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262 BY ORDER OF THE CZAR.

teenth century. Among the guests and visitors are repre- sentatives of the most famous of the ancient Doges. There is a family of Greeks who claim descent from a famous chief of Venice. They are here in a gondola decorated after the ancient manner, and with their gondoliers attired as in the olden days. Making its way to a prominent position is a stately barge rowed by a dozen men, who might be servants to the Capulets in Romeo and Juliet ; and close by, another that might belong to the Lady of Belmont. Here is the small red fez, the long hair, the slashed sleeves that one has seen so often on the stage and in pictures of the time ; in companionship with the men who are propelling the Greek barge are a party of rowers befrocked as one sees them in the illustrations to Byron's Corsair.

In competition for place is a superb gondola that looks like an exaggerated toy of gold taken from the top of some giant bride-cake, the rowers in blue sailor costume with yellow sashes. Rising gaily upon the busy waters with swan-like motion in the wake of the rest, and making for the King's barge, is a barge of white and gold ; it is followed by another of blue and white the white being Venetian lace which trails with the velvet at the stern of the barge, joining many other draperies and brocades, silks, and laces, that dabble the water with color, and add to a reckless generosity of wealth flung hither and thither, as one can imagine in Italian displays of the past. Fore- most among another group of gondolas, is one which is manned with rowers who recall the glories of English county life in the days of Fielding ; a second, not unlike, with servants in plush breeches and tall hats ; a third is a gondola of a barbaric style, with a hood of fantastic shape, and with men fantastically dressed, the whole effect defiant. Imagine these and a hundred other notable boats, gondo- las, barges all making their way to surround the taller