
+First Lady of Venice,--conscious that, in her person, was revived the
+most gorgeous of all the noble “Triumphs” of Venice. The historic
+splendours of all the crowned Dogaressas of the past were centred in
+her, and men and women thanked God that the glories of Venice were once
+more dazzling their eyes, and making promise for their children.
+
+The three pages of honour, who bore the Ducal train and held the heavy
+sleeves of fur and gold, paused before the Grand Portal of San Marco,
+and the Lords of the Council and State officials gathered around the
+Dogaressa and her children and relatives to keep back the pressure of
+the enthusiastic crowd. The Chapter of the cathedral were awaiting
+Her Serenity and the Prior at once sprinkled her with Holy Water, the
+acolytes holding aloft great lighted candles, and tossing big silver
+censers in the air. The Dogaressa humbly knelt to kiss a holy relic
+of Saint Mark whilst the choristers and musicians gave forth joyous
+anthems. Conducted by the ecclesiastics into the choir the Prior seated
+her upon the Doge’s throne and then “Te Deum,” was chanted. To each
+canon Dogaressa Zilia gave a purse of cloth of gold with one hundred
+gold ducats. The ritual of the Entry was celebrated as in the days of
+Dogaressa Regina Gradenigo-Vendramin. Upon the sacred Missal, held
+by the Bishop of Castello, the new Dogaressa swore to observe her
+_Promissione_. Several addresses were read to her, but nobody
+could hear a word because of the tremendous vociferations of the
+applauding multitude inside and outside the sacred edifice.
+
+Bowing reverently to the High Altar Dogaressa Zilia passed through the
+Sanctuary and ascended the Foscara staircase, on her way to the Ducal
+Palace. As in days gone by, the Guilds made lavish displays in each
+room of delectable dainties for the palate and of supreme examples of
+their respective craftsmanship. The hairdressers were the first to
+offer their duty, being specially under the new Dogaressa’s patronage.
+They had spread a table with a very beautiful Oriental carpet and
+placed upon it a resplendent crystal mirror of Murano with the golden
+appurtenances of the toilet--splendid gifts for her Serenity. Possibly
+they warily foresaw the need of a new dressing of the Most Serene
+locks of auburn hair after the trying formalities already graciously
+performed! The _Gastaldo_, or Master of the Guild, advancing
+with many reverences addressed the Dogaressa: “Right welcome is Your
+Serenity, we hairdressers are your devoted servants, we rejoice with
+you, and beg you still to extend to us your Serene patronage.” Then,
+with a motion of the hand he invited her to partake of the delicacies
+and to quaff the rare vintage on silver dishes and out of crystal
+flagons, which His Serenity the Doge had provided for the use of all
+the Guilds.
+
+The Dogaressa graciously replied:--“I am delighted that everything is
+so well arranged and I thank you heartily. I am not able to stay with
+you because I have to visit seventeen other rooms. I hope to see you
+all another time, I must now say farewell.”
+
+Entering the room allotted to the Guild of Goldsmiths, her Serenity
+was saluted in a similar manner, and offered two splendid panels of
+tapestry, mounted in exquisitely carved frames overlaid with gold and
+silver. Passing through a corridor, which gave upon the Piazza, she
+beheld the immense awning of light blue canvas covered with golden
+stars, which stretched away to the four columns in front of the offices
+of the _Signori della Notte al Criminali_, which were draped in
+crimson damask and carried six-and-twenty emblazoned shields, and
+every window festooned and decorated with the Dandolo arms. As she
+went on her way the massed bands of the Guilds, in the Piazzetta,
+played a triumphal march. Each of the sixteen rooms was adorned by a
+separate Guild, and each Guild made a distinctive offering, saluting
+her Serenity with loyal devotion. In the last room the Officers of
+the Murano glass-workers were in charge of a rare exhibition of the
+lustrous objects of their craft. The offering of this ancient and
+noble Guild was a suite of glass new in style, shape and colour and
+jewelled,--_chefs d’œuvre_ of the most fragile art of Venice. In
+honour of the new Dogaressa quite naturally the service was called “La
+Zilia.”
+
+At length this very agreeable but very tiring Progress ended at the
+_Sala del Gran Consiglio_, where Dogaressa Zilia was placed upon
+the Ducal throne, having on her right the older ladies of her escort,
+the State Councillors, the Heads of the “Forty,” her brother, Cavaliere
+Matteo Dandolo and the Cavalieri Antonio Morosini and Pietro Cappello.
+The nobles and gentlemen all were in crimson satin having removed their
+heavy tabards of cloth of gold; they wore stoles of cloth of gold over
+their left shoulders. Upon benches opposite were seated ambassadors,
+judges, knights, members of the Council, and the more distinguished
+guests of the Government. The younger gentlewomen of the Dogaressa’s
+suite were upon her left hand, and with them an equal number of young
+nobles,--Companions of _La Calza_ and young officers of the fleet
+and army. The ducal _Corno_ was held over her head by the High
+Chancellor, who addressed her in the same terms as those used at the
+Coronation of Dogaressa Regina Gradenigo-Vendramin.
+
+Shades of evening were falling on the golden glory of a glorious festal
+day, as, by magic, torches burning coloured fires were kindled in every
+window of the Palace,--every _Sala_ was lighted _al giorno_. Then
+defiled before the Serene Dogaressa in the Grand Courtyard a pageant
+of the Arts and Crafts, every member thereof bearing a lighted torch.
+In the van marched two by two, one hundred of the handsomest young
+gallants of Venice,--all tightly costumed in silks and satins,--and
+twenty-five gentlemen of the Doge’s private cabinet,--wearing long
+togas of black velvet and heavy gold chains of office.
+
+Collations were spread in the _cortili_ of the Palace, and banquets
+were given in the Council chambers, and then, in the Piazzetta, were
+athletic exhibitions of posed human pyramids and other figures, and a
+grand display of fireworks. The festivities wound up with dance and
+music, games and flirtations, till the new day began to peep through
+window and doorway as the pale moon withdrew her light before the fiery
+car of the advancing Sun God.
+
+The festival of the Coronation was carried over three days, days
+of unalloyed pleasure and success. Bull-baiting, bear-baiting,
+cock-fighting, boxing, wrestling, skiff-races, swimming matches, well
+filled twenty-four hours, and then followed dramatic performances by
+members of _La Calza_. Venice was in a delirium of music, dancing, and
+general rejoicing. Rich and poor alike were feasted by the munificent
+Doge and Dogaressa, and, when on the last day of the festival, they
+made a round of visits to thank the Masters of the Guilds and others
+who had been conspicuous by their services in general, every one felt
+that rest was welcome, and that life might again return to its normal
+conditions.
+
+The “Triumph” of Dogaressa Zilia Dandolo-Priuli marked a red letter in
+the annals of the Republic. It was taken as a proof that the spirit
+of the Venetians was by no means dead, but, at the same time, it
+served as a warning of the enervating effect of wanton enjoyment and
+leisured opulence. A poet-laureate arose, unknown now by name, who thus
+apostrophised the happy Signora Zilia:--
+
+    “Quæ decus ætherum, terrarum gloria tandem
+    Zilia progreditur, patuit Dea, vertice odorem
+    Spiravere comæ divinum, vestis ad imos
+    De fluxitque pedes ...”
+
+The reign of Lorenzo and Zilia Priuli was, for the most part, peaceful,
+so far as the intermittence of sporadic hostilities was concerned.
+To be sure the Turks never let the Venetians quite alone, and Venice
+kept on quietly pushing diplomatic aggression everywhere. Still the
+hindrances to home development were not unduly harmful and industry and
+commerce throve exceedingly. The Dogaressa, good as her word, spoken
+after her Coronation--“I hope to see you all another time”--extended
+her heartiest patronage to the Trades which most appealed to her in
+matters of taste, and she fostered new fashions in upholstery, napery,
+and table appointments, as well as personal adornments.
+
+Alas, her wearing of the _Corno_ was limited to three short years,
+for, in 1559, Doge Priuli was laid upon his death-bed,--another victim
+to pestilence. He was buried at San Salvatore, under the statue of his
+patron Saint Lorenzo. The Council paid unusual honours to the widowed
+Dogaressa, a decree, dated 24th June, immediately after the burial
+of her Consort, appointed her a household of eight maids of honour,
+and servitors for her sedan, and her gondola. She was to be attended
+in her visits to churches, hospitals and other institutions, by four
+elderly gentlewomen of distinction, and she was required to wear in
+public black satin brocade cut after the pattern of the cloth of gold
+State robes but without jewels. These instructions were to serve as the
+decree stated “_per maggior decoro et honor de la Republica_,” and
+the dowager Dogaressa was accorded the title of “Princess.” Furthermore
+a monthly allowance was granted her of fifty gold ducats, and the
+supervision of her affairs was delegated to the State Chamberlains.
+
+The “_Libro dei Cerimoniali_,” still preserved among the Archives
+of the Republic, has a representation of Dogaressa Zilia Dandolo-Priuli
+in the costume of a widow. The dress is apparently of black cashmere,
+with full deep sleeves of black silk. Her widowhood lasted seven
+years, and she died regretted by all on 13th October 1566. Her funeral
+obsequies were conducted upon a scale commensurate with the unusual
+honours bestowed upon her in her lifetime. After the excision of the
+bowels and brain,--which were placed in a marble vase,--her body was
+“washed,” says the writer of the “_Cerimoniali_” “in pure spring
+water, and wrapped in tow, with sponges under the armpits.” Embalmed
+with aromatic wax and spices, the dead Princess was shrouded in the
+habit of a nun of the Convent of Sant’ Alvise, of the foundation of
+Donna Antonia Venier in 1388: over it was cast a chemise of cloth of
+gold, and a delicate lace veil shaded the face arranged under a Ducal
+_Corno_.
+
+The lying-in-state was upon a bier in the _Sala dei Pioveghi_.
+During three days the Papal Legate, the Ambassadors, the Lords of
+the Councils, the Captains of the “Forty” and of the “Ten,” the
+Procurators, Judges, and all the Officers of State with the clergy and
+religious orders, the Religious congregations, the inmates of the State
+Orphanages and Homes for Women, and a vast concourse of citizens passed
+before the coffin. On the last day the Doge Girolamo Priuli,--his
+brother’s successor,--in full State ascended the _Scala d’Oro_
+accompanied by the Papal Legate and Cavaliere Giovanni Priuli,--the
+son of the late Doge and Dogaressa,--and entered the funeral chapel to
+assist at the final ceremonial.
+
+A procession of the Prior and Chapter of San Marco with cross, banners,
+and lighted yellow wax torches, accompanied by the clergy of the
+church of San Fantino,--usually attended by the late Dogaressa,--and
+her private chaplains, filed into the _Sala_, and, after prayers and
+absolution, the coffin was raised upon the shoulders of master-marines
+of the Arsenal, borne down the _Scala de’ Giganti_, and carried
+solemnly across the Piazzetta to the portal of the Basilica, where the
+remains were blessed by the Bishop of Castello. The funeral cortège
+then advanced between military guards through the Piazza and Merceria
+to the Ponte d’Olio, and so on to the great church of SS. Giovanni e
+Paolo. All the _calli_ were covered with black hangings, and every man,
+woman, and child was in deepest mourning. Within the church the coffin
+was placed upon an imposing catafalque, and surrounded with torches
+and candles. Conducted to his Chair of State the Doge laid aside his
+_Corno_, whilst the priest of the Collegiate Church of San Fantino
+delivered an impressive oration, ending with the apostrophization
+“_Jam vero Ziliæ virtuti quæ potest per oratio inveniri?_”
+
+Such an imposing ceremonial at the burial of a widowed Dogaressa was
+unprecedented. Zilia Dandolo-Priuli came to her throne in the grand
+Ducal Palace and to her grave in the simple church of San Salvatore in
+a couple of “Triumphs” unique of their kind.
+
+
+                                  II
+
+The _dogado_ of Lorenzo Priuli was conspicuous only so far as it
+was adorned by the personality of a wealthy, talented, and fascinating
+wife. Had the reign of his brother Girolamo Priuli, his immediate
+successor, been graced by the presence of as illustrious a consort,
+certainly history would have recorded her charms, her influence, and
+her example. Alas, we know nothing about Signora Elena Diedo-Priuli
+beyond her name: the date of her birth, marriage, and death are
+unnoted, nor do we find any reference to her family, her forebears, or
+her offspring.
+
+One of the most ornamental and useful bridges in Venice is the Ponte
+Diedo, where on 3rd October 1607, Fra Paolo Sarpi, theologian, lawyer
+and patriot was done to death. The nomenclature of another bridge, in
+the same _sestiere_ Cannaregio--the Ponte Priuli, may suggest that
+the Priuli and Diedi were neighbours and probably engaged in the same
+industry.
+
+The Priuli were among the noble families of 1450, and possibly the
+Diedi were patrician citizens not yet ennobled. Doge Girolamo Priuli
+occupied the Ducal throne eight years, during which episodes and events
+were few. Strenuous periods of national history have their reflex
+action in times of rest and recuperation. Venice was quiescent, her
+enemies left her pretty much alone, and internal troubles appeared
+to be exhausted. The burial of the Doge in 1567 was conducted at
+the church of San Salvatore: he was laid alongside his brother Doge
+Lorenzo, in the family vault, beneath the statue of his patron saint,
+San Girolamo.
+
+Pietro Loredano wore the _Corno_ for three years, 1567–1570: his
+Consort was Madonna Maria Cappello. Probably he was a son of “Grand”
+Doge Lionardo Loredano, and she was the daughter of a noble family
+which had given very many famous sons to Venice, although not one of
+them reached the throne. Two events marked this _dogado_,--both
+calamitous,--the terrible famine of 1569, when the harvest of all
+northern Italy and the contiguous countries entirely failed, and the
+destruction by fire of the famous Arsenal, the fountain-head of the
+whole naval and military system of the Republic.
+
+The annals of Venice are blank what time Dogaressas Elena Diedo-Priuli
+and Maria Cappello-Loredano held their State within the Ducal Palace.
+The Republic was at peace, dormant and self-indulgent,--an unwonted
+experience for her once vigorous, aggressive, and victorious citizens.
+The end of the war with the Turks left her free to enjoy to the full
+her love of leisure and her fondness of festivity. The still evening
+of an eventful life was the twilight of her fame: her sun was near the
+setting, yet, ere she laid herself down no more to rise, expiring
+flashes of brilliant deeds and dying fires of fearsome catastrophes
+illuminated her political horizon.
+
+The succession of Doge Alvise Mocenigo and Dogaressa Loredana
+Marcello-Mocenigo, in 1570, found Venice plunged in a sea of anxieties
+and perils. Incessant warfare, with defeats counteracting victories,
+produced solicitude and stupefaction which were subversive of all
+thoughts and sentiments of festivity. “_Venus Calva_,” once more
+was the figure the “Queen of the Adriatic,” bereft of all consolation,
+presented to an unfriendly world. The Doge’s election, of course, was
+conducted with the traditional solemnities, but the Dogaressa was
+denied the honour of a solemn Entry and Coronation: Pageants were out
+of the question in such anxious circumstances.
+
+The Doge was the fourth member of his family,--ennobled in 1289,--to
+wear the golden _Corno_: he belonged to the San Samuele branch of
+the Mocenighi,--the “_Casa Vecchia_” as it was called, resident
+in that _campo_. A man of great strength of character, extremely
+charitable, and renowned for urbanity and conscientiousness, and truly
+he needed all these qualities in the upkeep of his dignity, and in
+the encouragement of his people. The Dogaressa was Loredana, daughter
+of Messir Giovanni Alvise Marcello,--a man of wealth and of a Ducal
+family, his ancestor, Doge Nicolo Marcello had occupied the supreme
+office just one hundred years before. She was married in 1533.
+
+  [Illustration: DOGARESSA LOREDANA MARCELLO-MOCENIGO.
+
+  FROM A COLOURED PRINT.
+
+  “Famiglie Celebri.”--P. G. Litta.]
+
+Dogaressa Loredana was a woman as handsome and virtuous as she was
+talented and accomplished. As a writer of letters and as a classical
+scholar, she had few equals in Venice. With her sisters, Donne
+Bianca, Daria, and Marina, she led not only the wits of the women
+of Venice, but also their tastes and their modes--“_fiore de’l
+secolo_,” they and their likes were called. Women had only very
+gradually and intermittingly achieved prominence in literary and
+artistic circles, but the end of the sixteenth century witnessed the
+rich blossoming of the New Women, for almost every “_gentildonna di
+Venezia_” was distinguished for her mental attainments as well as
+for her charms of person.
+
+Dogaressa Loredana had at least one hobby,--botanical research. The
+Villa gardens of Venice and on the Brenta contained rare examples
+of plant life, the flower gardens of the convents, and the physic
+gardens of the monasteries had their unique treasures, but the fair
+botanist had other nurseries whence she obtained the objects of her
+devotion. Venetian agents in every port ministered to her passion, and
+the gardens of the Marcello Palace were filled with exotics. Alas,
+that her analyses and studies of plants and their properties have
+been lost, along with her letters, her translations, and her poems.
+The Dogaressa’s botanical researches however were not merely for
+personal gratification, they were of immense value to the faculty of
+medicine; her formulas and recipes were invaluable during the grievous
+visitations of plague which decimated the population soon after her
+death.
+
+Short, sad to say, was the reign of the cultured and charming
+Dogaressa, she died of plague on 12th December 1572, but testimony of
+her virtues has been preserved in Messir Ottaviano Maggi’s “_Oratio
+in funeralibus Lauraæ Moccenicæ_,” a Latin panegyric pronounced at
+her funeral, which concludes with the ascription:--“_Tu vero Lauredana
+matrona integerrima converte aliquando oculos in hanc rempublicam_.”
+Palazzi also, in his “_La Virtu_,” extols the dead Signora: that
+famous pack of Playing-Cards at the Museo Civico has upon the “Knave
+of Cups”:--“Loredana Marcello-Mocenigo, was a Princess of great
+attainments, wherefore the painter finds it difficult to illustrate her
+virtues, Nobility rather than wealth is the distinction of Queens.” He
+calls her:--“_Giantessa di merito!_”
+
+Amaden in the “_Archivio privato de’ Marcelli_” also recounts the
+praises of Dogaressa Loredana:--“She was remarkable for her constancy,
+both in the experiences of adversity and in the distractions of
+prosperity, judicious and discreet in the supervision of her household,
+reverent and charitable in her church duties, benevolent to her
+relatives and to her dependants, in a word, she was a most virtuous and
+noble Princess.”
+
+Her obsequies were duly celebrated, though shorn of much of the
+usual State pageantry, in the Church of SS. Giovanni e Paolo. Her
+lying-in-state was arranged in the _Sala de’ Pioveghi_; where,
+simply shrouded in the habit of a nun of the Convento della Croce on
+the Giudecca, with the cowl: the embalmed body was wrapped in a great
+mantle of cloth of gold lined with lynx fur. Over the nun’s black fall
+was cast a rich veil of white silk edged with gold which covered the
+shoulders. Her head rested upon a cushion of cloth of gold, but it bore
+no _Corno_ for the Dogaressa had not been crowned. A long stole of
+white silk ornamented with gold lace descended from her neck to her
+feet which were encased in the finest white silken hose and white kid
+shoes embroidered with gold.
+
+The pall was of white silk brocade covered with gold embroideries,
+all the mourners wore purple, except the Vice-Doge and the foreign
+ambassadors. The Papal Nuncio and Cavaliere Giovanni Mocenigo, the
+Doge’s brother, were the principal pall-bearers. In all respects
+the funeral rites followed the ritual of that of Dogaressa Zilia
+Dandolo-Priuli. So highly had she been esteemed by all classes of the
+community, that, during six days, a constant stream of people--chiefly
+poor--passed before the dead Dogaressa’s grandiose bier. Doge Alvise
+bestowed munificent alms upon these needy admirers of his lamented
+Consort. The last “_Requiem_” was celebrated in the presence of
+the Doge, merely habited as a noble and without special ceremony, who
+then assisted in the entombment within the massive monument next the
+great portal of the Venetian Pantheon.
+
+It was perhaps a misfortune for Venice that the virtuous Dogaressa died
+when she did, for, had she lived but two short years or more, she might
+have exerted a moderating influence upon the profligacy of the nobles
+and citizens, who hailed with so much enthusiasm the visit of King
+Henry III. of Poland and France. No Royal visitor, in the whole history
+of the Republic, had ever been entertained with such a lavish display
+of magnificence and such unbounded prodigality. Everybody put on the
+most splendid gala costume, and all Venice was decked with the most
+gorgeous of festival tokens.
+
+Henry found himself the object of universal homage, and, amorous
+prince that he was, he dallied delightedly in the sunshine of
+unrestrained enjoyment. Venice was full of courtesans of the boldest
+and most fascinating seductiveness. Sprightly, vivacious, and
+accomplished, they were endowed with the most captivating and coaxing
+ways. They hovered around their Royal guest, most superbly dressed,--or
+if you will the reverse,--bedizened with flashing jewels, their golden
+hair more resplendent than their robes of cloth of gold and chains of
+gold and pearls, was coiffured with subtle artifice. Their breasts were
+bare, supported by broad bands or belts of gold with screws arranged to
+tighten them at will.
+
+The nuns in the convents were as gay and as approachable as were the
+glittering women of the Piazza; their “parlours” were the rendezvous
+of gallants,--young and old. All Venice went as mad as in the time of
+Carnival, and no voice was raised in Church or Council to restrain the
+infatuation. Every sort of entertainment was offered Henry and his
+suite of three hundred greedy courtiers. His body-guard was formed by
+thirty of the best-looking, best-dressed, and gayest young nobles.
+There were jousts, regattas, _ridotti_, masked balls, banquets,
+and theatricals galore. Bevies of beautiful maidens, in silken tissue,
+like nymphs in a moonlit glade, scattered flowers in the King’s way,
+and displayed their charms, unmoved by the curiosity of the bold French
+knights-errant.
+
+Amid all the feverish frenzy of these demonstrations one pair of
+eyes fastened their mesmeric glare upon these of the happy monarch
+with peculiar significance, and he yielded unresistingly to the
+fascination. Veronica Franco,--“the Aspasia of Venice,”--was the centre
+of a brilliant but debonnaire literary and artistic circle. Born in
+1546, in the parish of Sant’ Agnese, she was in the full bud of her
+virginity. She, like her frail sisters, was as they have been aptly
+described, “made up of three things--wood, clothes and breasts,”--their
+high pattens, their tightly clinging silk tissues, and their paints and
+puffs.
+
+The amours of Henry and Veronica were sung by poets and philosophers,
+painters painted her on canvas and in miniature, and she herself made
+poems as full of love as were the whispers of her lover. Her awakening
+was sudden and effectual. After Henry had taken her love and kisses
+away with him to Paris, she renounced the reckless life of a courtesan
+and became the inspiring Venetian Sappho. Then she turned to religion
+and tried to undo the evils of the past by good works and the founding
+a penitentiary for fallen women. Michael Montaigne, who saw her at
+Santa Maria Formosa, tells us all this and more about her in his
+“Journal.”
+
+“She gave me,” he says, “a book--‘_Lettere Famigliarie
+Diverse_,’--erotic and ascetic,--which she had dedicated to another of
+her admirers, the Cardinal Luigi d’Este.” “I saw also in Venice,” he
+adds, “one hundred and fifty noblewomen courtesans who were kept in the
+greatest luxury, spending money like Princesses in jewels, dresses,
+portraits, cosmetiques, and personal adornments.” The resplendent and
+repentant Veronica died in 1591, not more than forty-five years of age,
+worn out with enervating pleasures and austere penances: her heart
+the while being yielded a captive to the King of France. The love of
+a Venetian woman was fierce and all-absorbing in its intensity, and
+Sanguinacci’s poem--“_Le Donne di Venegia_” exactly gives the measure
+of their pulse:--
+
+    “Con atti adorni, assai politi e belle
+      Le Donne vedi andar con tal maniera
+    E con la fresca Ziera
+      Che ’l par, che le vigna del Paradiso.”
+
+What the worthy Doge thought about all this wantonness he never
+divulged: his life was overshadowed by an irreparable sorrow--some say
+he never smiled after gentle Dogaressa Loredana closed her eyes in
+death.
+
+The _dogado_ of Alvise Mocenigo was marked by public grief as well
+as private sorrow. The loss of Cyprus and the battle of Lepanto made
+many a _casa_ fatherless, where mothers and children wept for those
+they would see no more. Three years after the death of good Dogaressa
+Loredana, Venice was visited by a terrible calamity: forty thousand of
+the inhabitants were struck down by pestilence. Death came upon them
+with gaunt giant strides: men left home for the day’s work and duty
+well and hearty, before the curfew sounded they were repulsive corpses.
+Lords of the Council fell in the Council Chamber, words of wisdom dying
+on their dying lips. One quarter of the population was wiped out.
+
+Doge Mocenigo displayed, as might have been expected, heroic courage.
+His self-denial and absolute disregard of personal risk found him
+comforting the dying and consoling the sorrowing: he was nurse, priest,
+and guardian to the poorest of the poor. What would not Signora
+Loredana have given to share her consort’s ministry! His piety took the
+shape of the foundation of the splendid church of Il Redentore, built
+by the great architect Palladio,--his master-piece,--to propitiate the
+Deity and to serve as a thank-offering for the cessation of the plague.
+
+Five years of widowerhood ended for the Doge in 1577, and then his
+embalmed body was laid beside that of his Consort in SS. Giovanni e
+Paolo. A clause of his will proves his life’s devotion to her. Property
+at Villabona, which he had intended should be hers if he predeceased
+her, he left to his eldest niece, on condition that she and her
+daughter after her, took the names Loredana Marcello before their
+surname Mocenigo.
+
+
+                                  III
+
+A Hero Doge!
+
+Still green were the laurels which enwreathed the noble brow of
+Sebastiano Venier,--gracious emblems of the triumph of Lepanto, where
+his strategy, more than anything else, had won a famous victory.
+Acclaimed Doge by the tumultuous voice of the people in the Piazza,
+as well as by the unanimous suffrages of the “Forty” in the Council
+Chamber, Venier aroused the latent warlike spirit of all Venetians.
+Venice was herself again,--no longer “_Venus Calva_.” The lion
+of San Marco once more bristled his hoary mane, and all the gallants
+of _La Calza_ strutted up and down,--their effeminate costumes
+exchanged for the bravery of martial uniform,--the cynosure of
+admiring matrons and blushing maidens.
+
+“The Hero of Lepanto” was no youthful soldier breathing lustily the
+battle-smoke but an aged warrior of fourscore years and more--one
+more exponent of the vigour of old age so characteristic of Venetian
+manhood. He wiped out the disgrace of Cyprus, for Turkish standards
+flew proudly from the tall flagstaffs before St Mark’s. Great was the
+loss of precious lives to Venice--great their glory too!
+
+A grand _Andata_, or Progress, swept the Doge and Dogaressa within
+the portals of the Basilica, upon the feast of Santa Giustina--the
+heroine patron of the Republic. Four days of religious processions and
+four nights of craft-pageantry kept all Venice in a whirl of enthusiasm
+such as she had not experienced for many a day. Whether solemn “_Te
+Deum_” or hilarious odes to Victory held the citizens most strongly,
+it was hard to say.
+
+Whilst the Spaniards under their princely admiral, Don Juan, evinced
+a spirit of apathy, quite unworthy of this military renown, the
+Pontiff,--the other ally of Venice,--crowned the eulogy of Marco
+Antonio Colonna, his Chief in Command, by the bestowal of the “Golden
+Rose” upon the noble Doge and Dogaressa. Amid all the jubilation and
+marks of high esteem Doge Sebastiano Venier and Dogaressa Cecilia
+Contarini-Venier maintained a dignified bearing and modestly sought
+the seclusion of their palace. There, deputations followed in quick
+succession from friendly States and Cities. The Brescian embassy,
+in particular, came full of “gratitude for precious services and in
+token of the devotion and infinite love felt for his Serenity by all
+the citizens of our city.” Calling at the Casa Venier the envoys were
+received first of all by the Dogaressa without ceremony, who told them
+that the Doge was upstairs in his study and said:--“I much fear he
+will be unwilling to accept your offering but I will go and hear what
+he says.” The reply was couched in grateful terms but, whilst he was
+pleased to possess a trifling recognition of his small services, he
+politely declined the costly shield of beaten copper, and the case of
+rare old Brescian wine.
+
+Sebastiano Venier was the third Doge of his family, brother of Doge
+Francesco Venier, 1554–1556,--a family ennobled among the thirty by the
+_Serrar del Consiglio_, in 1289. Dogaressa Cecilia belonged to
+the renowned “Apostolic” family of Contarini, and was married in 3rd
+June 1544, in the Church of Santa Maria degl’Angeli at Murano. Doge
+Venier and she were busily engaged in working out the order of the
+ceremonial to be observed at the Coronation when he was struck down
+suddenly by paralysis on 3rd March 1578. He died within the year of his
+election, and he was buried in the choir of the Church of his Nuptials.
+Sebastiano Venier must be accounted the Twelfth “Grand” Doge of Venice.
+
+The Lords of the Council grieved greatly at his demise and unanimously
+agreed to accord to the widowed Dogaressa a pension of four hundred
+gold ducats per annum, and made provisions for her similar to those
+bestowed upon Dogaressa Zilia Dandolo-Priuli in 1559--“in happy
+memory of noble Prince Sebastiano Venier.” Her residence, her
+household, her visits in the City, her gondola, and even her dress,
+were all prescribed by rigid but benevolent conventions. In the
+“_Cerimoniali_” (1464–1592) are two figures of Dogaressa Cecilia
+Contarini-Venier, along with those of Dogaressas Zilia Dandolo-Priuli
+and Loredana Marcello-Mocenigo, all in full State robes and also in
+widow’s weeds. Her death and burial have not been recorded.
+
+Nicolo da Ponte, who succeeded the heroic Doge, was cast in quite
+another kind of mould. He was an ecclesiastic in proclivity if not in
+ordination, a theologian of high order and renown, but by no means an
+adherent politically of the Papal See. He represented the Republic,
+along with the Patriarch, at the Ecumenical Council of Trent. He
+actually refused to allow the Pope’s Nuncio to inspect the Venetian
+monasteries and affirmed the prerogative of the Patriarch of Venice on
+that behalf. The Doge’s Consort was Madonna Arcangela Canali, but there
+is nothing to record of her or of her family.
+
+Possibly Doge da Ponte is best remembered by the kindly part he played
+in the romance of bewitching Bianca Cappello. Deceived and deserted by
+a good-for-nothing young Florentine banker’s clerk the young mother
+became a “_Cosa di Francesco_”--the Grand Duke of Tuscany. For
+years a price was put upon her head, but time is fruitful of revenge,
+and the daughter of proud Cavaliere Bartolommeo Cappello,--disowned
+by him, and outlawed by the State,--was, ten years later, created “a
+True and Special Daughter of Venice.” The Doge wrote as follows to the
+Grand Duke on 16th June 1579:--“We are thrilled with the greatest
+pleasure ... when we learn that your Highness has chosen such a wife on
+account of her distinguished virtues.”
+
+The Grand Duchess’ marriage and Coronation were splendidly celebrated
+in Florence. Doge da Ponte was specially represented and the noble
+ambassadors Cavaliere Giovanni Michielo and Antonio Tiepolo bestowed
+upon the Queenly bride, in the name of the Council, a costly crown of
+gold and jewels, a rich cincture of solid gold, and a superb ruby ring.
+Venice also gave her “Daughter” a glorious necklace of diamonds, worth
+ten thousand gold ducats. Bianca loved Francesco and no other man, and
+her devotion was returned quite as faithfully. The power she exercised
+was wholly for his good and for the welfare of his sovereignty; and she
+lives, in unbiassed history, as the inspirer of most of the noble works
+which marked the reign of the last “Grand Medici!” Infatuated, he wrote
+of her:--
+
+    “A shining gem from Heaven’s treasury
+    Hath Mother Human Nature taken
+    And, wrapping it in a silken veil,
+    Hath sweetly bestowed it on Florence--
+    Saying,--‘To thee, fairest one, I give
+    This beauteous Flora, choice gift of value.’”
+
+Torquato Tasso, her Poet-laureate, celebrated her beauty and
+benignity:--
+
+    “Bianca--the new ‘Sun of Florence’
+    Causes all things worthy to be done
+    Sun she is--no moon, pale and sad
+    Flashing with splendours of Charity.”
+
+The Grand Duchess Bianca Cappello-Medici was the third and last
+“Daughter of Venice.” That tender title had first been bestowed by the
+Republic upon Donna Ginevra, daughter of Messir Matteo Tiepolo, Podesta
+of Belluno, who was married in 1503 to Signore Giovanni Sforza, Lord of
+Pesaro. He died a few months after their nuptials and she entered the
+Convent of San Pietro de’ Fiorentini. Girl-like she soon wearied of the
+life of the cloister, and, renouncing her vows, she once more entered
+the world of fashion and romance. Many a suitor offered her his hand,
+and heart and purse, but she would not be again a wife, and she ended
+her days the inmate of a convent--that of San Nicolo di Murano.
+
+The second “Daughter of Venice” was of course Donna Caterina Conaro,
+Queen of Cyprus, Jerusalem and Armenia. Pathos of the deepest was
+blended with the splendour of the _rôle_ she was called upon to
+play, and with the romance of her later days. The daughter of Messir
+Conaro or Corner of the “Evangelistic” noble family, which gave four
+Doges to Venice, Donna Caterina, in 1468, was betrothed, when only
+fourteen years of age, to Giacomo di Lusignano, King of Cyprus. It was
+said that he had the pick of fifty eligible brides, but chose Donna
+Caterina Conaro by way of paying off the mortgage on his island kingdom
+held by Messir Marco Conaro and his partners: a sum of a hundred
+thousand gold ducats was written off as her hypothetic dowry. King
+James died in 1473, the year after their marriage, and Queen Caterina
+bore his posthumous son six months later. Rivals for the throne
+fought for the child and against one another,--even in the Queen’s
+bed-chamber,--and then she was rescued by an expedition from Venice,
+but her babe died in her arms upon the homeward voyage.
+
+Venice seized the kingdom, rendered royal honours to her “Daughter,”
+and assigned her a palace and a regal maintenance at the Castle of
+Asolo in the Marca Trivigiana. There she reigned over a miniature
+Court of cultured and distinguished men and women, where literature
+and romance played many parts. The leader of her revels and symposia
+was Pietro Bembo, who in his “_Gli Asolani_” discourses after
+the manner of Giovanni Boccaccio of love, pleasure, and philosophy.
+The while he was writing sonnets to his Queen and bending his knee in
+homage he was carrying on a liaison with the Princess Lucrezia Borgia,
+and then by her influence he was created a Cardinal,--an example of
+ecclesiastical incontinence. Gentile Bellini, in his master-piece
+at the Venice Accademia, “The Miracle of the Cross,” painted Queen
+Caterina and many of the ladies and gentlemen of her Court. The faces
+are life studies, the costumes regal in magnificence.
+
+Queen Caterina was treated with the utmost distinction by all
+Venetians, and when she died, in 1510, her remains were accorded
+honours similar to those rendered to a departed Dogaressa. She was
+first buried in the church of SS. Apostoli and then translated, in
+1665, to San Salvatore. Over her coffin Andrea Navagero pronounced a
+remarkable oration in which he extolled the Queen’s beauty, grace, and
+gentleness, her goodness, erudition, and constancy. With Pietro Bembo,
+in one of his delightful _Canzone_ may we sing of her:--
+
+    “Non si vedra giammai stanca ne sazia
+    Questa mia penna Amore,
+    Di renderti, Signore,
+    Del tuo cotanto onore alcuna grazia:
+    A cui pensando volentier si spazia
+    Per la memoria il cuore,
+    E vede ’l tuo valore
+    Ond ’ci prende vigore e te ringrazia.”
+
+A “Daughter of Venice” was of course a Dogaressa in rank, hence brief
+stories of the three Venetian Queen-Graces, Ginevra, Caterina and
+Bianca, are by no means superfluous in the “_Libro d’Oro delle
+Dogaresse di Venezia_.”
+
+Three years of unbroken peace followed the death of Doge Nicolo da
+Ponte in 1588, under the administration of Doge Pasquale Cicogna. The
+Dogaressa was Madonna Laura Morosini. He was the son of an apothecary,
+ennobled after the Genoese War of Chioggia: she was of an “Apostolic”
+family, but nothing is recorded of her. The Doge was reckoned as a
+parsimonious and unsympathetic sort of man, and was very unpopular with
+the citizens by reason of his niggardliness in the matter of largesse
+at his election Progress through the Piazza. Their tomb is at Santa
+Maria de’ Gesuiti, where he and his Consort lie side by side peacefully
+sleeping.
+
+
+                                  IV
+
+At the very end of the sixteenth century one more resplendent Dogaressa
+passed through Venice in solemn State to her Coronation--Signora
+Morosina Morosini-Grimani. She was a daughter of Messir Andrea
+Morosini, the head of the senior branch of the second family in the
+highest grade of nobility,--the “Apostolic,”--members of which grade
+had come to be looked upon not only as merchant-princes, but as Princes
+of the State. She was married to Messir Marino Grimani, from her
+father’s house, Palazzo Morosini (now Sangredo), upon the Grand Canal,
+in the no longer existent church of San Cristoforo on 27th November
+1560.
+
+  [Illustration: DOGARESSA MOROSINA MOROSINI-GRIMANI.
+
+  Giovanni Contarini. 1599.
+
+  VILLA PISANO, VESCOVANA, PADUA.]
+
+The newly-married pair set up housekeeping in splendid fashion in the
+Palazza Grimani (now the Court of Appeal). Messir Marino Grimani was
+one of the very foremost Venetians who plumed themselves as being “the
+first gentlemen in Europe not considering it a disgrace to be merchants
+as well.” The fruits of his commercial success were displayed, not
+only in the appointments of the palace, but in the delights of his
+lovely villa-gardens at Santa Caterina, with their lovely views over
+the lagunes to Murano and her sister isles. Madonna Morosina shared her
+husband’s al fresco tastes, for her father’s gardens at San Canciano
+were as charming as any of those Venetian beauty-spots.
+
+Messir Marino was the popular candidate for the throne, left vacant by
+the death of Doge Pasquale Cicogna. He was famed for his generosity and
+was especially delighted to provide entertainment for poor people and
+their families. His election by the “Forty” was unanimous: probably
+the gracious Madonna Morosina, her personality, her refinement, and
+her wit, had a good deal to do with the decision! Maintaining his
+reputation for magnificent hospitality the new Doge furnished banquets
+for three whole days to every working man and woman in Venice.
+His Election Progress around the Piazza was accompanied by lavish
+largesse, and, not satisfied with what his suite scattered broadcast,
+the amiable Dogaressa, accompanied by her three daughters, from the
+State balcony of the Ducal Palace, threw handfuls of silver and copper
+coins among the crowds in the Piazza. Not only was the Doge generous
+and the Dogaressa affable, but he was pompous and she ambitious. They
+determined that her Entry in State and her Coronation should surpass
+anything yet “seen in Venice.”
+
+The spirit of going-one-better-than-one’s-neighbours, was a very
+strongly marked characteristic of Venetians all through their history.
+Certainly there was something of vulgarity in the idea, but there was
+also distinction in the realisation. If the Doge and Dogaressa were
+high and mighty sort of people their elevation also raised the tone of
+society, and materially improved the condition of employment. Hence the
+public were quite responsive to the call of their Serenities.
+
+The pageant, or “Triumph” of Dogaressa Morosina Morosini-Grimani
+was postponed until May 1597, in order that the new appointments,
+decorations, and personal adornments, might be made as splendid as
+possible. Every craftsman and craftswoman went to work with a will, and
+nobody cared in the least about any sumptuary laws of the past nor any
+other arbitrary indictment. The “Forty” and the “Ten” made no move and
+consequently everything went on with the greatest equanimity.
+
+One new feature was noted with respect to the Dogaressa and her
+Coronation--the delivery, printing, and circulation broadcast, of
+elegant and eloquent panegyrics. Commissions were eagerly accepted by
+poets, orators, and publishers--one of these effusions, as an example,
+ran as follows:--
+
+    “O magnanimous Duchess
+    O most glorious grand Duke
+    No such two Divinities
+    Ere have gladden’d Venice skies!”
+
+The Dogaressa was addressed by her admirers as “Most Singular and Most
+Serene Lady, words fail to assure your Highness of the devotion of your
+enthusiastically admiring servants.” Much the same high-flown sentiment
+distinguishes Palazzi’s pack of Playing-cards, for, on the Knight of
+Coins (Diamonds), we read:--“The Coronation of Morosina Morosini, wife
+of Doge Marino Grimani Anno 1597. She commands not alone herself but
+she is Mistress of a mighty Empire.”
+
+Upon the morning of her “Triumph” the Dogaressa, attended by four
+hundred young noblewomen, all beautifully dressed in white silk
+lace,--in honour of her Serenity’s patronage of Burano,--and
+covered with newly-mounted jewels,--each girl an animated miniature
+Golconda--took her place upon a dais in the great hall of the Grimani
+palace,--lately completed (1581) by the famous architect Sammichieli.
+The walls of the noble apartment were hung with a novel and effective
+decoration,--stamped leather, gilded and emblazoned. This was a new
+artistic adjunct in princely mansions lately introduced from Cordoba
+in Spain. The vogue spread at once in Venice, and, before the end of
+the century, it was computed that three thousand skilled workers were
+employed by the Guild of Leather-merchants, and a sum of one hundred
+thousand gold ducats was added to their annual revenues.
+
+Meanwhile a lordly deputation had been despatched by the “Forty” to
+salute “The First Lady of Venice” and bespeak her acceptance of the
+_Promissione_, and thereafter to escort her on her solemn Entry.
+The noble Lords found her Serenity sumptuously attired in tissue of
+fine gold with an immense State mantle of cloth of gold embroidered
+all over with silver floral designs in high relief,--quite a novel
+and truly rich production of Venetian brains and Venetian hands. It
+was reported that this magnificent robe was manufactured under the
+Dogaressa’s personal directions and after her own design.
+
+The cap of the new _Corno_ was of the same costly material, the
+coronal was a mass of immense precious stones, and from underneath
+it fell a delicate veil of white silk lace shot with gold and silver
+threads and heavily spangled with jewels. Upon her open bosom, lightly
+covered with a fichu of priceless Burano lace sewn with pearls, reposed
+a flashing cross of brilliants, suspended by a very exquisitely
+interlaced chain of burnished gold. Her fingers were covered with
+gemmed rings, which her Serenity was very careful not to hide within a
+pair of beautifully embroidered gloves held by one of her ladies.
+
+The ceremony of the presentation of the _Promissione_ was soon over,
+and, in return, the Dogaressa personally handed to each noble Lord
+of the deputation the customary gift of a purse of cloth of gold
+containing, not the usual number of gold ducats, but a special
+token--an _osella_ of gold, after the example of Doge Antonio Grimani,
+her Consort’s great-uncle, in 1521. The _osella_ had, on the obverse,
+a profile in relief of the Dogaressa wearing the Ducal _Corno_, with
+her name “Mavrocena Mavioceni:” upon the reverse was a raised wreath of
+laurel encircling the legend:--“Manus Mavrocenæ Grimanæ Ducessæ: Venet:
+1597.”
+
+The “_Bucintoro_” received on board just such another illustrious
+company as that which graced the water-pageant of Dogaressa Zilia
+Dandolo-Priuli forty years before. The costumes of the suite
+were richer and in better taste than those of Dogaressa Zilia’s
+Court;--cloth of silver sewn with pearls and raised flowers in gold
+looked more delicate than the customary heavy cloth of gold. The
+palaces, the dwelling-houses, and the churches by the Canal, were
+all lavishly decorated upon a uniform and beautiful plan. Coronation
+favours, bestowed upon all applicants at the Doge’s command, imparted a
+note of festivity quite striking but harmonious. Venice for the nonce
+became the city of the Morosini-Grimani; but, perhaps, some of the
+noble Lords regarded these tokens of popularity with uneasy minds; they
+had, in all their generations, a wholesome dread of a personal Ducal
+rule.
+
+The pageant on the Canal was the most remarkable ever undertaken by
+the Trade-Guilds. Almost every gondola and barca was formed into a
+fabled beast of the earth or some fearsome sea monster. The whole Court
+of Parnassus was enlisted in honour of the Dogaressa, and the Gods
+and Goddesses floated proudly and quaintly by. An immense fleet of
+_bregantini_,--great vessels with sweeps,--filled with spectators
+of all classes, followed in the wake of the “_Bucintoro_.” Once
+more the ripples of the quiet tideway were charged with sweetest
+perfumes, and covered with flowers--mostly damask roses--the floral
+emblem of Morosini.
+
+The ceremonies of the Landing, in the Basilica, and in the Ducal
+Palace, were all performed with splendour, and the Dogaressa retired
+to her private apartments to remove her heavy State robes and assume
+her ball-costume--for, of course, dancing was the finale of all Court
+functions. Dogaressa Morosina’s ball was unique and historical:
+all Venice danced where there was any room, for every place was
+crowded--more than two hundred thousand visitors had to be accommodated
+somewhere or other. Dancing platforms were erected upon ranges of
+barges on the canals, and Venice sang and danced--danced and sang,
+the livelong night in ecstasy. Within the Ducal Palace the _Sala
+dello Scrutino_ was set apart for refreshments of the choicest
+kind. The old Greek menus, which had delighted the sybaritic Romans of
+Mecænas’ time were revived. At the great banquet, given by the Doge and
+Dogaressa to the dignitaries of the Church and State, and the foreign
+Princes and Ambassadors, there were forty-seven courses, beginning with
+spiced sturgeon and ending with “apples of Paradise.”
+
+The day after the Coronation was occupied in giving and viewing
+presents. To every noble and gentle person assisting at the ceremonies,
+the Doge and Dogaressa gave an _osella_, to the officials and
+domestics gifts of golden ducats, to the worthy poor hospitable spreads
+of good cheer. Pope Clement VIII. sent a Legate with a “Golden Rose”
+to the Dogaressa and a jewelled _Corno_ to the Doge. The Duke of Savoy
+offered a massive belt of thirty golden rosettes covered with fine
+pearls, but it was incontinently seized by the _Provvidetori delle
+Pompe_, possibly as a mean protest just to show their power! Many other
+costly gifts found their way into the hands and the collection of the
+Most Serene couple.
+
+On the third day was held a grand naval review before the island of San
+Giorgio Maggiore, in which ships of England, Holland, and Flanders took
+part. A regatta and aquatic sports were contested between the native
+gondoliers and marines, and the foreign sailors, dressed severally in
+white and red costumes. The contention was the keenest of the keen.
+The Nicolotti and Castellani mainly held their own, but when some of
+their men were defeated, their wives drove them home with sticks and
+banter:--“_Va! Va! Via di quid, parca, infame vituperoso!_”
+
+In the evening all Venice was illuminated, and we can very well imagine
+the glory and the eerieness of the spectacle,--Venice,--standing in
+and out of the water, the serenity of a May night over her, and her
+flashing moving gondola lights was like the city of a dream, the home
+of Gods and fairies.
+
+    “A City magical in splendour
+    Rising out the light beyond the Sea.”
+
+All through the eleven-years _dogado_ of Doge Marino Grimani, peaceful
+and prosperous conditions were the lot of a busy people. The arts and
+crafts had reached the apogee of their fame. The Dogaressa was the
+patroness especially of the lace-workers of Burano,--following the
+example of Dogaressa Dandolo-Malipiero of a hundred and forty years
+ago. Moreover she headed a committee of noble ladies to encourage the
+delightful craft among the gentlewomen of Venice.
+
+Doge Marino Grimani died in 1608, and the widowed Dogaressa gave
+herself to works of piety,--for example she restored the church of
+San Sebastiano. She survived her Consort eight years and died on the
+21st of January 1613–1614--directing in her will that her body should
+not be embalmed. The funeral was a State function, recalling that of
+Dogaressa Zilia Dandolo-Priuli, at SS. Giovanni e Paolo, where an
+impassioned oration was pronounced:--“_Illinc clamor, hinc silentium:
+illinc lætitia, hinc mæmor: illinc ludi, hinc lacrymæ_.” The Doge
+and Dogaressa took their long last sleep under the splendid monument by
+Girolamo Compagna, in the simple church of San Giuseppe di Castello,
+just beneath the splendid picture by Tintoretto of “St Michael slaying
+the Dragon,” which the Doge had commissioned, and wherein he is
+represented kneeling in the red robes and ermine of a Captain of the
+“Forty.”
+
+In “The Merchant of Venice,” Shakespeare, in two concise paragraphs,
+illustrates quite characteristically the prosperity and peace enjoyed
+by the Venetians at the end of the sixteenth century:--
+
+    “The trade and prosperity of the City
+    Consisteth of all nations----”
+                               Act III., Scene iv.
+
+    “How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon the bank!
+    Here will we sit, and let the sounds of music
+    Creep on our ears. Softest stillness and thought
+    Become the touches of sweet harmony....”
+                               Act I., Scene iv.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER VIII
+
+
+                                   I
+
+The Sun of Venice had set! Her bright gold was turned to tarnished
+brass, her jewels had lost their lustre, and her pearls were moribund!
+Yet she lingered on for many and many a year--well-nigh two hundred.
+The beacons of the lagunes and the shrines on the canals burnt dimly,
+and the incense in the churches seemed to have lost its aroma.
+Sighs and yawns from dispirited and indolent citizens indicated the
+dissolution of her industries. Brawls and disputes were exchanged for
+courtly greetings: gambling dens and brothels prostituted men and women
+once renowned for temperance and probity.
+
+A lingering death is always the most distressing, both for the
+individual and the watchers standing by: this was to be the melancholy
+ending of the “Queen of the Adriatic.” Nevertheless, as with the man,
+so with the City, lucid intervals recurred and hopeful rallies, wherein
+episodes, pathetic and stirring, moved the torpid brain and feeble
+pulse. Venice was “_Venus Calva_” at her birth--so would she die.
+Each year saw her robbed of some possession, each year saw her enemies
+closing more nearly in, each year saw foreigners compressing more and
+more her markets; and yet, men came and went, and women too, who moved
+the body politic mightily, and made the lookers-on wonder whether,
+after all, the Lion of Saint Mark was dying or only sleeping.
+
+Heavy-footed were those decadent years, they took their step from the
+dismal tramp of mourners at the frequent obsequies of the Doges and
+Dogaressas. The great bell of the Basilica, announcing year after year,
+or nearly so, with muffled knell the demise of a Chief Magistrate came
+to be listened to without emotion. In some hearts, perhaps beating more
+loyally than the rest, were pangs of remorse for a glorious past never
+to return, and misgivings for a fateful future fraught with fears, but
+patriotism, honour, and devotion, were the precious possession of a
+dwindling minority.
+
+Between 1605 and the end of the Republic in 1797, thirty-one Doges
+mounted the Ducal throne in turn: their names and dates we know,
+but very little about their deeds or the times in which they
+lived,--history was silent. Of their Consorts ten only are known by
+name and nothing much beside: only four or five of them, in one hundred
+and ninety years, have left any record in the “_Libro d’Oro delle
+Dogaresse di Venezia_.”
+
+The men and women of Venice had become a little less animated and
+articulate than the face cards in a pack. Indeed the end of Venice was
+much like the popular game of “_La Trappola_,” in which thirty-six
+cards out of the fifty-two were used--the mother of the present-day
+whist. The suits were four:--“_Spade_,”--Swords, or Spades,--threatened
+the faint-hearted; _Coppe_,--Cups or Hearts,--suggested delights to
+the perceiving; _Denari_,--Coins or Diamonds,--hinted at profitable
+investments; and _Bastoni_,--Sticks or Clubs,--promised punishment
+to the dishonest. Venice was a card-table, and Venetians were content
+to prolong their enervating leisure, beguiled by the chance of the
+“_Naibi_,”--tricks,--so named by their children in imitative games.
+
+Certainly the craftsmen and craftswomen still wove rich lengths
+of cloth of gold, the goldsmiths still made precious jewels, the
+glass-blowers still produced their fragile virgin-ware, the lacemakers
+their delicate network, and the hairdressers still turned, tossed,
+and frizzed, rare strands of golden hair; but princely patronesses
+at the Ducal Palace were few and unresplendent. The painters went on
+painting--Canaletto, Guardi, and Longhi, were, in their time, quite as
+characteristic and far more topical than were Tintoretto, Veronese, and
+Palma Vecchio, but palette-masters as well as sculptors and architects,
+were clients of the Doges not of the Dogaressas.
+
+The 10th of January 1645, was a black-letter day for women’s art
+and artifice in Venice. The Council issued an edict forbidding
+the Coronation of the Dogaressa as a “_cosa non neccessaria_!”
+Apparently her Serenity was not to be denied the solemn Entry, but
+even that stately function was to be curtailed of much of its pomp
+and circumstance. The “_Bucintoro_” was not to be used, the solemn
+Benediction in the Basilica was discouraged, and the Ducal Palace was
+closed against the wonted exhibitions of the Trade-Guilds.
+
+  [Illustration: THE GAME OF LA TRAPPOLA.
+
+  Michelino da Bedozzo.
+
+  PALAZZO BONARDO, MILAN.]
+
+After Doge Marino Grimani there followed a dogal line of ten very old
+men,--all octogenarians,--one after the other, halting to their waiting
+graves,--striking but lamentable figures of the decay and death
+of Venice. Whether eight of them were widowers we know not, but only
+two Dogaressas’ names are recorded,--Signore Elena Barbarigo-Priuli
+(1618–1623), and Chiara Delfino-Conaro (1625–1629). Those ten old
+Doges were mostly parsimonious, very weary of life, and generally
+uninteresting, and probably their wives and families were as prosaic
+and uninteresting as themselves.
+
+There was however something naively burlesque in the decision of
+Dogaressa Paolina Loredano-Contarini, the Consort of Doge Carlo
+Contarini (1655–1656), not to appear in any public ceremonial. She was
+an immensely stout woman and unusually plain-looking, and she feared
+that the salutations of the populace would not partake of their usually
+complimentary character. Venetians had an innate sense of humour,
+and personal peculiarities appealed irresistibly to their risible
+faculties. Dogaressa or not, she would undoubtedly have been the butt
+of ridicule!
+
+Palazzi in his “_Fasti Ducales_” says of her, “_non volvendo mostrarsi
+in publico_.” He adds that on the façade of the church of San Vitale,
+Guiseppe Guoccola sculptured the busts of Doge Carlo and Dogaressa
+Paolina Contarini, placed there in gratitude for their noble bequests
+to the clergy. He also records that Madonna Paolina Loredano, the
+daughter of Messir Lorenzo Loredano, of the Ducal line, was married
+to Messir Carlo Contarini on 22nd February 1600, in the Church of San
+Polo--so they were blessed to see their golden jubilee.
+
+Seven undistinguished Doges followed Doge Carlo Contarini, during
+thirty-two years--1656–1688. The names of only three Dogaressas are
+noted:--Signore Andriana Priuli-Conaro (1656), Elisabetta Pisani-Valier
+(1656–1658), and Lucia Barbarigo-Pesaro (1658–1659); but we know
+nothing more about them.
+
+In 1688 Venice roused herself once more to welcome home, with
+enthusiastic honours, one of the greatest generals she had ever
+produced--Cavaliere Francesco Morosini. Thrice he bore the grand rank
+of Captain-General of the Venetian fleet, and thrice he carried her
+colours nobly on to victory. The twenty-five years’ war with Turkey
+for the possession of Candia gave the Admiral and his devoted forces
+rare opportunities for the display of patriotism and prowess, and right
+worthily they acquitted themselves. The worsted Turks were compelled to
+yield the Morea and its classical sites to the victorious Venetians.
+That was the rare gift Francesco Morosini laid at the feet of the aged
+“Queen of the Adriatic.”
+
+No foreign conquest for many a long year had been scored to Venetian
+arms, and she had lost all that she had fought for; but now new life,
+new hope, new enterprise swept over _canali_, _campi_, and _case_.
+Every man was a soldier or sailor, every boy an embryo hero. Turkish
+flags again waved before the Basilica, Turkish prisoners again filled
+the Arsenal, Turkish treasures again were poured out upon the Lido. The
+Captain-General’s return was a triumph. Greeted by nobles and citizens
+in unison, he was dubbed “_Peloponesiaco_,” and lifted tumultuously
+upon the Ducal throne,--lately vacated by the death of Doge Marcantonio
+Giustiniani.
+
+Alas, we know not whether a jubilant Dogaressa shared his honours.
+Possibly the valiant hero had had little or no time during his lifelong
+service to the State for serious love-making, and though, by a sailor’s
+licence, he may have had a wife in every port, no _cicisbeo_ or
+_patita_ was possible as Dogaressa. Relics of Doge Francisco Morosini
+may be seen at the Museo Civico, his tomb is in San Stefano, and a
+triumphal arch, erected in his honour by the Government, is within the
+_Sala del Scrutino_ of the Ducal Palace.
+
+If the hero Doge had no Consort, his successor was more fortunate:
+indeed Doge Silvestro Valier (1694–1700), lives in history upon the
+fair fame of his wife--many rulers of States and lesser magnates
+have had the same fortunate experience. We may read, in relation to
+Dogaressa Elisabetta Quirini-Valier, the true old saying “manners
+maketh man” as woman maketh man!
+
+In spite of the prohibition of 1645 the new First Lady of Venice made
+her solemn Entry and was crowned with all the usual ceremonies. On the
+4th of March 1694, the Dogaressa, robed in a great State mantle of
+cloth of gold trimmed with sable, and wearing upon her head a white
+lace veil and a jewelled _Corno_, with a collar and pendant cross of
+diamonds, and attended by a numerous suite of gentlewomen, awaited the
+deputation of salutation from the Council of “Forty.” Her _osella_ had
+her profile in relief and the legend:--“_Elisabetta Quirina-Valeria
+Ducissa Venetiarum 1694_.” Her progress from the Palazzo Valier to the
+Ducal Palace has not been described, but it appears that her assumption
+of the _Corno_ gave umbrage to the _Provvidetori delle Pompe_, and
+other captious critics, for a curious enactment of the Council, on
+13th July 1700, forbade the Dogaressa wearing at any time a _Corno_ on
+her head.
+
+Doge Silvestro Valier and Dogaressa Elisabetta Quirini-Valier had been
+married in the church of Santa Maria Formosa, on the 18th of July 1649:
+consequently they lived to celebrate their golden wedding in 1699.
+In the case too of Dogaressa Elisabetta another restriction of the
+_Promissione_ was cancelled--her right to receive foreign ambassadors.
+Surrounded by her Court of maids of honour and gentlewomen-in-waiting,
+she entertained all the envoys in turn accredited to Venice, and
+moreover, accepted at their hands costly gifts against all the
+prohibitory clauses of State decrees.
+
+At the Museo Civico is a putative portrait of the Dogaressa. She has
+fair hair entwined with silver thread, perhaps to foil the natural
+silver strands, her features retain traces of distinction and of
+beauty. Her skin is pale, her eyes bright, and she wears an air of
+repose and refinement with no little natural dignity of carriage.
+Several of her letters have been preserved, wherein she shows herself
+to have been a woman of sympathetic and charitable disposition, but of
+retiring and unassuming manners.
+
+Doge Sebastiano Valier died in 1700, and was buried near the second
+altar in the right aisle of SS. Giovanni e Paolo, under the enormous
+monument erected by his father, Doge Betruccio Valier, who died in
+1658. There too, eight years after, the widowed Dogaressa was laid
+to rest. Her memorial statue by Giovanni Bonazza represents her as
+a large and wrinkled woman, with elaborate curls round her face,
+and covered to her feet with brocade, furs, laces, embroidery, and
+jewels--something perchance like a Venetian replica of our own
+Elisabeth! The epitaph is as follows:--“_Elisabetta Quirini Silvestri
+Conjux, Romana virtute, Veneta Pietate, et Ducale Corona Insignis.
+Obiit MDCCVIII._”
+
+
+                                  II
+
+The seventeenth century in Venice, was essentially one of lean years,
+strangely contrasting with the exuberant life of its predecessor;
+whilst the eighteenth century saw eight decades of disaster, famine,
+and death! Candia, the only remaining jewel in the crown of Venice,
+was rudely snatched from its tarnished setting and no effort was
+forthcoming to regain the lost treasure. Everything went from bad to
+worse. The nobles unblushingly proclaimed their contempt for commerce
+and conquest. The armed bands of the Republic were not maintained as a
+fighting force, and the ships of war were allowed to rot and rust at
+their anchorage. The citizens, imitating the madness of their betters,
+allowed industry and trade to slip through their fingers; and ceased to
+care when foreign capitalists and foreign workmen settled down among
+them, and exploited their looms and tools.
+
+Pleasure, extravagance, gaming, and immorality, ate like foul cancers
+into the vitals of society.
+
+The one and only aim of Venetians of every class was to dissipate
+the splendid heritage and spend the resources of their ancestors. A
+noble would light-heartedly wager his bank-balance, his estate, his
+palace and his all, on some ephemeral passion; and yet the gaiety
+of life was never so effulgent in the city of Venus. Venice was the
+plaything of Europe, the pantomime of Italy, and the shadow-dance of
+herself--bewitching in her heedless spendthrift self-indulgence, a
+whirling _ballerina_, scattering her favours, her kisses, and her
+pleas for plaudits everywhere.
+
+The first eight Doges of the eighteenth century passed sadly across the
+Dogal pageant ground,--“lean, slippered pantaloons” as Shakespeare has
+it, or little better. With them went solitarily and unemotionally but
+two Dogaressas--Signora Laura Conaro-Conaro, 1709–1722, and Signora
+Elena Badoero-Pisano, 1735–1741. The last we know only by her name,
+and yet that name is a golden one, for was not the family of Badoero
+or Partecipazio, the very first of all the nobility, and was not her
+great ancestor, Agnello Partecipazio, the first Maker and the first
+“Grand Doge of Venice!” Donna Laura Conaro, daughter of Messir or
+Cavaliere, Nicolo Conaro,--all the men of Venice claimed knightly rank
+in her decadent days,--married Messir, or Cavaliere Giovanni Conaro,
+her cousin, on 11th October 1667, in the church of Gli Gesuati. She
+appears to have been a very proper sort of woman: at all events the
+fast life of the nobles and their ladies had no charms for her, and
+she set her face resolutely against the extravagances and indecencies
+around her. Consequently, when Doge Giovanni Conaro died in 1722, the
+Dogaressa entered Religion and became a postulant of the Order of the
+Augustinians of SS. Gervaso e Protasio. There she passed the residue of
+her days in fasting, praying, and alms-giving, being consoled greatly
+by the visits of her three devoted sons, Francesco, Nicolo, and Alvise,
+whom she received within her narrow cell with its little iron-barred
+window.
+
+The devout Signora had retained,--rather contrary to any vow of poverty
+she may have taken,--a quantity of personal belongings--money, articles
+in gold and silver, and other valuables: these she bequeathed to the
+Prioress of the Convent, the Reverend Mother Maria Lucia. In a purse
+were found one thousand six hundred and ninety-four _zecchini_,--small
+silver coins,--another purse contained one hundred and forty gold
+ducats. Among the treasures were crosses, reliquaries, candlesticks,
+salvers, sconces, _pomi_ or hand-warmers, bowls, knives, forks, spoons,
+flagons, vases, medals, thimbles, toilet-boxes and brushes, trays,
+inkstands, etc. etc., all of pure and beautifully wrought silver.
+
+In a chest of drawers, were articles of jewellery, silver filigree
+work, gold medals, and very many other objects,--lover’s offerings,
+curios, and rock-crystal beads. Among the personal ornaments were
+bracelets, rings, and necklaces of diamonds and turquoises. Perhaps the
+most unexpected property was the Signora’s gilded walnut bedstead, with
+its coverlet of silk and gold, edged with rare Burano point-lace and
+gold and silver fringe, and lined with blue and yellow Chinese satin.
+In a cedar coffer were found a rich robe of crimson velvet worked with
+gold, a skirt of pink satin trimmed with silver lace, and other costly
+garments, but, alas, they were all in rags and tatters,--eloquent
+tokens of the rottenness and emptiness of earthly glory.
+
+Dogaressa Laura, quietly and unregretfully laid aside the robes of
+State, to die and to be buried in the sackcloth of humility, may she
+rest in peace. Ten years after reverent hands had laid “Sister” Laura
+in her humble grave, within the burial-plot of the Convent, two other
+hands were clasped in the joyous pledge of matrimony,--Cavaliere
+Giovanni Alvise Mocenigo, Procurator of San Marco, and Donna Pisana
+Conaro, daughter of Messir Federico Conaro, who, on 5th October 1739,
+were made man and wife together, in the new and sumptuous church of
+Santa Maria del Salute. This was an alliance of the two most powerful
+families of the time, and great things were expected from the union.
+
+The “_Archivio Privato di Mocenigo_” contains an inventory of Donna
+Pisana’s trousseau, which gives an excellent idea of the expensive
+splendour of the wedding outfit of a noble bride.
+
+Cavaliere Mocenigo’s sister, Paolina, had married Prince Trivulzio of
+Milan, and she, despite her rank, undertook to purchase at first-hand
+things of beauty and joy for the bride-elect. From Milan went gold
+brocades and silver silken stuffs of crimson, blue, and pearl colour,
+embroidered with gold and silver. Paris supplied bodices, fichus and
+tippets of rich corded silk worked with floral designs in gold and
+silver, silk handkerchiefs, collarettes, and sleeves of lace and gold
+and silver thread, and toilet appointments in gold and silver. Antwerp
+contributed caps, collars and cuffs, of the finest linen thread and
+linen articles for the toilet--perhaps also underclothing, although
+not named--ladies were perhaps not so particular then as now in this
+respect! From England came a gold repeater-watch with a jewelled chain,
+and many more articles in metal. Home industries were not overlooked
+for the bill for Burano _punto in aria_, reached six hundred and
+sixty gold ducats. The total value, not including magnificent jewels
+and other splendid items of the goldsmith’s craft, exceeded twenty
+thousand gold ducats!
+
+In 1763, Cavaliere Giovanni Alvise Mocenigo was unanimously elected
+Doge by the Council of Forty, and the people acquiesced in his election
+without demur. The new Doge determined to revive the ceremonies of
+the sixteenth Century, and the “Forty” appear to have offered no
+opposition,--indeed they were quite favourable to the project. The
+_Promissione_ contained several notable clauses with respect to the
+privileges and honours pertaining to the new Dogaressa. Three days
+before the election of the Doge the Council decreed that the solemn
+Entry should be conducted with traditional full State. Her Serenity’s
+robes of State were to be fashioned on the old-time models, although
+she was forbidden to assume the _Corno_. Her right to accept the
+offerings of the Trade-Guilds, of Ambassadors, and others, was
+acknowledged.
+
+Upon the morning of her “Triumph,” 22nd April, the Council despatched
+the Secretaries of State to greet the new First Lady. One of them,
+Messir Cesare Vignola, offered a flattering address, in the name of
+the Council, praising her virtues and extolling her charms:--“Your
+Serenity has the noble and particular admiration of all the Courts of
+Italy, and their Excellencies look for a great revival of industry and
+prosperity within the Republic under your discriminating patronage....”
+The water-pageant, which conducted the Dogaressa to the Ducal Palace,
+saw no “_Bucintoro_” certainly, but innumerable flotillas of decorated
+barcas and gondolas. Within the _Sala di Udienza del Doge_ she was
+welcomed by the nobles and State officials.
+
+The fêtes were prolonged, as in former times, for three days, upon each
+of which the Dogaressa appeared in the richest of rich costumes, and
+her jewels varied with her dress. Upon the first day, after she had
+removed her heavy State mantle of silver embossed cloth of gold, she
+wore a _sottana_, or gown, of silver tissue overlaid with sprays of
+flowers in gold relief, the bodice was covered with palettes of solid
+gold with a white cincture of gold and immense brilliants, her long
+veil of fine white silk lace fell from under a coronet of gold and
+precious stones. She wore too the customary large pectoral cross of
+diamonds and many fine gemmed rings.
+
+Each day wound up with a Court ball, at which the Dogaressa danced
+minuets in turn with each of the Procurators of San Marco. The company
+included Princess Faustina Rezzonico, niece of the Pope, the wives and
+daughters of the foreign ambassadors, and all the more distinguished
+gentlewomen of the Court and City. Great were the public rejoicings at
+this splendid revival of prestige and prosperity. Surely Venice was
+once more herself,--the radiant Golden Queen,--at least a second
+youth was hers. Her silver locks amongst the gold appeared to be
+recoloured, wrinkles of and witherings of brow and breast vanished, her
+step was once more lilting. Yes, it was even so, the last flash in the
+pan,--the expiring effort of a long life. No more Dogaressas followed
+in Signora Pisana Cornaro-Mocenigo’s golden pageant footsteps,--Venice
+had no more honours to bestow.
+
+  [Illustration: THE FORTUNE-TELLER.
+
+  Piero Longhi. (xviii Century).
+
+  NATIONAL GALLERY. LONDON.]
+
+It was only what might have been expected that poets, musicians,
+orators, and chroniclers, should illustrate these unwonted festivities,
+but alas their efforts partook of the fulsome and insincere. The Muse
+of Poetry, the Spirit of Music, and the Sibyl of History were dying in
+the common death: their inspirations were as the vapourings of delirium.
+
+    “Non le Reine su la cipria sponda
+      Del cornar germe gloriosa e forte
+      Domma a veder l’invita oggi la sorte
+    Che il sangue in te che la virtu secondo.”
+
+Such was their tenor.
+
+Dogaressa Pisana however herself took up her pen, and dipped it in the
+ink of commonsense. The marriage of her eldest son Alvise, in 1766,
+with the very youthful Donna Francesca Grimani,--granddaughter of Doge
+Pietro Grimani, 1741–1752,--was a splendid affair, wherein all the
+arrangements were personally superintended by the Dogaressa, and she
+adds in her account “would you believe it, the expenses were more than
+456,487 lire.” The marriage was in every way satisfactory, the young
+couple were talented, highly educated, and very comfortably provided
+for. As in most things human when fair skies are overhead, a contrary
+Providence provides unlooked-for tempests, and so the joy-bells of
+maternity were cruelly changed for the sad knells of mortality. The
+accomplished and virtuous young wife,--she was only seventeen years of
+age,--had been nursing her first-born but three short months, when, by
+some accident or other, as it was reported, she fell swooning into the
+fire blazing upon the mosaic hearth of her bed-chamber, and, before
+help could reach her, the bride of a year perished in fearful agony.
+
+This was a stunning grief to good Dogaressa Pisana. She eschewed all
+ceremonies and mourned in secret for her dear daughter-in-law. At her
+Consort’s villa at Cordignano, near Ceneda, she found consolation,
+and there she braced herself for the duties of her station. Among her
+papers are letters addressed to the steward of the estate, which reveal
+many natural home-like touches of the simple life she loved so well.
+The country folk almost worshipped the ground the noble lady trod; she
+was sponsor to their children, visitor of their sick, their confidante
+in sorrows and in joys. But her days too were numbered, for, on 10th
+March 1769, the big bell of the Basilica announced to a sympathising
+city the death of the magnanimous Dogaressa.
+
+“Near twenty-two o’clock” wrote her Chaplain, “a severe fit of coughing
+ruptured a blood-vessel in my beloved mistress’s breast and she ceased
+to live.” Three days after her death the body of the Dogaressa was
+carried to her burial with every mark of respect and honour. “In
+death,” the same writer goes on to say, “her Serenity’s face was
+beautiful and full of colour. She seemed to be wrapt in sweet repose,
+and her expression betokened what she had been in her life, virtuous,
+charitable and estimable....”
+
+The funeral obsequies followed the usual custom, only her
+lying-in-state was in the Basilica, not in the _Sala de’ Pioveghi_.
+Four hundred yellow burning wax torches were placed around the bier and
+the candles of all the altars were alight. The remains were exposed in
+an open casket, wrapped in a State robe of cloth of gold, with white
+kid gloves, lace sleeves, and a veil across her bosom to her feet. The
+“_Requiem_” and Absolutions were sung by full choir, and the Master
+of the Ceremonies, Messir Francesco Venier, pronounced the funeral
+oration. An imposing procession bore the dead Dogaressa across the
+Piazza and by a circuitous way to SS. Giovanni e Paolo.
+
+Doge Alvise Mocenigo survived his beloved Consort nine years, but in
+1771 he contracted a second marriage with a very young girl, Donna
+Polissena, daughter of Messir Giulio Contarini-Da Mula. It does not
+appear that she was accorded the position of a Dogaressa and she
+resided chiefly at the Doge’s country villa, where he was wont to
+gather all the young, bright and talented people he could around him.
+His _dogado_ of eleven years was adorned by many cultured women, who
+displayed phenomenal enthusiasm for classical study, philosophy,
+poetry, and literature. Probably this was a sublime attempt on the part
+of the fair sex to correct in some way the indolence and unintelligence
+of their leisured men-folk. Madonna Polissena Contarini-Da
+Mula-Mocenigo, was the centre of a little Court of high-souled
+admirers who greeted her:--
+
+    “L’Alme tue glorie echeggiano
+    Ecclesa Polissena....”
+
+There appears to have been two principal candidates for the Ducal
+throne upon the death of Doge Alvise Mocenigo in 1779,--Cavaliere
+Andrea Tron and Messir Paolo Renier. The former, however, was
+overshadowed by a scandal affecting his wife Madonna Caterina and the
+Secretary of State Antonio Gratarolo, and Renier was elected. He was
+an accomplished statesman, highly talented, and very ambitious. But
+his reputation very soon became assoiled by reason of the traffic he
+made of posts of influence and emolument under Government. His avarice
+became so grasping that it was said in Venice:--“The Doge makes the
+beggars at the door of San Marco pay him for their stations!”
+
+Doge Renier’s family had not hitherto been conspicuous for services to
+the State, although it belonged to the Second grade of the nobility,
+dating its enrolment from the Genoese War of 1391. His first wife,
+Madonna Giustina Dona-Renier, to whom he was married on 28th April
+1733, was a daughter of Messir Lionardo Dona, or Donato, a Ducal
+house,--but she never became Dogaressa for her death took place in
+1751, and she is buried in the church of San Antonio at Padua.
+
+Renier however was not a widower when he stepped upon the Ducal dais
+of Estate, but his spouse was not recognised in Court circles, for
+she had been a rope-dancer! He had picked her up accidentally at
+Constantinople, the same year that he buried Madonna Caterina: her
+name was Margherita Delmaz. Friends and descendants of this marriage
+had quite another story: they said Madonna Margherita had never been a
+dancer or anything else of the kind. He found her, they affirmed, at
+Constantinople, where he was an Agent or Consul of his Government,--in
+a Catholic school for poor girls. He took her away, had her educated
+at Padua, and then married her. Doge Renier signalised his elevation
+to the throne by profuse distribution of largesse, hoping thereby to
+pave the way for Madonna Margherita’s solemn Entry. This was never
+accomplished, but “_La Falsa Dogaressa_,” as she was slightingly
+called, was allowed to reside with her husband in the Ducal Palace.
+The couple became more and more unpopular by reason of their meanness,
+insincerity, and ostentation. One story perhaps illustrates as well as
+another the selfishness and petulance of the Doge and his wife. It was
+said that she very much disliked the clanging of the church bells,--San
+Basso, on the North side of the Ducal Palace, was the worst offender.
+Madonna Margherita sent a peremptory order to the _Pievano_, or Rector,
+that if he would not stop his bell she would cut the bell rope! The
+bells of the Basilica next came into the controversy, but the Prior
+refused the behest of silence. The Doge interfered and told the Prior
+that his “bells set all the Dogaressa’s teeth on edge.” A bargain
+however was struck, the Doge, on his part, promised a monthly subsidy,
+but whenever this was overdue the Prior was at liberty to ring his
+bells as before!
+
+During the reign of Doge Renier the last valorous deeds for Venice
+were done by Admiral Agnello Emo. He attacked the Barbary pirates in
+1784–1788 and freed the Adriatic and the coasts of North Africa from
+their depredations. The valiant Emo took up the baton of Francesco
+Morosini, and, had his lot been cast in less degenerate days, he would
+have received from the Venetians a similar “Triumph.” He died alone and
+in a way dishonoured in the Palazzo Diedo in 1792. It was Doge Marco
+Foscarini, 1762–1763,--the last of the literary Doges,--who wrote thus
+of Venice and the Venetians:--“This century will be a terrible one for
+our children and our grandchildren!” He probably, seer-like, perceived
+the imminence of the death of the liberties of Venice, but he could not
+have known that this forecast would come true within fifteen years of
+his death.
+
+Doge Paolo Renier died on 18th February 1789, and his burial was
+conducted in secret within the church of San Nicolo da Tolentino,--the
+reason for this cannot be stated, perhaps he directed this unusual
+arrangement in his will, fearing the ebullition of popular feeling
+against himself and his spouse. Madonna Margherita lived on till the
+11th of January 1817: her death took place in her apartments in the
+Mocenigo Palace at San Stae but the place of her burial has not been
+recorded.
+
+We now reach the last scene in the vivid and venerable pageant of
+Venice. The body-politic was infinitely more insecure than the
+_fondamento_ of the least stability; she had no policy, no
+consistency, and no reserve of energy. Her men and her women were
+absolutely indifferent to her fate, and ribaldry and buffoonery
+appeared to be her only _rôle_. Two circumstances sufficiently
+illustrate the conditions of society at the end of the eighteenth
+century: Marital infidelity became so rampant that between 1782–1796,
+the “Ten” registered two hundred and seventy-four applications for
+nullity. When the celebrated Princess Gonzaga visited Venice no one
+would have anything to do with her, although everybody lived in a house
+of glass. At last Madonna Caterina Tron, wife of a Procurator of Saint
+Mark, offered to chaperon her and present her at Court. “Ladies,”
+she said, speaking to her fellow-noble courtesans, “this is Princess
+Gonzaga, she belongs to an illustrious family: as for the rest I will
+not answer either for you nor for myself!” The tempest was gathering
+up its strength to make a last and overwhelming attack upon Venice,
+defenceless as she was. Quite significant of coming catastrophe the
+feeblest, the weariest, and the least resourceful of all the long
+line of Doges,--Lodovico Manin,--in 1789 sat down despondently upon
+the Ducal throne--the last of the Doges of Venice. A man of strong
+character or of supreme patriotism might have saved the Republic
+at least for a time, but no popular leader appeared, and everybody
+accepted the inevitable without a struggle. The Dogaressa was a simple,
+good and modest woman, had she been a Valrada Candiano or a Zilia
+Dandolo she might have made a man of her husband, but she shrank with
+him from every responsibility and every effort.
+
+Dogaressa Elisabetta Grimani-Manin, daughter of Messir Antonio Grimani,
+became the wife of Lodovico Manin on 14th September 1748, in the
+Church of Santa Maria Salute. She died at Treviso on 31st August 1792
+of a nervous malady which affected her head. Her body was carried to
+Venice and was buried with the same honours as those rendered to the
+departed Dogaressa Pisana Grimani-Mocenigo in 1769, in the Church of
+Santa Maria degli Scalzi, where the Doge erected the monument which
+covers his remains as well as hers. She was laid to rest in the last
+State robe of cloth of gold ever made in Venice, and with her were
+buried the last insignia of her rank:--her grave was the grave of
+Venice.
+
+For five years more dragged on the dying Queen of the Adriatic in
+constant alarm and in peril of death, every day seemed likely to be her
+last. The funeral peals which had signalised the passing of the last
+Dogaressa of Venice had scarcely exhausted their echoes over the islets
+of the lagunes, when upon men’s ears smote another and a less melodious
+sound--the stunning roar of cannon! The “second Attila” was at hand,
+his legions were massing in view of San Marco and the Campanile, and it
+needed but a word to set loose raiders and looters upon palace, church,
+and homestead, quite as desperate and as cruel as those barbarians, who
+fourteen hundred years before, had driven the panic-stricken forebears
+of the men of Venice from terra-firma to the lagune quicksands. Manin
+feebly backed by the emasculate “Forty,” tried to temporise with the
+invader of Italy, but Buonaparte knew no such policy. War was declared
+upon Venice on 1st May 1797, and the Venetians collapsed without
+striking a blow in self-defence.
+
+Lodovico Manin on 3rd June 1797, divested himself of his mantle of
+State and his jewelled _Corno_, and delivered them unresistingly
+into the hands of Buonaparte’s lieutenant. The “_Libro d’Oro_”
+of the nobility was also voluntarily surrendered and publicly burned
+with the Ducal Regalia in the Piazza. The last state of Venice was
+infinitely worse than the first. The annihilation of her independence
+was celebrated by her depraved nobles add citizens with enthusiastic
+demonstrations of joy, banal doctrines of up-to-date republicanism were
+madly accepted, and everything that partook of the glorious past was
+swept away without remorse. The atrophy of the Venetians developed into
+lunacy--Venice died insane!
+
+The fall of a great man, the end of a great cause, the ruin of an
+Empire all call forth lamentation, but no tears were shed for the dead
+Queen, no sighs were breathed for lost liberty, no regrets were uttered
+for “_Venus Calva_.” The echoes of a mighty past were stilled, and
+the gallantries of a thousand years were silenced--save only for the
+harmonious cries of gondoliers.
+
+    “I am coming--_stalì_--but you know not for whom!
+                  _Stalì_--not for whom!
+    I am passing--_premè_--but I stay not for you!
+                  _Premè_--not for you!”
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I lay down my pen with regret--and as I close my “_Libro d’Oro
+delle Dogaresse di Venezia_” I fall into an enchanting reverie,
+wherein I descry many benevolent faces smiling at me, amid iridescent
+scintillations of Venetian rainbows. Their hair is golden, but here and
+there are strands of silver, which only add to the lustre of the gold.
+Their faces, if wrinkled,--for they are not maidens,--and their open
+bosoms, if withered, bear no signs of age, for they are beautified by
+the cunning artifices of the toilet. Their heads are crowned by horned
+diadems encrusted with flashing jewels, veils of white point-lace lend
+grace to their coiffures. From their shoulders downwards the figures of
+my benevolent visitors are vested--some in crimson silk, but most in
+regal wealth of cloth of gold. Diamonds flash upon their breasts and
+around their waists.
+
+They are smiling at me, for I have written about them nothing but
+what is pleasant, and I fancy I hear their sweet melodious voices,
+whispering in unison, and saying:--“We played our _rôle_ in the best
+way we could, we made no enemies, but we left many friends--friends
+such as those who shall read our Story in your ‘Book of Fame.’”
+
+I awoke from my dream, and I knew that I had seen a vision of the noble
+and devoted Dogaressas of Venice.
+
+
+
+
+             ROLL OF THE MOST SERENE DOGARESSAS OF VENICE
+
+
+           _Dogaressa._                    _Doge._              _Date._
+
+    1. MARTZA D’ESTE(1)  }          = OBELARIO ANTENORIO        804–810
+    2. CAROLA (2)        }
+
+    3. ELENA                        = {AGNELLO BADOERO
+                                      {      or PARTECIPAZIO    810–827
+                                        (“Grand” Doge)
+
+    4. FELICITA                     = {GIUSTINIANO BADOERO
+                                      {      or PARTECIPAZIO    827–830
+
+    5. ANGELA SANUDO                = PIETRO TRIBUNO            888–912
+
+    6. ARCIELDA                     = PIETRO CANDIANO III.      942–959
+
+    7. GIOVANNICCIA (1)  }
+    8. VALDRADA (2)      }          = PIETRO CANDIANO IV.       959–976
+
+    9. FELICITA MALIPIERO           = PIETRO ORSEOLO I.         976–978
+                                        (Saint)
+
+    10. MARINA                      = TRIBUNO MEMO              979–991
+
+    11. MARIA                       = PIETRO ORSEOLO II.       991–1009
+                                        (“Grand” Doge)
+
+    12. GRIMELDA D’UNGHERIA         = OTTONE ORSEOLO          1009–1026
+
+    13. TEODORA COMMENO             = DOMENIGO SELVO          1071–1084
+
+    14. CORNELLA BEMBO              = VITALE FALIERO          1084–1096
+
+    15. FELICIA                     = VITALE MICHIEL I.       1096–1102
+
+    16. MATELDA                     = ORDELAFO FALIERO        1102–1116
+
+    17. ALICIA                      = DOMENIGO MICHIEL        1116–1130
+                                        (“Grand” Doge)
+
+    18. SOFIA                       = DOMENIGO MOROSINI       1148–1156
+
+    19. FELICIA MARIA      }
+          DI BOEMODO       }        = VITALE MICHIEL II.      1156–1172
+
+    20. CECILIA                     = SEBASTIANO ZIANI        1172–1178
+                                        (“Grand” Doge)
+
+    21. FELICITA BEMBO              = ARRIGO DANDOLO          1192–1205
+                                        (“Grand” Doge)
+
+    22. MARINA BASEGGIO (1)    }
+    23. COSTANZA DI SICILIA (2)}    = PIETRO ZIANI            1205–1229
+    24. SABBA MINOTTO (3)      }
+
+    25. MARIA STORLATO (1)      }
+    26. VALDRADA DI SICILIA (2) }   = GIACOMO TIEPOLO         1229–1249
+                                        (“Grand” Doge)
+
+    27. ALOICIA DA PRATA            = RENIERO ZENO            1253–1268
+
+    28. AGNESE GHISI (1)         }
+    29. MARCHESINA DI BIENNE (2) }  = LORENZO TIEPOLO         1268–1275
+
+    30. JACOBINA                    = GIACOMO CONTARINI       1275–1280
+
+    31. CATERINA                    = GIOVANNI DANDOLO        1280–1289
+
+    32. TOMMASINA MOROSINI (1)  }   = PIETRO GRADENIGO        1289–1310
+    33. AGNESE ZANTANI (2)      }       (“Grand” Doge)
+
+
+    34. AGNESE                      = MARINO ZORZI            1310–1312
+
+    35. FRANCHESINA                 = GIOVANNI SORANZO        1312–1329
+                                        (“Grand” Doge)
+
+    36. ELISABETTA                  = FRANCESCO DANDOLO       1329–1339
+
+    37. GIUSTINA CAPPELLO           = BARTOLOMMEO GRADENIGO   1339–1342
+
+    38.      ?              (1)}
+    39. ISABELLA DE’FIESCHI (2)}    = ANDREA DANDOLO          1342–1354
+                                        (“Grand” Doge)
+
+    40. TOMMASINA CONTARINI (1)}
+    41. ALUYCIA GRADENIGO   (2)}    = MARINO FALIERO          1354–1355
+                   }
+
+    42. ADRIANA BORROMEO (1)}       = GIOVANNI GRADENIGO      1355–1356
+    43. MARINA CAPPELLO (2) }
+
+    44. MARCHESINA GHISI            = LORENZO CELSI           1361–1365
+
+    45. GIOVANNA (1)           }
+    46. CATERINA (2)           }    = MARCO CORNARO           1365–1367
+
+    47. CRISTINA CONDULMIERO        = MICHELE MOROSINI             1382
+
+    48. AGNESE                      = ANTONIO VENIER          1382–1400
+
+    49. MARINA GALLINA              = MICHELE STENO           1400–1412
+
+    50.     ?    CAPPELLO           = TOMMASO MOCENIGO        1412–1423
+                                        (“Grand” Doge)
+
+    51. MARIA PRIULI (1)          } = FRANCESCO FOSCARI       1423–1457
+    52. MARINA NANI (2)           }     (“Grand” Doge)
+
+
+    53. GIOVANNA DANDOLO            = PASQUALE MALIPIERO      1457–1462
+
+    54. LETIZIA (1)               }
+    55. CRISTINA SANUDO (2)       } = CRISTOFORO MORO         1462–1471
+
+    56. ALOIDEA MOROSINI            = NICOLO TRON             1471–1473
+
+    57. ELENA BARBARIGO (1)       }
+    58. CONTARINA CONTARINI       } = NICOLO MARCELLO         1473–1474
+          MOROSINI (2)            }
+
+    59. LAURA ZORZI                 = PIETRO MOCENIGO         1474–1476
+
+    60. REGINA GRADENIGO            = ANDREA VENDRAMIN        1476–1478
+
+    61. TADDEA MICHIEL              = GIOVANNI MOCENIGO       1478–1485
+
+    62. LUCIA RUZZINI               = MARCO BARBARIGO         1485–1486
+
+    63. ELISABETTA SORANZO          = AGOSTINO BARBARIGO      1486–1501
+
+    64. GIUSTINA GIUSTINIANI        = LIONARDO LOREDANO       1501–1521
+                                        (“Grand” Doge)
+
+    65. CATERINA LOREDAN            = ANTONIO GRIMANI         1521–1523
+
+    66. BENEDETTA VENDRAMIN         = ANDREA GRITTI           1523–1538
+
+    67. MARIA PASQUALIGO            = PIETRO LANDO            1538–1545
+
+    68. GIOVANNA DA MULA (1)   }
+    69. ALICIA GIUSTINIANI (2) }    = FRANCESCO DONATO        1545–1553
+
+    70. ZILIA DANDOLO               = LORENZO PRIULI          1556–1559
+
+    71. ELENA DIEDO                 = GIROLAMO PRIULI         1559–1567
+
+    72. MARIA PASQUALIGO (1) }
+    73. MARIA CAPPELLO (2)   }      = PIETRO LOREDANO         1567–1570
+
+    74. LOREDANA MARCELLO           = ALVISE MOCENIGO         1570–1577
+
+    75. CECILIA CONTARINI           = SEBASTIANO VENIER       1577–1578
+                                        (“Grand” Doge)
+
+    76. ARCANGELA CANALI            = NICOLO DA PONTE         1578–1585
+
+    77. LAURA MOROSINI              = PASQUALE CICOGNA        1585–1595
+
+    78. MOROSINA MOROSINI           = MARINO GRIMANI          1595–1606
+
+    79. ELENA BARBARIGO             = ANTONIO PRIULI          1618–1623
+
+    80. CHIARA DELFINO              = GIOVANNI CORNARO        1625–1629
+
+    81. PAOLINA LOREDANO            = CARLO CONTARINI         1655–1656
+
+    82. ANDREANA PRIULI             = FRANCESCO CORNARO            1656
+
+    83. ELISABETTA PISANI           = BERTUCCIO VALIER        1656–1658
+
+    84. LUCIA BARBARIGO             = GIOVANNI PESARO         1658–1659
+
+    85. ELISABETTA QUERINI          = SILVESTRO VALIER        1694–1700
+
+    86. LAURA CORNARO               = GIOVANNI CORNARO        1709–1722
+
+    87. ELENA BADOERO               = ALVISE PISANI           1735–1741
+
+    88. PISANA CORNARO (1)     }    = ALVISE MOCENIGO         1763–1778
+    89. POLISSENA MOCENIGO (2) }
+
+    90. GIUSTINA DONATO (1)    }    = PAOLO RENIER            1779–1788
+        MARGHERITA DELMAZ (2)  }
+
+    91. ELISABETTA GRIMANI          = LODOVICO MANIN          1788–1797
+
+
+
+
+                         A SHORT BIBLIOGRAPHY
+
+
+                      _Archivio Veneto_, Vols. iii., iv., v.,
+                          xiii., xiv., xx., xxxi., xxxviii.
+
+                      _Archivio Veneto Nuovo_, Vols. xii.,
+                        xiii., xiv., xvii., xviii., xix.
+
+    Barbaro, A.       _Prud. et gravi doc. circa la Elet.
+                        della Moglie_                      Venice, 1548
+
+    Bembo, P.         _Gli Asolani_                        Venice, 1588
+
+    Browne, H. F.     _Studies in Venetian History_, 2
+                         vols.                             London, 1903
+
+    Do. do.           _In and About Venice_                London, 1908
+
+    Burckhardt, J.    _The Culture of the Renaissance_     London, 1892
+
+    Carducci, G.      _Studi Letterari_                   Livorno, 1874
+
+    Do. do.           _Galanterie Cavalleresche del secoli
+                         xii e xiii_                      Livorno, 1879
+
+    Casola, Frate P.  _Viaggio a Gerusalemme_               Milan, 1865
+
+    Cecchetti, B.     _Il Doge di Venezia_                 Venice, 1864
+
+    Do. do.           _La moglie di Marino Falier_         Venice, 1871
+
+    Do. do.           _La Donna di Medio Evo a Venezia_    Venice, 1886
+
+    Cecchini, D.      _Trionfo della Dogaressa_            Venice, 1874
+
+    ----              “_Cerimoniali_” (Archivio del Stato) Venice, 1464-
+                                                                   1592
+
+    Cicogna, E. A.     _Inscrizioni Veneziane_             Venice, 1874
+
+    Do. do.            _Tavole Cronologiche Venete_        Venice, 1840
+
+    Crawford, P. M.    _Gleanings from Venetian History_,
+                          2 vols.                          London, 1905
+
+    Damianus, P.       _Opera Omnia_                        Paris, 1743
+
+    Dardano, P. C.     _La Bella e Dotta dif. Belle Donne_ Venice, 1553
+
+    Domenichino, G.    _Nobili Belle Donne_                Venice, 1561
+
+    ----               _Emporium_ (various writers), Vols.
+                         xxi. xxiv.
+
+    Einstein, L.       _The Italian Renaissance in
+                          England_                       New York, 1902
+
+    Faber, Frate F.    _Evagatorium Terræ Sanctæ_       Stuttgart, 1849
+
+    Franco, Veronica   _Terze Rime_                        Venice, 1575
+
+    Franco, G.         _Habiti Delle Donne Veneziane_      Venice, 1610
+
+    Do. do.            _Habiti D’Huomini e Donne
+                         Veneziane_                        Venice, 1610
+
+    Garnett, R.        _History of Literature_             London, 1898
+
+    Gubernatis, A. de  _La Fille de la République_          Paris, 1879
+
+    Hazlitt, W. C.     _History of the Venetian Republic_,
+                          2 vols.                          London, 1900
+
+    Hodgson, F. C.     _Early History of Venice_, 2 vols.  London, 1901
+
+    Litta, P. G.       _Famiglie Celebri D’Italia_,
+                          11 vols.                          Milan, 1819
+
+    Luigini, D.        _Il Libro delle Belle Donne_        Venice, 1553
+
+    Lungo, I. del      _La Donna Italiana del Buono
+                                 Tempo Antico_           Florence, 1906
+
+    Marinello, G.      _Gli Ornamenti delle Donne_         Venice, 1562
+
+    Molmenti, P. G.    _La Dogaressa di Venezia_            Turin, 1887
+
+    Do. do.            _Le Isole della Laguna_              Turin, 1898
+
+    Do. do.            _Storia di Venezia_, 3 vols.         Turin, 1907
+
+    Do. do.            _Venice_ (English Version) 6 vols.  London, 1908
+
+    Palazzi, G.        _La Virtu in Giuoco overo Dame
+                          Patritie di Venetia_             Venice, 1682
+
+    Rodocarnachi, E.    _La Femme Italienne_                Paris, 1907
+
+    Rogissart, F.       _Les Délices D’Italie_              Paris, 1709
+
+    Ruskin, J.          _The Stones of Venice_             London, 1892
+
+    Sabellico, P. G.    _Historiæ Rerum Venetarum_         Venice, 1718
+
+    Sansovino, F.       _Venetia Citta Nobilissima_        Venice, 1581
+
+    Sanudo, M.          _Vite dei Duchi di Venetia_,
+                          58 vols.                         Venice, 1530
+
+    Selincourt, B. and
+      H. de             _Vénise_                           London, 1907
+
+    Sismondi, J. C. D.  _Histoire des Républiques
+                          Italiennes_                       Paris, 1836
+
+    Staley, E.          _Guilds of Florence_               London, 1906
+
+    Do.                 _Tragedies of the Medici_          London, 1909
+
+    Do.                 _Famous Women of Florence_         London, 1909
+
+    Symonds, J. A.      _The Renaissance in Italy_,
+                           5 vols.                         London, 1890
+
+    Tassini, A.         _Curiosita Veneziana_              Venice, 1897
+
+    Uzanne, O.          _L’Art et Les Artifices de la
+                          Beauté_                           Paris, 1902
+
+    Vecellio, C.        _Habiti Antichi e Moderni di
+                          Tutto il Mondo_                  Venice, 1590
+
+    Yriarte, C.         _Vénise_                            Paris, 1882
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The ancient _Chronicles of Venice_ may be arranged in the following
+order:--
+
+       I.  _Cronaca di Giovanni Diacono._
+      II.      Do.  _Gradense._
+     III.      Do.  _Altinate._
+      IV.      Do.  _di Da Canale_ (begins 1267)
+       V.      Do.  _di Marco_ (begins 1292).
+      VI.      Do.  _di Frate Paolino_ (1306).
+     VII.      Do.  _d’Andrea Dandolo--Doge._
+    VIII.      Do.  _di Frate Pietro Carlo_ (1340).
+
+At the Museo Civico in Venice are a number of “Family Archives,”
+“Diaries,” etc., and others, in the possession of various existing
+ancient families, are easily accessible.
+
+
+
+
+                                 INDEX
+
+
+              A
+
+    Accouchement customs, 225
+
+    Adriana--Queen of Padua, 3, 5
+
+    Alaric the Goth, xv, 8
+
+    Al-fresco Delights, 210–215
+
+    “All for Venice!” 161
+
+    _Altane_--Roofs of houses, xxviii, 16, 17, 27, 172
+
+    Altino, 2, 7, 62, 78, 144
+
+    Alvise Venier, Story of, 164, 165
+
+    Amaden, Francesco, (Historian), 270
+
+    Anafesto, Giovanni, 4
+
+        „     Paolo Lucio, (1st Doge), 10, 11, 15, 62, 97
+
+    Antenorio, Beato, 13, 14
+
+        „      Carola, (Dogaressa), 13, 14
+
+        „      Cassandra, 14
+
+        „      Martza, (Dogaressa), 315
+
+        „      Obelario, (Doge), 12, 14
+
+        „      Valentino, 14
+
+    Apple, The Golden, of Paris, 58
+
+    Aquileia, 2, 4, 10, 20, 106
+
+    Arcelle--Dowry-coffers, 24, 30
+
+    Ariana--(Mystic singer), 4
+
+    Arsenal privileges, 76
+
+    Assassinations, 37, 44, 70, 155
+
+    Attila the Hun, 1–8
+
+        „  A second,--Buonaparte, 312
+
+
+              B
+
+    Badobro (Partecipazio,) Agnello, (Doge), 15–26, 56, 86
+
+        „   Elena (1), (Dogaressa), xxiii, 16, 19
+
+        „   Elena (2), (Dogaressa), 300–302
+
+        „   Felicita, (Dogaressa), 21
+
+        „   Giovanni, (Doge), 19–22, 29
+
+        „   Giustiniano, (Doge), 19–22
+
+        „   Maria--“Vulcana,” 26, 27
+
+        „   Orso, I., (Doge), 26, 29
+
+        „   Orso, II., (Doge), 29
+
+        „   Pietro, (Doge), 29
+
+    Balordo, Uno,--Pageant-spectacle, 183
+
+    Bank, First public, 70
+
+    Banquets, 75, 106, 175, 206, 262, 283
+
+    Barattieri, Nicolo,--gambler, 79
+
+    Barbara, Saint, 32, 93
+
+    Barbarigo, Agostino, (Doge), 230–233
+
+        „      Bianca Elena, (Dogaressa), 216
+
+        „      Elena, (Dogaressa), 295
+
+        „      Francesco, (1), 216
+
+        „      Francesco, (2), 231
+
+        „      Lucia, (Dogaressa), 296
+
+        „      Marco, (Doge), 227, 228
+
+    “Barbarini”--young nobles, 70
+
+    Barbaro, Ermolao, (humourist), 214
+
+    Barnabotti, 146, 147
+
+    Baseggio, Maria, (Dogaressa), 89
+
+    Batango, Sofia, 115
+
+    Bath, Use of the, xxvi, 58
+
+    Beatrice d’Este, 231, 232
+
+    Beauty, Castle of, 93, 94
+
+      „     Court of, 144, 224, 272
+
+    Belegno, Vettor, (bridegroom), 40, 41
+
+    Bembo, Angello, 131
+
+      „    Cornella, (Dogaressa), 63
+
+      „    Enrica, 63
+
+      „    Felicita, (Dogaressa), 315
+
+      „    Marliana, 161
+
+      „    Pietro, (poet), 211–213, 281, 282
+
+    Best-man, The, 25, 26
+
+    Bienne, Marchesina di, (Dogaressa), 108–112
+
+    Boccola”, Story of “La, 26–28
+
+    Boccole, Giovanni dalle, 163
+
+       „     Felicita dalle, 163
+
+    Body, Story of a gross, 45
+
+    Boemodo, Felicia Maria, (Dogaressa), 71
+
+    Boniface of Montferrat, (Captain Crusader), 79
+
+    Books, Early Venetian, 199, 200
+
+    Borromeo, Adriana, (Dogaressa), 315
+
+    Bota, Lionardo, (Historian), 218
+
+    Boys’ Dress, 137
+
+    Bravi, 147, 155
+
+    Brenta, On the, 96, 159
+
+    Bride, A lovely, 50
+
+      „    Story of a Venetian, 95–96
+
+    BRIDES, 8, 12, 30, 56, 85, 95, 136
+
+       „   of Christ, 71, 72
+
+       „   of stuff and wood, 136
+
+       „   Rape of, Story of the, 30–32, 86
+
+       „   trousseaux, 95, 192–193
+
+    Buccheri--scented charms, xxviii
+
+    Bucintoro--state barge, 75, 89, 154, 157, 170, 192, 199, 231, 236,
+        254, 287
+
+    Buonaparte, Napoleon, 313
+
+    Burial, A majestic, 131, 222
+
+       „    A forced, 199
+
+
+              C
+
+    Calmo, Andrea, (Historian), 210
+
+    Caloprini, Stefano, 47
+
+    Calza, Compagnia della, 176–178, 192, 213, 236–238, 254, 256, 275
+
+    Canale, Marino da, (Historian), 111
+
+    Canali, Arcangela (Dogaressa), 278
+
+    Candiano, Arcielda (Dogaressa), 29–33
+
+        „     Domenigo, 29
+
+        „     Elena, 39–41
+
+        „     Giovannaccia, 33
+
+        „     Maria, (Dogaressa), 49, 50
+
+        „     Marina, 35, 38, 47, 48
+
+        „     Pietro, I., (Doge), 29
+
+        „     Pietro, II., (Doge), 29
+
+        „     Pietro, III., (Doge), 29, 30–32, 53
+
+        „     Pietro, IV., (Doge), 32–38, 49, 152
+
+        „     Vitale, 35, 49
+
+    Canonesses, 130, 164, 280
+
+    Caorle, 2, 31
+
+    “Castle of Love,” 92, 93
+
+    Cappello, Andrea, (1), 30, 31, 152
+
+        „     Andrea, (2), 254
+
+        „     Bianca, (Grand Duchess), 278
+
+        „     Giovanni, 255
+
+        „     Giustina, (Dogaressa), 315
+
+        „     Imelda, 53
+
+        „     Maria, (Dogaressa), 267
+
+        „     Marina, (Dogaressa), 152
+
+        „     Pietro, 258
+
+        „     Vettor, Condottiere, 204, 233
+
+    Cassandra, Princess, 14
+
+    Castellani, The, 35, 77, 119, 168, 289
+
+    Catarussa, Story of Madonna, 103–104
+
+    Celsi, Lorenzo, (Doge), 154–157
+
+    Centanni, Marco, 258
+
+    Century,” “A terrible, 310
+
+    Chemises, 115
+
+    Chioggia, 14, 106, 161
+
+    CHURCHES:--
+      S. Alvise, 165
+      SS. Apostoli, 16, 281
+      S. Barnaba, 191, 254
+      S. Cipriano di Murano, 122
+      S. Cristoforo, 283
+      S. Croce, 68
+      S. Fantino, 265, 266
+      S. Gemigniano, 222
+      S. Giacomo di Rialto, 86
+      S. Giovanni Crisostomo, 128
+      S. Giorgio in Alga, 84
+      S. Giovanni Evangelista, 71
+      S. Giovanni Elemosinario, 246
+      SS. Giovanni e Paolo, 99, 112, 131, 153, 157, 165, 184, 202, 218,
+          222, 233, 239, 265, 270, 275, 290, 298, 307
+      S. Giobbe, 208
+      S. Giuseppe di Castello, 290
+      S. Giustina, xxiii
+      S. Giorgio Maggiore, 63, 67, 68, 91
+      S. Marco, 22, 36, 52, 61, 64, 78, 79, 132, 141, 170, 172, 173,
+          222, 258, 265, 276, 312
+      S. Maria della Carita, 228, 233
+      S. Maria degli Angeli di Murano, 277
+      S. Maria de’ Gesuiti, 282
+      S. Maria Gloriosa de’ Frari, 113, 199, 207
+      S. Maria Formosa, 32
+      S. Maria degli Scalzi, 312
+      S. Maria del Salute, 138, 302, 312
+      S. Maria Zobenigo, 37
+      S. Marina, 167, 180, 217
+      S. Maurizio, 123
+      S. Nicolo da Tolentino, 310
+      S. Nicolo di Lido, 65, 67, 74
+      S. Pietro di Castello, 21, 24, 30, 35, 40, 51, 222
+      S. Polo, 295
+      Il Redentore, 274
+      S. Salvatore, 263, 281
+      S. Sebastiano, 205, 250, 290
+      Gli Servi, 220
+      S. Stefano, 297
+      S. Trovaso, 77
+      S. Teodoro, 36
+      S. Vitale, 295
+      S. Vito, 124
+      S. Zaccaria, 19, 66
+
+    Cicogna, Pasquale, (Doge), 282
+
+    City of “Fair” Women, xxiv-xxxii
+
+        „   Saints, xvi-xxiii
+
+        „   Venus, xiii-xvi
+
+    Coccio, Marcantonio, (Historian), 214
+
+    Colonna, Francesco, of Rome, 214
+
+    Concordia, 2
+
+    Condulmiero, Cristina, (Dogaressa), 161, 179
+
+    Constantinople, 30, 50–56, 83–85, 91
+
+    Contarini, Andrea, (Doge), 159–161
+
+        „      Arrigo, (Bishop), 64
+
+        „      Carlo, (Doge), 295
+
+        „      Cecilia, (Dogaressa), 276–278
+
+        „      Contarina, (Dogaressa), 216
+
+        „      Domenigo, (Doge), 54
+
+        „      Giacomo, (Doge), 112, 160
+
+        „      Jacobina, (Dogaressa), 112
+
+        „      Lucrezia, Lovely, 189–195
+
+        „      Nicolo, 150
+
+        „      Tommasina, 143
+
+    CONVENTS:--
+      Sant’ Alvise, 264
+      Sant’ Andrea, 180
+      Sant’ Adriana d’Amiano, 71
+      Santa Caterina, 72
+      Della Croce, Giudecca, 270
+      SS. Gervaso e Protasio, 301
+      San Lorenzo, 150, 168
+      Santa Maria degli Angeli di Murano, 231
+      Santa Maria delle Vergini, 130
+      San Nicolo di Murano, 281
+      San Pietro dei Fiorentini, 280
+      San Servilio, 22
+      Santa Trinita, 48
+      San Zaccaria, 19, 33, 44, 53, 67, 70, 71, 78, 164, 222
+
+    Cooking, Exquisite, 57, 107, 288
+
+    Cornaro, Alvise, 301
+
+       „     Caterina, (Dogaressa), 158, 159
+
+       „     Caterina, Queen of Cyprus, 193, 280
+
+       „     Felicia, (Dogaressa), 63
+
+       „     Francesco, 301
+
+       „     Federigo, 302
+
+       „     Giovanna, (Dogaressa), 316
+
+       „     Giovanni, (Doge), 300
+
+       „     Laura, (Dogaressa), 300–302
+
+       „     Marco, (1), (Doge), 157–158
+
+       „     Marco, (2), 280
+
+       „     Pisana, (Dogaressa), 302–306, 312
+
+    CORNO:--
+      The earliest, 10
+      Jewelled, 55, 216, 286
+      Dogaressa’s, 77, 132, 135, 171, 188
+      Provided by State, 132
+
+    “Count of Courtesy,” 140
+
+    Court Balls, Famous, 145, 288, 304
+
+    Courtesans, xxx, 152, 153, 272, 273, 311
+
+    Cow, A Golden, 78
+
+    Crusades, xxi, 63–68, 79, 92
+
+    Cupid, Court of Prince, 23–26, 49, 57
+
+
+              D
+
+    Dalmatia, 51, 52, 53, 61, 88
+
+    Dandolo, Andrea, (1), (Doge), 29, 31, 53, 66, 127, 137, 138–142,
+        153
+
+    Dandolo, Andrea, (2), 132
+
+       „    Antonio, 199
+
+       „    Arrigo, (Doge), 81–83, 87, 113, 132, 138, 253
+
+       „    Caterina, (Dogaressa), 115, 116
+
+       „    Elisabetta, (Dogaressa), 132–138
+
+       „    Fantino, (1), 139
+
+       „    Fantino, (2), 139
+
+       „    Francesco, (Doge), 132–138
+
+       „    Giovanni, (Doge), 113–115
+
+       „    Lionardo, 139
+
+       „    Marco, (1), 139
+
+       „    Marco, (2), 253
+
+       „    Marino, 196
+
+       „    Matteo, 258
+
+       „    Pietro, 139
+
+       „    Zilia, (Dogaressa), 253–266, 290, 311
+
+    “Daughters of Venice,” 278, 280
+
+    Degna of Aquileia, 5
+
+    Deido, Elena, (Dogaressa), 254, 267
+
+    Delfino, Chiara, (Dogaressa), 295
+
+       „     Giovanni, (Doge), 153
+
+       „     Lionardo (Bishop), 170
+
+    Delmaz, Margherita, (Falsa Dogaressa!), 309, 310
+
+    Demons, A Galley full of, 126
+
+    Devotions, Strange, 128
+
+    Diacono, Giovanni, (Historian), 50, 60
+
+       „     Pietro, 33
+
+    Dialogue, A Quaint, 31–32
+
+    Diana, Goddess, xxxi
+
+    DOGARESSA,
+      The First, xxiii, 13, 14, 16, 19
+      Patroness of the, xxiii
+      A proud, 34
+      Tribute to, 52
+      An imperial, 56
+      A voluptuous, 60
+      A self-denying, 64
+      Position of the, 69
+      Responsibility of, 69
+      Corno of, 77, 132–135
+      First Solemn Entry, 109
+      Patroness of Guilds, 61, 69, 109–111, 146
+      Not to speculate, 112
+      Wardrobe of, 115
+      State robes of, 117, 118
+      Her petty cash, 118
+      A fashionable, 129
+      Congratulate the, 133
+      Coronation of, 135
+      A “Grand,” 138
+      A dowdy, 158
+      No initiative, 160
+      An anguished, 164
+      A magnificent, 170–171.
