III. GROTESQUE RENAISSANCE 141

feast. And the prince asking them, ‘Suppose it should rain?’ they answered, ‘We will give you hats to cover you; and if you are thirsty, we will give you to drink.’ Whence it is that the Vicar, in the name of the people, presents to the Doge, on his visit, two flasks of malvoisie* and two oranges; and presents to him two gilded hats, bearing the arms of the Pope, of the Prince, and of the Vicar. And thus was instituted the Feast of the Maries, which was called noble and famous because the people from all round came together to behold it. And it was celebrated in this manner: ...” The account which follows is somewhat prolix; but its substance is, briefly, that twelve maidens were elected, two for each division of the city; and that it was decided by lot which contrade, or quarters of the town, should provide them with dresses. This was done at enormous expense, one contrada contending with another, and even the jewels of the treasury of St. Mark being lent for the occasion to the “Maries,” as the twelve damsels were called. They, being thus dressed with gold, and silver, and jewels, went in their galley to St. Mark’s for the Doge, who joined them with the Signory, and went first to San Pietro di Castello to hear mass on St. Mark’s Day, the 31st of January,¹ and to Santa Maria Formosa on the 2nd of February, the intermediate day being spent in passing in procession through the streets of the city; “and sometimes there arose quarrels about the places they should pass through, for every one wanted them to pass by his house.”

§ 11. Nearly the same account is given by Corner, who, however, does not say anything about the hats or the malvoisie. These, however, we find again in the Matricola de’ Casseleri,² which, of course, sets the services of the

* English, “Malmsey.” The reader will find a most amusing account of the negotiations between the English and Venetians, touching the supply of London with this wine, in Mr. Brown’s translation of the Giustiniani papers. See Appendix 9 [ p. 264].

¹ [i.e., the feast of the translation of St. Mark.]

² [The register, or matriculation book, of the Guild of Trunkmakers.]

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