Note 128 — CHAPTER TWO.

In the Gentleman’s Magazine for March, 1798, p. 184, is a minute account of this ceremony, which somewhat varies from the above: “On Ascension Day, the Doge, in a splendid barge, attended by a thousand barks and gondolas, proceeds to a particular place in the Adriatic. In order to compose the angry gulf and procure a calm, the patriarch pours into her bosom a quantity of holy water. As soon as this charm has had its effect, the Doge, with great solemnity, through an aperture near his seat, drops into her lap a gold ring, repeating these words, ‘Desponsamus te, Mare, in signum veri perpetuique dominii.’ ‘We espouse thee, O sea! in token of real and perpetual dominion over thee.’”