+      Prayers for the, 173
+      Will of a, 180
+      A broken-hearted, 194
+      An unforgiving, 197–198
+      Fond of lace, 201, 202
+      And cheapness, 205
+      And flowing locks, 205
+      A well-dressed, 207
+      A “Mother in Israel,” 222
+      Letters of a, 243
+      Of the fisher-folk, 252
+      The most distinguished, 253
+      Gifts for the, 259, 260, 261
+      Honours for the, 263–264
+      A cultured, 268–275, 307
+      An amiable, 277
+      Pension for, 266, 277
+      A stout, 295
+      Treasures of a recluse, 301
+      Deathbed of a, 306
+      A girl, 307
+      A rope-dancer, 309
+      A faint-hearted, 311
+
+    DOGARESSAS, Likenesses of, 33, 45, 50, 59, 90, 109, 138, 154, 180,
+        186, 202, 203, 204, 220, 278, 298
+
+         „      The Succession of the:--
+      Martza Antenorio, 315
+      Carola Antenorio, 13, 14
+      Elena Badoero, xiii, 16–19, 56, 300
+      Felicita Badoero, 21, 22
+      Angela Tribuno, 315
+      Arcielda Candiano, 29, 32, 84
+      Giovanniccia Candiano, 33
+      Valdrada Candiano, 34–39, 44, 47, 311
+      Felicita Orseolo, 43–45
+      Marina Memo, 47–48
+      Maria Orseolo, 49–53
+      Grimelda Orseolo, 53
+      Teodora Selvo, xxx, 51, 55–63, 77, 119
+      Cornelia Faliero, 63
+      Felicia Michielo, 63–66
+      Matelda Faliero, 66, 67
+      Alicia Michielo, 69, 70
+      Sofia Morosini, 68
+      Felicia Maria Michielo, 71
+      Cecilia Ziani, 77, 78
+      Felicita Dandolo, 315
+      Maria Ziani, 89
+      Costanza Ziani, 89, 90, 91, 96, 97
+      Maria Tiepolo, 97
+      Valdrada Tiepolo, 97–99
+      Aloicia Zeno, 102–105
+      Agnese Tiepolo, 108
+      Marchesina Tiepolo, 108–112
+      Jacobina Contarini, 112
+      Caterina Dandolo, 115, 116
+      Tommasina Gradenigo, 117
+      Agnese Gradenigo, 120–126
+      Agnese Zorzio, 127, 128
+      Franchesina Soranzo, 128–132
+      Elisabetta Dandolo, 132–138
+      Giustina Gradenigo, 315
+      Tommasina Falier, 143
+      Aluycia Falier, 143–150, 169
+      Adriana Gradenigo, 316
+      Marina Gradenigo, 152
+      Marchesina Celsi, 154–156
+      Giovanna Cornaro, 316
+      Caterina Cornaro, 158, 159
+      Cristina Morosini, 161
+      Agnese Venier, 164, 165
+      Marina Selvo, 167–181
+      Maria Foscari, 186–187
+      Marina Foscari, 187–198
+      Giovanna Malipiero, 199–203
+      Letizia Moro, 316
+      Cristina Moro, 203–206
+      Aliodea Tron, 206–208, 247
+      Elena Marcello, 216
+      Contarina Marcello, 216, 217
+      Laura Mocenigo, 218
+      Regina Vendramin, 219, 220, 259
+      Taddea Mocenigo, 220, 221
+      Lucia Barbarigo, 227, 228
+      Elisabetta Barbarigo, 231–233
+      Giustina Loredano, 235
+      Caterina Grimani, 239–242
+      Benedetta Gritti, 243–248
+      Maria Lando, 248
+      Giovanna Donato, 249–251
+      Alicia Donato, 249–251
+      Zilia Priuli, 253–266, 290, 311
+      Elena Priuli, 266, 267
+      Maria Loredano, 267
+      Loredana Mocenigo, 268
+      Cecilia Venier, 276–278
+      Arcangela da Ponte, 278
+      Laura Cicogna, 282
+      Morosina Grimani, 282–290
+      Elena Priuli, 295
+      Chiara Cornaro, 295
+      Paolina Contarini, 295
+      Andreana Cornaro, 296
+      Elisabetta Valier, (1), 296
+      Lucia Pesaro, 296
+      Elisabetta Valier, (2), 298
+      Laura Cornaro, 300–302
+      Elena Pisano, 300
+      Pisana Mocenigo, 302, 306, 312
+      Polissena Mocenigo, 307
+      Cristina Renier, 308
+      Margherita Renier (?), 308, 309
+      Elisabetta Manin, 311, 312
+
+    DOGE:
+      First mention of, 9
+      First at Eraclea, 10
+      First at Rivo-Alto, 15
+      Acclamation of, 55
+      Assassination of, 37, 44, 70
+      Avaricious, 308
+      Bed of the, 246
+      Canonized, 45
+      Connoisseur, 149, 219
+      Contested Election of, 184
+      Crusader, 81
+      Deprivation of, 196
+      Dream of, 100
+      “Grand,” 15, 46, 66, 81, 96, 116, 128, 138, 181, 185, 234, 275
+      Great eater, 244
+      Hard conditions for, 187
+      Hero, 275, 297
+      Heroic, 274
+      Income of, 117
+      Insulted, 145
+      Like Brutus, 129, 164
+      Mean, 161
+      Millionaire, 206
+      Munificent, 233
+      “Never lies!” 148
+      Patriotic, 237
+      Popular, 154
+      Political, 117
+      Qualifications of, 88
+      Regalia of, 77
+      Sporting, 240, 241
+      Title of, 98
+      “Un Atila,” 121
+      Will of, 115, 217, 275
+
+    Doge Nicolo Tron and Fair Laura Nogarola, Story of, 208, 209
+
+    Domestic relations, 98, 99, 120
+
+    Donato, Giustina, (Dogaressa), 308–310
+
+      „ Francesco, (Doge), 18, 19, 249, 251
+
+    Dowry, A Great, 50, 189
+
+    Dresses, Extravagant, 218, 238, 245, 304
+
+    “Dumped” goods, 250, 292
+
+    Duodene, The, 76
+
+
+              E
+
+    Earthquake, A Terrible, 91
+
+    Emo, Madonna Giovanna, 238
+
+      „  Agnello, Admiral, 310
+
+    EMPERORS:--
+      Basil, 50
+      Charlemagne, 12, 27
+      Charles V., 143
+      Constantine, 50, 54, 60
+      Emmanuel, 54, 71, 144
+      Enrico, 63
+      Frederic Barbarossa, 70, 74, 77
+      Frederic II., 97
+      John, 109
+      Lothair, 86
+      Maximilian IV., 235
+      Michael, 54
+      Napoleon Buonaparte, 312, 313
+      Otto I., 28
+      Otto II., 38, 51
+      Otto III., 47, 52
+
+    EMPRESSES:--
+      Adelheid, 38, 47
+      Galla Placida, 3
+      Teofana, 51
+
+    Enchantment, 4, 48
+
+    Epitaphs, Dogal, 64, 68, 83, 113, 140, 161, 180, 181, 184, 208,
+        218, 233, 299
+
+    Eraclea, 2, 9, 10, 11, 14, 20
+
+    Etiquette, Frate Bonvesin on, 107, 108
+
+    Execution of Marino Falier, 147
+
+    Exhibition of Guilds, 174, 259
+
+
+              F
+
+    “Fair” Women, City of, xxiv-xxxii, 59
+
+    Faliero, Anna, 161
+
+      „  Marino, (Doge), 142–149
+
+      „  Matelda, (Dogaressa), 66, 67
+
+      „  Ordelafo, (Doge), 66, 67
+
+      „  Tommasina, (Dogaressa), 143
+
+      „  Vitale, I., (Doge), 54, 62, 63
+
+      „  Vitale, II., (Doge), 142
+
+    FAMILIES:--
+      Chief, Badoero (Partecipazio), 9, 22–27, 43
+      Barbarigo, 227
+      Barozzi, 29, 62, 120
+      Bembo, 63, 157
+      Bragadini, 157, 161
+      Caloprini, 47, 50
+      Candiano, 9, 28–41, 43
+      Cappello, 30, 162
+      Contarini, 62, 277
+      Cornaro, 63, 280
+      Dandolo, 62, 96, 138
+      Falier, 62, 142
+      Foscari, 186
+      Giustiniani, 29, 71, 157
+      Gradenigo, 53, 62, 117
+      Grimani, 239
+      Loredan, 142, 162
+      Malipiero, 162, 186
+      Michiel, 9, 43, 62, 132
+      Mocenigo, 182, 186
+      Morosini, 47, 50, 117
+      Orseolo, 9, 43, 54, 62
+      Priuli, 186, 253, 266
+      Selvo, 29, 54, 89
+      Soranzo, 128, 131
+      Tiepolo, 62, 96, 108
+      Ziani, 73, 91
+
+    Fans (Ventolini), xxxi, xxxii, 33
+
+    Fashions in Dress, xv, xxxii, 12, 23, 46, 59, 114, 137, 152, 178,
+        182, 192, 225, 256, 285, 287
+
+    Fedele, Cassandra, (Writer), 215
+
+    “Festa delle Marie,” 28, 30–32, 53, 136
+
+    Ferrara, 65
+
+    Fieschi, Isabella de’, 139
+
+    Fireworks, 262, 289
+
+    Fisher-folk, Doge and Dogaressa of the, 252, 253
+
+    Fisherman and the Ring,” Story of “The, 126, 127
+
+    Flag of Venice, 51, 64, 68
+
+    Florence, 49, 87, 188
+
+    Fork, A Golden, 57
+
+    Fortune-teller, A famous, 4
+
+    Foscari, Donato, 186
+
+      „   Francesco, (Doge), 184–196
+
+      „   Giacomo, 187, 189–196
+
+      „   Marco, 186
+
+      „   Nicolo, 186
+
+    Foscarini, Marco, (Doge), 310
+
+    Fragilie, see Guilds
+
+    Franco, Giacomo, (Engraver), xxxi
+
+      „   Veronica, 273, 274
+
+    FRATI:--
+      Bonvesino--“on Etiquette,” 107–108
+      Casola--Pen-Pictures of Society, 224–226
+      Faber--“on Gardens,” 210
+      Paolo--on “Ideal Wives,” 150
+
+    Friuli, 12, 34, 106, 176, 204
+
+    Fulvia of Altino, 4
+
+    Fugitive forebears, xv, 2, 6, 7, 20, 62
+
+
+              G
+
+    Galina, Antonio, 258
+
+      „   Marina, (Dogaressa), 167, 199
+
+    Games of chance, 79
+
+    GARDENS:--
+      Andrea Calmo on, 210
+      Frate Felice Faber on, 210
+      Asolo, 215
+      Botanical, 165, 269
+      Friuli, 215
+      Giudecca, 210
+      Love of, 106
+      Murano, 106, 211–215
+      Olivolo, 35
+      Roof, 210
+      San Canciano, 283
+      Santa Caterina, 283
+      Simple flower, 16
+      The Brenta, 215, 269
+      Zoological, 221
+      In general, 10, 16
+
+    Garrison of girls, 95
+
+    Gehenna, A Filthy, 164
+
+    Genoa, 108, 128, 141, 160, 176
+
+    Gentlemen,” “The First, 283
+
+    Ghisi, Agnese, (Dogaressa), 108
+
+      „    Girolamo, 154
+
+      „    Marchesina, (Dogaressa), 154
+
+    Giano, King of Padua, 2, 3
+
+    Giovanniccia--A divorcée, 33
+
+    Giustina, Rossi, Story of, 121, 122
+
+      „       Saint, xxii, xxiii, 21, 93, 165
+
+    Giustiniani, Alicia, (Dogaressa), 249–251
+
+         „       Bartoletta, (Abbess), 72
+
+         „       Giorgio, 150
+
+         „       Giustina, (Dogaressa), 235
+
+         „       Marcantonio, (Doge), 296
+
+         „       Margherita, 72
+
+         „       Marta, 72
+
+         „       Nicolo, (A Monk), 71, 72
+
+         „       Paolo, 181
+
+    Glass, Murano, 128, 129, 250
+
+    Gloves, First use of, 58
+
+    Gobba, Madonna Tommasina, 155
+
+    Golden Rose, The, 231, 276, 289
+
+    Gondolier, An amorous, 48, 49
+
+        „      Cries of, 313
+
+    Gradenigo, Aluycia, (Dogaressa), 143–150, 169
+
+        „      Anna, 117
+
+        „      Bartolommeo, (Doge), 127
+
+        „      Giacomo, 117
+
+        „      Giovanni, (1), 117
+
+        „      Giovanni, (2), (Doge), 152
+
+        „      Marco, 117
+
+        „      Nicolo, (1), 117
+
+        „      Nicolo, (2), 144
+
+        „      Paolo, 117
+
+        „      Pietro, (1), (Doge), 116, 127, 144
+
+        „      Pietro, (2), 120
+
+        „      Regina, (Dogaressa), 219, 220, 259
+
+    Grado, 2
+
+      „    Patriarch of, 10, 74
+
+    Grave-digger, A pious, 37
+
+    “Great Dolls,” 232
+
+    Grimani, Antonio, (Doge), 239, 287
+
+       „     Breviary, 240
+
+       „     Domenigo, (1), 38
+
+       „     Domenigo, (Cardinal), 240
+
+       „     Elisabetta, (Dogaressa), 311–312
+
+       „     Francesca, 305
+
+       „     Marina, 257
+
+       „     Marino, (Doge), 283, 290
+
+       „     Pietro, (Doge), 305
+
+       „     Vettor, 257
+
+    Gritti, Andrea, (Doge), 242–246
+
+    Guarino, Abbot, 44
+
+    GUILDS (Fragilie):--
+      in general, 86, 254, 287, 292
+      Barber-Surgeons, 110
+      Blacksmiths, 86, 109
+      Butchers, 86, 110, 255
+      Cabinet-makers, 86
+      Carding-comb Makers, 110
+      Carpenters, 86
+      Carriers by water, 86
+      Charity of the, 106
+      Dealers in old clothes, 115
+      Exhibitions of the, 109
+      Fishermen, 86, 87
+      “Flagellants,” 101, 222
+      Furriers, 86, 109
+      Glass-blowers, 110, 128, 250, 260, 261
+      Gold and silver cloth makers, 110
+      Goldsmiths, 110, 183, 256, 260
+      Hat-makers, 31
+      Lace-makers, 199
+      Makers of doublets, 110
+      Marriage-chest makers, 30, 86
+      Masons, 86
+      Pageants of, 109, 110, 134
+      Physicians, 140
+      Piety of, 106
+      Printers, 199
+      Saddlers, 86
+      Shepherds, 86
+      Shoemakers, 86, 110
+      Silk mercers, 87, 110, 127, 128
+      Tailors, 109
+      Wool-weavers, 109
+      “Zonfi,” (lame and blind), 116
+
+    Guiscardo, Roberto, 61
+
+    Guoro, Story of Elena Candiano and Gherardo, 39–41
+
+
+              H
+
+    Hair, Dressing the, xxviii, xxix, xxx, xxxi, 16, 24, 229, 259
+
+      „   Golden, xxv, xxviii, xxix, 59, 80
+
+      „   Hawsers of, 6
+
+    Helen of Troy, xxviii
+
+    Hereditary Beauty, xxvi
+
+         „        „    Giovanni Marinello on, xxx
+
+    HEROINES:--
+      Adriana of Padua, 3
+      Degna of Aquileia, 5
+      Elena Candiano, 39–41
+      Idilia of Altino, 4
+      Martza of Aquileia, 5
+
+    High Chancellor, 133, 135, 171, 258
+
+    HISTORIANS:--
+      Amaden Francesco, 270
+      Lionardo Bota, 218
+      Andrea Calmo, 210
+      Marino da Canale, 111
+      Cassiodorus, 2
+      Marcantonio Coccio, 214
+      Andrea Dandolo, (Doge), 29, 31, 53, 66, 139
+      Giovanni Diacono, 50, 60
+      Pietro Diacono, 33
+      Francesco Donato, (Doge), 18, 19
+      Pliny, xxvi
+      Sabellico, 169
+      Martino Sanudo, 11, 144, 168, 204, 214, 227
+      Giacomo Zoppi, xvii
+
+    Horns of Hair, xxx, xxxi
+
+    Horses, Cream-coloured, 236
+
+    Husbands, Choose, 219
+
+    HOSPITALS:--
+      For Aged Poor, 159
+      For Pilgrims, 65
+      For Strangers, 228
+      For Fallen Women, 153
+
+
+              I
+
+    Ideal Wives, 150
+
+    Idilia of Altino, 4
+
+    Inquisition, The, 100
+
+    Isarello, Betruccio, (Admiral), 147
+
+    Itinerant-merchants, 103, 104
+
+
+              J
+
+    Jael, A Second, 4
+
+    Jesolo, 2, 11, 14
+
+    Jests, Coarse, 168
+
+    Jewels, xxx, xxxii, 46, 56, 64, 137, 182, 193, 226, 256, 272, 279,
+        297, 301
+
+    Jubilee, Year of, 91
+
+
+               K
+
+    Keys of Cities, 176
+
+    KINGS:--
+      Baldwin of Jerusalem, 66
+      Boemodo of Servia, 109
+      Charles VIII. of France, 231
+      Charles XII. of France, 235
+      Geiso of Hungary, 53
+      Giacomo of Cyprus, 280
+      Giano of Padua, 2
+      Guglielmo of Sicily, 89
+      Henry III. of France, 271–273
+      Henry VIII. of England, 235, 251
+      Ilario of Servia, 70
+      James IV. of Scotland, 236
+      Pietro of Aragon, 169
+      Stefano of Hungary, 70
+      Vitalicinio of Padua, xxii
+
+    Kisses, Scented, xxviii
+
+       „    The Hand, 27
+
+
+              L
+
+    “La Beata,” Story of, 122–124
+
+    La Beata Anna, 72
+
+    La Boccola, Story of, 26–28
+
+    “La Donna delle Misericordia,” 108
+
+    Lace, Burano, xxxii, 199, 201, 202, 286, 290
+
+    La Maga Irene, 4
+
+    Lando, Madonna Lucia, 168
+
+      „    Pietro, (Doge), 248
+
+    Laura of Petrarch, 165
+
+    League of Cambrai, 235
+
+    Leather, Stamped, 288
+
+    Lemons, Gilded, 240
+
+    Lepanto, Battle of, 276
+
+    Liabilities of Glass-workers, 250
+
+    _Libreria Vecchia_, 250
+
+    Libraries, Lack of, 248
+
+    Libro d’Oro dei Cerimoniali, 264
+
+         „      de’ Quarantia, 117
+
+         „      of 1289, 162, 182
+
+         „      of 1391, 248
+
+         „      of 1450, 243
+
+         „      Burnt, 313
+
+    Literary Revels, 213
+
+    Longobards, 7, 8, 62
+
+    Loredano, Alvise, 235
+
+        „     Bernardo, 235
+
+        „     Beriola, 142
+
+        „     Caterina, (Dogaressa), 239–242
+
+        „     Gerolamo, 235
+
+        „     Giovanni, 142
+
+        „     Lionardo, (Doge), 234–239
+
+        „     Lorenzo, (1), 235
+
+        „     Lorenzo, (2), 295
+
+        „     Marco, 163
+
+        „     Paolina, (Dogaressa), 295
+
+        „     Pietro, (1), 184, 185, 195, 196
+
+        „     Pietro, (2), (Doge), 267
+
+    LOVE, Castle of, 93
+
+      „   Court of, 144
+
+      „   Making, 23, 27, 28
+
+      „   Of Rivals, 77
+
+      „   Platonic, 15, 209
+
+      „   A story of, 39–41
+
+      „   True, 212
+
+    Loves of Henry III. and Veronica Franco, Story of the, 273, 274
+
+    Lying-in-mother, 225
+
+    Lying-in-state, 264, 270, 307
+
+
+              M
+
+    Magalotti, Count Lorenzo, “on Scent,” xxvii
+
+    Magic-singer, A, 4
+
+    Magistrates, Early, 9, 15
+
+    Maidens, Two hundred lovely, 93
+
+    Malamocco, 2, 9, 11, 12
+
+    Malipiero, Felicita, (Dogaressa), 43–45
+
+        „      Pasquale, (Doge), xxiv, 197–202
+
+    Manin, Lodovico, (last Doge), 311–314
+
+    Mannikins of Fashion, 114
+
+    “Marangona,” the Mass-bell, 20
+
+    “Marca Amorosa,” 92–95
+
+    Marcello, Bianca, 269
+
+        „     Daria, 269
+
+        „     Giovanni Alvise, 268
+
+        „     Loredana, (Dogaressa), 268–275
+
+        „     Marina, 269
+
+        „     Nicolo, (Doge), 216, 217
+
+    “Marina’s Wail,” 49
+
+    Marinello, Giovanni, on Hair, xxx
+
+    Marital infidelity, 311
+
+    MARRIAGE, A romantic, 71, 72
+
+        „     A splendid, 190–191, 195
+
+        „     Customs, 23–25, 191, 203
+
+        „     Early, 96
+
+        „     Of the sea, 73–76
+
+        „     Lax rules of, 103–104
+
+        „     Pageantry of, 191–193
+
+    Marta, Faithful, 39
+
+    Martza of Aquileia, 5
+
+    Matilda, Countess of Tuscany, 34, 65
+
+    Meals and Menus, 107
+
+    Medici, Bianca de’, (Grand Duchess), 278–280
+
+       „    Cosimo de’--“Il Vecchio,” 249
+
+       „    Francesco de’, (Grand Duke), 278–280
+
+       „    Giovanni de’, 188
+
+    Memo, Marina, (Dogaressa), 315
+
+      „   Tribolo, (Doge), 47, 315
+
+    Merceria, The, 62, 114, 121
+
+    Michielo, Alicia, (Dogaressa), 69, 70
+
+        „     Alicia, of Servia, 70
+
+        „     Anna (A nun), 71
+
+        „     Domenigo (Doge), 66–69
+
+        „     Felicia, (Dogaressa), 62, 63
+
+        „     Felicia Maria, (Dogaressa), 71
+
+        „     Giovanni, (1), 64
+
+        „     Giovanni (2), 221
+
+        „     Giovanni (3), 279
+
+        „     Leonardo, 70
+
+        „     Margherita, 161
+
+        „     Maria, of Hungary, 70
+
+        „     Nicolo, 70
+
+        „     Taddea, (Dogaressa), 220, 221
+
+        „     Vitale, I., (Doge), 62, 63
+
+        „     Vitale, II, (Doge), 70–72, 221
+
+    Midwives, 226
+
+    Minotti, Donna Sabba, 120
+
+    Miracle of probity,” “A, 66
+
+    Miracolo!” “Uno, 124
+
+    Mocenigo, Alvise, (1), (Doge), 268–275
+
+        „     Alvise, (2), 305
+
+        „     Giovanni, (1), 182
+
+        „     Giovanni, (2), (Doge), 220
+
+        „     Giovanni, (3), 271
+
+        „     Giovanni Alvise, (Doge), 302–307
+
+        „     Paolina (Princess), 302
+
+        „     Pietro, (Doge), 217–218
+
+        „     Tommaso, (Doge), 181–185
+
+    MONASTERIES:--
+      San Felice, 167
+      San Giobbe, 205
+      San Giorgio Maggiore, 78, 89, 91
+      Sant’Ilario, 19, 38
+      San Nicolo di Lido, 71
+
+    Morgencap, The, 34
+
+    Mori, Three brothers, 73
+
+    Moro, Cristoforo (Doge), 203–206, 247
+
+      „   Letizia, (Dogaressa), 316
+
+    Morosini, Aliodea, (Dogaressa), 206
+
+        „     Andrea, 283
+
+        „     Antonio, 258
+
+        „     Contarina, (Dogaressa), 216, 217
+
+        „     Domenigo, (1), 47
+
+        „     Domenigo, (2), Doge, 68
+
+        „     Francesco, (1), 216
+
+        „     Francesco, (2), Doge, 296, 297, 310
+
+        „     Laura, (Dogaressa), 282
+
+        „     Marco, (Doge), 100, 101
+
+        „     Michele, (Doge), 161
+
+        „     Morosina, (Dogaressa), 282–290
+
+        „     Silvestro, 206
+
+        „     Tommasina, (Dogaressa), 117–120
+
+    Mula, Giovanna da, (Dogaressa), 249–251
+
+      „   Polissena da, (Dogaressa), 307
+
+    Murano, 16, 128, 129
+
+       „    Gardens of, 210–214
+
+       „    Glass-workers of, in England, 251
+
+    Music, Love of, 106, 214
+
+    Mutton! A leg of, 191
+
+
+              N
+
+    Nani, Bartolommeo, 187
+
+      „   Marina, (Dogaressa), 187–198
+
+    Necklaces, Famous, 193, 279
+
+    Nicolotti, The, 35, 77, 119, 168, 289
+
+    Night-cap, A, 160
+
+    Ninziolette--Mantillas, 46, 76, 80
+
+    Nobles, out-of-elbows, 146, 147, 242
+
+    Nogarola, Madonna Laura, 208, 209
+
+    Nuns, Gay, 272
+      Wealthy, 301
+
+
+              O
+
+    Oderzo, 2
+
+    Orations, Funeral, 266, 269, 290
+      Dying, 184
+
+    Oriana, Queen of Dalmatia, 3
+
+    Orseolo, Domenigo, (1), 43
+
+       „     Domenigo, (2), 53
+
+       „     Felicia, (Abbess), 54
+
+       „     Giovanni, 50, 51
+
+       „     Icella, (Princess), 54
+
+       „     Imelda, 54
+
+       „     Maria, Princess, 50, 51
+
+       „     Orso, 53
+
+       „     Pietro, I., (“Grand” Doge), 38, 43–45
+
+       „     Pietro, II., (Doge), 43, 46–53
+
+       „     Pietro, III., (Doge), 53, 54
+
+       „     Pietro, IV., (Doge), 54
+
+       „     Story of Abbot Romaldo and San Pietro, 44, 45
+
+    “Osella,” The, 241, 287, 288, 297
+
+
+              P
+
+    “Pace delle Donne,” The, 237
+
+    Padua, 2, 9, 13, 15, 20, 28, 36, 92, 94, 128, 139, 126, 238
+
+    PAGEANTS, 52, 67, 74, 109, 110, 132, 156, 172, 175, 182, 187, 199,
+        261, 287
+
+    PAINTERS:--
+      Gentile Bellini, xxix, 281
+      Giovanni Bellini, xxix, 234
+      Paris Bordone, 59, 127, 246
+      “Canaletto,” 292
+      Giovanni Contarini, 282
+      Giacomo del Fiore, 138
+      “Giorgione,” xxix
+      Benozzo Gozzoli, 214
+      Francesco Guardi, 292
+      Guariento, 138, 175
+      Pietro Longi, 292
+      Palma Vecchio, 127, 254, 292
+      Giovanni Santacroce, 45
+      “Tintoretto,” xxix, 290
+      Tiziano Vecellio, xxix, xxx, 246, 249, 250
+      Lorenzo Veneziano, 138
+      Paolo Veronese, xxix, 292
+      Vivarini Fratelli, 138
+
+    Pala d’Oro, 43, 81
+
+    PALACES:--
+      Badoero, 16
+      Balbi, 190
+      Bembo, 48
+      Contarini, 189, 190
+      Dandolo, 133
+      Diedo, 310
+      Ducal, 18, 36, 43, 52, 59, 61, 109, 111, 121, 127, 132, 135, 175,
+        187, 190, 205, 218, 288
+      Falier, 149
+      Foscari, 198, 231
+      Giustiniani, 193
+      Grimani, 242, 283, 285
+      Marcello, 269
+      Mocenigo, 310
+      Morosini, 283
+      Priuli, 254
+      Quattro Torri, 155
+      Soranzo, 129
+      Tiepolo, 109
+      Tron, 207
+      Valier, 297
+      Venier, 164, 277
+      Zeno, 104
+      Ziani, 91
+
+    Pasquilago, Maria, (Dogaressa), 248
+
+    Patroness of the Dogaressa, xxiii, xiv, 93
+
+    Pattens, High, 179
+
+    “Peace with Honour,” 52, 54, 68
+
+    _Pegne_, The, 24, 25
+
+    Perfumes, Love of, xxvi, xxvii, 58, 62
+
+    Pestilences, 140, 188, 222, 274
+
+    Petrarch, Francesco, (Poet), 141, 143, 155, 156
+
+       „      Library, 156
+
+       „      Prophecy of, 166
+
+    “Pinzocchere,” The (Noble-mourners), 69, 222
+
+    Pisani, Cristina, (Writer), 214
+
+       „    Elisabetta, (Dogaressa), 296
+
+       „    Vettor, (Commander), 161
+
+    Plato, School of, 15, 209
+
+    Playing-cards, A famous pack of, 33, 45, 50, 59, 90, 109, 186, 198,
+        200, 204, 207, 270, 285
+
+    POETS:--
+      Jacopo d’Albigotto, xxiv
+      Gianni Alfani, xxiv
+      Pietro Aretino, xxv, 214, 250
+      Lodovico Ariosto, xxvii, 214
+      Antonio Beccario, 115
+      Pietro Bembo, 211–213, 281, 282
+      Giovanni Boccaccio, 156, 281
+      Nicolo Coccio d’ Arezzo, xxiv
+      Dante, 34, 89
+      Moderata Fonte, 215
+      Guido da Firenze, xxiv
+      Homer, xxviii
+      Francesco de’ Medici, 279
+      Andrea Navagero, 214, 281
+      Francesco Petrarch, 141, 143, 155, 156
+      Angello Poliziano, 215
+      San Gemignano, xxvii
+      Giovanni Sanguinacci, 116, 274
+      Shakespeare, 39, 40, 290, 291
+      Percy B. Shelley, xiv
+      Giulio Strozzi, 3
+      Torquato Tasso, 279
+
+    Polani, Pietro, (Doge), 87
+
+    Polo, Marco, 150
+
+    Ponte, Arcangela da’, (Dogaressa), 278
+
+      „    Nicolo da, (Doge), 278
+
+    POPES:--
+      Alexander III., 72, 73, 77
+      Alexander VI., 231
+      Clement VIII., 289
+      Julius II., 235
+
+    Porta, Story of Madonna Veneranda, 153
+
+    Prata, Aloicia da, (Dogaressa), 102, 105
+
+    Prices-current, 78
+
+    Printers, early, 200, 214
+
+    PRINCESSES:--
+      Faustina Rezzonico, 304
+      Gonzaga, 311
+      Maria Commeno, 50, 51
+      Paolina Trivulzio, 302
+      Teodora Ducas, xxx, 51, 55, 62, 63, 77, 119
+
+    Priuli, Agnello, 254
+
+       „    Andreana, (Dogaressa), 296
+
+       „    Giovanni, 258, 265
+
+       „    Girolamo, (Doge), 254, 267
+
+       „    Lorenzo, (Doge), 253–266
+
+       „    Maria, (Dogaressa), 186, 187
+
+       „    del Banco, Andrea, 186
+
+       „     „  Maria, (Dogaressa), 186
+
+    Profligates, 147
+
+    “Promissioni,” Dogal, 98, 111, 117, 133, 135, 159, 187, 204, 218,
+        235, 240, 243, 256, 259, 286, 298, 303
+
+
+              Q
+
+    QUEENS:--
+      Adriana of Padua, 3
+      Caterina of Sicily, 193, 280
+      Elisabeth of England, 299
+      Louise of France, 237
+      Oriana of Dalmatia, 3, 5
+      Of “Beauty,” 59
+
+    Querini, Andreaola, (Recluse), 131
+
+       „     Elisabetta, (Dogaressa), 297
+
+       „     Marco, 120, 121, 129
+
+       „     Nicolo, 129
+
+
+              R
+
+    Rape of the Brides, 30–31, 86
+
+    RECIPES:--
+      Against plague, 140
+      When crossed in love, 40
+      For the hair, xxix, xxx
+      For the skin, 59
+      For tender feet, xxii
+      For perfume, xxvii
+
+    Regalia of Doges, 77, 199, 313
+
+    Religious instincts, xvi, xxi, xxii, xxviii, 6, 19, 20, 29, 43, 80,
+        125
+
+    Renier, Paolo, (Doge), 308–310
+
+    Reverie, The Author’s, 313–314
+
+    REVOLUTIONS:--
+      Marco Bocconio, 120, 142
+      Marco Querino, 120, 121, 142
+      Baiamente Tiepolo, 120, 121, 142
+
+    Rinieri, Sostinio, 4
+
+    Ritual of Solemn Entry, 173, 174, 199, 259, 288
+
+    Rivo-Alto, or Rialto, xiv, xvi, xxviii, 3, 15, 17, 57, 84, 87
+
+    Roland the Invincible, 27
+
+    Roll of the Dogaressas, 315–317
+
+    Romaldo, (Abbot), 44
+
+    Romance of a monk and a nun, 71, 72
+
+    Rosebud, Offering of a, 27
+
+    Rouge-pots, 137
+
+    Ruzzini, Lucia, (Dogaressa), 227, 228
+
+
+               S
+
+    Saffo, A Venetian, 273
+
+    SAINTS”:--
+      “The City of, xvi-xxiii, xxviii
+      Bodies of, xvii-xx, 2, 20, 21, 45, 65, 66, 67, 108, 205
+      Venetian, 2, 20, 66, 82, 205
+      Voices of the, 6
+
+    Sanudo, Angela, (Dogaressa), 315
+
+      „     Cristina, (Dogaressa), 203–206
+
+      „     Lionardo, 203
+
+      „     Martino, (Historian), 11, 144, 168, 204, 214, 227
+
+    SCULPTORS:--
+      Giovanni Bonazza, 298
+      Girolamo Compagna, 290
+      Giuseppe Guoccoala, 298
+
+    Selvo, Domenigo, (Doge), 54–61, 89, 119
+
+    Seven Sisters, Story of the, 48, 49
+
+    Shop of Europe,” “The, 106, 113
+
+    Silk-purses, Dogaressas’, 133, 134, 259, 286
+
+    Sior Rioba’s Mouth!, 73
+
+    Skin, Treatment of the, xxvi, xxvii
+
+    Slaves, 35, 56, 99, 228–230, 245
+
+    Sofia, The Houri, 68
+
+    _Solana_, xxix
+
+    Solemn Entry of Dogaressa, 109, 134, 167, 170–175, 187, 220, 254,
+        284, 297, 303
+
+    Soranzo, Andrea, 231–233
+
+       „    Elisabetta, (Dogaressa), 231
+
+       „     Franchesina, (Dogaressa), 128–132
+
+       „     Giovanni, (Doge), 128–132
+
+       „     Story of Soranza, 129–131
+
+    Spectacle, An Unique, 225, 226
+
+    Spectacular Plays, 237
+
+    SPORTS:--
+      Athletic, 36, 76
+      Bullfights, 35, 178, 179
+      Grebe-shooting, 12
+      Pugilistic, 119
+      Regattas, 36, 119, 256, 272, 289
+      Tournaments, (_Giostre_), 182
+      Wild-duck shooting, 240–241
+      Of many kinds, 262
+
+    State robes, 59, 117–118, 256, 286, 297, 303
+
+    Steno, Cristina, (a nun), 168
+
+      „    Fantino, 168
+
+      „    Giovanni, 168
+
+      „    Michele, (Doge), 144, 145, 167–181
+
+    Stop the Bell!, 309
+
+    Storlato, Maria, (Dogaressa), 97
+
+    STORIES:--
+      Saint Giustina, xxii, xxiii
+      Storks of Altino, 7
+      “_La Boccola_,” (Rosebud), 26–28
+      The Brides of Venice, 30–32
+      Gerardo Guoro and Elena Candiano, 39–41
+      S. Pietro Orseolo and Abbot Romaldo, 44–45
+      Seven Spinsters, 48–49
+      Anna Michielo and Nicolo Giustiniani, 71, 72
+      Zorzio and Bella, 84–85
+      A Venetian Bride, 95–96
+      Giustina Rossi, 121–122
+      “_La Beata_” 122–124
+      The Fisherman and the Ring, 126, 127
+      Madonna Soranza Soranzo-Querino, 129–131
+      Madonna Veneranda Porta, 153
+      Alvise Venier’s Burial, 164–165
+      Doge Nicolo Tron and Fair Laura Nogarola, 208, 209
+      Loves of Henry III. and Veronica Franco, 273, 274
+
+    Strozzi, Giulio, (Poet), 3
+
+        „    Madonna Alessandra degli, 229
+
+    Strozzi, Palla negli, 188
+
+    Sumptuary laws, xxii, 136, 137, 218, 219, 238, 239, 245
+
+    Sun of Venice sets!, 292
+
+
+              T
+
+    Tancred of Provence, Story of, 26, 27
+
+    “Tanta Delicatezza,” 60
+
+    “Tanta Donna,” xxvi
+
+    Tiepolo, Antonio, 279
+
+       „     Baiamente, 120, 121
+
+       „     Bartoldo, 97
+
+       „     Giacomo, (1), (Doge), 96–100, 109
+
+       „     Giacomo, (2), 108, 116
+
+       „     Ginevra, “Daughter of Venice,” 280
+
+       „     Giovanni, 97
+
+       „     Lorenzo, (1), 97
+
+       „     Lorenzo, (2), (Doge) 97, 105–112
+
+       „     Pietro, (1), 97
+
+       „     Pietro, (2), 108
+
+    TOILET:--
+      Artifices of the, xxvi, xxvii, xxix, xxx, 16, 23, 58, 59, 230
+      Devotion to the, xxv
+
+    _Tonde_, Girls’ veils, 46, 76, 80
+
+    Torcello, 2, 7, 62
+
+    Torture, 195
+
+    Toscana, Valrada da, (Dogaressa), 34–39, 44, 47, 311
+
+    Tradonico, Pietro, (Doge), 44
+
+    Trappola,” “La (Cards), 293
+
+    TRAGEDIES:--
+      Aluycia Grandenigo-Falier, 149, 150
+      Alvise Venier, 163–165
+      Francesca Mocenigo, 306
+      Giacomo Foscari, 189–196
+      Giorgio Ziani, 89
+      Marino Falier, 148–149
+      Soranza Soranzo-Querini, 129–131
+
+    Treviso, 92, 93, 144
+
+    Tribuno, Pietro, (Doge), 315
+
+    Tron, Aioidea, (Dogaressa), 206–209, 247
+
+      „   Caterina, (Dogaressa), 311
+
+      „   Giacomo, 207
+
+      „   Nicolo, (Doge), 206–209
+
+    Trousseaux, 95, 137, 192, 193, 302, 303
+
+
+              U
+
+    Ugo, Marquis of Tuscany, 34, 38
+
+    Ungaria, Grimelda d’ (Dogaressa), 53
+
+    Use of Cosmetiques, xxvi, xxvii
+
+     „  of Paint and Puff, xxvi, xxvii
+
+
+              V
+
+    Vecellio, Lavinia, xxx
+
+        „     Tiziano, (see Painters)
+
+    Vendramin, Andrea, (Doge), 219
+
+        „      Benedetta, (Dogaressa), 243–248
+
+    VENETIAN Houses, 16, 58, 225
+
+        „    Knights, 92–94, 300
+
+        „    Lace, 85
+
+        „    Love of music, drama, etc., 106, 119, 120, 214
+
+        „    Manners and dress, 107, 224–226
+
+        „    People shocked, 57
+
+        „    Sayings, 12, 14, 39, 42, 54, 56, 78, 84, 85, 100, 103,
+        104, 106, 160, 162, 183, 235, 251
+
+        „    Vernacular, 214
+
+    Veneto, Brides of, 8
+      Cities of, 1
+      “Splendid,” 2
+      Victims of, 3
+      Women of, 5
+
+    Venezia, “Calva,” 151
+      “Edificata,” 3
+      “Ricca,” 176
+      “Seconda,” 6, 7, 9, 18
+
+    “Venice wants for nothing!” 54
+
+    Venier, Agnese, (Dogaressa), 164–165
+
+       „    Alvise, 163–165
+
+       „    Andreaina, 254
+
+       „    Antonia, (A nun), 164–165
+
+       „    Antonio, (Doge), 162–165, 182
+
+       „    Domenigo, (Bishop), 233
+
+       „    Francesco, (1), (Doge), 254, 277
+
+       „    Francesco, (2), 307
+
+       „    Orsola, 165
+
+       „    Sebastiano, (Doge), 275–277
+
+    _Ventolini_--fans, xxxi, 33
+
+    VENUS:--
+      “Calva,” xiii, xiv, 83, 268, 275, 292, 313
+      “City of,” xiii, xxvii, 26
+      di Milo, 76
+      “Of the century,” 207
+      “The fruitful,” 214
+
+    Vicenza, 28, 36
+
+    VILLAS:--
+      At Arbe, 88, 113
+      On the Brenta, 159
+      At Cordignano, 306
+      On the Giudecca, 210
+      At Murano, 211
+
+    Viragoes, 5, 35, 69, 97, 253
+
+    Vulcana, black-eyed, Story of, 26, 27
+
+
+              W
+
+    Warning, A Dervish’s, 159
+
+    Witches, Seven spinster, 48, 49
+
+    WIVES:
+      Of exiles, 131
+      Fascinating, 247, 266, 285, 297
+      Ideal, 151
+      What sort of?, 246, 247
+      With sticks!, 289
+
+    WOMAN:--
+      “Beautiful and brittle,” 251
+      Commonwealth of, 6
+      Effigy, xxiv
+      “Of unsullied virtue,” 51
+      “A tolerable kind of!” 227
+      A valiant, 121, 122
+
+    WOMEN:--
+      Beautiful, xxiv, xxv, xxxii, 2, 50, 51, 59, 84, 85, 268, 272
+      Characteristics of, xxv, xxvi, xxvii, 5, 63
+      Courageous, 3, 4, 5, 6
+      Cultured, 214, 215, 268
+      Distressed gentle-, 111
+      Dress of, 12, 23, 46, 59, 63
+      Emancipation of, 152
+      Good breeding of, 12
+      Hostel for fallen, 153
+      “Never hang!”, 153
+      Of Chioggia, xxvii, 62
+      Occupations of, 21
+      “Of the Rialto,” 56
+      Patriotism of, 64
+      “Of the People,” 120
+      Toilet of, xxvi, xxvii, xxix, xxx, 16, 23, 58, 59, 230
+      Treatment of, 22
+      Voluptuous, 60
+      Weeping, 82, 83
+
+
+               Y
+
+    Young Dogs!” “Insolent, 144, 177, 178
+
+    Young men, Dress, 137. Hair, 205
+
+
+              Z
+
+    Zantani, Agnese, (Dogaressa), 120–126
+
+    Zeno, Carlo, (Commander), 161, 176
+
+      „  Renier, (Doge), 101
+
+    Ziani, Cecilia, (Dogaressa), 75–78
+
+      „  Giorgio, 89
+
+      „  Marchesina, 91
+
+      „  Marco, 91
+
+      „  Maria, 91
+
+      „  Marino, 78
+
+      „  Pietro, (Doge), 88–96
+
+      „  Sebastiano, (Doge), 73–78, 117
+
+    Zilve--Pattens, 179
+
+    Zorzio, Agnese, (Dogaressa), 127, 128
+
+      „  Giovanni, 218
+
+      „  Laura, (Dogaressa), 218
+
+      „  Marino, (Doge), 127, 128
+
+      „  and Bella, Story of, 84, 85
+
+
+
+
+                               EDINBURGH
+                           COLSTONS LIMITED
+                               PRINTERS
+
+
+Transcriber’s Notes:
+
+1. Obvious printers’, punctuation and spelling errors have been
+corrected silently.
+
+2. Some hyphenated and non-hyphenated versions of the same words have
+been retained as in the original.
+
+3. Italics are shown as _xxx_.
+
+
+
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78047 ***
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+<body>
+<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78047 ***</div>
+
+  <div class="figcenter" id="i_frontis">
+    <img
+    class="p1"   
+    src="images/i_frontis.jpg"
+     alt="">
+     <p class="p0 sm center">DOGARESSA TEODORA SELVO</p>
+     <p class="p0 sm center">(as Cleopatra with Venetian Zilve).</p>
+     <p class="p0 sm center">PARIS BORDONE.</p>
+  </div>
+
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<h1 style="color: #0000FF">THE DOGARESSAS<br>
+OF VENICE</h1></div>
+
+<p class="center">(<i>THE WIVES OF THE DOGES</i>)</p>
+
+
+<p class="center p2" style="color: #0000FF">BY EDGCUMBE STALEY</p>
+
+<p class="center p-min xs">AUTHOR OF “THE TRAGEDIES OF THE MEDICI” ETC.</p>
+
+<p class="center p2 xs"><i>ILLUSTRATED</i></p>
+
+  <div class="figcenter" id="i_title">
+    <img
+    class="p2"   
+    src="images/i_title.jpg"
+     alt="">
+     <p class="p0 sm center">THE DOGARESSA</p>
+  </div>
+
+<p class="center p4 xs">NEW YORK</p>
+
+<p class="center sm" style="color: #0000FF">CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS</p>
+
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p class="center xs p4">TO THE MEMORY OF MY<br>
+MOTHER</p></div>
+
+<p class="center sm">FINETTA STALEY</p>
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_v">[v]</span></p>
+
+<h2>PREFACE</h2>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>The Story of the Dogaressas of Venice,—the Wives of the Doges,—has
+not hitherto been told in English; but when my many appreciative
+readers have finished this volume, I am confident they will agree
+with me that there is much that is very interesting and unique in my
+narrative.</p>
+
+<p>The influence of good women upon the well-being of Society is
+undeniable: that eloquent French <i>mot</i>:—“<i>Cherchez la
+Femme</i>,” has a subtle and impressive meaning. In the election
+of a Doge of the Most Serene Republic of Venice the personality of
+his spouse had often as not considerable weight in the decision of
+the Lords of the Council. My long list of the Ducal wearers of the
+lesser <i>Corno</i> contains the name of not one who failed to play
+her magnificent <i>rôle</i> with infinite credit to herself and with
+conspicuous benefit to the State.</p>
+
+<p>In the compilation of my “<i>Libro d’Oro delle Dogaresse di
+Venezia</i>,” I have found “<i>La Storia di Venezia</i>” and “<i>La
+Dogaressa di Venezia</i>,”—the remarkably able works of Signore
+Pompeo Giovanni Molmenti,—of the greatest service, and I now beg
+to offer that erudite writer, if he is still alive, my heartiest
+acknowledgments. Mr W. C. Hazlett’s “Venetian Republic,”—out and away
+the best English history of Venice,—has been invaluable.</p>
+
+<p>The “Roll” of the Most Serene Dogaressas is unique,—such a complete
+list has never been published,—it will therefore be exceedingly useful
+to students of history and lovers of romance.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_vi">[vi]</span></p>
+
+<p>With respect to illustrations it will be at once remarked how few
+portraits of Dogaressas I offer. The fact is that Venetian painters,
+great or small, painted fewer than a dozen of the noble First Ladies
+of Venice. This is perhaps what might have been expected. Venetian
+painters excelled all others in the delineation of youthful female
+beauty,—they were the first to paint “<i>Venus Calva</i>,”—but the
+middle-aged and the aged did not appeal to them. No, the Dogaressas
+have nothing for which to thank painters, sculptors, or engravers: such
+artists were directly under the patronage of the Doges not of their
+Consorts.</p>
+
+<p>Women of every age and clime care very little about the Fine Arts,
+so called, they are themselves the finest of the Fine Arts, and
+their sympathy goes out rather to the artistic Crafts, in search of
+objects to add, if may be, to their own charms and attractiveness. In
+Venice the “<i>Fragilie</i>,” or Trade-Guilds, were directly under
+the patronage of the Dogaressas, and we shall find their personal
+attributes in the beautiful and fragile glass of Murano, and the
+delicate and chaste point-lace of Burano, in the lovely and costly
+ornaments of the goldsmiths, in the superb brocades of silk and velvet
+and the splendid tissues of gold and silver of the costumiers, and in
+the endless fascinating adjuncts of the toilet and the table.</p>
+
+<p>Many of my illustrations are characteristic scenes of Venetian life and
+special features of Venetian fashion, and I think they prove the truth
+of what Mr G. Howell in his “Familiar Letters” says of Venice:—“A
+place where is nothing wanting that heart can wish.”</p>
+
+<p class="r2 p-min">EDGCUMBE STALEY.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<h2>CONTENTS</h2>
+</div>
+
+<table class="smaller" style="max-width: 50em">
+  <tr>
+    <th></th>
+    <th class="pag">PAGE</th>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+   <td class="cht">PREFACE</td>
+   <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_v">v</a></td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+   <td class="cht3">INTRODUCTION—</td>
+   <td class="pag"></td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+   <td class="cht1">&ensp;I. <span class="smcap">Venice</span>—“The City of Venus”</td>
+   <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_xiii">xiii</a></td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+   <td class="cht1">&nbsp;II. <span class="smcap">Venice</span>—“The City of Saints”</td>
+   <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_xvi">xvi</a></td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+   <td class="cht1">III. <span class="smcap">Venice</span>—“The City of ‘Fair’ Women”</td>
+   <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_xxiv">xxiv</a></td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+   <td class="cht3">CHAPTER I.</td>
+   <td class="pag"></td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+   <td class="cht2">“To the Lagunes!”—The dreaded Huns—Aquileia la Bella—Adriana
+the Heroine—La Maga Irene—Degna D’Aquileia—Viragoes—Hawsers
+of Women’s Hair—<i>Venezia Seconda</i>—Longobards—Altino
+and the Storks—The first Doge of Eraclea—Early
+Dress and Manners—Charlemagne—The first Dogaressa—Rivo-Alto
+Parent of Venice—Agnello and Elena Badoero—First
+Makers of Venice—Houses—Customs—Love of Flowers—First
+Ducal Palace—Translation of St Mark’s Body—Basilica of San
+Marco Built—Doges and Dogaresses enter Religion—Position of
+Women—Lovers—The <i>Pegne</i>—Marriage Ceremonies—<i>Arcelle</i>—Legend
+of “La Boccola”—Festa delle Marie—A Slave Dogaressa—The
+Rape of the Brides—A low-born Mistress—Proud
+Valdrada da Toscana—A Rich Dowry—Slaves—Athletic Sports—Fire
+at the Palace—Assassination of Doge Pietro Candiano IV.—Valdrada’s
+Vengeance—The Love-story of Gerardo Guoro
+and Elena Candiano</td>
+   <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_1">1–41</a></td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+   <td class="cht3">CHAPTER II.</td>
+   <td class="pag"></td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+   <td class="cht2">Legends—St Pietro Orseolo—The Pala D’Oro—A Hard Biscuit—“Good”
+Dogaressa Felicia—Dress of the Nobles—Light Blue—<i>Ninzioletti</i>—“A
+Stupid Man”—Seven Sisters—An Amorous
+Gondolier—A Diplomatic Marriage—The Princess Maria—The
+Flag of Venice—A Laurel-crowned Dogaressa—“Venice wants
+for Nothing!”—Dogaressa Teodora—A Splendid Court—Greek
+Menus—An Exquisite Toilet—The Crusades—The Last of the
+Giustiniani—A Nun’s Devotion—“A Miracle of Probity!”—Relics
+of the Saints—The “Bigots”—Tragic death of Doge
+Vitale Michielo—The Pope and the Emperor in Venice—The
+“<i>Bucintoro</i>”—“The Marriage of the Sea”—Sports Clubs—The
+Dogal Regalia—Prices current—“The Grand Old Man of
+Venice”—The Oriflamme of San Marco—Many Widows in
+Venice—“<i>Venus Calva</i>”</td>
+   <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_42">42–83</a></td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+   <td class="cht3">CHAPTER III.</td>
+   <td class="pag"></td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+   <td class="cht2">The Legend of the Coral Net—Origin of Venetian Point-Lace—The
+<i>Fragilie</i> or Guilds—Dogaressa Maria Baseggio’s son torn
+to pieces—A terrible Earthquake—A Year of Jubilee—The
+<i>Marca Amorosa</i>—War of the Gallants—Marriage—The Pledge
+of Peace—Dogal Prerogatives curtailed—Vision of Rose-trees
+and Doves—The “Flagellants”—Marriage Customs—Madonna
+Catarussa and the Seller of Brooms—Picnics—A Table of
+Etiquette—<i>La Donna della Misericordia</i>—The Dogaressas-Patroness
+of the Crafts—A Sumptuous Coronation—The <i>Ca’ Di</i>
+<i>Dio</i>—Prosperous Times—The Dogaressa’s Wardrobe—An Autocratic
+Doge—State Robes—The Bridge of Fisticuffs—The Castellani
+and Nicolotti—The Gaiety of Life—The Sweet Legend of
+“La Beata”—Strange Devotions—Revolutionary Movements and
+Conspiracies—Giustina Rossi and her stone pan of Carnations</td>
+   <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_84">84–125</a></td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+   <td class="cht3">CHAPTER IV.</td>
+   <td class="pag"></td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+   <td class="cht2">“A Galley full of Demons!”—The Legend of “The Fisherman
+and the Ring”—Doge Zorzi Il Santo—Dogaressa Franchesina
+“Queen of Venice”—The pathetic Story of Soranza Soranzo-Querino—A
+<i>Corno</i> for the Dogaressa—The Solemn Entry of
+Dogaressa Elisabetta—Brides of Stuff and Wood—Sumptuary
+Laws and Bridal Trousseaux—The <i>Calar Stola</i>—The Genesis
+of Venetian Painters—A learned Doge—Infatuation for Isabella
+de’ Fieschi—The Black Death—Francesco Petrarch—Marino
+Faliero—Michele Steno’s Insult—The Conspiracy—“The Doge
+never lies!”—Broken-hearted Dogaressa Aloycia—Frate Paolino
+on “Woman’s Influence”—Platonic Ideas—Courtesans—The
+Story of Veneranda Porta—The <i>Bravi</i>—A Dowdy Dogaressa—“Slippers,
+Cabbages and Night-caps!”—Alvise Venier’s Escapade—A
+Venetian “Brutus”—A Poetic Prophecy</td>
+   <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_126">126–166</a></td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+   <td class="cht3">CHAPTER V.</td>
+   <td class="pag"></td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+   <td class="cht2">The Zenith of the Dogaressa—A grand religious Function—The
+Ritual—Dogaressa Marina Galina-Steno’s “<i>Gran Mercè</i>”—Venice
+the Conqueror—<i>Compagnia della Calza</i>—<i>Cacci del Toro</i>—Sumptuous
+Dresses—Wooden Pattens—<i>Zelve</i>—Pageants—<i>Uno
+Balordo</i>—A Doge with an Iron Will—A Disputed Election—A
+Brave Dogaressa—The Tragedy of Giacomo Foscari—The
+longest <i>Dogado</i>—Quaint Wedding-customs—A Leg of Mutton—A
+Magnificent Trousseau—Torture and Exile—A Bitter Enemy—“He
+has Paid the Debt!”—An injured Dogaressa—Dogaressa
+Giovanna Dandolo-Malipiero, Patroness of Printing
+and Lace-making—The First Published Book—<i>Buranelle</i>—Patriarchal
+Doges and Dogaressas—Cheapness—Young Cavaliers’
+Long Hair—Good Dogaressa Cristina Sanudo-Moro—An
+Opulent Doge—Dogaressa Dea—“The Venus of the Century!”—Who
+was Donna Laura Nogarola?</td>
+   <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_167">167–209</a></td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+   <td class="cht3">CHAPTER VI.</td>
+   <td class="pag"></td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+   <td class="cht2">The Gardens of Venice—Murano Palace-Villas—Symposia—Pietro
+Bembo and the <i>Litterati</i>—Ariosto and Aretino—“Venus
+the Fruitful”—Venetian Dialect—Cristina Pisano and Cassandra
+Fedele—Two Dogaressas—Gold Regalia—Dresses worth
+£2000 apiece!—A Connoisseur Doge—Dowries with Conditions—Venice
+Disgraced—Costly Gifts—Wild Beasts—A Disastrous
+Fire—A Plague-stricken Dogaressa—A Splendid Funeral—A
+Terrible Pestilence—Dogal-Fraternal Disputes—Beauteous
+Slaves—Their Prices and Uses—Discovery and Decline—Duchess
+Beatrice D’Este—“Great Dolls!”—Nepotism—The Man of the
+Hour—A Widower Doge—The League of Cambrai—Cream-coloured
+horses for Henry VIII.—Disasters—No “Marriage of
+the Sea”—<i>La Pace delle Donne</i>—Spectacular Plays—Gorgeous
+Madonna Giovanna Emo—The Grimani Breviary—Wild-fowl—The
+“<i>Osella</i>”—The Dogaressa’s Coronation banned—Doge
+Andrea Gritti’s pompous Progress—Fat Pork and Onions!—Old
+Marta—Peep at the Dogaressa in Bed!—Frate Pietro
+Casola’s Account of Venetian Fashions—“What sort of a wife
+has he got?”</td>
+   <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_210">210–251</a></td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+   <td class="cht3">CHAPTER VII.</td>
+   <td class="pag"></td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+   <td class="cht2">A Doge and Dogaressa of the Fisher-Folk—Dogaressa Zilia
+Dandolo-Priuli’s Coronation—“I am delighted with everything!”—Gorgeous
+Obsequies—The Republic at Peace—Talented
+Dogaressa Loredana Marcello-Mocenigo—Visit of
+Henry III. of France—Extravagant dissipation—Bold Courtesans—Veronica
+Franco—A Venetian Sappho—Battle of Lepanto—A
+Hero Doge—“The Golden Rose”—An Amiable Dogaressa—Bianca
+Cappello—“Daughters of Venice”—Caterina Cornaro—Dogaressa
+Morosina Morosini-Grimani—Lavish Largesse—Laudatory
+Orations—Stamped gilded Leather—A Magnificent
+State Robe—A Water-Pageant—Two hundred thousand visitors—A
+Grand Naval Review—International Sports—Dogaressa’s
+love of lace</td>
+   <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_252">252–291</a></td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+   <td class="cht3">CHAPTER VIII.</td>
+   <td class="pag"></td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+   <td class="cht2">The Sun of Venice set!—Many short-lived Doges and
+Dogaressas—Games at Cards—A stout unwieldy Dogaressa!—Another
+Hero-Doge—The Morea conquered—“Woman
+maketh Man!”—A wrinkled face—Loss of Candia—Universal
+idleness and indulgence—Venice dying as a whirling ballet-dancer!—A
+virtuous Dogaressa—Her cell a treasure-house—A
+Princess-costumier—A dress of solid gold!—A costly
+wedding—The Tragedy of Madonna Francesca Grimani-Mocenigo—A
+Lady-bountiful—A Cultured Dogaressa—Polissena—A
+Rope-dancer Dogal spouse, Margherita Delmaz—“Stop
+that bell!”—Agnello Emo the last Captain of Venice—The
+Last Scene—Feeble Doge Lodovico Manin—A despairing
+Dogaressa—The roar of cannon!—Abdication of the Doge—The
+Regalia burnt—Buonaparte hands Venice over to Austria—“<i>La</i>
+<i>Republica xe Morta</i>”</td>
+   <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_292">292–314</a></td>
+  </tr>
+</table>
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<h2>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2>
+</div>
+
+<table class="smaller" style="max-width: 50em">
+  <tr>
+     <td class="cht">An Ideal Portrait—Dogaressa Teodora Selvo,</td>
+     <td class="ctr"><a href="#i_frontis"><i>Frontispiece</i></a></td>
+     <td class="pag"></td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+     <td class="cht">La Maga Irene holding a Reception,</td>
+     <td class="ctr"><i>To face page</i></td>
+     <td class="pag"><a href="#i_004fp">4</a></td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+     <td class="cht">Il Sposalizio—The Betrothal Ring,</td>
+     <td class="ctr">„</td>
+     <td class="pag"><a href="#i_024fp">24</a></td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+     <td class="cht">La Cazza del Toro—Bull-running,</td>
+     <td class="ctr">„</td>
+     <td class="pag"><a href="#i_036fp">36</a></td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+     <td class="cht">A Typical Family Group,</td>
+     <td class="ctr">„</td>
+     <td class="pag"><a href="#i_046fp">46</a></td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+     <td class="cht">The Dogaressa and her Maids of Honour,</td>
+     <td class="ctr">„</td>
+     <td class="pag"><a href="#i_062fp">62</a></td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+     <td class="cht">Going to a Masked Ball,</td>
+     <td class="ctr">„</td>
+     <td class="pag"><a href="#i_076fp">76</a></td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+     <td class="cht">A Mystic Dance,</td>
+     <td class="ctr">„</td>
+     <td class="pag"><a href="#i_092fp">92</a></td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+     <td class="cht">Doge Reniero and Dogaressa Aloicia Zeno,</td>
+     <td class="ctr">„</td>
+     <td class="pag"><a href="#i_102fp">102</a></td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+     <td class="cht">A Court Ball Parade,</td>
+     <td class="ctr">„</td>
+     <td class="pag"><a href="#i_118fp">118</a></td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+     <td class="cht">Doge Francesco and Dogaressa Elisabetta Dandolo,</td>
+     <td class="ctr">„</td>
+     <td class="pag"><a href="#i_138fp">138</a></td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+     <td class="cht">Two Courtesans and Pets,</td>
+     <td class="ctr">„</td>
+     <td class="pag"><a href="#i_152fp">152</a></td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+     <td class="cht">Festa Campestre—Picnic on the Brenta,</td>
+     <td class="ctr">„</td>
+     <td class="pag"><a href="#i_162fp">162</a></td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+     <td class="cht">La Ninfa—A Love Affair,</td>
+     <td class="ctr">„</td>
+     <td class="pag"><a href="#i_176fp">176</a></td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+     <td class="cht">Marriage Reception in a Palace,</td>
+     <td class="ctr">„</td>
+     <td class="pag"><a href="#i_192fp">192</a></td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+     <td class="cht">Fashionable Hair-dressing,</td>
+     <td class="ctr">„</td>
+     <td class="pag"><a href="#i_208afp">208</a></td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+     <td class="cht">Dance in a Villa Garden,</td>
+     <td class="ctr">„</td>
+     <td class="pag"><a href="#i_216fp">216</a></td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+     <td class="cht">Le Novizze—Brides in Gondolas,</td>
+     <td class="ctr">„</td>
+     <td class="pag"><a href="#i_226fp">226</a></td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+     <td class="cht">A Bride’s Debut,</td>
+     <td class="ctr">„</td>
+     <td class="pag"><a href="#i_238fp">238</a></td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+     <td class="cht">Dogaressas Zilia Dandolo-Priuli; Loredana Marcello-Mocenigo;
+and Cecilia Contarini-Venier,</td>
+     <td class="ctr">„</td>
+     <td class="pag"><a href="#i_254afp">254</a></td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+     <td class="cht">Dogaressa Loredana Marcello-Mocenigo,</td>
+     <td class="ctr">„</td>
+     <td class="pag"><a href="#i_268fp">268</a></td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+     <td class="cht">Dogaressa Morosina Morosini-Grimani,</td>
+     <td class="ctr">„</td>
+     <td class="pag"><a href="#i_282fp">282</a></td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+     <td class="cht">A Game at Cards—“<i>La Trappola</i>,”</td>
+     <td class="ctr">„</td>
+     <td class="pag"><a href="#i_294fp">294</a></td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+     <td class="cht">The Fortune-Teller,</td>
+     <td class="ctr">„</td>
+     <td class="pag"><a href="#i_304fp">304</a></td>
+  </tr>
+</table>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_xiii">[xiii]</span></p>
+
+<h2>INTRODUCTION</h2>
+</div>
+
+<h3>VENICE—“<span class="smcap">The City of Venus!</span>”</h3>
+
+
+<p>The “Queen of the Adriatic” came into being quite as mysteriously and
+almost as miraculously as did the “Queen of Beauty.”</p>
+
+<p>Where the iridescent bubbles of the light zephyr-borne foam of the
+ever-flowing sea-wash disperse, with intangible impact, upon the golden
+strand of shallow shoals, all strewn with opal-hued sea-shells—making
+plaintive cadences in the keen sea-breeze—there, there, was Venus
+born—so too was Venice!</p>
+
+<p>The fair form of the fascinating goddess lay prone—partly in and
+partly out, of the generating water until the breath of life, skimming
+over the crested ripples, exhilarated her blushing limbs. Most delicate
+sprays of aromatic seaweed intermingled with the abundant tresses of
+her rich auburn hair, flawless pearls of the ocean threaded themselves
+around her shapely arms and bosom, her cincture was a cunning veil of
+coloured sea-mist, and her feet were covered with glittering scales of
+gold and silver fish.</p>
+
+<p>Upon the aqueous shore the Four Seasons wait with their twelve
+attendant lunar nymphs to cast about their “Venus calva” the emerald
+and topaz girdle of virginity, and the ruby and sapphire mantle of
+royalty. A merrily dancing chorus of seven times fifty-and-two dainty
+fairies of the day, hand-in-hand, are ready to escort their Queen
+through the amber grotto to her royal throne beneath the myrtle-grove.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_xiv">[xiv]</span></p>
+
+<p>All this is metaphorical of the “City of Venus”—Venice—for, to quote
+Shelley’s tender ode:—</p>
+
+  <div class="poetry-container">
+   <div class="poetry">
+      <div class="stanza">
+        <div class="ileft">“Underneath day’s azure eyes,</div>
+        <div>Ocean’s darling, Venice, lies.”</div>
+      </div>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+
+<p>Sea and silt united were the parents of the “daintie Citie.” Ebbing,
+ever ebbing, the brackish head-waters of the gulf heaped up grain on
+grain of terra-firma—the detritus of many a fruitful river and the
+shifting rolling sea-sand. Thus was Venice formed, “born,” as Goethe
+says, “out of the water.” “Venice calva” laid along the lagunes,
+her graceful form reposed upon the <i>velme</i> or <i>barene</i> of
+Rivo-Alto, Olivolo, and Poveglia—sand and seaweed submerged; her
+shapely feet rested upon the firmer ground of Malamocco and Chioggia;
+and her comely hands grasped the <i>tumbe</i> or sedge-growth,—seldom
+covered by the tide,—of Torcello, Burano, and Mazzorbo.</p>
+
+<p>Rivo-Alto, or Rialto, was the first of sixty sisters of the languishing
+lagunes. Over them silence and solitude reigned supreme, but the sun
+shone with generous warmth and the breeze blew with healthful vigour,
+and, almost imperceptibly variegated moss clothed the naked <i>rive</i>
+and <i>lidi</i>. Green math and rush covered the golden dunes, flowers
+of the sea,—pinks and anemones,—and blossoms of the land,—lavender
+and poppies, imparted colour and fragrance to the wastes of mud.</p>
+
+<p>For hundreds of years, and hundreds more, those oozy quicksand swamps
+were nesting-grounds for wild birds of the sea—the feeding-place of
+feathered visitants migrating to other climes. The depths were choked
+with fish, and the shallows reeked with<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xv">[xv]</span> creeping things, but no hold
+was there for foot of man or spoor of beast.</p>
+
+<p>Then, in historic times, into those sandy shifting channels came
+strange forms, scaring both fish and fowl away—the coracles of daring
+aborigines, from the contiguous shores in quest of food and what-not.
+Uncouth men cast their nets and spread their snares amidst struggles
+for proprietorship—the lagunes had changed their character.</p>
+
+<p>Another era dawned, that of fire and storm, and fugitives from the
+devastating wrath of Alaric and the Goths fled, crouching, scared, and
+breathless, for sanctuary to the lagune fastnesses. With them appeared
+corsairs of the coast, preying upon the hunted men and women and
+seeking hiding-places for their pelf. Thus a ribald population grew up
+amid the trackless ways of no-man’s land.</p>
+
+<p>For bare existence had they to fight—no weakling child, no thriftless
+woman, no loafing man could long endure that fierce survival of the
+fittest. Stripped to their loin-cloths men worked to give stability to
+their foothold in the swamp. Balks of timber from submerged forests
+were clamped together and great piles of wood driven deep, deep down
+into the ooze and silt. Women girding up their skirts waded knee-deep
+in the sea-wash, weaving osier basket-work to retain what grains of
+gravel rested beneath their feet. Children fetched and carried.</p>
+
+<p>Flotsam and jetsam all came ready to hands which clawed and thewed for
+mutual advantage. Shelters of dry mud or baked sunslime with boarded
+roofs, windowless and without doors, were the homes of these strenuous
+people. Then, by degrees, every<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xvi">[xvi]</span> safest stretch of sand had its dotting
+of cottages and its hamlets. Besides the daily struggle to keep the
+greedy water out and the slender soil retain, there was much to do for
+one and all. Fishing, bird-snaring, carrying and piloting of goods and
+craft were obvious occupations; and then came the rendering of salt and
+bitumen, and the gradual cultivation of the bleak wind-swept islets.</p>
+
+<p>Some sort of constitution was in force from the earliest date: the
+best man of each collection of dwellings was looked upon as head and
+guide, and he gathered the wisdom that he lacked from men next him in
+years and influence. The people of the lagunes were not savages—they
+were the descendants of men and women highly civilised. Invention and
+creation were instinct in them all, and they were Christians too.
+Their legislation and religion were based upon the examples of their
+forebears in the mainland. All looked to Rivo-Alto,—the port of Padua,
+it was called,—as the centre of their geographical economy, and there,
+too, in 421, Padua sent consuls to regulate the lives and property of
+the water-settlers and to safeguard the common weal from inroads of
+barbarians.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb">
+
+
+<h3>VENICE—“<span class="smcap">The City of Saints</span>!”</h3>
+
+<p>is quite as appropriate a title as any other bestowed upon the
+“Queen of the Adriatic.” The translation of the body of Saint Mark
+the Evangelist from Alexandria, in 829, excited in every class of
+the population a fervid emotion and an insatiable ambition for the
+possession of relics of the Saints,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xvii">[xvii]</span> not alone as objects of devotion
+but as mascots for protection.</p>
+
+<p>Bodies—more or less entire—were exhumed, purchased, or stolen,
+from scenes of fierce martyrdom, or from quiet resting places, and
+reverently conveyed in Venetian galleys to the Lido for distribution
+among the churches of the Lagunes. Each translation was an exhibition
+of manly abasement and womanly devotion: Doge and Dogaressa, no less
+than the poorest of the poor, took part in the ecstatic ceremonies.</p>
+
+<p>Each saintly personage had ascriptions of peculiar benevolence, and
+became the centre of special devotions; indeed many of the holy shrines
+were regarded as objects of perpetual pilgrimages. Venetian manners,
+Venetian poetry and literature, and Venetian vernacular, were all
+marked by the hagiography of the saintly city.</p>
+
+<p>In a very curious volume published in Venice by Giacomo Zoppi, in 1519,
+entitled “Viaggia da Vinegia al Santo Sepolcro et al Monte Sinai,”
+and illustrated by quaint wood-cuts of cities, peoples, and animals,
+encountered by the way, is a list of the bodies of Saints enshrined in
+Venetian Churches, in the following order:—</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+
+<p class="hangingindent"><i>San Marco</i> “Messer San Marco”—St. Mark the Evangelist,
+from Alexandria, under the high altar; (2) The glorious Martyr
+Sant’ Isidoro, from the Island of Chios, in the Chapel of the
+Crucifixion—(1125).</p>
+
+<p class="hangingindent"><i>San Pietro di Castello</i>:—SS. Sergio and Bacco, in a
+marble tomb in the crypt of the Confession.</p>
+
+<p class="hangingindent"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_xviii">[xviii]</span></p>
+
+<p class="hangingindent"><i>San Danicle</i>:—San Giovanni, martyr from Alexandria.</p>
+
+<p class="hangingindent"><i>San Giovanbattista in Bragora</i>:—San Giovanni the
+Almsgiver, Patron of Alexandria.</p>
+
+<p class="hangingindent"><i>Sant’ Antonino</i>:—“Messer San Sabba,” Abbot of
+Acre—(992).</p>
+
+<p class="hangingindent"><i>SS. Trinita</i>:—Venerable monk and martyr, Sant’ Anastatio.</p>
+
+<p class="hangingindent"><i>San Zaccaria</i>:—(1) “Messer San Zaccaria,” father of
+St. John Baptist; (2) San Gregorio Nazanzino, Patriarch of
+Constantinople; (3) San Teodoro, confessor, from the Island of
+Samos; (4) San Pancrazio, martyr, in a marble sarcophagus; (5)
+Santa Sabina, martyr of Acre, in a marble sarcophagus; (6) San
+Tharaso, martyr, of Roumania, in the crypt; (7) San Ligerio,
+martyr.</p>
+
+<p class="hangingindent"><i>San Lorenzo</i>:—SS. Giorgio, Barbaro, and Paul—Bishop,
+martyrs all from Constantinople.</p>
+
+<p class="hangingindent"><i>San Sebastiano</i>:—Venerable Sebastiano, rector of San
+Giovanni (head wanting!)</p>
+
+<p class="hangingindent"><i>Santa Marina</i>:—Venerable nun and patient martyr Marina,
+in the choir, from Greece.</p>
+
+<p class="hangingindent"><i>San Salvadore</i>:—San Teodoro, martyr, from
+Constantinople,—<i>martyr et cavalier di Dio</i>.</p>
+
+<p class="hangingindent"><i>San Paterniano</i>:—SS. Gondino and Epimaeo.</p>
+
+<p class="hangingindent"><i>San Giuliano Martiro</i>:—(1) San Floriano, martyr, from
+Greece; (2) San Paolo, hermit (head wanting!)</p>
+
+<p class="hangingindent"><i>San Canciano</i>:—San Maximo, bishop and martyr.</p>
+
+<p class="hangingindent"><i>San Maria delli Crocichieri (Formosa)</i>:—</p>
+
+<p class="hangingindent"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_xix">[xix]</span></p>
+
+<p class="hangingindent">Venerable virgin and martyr Santa Barbara,—in a “<i>bella
+cappella</i>.”</p>
+
+<p class="hangingindent"><i>San Geremia</i>:—Venerable Magno—Bishop of Altino, builder
+of the first church in Venice.</p>
+
+<p class="hangingindent"><i>Santa Lucia</i>:—Venerable Santa Lucia, virgin and martyr,
+in a chapel. Translated from Saragossa to Constantinople, and
+thence to Venice.</p>
+
+<p class="hangingindent"><i>SS. Gervasio e Prothasio</i>—called “Sa Trovasi”—Santo
+Grisogono, martyr from Zara.</p>
+
+<p class="hangingindent"><i>San Niccolo dai Mendigoli</i>:—San Niceto, martyr.</p>
+
+<p class="hangingindent"><i>San Raffaelo</i>:—Santa Niceta, virgin and martyr from
+Nicomedia.</p>
+
+<p class="hangingindent"><i>San Basileo</i>:—San Costantio, confessor, from Ancona, in a
+coffer before the high altar.</p>
+
+<p class="hangingindent"><i>Sant’ Apollinare</i>—called “San Aponal”:—San Gioria,
+prophet.</p>
+
+<p class="hangingindent"><i>San Simeone Propheto</i>:—(1) <i>San Simeone</i>, from
+Constantinople—in a marble sarcophagus before the high altar;
+(2) San Hermoleo, priest and martyr, from Nicomedia—in a marble
+sarcophagus in the middle of the nave.</p>
+
+<p class="hangingindent"><i>Sant’ Elena</i>:—“The glorious Queen Sant’ Elena”—(1205).</p>
+
+<p class="hangingindent"><i>San Niccolo di Lio (Lido)</i>:—(1) San Niccolo Magno,
+Archbishop of Mirraea (1100); (2) San Niccolo, Bishop and Abbot
+of Mount Sinai; (3) San Theodoro, Archbishop of Morea.</p>
+
+<p class="hangingindent"><i>San Giorgio Maggiore</i>:—(1) San Stefano, first<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xx">[xx]</span> martyr,
+in a special chapel (1105); (2) San Paolo, Duke and martyr of
+Constantinople; (3–4) SS. Cosimo and Damiano, martyrs; (5) San
+Cosima, confessor and virgin, from Constantinople.</p>
+
+<p class="hangingindent"><i>San Clemente Papa</i>:—Sant’ Aniano, Patriarch of
+Alexandria, disciple of Saint Mark.</p>
+
+<p class="hangingindent"><i>San Servilio</i>:—San Leo, Bishop of Modon—(819).</p>
+
+<p class="hangingindent"><i>San Secondo</i>:—San Secondo, martyr, from Aste.</p>
+
+<p class="hangingindent"><i>Santa Maria di Murano</i>:—(1) San Donato, bishop and
+martyr, in the crypt—(1125); (2) San Gerardo, Bishop of Moravia
+and martyr—a Venetian by birth.</p>
+
+<p class="hangingindent"><i>Sant’ Albano di Burano</i>:—(1) Sant’ Albano, Bishop; (2)
+Sant’ Orso, martyr; and (3) San Domenigo, hermit and confessor,
+both from Armenia.</p>
+
+<p class="hangingindent"><i>Santa Maria di Torcello</i>:—Sant’ Eliodoro, Bishop of
+Altino and martyr.</p>
+
+<p class="hangingindent"><i>Basilica di Torcello</i>:—San Fosca, virgin and martyr from
+Aquileia.</p>
+
+<p class="hangingindent"><i>Sant’ Antonio di Torcello</i>:—Santa Cristina, virgin and
+martyr, from Armenia.</p>
+
+<p class="hangingindent"><i>Basilica di Grado</i>:—(1) San Hermacoro, Patriarch of
+Aquileia; (2) San Fortunato, archdeacon—both in the crypt.</p>
+
+<p class="hangingindent"><i>Santa Croce della Zecca</i>:—“The body of the most holy
+Doctor Saint Athanasius, Patriarch of Alexandria.”</p>
+
+<p class="hangingindent"><i>Basilica di Chiosa</i> (Chioggia):—SS. Felice and Fortunato
+(?) from Aquileia.</p>
+
+<p class="hangingindent"><i>San Rocco di Chiosa</i>:—San Rocco.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_xxi">[xxi]</span></p>
+
+<p>In addition to these Bodies were very many other relics of Saints, for
+example; arms of St. Andrew the Apostle, St. Barnabas the Apostle, St.
+George of Cappadoccia, heads of St. Sixtus the martyr, S. Simeon the
+Apostle, etc., etc. Every Church has its reliquary for veneration, and
+in it a fragment of the True Cross.</p>
+
+<p>Venice, moreover was a nursery of Saints: she numbered among her
+honoured dead scions of nearly every noble family who, for one good
+reason or another, had attained to the pre-eminence of Sanctity. Such
+were San Pietro Orseolo, San Lorenzo Guistiniani and San Vincentio
+Ferrar—to name but three. A religious atmosphere pervaded the islands
+of the Lagunes and kept alight many a kindled shrine on mud-bank pile
+and at <i>casa</i> corner. Inside the homes of the Venetians also,
+according to orthodox custom, were Ikons and Anconas with candles
+burning in honour of favourite saints.</p>
+
+<p>Nevertheless, and in spite of such a wealth of saintly environment, the
+Venetians were undoubtedly backward in sending their sons to fight the
+battles of the Cross in Palestine. On the other hand they were ready
+with no niggard contributions in aid of Crusaders from other lands.
+Venetian gold, Venetian ships, and Venetian seamen, carried the armies
+of the Cross to foreign ports; and Venetian alms endowed hospitals and
+funds for the benefit of the wounded and the sad, upon the islands of
+the Lagunes.</p>
+
+<p>In the “<i>Viaggia da Vinegia</i>” is a very simple but doubtless
+efficacious recipe for the treatment of weary Crusaders:—“For pilgrims
+suffering from<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xxii">[xxii]</span> the heat and tender feet, anoint with wine-lees mixed
+with olive oil overnight; then, in the morning wash in a bath of sweet
+herbs and sweet water.”</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps the reason for the apparent luke*-warmness in the defence of
+the Holy Sepulchre may be seen in the isolation of the lagune dwellers.
+They were not in such close touch with other communities as are nations
+with artificial boundaries. Their charity began at home, and their
+customs were unlike those of their neighbours. All islanders are so
+differentiated from inhabitants of continents: citizens of the British
+Isles are remarkable to-day for insular idiosyncrasies.</p>
+
+<p>Venice is still one of the most religious cities in all Italy. Prayer
+never ceases, the Blessed Sacrament is perpetually exposed, the
+churches are open night and day, and the devotions have little that is
+merely perfunctory.</p>
+
+<p>Saint Giustina was one of the saintly patrons of Venice. She was a
+Paduan maiden of Royal birth—a daughter of King Vitalicinio. Haled
+before the Roman Emperor she professed herself a Christian: in vain
+did he strive to shake her resolution. Sentenced to be beheaded the
+sword of her executioner turned upon himself, and this occurred three
+times in succession. Eventually, in 303, she was cast into the sea and
+drowned.</p>
+
+<p>Mariners sailing along the Venetian Coast still, it is said, hear at
+the hour of Vespers, the sighs of the holy martyr, and the devouter
+sort cross themselves reverently and crave her guidance and patronage.
+In Venetian art Saint Giustina accompanies Saint Mark, Saint George,
+and Saint Catherine of Alexandria as assistants at the throne<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xxiii">[xxiii]</span> of the
+Virgin Queen of Heaven. The unicorn generally accompanies her—the
+mystic emblem of chastity.</p>
+
+<p>The first church dedicated to her honour was built at Padua in 453 by
+Orpillo, a pious citizen, in times of unrest and disaster. In Venice
+Saint Giustina’s church was erected by Dogaressa Elena, spouse of
+Doge Agnello Badoero: it was situated in the Calle del Te Deum but
+suppressed and dismantled in the seventh century.</p>
+
+<p>A very pretty legend is linked to the memory of Saint Giustina. It is
+recorded that when the people of Altino and the other towns threatened
+by the Longobards flew disconsolately to the islands of the lagunes,
+a white cloud appeared to two holy priests Germaniano and Mauro and
+out of it proceeded the sweetest of all voices—that of Saint Mary
+the Consoler. With her conversed Saint Peter the Apostle, Saint John
+the Baptist, Saint Antonio of Padua, and other holy martyrs. Saint
+Giustina joined the sacred conclave and was deputed to indicate to
+the faithful clerics the spots whereupon it was the will of Heaven
+that churches should be built. Torcello, Burano and Mazzorbo owe their
+sacred edifices to the girl Saint’s instruction. She also told Bishop
+Magnus of Altino that wherever he found a vine there to erect a church.
+At Padua one may see the prison of the Saint—a dungeon seven feet by
+three. The martyrdom of Saint Giustina has tenderly inspired the pen of
+the poet and the brush of the painter, and they have together handed
+down a delightful tradition for Saint Giustina was regarded as the
+“Patroness of the Dogaressa.”</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_xxiv">[xxiv]</span></p>
+
+
+<h3>VENICE—“<span class="smcap">The City of ‘Fair’ Women!</span>”</h3>
+
+<p>The two things most famous and most remarkable in Venice, throughout
+the whole of her fascinating story, are first of all the beauty of her
+women, and secondly the splendour of her palaces. No city in the wide
+wide world, ever did, or ever can, compare with Venice in the number
+and magnificence of her palaces. They are as unique and as majestic,
+individually and collectively, as is the Queenly City herself.
+Concerning them, that trenchant epigram of Francesco Sansovino, the
+historian, “<i>Veni Etiam</i>” is a truism—Come again and again, and
+you shall always find some fresh beauty, some unimagined delight.</p>
+
+<p>Venice had a greater distinction far, than the elegance of her private
+and public buildings,—she was always full of beautiful women. “I never
+beheld,” exclaimed the Cardinal of Lorraine to Doge Pasquale Malipiero,
+“such a number of lovely women as I see everywhere in your bewitching
+city!”</p>
+
+<p>Nicolo Ciccio d’Arezzo, a poetaster of the fifteenth century, invited
+all true poets to sing with him the praise and glory of “<i>Tanta
+Donna</i>,” as he suggestively calls the woman-effigy of Venice.
+He unites with Jacopo d’Albiggotto, and Guido da Firenze, in the
+enthusiastic refrain:—</p>
+
+  <div class="poetry-container">
+   <div class="poetry">
+      <div class="stanza">
+        <div class="ileft">“<i>Di tutta Italia, Lombardia, e Toscana.</i></div>
+        <div><i>Secondo che si vede per effeto</i></div>
+        <div><i>Vinegia e la piu nobile e sovrana.</i>”</div>
+      </div>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+
+<p>Gianni Alfani, a poet of the thirteenth century, in his “<i>Gentildonne
+di Vinegia</i>,” writes thus:—“I<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xxv">[xxv]</span> wish to sing with you about my
+Mistress, because she is adorned with every virtue and every charm.”</p>
+
+<p>The women of Venice were always distinguished for their natural
+quickness and intelligence, their sprightliness and vivacity of manner,
+their talkativeness and coaxing ways, and their fondness of music, song
+and dance. Perhaps their most characteristic talent however was their
+devotion to the toilet—their love of beauty and of clothes!</p>
+
+<p>In person they were usually somewhat short of stature, but endowed with
+grace of carriage. Their figures, especially their bosoms, were full
+even to the degree of stoutness. This was in a great measure due to the
+softness of the Venetian climate, which induced a natural and becoming
+indolence. Nevertheless they were vigorous in action and quite able to
+give a good account of themselves in marital and other squabbles!</p>
+
+<p>Their features were clearly cut and yet not too severe, their heads
+well shaped and borne, their eyes blue like their skies or grey like
+their seas, and their hands and feet were small. Their most attractive
+attributes were the fair satin peach-like delicacy of their skin, and
+the brilliant lustre and golden sheen of their abundant light auburn
+hair. Speaking of the consummate art and artifice of Venetian women
+Pietro Aretino exclaimed:—</p>
+
+  <div class="poetry-container">
+   <div class="poetry">
+      <div class="stanza">
+        <div class="ileft">“<i>Sotto il nero trasparente velo</i></div>
+        <div><i>Veggonsi in carne gli angeoli del cielo!</i>”</div>
+      </div>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+
+<p>That most fallacious saying,—“Beauty is but skin deep,”—never applied
+to Venetian women. Their fair beauty, like all real beauty, not only
+covered the whole person externally but it was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xxvi">[xxvi]</span> instinct in their
+blood, their muscle, and their nerve,—moreover it was hereditary.
+The early parents of the race, or rather intermingled races, were
+Trojans and Greeks: then Teutonic-Lombard fathers mated with mothers of
+Veneto and the Lagunes, and the stock became stable in its properties
+of strength, grace, and beauty. Pliny, of old time, truly cast their
+horoscopes when he wrote of the first mothers of Venice thus:—“They
+are chaste, simple, and modest, they never give themselves away even
+when their men folk are idle and lascivious, their character and
+demeanour are marked by Grecian calmness.” Surely he had in view the
+line of the Dogaressas!</p>
+
+<p>The treatment of the skin was a speciality of the Venetian women. The
+use of the bath was one of their inheritances, they bathed the whole
+body frequently, sometimes in the sea at the Lido, but every house
+had its bath—in humble homes of wood or common metal, in patrician
+palaces of porcelain, glass, or silver. With the water they mixed
+simple or exotic perfumes. One of their secrets was to remain, with
+the whole body immersed and motionless, for at least half an hour;
+and another was, they never rubbed the skin but just dabbed it and
+let it dry naturally. Then the nostrums of the masseusses’ art were
+exploited. A not uncommon custom was to lay a slice of raw veal, dipped
+in new milk, upon the face at night! For richer women other artifices
+followed suit—puffs and powders to gently temper the epidermis or hide
+unsightly blotches, and pigments,—rouge and others,—with which art
+might most effectively colour crude or enervated nature.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_xxvii">[xxvii]</span></p>
+
+<p>Every woman and girl in Venice, at all times, painted,—even the
+poorest of them. The cult is still practised at Chioggia, where you
+never see a woman without artificial colour. There, by the way, may
+be seen still the true Venetian type of female beauty, and the old
+Venetian trait of sitting leisurely, under shade or shelter, while some
+sympathetic voice reads Ariosto or some other favourite poet.</p>
+
+<p>One very delightful attribute of Venetian women was their
+fragrance,—their skins and their hair were always perfumed. Wherever
+a <i>gentildonna</i> passed she left behind her a delicious aroma, if
+she paused the air around her became saturated with sweetest odours.
+This seductive charm is still characteristic of the real Venetian: her
+love of scent is hereditary and delightful. In a very real sort of way
+the Venetian <i>gentildonna</i> was a living embodiment of Venus—“the
+fairest and the sweetest of all the Goddesses:” hence Venice has been
+quite aptly called the “City of Venus,—the City of Fair Women.” A
+couplet from San Gemignano is quite applicable to this delightful
+fancy:—</p>
+
+  <div class="poetry-container">
+   <div class="poetry">
+      <div class="stanza">
+        <div class="ileft">“<i>Donzellette, giovane, e garzoni</i></div>
+        <div><i>Servir portare amorose ghirlande.</i>”</div>
+      </div>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+
+<p class="p-left">There was one especial favourite among all the delicious
+perfumes which dispersed their sweet aroma all over Venice, and Count
+Lorenzo Magalotti, in his “<i>Fiore d’Arancio</i>” tells us how it
+was made. “Take,” he says, “the empty skin of an orange, with a
+little powdered benzoin, with two pounded cloves, and a small stick
+of cinnamon, cover them with the finest rose water and set to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xxviii">[xxviii]</span> boil
+upon a brazier.” In the sixteenth century the far-famed Portuguese
+<i>buccheri</i> got to Venice,—little charms of sweet-smelling
+clay—and they very soon became every woman’s treasures. The odour
+dispersed when a <i>bucchero</i> was dipped in hot water was very
+refreshing, and resembled the aroma which arises from parched ground
+on a hot summer’s day after a copious shower of rain. When dipped in
+essences they gave forth for ever so long the sweetest of perfumes:
+women wore them in their bosoms, and were accustomed to place them
+often upon their lips, so that their kisses might be scented too!</p>
+
+<p>Not only were the girls and women of “Venice—the City of Saints” much
+drawn to the general claims and duties of religion but, in particular,
+they were exponents of some of its minor behests. The Apostle speaks of
+the hair of women and says it was given them to be a protection and a
+glory. The Venetians exactly carried out the apostolic injunction.</p>
+
+<p>From the very first foundation of Rivo-Alto, away in the fifth century,
+the women of the lagunes were accustomed to resort daily to the
+<i>altane</i>, or flat-roofs of their dwellings, and there spend much
+time in combing and dressing their hair in the sunshine. This habit
+they undoubtedly inherited from their Greek ancestresses. Homer sings
+about “the beautiful fair hair of the Greeks,” and he has painted the
+captivating Helen of Troy with abundant locks of gold. The general
+colour of Grecian women’s hair was brown,—light and dark,—and such
+naturally was the hue of Venetian women’s tresses. The poets however
+made a dead<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xxix">[xxix]</span> set against that tint, and stated their case so broadly,
+that brown hair was regarded with aversion as appertaining to traitors,
+murderers, and other evil doers! The painters took up the cue, and we
+rarely see in the pictures of Bellini, Giorgione, Titian, Tintoretto or
+Veronese women with brown hair.</p>
+
+<p>Auburn, or, as they called it,—golden, hair,—was the most popular,
+most beautiful and most expressive. The more it glittered the better
+was it liked, and what Nature marred Art embellished. A primitive but
+withal most effective device in the Venetian artifices of the toilet
+was the superimposition upon the top of the head,—the hair being
+well combed-out and rippling over the shoulders,—of a crownless,
+wide-brimmed straw hat called <i>solana</i>,—“sun-frame.” The brim
+shielded the neck and bosom, while the sunlight, not the heat, got at
+the roots of the hair and blanched its growth. Every <i>altana</i> had
+its group of animated “mushrooms”—each woman and girl sitting thus,
+and ever and anon damping the exposed hair and cuticle with a small
+sponge, stuck at the end of a spinning-spindle or some such sceptre,
+and dipped in cunning tinctures. Beneath the brim of the <i>solana</i>
+big long-toothed combs of yellow tortoiseshell were used to keep the
+hair supple, or frizzing-irons, or bones to make it curl or wave. This
+method was admirably effective, and it is still adopted privately
+by many a beautiful Venetian girl and buxom dame. With respect to
+the recipes employed in the concoction of the tinctures little can
+be authoritatively said, for each fair one kept her elixir and its
+secret to herself. Anyhow, generally speaking, one may say that the
+finest of fine Lido golden sand, crushed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xxx">[xxx]</span> vitreous plaques of Murano,
+ivory sawdust, pounded sea-shells and,—in exuberant and extravagant
+humour,—even powdered pearls, and precious gold dust were employed.
