The Venetians, who could scarcely stir from one spot to another except by water, became the most expert of seamen. Their vessels not only threaded the tortuous courses of the rivers and canals into the heart of the peninsula, but visited all the harbours of the Adriatic; and, gaining 'confidence, pushed out into the Mediterranean, and opened up a trade with Greece and Con stantinople. Thus Venice became the port of Italy and Germany, and the means of communication between them and the seat of the Roman Empire in the East.3 Every year the ships of the Republic grew larger and more numerous. In the fourteenth century it had afloat a fleet of three thousand merchantmen; but of these some were only of ten tons burden, while few exceeded one hundred tons. Fishingboats were probably included in the estimate. In addition, there were about forty war-galleys, carrying eleven thousand men; which were kept cruising in different directions, for the protection of Venetian commerce. The largest of the galleys was the famous Bucentaur',4 which, with its exterior of scarlet and gold, its long bank of burnished oars, its deck and seats inlaid with precious woods, its gorgeous canopy and throne, rivalled the magnificence of Cleopa'tra's barge. It was in this splendid vessel that the Doge5 went annually in state to celebrate the marriage of Venice with the Adriatic, by dropping a ring into its waters; thus symbolizing the fact that a people whose habitations might be assigned either to earth or to water, were equally at home on both. With an extensive commerce the Venetians combined several manufactures. They not only prepared inmense quantities of salt, and cured fish, but found in their sands the material of that exquisite glass, so pure, and yet so rich in hue, with which their name is still associated. The furnaces from which this beautiful product emanated were congregated, as they still are, in the island of Mura'no. There were also brass and iron foundries; and the armourers of Venice were widely celebrated for the strength and beauty of their weapons, breastplates, helmets, and bucklers. The weaving of cloth-of-gold was another important industry. This costly and gorgeous material was in great demand in the Courts of France and Germany. Char'lemagne himself was rarely seen without a robe of Venetian 'pattern and 'texture. It was thus that Venice grew rich. The mud huts gradually gave place to palaces, and the peasants were transformed into haughty nobles. "The Venetians are grown so proud," says an old traveller in the fifteenth century, "that when one has a son, the saying goes, 'A lord is born into the world!'" In the beginning of the same century it was reckoned that there were at least a thousand nobles in the city, whose yearly incomes ranged from 4,000 to 70,000 ducats, and that at a time when 3,000 ducats bought a palace. At the end of the twelfth century the population was 70,000, exclusive of persons in holy orders. Two hundred years later it had increased nearly fourfold. Venice was then, as now, a city intersected by innumerable water highways, bordered by marble mansions mingled with 'tenements of wood, studded with churches, and having public squares confined on three sides by houses, while on the remaining side a quay overlooked the sea. The streets bustled with The traffic. Gon'dolas' skimmed rapidly along the canals. merchants assembled on the Rial'to, and the money-changers spread their tables under the shadow of the Campani'le.9 The Bank of Venice-the first institution of the kind ever established the credit of which was guaranteed by the State, 'attested at once the wisdom and the commercial enterprise of the City of the Waters. In the shops, every article of use, luxury, or ornament, could be obtained. Contractors of all kinds and of different nations resorted thither, and the ships of every flag loaded and unloaded at the quays. The rivalry of Gen'oa forms a large element in the history of Venice. The two republics were deadly and relentless enemies. Whenever their ships met there was a fight; and in a narrow sea like the Mediterranean, where in some cases they 'frequented the same ports, they met very often. In 1261 a rupture with the Byzantine government at Constantinople led to the exclusion of the Venetians from the trade of the Black Sea. Genoa for a time was in the ascendant. A desperate war ensued, which at the end of four years terminated in the triumph of the