142 THE STONES OF VENICE

trunkmakers and the privileges obtained by them in the most brilliant light.¹ The quaintness of the old Venetian is hardly to be rendered into English. “And you must know that the said trunkmakers were the men who were the cause of such victory, and of taking the galley, and of cutting all the Triestines to pieces, because, at that time, they were valiant men and well in order. The which victory was on the 2nd February, on the day of the Madonna of candles.² And at the request and entreaties of the said trunkmakers, it was decreed that the Doge, every year, as long as Venice should endure, should go on the eve of the said feast to vespers in the said church, with the Signory. And be it noted, that the Vicar is obliged to give to the Doge two flasks of malvoisie, with two oranges besides. And so it is observed, and will be observed always.” The reader must observe the continual confusion between St. Mark’s Day the 31st of January, and Candlemas the 2nd of February. The fact appears to be, that the marriage day in the old republic was St. Mark’s Day, and the recovery of the brides was the same day at evening; so that, as we are told by Sansovino, the commemorative festival began on that day, but it was continued to the day of the Purification, that especial thanks might be rendered to the Virgin; and the visit to Sta. Maria Formosa being the most important ceremony of the whole festival, the old chroniclers, and even Sansovino, got confused, and asserted the victory itself to have taken place on the day appointed for that pilgrimage.

§ 12. I doubt not that the reader who is acquainted with the beautiful lines of Rogers is as much grieved as I am at this interference of the “casket-makers” with the achievement

¹ [It will be remembered that when the rape of the brides took place, the Doge hurried to the church of S. Maria Formosa, and called the people to arms. Some vessels belonging to the Trunkmakers’ or Cabinetmakers’ Guild, whose quarter was near the church, were at once offered, and in them the avengers set forth to capture the pirates.]

² [At Candlemas, the festival which commemorates the Purification of the Virgin, the candles which are to be used during the year for ecclesiastical purposes are lighted and consecrated, in emblematical reference to the prophecy of Simeon that the child Jesus should become “a light to lighten the Gentiles.”]

[Version 0.04: March 2008]