of the happy union.  In the midst of the fracas—­which was greatly heightened by the roar of cannon on board the cruisers in the channel, and from the guns in the arsenal—­a boat glided into the open space beneath the gallery of the Bucentaur.  The movement of the arm which directed the light gondola was dexterous and still strong, though the hairs of him who held the oar were thin and white.  A suppliant eye was cast up at the happy faces that adorned the state of the prince, and then the look was changed intently to the water.  A small fisherman’s buoy fell from the boat, which glided away so soon, that, amid the animation and uproar of that moment, the action was scarce heeded by the excited throng.

The aquatic procession now returned towards the city, the multitude rending the air with shouts at the happy termination of a ceremony, to which time and the sanction of the sovereign pontiff had given a species of sanctity that was somewhat increased by superstition.  It is true that a few among the Venetians themselves regarded these famous nuptials of the Adriatic with indifference; and that several of the ministers of the northern and more maritime states, who were witnesses on the occasion, had scarcely concealed, as they cast glances of intelligence and pride among themselves, their smiles.  Still, such was the influence of habit—­for so much does even arrogant assumption, when long and perseveringly maintained, count among men—­that neither the increasing feebleness of the Republic, nor the known superiority of other powers on the very element which this pageant was intended to represent as the peculiar property of St. Mark, could yet cover the lofty pretension with the ridicule it merited.  Time has since taught the world that Venice continued this idle deception for ages after both reason and modesty should have dictated its discontinuance; but, at the period of which we write, that ambitious, crapulous, and factitious state was rather beginning to feel the symptomatic evidence of its fading circumstances, than to be fully conscious of the swift progress of a downward course.  In this manner do communities, like individuals, draw near their dissolution, inattentive to the symptoms of decay, until they are overtaken with that fate which finally overwhelms empires and their power in the common lot of man.

The Bucentaur did not return directly to the quay, to disburden itself of its grave and dignified load.  The gaudy galley anchored in the centre of the port, and opposite to the wide mouth of the great canal.  Officers had been busy, throughout the morning, in causing all the shipping and heavy boats, of which hundreds lay in that principal artery of the city, to remove from the centre of the passage, and heralds now summoned the citizens to witness the regatta, with which the public ceremonies of the day were to terminate.