+Vegetable compounds—the juice of grapes, berberis, ivy-berries,
+lemon-squash and orange-flavour, with aromatic powders of all sorts and
+kinds were also used. Dyes, strictly so called, were not in favour:
+their effect was ephemeral.</p>
+
+<p>Venetian women and girls owed a good deal to Dogaressa Teodora Selvo,
+in the eleventh century, for she introduced toilet batteries, fully
+furnished with all the requisites for skin, hair, and teeth,—together
+with delicious Eastern perfumes. Giovanni Marinello of Modena, in the
+sixteenth century, gathered up all that was known of the artifices of
+the coiffure in his classical work “<i>Gli Ornamenti delle Donne</i>.”</p>
+
+<p>Venetians were past-mistresses in the mysteries of hair-dressing. The
+Greek style was always the most in favour, where the hair, not being
+too dry nor too tightly plaited, was drawn off the face and neck, tied
+in a ribbon at the back, and then coiled round and round the head,
+and stuck fast with combs and pins. The hard line of the forehead
+was tempered by a small row of curls under a semi-diadem, fillet,
+or crescent—called <i>gabbia</i>—literally “a cage”—and usually
+made of precious metal and jewelled. This style Titian painted in the
+well-known portrait of his daughter Lavinia presenting a golden dish of
+ripe fruit.</p>
+
+<p>Another fashion affected by gay and opulent courtesans was called
+<i>al Corno</i>, with reference to the conventional head-dress of
+the Dogaressas.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xxxi">[xxxi]</span> Sometimes only one horn was projected, at others
+two or even three or more. An invisible bandeau was hidden under
+the hair, bearing spikes of tortoiseshell or whalebone, up which
+single strands of hair were twisted and curled until they assumed
+the appearance of vine spirals and tendrils. This vogue lasted quite
+a long time—certainly from 1540 to 1630. It was a very difficult
+feat to arrange these horns becomingly, so as to avoid any idea of
+the ridiculous, the animal, or the demoniacal: <i>crescenti</i> they
+were euphemistically called, as suggestive of the crescent moon of
+Diana,—the Huntress of the Gods! The painters never admired this style
+of hair-dressing, and very few of them, if any, have depicted the <i>al
+Corno</i>. Giacomo Franco and other engravers, however, have preserved
+for us illustrations of this peculiar mode.</p>
+
+<p>A third manner of hair-dressing was popular amongst quite young girls
+and aged women—the two extremes—the cap of Juliet. The hair was
+combed out and smoothed down, and then tight-fitting jaunty caps or
+nets were fitted close over the head behind the ears, leaving the long
+locks of hair spread out like fans upon the neck behind or in small
+ringlets. These caps were usually very beautifully made, as often as
+not of gold or silver thread or net, or wire and gemmed. A favourite
+style was a delicate net of silk or very small artificial flowers of
+blue, as contrasting most serenely with the golden glitter of the hair.</p>
+
+<p>Fashionables always carried fans,—not those with which
+we are familiar,—but little flags set on stems or poles;
+<i>ventolini</i>—“windguards”—they were called. Strong sea-breezes,
+not strong sunbeams,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xxxii">[xxxii]</span> were to be warded off, for they disturbed the
+hair and roughened the skin. Venetian beauties never, as we say, fanned
+themselves: they had no need to do so, because the sea air always
+tempered the sun’s heat. These fans were from six to twelve inches
+square, and were made of cloth of gold, richly embroidered silk, Burano
+lace, or feathers: they were fringed with beads and shells, through
+which the wind whistled musically when shaken in the air. The stem,—a
+foot or more long,—was usually of tortoiseshell, carved cedar-wood
+or of gold and silver, and jewelled for State occasions. In 1522 the
+<i>Provvidetori delle Pompe</i> published a decree of the Council
+regulating extravagant decoration of the <i>ventolini</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Venetians never used parasols or sunshades; they wore their dress
+sleeves short in order to expose the arm,—with its jewelled bracelets
+above the elbow,—and their bare or lace-covered breasts, to the soft
+sea air of the lagunes and the not too ardent rays of the golden
+sun—nature’s assistants in the labours of the toilet.</p>
+
+  <div class="poetry-container">
+   <div class="poetry">
+      <div class="stanza">
+        <div class="ileft">“O fairest of the fair was she,</div>
+        <div>Dream of gold and cremisini;</div>
+        <div>Peach-silk her skin, golden her hair,</div>
+        <div class="i3"><i>Gentildonna di Venezia</i>.”</div>
+      </div>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_1">[1]</span></p>
+
+<p class="center xl">THE DOGARESSAS OF VENICE</p>
+</div>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER I</h2>
+
+
+<h3>I</h3>
+
+<p>“To the Lagunes!”—“To the Lagunes!”—“Attila Australis
+plaga!”—“Attila Flagello di Dio!”—these were the despairing cries of
+panic-stricken people in dire distress.</p>
+
+<p>Ominous sounds came hustling over ragged peaks, and through dense
+forests from the lofty snow-fields of the distant Alps; and, like the
+storm-borne scum of tempestuous seas,—leaping and hissing,—they tore
+along the hurrying torrents. Sweeping wildly over rippling lake and
+rolling plain the warning cry re-echoes across the ruffled waters of
+the salt marshes, and strikes terror in hearts of oak and pales brows
+of bronze.</p>
+
+<p>The heavy tread of barbarian hordes, their savage oaths, and
+the clashing of their rude weapons, rush upon the wings of the
+<i>tramontana</i>, as underfoot they trample the fertile lands of
+Gallia Togata on their way to Rome.</p>
+
+<p>The dreaded Huns are upon the prosperous Græco-Roman cities of Veneto,
+with their noble civilisation, their graceful villas and gardens,
+their well-equipped baths and theatres, their imperial<span class="pagenum" id="Page_2">[2]</span> palaces, their
+arsenals, and their mints. “Splendid Veneto,” as Cassiodorus, the
+Emperor Maximus’ famous minister of art and literature, in startled
+admiration, calls the province,—is doomed to destruction.</p>
+
+<p>The walls of Aquileia,—“Aquileia la Bella”—called so from the beauty
+of her women, are the first to fall. Men and children are butchered
+relentlessly—stalwart fathers and helpless babes lie side by side,
+women are stripped and ravished, and the young girls carried along
+by the intoxicated savages—the fairest spoils of war. A weeping
+despairing band of fugitives alone escape the fury, and led by
+Secundus, their Archbishop, with his clergy carrying relics of Saints
+and sacred vessels, they hurry on till their blistered feet feel the
+cool sea-wash at Grado.</p>
+
+<p>Fruitful Concordia rooted up, her people fly to Caprule,—a swamp
+of corncrakes, where, in place of working in the arts and crafts
+as of yore, they are fain to tend sheep and goats for their
+livelihood—Caorle they called it later on. Studious, lordly Padua
+scatters her scholars and her patricians—Greek influence counts for
+nought face to face with brute force—and makes common cause with busy
+thriving Oderzo. Malamocco, with its sand-dunes, offers a shelter in
+the storm to the Paduans; Eraclea and Jesolo, amid their pine-woods,
+conceal the Oderzani; and Altino, smiling and fertile in times of
+peace—in war-time a desert and a tomb, sends stragglers to Torcello.</p>
+
+<p>Padua’s King, alone of leaders, withstands the brunt of battle in
+421—brave Giano. Flight is not for him, and by his side stands, and
+stand she<span class="pagenum" id="Page_3">[3]</span> will, or with her master fall, his wife, Queen Adriana the
+Heroine.</p>
+
+<p>Giano challenges Attila to personal conflict, whilst, wild and
+remorseless as they are, the Huns look on with admiration and encourage
+each valiant prince in turn. The Paduan skilfully parries the fierce
+onslaught of the “Scourge of God” and, at last, although nigh bested,
+he lays his enemy low, and the victims of Veneto are avenged!</p>
+
+<p>The Queen has stood all through the fell encounter close behind her
+consort, stripped ready for the fray, for, should Giano fall, then she
+would try conclusions with Attila! Snatching the fallen chieftain’s
+weapon, all gory with her husband’s blood—it had entered nearly into
+his vitals—out of the death-grip of his strong right hand, she holds
+it aloft calling upon Heaven to avenge the blood of her people.</p>
+
+<p>To Rivo-Alto she bears it, in a lordly galley, a ghastly token of
+deliverance, and, there, upon hallowed ground she sets it up, where she
+plants her foot, in pledge of the church and convent which she vows she
+will erect, in memory of a hardly-won victory, to the honour of holy
+Raphael—the Archangelic healer of human wounds.</p>
+
+<p>Quite a different story with respect to the death of Attila is set
+forth eloquently in the erotic poem, “La Venezia Edificata,” composed
+by Giulio Strozzi—a grandson of the great Filippo. Therein Oriana
+Augusta, daughter of the Empress Galla Placida, titular Queen of
+Dalmatia, is represented as consort by rape of the Hunnish King. Making
+her escape from the camp of her captor she fled to Venetia-al-Lido
+pursued by Attila. To prevent<span class="pagenum" id="Page_4">[4]</span> violation she leaped from the ship into
+the sea and came near perishing, until rescued by kindly hands from
+Aquileia.</p>
+
+<p>The barbarian chieftain vowed to be avenged upon the Aquileiese, and,
+they in their turn, vowed to guard the Queen. Attila had recourse
+to a famous fortune-teller of Aquileia, “La Maga Irene,” who, in
+consideration of a heavy bribe, consented to aid his vengeance. By
+woman’s craft, or witch’s wiles, Irene contrived to set the people
+of Aquileia all agog with their neighbours of the littoral, and at
+variance with one another,—so that their quarrels might screen an
+attack by the Huns. The enchantment entirely failed in its object,
+for Giovanni Anafesto and Sostinio Rinieri,—leaders at Aquileia of
+rival parties—joined hands to repel the invader. Irene, by the way,
+had fooled them both by crossing them in love. Whether mesmerised by
+the black art of the enchantress, or incited by personal jealousy
+the captains of Attila’s host rose against him and against each
+other. Intrigue and counterplot divided the councils of the Hunnish
+chieftains. Nadasto, Attila’s second in command, made court to
+Fulvia,—a lady of Altino—wife of his rival Aetis, and won over to his
+cause her beauteous young daughter, Idilia, whom Attila had tried to
+seduce.</p>
+
+  <div class="figcenter" id="i_004fp">
+    <img
+    class="p1"   
+    src="images/i_004fp.jpg"
+     alt="">
+     <p class="p0 sm center">LA MAGA IRENE HOLDS A RECEPTION.</p>
+     <p class="p0 sm center">FROM A WOODCUT AFTER A. PINELLI. 1624.</p>
+     <p class="p0 sm center">“La Veneta Edificata.”—Giulio Strozzi.</p>
+  </div>
+
+<p>One evening, when the incantatrice Irene had cast her spell upon the
+Hunnish leader, and Ariana, her mystic-magic singer, had lulled him to
+slumber in his tent, and when Nadasto had bribed and rendered drunk the
+soldiers of his guard, Idilia stole silently through the darkness to
+the couch whereon Attila was heavily sleeping. Like Jael she hesitated
+not to make use of her opportunity to avenge her <span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">[5]</span>wrong and aid her
+lover. Driving, with all the force of a strong desperate woman, the
+sword she found by the sleeper’s side, she pierced Attila through the
+breast, and pinned his body to the bed-board beneath. Thus died the
+“Scourge of God,”—the ravisher of women—by a woman slain!</p>
+
+<p>Not alone was heroic Adriana of Padua in deeds of
+woman-prowess,—Martza d’Aquileia, standing astride her husband’s
+stricken body, his sword in her hand, hurled bold defiance and hardy
+blows together at her foes, until overborne by numbers she fell
+fighting to the last!</p>
+
+<p>Degna too, of Aquileia, daughter of the Queen of Dalmatia, dignified
+and devoted matron that she was, her spouse and sons slaughtered
+before her eyes, took refuge with her young daughters within the
+gateway-tower, and thence threw down coping*-stones and coals of fire
+upon the heads of their enemies. Short was that attack on woman’s
+valour, for brawny arms and hands were soon stretched out to seize the
+brave defenders. Degna slew her children by dashing them to the ground,
+and she, fearless of death, followed them to preserve their honour and
+hers!</p>
+
+<p>The skill and courage of the women of Veneto in the use of bow and
+arrow, and in the casting of the javelin, came to be the undoing of
+many a stalwart barbarian. The Huns were amazed at the heroism, no
+less than at the beauty, of their fair opponents. Those viragoes had
+in their veins the blood of Greek heroes, and their muscles were of
+iron like the Romans. Noble and bold in heart were they, vigorous and
+graceful in form and feature, and well dowered with mental capacity and
+resource.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">[6]</span></p>
+
+<p>Not once, but many a time, when the rope-hawsers, which worked the
+defenders’ catapults, gave out and the defence seemed doomed to
+failure, the women and the girls of besieged towns cut off their
+tresses of strong, fine, lustrous hair, with which to weave new stout
+cords for the disabled machines!</p>
+
+<p>Those were the women, who either stood shoulder-to-shoulder with
+their lords and masters to repel the hateful foemen, or, blessed
+with families of young children, fled for safety to the islets of
+the lagunes, there to guard them from all ill, and ready to lay down
+their lives in their defence. Among the fugitives men-folk were
+rare,—grandsires and men past service and lads just entering on their
+teens,—but the bones of the strongest and best lay bleaching and
+unburied upon the desolate plains of Veneto.</p>
+
+<p>This earliest settlement was a woman’s commonwealth, and mothers and
+daughters nursed patiently a new generation. They inculcated lessons
+of faith and devotion and inspired their boy-offspring with energy and
+earnestness. Bereaved and comfortless themselves they looked to Holy
+Church for consolation and direction. They listened, in their dreams,
+to the soothing voices of the Saints, and loved to tell sweet stories
+from tradition. Cells for holy men and women, released from the world,
+were fixed on every sandy beach; and chapels, simple and primitive
+enough, called by tinkling bells, holy souls to Mass and vespers.
+Women prayed and children sang, till phœnix-like out of a cataclysm of
+tribulations, arose a new Venice—“Venezia Seconda.”</p>
+
+<p>Generation followed generation, and family cohesion banded the
+scattered groups of islet<span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">[7]</span> dwellers together for mutual protection and
+defence. The terror of invasion by barbarians became old men’s tales,
+and mothers scared their children to make them good with stories of the
+“Scourge of God.” Many lads, now grown, went back to terra-firma, and
+rebuilt the homes of their grandparents, and married and settled there.</p>
+
+<p>One hundred years rolled along almost uneventfully for “Venezia
+Seconda” and the dwellers upon her shores, but, at length, times of
+peace and comparative prosperity were rudely disturbed by another
+fateful cry from the mountains!</p>
+
+<p>Longobards,—Bavarians, Bulgarians, Swabians, and other mixed
+races,—were said to be pouring over the passes into Italy, and late
+in the autumn of 567, a mighty horde began to move over the plains
+marching ever southwards. Terror once more struck home to the hearts
+of the people of Veneto and of the islands of the lagunes. Were the
+horrors of the almost forgotten invasions of the Goths and Huns to be
+re-enacted? What was to become of them, and their children?</p>
+
+<p>The only reply was the old, old cry “To the Lagunes!” Altino led the
+way: her inhabitants were premonished by a startling apparition. The
+storks, which made their nests upon the roof-trees of the houses,
+suddenly began to circle round the city uttering shrill cries, then,
+darting down with one accord they picked up in their long bills their
+little fledgelings and made off right out to sea!</p>
+
+<p>The people looked on amazed, but when they noted that the birds stayed
+their flight over Torcello and her sister islets, they said one to
+another—“This<span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">[8]</span> is a warning of Providence—which we must follow—it
+is the ‘finger of God’!”</p>
+
+<p>The Longobards, however, were not intent so much on conquest as on
+settlement. Tales of the fertility of the soil of Italy, and stories
+of the profitable industries of her cities, had found their way to
+northern lands, and had excited, in the hearers, vehement desires to
+share such good things. They came not in serried ranks of warriors but
+in caravans in peaceful guise, with their household goods and chattels
+upon their waggons, and their old folk and little children securely
+mounted on the top. To them Veneto was the Land of Promise.</p>
+
+<p>If the peaceful inhabitants of the province were not slain as in the
+days of Alaric and Attila, they were scattered, for the Longobards
+meant to have and to hold what they seized. Dressed in skins of beasts,
+with linen tunics of many colours, loose breeches girded with leathern
+belts, and shod in wooden and metal sandals, they presented a marked
+contrast to the natives of Veneto. They shaved the back of their heads,
+but wore the hair low upon the foreheads with ringlets, and the men
+were bearded.</p>
+
+<p>Their conduct towards the people they had come to dispossess of lands
+and homes was marked by consideration, and they made an excellent
+impression by not meddling with matters ecclesiastical. Indeed so
+suave and gentle were they in their bearing that not a few of the less
+fearful maidens looked kindly upon the invaders, and not one but many
+brides of Veneto were mated to Longobard grooms! Surely this was a rare
+exhibition of the old and world-wide sentiment—<i>noblesse oblige</i>!
+A new and healthy<span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">[9]</span> strain was thus intermingled with blue Græco-Roman
+blood, and, whereas, the citizens of the Eastern Empire, at large,
+dwindled and deteriorated, the men and women of “Venezia Seconda” grew
+in numbers, strength, and comeliness.</p>
+
+<p>The Greek protection of Veneto and the lagunes was withdrawn in 641,
+and then at once it was borne in upon the elders of the families and
+the leaders in their councils that unbounded liberty was a dangerous
+expedient. Parliaments representative of every class—work-people,
+middle class, and patricians,—with the clergy at their head, were
+called together for deliberation and unity of action.</p>
+
+<p>If it is true—maybe it is—that each hundred years of a nation’s
+development corresponds to a decade of human growth, then the
+Commonwealth of the islets of the lagunes attained its maturity in 697
+or thereabouts. The infant Venice,—nursed in her Malamocco cradle by
+her father and motherland of Padua some two hundred years before,—was
+now a vigorous maiden and of age.</p>
+
+<p>Her sponsors, wisely chosen, one from each of twelve most important
+settlements, who had exercised their tribuneship to good account,
+forgathered at Eraclea to elect a worthy guardian of the State, a
+leader—“Dux,” “Doxe” or “Doge” of the Venetians. Some of them were
+Veneto-Greeks, like the Partecipazi and the Michieli, and some of them
+were Veneto-Romans, like the Candiani and the Orseoli, with rivalries,
+domestic and political to unite and disunite them, but all were fired
+with the new idea of mutual life and independence.</p>
+
+<p>From every <i>lido</i> and <i>riva</i> came barca and gondola,
+gaily dressed with flowers and greenery:<span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">[10]</span> the helm held stoutly by
+men—brave as they were wise, whilst at the prow, beauty and youth
+sang tuneful melodies. Well-stored with food and delicacies were those
+festal galleys, for their crews were bent on pleasure as well as
+business. Matron and maid in holiday attire accompanied their lords
+and sweethearts to the solemn happy ceremonial—it was a domestic
+celebration in simple homely state.</p>
+
+<p>Where manly strength and wisdom make of life a scene of wear and tear
+ungarnished and uncharmed by women’s ways, true femininity intervening
+administers juice of grapes to gladden man’s heart, and oil of olives
+to make him of a cheerful countenance,—so to paraphrase the holy
+psalmist. At Eraclea grace and force embraced one another.</p>
+
+<p>The women and the girls of the islands brought with them to Eraclea
+armfuls of sea-pinks and sprays of jessamine, red poppies and yellow
+flags, fragrant orange flowers and the sweet bays of myrtle, gathered
+from their gardens. They wove gay garlands with the tenacious dime
+rushes and coiled them about with the tendrils of the vine. Every
+street shrine in Eraclea, every Virgin ikon in her modest homes, was
+adorned with floral offerings, and the altars of her sanctuaries were
+covered with pure white fragrant Mary lilies.</p>
+
+<p>The twelve electors held their parliament in the modest basilica and
+cast their votes in secret, but all were satisfied when Paolo Lucio
+Anafesto of Aquileia was hailed as the first of Venice Doges—judge,
+general, and pope combined.</p>
+
+<p>Promptly the Patriarch of Grado blessed the new Head of the
+State, and the twelve electors joined in crowning him with the
+“<i>Corno</i>”—the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">[11]</span> horned Phrygian bonnet of renown and liberty. The
+day’s solemnities performed all held picnic in the woods; Eraclea kept
+open house. Night fell all too soon and lines of gaily-lighted gondolas
+made off to homes across the phosphorescent waves and the summer moon
+smiled upon a scene of perfect peace and content.</p>
+
+<p>Alas for the stability of mundane matters—two short years were
+scarcely spent when Doge Anafesto met with his death, lamentably
+enough, in a conflict between the citizens of Eraclea and Jesolo. This
+was a calamity, perhaps, rare in Venetian history, for, if Martino
+Sanudo, the quaint and voluminous chronicler, may be believed:—“The
+inhabitants of Venezia were a lowly peaceful people, esteeming love and
+mercy highly, and above all religious—they cared not for honours but
+were ever ready to help one another, regardless of class and station.”</p>
+
+<p>Three Doges only ruled at Eraclea, and then in 742 the seat of the
+Government was removed to Malamocco as being less open to attack, and
+more favourably placed for the development of trade with the east.
+The Doge was elected for life and his family, if of plebeian origin,
+ennobled: his wife however had no precedence and was regarded pretty
+much as one of her spouse’s goods and chattels.</p>
+
+<p>The citizens of the Commonwealth enjoyed a lengthy period of peace
+and prosperity, during which they were building up a national and
+self-reliant character. Men, women, and children gained urbanity
+and repose of manners, and were animated alike by vivacity and
+gravity of bearing. The women especially were remarkable for their<span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">[12]</span>
+good-breeding and refinement—vulgarity and pretence were non-apparent.
+As mothers they had a softening yet wholesome influence upon their
+families and households. Many Latin writers have noted these feminine
+characteristics.</p>
+
+<p>In matters of dress and personal adornment the <i>gentildonne</i>
+followed more closely than their humbler sisters the Greek modes. The
+mosaics at San Marco’s show that velvets and brocades were worn with
+handsome furs and folds of lace. Blue was the favourite colour with all
+classes—a cerulean tint, like the reflection of the azure skies in the
+still waters of the lagunes.</p>
+
+<p>When Charlemagne came to Friuli to hunt big game in 776, he made
+friends with the heads of noble Venetian families, and adopted their
+more graceful garments in lieu of his semi-savage state. He had set
+his heart upon seeing Venice and seizing what he could of her outlying
+islets. Her romantic story appealed strongly to his imagination and
+he even made proposals that Frankish brides should find their way to
+the lagunes. His ideas were actually adapted in the dogado of Obelario
+Antenorio (804–809), for his consort was a Frank princess.</p>
+
+<p>The Franks shared the sporting instincts of the Venetians and they
+were emulous of the boasts of the men of Venice:—“One can catch
+more fish in a month in the lagunes than in a whole year in all the
+Mediterranean!”, and, “One can entrap more birds at Malamocco than
+anywhere else in Italy!” Grebe-shooting was a favourite pastime, and
+ladies entered into the sport quite as enthusiastically as their lords.
+Cross-bows and clay pellets were<span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">[13]</span> the weapons, snaring was barred as
+unsportsmanlike, and heads were nailed on barn doors as trophies.</p>
+
+<p>Whilst Charlemagne and his courtiers were pleased to meet the
+Venetians, in sport, or when on marriage bent, he and they never quite
+concealed their designs upon the lagunes; but the monarch’s chagrin was
+bitter when he was forced to admit the impossibility of success. “As my
+brand sinks out of sight, nor ever shall appear to me again, so let all
+thoughts of seizing Venice vanish from my will,”—he once exclaimed,
+as, standing upon his royal galley off the coast of Padua, he cast his
+sword far, far away, out into the sea!</p>
+
+<p>The first actual Dogaressa—not merely the wife of the Doge, but the
+First Lady in Venice and his official consort, was a Frenchwoman—the
+Countess Carola,—a lady of honour at the Court of Aix-la-Chapelle.
+Obelario Antenorio and his brother Beato, who was associated with him
+in the dogado, were the guests of Charlemagne at Aix, and there the
+Doge saw and wooed his bride. How they got there nobody knows: it was a
+stupendous journey in those days. Perhaps fortune favoured Obelario and
+Beato and brought the maiden in the suite of the Empress into Southern
+France to Aix in Provence! The Emperor approved the match and promised
+his friendship and protection for the island Republic.</p>
+
+<p>Carola was a woman of great energy of character, remarkable for the
+exercise of a strong will, and endowed with the faculty of attracting
+respect and obedience. She had a difficult <i>rôle</i>, for the ladies
+of Venice resented the introduction of a Frenchwoman as consort of
+their Doge.</p>
+
+<p>Beato Antenorio, it appears, played a double<span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">[14]</span> part, for whilst acting
+as best man to his brother and paying court to Countess Carola, he
+was negotiating with the Emperor at Constantinople for a union with a
+Byzantine princess with a view to supplant the Doge and Dogaressa.</p>
+
+<p>Carola very soon took the measure of Beato’s perfidy, and when he
+brought his imperial bride to Venice, she adroitly placed Valentino,
+her husband’s youngest brother, an attractive youth, in the young
+girl’s way. There was little love lost between Beato and Cassandra,
+and the brothers very soon became estranged, and thus the Dogaressa
+held her own triumphantly. The story goes however that, consistent with
+woman’s ever changing mood, having set Beato against his wife, the
+Dogaressa became her rival in the affections of Valentino.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps the Venetian saying was true of her in a very special
+way:—“<i>El segreto dele femene no lo sa nessun altro che mi e vu, e
+tuto il commun!</i>”—“A woman’s secret is known to none save me, and
+you, and all the town!”</p>
+
+<p>Obelario Antenorio, who had been Tribune of Malamocco, was “an indolent
+man, irresolute and faithless.” When a Greek fleet approached the
+lagunes with peaceful intentions, but viewed by the Doge as supporting
+the pretensions of Beato, he had recourse to the French Court for
+assistance. This was regarded by the Greeks as an hostile act, and they
+attacked and destroyed Eraclea, Jesolo, Fossone, Chioggia, and other
+Venetian ports. The chief men of Venice were slain or taken captive,
+and Obelario and Beato Antenorio were carried away as hostages to
+Constantinople, where they and their wives, Carola and Cassandra, died.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">[15]</span></p>
+
+
+<h3>II</h3>
+
+<p>The first “Grand” Doge and Founder of Venice was Agnello Badoero,
+better known perhaps to historians by his Greek title “Ipato” or
+“Protospataro,”—in the Rialto vernacular Partecipazio. The Badoeri,
+originally from Padua and one of the twelve premier families of the
+Commonwealth, were descended from Giovanni d’Eraclea, who was among the
+twelve Tribunes voting at the election of Paolo Lucio Anafesto as first
+Doge of the Lagunes in 697.</p>
+
+<p>Agnello was Tribune of Malamocco, although a native of Eraclea, a man
+of many parts, he exhibited remarkable talents in almost every walk of
+life. A Greek of the Greeks by descent, he was a pronounced humanist
+in the school of Plato. A born legislator, he was by inclination an
+engineer and builder, and excelled his peers in mercantile industry and
+political acumen.</p>
+
+<p>Long before he was called to the supreme office of Doge he had fixed
+ideas about, and matured plans for, the conservation and development
+of the conditions of the islands of the Lagunes. Immediately after
+his election in 810, he broke with the traditions of the dogado, by
+removing the seat of Government to Rivo-Alto as being far and away a
+more convenient centre and at the same being much more secure from the
+attacks of enemies. Already there was a considerable population in
+the new capital and churches and houses of some importance had been
+erected—many of them of stone.</p>
+
+<p>All the same the ordinary Rivo-Alto dwellings were of modest dimensions
+and few rose beyond one<span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">[16]</span> storey in height. A marked feature of them all
+was the outside staircase, which gave access to the living rooms, and
+also led directly to the <i>altana</i> or look-out tower upon the flat
+roof. They were furnished with a <i>solario</i> or <i>liago</i>—an
+open balcony whereupon the inmates could sit and take the air and hold
+chit-chats with their friends.</p>
+
+<p>Upon the flat roof the women of the household performed their toilet,
+combing out their hair and exposing it to the sunshine. Various
+domestic duties also were transacted upon the “sun-traps,” for example
+newly-washed linen bleached nowhere as effectively as there. Bedrooms
+occupied the upper part, and the plan of the ground floor provided
+kitchens and offices with rooms for meals and the reception of guests.
+These, in the large structures, were arranged upon three sides of a
+square forming a courtyard or garden patch.</p>
+
+<p>Such a habitation was occupied by Doge Agnello and Dogaressa Elena
+with their growing family. It was situated upon what was subsequently
+known as the Campiello della Cason, adjoining the ancient church SS.
+Apostoli, and facing towards the neighbouring island of Murano, just
+where a small canal, the Rio Hadran, entered the Lagune. The principal
+entrance was in Calle della Cason with a postern at the corner for
+observation and defence. At the back, giving on a narrow back lane, was
+another doorway which led to a small garden and an orchard.</p>
+
+<p>Donna Elena occupied herself in cultivating “simples” and
+sweet-smelling flowers, without which no Venetian considered his home
+complete. Perhaps no people set greater store by fragrant flowers<span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">[17]</span>
+and succulent herbs than did those Venetian children of the sea-mists
+and salt-sands. The simplest bloom that the saline breeze allowed to
+grow was as precious as the most luxuriant rambler-rose, or flowering
+laurel. Vines grew everywhere and throve amazingly, and everybody had a
+floral or arboreal hobby.</p>
+
+<p>Having established himself in his primitive palace, Doge Agnello set to
+work to carry out his ideas of utility and expansion. First of all, in
+view of the many inroads of ruthless invaders into Veneto, he turned
+his attention to the strengthening of the defences of the islands.
+Strong cables were slung across the narrower channels, disused hulks of
+vessels were sunk in the deeper water-ways, and a system of signals by
+day and of beacons by night was established.</p>
+
+<p>The chief life’s work of the sapient Head of the State was the
+protection of the low-lying <i>lidi</i> from floods and denudation.
+Thousands and thousands of great timber balks from the Pineta of
+Ravenna were secured and driven far down into the yielding mud and
+sand. From pile to pile was woven a basket-work of unbreakable osiers,
+and then the pumping out of needless channels and the draining of wet
+marsh-lands was followed by the sinking of innumerable loads of solid
+earth and gravel, until the reclaimed areas assumed something of the
+appearance and consistency of terra-firma.</p>
+
+<p>With such primitive appliances as were at hand, the success achieved
+was little short of marvellous. To his new-made plots of land Doge
+Agnello gave the name of “<i>Fondamenti</i>.” To Rivo-Alto as the
+centre of his plan, he connected all the neighbouring<span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">[18]</span> islands by
+throwing across the water-ways wooden bridges,—thus Venice assumed her
+present form.</p>
+
+<p>Well may we, in imagination, behold the noble-hearted Doge, habited
+in simple guise and grey-bearded, yet, vigorous of frame with eagle
+eyes and firm set brow and mouth, ferried day by day, over the Grand
+Canal,—the actual channel of the river which Livy calls Præ-altus.
+To the <i>fondamento</i> of San Giacomo—that earliest holy shrine of
+the Venetian fugitives he is bound, there to superintend the works he
+has initiated. With plans in hand, elaborated with Grecian geometrical
+precision, he watches and directs the work-people, both men and
+women—at their toil. No master was more solicitous for the welfare of
+his working people than Doge Agnello Badoero.</p>
+
+<p>Much of her time the Dogaressa spent with her husband on the
+<i>fondamento</i>, where her presence cheered him. Thickly veiled, as
+was the custom of good women, and modestly attired she moved among the
+women workers, pouring out sympathy and affording relief.</p>
+
+<p>The crowning labour of Doge Agnello Badoero, so far as the building of
+Venice was concerned, was the erection of the Ducal Palace in 820. This
+was purely Byzantine in design, very large, and built of rare marbles
+and mosaics: “Il Palazzo” it was called, for there was nothing like it
+in new Venice, or at Eraclea. Probably it resembled in some respects
+the <i>Fondaco de’ Turchi</i> built at the same period and by the same
+master-builder—Doge Agnello. Unhappily nothing now remains of this
+earliest official residence of the Doges of Rialto.</p>
+
+<p>Francesco Donato has painted in a few words<span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">[19]</span> the character of Doge
+Agnello Badoero:—“He rose,” he says, “easily above all parties, a man
+very stable and dependable, a true Catholic, upright and devoted to
+the true interests of the Commonwealth.” This encomium assuredly was
+deserved by Dogaressa Elena as well.</p>
+
+<p>The times were strenuous and many an one, weary of the toil of the
+world and yearning for the consolation of religion was irresistibly
+drawn to assume the habit of the monastery. Men and women of worth
+became founders of religious houses and, among them, Doge Agnello and
+Dogaressa Elena, who with their eldest son Giustiniano, built the
+monasteries of Sant’ Ilario and San Zaccaria. This they did as the
+Codice Trevisiano records, “revelatione Domini Omnipotentis.”</p>
+
+<p>Following the example of his predecessors in the dogado Doge Agnello
+Badoero, towards the end of his life, associated his two eldest sons
+Giustiniano and Giovanni with himself in the direction in the affairs
+of State. The two young men had been carefully trained for the duties
+of government by their father, and by their mother, in the observances
+of religion and the exercise of moralities.</p>
+
+<p>Doge Agnello died in 827, and his two sons were elected to succeed him.
+No record is preserved concerning the death of the good Dogaressa.
+Probably they were both buried in the church of San Zaccaria.</p>
+
+<p>The example of Doge Agnello and Dogaressa Elena, with respect to the
+daily exercise of religion, was followed by their sons, their wives
+and families. Mass always found them in attendance. Every<span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[20]</span> day at dawn
+the <i>Marangona</i> or Mass-bell awoke the slumbering citizens, and
+again at midday, and at dusk were the faithful summoned to devotion.
+With singular simplicity the pious sons and daughters of Venice served
+their God and served their city in the best way they could: none were
+hypocrites.</p>
+
+<p>The brief and quiet reign of Giustiniano Badoero was remarkable for
+one eminent event—the translation of the body of Saint Mark the
+Evangelist, from Alexandria to Venice.</p>
+
+<p>The pious Venetians were well aware of the importance of possession of
+relics of the Saints. At Aquileia, Eraclea, Padua and the other cities,
+whence their forebears had fled to the islets of the lagunes, the
+churches were the depositories of such treasures, and the revenues of
+the ecclesiastical authorities were greatly augmented by the devotion
+of the religiously minded inhabitants. Besides, such holy shrines
+drew pilgrims and visitors from other states and so enhanced their
+reputation. A quotation from the Zancarol Chronicle in the Library of
+San Marco, exactly expresses the current idea:—“<i>La qual citade e
+stada hedificada da veri e boni Cristiani</i>.”</p>
+
+<p>Venetian envoys to Constantinople and travellers generally in the
+Orient were admonished to secure if possible relics for translation
+to the lagune city. Accordingly in 828 news reached Venice that two
+sea captains of Venetian merchant galleys, wintering in the port of
+Alexandria, had entered into relations with the ruler of the city. On
+their part they were to smuggle arms and provisions for the use of the
+Egyptian forces against the Eastern<span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">[21]</span> Emperor, and in exchange to take
+whatever they might like from ruined temples near the sea-shore,—one
+was the traditional burial-place of the second Evangelist.</p>
+
+<p>Treasures of all sorts were unearthed, and, at length, the tomb of the
+Saint yielded up a corpse undecayed and arrayed in episcopal vestments.
+Acknowledged and venerated upon the spot the hallowed remains were
+reverently conveyed to Venice, and received there with tumultuous
+acclamations and temporarily enshrined within the ancient church of San
+Pietro di Castello.</p>
+
+<p>Doge Giustiniano and Dogaressa Felicita presided at the religious
+ceremonies, which brought together and cemented the people of the
+outlying islands and the inhabitants of the coast towns of terra-firma.
+Religious fervour overspread all Venice, men and women surrendered
+themselves, their children, and their goods, in honour of the Saint,
+who then and there was hailed one of the patrons of Venice, sharing the
+distinction with St Mary the Virgin, St Teodoro, and St Giustina of
+Padua.</p>
+
+<p>That must have been a busy time for the Dogaressa and her ladies, and,
+indeed, for all the well-disposed women-folk of Venice. There were rich
+hangings to embroider, fine linen to weave and stitch, delicate lace to
+fret out, flowers to arrange, and sweet odours to confection. For St
+Mark nothing was spared, and even the poorest of the poor put on the
+best attire she could obtain and made festival with her richer sisters.</p>
+
+<p>Not content with the splendours of the day of translation, the last day
+of January was for ever set apart as an annual festival in honour of St
+Mark;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">[22]</span> and with it was associated the ancient and beautiful custom of
+public marriage upon the Eve of the Feast of the Purification.</p>
+
+<p>Giustiniano Badoero very soon wearied of the responsibilities of office
+and retired, with Donna Felicita his wife into the cloister of San
+Servilio, which he had enriched by gifts of lands near the coast city
+of Abondia Vigilia.</p>
+
+<p>To the third Doge of the Badoero family, Giovanni, second son of the
+“Grand Agnello,” belongs the glory of founding “the most resplendent
+Christian shrine in Europe,” San Marco di Venezia. He succeeded his
+brother as sole Doge in 829. What special part he and his Dogaressa
+took in the actual building and first dedicatory celebration, history
+has not recorded.</p>
+
+<p>The reign of Giovanni Badoero lasted seven years—a season of
+consolidation of Venetian power and also of family influence. The house
+of Partecipazio gave seven Doges to Venice,—men of approved probity,
+ruling their households and themselves with simple dignity, and the
+State with firmness and distinction.</p>
+
+<p>They one and all, with their consorts, when public cares and duties
+became excessive, sought the solace of the cloister. What a very
+sensible custom was this, and how conducive to efficiency in the
+service of the State, and withal how indicative of the influence of the
+Church in human affairs!</p>
+
+<p>Women and girls in the times of the first three Badoeri Doges were
+treated less harshly than they had been in earlier days, but still
+they were under restrictions which were almost Oriental in character.
+Their men-folk professed themselves jealous of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">[23]</span> family honour and
+were eager to uphold their autocratic rights over their own households
+against all intruders.</p>
+
+<p>In public women were veiled,—matrons in black, maidens in
+white,—except upon festivals, which happily, for the sake of dear
+Prince Cupid, were frequent enough, when they were allowed to appear at
+church, on the Piazza, and in barca or gondola uncovered,—these were
+lovers’ opportunities!</p>
+
+<p>When a youth had become familiar with the form and carriage of a
+girl, and was taken therewith, he was wont to haunt the neighbourhood
+of her father’s house, in order to get a good look at her features
+and expression when she came out. If the opinion he had formed was
+confirmed then he was accustomed of a night to stand beneath the
+iron-barred window of his <i>innamorata</i>, and there breathe out his
+love ditty, or twang amorously the strings of his guitar.</p>
+
+<p>If the girl responded to the youth’s ecstasy, she was permitted to
+flash a light through the open shutter. The repetition of this signal
+was an intimation that the wooer might address himself to her father,
+requesting acceptance as a “novice in the form and art of love-making.”</p>
+
+<p>The father’s consent was regarded as the first step of the betrothal,
+and then the happy young couple were required to await the festal day
+of good San Marco, for the public acknowledgment of the suit. Liberty
+was meanwhile allowed for interviews, and negotiations were put on foot
+with respect to equality of family and amount of dowry, etc.</p>
+
+<p>The girl dressed simply in white was permitted to receive visits from
+her lover and his young companions.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">[24]</span> Upon the eve of the festival when
+many friends were assembled, serious and gay, the bridegroom-elect
+took his bride’s hand in his and slipped upon her finger a
+ring,—<i>penge</i> they called it,—as a pledge of his honourable
+intentions. The girl immediately withdrew with her mother, whilst the
+guests were feasted.</p>
+
+<p>Nobody went to bed that night, for there was much to be done in
+preparation for the morrow’s nuptials. The bride had to be bathed and
+her hair plaited in two great coils, her dress and her ornaments had to
+be arranged, and finishing touches put to the festal decorations of the
+house.</p>
+
+<p>Attendance at early Mass was <i>de rigueur</i>, and then the bride,
+covered with a lace or fine net veil knelt to receive her father’s
+blessing, and at the same time she had placed in her hands by her
+two sponsors—the most estimable and influential of her father’s
+acquaintances—a casket or purse, in which was deposited her dowry.
+These receptacles were called <i>arcella</i> and were objects of
+considerable value from an artistic point of view. If caskets they
+were of embossed silver, or carved wood, or painted by hand, and if
+they took the form of purses they were of the richest material, very
+beautifully embroidered, and often enough ornamented with pearls and
+precious stones.</p>
+
+<p>A procession was formed of gaily-decorated gondolas with the wedding
+guests—the bride’s contained herself, and her father with her
+sponsors, and bore silken streamers of blue and white with two captive
+white doves at the prow; and all made for the island cathedral of San
+Pietro di Castello.</p>
+
+  <div class="figcenter" id="i_024fp">
+    <img
+    class="p1"   
+    src="images/i_024fp.jpg"
+     alt="">
+     <p class="p0 sm center">SPOSALIZO.</p>
+     <p class="p0 sm center">LORENZO.&emsp;&emsp;LOTTO.</p>
+     <p class="p0 xs center">PRADO MADRID</p>
+  </div>
+
+<p>The bride bearing her <i>arcella</i> suspended from <span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">[25]</span>her neck by a
+blue silk ribbon knelt by her father’s side before the Bishop, and then
+the groom, ushered by his witnesses, took his place at her right hand
+offering the wedding-ring for the episcopal benediction. Removing the
+<i>penge</i>,—which he slipped upon his own finger,—he replaced it
+with the golden hoop of matrimony. Lighted candles were placed in the
+hands of the couple, whilst the Bishop blessed their union. An offering
+in their behalf is made by the bridegroom’s next friend, and the
+religious ceremony ended with the singing of a marriage ode.</p>
+
+<p>A merry, happy party betook themselves one and all to the fleet of gala
+gondolas, scattering on their way sweetmeats and small current coins,
+among the bystanders. A banquet with dancing and singing filled the
+afternoon and, at dark, the minstrel band led the newly-married pair to
+the bridegroom’s brilliantly lighted house.</p>
+
+<p>The best man held a position of importance, he it was who found the
+beverages for the guests, toasted the nuptial couple, and gave drink
+and money all round. Early in the morning following the marriage he
+repaired to the nuptial chamber, and knocking loudly at the door,
+offered the happy spouse two fresh-laid eggs,—often enough stained
+and painted exquisitely,—and a casket of aromatic pastilles—tokens
+of good wishes for marital felicity. The bride’s girl friends too laid
+beside the door little wicker-work baskets beautifully trimmed with
+silk and decorated with fresh flowers, and full of delicious sweetmeats
+and fresh fruit—emblematic again of what married life should ever be.
+Such were some of the pretty wedding observances in old Venice.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">[26]</span></p>
+
+<p>One of the prettiest of the many charming customs, which illustrate so
+delightfully the ever-fascinating story of Venice,—“the Venus City of
+the Adriatic,”—was the annual presentation of the <i>boccola</i>—the
+rose nosegay of San Marco. For its origin we must hie us back to a very
+distant century—the ninth.</p>
+
+<p>Doge Orso Badoero, grandson of the “Grand” Doge Agnello Partecipazio,
+had a lovely only daughter, Maria was her name in baptism, but, by
+reason of the ardent flashes of her brilliant jet-black eyes she was
+known as Vulcana—“Vulcana of the black eyes!” Then one day, there came
+from far Provence a handsome troubadour with his light guitar. He was
+called Tancred—a child of chance as it appears; and he sang outside
+the dark-eyed beauty’s iron-barred window the doughty deeds of knightly
+prowess and the conquering charms of maiden troth.</p>
+
+<p>Prince Cupid set to work, as busy as could be, and began to shoot his
+love-dipped arrows up and down, till he had transfixed both Vulcana and
+Tancredo. Alas! the maiden knew full well her father would never listen
+to the plea of a simple singing youth, and so she wept and sighed, and
+sighed and wept!</p>
+
+<p>“Go, gentle minstrel,” she cried, “tarry not, seek the Court of the
+King of France, and clothe thyself with the glory of martial renown, I,
+thy Maria, will wait for thee!”</p>
+
+<p>With a tender embrace, and the maiden’s thin gauze scarf for guerdon
+tied round his arm, the troubadour set off to fight the Moors.</p>
+
+<p>Seasons came and seasons went and beauteous<span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">[27]</span> Maria Vulcana upon the
+<i>altana</i> of her father’s palace scanned in vain the wide lagune
+for signs of the warrior’s return. “Will Tancredo never come back?”
+she asked herself, and she wept and yearned for him. At last rumours
+of bold adventure and the names of many goodly knights were banded
+from tongue to tongue. The dreaded Moors had been vanquished, and the
+hero of the fights was a youthful soldier of fortune one Tancredo of
+Provence!</p>
+
+<p>Well-a-day, an embassy presently arrived in Venice from great
+Charlemagne, its leader was Sir Roland the Invincible. He sought here
+and there for Maria Badoero the Doge’s weeping daughter, but she never
+showed herself—her heart was with Tancredo—she cared for none beside.
+At length they met and Roland bending over her, sighing, said, “Lady
+fair, I kiss thy hand for brave Tancredo, and bid thee weep no more for
+him, he died in these arms of mine breathing out thy name,—see he bid
+me with his last words give thee this red rosebud, which he had plucked
+for thee, saying, ‘Bid her pray for me always.’”</p>
+
+<p>Maria was silent, she paled, her heart gave no more than one big throb,
+as she placed the pledge of her Tancredo’s love between her breasts,
+and then she laid her down and died!</p>
+
+<p>This is the “Legend of the Boccola.”</p>
+
+<p>The day that heart-broken Maria Vulcana breathed her last was the
+name-day of Saint Mark the Evangelist, 25th April. Thereafter every
+lovelorn lad in the islets of the lagunes offered to the girl he
+loved best a freshly gathered red rosebud as a fragrant pledge of his
+devotions. The <i>innamorate</i> were accustomed to place the sweet
+tokens in their<span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[28]</span> open bosoms, as did the beauteous but unhappy maiden
+of old times, and proudly wear it all that livelong day. Sometimes to
+be sure, the girl rejected her admirer’s tender gift, but she who could
+show no rosebud in her bosom suffered mighty heart-burns all the same,
+and her girl companions and the young men of her acquaintance looked
+askance at her.</p>
+
+<p>At the sounding of the curfew all were safe of course indoors, and then
+the simple offering, withered as it was, was taken lovingly between
+both the maiden’s hands, caressed affectionately, and placed in the
+most secret hiding-place she had. It might be a long, or it might be a
+little, while before her parents acknowledged the successful suitor;
+but that frail blossom of early summer never lost its fragrance, and
+many a dewdrop of a tear fell upon the faded petals, whilst the loved
+one waited impatiently for the next <i>Festa delle Marie</i>.</p>
+
+
+<h3>III</h3>
+
+<p>Perhaps the proudest of all the proud families of old Venice was that
+of the Candiani—an offshoot of the ruling clan of Sanudi, in ancient
+times in Padua. Their name they derived from the village whence they
+sprang, just outside the proud city,—<i>Candiana</i>. In the eighth
+and ninth centuries, as Counts of the Western Empire, they ruled over
+Padua and Vicenza and were endowed with lands and titles by Otto I.</p>
+
+<p>The first member of the family to wear the ducal bonnet was Pietro, the
+descendant of an earlier<span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">[29]</span> Pietro, who, in 697 was one of the twelve
+electors of the first Doge, Paolo Lucio Anafesto. His election in
+886 was due, in a considerable measure, to the extreme youth of Doge
+Giovanni Badoero’s son Orso, but especially in view of the need of
+a strong man to deal with the incipient feuds of the rival families
+of the Polani, Giustiniani, and Barozzi, and the Burbolani, Iscoli,
+and Selvi. Doge Pietro was a man of war, he led twelve armed galleys
+against his city’s constant foes, the pirates of the coasts of Istria
+and Dalmatia, and died at sea after one short year of office.</p>
+
+<p>His son and grandson, both Pietro, were sandwiched between Orso Badoero
+II. and Pietro Badoero,—so keen was the rivalry and so equal the
+opportunities of the two families. All four, with their consorts, were
+conspicuous for their devotion to their public duties and for their
+piety. Daily they attended Mass and evening devotions, and observed
+frugality in dress and table.</p>
+
+<p>Pietro Candiano III. married Archielda or Richielda, who brought him
+neither dowry nor social distinction. Who she was nobody has recorded,
+probably she was the child of one of the Slav women who were brought
+captive to Venice in 887, by the expedition, which destroyed the nests
+of Narentian pirates in the Adriatic, under Pietro Candiano I.</p>
+
+<p>All we seem to know about the Dogaressa Archielda is that, when her
+consort died, she according to Venetian rule, was cloistered. Doubtless
+she suffered much when her son Pietro raised a party against his father.</p>
+
+<p>One other son of Archielda is named by Dandolo<span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">[30]</span> the chronicler,
+Domenigo, who became Bishop of Torcello. She survived her husband
+many years, under whose will she inherited a rich vineyard and a
+dwelling-house in the marches of Veneto, which she seems to have passed
+over to the nuns of San Zaccaria.</p>
+
+<p>The name of Pietro Candiano III. has come down to us in gracious
+valiant guise. It was the Feast of the Purification in the year 944,
+and the “Brides of Venice” were kneeling before the Bishop in the
+church of San Pietro di Castello. The Doge and Dogaressa, and their
+household were assisting at the ceremony, when, suddenly wild figures
+of daring buccaneers from Trieste dashed into the sacred building.
+Robbery not rape was their primary intention, for the maidens’
+<i>arcelle</i> were well worth the risk the robbers ran. The girls held
+tightly to their dowries, and so they were borne off bodily by their
+captors, <i>arcelle</i> and all!</p>
+
+<p>Recovering from their consternation the men-folk of the congregation
+and the hangers-on outside laid hands on weapons, tools and anything,
+and were swiftly on the heels of the ravishers. Luckily the barcas of
+the Guild of Marriage-chest makers were moored in the canal, and so
+available for use.</p>
+
+<p>Doge Pietro, divesting himself of his State mantle, and girding on
+his sword, headed the pursuers. Calling on Heaven for vengeance he
+boarded the foremost boat and bade every armed man to follow: it was
+the barca of Andrea de’ Cappelli of the <i>fondamento</i> of Santa
+Maria Formosa,—the quarter of the makers of hats. He was one of the
+bridegrooms-elect, and, mad with rage, he and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">[31]</span> his companions swore to
+be avenged and to bring back their brides to Venice.</p>
+
+<p>That was a stern chase to be sure, the robbers rowed their hardest,
+and the lovers of the “Brides” bent to their sweeps with all their
+wind and thew. Not till the pirates had crossed the Caorle lagune did
+Andrea de’ Cappelli’s boat grapple with the quarry. Then it was a
+fight hand-to-hand, pole-to-pole,—but at last, Andrea, leaping into
+the <i>batello</i> of the pirate chief struck the villain down, and
+gathered to his breast his fainting bedraggled bride. Bearing her light
+form under his left arm he neatly beheaded his enemy and, holding aloft
+the gory trophy, regained his boat.</p>
+
+<p>Victory,—as by well-bound convention,—crowned virtue, and back to
+Venice rowed swiftly the proud flotilla—the happy maidens waving
+aloft their bridal veils in token of their deliverance. Landing at the
+<i>campo</i> of Santa Maria Formosa all entered the sacred edifice,
+hard by, where the clergy sang “Te Deum.” The assembly broke up
+hilariously to spend the evening in universal merriment.</p>
+
+<p>Coming out of the church the Master of the Guild of Hat-Makers
+requested a favour of the Doge,—by whose side walked the motherly
+figure of the Dogaressa, her face radiant with smiles,—namely that an
+annual commemoration of the gallant rescue of the “Brides of Venice”
+should be instituted whereat the Doge and Dogaressa should preside.</p>
+
+<p>Dandolo gives an amusing account of the interview:—</p>
+
+<p>“But if it rains?” asked Doge Candiano.</p>
+
+<p>“Why, we will give you hats to cover you!”</p>
+
+<p>“And if we come hungry?”</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">[32]</span></p>
+
+<p>“Well then you shall have the finest catch of fish and the sweetest
+basket of fruit.”</p>
+
+<p>“But if we are thirsty too?”</p>
+
+<p>“We will refresh you with the best vintage we possess!”</p>
+
+<p>And so it came to pass. Every year the Doge and Dogaressa, with
+all their households and the members of the Grand Council, paid a
+ceremonial visit to Santa Maria Formosa. Each dignitary received a
+brand-new straw hat,—richly gilt and decorated with flowers, a flask
+of finest Malvaggia,—ruddy and rare, and a silver fish with a golden
+orange apiece. This is the origin of the <i>Festa delle Marie</i>.</p>
+
+<p>The superb painting which adorns the first altar of the right aisle at
+Santa Maria Formosa—Palma Vecchio’s <i>chef d’œuvre</i>, and entitled
+“Santa Barbara,” may well have been inspired by the story of the
+“Brides.” She is the patroness of the brave—and the old adage—“None
+but the brave deserve the fair” never had a fuller vindication than on
+that memorable day of the rape of the Venetian brides.</p>
+
+<p>Candiano III. had a son—his second, the stormy petrel of his race, the
+vulture of his family. In 959 Pietro Candiano IV. declared his father
+incapable of reigning, and with the utmost effrontery, he assumed the
+ducal bonnet and estate, apparently no man saying him nay. Alas! How
+soon noble deeds are forgotten, how easily the knee is bent to the
+supplanter!</p>
+
+<p>The good old Doge and Dogaressa were ousted from the ducal palace, and
+the usurper dared to introduce therein the giddy woman with whom he<span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">[33]</span>
+cohabited. This was such a glaring scandal that he was obliged to bow
+to public opinion and put away Giovanniccia—a <i>divorcée</i>, whom he
+had picked up clandestinely, defying her quondam husband.</p>
+
+<p>No woman of high degree, no <i>gentildonna</i>, would cross the
+threshold of the palace so long as the Doge kept his mistress there,
+none greeted her upon the Piazza—and she became an object of scorn
+and derision. At length Pietro yielded to the popular feeling, and
+fascinating if corrupt, Giovanniccia was compelled to take the vow of
+chastity and to enter the noble convent of San Zaccaria,—the refuge of
+widowed and discredited Dogaressas.</p>
+
+<p>In the Museo Civico, in Venice, is an ancient pack of playing-cards
+with illustrations of some of the earlier Dogaressas. The Four
+of Hearts has a representation of Giovanniccia Candiano with a
+<i>ventilino</i>,—a fan, in her hand, and accompanied by the following
+legend:—“Giovanniccia, wife of Pietro Candiano, divorced, being able
+to avenge herself did not do it, so, her husband being slain by the
+people, she would not survive—‘If I am not the spouse of Ulysses I am
+Death’s’!”</p>
+
+<p>The chronicler, Pietro Diacono, adds that the repudiated Giovanniccia
+disowned her child, Vitale, and left the little fellow to be fostered
+by a serving*-woman who subsequently placed him in a monastery school.
+This Vitale Candiano, in 987, was consecrated Bishop of Aquileia, and a
+few years later was translated to the Patriarchal See of Grado, where
+he ended his days—the last of his family,—in 1018.</p>
+
+<p>No sooner had Pietro Candiano divorced his adulterous wife than the
+Emperor Otto III. stepped in and gave him the hand, if not the heart,
+of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">[34]</span> Gualdrada—Valdrada in Venetian—the young sister of Ugo il Grande,
+Marquis of Tuscany, of whom Dante speaks thus in his “<i>Paradiso</i>,”
+Canto XVI.:—</p>
+
+  <div class="poetry-container">
+   <div class="poetry">
+      <div class="stanza">
+        <div class="ileft">“The great Baron, he whose name and worth</div>
+        <div>The festival of Thomas still recalls.”</div>
+      </div>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+
+<p>Ugo’s granddaughter was the famous Countess Matilda, the virile ruler
+of all Tuscany and the beneficent foundress of the liberties of
+Florence.</p>
+
+<p>Countess Valdrada brought to her ducal husband as rich a dowry as any
+of the royal brides of Venice had brought. Estates at Trivigiano,
+Friuli, Ferrara, and Adria, with castles and well-trained retainers;
+a host of slaves, and money-bags well filled with gold, enriched and
+ennobled proud Pietro Candiano.</p>
+
+<p>At her betrothal a custom entirely new to the Venetians was introduced,
+the so-called “Morgencap” or “Mundio” whereby the Doge conferred a
+fourth part of his private income upon his consort. Never stepped
+upon the Piazzetta a prouder Dogaressa. Had she been own daughter
+of the Emperor she could not have borne herself more haughtily, nor
+have treated both her husband and his suite more disdainfully. The
+acclamations of the populace she treated with ill-concealed contempt
+and turned to ridicule the decorations in her honour.</p>
+
+<p>The Venetians were to a man noted for their self-esteem and high
+bearing and the keynote of their character was a spirit of proud and
+contemptuous isolation, but they regarded this display of feminine
+arrogance with annoyance and disgust. To add to the unfavourable
+impression Valdrada made, the armed Florentine guard, which accompanied
+her and stood sentry at her beck and call, called forth violent<span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">[35]</span>
+protests. Altogether the Doge’s marriage was not an unmixed blessing to
+himself or his people. Nevertheless Pietro and Valdrada seemed happy
+together: he humoured her petulance and she fanned his self-esteem. Two
+children were the fruits of this union, Pietro and Marina.</p>
+
+<p>Two important questions were exercising men’s minds in Venice what
+time Dogaressa Valdrada mounted the ducal throne—the treatment of
+slaves and the expedition against the Saracens. With the first Valdrada
+was keenly interested, indeed it was the spectacle of her retinue of
+slaves, and their abject condition, that drew special attention to a
+very knotty question.</p>
+
+<p>The Doge tried to persuade his wife to dismiss these unfortunate
+people, or at all events to reduce their number, but her
+ill-conditioned temper would brook no interference. She threw in his
+teeth the fact that she was the special <i>protégée</i> of the Emperor,
+a descendant of a royal race, and the first Italian Dogaressa to share
+the honours of the dogado.</p>
+
+<p>Valdrada was a virago in more senses than one—clever she was and
+talented, as well as strong-willed and hard-hearted. To her directly
+was due the introduction from Tuscany of the Roman bull-fight, and
+this took the quiet and undemonstrative Venetians by storm, and,
+incidentally, led to the division of the community into two camps—the
+Castellani and the Nicolotti.</p>
+
+<p>Rings were formed at the Lido each Monday in September and October
+when the whole of Venice thronged the beach in gondolas. In November
+the rendezvous was moved to the gardens of Olivolo, by the church of
+San Pietro di Castello; and December<span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">[36]</span> saw the bull-baiting transferred
+to the site of the Piazza. The Dogaressa was accustomed to preside at
+these combats in person, assuming all the attributes of a sovereign.
+Popular enough were the sports, for very shrewdly, she added prizes for
+athletic contests of all kinds and for regattas on the canals; but the
+patricians looked on with anything but kindly eyes.</p>
+
+<p>Doge Pietro IV. was, perhaps, the proudest of all the proud men who
+ever occupied the highest position in the Commonwealth, and his wife’s
+assumptions and pretensions added greatly to his self-importance. His
+name of derision in Rialto was “Superbossimo,” the “Vain-glorious!”
+His <i>entourage</i> was largely composed of unscrupulous Tuscans,
+truculent Greeks and self-seeking Germans: he kept royal state and
+treated the nobles and the officials with coldness and disdain. At the
+same time he rallied all the different branches of his family, which
+were established in and about Padua and Vicenza, and formed a family
+league which threatened to overthrow the constitution of Venice.</p>
+
+<p>Startled at last, by the imminence of the danger to their liberties,
+nobles and citizens took arms, in the autumn of 976, and marched to the
+Ducal palace. They were received by a deadly volley from the foreign
+mercenaries, and, maddened by this treachery, the people acted with a
+promptitude which admitted of no quarter. Fire was laid to the great
+portal of the palace, and logs of wood dipped in pitch were flung
+through the closed windows.</p>
+
+  <div class="figcenter" id="i_036fp">
+    <img
+    class="p1"   
+    src="images/i_036fp.jpg"
+     alt="">
+     <p class="p0 sm center">LA CAZZA DEL TORO IN CARNIVAL TIME.</p>
+     <p class="p0 sm center">FROM A PRINT. 1560.</p>
+     <p class="p0 sm center">“Habiti Delle Donne.”—G. Franco.</p>
+  </div>
+
+<p>The flames spread rapidly, and eventually enveloped more than three
+hundred houses, and the splendid churches of San Marco, San Teodoro,
+and <span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">[37]</span>Santa Maria Zobenigo. The lust for vengeance and destruction
+swept over the calm, but, if once roused, impetuous, populace, and
+nobody and nothing was spared.</p>
+
+<p>The Doge fled distractedly from room to room, holding in his arms
+his only boy—the infant Pietro. The Dogaressa with Marina rushed
+panic-stricken after him. Escape from the crumbling blazing ruins
+was only possible by a little wicket which gave upon the courtyard
+of San Marco. Here, progress was stayed by a posse of armed nobles
+and citizens, among whom the unhappy Doge recognised several of his
+personal friends. Of the latter he begged his life and the safety of
+his family.</p>
+
+<p>“You, my friends,” he cried in anguish, “have chosen to join in my
+destruction. If I have transgressed in any way, either in words or
+actions, I crave my life, whilst I promise to satisfy every demand.
+Speak and let me pass.”</p>
+
+<p>Words were of no avail, such justice as the popular will required was
+swift and drastic. Not one, but many swords clove through ducal bonnet
+and robe of state, and Doge Pietro Candiano IV. lay quivering, a livid
+mass upon that blood-dyed floor. Not content with this butchery brutal
+hands seized the unoffending princeling, and neither his innocence nor
+Valdrada’s pleas sufficed to save him. She was cast aside as a foul
+thing too hateful for any man to slay, and her child was impaled upon a
+spear, stuck into the body of his father!</p>
+
+<p>At eventide a poor man, one who abhorred the foul deed, Giovanni
+Gradenigo, came with a company of pious friends and took away the
+mutilated<span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">[38]</span> bodies and laid them reverently in the crypt of Sant’ Ilario.</p>
+
+<p>The Dogaressa, with her young daughter Marina, succeeded in
+escaping,—perhaps she was allowed to do so to avoid difficulties
+with the Imperial Court and the arrogant Marquis of Tuscany. She fled
+to Verona and threw herself at the feet of the Empress Adelheid the
+Emperor’s mother, who resided there.</p>
+
+<p>To be avenged of the Venetians was now her one and only purpose. Her
+imperious temperament yielded to a violence of hatred almost diabolical
+in its intensity. She appealed to Otto to set fire to Venice, to
+take the nobles captive, to cast the citizens into prison, and to
+make slaves of the women and children! She demanded the repayment of
+the gold she had carried with her to Venice, the restitution by the
+Candiani of the estates with which she had dowered her husband, and
+demanded a huge tribute by way of compensation for her wrongs.</p>
+
+<p>Pietro Orseolo, who had been elected Doge, after the assassination of
+Pietro Candiano, by the tumultuous voice of the people, despatched
+Domenigo Grimani to Piacenza where the Emperor was in residence
+to discuss the claims of the widowed Dogaressa. By a rare display
+of urbanity and tact Valdrada’s vehemence was soothed, her claims
+modified, and an agreement was come to agreeable to all parties.</p>
+
+<p>She acknowledged her love for her husband and exclaimed before the full
+Court:—“A wife is not given by nature to be her husband’s judge but as
+his companion.” She refused however to enter a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">[39]</span> convent, as became a
+widowed Dogaressa, but returned to her brother’s Court in Tuscany, and
+apparently ended her days at the castle of Pisa at the end of 997. By
+her will, dated 24th November of that year, she bequeathed a castle and
+an estate situated in the Adige to her brother, who gave them to the
+abbey of Vangadizza.</p>
+
+<p>The web of human life, strained at times and knotted, is never long
+spun out before romance and tragedy cross it in the woof. Each man and
+woman’s work in the tapestry of fate is run with needles sharp and
+blunt. None need look to fiction for inspiration whilst fact is so
+devious and so amazing. Cupid and Mars ever were inveterate enemies;
+but “Love’s Labour” is <i>never</i> “Lost”—for Love is stronger, after
+all, than death!</p>
+
+<p>The love-story of Gerardo Guoro and Elena Candiano is as touching as
+any in the gentle annals of romance. She was the daughter of Doge
+Pietro Candiano III.,—a girl in whose veins coursed the bluest of
+noble Venetian blood, whilst her lover was base-born, though of a
+respectable family. He was probably as the Venetian proverb has it
+“<i>Erser in Candia</i>,”—“Without a farthing in his pocket!” Such
+unequal affairs of the heart, as the world has always called them, are
+just where the romance of love runs riot!</p>
+
+<p>It was so when Gerardo and Elena, the originals of Shakespeare’s
+“Romeo and Juliet,” plighted their troth secretly, and told nobody but
+Elena’s doting old nurse Marta, who contrived the interviews, bore the
+messages, and shielded the secret from the Doge and Dogaressa.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps matters might have gone differently<span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">[40]</span> “had not Cupid,” as
+the Bard of Avon says, in his “Much Ado About Nothing,” “spent all
+his arrows in Venice!” With the very first bud of their rosetree of
+happiness, alas, gallant Gerardo was summoned to join his company and
+to embark for the Orient. Elena’s mother, noting the girl’s tearful
+pallor, decided that matrimony was the only remedy.</p>
+
+  <div class="poetry-container">
+   <div class="poetry">
+      <div class="stanza">
+        <div class="ileft">“A maiden fretting</div>
+        <div>Is cured by wedding.”</div>
+      </div>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+
+<p>A very eligible partner appeared duly on the scene, one Messir Vettor
+Belegno, a patrician of ripe age and wealthy, whose widowed home looked
+for a new mistress. Broken-hearted Elena refused her rich paramour,
+but a daughter of the Doge has no will of her own, and the marriage
+contract was duly signed, and she, more dead than alive, ever fretting
+for her absent Gerardo, was led to her nuptials in San Pietro di
+Castello.</p>
+
+<p>The fatal knot was tied, but it had nearly compassed a fatality,
+for, no sooner had the ring of the wedded wife been slipped upon her
+finger, than poor Elena, clad in her bridal garb of purity, swooned in
+Belegno’s arms. A speechless awe pervaded the brilliant wedding party,
+for when the beauteous bride came not back again to consciousness, the
+Bishop pronounced her dead! The joyous notes of the nuptial ceremony
+were abruptly changed to the dirge of burial, and, there, wrapped in
+her bridal dress, she lay crowned with fresh spring flowers until a
+place was prepared for her cold body in the crypt.</p>
+
+<p>As fate would have it the morrow of her funeral, when the fair
+alabaster-like form of the lovely girl<span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">[41]</span> lay alone in that dark place,
+saw brave Gerardo’s troop of gallant warriors landed at the Lido. News
+of the tragedy was swiftly conveyed to the fleet, and the disconsolate
+young husband hastened fearfully to the old church on Olivolo. Slipping
+aside the heavy marble cover of Elena’s tomb, he kneeled upon his knees
+imploring Heaven’s pardon and Heaven’s favour.</p>
+
+<p>Then, in a paroxysm of grief he stretched his body along the silent
+form of his beloved one, and, looking into her eyes, he pressed his
+breast to hers, and there they lay. Presently he is conscious of a
+pulse and a movement in the bridal shrouded corpse, and, joy of joys,
+her eyes open, and she knows that her Gerardo has come home to claim
+her!</p>
+
+<p>Beside himself with transports of love and sorrow he carries the
+unresisting girl to his mother, by whose care and Gerardo’s kisses,
+she is nursed back to life and happiness. But who shall break the
+news to the Doge and Dogaressa? Gerardo answers the query manfully.
+He has gained laurels in the East, and his grateful city has honours
+to bestow. Kneeling before the Doge to receive his guerdon he bravely
+recounts the story he has to tell. The Doge is incredulous, but
+confirmation is ready to hand, when his daughter, running to Gerardo,
+takes his hand in hers, and craves her father’s benediction.</p>
+
+<p>The bridegroom of the tragedy gracefully stepping aside renounces,
+quite nobly, the marriage dowry, and joins the Doge and Dogaressa
+in sanctioning Elena’s secret wedding with Gerardo. As story-books
+relate—they lived ever after in perfect happiness and great content.</p>
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">[42]</span></p>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER II</h2>
+</div>
+
+
+<h3>I</h3>
+
+<p>The Legends of the Middle Ages were the fruitful source of the Poetry
+of the Renascence. Greek mythology and Roman mysticism yielded place
+to the humanistic tenets of Platonism and the heroic narratives of
+Christianity. Every temple and church and every monument and monastery
+became the treasury of moral and religious stories. Traditions of the
+past were the foundation of the histories of the present and these
+superstructures the forecasts of the future.</p>
+
+<p>Venice, by the reason of her unique environment, gathered all that was
+fairest, noblest and most moving of the life above and around her. The
+charms of allegory found in the people of the lagunes ready acceptance,
+and the halo of romance shed a brilliant light in the homes of every
+family.</p>
+
+<p>“If to-day be another’s, to-morrow is yours,” was a sentiment deep down
+in the hearts and minds of every man, woman, and child. Venice was the
+apple of each eye; each individual cared for her before self-interest.</p>
+
+  <div class="poetry-container">
+   <div class="poetry">
+      <div class="stanza">
+        <div class="ileft">“<i>La Campagna me consola,</i></div>
+        <div><i>Me Venegia ze la sola</i></div>
+        <div><i>Che me posa contenter</i></div>
+        <div class="i2"><i>O Venegia benedetta</i></div>
+        <div class="i2"><i>Nole vogio pia la sar!</i>”—</div>
+      </div>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+
+<p>So ran the popular barcarolle.</p>
+
+<p>Each family had its own legends and its peculiar<span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">[43]</span> characteristics,—the
+very names were indicative of an eventful past—each had its symbol and
+its story.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb">
+
+<p>The family of Ursoilo or the Orseoli, “Little Bears!” was one of the
+four great ruling families in the early days of the Venetian Republic.
+They originally came from Aquileia when the Huns devastated Veneto.
+Their arms were two dancing brown bears, shaggy and obese, upon a blue
+field. With the Badoeri, Candiani and Michieli they shared the unique
+distinction of supplying Doges for full two hundred years.</p>
+
+<p>Pietro dal’ Orseolo (976–978) was the first representative of the
+family to mount the ducal Chair of State. He succeeded upon the
+assassination of Pietro Candiano IV., in which atrocious act he was
+reported to have a share, although probably, it was another Pietro, a
+namesake, who plotted against the Candiani.</p>
+
+<p>The new Doge was an excellent man, “<i>laudato di tutti</i>” as it was
+said of him,—but hardly the sort of ruler needed in such turbulent
+times. His first work was to remedy the excesses of the popular
+outbreak, and next he set himself the task of rebuilding both the
+basilica and the palace. To him is due the unique <i>Pala d’oro</i> or
+Altar-front of beaten and embossed silver-gilt, made at Constantinople.</p>
+
+<p>His spouse, of a gentle loving nature like his own, was Donna Felicia
+Malipiero, by whom he had two sons—Pietro and Domenigo. The Doge
+and Dogaressa were devoted to the exercises of religion and their
+modest home during the rebuilding of the Ducal palace was thronged by
+ecclesiastics, both regular and secular, native and foreign-born.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">[44]</span></p>
+
+<p>Everything which had to be done was laid before these clerical
+advisers—quite naturally exciting the resentment of the nobles of the
+Council. The Ducal <i>mênage</i> was very staid and meagre, and the
+merry maidens and modish matrons of the city had no countenance from
+devout Donna Felicia.</p>
+
+<p>By degrees the Doge and Dogaressa altogether withdrew from State
+affairs: partly because they were weary of the importunities of Dowager
+Dogaressa Valdrada, whose dowry the Doge at length paid out of his
+privy purse, and partly because they had ceased to be in touch with
+the worldly occupations of their fellow-citizens. To pious works they
+addressed themselves, and first, in memory of Doge Pietro Tradonico,
+who, in 837, was murdered on the patronal festival of Saint Mark,
+they founded a hospital for poor pilgrims on their way to Palestine.
+The site chosen was a piece of waste ground (now included in the
+Piazza) belonging to the nuns of San Zaccaria. Whilst the Doge spent
+his leisure in devotions before the shrine, the Dogaressa visited the
+patients in the hospital and performed the most menial of offices.</p>
+
+<p>After two years of dignity Doge Pietro Orseolo abdicated his high
+office, and, accompanied by the Abbot Guarino of the Monastery of
+Saint Michele de Cassano in Aquitaine—a priest, of whom he had made a
+personal confidant—he withdrew secretly to France, and died many years
+after in his lonely cell at Longuedére near Cassano.</p>
+
+<p>A characteristic story is told of the cloistered Doge, who had placed
+himself under the guidance of the far-famed and ascetic Abbot Romoaldo,
+the founder of the strictest rule of the Camaldolites.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">[45]</span> Being unable
+to bear the austerity of his life, and suffering from hunger and the
+hardships of heavy manual labour, Brother Pietro Orseolo asked the holy
+man for some relaxation.</p>
+
+<p>“Father,” said he, “I have a gross body and I cannot, for my many sins,
+support my strength upon the daily morsel of hard biscuit, grant me, I
+pray thee, a more generous fare.”</p>
+
+<p>“My son,” replied Romoaldo, “thy body must be kept under, nevertheless
+I will allow thee one half biscuit more a day.”</p>
+
+<p>Dogaressa Felicia survived her husband many years—cloistered in
+the convent of San Zaccaria. She was much comforted by the filial
+devotion of her two sons, to whom she was never tired of repeating
+their father’s pious advice:—“Take care to preserve the rights of the
+Church, and be drawn aside from doing justice neither by love nor hate.”</p>
+
+<p>The fame of Pietro Orseolo’s renunciation and good works reached the
+ears of the Sovereign Pontiff, who authorised the necessary steps to
+be taken for his canonisation; and thus Saint Pietro Orseolo took his
+place among the many venerated saints of Venice. In the year 1732, his
+right arm was brought back from Cassano, and was deposited in San Marco
+among the holy relics.</p>
+
+<p>In the Museo Civico, in Venice, is a quaint painting, quite Byzantine
+in style, by the Venetian painter Giovanni Santacroce of the Madonna
+and Bambino attended by a choir of cherubs. Upon either side of
+Saint Mary kneel Pietro and Felicia Orseolo. He is clad in an ermine
+cape over a monkish habit and upon his head he wears a plain horned
+bonnet. The Dogaressa is attired in the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">[46]</span> rochet of a nun and wears the
+close-fitting wimple of the cloister.</p>
+
+<p>The ordinary dress for nobles and men of commanding talent and wealth
+consisted of long stuff tunics or cassocks with leather belts, full
+cloaks of silk lined with fur and fastened on the left shoulder, in the
+Greek fashion, by a plain gold brooch. Upon their heads they wore caps
+or bonnets of a Phrygian pattern with a band of interlaced coloured
+silk ribbons. Full beards and flowing locks were worn by all classes
+of the community until the middle of the tenth century, when the Roman
+mode of clean-shaven faces and short cropped hair became universal.</p>
+
+<p>The gentlewomen of Venice had long trailing skirts of coloured stuff
+or silk,—blue most favoured,—the bodices were cut square and low
+exposing the breast. In winter they superimposed silken mantles,
+generally of light blue—much like their lords’ cloaks. A cincture
+with a jewelled clasp made of metal, beads, or amber kept the folds
+of the garment in position. The hair was well combed out, not plaited
+but worn loose beneath natty light blue caps of silk cord or chenille.
+Girls had <i>tonde</i>,—circular white veils,—in public and matrons
+black <i>ninziolette</i>—mantillas. Jewels were sparingly worn,—a
+single row of pearls round the throat, one ruby or red-stone ring, and
+a tortoiseshell comb. The richer ladies added chains of gold with cameo
+pendants of Greek origin.</p>
+
+  <div class="figcenter" id="i_046fp">
+    <img
+    class="p1"   
+    src="images/i_046fp.jpg"
+     alt="">
+     <p class="p0 sm center">A NOBLE VENETIAN FAMILY.</p>
+     <p class="p0 sm center">Lorenzo Lotto.</p>
+     <p class="p0 xs center">NATIONAL GALLERY, LONDON.</p>
+  </div>
+
+<p>Pietro Orseolo II. was the second “Grand” Doge of Venice. The son of
+pious, if misguided, parents who sought the good of others rather
+than their own, he learnt, at his mother’s knee, lessons of
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">[47]</span>self-restraint and generosity. He was but seventeen years old when the
+abdication of his father left the Ducal office vacant.</p>
+
+<p>Too young of course to succeed he was placed under able tutors who
+inculcated the duties appertaining to the <i>rôle</i> of a leader and
+ruler of men. The hereditary principle was constantly and repeatedly
+affirmed in Venice notwithstanding the universal fear of a personal
+rule. Given a wise father and a good mother, the child was bound to be
+a worthy citizen—so they held.</p>
+
+<p>The dogado of Tribolo Memo (979–991) was disturbed by the feuds of the
+Morosini and Caloprini. The former supported by the Orseoli were in
+favour of a democratic alliance with the Empire of the East, whilst the
+latter, aided by the Candiani desired an aristocratic arrangement with
+the Emperor of the West.</p>
+
+<p>The Doge was much too weak a man and far too feeble a ruler to deal
+effectively with the situation, they stigmatised him in Venice as “a
+stupid man!” Matters came to a head in 983 when, one day Domenigo
+Morosini was found stripped of his clothes and dead in a ditch near
+the Piazza of San Pietro di Castello. His followers accused Stefano
+Caloprini of being privy to the deed. He fled to the Court of the
+Emperor Otto and sought protection from the Imperial Court sitting at
+Verona, and he gained the ear of the gracious old Empress Adelheid, she
+who had befriended the imperious Valdrada.</p>
+
+<p>A truce was effected and the two parties joined in the deposition of
+the Doge. As by convention bound he sought the repose of religion and
+Dogaressa Marina, the daughter of Pietro Candiano<span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">[48]</span> IV.—who had escaped
+almost miraculously with her mother Valdrada from the fire at the Ducal
+Palace,—assumed the nun’s veil in the convent of S. Trinita.</p>
+
+<p>It was in the dogado of Memo that seven unmarried sisters—a prodigious
+number of spinsters as Venice society went—lived together in their own
+house opposite the Ponte della Maravigie just below the Palazzo Bembo.
+Six were plain and one was fair, the youngest—and their spinsterhood
+was regarded with suspicion. One day there chanced along the Rivo di
+San Trovaso a gondolier who had just gained laurels at the regatta.
+Something constrained the stalwart youth to linger by the iron-grilled
+window of the spinsters’ home, but strange sensations pervaded his
+whole anatomy so that he became weak and incapable of movement.</p>
+
+<p>His companions chided him and threw the name of the least prepossessing
+of the sextet, Dulcina, in his teeth, and they said he was bewitched!
+No face was shown at the lattice, and no sound issued from the darkened
+room, still poor Giovanni was rooted to the spot. At last with a fierce
+effort he threw off the enchantment, if such it was, and determined to
+unfathom the mystery, and if the sisters were witches to out upon them!
+Good Friday came round and Giovanni sought once more the mysterious
+dwelling. It was broad daylight and climbing up the grille he peered
+into a room, and there beheld not Dulcina, but Marina, the pretty
+sister, upon her knees before a crucifix!</p>
+
+<p>The athlete entered the room, and, as he did so, he beheld in the water
+of the canal the reflection of seven brilliant stars,—all paled, as he
+looked up,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">[49]</span> but one,—and that one flashed its beams upon the kneeling
+girl. She was astounded at his presence, and, when he straightly
+charged her with witchcraft, she weepingly replied:—“My art is not
+that of a witch, goodly youth, but of Cupid. I have prayed for thee,
+that Heaven would make thee strong and true. See, my star is shining
+o’er thy head—”</p>
+
+<p>“And my arms,” exclaimed the enraptured Giovanni, “are around thy
+breast, witch or no witch thou hast gained me for thine own.” With that
+he held her tightly to his bosom, and, unresisted planted hot kisses
+upon her lips and with his finger removed her tears.</p>
+
+<p>No doubt there was a wedding, and possibly the six plain bridesmaids
+were transformed into comely brides as well: but the story has no such
+ending. No,—alas,—brave Giovanni was stabbed in a night affray and
+beauteous Marina drowned herself in the canal! Sometimes they say,
+an eerie sound comes round the corner of the bridge—people call it
+“Marina’s Wail.”</p>
+
+<p>Young Orseolo, now grown into man’s estate, was hailed as sole Doge of
+Venice. At once he showed his mettle by crushing party differences.
+Such feuds never assumed the terrible proportions which made Florence,
+Siena and other Tuscan towns the scenes of fraternal bloodshed times
+out of mind. The new ruler proclaimed a strong policy abroad, and set
+to work to equip a navy of armed vessels, wherewith to make the name of
+Venice feared in all seas.</p>
+
+<p>The Dogaressa was Maria the only daughter of Vitale Candiano, brother
+of Pietro Candiano IV. Very diplomatic was this union, linking, as
+it did,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">[50]</span> the two most renowned families in Venice, and offering a
+safeguard to the ambitions of the rival Caloprini and Morosini. Seven
+children were the offspring of this marriage, and their baptisms and
+marriages the Doge tactfully made the occasions of adding to the
+honours of the family and to the renown of Venice.</p>
+
+<p>Giovanni, the first born, was betrothed to the Princess Maria, daughter
+of the younger brother of the Emperors Basil and Constantine,—Prince
+Agroupoulos. The wedding was celebrated in Constantinople with great
+pomp, the bride’s dowry was rich and rare, and upon the groom was
+bestowed the rank and privilege of a Prince of Byzantium. The two were
+crowned, at their nuptials, with imperial diadems of gold. A Venetian
+navy escorted the bridal pair to the lagune city, where royal honours
+were rendered. It was an auspicious home-coming, and the pigeons,
+which had already made their home in the Piazza, flew round the young
+couple’s heads in emulation of the popular ovation.</p>
+
+<p>They were a remarkably handsome couple: Giovanni possessed all the good
+looks for which his family was famed, and Princess Maria, according
+to old Giovanni Diacono,—the busy chronicler of Venice and the
+Venetians,—was “a lovely bride.” Her effigy, if not her portrait, is
+preserved upon the Ten of Spades in the suit of playing-cards preserved
+at the Museo Civico with the following legend:—</p>
+
+<p>“Dogaressa Maria Orseolo, niece of two Emperors of the East, Basil
+and Constantine, wife of Giovanni Orseolo, son of the Doge of Venice,
+fair and compassionate, a goddess who is so beautiful can never be
+hard-hearted!”</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">[51]</span></p>
+
+<p>Some historians say that the Princess Maria took after her aunt, the
+Empress Teofanea, wife of Otto II., Emperor of the West, who introduced
+into Germany the luxury and extravagance of her brother’s court at
+Constantinople. She was greatly admired for her beauty, her grace,
+and her erudition. German chroniclers speak of Teofanea’s “modesty
+and strong compassionate character,” and praise her as “a woman of
+unsullied virtue.”</p>
+
+<p>Giovanni’s imperial consort probably prepared the way for a still more
+luxurious and attractive Greek Dogaressa, Teodora, the consort of Doge
+Domenigo Selvo. Alas, both Giovanni and Maria Orseolo, with their only
+child, died of the plague in 1006.</p>
+
+<p>Doge Pietro Orseolo’s conduct of state affairs, in spite of the
+limitations placed upon the Ducal prerogatives by the jealousies of
+the nobles, was marked by a vigour quite new to the Venetians. His
+enthusiasm fired their imaginations for they saw that the favourable
+commercial treaties he contracted, both in the East and in the West,
+opened out new possibilities of aggrandisement and opulence.</p>
+
+<p>The flag of Venice was unfurled in every foreign port and was accorded
+a respect shown to no other national emblem. Pirates of the Gulf alone
+braved the displeasure of the Lion of San Marco, and, to overawe
+them, a punitive expedition was despatched to the coast of Istria
+and Dalmatia,—the first actual fleet of battleships sent forth from
+Venice. The Doge took command in person and Bishop Gradenigo, in the
+church of San Pietro di Castello, delivered into his hand the great
+red oriflamme of the Patron Saint, which had been embroidered by the
+skilful hands of the Dogaressa and her ladies.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">[52]</span> Upon the finial of the
+pole she tied, with a great bow of blue silk ribbon, a floral wreath of
+sea-pinks and carnations.</p>
+
+<p>The expedition was an unqualified success. Everywhere Venice triumphed,
+and, when Lesina, the pirate capital, capitulated, the climax was
+reached. The Doge forthwith annexed the whole littoral to the dominions
+of Venetia, assuming for himself and his successors the title of “Duke
+of Dalmatia and the Islands of the East.”</p>
+
+<p>The conquered towns were laid under heavy contributions:—Pola in two
+thousand pounds’ worth of purest olive oil, and one thousand yards of
+fine spun linen, twenty sables and a bale of thinnest silver gauze,
+for the Dogaressa’s use. Thus Doge Pietro Orseolo laid the foundation
+of Venetian greatness abroad just as Doge Agnello Badoero had done at
+home, at Rivo-Alto a hundred and twenty years before.</p>
+
+<p>The home-coming of the fleet was a magnificent triumph, the first of
+those splendid aquatic pageants which became so remarkable in the
+annals of Venice. Among those who hastened to welcome the Venetian Doge
+was the Emperor Otto III. who spent seven days as the guest of the Doge
+and Dogaressa.</p>
+
+<p>Peace with honour having now placed laurel leaves around the heads
+of the Ducal pair they addressed themselves to the pleasant task of
+decorating the new basilica of San Marco and adorning the new ducal
+palace; but, alas, whilst superintending these undulatings, Doge Pietro
+Orseolo “fell ill of a fever” and died on the tenth anniversary of the
+fall of Lesina, at the early age of forty-nine. By his will he divided
+his property into<span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">[53]</span> three parts:—one third for the one observance of
+the “<i>Festa delle Marie</i>,” one third to the Church and certain
+monasteries, and one third for his widow and his children.</p>
+
+<p>“Pietro Orseolo has come down to us as a good prince, beloved by his
+fellow-citizens and feared by the enemies and the rivals of Venice.”
+The Dogaressa Maria took, as it behoved her to do, the vow of chastity
+and became an inmate of the convent of the nuns of San Zaccaria. In
+the crypt of the monastic church was laid the body of her husband,
+“buried,” as chroniclers have related, “<i>per la trista Citta e
+lachrimosa</i>”; and she found a last resting-place by his side—“a
+good woman and a great Dogaressa.”</p>
+
+<p>The Doge’s second son named Pietro,—but renamed Otto or Ottone, in
+honour of the visit of the Emperor of the West,—married Grimelda,
+sister of Geiso, King of Hungary, in 1003, and succeeded to the ducal
+Estate on the death of his father. Little is recorded of him save that
+he had been created by his father Count of Ragusa after the Venetian
+conquest of Dalmatia. He and his consort were not made of their
+parents’ grit, for, alas, when the rising family of Gradenigo preferred
+claims to the dogado, they fled to Constantinople, and there they died.
+Dandolo, the historian, says:—“The Dogaressa Grimelda was a woman
+of sweet disposition, of considerable attainments and of remarkable
+nobility of character.”</p>
+
+<p>The third son of Pietro Orseolo II. and Maria was christened Orso and
+early dedicated to a monastic career. Domenigo, the youngest of the
+family married Imelda, granddaughter of Pietro<span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">[54]</span> Candiano III. and
+Richielda. The three daughters were, Icella married in 999 to Stefan,
+son of Surigno, Prince of Croatia; Imelda who died young and unmarried;
+and Felicia, Abbess of Sant’ Antonio di Torcello.</p>
+
+<p>With the death of Pietro,—grandson of the “Great” Pietro, son of
+the fugitive Ottone, in 1038 ended the famous family of Orseolo. The
+“dancing bears” ceased their gambols but the blue sky of Venice still
+cast its effulgence upon the mirrored waters of the canals.</p>
+
+
+<h3>II</h3>
+
+<p>The long reign of Doge Domenigo Contarini (1043–1076)—the longest on
+record—was uneventful. It presented no special features—for Venice
+was at peace both at home and abroad. Family feuds were hushed, though
+doubtless the Morosini ill-brooked the elevation of a rival house.</p>
+
+<p>Those were days of repose and plenty when it was boastfully said by
+her citizens:—“Venice wants for nothing!” Such seasons of rest are
+occasionally granted to States, when leisure is found to apply the
+lessons of the past and to prepare for the developments of the future.</p>
+
+<p>Contarini was the premier of a triumvirate of Doges—the “Tribunal
+system”—as it was called,—being again enforced to limit personal
+autocracy. His co-Doges were Domenigo Selvo and Vitale Faliero—the
+former being especially the representative of the democratic section of
+the community.</p>
+
+<p>Selvo belonged to an ancient family of Greek extraction. In the eighth
+century his ancestors the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">[55]</span> Dorsoduri, or, in the Venetian vernacular,
+Spinalunge, were exiled by the Emperor Emmanuel from Byzantium and
+settled at Aitino in Veneto. By the time, however, of Domenigo, all
+such antecedents were forgotten, and he was received cordially as
+the Ambassador of Venice by the Emperor Constantine Ducas. Upon the
+death of the venerated Doge in 1071, Domenigo Selvo was unanimously
+chosen by the Council and vociferously acclaimed by the citizens as
+his successor. The cry was raised upon the Piazzetta:—“<i>Noi volemo
+Dose Domenigo Selvo, e lo laudiano!</i>” and hoisted upon the shoulders
+of his friends he was borne in riotous procession to his coronation.
+Passing the open doors of the grand basilica he leaped out of the arms
+of his bearers, and, kneeling humbly upon the tesselated pavement, he
+devoutly implored the help of Heaven and the blessing of the Church.</p>
+
+<p>The dogado of Selvo was perhaps less remarkable for the potentiality of
+the new Doge—strong man as he was no doubt—than for the personality
+of the haughty princess he brought to Venice to share the honours of
+the ducal State.</p>
+
+<p>Dogaressa Teodora Ducas was the daughter of the Emperor Constantine and
+her betrothal to the Doge of Venice was brought about by her brother
+Michael, who in 1067 succeeded his father as Emperor of the East. She
+landed on the Lido first for Mass, and then at the Piazzetta, wearing
+the imperial diadem with which her brother had crowned her at the
+nuptials in Constantinople.</p>
+
+<p>At the same time everybody noted that His Serenity the Doge’s bonnet
+of Estate was encircled by a richly wrought band of pure red Grecian
+gold,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">[56]</span> encrusted with precious stones! No Doge had ever worn such a
+conspicuous mark of royalty, and many a noble lord looked askance at
+the wearer—doubting in his mind whether it was intended as an emblem
+of sovereignty! Feelings of alarm filled the minds of the citizens and
+the welcome accorded to the ducal pair was cold and formal.</p>
+
+<p>The new Dogaressa was accompanied by a very numerous retinue, such as
+no previous consort of the Chief Magistrate had presumed to gather
+round her. Secretly the Venetians liked well their Doges and their
+nobles to contract splendid foreign marriages, and no “Brides of
+Venice” were more thoroughly admired than the “<i>donne Greche fonte di
+cortesia at amorevolezza</i>!”</p>
+
+<p>Teodora unfortunately did nothing to propitiate the insular
+prejudice of the men and women of Venice. Her autocratic bearing
+and her ill-disguised contempt for the “women of the Rialto” caused
+head-shakings and tongue-waggings in every circle of society. From the
+first she was as unpopular as her consort, the Doge, was beloved.</p>
+
+<p>In the Ducal Palace the Dogaressa set up an Imperial Court and required
+the nobles and state officials to render the honours to which she had
+been accustomed at Constantinople. She had her ladies of honour, her
+chamberlains, her pages and her slaves. Superbly robed and glittering
+with precious ornaments, Teodora Selvo offered an amazing contrast to
+Elena—the homely consort of the first “Grand” Doge—Agnello Badoero!</p>
+
+<p>Teodora was an Athenian of the Athenians, with all the predilections
+of a Sultana of the harem. Pomp and pettiness were strongly mingled in
+her<span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">[57]</span> character. The corruption of the Byzantine Court, in which she had
+been reared, had laid their indelible marks upon her: she shocked the
+susceptibilities of the simple, homely Venetians by her voluptuousness,
+her petulance, and her extravagance.</p>
+
+<p>Still, there was something about the Dogaressa which attracted
+sympathy, for were not the people of Rialto and her linked-up islets,
+descendants of Greek colonists in Veneto, and did they not preserve
+many traits and idiosyncrasies of their ancestors! Then, too, many a
+sea-faring Venetian, conquered by the artifices of Cupid in the Orient,
+had brought home a Greek bride to be the mother of his children, so the
+ways of the Dogaressa were not altogether without appeal.</p>
+
+<p>Teodora lived delicately: the plain fare and simple service of her
+consort’s establishment, which also obtained too in the casas of the
+nobles, were not to her liking. She introduced exquisite cooking—the
+Greek cuisine in place of the crude joints and inartistic concoctions
+of the Roman menu. Costly wines and liqueurs from Syria and the remote
+East supplanted the heavier beverages of the lagunes. Her table service
+was of pure gold and costly rock-crystal.</p>
+
+<p>Unlike the primitive ways of the unsophisticated Venetians, who were
+content to convey their food to their mouths with their fingers or
+with ladles, and to share cup and plate, the Dogaressa introduced a
+Grecian fork—an entirely new instrument in Western Empire—which
+was of solid gold, two-pronged, and beautifully chased, with which
+she ate dainty morsels, neatly carved and arranged by the eunuchs
+of the table. Moreover, she made constant use of fingerglass<span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">[58]</span> and
+finger-napkin—things which were unknown in Venice. Great wax candles
+were lighted after dark, and stuck into costly sconces—in spite of the
+archaic regulations of the curfew.</p>
+
+<p>Teodora Selvo rarely walked in the Piazza—the gondola was for her
+an ideal conveyance, it ministered to her love of ease and admirably
+served her secret flirtations. In public she always wore gloves,
+scented with aromatic herbs, and in this she set a fashion, which, no
+Venetian noble or simple of to-day, fails to observe.</p>
+
+<p>Into the mysteries of the Dogaressa’s toilet we may also most
+fortunately be admitted, through the grace of those who kept her
+diaries. The air of her apartments was perfumed each day before she
+rose for her <i>levée</i>. Beautiful scent-scatterers of blown grass,
+and elegant pastille stands were carried up and down by her attendants.
+This little bit of extravagance we may all thoroughly endorse, for
+doubtless, in her day, the odours of the canals were as bad if not
+worse, than in our own!</p>
+
+<p>The morning bath was administered with perfumed water, or white wine,
+and sometimes with freshly-gathered dew from the flower petals and
+green sward of her garden. If the Latins were especially careful as
+to washing their feet, the Greeks were equally particular about their
+heads: they found the douche healthful and invigorating. The more
+exquisite Athenians had a special perfume and wash for each portion of
+the body. It was said that simple-minded peasant Paris was directly
+influenced, in the bestowal of his golden apple, by the seductive
+odours exhaled by the massaged,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">[59]</span> painted, powdered, well-laved person
+of the fascinating Queen of Beauty!</p>
+
+<p>No doubt Teodora carried with her into the Ducal Palace a full battery
+of toilet requisites and delicacies—for example: for her arms,
+sweetened mint, clearest oil of palms for her lips and breast, sweet
+marjoram mixed with the pomades for hair and eyebrows, and for knees
+and neck essence of ground-ivy—such was the custom of her people.</p>
+
+<p>The Dogaressa’s clothing, if not quite “of fine gold” was of the
+richest damask and the fairest linen procurable; her marriage coffer
+was full of marvels. Everything she wore was heavily scented, so that
+wherever she went a delicious perfume was scattered around and about.</p>
+
+<p>Probably Cleopatra was Teodora’s best-loved model, not indeed that she
+ever went so far as to dissolve pearls in sour wine or place biting
+vipers in her bosom! There is a very beautiful painting by a pupil of
+Paris Bordone—perhaps by the master himself—of a “<i>Gentildonna
+Venetta</i>” in the dress of the Eastern queen—may it not have been
+inspired by the story of the Dogaressa Teodora!</p>
+
+<p>What a thousand pities it is that art was too crude in the eleventh
+century to permit of an actual portrait of the Venetian Queen of
+Fashion Teodora!</p>
+
+<p>We know not whether she was fair or dark, tall or short, embonpoint
+or thin. The probabilities are that she was blonde, as most Greek
+beauties were, but any attractions her figure may have offered as a
+bride possibly were diminished when she became a matron. High living,
+sensuous conduct and idleness bring their punishment to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">[60]</span> most men and
+women, and Teodora Selvo was no exception to the rule.</p>
+
+<p>Plain old Pietro Diacono,—that unmercifully exact chronicler of
+things Venetian,—speaks of Teodora’s “<i>Tanta delicatezza</i>.”
+He says:—“Her Serenity’s sinful voluptuousness and inordinate
+self-indulgence brought with them a judgment. About two years after her
+marriage with the Lord Selvo the Dogaressa was attacked by a putrid
+fever. The malady became at last so insufferably distasteful that the
+proud daughter of Constantine was an object in her latest moments of
+mingled compassion and abhorrence to all around her. She was left to
+die alone almost, the victim of outrageous splendour and outrageous
+uncleanness!”</p>
+
+<p>The Dogaressa Teodora died in 1083.</p>
+
+<p>As to the exact negotiation which ended in Domenigo Selvo leading home
+an imperial bride, we have no information. That he was astute enough
+to get the best of a bargain goes without saying, for, in common with
+the generality of Venetians he was able to weigh the promises of one
+favourable alliance against the presumed advantages of another.</p>
+
+<p>Possessed of immense wealth and of the faculty of ever adding to it,
+fortuitously enough for him, the Imperial Government at Constantinople
+was at the period of Selvo’s embassy in dire need of funds. The Army
+was mutinous through the non-payment of the troops, the Navy was
+undermanned and unready for action, and the Exchequer was depleted.</p>
+
+<p>Selvo, and those who saw what he saw, feared oppression from the
+Germans and the French, and when another power,—the Norsemen,—as
+mighty or mightier than Venice on the Seas pushed conquests<span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">[61]</span> along
+the Mediterranean shores, all eyes turned to their natural ally at
+Constantinople. An alliance was arranged, Venetian ships and men were
+placed at the service of the Imperial Government, and the hand of the
+Emperor’s sister was thrown into the bargain.</p>
+
+<p>The Doge took command in person of the fleet which gave battle to the
+bold Norsemen under Roberto Guiscardo at Durazzo and vanquished them,
+but, alas, he was defeated later on at Corfu. Nevertheless, Selvo
+showed splendidly the grit that was in him and wore the laurels he
+gained triumphantly.</p>
+
+<p>One other enterprise—a peaceful one also endeared him to his
+fellow-citizens—his love for the Ducal Palace and for San Marco. With
+rare munificence he embellished both edifices with rare marbles and
+mosaics which he had collected in the Orient, and dowered both edifices
+with revenues.</p>
+
+<p>The manner of his death is not recorded, some say he abdicated, soon
+after the arrival of the Dogaressa, in favour of his son, Michele, and
+ended his days in a monastery. Anyhow he survived his unhappy wife but
+a short twelve months and left the direction of State affairs to the
+care of his former coadjutor Vitale Faliero who in 1085 assumed the
+proud title of Doge of Venice, Croatia, and Dalmatia.</p>
+
+<p>Teodora Selvo was not forgotten by the Venetians. She had, in all her
+recklessness of life, been a splendid figure-head for the State, no
+less than a generous patroness of the industries of her adopted city.
+Much of the extravagance which marked the manners of the nobles, at the
+end of the eleventh century, was due to her example.</p>
+
+<p>One very excellent fashion survived her—and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">[62]</span> still survives—the love
+of perfumes. The botteghe of the apothecaries and perfumers in the
+Merceria were made, by the Dogaressa’s example, the fashionable daily
+rendezvous of the best people in Venice and so they have remained. None
+to-day are so fond of scent and cosmétiques as the Venetians of all
+classes. Still in Chioggia, and other outlying portions of the lagunes,
+women of every station, are remarkable for the painting of the face,
+the dyeing of the hair, and other gentle artifices.</p>
+
+<p>The Tuscan motto:—“L’Uomo fa le legge—la donna i costumi”—was true
+of Venice what time the fascinating Dogaressa Teodora set the fashions
+in the Piazza.</p>
+
+
+<h3>III</h3>
+
+<p>The last of the four chief or “Apostolic” ruling families of Venice
+to gain the <i>dogado</i> was that of the Michieli. The designation
+“Apostolic” was assigned to each of the twelve foremost families in the
+roll of nobility—the families of the twelve Tribunes who joined in
+the election of the first Doge Paolo Lucio Anafesto. Their names were
+enrolled in 709 at Eraclea:—Badoeri (Orseoli), Candiani, Contarini,
+Morosini, Gradenighi, Memi, Falieri, Michieli, Dandoli, Poli, Barozzi,
+and Tiepoli.</p>
+
+<p>The very name “Michielo” indicates their origin—descendants of Greek
+colonists in Veneto. They were among the fugitives from Altino, who
+fled to the lagunes on the approach of the Longobards, and settled on
+the <i>lido</i> of Torcello.</p>
+
+  <div class="figcenter" id="i_062fp">
+    <img
+    class="p1"   
+    src="images/i_062fp.jpg"
+     alt="">
+     <p class="p0 sm center">A DOGARESSA AND HER MAIDS OF HONOUR.</p>
+     <p class="p0 xs center">FROM A PRINT. 1560.</p>
+     <p class="p0 sm center">“Habiti d’Huomini e Donne.”—G. Franco.</p>
+  </div>
+
+<p>The first Michielo to be elected Doge was Vitale, in 1096, in
+succession to Vitale Faliero, under whom <span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">[63]</span>the new Republic shattered
+the last shreds of vassalage to the Byzantine Empire. Vitale Faliero’s
+consort was Cornella Bembo, who presented her spouse with a daughter to
+whom he gave the name of Enrica, after her sponsor, the Emperor Enrico,
+thus confirming the new alliance with the Germanic powers.</p>
+
+<p>The Bembi came from Eraclea and were reckoned one of the four noble
+families of the second grade, who, in 800, signed the roll of nobility
+in the church of San Giorgio Maggiore. They, with the Giustiniani,
+Cornari and Bragadini, were styled “Evangelistic.”</p>
+
+<p>Vitale Michielo married Donna Felicia Cornaro,—“gracious in speech,
+modest in bearing, the goodness of her soul shone out in the sweetness
+of her countenance,”—so is she spoken of by the chronicler. Perhaps
+too Sansovino’s estimate of the women of the Michielo period may be
+most strictly applied to the Dogaressa Felicia:—“Having made it their
+aim to be peaceful and religious, they kept on an equality with one
+another, that equality might induce stability and concord. They made
+their dress a matter of conscience, conformable to their seriousness
+of demeanour—concealing the figure.” This was undoubtedly a reaction
+from the dazzling personality of Dogaressa Teodora and the fascinating
+frivolities of her regime.</p>
+
+<p>Tales of the sufferings endured by Christian pilgrims in Palestine
+reached Venice what time the virtuous Dogaressa Felicia influenced
+the counsels of her husband for good. At first they attracted little
+sympathy, for the Venetians were too much absorbed with their own
+domestic development and with the condition of their home politics, to
+take much heed to foreign affairs.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">[64]</span></p>
+
+<p>To the Dogaressa directly was due the initiations of efforts on behalf
+of the poor Syrians and the strangers within their gates. She persuaded
+the Doge to convene a meeting of the heads of families in support of
+the Crusade so eloquently preached by Peter the Hermit, and other
+holy men. By way of raising funds to assist in the sacred enterprise
+Dogaressa Felicia set an example of self-denial and liberality, by
+giving up her splendid jewels and dresses for sale; she also greatly
+restricted her personal pleasures and the hospitalities of the Ducal
+Palace.</p>
+
+<p>This noble conduct, which was provocative of the best results, was
+recorded upon her tomb in the portico of San Marco. The lengthy
+inscription states that “Felicia Vitalis lived and died in the fear and
+love of God; she hated luxury and was an example for all good women.”</p>
+
+<p>So great was her influence that in 1099 two hundred ships assembled at
+the Lido, each of which carried at her helm the hallowed ensign she
+presented to their commanders. Sailors, troops and equipment from every
+European state were poured into Venice, and her fleet conveyed them
+safely to Syrian ports.</p>
+
+<p>The Doge and Dogaressa spared not their own family, for their
+first-born, Giovanni, a mere youth, sailed with the leader of the
+Venetian contingent, Arrigo Contarini, Bishop of Castello. Mothers of
+Venetian lads hastened to follow the good Dogaressa’s example, and
+parted tearfully but prayerfully with their dearest and their best.</p>
+
+<p>After the departure of the Crusaders the Dogaressa busied herself in
+the foundation of hospitals<span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">[65]</span> and homes of rest for pilgrims on their
+way to the Holy Sepulchre. Preparations too were made for the care of
+the wounded, the ailing and the sad on their return from service under
+the Cross. Women’s work is never so noble as when it links the care of
+suffering humanity to the cause of faith and hope. Dogaressa Felicia
+was messenger of pity and angel of love to all around her.</p>
+
+<p>The Crusade met with vicissitudes of course, but at length, their aim
+attained, the saintly Crusaders returned to Venice, bearing with them
+the body of Saint Nicholas of Myra or Morea. Well may we imagine the
+rejoicings of the mothers and sweethearts of Venice when they descried
+the coloured sails of the home-coming vessels making for the Lido! The
+battle-songs and hymns of the Christian warriors were wafted over the
+gently rippling blue water, and they found an ecstatic response in the
+sweet voices of women and children gathered all along the sandy beach.</p>
+
+<p>The holy relics were landed ceremoniously at the Lido, and, with pomp
+and circumstance escorted to the church of San Niccolo: they were the
+undeniable tokens of fervent and successful devotion in the service
+of Christ’s cross and sepulchre. Women almost forgot the sadness of
+bereavement,—for many homes were desolate,—in their joy and gladness
+at the accomplishment of the holy enterprise.</p>
+
+<p>One other notable event in the <i>dogado</i> of Vitale Michielo
+I. was the appeal of the great Countess Matilda of Tuscany to the
+Dogaressa Felicia to use her influence with the Venetians,—who were
+devoted to her,—for the recovery of Ferrara which had revolted.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">[66]</span> She
+recognised that the noble spouse of the Doge of Venice possessed all
+the attributes of religion, justice, and benevolence. The plea was not
+in vain, and ships and seamen of Venice regained for the Countess the
+rebel city.</p>
+
+<p>Doge Vitale Michielo died in 1102, and Dogaressa Felicia in 1111. They
+were both buried at San Zaccaria.</p>
+
+<p>The most famous of the Michieli Doges was Domenigo (1117–1130) grandson
+of Vitale I. His immediate predecessor was Ordelafo Faliero whose
+<i>dogado</i> was memorable by reason of its terrors—earthquakes,
+floods, fires and pestilence! Dogaressa Matelda, cousin, or as some
+say, sister of Baldwin, King of Jerusalem, headed the crowd of
+panic-stricken women who thronged the churches to supplicate Heaven for
+pity and forgiveness. She tried to dissuade her husband from personally
+leading the naval demonstration, which Venice made against the Greeks,
+saying that:—“The place of the Doge, as the father of his people, is
+in their midst during tribulation.” Dandolo speaks of her as a “miracle
+of probity,” and says, “Her fame was widely spread about as a model of
+what a good wife should be.” Nevertheless Doge Faliero went on board
+his war-galley and met under the walls of Zara a hero’s death.</p>
+
+<p>Sad was Dogaressa Matelda as she met the returning warships, and
+broken-hearted as she took possession of her beloved husband’s body.
+Slightly comforted was she however, when his lieutenant placed in her
+hands holy reliquaries, wherein reposed a splinter of the True Cross,
+and relics of St James the Less, and of Saint Plato the Confessor
+of Constantinople.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">[67]</span> She assisted in the solemn procession which
+accompanied these holy treasures to their last resting-place in San
+Giorgio Maggiore. Then she quietly retired, as a good example, to her
+contemplative cell at San Zaccaria.</p>
+
+<p>Another story relates that Doge Faliero was only wounded at Zara, and,
+having accomplished his mission and administered punishment to the
+Greek pirates of the Gulf, he sailed on to Constantinople, and there
+secured the venerable relics and with them returned to Venice. With
+the Dogaressa he shared the honours of the translation of the precious
+prizes he had obtained, and helped to bear on his shoulder the body of
+Saint Stephen to its last resting-place in the chapel of San Giorgio
+Maggiore; then he and she renounced their high station and humbly
+dedicated the residue of their lives to the peace of the cloister.</p>
+
+<p>Domenigo Michielo was cast in a sterner mould. Pious, no doubt as most
+Venetians were, and imbued with a spirit of reverence as a devoted son
+of the Church, he has come down to us with the title “<i>Cattolico Uomo
+e Audace!</i>”</p>
+
+<p>The desire that the people of Venice expressed for the possession of
+relics of the Saints became almost an infatuation. It was the popular
+belief that the terrors of Heaven and the disasters of earth could best
+be met by the deposition of the bodies of martyrs on Venetian ground.
