Ascalon and Tyre; one third of each with their dependencies being promised to the Venetians in case of success.

Roused into full action by this golden offer, Venice again manned, armed, and sent forth a powerful fleet, and an imposing farce was enacted to learn upon which city the God of battles willed their avenging arms first to fall. Two scrolls, upon one of which was written Ascalon, and upon the other Tyre, were deposited in an urn, and this was solemnly placed upon the altar. Mass was then celebrated; after which an orphan, chosen for the purpose, drew forth one of the fatal scrolls, containing the name of Tyre. Towards this ancient and doomed city, which had been captured by Alexander fourteen hundred years before, the Christian host advanced, and encircling its vast walls by land and sea, the siege commenced. The defence was long, desperate, and bloody, but Tyre at length fell, and Ascalon, a place of much less strength, soon afterward surrendered to the Christian force.

The immense possessions embraced within the dominions of the republic, and the vast amount of foreign territory over which she was continually extending her authority, at last awakened the jealousy and fear of the Greek emperor. So powerful a neighbor on the European frontier was dangerous to his own sovereignty, and he dared to provoke the ire of Venice, by committing the first act of unprovoked aggression upon her citizens. This was immediately and terribly revenged. The doge with a mighty fleet swept the whole imperial coast. The entire Archipelago was visited, and many of its islands captured. The shores of the Morea experienced his vengeance, and the rebellious towns of Dalmatia were chastised.

Defeated at every point, and overwhelmed with losses on all sides, the emperor deemed himself fortunate in securing a peace with his powerful adversary on any terms; and the Venetians, relieved from the prosecution of foreign warfare, again resumed those commercial employments from which had sprung their pre-eminent wealth and strength. The maritime field which their enterprise and bravery had opened was almost boundless. Spreading far away into the eastern world, it placed within their reach the rarest products of oriental climes; and these, while they ministered to the cupidity of the merchant, and by their ready sale at an immense profit, repaid him a hundred fold for the gold expended and the risk incurred in their purchase, gratified the gorgeous tastes and luxurious habits of that half barbarous, yet glittering age. The ports of all nations gladly welcomed the deep-freighted ships of Venice to their waters, and the rich cargoes of rarest foreign manufacture they brought, were eagerly sought after by the inhabitants of every land. The City of the Isles was literally filled with magnificence and gold. Her streets were crowded with palaces, and blazing domes rose loftily up on every side. With every sun the treasury of the state increased, its citizens multiplied, its power enlarged. Peace liberally strewed its blessings, and bestowed its gifts with a lavish hand. But war again came,-another holy war of a most novel and unseemly character,—a strife between two holy prelates, each claiming St. Peter's keys und the papal chair, in which the republic engaged, and gained more glory than had descended upon it in all its previous battles.

In the middle of the twelfth century, to the great scandal of the Catholic church, a double election called two successors to infallibility and the chair

of St. Peter. These holy rivals thundered their respective claims throughout Christendom; but while Alexander the Third derived his title from the almost unanimous voice of the whole sacred electoral college, Victor the Fourth, with scarce the shadow of legitimate right, clutched the sacred seat by force, backed and supported by the vast power of Frederick Barbarossa the emperor. Alexander, after suffering personal outrage and imprisonment, at length escaped from the imperial city, and when years of wandering and bitter exile had passed, he landed obscure and alone in the streets of Venice, and threw himself upon the generosity of the doge. He was joyfully received, and though demanded as a fugitive by the emperor, the Venetians braved his threatened vengeance and refused to deliver up their distinguished guest. Preparations for war were immediately commenced, and Alexander, after buckling on the sword of the doge with his own hand, and bestowing upon him the pontifical blessing, saw the Venetian armament depart to fight his cause against a hostile force of twice its size and strength. The two fleets met off the Istrian coast, and after a terrific conflict of more than six hours duration, the Venetians were victorious, and forty-eight galleys, with Otho the emperor's son who commanded them, fell into their hands. The doge returned in triumph, and at Lido was met by Alexander in person, when a solemn ceremony was performed, which continued to be celebrated during the existence of the republic.

The holy father, as soon as the doge touched the land, presented him with a ring of gold, and said, "Take this ring, and with it take on my authority the sea as your subject. Every year on the return of this happy day, you and your successors shall make known to all posterity, that the right of conquest has subjugated the Adriatic to Venice, as a spouse to her husband."

The pride with which the Venetians cherished the papal grant bestowed by these figurative nuptials, is most forcibly exhibited by their celebration for the long period of more than six hundred years upon every fresh return of the feast of Ascension; and that this celebration must have been both splendid and imposing, let the language of the historian testify. "The doge and his clarissimi," saith he, "having heard mass in the church of San Nicolo, embarked on board the gorgeous Bucentaur, a state galley, blazing with gold, enriched with costly ornaments, and preserving such fanciful identity with the original fabric, as could be obtained by perpetual repair without total reconstruction. Gliding through the canals amid festive shouts and triumphal music, this superb pageant arrived at the shore of Lido, near the mouth of the harbor, and there the princely bridegroom, dropping a golden ring into the bosom of his betrothed, espoused her with this brief but significant greeting, "We wed thee with this ring in token of our true and perpetual sovereignty."