Venetians, whose maritime and commercial supremacy was thus indicated. The object of the strugglethe trade of the Black Sea-was, however, lost to the victors as well as to the vanquished; for the Turks intervened and imposed their paralyzing influence on the commerce and industry of those parts. Within the Mediterranean, Venice remained without a rival. The blow which proved fatal to her influence came from without, and was as unexpected as it was inevitable. It was the discovery of a sea passage to India,10 which set aside the old caravan routes, of which Venice formed, as it were, the European centre. J. H. FIFE. orig'inal, primary. relentless, implacable. symboliz'ing, typ'ifying. ten'ements, houses. text'ure, fabrica'tion. tor'tuous, wind'ing. transformed', changed'. 'Attila, King of the Huns. He rav- that is, a ship for two hundred men. aged the Eastern Empire 445-450 A. D.; and, having made peace with the Emperor Theodosius II, prepared to invade the Empire of the West. In 451, he was defeated at Châlons, by Aëtius, the Roman general, aided by Theod'oric the Ostro-Goth. Lagoons', marshes or lakes formed by the overflowing of the sea, and separated from it by banks of sand. › Roman Empire in the East.-The Empire was divided into eastern and western portions in 364 A. D., when two brothers began to reign,-Valentin'ian in the west, and Valens in the east. Bucentaur'. The name is supposed to be a corruption of Ducentorum, the first state barge having been officially described as navigium ducentorum hominum;" | The last Bucentaur, which was destroyed by the French in 1797, was a galley one hundred feet in length, having two decks. In the lower, sat one hundred and sixty picked rowers. The upper deck comprised two magnificent galleries for the Doge's retinue, and a state saloon at the stern, which glittered with the ducal throne. Doge (Doj), the chief magistrate, or Duke of Venice. The chief ruler of Genoa bore the same title. year. The marriage of Venice.-The ceremony took place on Ascension Day each Venice is said to have acquired the sovereignty of the Adriatic from Pope Alexander III. in 1170, who confirmed the concession by the gift of a ring of gold. It was after this that the ceremony of the mystical marriage was introduced. Previously, the Doge had visited the Adriatic in state, and performed certain rites, according to the fashion of the age. 'Gon'dola, a light flat-bottomed boat used as a public conveyance through the water-streets of Venice. Lord Byron describes it as a coffin clapt in a canoe ;" and Mr. S. Laing as a Thames wherry with the upper part of a mourning coach stuck amidships. The Rial'to, a famous bridge in Venice, between the isle of Rialto (where Venice first sprang) and that of St. Mark. It, and the street leading to it, form the great est business thoroughfare in the city. The present bridge, which is of marble, was begun in 1588, and completed within two years. It is 72 feet wide, and is divided longitudinally into five parts, -two rows of shops, two narrow passages, and a broad passage (21 feet wide) in the middle. The Campanile (Campane la), the Bell Tower of St. Mark's Cathedral. It is detached from the church, and rises to the height of 323 feet. 10 Discovery of a sea passage to India by Vasco di Ga'ma, in 1497. He established the first European settlement in India at Cochin, in 1502. (See p. 250.) QUESTIONS.-When and by whom was Venice founded? What was the common food of the first settlers? What article did they export? What made them so expert as seamen? With what distant places did they ere long open up a trade? What was the largest of the Venetian galleys called? On what occasion was it used? In what manufactures did the Venetians excel? What was the population of Venice at the end of the twelfth and the fourteenth centuries respectively? What has Venice for streets? and what for carriages? Where did the merchants assemble? and the moneychangers? What republic was a great rival of Venice? What gave Genoa the ascendency for a time? What deprived both of the object of their struggle? What blow at last proved fatal to Venice? VENICE. THERE is a glorious city in the sea: The fronts of some, though Time had 'shattered them, As though the wealth within them had run o'er. a zure, fine blue. ebb'ing, reced'ing. glorious, illustrious. glow'ing, shin'ing. invisible, not able to be seen. ROGERS. pal'aces, splen'did man' portico, entrance. sions. state'ly, majestic. |