+Hence Doge Domenigo acquired the body of Saint Isidoro from the island
+of Sio, and that of Saint Donato Bishop of Eurœa from Cephalonia, and
+with the latter the bones of the dragon, which beast he slew!</p>
+
+<p>These were some of the spoils of the Second<span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">[68]</span> Crusade wherein Venice
+took an active and noble part, and from which she obtained great
+political results and immense booty. Very acrimonious were the debates
+and consultations on the part of the Crusader chiefs and keen their
+rivalries for saintly distinctions and profit. Each of them had an eye
+to personal advancement and shirked the hardships of the campaign.
+Domenigo reproved them sternly:—“Those,” he said, “who share the glory
+of our enterprise must be prepared to share its trials.”</p>
+
+<p>The fleet of Venice not only aided greatly the pilgrims and the forces
+despatched from all lands to Palestine, but, turning homewards, ravaged
+the Grecian Archipelago. The name of Venice was renowned as that
+of—“The Greatest Sea Power of Europe,” and Doge Michielo was hailed
+as—the epitaph upon his tomb in San Giorgio Maggiore—“The Terror of
+the Greeks and the Glory of Venice.”</p>
+
+<p>In his train he brought to Venice many distinguished captives, among
+them the Lady Sofia—a beautiful Eastern houri, who was carried off
+by Domenigo Morosini, by him raised to the Ducal seat, and, at last,
+buried with him in the church of Santa Croce.</p>
+
+<p>Years of peace and prosperity followed, such as Venice had rarely
+experienced. She was coming to be looked upon as the nursery of the
+Fine Arts and the boudoir of the Graces, as well as Patroness of the
+Crafts and the “Mistress of the Seas.”</p>
+
+<p>The frequent and often protracted absences of the Doge in command of
+fleets, from time to time despatched to punish pirates and marauders
+and maintain the prestige of the flag of Venice in foreign<span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">[69]</span> waters, by
+no means diminished the importance and privileges of the Dogaressa.</p>
+
+<p>As the First Lady of the Commonwealth she had many responsibilities
+which were greatly enlarged when her Consort was not in residence.
+If she had no position with respect to the Council of State and had
+nothing whatever to do with politics, there were numerous duties
+which devolved upon her. The patronage and direction of charities of
+all kinds—whether eleemosynary or educational, the maintenance of
+the Ducal hospitalities, the reception of ambassadors, the claims of
+family, and the encouragement of arts and crafts gave her Serenity much
+to devise and do.</p>
+
+<p>As Consort of a militant Head of the State she was expected to exhibit
+all the virtues of a virago, and to introduce virility into all the
+feminine avocations of the day. If indeed her powers for usefulness
+were limited by restrictions she easily cast aside many of the
+conventions of her position. Such was the <i>rôle</i> in particular of
+the Donna Alicia, the able wife of Doge Domenigo Michielo. She lived up
+to the reputation of her husband, sharing his anxieties, his ambitions
+and his success.</p>
+
+<p>When stricken by the labours and responsibilities of his office he
+sought relief in abdication and seclusion in the monastery, Dogaressa
+Alicia, however, asserted herself, and, instead of retiring to a
+convent, as she was expected to do, she determined that neither the
+prayers and meditations of the cloister, nor the self-effacement and
+bigotry of a recluse should enslave her energies.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Societa de’ Pinzocchere</i>—“Bigots!”—to which many of the
+noble widows of Venice belonged,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">[70]</span> had no attraction for Donna Alicia.
+To be merely a hired mourner at State funerals was no life for her.
+She had her children to put out into the world and, in particular, she
+had her sons to prepare for high places under Government. Whilst, by
+necessity she had to yield the pre-eminence to the actual Dogaressa,
+her successor, she remained a free agent and a very useful and
+dependable confidante for men and women who had shared the toils and
+the rewards of her husband’s <i>dogado</i>. In due time Dogaressa
+Alicia’s prescience had its reward. Her son Vitale Michielo II.—the
+child of his mother’s solicitude, was elected Doge in 1156.</p>
+
+<p>By his high tone and probity he raised the position of Doge to its
+highest level and reigned almost as a Sovereign Prince. His two sons
+he married well—Leonardo, created Count of Osero, to Alecia daughter
+of the King of Servia, and Niccolo, Count of Arbe, to Maria niece of
+Stefano, King of Hungary. To him was due the admission annually of
+forty young nobles to the rank of “Barbarini” among the members of the
+Grand Council; and the first silver coinage of Venice, together with
+the foundation of the first public Bank.</p>
+
+<p>Alas Doge Vitale, who espoused the cause of the Papacy against the
+Emperor Frederic Barbarossa, came to an untimely end. Seeking sanctuary
+one day from a crowd of ruffians,—many of alien origin,—who demanded
+largesse he knocked at the gate of the convent of San Zaccaria. Before
+the porter could open to him the ill-conditioned wretches were upon
+him and offering personal violence if their claims were not satisfied.
+The Doge turned to address the men, and as he did so, one, Casiolo,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">[71]</span> a
+discharged gondolier lately in the Ducal service, struck him with his
+stiletto. This was the signal for a brutal assault, and before succour
+could arrive Vitale Michielo’s body was hacked to pieces in the street!</p>
+
+<p>Dogaressa Felicita Maria, daughter of Boemodo Prince of Antioch, it was
+said was at the time paying a visit to the nuns: so dumbfounded was
+she at the tragedy that nothing could shake her resolution never to
+leave the convent,—and there she remained and died. She and her sons
+were great benefactors to Venice. They greatly enriched the patrimony
+of San Zaccaria, and endowed the monastery and built the church of San
+Giovanni Evangelista.</p>
+
+<p>A very pathetic and romantic episode in the history of the family of
+Doge Vitale II. and Dogaressa Felicita Maria Michielo was the marriage
+of their daughter Anna. Inspired by the holy example and goodly
+precepts of her mother Anna Michielo had taken the vows of an enclosed
+nun at the convent of Sant’ Adriana d’Amiano, where she meditated
+deeply upon the trials of the Christians in Syria, and prayed for the
+weal of sons of Venice gone forth to the Holy War.</p>
+
+<p>In the disastrous expedition in 1170 against the Emperor Emmanuel
+Commeno all the young men of the Venetian family of Giustiniani were
+slain—save one. Niccolo Giustiniani was a monk in the Benedictine
+monastery of San Niccolo di Lido, where he had been professed when Anna
+Michielo renounced her love for him to become, by fervent self-denial,
+a Bride of Christ.</p>
+
+<p>The extinction of a noble family in those days was a thing of
+rare occurrence: the State usually<span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">[72]</span> stepped in to prevent such
+a catastrophe. This was the course adopted with respect to the
+Giustiniani. Niccolo at San Niccolo and Anna at Sant’ Adriana were
+summoned from their cells, and, with the express permission of Pope
+Alexander III., were joined together, vows or no vows, in the holy
+estate of matrimony.</p>
+
+<p>Never was there a happier conjunction of kindred souls, and never so
+auspicious a resuscitation of a family-tree. Anna Giustiniani gave
+to her husband—her true and only love—twelve pledges of marital
+affection. Nine of them were sons. So worthy Anna was in truth and deed
+the “Mother of the Giustiniani!”</p>
+
+<p>All twelve olive-branches reached maturity and then, Niccolo and Anna,
+freed from family cares, agreed to separate once more and, as the
+highest act of self-denial, to renew the sacred vow of chastity, and
+again entered upon the seclusion and the silence of the cell. With holy
+Anna went her three young daughters Martha, Margherita and Bartoletta.
+The two former returned to the world upon their marriage, but
+Bartoletta followed her mother’s example and became a nun. Soon after,
+and during saintly Anna’s life, the nuns were removed from the island
+convent of Sant’ Adriana to Venice proper, and took possession of their
+new home at Santa Caterina, of which Bartoletta was named first Abbess.</p>
+
+<p>Anna died in the odour of sanctity, and she is still remembered by
+devout Venetian women in prayer and example as “Beata Anna Giustiniani.”</p>
+
+<p>It was in the days of Doge Vitale Michielo II. that three brothers
+came to Venice from Morea,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">[73]</span> and settled themselves and their goods
+in a small <i>casa</i> on the Fondaco de’ Mastelli. Rioba, Sando,
+and Africo were their names, but because of their origin they were
+popularly called Mori, and their arms displayed a Moor leading a laden
+camel—the most stupid of beasts. They soon acquired wealth and set
+about rebuilding their humble residence. At the corner of the new
+palace, on the Campo de’ Mori, they stuck up three sculptured figures
+of themselves under the guise of Saints Mark, Theodore, and John
+Baptist. They were very highly coloured and soon became laughing-stocks
+to passers-by.</p>
+
+<p>Two of the figures disappeared mysteriously, and the Baptist alone
+remained, but his name was changed to “Sior Antonio Rioba Pantaleone.”
+It became a custom for jocular Venetians to send unsophisticated
+youths and over-trustful strangers with messages to the “Sior,” much
+as we were wont to treat our friends on “April-Fool Day!” At a later
+date “Sior Rioba’s” mouth became the receptacle for denunciations of
+enemies—so fitful are the customs of people!</p>
+
+
+<h3>IV</h3>
+
+<p>The splendid <i>dogado</i> of Sebastiano Ziani (1172–1178) was
+remarkable for one event, at least, of romantic and historic
+interest—the first “Espousals of Venice and the Sea.”</p>
+
+<p>In March 1177 Pope Alexander III. arrived at the Lido after weary
+stately wanderings through Europe. He was received with joy and honour
+by all classes of the community: they were fervent<span class="pagenum" id="Page_74">[74]</span> Catholics and cared
+little about questions and parties for or against Papacy which moved
+other States. Residing pompously at the Palace of the Patriarch of
+Grado, his Holiness entered fully into the ecclesiastical and political
+affairs of the city.</p>
+
+<p>Doge Ziani was absent in command of the Venetian fleet, and in May news
+reached Venice that he had gained a decisive victory at Salboro over
+the Emperor Frederic Barbarossa, and that his son and heir, Prince
+Otto, was a prisoner of war. The whole city turned out to welcome the
+victors, with their rich booty and many captives. Upon the beach of
+Lido stood the Pontiff—the centre of a notable group of dignitaries
+in full robes of state. Alexander was the first to congratulate the
+victorious Doge, and at the same time he publicly blessed the brave
+seamen and their leaders. Raising the kneeling Doge to his feet the
+Pope embraced him, and, taking off one of his own signet rings, he
+placed it upon Ziani’s thumb.</p>
+
+<p>“Take this, my son,” he said, “as a token of the true and perpetual
+dominion of the sea, which thou and thy successors shall wed every year
+upon this auspicious festival of the Ascension, that all men may know
+that the sea belongs to Venice, and that she is indissolubly joined
+thereto as a bride to her husband.”</p>
+
+<p>Then the whole company adjourned to the venerable church of San Niccolo
+where “Te Deum” was sung pontifically. By gondola, and barca, and in
+flat-keeled galley, a water pageant made its way to the Piazzetta, and
+the rest of the day was spent in general merry-making.</p>
+
+<p>The annual commemoration was made the occasion<span class="pagenum" id="Page_75">[75]</span> of universal rejoicing
+and pageantry. The Doge and the most distinguished members of the
+Council and the foreign ambassadors to Venice took their places on
+board a wonderful vessel “<i>Bucintoro</i>,” it was called, and in
+stately procession went off to the Lido. We must not suppose that only
+statesmen and seamen took part in the pageant, for, obviously, it was
+an occasion for the display of the personal charms and elegant fashions
+of the <i>gentildonne</i>. For the use of the Dogaressa and her ladies
+a splendid galley was built, shaped like a Grecian temple, and tethered
+to a pair of wooden sea-monsters, wherein the forty rowers were seated.</p>
+
+<p>Arrived at the historic spot the Doge and Dogaressa, with their
+ecclesiastical and official attendants, embarked in a gaily decorated
+boat and set out to sea. Thence the Doge cast a superb ring into the
+deep—a ring of gold, enriched with onyx, lapis-lazuli, and malachite,
+engraved with the sign of St Mark holding a book of the Gospel.
+“Sponsamus te mare nostrum in signum veri et perpetui dominii,”
+were the words he uttered solemnly, whilst the clergy from golden
+vases sprinkled holy water upon the company and upon the smiling
+rippling sea. The Dogaressa and the ladies of her suite cast into the
+clear water the lovely nosegays they had brought with them—roses,
+carnations, and lilies.</p>
+
+<p>Returning to Venice, after devotions in San Niccolo, the Doge gave a
+magnificent banquet in the palace to the notables of the city, and
+then all the lovely girls and the comely youths of every class were
+entertained at a vast ball, which overflowed the Piazza, and found
+relief only in the most distant <i>calli</i>. By old prescription
+the workmen of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">[76]</span> Arsenal were entertained at supper by the Doge
+and Dogaressa. Each man had the privilege of keeping his knife and
+spoon, his glass and his napkin, and he received besides a silver
+medal—bearing the effigies of the Most Serene couple, a case of useful
+medicines, a beautiful box of comfits, and a flask of Greek Muscat wine.</p>
+
+<p>In later times the “Marriage of the Sea” was made a second
+carnival—lasting fifteen days, during which a great fair was held in
+the Piazza with fireworks such as Venetians only knew how to make, each
+evening at the Lido.</p>
+
+<p>From Doge Ziani’s day came the annual athletic festival on the Lido.
+Lads turned fifteen, and young men up to thirty, after careful
+training in their various <i>sestieri</i> or city wards, went off to
+the butts and tracks set up upon the beach to contest for prizes in
+shooting, wrestling, boxing, running, and other sports. The competitors
+were arranged in twelve groups called, “<i>Duodene</i>” and every
+one was expected to be a proficient bowman. Merchant ships always
+carried a certain number of such expert young bowmen. All “catches”
+were permissible—indeed kicking, wringing the neck, and all the
+features,—brutal as they were,—of the Olympian grievous boxing were
+not disallowed. Bamboos as well as fists were used! All classes of the
+male folk of the islands were eligible to compete in every contest and
+upon equal terms. Matrons and maids thronged to watch and encourage
+sons and sweethearts, each fair one scrupulously careful about her
+dress and veil. Many a Venetian “Venus du Milo” doubtless longed to
+try herself against her companions, but such maiden contests were
+inadmissible by the State laws.</p>
+
+  <div class="figcenter" id="i_076fp">
+    <img
+    class="p1"   
+    src="images/i_076fp.jpg"
+     alt="">
+     <p class="p0 sm center">GOING TO A MASKED BALL.</p>
+     <p class="p0 xs center">FROM A PRINT. 1560.</p>
+     <p class="p0 sm center">“Habiti d’Huomini e Donne.”—G. Franco.</p>
+  </div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">[77]</span></p>
+
+<p>Incidentally these sports, which revived the athletic contests
+inaugurated by the Dogaressa Teodora Selvo, gave rise to rivalries
+between the inhabitants of the eastern and western halves of the
+City, which were ultimately resolved into two opposing parties—the
+“<i>Castellani</i>” and the “<i>Nicolotti</i>.” A neutral zone was
+ultimately marked out, whereupon stood the church of San Trovaso. The
+sacred building had doors opening west and east so that adherents of
+both parties might attend the Divine Offices without encountering one
+another. Difficulties however soon arose through the wantonness of
+women: maidens of one party were constantly falling in love with men of
+the other, and then trouble ensued!</p>
+
+<p>The Emperor Frederic Barbarossa himself came to Venice in July
+1177—reconciling himself to the power of the world in the person of
+Doge Sebastiano Ziani, and to the power of the Church in the person
+of Pope Alexander III. He was sumptuously entertained by the Doge and
+Dogaressa. Conquerors and conquered joined together in scenes of gaiety
+and splendour. The Doge appeared in regal guise, accompanied by the new
+insignia of office, bestowed by the Sovereign Pontiff,—a folding Chair
+of State, a Royal Cushion, a golden Sword of State, a great painted
+lighted candle, and four silver trumpets. The Dogaressa wore a jewelled
+diadem around her Ducal horned cap, the gift of the Pope, and a cape or
+mantle of gold brocade, bearing the Imperial cognisance placed around
+her shoulders by the Emperor.</p>
+
+<p>Happily Sebastiano Ziani was a wealthy man and so was able to maintain
+the Ducal dignity without reproach. He was born in 1102—the son of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">[78]</span>
+Marino Ziani of Santa Giustina in Castello, a noble of ambassadorial
+rank. A curious legend was treasured in the family: an ancestor at
+Altino, discovered among the ruins of the Temple of Juno, a cow
+moulded in solid gold! This was the foundation of the vast riches of
+the family,—the wealthiest by far of all in Venice, and known by
+the sobriquet “<i>Famiglia della Vacca d’oro</i>.” “<i>L’haver de
+Ziani!</i>” became a proverb—synonymous of the possession of great
+wealth.</p>
+
+<p>Sebastiano lavished munificence unstintingly in Venice—new bridges,
+new facades to buildings, new churches, were witnesses to his
+benevolence, and dying, in 1175, he left the bulk of his fortune for
+the decoration of San Marco. He abdicated in 1170 and entered the
+monastery of San Giorgio Maggiore. No historian has preserved the date
+of Dogaressa Cecilia’s death,—probably she too found a refuge in the
+ducal convent of San Zaccaria.</p>
+
+<p>It may be interesting to note the prices current during the
+<i>dogado</i> of Sebastiano Zani for certain commodities of everyday
+life. The following is a brief table of the Autumn sales in 1173:—</p>
+
+<table class="smaller" style="max-width: 50em">
+  <tr>
+   <td class="cht">Wine (except Greek)</td>
+   <td class="cht">21 soldi per libbra (pound)</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+   <td class="cht">Beef—a fair average quality</td>
+   <td class="cht">21&emsp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&ensp;„</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+   <td class="cht">Oil&emsp;&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&emsp;&ensp;„</td>
+   <td class="cht">25 lire&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;1000 libbre</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+   <td class="cht">Corn&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&emsp;&ensp;„</td>
+   <td class="cht">16–17 soldi per staio (bushel)</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+   <td class="cht">Eggs</td>
+   <td class="cht">25 soldi per 400</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+   <td class="cht">Fish, sturgeon, trout, and ray</td>
+   <td class="cht">3½&emsp;„&emsp;„&emsp;libbra</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+   <td class="cht">&emsp;„&emsp;tench and pike</td>
+   <td class="cht">3&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;„&emsp;&emsp;„</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+   <td class="cht">&emsp;„&emsp;gudgeon, red-mullet and gunard</td>
+   <td class="cht">2½&emsp;&nbsp;„&emsp;„&emsp;&emsp;„</td>
+  </tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>These prices were quoted on the Ponte di Rialto and at the retail
+markets on the <i>fundamenti</i>: they were controlled by the <i>Corte
+della Giustizia</i> which Doge Ziani empanelled.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">[79]</span></p>
+
+<p>Games of chance and gambling were always restricted in old Venice, but
+in 1175 Niccolo Barattieri, as a reward—<i>onesta grazia</i>,—in
+the words of the Doge,—for having succeeded when many others had
+failed, in lifting and placing the two great pillars of Samos granite
+at the end of the Piazzetta, claimed the privilege of opening a
+gaming saloon or tent, between the columns. The promise could not
+be gainsaid—“whatever the successful engineer likes to ask”—but
+to prevent so far as possible the success of the undertaking it was
+ordained that all public executions should be carried out on the spot.
+Between the two pillars a raised flat stone was placed, and upon it
+“are laid, and hath ever been, for the space of three days and three
+nights, the heads of all such as are enemies or traitors to the State,
+or some notorious offender.”</p>
+
+<hr class="tb">
+
+<p>In all the gorgeous pageantry of Venetian Story, perhaps, no scene is
+more striking and more affecting than that which was enacted upon the
+Feast of the Nativity of Christ in 1202, within the storied walls of
+the most wonderful of all the basilicas of Christendom—San Marco.</p>
+
+<p>In due order within the noble choir were gathered together
+representatives of the seventy-and-two churches, and more than
+seventy-and-two monasteries of the islands. Before the great screen
+stood Christian knights from every European state—clothed in complete
+armour and bearing upon their hearts the red cross of pilgrimage. The
+great white oriflamme of the Crusade, charged with the red cross of the
+Captain of Salvation, was held unfurled by Lord Boniface, Marquis of
+Montferrat, commander<span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">[80]</span> of the French contingent. It had been wreathed
+by ladies of the Doge’s household with white lilies of the Annunciation
+and red carnations of the Crucifixion. Around the great pulpit was
+assembled all that was fair and virtuous and all that was frail and
+voluptuous in Venice. The women’s great black veils, and the girls’
+veils of purest white linen, modestly gathered in around their full
+open bosoms, revealed beauteous classical features and abundant golden
+tresses.</p>
+
+<p>All were fired with ecstatic devotion as, kneeling humbly upon the
+stone pavement, they uttered with deep emotion their “<i>Aves</i>” and
+their “<i>Paternosters</i>.” Like the chromatic ripples of a summer
+sea re-echoed the orisons aloft upon the resonant mosaics of the lofty
+roof, and the devout dropping of innumerable rosary-beads resembled the
+rolling of beach pebbles by the beating waves. The women of Venice were
+gathered together to encourage their men folk to be true and brave for
+Christ and home!</p>
+
+<p>The age and youth of Venice alike mustered there no less wrapt in
+devotion than their wives and sweethearts; each man’s <i>berretta</i>
+is in his hand, his right grasps his sword-hilt, and his knees are bent
+in self-dedication. The stripling kneels alongside his sire, and he
+again supports a more venerable man,—the grandsire, for the Crusaders
+knew no age limit.</p>
+
+<p>A wide avenue down the centre of the great church is left for the
+progress of the magistrates, and furtively are eyes turned to the
+great open portal as the solemn procession comes into view. Their
+Excellencies pass to their places, and, last of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">[81]</span> all, wearing his full
+Ducal State, marches, with the stalwart step Arrigo Dandolo—the Doge.
+Lightly, as upon few, sit his ninety-and-four years, his lameness is
+hardly noticeable, his back is no longer bent, and his eyes are keen:
+his Serenity bears the marks of a hero approaching the zenith of his
+career. All eyes are riveted upon the “Grand Old Man of Venice.”</p>
+
+<p>Dandolo makes his obeisance to the Sacred Host,—exposed above the
+famous <i>Pala d’oro</i>, but, to the universal wonderment, he ascends
+not his Ducal seat beside the altar, but mounts the stairway of the
+pulpit. With hand raised aloft, and voice piercing and full of purpose,
+he cries out:—“Sirs, we are here assembled to engage in the highest of
+all human enterprises, Christ calls Venice to fight for His sepulchre
+profaned by the hated Turk. I that speak in His Name, am old and feeble
+in appearance, but my heart is that of the Lion of Saint Mark. If you
+bid me, I am ready to lead you right on to Jerusalem. I will take up my
+cross now, and set forth to conquer and to die!”</p>
+
+<p>An intense sensation runs through the immense concourse, and every
+man’s sword is raised on high, as the white-headed leader kneels humbly
+before the Patriarch, who places the red cross upon his jewelled horned
+cap. Women’s sobs mingle in the “<i>Te Deum</i>” chanted by the clergy
+and choristers, and every bell in every campanile clangs, if not in
+harmony still in full-toned sympathy.</p>
+
+<p>Not a man hesitates longer, if Venice has been lukewarm in the matter
+of the Crusades, she shall be so no more. The women and the girls
+emulously pin the Crusaders’ badges upon the breasts of fathers,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">[82]</span>
+brothers, husbands, sons, and sweethearts, and lead them ungrudgingly
+to the water-side, where boats are waiting to carry the warriors
+on board the galleys—three hundred of them. The fleet sailed that
+evening. In the van were three giant vessels—“<i>Pelegrina</i>,”
+“<i>Paradiso</i>” and “<i>Aquila</i>”—upon the latter Doge Dandolo
+embarked—holding in his hand the gorgeous crimson banner of San Marco.</p>
+
+<p>“<i>Veni Creator</i>” resounded from church to church,
+<i>fundamento</i> to <i>fundamento</i>, ship to ship, as the fleet
+sailed out of sight, and then upon every <i>riva</i> and in every
+<i>calle</i> were girls and women weeping and disconsolate—theirs was
+the true sacrifice, for had they not dedicated all that was dearest
+to them to the service of their Lord! The bride of a day lay clasped
+in the arms of her who had kept her jubilee, and little children left
+their games crying bitterly for fathers and for brothers they would
+never see again.</p>
+
+<p>Venice was a city of the dead, no one was there to sing and dance:
+women had to turn their hands to manly avocations,—none repined,
+and their devotions were redoubled. From noble church, before humble
+shrine, and out of simple homes arose passionate appeals. All the nine
+patron saints of Venice were invoked, along with Christ’s gracious
+Mother. They knew that their suppliant cries would be as efficacious
+for the rescue of the Holy Places as the deeds of daring of their men.</p>
+
+<p>The Crusade was a glorious success: wreaths of fame crowned the brow of
+Christian warriors and the women of Venice wove garlands of sweetest
+flowers to wind lovingly around their necks. The heroes came not
+however straight home to Venice<span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">[83]</span> but went aside to punish the hateful
+Turk in his capital. Doge Dandolo led the attack, but alas, with the
+fall of Constantinople fell many of the bravest Venetians, and among
+them the venerable Doge. They buried him in the basilica of Saint
+Sophia and put up his epitaph:—“<i>Mult ere sages et proz</i>”—“One
+of the wisest and the best of the Sons of Venice!”—and then they
+set sail for home. It was the time of the budding of the rose tree:
+the fresh fragrant blossoms of a new life,—a new world,—a new
+people,—the year 1205.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb">
+
+<p>The prelude of the “Cantata” of the new century was pitched in the
+minor key, but the feeble treble of fatherless children harmonised
+pathetically with the full contralto of their mothers:—</p>
+
+  <div class="poetry-container">
+   <div class="poetry">
+      <div class="stanza">
+        <div class="ileft">“<i>Misere nobis infelicissime, Maria</i></div>
+        <div><i>Requiescant in pace omnes, Domine.</i>”</div>
+      </div>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+
+<p>Fathers, brothers, husbands, sons and sweethearts returned not to
+Venice. She was once more “<i>Venus Calva</i>”—Venice, bereft of her
+stalwart sons, stripped of her trusty councillors, naked and bereaved.</p>
+
+  <div class="poetry-container">
+   <div class="poetry">
+      <div class="stanza">
+        <div class="ileft">“Some lay unshrouded in Palestine, and</div>
+        <div>Some lay in the deep.</div>
+        <div>For man must go forth to fight and to die</div>
+        <div>And women must weep.”</div>
+      </div>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+
+<p>There were many widows in Venice.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_84">[84]</span></p>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER III</h2>
+</div>
+
+
+<h3>I</h3>
+
+<p>Upon the smiling little islet of San Giorgio in Alga, midway between
+the Punta di Santa Maria—the westernmost limit of Venice proper, and
+Fusina—the principal port of the Laguna Morta, there lived, once upon
+a time, a good-looking young fisherman. Zian Zorzio della Laguna,—so
+named after his patron Saint, Saint George of Cappadoccia,—as skilful
+in his calling as he was comely in his person.</p>
+
+<p>Zorzio had wooed and won the prettiest girl in all Rialto, as
+hard-working as himself and as good to look upon. One day Bella offered
+her lover an extraordinarily fine fishing-net which she had, unknown
+to him, knotted with her own fair hands; and, Zorzio delighted with
+the gift, tossing it over his shoulder, went off to dedicate it to his
+saintly patron in the island Sanctuary.</p>
+
+<p>Kissed on both cheeks, coloured with the ripest peach-bloom, her golden
+hair coiled neatly around her shapely head, save for one rebellious
+love-knot upon her brow, the beauteous <i>innamorata</i> waved loving
+farewells to her Zorzio as he sculled off in his light <i>barca</i> to
+make trial of his treasure.</p>
+
+<p>With a daring cast the spider-web-like mesh sank beneath the gentle
+ripples of the lambent water, and the young fellow, confident of a
+worthy haul, presently began to pull in his net. “Per Bacco!” cried he,
+for something eerie had caught<span class="pagenum" id="Page_85">[85]</span> itself in the all but invisible strands
+of Bella’s handiwork. A piece of petrified seaweed,—very delicate in
+form, very beautiful in colour, very exquisite in texture, verily a
+scudding flake of opalescent sea-foam transformed by the mermaids of
+the deep into lovely coral lace,—yielded itself to his ready hand.
+Zorzio had never beheld such a perfectly beautiful object, and in a
+transport of delight he hailed his prize as the pledge of his success
+in life. Speeding homewards in the evening he made Bella the sharer of
+his good fortune, and she locked up the bit of coral lace safely in the
+simple home they had prepared against the next festival of the “Brides.”</p>
+
+<p>Alas, the even tenor of their lives was rudely shattered by a call to
+arms, and brave Zorzio was enrolled among seamen drafted for service
+in the Orient. Broken-hearted Bella surveyed his empty seat, and her
+tears fell fast. Should she ever see her Zorzio again she wondered and
+whispered. Looking up at last, her eyes fell upon her lover’s gift—the
+lovely spray of coral seaweed. An inspiration seized her mind, and with
+alacrity she reached down her lace-pillow, and guided by an unseen
+power, she crossed and crossed her bobbins of fine thread until she had
+completed, in interlacing arabesques, a similitude of her treasured
+model. Thus was invented the far-famed and precious <i>merletto a
+piombini</i>—the point-lace of Venice. It is a charming story and it
+has a striking moral. That piece of coral seaweed was the mascot of the
+Venetian Renaissance.</p>
+
+<p>In the morning of the “<i>Vita Nuova</i>”—it was the hour of
+“Lauds,”—Commerce,—strenuous father, and Industry,—faithful mother,
+were busy rearing<span class="pagenum" id="Page_86">[86]</span> their numerous family—the vigorous progeny of the
+Crafts. Away back in the ninth century, in the days of the “Grand” Doge
+Agnello Partecipazio, the Emperor Lothair issued his “<i>Constitutiones
+Olonenses</i>,” wherein eight cities and towns of Northern Italy are
+named as suitable centres for the establishment of the revived Roman
+“<i>Collegia</i>” or “<i>Scholæ</i>”:—Bologna, Cremona, Firenze,
+Ivrea, Milano, Padua, Torino and Rivoalto (Venice). In each place the
+designation of the <i>Scholæ</i> varied: in Venice they were called
+“<i>Fragilia</i>,”—from “<i>Flagelli</i>,”—whips,—the exact meaning
+of which it is difficult to state, perhaps “training schools” wherein
+learners were <i>whipped</i> into shape!</p>
+
+<p>Each “<i>Fragilia</i>” had its teachers, its pupils, its officers,
+its constitution, its duties, and its bylaws. The earliest
+distinct mention of a “Trade” is in 826, when a maker of lead
+pipes for organs was working away near San Giacomo di Rialto:
+doubtless the artificer in question was a Greek, his name has
+not been preserved. Orso Partecipazio employed clock-makers in
+864 and silversmiths and carvers of ivory: these craftsmen were
+Greeks however. The “<i>Cassellari</i>”—makers of <i>arcelle</i>
+and <i>cassoni</i>—formed already a vigorous Corporation in
+the time of the rape of the “Venetian Brides.” The first notice
+of “<i>Fabbri</i>”—blacksmiths, was in 1184 as forming a
+“<i>Fragilia</i>,” but the <i>Calle de’ Fabbri</i> was a well-known
+lane in the tenth century. The Altino Chronicle names Fishermen,
+Smiths, Saddlers, Carriers by water, Shepherds, Butchers, Masons,
+Carpenters, Cabinet-makers, Shoemakers and Furriers as the earliest
+incorporated craftsmen in the islands of the lagunes. “<i>Marzeri</i>”<span class="pagenum" id="Page_87">[87]</span>
+or silk-mercers were established in Rivoalto in 942.</p>
+
+<p>Doge Pietro Polani, in 1143 drafted a “Table of Precedence,” which
+established as the premier “<i>Fragilia</i>” or Trade-Guild, the
+Corporation of Fishermen. Thirty years later Doge Sebastiano Ziani set
+up the first “<i>Corte della Giutizia</i>” in the interest of traders
+and operatives. Thereafter numerous other Crafts are named in Venetian
+history; but Venice never attained to the eminence of Florence in the
+development of her Guilds—she was <i>sui generis</i> a great sea-port
+rather than a metropolis of industry. The thirteenth century first saw
+the cradle of the Crafts rocking effectively,—just as the fourteenth
+furnished the nursery of the Fine Arts,—and Venice felt the impulse of
+the new industries, along with the rest of Italy.</p>
+
+<p>Doge Arrigo Dandolo had annexed one-fourth of the old Roman Empire
+to the tutelage of Venice, and ten great Turkish galleons brought
+home, with the remnant of her forces, vast treasures,—the loot of
+Constantinople and the islands of the Greek Archipelago. Upon the
+Piazzetta was outpoured the wealth of the Levant. Never before had
+Venetian eyes and hands beheld or handled such creations of art and
+craft. Every church and monastery, every palace and mansion, and every
+poor man’s home, were enriched by things of joy and beauty. Mothers
+and maidens laid up in honoured hiding-places tokens of their heroes
+resting in Paradise, and all the sons of Venice gathered objects of
+interest which engrossed their intelligences and set their minds and
+hands at work<span class="pagenum" id="Page_88">[88]</span> to imitate—the fall of Constantinople was the rise of
+craftsmanship in the Lagunes.</p>
+
+<p>The Conquest of Constantinople—a notable turning-point in the history
+of Venice—was the initial mark of a new era throughout Europe. By
+common consent every class of the Venetians welcomed the promise of
+new conditions,—social and political,—and set to work to exchange
+Oriental ideas and sympathies for the pushful methods and modes of
+Northern and Western Europe. The first step was the election of a Doge,
+who should be, not only a desirable figure-head for the State, but who,
+by his force of character and personal experience, should lead the
+Commonwealth along progressive ways.</p>
+
+<p>The qualifications for the <i>Dogado</i> were: (1) Ripe age; (2)
+Urbane temperament; (3) Good birth; and (4) Ample private means. One
+man, and one man alone, stood out head-and-shoulders above his peers,
+as possessed of these four qualities, a man whose thirty years of
+distinguished public service placed him in the unique position of first
+citizen of Venice. By universal acclamation Pietro Ziani was chosen to
+wear the laurel-wreathed <i>berretta</i> of the great Dandolo. The son
+of one of the most distinguished of the Doges—Sebastiano Ziani—he
+had borne himself nobly as a successful naval commander, a tactful
+ambassador, and an upright magistrate. Handsome above the ordinary,
+pious without hypocrisy, talented in linguistic and forensic aptitude,
+and passionately loyal to the Constitution, he was calmly awaiting his
+destiny at his country residence at Arbe in Dalmatia.</p>
+
+<p>A deputation of the Lords of the Council<span class="pagenum" id="Page_89">[89]</span> boarded the magnificent
+“<i>Bucintoro</i>,” and accompanied by thirty galleys, all splendidly
+decorated with rare brocades and tapestries, set off to meet and escort
+the new Doge. Pietro Ziani’s progress was a triumphal procession,
+calling to mind the unanimous and felicitous election of Domenigo Selvo
+one hundred and fifty years before. Almost the first act of the new
+regime was the affirmation of the cordial relations which his father,
+Sebastiano, had entered into with Guglielmo II.—“The Good,” King of
+Sicily. Dante refers to the death of this distinguished Sovereign in
+Canto XX of the <i>Paradiso</i>:—</p>
+
+  <div class="poetry-container">
+   <div class="poetry">
+      <div class="stanza">
+        <div class="ileft">“William whom the land bewails</div>
+        <div>So well beloved in Heaven.”</div>
+      </div>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+
+<p class="p-left">In confirmation of the new treaty the new Doge, in 1213,
+sought and gained the hand of the Princess Costanza, daughter of King
+Tancredo, Guglielmo’s son and successor. She was the first Norman
+Dogaressa of Venice, daughter of a brave and ardent race, a woman of
+conspicuous ability and ambition, and an ideal consort for the Head of
+a rejuvenated Venice.</p>
+
+<p>Pietro Ziani had but lately buried his first wife, the modest and
+beautiful Countess Maria Baseggio—whose father held the high
+office of Procurator of San Marco—<i>nobilis et decora nimis Maria
+Dukessa</i>—as she is called in the Altino Chronicle. The sole
+offspring of this union was a son, Giorgio, but, alas, when yet a
+child, he was torn to pieces by the savage mastiff watch-dogs of the
+monastery of San Giorgio Maggiore. It was said that the Doge was so
+infuriated by this misfortune that he ordered the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_90">[90]</span> church and monastery
+with all the animals,—<i>the poor monks as well</i>,—to be consumed
+with fire: one may hope the innocent Religious escaped the fury. Anyhow
+the rest were all burnt, and then the remorse of Ziani was pitiable. By
+way of reparation he set to work at once to rebuild and re-endow what
+he had so petulantly sacrificed.</p>
+
+<p>Dogaressa Costanza was handsome and gracious, and wore her Royal
+honours with distinction. Palazzi wrote thus of her—“A Queen by birth,
+Dogaressa of Venice by marriage, she exhibited all the attributes
+of her royal station,—she was also Duchess of Calabria,—and her
+high breeding, no less than her beauty, raised her above all petty
+jealousies.” In the ancient pack of playing-cards, at the Venetian
+Museo Civico, we find her represented upon the “Ten of Spades,” with
+the following legend:—“Costanza, daughter of Tancredo King of Naples,
+wife of Doge Pietro Ziani, was accustomed to meet all the malcontents
+against the Doge and herself with the saying:—‘I have nothing to do
+with you!’”</p>
+
+<p>The State being involved in tremendous financial difficulties on
+account of the cost of the Crusades, and also in behalf of the
+purchase of the island of Crete, in view of the Doge’s great private
+wealth,—“<i>L’haver Ziani</i>” was quite as true of Pietro as of
+Sebastiano—reduced his official salary to 2800 lire, with 100 thrown
+in as a free gift. It was further decreed that all tributes to the Doge
+should henceforth be shared between him and the treasury of San Marco.
+Moreover he was required to make an offering of three silver trumpets
+for ceremonial processions, and to undertake the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_91">[91]</span> repairs of the Ducal
+Palace,—rather a one-sided bargain!</p>
+
+<p>Fifteen years of marital happiness fell to the lot of the Doge and
+Dogaressa. Three children were borne by imperious Costanza—Marco,
+Marchesina, and Maria. Some authorities say that the Dogaressa died
+suddenly in 1228 and that the Doge, broken-hearted, followed her
+within a month. The Altino Chronicle however records the abdication
+of Pietro Ziani, and adds that he and his Consort, with their family,
+retired into private life and went to reside in their palace upon the
+<i>fondamento</i> of Santa Giustina, where he died, and then received
+sepulture in the church of San Giorgio Maggiore, in the tomb of his
+father Sebastiano.</p>
+
+<p>There is still a third version of the deaths of Doge Pietro and
+Dogaressa Costanza. In the terrible earthquake of 1220, when the
+church and monastery of San Giorgio Maggiore were destroyed, and the
+islands of Amiano and Costanzina swallowed up, it was said that many
+people died of fright, and among them the Dogaressa. The Doge, sharing
+the universal sense of insecurity in Venice, proposed to move the
+seat of Government to Constantinople, but, upon the cessation of the
+seismic disturbances, wiser counsels prevailed, and he set to work to
+rebuild the shattered edifices. In 1229 Pietro Ziani exchanged the
+silk-brocaded robe of State for the worsted habit of a Benedictine, and
+ended his days in the new monastery of San Giorgio which he had built.</p>
+
+<p>During his <i>dogado</i> a year of Jubilee was appointed by the
+Pope—1214—in thankfulness for the general peace; and every Italian
+State held festivals and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_92">[92]</span> fêtes. Treviso led the way, for nothing could
+exceed the beauty and the human interest of the “<i>Marca Amorosa</i>.”
+The centre of the most fruitful and delightful region of all Northern
+Italy, Treviso, with her borders, was renowned for the richness of her
+vegetation, the salubrity of her climate, the beauty of her women,
+and chivalry of her cavaliers. The rallying-point too of knights and
+champions from the vigorous Teutonic north and the vivacious Frankish
+west Treviso was the fascinating rendezvous of all that was romantic,
+brave and fair.</p>
+
+<p>The Crusades had been the making of the soldiery of all Europe,—not
+indeed in the elements of warfare but in the courtesies of the
+battle-field. Men went forth to fight the Saracen and the Turk to
+vindicate the nobility of the Cross and the gentleness of the Son of
+Mary. For the weak and the oppressed they gave and took sword-thrust
+and arrow-tip, and not as men fighting men alone. Heroes returned to
+Venetian, Trevisan and Paduan homes famous for their valour and their
+virtue: the Crusades were schools of Christian chivalry. To fight for
+women and for children in Palestine meant to honour and exalt those of
+their own dear land, but this was quite a new idea. Saint Mary and the
+Saints of God held the hands of their own babes and youths, the hands
+of their own girls and women, and men worshipped at human shrines as
+well as in saintly sanctuaries.</p>
+
+  <div class="figcenter" id="i_092fp">
+    <img
+    class="p1"   
+    src="images/i_092fp.jpg"
+     alt="">
+     <p class="p0 sm center">MYSTIC DANCE.</p>
+     <p class="p0 sm center">Michelino da Bedozzo.</p>
+     <p class="p0 xs center">PALAZZO BONARDO, MILAN.</p>
+  </div>
+
+<p>Treviso put forth her best efforts in the way of pageant, spectacle,
+and mask—albeit she did not forget to dress her altars, light
+her candles, and burn her incense, in honour of the Jubilee. In
+the centre of the Piazza della Spineda, the Guild of Carpenters
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_93">[93]</span>erected a grandiose palace—“Castle of Love” it was named, overlaid
+with gilding and painting, and decorated with rich silk velvets,
+costly furs, and precious tapestries. Trophies from Palestine and
+spoils from Constantinople were raised aloft, with rose-trees full
+of roses, myrtles in white flower, and jessamine, the marriage
+bloom, and many another decorative feature. All this bravery was the
+<i>mise-en-scène</i> for such a castle garrison as no knight’s eyes had
+beheld nor indeed his heart imagined.</p>
+
+<p>Two hundred of the fairest damsels of Treviso and Padua, and with them
+not a few noble matrons of attractive personality, manned or shall we
+say “womaned” the lofty battlements. Dressed in most becoming garbs and
+covered with jewels, with faces painted and hair coiffured in exquisite
+taste, the fascinating amazons have at hand no weapons or grenades
+of lethal warfare, but baskets of sweet flowers, cornucopias of ripe
+fruit, and crystal vases filled with delicious scents, ready for the
+besiegers.</p>
+
+<p>Three Companies in turn assault the “Castle of Beauty”—gallant
+knights and esquires of Venice, Padua, and Treviso. Strange are their
+battle-cries. Lately singing Litanies to the Saints, their lips have
+learned compelling dulcet tones, as they have prayed at or for the
+Holy Sepulchre, and now they again give forth the refrain “<i>Ora pro
+Nobis</i>”—addressed not to St Giustina, St Catherine, or St Barbara,
+but to Donna Beatrice, Donna Fioretta, Donna Felicita, and to all the
+beauteous two hundred!</p>
+
+<p>Amid the plaudits of thousands of spectators on pavement, in window,
+on balcony, on roof, drawn from all the plains of Lombardy the
+Company of Treviso—as gallant goodly lads as ever donned<span class="pagenum" id="Page_94">[94]</span> tight
+hose and well-shaped tunic,—deliver the first attack, making trial
+of their knighthood. Appealing to the tender unsullied hearts of
+the fair defenders of the Castle, with gentle words, they shower
+such things as affect most the eye of woman—lovely flowers, amorous
+<i>billets-doux</i>, and delicate scent-sachets. Not so can they
+gain the battlements, and falling back, the second line of attack is
+opened out by the Company from Padua. Clever pleasant youths are they
+and full of artistic fancies, well groomed too, they rally to the
+charge with such things as may please their ladies’ palates,—boxes of
+expensive sweetmeats, baskets of delicious fruits, and fresh rissoles
+of fish and chicken. The fair ones catch all they can, but yield
+not their portcullis. Now comes the turn of the fresh-complexioned,
+well-figured, fair-haired, silent, haughty young Venetians. They step
+boldly forward, in silken tights, each lad a lord in self-esteem:
+they have special ammunition for their service, attractive to all the
+senses of woman-kind,—scented walnuts, Oriental sweeties, and sugared
+rose-leaves, but, in their scarlet satchels they have a wealth of good
+gold ducats, and with them the day is won, for the maidens toss the
+glittering spoil from hand to hand and laugh and sing right merrily!</p>
+
+<p>But before the conquerors can carry off their bewitching prisoners,
+the defeated warriors rally to the call of “Down with Venice,” and
+rush the standard-bearers. In a trice the red banner of San Marco
+is trailing on the ground and the Venetians have whipped out their
+swords! Messer Paolo da Sermedole, the Master of the Pageant, and his
+assistants intervene, and the tears of the captured maidens arrest the
+flow of blood, but the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_95">[95]</span> Venetians leave the “<i>Marca Amorosa</i>”
+vowing vengeance for the insult. War was declared forthwith against the
+sister cities and the end of it came not till two years had passed,
+when at Bebe near Chioggia, the Paduans accepted the Venetian terms.
+Doge Pietro Ziani stipulated, as a condition of peace, that twenty-five
+Paduan Knights, who had participated in the “<i>Marca Amorosa</i>” at
+Treviso, should present themselves at the Ducal Palace, submissive to
+the orders of his Serenity.</p>
+
+<p>In Venice the gallant Company was welcomed right nobly, as became
+magnanimous foes, feasted for ten days, and well laden with costly
+presents, and so were speeded home again. History has not exactly told
+us whether any, or all of that gallant band, took away things more
+precious still than the splendid offerings,—the hearts of Venetian
+maidens! The revenge of the conquered, in true chivalry, is the
+spoiling of the conqueror. Anyhow at least one Venetian bride was led
+away to Padua, and with her went a goodly trousseau:—“One bed, two
+down-quilts, a whole piece of scarlet ‘noble’ cloth, four linen sheets,
+two feather pillows, two striped silk petticoats, two robes, or gowns,
+of silk brocade, four bodices of lawn, one fur mantle with silver
+buttons, one silver bell, a silver rosary, seven ornaments of gold, two
+of pearls, a coronal of pearls, seven fine amber beads, etc., etc.”</p>
+
+<p>When she reached Padua the bride was to receive from her husband a
+purse full of money, to pay for musicians at the home-coming, for the
+cooks, and for her chaperon—one Donna Riccidoni—and for herself she
+might retain twelve silver <i>soldi</i> as pin-money. The bridegroom
+was mulcted<span class="pagenum" id="Page_96">[96]</span> at the same time in dealings in beef, veal, fresh fish
+and fruit, cakes, eggs, bread, wine and oil, and for the payment of
+the boatmen who had rowed them up the Brenta. Alas the chronicler in
+the “<i>Archivio</i>” has failed to give the names of the interesting
+couple, but apparently Venice and Padua were at one upon the question
+of matrimony!</p>
+
+<hr class="tb">
+
+  <div class="poetry-container">
+   <div class="poetry">
+      <div class="stanza">
+        <div class="ileft">“<i>Maridite! Maridite! Donzela;</i></div>
+        <div><i>Che dona maridada è sempre bela:</i></div>
+        <div><i>Maridite! finchè la foglia è verde,</i></div>
+        <div><i>Perchè la zoventu presto se perde!</i>”</div>
+        <div class="right smcap">Venetian “Barcarolle.”</div>
+      </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+        <div>(“Marry! Marry! pretty maid,</div>
+        <div>Lest ye lose your youth and fade—</div>
+        <div>The young girl’s her husband’s Queen</div>
+        <div>Marry whilst the leaves are green!”)</div>
+      </div>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+
+
+<h3>II</h3>
+
+<p>The last years of Doge Pietro Ziani were embittered by the rivalries of
+the families of Tiepolo and Dandolo—partisans of both sides eagerly
+grasping the Ducal chair, and impatient of the demise of its occupant.
+The Doge and Dogaressa were so worried and oppressed by these unseemly
+contentions that he executed a deed of abdication, and returned to his
+private residence, leaving the distinguished but thankless office to be
+filled by another.</p>
+
+<p>Giacomo Tiepolo represented the <i>old</i> ideas and Marino Dandolo
+the <i>new</i>, and the votes of the Council were equally divided; but
+at last, a majority was found for the former. Tiepolo was out and away
+the most enlightened and intellectual man of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_97">[97]</span> his time. He came of an
+ancient family, one of the “Apostolic” order of nobility—“Teupolo”
+in the old spelling, and originally from Rome. Bartoldo Teupolo, the
+head of the family in 697, was one of the electors of Doge Paolo Lucio
+Anafesto. In 1204, when so many Venetian nobles assumed territorial
+titles of sovereignty over islands in the Greek Archipelago consequent
+upon the fall of Constantinople, Giacomo Tiepolo was named Duke of
+Candia. His father was Lorenzo, Procurator of San Marco in 1207, and
+Podesta of Treviso.</p>
+
+<p>“Duke” Tiepolo took to wife Maria Storiato—a Venetian gentlewoman
+of no high degree, but a good and faithful spouse and mother. She
+was received as Dogaressa the day of Giacomo’s election in 1228, but
+alas, she died in 1240, having given him three sons as pledges of
+her devotion—Pietro, Lorenzo, and Giovanni. The eldest became Count
+of Sant’ Agostino and Podesta of Milan and Treviso, but, being taken
+prisoner by the Emperor Frederic II., he was treacherously beheaded.</p>
+
+<p>A two years’ widowerhood found the Doge once more at the feet of an
+attractive woman, not indeed a simple Venetian maiden but a Princess
+of Royal degree,—Valdrada, the daughter of King Tancredo of Sicily.
+The new Dogaressa, like her brother King Ruggero, was famed for good
+commonsense, and sound probity of life, and she assumed at once an
+unquestioned control over the actions of her Consort, strong man though
+he was. Like her sister, the Dowager Dogaressa Costanza, she was a
+<i>virago</i>, in the sense of a strong personality; and she followed
+in her sister’s steps, ruling not alone her<span class="pagenum" id="Page_98">[98]</span> husband, but bending to
+her will all with whom she was thrown in contact.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps the new Dogaressa’s ostentation of Regal rank in the Venetian
+Court was a decisive factor in the promulgation of what was called
+the “<i>Promissione</i>”—perhaps best translated by the French term,
+<i>Protocol</i>—of 1242, the provisions of which greatly restricted
+the power and liberty of the Doge and Dogaressa. The Doge was
+henceforth to be, not the executive Head of the State, but the executor
+of the orders of the Council. Acts of homage were no longer to be
+rendered to him, nor was he to be addressed as “<i>Domine Dominus</i>.”
+In times gone by the deputation of nobles, commissioned to acquaint a
+new Doge of his election, were accustomed to greet him thus:—“Welcome,
+Messer Doge, God give you Messer Doge a good morrow, we are come to
+dine with you, we await your orders, and we wish to kiss your hand.”
+The Dogaressa also shared the new restrictive conventions, and neither
+relatives of hers, nor of the Doge, were eligible for any public
+office. Their household was limited—only twenty-five free retainers
+were allowed and a like number of unpaid dependent slaves.</p>
+
+<p>“<i>Il Statuto di Giacomo Tiepolo</i>,” or “<i>Il Statuto Veneto</i>,”
+as it was called, was a compilation, by Doge Tiepolo, of laws in five
+books, which treated of the domestic relations of married people. The
+husband was required to render an account to his wife of his use of
+her dowry, and the capital sum remained in her power to will as she
+chose. An unfaithful wife forfeited her dowry, but a widow enjoyed
+her husband’s patrimony till her second<span class="pagenum" id="Page_99">[99]</span> marriage or death. If ever a
+couple decided to renounce secular life and enter Religion, the united
+property was shared equally, each being free to do what he or she liked
+with the money. Children, if any and under age, were provided for
+equally by each parent. Many sections of the “<i>Statuto</i>” dealt
+with the vexed questions of Slavery and Prostitution—all aiming at the
+amelioration and moralisation of manners.</p>
+
+<p>Doge Giacomo Tiepolo’s time was much occupied with the settlement of
+internal jealousies and factions, and by the conduct of naval and
+military expeditions. While he was so employed Dogaressa Valdrada
+gave her whole time to the patronage and support of the Trade
+Corporations—a <i>rôle</i> maintained by all her successors.</p>
+
+<p>At length, in 1209, the Doge, wearied alike by the exertions of his
+foreign enterprises and by the keenness of political rivalries at home,
+executed a deed of abdication, and, with Dogaressa Valdrada and her two
+young children retired to his private residence at Sant’ Agostino, in
+the <i>sestiere</i> of San Polo or Paolo. He did not long survive his
+retirement from office, and both he and his Consort, who outlived him
+three years, were buried in SS. Giovanni e Paolo. In every sense of the
+word Giacomo Tiepolo—“The Legislator”—was a “Grand” Doge—the sixth
+upon whom that title may be properly bestowed.</p>
+
+<p>In his “<i>Stones of Venice</i>” Ruskin tells a well-known and
+characteristic story of Doge Giacomo Tiepolo. The noble church of
+SS. Giovanni e Paolo—San Zanipolo in the vernacular—was begun by
+the monks of San Domenigo in the year 1234,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_100">[100]</span> under the patronage of
+the Tiepolo family. Three years before Giacomo was called upon to
+succeed Pietro Ziani, he dreamed a dream wherein he beheld all the
+ground around the rising building covered with rose-bushes in full and
+fragrant bloom. Flitting to-and-fro and imbibing the floral nectar were
+numbers of white doves with golden crosses upon their breasts. Whilst
+the dreamer wondered what it all meant forty angelic beings appeared
+out of a crimson cloud, bearing in their hands smoking censers, and,
+circling around the lovely garden, they flung hither and thither
+their sweet incense smoke. Then a rich clarion voice proclaimed from
+somewhere above the rose-trees:—“This is the place I have chosen
+for my preachers.” The solemn words awoke the sleeper, and he went
+straightway to the Council and declared what he had seen and heard.
+They agreed to grant forty paces of ground for the extension of the
+monastery and Messer Tiepolo, out of his private munificence, endowed
+the brotherhood with a noble revenue.</p>
+
+<p>Upon either side of the entrance of the church are the two Roman
+sarcophagi, in which were interred the bodies of Doge Giacomo and
+his son Doge Lorenzo Tiepolo. Ever after Doge Giacomo Tiepolo’s
+solemn obsequies the bodies of all the Venetian Doges and many of the
+Dogaressas were laid in State and their funeral rites were performed
+within the choir of the great Dominican church.</p>
+
+<p>Marco, or Marino Morosini’s <i>dogado</i> (1249–1252), was quite
+uneventful, except for the establishment of the Holy Inquisition in
+Venice. Its operations however were only allowed upon sufferance, and
+its decrees required the <i>imprimatur</i> of the Council<span class="pagenum" id="Page_101">[101]</span> before
+being carried into effect. Doge Morosini, nearly seventy years of age
+at the time of the election, was of venerable appearance, amiable
+disposition, and irreproachable character. His Consort’s name has not
+been preserved. He is credited with the initiation of the <i>Scola de’
+Battitori</i>,—Guild of Flagellants,—which attracted very many of the
+more devout of the citizens. Men and women were equally affected by
+this call to asceticism, and were accustomed to lash themselves both
+publicly and in private with “<i>Scope</i>” birchrods or “disciplines,”
+whilst they sang <i>Miserere</i> and other doleful chants! The
+<i>furore</i> had a brief duration, for the commonsense of all classes
+checked exhibitions of infatuation. There was however one admirable
+feature in the movement—the devotion of vast sums of money, rich
+lands, and fine houses, to the cause of charity: in one year (1251),
+80,000 <i>lire</i> were contributed to deserving objects, and the
+“<i>Battitori</i>” numbered at least 12,000.</p>
+
+<p>Marco Morosini was buried with full honours, clad in State robes with
+his jewelled sword by his side, whilst women made loud lamentations
+and men forsook their avocations to touch his bier, and pray for his
+soul. These solemn burial scenes were swiftly followed by the gorgeous
+installation ceremony of the new Doge—Reniero Zeno (1252–1268).</p>
+
+<p>Where had been scattered branches of yew and cypress, and where had
+swayed great lengths of dismal black cloth, now flaunted in the fresh
+sea-breeze, the emblazoned banners of the “<i>Fragilie</i>” and the
+splendid silk draperies of the nobles, whilst garlands of freshly woven
+fragrant blossoms shed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_102">[102]</span> their painted petals upon the path where along
+a comely Dogaressa was borne by gallant escort to the Palace. There
+was just one “fly in the ointment” of satisfaction—for Loicia da
+Prata,—as attractive as any of her predecessors, indeed she had charms
+surpassed by few,—was alas from Friuli, and “nothing good for Venice,”
+it was said, “ever came thence!”</p>
+
+<p>The new Doge belonged to the most recent order of the nobility,
+that composed of men whose ancestors had purchased their patents in
+celebration of the last war with Candia—the Videmani, Labio, Zenobio,
+Fini, Manini, Gambarri, Zeno, and others. Whether Messir Reniero, the
+son of Ser Pietro Zeno, possessed all the qualifications sought in
+the person of the Head of the State we know not, but we know that he
+was a man of great wealth—perhaps, as times went then and as they
+go now, <i>the</i> most valuable consideration! This being so, the
+Council considered it a favourable opportunity for further curtailing
+the privileges of the Doge and Dogaressa, for, by the way, it was a
+certainty that they would be the recipients of considerable offerings
+on behalf of the Trade Corporations, seeing that the Doge was engaged
+in active commercial pursuits and was a great employer of labour.</p>
+
+  <div class="figcenter" id="i_102fp">
+    <img
+    class="p1"   
+    src="images/i_102fp.jpg"
+     alt="">
+     <p class="p0 sm center">DOGE RENIER ZENO AND DOGARESSA LUICIA DI PRATA.</p>
+     <p class="p0 sm center">Palma Il Giovine.</p>
+     <p class="p0 xs center">ORATORIA DE’ CROCIFERI. VENICE.</p>
+  </div>
+
+<p>By the new “<i>Promissione</i>” the Doge, the Dogaressa, their sons
+and daughter, and daughters-in-law, were debarred from receiving food
+stuffs, cattle and horses, poultry and game, etc., etc., except upon
+due payment. The Dogaressa was directed not to promise situations or
+offices to those who sought her aid, nor to write recommendations of
+such suppliants to the Doge or to the Council, and <span class="pagenum" id="Page_103">[103]</span>also not to make
+gifts to any official dependant. If she bestowed her patronage upon
+Craftsmen they were forbidden to make capital out of it. On the other
+hand, no limits were put to the private charities of her Serenity,
+and, as Dogaressa Loicia was famed for her benevolence, this freedom
+of action granted to her by the <i>Promissione</i>, had an astute and
+sly significance. As a matter of fact she did exhibit her piety in a
+remarkable way by the erection and endowment of a Hospital, upon the
+site originally occupied by that of Doge Pietro Orseolo II., with an
+Oratory,—<i>Oratorio del Crocifisso</i>,—still in existence near the
+great Campanile of San Marco.</p>
+
+<p>During the <i>dogado</i> of Reniero Zeno, in 1255, a writ was put forth
+by the Government regulating the marriages of nobles and citizens.
+Banns of marriage had been asked, time out of mind in all the Venetian
+churches, but gradually they had ceased to be regarded as necessary,
+and clandestine unions were the fashion. A priest had come to be
+regarded as at anybody’s beck and call, whether in a public consecrated
+building or in the privacy of the domestic parlour; and, instead of
+many sponsors, one witness was deemed sufficient. Often as not a
+priestly personage was not requisitioned at all—times were easy, so
+were manners.</p>
+
+<p>Quite a characteristic and amusing story has been preserved
+illustrating the new mode of wedding contracts. Madonna Catarussa of
+San Gervaso, lingering one evening at her house door, awaiting her
+late home-coming spouse, was accosted by one, Ser Pierino da Trento,
+an itinerant seller of brooms and brushes. Noting the Madonna’s
+abstraction he<span class="pagenum" id="Page_104">[104]</span> passed a courteous greeting:—“Good Lady,” he said,
+“can you find a poor devil like me a pretty girl I wonder?” Madonna
+Catarussa was indignant and used pretty freely not too pretty Venetian
+expletives!</p>
+
+<p>“No! no! not that dear Lady, not that,” interjected Ser Pierino, “I
+mean marriage now and honourable, a little wife and a modest dowry!”</p>
+
+<p>“Well, well, if that be your true wish I will see what I can do. Come
+again to-morrow about this time. Fare you well fond lover!”</p>
+
+<p>Madonna Catarussa knew well a very charming girl, just what the amorous
+pedlar wanted,—Donna Marina Contarini. She broached the subject of Ser
+Pierino’s commission, and because he was of good reputation and withal
+a good-looking fellow, the girl agreed to the assignation. Without
+delay or preparation, upon the morrow, in Madonna Catarussa’s best
+parlour, the couple met and with them one, Menigo Moïse, a friend of
+the Madonna, prepared to carry out an impromptu matrimonial <i>rôle</i>.</p>
+
+<p>“Ser Pierino, does Donna Marina suit you?—Donna Marina, does Ser
+Pierino please you?—Say ye both”—asked he.</p>
+
+<p>A ready double “Yes” sprang from the nuptial couple and promptly and
+with glee Ser Moïse joined their hands. Thereafter congratulations
+were showered upon the newly-married pair, and a merry party sat down
+to a hearty wedding breakfast. Company is never wanting when marriage
+festivities are on the go, and so it was in Madonna Catarussa’s
+<i>calle</i>—perhaps Ser Giovanni was at sea—fishing!</p>
+
+<p>Doge Zeno died in 1208, but Dogaressa Luicia<span class="pagenum" id="Page_105">[105]</span> survived him many years.
+He left to her absolutely the bulk of his property and she continued
+to reside in the great <i>Casa Zeno</i>, whence she administered the
+munificent gifts he and she had made to religious bodies, to churches
+and hospitals. At her death,—the date is not recorded,—she devised
+her personal effects for the benefit of her <i>Ospedale di Santa Maria
+per gl’Incurabili</i>, namely bedding, mattresses, coverlets, gowns,
+furs, her nuptial chests, plumes of feathers, six reading easels,
+chests of medicines, and very many personal and domestic comforts. Thus
+the attractive, virtuous, and benevolent Dogaressa passed quietly, and
+we may hope peacefully, from the people and the scenes she loved so
+well. Many warm hearts beat for her and salt tears fell, for she was
+well beloved in Venice.</p>
+
+
+<h3>III</h3>
+
+<p>Lorenzo Tiepolo mounted the Ducal throne in 1268, with a splendid,
+well-nigh unique, reputation, and he sustained its dignity admirably
+for seven eventful years. He was the Head of a strong and wealthy
+republic, which, surrounded with high honours, was rejoicing in
+every kind of delight and ostentation. The son of a “Grand” Doge,
+blessed by his father’s reputation, renowned for his personal bravery
+and courtesy, and endowed with the wherewithal to minister to his
+own luxuries and to the dissipations of a brilliant court without
+restraint, the second Tiepolo Doge was the man of the moment, the
+plaything of fortune.</p>
+
+<p>Venice was like a spoilt woman, dowered with<span class="pagenum" id="Page_106">[106]</span> beauty and ability,
+jealous of her freedom, a fierce foe to her enemies, a dangerous
+vixen to her friends, loving adulation, commanding obedience, proud,
+selfish, cruel, and revengeful—this was the Venice which Lorenzo,
+the champion of the <i>Giostre</i> had to control. The spirit of the
+time was wholly favourable to the new Doge’s government. Harmony and
+healthful rivalry existed between the craftsmen and the masters. In
+1271 the <i>Gastaldi</i>—Heads of Guilds—met under the presidency of
+the Doge; and agreed to devote a goodly portion of their Guild revenues
+to the relief of the poor and sick, provide pensions for the widows
+and families of deceased members, attend funerals, and keep the lamps
+burning in their Guild Chapels. They gave, as their incentive to these
+pious works, the sententious aphorism:—“<i>Stare in lo amor di Dio e
+di Santa Paxe</i>.”</p>
+
+<p>Venetians loved music, dancing, birds, and flowers. Picnics were held
+in the gardens of Murano, in the orchards of San Giorgio Maggiore, in
+the vineyards of San Zaccaria, in the olive-yards of Malamocco, and
+by the aviaries of San Giobbe. Everyone had his own garden,—great
+or small,—and in it rare exotics mingled with homely plants. At
+all windows and balconies were boxes of carnations and cages full
+of singing birds. Venice too was the shop of Europe, whether for
+tasty culinary delicacies or for the fashionable fripperies of the
+fair sex. All the good things of the East were displayed upon her
+<i>fundamenti</i> and in her markets. The banquets she set before her
+guests were sumptuous and unrivalled: the beef of Aquileia, the veal
+of Chioggia, and the pork of Friuli were<span class="pagenum" id="Page_107">[107]</span> as famous as the sausages of
+Bologna. Her wines, her fruits, and her sweetmeats were celebrated.</p>
+
+<p>Two meals a day were the rule in Doge Lorenzo Tiepolo’s time—dinner
+before noon, supper between seven and eight. For dinner, the better
+classes had soup,—<i>grasso</i> or <i>magro</i>,—fish and meat
+with vegetables, fruit, cakes, and wine. Elegant little baskets of
+silver and gold were placed upon the tables filled with freshly-made
+sweetmeats. The poorer people’s dietary was chiefly fish, bread, oil,
+and fruit,—meat was beyond their means and vegetables were also dear.</p>
+
+<p>The Venetians had not been noted for refinement of manners, in fact
+they had rather prided themselves that they were “less effeminate” than
+their neighbours on the mainland; but, under the patronage and example
+of the foreign modes of the nobles and richer citizens, there sprang
+up, in the middle of the thirteenth century, a marked improvement with
+a corresponding growth of courtesy. Very quaintly a worthy friar of
+Milan, Bonvesino da Riva, drew out a “Table of Etiquette.” “Thou shalt
+remember,” he wrote, “the poor when thou sittest at table. Thou shalt
+be gentle in offering water for the hands. Thou shalt not eat nor drink
+to excess. Thou shalt sit easily, show courtesy, be cheerful, thy dress
+well arranged. Thou shalt not fill thy mouth too full. Thou shalt take
+thy cup of wine and put it to thy lips with both hands, so as not to
+spill any, and, when thou hast moderately drank, thou shalt not pass
+it on to another but place it carefully upon the table. If thou shalt
+happen to sneeze or cough, draw thyself away a little, never complain
+of the seasoning of the dishes. Thou must not soak thy bread in thy<span class="pagenum" id="Page_108">[108]</span>
+wine. Thou shalt always offer thy guest the best cut. Thou shalt be
+scrupulous about the cleanliness of thy servants; thou and they must
+always have clean hands. Thou shalt not thrust thy hands into thy mouth
+nor pick thy teeth. Thou shalt not fondle thy neck, nor thine ears. At
+table thou shalt not relate sad news....” And so the writer goes on
+giving excellent lessons in good deportment.</p>
+
+<p>Lorenzo Tiepolo had made himself a great name before he came to the
+<i>dogado</i>. He had humbled Genoa and in the East he had commanded
+a victorious Venetian fleet which had brought back twenty-five prize
+galleys, great stores of booty, and above all, the venerated body
+of Santa Saba. In 1264 he was Podesta of Padua, and, when there, he
+married Donna Agnese Ghisi, whose family held the titular marquisate of
+Stampiala in the Greek Archipelago. She gave her husband two sons who,
+when grown, married, Giacomo,—a princess of Dalmatia, and Pietro,—a
+rich countess of Vincenza. Very little is known about Dogaressa Agnese
+except that she was a patroness of Hospitals and a friend of those
+in distress. Out of her dowry she endowed a Maternity and Lying-in
+Hospital for poor women, and a Hostel for prisoners condemned to death.
+The good Dogaressa went by the gracious title—“<i>La Donna della
+Misericordia</i>.”</p>
+
+<p>Soon after the death of his first wife Lorenzo Tiepolo married again.
+The Venetians, whilst controlling the privileges and the liberty of the
+Consort of the Doge, were exigent that he should have a spouse, if for
+no other reason, than as an additional ornament to the State. The new
+Dogaressa was Marchesina, daughter of Boemondo da Brienne,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_109">[109]</span> King of
+Rascia and Servia, who was brother of the Emperor John. If we have no
+authentic portrait of her, Palazzi’s pack of cards in the Museo Civico
+has upon the “Nine of Clubs”:—“<i>Dogaressa Thiepolo aggrandisce ed
+arrichisce cole noze la prole Nobilita langue ove ricchezzo manca</i>.”
+Perhaps briefly Englished “A noble and a wealthy heiress!”</p>
+
+<p>The recognition ceremonies of the new Dogaressa were accompanied by a
+splendid pageant two days later. Whilst the citizens were content to
+leave all matters of State policy and the details of the Administration
+to the governing class, represented by the Doge without demur, to
+the Dogaressa, craftsmen looked for protection and patronage in the
+prosecution of their industries. Accordingly the <i>Gastaldi</i>, or
+Masters of the several Guilds,—there were just thirty of them,—met in
+Council, and resolved to arrange an exhibition of their various Crafts
+at the Ducal Palace in honour of the new Dogaressa.</p>
+
+<p>To accompany her Serenity to her Coronation and to secure her presence
+at the inauguration of the Exhibition a huge procession set off to
+the Tiepolo palace, which Doge Giacomo had enlarged and decorated so
+lavishly. Headed by banners and trumpets and drums first march the
+“Smiths” with garlands upon their heads; next the “Furriers,” wearing
+costly furs; the “Wool-weavers” followed,—an imposing detail of the
+pageant,—singing ballads to the accompaniment of horns and cymbals,
+and carrying silver goblets and flasks full of red wine. Fourth in
+order came the “Tailors” in white garments covered with scarlet stars
+and over their shoulders cloaks lined with fur; “Woollendrapers”<span class="pagenum" id="Page_110">[110]</span>
+succeeded with branches of olives in their hands and olive crowns
+upon their heads—the Masters of the Craft wore fustian mantles;
+“Makers of Doublets and Coverlets” were ranged alongside, wearing
+white capes sewn with blue lilies. The eighth Guild by reason of the
+costliness of its manufactures commanded universal admiration—the
+“Makers of gold and silver cloth,”—whose members wore caps decorated
+with fine filigree work and sewn with pearls; following came the
+“Shoemakers,” the “Mercers,”—clothed from head to foot in silk; the
+“Pork-butchers,” in scarlet cloaks lined with vair; the “Glass-blowers”
+and the “Carding-comb Makers” made way for a gorgeous detachment—the
+“Goldsmiths,” adorned with gems and precious stones. It would be
+tedious to name all the “Trades” in that vast procession, which wound
+up with the “Barber-surgeons,” who certainly made the most of their
+opportunity. They marched with their heads dressed in the latest
+fashion and wearing gold ornaments and pearls. Two mounted men, in the
+armour of Knight-errants, conducted four lovely young girls in white,
+their rich golden hair all over their shoulders, and each supposed to
+represent one of the four great foreign States,—France, Germany, Spain
+and England.</p>
+
+<p>Having passed under the windows of the Dogaressa, the two Knights
+dismounted and addressed her Serenity as follows:—“Duchess, we are two
+wandering Knights, and we have ridden forth in search of adventures and
+have carried off from persecution and wrong these noble maidens. Now if
+there should be any warriors who will come forth to prove their valour,
+we are prepared to defend the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_111">[111]</span> damsels and sustain our honour.” The
+Dogaressa smiled her approval, and waved her hand that she was ready to
+accompany her honourable escort to the Palace.</p>
+
+<p>Taking her place by the side of the Doge she received the courteous
+salutation of the assembled nobles, and then passed through the
+ante-room and reached the Hall of Exhibition, where she was received
+by the Masters and Officials of the Guilds, and from whom, in spite of
+all “<i>Promissioni</i>” she accepted characteristic presents. To each
+Master she addressed a few pleasant words and invited him to sup with
+her that night in the Ducal Palace, whilst the Doge entertained the
+Lords of the Council and other Dignitaries of State.</p>
+
+<p>The Dogaressa Marchesina was part-founder in 1272 of the celebrated
+Ca’ di Dio—House of God—for the reception of ladies of good birth
+but reduced to poverty. Hitherto such unfortunate gentlewomen had been
+cared for along with the widows of craftsmen, and they felt keenly the
+degradation: they were certainly “the poor who feel shame.” Not many
+years elapsed before the joy of prosperity in Venice was turned into
+the sorrow of want—the splendid hospitalities of the Ducal Palace gave
+place to plain spreads for starving people. Famine followed feasting
+and Doge and Dogaressa were occupied with the leading nobles in dealing
+with scarcity and unemployment.</p>
+
+<p>Doge Lorenzo Tiepolo died in 1275, and Marino da Canale, the
+chronicler, wrote of him:—“There was no one in all the Venetian nation
+who did not lament with reason the loss of such an excellent ruler.” He
+was buried with his father, and his<span class="pagenum" id="Page_112">[112]</span> brother Giovanni, at SS. Giovanni
+e Paolo. Of the Dogaressa Marchesina’s death and burial we have found
+no record.</p>
+
+<p>Lorenzo Tiepolo’s successor, Giacomo Contarini,—a member of a
+prominent family of the “Apostolic” order of nobility,—was in
+every way an estimable man and not suspected of any ulterior aims
+with respect to the aggrandisement of his family. Nevertheless the
+Government demanded sworn promises that “neither he nor Madonna
+Jacobina, his spouse, should accept any fee or fief, nor undertake
+commissions of any kind and, in particular, that the Dogaressa
+should on no account contract debts with the citizens nor enter into
+speculations, in salt, cheese, or wine!”</p>
+
+<p>The Doge was forbidden to hold land outside Venice, his sons were
+forbidden to marry foreign wives, except with the approval of the
+Council (two were already married and the third was a Religious), and
+whatever was required for the Ducal household was ordered to be paid
+for within eight days. The Dogaressa and her daughters were expressly
+prohibited from receiving gifts or samples from tradesmen. In other
+respects the <i>dogado</i> of Contarini was uneventful, and after
+a short reign of five years in 1280 he abdicated his office, and
+retired into private life upon a pension of fifteen hundred <i>lire di
+piccioli</i>,—a beggarly sum indeed, but he was glad enough of it, for
+he was a poor man, perhaps the least wealthy of all the Doges, though
+he came of a wealthy family.</p>
+
+<p>How Dogaressa Jacobina submitted to the severe restrictions upon her
+liberty of action we know not, nor indeed anything whatever about<span class="pagenum" id="Page_113">[113]</span> her,
+except her name. The Doge died shortly after his vacation of office,
+and was buried quietly in the church of the Frati Minori,—Santa Maria
+Gloriosa de’ Frari,—in a marble sarcophagus which was enriched with
+mosaic figures of the Doge and Dogaressa upon their knees,—comely
+in their lives: in death they were undivided. The epitaph is very
+brief:—“<i>Heic requiescit Dominus Jacobus Contarinus, Dux inclytus
+Venetiarum, et Domina Jacobina, ejus uxor, Ducissa</i>.”</p>
+
+<p>Bearing a great name Giovanni Dandolo a descendant of the “Grand” Doge
+Arrigo Dandolo was peacefully living at his country villa at Arbe in
+Dalmatia,—that favourite resort for wealthy Venetians who there could
+indulge in the chiefest of their hobbies the cultivation of flower
+gardens, and fruit orchards, and in the pleasures of the chase,—when
+news of Doge Contarini’s abdication reached him. Apparently neither
+he nor his good spouse were unprepared for a summons home, for they
+started towards Venice before the deputation of nobles sent to salute
+them reached their domicile.</p>
+
+<p>The new Doge had all the high moral tone, firmness, and energy, of his
+great ancestor, but he was lame and somewhat uncourtly in his manner.
+Morose in disposition and possessed of peculiar habits, he seemed to
+be hardly the sort of man for the onerous post to which he was called,
+moreover he was credited with democratic tendencies.</p>
+
+<p>The times were tranquil and, as a consequence, prosperous, and Venice
+and the Venetians were approaching the zenith of success. She was the
+emporium of the world: the business of all Europe and of the East was
+transacted in and about the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_114">[114]</span> Piazza di San Giacomo di Rialto. Each
+trading nation had its warehouses and its consular staff. In front of
+the <i>Fondaco de’ Tedeschi</i>, just beyond the bridge, were anchored
+ships from Northern ports, and upon the wharves were dumped all sorts
+of foreign merchandise. Higher up the canal were fleets of great barges
+laden with casks of oil and wine. The <i>Fundamenta Toscana</i> was
+filled with Florentine merchants and choice wares from Tuscany, the
+<i>Fondaco de’ Turchi</i> and the <i>Campo de’ Mori</i>, were thronged
+with traders from the radiant East. Jews and Armenians traversed
+<i>calli</i> and <i>rive</i> at will, bartering their commodities.</p>
+
+<p>Right away from the Rialto bridge to the Piazza di San Marco, all
+along the Merceria, were shops overflowing with costly objects, rare
+perfumes, and the latest modes. There strutted young gallants of Venice
+with slender, graceful figures, fair-haired, and clad in well-fitting
+hosen and tunics, richly trimmed, with natty shoes and jaunty red
+<i>berrette</i>, peering as they sidled up and down into screened
+doorways for revelations of feminine charms and fashions. If, as it
+was said, matrons frequented that famous rendezvous to study mannikins
+draped to show forth the smartest costumes, and ostentatiously to
+give their alms, we may be sure maidens, perhaps clandestinely, found
+themselves there too, with their white veils coyly arranged to please
+their admirers—young and old.</p>
+
+<p>Giovanni Dandolo splashed no red mark upon the escutcheon of the
+City, the white lily of a virtuous life was not denied him, but he
+wearied of his dignity, and, in 1289, retired to his restful home
+in Dalmatia, and there he lived till 1320. When<span class="pagenum" id="Page_115">[115]</span> dying he left by
+will to his lamenting consort, the Dogaressa Caterina, “many chests
+full of fair linen, vests, shawls, and coverlets, with a couple of
+<i>ningoli</i>—chemises (?), and many other things.” The wearing of
+under linen was unusual then, and, be it said <i>sotto voce</i>, little
+care was taken in the matter of cleanliness—the wearer went on wearing
+till the garments were worn out! A <i>Sonetto</i>, written about the
+Venetians, by Antonio Beccario da Ferrara, refers amusingly to this
+<i>peccadiglio</i>:—</p>
+
+  <div class="poetry-container">
+   <div class="poetry">
+      <div class="stanza">
+        <div class="ileft">“<i>Nun s’no da mutar lur pani lini</i></div>
+        <div><i>E cho’ mantegli vannu dimezatti,</i></div>
+        <div><i>Porton solete chalzertti.</i></div>
+        <div><i>Tal che impegna boriz e cholterlini.</i>”</div>
+      </div>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+
+<p class="p-left">The chemise—and its complement—were luxuries in the
+year 1307, when Donna Sofia Battango, in her will, bequeathed one
+of each garment, with special injunctions, to two of her dearest
+friends—Donne Reni and Donadi.</p>
+
+<p>Dogaressa Caterina Dandolo survived her husband many years and died,
+if the record may be believed in 1341, when she must have been quite a
+centenarian. At any rate there is extant the Inventory of her wardrobe,
+which contained a wealth of rich and costly dresses, viz.: “a robe
+of white silk serge pleated with silver; a robe of cerulean-blue
+cloth lined with grey fur; a tunic of red brocade trimmed with braid
+and buttons of silver; a cape or cloth of gold and watered silk;
+and train of fine thin scarlet cloth covered with silver trimmings;
+two silk hoods lined with ermine, several lace caps covered with
+pearls—etc., etc.” Possibly some of her belongings got into the hands
+of <i>Venditori di Panni Vecchi</i>,—dealers in old clothes, who in
+1283 had<span class="pagenum" id="Page_116">[116]</span> been subjected to strict inspection. Women were allowed to
+buy and sell, but all shops had to be closed on festivals and Sundays,
+which, in Venice, totalled up to half the year. Perhaps the good
+Dogaressa bestowed her wardrobe, or some of her garments, upon the
+members of that most curious Guild of all the Guilds of Venice—the
+“<i>Zonfi</i>”—the lame and blind; for it was incorporated under her
+patronage.</p>
+
+<p>Of those days indeed the words of the quattrocento poet of Padua,
+Giovanni Sanguinacci, were true:—</p>
+
+  <div class="poetry-container">
+   <div class="poetry">
+      <div class="stanza">
+        <div class="ileft">“<i>Venice rich and free wears the world’s crown high—</i></div>
+        <div><i>Queen of the Sea, of the Shore, of the Sky.</i>”</div>
+      </div>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+
+
+<h3>IV</h3>
+
+<p>Upon the abdication of Giovanni Dandolo the popular choice of a
+successor fell upon Giacomo, Doge Lorenzo Tiepolo’s eldest son,—a
+prudent and unselfish man—“<i>un huomo de bene</i>” as he was called;
+but he refused the honour, and promptly went off to his estate at
+Mestre, and set to work farming. Eventually Pietro or Perazzo—“Proud
+Peter”—Gradenigo was elected. His character was marked by gentleness
+of disposition, equability of temper, tenacity of purpose, and strength
+of will,—all very desirable traits in one chosen to fill such a
+cumbered-about and difficult position as the Dogeship of Venice.</p>
+
+<p>Moreover he had strong views concerning the status of the Dogaressa.
+He had himself sought no foreign Princess, as had the men of the
+house of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_117">[117]</span> Tiepolo, but had taken his wife from a Venetian family,
+as illustrious as his own—both were of the “Apostolic,” or twelve
+premier, families—Tommasina Morosini. She presented him with five sons
+and a daughter,—Paolo, Marco, Niccolo, Giacomo, Giovanni, with Anna,
+who lived to be the consort of Giacomo da Carrara, Lord of Padua.</p>
+
+<p>Convinced, by diligent study and close observation, that an autocracy
+was the only satisfactory form of government for Venice, as opposed
+to the intricate jealousies of the aristocracy, and to the varying
+pretensions of the democracy, the new Doge caused the Great Council
+to pass a law which fixed the administration of the State in the
+hands of the Doge and the Council of Ten. With a stroke of the pen
+the popular Government, established under Doge Sebastiano Ziani,
+in 1172, was abolished, and the Venetian Republic came perilously
+near being controlled by the will of one strong man. More or less to
+allay the apprehensions of his fellow-nobles Gradenigo instituted
+the “<i>Libro d’Oro de’ Quarantia</i>.” Almost the first action of
+“the Forty,”—quite characteristic, but at the same time grimly
+humorous,—was to hedge the ambitious Doge about with greater
+restrictions than ever. He was never to leave Venice under any pretext,
+and never to walk about the City unattended. His official income was
+fixed at 14,000 ducats (say £2000) for the worthy support of his family
+and for the entertainment at dinner, four times a year, of the Lords
+of the Council. The State robes to be worn by Doge and Dogaressa were
+also exactly indicated:—for the Doge, over a close-fitting long tunic
+or cassock of silver cloth, a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_118">[118]</span> full mantle of cloth of gold lined with
+ermine, and an ermine hood. The <i>Corno</i> was of crimson silk-velvet
+with a plain band of gold, and he was shod with crimson shoes. The
+Dogaressa’s Court robe was similar to that of her husband; she wore
+her bodice cut low, her veil was white gauze,—other ladies wore
+black,—and she exhibited what jewels she liked.</p>
+
+<p>In 1312 the Dogaressa was required, by a pettifogging edict, which the
+Council passed ironically, to be careful about her payments. She was
+not to incur debts, but to pay ready cash, and to be particular to
+pass no longer the smaller copper coins, but to make use of new silver
+ducats. Her alms too in the Basilica and other churches were to be in
+gold—perhaps the Dogaressa Tommasina had been chary of her offerings!</p>
+
+<p>Doge Pietro Gradenigo was a politician pure and simple, he cared
+neither for military or naval questions, nor did he give heed to the
+interests of the industrial classes. A fluent speaker, he dissembled
+where he could not convince; and he gained the people’s ears by
+his much talking, while he restrained their tongues with lavish
+hospitalities. Like the Medici of Firenze, in later times, his motto
+was:—“Do nothing without the people,” and his practice was to amuse
+them. Call this Macchiavellian if you like—that mischievously misused
+designation for two-faced and hypothetic policies and politicians.</p>
+
+  <div class="figcenter" id="i_118fp">
+    <img
+    class="p1"   
+    src="images/i_118fp.jpg"
+     alt="">
+     <p class="p0 sm center">THE PROMENADE AT A COURT BALL.</p>
+     <p class="p0 xs center">FROM A PRINT. 1610.</p>
+     <p class="p0 sm center">“Habiti d’Huomini e Donne.”—G. Franco.</p>
+  </div>
+
+<p>Venice became a vast pleasure fair,—all kinds of vulgar excesses were
+tolerated, and incentives to abstention from politics were scattered
+broadcast, in the form of constant panderings to popular fancy.
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_119">[119]</span>Shooting-butts were set up in the piazzas, and boxing and general
+pugilistic encounters were established upon the bridges. These latter
+sports took fast hold upon the people’s taste, and resulted in pitched
+battles between champions of the various <i>sestieri</i>. The Ponte di
+San Barnaba was the favourite “coign of battle,” or as it came to be
+called “<i>Ponte de’ Pugni</i>”—“Bridge of Fisticuffs!” At Carnival
+and on Public Holidays the whole city forgathered to applaud those who
+held the Bridge, and to deride those who toppled over into the water.
+Combatants usually ranged themselves under two flags—the red of the
+“<i>Castellani</i>” and the black of the “<i>Nicolotti</i>.” Their
+rivalries were fierce and entered into their daily lives, where lie met
+lie and boast foiled boast. “Reds” mocked “Blacks” and vice versa:—</p>
+
+  <div class="poetry-container">
+   <div class="poetry">
+      <div class="stanza">
+        <div class="ileft">“Swine that ye be, all ye Nicolotti</div>
+        <div>How can ye expect the girls to love ye?”</div>
+      </div>
+
+      <div class="stanza">
+        <div class="spacing">*****</div>
+      </div>
+
+      <div class="stanza">
+        <div class="ileft">“Have ye no care for Donne—Domini?</div>
+        <div>Thieves that ye be, all ye Castellani!”</div>
+      </div>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+
+<p>Regattas were ever popular and Doge Gradenigo and Dogaressa Tommasina
+emulated the far-off example of Doge Domenigo and Dogaressa Teodora
+Selvo by presiding at the contests and personally distributing the
+prizes. The first prize was a crimson silk purse full of gold ducats;
+the second, green full of silver coins; the third, blue filled with
+coppers; the fourth, yellow and empty, but with the addition of a model
+of a little black pig! Whilst Padua had its Passion Plays and Fruili
+its Religious Masks, Venice, under the Gradenigo Doges, had no such
+pious orgies: Venetians loved the drama and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_120">[120]</span> the ballad—the mysteries
+and the passions of actual life. Dancing in the piazzas, and serenades
+upon the Grand Canal—such were their manners.</p>
+
+<p>We gather very little of the Dogaressa Tommasina from the history of
+her husband’s <i>dogado</i>: Some say she died in 1300, and that the
+Doge married, in the following year, Donna Agnese, the daughter of
+Pietro Zantani—“a woman of the people”—who survived him, and dying,
+left her personal property to her only son Pietro. Another woman’s name
+is associated with that of the Doge, one Sabba Minotti, but who and
+what she was we do not know. Domestic morality under Pietro Gradenigo
+did not attain a very distinctively high mark!</p>
+
+<p>At the close of the thirteenth century, and throughout the whole of the
+fourteenth, Venice was agitated by revolutionary projects. The year
+1300 was marked by the conspiracy of Marco Bocconio, a man of great
+wealth with a great following of suborned adherents. He aimed at the
+deposition of Doge Pietro Gradenigo and the substitution of himself as
+Supreme Lord of Venice. Bocconio and ten of his principal supporters
+were hanged between the two marble columns of evil augury upon the
+Piazzetta.</p>
+
+<p>The conspiracy of Marco Quirino and Baiamonte Tiepolo was a more
+serious affair, and the ancient families of the Badoeri, Barozzi and
+Dori and many others, were implicated. Pietro Gradenigo was again the
+obstacle in the way of the conspirators, he appeared to have attained
+to such a measure of personal pre-eminence that nothing less than his
+head could save the situation. Never before in all<span class="pagenum" id="Page_121">[121]</span> her history had
+Venice witnessed such a spectacle of personal ambition and personal
+animosity. Marco Quirino,—the father-in-law of Baiamonte Tiepolo,
+aimed at the absolute Lordship, with its devolution upon his second
+in command. They were possessed of immense resources, and had large
+retinues of highly-trained servants and well-drilled slaves. Baiamonte
+appealed to the populace in his character of “<i>Il gran Cavaliere</i>”
+by which title he was known and respected. The Doge, with a firmness
+of the hard man that he was,—he was in truth “<i>Un’Atila</i>”—“a
+merciless man,”—crushed the rebellion. Marco Quirino was beheaded and
+his mansion, on the Grand Canal, turned into a shambles, and Baiamonte
+Tiepolo exiled with the confiscation of all his property.</p>
+
+<p>There is a story in connection with the Quirino-Tiepolo rising which
+is quite worth while the telling. Baiamonte Tiepolo, at the head of
+his armed mercenaries, was passing noisily along the Merceria, on
+his way to the Ducal Palace, when suddenly the lattice of a window
+was thrown back and a woman looked out,—an action unwarrantable and
+criminal. Without a moment’s hesitation she seized the heavy stone
+pan, full of growing red carnations, and dropped it upon the head of
+the standard-bearer! The confusion which followed the fall of their
+leader’s banner gave the Doge’s men the chance of a decisive charge,
+and the rebels were driven back. Giustina Rossi, such was her name, was
+taken before his Serenity, publicly thanked, and offered a handsome
+reward. However she declined every proposal but at length she said she
+would accept two favours:—“that she might hang out of her<span class="pagenum" id="Page_122">[122]</span> window a
+banner of San Marco upon the anniversary of St Vito’s day; and that
+her rent should never be raised beyond fifteen gold ducats a year.”
+Both requests were at once granted, and the “Casa Giustina” as it was
+called, just beyond the Arco del Cappello, was ever after a landmark in
+Venice. A white stone on the pavement still marks the spot, and a bust
+of the heroine Giustina was placed near the arch in 1841.</p>
+
+<p>Little more can be recorded of “Proud Peter.” That he raised the
+position of Doge to the highest point cannot be doubted, and his
+treaties with European States,—England included,—caused his fame to
+resound far and wide. His death was somewhat inglorious, he had gained
+no man’s goodwill and no one mourned for him. The usual burial rites
+of Doges were not accorded him, but privately his remains were removed
+to the island of Murano, and secretly buried in the vaults of San
+Cipriano:—it was in the winter of 1310.</p>
+
+<p>One of the sweetest stories of old Venice is that of “La Beattina” or
+“Beata.” In the Campo San Vio (Vito), close to the Palazzo Loredan,
+there was, in the thirteenth century, a notable <i>casa</i>, where
+resided Count Pier Nicolo Tagliapietra, a soldier of fortune in the
+service of the Republic, and ennobled by the Emperor. One bright sunny
+day in June, in the year 1289,—when Pietro Gradenigo was Doge,—the
+Countess Elena presented her husband with a lovely baby girl—as
+delicate as a daisy, as lovely as a lily. No name was found for the
+child more suitable than “Maria Beata”; and, as she grew, the beauty of
+her little person was matched by the sweetness of her disposition. “A
+little saint<span class="pagenum" id="Page_123">[123]</span> come to earth,” was she called. Like all the mothers of
+Venice Countess Elena was as devout in her religious duties as she was
+devoted to her husband and her child. Daily she was one of the foremost
+at Mass and Vespers, and, as soon as little Beata could toddle across
+the <i>riva</i> she accompanied her good mother in her visits to the
+church of her choice, San Maurizio, across the Grand Canal.</p>
+
+<p>There were no gondolas in those days so little Beata made friends with
+the <i>barca</i> men at the landing-place, any one of whom would ferry
+the little Countess to the other side as often as she willed. After
+a time the Count became uneasy at his daughter’s marked predilection
+for Church and Convent,—he had in his mind a favourable marriage
+scheme;—for girls were betrothed often as not whilst barely in their
+teens. Beata would not listen to his proposals, and moreover disobeyed
+his prohibition of her devotional exercises. The only way to check
+his daughter’s visits to San Maurizio was to bribe the boatmen not to
+ferry her across. A day came when, in spite of the girl’s startled
+entreaties, not a man of them would do her service,—almost with tears
+they refused her request. So Beata knelt upon the rough pavement of
+the <i>riva</i>, and, holding up her hands to Heaven, she begged
+Saint Mary and Saint Maurice both to help her in her trouble. Then,
+approaching the canal side, she untied her pinafore, and, in sight of
+her admirers, she spread it out upon the water, and stepped gently upon
+it. It bore her weight and, wonder of wonders, began to move her from
+her supporting boat-pile, and, wafted by a gentle<span class="pagenum" id="Page_124">[124]</span> breeze, La Beata was
+soon at the other side of the canal!</p>
+
+<p>Dumbfounded the boatmen and the <i>riva</i> loungers stood gazing at
+the wondrous scene, and then, with one accord all shouted “<i>Uno
+miracolo! Uno Miracolo!</i>” The news was carried over the Campo, right
+down each <i>riva</i> and <i>calle</i>, until all Venice knew that they
+possessed another Saint,—a holy virgin, a new companion for their
+beloved Santa Giustina.</p>
+
+<p>Whatever might have been Count Tagliapietra’s plan for Beata’s
+betrothal mattered little, for every eligible youth in Venice promptly
+made an offer for her hand; but no suitor received encouragement, for
+“La Beata” professed herself a “Bride of Christ,”—the bride of none
+beside,—the convent cell should be her marriage bed, the altar her
+<i>cassone</i>,—so resolved she prayed most earnestly for death; life
+had no charms for her.</p>
+
+<p>A merciful Providence, perhaps, granted the child-saint’s request, for,
+from no apparent cause, save only her earnest wish, she surrendered her
+young beauteous life on the eve of All Saints’ in 1308—it was in her
+one-and-twentieth year. All Venice followed “La Beata” to her burial
+at San Vito with tears of joy and words of sorrow. Never since the
+strict sumptuary laws were passed did so many wax candles illuminate
+church and <i>casa</i>. Everybody burned one to the young saint’s
+honour, and then her sepulchre became a shrine,—a place for special
+prayer, a rendezvous for pilgrims. Annually the Doge and Dogaressa
+with their official household made a State visit to San Vito and left
+their offerings at “La Beata’s” altar. Strangest<span class="pagenum" id="Page_125">[125]</span> of all strange
+devotions,—a custom sprang up in Venice, “the City of Saints,” on All
+Saints’ Day. “La Beata’s” coffin was uncovered, and mothers came from
+far and near to lay their new-born babes upon the saintly bones—a
+certain preventive from drowning! The devotion to Santa Beata became
+so absorbing that at last, to avoid scandals, it was decided by the
+Ecclesiastical authorities to seal her tomb and forbid her votaries.
+Nevertheless from that time to this the church of St Vito is thronged
+at the yearly festival of All Saints with mothers and their young
+children who have learned from them the story and the virtues of “the
+sweetest of the Saints of Venice.”</p>
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_126">[126]</span></p>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER IV</h2>
+</div>
+
+
+<h3>I</h3>
+
+<p>“A Galley full of demons” is by no means an inapt title for the
+fourteenth century in Venice! The legend of “<i>Il Pescatore e
+l’Anello</i>” is as well-known as any of the stories in the boudoir
+of the “Queen of the Adriatic,” moreover, in a strangely weird and
+prophetic way, it epitomises the storm and calm of the new century’s
+course from start to finish.</p>
+
+<p>“An old boatman, caught in the raging flood of February the
+twenty-fifth, in the year 1340,—when all Venice was three feet under
+water,—and hardly making St Mark’s quay, with his frail craft, was
+told by a haughty stranger to ferry him across the wild waves to San
+Giorgio Maggiore. There, another passenger joined the pair, and the
+timorous gondolier was directed to make for San Niccolo di Lido. ‘Row
+boldly and thou shalt be well rewarded’ was the order. At the Lido
+another stranger came on board, and the oarsman was commanded to push
+his boat out into the open sea. The ocean churned in fury, and, out of
+the fume, the affrighted boatman beheld a huge galley bearing down upon
+his barca; it was full of mad demons! But lo, at the sign of the Cross
+the awesome vessel vanished, and the tumultuous elements became still.
+Back to Venice rowed the old man, and demanded his due. ‘Go to the
+Procurator, he shall pay thee<span class="pagenum" id="Page_127">[127]</span> for me,’ replied the stranger. ‘Who art
+thou?’ asked the man,—‘I am Saint Mark, and my companions are Saint
+George and Saint Nicholas,—take this ring and give it to the Doge.’”</p>
+
+<p>Andrea Dandolo was the Procurator and Bartolommeo Gradenigo the Doge,
+Paris Bordone and Palma Vecchio painted the legend and their pictures
+hang in the Accademia.</p>
+
+<p>The new century saw the demise of the first political Doge of
+Venice—Pietro Gradenigo, and his successor was not sought among men
+of like sympathies,—the electors were afraid. Meeting after meeting
+was held, apparently in vain, no noble appeared willing to accept, or
+eligible for, the vacant dignity. At last, one day, standing at an open
+window of the Ducal Palace, which gave upon the Piazza, some weary
+nobles of the Council discerned an old man hobbling upon his stick and
+bearing a basket filled with loaves of bread, he was Messir Marino
+Zorzi or Giorgio.</p>
+
+<p>“That’s our Doge!” they cried together, and so it came to pass that the
+vacant <i>dogado</i> went to a man unknown in political and warlike
+circles but very highly esteemed for his philanthropy. He was in fact,
+at that very moment on his way to the Hospital of San Domenigo for
+destitute children, which he had recently founded. His fame for charity
+was so widely spread, that he had gained the popular title of “<i>Zorzi
+il Santo</i>.” He and his Consort, Madonna Agnese, were greatly
+interested in the prosperity of the silk industry in Venice, and when
+the people of Lucca fled from the troops of the Condottiere Castruccio
+Castracane, thirty families of spinners and weavers of silken tissue
+were welcomed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_128">[128]</span> by the Doge and Dogaressa, and, by their influence,
+housed in the Calle della Bissa, near the church of San Giovanni
+Crisostomo, in the very centre of the silk quarter of the city. By
+Dogaressa Agnese’s intervention Lucca silk-masters were appointed to
+train apprentices and generally to superintend the production of silk
+fabrics in the workshops of the Venetian “<i>Fragilia</i>.”</p>
+
+<p>“Zorzi il Santo” and his Consort reigned but one brief year, and then
+once again the electors had to find a new Head of the State. Almost
+unanimously Messir Giovanni Soranzo was chosen, who, although turned
+seventy years of age, was one of the most active men of the day. Among
+his exploits were the command of a victorious fleet against Genoa, the
+capture of Jaffa and the Syrian littoral, the humiliation of Padua,
+the re-conquest of Dalmatia, and the reconciliation of Venice to the
+Papal See. Under his patronage, and that of Dogaressa Franchesina,
+the silk industry flourished exceedingly and Oriental brocades and
+tissues were driven out of the market. The glass-workers of Murano
+reached the zenith of their fame, and no more mirrors from Germany
+and hanging-lamps from Greece were imported. The Arsenal was greatly
+extended, and was made capable of maintaining fully equipped at least
+40,000 men. For the poor man too Doge Soranzo’s rule was fortunate,
+for a silver ducat could purchase enough food, and wine, and fuel, for
+himself and his family for a week.</p>
+
+<p>The Doge was a wealthy man, and indeed he had need to be, for in his
+time ambassadors from every civilised State took up their residence
+in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_129">[129]</span> Venice. Foreign princes also came to make their bows to the
+Head of the Serene Republic. There was much entertaining and much
+expense. Dogaressa Franchesina was in all but name, “Queen of Venice”;
+her toilet, her boudoir, her receptions were modish, tasteful, and
+splendid. The Soranzi were one of the eight considerable families, who,
+in the tenth century, were classed with the “Apostolic” twelve and
+“Evangelistic” four, in the first grade of Venetian nobility. Their
+palace was one of the grandest in Venice and it was full of costly
+treasures; it was even said that the table-service of the Doge and
+Dogaressa was of gold and silver-gilt, whilst the most lustrous glass
+of Murano glittered in every room.</p>
+
+<p>Although Doge Soranzo’s public life was so successful and so
+popular,—in private, his heart, and that of the Dogaressa were broken
+by anxiety and sorrow,—thus evenly are mundane affairs balanced. The
+story of Donna Soranza, their dearly-loved daughter, is as sad as sad
+can be. Married to Niccolo, eldest son of Marco Quirino, the leader
+of the Quirini-Tiepolo conspiracy, he was exiled with his wife, the
+very day his father’s head fell to the executioner’s axe. They made
+their home at Zara, but Messir Niccolo survived his expatriation but
+four years, when he too fell, stabbed by an unknown hand. The widowed
+Madonna sought to return to Venice and to her father’s home, but her
+appeals were all in vain; Doge Soranzo, like another Brutus, treated
+his daughter’s pleas with quite uncalled-for severity. At last she
+determined to throw herself upon the mercy of the Council of Forty,
+and taking her way<span class="pagenum" id="Page_130">[130]</span> hopefully, she presented herself dutifully to her
+father and mother.</p>
+
+<p>That was a mournful home-coming, and mother and daughter, clasped in
+each other’s arms, resisted the austere ruling of the Doge, who had
+informed the Council of his daughter’s return. In spite of all good
+Dogaressa Franchesina could say or do her unhappy child was torn from
+her embrace and condemned to perpetual exclusion in the Convent of
+Santa Maria delle Vergine. Gentlewomen of Madonna Soranza Quirini’s
+position were styled “Canonesses,” and each had her own little
+<i>casa</i> and a domestic servant, who was allowed to go out washing,
+and was permitted to make purchases for her mistress, and even to
+convey messages to her friends. The poor ladies were not suffered even
+to visit each other, and they could only take exercise in the Convent
+garden at rare and stated intervals.</p>
+
+<p>Every year the Doge paid a ceremonial visit to the Convent, where
+he was received with great honour by the Abbess and the superior
+Canonesses, who were all arrayed in magnificent white silk-brocade
+robes, and each wore two veils,—one black and one white,—signifying
+that though in the world they were not of it. The Abbess handed the
+Doge a bouquet of sweet flowers in a golden jewelled holder, and he
+bestowed in return caskets of sweetmeats upon the devout recluses.
+Never once did father and daughter meet; she yearned to embrace him
+and her mother, but he never even made enquiries about her: she was
+dead to the world, to the family, and to him,—a Spartan father’s
+discipline! Letters and messages were all in vain;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_131">[131]</span> unhappy Madonna
+Soranza’s only consolation was the companionship of another Quirino
+widow,—Andreola,—who remained a very short time in the Convent, for a
+suitor appeared, in the person of Angelo Bembo, and he was permitted to
+remove his <i>innamorata</i> to the Convent of Santa Maria di Valverde,
+upon the island of Mazzorbo, where they were married.</p>
+
+<p>Alas! poor Madonna Soranza had no such fortune, but she pined and pined
+in her solitude, and, after twenty-five years of suffering, she laid
+her down and died—twenty years after the death of her stern father.
+Certainly an edict, passed in 1313, sentenced the wives of rebels and
+outlaws, with their children, to perpetual exile: and they were warned
+that unsanctioned return to Venice would be visited with perpetual
+confinement. Undoubtedly this proved the rule, as sententious writers
+have noted:—The sternness of justice is superior to the tenderness of
+affection.</p>
+
+<p>Nevertheless to the practical historian Giovanni Soranzo ranks as the
+sixth “Grand” Doge of Venice. His was a majestic burial—in State he
+lay at SS. Giovanni e Paolo, watched by the sorrowing Dogaressa and
+her ladies of honour. His very simple tomb in the Soranzo Chapel at
+San Marco is eloquent of splendid public work simply done. The State
+purchased his gorgeous table-service of gold, and much of the furniture
+of his palace for use at Court functions. Of Dogaressa Franchesina we
+hear no more: perhaps she joined her unhappy daughter, and when she
+died, perhaps she was interred in her husband’s tomb. Very striking,
+in the story of the Dogaressas<span class="pagenum" id="Page_132">[132]</span> of Venice, are the silence and the
+secrecy which shrouded each Ducal lady’s latter days: as a rule they
+survived their Consorts—some entered convents and some retained their
+homes,—but their glory departed like that of the tropical sun which
+leaves no twilight.</p>
+
+<p>Francesco Dandolo succeeded to the Dogeship: he was the great-grandson
+of Messir Andrea Dandolo, who died in 1153, brother of the “Grand”
+Doge Arrigo. His election was very popular, for his ancestry and his
+own achievements were both famous. He was the third Dandolo Doge, an
+honour never attained by any family in Venice since the ancient times
+of the Particepazio, the Candiani, the Orseoli and the Michieli.