The destruction of the emperor's fleet was soon followed by the defeat and total rout of his entire army, and humbled on all sides, he sued for peace. Negotiations were opened with Alexander, and the emperor, humiliated in the dust, and loaded with the dreaded curse of excommunication, sought an interview with him in Venice. There, in the magnificent cathedral of St. Mark, they met: Alexander, with the triple crown blazing upon his brow, clothed in the vestments of his holy office, surrounded by a glittering throng of cardinals, prelates, and ambassadors, encircled by all the imposing grandeur of ecclesiastical pomp ; the emperor, with uncovered

head, and purple mantle cast aside, prostrate, and creeping onward to kiss the feet of his former enemy. With imperious pride and a thirst for revenge that casts a dark shade over the character of one claiming to be the only earthly vicar of Christ, the haughty pontiff trode upon the emperor's neck, and when the latter dared to murmur at this foul indignity, it was again repeated more firmly than before. But his degradation, deep as it was, did not end here, for we are told that when the pope left the cathedral, and prepared to mount his charger, the emperor held his stirrup, and assisted him into the saddle.

With his once mighty enemies powerless at his feet, Alexander, accompanied by the doge, and surrounded by a magnificent train, proceeded to Rome, where the latter was entertained in all the gorgeous splendor that could be lavished upon the most honored guest of the imperial city. The high and brilliant reputation which Venice had now acquired, was unsurpassed by that of the mightiest nation in Europe. She was hailed as the deliverer of Italy, the champion and protector of the holy see. The power of the emperor in the Italian cities had been crushed by her, and while this secured to the Venetians the gratitude of the Lombard towns, it also relieved them from all apprehensions of their once powerful and danger. ous neighbor.

A short time after this, and while Venice was in the full blaze of her glory and ranked as the first maritime state on earth, the infatuated followers of the cross started the fourth crusade. A naval force must be furnished and ships supplied to convey the crusading host to the Holy Land, and ambassadors were despatched to Venice, the only nation able to raise and equip an armament of the requisite size and strength. They were received by the doge in a manner suited to their distinguished rank, and as the proposition they bore was of the utmost importance to the whole republic, a grand meeting of more than ten thousand citizens was held to deliberate upon its acceptance. Before this vast assembly the ambassadors appeared, and falling upon their knees, as the chronicler saith, with many tears implored the Venetians to look with pity upon the Holy City in the bondage of the infidels, and for God's sake to join in avenging the wrongs of Jesus Christ. The tears shed and supplications uttered upon this occasion, would probably have effected little towards inducing the republic to extend the required aid, had they not been backed and supported by the most substantial considerations. Eighty-five thousand marks was offered for the use of the necessary fleet, and this, with the prospect that existed of securing both territory and treasure by the expedition, proved a temptation too strong to be resisted by the Venetians, who promised to furnish palanders for the transport of four thousand five hundred horse and nine thousand esquires; ships for four thousand five hundred knights, twenty thousand sergeants on foot, with provisions for this vast force for the space of nine months; in addition to which they agreed to equip fifty galleys for the love of God, free of expense; tacked to which apparently generous and disinterested offer, was the extraordinary condition, that all conquests made by land or sea, should be divided equally between the contracting parties.

This business-like and truly mercantile arrangement, requiring an immense outlay, and involving preparations upon a scale of gigantic magni. tude, was most faithfully carried out on the part of the Venetians. The entire armament stipulated for was furnished, and although some difficulty

was experienced by the captains of the crusading force in raising a sum large enough to comply with the agreement on their part, yet, after some concessions made by the doge to enable them to effect this object, it was finally accomplished, and nearly five hundred vessels, having on board forty thousand troops, together with stores, provisions, and a powerful train of the stupendous artillery of that period, sailed for the Holy Land.

It is not within our purpose to give the history of this crusade, nor shall we describe the wide-spread operations and immense conquests of those engaged in it. Our readers are no doubt familiar with the startling events and chivalrous actions of those times, and to fill our pages with them here, would be but a repetition of what may be found in the numerous volumes of both truth and fiction that chronicle the splendid exploits of that romantic and gorgeous age. The results of the expedition were, in a commercial aspect, of vast importance to the republic, and it is of these only that we shall make brief mention.

