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