+Borne to his investiture upon the shoulders of stalwart craftsmen, he
+called a halt at San Marco, and there he knelt in silent prayer where
+his great-great uncle, the “Grand” Doge Arrigo Dandolo, had knelt one
+hundred years or more before. Then, standing in the choir, he was
+invested with the regalia of his high office. Grasping the great banner
+of San Marco, handed to him by the Patriarch he marched at the head of
+the huge procession to the Ducal Palace. Mounting the grand staircase
+he bared his head, and, holding up his hands on high, subscribed the
+oath and received the <i>Corno</i>. It was the first Ducal bonnet to
+be provided by the State: hitherto the Abbess of San Zaccaria had held
+that prerogative. With the new <i>Corno</i> was also a smaller horned
+head-dress for the Dogaressa.</p>
+
+<p>It seemed as though Madonna Elisabetta would enter upon a less
+trammelled position, and obtain<span class="pagenum" id="Page_133">[133]</span> a larger measure of official
+recognition than had been the lot of her predecessors. Later
+developments confirmed this idea as we shall see. Immediately after
+the installation of the Doge the customary lordly deputation went off
+to the Dandolo Mansion. It was noteworthy that at the head of the
+noble Lords was, for the first time, the imposing figure of the High
+Chancellor, a dignitary second only to the Doge, and it was he who
+addressed her Serenity:—“We have come,” he said, “to congratulate
+the Dogaressa of Venice upon the election of her noble Consort as our
+Doge, and to request the honour of your Serenity’s adhesion to certain
+provisions of the new <i>Promissione</i>.”</p>
+
+<p>Dogaressa Elisabetta notified her pleasure at the compliment, which was
+paid her, and her acceptance of the conventions of her new dignity.
+Moreover she presented to each of the noble Lords a magnificently
+embroidered silk purse containing ten golden ducats, in recognition
+of their courtesy and as a pledge of her favour. This was a notable
+victory for the Dogaressa who, whilst under the old <i>Promissioni</i>,
+was debarred from giving and receiving presents of any kind. What had
+brought about this change in the policy of the Council no one has
+recorded. Was it due to the awakening consciences of the nobles who,
+perhaps, now saw the meanness and unworthiness of the restrictions
+imposed upon the Head of the State and his Consort by former
+enactments? Or was it due to the worthy records created by the latest
+holders of the Dogaressaship in their manifestations of the advance of
+gracious womanhood? Who shall say?</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_134">[134]</span></p>
+
+<p>A further step in the honour rendered to the new Dogaressa was,
+that, instead of the somewhat impromptu and tumultuous escort of the
+members of the “<i>Fragilie</i>” to conduct her Serenity at once to
+the Ducal Palace, a delay of seven days was ordered before her public
+recognition. Then the great state barge “<i>Bucintoro</i>” was manned
+and decorated as for the annual “Marriage of the Adriatic,” and steered
+right up to the steps of the Dogaressa’s residence, whence she was
+conducted on board with great circumstance and pomp. Clad in full
+robes of State but bare-headed,—her hair like that of a young bride,
+rippling around her shoulders,—Dogaressa Elisabetta was attended by a
+graceful suite of <i>gentildonne</i>, all dressed in festal white with
+floral wreaths and bouquets. Escorted, not by companies of craftsmen
+on foot, but by a fleet of <i>bregantine</i>,—each vessel splendidly
+decorated, and bearing the banner of its “<i>Fragilia</i>” with the
+Masters and officials of the Craft in full regalia,—the water-pageant
+started upon its course to the Piazzetta. Passing under the glorious
+arch of the Ponte di Rialto, crowded with sympathetic and admiring
+citizens, with difficulty it steered its course amid hundreds of barcas
+and gondolas filled with cheering holiday-makers all in the very best
+of good-humour.</p>
+
+<p>Arrived at the Piazzetta her Serenity and her following were conducted,
+not as usual to the Ducal Palace, but into the Basilica, where she
+knelt in prayer, whilst the Patriarch blessed her as he had the Doge:
+then she laid an offering upon the high altar—a purse of crimson
+silk-brocade containing ten gold ducats. From San Marco she was
+attended<span class="pagenum" id="Page_135">[135]</span> by a company of nobles, one holding over her head the Ducal
+umbrella, to the <i>Sala de’ Signori di Notte</i>, within the Ducal
+Palace, passing through the <i>Sala del Consiglio Maggiore</i>—the
+greatest and most splendid hall in Venice, where the painter Guariento
+was already busy with his famous frescoes,—and there she finds the
+Doge seated and crowned upon his throne. Descending the steps of
+the dais, her Consort takes her by the hand, and places her in the
+Dogaressa’s Chair of State under the Ducal canopy. The Chancellor
+tenders the solemn oath and the Dogaressa swears to maintain certain
+clauses of the “<i>Promissione</i>;” then, in the name of the assembled
+noble Lords, he places upon her bared head the miniature <i>Corno</i>,
+which the State had newly provided; and, lastly, the nobles offer their
+congratulations and their homage.</p>
+
+<p>Stately ceremony, ever wearying by its formalities, gives way to social
+hospitality, and, as by custom bound, Dogaressa Elisabetta issues
+invitations to all the Masters of Crafts and their officials to sup
+with her in her private apartments. Meanwhile the busy hands of her
+serving-maids have arranged the flowing locks of the Dogaressa’s hair,
+and have added a new feature to her State head-dress,—a delicate coif
+or veil of the finest embroidered cambric. It was a very necessary
+adjunct, for, when the jewelled <i>Corno</i> was removed, the dignity
+of a covered head remained,—besides it was a most becoming mode. Thus
+with unwonted pomp, and amid universal approbation Doge Francesco
+Dandolo and Dogaressa Elisabetta were hailed almost as King and Queen
+of Venice. Right royally they maintained their high station, for daily<span class="pagenum" id="Page_136">[136]</span>
+they made progresses to different parts of the city or to the more
+distant islands, in support of local charities or local interests; and
+everywhere they were acclaimed by sympathetic crowds of citizens and
+craftsmen.</p>
+
+<p>The austere rule and the haughty personality of Doge Giovanni Soranzo
+were things of the past, and the sad lot of unhappy widowed Madonna
+Soranza Quirino was forgotten. Men and women were only too thankful
+for the auspicious conditions under which they found themselves,—care
+gave place to joy,—unrest to revelry. One outcome of the better state
+of things,—and it was a very unexpected and withal amazing,—was
+an innovation with respect to the “<i>Feste delle Marie</i>”—the
+annual marriage of the “Brides of Venice” at San Pietro di Castello.
+The ancient marriage rites,—which we have already noted,—had been
+gradually modified, until there were scarcely any rites at all. In the
+year of Dogaressa Elisabetta Dandolo’s Coronation, upon the natal Feast
+of San Marco, a quaint marriage pageant was provided, and, instead of
+twelve or more beauteous damsels in nuptial attire glittering through
+Venice <i>calle</i> and <i>canale</i> to the marriage altar, twelve lay
+figures were substituted. Dressed in bridal garb these dolls,—borne
+through crowds of uproarious citizens,—were greeted up and down and
+everywhere with derision as “<i>Marie di tola e di legno!</i>”—“Brides
+of stuff and wood!”</p>
+
+<p>Alas for the permanence of things human! The larger liberty granted
+by the <i>Promissione</i> to Doge and Dogaressa Francesco Dandolo in
+matters social and sartorial, was curtailed considerably after five
+years of general exuberance, and in 1334 fresh<span class="pagenum" id="Page_137">[137]</span> sumptuary laws were
+enacted. Gentlewomen were not to wear trains at Court, or at home, or
+on Piazza. Jewelled girdles, above the value of twenty gold ducats,
+were forbidden. Gold and silver rouge jars and <i>scarcelle</i>, or
+handbags, with jewels and gold filigree work, were no longer to be
+used. No gentlewoman was to possess more than two capes of ermine and
+only one big cloak lined with taffetas. Pearls, on the shoes, were
+disallowed, and the wearing of peacocks’ feathers. The value of a
+bridal trousseau was not to exceed five hundred ducats, whilst the
+bridal dress itself was not to cost more than two hundred ducats—a
+very liberal allowance as things went! The bride however was not
+permitted any robes of cloth of gold nor ermine linings. Boys, under
+twelve could not wear gold or silver ornaments, pearls, velvet, or fur:
+over twelve and up to twenty-five, youths and young men were forbidden
+to wear belts and <i>scarcelle</i> exceeding twenty-five ducats in
+value. All were to wear a strip of blue cloth hanging from the shoulder
+to the feet, which they rolled up, and then threw over the left arm:
+“<i>Calar Stola</i>” it was called.</p>
+
+<p>The dogado of Francesco Dandolo lasted ten years,—a period
+of prosperity for Venice,—and much of it was due to the wise
+and tactful conduct of the Doge. If he may not be reckoned a
+“Grand Doge,”—although Ruskin calls him so in the “<i>Stones of
+Venice</i>,”—it is perhaps because, as a Dandolo, he was overshadowed
+by the stronger personality of his relative and successor Doge Andrea
+Dandolo, whose times were far more stirring and presented greater
+opportunities for distinction. On the other hand Elisabetta was
+a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_138">[138]</span> “Grand Dogaressa”—one of the few who rose to high station and
+maintained it with distinction.</p>
+
+<p>Both Doge and Dogaressa were patrons of the new-born Fine Arts, for, in
+addition to the fresco painter Guariento, Giacomo del Fiore, Lorenzo
+Veneziano, and others were painting altar-pieces and anconas in the
+earliest Venetian studios—a hundred years or more before the brothers
+Vivarini founded the School of Murano. In the Sacristy of the church
+of Santa Maria della Salute is a picture by an anonymous Venetian
+painter, representing the presentation, by their patron Saints, of
+Doge Francesco Dandolo and Dogaressa Elisabetta upon their knees, to
+the Madonna and Bambino. The picture is dated 1338, and is one of the
+very earliest paintings of the great School of Venice. Originally this
+notable painting was placed over the tomb of Doge Francesco Dandolo and
+Dogaressa Elisabetta in the Chapter-House of the church of the Frari.
+The sarcophagus also has been removed, and now it is in the cloisters
+of the <i>Seminario Patriarchale</i>. The year of the Doge’s death we
+know, 1339, but there is no record of that of Dogaressa Elisabetta.</p>
+
+
+<h3>II</h3>
+
+<p>Andrea Dandolo (1342–1384) was the fourth and last Doge of his family.
+It is not a little remarkable, that in the History of Venice, the
+families which gave several Doges, up to the end of the fourteenth
+century, did so within severally restricted periods:—for example,
+the seven Partecipazi Doges held office between the years 827–942,
+the five <span class="pagenum" id="Page_139">[139]</span>Candiani 886–977, the three Orseoli 976–1009, the three
+Michieli 1096–1172, the four Dandoli 1192–1354 and the three Gradenighi
+1283–1356. It would seem as though the “Apostolic” families came to
+honour and power, and swayed the destinies of the Republic, and then,
+in some mysterious manner, declined, fell away, and the Ducal Throne
+knew them no more.</p>
+
+  <div class="figcenter" id="i_138fp">
+    <img
+    class="p1"   
+    src="images/i_138fp.jpg"
+     alt="">
+     <p class="p0 sm center">DOGE FRANCESCO DANDOLO AND DOGARESSA ELISABETTA.</p>
+     <p class="p0 xs center">STEFANO DA VENEZIA. 1340.</p>
+     <p class="p0 xs center">SACRISTY. SANTA MARIA DEL SALUTE, VENICE.</p>
+  </div>
+
+<p>Doge Andrea was the son of Messir Fantino Dandolo who was descended
+from Marco Dandolo Procurator of San Marco in 1161, and first cousin of
+the “Grand” Doge Arrigo. The first Venetian noble to study at Padua and
+obtain the Doctor’s degree there, Andrea Dandolo was, from his boyhood,
+studious and reserved. He served the State in many public offices, a
+member of the Council of Ten, in 1340 he was called to the important
+position of Procurator of San Marco.</p>
+
+<p>Upon his election as Doge in 1342 an edict was issued barring his three
+sons, Fantino, Lionardo and Pietro, when grown, from holding public
+office during their father’s <i>dogado</i>. As to who was their mother
+no chronicler has apparently recorded, and this is astonishing, seeing
+that Andrea Dandolo’s “<i>Cronaca</i>” is one of the fullest and most
+reliable of all Venetian annals, and deals exhaustively with his own
+family affairs. Consequently we must make the most of the romance of
+Madonna Isabella de’ Fieschi, the Consort of Luchino Visconti, Lord of
+Milan.</p>
+
+<p>This fascinating Princess visited Venice attracted by the fame of the
+young Doge,—he was only thirty-five years old when elected to the
+Ducal Throne,—for his sobriquet all through Lombardy<span class="pagenum" id="Page_140">[140]</span> and the Marches
+was “Count of Courtesy.” He was tall, well-built, and handsome, a
+poetaster, a man of letters, perhaps a genius, the most accomplished
+nobleman in Venice. Fair Isabella had, as all women have, her own
+ideas of love and witchery, and she was not too conscientious in her
+duty to her husband: he was a man of boorish manners, and there was
+no love lost between them. Gifted too in many ways, she conceived a
+violent passion for Doge Dandolo which he returned in a dreamy sort
+of way. Anyhow, she soon became leader of the Venetian Court, as well
+as mistress of the Doge. Alas! bewitching Isabella’s intimacy and
+influence were cut short by a terrible outbreak of the Black Death,
+which claimed very many noble victims and Isabella de’ Fieschi among
+them.</p>
+
+<p>Between 1344 and 1346 it was estimated that sixty noble families were
+absolutely exterminated, whilst the Council of Forty was reduced to
+less than twenty. The only preventive, and it was only partially
+successful that the Guild of the Physicians could prescribe, was a
+concoction of aromatic herbs, amber, and ivy berries—“<i>Teriaca</i>”
+it was called. The Government guaranteed this panacea, which everyone
+was ordered to take—it was procurable at the <i>Speziale della Testa
+d’Oro</i> by the Rialto bridge. It was an ancient Greek remedy revived,
+and one may purchase it to-day at the still existent “Golden Head.”</p>
+
+<p>Venice was depopulated and families from outlying islands near the
+mainland were welcomed by the Government, and granted privileges on
+settlement. This sensible move was due to the Doge’s advocacy: he
+had in view the advantages of introducing<span class="pagenum" id="Page_141">[141]</span> new blood into the veins
+of the population enervated by prosperity and weakened by epidemic.
+Earthquakes and famine followed relentlessly upon the heels of the
+pestilence, and great distress and reckless outrage were added to the
+evil lot of the Venetians.</p>
+
+<p>The Doge alone kept calm and resourceful—master of the situation,
+whilst men were losing their heads and women their minds; but the
+anxieties, sufferings, and fatigues of the years of visitation preyed
+greatly upon his highly-strung and sympathetic temperament, and he died
+almost suddenly and, quite alone when no more than fifty years of age.</p>
+
+<p>Andrea Dandolo is renowned as the eighth “Grand” Duke of Venice, by
+reason of his remarkable personal qualities, and of his noble devotion
+to the Republic. He was buried in the Baptistery of San Marco, the
+last Doge to be there interred, and Francesco Petrarch wrote his
+epitaph:—“He earned such glory and honour as no other Venetian
+Doge did before him!” One very pleasant episode in his career was
+his intimacy with Petrarch. After the decisive Chioggian war with
+Genoa, when the “Queen of the Adriatic” subdued the “Queen of the
+Mediterranean,”—Francesco Petrarch was sent, as one of an embassy from
+Milan, to seek mitigation of the Venetian terms of peace. The mission
+was unsuccessful, but the “Grand” Doge and the “Great” Poet became fast
+friends and constant correspondents.</p>
+
+<p>Ruskin, in his “<i>Stones of Venice</i>,” writes thus of the Baptistery
+and of Andrea Dandolo’s tomb:—“We are in a low vaulted room ... in
+the centre<span class="pagenum" id="Page_142">[142]</span> a bronze font ... and a small figure of the Baptist ... a
+single ray of light falls from a window ... the only thing it strikes
+brightly is a tomb, and it rests upon the sleeper’s face for ever, a
+man of middle life, but there are two deep furrows right across the
+forehead, the features are small and delicate, the lips sharp ... and
+there is a sweet smile upon them. It is Doge Andrea Dandolo, a man
+early great among the great of Venice, and early lost ... he died,
+leaving behind him that History to which we owe half of what we know of
+the former fortunes of Venice.”</p>
+
+<p>The mosaics in the Baptistery show the Doge kneeling in devout prayer,
+but, alas, no Dogaressa keeps him company.</p>
+
+<p>The Conspiracy of Marino Falier or Faliero, like its predecessors,
+under the leadership respectively of Marco Bocconio and of Marco
+Quirino and Baiamonte Tiepolo, in aim and animus, was very unlike
+in means and methods. They tried to grasp the supreme magistracy
+from the aristocratic standpoint. Falier, although an “aristocrat
+of aristocrats,” sought the suffrages of the democracy to make him
+Over-Lord of Venice. Head of one of the noblest and most ancient
+families, Marco or Marino Falier was born in the Casa Falier, upon
+the Rio de SS. Apostoli in the year 1280. The Falieri were one of the
+twelve “Apostolic” families at Eraclea in 697. The lad’s parents were
+Messir Vitale Falier and Madonna Beriola Loredan,—daughter of Messir
+Giovanni Loredan of San Canciano,—and he was destined for a commercial
+career but early he turned to politics.</p>
+
+<p>Marino Falier held many important State<span class="pagenum" id="Page_143">[143]</span> appointments, and, by
+his ability and disinterestedness, gained the confidence of his
+fellow-nobles and the citizens at large. His patriotism was
+unquestioned, for no one displayed greater enthusiasm in hunting down
+the adherents of the Quirino-Tiepolo conspiracy. When still under
+thirty he was admitted to the Council of Ten, and became ambassador,
+in turn, to the Duke of Austria, the Genoese Republic, and to the
+Emperor Charles V. Falier also held with distinction both naval and
+military commands. Upon his appointment as Podesta of Treviso he
+took the title of Count of Val di Morena. Francesco Petrarch, in his
+“<i>Epistolæ</i>,” speaks of Marino Falier’s wisdom and public spirit:
+“<i>Ducatus honor non petat uno quidem ignaro sibi obliget.</i>”</p>
+
+<p>Falier was married twice. When a mere youth he wooed and won Donna
+Tommasina Contarini, his equal in rank, but as delicate as she was
+beautiful. Within a year she was torn from his embrace and carried away
+in the black chariot drawn by black oxen in the “Triumph of Death.” One
+sweet pledge of love fair Tommasina left her sorrowing young husband,
+but the relentless “Mower” reaped the baby girl, soon after her sweet
+mother’s death. Prostrated by this double bereavement Falier plunged
+into the vortex of politics, hoping thereby to heal his wounds. Time
+gave him consolation and revenge for when he was fifty-five he found
+himself once more a prisoner of the “Triumph of Love.”</p>
+
+<p>Aluycia Gradenigo was a very fascinating woman,—a full-blown rose
+ready to be gathered by a gallant suitor. She was a daughter of
+Messir<span class="pagenum" id="Page_144">[144]</span> Nicolo Gardenigo of San Maurizio and grandniece of Doge
+Pietro,—“Proud Peter.” In her veins ran the blood of Greek ancestors,
+who, driven out of Byzantium by the Emperor Emmanuel settled at Altino,
+in the seventh century. Falier was Podesta of Treviso at the time
+of his second marriage and Treviso was always the “Court of Beauty
+and of Love,”—the centre of the “<i>Marca Amorosa</i>.” Naturally,
+gay young fellows gathered there, many of them drawn from Venice,
+among them Pietro Bollani, Michele Molino, Rizzardo Marioni, Moretto
+Zorzi, Maffio Morosini, and the two brothers Giovanni and Michele
+Steno—“<i>Giovinastri</i>”—“Insolent Young Dogs,” were they nicknamed.</p>
+
+<p>Madonna Aluycia Falier did not want for admirers, and, if Martino
+Sanudo, and other chroniclers, may be believed, she greatly encouraged
+their advances. She was a good deal younger than her husband, and
+cared little for his engrossing affairs of State, whilst, naturally,
+she sought consolation and companionship among those of her own age.
+Between Michele Steno and the Countess sprang up a warm attachment,
+and gossips have not been at pains to shield the young wife’s honour.
+Anyhow the Podesta got wind of the <i>liaison</i> and warned the hardy
+lover off. Steno was not the man to take his <i>congé</i> readily, and
+very soon he learned that directly lovely Aluycia was “off with the
+old love, she was on with the new!” He made up his mind to be revenged
+of the stern Podesta and his bewitching wife, so he left Treviso in
+dudgeon and went back to Venice to watch for his opportunity.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_145">[145]</span></p>
+
+<p>During the festivities which marked the election of Marino Falier to
+the Doge’s seat in 1354, was a Court Ball at the Ducal Palace, and
+Michele Steno was among the guests. He was greeted by the Doge and
+Dogaressa quite cordially, but all the same he chose to carry out
+his plan of humiliating them there. Pressing his attention upon one
+of Dogaressa Aluycia’s maids-of-honour he let fall a remark which
+concerned his previous relations with her Serenity. Greatly shocked,
+the Court lady repeated what she had heard to others at the Ball and
+presently it reached the Doge’s ear. The Doge beckoned him, and turning
+aside, insisted upon his leaving the assembly at once. Steno resisted,
+and was beginning to repeat his slander for all to hear when the Doge
+ordered his removal. Passing through the Throne-room of the Palace he
+scratched upon the marble Chair of Estate the following couplet:—</p>
+
+  <div class="poetry-container">
+   <div class="poetry">
+      <div class="stanza">
+        <div class="ileft">“Marin Falier—da la bela moier</div>
+        <div>Altri la galde—e lu la mantier.”</div>
+      </div>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+
+<p>The Doge was furious. Steno was arrested and accused before the Council
+of his misdemeanour. His offence was as gross as gross could be and
+he fully deserved much more than he got;—a sound thrashing with a
+fox-tail,—a mark of ignominy,—a year of imprisonment, and a fine
+of one hundred gold ducats. This mild sentence troubled Doge Falier
+greatly: he looked for the death sentence at least, seeing that the
+offence was against the sacred person of the Doge, as well as against
+his Consort. He was quite conversant with the fact that the majority
+of the nobles were actuated by anything<span class="pagenum" id="Page_146">[146]</span> but kindly feelings towards
+himself. No doubt they viewed his prominence, not alone as Doge but as
+the most able and ambitious man among them, with disquietude.</p>
+
+<p>Marino Falier was quite in touch with the opinions of the wealthier
+citizens and members of the prosperous “<i>Fragilie</i>.” Of course the
+Crafts were under Dogaressa Aluycia’s special patronage, but he shared
+her interest in the prosperity of the industrial classes. If the nobles
+looked askance at his pretensions, could he not turn to the great
+democracy, and pose as the champion of their liberties! This was the
+policy which grew more and more upon him. Michele Steno’s affair passed
+over but it opened the Doge’s eyes to the peril of his position, and,
+to safeguard that was his first concern. He could not trust the nobles,
+could he trust the people?</p>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding that the chivalrous discipline of the Crusades had
+enduring influence upon the sentiments and manners of every class in
+Venice, and especially upon the nobles, there remained, of course,
+beneath the outward marks of courtesy and good-breeding very much of
+the old Adam of insolence and profanity. Year by year young men and old
+frequented, in ever-increasing numbers, Church, Piazza and Palace with
+nothing in the world to do but to kill time and incidentally their own
+and others’ reputations.</p>
+
+<p>Many of these idlers were out-of-elbow noblemen—“<i>Barnabotti</i>”
+they were dubbed in derision, as hangers-on to anybody with money or
+influence. Proud, dissolute, discontented, and ever ready for insult
+or injury, this ill-conditioned mob was a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_147">[147]</span> menace to the peace and
+well-being of the Republic. Sometimes after more than usually prolonged
+devotions in the Temple of Bacchus, these good-for-nothings sallied
+forth to commit acts of vandalism in the city: at other times, their
+visitations to the Court of Venus fomented jealousies, which found vent
+only in deeds of personal violence against those they feared or hated.</p>
+
+<p>One such outburst occurred only a few days after Michele Steno’s insult
+in the Palace. The Admiral of the Arsenal was Bertruccio Isarello, a
+man ambitious, unscrupulous, and intolerant to his subordinates. A
+very quarrelsome <i>Condottiere del Mare</i>, one Francesco Barbaro,
+considered himself wronged in some way by the Admiral, and, obtaining
+no satisfaction, he had the audacity to strike his chief in the Council
+Chamber! Admiral Isarello reported the circumstance to the Doge, and
+sought, through him, redress.</p>
+
+<p>“How can I help you, remember,” replied Falier, “how grossly Michele
+Steno insulted me, and see how leniently the Forty treated him!” Then
+seeing that the Doge’s rancour was unabated and, knowing something of
+his Serenity’s sentiments with respect to the democracy, the Admiral
+exclaimed:—</p>
+
+<p>“My Lord, why should we suffer these ‘<i>Barnabotti</i>’ and these
+‘<i>Bravi</i>’ any longer. You, my Lord Doge, have a ready remedy, and
+I am prepared to aid you in punishing them and in humiliating some
+of our great lords, if you will confide in me and in my men of the
+Arsenal, who are your friends and mine.” This was the first step in
+the conspiracy of Marino Falier,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_148">[148]</span> and he did not linger long before he
+stepped again.</p>
+
+<p>Everything was ordered secretly, and the conspirators were ready
+for the summons of the Great Bell of San Marco on the morning
+of 15th April,—the usual official notice that a meeting of the
+Council demanded the immediate presence of the Forty. The Admiral’s
+instructions were to strike down every nobleman who obeyed the summons,
+and, in the confusion, to proclaim Falier Sovereign of Venice. There
+was however a traitor in the camp, one Beltramo a Bergamesque furrier,
+a client of Stefanello Trevisan the Doge’s stockbroker at Santa
+Margherita. This man gathered something of the existence of the plot,
+and forthwith made his way to one of his barber associates, a valet
+in the household of Messir Nicolo Lioni of San Stefano, a member of
+the Council, who informed his master. Without much ado the chief
+conspirators were arrested—some thirty to forty in number. When
+charged with being privy to the plot Doge Marino Falier tossed up his
+proud head, and laying his hand upon his sword-hilt exclaimed:—“<i>Il
+Doxe nol seppe ingane!</i>”—“The Doge never lies!”</p>
+
+<p>The Doge had short shrift: he was allowed to make his will and his
+confession, but not to see his miserable wife Dogaressa Aluycia or
+any member of his family or household. Early upon the morrow of the
+detection of his conspiracy, the great bell of the Basilica, which
+had all but clanged forth the death-knell of the Lords of the Council
+gave forth the funeral peal as for the burial of a Doge. Arrayed in
+his State robes and wearing his Ducal <i>Corno</i> Marino Falier was
+led into the great Courtyard of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_149">[149]</span> the Ducal Palace, and stepped forth
+to death bravely and contemptuously. His proud appeal for a hearing
+was refused, and then, stripped of his panoply of office, the old man
+knelt unresistingly upon the hard stones and bared his neck before the
+executioner. One swift blow sufficed and the gory grey-bearded head
+rolled to the feet of the chief of the Council, who picking it up in
+his arms, hurried into the <i>loggia</i> which gave upon the Piazza,
+and there, exposing his ghastly trophy to the excited multitude, cried
+out:—“Look!—all of you!—look!—Ripe justice hath been done to the
+arch-traitor!” Then he cast the foul thing from him into the middle of
+the Courtyard, where the populace thrust and fought to gaze at, revile,
+and dishonour the corpse of the old Doge whom they had so lately
+venerated and trusted. At dark the remains were gathered together and
+taken secretly in a covered barge, with eight big burning torches, and
+buried in the Faliero vault in the chapel of Madonna della Pace, within
+the great church of SS. Giovanni e Paolo.</p>
+
+<p>We must now turn aside from this terrible tragedy, and contemplate a
+tragedy far more pathetic, the sad tragedy of Dogaressa Aluycia. The
+execution of the Doge involved the confiscation of his property, his
+palace, near the bridge of SS. Apostoli, with its marble columns, and
+a <i>casa</i> by the church of San Severo which had been built for
+Falier by the architect Calendario, and their valuable contents. Marino
+Falier and his Consort had been keen collectors of beautiful objects
+and antiques: in an Inventory of their treasures,—made by a priest,
+Giovanni, of the church of SS. Apostoli, in 1351, mention is made of
+the <i>Camera rubea</i>,—a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_150">[150]</span> museum,—and of another apartment, filled
+with objects of art,—collected by the famous explorer Marco Polo
+during his travels.</p>
+
+<p>The unhappy Dogaressa was dispossessed of all her Consort had left her
+and ordered to vacate her home and go where she would. In one swift
+moment plunged from the lofty height of the Ducal Throne into the abyss
+of ignominy, she was reduced to absolute poverty and became the mark
+of every evil tongue, an object of aversion and suspicion. Prostrated
+by her bitter woe she besought Heaven to let her die,—madness was
+the only alternative,—she sought comfort and release but both were
+denied her. Her mind became a blank, her reason tottered, and when at
+length two lifelong friends dared, at the risk of their own lives, to
+penetrate her hiding-place, Messiri Giorgio Giustiniani and Niccolo
+Contarini, they found her a raving lunatic.</p>
+
+<p>By permission of the Council Dogaressa Aluycia was placed in the
+Convent of San Lorenzo on the <i>fondamento</i> of San Severo, where
+she received a small gold brooch and some other trifling mementos
+of her husband. After a while she was moved to Verona where she had
+property and friends, but the change wrought no relief and sorrowfully
+she was sent back to Venice, where she ended her days in 1385, in a mad
+asylum, forgotten by the world, with no child or friend to mourn her,
+alone with God.</p>
+
+<p>The conspiracy and execution of Doge Marino Falier shook the
+constitution of Venice to its deepest foundations. Suspicion and
+revenge lurked at every corner of church, palace, and piazza. Every
+man’s hand was upon his poignard, each<span class="pagenum" id="Page_151">[151]</span> woman’s knee was bent in
+intercession, and the children ceased their games.</p>
+
+<p>Venice was once more “<i>Venezia Calva</i>”—but “Venice naked” in
+shame, dismay, and tragedy.</p>
+
+
+<h3>III</h3>
+
+<p>Doges came and Doges went, and, with them, their Dogaressas: the last
+half of the fourteenth century saw seven Heads of the State. Their
+Consorts are named in the MS. <i>Dolfin Gradenigo</i>, in the Museo
+Civico, but about only three of them have the chroniclers given us
+much information. Calling to mind a quaint entry in the “<i>Archivio
+Veneto</i>” of the year 1288, which deprecates matrimony and woman’s
+influence as far as regards the Rulers of States, we may perhaps gather
+the subtle meaning of the <i>excursus</i> of Frate Paolino, a Minorite
+of Venice.</p>
+
+<p>“Whilst a man” he writes, “ought to seek a wife tall and well-formed,
+that she may give him fine and comely children, he should, all the
+same, never be ruled by her advice, for a woman has not sound counsel,
+because she usually has not a strong constitution, and her mind is
+apt to yield to the infirmities of the body.” Be this as it may, we
+must look wider afield for circumstances which greatly altered the
+conditions of the <i>dogado</i>.</p>
+
+<p>The middle of the fourteenth century was remarkable as a period of
+unusual political unrest and of unprecedented immorality. The great
+middle-class of Venetian citizens had not only gradually acquired
+wealth and influence, but they<span class="pagenum" id="Page_152">[152]</span> were determined that the Government
+of the Republic should no longer rest exclusively in the hands of the
+nobles. The City was agitated with measures against the aristocracy,
+which were greatly strengthened by the consequences attending the
+execution of Doge Marino Falier. The dreaded revolution was however
+averted and the new Doge, Giovanni Gradenigo, though a grandson of the
+aristocratic “Proud Peter,” was known to be a man of particularly suave
+and considerate character—“<i>Il Nasone</i>” he was called because of
+his bottle-nose. His Consort was Madonna Marina Cappello,—a lineal
+descendant of Andrea Cappello, the hero of the “Rape of the Brides of
+Venice” in Doge Pietro Candiano IV.’s time.</p>
+
+<p>Amid all the political commotions, women came very much more into
+public life. Hitherto restrained by almost Oriental enactments they now
+began to throw off the conventions which so narrowly prescribed their
+position. The Senate and the domestic hearth were alike imperilled:
+women lost their modesty, and men their continence. Dress and manners
+yielded to the infatuation: women’s breasts were bared, and men’s hose
+became indecent. Delicate living and pleasure unrestrained changed the
+proverbial decorum of Venice. New ideas Platonic and otherwise were
+rife concerning the relations of the sexes. Venice was full of light
+women, not natives only, but frail beauties from beyond the lagunes,
+drawn thither by the fine figures and fat purses of the men. In the
+year 1360 the number of courtesans exceeded twelve thousand!</p>
+
+  <div class="figcenter" id="i_152fp">
+    <img
+    class="p1"   
+    src="images/i_152fp.jpg"
+     alt="">
+     <p class="p0 sm center">COURTESANS.</p>
+     <p class="p0 sm center">Vettore Carpaccio.</p>
+     <p class="p0 xs center">ACCADEMIA, VENICE.</p>
+  </div>
+
+<p>The scandal was so glaring that the Government<span class="pagenum" id="Page_153">[153]</span> of Doge Giovanni
+Delfino (1356–1361), issued an edict forbidding such women from
+occupying common lodging-houses, joining supper parties of men, and
+going about the city—except on Saturdays: at the same time they were
+required to reside within the <i>sestiere</i> of Castelletto, near the
+Ponte di Rialto. Very strict laws were passed by the Council of Forty
+for the preservation of morals; hanging was the punishment meted out
+to offenders. The story of Madonna Veneranda Porta, who lived in the
+second half of the century,—still recounted among the gondoliers,—is
+indicative of the state of society. She had an unsympathetic husband,
+and as a consequence, a lover, and he slew Messir Giorgio Porta. The
+lovers were arrested and condemned to suffer the extreme penalty of
+the law. Madonna Veneranda protested “that Venice had never yet hung a
+woman,—it would be too indecent,—and she would not be the first to be
+so punished.” “You shall hang,” replied the chief of the Council, “in a
+sack!”</p>
+
+<p>Doge Giovanni Delfino, in 1357, founded an Hostel for Fallen
+Women—“<i>redire ad penitentiam et contriciam</i>”; and, he and his
+Consort,—whose name we do not even know,—established as many as
+seventeen receiving houses for children exposed in the byways and
+water-ways. His <i>dogado</i> was calamitous for Venice abroad as well
+as at home. “He was,” the historians tell us, “nevertheless, a true
+soldier, honourable and patriotic.” He died in 1361, his body was laid
+in State,—the first Doge so honoured,—in the <i>Sala de’ Signori
+di Notte</i>, and was buried at SS. Giovanni e Paolo,—where his
+sarcophagus, enriched with sculptures<span class="pagenum" id="Page_154">[154]</span> has bas-reliefs of the Doge and
+Dogaressa kneeling at the feet of the enthroned Christ.</p>
+
+<p>There were several candidates for the vacant Throne and much delay was
+experienced in the selection of the new Doge, but, whilst the electors
+hesitated, news came of a famous naval achievement of the Venetian
+fleet, under Lorenzo Celsi, “the Captain of the Gulf.” He was a brave
+man and the idol of the people, with no claims whatever to nobility of
+rank, possessed of only moderate means, and under fifty years of age.
+His name was shouted in the Piazza, and a vast concourse of craftsmen
+and gondoliers rushed pell-mell to the Ducal Palace, and demanded his
+election as Doge. The people’s caprice was for the nonce the nobles’
+choice, and they bowed to the popular outcry.</p>
+
+<p>The Dogaressa, Marchesina, daughter of Messir Girolamo Ghisi, a member
+of one of the rising families of merchant-craftsmen, with her maids of
+honour and an immense following set off to meet the sailor Doge on his
+return to Venice. Without precedent for any such demonstration, the
+“<i>Bucintoro</i>” was rowed out to sea, and signalled to the Lido the
+first sail of the approaching squadron. Once more a popular hero was
+borne shoulder-high into the Basilica, and in the Ducal Palace crowned
+“Doge of Venice and of her Dominions beyond the Sea,” so ran his title.</p>
+
+<p>Lorenzo Celsi was prepared to be all things to all men and made endless
+promises of democratic reforms, such as the manner is of men not to the
+manner born. A man of splendid physique and brimful of ambitious ideas
+he determined not only<span class="pagenum" id="Page_155">[155]</span> to make the most of his good fortune, but to
+render his <i>dogado</i> as magnificent as possible.</p>
+
+<p>For his own protection he took very wise precautions: sailors were not
+quite the kind of guard he and his family required, so, very adroitly,
+as he thought, he enrolled scores and scores of lawless men of the
+city,—the “<i>Bravi</i>”—as a body-guard to deal with disagreeable
+persons. These men soon had the measure of the Doge, and assumed a
+demeanour which imperilled the personal safety of all against whom they
+had any grudge whether public or private. Meetings to mark persons
+for assassination were held secretly at the out-of-the-way laundry of
+a woman named Tommasina Gobba, who was, by the way, laundress to the
+Dogaressa. The worthy body turned Doge’s evidence, and the villains
+were disbanded, but the Doge came in for fierce aspersions and serious
+suspicions. It was easy to say that he instigated measures of violence,
+so as to safeguard himself and his position.</p>
+
+<p>Very fortunately for Celsi’s vindication of his <i>bona fides</i> came
+the visit of Francesco Petrarch to Venice: “a place of peace and rest”
+he imagined it, but he found it “full of depravity and profanity.” A
+very amusing story is told of the poet’s treatment of an importunate
+visitor. The man would take no refusal, he sought alms and patronage.
+Failing to convince Petrarch he set to work to insult him with odious
+language,—“such as only Venetians used,”—whereupon the poet seized
+him by the throat and kicked him down the stairs!</p>
+
+<p>Petrarch was treated royally by the Venetians, the Palazzo de Quattro
+Torri, on the Grand Canal, was assigned to him as his residence, and at
+Court<span class="pagenum" id="Page_156">[156]</span> functions he was seated on the right hand of the Doge. The first
+of the pageants he beheld, was held in celebration of the Conquest of
+Candia,—where “the most comely youths in Christendom displayed their
+forms and prowess before the most beauteous maidens upon earth”: the
+splendid spectacles inspired his “<i>Trionfi</i>.”</p>
+
+  <div class="poetry-container">
+   <div class="poetry">
+      <div class="stanza">
+        <div class="i2">“Questa leggiadra e gloriosa Donna</div>
+        <div>Ch’ è oggi nudo spirto e poca terra,</div>
+        <div>E fugià di valor alta colonna,</div>
+        <div class="i2">Tornava con onor della sua guerra</div>
+        <div>Allegra, avendo vinto il gran nemico,</div>
+        <div>Che con suo’ inganni tutto ’l mondo attera.”</div>
+      </div>
+
+      <div class="stanza">
+        <div class="spacing">*****</div>
+      </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+        <div class="i2">“La Bella Donna, e le compagne elette</div>
+        <div>Tornando dalla nobile Vittoria</div>
+        <div>In un bel drappelletto ivan ristrette.”—</div>
+      </div>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+
+<p>No such brilliant tournament had ever been held in Venice: the Doge
+himself, superbly mounted, broke a lance with the Prince of Cyprus. The
+Poet, in an ecstasy of delight describes the Venetians as a “nation of
+sailors, horsemen, and beauties!” He says “the Dogaressa placed crowns
+of pure gold upon the victors’ heads, and clasped silver belts around
+their hips.”</p>
+
+<p>Petrarch lived seven years in Venice (1361–1368). In 1364 he wrote to
+Giovanni Boccaccio:—“Come then to my call,” and the gay writer of the
+“<i>Decamerone</i>” spent three months in Venice. Before his departure
+Petrarch wrote to the Council of the Forty:—“I wish with the good
+will of my Saviour and of the Evangelist, to make St Mark the heir of
+my Library.” The bequest was gratefully accepted, but, alas, like many
+more such benefactions, nothing now remains but a few mouldy worm-eaten
+volumes.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_157">[157]</span></p>
+
+<p>Doge Lorenzo Celsi’s day of popularity went too the way of the world.
+Like all risen men he became autocratic and presumed upon the liberties
+and antecedents of the nobles, and they took their revenge. Upon
+the thirtieth of July 1365, the Council of Ten passed a resolution
+reflecting upon the Doge’s assumption of authority, and putting upon
+record that the status of the nobles was in jeopardy. The wording of
+the concluding sentence is quaint yet convincing:—“<i>quia non est de
+neccessitate</i>”—“because we have no further need of him!”</p>
+
+<p>The Doge was deposed, being suspected of favouring a reform in the
+Government, which, whilst retaining the Ducal office, proposed
+to transfer the powers of the Councils of Nobles to a parliament
+representative of the citizens and craftsmen.</p>
+
+<p>The circumstances attending the election of Doge Marco Corner, or
+Cornaro (1365–1367) are amusingly pathetic. He was a very old man, well
+over eighty years of age, and only remarkable for his uprightness, his
+studiousness, and his poverty. To be sure he came of an “Evangelistic”
+noble family,—equal in antiquity and distinction to the Giustiniani,
+the Bembi, and the Bragadini,—but this accident of birth was neither
+a ground for boasting nor an incentive to ambition. The electors
+doubtless turned to him as being a simple-minded man, and one who would
+not follow his predecessor in affectation of lordly superiority. When
+the choice was made public very many people, in every class cavilled at
+the selection:—“Surely there were more distinguished candidates for
+the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_158">[158]</span> Supreme Office, at all events some who were less homely in their
+surroundings,” they said; and they poked fun at old Corner’s lack of
+means and at his old wife’s dowdy ways.</p>
+
+<p>Dogaressa Caterina was an unaffected simple-hearted, domesticated
+woman, with no claim to nobility or social distinction of any kind, but
+a very worthy helpmeet to her spouse. Idle tongues wagged about her and
+her ways and made fun of her little economies. The Doge bridled up at
+the disparaging remarks, and, with dignity, rebuked the scoffers. “My
+old wife,” he said, “is so good and so virtuous, that she has always
+been respected by all the women of Venice quite as highly as if she
+had come of one of the most distinguished families!” Some busybody had
+seen the Madonna Caterina, quite lately, busy turning an old stuff
+dress that she might wear it a little longer, and the gossip went round
+the Palaces. Marco Corner met the sneer in a characteristic manner.
+“Well, what of that?” he asked, “there are many noble lords and worthy
+citizens in Venice, who would be only too thankful for such a useful
+wife as mine. She is a good woman, and I will thank you to let her
+alone.”</p>
+
+<p>Certainly Dogaressa Caterina Corner was not born in the purple nor had
+she any taste for ceremonial: we do not read of any imposing procession
+of Guilds setting forth to conduct her to the Ducal Palace for her
+coronation. The probability is that, with shrewd commonsense and no
+great display of dress or jewels, she quietly took her place beside
+her husband, bent on doing her duty in her new position, as she had
+done all through her life.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_159">[159]</span> Whatever responsibilities devolved upon her
+as Dogaressa, such as were connected with charity, education, and the
+encouragement of industries were borne right nobly.</p>
+
+<p>To good Marco Corner was due the issue of licenses by the Government
+for poor people, past work at their usual avocations, to earn pittances
+as itinerant street merchants. Besides this he was instrumental, with
+good Dogaressa Caterina, in the establishment of hospitals for the aged
+poor so that “none might end their days in misery nor die of hunger.”
+Doge Marco Corner gained the respect of all and died regretted by those
+who had mocked him. His tomb in SS. Giovanni e Paolo is one of the most
+beautiful examples of fourteenth-century Gothic. Probably Dogaressa
+Caterina was laid in the same grave, but there is no record of her
+death. Hers was the harvest of a quiet eye, the satisfaction of the
+simple life, and the reward of a good conscience.</p>
+
+<p>Marco Corner’s successor was quite a different sort of man, but still
+one likely to be amenable to the Lords of the Council, and not one to
+make pretensions beyond the limits of the <i>Promissione</i>. When
+the news of Doge Corner’s death reached him, Andrea Contarini was
+peacefully tying up his vines in his estate at Gambarre on the Brenta.
+Very many Venetian nobles had villas in that delectable district, and
+the Contarini country-mansion was one of the most handsome. Directly he
+was told that he had been elected Doge he declined the honour,—indeed
+he twice refused,—having in mind the ominous prediction of a Syrian
+dervish, who had warned him:—“If thou ever<span class="pagenum" id="Page_160">[160]</span> become Doge of Venice
+untold disasters will fall upon her!”</p>
+
+<p>The Electors would take no refusal and warned Contarini that he laid
+himself open to the confiscation of all his property, and to a sentence
+of banishment for life, both for himself and for his family. He
+cared very little for public life: he took as his motto the Venetian
+proverb:—“<i>Zocoli, brocoli, capelo, e poco cervelo</i>”—“Slippers,
+gardening, and a night-cap, with nothing to worry about!” He came
+however of a ruling family, one of the “Apostolic” twelve, just one
+hundred years after his ancestor, Doge Giacomo Contarini had upborne
+his name and his City nobly.</p>
+
+<p>Doge Andrea Contarini’s <i>dogado</i> was marked by restrictions at
+home and troubles abroad. His <i>Promissione</i> was, perhaps, the most
+tyrannical of any required of a Doge. He and his family were expressly
+forbidden gifts of every kind. Neither he nor the Dogaressa (whose name
+has not been recorded), nor any of their children, were allowed to
+possess land and property of any kind in the neighbourhood of Treviso,
+Padua and Ferrara: and this was a personal hit, for it was just in
+those districts that the Contarini family had interests. The Dogaressa
+was further denied liberty of action in various small ways, and every
+good work she proposed required the explicit sanction of the Council
+before she could carry it out. Abroad the interests of the Republic
+were seriously jeopardised; her bitter rival Genoa was preparing to
+attack her, and peace-loving Doge Contarini had to lay aside his
+implements of husbandry and take in hand his sword.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_161">[161]</span></p>
+
+<p>“Arms and the Man”—was true of Venetian tactics, for two famous
+captains of her ships and her men came to the front to direct her
+warlike progress—Carlo Zeno and Vettor Pisani. Success and failure
+in turn followed Saint Mark’s banner, but the soothsayer’s words came
+true, for disaster settled down upon Venice, what time Andrea Contarini
+was Doge. Still his sun went down with shouts of victory from Chioggia,
+where he and his captains and his men crushed the enemy effectually. He
+was buried in the Augustinian church of San Stefano and his tomb bears
+the brief epitaph:—“<i>MCCCLXVII Dux creatus: MCCCLXXXII in Cœlum
+sublatus</i>.”</p>
+
+<p>Under the Dogaressa the <i>gentildonne</i> of Venice, headed by Donne
+Anna Falier, Francesca Bragadini, Margherita Michieli, and Marliana
+Bembo,—“Good angels of love and pity,” they were called,—organised
+special ministrations for the benefit of the wounded in the war, the
+widows of the fallen, and the fatherless children. They were inspired
+by the same patriotic spirit, which had been voiced by the valiant Doge
+himself, “All for Venice—I will not see her Palaces again until she is
+victorious!”</p>
+
+<p>What a curiously different saying was that of Doge Contarini’s
+successor, Michele Morosini:—“What matters,” said he, “the fall of
+Venice, so long as I am strong!” He was a mean fellow and a miser, a
+disgrace to the noble name he bore, but, happily for Venice, he held
+the <i>dogado</i> no more than three months. He was one of the twenty
+thousand Venetians who perished in the plague, and no one regretted
+him. His Consort was Donna Cristina Condulmiero. The Condulmieri were<span class="pagenum" id="Page_162">[162]</span>
+merchants of woollen-cloth, refugees from Pavia: they lived in the
+Campo Santa Lucia.</p>
+
+<p>The last Doge of the century was Antonio Venier. The Venieri ranked
+with the Cappelli, Loredani, Malipieri, and the remainder of the
+twenty families in the second class of Nobles: their names having
+been enrolled by the “<i>Serrar del Consiglio</i>” in the “Libro
+d’Oro” of 1289. One special proviso was attached to the continuance
+of their order:—every child had to be registered within three months
+of birth, or he or she forfeited rank and inheritance. Nevertheless,
+the Venieri went back to the eleventh century when their forebears
+settled at Chioggia. Doge Antonio Venier was urbane if austere,
+moral if gracious, and, in character and personality, as unlike
+his selfish unpatriotic predecessor as could well be imagined. He
+was, by his liberal-mindedness, an illustration of the Venetian
+proverb:—“<i>Tedeschi in la stala, Francesci in cusina, Spagnoli in la
+camera, Venetiane in casa!</i>” His title of “<i>Magnifico</i>” he well
+deserved, for no more magnanimous Doge ever wore the Ducal bonnet.</p>
+
+<p>The last eighteen years of the century were as peaceful and as
+uneventful as any like period in Venetian history: a wide contrast
+to the pushful times of Doge Pietro Gradenigo. We might write of his
+<i>dogado</i> as of:—</p>
+
+  <div class="poetry-container">
+   <div class="poetry">
+      <div class="stanza">
+        <div class="ileft">“Roses! roses! all the way</div>
+        <div>With wild myrtle mixed like mad.”</div>
+      </div>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+
+<p>There was however a thorn, and a very sharp one too, in Antonio
+Venier’s career; it was one which sprang out of his own branch of
+the family <span class="pagenum" id="Page_163">[163]</span>tree. Alvise, or Luigi, his eldest son, was if not a
+ne’er-do-weel, a very wild sort of lad. Probably the serenity of the
+life at the Ducal Palace palled upon the youth, who sought relief in
+romantic attachments. Among his escapades was one, in company with
+his friend, Marco Loredan, which compromised the fair fame of Madonna
+Felicita, the wife of Messir Giovanni dalle Boccole—a rosebud and a
+thorn!</p>
+
+  <div class="figcenter" id="i_162fp">
+    <img
+    class="p1"   
+    src="images/i_162fp.jpg"
+     alt="">
+     <p class="p0 sm center">FESTA CAMPESTRE ON THE BANKS OF THE BRENTA.</p>
+     <p class="p0 sm center">Bonifazio di Pitati.</p>
+     <p class="p0 xs center">BRERA, MILAN.</p>
+  </div>
+
+<p>Messir dalle Boccole discovered the intrigue and watched his
+opportunity for chastisement, but the gay Lotharios anticipated his
+purpose and in a moment of peculiar sportiveness,—it was at midnight,
+11th June 1388,—they stuck up, over Messir dalle Boccole’s front door
+a Phallic symbol, and scribbled upon the lintel some opprobrious words.
+Such an insult was intolerable, and, as the culprits did nothing to
+conceal their identity, nor make amends, dalle Boccole complained of
+their conduct to their respective fathers. How Marco’s father acted we
+know not, but Doge Venier visited his son’s offence with the severity
+of a Brutus. The lad was put on his trial before the <i>Signori delle
+Notti</i>,—the Police Court of Venice,—a fine was imposed of one
+hundred lire, and two months’ imprisonment in the <i>Pozzi</i>,—where
+only political prisoners were confined. “Horrible, dark, damp cells,
+that would make the saddest life in the free light and air seem bright
+and desirable,” so wrote George Eliot in 1860.</p>
+
+<p>In this terrible place of confinement, with a steady depth of two feet
+of stagnant putrid water, the only dry rest his hard bench, which
+did duty for table and for bed, poor young Alvise lost heart and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_164">[164]</span>
+health. He pleaded desperately with his father to release him from
+his terrors and his infirmities, but the Doge gave no reply and made
+no sign. He was, he plumed himself the impersonation of all that was
+just, honourable, and unimpeachable in Venice, and, not for his own
+offspring, could he suffer any relaxation of the sentence. His son had
+transgressed the law, he must abide the consequences, so he ruled.
+And the consequences, in spite of his mother, the Dogaressa Agnese’s
+impassioned intercessions, were that the young man, left to his fate,
+died miserably in the filthy Gehenna, in the springtide of 1388.</p>
+
+<p>This was the parental justice of the urbane and gracious Antonio
+Venier, but the “thorn” pierced his own hand and heart, and after two
+years of useless remorse and self-accusation, the unnatural if judicial
+Doge passed away in mental anguish in the Palazzo Venier ai Gesiusti
+near the Ponte dell’ Acqua-vita.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb">
+
+<p>There is quite a touching little story which concerns the burial of
+poor young Alvise Venier. The sister who loved him best, Antonia, was
+so greatly distressed by her father’s attitude that she professed
+herself a Canoness of San Zaccaria, and, when her brother’s dead body
+was refused decent burial by the Doge, she obtained possession of
+it and carried it away from the foul Casa degli Spiriti,—where all
+the dead rest before their final course to San Michele,—the common
+cemetery,—and placed it reverently in an unoccupied piece of land of
+the <i>fondamento</i> of Cannaregio, the most distant <i>sestiere</i>
+from the Ducal Palace. Directly the Doge was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_165">[165]</span> dead she put into
+effect a resolution she had made,—after earnest prayer to St Mary,
+St Giustina, and the good Bishop Lodovico, her patron,—to build a
+church and a Canonica, and dedicate them in the name of her brother as
+Sant’ Alvise. In the crypt she buried him and, by her will, directed
+that her own dead body should be laid beside his. Alas the <i>Orto
+Botanico</i>, where,—when not beset by picnic parties of bird-lovers
+at the neighbouring aviaries of St Giobbe,—devout Antonia Venier
+meditated and prayed, and whence she watched her church arise, has lost
+all traces of its original condition, it is now a torpedo factory!</p>
+
+<p>Dogaressa Agnese, although her heart and brain were lacerated by pain
+and sorrow, survived her Consort a few years, then, in 1411, she was
+buried near his tomb with their daughter, Orsola, in the left transept
+of the church of SS. Giovanni e Paolo.</p>
+
+<p>Doge Antonio Venier died in the first year of the new century: it was
+in January, when snow and ice coated <i>calle</i> and <i>canale</i>—a
+white shroud to cover the dead body of a century, pitted with blanes
+and boils of private wrong and public turpitude.</p>
+
+<p>Ring down the curtain and hide the traces of tragedy: maybe the next
+scene will be a transformation! A plaintive echo of a voice—one of the
+sweetest that ever sang upon the Lido of Venice, steals into our ears,
+amid the muffled clang of all the <i>Campanili</i> bells, and bids us
+take heart of grace. It is fair Laura’s <i>innamorato</i><span class="pagenum" id="Page_166">[166]</span> who in his
+“<i>Africa</i>” thus prophesies of Venice:—</p>
+
+  <div class="poetry-container">
+   <div class="poetry">
+      <div class="stanza">
+        <div class="ileft">“Our Sons shall live in days more bright and fair.</div>
+      </div>
+
+      <div class="stanza">
+        <div class="spacing">*****</div>
+      </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+        <div>Then noble intellect and docile mind</div>
+        <div>Shall renovate the studies of mankind</div>
+        <div>The love of beauty and of truth the cult</div>
+        <div>Shall make life’s pilgrimage less difficult.”</div>
+      </div>
+
+    </div>
+  </div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_167">[167]</span></p>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER V</h2>
+</div>
+
+
+<h3>I</h3>
+
+<p>“<span class="smcap">La Serenissima Dogaressa di Venezia</span>”—“the Most Serene
+Duchess of Venice”—attained her highest dignity and splendour in the
+attractive personality of Signora Marina Galina da Santa Marina—the
+Consort of Doge Michele Steno. The reality of the “First Lady of
+Venice” had become more and more emphatic as each gracious wearer of
+the smaller <i>Corno</i> had made her solemn Entry into the City.</p>
+
+<p>The ancient family of Galina, in 960, founded the Church and Monastery
+of San Felice, on the Campo of San Felice, a little way back from the
+Grand Canal. They belonged to the third division of the first grade of
+nobles, immediately after the “Apostolic” twelve and the “Evangelistic”
+four, and were among the ten families of considerable importance
+anterior to the <i>Serrar del Consiglio</i> of 1289. The termination
+of the name “da Santa Marina” was indicative of the <i>sestiere</i> in
+which the family originally dwelt: their church of Santa Marina, built
+in 1030, was destroyed by fire in 1820.</p>
+
+<p>The date of Donna Marina’s marriage with Messir Micheletto, or Michele,
+Steno is nowhere recorded. His family was one of those ennobled after
+the Chioggian War: they were neither wealthy nor influential. Messir
+Giovanni Steno, his father, was a poor man, as men went in Venice,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_168">[168]</span>
+and lived in a small <i>casa</i> in the <i>sestiere</i> of Santa Maria
+Zobenigo, upon the neutral zone which separated the dwellings of the
+Castellani from those of the Nicolotti. His mother was Madonna Lucia
+Lando, and her family was equal in antiquity and distinction to that
+of her spouse—an arrangement quite usual and conventional in Venice,
+where the different grades of the aristocracy rarely intermarried.</p>
+
+<p>Michele Steno’s parents were blessed with another son—the elder of
+the two—Fantino, and three daughters, Franchescina, Donata, and
+Cristina,—who became a cloistered nun in the Convent of San Lorenzo.
+Messir Giovanni, with Messir Paolo Gradenigo, went on an embassy of
+peace to Genoa, and, on his return in 1351, he executed a will, leaving
+to his second son, Micheletto, one thousand gold ducats and the half of
+his house property and other belongings.</p>
+
+<p>Probably young Micheletto acquired some of the dare-devilry and
+impetuosity, for which he and other young smarts were notorious, from
+his early association with the rival factions of his <i>sestiere</i>.
+Incessant insults, quarrels and commotions characterised their
+mutual dealings, and their jests and oaths were indecent and
+sacrilegious:—“<i>Corpo di Bacco!</i>” and “<i>Sangue di Dian!</i>”
+were no less common in daily intercourse than “<i>Sangue di Dio!</i>”
+“<i>Corpo di Crist!</i>” Youth, aping strident manhood, not unusually
+delights itself in profanity and abuse. Marino Sanudo, who lived fifty
+years after Doge Michele Steno’s death, states in his “History of
+Venice,” that as a young man he was “poor but ambitious, ardent and
+astute.”</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_169">[169]</span></p>
+
+<p>Sabellico has a note concerning the future Doge, and says, that, as
+co-ambassador to King Pietro d’Arragona in 1350, when he was no more
+than twenty-five years old, he displayed both tact and talent, and
+concluded a treaty very much to the advantage of the Republic. Michele
+Steno served the State with distinction and made himself an eligible
+candidate for the highest offices: in 1375 he was chosen one of the
+three Captains of the Council of Forty.</p>
+
+<p>It certainly comes, however, with something of a shock to find him,
+the precocious, daring, and romantic lover of women,—from Elizabetta,
+his uncle Paolo’s attractive maid-servant to Aluycia Gradenigo, the
+fascinating Consort of Count Marino Falier,—mounting the Ducal Throne,
+which he had once stretched out his hand to profane! Forty-five years
+have come and gone and the hot-headed youth has developed into the sage
+septuagenarian. How true it is that the sowing of wild oats in young
+days provides for the harvesting of ripe corn in old age! Michele Steno
+and his Consort Marina could not have imagined that this consummation
+of their lives was in the lap of Fortune. If time and opportunity had
+modulated his character in tune with his environment, he was “still
+remarkable” says Sanudo, “for strength of will and irascibility
+of temper: a man of noble appearance and noted for the polish and
+gallantry of his manners.” His election to the <i>dogado</i> was
+effected in November 1400, but his installation as Doge was postponed
+to the following January. The usual ceremonies were duly celebrated
+and a new feature was added—a panegyric of the Doge and Dogaressa
+delivered<span class="pagenum" id="Page_170">[170]</span> in San Marco by Bishop Lionardo Delfino of Castello.</p>
+
+<p>Indirectly his <i>Promissione</i> suggests that his aggressive
+temperament still caused men to look doubtfully at him. The legal
+titles of the Doge and Dogaressa were depressed, the idea of personal
+sovereignty was eliminated, and their Serenities were greeted as plain
+“<i>Messir le Doxe</i>” and plain “<i>Signora la Dogaressa</i>.” This
+new designation, however, was not altogether derogatory, for the great
+Patron Saint of Venice was styled:—“<i>E stato galant’ uomo Messir
+San Marco!</i>”—“What a brave fellow is ‘Mr’ Saint Mark!” Venetians
+were great sticklers about titles: everybody liked to be addressed
+with ceremony and to have assigned a rank higher than that actually
+held—but perhaps this was no Venetian peculiarity, it is rather the
+natural, if persistent, egotism, of all times and peoples.</p>
+
+<p>In the “<i>Trionfo della Dogaressa di Venetia nel Secolo XV</i>,”—a
+document of the period, in the Museo Civico,—is a full account of the
+ceremonial observed and of the dresses worn at the solemn Entry of
+the Dogaressa Marina. The Government issued an order to the different
+<i>Fragilie</i> to prepare for the Festival. Each Guild had a portion
+of the Piazza and also of the Ducal Palace assigned for decoration with
+tapestries, carpets, and banners, and was also required to furnish a
+gala barge adorned with standards and decked with garlands, to form
+part of the water escort for the <i>Bucintoro</i>, which was prepared
+for the reception of the Dogaressa, her relatives and her suite.</p>
+
+<p>Upon the day of the Entry the Doge, accompanied<span class="pagenum" id="Page_171">[171]</span> by a number of
+Councillors, made a progress from the Ducal Palace to his private
+residence to assist the Dogaressa in embarking upon her water progress.
+She awaited her Consort in the principal reception room, where each
+of the noble Company saluted her and received from her hands a very
+beautifully embroidered purse of cloth of gold. Then, preceded by
+State trumpeters and standard-bearers, and Grooms of the State to the
+Doge, she passed down the stairway. Following her came sixty beauteous
+damsels in superb costumes, and the ladies of her family in costly
+robes with many jewels.</p>
+
+<p>The dress of the Dogaressa was magnificent: she wore a robe of cloth
+of gold fastened at the neck, with deep hanging sleeves, caught up by
+gold brooches upon the shoulders, a girdle of gold cord jewelled, and
+a mantle of stiff gold brocade embroidered with coloured silk like
+the Doge’s. Her head-dress was a coif of lace under a cap of crimson
+silk velvet raised in such a way as to support a miniature jewelled
+Ducal <i>Corno</i>, and a thin gauze veil fell with her wealth of
+unrestrained hair from under the <i>Corno</i>, over her shoulders.
+A massive gold chain encircled her bust. Her shoes were of crimson
+velvet. Her train, also of cloth of gold brocade, was borne by young
+girls in white dresses, and crowned with fresh flowers.</p>
+
+<p>At the Dogaressa’s side walked the wife of the High Chancellor,—the
+first citizeness of Venice, a wise concession to popular
+sentiment,—and the stately procession was brought up by the
+Procurators of San Marco, Councillors of Honour,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_172">[172]</span> Senators and
+Gentlemen, two and two, every one being in full state costume. Upon
+the <i>Bucintoro</i> her Serenity was placed in the Doge’s seat at the
+bows. The Doge and his following meanwhile returned to the Ducal Palace
+to await the arrival of his Consort. The progress of the Dogaressa
+along the Grand Canal was a “Triumph.” The whole city had embarked upon
+every available craft and everybody tossed enthusiastic greetings to
+the stately, comely Dogaressa Marina as she passed along her glittering
+way. The great vessel breasted untossed the lapping ripples of the
+newly perfumed waters of the Canal, and made her way through floating
+sprays of gaily coloured flowers, submerging, as she passed them, many
+a daring gondolier and his heedless gala freight.</p>
+
+<p>Arrived at the Piazzetta the august company landed, and, after being
+led past the Basilica, made a stately progress all round the Piazza,
+adorned as for a great Church festival and packed full of perspiring
+people. All the beauty and fashion of the moment looked out of window
+casements and from <i>altane</i> roofs. Flowers and confetti were
+showered upon her Serenity who marched with the utmost dignity under
+the great Ducal umbrella of State, supported by the high officials of
+the Government. At the grand portal of San Marco the Dogaressa was
+received by the whole of the Chapter in gorgeous vestments, bearing
+lighted candles in great silver-gilt candelabra, and the principal
+gold crucifix, the while acolytes tossed their silver censers high.
+Sprinkled with holy water her Serenity stood reverently<span class="pagenum" id="Page_173">[173]</span> whilst the
+rector recited with her the following liturgy:—</p>
+
+  <div class="poetry-container">
+  <h3 class="smcap">Let us Pray.</h3>
+   <div class="poetry">
+      <div class="stanza">
+        <div>O Lord, preserve Thine handmaiden, our Dogaressa.</div>
+        <div><i>My trust, O God, is in Thee.</i></div>
+        <div>Send her help from the Sanctuary, O Lord.</div>
+        <div><i>And strengthen her out of Sion.</i></div>
+        <div>Let no foe approach her.</div>
+        <div><i>And let not the son of wickedness come near to hurt her.</i></div>
+        <div>Grant peace in thy borders.</div>
+        <div><i>And abundance in thy palaces.</i></div>
+        <div>O Lord, hear my prayer:</div>
+        <div><i>And let my cry come unto Thee.</i></div>
+        <div>The Lord be with you:</div>
+        <div><i>And with thy Spirit:</i></div>
+      </div>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+
+<p class="smcap center p1">Let us Pray.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+
+<p>“We beseech Thee, Almighty God, that this Thy servant, our
+Duchess, may be instructed and comforted by Thy wisdom and ever
+remain true to Thy Holy Church, Through Christ our Lord, Amen.”</p>
+
+<p>“O God, whose providence never faileth in the ordering of human
+affairs we pray Thee to extend Thy ineffable loving-kindness
+to our prayer, that as Queen Esther, the chosen servant of
+Thy ancient people, caused the sceptre of King Ahasuerus, her
+consort, to rule wisely, so this Thy Servant, our Duchess, the
+chosen of Thy Christian people, may do everything according
+to Thy will, so that she may please Thee in everything and,
+inspired by Thee, may with her whole heart, exercise her high
+office to Thy glory and to the welfare of us Thy Servants,
+through Christ our Lord. Amen.”</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Then “Te Deum” was solemnly sung in the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_174">[174]</span> open air, the Dogaressa
+standing with her face to the people. The clergy next led the imposing
+procession up the central passage of the basilica and placed the
+Dogaressa ceremoniously upon the Doge’s throne by the High Altar,
+where seated she bestowed her thanks and many gold ducats upon the
+ecclesiastical dignitaries.</p>
+
+<p>The State Chancellor now approached, and bowing low, addressed
+Dogaressa Marina as follows:—</p>
+
+<p>“Most Serene Duchess, I am about to administer to you the Oath of
+Allegiance to the government of the Serene Republic of Venice. Will you
+promise to observe and maintain it intact?”</p>
+
+<p>“I will do so most assuredly,” she replied.</p>
+
+<p>The procession being re-formed the Dogaressa was conducted to the
+Ducal Palace, where, on ascending the grand staircase, she was met by
+a deputation of Masters of the <i>Fragilie</i> who invited her to take
+her seat at a table furnished with sweetmeats in golden baskets and
+red wine in silver cups; and whereat officials of the Guild were in
+attendance. Acknowledging their salutations graciously she replied:
+“<i>gran mercè non se sentimo</i>.”</p>
+
+<p>Proceeding on her way the Dogaressa, with her escort of noble lords,
+chamberlains, and gentlewomen, passed through all the State rooms of
+the Palace, and entered the <i>Sala dei Pioveghi</i> where she took her
+seat upon the Doge’s throne and gave attention to the following solemn
+address by the High Chancellor:—“Your Serenity has deigned to come to
+this place which will be your home as long as you remain Dogaressa of
+Venice. Should you<span class="pagenum" id="Page_175">[175]</span> die, here your body will lie in State for three
+days before it is consigned to the tomb.”</p>
+
+<p>To which very lugubrious oration the Dogaressa meekly replied:—“I am
+quite content to abide by what you say so far as it may please the
+Majesty of God.” Then, rising, she passed on once more, and entered the
+<i>Sala del Gran Consiglio</i>, where she was placed with much ceremony
+upon the great Throne of the Doge,—whence extending her hand everybody
+in the Presence advanced to kiss it.</p>
+
+<p>These solemnities being accomplished her Serenity was conducted to
+the Presence Chamber, there she was greeted by the Doge and his two
+Councillors of State, and then she retired to her private apartments.
+The public festivities in celebration of the Induction and Proclamation
+of the Dogaressa continued for three days. She presided at banquets
+offered to the noblewomen, the wives of foreign ambassadors, and the
+wives and daughters of the more prominent citizens. Sports of all kinds
+and tournaments were held in the Piazza in presence of the Doge and
+Dogaressa, and upon the Grand Canal were fêtes and serenades. Indeed
+for a whole twelvemonth Venice kept holiday and witnessed a succession
+of splendid pageants.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>dogado</i> of Michelo Steno and Marina Galina Steno was
+distinguished in many ways. First of all, and by way of leaving his
+mark upon Venice, in 1400, he caused the ceiling of the great Council
+Chamber of the Ducal Palace,—which its architect, Calendario, who was
+implicated in the conspiracy of Doge Marino Falier, had partly built,
+and where Guariento painted his “Paradise” walls,—to be covered with
+golden stars—the reflex<span class="pagenum" id="Page_176">[176]</span> of his name “Steno”—“Stellifer.” In the
+arena of arms, Genoa, Verona, Padua, and Friuli were humbled and the
+King of Hungary was routed. Carlo Zeno, the great <i>Condottiere</i>,
+led the victorious Venetians against the two first cities; but the
+Doge in person gained laurels at Padua and Friuli. Quaint ceremonies
+followed the defeat of the four cities, for forty nobles from
+each,—dressed respectively in red, white, purple, and green, came
+and made obeisance to Venice in the persons of the Doge and Dogaressa
+seated upon thrones set up in the Piazza. Each deputation laid at their
+Serenities’ feet the keys and the banner of their city, and, at the
+same time, craved the consideration and protection of the Republic.</p>
+
+<p>Great rejoicings accompanied these demonstrations of fealty wherein
+the <i>Fragilie</i> took an active and splendidly organised part.
+Always under the patronage of the Dogaressas, the various crafts had,
+through one hundred and fifty years of progressive industry, attained
+both perfection in the details of their several interests, and also a
+dominant position in the social economy of the State. At the same time
+Literature was reaching out towards distinction and the Fine Arts were
+starting upon their pageant of renown. Truly the first decade of the
+fifteenth century was pregnant with great issues and great events, it
+was the hour before the glorious noontide of expectation—“<i>Venetia
+riccha, saggia, e signorila</i>,”—“Venice, rich, wise and gentle-born.”</p>
+
+  <div class="figcenter" id="i_176fp" style="max-width: 422px">
+    <img
+    class="p1"   
+    src="images/i_176fp.jpg"
+     alt="">
+     <p class="p0 sm center">L’INNAMORATO CON “LA NINFA.” ARIOSTO’S CANZONE. “BIRENO
+E OLIMPIA.”</p>
+     <p class="p0 xs center">FROM A PRINT. 1560.</p>
+     <p class="p0 sm center"></p>
+  </div>
+
+<p>An obvious and visible token of the opulent greatness of the new
+century was the foundation of the famous “<i>Compagnia della
+Calza</i>,” directly under <span class="pagenum" id="Page_177">[177]</span>the auspices of the stylish Doge and
+fashionable Dogaressa, old folks as they really were. This remarkable
+Society took its rise at the period of the pageants held during the
+first year of Doge Steno’s rule. The designation “<i>Calza</i>” was
+quite an arbitrary choice for the purview of the <i>Compagnia</i>
+had regard to all and every detail of dress and manner. It was first
+entitled “<i>della Berretta</i>,”—“Company of the Cap,” but the woven
+silken or worsted garment which clung to and exhibited the whole
+figure, was the emphatic feature of the sumptuary modes—hence came
+“<i>Calza</i>,”—“Company of the Tights.”</p>
+
+<p>The society or union consisted of a number of clubs of young men—gay,
+rich and physically fit. The officers of the <i>Compagnia</i> consisted
+of a Prior or chief,—who went about in a gorgeous costume of cloth
+of gold,—two Councillors, treasurer, chaplain, painter, sculptor,
+architect, poet, annalist, and a notary. The <i>Compagnia</i> consisted
+of clubs, and each club bore a distinguishing name. <i>Immortali</i>,
+<i>Reali</i>, <i>Perpetui</i>, <i>Semprevivi</i>, <i>Pavoni</i>,
+<i>Ortolani</i>, etc., etc.,—there were forty of them. Every member
+wore striped silk tights, embroidered in gold and coloured silks with
+pearls and gems: each club had its special arrangement of stripes.</p>
+
+<p>Their doublets of silk velvet embroidered with gold, fitted close to
+the body, and bore the badge of the particular club. They had slashed
+sleeves through which puffings of fine white linen shirts were pulled.
+Upon their shoulders they wore short cloaks of cloth of gold or crimson
+damask velvet, lined with choice fur. Their flowing locks of hair were
+restrained under jaunty little caps of red or<span class="pagenum" id="Page_178">[178]</span> black silk or cloth,
+with a handsome jewel at the side and a heron’s feather. Their pointed
+shoes were of fine red leather pierced at the toes and adorned with
+gold and pearls. Waist-belts of leather, jewelled and embroidered, with
+beautiful <i>scarcelle</i>, or pouches, at the side, a golden chain
+bearing a jewelled pendant, and rings on the fingers completed the
+superb costumes.</p>
+
+<p>Women associates were freely admitted, upon the hems of whose
+tight fitting silken petticoats, was embroidered in gold, the word
+“<i>Calza</i>”; foreigners also were admitted to honorary membership.
+The <i>gentildonne</i> wore long sleeves,—lined with fur, and
+beautifully worked cinctures of gold and embroidery: their hair was
+arranged in plaits and rolled under golden nets, and their feet were
+shod in jewelled golden shoes. Their fine gold chains of interlaced and
+jewelled rings encircled throats and breasts.</p>
+
+<p>The purpose of the “<i>Compagnia della Calza</i>” was however not
+merely the wearing of fine clothes, but the direction of State
+pageants, the reception of foreign princes and ambassadors, the
+performance of spectacular games and plays, and attendance at solemn
+Ecclesiastical functions. They also assisted at weddings, birthdays,
+baptisms, and funerals, and acted as elegant and audacious State
+masters of ceremonies in general.</p>
+
+<p>With enthusiasm, each Maundy-Thursday, the gay young fellows entered
+the annual <i>Caccia del Tori</i>, which had originated after the
+first defeat of Friuli in 1164. Three other dates were added,—Santa
+Marta’s day, the first Monday in September, and the first in October,
+and the “rings” were on the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_179">[179]</span> Lido and in the Piazza. Later on every
+<i>campi</i> had its <i>Caccia</i>, and, degenerating as such festivals
+usually do, the places of the <i>gentildonne</i> were taken by
+courtesans dressed, masked, and mannered <i>à l’ outrance</i>.</p>
+
+  <div class="poetry-container">
+   <div class="poetry">
+      <div class="stanza">
+        <div class="ileft">“<i>Con atti, adorni assai, polite e belle,</i></div>
+        <div><i>Le Donne vedi andar, con tal maniera</i></div>
+        <div><i>E con la fresca ziera.</i></div>
+        <div><i>Che ’l par, che le vegna del Paradiso!</i>”</div>
+      </div>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+
+<p>The love of sumptuous dress gave a grand impetus to Venetian trade, but
+it led of course to many corruptions and exaggerations,—one of these
+was the wearing of enormously high pattens—<i>zilve</i>, they were
+called. The condition of the <i>calli</i> unfortunately required some
+such protection from mud and dirt, but women went about on shoe-stilts
+of poplar wood and leather which effectively dwarfed the slim tall
+figures of the men. At last an edict was issued which forbade this
+absurd fashion, especially in the case of pregnant women:—“<i>filios
+abortivos in perditione corporis et animæ suæ</i>.” This fashion, by
+the way, led to many ludicrous situations, for many a gallant admirer
+of a <i>calle</i> beauty, tall, commanding and superfine,—discovered
+her in her boudoir reduced to natural if disappointing dimensions, and
+forthwith declined her charms, and made a not too dignified exit!</p>
+
+<p>The splendid <i>dogado</i> of Michele Steno, continued for twelve
+years: he died early in the year 1413, at the great age of eighty-four.
+His obsequies were consonant with his fame, and after the excision
+of his bowels and the embalming of his body, he was kept many days
+in State with a cloth of gold pall over him and burning torches
+of pinewood<span class="pagenum" id="Page_180">[180]</span> resin beside him in the old church of Santa Marina.
+Over his tomb were hung the keys of Padua, now in the <i>Seminario
+Patriachale</i>, and the marble sarcophagus had carved reliefs and an
+epitaph “<i>amator justitiæ pacis et ubertatis</i>.” He left behind
+him the finest stable of horses in Venice and the cleverest stand of
+falcons, and, beside and beyond these treasures, a disconsolate widow.</p>
+
+<p>Seven years after her Coronation Dogaressa Marina, suffering from
+plague and expecting death made a will whereby she bequeathed fifty
+gold ducats to poor criminals, awaiting execution, six gold ducats to a
+monk of San Stefano, who preached to her in the Palace, for prayers for
+the repose of her soul. To the Rector of Santa Maria Zobenigo, Nicolo
+Fusolo, a velvet robe out of which to make a cope, and three hundred
+gold ducats, a gold chalice, a cross, a surplice, and other ornaments
+necessary for the sacerdotal office. All of these objects the worthy
+priest was to use during his lifetime, and then they were to be the
+property of the monks of San Domenigo.</p>
+
+<p>The devout testator however recovered from her illness and in the
+<i>Archivio Notarile</i> is preserved a second will, dated 25th
+August 1420, seven years after the demise of her Consort, to whom she
+erected the superb marble monument, now, unhappily destroyed. The
+figure of the Doge was placed above a marble urn embellished with a
+rich <i>intaglio</i> frieze in which was the bust of the Dogaressa in
+mosaic. After the funeral she entered the Convent of Sant’ Andrea,
+upon the lonely <i>Campo</i> of that name, far away from the gorgeous
+tumultuous scenes of her reign in the Ducal Palace.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_181">[181]</span> In her second will
+Dogaressa Marina directs that she shall be buried, vested in a nun’s
+habit, in the cemetery of the Convent, and she leaves twenty-five gold
+ducats to cover all expenses. Upon her gravestone is the following
+inscription:—</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+
+<p>“<i>Hic jacet corpus Serenissimæ D. Marina, Uxoris Q. Sereniss.
+et Excellentiss. Princeps D. D. Michaelis Stenus, olim inclyti
+Ducis Venetiarum, quæ obiit die 4 mensis Maii MCCCCXXII. Amina
+cuius requiescat in Pace.</i>”</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>This quiet ending to a splendid career is full of pathos. She, who had
+been crowned Duchess of Venice amid circumstances more splendid than
+any of her predecessors is laid without worldly honours in the simple
+grave of a pious nun. No canopy is now over her save the free air,
+no gorgeous tapestries surround her save the painted clouds and the
+distant Alps, whilst the wide salty lagune is her carpet of estate.</p>
+
+
+<h3>II</h3>
+
+<p>Upon the death of Doge Michele Steno the choice of his successor fell
+first upon Messir Paolo Giustiniani, the head of as famous a family as
+any in Venetian story, but a family which had, strange to say, never
+placed a representative upon the Ducal throne. The “Forty” however
+reconsidered their vote, and because Messir Paolo was a poor speaker
+they passed on the <i>Corno</i> to Messir Tommaso Mocenigo. When
+his election was in the balance Giustiniani spoke up warmly in the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_182">[182]</span>
+Council:—“My Lords,” he said, “I thank God that you have nothing more
+serious to lay to my charge. Messir Antonio Venier was no spokesman but
+he came to the <i>dogado</i> and found his tongue, so shall I!”</p>
+
+<p>The family of Mocenigo came from Treviso. Ser. Giovanni Moceni was
+among the earliest councillors of the infant Republic at the end of
+the eleventh century. The Mocenighi were enrolled in the “<i>Libro
+d’Oro</i>” of 1289, in the fourth division of the first grade of
+nobles. Messir Tommaso’s spouse was a Cappello, of equal rank to
+himself, but her Christian name is not recorded and there is no account
+of her coronation or her death.</p>
+
+<p>Anyhow the pageants, which celebrated Doge Tommaso Mocenigo’s election
+were perhaps the most splendid of any ever witnessed in proud, wealthy
+and fashionable Venice. Twenty foreign princes and ambassadors sat
+in the Ducal tribune, eighty thousand citizens and strangers packed
+themselves in the colonnades of the Piazza, at the windows of the
+Piazza were hundreds of noble gentlewomen and the prizes in the
+<i>Giostre</i>,—wherein the Marquises of Mantua and Ferrara took
+part,—were burnished silver helmets encrusted with precious stones,
+and costly jewelled golden collars. Everybody of note wore heavy cloth
+of gold or rich silver brocade. Never before had such a wealth of
+pearls and gems been displayed even in superlatively modish Venice.
+Every craftsman and craftswoman was kept hard at work making things of
+beauty and of value in honour of their new patroness.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_183">[183]</span></p>
+
+<p>In addition to the State tournaments and pageants the Guild of
+Goldsmiths,—the richest trade corporation in Europe, and always
+specially under the patronage of the Dogaressa—arranged and dressed a
+<i>Balordo</i>—spectacle or revel,—wherein a cavalcade of knightly
+figures rode a quadrille arrayed in scarlet velvet,—horses as
+well,—and wearing chains of gold and ropes of pearls. The fabulous
+wealth of Venice was never so strikingly displayed and this prodigality
+added immeasurably to her fame and power. Peace was assured for
+no State could dare to try conclusions with her, knowing her vast
+resources.</p>
+
+<p>Her population exceeded two hundred thousand,—one thousand being men
+of noble rank, each worth from seventy to four thousand gold ducats
+per annum. The State revenues figured at one million and a half gold
+ducats. The navy consisted of three hundred sea-going armed vessels
+manned by eight thousand sailors. Three thousand lighter vessels had
+trained crews of seventeen thousand men and the arsenal and dockyard
+hands numbered eleven thousand. Well was it said:—“<i>El Mar Xe ’l
+fachin de la Terra!</i>”—“The Sea is servant of the Land!”</p>
+
+<p>Doge Tommaso Mocenigo proved himself to be the man of the hour.
+“Venetian of the Venetians, Venice and Venice only was his one and only
+love, indeed he carried his devotion so far that he narrowed his views
+of her, to the proportions of a “little Venice” in territory. With an
+iron will he bent all others to his behests, and, as a past-master in
+strategy, he undermined all opposition. He has come down to us as “one
+of the wisest and noblest<span class="pagenum" id="Page_184">[184]</span> rulers of the Venetian Republic,” the ninth
+“Grand” Doge of Venice.</p>
+
+<p>His death-bed was the scene of a remarkable demonstration of his
+strength of character and of his solicitude for the welfare of Venice.
+He sent for the principal members of the Council of Forty, and, when
+they were assembled, he pronounced a valedictory address wherein he
+summed up statistically the condition of the State, enlarged upon his
+own share in its stability, and expressed his wishes with respect to
+the choice of his successor and the maintenance of his ideals.</p>
+
+<p>There were seven candidates for the succession and the dying
+Doge succinctly reviewed the qualifications, or the reverse, of
+each:—“Marmo Caravello is too old, Cavaliere Bermbo limps and is blind
+of an eye, Lionardo Mocenigo is my brother after the flesh, Antonio
+Contarini has too many children and his wife still brings him one every
+year, Pietro Loredano is a proud man and too young, Gianbattista Badoer
+is Captain-General, let him be satisfied, and Francesco Foscari is an
+ambitious man who sets fire to things but is careful not to burn his
+own fingers. I pray you my Lords not to entertain his candidature,
+for I am convinced, that if you elect him Doge, he will bring untold
+disasters upon our beloved city.”</p>
+
+<p>The Doge died in 1423 and his tomb is in the church of SS. Giovanni
+e Paolo with the inscription “<i>Huomo oltre modo desideroso della
+Pace</i>.” The effigy, sculptured upon the monument represents very
+exactly what Tommaso Mocenigo must have looked like in life—a noble
+form, comely features, the curve of the lip indicating masterfulness,
+the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_185">[185]</span> great round eyes daring, the high arched brow and cheek
+determination.</p>
+
+<p>The week which followed the demise of Doge Tommaso Mocenigo was one
+of deep anxiety on the part of all the candidates for the Ducal
+office, probably none of them felt the strain more heavily than
+Messir Francesco Foscari and his spouse Madonna Marina. The fact of
+the late Doge’s animadversions roused their ambition and fired their
+determination to prove by fortune of election the erroneousness of his
+strictures.</p>
+
+<p>Ten times in as many days the votes of the Council of Forty were cast
+without result, a clear majority of two-thirds was required for a
+constitutional decision. Apparently a policy of exhaustion was followed
+until only two candidates were left in the contest, Pietro Loredano and
+Francesco Foscari, and the latter and his wife were very hopeful of the
+result. Advocates of the rivals in the Council spoke long and bitterly:
+Pietro Orso was for Pietro Loredano,—Bernardo Pisani and Paolo Corner
+for Francesco Foscari. Bulgaro Vetterino also took part in the debate
+and denied that Foscari was too poor for the position—as was alleged.
+He stated that his client stood with his family for no fewer than one
+hundred and fifty thousand gold ducats.</p>
+
+<p>At length Francesco Foscari received twenty-eight votes out of
+the forty-one, and Captain-General Badoer, who also supported his
+candidature, made the usual announcement—“This is your Doge”—to the
+huge body of citizens in the Piazza. At once a tumultuous response was
+made “<i>Sia! Sia!</i>”—“Agreed! Agreed!” and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_186">[186]</span> the first contested
+Dogal election Venice had known ended in general satisfaction.</p>
+
+<p>Francesco Foscari was the youngest of the seven candidates for the
+Ducal Throne, aged just fifty-one. He came of a notable family and his
+forebears had rendered yeoman service to the Serene Republic. They
+belonged to Maestre but migrated to Rivoalto in the ninth century:
+the Foscarini were a branch of the same family. Equal in rank to the
+Mocenighi, Vernieri, and Malipieri, who had given Doges to Venice, they
+reckoned many warriors and statesmen in their generations.</p>
+
+<p>The new Doge was born in 1373: his father was Messir Nicolo Foscari
+and he had two brothers—Donato and Marco. It was said they were
+in somewhat straitened circumstances and lived away from Venice to
+economise. Francesco however threw himself into political controversy
+and obtained several important posts under Government: in 1407 he was
+named chief of the “Forty.”</p>
+
+<p>When a very young man, in 1395, he married Donna Maria, daughter
+of Messir Andrea Priuli dal Banco: she bore him several sons and
+daughters, but she died somewhere about the year 1414. Very little
+has been recorded of her but Palazzi, who refers to the famous pack
+of playing-cards at the Museo Civico with effigies of the earliest
+Dogaressas reads upon the “Knave of Clubs”:—“The first wife of
+Francesco Foscari, Doge of Venice, who whilst she was assisting at
+the Coronation of the Dogaressa (Agnese Cappello) narrowly escaped
+a thunderbolt which<span class="pagenum" id="Page_187">[187]</span> fell from heaven, but heaven never hurts the
+guiltless.”</p>
+
+<p>Messir Francesco Foscari’s young family needed a second mother and he
+another helpmeet, accordingly, in 1415, wedding-bells again rang in a
+new bride at the Casa Foscari. Donna Marina was the eldest daughter of
+Messir Bartolommeo Nani a member of a family in the same category as
+the Foscari. She became the mother of four sons and five daughters, but
+most mysteriously they all died of the plague in 1425 and 1427, except
+the second boy—Giacomo.</p>
+
+<p>When his election was completed the new Doge determined that
+nothing should be wanting to prove his nobility and the financial
+resources at his command. At the same time the Lords of the Council,
+knowing their man perfectly, added three new conditions to the
+<i>Promissione</i>:—1st. The Doge was required to fund all his private
+property with a reserve of twenty thousand gold ducats invested in
+silver plate; 2nd. Each of the State servants was to receive from the
+Doge two livery-suits per annum; and 3rd. His effigy and that of the
+Dogaressa were not to appear upon the new coinage.</p>
+
+<p>Her Serenity Dogaressa Marina Nani-Foscari made her Entry into Venice
+and went to her Coronation attended by the most imposing procession
+ever marshalled for the purpose. Her supporters were the Marquises of
+Mantua and Ferrara, and among her train-bearers were scions of the
+noble houses of Padua, Vicenza, Treviso, and Friuli,—it was a regal
+pageant. The new <i>Sala del Gran Consiglio</i> within the Ducal
+Palace,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_188">[188]</span> with all its wealth of painting, gilding, carving, tapestry
+and mosaic in all its fresh and unsullied glory—“the most magnificent
+room in Europe,”—was opened by the Dogaressa that she might be crowned
+therein with the minor jewelled <i>Corno</i>.</p>
+
+<p>All Sovereigns and States gazed at Venice with amazement—at the moment
+the supreme power of the world, the most splendid court on earth,
+and the shining example of peace, honour and prosperity. Her proud
+neighbour Florence sought her help, and cap in hand, her ambassadors,
+Palla negli Strozzi and Giovanni de’ Medici, knelt humbly before Doge
+Foscari. The King of Poland craved from the Doge and Dogaressa the
+honour of standing sponsors for his heir, and princes from all round
+entered the city in State and were regally entertained. The private
+apartments of their Serenities were crowded with splendid offerings,
+and the Pope bestowed his Pontifical blessing.</p>
+
+<p>A dark side there was however to this glorious panorama. Intercourse
+with the East introduced the seeds of pestilence, and in 1424 and 1427
+cholera raged in every part of fair Venice, sixteen thousand and twenty
+thousand deaths respectively made huge gaps in every family circle.
+The Doge and Dogaressa, indifferent of their own security, mixed
+freely with the stricken sufferers, and, by their efforts, the first
+pest-house in Europe was established upon Santa Marina di Nazaret.
+These dark clouds rolled away at last, and Venice was once more all
+smiles and blushes; but upon the domestic horizon of the Doge’s
+family appeared an evil meteor, small at first but soon to burst in
+overwhelming calamity.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_189">[189]</span></p>
+
+<p>The tragedy of Giacomo Foscari is as well known as any among all the
+affecting stories of Venice. The only survivor of a promising young
+family of fourteen children, Giacomo was the one and only domestic
+joy of his bereaved parents. Upon him they lavished all their
+affection, upon him they fastened all their hopes. Gentle and loving
+in disposition and possessed of talent and ambition, the lad grew to
+manhood petted and pampered, in the artificial environment of the
+Ducal Court. Skilled in all the exercises of the <i>Giostra</i> and
+approved in all the elegancies of the <i>Compagnia della Calza</i>, the
+Doge’s son was the most eligible of all the prospective bridegrooms in
+Venice. He had not long to wait, nor far to look, for his bride. By
+the <i>Promissione</i> of his father he was certainly limited in his
+choice to Venetian maidens but that was of course no bar sinister to
+matrimony, for no damsels were more lovely, more lively than the young
+<i>gentildonne</i> of the Piazza.</p>
+
+<p>Lucrezia Contarini was out and away the most beautiful girl in all the
+gay city of Venice. Her family was one of the very first—“Apostolic,”
+her physical charms were of the healthiest, her mental attainments
+the most exalted: indeed Giacomo and Lucrezia were an ideal couple,
+and nothing but distinction and prosperity were prophesied of their
+auspicious union. Her father gave his daughter a goodly dowry of
+sixteen thousand gold ducats and one thousand more as a loan, and he
+also provided a sumptuous marriage feast. Five palaces still exist to
+prove the influence and high condition of the family. Lucrezia’s home
+was the Palazzo Contarini degli Scrigni,—or Money-chests,—upon the
+Grand<span class="pagenum" id="Page_190">[190]</span> Canal, called so because of the big iron safes full of treasures
+of all kinds it contained.</p>
+
+<p>The marriage was celebrated on 29th January 1441, and the nuptial
+ceremonies and festivities were the most gorgeous ever seen in opulent
+Venice. Upon the morning of the auspicious day Cavaliere Eustachio
+Balbi, Chief of the <i>Compagnia della Calza</i> and Master of the
+Ceremonies, with eighteen young nobles sumptuously attired and
+splendidly mounted,—their horses were caparisoned in silver brocade
+of Alexandria, the most costly known,—assembled at the Balbi Palace
+as the nuptial escort of the bride. With all the pride on earth the
+glittering cavalcade, having crossed the Grand Canal by a bridge of
+boats, curvetted through the narrow <i>calli</i> and deployed upon the
+Piazza, round which they galloped furiously, on their way to salute
+the Doge and Dogaressa awaiting them in the State balcony of the Ducal
+Palace. Then retracing their caracoling steps amid showers of kisses
+and laurel wreaths thrown to and from admiring maidens at every window,
+they recrossed the Canal and drew rein before the Contarini Palace.</p>
+
+<p>Fair Lucrezia, in her flashing bridal-dress of white silk and silver
+tissue and wearing, among many precious jewels, a high golden comb
+set with enormous pearls, awaited her escort at the portal of the
+Palace. She was supported by her sponsors the Procurators of San Marco,
+and attended by sixty young noblewomen garbed in cloth of gold and
+costly lace, each with her golden casket full of white carnations, the
+Contarini emblem, to scatter before the bride.</p>
+
+<p>The lovely procession—a pageant of fair girls<span class="pagenum" id="Page_191">[191]</span> and comely
+youths—moved in stately grace to the Church of San Barnaba hard by,
+where already the Doge and Dogaressa had been received by the clergy
+and escorted to their thrones. Giacomo Foscari, the bridegroom, with
+his supporters,—men of his house and young nobles of the Council,—all
+in superb costumes, stood before the altar. He and his bride, her hand
+in his, knelt in the centre of the prostrate congregation whilst the
+nuptial Mass was sung.</p>
+
+<p>Venetian weddings were the most magnificent in Europe, for the
+citizens’ nuptials were as splendid as Royal marriages. There was a
+strange blending of Orient mysticism and romance with the Western
+spirit of progress and reality. One very quaint custom was the visit
+of the bridegroom-elect and his best men to the house of the bride,
+upon the eve of the marriage morn. Every door was barred, every window
+and jalousie closed, save one far up the wall. A crazy ladder, all too
+short, was left at hand, scaling which, with a fall or two assured, the
+venturesome youth attained the open window-sill. Inside the house every
+door was shut, but, running down the stairs, the young fellow drew back
+the bolts of the great door and admitted his friends. Then, every room
+door flew open, and, headed by the father and mother of the girl, the
+family and the guests entered the reception-room. Bearing in his hand
+a leg of mutton the happy groom approached the father, and, offering
+it to him, said:—“See, your Excellency, take this bit of dead meat in
+exchange for a bit which is alive, namely your daughter.” The happy
+couple then knelt and received the parental<span class="pagenum" id="Page_192">[192]</span> blessing: a banquet and a
+dance followed in due order.</p>
+
+<p>Whether Giacomo Foscari went through all these old-world and
+traditional observances we know not, but, after the nuptial Mass, the
+Doge and Dogaressa returned to the Ducal Palace where a noble banquet
+was spread before the Lords of the Council, the foreign ambassadors,
+and the nobles of the Court and City. Meanwhile the “<i>Bucintoro</i>”
+was steered in front of the Contarini Palace,—with many attendant
+boats, both great and small, all gaily decked with banners and wedding
+favours,—to convey the bride and bridegroom to the presence of their
+Serenities. One hundred and fifty damsels of noble birth, all in festal
+white and richly jewelled, with as many stylish young companions of
+<i>La Calza</i>, accompanied the happy couple. At the Piazzetta an
+equal company of the beautiful and the brave was in attendance to
+escort the water-pageant into the Ducal Palace, and there, at the head
+of the Great Staircase, the Doge and Dogaressa, in robes of State and
+surrounded by the great officers of the Court, gave an affectionate
+and dignified greeting to their son and daughter. A grand ball was
+given and a rich collation and the night was far spent before the
+happy, weary guests found their link-lighted way to their brilliantly
+illuminated gondolas, and so home and to bed.</p>
+
+<p>Lucrezia Contarini-Foscari’s trousseau was superb:—A robe of cloth
+of gold and crimson velvet, lined with squirrel, and a train of white
+satin brocade two yards long; a robe of cloth of gold and peacock blue
+satin, the deep sleeves lined with ermine; a robe of cloth of gold and
+green <span class="pagenum" id="Page_193">[193]</span>brocade with open sleeves of fine lace; and a fourth robe
+of cloth of gold and yellow damask lined with ermine:—the four cost
+Messir Contarini two thousand gold ducats!</p>
+
+  <div class="figcenter" id="i_192fp">
+    <img
+    class="p1"   
+    src="images/i_192fp.jpg"
+     alt="">
+     <p class="p0 sm center">A MARRIAGE RECEPTION.</p>
+     <p class="p0 xs center">FROM AN ENGRAVING AFTER TEODORO BERNARDO.</p>
+     <p class="p0 xs center">NATIONAL LIBRARY, PARIS.</p>
+  </div>
+
+<p>Accompanying these were four magnificent jewels for the hair with high
+combs—one of rubies, another of emeralds, a third of diamonds and
+the fourth, a huge Balax ruby—the four were valued at three thousand
+eight hundred gold ducats. Fortunate Lucrezia’s coffer of jewels also
+contained a necklace of diamonds and pearls, which had belonged to the
+unfortunate Queen of Cyprus, Caterina Conaro; a superb shoulder strap
+of diamonds and pearls en suite, and a range of gem rings—four of
+large rubies, worth two thousand gold ducats. The rest of the trousseau
+would require pages to enumerate, anyhow the bride of Giacomo Foscari
+entered the palace,—purchased by his father, the Doge in 1428 from
+the Giustiniani for twenty thousand gold ducats,—with four immense
+<i>cassoni</i> full of valuables!</p>
+
+<p>Everything about the young couple promised human happiness of the
+highest and the best, and all went well with Giacomo and Lucrezia
+Foscari until, in the very midst of their gaiety and fame, a crushing
+calamity befell them with a suddenness and an awfulness unspeakable. In
+1445 Giacomo was accused before the Council of Ten of receiving bribes,
+not only from men in Venice who sought social and political gains, but
+also from Duke Filippo Maria Visconti of Milan—the best hated and
+most feared of all the foreign sovereigns. This situation was created
+by the extravagance of the young couple, but surely every excuse was
+admissible:<span class="pagenum" id="Page_194">[194]</span> he, the petted child of parents who denied him nothing,
+and she, whose head was turned by her almost fabulously wealthy
+marriage. They were in heavy debt and how to meet their liabilities
+(they dared not consult their parents) was the question.</p>
+
+<p>On the 15th of February, a <i>Zenta</i> or Commission, appointed to
+examine into the charges, and Giacomo showed at once the weakness
+of his character and of his case by precipitate flight to Trieste.
+His chief accuser was the very Pietro Loredano who had lost the
+<i>dogado</i> to Francesco Foscari and had sworn to be avenged for his
+defeat. It was a stunning blow to the old Doge and Dogaressa but they
+maintained their dignity with the highest fortitude in face of the
+declaration of the <i>Zenta</i>:—“Considering the base, disgraceful,
+and abominable, excesses committed by Giacomo Foscari, son of our Lord
+the Doge, against the honour and dignity of our State and Government,
+it is resolved that he be condemned to exile, and the confiscation of
+his goods in default.”</p>
+
+<p>In vain the broken-hearted Dogaressa pleaded for her son,—her
+only living child, but stern duty was the master of those Venetian
+councillors, of human sympathy they had little, and the Doge forced
+himself to side with them against his boy,—an heroic figure,
+externally impassive inwardly a wreck. Other charges were preferred
+against the absent Giacomo,—murder or accessory thereto included.
+He was brought back to Venice to be tortured into a confession of
+crimes of which he was wholly innocent, and then banished for life
+to Candia. He made a last and painful appeal to his<span class="pagenum" id="Page_195">[195]</span> father, but the
+broken-hearted old man spoke firmly in the bitterness of his soul.
+“Go,” said he, “my son, my dearly loved son, go, and obey the commands
+of your country and seek nothing more.”</p>
+
+<p>As a last favour, however, his mother the Dogaressa, and his wife,
+Lucrezia with her two little children were allowed to bid him
+farewell in the Torricelli prison within the Ducal Palace. Never
+was there a more affecting scene; poor Giacomo’s mutilated body and
+distorted features terrified them, and both mother and wife were borne
+fainting away. The wretched man sailed away to his place of exile,
+but he survived his arrival only a few short months. Death was a
+friend-in-need, and yet he had not needed to die so young, if Pietro
+Loredano had not again interfered to delay the free pardon granted in
+1457.</p>
+
+<p>This Loredano was a devil in disguise; he even protested that the
+sobs and tears and lamentations of the afflicted Doge and Dogaressa
+indicated imbecility and unfitness for office, and he urged upon the
+“Ten” the risk they ran of his Serenity summoning the “Forty” and
+haling them for their harshness and barbarity before the Greater
+Council. In a panic they hastened to demand the abdication of the Doge.
+The Dogaressa sought the detractor of her husband and appealed to
+him for pity, but he pushed her away and scandalously accused her of
+unfaithfulness as spouse and of treason as Dogaressa!</p>
+
+<p>When acquainted with the decree of the “Ten” the grand old man bowed
+his proud white head, and with dignity exclaimed:—“I never for a
+moment<span class="pagenum" id="Page_196">[196]</span> thought that my old age would prove injurious to Venice but
+I yield to the decision of the Council” and then with full meaning
+he addressed to Pietro Loredano who had the effrontery to be one of
+those to convey the sentence of deprivation, he added, “Your malice
+has driven me from the eminence to which I have been raised and which
+I have maintained unsullied for thirty years.” Loredano made no reply
+but upon that day’s page in his <i>priorista</i> or diary, he wrote in
+a crabbed hand “<i>’L ’la pagati</i>,”—“He has paid his debt.”</p>
+
+<p>On 24th October 1457 the brave and noble old Doge and the faithful
+and virtuous Dogaressa Marina bade farewell to the Ducal Palace and
+sought the seclusion of their own palace at San Pantaleone. “Now,” said
+he, “we shall have peace in our old age if no joy.” A pension of two
+thousand gold ducats was accorded to the ex-Doge. All this brutality
+and haste was apparently kept from the knowledge of the people with
+whom the Doge and Dogaressa were highly popular, but directly the
+facts became known a revolution was threatened and matters became so
+serious that the “Forty” decreed that no man should name “the affair of
+Francesco Foscari under pain of instant death.”</p>
+
+<p>Francesco Foscari was a “Grand” Doge with respect to the length and
+distinction of his reign, and also with respect to the dignity with
+which he met and bore his heavy trials. Still in his time Venice lost
+her foreign possessions and her fame as the greatest of European naval
+powers. Too much attention was given to trivial matters of domestic
+policy and too little to the imperial demands of a strong navy and a
+forceful foreign policy.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_197">[197]</span></p>
+
+
+<h3>III</h3>
+
+<p>The long <i>dogado</i> of Francesco Foscari,—thirty-four years, the
+most extended of any in the whole range of the one hundred and twenty
+Chief of Magistrates of Venice,—in a sort of way paralysed the life of
+the Court and the action of the Government. Doge Francesco abdicated
+at the advanced age of eighty-four, and his <i>entourage</i> and that
+of the Dogaressa had grown old as well:—she was seventy-two. Youth,
+beauty and gaiety at home were at a discount and the maintenance of
+the naval and military services abroad were inefficient and decadent.
