But you may be very sure that the ambassador had
special and secret instructions alike from King Giacomo and from
Uncle Andrea just how and whom to choose.
The ambassador came to Venice, and soon the senate issued its
commands that upon a certain day the noblest and fairest of the
daughters of Venice --one from each of the patrician
families--should appear in the great Council Hall of the Ducal
Palace in order that the ambassador of the King of Cyprus might
select a fitting bride for his royal master. It reads quite like
one of the old fairy stories, does it not? Only in this case the
dragon who was to take away the fairest maiden as his tribute was
no monster, but the brave young king of a lovely island realm.
The Palace of the Doges--the Palazzo Ducale of old Venice--is
familiar to all who have ever seen a picture of the Square of St.
Mark's, the best known spot in that famous City of the Sea. It is
the low, rectangular, richly decorated building with its long row
of columns and arcades that stand out so prominently in
photograph and engraving. It has seen many a splendid pageant,
but it never witnessed a fairer sight than when on a certain
bright day of the year 1468 seventy-two of the daughters of
Venice, gorgeous in the rich costumes of that most lavish city of
a lavish age, gathered in the great Consiglio, or Council Hall.
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