t curse was upon her, the curse of the cities of the
plain, "Pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness." By the
inner burning of her own passions, as fatal as the fiery reign of
Gomorrah, she was consumed from her place among the nations; and her
ashes are choking the channels of the dead salt sea.

FOOTNOTES:

[27] Mutinelli, Annali Urbani, lib. i. p. 24; and the Chronicle of
1738, quoted by Galliciolli: "attrovandosi allora la giesia de Sta.
Maria Formosa sola giesia del nome della gloriosa Vergine Maria."

[28] Or from the brightness of the cloud, according to the Padre who
arranged the "Memorie delle Chiese di Venezia," vol. iii. p. 7.
Compare Corner, p. 42. This first church was built in 639.

[29] Perhaps both Corner and the Padre founded their diluted
information on the short sentence of Sansovino: "Finalmente, l'anno
1075, fu ridotta a perfezione da Paolo Barbetta, sul modello del
corpo di mezzo della chiesa di S. Marco." Sansovino, however, gives
842, instead of 864, as the date of the first rebuilding.

[30] Or at least for its principal families. Vide Appendix 8, "Early
Venetian Marriages."

[31] "Nazionale quasi la ceremonia, perciocche per essa nuovi
difensori ad acquistar andava la patria, sostegni nuovi le leggi, la
Liberta."--_Mutinelli._

[32] "Vestita, _per antico uso_, di bianco, e con chiome sparse giu
per le spalle, conteste con fila d'oro." "Dressed according to
ancient usage in white, and with her hair thrown down upon her
shoulders, interwoven with threads of gold." This was when she was
first brought out of her chamber to be seen by the guests invited to
the espousals. "And when the form of the espousal has been gone
through, she is led, to the sound of pipes and trumpets, and other
musical instruments, round the room, _dancing serenely all the time,
and bowing herself before the guests_ (ballando placidamente, e
facendo inchini ai convitati); and so she returns to her chamber:
and when other guests have arrived, she again comes forth, and makes
the circuit of the chamber. And this is repeated for an hour or
somewhat more; and then, accompanied by many ladies who wait for
her, she enters a gondola without its felze (canopy), and, seated on
a somewhat raised seat covered with carpets, with a great number of
gondolas following her, she goes to visit the monasteries