The mighty armament departed from Venice, but it was not destined to transport its warriors to scourge the infidels on the plains of Palestine. Against the Christian city of Zara, which had thrown off the Venetian yoke, the doge and barons, in opposition to the interdict of the pope, first directed their arms; and when its walls were battered down, and its streets, deserted of their inhabitants, were occupied by the besieging force, the city was pillaged of its treasures, and these were divided between the allied forces. The crusading host next advanced upon Constantinople, also under the dominion of the cross, and celebrated as the magnificent capital of the Greek empire-the lesser Rome of the eastern world. This vast city was attacked, and after a host of glorious exploits performed by the Venetians upon their favorite element the sea, and by the mailed chivalry of France upon the land, its huge walls and enormous batteries were finally carried by storm, and the Christian force poured into the devoted town. The amount of treasure that fell into their hands is almost incredible. The most splendid temples were rifled of their rich ornaments, and holy churches despoiled of their consecrated plate. The entire city was given up to universal pillage, and a division of the spoils, determined upon with the most scrupulous exactness, was then made between the French and Venetian armies. This accomplished, Baldwin, Count of Flanders, a descendant of Charlemagne, and one of the most distinguished leaders of which the crusaders could boast, was chosen emperor, and the doge, after being invested in the name of his country with an immense territory, in which were comprised the familiar names of Egospotamus, Nicomedia, Adrianople, part of Eubea, Egina, Megalopolis, Methone, Patras, the Cyclades, Sporades, and numerous other isles of the Archipelago and Adriatic, besides a long line of ports stretching along the entire shores of the empire, returned to his native city, clothed in addition to his former title with the imposing style of Despot of Romania, and lord of one fourth and one eighth of the Roman empire.

Adding these territories to the possessions the Venetians had previously acquired, and they present a foreign domain of vast extent, with commercial resources of incalculable value. Much of this was in time reconquered by its old masters, or willingly surrendered by the republic, too politic to weaken its strength at home, by the maintenance of a military force in foreign lands; but as these kingdoms were released from its sway, care was taken that the commercial privileges its citizens had acquired

from their enjoyment, should be preserved. Nor was this often difficult to accomplish, for Venice gathered and dispensed through the agency of her vast shipping almost the entire luxuries of the known world, and the trade of her citizens was on this account eagerly courted by all nations.

At the close of the fifteenth century, Venice was in the meridian of her glory, at the very summit of her power. Nearly one hundred years before this, and her annual exports and imports to and from the lagune had amounted to the enormous sum of twenty-eight millions eight hundred thousand ducats; worth in those days many times what it would be at present; and even this was now prodigiously increased. Her dominions, too, embraced a wide range of territory; her riches were immeasurable, and her resources various and powerful. From the Po to the eastern boundary of the Mediterranean and the Don, stretched her long line of close-linked maritime stations; filled with the rich merchandise of all climes, enabling her to grasp almost the exclusive monopoly of trade throughout the European and eastern world. At home, her manufactures flourished a century in advance of the age. The culture of silk, introduced into the lagune from Constantinople, was most successfully prosecuted; and while its domestic use was interdicted to all save the high magistrates of the republic, her looms supplied the remainder of christendom with the most splendid specimens of this delicate and costly fabric. Her cloths, composed of the finest fleeces of Spain and England, were unrivalled in their beauty; and for the creation of her rich linens, the flax of Lombardy afforded ample materials. From the manufacture of gilt leather alone, one hundred thousand ducats were annually produced, while liquors, confectionery, and waxen tapers, the last of which were consumed to a great extent in the performance of holy services at Rome, increased and swelled the varied exports of the Ocean Queen. Costly mirrors from the giass-houses of Murano adorned the gorgeous palaces of Europe; and while the choicest luxuries of the age were profusely manufactured on every hand, in the laboratories of Venice were distilled and sublimated the rarest chemical preparations required either by medicine or the arts. The republic was not at this period more distinguished for its far-stretching commerce, the perfection of its manufactures, its internal strength, and the wide-spread dominions over which its sovereignty extended, than for its elegant literature, and the number of its citizens celebrated for their genius and learning. Among these, the names of Erasmus, Bembo, Gaunto, Navagero, Sabellico, and several others, are surrounded with associations and a fame of the most glittering character. Venice had now arrived at the epoch of her loftiest elevation, from which she gradually fell, until at last she was blotted out from the scale of nations. To follow her darkening fortunes, and trace out the causes of her fall, is not within our present purpose. Civilization and the arts, borne onward by the mighty science of printing, slowly traversed the slumbering states of Europe, awakening their dark-minded inhabitants to a knowledge of the resources within their reach; and as other nations, under the influence of this new light, arose from their long sleep, shook off the lethargy of ages, and started in the race of improvement, Venice, surrounded by rivals, where she had before known no competition, commenced her downward course. Long and hard she struggled to maintain her brilliant stand as the first maritime power on earth, and many and fierce were the battles she fought to preserve her hard-earned conquests; but one after