+The times were worn out, and what enthusiasm remained in the hearts of
+nobles and citizens went out to other men and other measures.</p>
+
+<p>The advent of Doge Pasquale Malipiero was hailed with a feeling of
+relief and a spirit of hopefulness. He was a man of gentle disposition
+and noted for the consideration and urbanity of his character. He
+was most scrupulous not in any way to derogate from the high esteem
+accorded to his predecessor, nor to wound the susceptibilities of the
+Dogaressa.</p>
+
+<p>Two days after his abdication Francesco Foscari died of a broken heart
+and Doge Malipiero was the first to offer Dogaressa Marina sympathy and
+assistance. The State decreed a public funeral but she emphatically
+refused to surrender the dead body of her husband. “No,” she said,
+“posthumous honours are a mockery after official injustice; I will bury
+my dead how and where I like.” Her strong and unforgiving attitude is
+recorded by the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_198">[198]</span> pack of Playing-Cards, so often referred to in this
+volume, upon the “Eight of Swords”:—“Nani, the second wife of Doge
+Foscari, determined to vindicate the fair fame of her husband, by
+burying him at her own expense and not at that of the State. Nothing is
+more fierce than offended innocence.”</p>
+
+<p>The Council of Ten expostulated with her and declared that, if she
+refused the order of burial, her husband’s corpse would be taken away
+by force. It was perfectly well understood however that this peremptory
+action was influenced by abject fear of the consequences to the Lordly
+Councillors should full State funeral rites not be accorded to the
+remains of the beloved old Doge.</p>
+
+<p>At length the Dogaressa yielded reluctantly but positively declined
+to follow the usual custom and appear as chief mourner. A pompous
+procession bore from the Foscari Palace to the “<i>Bucintoro</i>” the
+dead ruler’s earthly casket which was steered through kneeling weeping
+crowds afloat and on <i>rive</i> to the Piazzetta and thence into the
+choir of San Marco. The great bell of the basilica,—which had scarcely
+ceased its clear, crisp emphatic clang announcing the succession of
+the new Doge,—gave forth slow and muffled tones. In the middle of the
+Piazza a halt was called and Messir Bernardo Giustiniani, the oldest
+noble, holding aloft the sword of the deceased Doge pronounced a
+funeral oration.</p>
+
+<p>Upon the bier rested the jewelled <i>Corno</i> and the Ducal State
+robes which Pasquale Malipiero had so sympathetically laid aside whilst
+he walked bare-headed immediately behind, clad in the purple of a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_199">[199]</span>
+simple Lord of the Council. After the <i>Requiem</i> the procession
+re-formed, and, with the casket under its pall of cloth of gold
+placed under the Ducal canopy, the “<i>Bucintoro</i>” carried all
+that remained of Doge Francesco Foscari in stately silence to his
+last resting-place before the High Altar of the Church of Santa Maria
+Gloriosa de’ Frari.</p>
+
+<p>The following day the new Doge re-assumed the regalia of his office
+and helped to prepare his Consort for her State Entry and Coronation.
+In 1414 he had married the woman he loved,—Donna Giovanna,—daughter
+of Messir Antonio Dandolo, above himself in station, for the Malipieri
+were of an inferior grade of nobility to the “Apostolic” Dandoli.
+26th January, 1457–1458, was the auspicious day chosen for the
+Dogaressa’s ceremonial. The funereal cloths which had swathed the
+“<i>Bucintoro</i>” were rent away and banners,—blazoned in gold and
+colours,—and great swaying garlands of greenery transformed the
+noble vessel into a gorgeous Argosy which, with the Dogaressa and her
+attendant ladies and many maids of honour on board, swept gracefully
+down the Grand Canal.</p>
+
+<p>The ritual of the inauguration rites was similar to that arranged for
+the Dogaressa Marina Galina-Steno, but the new First Lady of Venice
+managed to project quite a personal feature into the proceedings.
+As the patroness in particular of the printing-press and of the
+lace-cushion and of the respective craftsmen and craftswomen these
+two guilds were specially honoured. Palazzi, in “<i>La Virtu in
+Giuocco</i>” records that Dogaressa Giovanna was “a princess of
+splendid physical and mental gifts but possessed of no private fortune”
+... in 1469 Giovanni<span class="pagenum" id="Page_200">[200]</span> Spira dedicated to her the first book ever
+printed in Venice—“<i>Epistolæ ad Familiares</i>” of Cicero.</p>
+
+<p>In that quaint pack of Playing-cards at the Museo Civico, the “Knight
+(King) of Swords” bears an eulogy of Dogaressa Giovanna with a
+wood-cut of a printing-office, and the following inscription:—“The
+Art of Printing was introduced in Venice by the Dogaressa
+Dandolo-Malipiero—the Press has made the name Dandolo immortal.”</p>
+
+<p>This is perhaps a piece of special pleading but, inasmuch as Dogaressa
+Giovanna Dandolo-Malipiero was a woman of culture and the friend of
+men of letters, her patronage of the earliest printers undoubtedly
+gave the premier place to Venice in the history of printing. Missals,
+Service-books and other books, used in the churches, were printed from
+wooden blocks as early as 1441 by unknown craftsmen. With Giovanni
+da Spira (of Speyer) came to Venice his brother Wendelin, and they
+were joined by a French engraver of coins,—Nicolo Jenson of Tours,
+who turned his attention to cutting wooden letters and making wooden
+blocks. Their family of pupils and followers, between 1470–1500,
+numbered no fewer than one hundred and fifty-five printers of note.
+Of early books printed in Venice, four were produced in 1469,—all
+with grateful allusions to the Dogaressa,—sixteen in 1479, and
+ninety-eight in 1489:—they were chiefly Classics, Bibles, and Morals.
+In 1480 appeared the first illustrated book the world had seen in print
+“<i>Hypnerotomachia</i>”—“The Dream of Love.” Venice thenceforward
+became and, remained for two hundred years, the greatest of all centres
+for books, printers, and publishers.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_201">[201]</span></p>
+
+<p>As the patroness of Venetian lace-workers Dogaressa Giovanna
+Dandolo-Malipiero made for herself unquestionable renown. She knew,
+of course, by heart the fascinating story of Bella di Giovan d’Isola
+di San Giorgio in Alga, and probably she was herself a skilful artist
+in the exquisite craft. Burano was the earliest metropolis of the
+<i>Merletti a Piombini</i>—the offspring of fine thread and beaded
+bobbins,—and the “<i>Buranelle</i>,” or lace girls of Burano were
+as famous then as now for their manipulative talent. The gracious
+Dogaressa gathered around her a number of young gentlewomen and
+encouraged them to twist and knot the delicate threads. Perhaps they
+called to mind the tradition of the heroines of Aquileia, for the early
+Burano lace is as fine and as strong as the interlaced locks of hair,
+which made such stout hawsers for the catapults in that famous siege.</p>
+
+<p>Just as the bewitching Bella was inspired to imitate a beautiful
+piece of coral seaweed so the clever lace-workers of Burano went to
+Nature for their models. Already, in the fourteenth century, they
+had noted the swirling whirlpools of the gondolier’s pole and the
+rippling eddies of the tide on the steps of the <i>rivi</i>; and had
+observed the rolling clouds above their heads and the distant indented
+Dolomites beyond the Lagune; and had produced their <i>opus araneum</i>
+or <i>punto-in-aria</i>,—openwork. Then followed quite naturally,
+imitations of moving objects around them—the sailors, the cordage, and
+the nets of fishing vessels, with bits of flotsam and jetsam, shells,
+seaweed and fish scales, evolving <i>punto-a-reticelli</i>,—network.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_202">[202]</span></p>
+
+<p>Very easily foliage and flowers of Venetian gardens prompted lace
+ideas; hence we have <i>punto-a-folgiami</i>,—spraywork. Next, fish
+in ships’ holds or in crystal bowls, birds on wing and insects,
+appeared in twisted thread as <i>punto-a-groppo</i>,—raised work;
+and fabled animals, domestic pets, and arabesques formed another
+range of subjects,—<i>punto-a-maglia</i>,—figure work. Effigies
+in Church, people on Piazza, faces on the Rialto, and many other
+human models came out of leaded bobbins as <i>punto-a-quadra</i> and
+<i>punto-a-burato</i>,—portrait work, and so forth.</p>
+
+<p>Dogaressa Giovanna must have been a woman of marked erudition and
+consummate taste to combine two such dissimilar avocations as printing
+and lace-making in her heart’s interest. Her patronage of Burano and
+its craft directly interested the votaries of fashion everywhere, and
+the women of all lands should ever hold her in high estimation. Burano
+became the mother of Honiton, of Valenciennes and Alençon, of Mechlin
+and Brussels, and the delicate meshes of her lace-work have enriched
+woman’s realm with the most decorative attribute it possesses.</p>
+
+<p>Doge Pasquale Malipiero died in 1462 and was buried in the great church
+of SS. Giovanni e Paolo, in the left aisle, where his Florentine
+sarcophagus may still be seen. With him was laid all that remained
+of noble Dogaressa Giovanna, but the date of her death is not
+recorded—“Giovanna, the Queen of Lace, the Empress of Printing.” In
+the Museo Civico is a medal which has, on the obverse, the bust of
+Doge Malipiero, and on the reverse that of Dogaressa Giovanna, with
+the legend:—“<i>Inclite Johanne ...<span class="pagenum" id="Page_203">[203]</span> Alme ... Urbis ... Venatiar ...
+Ducise</i>.” She wears the <i>Corno</i> with an ample coif or veil
+which hides somewhat the marks of age: the face is thin, the cheeks
+hollow, the forehead high, and the eyes somewhat sunken. The medal
+is very delicately chiselled and is said to have been the work of
+Pietro Guidizzaro,—a noted medallist of the fifteenth century. In the
+Berlin Museum is another medal with a similarly incised portrait of
+Dogaressa Giovanna, but in place of that of the Doge, her husband, are
+represented two beauteous Venetian maidens,—representing “Printing”
+and “Lace-making,”—with the legend:—“<i>Vincit ... Honia ... Bona ...
+Volontas</i>.”</p>
+
+<p>Cristoforo Moro and his Consort Cristina Sanudo mounted the Dogal
+throne in 1462. He was an ill-conditioned sort of man, very
+parsimonious but in a way very devout, and as we say now, an advocate
+of “peace at any price.” His personal appearance was hardly in his
+favour,—for he was short of stature, very stout, and his features were
+marred by a decided squint. The Mori belonged to the least honourable
+grade of nobility, having purchased their title after the war in Candia
+for one hundred thousand gold ducats. They also bought the Palazzo
+Lin, the property of an extinct Venetian family upon the Grand Canal,
+and henceforth gave themselves all the airs and graces of hereditary
+nobles. Their good conceit of themselves was quite effective and quite
+in the order of Venetian social convention.</p>
+
+<p>The Dogaressa Cristina was the daughter of Messir Lionardo Sanudo
+and Madonna Barbara Memo his wife; her marriage was celebrated in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_204">[204]</span>
+1412. Once more the Venetians had the spectacle of a patriarchal
+couple installed in the Ducal Palace. Notwithstanding her age the new
+Dogaressa went through all the ceremonies of her Entry and Coronation
+with dignity and charm. “She was a woman,” Marino Sanudo, her nephew
+the historian says, “of a remarkably gentle disposition and held in
+reverence for her works of charity.”</p>
+
+<p>Palazzi wrote of her in his “<i>Fasti Ducales</i>” that “she was an
+example to other gentlewomen in her care of the poor.” Upon the “Knave
+of Swords” in the pack of Cards at the Museo Civico is the following
+inscription:—“Sanuta, wife of Cristoforo Moro, Doge of Venice, raised
+her voice to Heaven only for the good of the people, the gift of
+Heaven, and the Seal of justice.”</p>
+
+<p>A few notable events occurred during the reign of Doge Cristoforo
+Moro. His <i>Promissione</i>, like its forerunners, cut down the
+Ducal prerogatives and also severed the last strand of the coil which
+feebly held the rights of the people. The title of the Republic
+passed from “<i>Comune Venetiarum</i>” to “<i>Dominium</i>, or
+<i>Signoria Venetiarum</i>.” War with Friuli broke out afresh and the
+Doge shrank from the responsibilities of leadership until twitted
+by <i>Condottiere</i> Vettor Cappello:—“Have,” said he, “my lord
+less care for thy skin and more for thine honour!” The Venetians had
+gradually lapsed into a state of false security: their fame on land
+and sea made them confident that Venetian supremacy was assured.
+No new battleships were laid down and the manning and armament of
+the fleet were neglected until, in 1469, the “Mistress of the Seas”
+received a stunning awakening—the Turks<span class="pagenum" id="Page_205">[205]</span> wrested from her for ever her
+superiority afloat.</p>
+
+<p>In the world of craft and fashion Dogaressa Cristina was the
+recognised patroness and leader, but skill and beauty yielded to
+cheapness and frivolity. She set her face against the introduction
+of foreign-made goods and insisted upon the craftsmen improving both
+the materials and the manner of their industries. The Church, in the
+person of Frate Mauro Lapi, of the Frari monastery, appealed to her
+to redress the effeminacy of young courtiers in the wearing of long
+hair—“<i>capiliaturas nimis longas al faciunt mulieres</i>.”</p>
+
+<p>Both the Doge and Dogaressa were much occupied in arranging and
+furnishing the newly completed private apartments in the Ducal Palace.
+Whilst superintending this undertaking, and assigning positions for
+the almost numberless “Spoils of Venice,” taken by her Doges, after
+their victories afloat and ashore, Dogaressa Cristina was called upon
+in 1471, to resign her lifelong partner and to go into retirement. Year
+after year spent its slow course and at last no one remembered the
+gracious <i>Signora</i> when, in 1533, Martino Sanudo came to make his
+will. “I bequeath” he wrote, “to the Church of Messir San Sebastiano
+a very venerable relic—a bone of the Saint which belonged to my Aunt
+Sanuta Moro, and which she had religiously preserved by way of a charm
+against the plague.” This sacred benefaction demonstrated the piety
+of the old Dogaressa, as, by her will, executed in January 1471, she
+proved her charity.</p>
+
+<p>To the clergy of the monastery of San Giobbe Dogaressa Cristina
+assigned a goodly benefaction to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_206">[206]</span> provide Masses for the repose of
+her own soul, her husband’s—the Doge and her father’s, mother’s, and
+her brothers’. The building of this church was due to the Doge and
+Dogaressa: in the choir is his tomb bearing the sculptured recognisance
+of his family—the <i>Moro</i>—mulberry, and over the door of the
+Sacristy is his portrait. Perhaps the natural modesty of the Dogaressa
+forbade hers, as a pendant, but her patron Saint San Bernardino da
+Siena stands as a statuette along with Sant’ Antonio da Padua and San
+Giobbe—the patrons of the Doge.</p>
+
+<p>Doge Nicolo Tron (1471–1473) was a very different sort of man from
+his predecessor, both in appearance and in character. Tall and
+extremely handsome, an athlete in form and practice, he had however
+two unpleasing idiosyncrasies—a repulsive expression and a stuttering
+tongue. He was not a man of good family, but what he lacked in heredity
+he more than made up in wealth. When a young man he settled in
+Rhodes,—a land of gold in that day—and acquired by his industry and
+profitable speculations an immense fortune,—said to be at least one
+hundred thousand gold ducats.</p>
+
+<p>In 1424 he married Aliodea, daughter of Messir Silvestro Morosini of
+the <i>sestiere</i> of Santa Giustina, a significant union of rank and
+money and a new phase in Venetian matters matrimonial. Ambitious to
+prove to his fellow-citizens and the proud nobles his worthiness and
+opulence the new Doge departed from the ordinary festive arrangements
+of the <i>Fragilie</i>, and himself spread the banquet for them in
+honour of his Consort. Every attribute of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_207">[207]</span> dignity, every emblem
+of sovereignty, and every decorative feature of the installation
+ceremonies, were mounted upon a magnificent scale. The robes of State
+were the richest ever worn by Doge and Dogaressa, and right nobly, we
+may be sure, the Serene couple bore themselves. If he was handsome she
+was beautiful—all the Morosinis were—a trait which never failed in
+that splendid family.</p>
+
+<p>The Palazzo Tron, on the Grand Canal, was most extravagantly furnished,
+the decoration of one room alone with marble, sculptures, carved wood,
+gilding, and rare glass cost more than two thousand gold ducats.</p>
+
+<p>Aliodea Morosini-Tron was the most attractive, and the best dressed
+gentlewoman in Venice. Palazzi goes into ecstasies over her
+fascinations, and he makes delightful play with her popular name “Dea.”
+“Dea” he says, “corresponds with ‘love’ and ‘beauty’ and such were the
+characteristics of the Princess who was truly and indeed the ‘Venus
+of the Century.’” Once more the old pack of Playing-cards sets forth
+the Dogaressas virtues:—The “Knave of Coins” (Diamonds) has:—“Dea
+Morosini, wife of Nicolo Tron, Doge of Venice, a most religious
+Princess, her humility caused her to choose a private burial—<i>Dea
+se a Dio</i>.” She gave her husband two children, both boys, the
+elder Giacomo became Procurator of San Marco, and the younger,—a
+soldier,—fell at the terrible battle of Negroponte.</p>
+
+<p>Doge Tron died in 1473 and was buried in the church of Santa Maria
+Gloriosa de’ Frari under a huge monument by the High Altar. He was the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_208">[208]</span>
+last Doge of Venice whose effigy was stamped upon the coinage of the
+Republic. His was a very prosperous <i>dogado</i>, and the decline of
+Venice was for a brief space stayed. Victories in the East led to the
+acquisition of Smyrna, and the littoral of Asia Minor. Cyprus too came
+under the banner of San Marco.</p>
+
+<p>Of Dogaressa “Dea’s” good works and influences we seem to have
+no records, save what her epitaph recites upon her simple last
+resting-place at San Giobbe:—“<i>Deæ rariss. mulieris illustriss. Dom
+Nicolai Throni inclyti Ducis Venetiarum, Conjugis, humili hoc in loco
+Corpus jussu tuo conditum est, animan vero ejus propter vitæ virtutum
+et morum sanctitatem ad cœlestem patriam advolasse credemdum est.</i>
+Ann. Salutis MCCCCLXXVIII.” She survived her husband just five years
+and probably kept her cell in the fervour of devotion at the convent of
+San Giobbe, far, far away from the madding crowd.</p>
+
+  <div class="figcenter" id="i_208afp">
+    <img
+    class="p1"   
+    src="images/i_208afp.jpg"
+     alt="">
+     <p class="p0 sm center">COURTESAN AT HER TOILET.</p>
+     <p class="p0 xs center">FROM A PRINT. 1560.</p>
+     <p class="p0 sm center">“Habiti d’Huomini e Donne.”—G. Franco.</p>
+  </div>
+
+  <div class="figcenter" id="i_208bfp">
+    <img
+    class="p1"   
+    src="images/i_208bfp.jpg"
+     alt="">
+     <p class="p0 sm center">A CHARMING COIFFURE.</p>
+     <p class="p0 sm center">(The hair falls full at the back).</p>
+     <p class="p0 xs center">FROM A PRINT. 1610.</p>
+     <p class="p0 sm center">“Habiti Delle Donne.”—G. Franco.</p>
+  </div>
+
+<p>There is an apocryphal story affecting Doge Nicolo Tron namely that
+he was twice married, first to Donna Laura Nogarola, daughter of
+Messir Lionardo Nogarola of Verona, and sister of the celebrated
+Isotta,—famed as a writer of interesting letters and as a profound
+classical scholar. Madonna Laura herself was conspicuous for her
+beauty of person, her devout disposition, her charm of manner, and her
+erudition. It is a moot point with historians whether Messir Nicolo
+Tron divorced the illustrious Laura before he married the divine Dea,
+or whether after all the former fair gentlewoman was not the wife of
+Messir Cristoforo Pellegrino Ambassador from Verona <span class="pagenum" id="Page_209">[209]</span>to Venice during
+the <i>dogado</i> of Doge Nicolo Tron. A third supposition refers to
+the handsome and wealthy Doge’s adventures in the regions of Platonic
+affection, but of this only surmise is possible—facts are wanting, and
+here comes romance!</p>
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_210">[210]</span></p>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER VI</h2>
+</div>
+
+
+<h3>I</h3>
+
+<p>The Gardens of Venice!</p>
+
+<p>—“<i>Veri paradisi terrestri, per la vaghezza dell’aiere e del sito
+lioghi di ninfe e di semedei!</i>”—in an ecstasy of delight wrote
+Andrea Calmo, in one of his characteristic “<i>Lettere</i>.” He was
+not the first by any means who had felt the gentle influence of those
+earthly bits of Paradise, for an observant monk, Frate Felice Faber,
+of Ulm, goes into raptures, in his “<i>Evagatorium Terræ Sanctæ</i>,”
+over the roof-gardens he beheld in 1457, as he passed through Venice
+on his pilgrimage to the Holy Sepulchre. “Full of aromatic trees and
+perfumed blossoms,” he wrote, “nothing can be more wonderful, nothing
+more delicious.”</p>
+
+<p>From the very first foundations of the <i>campi</i> and
+<i>fondamenti</i> gardens had been the chief home-joy of all the
+dwellers in the lagunes; a sweet-smelling flowering-plant was as
+acceptable to them as a piece of bread and cheese. Spread over all the
+<i>sestieri</i>, chequer-like, they added immeasurably to the amenities
+of the city. Time had grown the sapling into a shady tree, the sprig
+into a blossoming bush. Upon the Giudecca, gardens,—“<i>delicati
+e rari</i>,” belonged to the Bandoli, Conari, Barbari, Gradenighi,
+Mocenighi, Vendramini, and Gritti. At Villa Catteneo was the loveliest
+of them, all<span class="pagenum" id="Page_211">[211]</span> built up with rockeries, splashed by fountains, and
+running over with roses, lilies and carnations.</p>
+
+<p>At Murano were the most famous of all Venetian gardens. Sixteen
+sumptuous Villa-Palaces sprang up like magic upon that sandy sea-shore,
+and, still more wonderful, the magician’s wand brought forth from
+alluvial sea-wash, hanging gardens and terraced orchards fairer far
+than ever were those of Babylon.</p>
+
+<p>Afternoon and evening, fleets of gondolas cut through the murky water,
+full of visitors bent on pleasure, or to view the splendid frescoes at
+Villa Mocenigo and the glorious statuary at Villa Trevisan.</p>
+
+<p>Every islet had its garden-patch, every family spent half at least
+of each day’s playing-hours <i>al fresco</i>: everybody was wise in
+Nature’s laws, and inspired romance and poetry amid the lights and
+shadows of the greenery, in the music and the measure of the rustling
+leaves, and from the delicious air perfumed by fragrant blossoms.</p>
+
+<p>To realise something of what those <i>villa</i> and <i>casa</i> gardens
+were like, one must traverse sea and land to bonny Baveno, and there
+tell the affable boatman to steer his course to “<i>Il Palazzo</i>.”
+There, resting upon the azurine-green bosom of beauteous Lago Maggiore,
+is a palace like unto a jewelled crown, a garden like fabled Eden,
+all built and laid out, doubtless, by garden artists from Venice and
+Murano. Upon that delectable spot are gathered all the loveliest things
+of Nature’s second kingdom;—so it was at Murano what time Pietro Bembo
+walked and thought and talked, leading the muses<span class="pagenum" id="Page_212">[212]</span> of the grove and the
+mermaids of the shore in mystic dance and song.</p>
+
+  <div class="poetry-container">
+   <div class="poetry">
+      <div class="stanza">
+        <div class="ileft">“The strange flowers’ perfume turns to singing,</div>
+        <div>Heard afar, o’er brightest moonlit seas</div>
+        <div>The Syrens’ song, grown faint in ringing,</div>
+        <div>Falls in sweet odours on dancing trees.”</div>
+      </div>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+
+<p>Alas, where men of letters and women of fashion once forgathered in
+sumptuary and sympathetic symposia are wanton weeds and raw rank grass,
+with patches of unpoetic potato and uncultured cabbage. Rag-pickers
+and goat-herds hold unclean orgies where peach and cherry trees were
+wont to scatter scented painted petals upon the heads and breasts of
+those that discoursed philosophy and whispered love. “True love,”
+as the Poet-Laureate declared, “that seeks not only perfect beauty
+but god-like also:” expressing thus, in Venetian terms, the Greek of
+Plato,—“The desire to possess in one perfect union the beloved being
+and the lovely soul.” To kiss the hand and not the lips was the theory
+of those romancists—the reddest features of the human frame, the
+danger-signal of the soul, and so they grimaced and so they postured
+under overhanging boughs of acacia and catalpa. In his “<i>Asolani</i>”
+Bembo sang:—</p>
+
+  <div class="poetry-container">
+   <div class="poetry">
+      <div class="stanza">
+        <div class="ileft">“<i>Vita giojosa e cara</i></div>
+        <div><i>Chi da te non l’impara Amor non ave.</i>”</div>
+      </div>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+
+<p>The children of Murano now offer visitors humble nosegays of sea-pinks
+and flowering flags, but in the springtide of Venetian poetry and
+literature, the orchards were carpeted with hyacinths and anemones,
+violets and scented stocks. The terraces and borders yielded light
+begonias, banksia roses,—red<span class="pagenum" id="Page_213">[213]</span> and yellow,—and carnations of
+many hues, all as brilliant as the painted faces and the tinted
+bosoms of the beauties, who clasped them from the hands of their
+<i>innamorati</i>, to place upon their bare and ample breasts.</p>
+
+<p>Bushes of daphne ordorifica and many another aromatic exotic attracted
+swarms of luminous butterflies, linnets sang in the laurels, and in
+the myrtle, nightingales; but the strings of guitars and the keys of
+flutes, vibrated by the gallants of <i>La Calza</i>, yielded sweeter
+music far. Pergolas were laden with golden grapes and purple, quinces
+struggled with pomegranates to delight sight, smell, and taste. Figs
+vied with oranges, melons with pines in fullness and in flavour.
+Solomon’s gardens poured out no more richly seductive treasures.
+Shadows were cast only by solemn cypress and rocking hollyhocks, but
+through them flashed saffron bees laden with pelf from honeysuckle,
+musk, and lavender.</p>
+
+<p>Men and women, with gay peacocks on the lawn, preened themselves in
+gorgeous costumes, conversed in arboreal arbours of all things high
+and low, tossed salutations where the spray of fountains cast rainbows
+in the scented air, and sang, and danced, and flirted to their hearts’
+content. Not that the gardens of Venice were given up wholly to love
+and romance, for many a venerable Doge and Dogaressa presided at
+feasts of reason, and received the reverences of men of letters and of
+women of culture, who have left their finger-prints upon the pages of
+literature.</p>
+
+<p>If Pietro Bembo was the Poet-Laureate and the leader of the
+literary revels, as great as he, were<span class="pagenum" id="Page_214">[214]</span> Aldo Manuzio and Andrea
+Navagero,—court-printer and courtier-poet. Then Francesco
+Colonna,—lover of “<i>La Polia</i>” and Roman king of
+pageants,—shared with Ermolao Barbaro,—the humorist and the
+satirist,—passionate love of Venice. Lodovico Ariosto and Pietro
+Aretino,—empirics and critics both,—made love also to the Venus of
+the Lagunes, in the new Bohemia of the island gardens. All the poets
+sang of “<i>Venus Physizone</i>,”—“Venus the Fruitful,”—Venice
+sweetheart and wife. Benozzo Gozzoli, the Florentine, painted, in the
+Campo Santo at Pisa, the song and dance of Venice—the <i>Rispetti</i>
+and <i>Ballate</i>,—love ditties of youth, and the <i>Frottole</i>
+and <i>Madrigali</i>—murmurings of adult romance,—movements in
+life-tragedies.</p>
+
+<p>Music, step, and cadence, traditional and patriotic, were the
+actualities of lagune life in the open: for stage, the garden-plot,
+the well-head, the gondola-herse, and the open <i>campi</i>. Refrains,
+piped and warbled, in <i>calli</i> and <i>rive</i>, and, graceful and
+heavy measures stepped there, were carried off to sea in the galleys of
+commerce and of war. Sympathetic language is everything, in expressive
+popularity, and, if cultured Venetians used Latin and Tuscan in
+lecture and conversation, no tongue of any time was so rich in scenes
+of caressing endearment as the common-talk of Venice, no dialect was
+anything like so soft, sensuous, and melodious.</p>
+
+<p>Historians, great and small,—Martino Sanudo and Marcantonio Coccio and
+many another—forgathered in the gardens, and wrote delightful records
+of fascinating and learned women, as well as of bewitching butterflies
+of fashion. Cristina<span class="pagenum" id="Page_215">[215]</span> Pisano, in the fourteenth century, “Mother of
+women writers,” and Cassandra Fedele, in the fifteenth,—“<i>Decus
+Italia</i>,” Angello Poliziano, the Medicean, called her,—were leaders
+in the great Venetian pageant of the Graces and the Liberal Arts.
+Moderata Fonte sang sympathetically the glory on Venetian womanhood:—</p>
+
+  <div class="poetry-container">
+   <div class="poetry">
+      <div class="stanza">
+        <div class="ileft">“<i>S’ornano il ciel le stelle</i></div>
+        <div><i>Ornan le donne il mondo</i></div>
+        <div><i>Con quanto e in lui di bello e di giocondo.</i>”</div>
+      </div>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+
+<p>There were lovely gardens also at Friuli, Asolo, and all along the
+Brenta, where Venetians,—fair and brave, wise and dignified—held
+revels and communings, masked balls and stately receptions.</p>
+
+<p>If you would see and know the <i>Messiri</i> and the <i>belle Donne</i>
+of Venice, in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, you will find them
+resting or disporting themselves in their villas and their gardens.
+There, arrayed in his official crimson velvet robe of semi-State,—you
+will make your reverence to his Serenity the Doge, and, at his side you
+will bend your knee to kiss a gracious Dogaressa’s hand. She has not
+to bear the weight of her stiff State robe of cloth of gold; she is
+in crimson silk, and her fair hair, hardly showing streaks of white,
+is covered with a becoming veil of lace, fixed with great gold and
+jewelled pins. They are the most affable and most approachable noble
+couple in all history, and the younger people are all the gayer for
+their presence, strangers are completely at their ease, noble Lords of
+the Council, dignified matrons, the cultured, the artistic, and the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_216">[216]</span>
+seriously-minded, find pleasure and distinction in their company.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb">
+
+<p>By electing Nicolo Marcello, in succession to Doge Nicolo Tron, in
+1473, the Lords of the Council returned to their traditional usage. He
+was a member of one of the eight considerable families before 1289,
+ranking third in the premier grade of the nobility immediately after
+the “Apostolic” and “Evangelistic” families. He had, however, in the
+eyes of the very select, lowered himself by his marriage in 1427, with
+Donna Bianca Elena, daughter of Messir Francesco Barbarigo, Procurator
+of San Marco, a distinguished member of a family rising rapidly in
+wealth and influence, but only ennobled, with nineteen other families,
+after the Genoese war of Chioggia. Madonna Bianca died, probably of
+plague, two years later, and then Messir Marcello again entered the
+estate of matrimony with Madonna Contarina, widow of Messir Francesco
+Morosini. She was a Contarini, a daughter of one of the most exalted
+and wealthiest families on the Roll of Nobles.</p>
+
+<p>Very little is recorded of either the Doge or Dogaressa, for their
+reign was the shortest of any in the line of Doges of Venice,—less
+than a twelvemonth. There is a very ambiguous notice in “<i>La Storia
+di Venezia</i>,” a manuscript history in the Museo Civico, which states
+that:—“Messir Nicolo Marcello, aged seventy-six, would not allow the
+Dogaressa, his Consort, to enter the Palace.” This of course refers to
+the usual solemn Entry and Coronation, but the why and wherefore are
+not stated, and no amount of surmise will explain the matter.</p>
+
+  <div class="figcenter" id="i_216fp">
+    <img
+    class="p1"   
+    src="images/i_216fp.jpg"
+     alt="">
+     <p class="p0 sm center">A VILLA-GARDEN DANCE ON THE GIUDECCA.</p>
+     <p class="p0 xs center">FROM AN ENGRAVING. 1562.</p>
+     <p class="p0 xs center">MUSEO CIVICO, VENICE.</p>
+  </div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_217">[217]</span></p>
+
+<p>“This Doge,” the manuscript goes on to say, “was a very pompous
+sort of man, and he caused the regalia of his office,—including
+the State umbrella and cushion, which had hitherto been both of
+crimson velvet,—to be made entirely of gold and cloth of gold. He
+had a <i>Corno</i> entirely of gold and jewels, like the crown of an
+independent Sovereign, and he added, to the State robe of cloth of
+gold, a costly tippet of ermine, fastened down the front with solid
+gold clasps and buttons.” His ordinary dress was scarlet, but at State
+functions and in Council he wore white or cloth of silver under the
+State robes.</p>
+
+<p>In his will, executed on 24th July 1473, the Doge made some recompense
+to his spouse for the denial of dignity. “To my dearly-loved Consort,”
+he deposed, “I leave eighteen hundred gold ducats (her dowry) together
+with two thousand gold ducats. I also bequeath to her the contents
+of my wardrobe, and assign to her, for use during her lifetime, my
+<i>Casa</i>, on the Campo di Santa Marina, together with all my
+equipages, horses, furniture, tapestries, and everything necessary for
+her honourable maintenance as my widow.” Doge Marcello died in January
+1473–1474, and was buried in the ancient, but no longer existent,
+church of Santa Marina. His monument is now in SS. Giovanni e Paolo,
+whither it was removed along with that of Doge Michele Steno. The death
+and burial of Dogaressa Contarina Morosini-Marcello are unrecorded.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>dogado</i> of Pietro Mocenigo (1474–1476), was almost as brief
+as that of his predecessor. He was a veteran leader of the armies of
+the Republic,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_218">[218]</span> fighting for years against the forces of the Turks. His
+monument in SS. Giovanni e Paolo bears the epitaph:—“<i>Ex Hostium
+Manubis</i>,” in recognition of his invaluable services. In life he
+was something of an old-man-in-a-hurry, for his energy was unbounded
+and his love of Venice enthusiastic. The Dogaressa was Donna Laura,
+daughter of Messir Giovanni Zorzi. We look in vain for records of
+his reign and notices of her virtues: all we have is a clause in his
+<i>Promissione</i>, which granted to her and her family, in the event
+of his predemise, the use of the private apartments in the Ducal Palace
+for three months after his death—“so as to avoid unseemly haste.”</p>
+
+<p>Fresh sumptuary laws were passed affecting dress and fashions under
+Dogaressa Laura: she herself, as were all the Dogaressas, was
+expressly excluded along with her <i>Dozete</i> or daughters, from
+their operation. In 1474 long trains were forbidden, but quite easily
+this was disregarded for some inventive mind or other,—a stylish
+craftswoman doubtless,—created a new thing of beauty, which became a
+joy to train wearers, a jewelled gold bangle, through which the corner
+of the offending garment was caught up when occasion demanded!</p>
+
+<p>Lionardo Bota, the Milanese ambassador to Venice in 1476, put on record
+that the <i>gentildonne</i> of Venice had reached such a lavish style
+of dressing that he “could not conceive how their costumes could ever
+be more gorgeous: many ladies boasted that several of them cost more
+than five thousand ducats apiece!” A decree of the <i>Tribunale delle
+Pompe</i> was issued to check and moderate the excessive expenditure.
+Costly gold<span class="pagenum" id="Page_219">[219]</span> and pearl embroideries were forbidden together with
+point-lace with gold and silver thread, and gold tassels with drops of
+precious stones. Belts and charms were ordered to be less jewelled and
+less massive.</p>
+
+<p>Andrea Vendramin and Regina Gradenigo were acclaimed as Doge and
+Dogaressa of Venice in 1476. He belonged to a family ennobled after
+the Chioggian War and accounted among the wealthiest. Messir Vendramin
+appears to have made his fortune in the commercial pursuits of his
+family, and, settling for some years in the Greek island of Rhodes,
+as a purveyor and provision merchant amassed a fortune of no less
+than one hundred and sixty thousand gold ducats. Tradesman, or no, he
+was a man of rare artistic tastes and a keen antiquarian. Upon the
+dispersal of the collections of Doge Marino Falier his grandfather
+purchased everything of special value and interest, and through his
+father, Messir Andrea inherited the treasure, to which he added very
+considerably. The Catalogue of the Vendramin Museum and Gallery filled
+sixteen portly volumes.</p>
+
+<p>The Dogaressa was a daughter of Messir Andrea Gradenigo of an
+“Apostolic” family, and much the superior of her husband in rank: she
+married the future Doge in 1426. Six daughters were born to the noble
+couple, for each of whom their father apportioned the very goodly dowry
+of seven thousand gold ducats, but upon one condition that he should
+choose their husbands! As a young man Andrea Vendramin was said to have
+been one of the handsomest and most courtly gentlemen of the city.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_220">[220]</span></p>
+
+<p>Dogaressa Regina made her solemn Entry with all the pomp and
+circumstance customary for that event,—but she was not crowned.
+This was the first step in the declension of the splendour and
+quasi-sovereignty of the First Lady of Venice. Gradually the Dogaressa
+had been accorded, and had assumed dignity upon dignity: henceforward
+she was as gradually to lose her distinctions.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>dogado</i> of Andrea Vendramin synchronised with the most
+disastrous period in Venetian history. “He died,” wrote Ruskin in his
+“<i>Stones of Venice</i>,” “leaving Venice disgraced by sea and land,
+with the smoke of hostile devastation rising in the blue mists beyond
+Friuli.” His death in 1478, was due to pestilence, which followed the
+ravages of the Turks, carried to the shores of the lagunes, “from the
+Orient by the ships of the new Mistress of the Seas, the supplanter
+of the Supremacy of the Queen of the Adriatic.” He was buried in the
+now ruined Church of Gli Servi, but during the nineteenth century his
+monument was removed, with many others, to the Venetian Pantheon of SS.
+Giovanni e Paolo.</p>
+
+<p>Dogaressa Regina survived her Consort many years, but of her end we
+have no account. There is, in the Museo Civico, a curious picture,
+apparently commemorative of her Solemn Entry, with the following
+inscription:—“<i>Regina Gradenigo Andreæ Vendram, Veni, Princeps,
+Uxor, Senioribus ac Propinquis comitata ingenti populi plausa Regiam
+Aulam ingreditur MCCCCLXXVI.</i>”</p>
+
+<p>Giovanni and Taddea Mocenigo assumed the <i>Corno</i> in 1478. He
+was a younger brother of Doge Pietro Mocenigo, the third member
+of his family<span class="pagenum" id="Page_221">[221]</span> within the century to mount the Ducal throne—a
+circumstance only paralleled by the Dandoli since the far-off days of
+the Particepazi, Candiani, Orseoli, and Michieli. The Dogaressa was
+a daughter of Messir Giovanni Michielo and vindicated in her person
+the assertion often made, that “succession through the female line
+is always more certain than through the male,”—the last Michielo
+Doge,—Vitale II.—died in 1172.</p>
+
+<p>In the February of the year of their accession the Sultan of
+Constantinople sent an embassy to Venice seeking terms of amity and
+reciprocity and bearing costly gifts to their Serenities, and also
+many presents for the principal nobles. Among the offerings was a
+magnificent Oriental carpet,—the like of which the Venetians had
+never beheld,—a number of handsome jewels for the Dogaressa, and a
+weird collection of new animals. Both the Doge and his Consort had
+a hobby for wild animals and greatly added to the number of such
+creatures in the Venetian Zoological Gardens—now the <i>Giardino
+Reale</i>—established in 1310 under the <i>dogado</i> of Pietro
+Gradenigo.</p>
+
+<p>The arrival of these beasts, among them a giraffe,—hitherto an unknown
+animal save in fiction,—caused wild excitement in Venice, and, like
+its brother in Florence, it was the recipient of caresses by the nuns
+in the convents to whom it was exhibited. Unfortunately, the whole
+collection perished in a calamitous fire which burnt out, not only the
+beasts’ dens, but also ravaged the private apartments of the Doge and
+Dogaressa, and destroyed the whole sequence of portraits of former
+Doges, besides many priceless art treasures.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_222">[222]</span></p>
+
+<p>Unhappily Dogaressa Taddea, herself, perished in October of the
+year of her Coronation,—a victim, with many of the gentlewomen of
+her Court,—of the terrible scourge of the Black Death. Her funeral
+obsequies were conducted upon the most lavish scale,—quite the most
+sumptuous of any public funeral in Venetian history. The ceremonial
+was identical with that observed at the burial of a Doge, but far more
+impressive by reason of universal mourning—a “Mother of Israel” was
+borne through a sea of human tears to her last resting-place. After
+the operation of embalming, her body was first exposed in State within
+the <i>Sala de’ Pioveghi</i>, within the Ducal Palace, thence it was
+escorted to the no longer existent parish church of San Geminiano, in
+order that the poorer people might the more easily view the remains of
+their benefactress. Arrayed in her Coronation robes, with the smaller
+Ducal <i>Corno</i> on her head, and the face covered with a delicate
+lace veil of Burano, she was watched by a succession of nuns from San
+Zaccaria and of <i>Pinzocchere</i>, or noble recluses, in the exercise
+of their functions as State mourners.</p>
+
+<p>The place of ultimate sepulture was the grand church of SS. Giovanni
+e Paolo. The <i>cortège</i> was accompanied by the clergy of the City
+churches, members of the various monastic Orders, the chapters and
+officials of San Marco and San Pietro di Castello, the five <i>Scuole
+de’ Battudi</i>, the three <i>Ordini delle Pinzocchere</i>, the Lords
+of the Council, the foreign ambassadors and a large following of
+Masters and officers of the Craft Guilds with their banners furled.
+Twenty noble relatives of the Doge and Dogaressa held the pall, and
+the bier<span class="pagenum" id="Page_223">[223]</span> was carried by relays of workmen from the Arsenal. The Ducal
+regalia was borne by the Officers of State, but the one absentee was
+the widowed Doge,—broken-hearted he remained inconsolable in his
+private apartments.</p>
+
+<p>A splendid catafalque erected in the nave of the church was guarded by
+the Doge’s body-guard of one hundred Captains of Marine. This “Triumph
+of Death” ended with the interment of the beloved Dogaressa in the
+grand sarcophagus which Doge Mocenigo had prepared for himself and his
+spouse. He poor man was not only utterly prostrated by the sudden and
+unlooked-for death of his dearly-loved wife, but he was also deeply
+distressed by the ravages of the pestilence. Venice was for the nonce a
+pest-house, full of dead and dying people, with few able and willing to
+bury them. Scenes of savagery were to be witnessed in every <i>casa</i>
+and <i>calle</i> and the <i>Beccamorte</i> went about collecting
+corpses for submersion in remote deep waters of the lagunes,—funeral
+pyres were lighted in the distant <i>campi</i>. In 1485 Doge Giovanni
+Mocenigo followed his lamented Consort in a similar “Triumph,” and his
+body was laid beside hers under the huge monument which occupies the
+whole wall-space near the grand portal of SS. Giovanni e Paolo.</p>
+
+
+<h3>II</h3>
+
+<p>For a graphic account of Venice and the Venetians, at the close of the
+fifteenth century, the pen-pictures drawn by a Milanese monk, passing
+through Venice in his “<i>Viaggio a Gerusalemme</i>,”<span class="pagenum" id="Page_224">[224]</span> and published
+in 1494, are most interesting. He affirms first of all that “it is not
+possible to describe fully the charm, the magnificence, and the wealth
+of the City.” He assisted at the High Mass and Procession on Corpus
+Christi Day at San Marco and on Piazza. “The robes of velvet, crimson,
+purple, and yellow, and the togas of cloth of gold sweeping the ground,
+each finer than the last, were wonderful.” There was “great silence,
+such as I never before observed even at the very large gathering of
+nobles. Everything was well ordered as though ruled by one master.
+I have considered the quality of these Venetian courtiers, who for
+the most part are fair complexioned, slim, and tall, and I can quite
+readily believe their reputation for astuteness in their dealings. You
+must if you would treat successfully with them, keep your eyes and
+ears wide open. They are very proud, and I think it is because of the
+eminence of Venice afloat and ashore. When a son is born to Venetian
+parents they say ‘another young Lord has come into the World.’ At home
+they are fairly simple in their living but abroad, in public, they are
+lavish with their gifts and enjoyments. The richness of their dress is
+indescribable, but out of doors every man wears a full toga of black
+and none but a born fool would venture without it.”</p>
+
+<p>The worthy Frate goes on to talk about the women and girls and their
+dress. “The married ladies and those no longer of the company of the
+<i>belle giovane</i> are all covered, in the streets and in church, in
+sombre cloaks, they look like widows or nuns of the Benedictine Order;
+it needs but the bell or the trumpet announcing the <i>festa</i> for
+them to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_225">[225]</span> assume the most splendid garments that women possess, and
+their jewels are wonderful. The young girls are beautiful and full of
+fun.”</p>
+
+<p>Monk as he was Casola was taken, as was the Venetian custom, when a
+marked distinction was paid to an honoured foreign guest, to witness
+“the unique spectacle” as he calls it of a lying-in-mother. She was the
+wife of Messir Agnello Delfino, of that noble family. With him went
+an envoy of the King of France, and he judged that Messir Delfino’s
+motive in this particular case was to astonish his visitors by Venetian
+magnificence even in the privacy of the home. “The room,” he says,
+“had a charming piece of Carrara marble picked out with gold, and
+chiselled so as Praxiteles and Pheidias could not have bettered; the
+ceiling was so finely decorated with gold and deep blue, and the walls
+so finely hung that I cannot describe the effect. There was so much
+gold everywhere that I am not sure whether Solomon in his golden glory
+would not have looked small. Among the ornaments was a dish of gold
+valued at about five hundred gold ducats. The bed was of cedar or some
+such sweet scented wood and gilded, but of the ornaments and dress of
+the noble lady I think it best to keep silence rather than speak for
+fear no one would believe me. My attention was called off perhaps by
+the five-and-twenty lovely young noble ladies, each one fairer than her
+neighbour, seated around the bed, their blonde hair elaborately puffed
+and their features touched up with colour. Their dresses were discreet
+<i>alla Venegiana</i>: they showed no more than six finger-breadths
+of bare breast below their shoulders, back and front. These damsels<span class="pagenum" id="Page_226">[226]</span>
+had so many jewels on their heads and around their throats, and wore
+so many costly rings,—precious stones, pearls, and gold,—that we,
+who talked the matter over afterwards, came to the conclusion that the
+total value far exceeded one hundred thousand gold ducats. Their faces
+were superbly painted and so was the rest of them that was bare.”</p>
+
+<p>This “unique spectacle,” later, became a scandal, and the authorities
+stepped in to amend the customs attending child-birth. Lying-in-women
+of all classes were forbidden to receive the visits of strangers in
+their bedrooms, near relatives alone were admitted, under a fine of
+thirty gold ducats. The Chief of the Cabinet of Ceremonials was the
+officer charged to see that the decree was duly observed. He had the
+right of entry at child-birth into the very presence of the mother,
+and was directed to remove in custody any unauthorised person. The
+penalty was absurdly severe—three months’ imprisonment in the dungeons
+and three months in the penal galleys! This edict however was easily
+evaded, servants, midwives and even police were open to receive bribes
+for silence and acquiescence.</p>
+
+<p>The noble mother was usually dressed entirely in white silk, her cap
+was of fine Burano lace, upon her fingers she wore her rings. Her
+pillows were of embroidered white silk, and trimmed with white lace,
+the coverlet was rich damask-silk padded and stitched, and often as
+not fringed and tasselled with gold. Midwives were required to notify
+a birth within three days and to give the name and residence of the
+putative father. The parish priest had to register the sex and name of
+each child offered for baptism.</p>
+
+  <div class="figcenter" id="i_226fp">
+    <img
+    class="p1"   
+    src="images/i_226fp.jpg"
+     alt="">
+     <p class="p0 sm center">“LE NOVIZE.”—BRIDES VISITING THEIR RELATIVES.</p>
+     <p class="p0 xs center">FROM A PRINT. 1560.</p>
+     <p class="p0 sm center">“Habiti Delle Donne.”—G. Franco.</p>
+  </div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_227">[227]</span></p>
+
+<p>With respect to the entertainment of visitors very many more friends
+and neighbours looked in after the birth of a boy than that of a girl.
+They were served in vessels of gold and silver with spiced cakes, iced
+confectionery, figs, grapes, and coffee, and each was expected to leave
+a present behind for the child and ample largesse for the servants.
+This duty fell constantly to the lot of the Doge and Dogaressa who
+frequently went from house to house to honour this or that noble
+couple, with their presentations. The Doge’s gift was a gold cup, the
+Dogaressa’s a gold chain.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb">
+
+<p>The last two Doges of the century were the brothers Marco and Agostino
+Barbarigo, sons of Messir Francesco Barbarigo and Madonna Caterina
+Morosini. The Barbarigo came originally from Trieste and claimed to be
+collaterals of the ancient and extinct family of Zobenico, which, in
+the tenth century was already settled in Rivo-Alto. Marco Barbarigo
+was elected Doge in 1485,—“a man,” if his epitaph may be believed,
+“upright in his dealings with his neighbours, he never sought praise or
+profit, but laboured for the public good.” The Dogaressa was Madonna
+Lucia Ruzzini,—beautiful and talented, although Marino Sanudo refers
+to her incidentally as nothing more than “a very tolerable kind of
+woman.” She was always ailing, and yet by way of proof that “a creaking
+gate hangs long,” she outlived her Consort ten full years, but her
+reign was as uneventful as it was short, one brief year, no more.</p>
+
+<p>The Doge and his younger brother Agostino were never on good terms,
+and the disputes<span class="pagenum" id="Page_228">[228]</span> between them became so acrimonious that, one day,
+after an unusually harsh quarrel, Doge Marco fell ill of excitement and
+worry, and was seized with severe cardiac pains. Feeling the stringency
+of his attack and fearing the imminence of death, he summoned to his
+couch his four sons. He set before them their duty to the State and
+commended their suffering mother to their filial care, then he embraced
+them and her tenderly and blessed them, and, forgiving his headstrong
+brother, he quietly passed away. His body was laid in State with full
+honours in the <i>Sala de’ Pioveghi</i> and then ceremonially buried
+in the church of Santa Maria della Carita, the conventual buildings of
+which, and the <i>Scuola Grande di Santa Maria della Carita</i>,—the
+oldest of the religious corporations of the thirteenth century,—are
+nowadays the Palace of the <i>Accademia</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Dogaressa-dowager Lucia Ruzzini-Barbarigo’s will was executed in 30th
+July 1496,—fourteen days before her death,—wherein she directs that
+her burial shall be “conducted simply in the Church of Santa Maria
+della Carita, where reposes the body of my husband.” ... “To Sister
+Margherita, Prioress of the <i>Ospedale d’Ognissanti di Murano</i>
+I leave five gold ducats and my new silken robe.” To her daughters,
+both cloistered nuns of Ognissanti, she left her State robes and her
+<i>Corno</i>, with five gold ducats apiece. She was interred by her
+husband’s side.</p>
+
+<p>The Dogaressa had, among other dependants a Circassian slave, who bore
+the name of Maddalena, and to whom she was much attached. She had
+served Madonna Lucia and her family with fidelity<span class="pagenum" id="Page_229">[229]</span> for many years,
+now the testatrix declared her “free from every chain” and bequeathed
+to her a comfortable competence. This mention of a “slave” opens out
+a vexed subject. Far away in the eighth century the early Venetian
+merchant-adventurers, vigorous and amorous by nature and disposition,
+saw and loved beauteous maidens in Eastern ports. The harem life
+appealed to them and many an one became the happy possessor, by right
+of purchase, of helpless friendless damsels.</p>
+
+<p>Oriental slaves were gladly welcomed as workers by the Trade Guilds,
+especially by the Carpet-weavers, the Makers of cloth of gold
+and silver tissue, and the Armourers. Public slave auctions were
+established at San Giorgio in Rialto. The average price for boys and
+girls seems to have been twenty-five gold ducats; but as many as
+eighty or one hundred changed hands for a particularly fine specimen
+of humanity or for one skilled in craftsmanship. These human chattels
+were well protected by State enactments and often as not they exercised
+considerable influence in the families of their owners. The wills of
+Venetians of property generally contained clauses indicative of wishes
+concerning their slaves.</p>
+
+<p>In Florence, as Madonna Alessandra negli Strozzi has related in her
+“<i>Lettere</i>,” people preferred dark-haired, swarthy Tartars, who
+she says, “are the best for work, and most simple in their ways,” but
+in Venice,—where the sun turned all maidens’ hair into strands of
+gold,—fair-skinned auburn-haired Circassians, like Dogaressa Lucia
+Ruzzini-Barbarigo’s devoted Maddalena, were in most request. They were
+usually skilful in the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_230">[230]</span> artifices of the toilet and well adapted for
+the Venetian <i>sol fa nienti</i> sort of life. The presence of slaves
+in Venice and their absorption into the private life of the nobles and
+the citizens were paramount factors in the evolution of the courtesan.
+Whilst marriage with a slave was absolutely forbidden, the mutual
+relations of the races and of the sexes were such that perhaps the
+motto of our British Royal House is the best vindication:—“<i>Honi
+soit qui mal y pense!</i>”</p>
+
+<p>The painful circumstances which led to Doge Agostino Barbarigo’s
+succession were soon forgotten in the revived life and prosperity of
+the Republic. It appeared as though, after flickering fitfully for many
+a weary year, the golden wax candles of Venetian shrines were again to
+burn with their wonted brilliancy. Venice recovered Rimini, Faenza,
+Brindisi, Otranto, and many other possessions on the Adriatic, and her
+flag once more flaunted proudly on the high seas. The following couplet
+succinctly set forth the glories of the departing century:—</p>
+
+  <div class="poetry-container">
+   <div class="poetry">
+      <div class="stanza">
+        <div class="ileft">“<i>Polente in guerra et amica di pace</i></div>
+        <div><i>Venetia el ben’ commun sempre le piace.</i>”</div>
+      </div>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+
+<p>Still the discovery by the Portuguese in 1486, of the water-way to the
+Orient round the Cape of Good Hope augured ill for Venetian commerce.
+So, directly, too, that other great maritime achievement,—the landing
+of Amerigo Vespucci of Florence, and Cristoforo Colombo of Genoa, upon
+the shores of the New World affected adversely the supremacy of the
+“Mistress of the Seas.”</p>
+
+<p>Doge Agostino Barbarigo, born in 1419, had a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_231">[231]</span> brilliant career before
+he mounted the Ducal throne. Podesta of Verona and of Padua, Procurator
+of San Marco, he was a personal friend of the Pope Alessandro VI., who
+sent him the rare distinction of the “Golden Rose.” He married in 1449
+Donna Elisabetta, daughter of Messir Andrea Soranzo dal Banco, “One of
+the proudest ruling families in Venice.” One son, Francesco, and four
+daughters blessed their union,—two of the latter entered Religion as
+nuns of Santa Maria degli Angeli di Murano.</p>
+
+<p>Seven years after their succession Doge Agostino and Dogaressa
+Elisabetta were called upon to entertain a very distinguished
+visitor, Duchess Beatrice d’Este the consort of Duke Lodovico il
+Moro of Milan. As imperious and intriguing a beauty as ever boarded
+the “<i>Bucintoro</i>” the Princess was conducted in a pageant from
+Fusina to the Ducal Palace. Her suite counted princes and ambassadors
+and a host of attendants, so large indeed that three Palaces,—the
+Foscari and Guistiniani were requisitioned for her use. Very splendid
+fêtes were given in her honour. She remained in Venice for some time
+delighted with the pleasant society of the Dogaressa, and the ladies of
+the Court, and astonished at the beauty of the younger noblewomen and
+the comeliness of the young nobles, and perhaps, woman-like more than
+all at the splendour of their costumes and the magnificence of their
+jewels.</p>
+
+<p>Her mission was diplomatic, to gain over Venice to the Milanese
+League against Charles VIII. of France. In this she was completely
+successful; few of the proud and unemotional Lords not yielding to her
+blandishments. Her correspondence<span class="pagenum" id="Page_232">[232]</span> with her Consort is quaint as quaint
+can be. She likens the older nobles and their ladies to “great dolls”
+or “Stately Deities,” and makes sly remarks about the scanty dress and
+easy manners of the girls. “They are,” she wrote, “clothed in pearls
+and gold chains from head to toe, but little else ... cloth of gold is
+as common here as fustian is with us....”</p>
+
+<p>Whether caused by weariness of a prolonged <i>dogado</i> the old Doge
+began to feel the years heavy, and worn by the declension of the fame
+of Venice, Agostino Barbarigo expressed a desire to be relieved of
+his official responsibilities. The abdication of a Chief Magistrate
+had become a very rare event, and none of the Lords of the Council
+having any special wish for office, the idea was dismissed. However,
+on 13th September 1501, the Doge called a special assemblage of the
+Council,—an expedient rare enough and always ominous of trouble,—and
+presented a formal act of abdication of the Dogal throne. The
+proposition was received in silence, but drawing slowly off the Ducal
+ring, he handed it to the Senior Lord of the “Forty” and said:—“I
+leave this Palace to go to my own home at San Trovaso, there to end my
+days, and I pray you to be so good as to accept my profound regrets.”
+The Council however declined to permit the vacation of office and the
+Chancellor, speaking for the noble Lords, replied:—“Your Serenity
+must retain your high station and trust in God to heal you of your
+infirmity.”</p>
+
+<p>Ten days later the Doge breathed his last at the advanced age of
+eighty-two. His end was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_233">[233]</span> sudden and painless. At first his career had
+been viewed with satisfaction and his many excellent qualities highly
+extolled, but disappointed suppliants for his patronage and that of
+the Dogaressa hinted at nepotism and favouritism and complained of
+corruption in his bestowal of favours.</p>
+
+<p>What special part Dogaressa Elisabetta took in maintaining the dignity
+and prerogative of her station we know not, nor do we know anything
+about her Entry and Coronation, or her death and burial. Her Consort
+left an inordinately lengthy will with many codicils: he appeared to
+be determined to spread his bequests over as wide a field as possible.
+Almost every public institution received a legacy and personal gifts
+were numbered by the dozen. To his widow, “Ixabela,”—he calls
+her,—the Doge left the use of their private residence, with the
+furniture and decorations, the ornaments of the private chapel, the
+revenues from certain wool and silk weaving factories, ten thousand
+gold ducats, and, quite quaintly, the proprietary rights over her State
+robes and the jewellery he had given her.</p>
+
+<p>The funeral of Doge Agostino Barbarigo was conducted with the usual
+impressive ceremonial at SS. Giovanni e Paolo, where orations were
+delivered by Bishop Domenigo Venier of Castello and <i>Condottiere</i>
+Vettor Cappello—who appears to have taken the Doges of his time under
+his special tutelage. The actual burial was conducted at Santa Maria
+della Carita, alongside the grave of Doge Marco Barbarigo. His monument
+bears the somewhat pedantic epitaph:—“He was the most popular man in
+Venice: a grand orator and a splendid soldier.”</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_234">[234]</span></p>
+
+
+<h3>III</h3>
+
+<p>Lionardo Loredano was the eleventh “Grand” Doge of Venice. Mentally
+and physically he was a perfect type of the Venetian noble,—not that
+his family was especially ancient,—they belonged only to the first
+division of the second grade of nobility,—nor that his wealth and
+influence were remarkable, but there was about him something or other
+which manifested the highest expression of Venetian dignity.</p>
+
+<p>Called to the supreme magistracy in 1501, Loredano roused himself,
+although past sixty-six years of age, and beginning to show signs of
+failing health, to stand foremost among the men of the new Century.
+Tall and spare of figure, massive and reticent of feature, passionate
+yet kind-hearted in disposition, pushful yet tactful in bearing, he was
+recognised by the Lords of the Council as the man of the hour. All this
+is forcibly expressed in the lifelike and superb portrait by Giovanni
+Bellini in the National Gallery in London.</p>
+
+<p>Nevertheless his election was challenged by the populace, gathered
+tumultuously on the Piazza. The cry was for Filippo Tron, son of old
+Doge Nicolo, older by ten years than Messir Loredano, very fat, very
+indolent, and very self-indulgent, but ever ready for a joke and to
+make fair promises. Moreover his estate totalled eighty thousand
+gold ducats against Lionardo Loredano’s modest thirty thousand.
+Happily with the sane constitution of Venice, the unintelligent and
+ill-directed will of the people was kept under restraint.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_235">[235]</span> Tron died
+suddenly of apoplexy after a heavy gorge within three months of
+Loredano’s election. Messir Filippo was no opponent of the old Venetian
+proverb:—“<i>Dieta magga le medico!</i>” “Diet dishes the Doctor!”</p>
+
+<p>The new Doge had four sons, Lorenzo, Girolamo, Alvise, and Bernardo,
+but he was a widower,—a rare, perhaps unique, circumstance so far
+as the <i>dogado</i> was concerned. The mother of his sons, Giustina
+Giustiniani, died the year before the death of his predecessor—Doge
+Agostino Barbarigo. It appeared as though he was expected to contract
+a second marriage for his <i>Promissione</i> required that “the
+Dogaressa, his sons, nephews and nieces and other near relatives,
+should receive no gifts under a penalty of twenty-five gold ducats for
+each ducat value.” An oath was enjoined for “the Dogaressa-to-be to
+observe strictly all the conventions of her exalted position.”</p>
+
+<p>The reign of Lionardo Loredano was one of the most important in all the
+long succession of Doges, for Venice passed through the most exigent
+crisis of her history. “The famous League of Cambrai” was aimed at
+nothing short of the annihilation of the Republic. The Pope Julius II.,
+the Emperor Maximilian IV., the King of France, Charles XII., with the
+Dukes of Florence and Milan were allied, and they tried to win over
+the Kings of Spain and Naples, of Hungary, and of Scotland, with the
+Duke of Saxony. England was neutral, but friendly; indeed Henry VIII.
+championed the cause of the Republic, and ultimately offered to attack
+France, Spain and Scotland, and, by way of a pledge of amity, he sent
+an embassy to Venice.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_236">[236]</span> The Venetian Government gratefully acknowledged
+the English support, and despatched among other costly gifts to the
+King, a team of eight cream-coloured horses, with crimson and gold
+caparisons, the forebears of our present State equipage.</p>
+
+<p>The year 1509 was a black one for Venice and her people. Her armies
+were severely defeated, and the strain upon the manhood of the Republic
+was excessive. Widows and orphans besought the compassion of the
+charitable, and hospitals and private houses were full of wounded
+heroes craving creature comforts. Every noble house was smitten and
+the gallant companies of <i>La Calza</i> lost their comrades and their
+joy. That Ascension Day—“<i>La Sensa</i>”—was a day long remembered;
+there were no festivities, no “<i>Bucintoro</i>” set forth to the
+“Marriage of the Sea,” there was nobody on the Piazza, and no visitors
+had entered the city for many a day, the Lords of the Council were
+broken down with grief and apprehension, and the Doge neither spoke
+nor smiled, he was like a man in a nightmare. At length a faint rift
+was seen in the darkling clouds, and Loredano, born discerner of times
+and judge of men, opened the precarious game of statecraft, after the
+manner of the chess-gambit he loved best, and adroitly played off his
+country’s foes one against another, until he succeeded in creating a
+position of mutual jealousy and mistrust. Spain declared for Venice
+and offered ships and men, James IV. of Scotland followed suit with
+promises of one hundred and fifty vessels, and ten thousand trained
+footmen. France made the first warlike advance, and the Doge met the
+danger<span class="pagenum" id="Page_237">[237]</span> by setting up floating corn-mills in the tidal ways of the
+lagunes, by acquiring vast stores of grain and ammunition, and by
+throwing chains across the chief canals. All suspects were expelled
+the City and every citizen was invited by proclamation to rally to
+the standard of San Marco and to contribute as much money as possible
+to the State exchequer. Loredano set a noble example for he sent all
+his gold and silver plate and the jewels of his late wife to the Mint
+to be melted down for money wherewith to meet the enormous expenses
+of resistance. His speech before the Grand Council was a model of
+patriotism and eloquence and was rapturously greeted.</p>
+
+<p>War was waged in the mainland for eight weary years, during which the
+Pope placed Venice under an Interdict. At last a truce was proclaimed
+and “<i>La Pace delle Donne</i>,” as it was called, left Venice
+strong by sea and land. The ultimate arbiters of a settlement were
+two Royal Princesses—Louise,—Queen-Dowager of France, and Margaret
+of Austria,—the Emperor’s aunt. The public rejoicings in Venice were
+exuberant and the pageants were the most splendid ever organised in
+the sumptuous city. New Companies of <i>La Calza</i> were enrolled
+for the special purpose of emphasising the resources, the grandeur,
+and the independence of the “Queen of the Adriatic.” A very favourite
+spectacular play was “Miles Gloriosus” of which a particularly gorgeous
+representation was given by the “<i>Fausti</i>” in 19th February 1514
+in the <i>Corte dell’ Orefici’</i> in the rear of the Ducal Palace,
+which Marino Sanudo describes as “<i>bellissimo</i>” in its mounting
+and because of the distinguished part<span class="pagenum" id="Page_238">[238]</span> taken in it by the four sons of
+the Doge and his nieces. The Director of the romance was the Commander
+of the garrison, and the interlude consisted of an oration by a French
+master of rhetoric. The chorus was composed of a number of gentlemen
+and ladies of the Court very richly dressed,—in particular Madonna
+Giovanna Emo, who appeared in a robe of cloth of gold embroidered in
+coloured silk with silk velvet appliqué work and literally blazing with
+jewels. The play began at seven o’clock in the evening, followed by a
+sumptuous banquet, and winding up, long past midnight, with a ball.
+Every one regretted the fact that the popular Doge, who presided at the
+banquet, was a widower,—a stately Dogaressa would have added greatly
+to the distinction of the spectacle.</p>
+
+<p>The recovery of Padua was the crowning victory of the Venetians. The
+news reached Venice on the festival of the Translation of Santa Marina,
+and the transports of the people made the popular ecclesiastical
+ceremonial a doubly impressive celebration. The “<i>Eterni</i>”
+and “<i>Immortali</i>” companies of <i>La Calza</i>,—especially
+concerned in the rendition of High Mass and Vespers with the utmost
+grandeur,—assisted the Doge in offering the keys of Padua upon the
+altar of the Saint. Venice was delirious: Mass and “Te Deum” were sung
+between dramatic representations and serenades,—for the triumph of the
+Republic was the triumph of Religion. But when the festivities were
+at their height in 1524, the <i>Provveditori alle Pompe</i> stepped
+in and forbade many splendid ornaments of the person and personal
+vanities. Amber beads, agate and rock crystal <i>intagli</i>, diamond
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_239">[239]</span>buttons, chased gold and silver buckles and clasps, enamelled and
+gold jewellery for the hair, feathered and jewelled fans, lace
+sleeves, many-hued damasked cloth of gold gowns, velvet with gold and
+silver <i>piqué</i> threads, painted and gilded leather belts and
+shoes, gemmed embroideries, etc., etc., were placed upon the <i>Index
+expurgatorium</i>. The extravagant decoration of gondolas and sedans,
+table adjuncts of gold, resplendent liveries, and many more things of
+joy and beauty were severely cut down.</p>
+
+  <div class="figcenter" id="i_238fp">
+    <img
+    class="p1"   
+    src="images/i_238fp.jpg"
+     alt="">
+     <p class="p0 sm center">THE BRIDE-ELECT’S DEBUT.</p>
+     <p class="p0 xs center">FROM A PRINT. 1610.</p>
+     <p class="p0 sm center">“Habiti Delle Donne.”—G. Franco.</p>
+  </div>
+
+<p>Through all these scenes of martial ardour and sumptuary magnificence
+Doge Loredano maintained supremely the dignity of the <i>dogado</i>
+and his twenty years of office were the <i>ne plus ultra</i> of the
+gorgeous panorama of Venetian history. He died full of years and
+honours in 1521, and he was buried by the High Altar of SS. Giovanni e
+Paolo.</p>
+
+<p>The Loredanian tradition for patriotism and nobility was handed on
+in the gracious personage of Dogaressa Caterina Loredano, sister of
+Doge Lionardo Loredano,—the Consort of his successor Doge Antonio
+Grimani. He was an old man of eighty-seven,—one more example of
+Venetian fruitful longevity and senile ability, but his election was
+a narrow thing for after several attempts at a decision, the Lords of
+the “Forty” approved it by a bare majority of twenty-eight votes. Once
+more a popular candidate appeared on the scene in the person of another
+Messir Antonio Tron, son of the sybarite Messir Filippo.</p>
+
+<p>The Grimani belonged to the second grade of nobility, their name being
+among the twenty families enrolled by the <i>Serrar del Consiglio</i>
+in 1289. Nevertheless they were as ambitious, able,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_240">[240]</span> and patriotic as
+any of the Lords of Venice. Messir Antonio had filled every office
+of State, previous to his <i>dogado</i> with rare distinction, and
+his spouse had acceptably participated in his honours and shared his
+fortunes. The date of their marriage is not recorded, but two of
+their sons rose to high positions. Domenigo, the eldest, entered Holy
+Order, and was ultimately preconised a Cardinal. His fame in the roll
+of literature is great for as a sapient collector of books and prints
+he was the patron of that most exquisite production, perhaps the most
+sumptuous illuminated manuscript in existence, the celebrated Grimani
+Breviary. The second son, Giovanni entered the service of the State,
+and brought his talents to bear upon the details of the Tariff reform
+of those days, much to the advantage of the City and her purveyors.
+At the Election and Entry of his parents, as Doge and Dogaressa, he
+headed a deputation of the Fruiterers’ Guild which made an offer of one
+hundred and thirty gilded lemons—surely a parallel to painting the
+lily!</p>
+
+  <div class="figcenter" id="i_240fp" style="max-width: 372px">
+    <img
+    class="p1"   
+    src="images/i_240fp.jpg"
+     alt="">
+     <p class="p0 sm center">OBSEQUIES OF SAINT URSULA.</p>
+     <p class="p0 sm center">VETTORE CARPACCIO.</p>
+     <p class="p0 xs center">ACCADEMIA VENICE.</p>
+     <p class="p0 sm center">[The kneeling figure is Madonna Maria Eugenia Caotorta-Loredano, who
+died 1493.]</p>
+  </div>
+
+<p>The new <i>Promissione</i> contained some arbitrary, yet almost
+ludicrous clauses:—for example, the Doge was forbidden to speak
+alone with ambassadors and foreign agents, his two State Councillors
+were required to be present at all such interviews. Like most of the
+nobles and wealthy citizens Doge Antonio Grimani had a passionate
+love of sport. Among them all, fowling was a favourite pastime,
+the reeds and rushes of the smaller islets of the lagunes were
+splendid cover for aquatic game. Sportsmen wore high boots which
+they called <i>fisolari</i>, after the birds held most in esteem—
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_241">[241]</span><i>fisoli</i>,—divers. The coveys were approached in shallow boats,
+each manned by eight oarsmen, in blue and green liveries,—the
+colours most in affinity with the law of natural concealment. The
+<i>Signore</i> sat in the bows ready with his <i>pecce</i> or miniature
+cross-bow. Doge Antonio Grimani was forbidden to shoot, as had been
+his wont, whenever pleasure invited him, for he was restricted to four
+annual sporting excursions. Just before Christmas he was expected to
+assume his fowling dress and make a water excursion for the purpose of
+shooting not divers but wild ducks—<i>oselle</i>. His bag had to be
+enormously capacious for each Lord of the Council, of the “Forty” and
+of the “Ten,” required five birds dead in the feather! The sportive
+Doge usually failed to bring down sufficient game by his own cunning,
+and in returning to Venice, he directed his <i>provvidetore</i> to
+purchase the balance in the Poultry market! Even so the requirements
+of the Lordly blackmailers were not met quite to their satisfaction,
+for some received fat birds whilst others had those in poor condition.
+The only way out of the dilemma was conceived by the Doge himself,
+for, to square accounts, he dealt out so many birds apiece and
+sent the complement in cash value! This he effected in a novel and
+characteristic manner, he engaged the services of a stamper of medals
+and issued a neat little silver coin, a quarter ducat, worth four
+shillings English money. Upon the obverse it bore the similitude of a
+gold duck, and on the reverse, the quaint legend:—“<i>Par osculata
+sunt</i>,” and this was ever after a yearly Christmas-box to all and
+sundry of their Excellencies,—it went by the name “<i>Osella</i>!”</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_242">[242]</span></p>
+
+<p>The Dogaressa’s <i>Promissione</i> was also restricted. An outcry
+from the baser sort of Venetian loafers and out-of-elbows nobles, was
+raised against her solemn Coronation. She was denied the customary
+salutations of the Masters of the Trade Guilds at the Ducal Palace,
+and the ceremonial reception of ambassadors. Poor Dogaressa Caterina
+had to be content to be the domestic helpmeet of her Consort not his
+State wife as well! It does not seem that for her the wealthy makers
+of cloth of gold had any commission for State robes! She wore simply
+the <i>dogalina</i> of crimson velvet with full deep sleeves of lined
+satin; her <i>Corno</i>,—very much reduced, in size,—bore pearls,
+rubies and diamonds; the <i>velo sottile</i> of thin net, not lace,
+fell from her head to her waist, and her golden girdle was shortened
+and unjewelled. Who was the Emperor of Fashion and the arbiter of
+sumptuary conventions nobody knows, possibly his office was in
+commission to the officials generally of the Tribunal of Ceremonies,
+and held by pettifogging busybodies and ill-natured nobodies.</p>
+
+<p>There were and are several Palazzi Grimani in Venice. Doge Antonio
+Grimani’s residence is that called Grimani della Vida, on the Grand
+Canal, near the far-famed <i>Ca d’Oro</i>. He died in 1523 but the date
+of Dogaressa Caterina’s demise has not been preserved, nor do we know
+where their Serenities were buried.</p>
+
+<p>Doge Andrea Gritti assumed the State robes and <i>Corno</i> in 1523. At
+once he made a strong bid for popular favour and distributed so vast
+an amount of largesse upon his election, that people looked askance at
+him, and cried out in return “<i>Um! Um!—Trum! Trum!</i>” This was
+an<span class="pagenum" id="Page_243">[243]</span> entirely new departure, but Doge Gritti set a fashion in making
+a pompous progress around the Piazza wearing his full regalia, when
+coins were scattered broadcast among the spectators, and a movable
+<i>pozzetto</i>, pulpit, or throne, was borne in the procession, and,
+when the Doge reached the centre of the Piazza, the youngest Lord of
+the “Forty” placed upon his head the <i>Corno</i>, and an address was
+offered him in the name of the citizens.</p>
+
+<p>There is no record of the Dogaressa’s Entry and Coronation,—possibly
+the Doge’s progress was, in a way an alternative pageant. She was Donna
+Benedetta Vendramin,—a niece of Doge Andrea Vendramin. The Doge’s
+family was of no great distinction,—one of the sixteen families,
+ennobled when the new <i>Libro d’Oro</i> of 1450 was compiled.</p>
+
+<p>His <i>Promissione</i> of 13th May 1513, was, like his predecessor’s,
+the work of the purist-faddist section of the Council. He was forbidden
+to go beyond the narrow limits of the City proper, the gardens of
+Murano, and the sea-baths of the Lido,—the pleasant places on the
+mainland and up the Brenta, were all beyond bounds! A fine of one
+hundred gold ducats was actually fixed for each breach of this
+ridiculous restriction. Letters, to and from his Consort, and his
+children were subject to official inspection, and statements therein
+considered by the “Ten” open to objection, placed the whole family at
+the risk of a fine of two hundred gold ducats—remarks affecting the
+status and privileges, the opinion and actions of the Council were
+marked down for banishment for a term of five years!</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_244">[244]</span></p>
+
+<p>A further instance of the insolent intolerance of the Councils “The
+Forty” and “The Ten” and of their exercise of tyranny against the
+idol they had set up, to wit the Doge, was in connection with the
+<i>Oselle</i> issued by this Serenity. Doge Gritti presumed to have
+his token-medals stamped with the effigy of himself kneeling before
+Saint Mark, this was disallowed. At the same time the nobles sold their
+<i>oselle</i> to collectors, and then disputed the value of the Ducal
+gift! The “Ten” decreed the withdrawal of this largesse, together with
+the yearly dole of wild duck and instead demanded from the Doge the
+circulation among their Excellencies, at his expense, of a new coin of
+the value of one and a quarter gold ducats,—to which they gave the
+name “<i>ducato d’osello</i>.” Whether the unfortunate Doge was able
+to meet this very heavy annual tax or no, we know not. To be mulcted,
+without the right of remonstrance, in a yearly useless expenditure of
+£1000 was a heavy drain even on a rich man’s purse.</p>
+
+<p>Doge Gritti, according to the chroniclers “was a very pliant sort of
+man,” indeed he had need to be! He was also a great eater, and his
+gustatory tastes ran to somewhat vulgar and common-place delicacies:
+his table was served every day with “fat pork, onions and garlic.” He
+had a shrewd old slave-housekeeper, one Marta, who alone was able to
+curb his appetite. He gave her permission to remove any dish of which
+she considered he had partaken sufficiently, or which she thought was
+bad for him! In person Andrea Gritti was of handsome graceful figure,
+his temperament was sympathetically voluptuous, and he was much admired
+by the fair<span class="pagenum" id="Page_245">[245]</span> sex—a lover through all his life of wine and women. It
+was reputed that he maintained a great establishment, after the fashion
+of an Oriental seraglio; he had many Greek and Circassian slaves and
+some of them were of gentle birth.</p>
+
+<p>Fond as he was of pomp and circumstance he was able to gratify his
+tastes with respect to his domestic appointments. His table service
+was unique, mostly of gold and precious crystal; his gondola, alone
+among the ten thousand gliding over the water-ways, was decorated with
+crimson and gold. The sumptuary laws became more and more exacting,
+and, on one occasion, when a niece of the Dogaressa appeared at a
+reception at the Ducal Palace in a very magnificent costume of velvet
+embossed cloth of gold with scarlet and jewelled embroideries, Doge
+Gritti felt obliged to order her to leave the Court, and return in a
+less costly confection.</p>
+
+<p>With all his extravagant and ambitious fancies Doge Andrea Gritti was a
+patriot. Called upon to make a retort to the insulting language of an
+ambassador of the Sultan, who declared openly that, “Till now Venice
+has wedded the Sea; henceforth it belongs to us who have supreme power
+thereupon.” The Doge quietly replied:—“We shall see, Constantinople
+will fall again perhaps to Venice.” This menace was followed up by
+an attack in force by the Turkish fleet in 1535. The Doge at once
+expressed his determination to lead the Venetian forces against the
+invader. His ardour however met with a snub from the Council, and he
+was advised to reconsider the terms of his <i>Promissione</i>.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_246">[246]</span></p>
+
+<p>Indeed the jealousy and meanness of the majority of the members of the
+“Forty” and of the “Ten” knew no bounds. The Doge was subjected to
+many insults, and to a secret code of espionage. Quite lately proof
+of this was found, when alterations were undertaken in the saloon
+occupied by the Archæological Museum in the Ducal Palace. Two narrow
+staircases were discovered, at the back of what had been the Doge’s
+bedroom, where Doge Agostino Barbarigo had erected Pietro Lombardo’s
+noble chimney-piece. These steps led to a space immediately behind the
+bed itself, where two movable panels in the wall permitted any one to
+have a peep at the Doge and Dogaressa (?) in bed and see what they were
+doing!</p>
+
+<p>Among the pious works of Doge Andrea and Dogaressa Benedetta was the
+rebuilding of the ancient church of San Giovanni Elemosinario. The
+splendid picture over the high altar of the Saint bestowing alms was
+painted by Titian upon the Doge’s commission. In the chapel of San
+Clemente, within St Mark’s is a bas-relief with Doge Gritti kneeling
+before Saints Nicholas, James and Andrew. The famous painting by
+Paris Bordone, now in the Accademia, of “The Fisherman and the Ring,”
+although ostensibly offering a portrait of Doge Pietro Gradenigo really
+shows the handsome figure and features of amorous and ambitious Doge
+Andrea Gritti. Probably he and his Consort were buried in their fine
+new church, but records are wanting.</p>
+
+<p>“What sort of a wife has he got?” was the constantly recurring
+question, which, upon the death of a Doge, was tossed from side to
+side in the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_247">[247]</span> deliberations of the Council of “Forty,” with respect
+to the nomination of a successor. “<i>Cherchez la femme!</i>” has no
+satisfactory equivalent in English phraseology, but the French axiom
+exactly suits the condition created in deciding the Ducal vote. The
+<i>Promissione</i> of each succeeding Head of the State, one after the
+other, tended more and more to eliminate individuality and initiative.</p>
+
+<p>As often as not the physical attributes of a candidate weighed
+considerably in the election. The question of the spouse also resolved
+itself pretty much upon the same lines. The candidate whose wife
+was of commanding appearance, and had a fascinating manner, and who
+could display to advantage the richest robes ever woman was called
+upon to assume; and also was likely to add decorative distinction
+and artistic taste to the State functions had an excellent chance of
+election. All this was exemplified in the case of Doge Cristoforo
+and Dogaressa Dea Moro:—he was a cripple and proud, but she was a
+beautiful and accomplished woman. Certainly this reasoning is natural
+and not altogether fatuous, for the same economy of selection has
+ever determined the bestowal of honours in every nation—and does so
+to-day—incidentally and very aptly illustrating the quaint French
+<i>mot</i>.</p>
+
+<p>In the long Roll of the Doges and Dogaressas of Venice there were
+periods where short reigns followed one another in succession. During
+the second half of the fifteenth century, 1471–1485, six pairs of
+Serenities bowed themselves on and off the Ducal throne; whilst the
+middle years of the sixteenth century, 1545–1571, saw an equal number
+of Ducal couples assume the <i>Corno</i>. Many of these<span class="pagenum" id="Page_248">[248]</span> reigns were
+uneventful and inconspicuous, and very little is on record for the
+story-teller to relate. Happy is it, perhaps, for the peace of a State
+and its prosperity, when the pen of the historian dips seldom in the
+red ink of episodes.</p>
+
+<p>Messir Pietro Lando and Madonna Maria Pasqualigo-Lando followed Doge
+Andrea Gritti and Dogaressa Benedetta Vendramin-Gritti in 1538. Both of
+them belonged to comparatively recently ennobled families; the Landi
+as late as 1450, and the Pasqualighi, one of the thirty advanced to
+honour after the Chioggian War in 1391. The new Doge took up manfully
+the cudgels of the State, ready to lead against and fight its foes; but
+the military element of the lagunes was weary of debauches and defeats.
+Accommodations with the enemy accorded better with the degenerate
+spirit of the times, than open hostilities. The acutest phase of
+Venetian retrogression had set in.</p>
+
+<p>In an inverse ratio the political ascendancy of Venice diminished,
+the while her artistic temperament became emphatic. She waited, for
+example, until every other painting school had grown to maturity before
+she began to nurse her native painters; but, under Doges Lando and
+Donato, she crowned Titian and his comrades with golden chaplets. They
+were the first in the Renaissance to portray the natural and unadorned
+charms of women.</p>
+
+<p>The study of the classics and researches in philosophy never appealed
+to Venetians generally and gave no tone to society. Venice had
+neither permanent teachers nor libraries; and her sons and daughters
+had profound contempt for humanists.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_249">[249]</span> Cosimo de’ Medici, “<i>Il
+Vecchio</i>,” when an exile within the boundaries of the Republic,
+deplored the want of scholarship. The ensigns of Venice were “Make
+money and spend it,” and “Grasp power and keep it!” However Doge and
+Dogaressa Lando had literary tastes, and several Venetian writers
+dedicated their works to them. Pietro Contarini, of the school of
+Francesco Colonna, in 1541, inscribed their Serenities’ names upon the
+fly-sheet of his “<i>Argo Vulga</i>,” and addressed them as “<i>O Sacio
+Phœbo</i>—<i>O Radienta Luna</i>!”</p>
+
+<p>The <i>dogado</i> of Francesco Donato, 1545–1553; of Marcantonio
+Trevisan, 1553–1554; and of Francesco Venier, 1554–1556, were
+uneventful. The position of Venice was wholly changed: what advance she
+made before the menace of the “League of Cambrai” was checked, and she
+began to sink into the position of a second-rate power, despoiled of
+her territorial acquisition and robbed of her naval glory. Her rulers
+and her citizens yielded themselves to the trivialities of fashion and
+the intrigues of party, and all the industries felt the influence of
+disaffection and indolence.</p>
+
+<p>Doge Francesco Donato, whose Consort was Madonna Alicia
+Giustiniani-Donato, certainly strove manfully to stem the tide of
+disaster and the ebb of decay, and both he and the Dogaressa did all
+that was in their power to encourage art and craft. For example he took
+Tiziano Vecellio under his special patronage. He was appointed Head of
+the “<i>La Senseria</i>” or Broker of the <i>Fondaco de’ Tedeschi</i>
+at an annual salary of three hundred gold ducats, with the condition
+that he should paint portraits of all the Doges of his time at eight
+ducats a head to be<span class="pagenum" id="Page_250">[250]</span> paid by each. He painted Doges Grimani, Lando,
+Donato, Trevisan, and Venier.</p>
+
+<p>Furthermore Doge Donato added greatly to the decoration of the Ducal
+Palace and the Dogaressa Alicia refurnished the private apartments. To
+them also was due the building by Iacopo Sansovino of the <i>Libreria
+Vecchia</i>, called by Symonds in his “Renaissance in Italy” “the
+crowning triumph of Venetian Art,” and praised by Aretino as
+“<i>Superiore all’ invidia</i>.” The <i>Zecca</i> or Mint was completed
+at Doge Francesco Donato’s instigation, as was also the church of San
+Sebastiano.</p>
+
+<p>During the years 1547–1549 discontent was rife among the glass-workers
+of Murano. Members of this most highly privileged Trade-Guild
+complained that, what with the observance of Church and State festivals
+and the time restrictions of labour under legal enactment, the working
+year was reduced to less than thirty-five weeks. From another point of
+view they saw increasing disabilities in the introduction of foreign
+manufactures, as Luigi Conaro, in his “<i>Discorso Intorno alla Vita
+Sobria</i>,” published in 1543, has recorded:—“cloth of gold from
+India, porcelain and glass from Sevres, earthenware from Birmingham,
+and other manufactures entered Venice freely to the disadvantage of
+Venetian workers.”</p>
+
+<p>Strangers of rank and wealth were always charmed with the rare
+specimens of glass shown, and often bestowed upon them, and invitations
+poured in upon the craftsmen to accompany the visitors back to their
+homes. Such advances were promptly declined, for a Murano glass-worker
+who left Venice to ply his calling in a foreign land was declared an
+outlaw! Besides this the export of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_251">[251]</span> materials, the elucidation of
+methods, and the sale of finished articles outside the Republic, were
+crimes visited by heavy fines and imprisonment.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Gastaldi</i> or Masters of the Guild laid their complaints
+before their patroness, Dogaressa Alicia, and she was instrumental
+in obtaining the removal of certain restrictions, and, through her
+influence, in 1550, a party of Murano glass-blowers were permitted
+to travel to England, Flanders, Spain and France. King Henry VIII.
+cordially welcomed them in London, and assigned them suitable quarters
+where they might instruct native workmen. The King moreover formed a
+remarkable collection of masterpieces of Murano glass-ware.</p>
+
+<p>There was a quaint saying in Murano:—“The first woman was made of
+Murano glass—beautiful and brittle!”</p>
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_252">[252]</span></p>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER VII</h2>
+</div>
+
+
+<h3>I</h3>
+
+<p>The Doge and Dogaressa of the Fisher folk!</p>
+
+<p>If imitation be the sincerest form of flattery, then must the Most
+Serene Doges and Dogaressas of Venice, during the fifteenth and
+sixteenth centuries, have experienced gratification combined with
+amusement at the spectacle of the mock Court of the Zattere.</p>
+
+<p>The fisher-folk of the parishes, wherein they principally resided, San
+Raffaele, Santa Marta, and San Nicolo degli Orfani, and others, were
+accorded the privilege of electing annually a Doge and Dogaressa to
+preside over the affairs of the fishing industry. They were chosen by
+vote and by acclamation, they were accountable to a Council of “Forty,”
+and they had their installation and coronation ceremonies. They were
+attended by duly appointed officers: the Dogaressa had her attendant
+maids of honour, the Doge his body-guard. At functions,—joyous or
+sad,—they wore official costumes, modelled upon those of the Doge and
+Dogaressa at the Ducal Palace—robes of State, the <i>Corno</i> and the
+regalia.</p>
+
+<p>Upon the Election of a Doge of the Republic, the Fisher Doge and
+Dogaressa proceeded in mock State to the Palace to offer the
+congratulations of the fisher community, and then they went on to
+the Palace of the Dogaressa to salute her Serenity.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_253">[253]</span> Each Ascension
+Day—“<i>La Sensa</i>”—the Head of the State and his Consort
+entertained the fisher folk generally at collation, and the subsequent
+proceedings partook of the character of a saturnalia,—full license
+being granted by the <i>Signori della Notte</i>, or police, but no one
+was at all the worse for their conviviality.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb">
+
+<p>There was no little stir in official circles, when, in 1557, the
+Council of “Forty” determined that, after being in abeyance nearly
+eighty years, the ceremonials of Entry and Coronation should be revived
+in honour of Signora Zilia Dandolo-Priuli. Two generations of Venetians
+had come and gone and had not beheld the most striking of all Venetian
+pageants. To be sure they had not been without gorgeous processions and
+bountiful festivals; the twelve annual <i>Andate</i> of the Doge and
+the Lords of the Council had been scrupulously carried out under each
+succeeding Head of the State; but demonstrations of magisterial dignity
+and military pomp are very poor equivalents for feasts of grace and
+beauty, love and chastity.</p>
+
+<p>The Election of Messir Lorenzo Priuli to the Ducal throne, in 1556,
+was in a very great measure due to the attractive personality and
+ancestral dignity of his Consort. She was acknowledged to be the most
+distinguished noblewoman in Venice. Daughter of Messir Marco Dandolo,
+in direct descent from Doge Andrea Dandolo, and with the blood of the
+hero Doge Arrigo Dandolo coursing through her veins, she was in the
+best and truest sense a <i>virago</i>. Her marriage took place in 1526,
+but was as a matter of rank, a <i>mésalliance</i>, for the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_254">[254]</span> Priuli were
+one of the latest ennobled families,—dating their title only from 1450.</p>
+
+<p>The Palazzo Priuli, upon the Fondamento dell’ Osmarin, was in its
+day one of the most magnificent in Venice, being entirely faced with
+superb frescoes by Palma Vecchio—alas they have all perished. Another
+Priuli palace belonged to Messir Girolamo Priuli, Procurator of San
+Marco, and brother of the new Doge: it was situated on the opposite
+<i>riva</i> of the Grand Canal, near the church of San Barnaba. A third
+Palazzo Priuli, or perhaps Casa Priuli, existed in the Cannaregio, a
+<i>sestiere</i> with its distinctive customs, peculiar physiognomy of
+its people and its special dialect. Built in 1520 by Messir Agnello
+Priuli youngest brother of the Doge, who married in 1517 Donna
+Andreiana Venier, daughter of Messir Francesco Venier, a two years’
+Doge in 1554–1556, it was famous for its orchards and its great shady
+trees—the rendezvous of many a gay company under Dogaressa Zilia’s
+patronage.</p>
+
+  <div class="figcenter" id="i_254afp" style="max-width: 662px">
+    <img
+    class="p1"   
+    src="images/i_254afp.jpg"
+     alt="">
+     <p class="p0 sm center">I.&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;II.</p>
+     <p class="p0 sm p-left">&ensp;(I) DOGARESSA ZILIA DANDOLO-PRIULI, 1557.</p>
+     <p class="p0 sm p-left">(II)&emsp;&emsp;„&emsp;&emsp;LOREDANA MARCELLO-MOCENIGO, 1570.</p>
+     <p class="p0 xs center">FROM “LIBRO DE’ CERIMONIALI.”</p>
+     <p class="p0 sm center">(Archivio del Stato di Venezia).</p>
+  </div>
+
+  <div class="figcenter" id="i_254bfp" style="max-width: 694px">
+    <img
+    class="p1"   
+    src="images/i_254bfp.jpg"
+     alt="">
+     <p class="p0 sm center">I.&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;II.</p>
+     <p class="p0 sm p-left">&ensp;(I) DOGARESSA ZILIA DANDOLO-PRIULI, 1559.</p>
+     <p class="p0 sm p-left">(II)&emsp;&emsp;„&emsp;&emsp;CECILIA CONTARINI-VENIER, 1578.</p>
+     <p class="p0 sm center">(In Mourning Attire).</p>
+     <p class="p0 xs center">FROM LIBRO DE’ CERIMONIALI.</p>
+     <p class="p0 sm center">(Archivio del Stato di Venezia).</p>
+  </div>
+
+<p>The preparation for the Dogaressa’s solemn Entry and Coronation were
+on a very elaborate scale. The “<i>Bucintoro</i>,” which had borne
+no bevy of Venetian beauties for well-nigh one hundred years, was
+overhauled and covered with gold and blazonry. The Trade-Guilds—the
+<i>Fragilie</i>—were hard at work with new costumes, new banners, and
+new gifts for her Serenity. The clergy carefully recensioned their
+office-books and looked out their richest vestments. Music-masters and
+chorus-leaders furbished up their instruments, wrote festal marches,
+and rehearsed odes of welcome. The companies of <i>La Calza</i> gave
+busy work to all the Trades for new festal garbs. The dignified Lords
+themselves <span class="pagenum" id="Page_255">[255]</span>needed new robes, their consorts new dresses. Venice was
+alive with craftsmen and craftswomen, for the time was short, and very
+much to do.</p>
+
+<p>Although the Election of Doge Francesco Priuli was effected late in the
+year 1556, the solemn Entry of the Dogaressa did not take place until
+the autumn of the year following. The reason for this unusual delay
+we need not canvass but assign it to the want of preparedness for the
+revival of a long disused observance.</p>
+
+<p>On the 18th of September 1557, the “Forty,” the “Ten,” and fifty other
+nobles, assembled in the <i>Sala d’Udienza del Doge</i>, to inaugurate
+the solemnity. They despatched Cavaliere Giovanni Cappello,—the father
+of his Serenity’s son-in-law Andrea Cappello,—habited in a magnificent
+costume of richest red damask cloth of gold, stiff as herald’s tabard,
+with a distinguished and splendidly appointed suite to welcome in
+their name, in the Piazza, the ambassadors of the Emperor and of the
+Dukes of Savoy and Urbino. Passing under a triumphal arch erected near
+the public slaughter-houses, by the Guild of Butchers, the procession
+advanced to the quay of the Piazzetta and there embarked upon the
+gala-decked “<i>Bucintoro</i>.” A short cruise took the party, at the
+landing-steps of the palace of Messir Girolamo Priuli, which was hung
+from top to bottom with draperies of silk and cloth of gold, to pay
+their respects to her Serenity.</p>
+
+<p>Dogaressa Zilia awaited her distinguished visitors at the entrance of
+the palace, accompanied by one hundred young noblewomen and attended
+by the Officers of State. She wore the full robes of her rank, her
+veil was of the finest white net of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_256">[256]</span> Candia, her chemisette and the
+edging of her great ermine sleeves were of the richest Burano lace, her
+<i>Corno</i> was of crimson velvet with a jewelled bandeau, and shoes
+of velvet, to match her head-dress, completed her costume. The jewels
+she wore were the most gorgeous owned by any gentlewoman in Venice,
+heirlooms in the Dandolo family, and taken from the Sultan’s treasury
+by Doge Arrigo Dandolo at the capture of Constantinople,—they were
+barbaric in magnificence.</p>
+
+<p>Very graciously the Dogaressa bowed her acknowledgments of the
+reverential greeting of visitors, and, when the Cavaliere offered her
+the <i>Promissione</i> of her Consort, she assented to the clauses
+affecting herself, and thereafter bestowed upon each member of the
+deputation a richly embroidered purse of cloth of gold containing ten
+golden ducats. Then, seated in tribunes erected along the <i>riva</i>,
+the noble company witnessed a regatta of <i>fisolere</i>—long
+and narrow unprowed gondolas. This popular feature in the day’s
+proceedings was followed by a gorgeous water-pageant, undertaken by the
+<i>Fragilie</i>, the <i>Compagnie della Calza</i>, and other notable
+organisations.</p>
+
+<p>Fourteen galleys, almost as big as the “<i>Bucintoro</i>,” belonging
+to the great Guild of Goldsmiths, covered with crimson damask and gold
+lace, led the way. The Canal was a mass of moving craft of every sort
+and size, full of merrymakers, and bands of music, space being riskily
+found for the bulky “<i>Bucintoro</i>” to steer her course with the
+Dogaressa seated on the Ducal throne at the prow, her gallant and
+beautiful Court around her. Salvoes of artillery, clangings of bells,
+soundings of horns and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_257">[257]</span> trumpets, and the clamour of the spectators
+accompanied the Progress to the Piazzetta. At the Butchers’ triumphal
+arch two hundred and fifty young girls of the city welcomed her
+Serenity. They were arrayed in crimson satin, green silk damask and
+white taffetas, and were adorned with magnificent jewels which had
+not been displayed in public for well-nigh one hundred years. Many
+wore great pearls, the biggest ever seen in Venice,—and gold chains
+of cunning workmanship with numerous rubies, emeralds, and sapphires:
+upon their heads were diamond coronets and lace veils spangled with
+brilliants. In this constellation of grace, beauty, and affluence, was
+a striking group of twelve brides,—recalling to everyone the romantic
+Venetian story of the past. Their golden hair, falling at will over
+their bare and painted shoulders, was restrained only by coronets of
+gold and silver leaves of myrtle: their costumes were of white satin
+and lace with golden girdles worn <i>à la Grecque</i>. Behind the
+brides were ranged two-and-twenty older matrons, clothed in black
+velvet, and covered with precious stones. This feature in the reception
+must have been arranged by a scenic painter or a master of costumes,
+for nothing so well tones masses of strong and vivid colours as here
+and there a sable touch.</p>
+
+<p>The procession thus doubled in numbers, passed superlatively between
+the hundred German guards in the service of the Republic, making
+for the Basilica. Immediately before the Dogaressa came the wives
+of the Procurators of Saint Mark, with Madonna Marina, the wife
+of Messir Vettor Grimani at their head, all robed in black satin
+with long hanging scarves like those of the Dogaressa’s<span class="pagenum" id="Page_258">[258]</span> State
+robe. Attended by the Secretaries of the High Chancellor marched
+the Doge’s two sons-in-law,—Cavalieri Antonio Morosini and Pietro
+Cappello,—supporting Cavaliere Giovanni Priuli, their Serenities’ only
+Son, all vested in Ducal dress,—tabards of emblazoned cloth of gold,
+with trains or long togas of crimson silk velvet, worn over silver-gilt
+suits of armour.</p>
+
+<p>Most becomingly costumed in richest silver damasked white silk
+velvet walked the Doge’s two daughters Madonne Antonio Morosini and
+Pietro Cappello followed by Cavaliere Matteo Dandolo, brother of the
+Dogaressa, in full Ducal robes, who immediately preceded her Serenity.
+He was attended by two Councillors of the Doge,—Messiri Antonio
+Giustiniani and Marco Centanni. Under the State Umbrella of cloth of
+gold, with erect figure and stately carriage, passed along the new
+First Lady of Venice,—conscious that, in her person, was revived the
+most gorgeous of all the noble “Triumphs” of Venice. The historic
+splendours of all the crowned Dogaressas of the past were centred in
+her, and men and women thanked God that the glories of Venice were once
+more dazzling their eyes, and making promise for their children.</p>
+
+<p>The three pages of honour, who bore the Ducal train and held the heavy
+sleeves of fur and gold, paused before the Grand Portal of San Marco,
+and the Lords of the Council and State officials gathered around the
+Dogaressa and her children and relatives to keep back the pressure of
+the enthusiastic crowd. The Chapter of the cathedral were awaiting
+Her Serenity and the Prior at once sprinkled her with Holy Water, the
+acolytes holding aloft great lighted<span class="pagenum" id="Page_259">[259]</span> candles, and tossing big silver
+censers in the air. The Dogaressa humbly knelt to kiss a holy relic
+of Saint Mark whilst the choristers and musicians gave forth joyous
+anthems. Conducted by the ecclesiastics into the choir the Prior seated
+her upon the Doge’s throne and then “Te Deum,” was chanted. To each
+canon Dogaressa Zilia gave a purse of cloth of gold with one hundred
+gold ducats. The ritual of the Entry was celebrated as in the days of
+Dogaressa Regina Gradenigo-Vendramin. Upon the sacred Missal, held
+by the Bishop of Castello, the new Dogaressa swore to observe her
+<i>Promissione</i>. Several addresses were read to her, but nobody
+could hear a word because of the tremendous vociferations of the
+applauding multitude inside and outside the sacred edifice.</p>
+
+<p>Bowing reverently to the High Altar Dogaressa Zilia passed through the
+Sanctuary and ascended the Foscara staircase, on her way to the Ducal
+Palace. As in days gone by, the Guilds made lavish displays in each
+room of delectable dainties for the palate and of supreme examples of
+their respective craftsmanship. The hairdressers were the first to
+offer their duty, being specially under the new Dogaressa’s patronage.
+They had spread a table with a very beautiful Oriental carpet and
+placed upon it a resplendent crystal mirror of Murano with the golden
+appurtenances of the toilet—splendid gifts for her Serenity. Possibly
+they warily foresaw the need of a new dressing of the Most Serene
+locks of auburn hair after the trying formalities already graciously
+performed! The <i>Gastaldo</i>, or Master of the Guild, advancing<span class="pagenum" id="Page_260">[260]</span>
+with many reverences addressed the Dogaressa: “Right welcome is Your
+Serenity, we hairdressers are your devoted servants, we rejoice with
+you, and beg you still to extend to us your Serene patronage.” Then,
+with a motion of the hand he invited her to partake of the delicacies
+and to quaff the rare vintage on silver dishes and out of crystal
+flagons, which His Serenity the Doge had provided for the use of all
+the Guilds.</p>
+
+<p>The Dogaressa graciously replied:—“I am delighted that everything is
+so well arranged and I thank you heartily. I am not able to stay with
+you because I have to visit seventeen other rooms. I hope to see you
+all another time, I must now say farewell.”</p>
+
+<p>Entering the room allotted to the Guild of Goldsmiths, her Serenity
+was saluted in a similar manner, and offered two splendid panels of
+tapestry, mounted in exquisitely carved frames overlaid with gold and
+silver. Passing through a corridor, which gave upon the Piazza, she
+beheld the immense awning of light blue canvas covered with golden
+stars, which stretched away to the four columns in front of the offices
+of the <i>Signori della Notte al Criminali</i>, which were draped in
+crimson damask and carried six-and-twenty emblazoned shields, and
+every window festooned and decorated with the Dandolo arms. As she
+went on her way the massed bands of the Guilds, in the Piazzetta,
+played a triumphal march. Each of the sixteen rooms was adorned by a
+separate Guild, and each Guild made a distinctive offering, saluting
+her Serenity with loyal devotion. In the last room the Officers of
+the Murano glass-workers were in charge of a rare<span class="pagenum" id="Page_261">[261]</span> exhibition of the
+lustrous objects of their craft. The offering of this ancient and
+noble Guild was a suite of glass new in style, shape and colour and
+jewelled,—<i>chefs d’œuvre</i> of the most fragile art of Venice. In
+honour of the new Dogaressa quite naturally the service was called “La
+Zilia.”</p>
+
+<p>At length this very agreeable but very tiring Progress ended at the
+<i>Sala del Gran Consiglio</i>, where Dogaressa Zilia was placed upon
+the Ducal throne, having on her right the older ladies of her escort,
+the State Councillors, the Heads of the “Forty,” her brother, Cavaliere
+Matteo Dandolo and the Cavalieri Antonio Morosini and Pietro Cappello.
