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On the first was the Doge in his state robes, attended by the government in office, or the Signoria of S. Mark. On the second were members of the Senate and minor magistrates. The third carried the ambassadors of foreign powers. Colleoni was received into the first state-galley, and placed by the side of the Doge.

In 1345 Zara rebelled for the seventh time, when Andrea Dandolo was doge, and in consequence a long siege commenced on August 12. The Venetians had at Nona 20,000 men, horse and foot, who devastated the fields for three days and set fire to the villages; the countrymen fled to the city, so that there were more than 20,000 within the walls, of whom 6,000 only were armed.

There is a sword of Doge Mocenigo, a wonderful turquoise bowl, a ring for the Adriatic nuptials, and so forth. But I doubt if such details of S. Mark's are things to write about. One should go there to see S. Mark's as a whole, just as one goes to Venice to see Venice. The Baptistery is near the entrance on the left as you leave the church.

At Malamocco, the fort on the southern point of Lido guarding the entrance of the harbour, they were received by a deputation of patricians, while at S. Clemente the old Doge, Agostino Barbarigo, himself came out to meet them in the bucentaur, followed by an immense company of boats and gondolas in festive array.

Mark's as the personal representative of his master, King Giacomo was married "by proxy" to the young Venetian girl; while the doge, representing her new father, the republic, gave her away in marriage, and Catarina Cornaro, amid the blessings of the priests, the shouts of the people, and the demonstrations of clashing music and waving banners, was solemnly proclaimed Queen of Cyprus, of Jerusalem, and of Armenia.

The patricians were slow to be convinced, and they made terms with poor Jacopo, who agreed to undergo a hard service that his father might breathe free air before he died." "Thou dealest in enigmas." "I am little used, great Doge, to speak in such a presence, or on such subjects.

An awful silence reigned through the chamber; Andreas seemed to be labouring with some resolution of dreadful importance. The lovers wished, yet dreaded, the conclusion of the scene, and with every moment their anxiety became more painful. "Flodoardo!" at length said the Doge, and suddenly stood still in the middle of the chamber. Flodoardo advanced with a respectful air.

"Thy limbs are uncovered thy bosom bare thy sinews feeble go to; thou art ill advised to interrupt the pleasures of the nobles by this levity." Again Antonio would have shrunk from the ten thousand eyes that shone upon him, when the calm voice of the Doge once more came to his aid.

By this time they had reached the poop of the galley. Gervaise now called forward the knights one by one, and presented them to the doge, who expressed to them all the gratitude felt by himself and the whole of the citizens of Genoa for the service they had rendered to the Republic.

Thus the Venetian government, despite the fallen condition of the state, still enjoys, under the trappings of its former greatness, all the affection, all the reverence of the people; and next to the pope in his triple crown, there is perhaps no king, no potentate, no person in the world so much respected as the Doge of Venice; he has no power, no authority, but he is rendered sacred by his pomp, and he wears beneath his ducal coronet a woman's flowing locks.