prizes, returned in triumph to the island city. Alexander, with the whole population of Venice, gathered on the shore to greet the returning conqueror. Loud acclamations rent the air; strains of music mingled with the shouts of the multitude; and when the vessels, covered with streamers, had reached the land, and the doge had presented himself before the Pope, Alexander presented him with a ring, and uttered these words: "Use this ring as a chain to retain the sea henceforth in subjection to the Venetian state; espouse her with this ring, and let the marriage be solemnized annually, by you and your successors, to the end of time, that the latest posterity may know that Venice has acquired the empire of the waves, and holds the sea in subjection in the same manner as a wife is held by her husband."

In order to conduct this ceremony with the pomp fitted to flatter her pride, and impress the minds of the people, the Republic ordered a splendid vessel to be fitted out, which was called the "Bucentaur," and every Ascension Day the doge, with all his senators on board, was rowed out of the city, the rich gondolas that surrounded the gilded barge making a gorgeous spectacle. On reaching the open sea, the ring was cast by the doge into the water as he pronounced these words, Desponsamus te, Mare, in signum veri perpetuique dominii. This ceremony, instituted in the year 1177, lasted as long as the duration of the Republic; and no words can better describe her present condition than those of the poet we have previously cited:

"The spouseless Adriatic mourns her lord;
And, annual marriage now no more renew'd,
The Bucentaur' lies rotting unrestored,

Henry Dandolo.

Neglected garment of her widowhood!
St. Mark yet sees his lion where he stood,
Stand, but in mockery of his wither'd power,
Over the proud place where an emperor sued,
And monarchs gazed and envied, in the hour
When Venice was a queen with an unequall'd dower."

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From the introduction of the custom we have above described, the maritime power of the Venetians extended. Their territory was enlarged by accessions of parts of Lombardy, Dalmatia, and Istria; and they made themselves masters of the once famous Morea, of the fine island of Candia, of Lemnos, and several others in the Archipelago. The enlargement of their possessions soon, however, brought them into contact with a people whose fierceness began to be dreaded in the East, and who afterwards proved so terrible an enemy to the Republic. These were the Turks, who, blended with the Saracens or Arabs that had been united by Mahomet in the bonds of a new faith, superadded to their martial spirit an intense hatred of Christianity. Originally dwelling between the Black and Caspian seas, they had gradually extended their conquests in Syria and Asia Minor, and ultimately founded that Ottoman empire of which falling Turkey is now the sole memorial.

In 1192 Henry Dandolo, when eighty-five years old, was elected doge of Venice. Instead of seeking that repose which so venerable an age would have made most natural, the energy of character and activity of body of this extraordinary man seemed to add fresh vigour to the state. Commercial enterprise was every day seeking new outlets, and increased means helped to extend still further the Venetian influence. In the thirteenth

century, Alexandria saw the vessels of the Republic constantly flocking into its port in order to obtain the manufactures and productions of the East Indies, of which that city was the depôt, and the trade of which was monopolized by Venice, Pisa, and Genoa. The rich freights were conveyed by them to various ports in Europe, where their name was familiar, and their flag respected.

Their doge had already caused that name to be feared by a brilliant attack upon the Turks at Constantinople, made in conjunction with the French crusaders. As this occurred in 1204, Dandolo was no less than ninety-seven years of age when he set out upon the expedition, and, wonderful to relate, blindness was added to his other infirmities. It can well be imagined that when the old chieftain appeared to the people ere he embarked, incased in armour, with a cross upon his crown, the standard in his hand,—that standard which was soon to wave over minaret and mosque,-his cheeks pale and wet with tears shed during his prayers for the success of his country, a burst of emotion, admiration, and wonder, came from the crowds which continued to pour forth their acclamations, until the fleet of 500 vessels, fully armed, grew indistinct in the distance. We are told that Dandolo led the attack on Constantinople in person; that two of his ships, the "Paradise" and "Pilgrim," being bound together, a kind of drawbridge was lowered from their upper yards to the walls of the city, over which the besiegers poured, and Constantinople was taken. The doge met his death in the conquered capital, and was interred in the church of St. Sophia. The Venetians bore back as trophies the four bronze horses

Trophies taken by the Venetians.

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that now stand over the portal of St. Mark's church, and the history of which is connected with the rise and decay of more than one dynasty; but more than the doubtful glory which accrued to them from thus turning the arms intended to deliver the holy city from the power of infidels, against a Christian monarch, were the solid advantages which they reaped from their share in the expedition. They obtained, with part of the Peloponnesus, the right to various silk manufactories, at that time very flourishing in the territory: as masters of some of the largest and best cultivated islands in the Archipelago, they established a chain of military and commercial settlements, which imparted security to their trade from the Adriatic to the Bosphorus; and by many of their citizens settling in these new places they engrossed various branches of industry to which they had hitherto been able to lay only partial claim.

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CHAPTER XI.

Venice-Marco Polo-Venetians driven out of ConstantinopleDefeated by the Genoese at Curzola-Their Trade with the Hanse Towns-Lucchese Silk-weavers take refuge in VeniceWar between Venice and Genoa-Genoese defeated by the Venetians at Chiozza-Venice in 1420-Fall of Constantinople -India reached by the Portuguese by rounding the Cape of Good Hope-Effect of the News in Venice.

THE middle of the thirteenth century was distinguished by one of those enterprises which tend so much to shed glory over a country. The spirit of commerce, that had already raised Venice to such wealth and power, infused into the hearts of her citizens a desire to extend the knowledge of distant lands, and, by opening fresh paths to trade, increase still more her riches and influence. It was under such impulse that Marco Polo, a noble Venetian, after many years passed amid various cities of Asia Minor, resolved to push his investigations still further. He travelled into Indostan, which he described with singular accuracy, visiting Bengal and Guzerat; he penetrated to Pekin in China, and astonished his countrymen and the world with a description of its opulence and varied productions; he made several voyages in the Indian Ocean, and successively explored Japan, Java, Sumatra, Ceylon, and other islands, and thus revealed