+The nobles and gentlemen all were in crimson satin having removed their
+heavy tabards of cloth of gold; they wore stoles of cloth of gold over
+their left shoulders. Upon benches opposite were seated ambassadors,
+judges, knights, members of the Council, and the more distinguished
+guests of the Government. The younger gentlewomen of the Dogaressa’s
+suite were upon her left hand, and with them an equal number of young
+nobles,—Companions of <i>La Calza</i> and young officers of the fleet
+and army. The ducal <i>Corno</i> was held over her head by the High
+Chancellor, who addressed her in the same terms as those used at the
+Coronation of Dogaressa Regina Gradenigo-Vendramin.</p>
+
+<p>Shades of evening were falling on the golden glory of a glorious
+festal day, as, by magic, torches burning coloured fires were kindled
+in every window of the Palace,—every <i>Sala</i> was lighted <i>al
+giorno</i>. Then defiled before the Serene Dogaressa in the Grand
+Courtyard a pageant of the Arts and Crafts,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_262">[262]</span> every member thereof
+bearing a lighted torch. In the van marched two by two, one hundred
+of the handsomest young gallants of Venice,—all tightly costumed in
+silks and satins,—and twenty-five gentlemen of the Doge’s private
+cabinet,—wearing long togas of black velvet and heavy gold chains of
+office.</p>
+
+<p>Collations were spread in the <i>cortili</i> of the Palace, and
+banquets were given in the Council chambers, and then, in the
+Piazzetta, were athletic exhibitions of posed human pyramids and other
+figures, and a grand display of fireworks. The festivities wound up
+with dance and music, games and flirtations, till the new day began to
+peep through window and doorway as the pale moon withdrew her light
+before the fiery car of the advancing Sun God.</p>
+
+<p>The festival of the Coronation was carried over three days, days
+of unalloyed pleasure and success. Bull-baiting, bear-baiting,
+cock-fighting, boxing, wrestling, skiff-races, swimming matches, well
+filled twenty-four hours, and then followed dramatic performances
+by members of <i>La Calza</i>. Venice was in a delirium of music,
+dancing, and general rejoicing. Rich and poor alike were feasted
+by the munificent Doge and Dogaressa, and, when on the last day of
+the festival, they made a round of visits to thank the Masters of
+the Guilds and others who had been conspicuous by their services in
+general, every one felt that rest was welcome, and that life might
+again return to its normal conditions.</p>
+
+<p>The “Triumph” of Dogaressa Zilia Dandolo-Priuli marked a red letter in
+the annals of the Republic. It was taken as a proof that the spirit<span class="pagenum" id="Page_263">[263]</span>
+of the Venetians was by no means dead, but, at the same time, it
+served as a warning of the enervating effect of wanton enjoyment and
+leisured opulence. A poet-laureate arose, unknown now by name, who thus
+apostrophised the happy Signora Zilia:—</p>
+
+  <div class="poetry-container">
+   <div class="poetry">
+      <div class="stanza">
+        <div class="ileft">“Quæ decus ætherum, terrarum gloria tandem</div>
+        <div>Zilia progreditur, patuit Dea, vertice odorem</div>
+        <div>Spiravere comæ divinum, vestis ad imos</div>
+        <div>De fluxitque pedes ...”</div>
+      </div>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+
+<p>The reign of Lorenzo and Zilia Priuli was, for the most part, peaceful,
+so far as the intermittence of sporadic hostilities was concerned.
+To be sure the Turks never let the Venetians quite alone, and Venice
+kept on quietly pushing diplomatic aggression everywhere. Still the
+hindrances to home development were not unduly harmful and industry and
+commerce throve exceedingly. The Dogaressa, good as her word, spoken
+after her Coronation—“I hope to see you all another time”—extended
+her heartiest patronage to the Trades which most appealed to her in
+matters of taste, and she fostered new fashions in upholstery, napery,
+and table appointments, as well as personal adornments.</p>
+
+<p>Alas, her wearing of the <i>Corno</i> was limited to three short years,
+for, in 1559, Doge Priuli was laid upon his death-bed,—another victim
+to pestilence. He was buried at San Salvatore, under the statue of his
+patron Saint Lorenzo. The Council paid unusual honours to the widowed
+Dogaressa, a decree, dated 24th June, immediately after the burial
+of her Consort, appointed her a household of eight maids of honour,
+and servitors for her sedan, and her gondola. She was to be<span class="pagenum" id="Page_264">[264]</span> attended
+in her visits to churches, hospitals and other institutions, by four
+elderly gentlewomen of distinction, and she was required to wear in
+public black satin brocade cut after the pattern of the cloth of gold
+State robes but without jewels. These instructions were to serve as the
+decree stated “<i>per maggior decoro et honor de la Republica</i>,” and
+the dowager Dogaressa was accorded the title of “Princess.” Furthermore
+a monthly allowance was granted her of fifty gold ducats, and the
+supervision of her affairs was delegated to the State Chamberlains.</p>
+
+<p>The “<i>Libro dei Cerimoniali</i>,” still preserved among the Archives
+of the Republic, has a representation of Dogaressa Zilia Dandolo-Priuli
+in the costume of a widow. The dress is apparently of black cashmere,
+with full deep sleeves of black silk. Her widowhood lasted seven
+years, and she died regretted by all on 13th October 1566. Her funeral
+obsequies were conducted upon a scale commensurate with the unusual
+honours bestowed upon her in her lifetime. After the excision of the
+bowels and brain,—which were placed in a marble vase,—her body was
+“washed,” says the writer of the “<i>Cerimoniali</i>” “in pure spring
+water, and wrapped in tow, with sponges under the armpits.” Embalmed
+with aromatic wax and spices, the dead Princess was shrouded in the
+habit of a nun of the Convent of Sant’ Alvise, of the foundation of
+Donna Antonia Venier in 1388: over it was cast a chemise of cloth of
+gold, and a delicate lace veil shaded the face arranged under a Ducal
+<i>Corno</i>.</p>
+
+<p>The lying-in-state was upon a bier in the <i>Sala dei Pioveghi</i>.
+During three days the Papal Legate,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_265">[265]</span> the Ambassadors, the Lords of
+the Councils, the Captains of the “Forty” and of the “Ten,” the
+Procurators, Judges, and all the Officers of State with the clergy and
+religious orders, the Religious congregations, the inmates of the State
+Orphanages and Homes for Women, and a vast concourse of citizens passed
+before the coffin. On the last day the Doge Girolamo Priuli,—his
+brother’s successor,—in full State ascended the <i>Scala d’Oro</i>
+accompanied by the Papal Legate and Cavaliere Giovanni Priuli,—the
+son of the late Doge and Dogaressa,—and entered the funeral chapel to
+assist at the final ceremonial.</p>
+
+<p>A procession of the Prior and Chapter of San Marco with cross, banners,
+and lighted yellow wax torches, accompanied by the clergy of the church
+of San Fantino,—usually attended by the late Dogaressa,—and her
+private chaplains, filed into the <i>Sala</i>, and, after prayers and
+absolution, the coffin was raised upon the shoulders of master-marines
+of the Arsenal, borne down the <i>Scala de’ Giganti</i>, and carried
+solemnly across the Piazzetta to the portal of the Basilica, where the
+remains were blessed by the Bishop of Castello. The funeral cortège
+then advanced between military guards through the Piazza and Merceria
+to the Ponte d’Olio, and so on to the great church of SS. Giovanni
+e Paolo. All the <i>calli</i> were covered with black hangings, and
+every man, woman, and child was in deepest mourning. Within the church
+the coffin was placed upon an imposing catafalque, and surrounded
+with torches and candles. Conducted to his Chair of State the Doge
+laid aside his <i>Corno</i>, whilst the priest of the Collegiate
+Church of San Fantino delivered an<span class="pagenum" id="Page_266">[266]</span> impressive oration, ending with
+the apostrophization “<i>Jam vero Ziliæ virtuti quæ potest per oratio
+inveniri?</i>”</p>
+
+<p>Such an imposing ceremonial at the burial of a widowed Dogaressa was
+unprecedented. Zilia Dandolo-Priuli came to her throne in the grand
+Ducal Palace and to her grave in the simple church of San Salvatore in
+a couple of “Triumphs” unique of their kind.</p>
+
+
+<h3>II</h3>
+
+<p>The <i>dogado</i> of Lorenzo Priuli was conspicuous only so far as it
+was adorned by the personality of a wealthy, talented, and fascinating
+wife. Had the reign of his brother Girolamo Priuli, his immediate
+successor, been graced by the presence of as illustrious a consort,
+certainly history would have recorded her charms, her influence, and
+her example. Alas, we know nothing about Signora Elena Diedo-Priuli
+beyond her name: the date of her birth, marriage, and death are
+unnoted, nor do we find any reference to her family, her forebears, or
+her offspring.</p>
+
+<p>One of the most ornamental and useful bridges in Venice is the Ponte
+Diedo, where on 3rd October 1607, Fra Paolo Sarpi, theologian, lawyer
+and patriot was done to death. The nomenclature of another bridge, in
+the same <i>sestiere</i> Cannaregio—the Ponte Priuli, may suggest that
+the Priuli and Diedi were neighbours and probably engaged in the same
+industry.</p>
+
+<p>The Priuli were among the noble families of 1450, and possibly the
+Diedi were patrician citizens<span class="pagenum" id="Page_267">[267]</span> not yet ennobled. Doge Girolamo Priuli
+occupied the Ducal throne eight years, during which episodes and events
+were few. Strenuous periods of national history have their reflex
+action in times of rest and recuperation. Venice was quiescent, her
+enemies left her pretty much alone, and internal troubles appeared
+to be exhausted. The burial of the Doge in 1567 was conducted at
+the church of San Salvatore: he was laid alongside his brother Doge
+Lorenzo, in the family vault, beneath the statue of his patron saint,
+San Girolamo.</p>
+
+<p>Pietro Loredano wore the <i>Corno</i> for three years, 1567–1570: his
+Consort was Madonna Maria Cappello. Probably he was a son of “Grand”
+Doge Lionardo Loredano, and she was the daughter of a noble family
+which had given very many famous sons to Venice, although not one of
+them reached the throne. Two events marked this <i>dogado</i>,—both
+calamitous,—the terrible famine of 1569, when the harvest of all
+northern Italy and the contiguous countries entirely failed, and the
+destruction by fire of the famous Arsenal, the fountain-head of the
+whole naval and military system of the Republic.</p>
+
+<p>The annals of Venice are blank what time Dogaressas Elena Diedo-Priuli
+and Maria Cappello-Loredano held their State within the Ducal Palace.
+The Republic was at peace, dormant and self-indulgent,—an unwonted
+experience for her once vigorous, aggressive, and victorious citizens.
+The end of the war with the Turks left her free to enjoy to the full
+her love of leisure and her fondness of festivity. The still evening
+of an eventful life was the twilight of her fame: her sun was near the
+setting, yet, ere she laid herself down no<span class="pagenum" id="Page_268">[268]</span> more to rise, expiring
+flashes of brilliant deeds and dying fires of fearsome catastrophes
+illuminated her political horizon.</p>
+
+<p>The succession of Doge Alvise Mocenigo and Dogaressa Loredana
+Marcello-Mocenigo, in 1570, found Venice plunged in a sea of anxieties
+and perils. Incessant warfare, with defeats counteracting victories,
+produced solicitude and stupefaction which were subversive of all
+thoughts and sentiments of festivity. “<i>Venus Calva</i>,” once more
+was the figure the “Queen of the Adriatic,” bereft of all consolation,
+presented to an unfriendly world. The Doge’s election, of course, was
+conducted with the traditional solemnities, but the Dogaressa was
+denied the honour of a solemn Entry and Coronation: Pageants were out
+of the question in such anxious circumstances.</p>
+
+<p>The Doge was the fourth member of his family,—ennobled in 1289,—to
+wear the golden <i>Corno</i>: he belonged to the San Samuele branch of
+the Mocenighi,—the “<i>Casa Vecchia</i>” as it was called, resident
+in that <i>campo</i>. A man of great strength of character, extremely
+charitable, and renowned for urbanity and conscientiousness, and truly
+he needed all these qualities in the upkeep of his dignity, and in
+the encouragement of his people. The Dogaressa was Loredana, daughter
+of Messir Giovanni Alvise Marcello,—a man of wealth and of a Ducal
+family, his ancestor, Doge Nicolo Marcello had occupied the supreme
+office just one hundred years before. She was married in 1533.</p>
+
+  <div class="figcenter" id="i_268fp">
+    <img
+    class="p1"   
+    src="images/i_268fp.jpg"
+     alt="">
+     <p class="p0 sm center">DOGARESSA LOREDANA MARCELLO-MOCENIGO.</p>
+     <p class="p0 xs center">FROM A COLOURED PRINT.</p>
+     <p class="p0 sm center">“Famiglie Celebri.”—P. G. Litta.</p>
+  </div>
+
+<p>Dogaressa Loredana was a woman as handsome and virtuous as she was
+talented and accomplished. As a writer of letters and as a classical
+scholar, she <span class="pagenum" id="Page_269">[269]</span>had few equals in Venice. With her sisters, Donne
+Bianca, Daria, and Marina, she led not only the wits of the women
+of Venice, but also their tastes and their modes—“<i>fiore de’l
+secolo</i>,” they and their likes were called. Women had only very
+gradually and intermittingly achieved prominence in literary and
+artistic circles, but the end of the sixteenth century witnessed the
+rich blossoming of the New Women, for almost every “<i>gentildonna di
+Venezia</i>” was distinguished for her mental attainments as well as
+for her charms of person.</p>
+
+<p>Dogaressa Loredana had at least one hobby,—botanical research. The
+Villa gardens of Venice and on the Brenta contained rare examples
+of plant life, the flower gardens of the convents, and the physic
+gardens of the monasteries had their unique treasures, but the fair
+botanist had other nurseries whence she obtained the objects of her
+devotion. Venetian agents in every port ministered to her passion, and
+the gardens of the Marcello Palace were filled with exotics. Alas,
+that her analyses and studies of plants and their properties have
+been lost, along with her letters, her translations, and her poems.
+The Dogaressa’s botanical researches however were not merely for
+personal gratification, they were of immense value to the faculty of
+medicine; her formulas and recipes were invaluable during the grievous
+visitations of plague which decimated the population soon after her
+death.</p>
+
+<p>Short, sad to say, was the reign of the cultured and charming
+Dogaressa, she died of plague on 12th December 1572, but testimony of
+her virtues has been preserved in Messir Ottaviano Maggi’s “<i>Oratio
+in funeralibus Lauraæ Moccenicæ</i>,” a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_270">[270]</span> Latin panegyric pronounced
+at her funeral, which concludes with the ascription:—“<i>Tu vero
+Lauredana matrona integerrima converte aliquando oculos in hanc
+rempublicam</i>.” Palazzi also, in his “<i>La Virtu</i>,” extols the
+dead Signora: that famous pack of Playing-Cards at the Museo Civico has
+upon the “Knave of Cups”:—“Loredana Marcello-Mocenigo, was a Princess
+of great attainments, wherefore the painter finds it difficult to
+illustrate her virtues, Nobility rather than wealth is the distinction
+of Queens.” He calls her:—“<i>Giantessa di merito!</i>”</p>
+
+<p>Amaden in the “<i>Archivio privato de’ Marcelli</i>” also recounts the
+praises of Dogaressa Loredana:—“She was remarkable for her constancy,
+both in the experiences of adversity and in the distractions of
+prosperity, judicious and discreet in the supervision of her household,
+reverent and charitable in her church duties, benevolent to her
+relatives and to her dependants, in a word, she was a most virtuous and
+noble Princess.”</p>
+
+<p>Her obsequies were duly celebrated, though shorn of much of the
+usual State pageantry, in the Church of SS. Giovanni e Paolo. Her
+lying-in-state was arranged in the <i>Sala de’ Pioveghi</i>; where,
+simply shrouded in the habit of a nun of the Convento della Croce on
+the Giudecca, with the cowl: the embalmed body was wrapped in a great
+mantle of cloth of gold lined with lynx fur. Over the nun’s black fall
+was cast a rich veil of white silk edged with gold which covered the
+shoulders. Her head rested upon a cushion of cloth of gold, but it bore
+no <i>Corno</i> for the Dogaressa had not been crowned. A long stole of
+white silk ornamented with gold<span class="pagenum" id="Page_271">[271]</span> lace descended from her neck to her
+feet which were encased in the finest white silken hose and white kid
+shoes embroidered with gold.</p>
+
+<p>The pall was of white silk brocade covered with gold embroideries,
+all the mourners wore purple, except the Vice-Doge and the foreign
+ambassadors. The Papal Nuncio and Cavaliere Giovanni Mocenigo, the
+Doge’s brother, were the principal pall-bearers. In all respects
+the funeral rites followed the ritual of that of Dogaressa Zilia
+Dandolo-Priuli. So highly had she been esteemed by all classes of the
+community, that, during six days, a constant stream of people—chiefly
+poor—passed before the dead Dogaressa’s grandiose bier. Doge Alvise
+bestowed munificent alms upon these needy admirers of his lamented
+Consort. The last “<i>Requiem</i>” was celebrated in the presence of
+the Doge, merely habited as a noble and without special ceremony, who
+then assisted in the entombment within the massive monument next the
+great portal of the Venetian Pantheon.</p>
+
+<p>It was perhaps a misfortune for Venice that the virtuous Dogaressa died
+when she did, for, had she lived but two short years or more, she might
+have exerted a moderating influence upon the profligacy of the nobles
+and citizens, who hailed with so much enthusiasm the visit of King
+Henry III. of Poland and France. No Royal visitor, in the whole history
+of the Republic, had ever been entertained with such a lavish display
+of magnificence and such unbounded prodigality. Everybody put on the
+most splendid gala costume, and all Venice was decked with the most
+gorgeous of festival tokens.</p>
+
+<p>Henry found himself the object of universal<span class="pagenum" id="Page_272">[272]</span> homage, and, amorous
+prince that he was, he dallied delightedly in the sunshine of
+unrestrained enjoyment. Venice was full of courtesans of the boldest
+and most fascinating seductiveness. Sprightly, vivacious, and
+accomplished, they were endowed with the most captivating and coaxing
+ways. They hovered around their Royal guest, most superbly dressed,—or
+if you will the reverse,—bedizened with flashing jewels, their golden
+hair more resplendent than their robes of cloth of gold and chains of
+gold and pearls, was coiffured with subtle artifice. Their breasts were
+bare, supported by broad bands or belts of gold with screws arranged to
+tighten them at will.</p>
+
+<p>The nuns in the convents were as gay and as approachable as were the
+glittering women of the Piazza; their “parlours” were the rendezvous
+of gallants,—young and old. All Venice went as mad as in the time of
+Carnival, and no voice was raised in Church or Council to restrain the
+infatuation. Every sort of entertainment was offered Henry and his
+suite of three hundred greedy courtiers. His body-guard was formed by
+thirty of the best-looking, best-dressed, and gayest young nobles.
+There were jousts, regattas, <i>ridotti</i>, masked balls, banquets,
+and theatricals galore. Bevies of beautiful maidens, in silken tissue,
+like nymphs in a moonlit glade, scattered flowers in the King’s way,
+and displayed their charms, unmoved by the curiosity of the bold French
+knights-errant.</p>
+
+<p>Amid all the feverish frenzy of these demonstrations one pair of
+eyes fastened their mesmeric glare upon these of the happy monarch
+with peculiar significance, and he yielded unresistingly to the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_273">[273]</span>
+fascination. Veronica Franco,—“the Aspasia of Venice,”—was the centre
+of a brilliant but debonnaire literary and artistic circle. Born in
+1546, in the parish of Sant’ Agnese, she was in the full bud of her
+virginity. She, like her frail sisters, was as they have been aptly
+described, “made up of three things—wood, clothes and breasts,”—their
+high pattens, their tightly clinging silk tissues, and their paints and
+puffs.</p>
+
+<p>The amours of Henry and Veronica were sung by poets and philosophers,
+painters painted her on canvas and in miniature, and she herself made
+poems as full of love as were the whispers of her lover. Her awakening
+was sudden and effectual. After Henry had taken her love and kisses
+away with him to Paris, she renounced the reckless life of a courtesan
+and became the inspiring Venetian Sappho. Then she turned to religion
+and tried to undo the evils of the past by good works and the founding
+a penitentiary for fallen women. Michael Montaigne, who saw her at
+Santa Maria Formosa, tells us all this and more about her in his
+“Journal.”</p>
+
+<p>“She gave me,” he says, “a book—‘<i>Lettere Famigliarie
+Diverse</i>,’—erotic and ascetic,—which she had dedicated to another
+of her admirers, the Cardinal Luigi d’Este.” “I saw also in Venice,”
+he adds, “one hundred and fifty noblewomen courtesans who were kept in
+the greatest luxury, spending money like Princesses in jewels, dresses,
+portraits, cosmetiques, and personal adornments.” The resplendent and
+repentant Veronica died in 1591, not more than forty-five years of age,
+worn out with enervating pleasures and austere penances:<span class="pagenum" id="Page_274">[274]</span> her heart
+the while being yielded a captive to the King of France. The love of
+a Venetian woman was fierce and all-absorbing in its intensity, and
+Sanguinacci’s poem—“<i>Le Donne di Venegia</i>” exactly gives the
+measure of their pulse:—</p>
+
+  <div class="poetry-container">
+   <div class="poetry">
+      <div class="stanza">
+        <div class="ileft">“Con atti adorni, assai politi e belle</div>
+        <div class="i1">Le Donne vedi andar con tal maniera</div>
+        <div>E con la fresca Ziera</div>
+        <div class="i1">Che ’l par, che le vigna del Paradiso.”</div>
+      </div>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+
+<p>What the worthy Doge thought about all this wantonness he never
+divulged: his life was overshadowed by an irreparable sorrow—some say
+he never smiled after gentle Dogaressa Loredana closed her eyes in
+death.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>dogado</i> of Alvise Mocenigo was marked by public grief as
+well as private sorrow. The loss of Cyprus and the battle of Lepanto
+made many a <i>casa</i> fatherless, where mothers and children wept
+for those they would see no more. Three years after the death of good
+Dogaressa Loredana, Venice was visited by a terrible calamity: forty
+thousand of the inhabitants were struck down by pestilence. Death came
+upon them with gaunt giant strides: men left home for the day’s work
+and duty well and hearty, before the curfew sounded they were repulsive
+corpses. Lords of the Council fell in the Council Chamber, words of
+wisdom dying on their dying lips. One quarter of the population was
+wiped out.</p>
+
+<p>Doge Mocenigo displayed, as might have been expected, heroic courage.
+His self-denial and absolute disregard of personal risk found him
+comforting the dying and consoling the sorrowing: he was nurse, priest,
+and guardian to the poorest of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_275">[275]</span> poor. What would not Signora
+Loredana have given to share her consort’s ministry! His piety took the
+shape of the foundation of the splendid church of Il Redentore, built
+by the great architect Palladio,—his master-piece,—to propitiate the
+Deity and to serve as a thank-offering for the cessation of the plague.</p>
+
+<p>Five years of widowerhood ended for the Doge in 1577, and then his
+embalmed body was laid beside that of his Consort in SS. Giovanni e
+Paolo. A clause of his will proves his life’s devotion to her. Property
+at Villabona, which he had intended should be hers if he predeceased
+her, he left to his eldest niece, on condition that she and her
+daughter after her, took the names Loredana Marcello before their
+surname Mocenigo.</p>
+
+
+<h3>III</h3>
+
+<p>A Hero Doge!</p>
+
+<p>Still green were the laurels which enwreathed the noble brow of
+Sebastiano Venier,—gracious emblems of the triumph of Lepanto, where
+his strategy, more than anything else, had won a famous victory.
+Acclaimed Doge by the tumultuous voice of the people in the Piazza,
+as well as by the unanimous suffrages of the “Forty” in the Council
+Chamber, Venier aroused the latent warlike spirit of all Venetians.
+Venice was herself again,—no longer “<i>Venus Calva</i>.” The lion
+of San Marco once more bristled his hoary mane, and all the gallants
+of <i>La Calza</i> strutted up and down,—their effeminate costumes
+exchanged for the bravery of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_276">[276]</span> martial uniform,—the cynosure of
+admiring matrons and blushing maidens.</p>
+
+<p>“The Hero of Lepanto” was no youthful soldier breathing lustily the
+battle-smoke but an aged warrior of fourscore years and more—one
+more exponent of the vigour of old age so characteristic of Venetian
+manhood. He wiped out the disgrace of Cyprus, for Turkish standards
+flew proudly from the tall flagstaffs before St Mark’s. Great was the
+loss of precious lives to Venice—great their glory too!</p>
+
+<p>A grand <i>Andata</i>, or Progress, swept the Doge and Dogaressa within
+the portals of the Basilica, upon the feast of Santa Giustina—the
+heroine patron of the Republic. Four days of religious processions and
+four nights of craft-pageantry kept all Venice in a whirl of enthusiasm
+such as she had not experienced for many a day. Whether solemn “<i>Te
+Deum</i>” or hilarious odes to Victory held the citizens most strongly,
+it was hard to say.</p>
+
+<p>Whilst the Spaniards under their princely admiral, Don Juan, evinced
+a spirit of apathy, quite unworthy of this military renown, the
+Pontiff,—the other ally of Venice,—crowned the eulogy of Marco
+Antonio Colonna, his Chief in Command, by the bestowal of the “Golden
+Rose” upon the noble Doge and Dogaressa. Amid all the jubilation and
+marks of high esteem Doge Sebastiano Venier and Dogaressa Cecilia
+Contarini-Venier maintained a dignified bearing and modestly sought
+the seclusion of their palace. There, deputations followed in quick
+succession from friendly States and Cities. The Brescian embassy,
+in particular, came full of “gratitude for precious services and in
+token of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_277">[277]</span> the devotion and infinite love felt for his Serenity by all
+the citizens of our city.” Calling at the Casa Venier the envoys were
+received first of all by the Dogaressa without ceremony, who told them
+that the Doge was upstairs in his study and said:—“I much fear he
+will be unwilling to accept your offering but I will go and hear what
+he says.” The reply was couched in grateful terms but, whilst he was
+pleased to possess a trifling recognition of his small services, he
+politely declined the costly shield of beaten copper, and the case of
+rare old Brescian wine.</p>
+
+<p>Sebastiano Venier was the third Doge of his family, brother of Doge
+Francesco Venier, 1554–1556,—a family ennobled among the thirty by the
+<i>Serrar del Consiglio</i>, in 1289. Dogaressa Cecilia belonged to
+the renowned “Apostolic” family of Contarini, and was married in 3rd
+June 1544, in the Church of Santa Maria degl’Angeli at Murano. Doge
+Venier and she were busily engaged in working out the order of the
+ceremonial to be observed at the Coronation when he was struck down
+suddenly by paralysis on 3rd March 1578. He died within the year of his
+election, and he was buried in the choir of the Church of his Nuptials.
+Sebastiano Venier must be accounted the Twelfth “Grand” Doge of Venice.</p>
+
+<p>The Lords of the Council grieved greatly at his demise and unanimously
+agreed to accord to the widowed Dogaressa a pension of four hundred
+gold ducats per annum, and made provisions for her similar to those
+bestowed upon Dogaressa Zilia Dandolo-Priuli in 1559—“in happy
+memory of noble Prince Sebastiano Venier.” Her residence,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_278">[278]</span> her
+household, her visits in the City, her gondola, and even her dress,
+were all prescribed by rigid but benevolent conventions. In the
+“<i>Cerimoniali</i>” (1464–1592) are two figures of Dogaressa Cecilia
+Contarini-Venier, along with those of Dogaressas Zilia Dandolo-Priuli
+and Loredana Marcello-Mocenigo, all in full State robes and also in
+widow’s weeds. Her death and burial have not been recorded.</p>
+
+<p>Nicolo da Ponte, who succeeded the heroic Doge, was cast in quite
+another kind of mould. He was an ecclesiastic in proclivity if not in
+ordination, a theologian of high order and renown, but by no means an
+adherent politically of the Papal See. He represented the Republic,
+along with the Patriarch, at the Ecumenical Council of Trent. He
+actually refused to allow the Pope’s Nuncio to inspect the Venetian
+monasteries and affirmed the prerogative of the Patriarch of Venice on
+that behalf. The Doge’s Consort was Madonna Arcangela Canali, but there
+is nothing to record of her or of her family.</p>
+
+<p>Possibly Doge da Ponte is best remembered by the kindly part he played
+in the romance of bewitching Bianca Cappello. Deceived and deserted by
+a good-for-nothing young Florentine banker’s clerk the young mother
+became a “<i>Cosa di Francesco</i>”—the Grand Duke of Tuscany. For
+years a price was put upon her head, but time is fruitful of revenge,
+and the daughter of proud Cavaliere Bartolommeo Cappello,—disowned
+by him, and outlawed by the State,—was, ten years later, created “a
+True and Special Daughter of Venice.” The Doge wrote as follows to the
+Grand<span class="pagenum" id="Page_279">[279]</span> Duke on 16th June 1579:—“We are thrilled with the greatest
+pleasure ... when we learn that your Highness has chosen such a wife on
+account of her distinguished virtues.”</p>
+
+<p>The Grand Duchess’ marriage and Coronation were splendidly celebrated
+in Florence. Doge da Ponte was specially represented and the noble
+ambassadors Cavaliere Giovanni Michielo and Antonio Tiepolo bestowed
+upon the Queenly bride, in the name of the Council, a costly crown of
+gold and jewels, a rich cincture of solid gold, and a superb ruby ring.
+Venice also gave her “Daughter” a glorious necklace of diamonds, worth
+ten thousand gold ducats. Bianca loved Francesco and no other man, and
+her devotion was returned quite as faithfully. The power she exercised
+was wholly for his good and for the welfare of his sovereignty; and she
+lives, in unbiassed history, as the inspirer of most of the noble works
+which marked the reign of the last “Grand Medici!” Infatuated, he wrote
+of her:—</p>
+
+  <div class="poetry-container">
+   <div class="poetry">
+      <div class="stanza">
+        <div class="ileft">“A shining gem from Heaven’s treasury</div>
+        <div>Hath Mother Human Nature taken</div>
+        <div>And, wrapping it in a silken veil,</div>
+        <div>Hath sweetly bestowed it on Florence—</div>
+        <div>Saying,—‘To thee, fairest one, I give</div>
+        <div>This beauteous Flora, choice gift of value.’”</div>
+      </div>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+
+<p>Torquato Tasso, her Poet-laureate, celebrated her beauty and
+benignity:—</p>
+
+  <div class="poetry-container">
+   <div class="poetry">
+      <div class="stanza">
+        <div class="ileft">“Bianca—the new ‘Sun of Florence’</div>
+        <div>Causes all things worthy to be done</div>
+        <div>Sun she is—no moon, pale and sad</div>
+        <div>Flashing with splendours of Charity.”</div>
+      </div>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+
+<p>The Grand Duchess Bianca Cappello-Medici<span class="pagenum" id="Page_280">[280]</span> was the third and last
+“Daughter of Venice.” That tender title had first been bestowed by the
+Republic upon Donna Ginevra, daughter of Messir Matteo Tiepolo, Podesta
+of Belluno, who was married in 1503 to Signore Giovanni Sforza, Lord of
+Pesaro. He died a few months after their nuptials and she entered the
+Convent of San Pietro de’ Fiorentini. Girl-like she soon wearied of the
+life of the cloister, and, renouncing her vows, she once more entered
+the world of fashion and romance. Many a suitor offered her his hand,
+and heart and purse, but she would not be again a wife, and she ended
+her days the inmate of a convent—that of San Nicolo di Murano.</p>
+
+<p>The second “Daughter of Venice” was of course Donna Caterina Conaro,
+Queen of Cyprus, Jerusalem and Armenia. Pathos of the deepest was
+blended with the splendour of the <i>rôle</i> she was called upon to
+play, and with the romance of her later days. The daughter of Messir
+Conaro or Corner of the “Evangelistic” noble family, which gave four
+Doges to Venice, Donna Caterina, in 1468, was betrothed, when only
+fourteen years of age, to Giacomo di Lusignano, King of Cyprus. It was
+said that he had the pick of fifty eligible brides, but chose Donna
+Caterina Conaro by way of paying off the mortgage on his island kingdom
+held by Messir Marco Conaro and his partners: a sum of a hundred
+thousand gold ducats was written off as her hypothetic dowry. King
+James died in 1473, the year after their marriage, and Queen Caterina
+bore his posthumous son six months later. Rivals for the throne
+fought for the child and against one<span class="pagenum" id="Page_281">[281]</span> another,—even in the Queen’s
+bed-chamber,—and then she was rescued by an expedition from Venice,
+but her babe died in her arms upon the homeward voyage.</p>
+
+<p>Venice seized the kingdom, rendered royal honours to her “Daughter,”
+and assigned her a palace and a regal maintenance at the Castle of
+Asolo in the Marca Trivigiana. There she reigned over a miniature
+Court of cultured and distinguished men and women, where literature
+and romance played many parts. The leader of her revels and symposia
+was Pietro Bembo, who in his “<i>Gli Asolani</i>” discourses after
+the manner of Giovanni Boccaccio of love, pleasure, and philosophy.
+The while he was writing sonnets to his Queen and bending his knee in
+homage he was carrying on a liaison with the Princess Lucrezia Borgia,
+and then by her influence he was created a Cardinal,—an example of
+ecclesiastical incontinence. Gentile Bellini, in his master-piece
+at the Venice Accademia, “The Miracle of the Cross,” painted Queen
+Caterina and many of the ladies and gentlemen of her Court. The faces
+are life studies, the costumes regal in magnificence.</p>
+
+<p>Queen Caterina was treated with the utmost distinction by all
+Venetians, and when she died, in 1510, her remains were accorded
+honours similar to those rendered to a departed Dogaressa. She was
+first buried in the church of SS. Apostoli and then translated, in
+1665, to San Salvatore. Over her coffin Andrea Navagero pronounced a
+remarkable oration in which he extolled the Queen’s beauty, grace, and
+gentleness, her goodness, erudition, and constancy. With Pietro Bembo,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_282">[282]</span>
+in one of his delightful <i>Canzone</i> may we sing of her:—</p>
+
+  <div class="poetry-container">
+   <div class="poetry">
+      <div class="stanza">
+        <div class="ileft">“Non si vedra giammai stanca ne sazia</div>
+        <div>Questa mia penna Amore,</div>
+        <div>Di renderti, Signore,</div>
+        <div>Del tuo cotanto onore alcuna grazia:</div>
+        <div>A cui pensando volentier si spazia</div>
+        <div>Per la memoria il cuore,</div>
+        <div>E vede ’l tuo valore</div>
+        <div>Ond ’ci prende vigore e te ringrazia.”</div>
+      </div>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+
+<p>A “Daughter of Venice” was of course a Dogaressa in rank, hence brief
+stories of the three Venetian Queen-Graces, Ginevra, Caterina and
+Bianca, are by no means superfluous in the “<i>Libro d’Oro delle
+Dogaresse di Venezia</i>.”</p>
+
+<p>Three years of unbroken peace followed the death of Doge Nicolo da
+Ponte in 1588, under the administration of Doge Pasquale Cicogna. The
+Dogaressa was Madonna Laura Morosini. He was the son of an apothecary,
+ennobled after the Genoese War of Chioggia: she was of an “Apostolic”
+family, but nothing is recorded of her. The Doge was reckoned as a
+parsimonious and unsympathetic sort of man, and was very unpopular with
+the citizens by reason of his niggardliness in the matter of largesse
+at his election Progress through the Piazza. Their tomb is at Santa
+Maria de’ Gesuiti, where he and his Consort lie side by side peacefully
+sleeping.</p>
+
+
+<h3>IV</h3>
+
+<p>At the very end of the sixteenth century one more resplendent Dogaressa
+passed through Venice in solemn State to her Coronation—Signora
+Morosina <span class="pagenum" id="Page_283">[283]</span>Morosini-Grimani. She was a daughter of Messir Andrea
+Morosini, the head of the senior branch of the second family in the
+highest grade of nobility,—the “Apostolic,”—members of which grade
+had come to be looked upon not only as merchant-princes, but as Princes
+of the State. She was married to Messir Marino Grimani, from her
+father’s house, Palazzo Morosini (now Sangredo), upon the Grand Canal,
+in the no longer existent church of San Cristoforo on 27th November
+1560.</p>
+
+  <div class="figcenter" id="i_282fp">
+    <img
+    class="p1"   
+    src="images/i_282fp.jpg"
+     alt="">
+     <p class="p0 sm center">DOGARESSA MOROSINA MOROSINI-GRIMANI.</p>
+     <p class="p0 sm center">Giovanni Contarini. 1599.</p>
+     <p class="p0 xs center">VILLA PISANO, VESCOVANA, PADUA.</p>
+  </div>
+
+<p>The newly-married pair set up housekeeping in splendid fashion in the
+Palazza Grimani (now the Court of Appeal). Messir Marino Grimani was
+one of the very foremost Venetians who plumed themselves as being “the
+first gentlemen in Europe not considering it a disgrace to be merchants
+as well.” The fruits of his commercial success were displayed, not
+only in the appointments of the palace, but in the delights of his
+lovely villa-gardens at Santa Caterina, with their lovely views over
+the lagunes to Murano and her sister isles. Madonna Morosina shared her
+husband’s al fresco tastes, for her father’s gardens at San Canciano
+were as charming as any of those Venetian beauty-spots.</p>
+
+<p>Messir Marino was the popular candidate for the throne, left vacant by
+the death of Doge Pasquale Cicogna. He was famed for his generosity and
+was especially delighted to provide entertainment for poor people and
+their families. His election by the “Forty” was unanimous: probably
+the gracious Madonna Morosina, her personality, her refinement, and
+her wit, had a good deal to do with the decision! Maintaining his
+reputation for magnificent hospitality the new Doge furnished banquets<span class="pagenum" id="Page_284">[284]</span>
+for three whole days to every working man and woman in Venice.
+His Election Progress around the Piazza was accompanied by lavish
+largesse, and, not satisfied with what his suite scattered broadcast,
+the amiable Dogaressa, accompanied by her three daughters, from the
+State balcony of the Ducal Palace, threw handfuls of silver and copper
+coins among the crowds in the Piazza. Not only was the Doge generous
+and the Dogaressa affable, but he was pompous and she ambitious. They
+determined that her Entry in State and her Coronation should surpass
+anything yet “seen in Venice.”</p>
+
+<p>The spirit of going-one-better-than-one’s-neighbours, was a very
+strongly marked characteristic of Venetians all through their history.
+Certainly there was something of vulgarity in the idea, but there was
+also distinction in the realisation. If the Doge and Dogaressa were
+high and mighty sort of people their elevation also raised the tone of
+society, and materially improved the condition of employment. Hence the
+public were quite responsive to the call of their Serenities.</p>
+
+<p>The pageant, or “Triumph” of Dogaressa Morosina Morosini-Grimani
+was postponed until May 1597, in order that the new appointments,
+decorations, and personal adornments, might be made as splendid as
+possible. Every craftsman and craftswoman went to work with a will, and
+nobody cared in the least about any sumptuary laws of the past nor any
+other arbitrary indictment. The “Forty” and the “Ten” made no move and
+consequently everything went on with the greatest equanimity.</p>
+
+<p>One new feature was noted with respect to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_285">[285]</span> the Dogaressa and her
+Coronation—the delivery, printing, and circulation broadcast, of
+elegant and eloquent panegyrics. Commissions were eagerly accepted by
+poets, orators, and publishers—one of these effusions, as an example,
+ran as follows:—</p>
+
+  <div class="poetry-container">
+   <div class="poetry">
+      <div class="stanza">
+        <div class="ileft">“O magnanimous Duchess</div>
+        <div>O most glorious grand Duke</div>
+        <div>No such two Divinities</div>
+        <div>Ere have gladden’d Venice skies!”</div>
+      </div>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+
+<p>The Dogaressa was addressed by her admirers as “Most Singular and Most
+Serene Lady, words fail to assure your Highness of the devotion of your
+enthusiastically admiring servants.” Much the same high-flown sentiment
+distinguishes Palazzi’s pack of Playing-cards, for, on the Knight of
+Coins (Diamonds), we read:—“The Coronation of Morosina Morosini, wife
+of Doge Marino Grimani Anno 1597. She commands not alone herself but
+she is Mistress of a mighty Empire.”</p>
+
+<p>Upon the morning of her “Triumph” the Dogaressa, attended by four
+hundred young noblewomen, all beautifully dressed in white silk
+lace,—in honour of her Serenity’s patronage of Burano,—and
+covered with newly-mounted jewels,—each girl an animated miniature
+Golconda—took her place upon a dais in the great hall of the Grimani
+palace,—lately completed (1581) by the famous architect Sammichieli.
+The walls of the noble apartment were hung with a novel and effective
+decoration,—stamped leather, gilded and emblazoned. This was a new
+artistic adjunct in princely mansions lately introduced from Cordoba
+in Spain. The vogue spread at once in Venice, and, before the end of
+the century, it was computed that three thousand skilled<span class="pagenum" id="Page_286">[286]</span> workers were
+employed by the Guild of Leather-merchants, and a sum of one hundred
+thousand gold ducats was added to their annual revenues.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile a lordly deputation had been despatched by the “Forty” to
+salute “The First Lady of Venice” and bespeak her acceptance of the
+<i>Promissione</i>, and thereafter to escort her on her solemn Entry.
+The noble Lords found her Serenity sumptuously attired in tissue of
+fine gold with an immense State mantle of cloth of gold embroidered
+all over with silver floral designs in high relief,—quite a novel
+and truly rich production of Venetian brains and Venetian hands. It
+was reported that this magnificent robe was manufactured under the
+Dogaressa’s personal directions and after her own design.</p>
+
+<p>The cap of the new <i>Corno</i> was of the same costly material, the
+coronal was a mass of immense precious stones, and from underneath
+it fell a delicate veil of white silk lace shot with gold and silver
+threads and heavily spangled with jewels. Upon her open bosom, lightly
+covered with a fichu of priceless Burano lace sewn with pearls, reposed
+a flashing cross of brilliants, suspended by a very exquisitely
+interlaced chain of burnished gold. Her fingers were covered with
+gemmed rings, which her Serenity was very careful not to hide within a
+pair of beautifully embroidered gloves held by one of her ladies.</p>
+
+<p>The ceremony of the presentation of the <i>Promissione</i> was soon
+over, and, in return, the Dogaressa personally handed to each noble
+Lord of the deputation the customary gift of a purse of cloth of
+gold containing, not the usual number<span class="pagenum" id="Page_287">[287]</span> of gold ducats, but a special
+token—an <i>osella</i> of gold, after the example of Doge Antonio
+Grimani, her Consort’s great-uncle, in 1521. The <i>osella</i> had, on
+the obverse, a profile in relief of the Dogaressa wearing the Ducal
+<i>Corno</i>, with her name “Mavrocena Mavioceni:” upon the reverse
+was a raised wreath of laurel encircling the legend:—“Manus Mavrocenæ
+Grimanæ Ducessæ: Venet: 1597.”</p>
+
+<p>The “<i>Bucintoro</i>” received on board just such another illustrious
+company as that which graced the water-pageant of Dogaressa Zilia
+Dandolo-Priuli forty years before. The costumes of the suite
+were richer and in better taste than those of Dogaressa Zilia’s
+Court;—cloth of silver sewn with pearls and raised flowers in gold
+looked more delicate than the customary heavy cloth of gold. The
+palaces, the dwelling-houses, and the churches by the Canal, were
+all lavishly decorated upon a uniform and beautiful plan. Coronation
+favours, bestowed upon all applicants at the Doge’s command, imparted a
+note of festivity quite striking but harmonious. Venice for the nonce
+became the city of the Morosini-Grimani; but, perhaps, some of the
+noble Lords regarded these tokens of popularity with uneasy minds; they
+had, in all their generations, a wholesome dread of a personal Ducal
+rule.</p>
+
+<p>The pageant on the Canal was the most remarkable ever undertaken by
+the Trade-Guilds. Almost every gondola and barca was formed into a
+fabled beast of the earth or some fearsome sea monster. The whole Court
+of Parnassus was enlisted in honour of the Dogaressa, and the Gods<span class="pagenum" id="Page_288">[288]</span>
+and Goddesses floated proudly and quaintly by. An immense fleet of
+<i>bregantini</i>,—great vessels with sweeps,—filled with spectators
+of all classes, followed in the wake of the “<i>Bucintoro</i>.” Once
+more the ripples of the quiet tideway were charged with sweetest
+perfumes, and covered with flowers—mostly damask roses—the floral
+emblem of Morosini.</p>
+
+<p>The ceremonies of the Landing, in the Basilica, and in the Ducal
+Palace, were all performed with splendour, and the Dogaressa retired
+to her private apartments to remove her heavy State robes and assume
+her ball-costume—for, of course, dancing was the finale of all Court
+functions. Dogaressa Morosina’s ball was unique and historical:
+all Venice danced where there was any room, for every place was
+crowded—more than two hundred thousand visitors had to be accommodated
+somewhere or other. Dancing platforms were erected upon ranges of
+barges on the canals, and Venice sang and danced—danced and sang,
+the livelong night in ecstasy. Within the Ducal Palace the <i>Sala
+dello Scrutino</i> was set apart for refreshments of the choicest
+kind. The old Greek menus, which had delighted the sybaritic Romans of
+Mecænas’ time were revived. At the great banquet, given by the Doge and
+Dogaressa to the dignitaries of the Church and State, and the foreign
+Princes and Ambassadors, there were forty-seven courses, beginning with
+spiced sturgeon and ending with “apples of Paradise.”</p>
+
+<p>The day after the Coronation was occupied in giving and viewing
+presents. To every noble and gentle person assisting at the ceremonies,
+the Doge and Dogaressa gave an <i>osella</i>, to the officials and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_289">[289]</span>
+domestics gifts of golden ducats, to the worthy poor hospitable spreads
+of good cheer. Pope Clement VIII. sent a Legate with a “Golden Rose”
+to the Dogaressa and a jewelled <i>Corno</i> to the Doge. The Duke of
+Savoy offered a massive belt of thirty golden rosettes covered with
+fine pearls, but it was incontinently seized by the <i>Provvidetori
+delle Pompe</i>, possibly as a mean protest just to show their power!
+Many other costly gifts found their way into the hands and the
+collection of the Most Serene couple.</p>
+
+<p>On the third day was held a grand naval review before the island of San
+Giorgio Maggiore, in which ships of England, Holland, and Flanders took
+part. A regatta and aquatic sports were contested between the native
+gondoliers and marines, and the foreign sailors, dressed severally in
+white and red costumes. The contention was the keenest of the keen.
+The Nicolotti and Castellani mainly held their own, but when some of
+their men were defeated, their wives drove them home with sticks and
+banter:—“<i>Va! Va! Via di quid, parca, infame vituperoso!</i>”</p>
+
+<p>In the evening all Venice was illuminated, and we can very well imagine
+the glory and the eerieness of the spectacle,—Venice,—standing in
+and out of the water, the serenity of a May night over her, and her
+flashing moving gondola lights was like the city of a dream, the home
+of Gods and fairies.</p>
+
+  <div class="poetry-container">
+   <div class="poetry">
+      <div class="stanza">
+        <div class="ileft">“A City magical in splendour</div>
+        <div>Rising out the light beyond the Sea.”</div>
+      </div>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+
+<p>All through the eleven-years <i>dogado</i> of Doge<span class="pagenum" id="Page_290">[290]</span> Marino Grimani,
+peaceful and prosperous conditions were the lot of a busy people. The
+arts and crafts had reached the apogee of their fame. The Dogaressa was
+the patroness especially of the lace-workers of Burano,—following the
+example of Dogaressa Dandolo-Malipiero of a hundred and forty years
+ago. Moreover she headed a committee of noble ladies to encourage the
+delightful craft among the gentlewomen of Venice.</p>
+
+<p>Doge Marino Grimani died in 1608, and the widowed Dogaressa gave
+herself to works of piety,—for example she restored the church of
+San Sebastiano. She survived her Consort eight years and died on the
+21st of January 1613–1614—directing in her will that her body should
+not be embalmed. The funeral was a State function, recalling that of
+Dogaressa Zilia Dandolo-Priuli, at SS. Giovanni e Paolo, where an
+impassioned oration was pronounced:—“<i>Illinc clamor, hinc silentium:
+illinc lætitia, hinc mæmor: illinc ludi, hinc lacrymæ</i>.” The Doge
+and Dogaressa took their long last sleep under the splendid monument by
+Girolamo Compagna, in the simple church of San Giuseppe di Castello,
+just beneath the splendid picture by Tintoretto of “St Michael slaying
+the Dragon,” which the Doge had commissioned, and wherein he is
+represented kneeling in the red robes and ermine of a Captain of the
+“Forty.”</p>
+
+<p>In “The Merchant of Venice,” Shakespeare, in two concise paragraphs,
+illustrates quite characteristically the prosperity and peace enjoyed
+by<span class="pagenum" id="Page_291">[291]</span> the Venetians at the end of the sixteenth century:—</p>
+
+  <div class="poetry-container">
+   <div class="poetry">
+      <div class="stanza">
+        <div class="ileft">“The trade and prosperity of the City</div>
+        <div>Consisteth of all nations——”</div>
+        <div class="right">Act III., Scene iv.</div>
+      </div>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+
+  <div class="poetry-container">
+   <div class="poetry">
+      <div class="stanza">
+        <div class="ileft">“How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon the bank!</div>
+        <div>Here will we sit, and let the sounds of music</div>
+        <div>Creep on our ears. Softest stillness and thought</div>
+        <div>Become the touches of sweet harmony....”</div>
+        <div class="right">Act I., Scene iv.</div>
+      </div>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_292">[292]</span></p>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER VIII</h2>
+</div>
+
+
+<h3>I</h3>
+
+<p>The Sun of Venice had set! Her bright gold was turned to tarnished
+brass, her jewels had lost their lustre, and her pearls were moribund!
+Yet she lingered on for many and many a year—well-nigh two hundred.
+The beacons of the lagunes and the shrines on the canals burnt dimly,
+and the incense in the churches seemed to have lost its aroma.
+Sighs and yawns from dispirited and indolent citizens indicated the
+dissolution of her industries. Brawls and disputes were exchanged for
+courtly greetings: gambling dens and brothels prostituted men and women
+once renowned for temperance and probity.</p>
+
+<p>A lingering death is always the most distressing, both for the
+individual and the watchers standing by: this was to be the melancholy
+ending of the “Queen of the Adriatic.” Nevertheless, as with the man,
+so with the City, lucid intervals recurred and hopeful rallies, wherein
+episodes, pathetic and stirring, moved the torpid brain and feeble
+pulse. Venice was “<i>Venus Calva</i>” at her birth—so would she die.
+Each year saw her robbed of some possession, each year saw her enemies
+closing more nearly in, each year saw foreigners compressing more and
+more her markets; and yet, men came and went, and women too, who moved
+the body politic mightily, and made the lookers-on wonder whether,
+after<span class="pagenum" id="Page_293">[293]</span> all, the Lion of Saint Mark was dying or only sleeping.</p>
+
+<p>Heavy-footed were those decadent years, they took their step from the
+dismal tramp of mourners at the frequent obsequies of the Doges and
+Dogaressas. The great bell of the Basilica, announcing year after year,
+or nearly so, with muffled knell the demise of a Chief Magistrate came
+to be listened to without emotion. In some hearts, perhaps beating more
+loyally than the rest, were pangs of remorse for a glorious past never
+to return, and misgivings for a fateful future fraught with fears, but
+patriotism, honour, and devotion, were the precious possession of a
+dwindling minority.</p>
+
+<p>Between 1605 and the end of the Republic in 1797, thirty-one Doges
+mounted the Ducal throne in turn: their names and dates we know,
+but very little about their deeds or the times in which they
+lived,—history was silent. Of their Consorts ten only are known by
+name and nothing much beside: only four or five of them, in one hundred
+and ninety years, have left any record in the “<i>Libro d’Oro delle
+Dogaresse di Venezia</i>.”</p>
+
+<p>The men and women of Venice had become a little less animated and
+articulate than the face cards in a pack. Indeed the end of Venice
+was much like the popular game of “<i>La Trappola</i>,” in which
+thirty-six cards out of the fifty-two were used—the mother of the
+present-day whist. The suits were four:—“<i>Spade</i>,”—Swords,
+or Spades,—threatened the faint-hearted; <i>Coppe</i>,—Cups or
+Hearts,—suggested delights to the perceiving; <i>Denari</i>,—Coins
+or Diamonds,—hinted at profitable investments; and
+<i>Bastoni</i>,—Sticks or Clubs,—promised<span class="pagenum" id="Page_294">[294]</span> punishment to the
+dishonest. Venice was a card-table, and Venetians were content to
+prolong their enervating leisure, beguiled by the chance of the
+“<i>Naibi</i>,”—tricks,—so named by their children in imitative games.</p>
+
+<p>Certainly the craftsmen and craftswomen still wove rich lengths
+of cloth of gold, the goldsmiths still made precious jewels, the
+glass-blowers still produced their fragile virgin-ware, the lacemakers
+their delicate network, and the hairdressers still turned, tossed,
+and frizzed, rare strands of golden hair; but princely patronesses
+at the Ducal Palace were few and unresplendent. The painters went on
+painting—Canaletto, Guardi, and Longhi, were, in their time, quite as
+characteristic and far more topical than were Tintoretto, Veronese, and
+Palma Vecchio, but palette-masters as well as sculptors and architects,
+were clients of the Doges not of the Dogaressas.</p>
+
+<p>The 10th of January 1645, was a black-letter day for women’s art
+and artifice in Venice. The Council issued an edict forbidding the
+Coronation of the Dogaressa as a “<i>cosa non neccessaria</i>!”
+Apparently her Serenity was not to be denied the solemn Entry, but
+even that stately function was to be curtailed of much of its pomp and
+circumstance. The “<i>Bucintoro</i>” was not to be used, the solemn
+Benediction in the Basilica was discouraged, and the Ducal Palace was
+closed against the wonted exhibitions of the Trade-Guilds.</p>
+
+  <div class="figcenter" id="i_294fp">
+    <img
+    class="p1"   
+    src="images/i_294fp.jpg"
+     alt="">
+     <p class="p0 sm center">THE GAME OF LA TRAPPOLA.</p>
+     <p class="p0 sm center">Michelino da Bedozzo.</p>
+     <p class="p0 xs center">PALAZZO BONARDO, MILAN.</p>
+  </div>
+
+<p>After Doge Marino Grimani there followed a dogal line of ten very old
+men,—all octogenarians,—one after the other, halting to their waiting
+graves,—striking but lamentable figures of the decay and <span class="pagenum" id="Page_295">[295]</span>death
+of Venice. Whether eight of them were widowers we know not, but only
+two Dogaressas’ names are recorded,—Signore Elena Barbarigo-Priuli
+(1618–1623), and Chiara Delfino-Conaro (1625–1629). Those ten old
+Doges were mostly parsimonious, very weary of life, and generally
+uninteresting, and probably their wives and families were as prosaic
+and uninteresting as themselves.</p>
+
+<p>There was however something naively burlesque in the decision of
+Dogaressa Paolina Loredano-Contarini, the Consort of Doge Carlo
+Contarini (1655–1656), not to appear in any public ceremonial. She was
+an immensely stout woman and unusually plain-looking, and she feared
+that the salutations of the populace would not partake of their usually
+complimentary character. Venetians had an innate sense of humour,
+and personal peculiarities appealed irresistibly to their risible
+faculties. Dogaressa or not, she would undoubtedly have been the butt
+of ridicule!</p>
+
+<p>Palazzi in his “<i>Fasti Ducales</i>” says of her, “<i>non volvendo
+mostrarsi in publico</i>.” He adds that on the façade of the church of
+San Vitale, Guiseppe Guoccola sculptured the busts of Doge Carlo and
+Dogaressa Paolina Contarini, placed there in gratitude for their noble
+bequests to the clergy. He also records that Madonna Paolina Loredano,
+the daughter of Messir Lorenzo Loredano, of the Ducal line, was married
+to Messir Carlo Contarini on 22nd February 1600, in the Church of San
+Polo—so they were blessed to see their golden jubilee.</p>
+
+<p>Seven undistinguished Doges followed Doge Carlo Contarini, during
+thirty-two years—1656–1688. The names of only three Dogaressas are<span class="pagenum" id="Page_296">[296]</span>
+noted:—Signore Andriana Priuli-Conaro (1656), Elisabetta Pisani-Valier
+(1656–1658), and Lucia Barbarigo-Pesaro (1658–1659); but we know
+nothing more about them.</p>
+
+<p>In 1688 Venice roused herself once more to welcome home, with
+enthusiastic honours, one of the greatest generals she had ever
+produced—Cavaliere Francesco Morosini. Thrice he bore the grand rank
+of Captain-General of the Venetian fleet, and thrice he carried her
+colours nobly on to victory. The twenty-five years’ war with Turkey
+for the possession of Candia gave the Admiral and his devoted forces
+rare opportunities for the display of patriotism and prowess, and right
+worthily they acquitted themselves. The worsted Turks were compelled to
+yield the Morea and its classical sites to the victorious Venetians.
+That was the rare gift Francesco Morosini laid at the feet of the aged
+“Queen of the Adriatic.”</p>
+
+<p>No foreign conquest for many a long year had been scored to Venetian
+arms, and she had lost all that she had fought for; but now new life,
+new hope, new enterprise swept over <i>canali</i>, <i>campi</i>, and
+<i>case</i>. Every man was a soldier or sailor, every boy an embryo
+hero. Turkish flags again waved before the Basilica, Turkish prisoners
+again filled the Arsenal, Turkish treasures again were poured out upon
+the Lido. The Captain-General’s return was a triumph. Greeted by nobles
+and citizens in unison, he was dubbed “<i>Peloponesiaco</i>,” and
+lifted tumultuously upon the Ducal throne,—lately vacated by the death
+of Doge Marcantonio Giustiniani.</p>
+
+<p>Alas, we know not whether a jubilant Dogaressa<span class="pagenum" id="Page_297">[297]</span> shared his honours.
+Possibly the valiant hero had had little or no time during his lifelong
+service to the State for serious love-making, and though, by a sailor’s
+licence, he may have had a wife in every port, no <i>cicisbeo</i> or
+<i>patita</i> was possible as Dogaressa. Relics of Doge Francisco
+Morosini may be seen at the Museo Civico, his tomb is in San Stefano,
+and a triumphal arch, erected in his honour by the Government, is
+within the <i>Sala del Scrutino</i> of the Ducal Palace.</p>
+
+<p>If the hero Doge had no Consort, his successor was more fortunate:
+indeed Doge Silvestro Valier (1694–1700), lives in history upon the
+fair fame of his wife—many rulers of States and lesser magnates
+have had the same fortunate experience. We may read, in relation to
+Dogaressa Elisabetta Quirini-Valier, the true old saying “manners
+maketh man” as woman maketh man!</p>
+
+<p>In spite of the prohibition of 1645 the new First Lady of Venice made
+her solemn Entry and was crowned with all the usual ceremonies. On the
+4th of March 1694, the Dogaressa, robed in a great State mantle of
+cloth of gold trimmed with sable, and wearing upon her head a white
+lace veil and a jewelled <i>Corno</i>, with a collar and pendant
+cross of diamonds, and attended by a numerous suite of gentlewomen,
+awaited the deputation of salutation from the Council of “Forty.” Her
+<i>osella</i> had her profile in relief and the legend:—“<i>Elisabetta
+Quirina-Valeria Ducissa Venetiarum 1694</i>.” Her progress from the
+Palazzo Valier to the Ducal Palace has not been described, but it
+appears that her assumption of the <i>Corno</i> gave umbrage to the
+<i>Provvidetori delle Pompe</i>, and other captious critics,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_298">[298]</span> for
+a curious enactment of the Council, on 13th July 1700, forbade the
+Dogaressa wearing at any time a <i>Corno</i> on her head.</p>
+
+<p>Doge Silvestro Valier and Dogaressa Elisabetta Quirini-Valier had
+been married in the church of Santa Maria Formosa, on the 18th of
+July 1649: consequently they lived to celebrate their golden wedding
+in 1699. In the case too of Dogaressa Elisabetta another restriction
+of the <i>Promissione</i> was cancelled—her right to receive
+foreign ambassadors. Surrounded by her Court of maids of honour
+and gentlewomen-in-waiting, she entertained all the envoys in turn
+accredited to Venice, and moreover, accepted at their hands costly
+gifts against all the prohibitory clauses of State decrees.</p>
+
+<p>At the Museo Civico is a putative portrait of the Dogaressa. She has
+fair hair entwined with silver thread, perhaps to foil the natural
+silver strands, her features retain traces of distinction and of
+beauty. Her skin is pale, her eyes bright, and she wears an air of
+repose and refinement with no little natural dignity of carriage.
+Several of her letters have been preserved, wherein she shows herself
+to have been a woman of sympathetic and charitable disposition, but of
+retiring and unassuming manners.</p>
+
+<p>Doge Sebastiano Valier died in 1700, and was buried near the second
+altar in the right aisle of SS. Giovanni e Paolo, under the enormous
+monument erected by his father, Doge Betruccio Valier, who died in
+1658. There too, eight years after, the widowed Dogaressa was laid
+to rest. Her memorial statue by Giovanni Bonazza represents her as
+a large and wrinkled woman, with elaborate<span class="pagenum" id="Page_299">[299]</span> curls round her face,
+and covered to her feet with brocade, furs, laces, embroidery, and
+jewels—something perchance like a Venetian replica of our own
+Elisabeth! The epitaph is as follows:—“<i>Elisabetta Quirini Silvestri
+Conjux, Romana virtute, Veneta Pietate, et Ducale Corona Insignis.
+Obiit MDCCVIII.</i>”</p>
+
+
+<h3>II</h3>
+
+<p>The seventeenth century in Venice, was essentially one of lean years,
+strangely contrasting with the exuberant life of its predecessor;
+whilst the eighteenth century saw eight decades of disaster, famine,
+and death! Candia, the only remaining jewel in the crown of Venice,
+was rudely snatched from its tarnished setting and no effort was
+forthcoming to regain the lost treasure. Everything went from bad to
+worse. The nobles unblushingly proclaimed their contempt for commerce
+and conquest. The armed bands of the Republic were not maintained as a
+fighting force, and the ships of war were allowed to rot and rust at
+their anchorage. The citizens, imitating the madness of their betters,
+allowed industry and trade to slip through their fingers; and ceased to
+care when foreign capitalists and foreign workmen settled down among
+them, and exploited their looms and tools.</p>
+
+<p>Pleasure, extravagance, gaming, and immorality, ate like foul cancers
+into the vitals of society.</p>
+
+<p>The one and only aim of Venetians of every class was to dissipate
+the splendid heritage and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_300">[300]</span> spend the resources of their ancestors. A
+noble would light-heartedly wager his bank-balance, his estate, his
+palace and his all, on some ephemeral passion; and yet the gaiety
+of life was never so effulgent in the city of Venus. Venice was the
+plaything of Europe, the pantomime of Italy, and the shadow-dance of
+herself—bewitching in her heedless spendthrift self-indulgence, a
+whirling <i>ballerina</i>, scattering her favours, her kisses, and her
+pleas for plaudits everywhere.</p>
+
+<p>The first eight Doges of the eighteenth century passed sadly across the
+Dogal pageant ground,—“lean, slippered pantaloons” as Shakespeare has
+it, or little better. With them went solitarily and unemotionally but
+two Dogaressas—Signora Laura Conaro-Conaro, 1709–1722, and Signora
+Elena Badoero-Pisano, 1735–1741. The last we know only by her name,
+and yet that name is a golden one, for was not the family of Badoero
+or Partecipazio, the very first of all the nobility, and was not her
+great ancestor, Agnello Partecipazio, the first Maker and the first
+“Grand Doge of Venice!” Donna Laura Conaro, daughter of Messir or
+Cavaliere, Nicolo Conaro,—all the men of Venice claimed knightly rank
+in her decadent days,—married Messir, or Cavaliere Giovanni Conaro,
+her cousin, on 11th October 1667, in the church of Gli Gesuati. She
+appears to have been a very proper sort of woman: at all events the
+fast life of the nobles and their ladies had no charms for her, and
+she set her face resolutely against the extravagances and indecencies
+around her. Consequently, when Doge Giovanni Conaro died in 1722, the
+Dogaressa entered Religion and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_301">[301]</span> became a postulant of the Order of the
+Augustinians of SS. Gervaso e Protasio. There she passed the residue of
+her days in fasting, praying, and alms-giving, being consoled greatly
+by the visits of her three devoted sons, Francesco, Nicolo, and Alvise,
+whom she received within her narrow cell with its little iron-barred
+window.</p>
+
+<p>The devout Signora had retained,—rather contrary to any vow of
+poverty she may have taken,—a quantity of personal belongings—money,
+articles in gold and silver, and other valuables: these she bequeathed
+to the Prioress of the Convent, the Reverend Mother Maria Lucia.
+In a purse were found one thousand six hundred and ninety-four
+<i>zecchini</i>,—small silver coins,—another purse contained one
+hundred and forty gold ducats. Among the treasures were crosses,
+reliquaries, candlesticks, salvers, sconces, <i>pomi</i> or
+hand-warmers, bowls, knives, forks, spoons, flagons, vases, medals,
+thimbles, toilet-boxes and brushes, trays, inkstands, etc. etc., all of
+pure and beautifully wrought silver.</p>
+
+<p>In a chest of drawers, were articles of jewellery, silver filigree
+work, gold medals, and very many other objects,—lover’s offerings,
+curios, and rock-crystal beads. Among the personal ornaments were
+bracelets, rings, and necklaces of diamonds and turquoises. Perhaps the
+most unexpected property was the Signora’s gilded walnut bedstead, with
+its coverlet of silk and gold, edged with rare Burano point-lace and
+gold and silver fringe, and lined with blue and yellow Chinese satin.
+In a cedar coffer were found a rich robe of crimson velvet worked with
+gold, a skirt of pink satin<span class="pagenum" id="Page_302">[302]</span> trimmed with silver lace, and other costly
+garments, but, alas, they were all in rags and tatters,—eloquent
+tokens of the rottenness and emptiness of earthly glory.</p>
+
+<p>Dogaressa Laura, quietly and unregretfully laid aside the robes of
+State, to die and to be buried in the sackcloth of humility, may she
+rest in peace. Ten years after reverent hands had laid “Sister” Laura
+in her humble grave, within the burial-plot of the Convent, two other
+hands were clasped in the joyous pledge of matrimony,—Cavaliere
+Giovanni Alvise Mocenigo, Procurator of San Marco, and Donna Pisana
+Conaro, daughter of Messir Federico Conaro, who, on 5th October 1739,
+were made man and wife together, in the new and sumptuous church of
+Santa Maria del Salute. This was an alliance of the two most powerful
+families of the time, and great things were expected from the union.</p>
+
+<p>The “<i>Archivio Privato di Mocenigo</i>” contains an inventory
+of Donna Pisana’s trousseau, which gives an excellent idea of the
+expensive splendour of the wedding outfit of a noble bride.</p>
+
+<p>Cavaliere Mocenigo’s sister, Paolina, had married Prince Trivulzio of
+Milan, and she, despite her rank, undertook to purchase at first-hand
+things of beauty and joy for the bride-elect. From Milan went gold
+brocades and silver silken stuffs of crimson, blue, and pearl colour,
+embroidered with gold and silver. Paris supplied bodices, fichus and
+tippets of rich corded silk worked with floral designs in gold and
+silver, silk handkerchiefs, collarettes, and sleeves of lace and gold
+and silver thread, and toilet appointments in gold and silver. Antwerp
+contributed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_303">[303]</span> caps, collars and cuffs, of the finest linen thread and
+linen articles for the toilet—perhaps also underclothing, although
+not named—ladies were perhaps not so particular then as now in this
+respect! From England came a gold repeater-watch with a jewelled chain,
+and many more articles in metal. Home industries were not overlooked
+for the bill for Burano <i>punto in aria</i>, reached six hundred and
+sixty gold ducats. The total value, not including magnificent jewels
+and other splendid items of the goldsmith’s craft, exceeded twenty
+thousand gold ducats!</p>
+
+<p>In 1763, Cavaliere Giovanni Alvise Mocenigo was unanimously elected
+Doge by the Council of Forty, and the people acquiesced in his election
+without demur. The new Doge determined to revive the ceremonies of
+the sixteenth Century, and the “Forty” appear to have offered no
+opposition,—indeed they were quite favourable to the project. The
+<i>Promissione</i> contained several notable clauses with respect to
+the privileges and honours pertaining to the new Dogaressa. Three days
+before the election of the Doge the Council decreed that the solemn
+Entry should be conducted with traditional full State. Her Serenity’s
+robes of State were to be fashioned on the old-time models, although
+she was forbidden to assume the <i>Corno</i>. Her right to accept
+the offerings of the Trade-Guilds, of Ambassadors, and others, was
+acknowledged.</p>
+
+<p>Upon the morning of her “Triumph,” 22nd April, the Council despatched
+the Secretaries of State to greet the new First Lady. One of them,
+Messir Cesare Vignola, offered a flattering address,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_304">[304]</span> in the name of
+the Council, praising her virtues and extolling her charms:—“Your
+Serenity has the noble and particular admiration of all the Courts of
+Italy, and their Excellencies look for a great revival of industry and
+prosperity within the Republic under your discriminating patronage....”
+The water-pageant, which conducted the Dogaressa to the Ducal Palace,
+saw no “<i>Bucintoro</i>” certainly, but innumerable flotillas of
+decorated barcas and gondolas. Within the <i>Sala di Udienza del
+Doge</i> she was welcomed by the nobles and State officials.</p>
+
+<p>The fêtes were prolonged, as in former times, for three days, upon each
+of which the Dogaressa appeared in the richest of rich costumes, and
+her jewels varied with her dress. Upon the first day, after she had
+removed her heavy State mantle of silver embossed cloth of gold, she
+wore a <i>sottana</i>, or gown, of silver tissue overlaid with sprays
+of flowers in gold relief, the bodice was covered with palettes of
+solid gold with a white cincture of gold and immense brilliants, her
+long veil of fine white silk lace fell from under a coronet of gold and
+precious stones. She wore too the customary large pectoral cross of
+diamonds and many fine gemmed rings.</p>
+
+<p>Each day wound up with a Court ball, at which the Dogaressa danced
+minuets in turn with each of the Procurators of San Marco. The company
+included Princess Faustina Rezzonico, niece of the Pope, the wives and
+daughters of the foreign ambassadors, and all the more distinguished
+gentlewomen of the Court and City. Great were the public rejoicings at
+this splendid revival of prestige and prosperity. Surely Venice was
+once more herself,—the radiant Golden Queen,—at least a <span class="pagenum" id="Page_305">[305]</span>second
+youth was hers. Her silver locks amongst the gold appeared to be
+recoloured, wrinkles of and witherings of brow and breast vanished, her
+step was once more lilting. Yes, it was even so, the last flash in the
+pan,—the expiring effort of a long life. No more Dogaressas followed
+in Signora Pisana Cornaro-Mocenigo’s golden pageant footsteps,—Venice
+had no more honours to bestow.</p>
+
+  <div class="figcenter" id="i_304fp">
+    <img
+    class="p1"   
+    src="images/i_304fp.jpg"
+     alt="">
+     <p class="p0 sm center">THE FORTUNE-TELLER.</p>
+     <p class="p0 sm center">Piero Longhi. (xviii Century).</p>
+     <p class="p0 xs center">NATIONAL GALLERY. LONDON.</p>
+  </div>
+
+<p>It was only what might have been expected that poets, musicians,
+orators, and chroniclers, should illustrate these unwonted festivities,
+but alas their efforts partook of the fulsome and insincere. The Muse
+of Poetry, the Spirit of Music, and the Sibyl of History were dying in
+the common death: their inspirations were as the vapourings of delirium.</p>
+
+  <div class="poetry-container">
+   <div class="poetry">
+      <div class="stanza">
+        <div class="ileft">“Non le Reine su la cipria sponda</div>
+        <div class="i1">Del cornar germe gloriosa e forte</div>
+        <div class="i1">Domma a veder l’invita oggi la sorte</div>
+        <div>Che il sangue in te che la virtu secondo.”</div>
+      </div>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+
+<p>Such was their tenor.</p>
+
+<p>Dogaressa Pisana however herself took up her pen, and dipped it in the
+ink of commonsense. The marriage of her eldest son Alvise, in 1766,
+with the very youthful Donna Francesca Grimani,—granddaughter of Doge
+Pietro Grimani, 1741–1752,—was a splendid affair, wherein all the
+arrangements were personally superintended by the Dogaressa, and she
+adds in her account “would you believe it, the expenses were more than
+456,487 lire.” The marriage was in every way satisfactory, the young
+couple were talented, highly educated, and very comfortably provided
+for. As in most things human when fair skies are overhead, a contrary<span class="pagenum" id="Page_306">[306]</span>
+Providence provides unlooked-for tempests, and so the joy-bells of
+maternity were cruelly changed for the sad knells of mortality. The
+accomplished and virtuous young wife,—she was only seventeen years of
+age,—had been nursing her first-born but three short months, when, by
+some accident or other, as it was reported, she fell swooning into the
+fire blazing upon the mosaic hearth of her bed-chamber, and, before
+help could reach her, the bride of a year perished in fearful agony.</p>
+
+<p>This was a stunning grief to good Dogaressa Pisana. She eschewed all
+ceremonies and mourned in secret for her dear daughter-in-law. At her
+Consort’s villa at Cordignano, near Ceneda, she found consolation,
+and there she braced herself for the duties of her station. Among her
+papers are letters addressed to the steward of the estate, which reveal
+many natural home-like touches of the simple life she loved so well.
+The country folk almost worshipped the ground the noble lady trod; she
+was sponsor to their children, visitor of their sick, their confidante
+in sorrows and in joys. But her days too were numbered, for, on 10th
+March 1769, the big bell of the Basilica announced to a sympathising
+city the death of the magnanimous Dogaressa.</p>
+
+<p>“Near twenty-two o’clock” wrote her Chaplain, “a severe fit of coughing
+ruptured a blood-vessel in my beloved mistress’s breast and she ceased
+to live.” Three days after her death the body of the Dogaressa was
+carried to her burial with every mark of respect and honour. “In
+death,” the same writer goes on to say, “her Serenity’s face<span class="pagenum" id="Page_307">[307]</span> was
+beautiful and full of colour. She seemed to be wrapt in sweet repose,
+and her expression betokened what she had been in her life, virtuous,
+charitable and estimable....”</p>
+
+<p>The funeral obsequies followed the usual custom, only her
+lying-in-state was in the Basilica, not in the <i>Sala de’
+Pioveghi</i>. Four hundred yellow burning wax torches were placed
+around the bier and the candles of all the altars were alight. The
+remains were exposed in an open casket, wrapped in a State robe of
+cloth of gold, with white kid gloves, lace sleeves, and a veil across
+her bosom to her feet. The “<i>Requiem</i>” and Absolutions were sung
+by full choir, and the Master of the Ceremonies, Messir Francesco
+Venier, pronounced the funeral oration. An imposing procession bore
+the dead Dogaressa across the Piazza and by a circuitous way to SS.
+Giovanni e Paolo.</p>
+
+<p>Doge Alvise Mocenigo survived his beloved Consort nine years, but in
+1771 he contracted a second marriage with a very young girl, Donna
+Polissena, daughter of Messir Giulio Contarini-Da Mula. It does not
+appear that she was accorded the position of a Dogaressa and she
+resided chiefly at the Doge’s country villa, where he was wont to
+gather all the young, bright and talented people he could around him.
+His <i>dogado</i> of eleven years was adorned by many cultured women,
+who displayed phenomenal enthusiasm for classical study, philosophy,
+poetry, and literature. Probably this was a sublime attempt on the part
+of the fair sex to correct in some way the indolence and unintelligence
+of their leisured men-folk. Madonna Polissena Contarini-Da
+Mula-Mocenigo, was the centre of a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_308">[308]</span> little Court of high-souled
+admirers who greeted her:—</p>
+
+  <div class="poetry-container">
+   <div class="poetry">
+      <div class="stanza">
+        <div class="ileft">“L’Alme tue glorie echeggiano</div>
+        <div>Ecclesa Polissena....”</div>
+      </div>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+
+<p>There appears to have been two principal candidates for the Ducal
+throne upon the death of Doge Alvise Mocenigo in 1779,—Cavaliere
+Andrea Tron and Messir Paolo Renier. The former, however, was
+overshadowed by a scandal affecting his wife Madonna Caterina and the
+Secretary of State Antonio Gratarolo, and Renier was elected. He was
+an accomplished statesman, highly talented, and very ambitious. But
+his reputation very soon became assoiled by reason of the traffic he
+made of posts of influence and emolument under Government. His avarice
+became so grasping that it was said in Venice:—“The Doge makes the
+beggars at the door of San Marco pay him for their stations!”</p>
+
+<p>Doge Renier’s family had not hitherto been conspicuous for services to
+the State, although it belonged to the Second grade of the nobility,
+dating its enrolment from the Genoese War of 1391. His first wife,
+Madonna Giustina Dona-Renier, to whom he was married on 28th April
+1733, was a daughter of Messir Lionardo Dona, or Donato, a Ducal
+house,—but she never became Dogaressa for her death took place in
+1751, and she is buried in the church of San Antonio at Padua.</p>
+
+<p>Renier however was not a widower when he stepped upon the Ducal dais
+of Estate, but his spouse was not recognised in Court circles, for
+she had been a rope-dancer! He had picked her up accidentally at
+Constantinople, the same year that he buried Madonna Caterina: her
+name was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_309">[309]</span> Margherita Delmaz. Friends and descendants of this marriage
+had quite another story: they said Madonna Margherita had never been a
+dancer or anything else of the kind. He found her, they affirmed, at
+Constantinople, where he was an Agent or Consul of his Government,—in
+a Catholic school for poor girls. He took her away, had her educated
+at Padua, and then married her. Doge Renier signalised his elevation
+to the throne by profuse distribution of largesse, hoping thereby to
+pave the way for Madonna Margherita’s solemn Entry. This was never
+accomplished, but “<i>La Falsa Dogaressa</i>,” as she was slightingly
+called, was allowed to reside with her husband in the Ducal Palace.
+The couple became more and more unpopular by reason of their meanness,
+insincerity, and ostentation. One story perhaps illustrates as well as
+another the selfishness and petulance of the Doge and his wife. It was
+said that she very much disliked the clanging of the church bells,—San
+Basso, on the North side of the Ducal Palace, was the worst offender.
+Madonna Margherita sent a peremptory order to the <i>Pievano</i>, or
+Rector, that if he would not stop his bell she would cut the bell rope!
+The bells of the Basilica next came into the controversy, but the Prior
+refused the behest of silence. The Doge interfered and told the Prior
+that his “bells set all the Dogaressa’s teeth on edge.” A bargain
+however was struck, the Doge, on his part, promised a monthly subsidy,
+but whenever this was overdue the Prior was at liberty to ring his
+bells as before!</p>
+
+<p>During the reign of Doge Renier the last valorous deeds for Venice
+were done by Admiral<span class="pagenum" id="Page_310">[310]</span> Agnello Emo. He attacked the Barbary pirates in
+1784–1788 and freed the Adriatic and the coasts of North Africa from
+their depredations. The valiant Emo took up the baton of Francesco
+Morosini, and, had his lot been cast in less degenerate days, he would
+have received from the Venetians a similar “Triumph.” He died alone and
+in a way dishonoured in the Palazzo Diedo in 1792. It was Doge Marco
+Foscarini, 1762–1763,—the last of the literary Doges,—who wrote thus
+of Venice and the Venetians:—“This century will be a terrible one for
+our children and our grandchildren!” He probably, seer-like, perceived
+the imminence of the death of the liberties of Venice, but he could not
+have known that this forecast would come true within fifteen years of
+his death.</p>
+
+<p>Doge Paolo Renier died on 18th February 1789, and his burial was
+conducted in secret within the church of San Nicolo da Tolentino,—the
+reason for this cannot be stated, perhaps he directed this unusual
+arrangement in his will, fearing the ebullition of popular feeling
+against himself and his spouse. Madonna Margherita lived on till the
+11th of January 1817: her death took place in her apartments in the
+Mocenigo Palace at San Stae but the place of her burial has not been
+recorded.</p>
+
+<p>We now reach the last scene in the vivid and venerable pageant of
+Venice. The body-politic was infinitely more insecure than the
+<i>fondamento</i> of the least stability; she had no policy, no
+consistency, and no reserve of energy. Her men and her women were
+absolutely indifferent to her fate,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_311">[311]</span> and ribaldry and buffoonery
+appeared to be her only <i>rôle</i>. Two circumstances sufficiently
+illustrate the conditions of society at the end of the eighteenth
+century: Marital infidelity became so rampant that between 1782–1796,
+the “Ten” registered two hundred and seventy-four applications for
+nullity. When the celebrated Princess Gonzaga visited Venice no one
+would have anything to do with her, although everybody lived in a house
+of glass. At last Madonna Caterina Tron, wife of a Procurator of Saint
+Mark, offered to chaperon her and present her at Court. “Ladies,”
+she said, speaking to her fellow-noble courtesans, “this is Princess
+Gonzaga, she belongs to an illustrious family: as for the rest I will
+not answer either for you nor for myself!” The tempest was gathering
+up its strength to make a last and overwhelming attack upon Venice,
+defenceless as she was. Quite significant of coming catastrophe the
+feeblest, the weariest, and the least resourceful of all the long
+line of Doges,—Lodovico Manin,—in 1789 sat down despondently upon
+the Ducal throne—the last of the Doges of Venice. A man of strong
+character or of supreme patriotism might have saved the Republic
+at least for a time, but no popular leader appeared, and everybody
+accepted the inevitable without a struggle. The Dogaressa was a simple,
+good and modest woman, had she been a Valrada Candiano or a Zilia
+Dandolo she might have made a man of her husband, but she shrank with
+him from every responsibility and every effort.</p>
+
+<p>Dogaressa Elisabetta Grimani-Manin, daughter of Messir Antonio Grimani,
+became the wife of Lodovico Manin on 14th September 1748, in the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_312">[312]</span>
+Church of Santa Maria Salute. She died at Treviso on 31st August 1792
+of a nervous malady which affected her head. Her body was carried to
+Venice and was buried with the same honours as those rendered to the
+departed Dogaressa Pisana Grimani-Mocenigo in 1769, in the Church of
+Santa Maria degli Scalzi, where the Doge erected the monument which
+covers his remains as well as hers. She was laid to rest in the last
+State robe of cloth of gold ever made in Venice, and with her were
+buried the last insignia of her rank:—her grave was the grave of
+Venice.</p>
+
+<p>For five years more dragged on the dying Queen of the Adriatic in
+constant alarm and in peril of death, every day seemed likely to be her
+last. The funeral peals which had signalised the passing of the last
+Dogaressa of Venice had scarcely exhausted their echoes over the islets
+of the lagunes, when upon men’s ears smote another and a less melodious
+sound—the stunning roar of cannon! The “second Attila” was at hand,
+his legions were massing in view of San Marco and the Campanile, and it
+needed but a word to set loose raiders and looters upon palace, church,
+and homestead, quite as desperate and as cruel as those barbarians, who
+fourteen hundred years before, had driven the panic-stricken forebears
+of the men of Venice from terra-firma to the lagune quicksands. Manin
+feebly backed by the emasculate “Forty,” tried to temporise with the
+invader of Italy, but Buonaparte knew no such policy. War was declared
+upon Venice on 1st May 1797, and the Venetians collapsed without
+striking a blow in self-defence.</p>
+
+<p>Lodovico Manin on 3rd June 1797, divested<span class="pagenum" id="Page_313">[313]</span> himself of his mantle of
+State and his jewelled <i>Corno</i>, and delivered them unresistingly
+into the hands of Buonaparte’s lieutenant. The “<i>Libro d’Oro</i>”
+of the nobility was also voluntarily surrendered and publicly burned
+with the Ducal Regalia in the Piazza. The last state of Venice was
+infinitely worse than the first. The annihilation of her independence
+was celebrated by her depraved nobles add citizens with enthusiastic
+demonstrations of joy, banal doctrines of up-to-date republicanism were
+madly accepted, and everything that partook of the glorious past was
+swept away without remorse. The atrophy of the Venetians developed into
+lunacy—Venice died insane!</p>
+
+<p>The fall of a great man, the end of a great cause, the ruin of an
+Empire all call forth lamentation, but no tears were shed for the dead
+Queen, no sighs were breathed for lost liberty, no regrets were uttered
+for “<i>Venus Calva</i>.” The echoes of a mighty past were stilled, and
+the gallantries of a thousand years were silenced—save only for the
+harmonious cries of gondoliers.</p>
+
+  <div class="poetry-container">
+   <div class="poetry">
+      <div class="stanza">
+        <div class="ileft">“I am coming—<i>stalì</i>—but you know not for whom!</div>
+        <div class="i5h"><i>Stalì</i>—not for whom!</div>
+        <div>I am passing—<i>premè</i>—but I stay not for you!</div>
+        <div class="i5h"><i>Premè</i>—not for you!”</div>
+      </div>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+
+<hr class="tb">
+
+<p>I lay down my pen with regret—and as I close my “<i>Libro d’Oro
+delle Dogaresse di Venezia</i>” I fall into an enchanting reverie,
+wherein I descry many benevolent faces smiling at me, amid iridescent
+scintillations of Venetian rainbows. Their hair is golden, but here and
+there are strands of silver, which only add to the lustre of the gold.
+Their<span class="pagenum" id="Page_314">[314]</span> faces, if wrinkled,—for they are not maidens,—and their open
+bosoms, if withered, bear no signs of age, for they are beautified by
+the cunning artifices of the toilet. Their heads are crowned by horned
+diadems encrusted with flashing jewels, veils of white point-lace lend
+grace to their coiffures. From their shoulders downwards the figures of
+my benevolent visitors are vested—some in crimson silk, but most in
+regal wealth of cloth of gold. Diamonds flash upon their breasts and
+around their waists.</p>
+
+<p>They are smiling at me, for I have written about them nothing but
+what is pleasant, and I fancy I hear their sweet melodious voices,
+whispering in unison, and saying:—“We played our <i>rôle</i>
+in the best way we could, we made no enemies, but we left many
+friends—friends such as those who shall read our Story in your ‘Book
+of Fame.’”</p>
+
+<p>I awoke from my dream, and I knew that I had seen a vision of the noble
+and devoted Dogaressas of Venice.</p>
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_315">[315]</span></p>
+
+<h2>ROLL OF THE MOST SERENE DOGARESSAS OF VENICE</h2>
+</div>
+
+<table class="smaller" style="max-width: 50em">
+  <tr>
+    <td class="ctr" colspan="2"><i>Dogaressa.</i></td>
+    <td class="ctr"></td>
+    <td class="ctr"><i>Doge.</i></td>
+    <td class="ctr"><i>Date.</i></td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">&ensp;1. <span class="smcap">Martza d’Este</span>(1)</td>
+    <td class="brckt" rowspan="2"><img src="images/big_right_bracket.png"
+alt="big right bracket"  style="height: 2.5em; padding:0 1em 0 1em;"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr1" rowspan="2">=</td>
+    <td class="cht4" rowspan="2"><span class="smcap">Obelario Antenorio</span></td>
+    <td class="right1" rowspan="2">804–810</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">&ensp;2. <span class="smcap">Carola</span> (2)</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">&ensp;3. <span class="smcap">Elena</span></td>
+    <td class="brckt"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr">=</td>
+    <td class="cht"><span class="smcap">Agnello Badoero</span><br>
+or <span class="smcap">Partecipazio</span><br>(“Grand” Doge)</td>
+    <td class="right">810–827</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">&ensp;4. <span class="smcap">Felicita</span></td>
+    <td class="brckt"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr">=</td>
+    <td class="cht"><span class="smcap">Giustiniano Badoero</span><br>
+or <span class="smcap">Partecipazio</span></td>
+    <td class="right">827–830</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">&ensp;5. <span class="smcap">Angela Sanudo</span></td>
+    <td class="brckt"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr">=</td>
+    <td class="cht smcap">Pietro Tribuno</td>
+    <td class="right">888–912</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">&ensp;6. <span class="smcap">Arcielda</span></td>
+    <td class="brckt"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr">=</td>
+    <td class="cht smcap">Pietro Candiano III.</td>
+    <td class="right">942–959</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">&ensp;7. <span class="smcap">Giovanniccia</span> (1)</td>
+    <td class="brckt" rowspan="2"><img src="images/big_right_bracket.png"
+alt="big right bracket"  style="height: 2.5em; padding:0 1em 0 1em;"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr1" rowspan="2">=</td>
+    <td class="cht4 smcap" rowspan="2">Pietro Candiano IV.</td>
+    <td class="right1" rowspan="2">959–976</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">&ensp;8. <span class="smcap">Valdrada</span> (2)</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">&ensp;9. <span class="smcap">Felicita Malipiero</span></td>
+    <td class="brckt"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr">=</td>
+    <td class="cht"><span class="smcap">Pietro Orseolo I.</span><br>(Saint)</td>
+    <td class="right">976–978</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">10. <span class="smcap">Marina</span></td>
+    <td class="brckt"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr">=</td>
+    <td class="cht smcap">Tribuno Memo</td>
+    <td class="right">979–991</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">11. <span class="smcap">Maria</span></td>
+    <td class="brckt"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr">=</td>
+    <td class="cht"><span class="smcap">Pietro Orseolo II.</span><br>(“Grand” Doge)</td>
+    <td class="right">991–1009</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">12. <span class="smcap">Grimelda d’Ungheria</span></td>
+    <td class="brckt"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr">=</td>
+    <td class="cht smcap">Ottone Orseolo</td>
+    <td class="right">1009–1026</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">13. <span class="smcap">Teodora Commeno</span></td>
+    <td class="brckt"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr">=</td>
+    <td class="cht smcap">Domenigo Selvo</td>
+    <td class="right">1071–1084</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">14. <span class="smcap">Cornella Bembo</span></td>
+    <td class="brckt"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr">=</td>
+    <td class="cht smcap">Vitale Faliero</td>
+    <td class="right">1084–1096</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">15. <span class="smcap">Felicia</span></td>
+    <td class="brckt"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr">=</td>
+    <td class="cht smcap">Vitale Michiel I.</td>
+    <td class="right">1096–1102</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">16. <span class="smcap">Matelda</span></td>
+    <td class="brckt"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr">=</td>
+    <td class="cht smcap">Ordelafo Faliero</td>
+    <td class="right">1102–1116</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">17. <span class="smcap">Alicia</span></td>
+    <td class="brckt"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr">=</td>
+    <td class="cht"><span class="smcap">Domenigo Michiel</span><br>(“Grand” Doge)</td>
+    <td class="right">1116–1130</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">18. <span class="smcap">Sofia</span></td>
+    <td class="brckt"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr">=</td>
+    <td class="cht smcap">Domenigo Morosini</td>
+    <td class="right">1148–1156</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht5 smcap">19. Felicia Maria<br>di Boemodo</td>
+    <td class="brckt"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr">=</td>
+    <td class="cht smcap">Vitale Michiel II.</td>
+    <td class="right">1156–1172</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">20. <span class="smcap">Cecilia</span></td>
+    <td class="brckt"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr">=</td>
+    <td class="cht"><span class="smcap">Sebastiano Ziani</span><br>(“Grand” Doge)</td>
+    <td class="right">1172–1178</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">21. <span class="smcap">Felicita Bembo</span></td>
+    <td class="brckt"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr">=</td>
+    <td class="cht"><span class="smcap">Arrigo Dandolo</span><br>(“Grand” Doge)</td>
+    <td class="right">1192–1205</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">22. <span class="smcap">Marina Baseggio</span> (1)</td>
+    <td class="brckt" rowspan="3"><img src="images/big_right_bracket.png"
+alt="big right bracket"  style="height: 4.5em; padding:0 1em 0 1em;"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr1" rowspan="3">=</td>
+    <td class="cht4 smcap" rowspan="3">Pietro Ziani</td>
+    <td class="right1" rowspan="3">1205–1229</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht5 smcap">23. Costanza di<br>Sicilia (2)</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">24. <span class="smcap">Sabba Minotto</span> (3)</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">25. <span class="smcap">Maria Storlato</span> (1)</td>
+    <td class="brckt" rowspan="2"><img src="images/big_right_bracket.png"
+alt="big right bracket"  style="height: 3.5em; padding:0 1em 0 1em;"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr1" rowspan="2">=</td>
+    <td class="cht4 smcap" rowspan="2">Giacomo Tiepolo<br>(“Grand” Doge)</td>
+    <td class="right1" rowspan="2">1229–1249<span class="pagenum" id="Page_316">[316]</span></td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht5 smcap">26. Valdrada di<br>Sicilia (2)</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">27. <span class="smcap">Aloicia da Prata</span></td>
+    <td class="brckt"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr">=</td>
+    <td class="cht smcap">Reniero Zeno</td>
+    <td class="right">1253–1268</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">28. <span class="smcap">Agnese Ghisi</span> (1)</td>
+    <td class="brckt" rowspan="2"><img src="images/big_right_bracket.png"
+alt="big right bracket"  style="height: 3.5em; padding:0 1em 0 1em;"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr1" rowspan="2">=</td>
+    <td class="cht4 smcap" rowspan="2">Lorenzo Tiepolo</td>
+    <td class="right1" rowspan="2">1268–1275</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht5 smcap">29. <span class="smcap">Marchesina di<br>
+Bienne</span> (2)</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">30. <span class="smcap">Jacobina</span></td>
+    <td class="brckt"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr">=</td>
+    <td class="cht smcap">Giacomo Contarini</td>
+    <td class="right">1275–1280</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">31. <span class="smcap">Caterina</span></td>
+    <td class="brckt"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr">=</td>
+    <td class="cht smcap">Giovanni Dandolo</td>
+    <td class="right">1280–1289</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht5">32. <span class="smcap">Tommasina<br>Morosini</span> (1)</td>
+    <td class="brckt" rowspan="2"><img src="images/big_right_bracket.png"
+alt="big right bracket"  style="height: 3.5em; padding:0 1em 0 1em;"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr1" rowspan="2">=</td>
+    <td class="cht4" rowspan="2"><span class="smcap">Pietro Gradenigo</span><br>(“Grand” Doge)</td>
+    <td class="right1" rowspan="2">1289–1310</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">33. <span class="smcap">Agnese Zantani</span> (2)</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">34. <span class="smcap">Agnese</span></td>
+    <td class="brckt"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr">=</td>
+    <td class="cht smcap">Marino Zorzi</td>
+    <td class="right">1310–1312</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">35. <span class="smcap">Franchesina</span></td>
+    <td class="brckt"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr">=</td>
+    <td class="cht"><span class="smcap">Giovanni Soranzo</span><br>(“Grand” Doge)</td>
+    <td class="right">1312–1329</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">36. <span class="smcap">Elisabetta</span></td>
+    <td class="brckt"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr">=</td>
+    <td class="cht smcap">Francesco Dandolo</td>
+    <td class="right">1329–1339</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">37. <span class="smcap">Giustina Cappello</span></td>
+    <td class="brckt"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr">=</td>
+    <td class="cht smcap">Bartolommeo<br>Gradenigo</td>
+    <td class="right">1339–1342</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">38.&emsp;&emsp;?&emsp;&emsp;(1)</td>
+    <td class="brckt" rowspan="2"><img src="images/big_right_bracket.png"
+alt="big right bracket"  style="height: 4em; padding:0 1em 0 1em;"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr1" rowspan="2">=</td>
+    <td class="cht4" rowspan="2"><span class="smcap">Andrea Dandolo</span><br>(“Grand” Doge)</td>
+    <td class="right1" rowspan="2">1342–1354</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht5">39. <span class="smcap">Isabella<br>
+de’Fieschi</span>    (2)</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht5">40. <span class="smcap">Tommasina<br>Contarini</span> (1)</td>
+    <td class="brckt" rowspan="2"><img src="images/big_right_bracket.png"
+alt="big right bracket"  style="height: 5em; padding:0 1em 0 1em;"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr1" rowspan="2">=</td>
+    <td class="cht4 smcap" rowspan="2">Marino Faliero</td>
+    <td class="right1" rowspan="2">1354–1355</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht5">41. <span class="smcap">Aluycia<br>Gradenigo</span> (2)</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht5">42. <span class="smcap">Adriana<br>Borromeo</span> (1)</td>
+    <td class="brckt" rowspan="2"><img src="images/big_right_bracket.png"
+alt="big right bracket"  style="height: 3.5em; padding:0 1em 0 1em;"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr1" rowspan="2">=</td>
+    <td class="cht4 smcap" rowspan="2">Giovanni Gradenigo</td>
+    <td class="right1" rowspan="2">1355–1356</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">43. <span class="smcap">Marina Cappello</span> (2)</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">44. <span class="smcap">Marchesina Ghisi</span></td>
+    <td class="brckt"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr">=</td>
+    <td class="cht smcap">Lorenzo Celsi</td>
+    <td class="right">1361–1365</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">45. <span class="smcap">Giovanna</span> (1)</td>
+    <td class="brckt" rowspan="2"><img src="images/big_right_bracket.png"
+alt="big right bracket"  style="height: 2.5em; padding:0 1em 0 1em;"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr1" rowspan="2">=</td>
+    <td class="cht4 smcap" rowspan="2">Marco Cornaro</td>
+    <td class="right1" rowspan="2">1365–1367</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">46. <span class="smcap">Caterina</span> (2)</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">47. <span class="smcap">Cristina Condulmiero</span></td>
+    <td class="brckt"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr">=</td>
+    <td class="cht smcap">Michele Morosini</td>
+    <td class="right">1382</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">48. <span class="smcap">Agnese</span></td>
+    <td class="brckt"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr">=</td>
+    <td class="cht smcap">Antonio Venier</td>
+    <td class="right">1382–1400</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">49. <span class="smcap">Marina Gallina</span></td>
+    <td class="brckt"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr">=</td>
+    <td class="cht smcap">Michele Steno</td>
+    <td class="right">1400–1412</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">50.&emsp;&emsp;?&emsp;&ensp;<span class="smcap">Cappello</span></td>
+    <td class="brckt"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr">=</td>
+    <td class="cht"><span class="smcap">Tommaso Mocenigo</span><br>(“Grand” Doge)</td>
+    <td class="right">1412–1423</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">51. <span class="smcap">Maria Priuli</span> (1)</td>
+    <td class="brckt" rowspan="2"><img src="images/big_right_bracket.png"
+alt="big right bracket"  style="height: 2.5em; padding:0 1em 0 1em;"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr1" rowspan="2">=</td>
+    <td class="cht4" rowspan="2"><span class="smcap">Francesco Foscari</span><br>
+(“Grand” Doge)</td>
+    <td class="right1" rowspan="2">1423–1457</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">52. <span class="smcap">Marina Nani</span> (2)</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">53. <span class="smcap">Giovanna Dandolo</span></td>
+    <td class="brckt"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr">=</td>
+    <td class="cht smcap">Pasquale Malipiero</td>
+    <td class="right">1457–1462</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">54. <span class="smcap">Letizia</span> (1)</td>
+    <td class="brckt" rowspan="2"><img src="images/big_right_bracket.png"
+alt="big right bracket"  style="height: 2.5em; padding:0 1em 0 1em;"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr1" rowspan="2">=</td>
+    <td class="cht4 smcap" rowspan="2">Cristoforo Moro</td>
+    <td class="right1" rowspan="2">1462–1471</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">55. <span class="smcap">Cristina Sanudo</span> (2)</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">56. <span class="smcap">Aloidea Morosini</span></td>
+    <td class="brckt"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr">=</td>
+    <td class="cht smcap">Nicolo Tron</td>
+    <td class="right">1471–1473</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">57. <span class="smcap">Elena Barbarigo</span> (1)</td>
+    <td class="brckt" rowspan="2"><img src="images/big_right_bracket.png"
+alt="big right bracket"  style="height: 3.5em; padding:0 1em 0 1em;"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr1" rowspan="2">=</td>
+    <td class="cht4 smcap" rowspan="2">Nicolo Marcello</td>
+    <td class="right1" rowspan="2">1473–1474</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht5">58. <span class="smcap">Contarina Contarini<br>Morosini</span> (2)</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">59. <span class="smcap">Laura Zorzi</span></td>
+    <td class="brckt"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr">=</td>
+    <td class="cht smcap">Pietro Mocenigo</td>
+    <td class="right">1474–1476</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">60. <span class="smcap">Regina Gradenigo</span></td>
+    <td class="brckt"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr">=</td>
+    <td class="cht smcap">Andrea Vendramin</td>
+    <td class="right">1476–1478<span class="pagenum" id="Page_317">[317]</span></td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">61. <span class="smcap">Taddea Michiel</span></td>
+    <td class="brckt"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr">=</td>
+    <td class="cht smcap">Giovanni Mocenigo</td>
+    <td class="right">1478–1485</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">62. <span class="smcap">Lucia Ruzzini</span></td>
+    <td class="brckt"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr">=</td>
+    <td class="cht smcap">Marco Barbarigo</td>
+    <td class="right">1485–1486</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">63. <span class="smcap">Elisabetta Soranzo</span></td>
+    <td class="brckt"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr">=</td>
+    <td class="cht smcap">Agostino Barbarigo</td>
+    <td class="right">1486–1501</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">64. <span class="smcap">Giustina Giustiniani</span></td>
+    <td class="brckt"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr">=</td>
+    <td class="cht"><span class="smcap">Lionardo Loredano</span><br>(“Grand” Doge)</td>
+    <td class="right">1501–1521</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">65. <span class="smcap">Caterina Loredan</span></td>
+    <td class="brckt"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr">=</td>
+    <td class="cht smcap">Antonio Grimani</td>
+    <td class="right">1521–1523</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">66. <span class="smcap">Benedetta Vendramin</span></td>
+    <td class="brckt"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr">=</td>
+    <td class="cht smcap">Andrea Gritti</td>
+    <td class="right">1523–1538</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">67. <span class="smcap">Maria Pasqualigo</span></td>
+    <td class="brckt"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr">=</td>
+    <td class="cht smcap">Pietro Lando</td>
+    <td class="right">1538–1545</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">68. <span class="smcap">Giovanna da Mula</span> (1)</td>
+    <td class="brckt" rowspan="2"><img src="images/big_right_bracket.png"
+alt="big right bracket"  style="height: 2.5em; padding:0 1em 0 1em;"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr1" rowspan="2">=</td>
+    <td class="cht4 smcap" rowspan="2">Francesco Donato</td>
+    <td class="right1" rowspan="2">1545–1553</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">69. <span class="smcap">Alicia Giustiniani</span> (2)</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">70. <span class="smcap">Zilia Dandolo</span></td>
+    <td class="brckt"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr">=</td>
+    <td class="cht smcap">Lorenzo Priuli</td>
+    <td class="right">1556–1559</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">71. <span class="smcap">Elena Diedo</span></td>
+    <td class="brckt"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr">=</td>
+    <td class="cht smcap">Girolamo Priuli</td>
+    <td class="right">1559–1567</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">72. <span class="smcap">Maria Pasqualigo</span> (1)</td>
+    <td class="brckt" rowspan="2"><img src="images/big_right_bracket.png"
+alt="big right bracket"  style="height: 2.5em; padding:0 1em 0 1em;"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr1" rowspan="2">=</td>
+    <td class="cht4 smcap" rowspan="2">Pietro Loredano</td>
+    <td class="right1" rowspan="2">1567–1570</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">73. <span class="smcap">Maria Cappello</span> (2)</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">74. <span class="smcap">Loredana Marcello</span></td>
+    <td class="brckt"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr">=</td>
+    <td class="cht smcap">Alvise Mocenigo</td>
+    <td class="right">1570–1577</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">75. <span class="smcap">Cecilia Contarini</span></td>
+    <td class="brckt"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr">=</td>
+    <td class="cht"><span class="smcap">Sebastiano Venier</span><br>(“Grand” Doge)</td>
+    <td class="right">1577–1578</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">76. <span class="smcap">Arcangela Canali</span></td>
+    <td class="brckt"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr">=</td>
+    <td class="cht smcap">Nicolo da Ponte</td>
+    <td class="right">1578–1585</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">77. <span class="smcap">Laura Morosini</span></td>
+    <td class="brckt"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr">=</td>
+    <td class="cht smcap">Pasquale Cicogna</td>
+    <td class="right">1585–1595</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">78. <span class="smcap">Morosina Morosini</span></td>
+    <td class="brckt"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr">=</td>
+    <td class="cht smcap">Marino Grimani</td>
+    <td class="right">1595–1606</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">79. <span class="smcap">Elena Barbarigo</span></td>
+    <td class="brckt"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr">=</td>
+    <td class="cht smcap">Antonio Priuli</td>
+    <td class="right">1618–1623</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">80. <span class="smcap">Chiara Delfino</span></td>
+    <td class="brckt"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr">=</td>
+    <td class="cht smcap">Giovanni Cornaro</td>
+    <td class="right">1625–1629</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">81. <span class="smcap">Paolina Loredano</span></td>
+    <td class="brckt"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr">=</td>
+    <td class="cht smcap">Carlo Contarini</td>
+    <td class="right">1655–1656</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">82. <span class="smcap">Andreana Priuli</span></td>
+    <td class="brckt"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr">=</td>
+    <td class="cht smcap">Francesco Cornaro</td>
+    <td class="right">1656</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">83. <span class="smcap">Elisabetta Pisani</span></td>
+    <td class="brckt"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr">=</td>
+    <td class="cht smcap">Bertuccio Valier</td>
+    <td class="right">1656–1658</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">84. <span class="smcap">Lucia Barbarigo</span></td>
+    <td class="brckt"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr">=</td>
+    <td class="cht smcap">Giovanni Pesaro</td>
+    <td class="right">1658–1659</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">85. <span class="smcap">Elisabetta Querini</span></td>
+    <td class="brckt"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr">=</td>
+    <td class="cht smcap">Silvestro Valier</td>
+    <td class="right">1694–1700</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">86. <span class="smcap">Laura Cornaro</span></td>
+    <td class="brckt"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr">=</td>
+    <td class="cht smcap">Giovanni Cornaro</td>
+    <td class="right">1709–1722</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">87. <span class="smcap">Elena Badoero</span></td>
+    <td class="brckt"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr">=</td>
+    <td class="cht smcap">Alvise Pisani</td>
+    <td class="right">1735–1741</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">88. <span class="smcap">Pisana Cornaro</span> (1)</td>
+    <td class="brckt" rowspan="2"><img src="images/big_right_bracket.png"
+alt="big right bracket"  style="height: 3em; padding:0 1em 0 1em;"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr1" rowspan="2">=</td>
+    <td class="cht4 smcap" rowspan="2">Alvise Mocenigo</td>
+    <td class="right1" rowspan="2"></td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">89. <span class="smcap">Polissena Mocenigo</span> (2)</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">90. <span class="smcap">Giustina Donato</span> (1)</td>
+    <td class="brckt" rowspan="2"><img src="images/big_right_bracket.png"
+alt="big right bracket"  style="height: 2.5em; padding:0 1em 0 1em;"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr1" rowspan="2">=</td>
+    <td class="cht4 smcap" rowspan="2">Paolo Renier</td>
+    <td class="right1" rowspan="2">1779–1788</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">&emsp;&ensp;<span class="smcap">Margherita Delmaz</span> (2)</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">91. <span class="smcap">Elisabetta Grimani</span></td>
+    <td class="brckt"></td> 
+    <td class="ctr">=</td>
+    <td class="cht smcap">Lodovico Manin</td>
+    <td class="right">1788–1797</td>
+  </tr>
+</table>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_319">[319]</span></p>
+<h2>A SHORT BIBLIOGRAPHY</h2>
+</div>
+
+<table class="smaller">
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht"></td>
+    <td class="cht"><i>Archivio Veneto</i>, Vols. iii., iv., v.,<br>
+xiii., xiv., xx., xxxi., xxxviii.</td> 
+    <td class="cht"></td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht"></td>
+    <td class="cht"><i>Archivio Veneto Nuovo</i>, Vols. xii.,<br>
+xiii., xiv., xvii., xviii., xix.</td> 
+    <td class="cht"></td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">Barbaro, A.</td>
+    <td class="cht"><i>Prud. et gravi doc. circa la Elet.<br>della Moglie</i></td> 
+    <td class="cht">Venice, 1548</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">Bembo, P.</td>
+    <td class="cht"><i>Gli Asolani</i></td> 
+    <td class="cht">Venice, 1588</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">Browne, H. F.</td>
+    <td class="cht"><i>Studies in Venetian History</i>, 2 vols.</td> 
+    <td class="cht">London, 1903</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">&emsp;Do.&emsp;do.</td>
+    <td class="cht"><i>In and About Venice</i></td> 
+    <td class="cht">London, 1908</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">Burckhardt, J.</td>
+    <td class="cht"><i>The Culture of the Renaissance</i></td> 
+    <td class="cht">London, 1892</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">Carducci, G.</td>
+    <td class="cht"><i>Studi Letterari</i></td> 
+    <td class="cht">Livorno, 1874</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">&emsp;Do.&emsp;do.</td>
+    <td class="cht"><i>Galanterie Cavalleresche del secoli<br>xii e xiii</i></td> 
+    <td class="cht">Livorno, 1879</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">Casola, Frate P.</td>
+    <td class="cht"><i>Viaggio a Gerusalemme</i></td> 
+    <td class="cht">Milan, 1865</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">Cecchetti, B.</td>
+    <td class="cht"><i>Il Doge di Venezia</i></td> 
+    <td class="cht">Venice, 1864</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">&emsp;Do.&emsp;do.</td>
+    <td class="cht"><i>La moglie di Marino Falier</i></td> 
+    <td class="cht">Venice, 1871</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">&emsp;Do.&emsp;do.</td>
+    <td class="cht"><i>La Donna di Medio Evo a Venezia</i></td> 
+    <td class="cht">Venice, 1886</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">Cecchini, D.</td>
+    <td class="cht"><i>Trionfo della Dogaressa</i></td> 
+    <td class="cht">Venice, 1874</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">——</td>
+    <td class="cht">“<i>Cerimoniali</i>” (Archivio del Stato)</td> 
+    <td class="cht">Venice, 1464–1592</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">Cicogna, E. A.</td>
+    <td class="cht"><i>Inscrizioni Veneziane</i></td> 
+    <td class="cht">Venice, 1874</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">&emsp;Do.&emsp;do.</td>
+    <td class="cht"><i>Tavole Cronologiche Venete</i></td> 
+    <td class="cht">Venice, 1840</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">Crawford, P. M.</td>
+    <td class="cht"><i>Gleanings from Venetian History</i>,<br>2 vols.</td> 
+    <td class="cht">London, 1905</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">Damianus, P.</td>
+    <td class="cht"><i>Opera Omnia</i></td> 
+    <td class="cht">Paris, 1743</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">Dardano, P. C.</td>
+    <td class="cht"><i>La Bella e Dotta dif. Belle Donne</i></td> 
+    <td class="cht">Venice, 1553</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">Domenichino, G.</td>
+    <td class="cht"><i>Nobili Belle Donne</i></td> 
+    <td class="cht">Venice, 1561</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">——</td>
+    <td class="cht"><i>Emporium</i> (various writers), Vols.<br>xxi. xxiv.</td> 
+    <td class="cht"></td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">Einstein, L.</td>
+    <td class="cht"><i>The Italian Renaissance in England</i></td> 
+    <td class="cht">New York, 1902</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">Faber, Frate F.</td>
+    <td class="cht"><i>Evagatorium Terræ Sanctæ</i></td> 
+    <td class="cht">Stuttgart, 1849</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">Franco, Veronica</td>
+    <td class="cht"><i>Terze Rime</i></td> 
+    <td class="cht">Venice, 1575</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">Franco, G.</td>
+    <td class="cht"><i>Habiti Delle Donne Veneziane</i></td> 
+    <td class="cht">Venice, 1610</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">&emsp;Do.&emsp;do.</td>
+    <td class="cht"><i>Habiti D’Huomini e Donne Veneziane</i></td> 
+    <td class="cht">Venice, 1610</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">Garnett, R.</td>
+    <td class="cht"><i>History of Literature</i></td> 
+    <td class="cht">London, 1898</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">Gubernatis, A. de</td>
+    <td class="cht"><i>La Fille de la République</i></td> 
+    <td class="cht">Paris, 1879</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">Hazlitt, W. C.</td>
+    <td class="cht"><i>History of the Venetian Republic</i>,<br>2 vols.</td> 
+    <td class="cht">London, 1900</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">Hodgson, F. C.</td>
+    <td class="cht"><i>Early History of Venice</i>, 2 vols.</td> 
+    <td class="cht">London, 1901</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">Litta, P. G.</td>
+    <td class="cht"><i>Famiglie Celebri D’Italia</i>, 11 vols.</td> 
+    <td class="cht">Milan, 1819</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">Luigini, D.</td>
+    <td class="cht"><i>Il Libro delle Belle Donne</i></td> 
+    <td class="cht">Venice, 1553</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">Lungo, I. del</td>
+    <td class="cht"><i>La Donna Italiana del Buono<br>Tempo Antico</i></td> 
+    <td class="cht">Florence, 1906</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">Marinello, G.</td>
+    <td class="cht"><i>Gli Ornamenti delle Donne</i></td> 
+    <td class="cht">Venice, 1562</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">Molmenti, P. G.</td>
+    <td class="cht"><i>La Dogaressa di Venezia</i></td> 
+    <td class="cht">Turin, 1887</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">&emsp;Do.&emsp;do.</td>
+    <td class="cht"><i>Le Isole della Laguna</i></td> 
+    <td class="cht">Turin, 1898</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">&emsp;Do.&emsp;do.</td>
+    <td class="cht"><i>Storia di Venezia</i>, 3 vols.</td> 
+    <td class="cht">Turin, 1907</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">&emsp;Do.&emsp;do.</td>
+    <td class="cht"><i>Venice</i> (English Version) 6 vols.</td> 
+    <td class="cht">London, 1908</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">Palazzi, G.</td>
+    <td class="cht"><i>La Virtu in Giuoco overo Dame<br>
+Patritie di Venetia</i></td> 
+    <td class="cht">Venice, 1682</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">Rodocarnachi, E.</td>
+    <td class="cht"><i>La Femme Italienne</i></td> 
+    <td class="cht">Paris, 1907</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">Rogissart, F.</td>
+    <td class="cht"><i>Les Délices D’Italie</i></td> 
+    <td class="cht">Paris, 1709</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">Ruskin, J.</td>
+    <td class="cht"><i>The Stones of Venice</i></td> 
+    <td class="cht">London, 1892</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">Sabellico, P. G.</td>
+    <td class="cht"><i>Historiæ Rerum Venetarum</i></td> 
+    <td class="cht">Venice, 1718</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">Sansovino, F.</td>
+    <td class="cht"><i>Venetia Citta Nobilissima</i></td> 
+    <td class="cht">Venice, 1581</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">Sanudo, M.</td>
+    <td class="cht"><i>Vite dei Duchi di Venetia</i>, 58 vols.</td> 
+    <td class="cht">Venice, 1530</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">Selincourt, B. and H. de</td>
+    <td class="cht"><i>Vénise</i></td> 
+    <td class="cht">London, 1907</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">Sismondi, J. C. D.</td>
+    <td class="cht"><i>Histoire des Républiques Italiennes</i></td> 
+    <td class="cht">Paris, 1836</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">Staley, E.</td>
+    <td class="cht"><i>Guilds of Florence</i></td> 
+    <td class="cht">London, 1906</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">&emsp;Do.</td>
+    <td class="cht"><i>Tragedies of the Medici</i></td> 
+    <td class="cht">London, 1909</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">&emsp;Do.</td>
+    <td class="cht"><i>Famous Women of Florence</i></td> 
+    <td class="cht">London, 1909</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">Symonds, J. A.</td>
+    <td class="cht"><i>The Renaissance in Italy</i>, 5 vols.</td> 
+    <td class="cht">London, 1890</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">Tassini, A.</td>
+    <td class="cht"><i>Curiosita Veneziana</i></td> 
+    <td class="cht">Venice, 1897</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">Uzanne, O.</td>
+    <td class="cht"><i>L’Art et Les Artifices de la Beauté</i></td> 
+    <td class="cht">Paris, 1902</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">Vecellio, C.</td>
+    <td class="cht"><i>Habiti Antichi e Moderni di Tutto<br>il Mondo</i></td> 
+    <td class="cht">Venice, 1590</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="cht">Yriarte, C.</td>
+    <td class="cht"><i>Vénise</i></td> 
+    <td class="cht">Paris, 1882</td>
+  </tr>
+</table>
+
+<hr class="tb">
+
+<p>The ancient <i>Chronicles of Venice</i> may be arranged in the
+following order:—</p>
+
+<table class="smaller">
+  <tr>
+    <td class="chn">I.</td> 
+    <td class="ctr"><i>Cronaca</i></td>
+    <td class="cht"><i>di Giovanni Diacono.</i></td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="chn">II.</td> 
+    <td class="ctr">Do.</td>
+    <td class="cht"><i>Gradense.</i></td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="chn">III.</td> 
+    <td class="ctr">Do.</td>
+    <td class="cht"><i>Altinate.</i></td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="chn">IV.</td> 
+    <td class="ctr">Do.</td>
+    <td class="cht"><i>di Da Canale</i> (begins 1267)</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="chn">V.</td> 
+    <td class="ctr">Do.</td>
+    <td class="cht"><i>di Marco</i> (begins 1292).</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="chn">VI.</td> 
+    <td class="ctr">Do.</td>
+    <td class="cht"><i>di Frate Paolino</i> (1306).</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="chn">VII.</td> 
+    <td class="ctr">Do.</td>
+    <td class="cht"><i>d’Andrea Dandolo—Doge.</i></td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="chn">VIII.</td> 
+    <td class="ctr">Do.</td>
+    <td class="cht"><i>di Frate Pietro Carlo</i> (1340).</td>
+  </tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>At the Museo Civico in Venice are a number of “Family Archives,”
+“Diaries,” etc., and others, in the possession of various existing
+ancient families, are easily accessible.</p>
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_321">[321]</span></p>
+
+<h2>INDEX</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p class="p-index">A</p>
+
+<ul>
+  <li class="i1">Accouchement customs,
+    <a href="#Page_225">225</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Adriana—Queen of Padua,
+    <a href="#Page_3">3</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_5">5</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Alaric the Goth,
+    <a href="#Page_xv">xv</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Al-fresco Delights,
+    <a href="#Page_210">210–215</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">“All for Venice!”
+    <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1"><i>Altane</i>—Roofs of houses,
+    <a href="#Page_xxviii">xxviii</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_16">16</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_17">17</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_27">27</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_172">172</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Altino,
+    <a href="#Page_2">2</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_7">7</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_62">62</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_78">78</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_144">144</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Alvise Venier, Story of,
+    <a href="#Page_164">164</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_165">165</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Amaden, Francesco, (Historian),
+    <a href="#Page_270">270</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Anafesto, Giovanni,
+    <a href="#Page_4">4</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Paolo Lucio, (1st Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_10">10</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_11">11</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_15">15</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_62">62</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_97">97</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Antenorio, Beato,
+    <a href="#Page_13">13</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&emsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Carola, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_13">13</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&emsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Cassandra,
+    <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&emsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Martza, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_315">315</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&emsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Obelario, (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_12">12</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&emsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Valentino,
+    <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Apple, The Golden, of Paris,
+    <a href="#Page_58">58</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Aquileia,
+    <a href="#Page_2">2</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_4">4</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_10">10</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_20">20</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Arcelle—Dowry-coffers,
+    <a href="#Page_24">24</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Ariana—(Mystic singer),
+    <a href="#Page_4">4</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Arsenal privileges,
+    <a href="#Page_76">76</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Assassinations,
+    <a href="#Page_37">37</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_44">44</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_70">70</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_155">155</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Attila the Hun,
+    <a href="#Page_1">1–8</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&nbsp;„&emsp;A second,—Buonaparte,
+    <a href="#Page_312">312</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<p class="p-index">B</p> 
+
+<ul>
+  <li class="i1">Badobro (Partecipazio,) Agnello, (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_15">15–26</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_56">56</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_86">86</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&emsp;Elena (1), (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_xxiii">xxiii</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_16">16</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&emsp;Elena (2), (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_300">300–302</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&emsp;Felicita, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_21">21</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&emsp;Giovanni, (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_19">19–22</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&emsp;Giustiniano, (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_19">19–22</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&emsp;Maria—“Vulcana,”
+    <a href="#Page_26">26</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&emsp;Orso, I., (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_26">26</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&emsp;Orso, II., (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&emsp;Pietro, (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Balordo, Uno,—Pageant-spectacle,
+    <a href="#Page_183">183</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Bank, First public,
+    <a href="#Page_70">70</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Banquets,
+    <a href="#Page_75">75</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_106">106</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_175">175</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_206">206</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_262">262</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_283">283</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Barattieri, Nicolo,—gambler,
+    <a href="#Page_79">79</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Barbara, Saint,
+    <a href="#Page_32">32</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_93">93</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Barbarigo, Agostino, (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_230">230–233</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&emsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Bianca Elena, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_216">216</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&emsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Elena, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_295">295</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&emsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Francesco, (1),
+    <a href="#Page_216">216</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&emsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Francesco, (2),
+    <a href="#Page_231">231</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&emsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Lucia, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_296">296</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&emsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Marco, (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_227">227</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_228">228</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">“Barbarini”—young nobles,
+    <a href="#Page_70">70</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Barbaro, Ermolao, (humourist),
+    <a href="#Page_214">214</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Barnabotti,
+    <a href="#Page_146">146</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_147">147</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Baseggio, Maria, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_89">89</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Batango, Sofia,
+    <a href="#Page_115">115</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Bath, Use of the,
+    <a href="#Page_xxvi">xxvi</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_58">58</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Beatrice d’Este,
+    <a href="#Page_231">231</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_232">232</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Beauty, Castle of,
+    <a href="#Page_93">93</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_94">94</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&ensp;Court of,
+    <a href="#Page_144">144</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_224">224</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_272">272</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Belegno, Vettor, (bridegroom),
+    <a href="#Page_40">40</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Bembo, Angello,
+    <a href="#Page_131">131</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&nbsp;Cornella, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&nbsp;Enrica,
+    <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&nbsp;Felicita, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_315">315</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&nbsp;Marliana,
+    <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&nbsp;Pietro, (poet),
+    <a href="#Page_211">211–213</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_281">281</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_282">282</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Best-man, The,
+    <a href="#Page_25">25</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Bienne, Marchesina di, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_108">108–112</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Boccola”, Story of “La,
+    <a href="#Page_26">26–28</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Boccole, Giovanni dalle,
+    <a href="#Page_163">163</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&emsp;Felicita dalle,
+    <a href="#Page_163">163</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Body, Story of a gross,
+    <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Boemodo, Felicia Maria, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_71">71</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Boniface of Montferrat, (Captain Crusader),
+    <a href="#Page_79">79</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Books, Early Venetian,
+    <a href="#Page_199">199</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_200">200</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Borromeo, Adriana, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_315">315</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Bota, Lionardo, (Historian),
+    <a href="#Page_218">218</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Boys’ Dress,
+    <a href="#Page_137">137</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Bravi,
+    <a href="#Page_147">147</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_155">155</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Brenta, On the,
+    <a href="#Page_96">96</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_159">159</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Bride, A lovely,
+    <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&nbsp;„&emsp;Story of a Venetian,
+    <a href="#Page_95">95–96</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1"><span class="smcap">Brides</span>,
+    <a href="#Page_8">8</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_12">12</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_30">30</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_56">56</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_85">85</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_95">95</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_136">136</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&ensp;of Christ,
+    <a href="#Page_71">71</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_72">72</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&ensp;of stuff and wood,
+    <a href="#Page_136">136</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&ensp;Rape of, Story of the,
+    <a href="#Page_30">30–32</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_86">86</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&ensp;trousseaux,
+    <a href="#Page_95">95</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_192">192–193</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Buccheri—scented charms,
+    <a href="#Page_xxviii">xxviii</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Bucintoro—state barge,
+    <a href="#Page_75">75</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_89">89</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_154">154</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_157">157</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_170">170</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_192">192</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_199">199</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_231">231</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_236">236</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_254">254</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_287">287</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Buonaparte, Napoleon,
+    <a href="#Page_313">313</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Burial, A majestic,
+    <a href="#Page_131">131</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_222">222</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&nbsp;A forced,
+    <a href="#Page_199">199</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<p class="p-index">C</p> 
+
+<ul>
+  <li class="i1">Calmo, Andrea, (Historian),
+    <a href="#Page_210">210</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Caloprini, Stefano,
+    <a href="#Page_47">47</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Calza, Compagnia della,
+    <a href="#Page_176">176–178</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_192">192</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_213">213</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_236">236–238</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_254">254</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_256">256</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_275">275</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Canale, Marino da, (Historian),
+    <a href="#Page_111">111</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Canali, Arcangela (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_278">278</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Candiano, Arcielda (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_29">29–33</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&ensp;„&emsp;&emsp;Domenigo,
+    <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&ensp;„&emsp;&emsp;Elena,
+    <a href="#Page_39">39–41</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&ensp;„&emsp;&emsp;Giovannaccia,
+    <a href="#Page_33">33</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&ensp;„&emsp;&emsp;Maria, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_49">49</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&ensp;„&emsp;&emsp;Marina,
+    <a href="#Page_35">35</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_38">38</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_47">47</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_48">48</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&ensp;„&emsp;&emsp;Pietro, I., (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&ensp;„&emsp;&emsp;Pietro, II., (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&ensp;„&emsp;&emsp;Pietro, III., (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_29">29</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_30">30–32</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&ensp;„&emsp;&emsp;Pietro, IV., (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_32">32–38</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_49">49</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_152">152</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&ensp;„&emsp;&emsp;Vitale,
+    <a href="#Page_35">35</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Canonesses,
+    <a href="#Page_130">130</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_164">164</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_280">280</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Caorle,
+    <a href="#Page_2">2</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_31">31</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">“Castle of Love,”
+    <a href="#Page_92">92</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_93">93</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Cappello, Andrea, (1),
+    <a href="#Page_30">30</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_31">31</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_152">152</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Andrea, (2),
+    <a href="#Page_254">254</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Bianca, (Grand Duchess),
+    <a href="#Page_278">278</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Giovanni,
+    <a href="#Page_255">255</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Giustina, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_315">315</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Imelda,
+    <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Maria, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_267">267</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Marina, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_152">152</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Pietro,
+    <a href="#Page_258">258</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Vettor, Condottiere,
+    <a href="#Page_204">204</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_233">233</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Cassandra, Princess,
+    <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Castellani, The,
+    <a href="#Page_35">35</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_77">77</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_119">119</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_168">168</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_289">289</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Catarussa, Story of Madonna,
+    <a href="#Page_103">103–104</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Celsi, Lorenzo, (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_154">154–157</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Centanni, Marco,
+    <a href="#Page_258">258</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Century,” “A terrible,
+    <a href="#Page_310">310</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Chemises,
+    <a href="#Page_115">115</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Chioggia,
+    <a href="#Page_14">14</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_106">106</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1"><span class="smcap">Churches</span>:—</li>
+  <li class="i2">S. Alvise,
+    <a href="#Page_165">165</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">SS. Apostoli,
+    <a href="#Page_16">16</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_281">281</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">S. Barnaba,
+    <a href="#Page_191">191</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_254">254</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">S. Cipriano di Murano,
+    <a href="#Page_122">122</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">S. Cristoforo,
+    <a href="#Page_283">283</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">S. Croce,
+    <a href="#Page_68">68</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">S. Fantino,
+    <a href="#Page_265">265</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_266">266</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">S. Gemigniano,
+    <a href="#Page_222">222</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">S. Giacomo di Rialto,
+    <a href="#Page_86">86</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">S. Giovanni Crisostomo,
+    <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">S. Giorgio in Alga,
+    <a href="#Page_84">84</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">S. Giovanni Evangelista,
+    <a href="#Page_71">71</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">S. Giovanni Elemosinario,
+    <a href="#Page_246">246</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">SS. Giovanni e Paolo,
+    <a href="#Page_99">99</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_112">112</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_131">131</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_153">153</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_157">157</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_165">165</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_184">184</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_202">202</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_218">218</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_222">222</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_233">233</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_239">239</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_265">265</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_270">270</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_275">275</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_290">290</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_298">298</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_307">307</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">S. Giobbe,
+    <a href="#Page_208">208</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">S. Giuseppe di Castello,
+    <a href="#Page_290">290</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">S. Giustina,
+    <a href="#Page_xxiii">xxiii</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">S. Giorgio Maggiore,
+    <a href="#Page_63">63</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_67">67</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_68">68</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_91">91</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">S. Marco,
+    <a href="#Page_22">22</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_36">36</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_52">52</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_61">61</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_64">64</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_78">78</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_79">79</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_132">132</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_141">141</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_170">170</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_172">172</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_173">173</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_222">222</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_258">258</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_265">265</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_276">276</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_312">312</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">S. Maria della Carita,
+    <a href="#Page_228">228</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_233">233</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">S. Maria degli Angeli di Murano,
+    <a href="#Page_277">277</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">S. Maria de’ Gesuiti,
+    <a href="#Page_282">282</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">S. Maria Gloriosa de’ Frari,
+    <a href="#Page_113">113</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_199">199</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_207">207</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">S. Maria Formosa,
+    <a href="#Page_32">32</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">S. Maria degli Scalzi,
+    <a href="#Page_312">312</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">S. Maria del Salute,
+    <a href="#Page_138">138</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_302">302</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_312">312</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">S. Maria Zobenigo,
+    <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">S. Marina,
+    <a href="#Page_167">167</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_180">180</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_217">217</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">S. Maurizio,
+    <a href="#Page_123">123</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">S. Nicolo da Tolentino,
+    <a href="#Page_310">310</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">S. Nicolo di Lido,
+    <a href="#Page_65">65</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_67">67</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_74">74</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">S. Pietro di Castello,
+    <a href="#Page_21">21</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_24">24</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_30">30</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_35">35</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_40">40</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_51">51</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_222">222</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">S. Polo,
+    <a href="#Page_295">295</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Il Redentore,
+    <a href="#Page_274">274</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">S. Salvatore,
+    <a href="#Page_263">263</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_281">281</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">S. Sebastiano,
+    <a href="#Page_205">205</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_250">250</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_290">290</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Gli Servi,
+    <a href="#Page_220">220</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">S. Stefano,
+    <a href="#Page_297">297</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">S. Trovaso,
+    <a href="#Page_77">77</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">S. Teodoro,
+    <a href="#Page_36">36</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">S. Vitale,
+    <a href="#Page_295">295</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">S. Vito,
+    <a href="#Page_124">124</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">S. Zaccaria,
+    <a href="#Page_19">19</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Cicogna, Pasquale, (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_282">282</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">City of “Fair” Women,
+    <a href="#Page_xxiv">xxiv-xxxii</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&ensp;Saints,
+    <a href="#Page_xvi">xvi-xxiii</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&ensp;Venus,
+    <a href="#Page_xiii">xiii-xvi</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Coccio, Marcantonio, (Historian),
+    <a href="#Page_214">214</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Colonna, Francesco, of Rome,
+    <a href="#Page_214">214</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Concordia,
+    <a href="#Page_2">2</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Condulmiero, Cristina, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_161">161</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_179">179</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Constantinople,
+    <a href="#Page_30">30</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_50">50–56</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_83">83–85</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_91">91</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Contarini, Andrea, (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_159">159–161</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Arrigo, (Bishop),
+    <a href="#Page_64">64</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Carlo, (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_295">295</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Cecilia, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_276">276–278</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Contarina, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_216">216</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Domenigo, (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Giacomo, (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_112">112</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_160">160</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Jacobina, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_112">112</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Lucrezia, Lovely,
+    <a href="#Page_189">189–195</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Nicolo,
+    <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Tommasina,
+    <a href="#Page_143">143</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1"><span class="smcap">Convents</span>:—</li>
+  <li class="i2">Sant’ Alvise,
+    <a href="#Page_264">264</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Sant’ Andrea,
+    <a href="#Page_180">180</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Sant’ Adriana d’Amiano,
+    <a href="#Page_71">71</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Santa Caterina,
+    <a href="#Page_72">72</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Della Croce, Giudecca,
+    <a href="#Page_270">270</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">SS. Gervaso e Protasio,
+    <a href="#Page_301">301</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">San Lorenzo,
+    <a href="#Page_150">150</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_168">168</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Santa Maria degli Angeli di Murano,
+    <a href="#Page_231">231</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Santa Maria delle Vergini,
+    <a href="#Page_130">130</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">San Nicolo di Murano,
+    <a href="#Page_281">281</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">San Pietro dei Fiorentini,
+    <a href="#Page_280">280</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">San Servilio,
+    <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Santa Trinita,
+    <a href="#Page_48">48</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">San Zaccaria,
+    <a href="#Page_19">19</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_33">33</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_44">44</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_53">53</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_67">67</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_70">70</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_71">71</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_78">78</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_164">164</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_222">222</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Cooking, Exquisite,
+    <a href="#Page_57">57</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_107">107</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_288">288</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Cornaro, Alvise,
+    <a href="#Page_301">301</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&ensp;Caterina, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_158">158</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_159">159</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&ensp;Caterina, Queen of Cyprus,
+    <a href="#Page_193">193</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_280">280</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&ensp;Felicia, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&ensp;Francesco,
+    <a href="#Page_301">301</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&ensp;Federigo,
+    <a href="#Page_302">302</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&ensp;Giovanna, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_316">316</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&ensp;Giovanni, (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_300">300</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&ensp;Laura, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_300">300–302</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&ensp;Marco, (1), (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_157">157–158</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&ensp;Marco, (2),
+    <a href="#Page_280">280</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&ensp;Pisana, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_302">302–306</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_312">312</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1"><span class="smcap">Corno</span>:—</li>
+  <li class="i2">The earliest,
+    <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Jewelled,
+    <a href="#Page_55">55</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_216">216</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_286">286</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Dogaressa’s,
+    <a href="#Page_77">77</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_132">132</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_135">135</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_171">171</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_188">188</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Provided by State,
+    <a href="#Page_132">132</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">“Count of Courtesy,”
+    <a href="#Page_140">140</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Court Balls, Famous,
+    <a href="#Page_145">145</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_288">288</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_304">304</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Courtesans,
+    <a href="#Page_xxx">xxx</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_152">152</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_153">153</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_272">272</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_273">273</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_311">311</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Cow, A Golden,
+    <a href="#Page_78">78</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Crusades,
+    <a href="#Page_xxi">xxi</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_63">63–68</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_79">79</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_92">92</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Cupid, Court of Prince,
+    <a href="#Page_23">23–26</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_49">49</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_57">57</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<p class="p-index">D</p> 
+
+<ul>
+  <li class="i1">Dalmatia,
+    <a href="#Page_51">51</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_52">52</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_53">53</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_61">61</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_88">88</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Dandolo, Andrea, (1), (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_29">29</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_31">31</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_53">53</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_66">66</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_127">127</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_137">137</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_138">138–142</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_153">153</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Dandolo, Andrea, (2),
+    <a href="#Page_132">132</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;Antonio,
+    <a href="#Page_199">199</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;Arrigo, (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_81">81–83</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_87">87</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_113">113</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_132">132</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_138">138</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_253">253</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;Caterina, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_115">115</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_116">116</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;Elisabetta, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_132">132–138</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;Fantino, (1),
+    <a href="#Page_139">139</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;Fantino, (2),
+    <a href="#Page_139">139</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;Francesco, (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_132">132–138</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;Giovanni, (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_113">113–115</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;Lionardo,
+    <a href="#Page_139">139</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;Marco, (1),
+    <a href="#Page_139">139</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;Marco, (2),
+    <a href="#Page_253">253</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;Marino,
+    <a href="#Page_196">196</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;Matteo,
+    <a href="#Page_258">258</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;Pietro,
+    <a href="#Page_139">139</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;Zilia, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_253">253–266</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_290">290</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_311">311</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">“Daughters of Venice,”
+    <a href="#Page_278">278</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_280">280</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Degna of Aquileia,
+    <a href="#Page_5">5</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Deido, Elena, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_254">254</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_267">267</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Delfino, Chiara, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_295">295</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&ensp;Giovanni, (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_153">153</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&ensp;Lionardo (Bishop),
+    <a href="#Page_170">170</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Delmaz, Margherita, (Falsa Dogaressa!),
+    <a href="#Page_309">309</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_310">310</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Demons, A Galley full of,
+    <a href="#Page_126">126</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Devotions, Strange,
+    <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Diacono, Giovanni, (Historian),
+    <a href="#Page_50">50</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_60">60</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&emsp;Pietro,
+    <a href="#Page_33">33</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Dialogue, A Quaint,
+    <a href="#Page_31">31–32</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Diana, Goddess,
+    <a href="#Page_xxxi">xxxi</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1"><span class="smcap">Dogaressa</span>,</li>
+  <li class="i2">The First,
+    <a href="#Page_xxiii">xxiii</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_13">13</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_14">14</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_16">16</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Patroness of the,
+    <a href="#Page_xxiii">xxiii</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">A proud,
+    <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Tribute to,
+    <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">An imperial,
+    <a href="#Page_56">56</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">A voluptuous,
+    <a href="#Page_60">60</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">A self-denying,
+    <a href="#Page_64">64</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Position of the,
+    <a href="#Page_69">69</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Responsibility of,
+    <a href="#Page_69">69</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Corno of,
+    <a href="#Page_77">77</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_132">132–135</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">First Solemn Entry,
+    <a href="#Page_109">109</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Patroness of Guilds,
+    <a href="#Page_61">61</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_69">69</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_109">109–111</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Not to speculate,
+    <a href="#Page_112">112</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Wardrobe of,
+    <a href="#Page_115">115</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">State robes of,
+    <a href="#Page_117">117</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_118">118</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Her petty cash,
+    <a href="#Page_118">118</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">A fashionable,
+    <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Congratulate the,
+    <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Coronation of,
+    <a href="#Page_135">135</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">A “Grand,”
+    <a href="#Page_138">138</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">A dowdy,
+    <a href="#Page_158">158</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">No initiative,
+    <a href="#Page_160">160</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">An anguished,
+    <a href="#Page_164">164</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">A magnificent,
+    <a href="#Page_170">170–171</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Prayers for the,
+    <a href="#Page_173">173</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Will of a,
+    <a href="#Page_180">180</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">A broken-hearted,
+    <a href="#Page_194">194</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">An unforgiving,
+    <a href="#Page_197">197–198</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Fond of lace,
+    <a href="#Page_201">201</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_202">202</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">And cheapness,
+    <a href="#Page_205">205</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">And flowing locks,
+    <a href="#Page_205">205</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">A well-dressed,
+    <a href="#Page_207">207</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">A “Mother in Israel,”
+    <a href="#Page_222">222</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Letters of a,
+    <a href="#Page_243">243</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Of the fisher-folk,
+    <a href="#Page_252">252</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">The most distinguished,
+    <a href="#Page_253">253</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Gifts for the,
+    <a href="#Page_259">259</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_260">260</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_261">261</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Honours for the,
+    <a href="#Page_263">263–264</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">A cultured,
+    <a href="#Page_268">268–275</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_307">307</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">An amiable,
+    <a href="#Page_277">277</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Pension for,
+    <a href="#Page_266">266</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_277">277</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">A stout,
+    <a href="#Page_295">295</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Treasures of a recluse,
+    <a href="#Page_301">301</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Deathbed of a,
+    <a href="#Page_306">306</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">A girl,
+    <a href="#Page_307">307</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">A rope-dancer,
+    <a href="#Page_309">309</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">A faint-hearted,
+    <a href="#Page_311">311</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1"><span class="smcap">Dogaressas</span>, Likenesses of,
+    <a href="#Page_33">33</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_45">45</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_50">50</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_59">59</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_90">90</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_109">109</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_138">138</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_154">154</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_180">180</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_186">186</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_202">202</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_203">203</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_204">204</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_220">220</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_278">278</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_298">298</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&emsp;&ensp;The Succession of the:—</li>
+  <li class="i2">Martza Antenorio,
+    <a href="#Page_315">315</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Carola Antenorio,
+    <a href="#Page_13">13</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Elena Badoero,
+    <a href="#Page_xiii">xiii</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_16">16–19</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_56">56</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_300">300</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Felicita Badoero,
+    <a href="#Page_21">21</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Angela Tribuno,
+    <a href="#Page_315">315</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Arcielda Candiano,
+    <a href="#Page_29">29</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_32">32</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_84">84</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Giovanniccia Candiano,
+    <a href="#Page_33">33</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Valdrada Candiano,
+    <a href="#Page_34">34–39</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_44">44</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_47">47</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_311">311</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Felicita Orseolo,
+    <a href="#Page_43">43–45</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Marina Memo,
+    <a href="#Page_47">47–48</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Maria Orseolo,
+    <a href="#Page_49">49–53</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Grimelda Orseolo,
+    <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Teodora Selvo,
+    <a href="#Page_xxx">xxx</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_51">51</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_55">55–63</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_77">77</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_119">119</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Cornelia Faliero,
+    <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Felicia Michielo,
+    <a href="#Page_63">63–66</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Matelda Faliero,
+    <a href="#Page_66">66</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Alicia Michielo,
+    <a href="#Page_69">69</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_70">70</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Sofia Morosini,
+    <a href="#Page_68">68</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Felicia Maria Michielo,
+    <a href="#Page_71">71</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Cecilia Ziani,
+    <a href="#Page_77">77</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_78">78</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Felicita Dandolo,
+    <a href="#Page_315">315</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Maria Ziani,
+    <a href="#Page_89">89</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Costanza Ziani,
+    <a href="#Page_89">89</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_90">90</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_91">91</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_96">96</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_97">97</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Maria Tiepolo,
+    <a href="#Page_97">97</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Valdrada Tiepolo,
+    <a href="#Page_97">97–99</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Aloicia Zeno,
+    <a href="#Page_102">102–105</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Agnese Tiepolo,
+    <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Marchesina Tiepolo,
+    <a href="#Page_108">108–112</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Jacobina Contarini,
+    <a href="#Page_112">112</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Caterina Dandolo,
+    <a href="#Page_115">115</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_116">116</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Tommasina Gradenigo,
+    <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Agnese Gradenigo,
+    <a href="#Page_120">120–126</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Agnese Zorzio,
+    <a href="#Page_127">127</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Franchesina Soranzo,
+    <a href="#Page_128">128–132</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Elisabetta Dandolo,
+    <a href="#Page_132">132–138</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Giustina Gradenigo,
+    <a href="#Page_315">315</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Tommasina Falier,
+    <a href="#Page_143">143</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Aluycia Falier,
+    <a href="#Page_143">143–150</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_169">169</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Adriana Gradenigo,
+    <a href="#Page_316">316</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Marina Gradenigo,
+    <a href="#Page_152">152</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Marchesina Celsi,
+    <a href="#Page_154">154–156</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Giovanna Cornaro,
+    <a href="#Page_316">316</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Caterina Cornaro,
+    <a href="#Page_158">158</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_159">159</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Cristina Morosini,
+    <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Agnese Venier,
+    <a href="#Page_164">164</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_165">165</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Marina Selvo,
+    <a href="#Page_167">167–181</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Maria Foscari,
+    <a href="#Page_186">186–187</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Marina Foscari,
+    <a href="#Page_187">187–198</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Giovanna Malipiero,
+    <a href="#Page_199">199–203</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Letizia Moro,
+    <a href="#Page_316">316</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Cristina Moro,
+    <a href="#Page_203">203–206</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Aliodea Tron,
+    <a href="#Page_206">206–208</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_247">247</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Elena Marcello,
+    <a href="#Page_216">216</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Contarina Marcello,
+    <a href="#Page_216">216</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_217">217</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Laura Mocenigo,
+    <a href="#Page_218">218</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Regina Vendramin,
+    <a href="#Page_219">219</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_220">220</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_259">259</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Taddea Mocenigo,
+    <a href="#Page_220">220</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_221">221</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Lucia Barbarigo,
+    <a href="#Page_227">227</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_228">228</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Elisabetta Barbarigo,
+    <a href="#Page_231">231–233</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Giustina Loredano,
+    <a href="#Page_235">235</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Caterina Grimani,
+    <a href="#Page_239">239–242</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Benedetta Gritti,
+    <a href="#Page_243">243–248</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Maria Lando,
+    <a href="#Page_248">248</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Giovanna Donato,
+    <a href="#Page_249">249–251</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Alicia Donato,
+    <a href="#Page_249">249–251</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Zilia Priuli,
+    <a href="#Page_253">253–266</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_290">290</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_311">311</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Elena Priuli,
+    <a href="#Page_266">266</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_267">267</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Maria Loredano,
+    <a href="#Page_267">267</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Loredana Mocenigo,
+    <a href="#Page_268">268</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Cecilia Venier,
+    <a href="#Page_276">276–278</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Arcangela da Ponte,
+    <a href="#Page_278">278</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Laura Cicogna,
+    <a href="#Page_282">282</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Morosina Grimani,
+    <a href="#Page_282">282–290</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Elena Priuli,
+    <a href="#Page_295">295</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Chiara Cornaro,
+    <a href="#Page_295">295</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Paolina Contarini,
+    <a href="#Page_295">295</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Andreana Cornaro,
+    <a href="#Page_296">296</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Elisabetta Valier, (1),
+    <a href="#Page_296">296</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Lucia Pesaro,
+    <a href="#Page_296">296</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Elisabetta Valier, (2),
+    <a href="#Page_298">298</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Laura Cornaro,
+    <a href="#Page_300">300–302</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Elena Pisano,
+    <a href="#Page_300">300</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Pisana Mocenigo,
+    <a href="#Page_302">302</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_306">306</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_312">312</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Polissena Mocenigo,
+    <a href="#Page_307">307</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Cristina Renier,
+    <a href="#Page_308">308</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Margherita Renier (?),
+    <a href="#Page_308">308</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_309">309</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Elisabetta Manin,
+    <a href="#Page_311">311</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_312">312</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1"><span class="smcap">Doge</span>—:</li>
+  <li class="i2">First mention of,
+    <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">First at Eraclea,
+    <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">First at Rivo-Alto,
+    <a href="#Page_15">15</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Acclamation of,
+    <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Assassination of,
+    <a href="#Page_37">37</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_44">44</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_70">70</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Avaricious,
+    <a href="#Page_308">308</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Bed of the,
+    <a href="#Page_246">246</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Canonized,
+    <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Connoisseur,
+    <a href="#Page_149">149</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_219">219</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Contested Election of,
+    <a href="#Page_184">184</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Crusader,
+    <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Deprivation of,
+    <a href="#Page_196">196</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Dream of,
+    <a href="#Page_100">100</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">“Grand,”
+    <a href="#Page_15">15</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_46">46</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_66">66</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_81">81</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_96">96</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_116">116</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_128">128</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_138">138</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_181">181</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_185">185</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_234">234</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_275">275</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Great eater,
+    <a href="#Page_244">244</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Hard conditions for,
+    <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Hero,
+    <a href="#Page_275">275</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_297">297</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Heroic,
+    <a href="#Page_274">274</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Income of,
+    <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Insulted,
+    <a href="#Page_145">145</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Like Brutus,
+    <a href="#Page_129">129</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_164">164</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Mean,
+    <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Millionaire,
+    <a href="#Page_206">206</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Munificent,
+    <a href="#Page_233">233</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">“Never lies!”
+    <a href="#Page_148">148</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Patriotic,
+    <a href="#Page_237">237</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Popular,
+    <a href="#Page_154">154</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Political,
+    <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Qualifications of,
+    <a href="#Page_88">88</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Regalia of,
+    <a href="#Page_77">77</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Sporting,
+    <a href="#Page_240">240</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_241">241</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Title of,
+    <a href="#Page_98">98</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">“Un Atila,”
+    <a href="#Page_121">121</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Will of,
+    <a href="#Page_115">115</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_217">217</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_275">275</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Doge Nicolo Tron and Fair Laura Nogarola, Story of,
+    <a href="#Page_208">208</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_209">209</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Domestic relations,
+    <a href="#Page_98">98</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_99">99</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Donato, Giustina, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_308">308–310</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&ensp;Francesco, (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_18">18</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_19">19</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_249">249</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_251">251</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Dowry, A Great,
+    <a href="#Page_50">50</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_189">189</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Dresses, Extravagant,
+    <a href="#Page_218">218</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_238">238</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_245">245</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_304">304</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">“Dumped” goods,
+    <a href="#Page_250">250</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_292">292</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Duodene, The,
+    <a href="#Page_76">76</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<p class="p-index">E</p> 
+
+<ul>
+  <li class="i1">Earthquake, A Terrible,
+    <a href="#Page_91">91</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Emo, Madonna Giovanna,
+    <a href="#Page_238">238</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;„&emsp;Agnello, Admiral,
+    <a href="#Page_310">310</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1"><span class="smcap">Emperors</span>:—</li>
+  <li class="i2">Basil,
+    <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Charlemagne,
+    <a href="#Page_12">12</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Charles V.,
+    <a href="#Page_143">143</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Constantine,
+    <a href="#Page_50">50</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_54">54</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_60">60</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Emmanuel,
+    <a href="#Page_54">54</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_71">71</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_144">144</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Enrico,
+    <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Frederic Barbarossa,
+    <a href="#Page_70">70</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_74">74</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_77">77</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Frederic II.,
+    <a href="#Page_97">97</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">John,
+    <a href="#Page_109">109</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Lothair,
+    <a href="#Page_86">86</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Maximilian IV.,
+    <a href="#Page_235">235</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Michael,
+    <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Napoleon Buonaparte,
+    <a href="#Page_312">312</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_313">313</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Otto I.,
+    <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Otto II.,
+    <a href="#Page_38">38</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_51">51</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Otto III.,
+    <a href="#Page_47">47</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1"><span class="smcap">Empresses</span>:—</li>
+  <li class="i2">Adelheid,
+    <a href="#Page_38">38</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_47">47</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Galla Placida,
+    <a href="#Page_3">3</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Teofana,
+    <a href="#Page_51">51</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Enchantment,
+    <a href="#Page_4">4</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_48">48</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Epitaphs, Dogal,
+    <a href="#Page_64">64</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_68">68</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_83">83</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_113">113</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_140">140</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_161">161</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_180">180</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_181">181</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_184">184</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_208">208</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_218">218</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_233">233</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_299">299</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Eraclea,
+    <a href="#Page_2">2</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_9">9</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_10">10</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_11">11</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_14">14</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_20">20</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Etiquette, Frate Bonvesin on,
+    <a href="#Page_107">107</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Execution of Marino Falier,
+    <a href="#Page_147">147</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Exhibition of Guilds,
+    <a href="#Page_174">174</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_259">259</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<p class="p-index">F</p>
+
+<ul>
+  <li class="i1">“Fair” Women, City of,
+    <a href="#Page_xxiv">xxiv-xxxii</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_59">59</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Faliero, Anna,
+    <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&nbsp;Marino, (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_142">142–149</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&nbsp;Matelda, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_66">66</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&nbsp;Ordelafo, (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_66">66</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&nbsp;Tommasina, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_143">143</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&nbsp;Vitale, I., (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_54">54</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_62">62</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&nbsp;Vitale, II., (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_142">142</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1"><span class="smcap">Families</span>:—</li>
+  <li class="i2">Chief, Badoero (Partecipazio),
+    <a href="#Page_9">9</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_22">22–27</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Barbarigo,
+    <a href="#Page_227">227</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Barozzi,
+    <a href="#Page_29">29</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_62">62</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Bembo,
+    <a href="#Page_63">63</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_157">157</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Bragadini,
+    <a href="#Page_157">157</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Caloprini,
+    <a href="#Page_47">47</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Candiano,
+    <a href="#Page_9">9</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_28">28–41</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Cappello,
+    <a href="#Page_30">30</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Contarini,
+    <a href="#Page_62">62</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_277">277</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Cornaro,
+    <a href="#Page_63">63</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_280">280</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Dandolo,
+    <a href="#Page_62">62</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_96">96</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_138">138</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Falier,
+    <a href="#Page_62">62</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_142">142</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Foscari,
+    <a href="#Page_186">186</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Giustiniani,
+    <a href="#Page_29">29</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_71">71</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_157">157</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Gradenigo,
+    <a href="#Page_53">53</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_62">62</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Grimani,
+    <a href="#Page_239">239</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Loredan,
+    <a href="#Page_142">142</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Malipiero,
+    <a href="#Page_162">162</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_186">186</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Michiel,
+    <a href="#Page_9">9</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_43">43</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_62">62</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_132">132</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Mocenigo,
+    <a href="#Page_182">182</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_186">186</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Morosini,
+    <a href="#Page_47">47</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_50">50</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Orseolo,
+    <a href="#Page_9">9</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_43">43</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_54">54</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Priuli,
+    <a href="#Page_186">186</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_253">253</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_266">266</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Selvo,
+    <a href="#Page_29">29</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_54">54</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_89">89</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Soranzo,
+    <a href="#Page_128">128</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_131">131</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Tiepolo,
+    <a href="#Page_62">62</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_96">96</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Ziani,
+    <a href="#Page_73">73</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_91">91</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Fans (Ventolini),
+    <a href="#Page_xxxi">xxxi</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_xxxii">xxxii</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_33">33</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Fashions in Dress,
+    <a href="#Page_xv">xv</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_xxxii">xxxii</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_12">12</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_23">23</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_46">46</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_59">59</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_114">114</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_137">137</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_152">152</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_178">178</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_182">182</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_192">192</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_225">225</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_256">256</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_285">285</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_287">287</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Fedele, Cassandra, (Writer),
+    <a href="#Page_215">215</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">“Festa delle Marie,”
+    <a href="#Page_28">28</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_30">30–32</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_53">53</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_136">136</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Ferrara,
+    <a href="#Page_65">65</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Fieschi, Isabella de’,
+    <a href="#Page_139">139</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Fireworks,
+    <a href="#Page_262">262</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_289">289</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Fisher-folk, Doge and Dogaressa of the,
+    <a href="#Page_252">252</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_253">253</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Fisherman and the Ring,” Story of “The,
+    <a href="#Page_126">126</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_127">127</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Flag of Venice,
+    <a href="#Page_51">51</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_64">64</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_68">68</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Florence,
+    <a href="#Page_49">49</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_87">87</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_188">188</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Fork, A Golden,
+    <a href="#Page_57">57</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Fortune-teller, A famous,
+    <a href="#Page_4">4</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Foscari, Donato,
+    <a href="#Page_186">186</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&ensp;Francesco, (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_184">184–196</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&ensp;Giacomo,
+    <a href="#Page_187">187</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_189">189–196</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&ensp;Marco,
+    <a href="#Page_186">186</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&ensp;Nicolo,
+    <a href="#Page_186">186</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Foscarini, Marco, (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_310">310</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Fragilie, see Guilds</li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Franco, Giacomo, (Engraver),
+    <a href="#Page_xxxi">xxxi</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&ensp;Veronica,
+    <a href="#Page_273">273</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_274">274</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1"><span class="smcap">Frati</span>:—</li>
+  <li class="i2">Bonvesino—“on Etiquette,”
+    <a href="#Page_107">107–108</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Casola—Pen-Pictures of Society,
+    <a href="#Page_224">224–226</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Faber—“on Gardens,”
+    <a href="#Page_210">210</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Paolo—on “Ideal Wives,”
+    <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Friuli,
+    <a href="#Page_12">12</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_34">34</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_106">106</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_176">176</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_204">204</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Fulvia of Altino,
+    <a href="#Page_4">4</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Fugitive forebears,
+    <a href="#Page_xv">xv</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_2">2</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_6">6</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_7">7</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_20">20</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<p class="p-index">G</p> 
+
+<ul>
+  <li class="i1">Galina, Antonio,
+    <a href="#Page_258">258</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&nbsp;Marina, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_167">167</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_199">199</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Games of chance,
+    <a href="#Page_79">79</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1"><span class="smcap">Gardens</span>:—</li>
+  <li class="i2">Andrea Calmo on,
+    <a href="#Page_210">210</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Frate Felice Faber on,
+    <a href="#Page_210">210</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Asolo,
+    <a href="#Page_215">215</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Botanical,
+    <a href="#Page_165">165</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_269">269</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Friuli,
+    <a href="#Page_215">215</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Giudecca,
+    <a href="#Page_210">210</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Love of,
+    <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Murano,
+    <a href="#Page_106">106</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_211">211–215</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Olivolo,
+    <a href="#Page_35">35</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Roof,
+    <a href="#Page_210">210</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">San Canciano,
+    <a href="#Page_283">283</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Santa Caterina,
+    <a href="#Page_283">283</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Simple flower,
+    <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">The Brenta,
+    <a href="#Page_215">215</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_269">269</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Zoological,
+    <a href="#Page_221">221</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">In general,
+    <a href="#Page_10">10</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Garrison of girls,
+    <a href="#Page_95">95</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Gehenna, A Filthy,
+    <a href="#Page_164">164</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Genoa,
+    <a href="#Page_108">108</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_128">128</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_141">141</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_160">160</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_176">176</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Gentlemen,” “The First,
+    <a href="#Page_283">283</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Ghisi, Agnese, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;„&emsp;&nbsp;Girolamo,
+    <a href="#Page_154">154</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;„&emsp;&nbsp;Marchesina, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_154">154</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Giano, King of Padua,
+    <a href="#Page_2">2</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_3">3</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Giovanniccia—A divorcée,
+    <a href="#Page_33">33</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Giustina, Rossi, Story of,
+    <a href="#Page_121">121</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_122">122</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;Saint,
+    <a href="#Page_xxii">xxii</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_xxiii">xxiii</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_21">21</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_93">93</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_165">165</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Giustiniani, Alicia, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_249">249–251</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&emsp;„&emsp;&emsp;&ensp;Bartoletta, (Abbess),
+    <a href="#Page_72">72</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&emsp;„&emsp;&emsp;&ensp;Giorgio,
+    <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&emsp;„&emsp;&emsp;&ensp;Giustina, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_235">235</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&emsp;„&emsp;&emsp;&ensp;Marcantonio, (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_296">296</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&emsp;„&emsp;&emsp;&ensp;Margherita,
+    <a href="#Page_72">72</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&emsp;„&emsp;&emsp;&ensp;Marta,
+    <a href="#Page_72">72</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&emsp;„&emsp;&emsp;&ensp;Nicolo, (A Monk),
+    <a href="#Page_71">71</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_72">72</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&emsp;„&emsp;&emsp;&ensp;Paolo,
+    <a href="#Page_181">181</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Glass, Murano,
+    <a href="#Page_128">128</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_129">129</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_250">250</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Gloves, First use of,
+    <a href="#Page_58">58</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Gobba, Madonna Tommasina,
+    <a href="#Page_155">155</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Golden Rose, The,
+    <a href="#Page_231">231</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_276">276</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_289">289</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Gondolier, An amorous,
+    <a href="#Page_48">48</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&emsp;„&emsp;&emsp;&nbsp;Cries of,
+    <a href="#Page_313">313</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Gradenigo, Aluycia, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_143">143–150</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_169">169</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&emsp;„&emsp;&emsp;&nbsp;Anna,
+    <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&emsp;„&emsp;&emsp;&nbsp;Bartolommeo, (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_127">127</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&emsp;„&emsp;&emsp;&nbsp;Giacomo,
+    <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&emsp;„&emsp;&emsp;&nbsp;Giovanni, (1),
+    <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&emsp;„&emsp;&emsp;&nbsp;Giovanni, (2), (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_152">152</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&emsp;„&emsp;&emsp;&nbsp;Marco,
+    <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&emsp;„&emsp;&emsp;&nbsp;Nicolo, (1),
+    <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&emsp;„&emsp;&emsp;&nbsp;Nicolo, (2),
+    <a href="#Page_144">144</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&emsp;„&emsp;&emsp;&nbsp;Paolo,
+    <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&emsp;„&emsp;&emsp;&nbsp;Pietro, (1), (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_116">116</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_127">127</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_144">144</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&emsp;„&emsp;&emsp;&nbsp;Pietro, (2),
+    <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&emsp;„&emsp;&emsp;&nbsp;Regina, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_219">219</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_220">220</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_259">259</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Grado,
+    <a href="#Page_2">2</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&ensp;Patriarch of,
+    <a href="#Page_10">10</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_74">74</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Grave-digger, A pious,
+    <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">“Great Dolls,”
+    <a href="#Page_232">232</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Grimani, Antonio, (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_239">239</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_287">287</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;Breviary,
+    <a href="#Page_240">240</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;Domenigo, (1),
+    <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;Domenigo, (Cardinal),
+    <a href="#Page_240">240</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;Elisabetta, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_311">311–312</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;Francesca,
+    <a href="#Page_305">305</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;Marina,
+    <a href="#Page_257">257</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;Marino, (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_283">283</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_290">290</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;Pietro, (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_305">305</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;Vettor,
+    <a href="#Page_257">257</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Gritti, Andrea, (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_242">242–246</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Guarino, Abbot,
+    <a href="#Page_44">44</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1"><span class="smcap">Guilds</span> (Fragilie):—</li>
+  <li class="i2">in general,
+    <a href="#Page_86">86</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_254">254</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_287">287</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_292">292</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Barber-Surgeons,
+    <a href="#Page_110">110</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Blacksmiths,
+    <a href="#Page_86">86</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_109">109</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Butchers,
+    <a href="#Page_86">86</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_110">110</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_255">255</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Cabinet-makers,
+    <a href="#Page_86">86</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Carding-comb Makers,
+    <a href="#Page_110">110</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Carpenters,
+    <a href="#Page_86">86</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Carriers by water,
+    <a href="#Page_86">86</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Charity of the,
+    <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Dealers in old clothes,
+    <a href="#Page_115">115</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Exhibitions of the,
+    <a href="#Page_109">109</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Fishermen,
+    <a href="#Page_86">86</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_87">87</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">“Flagellants,”
+    <a href="#Page_101">101</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_222">222</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Furriers,
+    <a href="#Page_86">86</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_109">109</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Glass-blowers,
+    <a href="#Page_110">110</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_128">128</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_250">250</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_260">260</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_261">261</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Gold and silver cloth makers,
+    <a href="#Page_110">110</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Goldsmiths,
+    <a href="#Page_110">110</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_183">183</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_256">256</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_260">260</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Hat-makers,
+    <a href="#Page_31">31</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Lace-makers,
+    <a href="#Page_199">199</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Makers of doublets,
+    <a href="#Page_110">110</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Marriage-chest makers,
+    <a href="#Page_30">30</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_86">86</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Masons,
+    <a href="#Page_86">86</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Pageants of,
+    <a href="#Page_109">109</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_110">110</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_134">134</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Physicians,
+    <a href="#Page_140">140</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Piety of,
+    <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Printers,
+    <a href="#Page_199">199</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Saddlers,
+    <a href="#Page_86">86</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Shepherds,
+    <a href="#Page_86">86</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Shoemakers,
+    <a href="#Page_86">86</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_110">110</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Silk mercers,
+    <a href="#Page_87">87</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_110">110</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_127">127</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Tailors,
+    <a href="#Page_109">109</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Wool-weavers,
+    <a href="#Page_109">109</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">“Zonfi,” (lame and blind),
+    <a href="#Page_116">116</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Guiscardo, Roberto,
+    <a href="#Page_61">61</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Guoro, Story of Elena Candiano and Gherardo,
+    <a href="#Page_39">39–41</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<p class="p-index">H</p> 
+
+<ul>
+  <li class="i1">Hair, Dressing the,
+    <a href="#Page_xxviii">xxviii</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_xxix">xxix</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_xxx">xxx</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_xxxi">xxxi</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_16">16</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_24">24</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_229">229</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_259">259</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;„&emsp;Golden,
+    <a href="#Page_xxv">xxv</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_xxviii">xxviii</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_xxix">xxix</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_59">59</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_80">80</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;„&emsp;Hawsers of,
+    <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Helen of Troy,
+    <a href="#Page_xxviii">xxviii</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Hereditary Beauty,
+    <a href="#Page_xxvi">xxvi</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&emsp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;„&emsp;&ensp;Giovanni Marinello on,
+    <a href="#Page_xxx">xxx</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1"><span class="smcap">Heroines</span>:—</li>
+  <li class="i2">Adriana of Padua,
+    <a href="#Page_3">3</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Degna of Aquileia,
+    <a href="#Page_5">5</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Elena Candiano,
+    <a href="#Page_39">39–41</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Idilia of Altino,
+    <a href="#Page_4">4</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Martza of Aquileia,
+    <a href="#Page_5">5</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">High Chancellor,
+    <a href="#Page_133">133</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_135">135</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_171">171</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_258">258</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1"><span class="smcap">Historians</span>:—</li>
+  <li class="i2">Amaden Francesco,
+    <a href="#Page_270">270</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Lionardo Bota,
+    <a href="#Page_218">218</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Andrea Calmo,
+    <a href="#Page_210">210</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Marino da Canale,
+    <a href="#Page_111">111</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Cassiodorus,
+    <a href="#Page_2">2</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Marcantonio Coccio,
+    <a href="#Page_214">214</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Andrea Dandolo, (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_29">29</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_31">31</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_53">53</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_66">66</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_139">139</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Giovanni Diacono,
+    <a href="#Page_50">50</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_60">60</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Pietro Diacono,
+    <a href="#Page_33">33</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Francesco Donato, (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_18">18</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Pliny,
+    <a href="#Page_xxvi">xxvi</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Sabellico,
+    <a href="#Page_169">169</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Martino Sanudo,
+    <a href="#Page_11">11</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_144">144</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_168">168</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_204">204</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_214">214</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_227">227</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Giacomo Zoppi,
+    <a href="#Page_xvii">xvii</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Horns of Hair,
+    <a href="#Page_xxx">xxx</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_xxxi">xxxi</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Horses, Cream-coloured,
+    <a href="#Page_236">236</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Husbands, Choose,
+    <a href="#Page_219">219</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1"><span class="smcap">Hospitals</span>:—</li>
+  <li class="i2">For Aged Poor,
+    <a href="#Page_159">159</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">For Pilgrims,
+    <a href="#Page_65">65</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">For Strangers,
+    <a href="#Page_228">228</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">For Fallen Women,
+    <a href="#Page_153">153</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<p class="p-index">I</p>
+
+<ul>
+  <li class="i1">Ideal Wives,
+    <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Idilia of Altino,
+    <a href="#Page_4">4</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Inquisition, The,
+    <a href="#Page_100">100</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Isarello, Betruccio, (Admiral),
+    <a href="#Page_147">147</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Itinerant-merchants,
+    <a href="#Page_103">103</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<p class="p-index">J</p> 
+
+<ul>
+  <li class="i1">Jael, A Second,
+    <a href="#Page_4">4</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Jesolo,
+    <a href="#Page_2">2</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_11">11</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Jests, Coarse,
+    <a href="#Page_168">168</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Jewels,
+    <a href="#Page_xxx">xxx</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_xxxii">xxxii</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_46">46</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_56">56</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_64">64</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_137">137</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_182">182</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_193">193</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_226">226</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_256">256</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_272">272</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_279">279</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_297">297</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_301">301</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Jubilee, Year of,
+    <a href="#Page_91">91</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<p class="p-index">K</p> 
+
+<ul>
+  <li class="i1">Keys of Cities,
+    <a href="#Page_176">176</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1"><span class="smcap">Kings</span>:—</li>
+  <li class="i2">Baldwin of Jerusalem,
+    <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Boemodo of Servia,
+    <a href="#Page_109">109</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Charles VIII. of France,
+    <a href="#Page_231">231</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Charles XII. of France,
+    <a href="#Page_235">235</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Geiso of Hungary,
+    <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Giacomo of Cyprus,
+    <a href="#Page_280">280</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Giano of Padua,
+    <a href="#Page_2">2</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Guglielmo of Sicily,
+    <a href="#Page_89">89</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Henry III. of France,
+    <a href="#Page_271">271–273</a></li>
+   <li class="i2">Henry VIII. of England,
+    <a href="#Page_235">235</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_251">251</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Ilario of Servia,
+    <a href="#Page_70">70</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">James IV. of Scotland,
+    <a href="#Page_236">236</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Pietro of Aragon,
+    <a href="#Page_169">169</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Stefano of Hungary,
+    <a href="#Page_70">70</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Vitalicinio of Padua,
+    <a href="#Page_xxii">xxii</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Kisses, Scented,
+    <a href="#Page_xxviii">xxviii</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&ensp;The Hand,
+    <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<p class="p-index">L</p> 
+
+<ul>
+  <li class="i1">“La Beata,” Story of,
+    <a href="#Page_122">122–124</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">La Beata Anna,
+    <a href="#Page_72">72</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">La Boccola, Story of,
+    <a href="#Page_26">26–28</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">“La Donna delle Misericordia,”
+    <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Lace, Burano,
+    <a href="#Page_xxxii">xxxii</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_199">199</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_201">201</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_202">202</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_286">286</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_290">290</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">La Maga Irene,
+    <a href="#Page_4">4</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Lando, Madonna Lucia,
+    <a href="#Page_168">168</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&ensp;Pietro, (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_248">248</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Laura of Petrarch,
+    <a href="#Page_165">165</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">League of Cambrai,
+    <a href="#Page_235">235</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Leather, Stamped,
+    <a href="#Page_288">288</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Lemons, Gilded,
+    <a href="#Page_240">240</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Lepanto, Battle of,
+    <a href="#Page_276">276</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Liabilities of Glass-workers,
+    <a href="#Page_250">250</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1"><i>Libreria Vecchia</i>,
+    <a href="#Page_250">250</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Libraries, Lack of,
+    <a href="#Page_248">248</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Libro d’Oro dei Cerimoniali,
+    <a href="#Page_264">264</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;„&emsp;de’ Quarantia,
+    <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;„&emsp;of 1289,
+    <a href="#Page_162">162</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_182">182</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;„&emsp;of 1391,
+    <a href="#Page_248">248</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;„&emsp;of 1450,
+    <a href="#Page_243">243</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;„&emsp;Burnt,
+    <a href="#Page_313">313</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Literary Revels,
+    <a href="#Page_213">213</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Longobards,
+    <a href="#Page_7">7</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_8">8</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Loredano, Alvise,
+    <a href="#Page_235">235</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Bernardo,
+    <a href="#Page_235">235</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Beriola,
+    <a href="#Page_142">142</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Caterina, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_239">239–242</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Gerolamo,
+    <a href="#Page_235">235</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Giovanni,
+    <a href="#Page_142">142</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Lionardo, (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_234">234–239</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Lorenzo, (1),
+    <a href="#Page_235">235</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Lorenzo, (2),
+    <a href="#Page_295">295</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Marco,
+    <a href="#Page_163">163</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Paolina, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_295">295</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Pietro, (1),
+    <a href="#Page_184">184</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_185">185</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_195">195</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_196">196</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Pietro, (2), (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_267">267</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1"><span class="smcap">Love</span>, Castle of,
+    <a href="#Page_93">93</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&nbsp;„&emsp;Court of,
+    <a href="#Page_144">144</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&nbsp;„&emsp;Making,
+    <a href="#Page_23">23</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_27">27</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&nbsp;„&emsp;Of Rivals,
+    <a href="#Page_77">77</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&nbsp;„&emsp;Platonic,
+    <a href="#Page_15">15</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_209">209</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&nbsp;„&emsp;A story of,
+    <a href="#Page_39">39–41</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&nbsp;„&emsp;True,
+    <a href="#Page_212">212</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Loves of Henry III. and Veronica Franco, Story of the,
+    <a href="#Page_273">273</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_274">274</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Lying-in-mother,
+    <a href="#Page_225">225</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Lying-in-state,
+    <a href="#Page_264">264</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_270">270</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_307">307</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<p class="p-index">M</p>
+ 
+<ul>
+  <li class="i1">Magalotti, Count Lorenzo, “on Scent,”
+    <a href="#Page_xxvii">xxvii</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Magic-singer, A,
+    <a href="#Page_4">4</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Magistrates, Early,
+    <a href="#Page_9">9</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_15">15</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Maidens, Two hundred lovely,
+    <a href="#Page_93">93</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Malamocco,
+    <a href="#Page_2">2</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_9">9</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_11">11</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_12">12</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Malipiero, Felicita, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_43">43–45</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&emsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Pasquale, (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_xxiv">xxiv</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_197">197–202</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Manin, Lodovico, (last Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_311">311–314</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Mannikins of Fashion,
+    <a href="#Page_114">114</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">“Marangona,” the Mass-bell,
+    <a href="#Page_20">20</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">“Marca Amorosa,”
+    <a href="#Page_92">92–95</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Marcello, Bianca,
+    <a href="#Page_269">269</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Daria,
+    <a href="#Page_269">269</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Giovanni Alvise,
+    <a href="#Page_268">268</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Loredana, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_268">268–275</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Marina,
+    <a href="#Page_269">269</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Nicolo, (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_216">216</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_217">217</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">“Marina’s Wail,”
+    <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Marinello, Giovanni, on Hair,
+    <a href="#Page_xxx">xxx</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Marital infidelity,
+    <a href="#Page_311">311</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1"><span class="smcap">Marriage</span>, A romantic,
+    <a href="#Page_71">71</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_72">72</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&emsp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;A splendid,
+    <a href="#Page_190">190–191</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&emsp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Customs,
+    <a href="#Page_23">23–25</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_191">191</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&emsp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Early,
+    <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&emsp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Of the sea,
+    <a href="#Page_73">73–76</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&emsp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Lax rules of,
+    <a href="#Page_103">103–104</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&emsp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Pageantry of,
+    <a href="#Page_191">191–193</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Marta, Faithful,
+    <a href="#Page_39">39</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Martza of Aquileia,
+    <a href="#Page_5">5</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Matilda, Countess of Tuscany,
+    <a href="#Page_34">34</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_65">65</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Meals and Menus,
+    <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Medici, Bianca de’, (Grand Duchess),
+    <a href="#Page_278">278–280</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&ensp;Cosimo de’—“Il Vecchio,”
+    <a href="#Page_249">249</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&ensp;Francesco de’, (Grand Duke),
+    <a href="#Page_278">278–280</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&ensp;Giovanni de’,
+    <a href="#Page_188">188</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Memo, Marina, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_315">315</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;Tribolo, (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_47">47</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_315">315</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Merceria, The,
+    <a href="#Page_62">62</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_114">114</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_121">121</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Michielo, Alicia, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_69">69</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_70">70</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Alicia, of Servia,
+    <a href="#Page_70">70</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Anna (A nun),
+    <a href="#Page_71">71</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Domenigo (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_66">66–69</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Felicia, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_62">62</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Felicia Maria, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_71">71</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Giovanni, (1),
+    <a href="#Page_64">64</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Giovanni (2),
+    <a href="#Page_221">221</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Giovanni (3),
+    <a href="#Page_279">279</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Leonardo,
+    <a href="#Page_70">70</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Margherita,
+    <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp; Maria, of Hungary,
+    <a href="#Page_70">70</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Nicolo,
+    <a href="#Page_70">70</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Taddea, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_220">220</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_221">221</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Vitale, I., (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_62">62</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Vitale, II, (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_70">70–72</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_221">221</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Midwives,
+    <a href="#Page_226">226</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Minotti, Donna Sabba,
+    <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Miracle of probity,” “A,
+    <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Miracolo!” “Uno,
+    <a href="#Page_124">124</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Mocenigo, Alvise, (1), (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_268">268–275</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&emsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Alvise, (2),
+    <a href="#Page_305">305</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&emsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Giovanni, (1),
+    <a href="#Page_182">182</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&emsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Giovanni, (2), (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_220">220</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&emsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Giovanni, (3),
+    <a href="#Page_271">271</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&emsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Giovanni Alvise, (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_302">302–307</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&emsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Paolina (Princess),
+    <a href="#Page_302">302</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&emsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Pietro, (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_217">217–218</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&emsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Tommaso, (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_181">181–185</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1"><span class="smcap">Monasteries</span>:—</li>
+  <li class="i2">San Felice,
+    <a href="#Page_167">167</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">San Giobbe,
+    <a href="#Page_205">205</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">San Giorgio Maggiore,
+    <a href="#Page_78">78</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_89">89</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_91">91</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Sant’Ilario,
+    <a href="#Page_19">19</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">San Nicolo di Lido,
+    <a href="#Page_71">71</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Morgencap, The,
+    <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Mori, Three brothers,
+    <a href="#Page_73">73</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Moro, Cristoforo (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_203">203–206</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_247">247</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&nbsp;„&emsp;Letizia, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_316">316</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Morosini, Aliodea, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_206">206</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Andrea,
+    <a href="#Page_283">283</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Antonio,
+    <a href="#Page_258">258</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Contarina, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_216">216</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_217">217</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Domenigo, (1),
+    <a href="#Page_47">47</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Domenigo, (2), Doge,
+    <a href="#Page_68">68</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Francesco, (1),
+    <a href="#Page_216">216</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Francesco, (2), Doge,
+    <a href="#Page_296">296</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_297">297</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_310">310</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Laura, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_282">282</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Marco, (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_100">100</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Michele, (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Morosina, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_282">282–290</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Silvestro,
+    <a href="#Page_206">206</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Tommasina, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_117">117–120</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Mula, Giovanna da, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_249">249–251</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;„&emsp;&nbsp;Polissena da, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_307">307</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Murano,
+    <a href="#Page_16">16</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_128">128</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;Gardens of,
+    <a href="#Page_210">210–214</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;Glass-workers of, in England,
+    <a href="#Page_251">251</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Music, Love of,
+    <a href="#Page_106">106</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_214">214</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Mutton! A leg of,
+    <a href="#Page_191">191</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<p class="p-index">N</p>
+
+<ul>
+  <li class="i1">Nani, Bartolommeo,
+    <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;„&emsp;Marina, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_187">187–198</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Necklaces, Famous,
+    <a href="#Page_193">193</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_279">279</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Nicolotti, The,
+    <a href="#Page_35">35</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_77">77</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_119">119</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_168">168</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_289">289</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Night-cap, A,
+    <a href="#Page_160">160</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Ninziolette—Mantillas,
+    <a href="#Page_46">46</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_76">76</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_80">80</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Nobles, out-of-elbows,
+    <a href="#Page_146">146</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_147">147</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_242">242</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Nogarola, Madonna Laura,
+    <a href="#Page_208">208</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_209">209</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Nuns, Gay,
+    <a href="#Page_272">272</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Wealthy,
+    <a href="#Page_301">301</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<p class="p-index">O</p> 
+
+<ul>
+  <li class="i1">Oderzo,
+    <a href="#Page_2">2</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Orations, Funeral,
+    <a href="#Page_266">266</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_269">269</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_290">290</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Dying,
+    <a href="#Page_184">184</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Oriana, Queen of Dalmatia,
+    <a href="#Page_3">3</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Orseolo, Domenigo, (1),
+    <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;Domenigo, (2),
+    <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;Felicia, (Abbess),
+    <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;Giovanni,
+    <a href="#Page_50">50</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_51">51</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;Icella, (Princess),
+    <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;Imelda,
+    <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;Maria, Princess,
+    <a href="#Page_50">50</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_51">51</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;Orso,
+    <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;Pietro, I., (“Grand” Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_38">38</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_43">43–45</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;Pietro, II., (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_43">43</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_46">46–53</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;Pietro, III., (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_53">53</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;Pietro, IV., (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;Story of Abbot Romaldo and San Pietro,
+    <a href="#Page_44">44</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">“Osella,” The,
+    <a href="#Page_241">241</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_287">287</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_288">288</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_297">297</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<p class="p-index">P</p> 
+
+<ul>
+  <li class="i1">“Pace delle Donne,” The,
+    <a href="#Page_237">237</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Padua,
+    <a href="#Page_2">2</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_9">9</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_13">13</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_15">15</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_20">20</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_28">28</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_36">36</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_92">92</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_94">94</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_128">128</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_139">139</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_126">126</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_238">238</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1"><span class="smcap">Pageants</span>,
+    <a href="#Page_52">52</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_67">67</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_74">74</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_109">109</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_110">110</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_132">132</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_156">156</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_172">172</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_175">175</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_182">182</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_187">187</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_199">199</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_261">261</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_287">287</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1"><span class="smcap">Painters</span>:—</li>
+  <li class="i2">Gentile Bellini,
+    <a href="#Page_xxix">xxix</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_281">281</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Giovanni Bellini,
+    <a href="#Page_xxix">xxix</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_234">234</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Paris Bordone,
+    <a href="#Page_59">59</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_127">127</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_246">246</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">“Canaletto,”
+    <a href="#Page_292">292</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Giovanni Contarini,
+    <a href="#Page_282">282</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Giacomo del Fiore,
+    <a href="#Page_138">138</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">“Giorgione,”
+    <a href="#Page_xxix">xxix</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Benozzo Gozzoli,
+    <a href="#Page_214">214</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Francesco Guardi,
+    <a href="#Page_292">292</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Guariento,
+    <a href="#Page_138">138</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Pietro Longi,
+    <a href="#Page_292">292</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Palma Vecchio,
+    <a href="#Page_127">127</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_254">254</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_292">292</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Giovanni Santacroce,
+    <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">“Tintoretto,”
+    <a href="#Page_xxix">xxix</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_290">290</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Tiziano Vecellio,
+    <a href="#Page_xxix">xxix</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_xxx">xxx</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_246">246</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_249">249</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_250">250</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Lorenzo Veneziano,
+    <a href="#Page_138">138</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Paolo Veronese,
+    <a href="#Page_xxix">xxix</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_292">292</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Vivarini Fratelli,
+    <a href="#Page_138">138</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Pala d’Oro,
+    <a href="#Page_43">43</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1"><span class="smcap">Palaces</span>:—</li>
+  <li class="i2">Badoero,
+    <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Balbi,
+    <a href="#Page_190">190</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Bembo,
+    <a href="#Page_48">48</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Contarini,
+    <a href="#Page_189">189</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_190">190</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Dandolo,
+    <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Diedo,
+    <a href="#Page_310">310</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Ducal,
+    <a href="#Page_18">18</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_36">36</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_43">43</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_52">52</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_59">59</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_61">61</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_109">109</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_111">111</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_121">121</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_127">127</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_132">132</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_135">135</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_175">175</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_187">187</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_190">190</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_205">205</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_218">218</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_288">288</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Falier,
+    <a href="#Page_149">149</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Foscari,
+    <a href="#Page_198">198</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_231">231</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Giustiniani,
+    <a href="#Page_193">193</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Grimani,
+    <a href="#Page_242">242</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_283">283</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_285">285</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Marcello,
+    <a href="#Page_269">269</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Mocenigo,
+    <a href="#Page_310">310</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Morosini,
+    <a href="#Page_283">283</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Priuli,
+    <a href="#Page_254">254</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Quattro Torri,
+    <a href="#Page_155">155</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Soranzo,
+    <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Tiepolo,
+    <a href="#Page_109">109</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Tron,
+    <a href="#Page_207">207</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Valier,
+    <a href="#Page_297">297</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Venier,
+    <a href="#Page_164">164</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_277">277</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Zeno,
+    <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Ziani,
+    <a href="#Page_91">91</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Pasquilago, Maria, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_248">248</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Patroness of the Dogaressa,
+    <a href="#Page_xxiii">xxiii</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_xiv">xiv</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_93">93</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Pattens, High,
+    <a href="#Page_179">179</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">“Peace with Honour,”
+    <a href="#Page_52">52</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_54">54</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_68">68</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1"><i>Pegne</i>, The,
+    <a href="#Page_24">24</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Perfumes, Love of,
+    <a href="#Page_xxvi">xxvi</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_xxvii">xxvii</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_58">58</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Pestilences,
+    <a href="#Page_140">140</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_188">188</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_222">222</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_274">274</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Petrarch, Francesco, (Poet),
+    <a href="#Page_141">141</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_143">143</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_155">155</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;Library,
+    <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;Prophecy of,
+    <a href="#Page_166">166</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">“Pinzocchere,” The (Noble-mourners),
+    <a href="#Page_69">69</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_222">222</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Pisani, Cristina, (Writer),
+    <a href="#Page_214">214</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&ensp;Elisabetta, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_296">296</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&ensp;Vettor, (Commander),
+    <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Plato, School of,
+    <a href="#Page_15">15</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_209">209</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Playing-cards, A famous pack of,
+    <a href="#Page_33">33</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_45">45</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_50">50</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_59">59</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_90">90</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_109">109</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_186">186</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_198">198</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_200">200</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_204">204</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_207">207</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_270">270</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_285">285</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1"><span class="smcap">Poets</span>:—</li>
+  <li class="i2">Jacopo d’Albigotto,
+    <a href="#Page_xxiv">xxiv</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Gianni Alfani,
+    <a href="#Page_xxiv">xxiv</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Pietro Aretino,
+    <a href="#Page_xxv">xxv</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_214">214</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_250">250</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Lodovico Ariosto,
+    <a href="#Page_xxvii">xxvii</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_214">214</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Antonio Beccario,
+    <a href="#Page_115">115</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Pietro Bembo,
+    <a href="#Page_211">211–213</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_281">281</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_282">282</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Giovanni Boccaccio,
+    <a href="#Page_156">156</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_281">281</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Nicolo Coccio d’ Arezzo,
+    <a href="#Page_xxiv">xxiv</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Dante,
+    <a href="#Page_34">34</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_89">89</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Moderata Fonte,
+    <a href="#Page_215">215</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Guido da Firenze,
+    <a href="#Page_xxiv">xxiv</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Homer,
+    <a href="#Page_xxviii">xxviii</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Francesco de’ Medici,
+    <a href="#Page_279">279</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Andrea Navagero,
+    <a href="#Page_214">214</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_281">281</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Francesco Petrarch,
+    <a href="#Page_141">141</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_143">143</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_155">155</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Angello Poliziano,
+    <a href="#Page_215">215</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">San Gemignano,
+    <a href="#Page_xxvii">xxvii</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Giovanni Sanguinacci,
+    <a href="#Page_116">116</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_274">274</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Shakespeare,
+    <a href="#Page_39">39</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_40">40</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_290">290</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_291">291</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Percy B. Shelley,
+    <a href="#Page_xiv">xiv</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Giulio Strozzi,
+    <a href="#Page_3">3</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Torquato Tasso,
+    <a href="#Page_279">279</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Polani, Pietro, (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_87">87</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Polo, Marco,
+    <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Ponte, Arcangela da’, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_278">278</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;„&emsp;&nbsp;Nicolo da, (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_278">278</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1"><span class="smcap">Popes</span>:—</li>
+  <li class="i2">Alexander III.,
+    <a href="#Page_72">72</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_73">73</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_77">77</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Alexander VI.,
+    <a href="#Page_231">231</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Clement VIII.,
+    <a href="#Page_289">289</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Julius II.,
+    <a href="#Page_235">235</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Porta, Story of Madonna Veneranda,
+    <a href="#Page_153">153</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Prata, Aloicia da, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_102">102</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_105">105</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Prices-current,
+    <a href="#Page_78">78</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Printers, early,
+    <a href="#Page_200">200</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_214">214</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1"><span class="smcap">Princesses</span>:—</li>
+  <li class="i2">Faustina Rezzonico,
+    <a href="#Page_304">304</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Gonzaga,
+    <a href="#Page_311">311</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Maria Commeno,
+    <a href="#Page_50">50</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_51">51</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Paolina Trivulzio,
+    <a href="#Page_302">302</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Teodora Ducas,
+    <a href="#Page_xxx">xxx</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_51">51</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_55">55</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_62">62</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_63">63</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_77">77</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_119">119</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Priuli, Agnello,
+    <a href="#Page_254">254</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&nbsp;„&emsp;Andreana, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_296">296</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&nbsp;„&emsp;Giovanni,
+    <a href="#Page_258">258</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_265">265</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&nbsp;„&emsp;Girolamo, (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_254">254</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_267">267</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&nbsp;„&emsp;Lorenzo, (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_253">253–266</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&nbsp;„&emsp;Maria, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_186">186</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&nbsp;„&emsp;del Banco, Andrea,
+    <a href="#Page_186">186</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;„&emsp;&emsp;&nbsp;Maria, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_186">186</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Profligates,
+    <a href="#Page_147">147</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">“Promissioni,” Dogal,
+    <a href="#Page_98">98</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_111">111</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_117">117</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_133">133</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_135">135</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_159">159</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_187">187</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_204">204</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_218">218</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_235">235</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_240">240</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_243">243</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_256">256</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_259">259</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_286">286</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_298">298</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_303">303</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<p class="p-index">Q</p> 
+
+<ul>
+  <li class="i1"><span class="smcap">Queens</span>:—</li>
+  <li class="i2">Adriana of Padua,
+    <a href="#Page_3">3</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Caterina of Sicily,
+    <a href="#Page_193">193</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_280">280</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Elisabeth of England,
+    <a href="#Page_299">299</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Louise of France,
+    <a href="#Page_237">237</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Oriana of Dalmatia,
+    <a href="#Page_3">3</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_5">5</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Of “Beauty,”
+    <a href="#Page_59">59</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Querini, Andreaola, (Recluse),
+    <a href="#Page_131">131</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&ensp;Elisabetta, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_297">297</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Marco,
+    <a href="#Page_120">120</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_121">121</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Nicolo,
+    <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<p class="p-index">R</p> 
+
+<ul>
+  <li class="i1">Rape of the Brides,
+    <a href="#Page_30">30–31</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_86">86</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1"><span class="smcap">Recipes</span>:—</li>
+  <li class="i2">Against plague,
+    <a href="#Page_140">140</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">When crossed in love,
+    <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">For the hair,
+    <a href="#Page_xxix">xxix</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_xxx">xxx</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">For the skin,
+    <a href="#Page_59">59</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">For tender feet,
+    <a href="#Page_xxii">xxii</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">For perfume,
+    <a href="#Page_xxvii">xxvii</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Regalia of Doges,
+    <a href="#Page_77">77</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_199">199</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_313">313</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Religious instincts,
+    <a href="#Page_xvi">xvi</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_xxi">xxi</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_xxii">xxii</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_xxviii">xxviii</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_6">6</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_19">19</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_20">20</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_29">29</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_43">43</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_80">80</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Renier, Paolo, (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_308">308–310</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Reverie, The Author’s,
+    <a href="#Page_313">313–314</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1"><span class="smcap">Revolutions</span>:—</li>
+  <li class="i2">Marco Bocconio,
+    <a href="#Page_120">120</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_142">142</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Marco Querino,
+    <a href="#Page_120">120</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_121">121</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_142">142</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Baiamente Tiepolo,
+    <a href="#Page_120">120</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_121">121</a>
+    <a href="#Page_142">142</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Rinieri, Sostinio,
+    <a href="#Page_4">4</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Ritual of Solemn Entry,
+    <a href="#Page_173">173</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_174">174</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_199">199</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_259">259</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_288">288</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Rivo-Alto, or Rialto,
+    <a href="#Page_xiv">xiv</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_xvi">xvi</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_xxviii">xxviii</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_3">3</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_15">15</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_17">17</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_57">57</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_84">84</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_87">87</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Roland the Invincible,
+    <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Roll of the Dogaressas,
+    <a href="#Page_315">315–317</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Romaldo, (Abbot),
+    <a href="#Page_44">44</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Romance of a monk and a nun,
+    <a href="#Page_71">71</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_72">72</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Rosebud, Offering of a,
+    <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Rouge-pots,
+    <a href="#Page_137">137</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Ruzzini, Lucia, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_227">227</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_228">228</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<p class="p-index">S</p> 
+
+<ul>
+  <li class="i1">Saffo, A Venetian,
+    <a href="#Page_273">273</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1"><span class="smcap">Saints</span>”:—</li>
+  <li class="i2">“The City of,
+    <a href="#Page_xvi">xvi-xxiii</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_xxviii">xxviii</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Bodies of,
+    <a href="#Page_xvii">xvii-xx</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_2">2</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_20">20</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_21">21</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_45">45</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_65">65</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_66">66</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_67">67</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_108">108</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_205">205</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Venetian,
+    <a href="#Page_2">2</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_20">20</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_66">66</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_82">82</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_205">205</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Voices of the,
+    <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Sanudo, Angela, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_315">315</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&ensp;Cristina, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_203">203–206</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&ensp;Lionardo,
+    <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&ensp;Martino, (Historian),
+    <a href="#Page_11">11</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_144">144</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_168">168</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_204">204</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_214">214</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_227">227</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1"><span class="smcap">Sculptors</span>:—</li>
+  <li class="i2">Giovanni Bonazza,
+    <a href="#Page_298">298</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Girolamo Compagna,
+    <a href="#Page_290">290</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Giuseppe Guoccoala,
+    <a href="#Page_298">298</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Selvo, Domenigo, (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_54">54–61</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_89">89</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_119">119</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Seven Sisters, Story of the,
+    <a href="#Page_48">48</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Shop of Europe,” “The,
+    <a href="#Page_106">106</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_113">113</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Silk-purses, Dogaressas’,
+    <a href="#Page_133">133</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_134">134</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_259">259</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_286">286</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Sior Rioba’s Mouth!,
+    <a href="#Page_73">73</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Skin, Treatment of the,
+    <a href="#Page_xxvi">xxvi</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_xxvii">xxvii</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Slaves,
+    <a href="#Page_35">35</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_56">56</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_99">99</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_228">228–230</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_245">245</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Sofia, The Houri,
+    <a href="#Page_68">68</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1"><i>Solana</i>,
+    <a href="#Page_xxix">xxix</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Solemn Entry of Dogaressa,
+    <a href="#Page_109">109</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_134">134</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_167">167</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_170">170–175</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_187">187</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_220">220</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_254">254</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_284">284</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_297">297</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_303">303</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Soranzo, Andrea,
+    <a href="#Page_231">231–233</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&ensp;Elisabetta, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_231">231</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&ensp;Franchesina, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_128">128–132</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&ensp;Giovanni, (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_128">128–132</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&ensp;Story of Soranza,
+    <a href="#Page_129">129–131</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Spectacle, An Unique,
+    <a href="#Page_225">225</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_226">226</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Spectacular Plays,
+    <a href="#Page_237">237</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1"><span class="smcap">Sports</span>:—</li>
+  <li class="i2">Athletic,
+    <a href="#Page_36">36</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_76">76</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Bullfights,
+    <a href="#Page_35">35</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_178">178</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_179">179</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Grebe-shooting,
+    <a href="#Page_12">12</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Pugilistic,
+    <a href="#Page_119">119</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Regattas,
+    <a href="#Page_36">36</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_119">119</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_256">256</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_272">272</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_289">289</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Tournaments, (<i>Giostre</i>),
+    <a href="#Page_182">182</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Wild-duck shooting,
+    <a href="#Page_240">240–241</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Of many kinds,
+    <a href="#Page_262">262</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">State robes,
+    <a href="#Page_59">59</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_117">117–118</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_256">256</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_286">286</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_297">297</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_303">303</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Steno, Cristina, (a nun),
+    <a href="#Page_168">168</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&nbsp;Fantino,
+    <a href="#Page_168">168</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&nbsp;Giovanni,
+    <a href="#Page_168">168</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&nbsp;Michele, (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_144">144</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_145">145</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_167">167–181</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Stop the Bell!,
+    <a href="#Page_309">309</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Storlato, Maria, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_97">97</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1"><span class="smcap">Stories</span>:—</li>
+  <li class="i2">Saint Giustina,
+    <a href="#Page_xxii">xxii</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_xxiii">xxiii</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Storks of Altino,
+    <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">“<i>La Boccola</i>,” (Rosebud),
+    <a href="#Page_26">26–28</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">The Brides of Venice,
+    <a href="#Page_30">30–32</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Gerardo Guoro and Elena Candiano,
+    <a href="#Page_39">39–41</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">S. Pietro Orseolo and Abbot Romaldo,
+    <a href="#Page_44">44–45</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Seven Spinsters,
+    <a href="#Page_48">48–49</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Anna Michielo and Nicolo Giustiniani,
+    <a href="#Page_71">71</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_72">72</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Zorzio and Bella,
+    <a href="#Page_84">84–85</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">A Venetian Bride,
+    <a href="#Page_95">95–96</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Giustina Rossi,
+    <a href="#Page_121">121–122</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">“<i>La Beata</i>”
+    <a href="#Page_122">122–124</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">The Fisherman and the Ring,
+    <a href="#Page_126">126</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_127">127</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Madonna Soranza Soranzo-Querino,
+    <a href="#Page_129">129–131</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Madonna Veneranda Porta,
+    <a href="#Page_153">153</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Alvise Venier’s Burial,
+    <a href="#Page_164">164–165</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Doge Nicolo Tron and Fair Laura Nogarola,
+    <a href="#Page_208">208</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_209">209</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Loves of Henry III. and Veronica Franco,
+    <a href="#Page_273">273</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_274">274</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Strozzi, Giulio, (Poet),
+    <a href="#Page_3">3</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&ensp;Madonna Alessandra degli,
+    <a href="#Page_229">229</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Strozzi, Palla negli,
+    <a href="#Page_188">188</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Sumptuary laws,
+    <a href="#Page_xxii">xxii</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_136">136</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_137">137</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_218">218</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_219">219</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_238">238</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_239">239</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_245">245</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Sun of Venice sets!,
+    <a href="#Page_292">292</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<p class="p-index">T</p> 
+
+<ul>
+  <li class="i1">Tancred of Provence, Story of,
+    <a href="#Page_26">26</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">“Tanta Delicatezza,”
+    <a href="#Page_60">60</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">“Tanta Donna,”
+    <a href="#Page_xxvi">xxvi</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Tiepolo, Antonio,
+    <a href="#Page_279">279</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&ensp;Baiamente,
+    <a href="#Page_120">120</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_121">121</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&ensp;Bartoldo,
+    <a href="#Page_97">97</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&ensp;Giacomo, (1), (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_96">96–100</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_109">109</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&ensp;Giacomo, (2),
+    <a href="#Page_108">108</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_116">116</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&ensp;Ginevra, “Daughter of Venice,”
+    <a href="#Page_280">280</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&ensp;Giovanni,
+    <a href="#Page_97">97</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&ensp;Lorenzo, (1),
+    <a href="#Page_97">97</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&ensp;Lorenzo, (2), (Doge)
+    <a href="#Page_97">97</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_105">105–112</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&ensp;Pietro, (1),
+    <a href="#Page_97">97</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&ensp;Pietro, (2),
+    <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1"><span class="smcap">Toilet</span>:—</li>
+  <li class="i2">Artifices of the,
+    <a href="#Page_xxvi">xxvi</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_xxvii">xxvii</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_xxix">xxix</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_xxx">xxx</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_16">16</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_23">23</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_58">58</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_59">59</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_230">230</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Devotion to the,
+    <a href="#Page_xxv">xxv</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1"><i>Tonde</i>, Girls’ veils,
+    <a href="#Page_46">46</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_76">76</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_80">80</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Torcello,
+    <a href="#Page_2">2</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_7">7</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Torture,
+    <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Toscana, Valrada da, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_34">34–39</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_44">44</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_47">47</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_311">311</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Tradonico, Pietro, (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_44">44</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Trappola,” “La (Cards),
+    <a href="#Page_293">293</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1"><span class="smcap">Tragedies</span>:—</li>
+  <li class="i2">Aluycia Grandenigo-Falier,
+    <a href="#Page_149">149</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Alvise Venier,
+    <a href="#Page_163">163–165</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Francesca Mocenigo,
+    <a href="#Page_306">306</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Giacomo Foscari,
+    <a href="#Page_189">189–196</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Giorgio Ziani,
+    <a href="#Page_89">89</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Marino Falier,
+    <a href="#Page_148">148–149</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Soranza Soranzo-Querini,
+    <a href="#Page_129">129–131</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Treviso,
+    <a href="#Page_92">92</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_93">93</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_144">144</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Tribuno, Pietro, (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_315">315</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Tron, Aioidea, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_206">206–209</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_247">247</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;„&emsp;Caterina, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_311">311</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;„&emsp;Giacomo,
+    <a href="#Page_207">207</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;„&emsp;Nicolo, (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_206">206–209</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Trousseaux,
+    <a href="#Page_95">95</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_137">137</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_192">192</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_193">193</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_302">302</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_303">303</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<p class="p-index">U</p>
+
+<ul>
+  <li class="i1">Ugo, Marquis of Tuscany,
+    <a href="#Page_34">34</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Ungaria, Grimelda d’ (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Use of Cosmetiques,
+    <a href="#Page_xxvi">xxvi</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_xxvii">xxvii</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&ensp;&nbsp;„&ensp;&nbsp;of Paint and Puff,
+    <a href="#Page_xxvi">xxvi</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_xxvii">xxvii</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<p class="p-index">V</p> 
+
+<ul>
+ <li class="i1">Vecellio, Lavinia,
+    <a href="#Page_xxx">xxx</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&ensp;Tiziano, (see Painters)</li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Vendramin, Andrea, (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_219">219</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&emsp;&nbsp;„&emsp;&emsp;&nbsp;Benedetta, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_243">243–248</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1"><span class="smcap">Venetian</span> Houses,
+    <a href="#Page_16">16</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_58">58</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_225">225</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&emsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Knights,
+    <a href="#Page_92">92–94</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_300">300</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&emsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Lace,
+    <a href="#Page_85">85</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&emsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Love of music, drama, etc.,
+    <a href="#Page_106">106</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_119">119</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_120">120</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_214">214</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&emsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Manners and dress,
+    <a href="#Page_107">107</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_224">224–226</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&emsp;„&emsp;&emsp;People shocked,
+    <a href="#Page_57">57</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&emsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Sayings,
+    <a href="#Page_12">12</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_14">14</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_39">39</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_42">42</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_54">54</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_56">56</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_78">78</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_84">84</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_85">85</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_100">100</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_103">103</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_104">104</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_106">106</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_160">160</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_162">162</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_183">183</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_235">235</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_251">251</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&emsp;„&emsp;&emsp;Vernacular,
+    <a href="#Page_214">214</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Veneto, Brides of,
+    <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Cities of,
+    <a href="#Page_1">1</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">“Splendid,”
+    <a href="#Page_2">2</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Victims of,
+    <a href="#Page_3">3</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Women of,
+    <a href="#Page_5">5</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Venezia, “Calva,”
+    <a href="#Page_151">151</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">“Edificata,”
+    <a href="#Page_3">3</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">“Ricca,”
+    <a href="#Page_176">176</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">“Seconda,”
+    <a href="#Page_6">6</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_7">7</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_9">9</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_18">18</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">“Venice wants for nothing!”
+    <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Venier, Agnese, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_164">164–165</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&nbsp;Alvise,
+    <a href="#Page_163">163–165</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&nbsp;Andreaina,
+    <a href="#Page_254">254</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&nbsp;Antonia, (A nun),
+    <a href="#Page_164">164–165</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&nbsp;Antonio, (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_162">162–165</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_182">182</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&nbsp;Domenigo, (Bishop),
+    <a href="#Page_233">233</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&nbsp;Francesco, (1), (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_254">254</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_277">277</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&nbsp;Francesco, (2),
+    <a href="#Page_307">307</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&nbsp;Orsola,
+    <a href="#Page_165">165</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&nbsp;Sebastiano, (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_275">275–277</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1"><i>Ventolini</i>—fans,
+    <a href="#Page_xxxi">xxxi</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_33">33</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1"><span class="smcap">Venus</span>:—</li>
+  <li class="i2">“Calva,”
+    <a href="#Page_xiii">xiii</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_xiv">xiv</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_83">83</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_268">268</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_275">275</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_292">292</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_313">313</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">“City of,”
+    <a href="#Page_xiii">xiii</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_xxvii">xxvii</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">di Milo,
+    <a href="#Page_76">76</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">“Of the century,”
+    <a href="#Page_207">207</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">“The fruitful,”
+    <a href="#Page_214">214</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Vicenza,
+    <a href="#Page_28">28</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_36">36</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1"><span class="smcap">Villas</span>:—</li>
+  <li class="i2">At Arbe,
+    <a href="#Page_88">88</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_113">113</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">On the Brenta,
+    <a href="#Page_159">159</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">At Cordignano,
+    <a href="#Page_306">306</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">On the Giudecca,
+    <a href="#Page_210">210</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">At Murano,
+    <a href="#Page_211">211</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Viragoes,
+    <a href="#Page_5">5</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_35">35</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_69">69</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_97">97</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_253">253</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Vulcana, black-eyed, Story of,
+    <a href="#Page_26">26</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<p class="p-index">W</p> 
+
+<ul>
+  <li class="i1">Warning, A Dervish’s,
+    <a href="#Page_159">159</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Witches, Seven spinster,
+    <a href="#Page_48">48</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1"><span class="smcap">Wives</span>:</li>
+  <li class="i2">Of exiles,
+    <a href="#Page_131">131</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Fascinating,
+    <a href="#Page_247">247</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_266">266</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_285">285</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_297">297</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Ideal,
+    <a href="#Page_151">151</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">What sort of?,
+    <a href="#Page_246">246</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_247">247</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">With sticks!,
+    <a href="#Page_289">289</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1"><span class="smcap">Woman</span>:—</li>
+  <li class="i2">“Beautiful and brittle,”
+    <a href="#Page_251">251</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Commonwealth of,
+    <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Effigy,
+    <a href="#Page_xxiv">xxiv</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">“Of unsullied virtue,”
+    <a href="#Page_51">51</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">“A tolerable kind of!”
+    <a href="#Page_227">227</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">A valiant,
+    <a href="#Page_121">121</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_122">122</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1"><span class="smcap">Women</span>:—</li>
+  <li class="i2">Beautiful,
+    <a href="#Page_xxiv">xxiv</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_xxv">xxv</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_xxxii">xxxii</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_2">2</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_50">50</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_51">51</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_59">59</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_84">84</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_85">85</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_268">268</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_272">272</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Characteristics of,
+    <a href="#Page_xxv">xxv</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_xxvi">xxvi</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_xxvii">xxvii</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_5">5</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Courageous,
+    <a href="#Page_3">3</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_4">4</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_5">5</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Cultured,
+    <a href="#Page_214">214</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_215">215</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_268">268</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Distressed gentle-,
+    <a href="#Page_111">111</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Dress of,
+    <a href="#Page_12">12</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_23">23</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_46">46</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_59">59</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Emancipation of,
+    <a href="#Page_152">152</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Good breeding of,
+    <a href="#Page_12">12</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Hostel for fallen,
+    <a href="#Page_153">153</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">“Never hang!”,
+    <a href="#Page_153">153</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Of Chioggia,
+    <a href="#Page_xxvii">xxvii</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Occupations of,
+    <a href="#Page_21">21</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">“Of the Rialto,”
+    <a href="#Page_56">56</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Patriotism of,
+    <a href="#Page_64">64</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">“Of the People,”
+    <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Toilet of,
+    <a href="#Page_xxvi">xxvi</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_xxvii">xxvii</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_xxix">xxix</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_xxx">xxx</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_16">16</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_23">23</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_58">58</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_59">59</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_230">230</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Treatment of,
+    <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Voluptuous,
+    <a href="#Page_60">60</a></li>
+  <li class="i2">Weeping,
+    <a href="#Page_82">82</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_83">83</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<p class="p-index">Y</p>
+
+<ul>
+  <li class="i1">Young Dogs!” “Insolent,
+    <a href="#Page_144">144</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_177">177</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_178">178</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Young men, Dress,
+    <a href="#Page_137">137</a>. Hair,
+    <a href="#Page_205">205</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<p class="p-index">Z</p> 
+
+<ul>
+  <li class="i1">Zantani, Agnese, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_120">120–126</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Zeno, Carlo, (Commander),
+    <a href="#Page_161">161</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_176">176</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;„&emsp;&nbsp;Renier, (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Ziani, Cecilia, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_75">75–78</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&nbsp;„&emsp;Giorgio,
+    <a href="#Page_89">89</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&nbsp;„&emsp;Marchesina,
+    <a href="#Page_91">91</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&nbsp;„&emsp;Marco,
+    <a href="#Page_91">91</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&nbsp;„&emsp;Maria,
+    <a href="#Page_91">91</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&nbsp;„&emsp;Marino,
+    <a href="#Page_78">78</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&nbsp;„&emsp;Pietro, (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_88">88–96</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&nbsp;„&emsp;Sebastiano, (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_73">73–78</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Zilve—Pattens,
+    <a href="#Page_179">179</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">Zorzio, Agnese, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_127">127</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&nbsp;Giovanni,
+    <a href="#Page_218">218</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&nbsp;Laura, (Dogaressa),
+    <a href="#Page_218">218</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&nbsp;Marino, (Doge),
+    <a href="#Page_127">127</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li>
+
+  <li class="i1">&emsp;&ensp;„&emsp;&nbsp;and Bella, Story of,
+    <a href="#Page_84">84</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_85">85</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+
+<p class="center p2 xs">EDINBURGH<br>
+COLSTONS LIMITED<br>
+PRINTERS</p>
+
+
+
+<p class="transnote">Transcriber’s Notes:<br>
+<br>
+1. Obvious printers’, punctuation and spelling errors have been
+corrected silently.<br>
+<br>
+2. Some hyphenated and non-hyphenated versions of the same words have
+been retained as in the original.</p>
+
+
+<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78047 ***</div>
+</body>
+</html>
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diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt
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--- /dev/null
+++ b/LICENSE.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+This book, including all associated images, markup, improvements,
+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
+
+Procedures for determining public domain status are described in
+the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org.
+
+No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in
+jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize
+this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright
+status under the laws that apply to them.
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
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@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for eBook #78047
+(https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/78047)