DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.55699#0122
92
THE LANDSCAPE ANNUAL.
I might possibly venture to see the ceremony in the
church : we were accordingly present at the first of
these., that of Mocenigo. I was extremely well pleased
that I had not permitted so fine a show to escape me,
though afflicted with a tormenting pain in my stomach
the whole time. The procession of the gondolas to the
church was very fine: the gondoliers, dressed in gold
and silver stuffs, made a most brilliant contrast with the
blackness of their boats. We got into the church before
the bride and bridegroom, with their suite, arrived, where
the pillars and walls were covered with crimson damask,
fringed with gold, the altar richly adorned with lace and
flowers, and the steps up to it spread ovei- with Persian
carpets; the whole church was illuminated with large wax
tapers, though at noon-day.
“ As soon as the company were disembarked from their
gondolas, they formed themselves into a regular pro-
cession. The ladies walked two and two : they were all
dressed in thin black silk gowns (excepting the bride),
with large hoops : the gowns are strait-bodied, with very
long trains, like the robes de cour at Versailles ; their
trains tucked up on one side of the hoop, with a pro-
digious large tassel of diamonds. Their sleeves were
covered up to the shoulders with falls of the finest
Brussels lace, a drawn tucker of the same round the
bosom, adorned with rows of the finest pearl, each as
large as a moderate gooseberry, till the rows descended
below the top of the stomacher; then two ropes of pearl,
which came from the back of the neck, were caught up
at the left side of the stomacher, and finished in two fine
tassels. Their heads were dressed prodigiously high, in .
THE LANDSCAPE ANNUAL.
I might possibly venture to see the ceremony in the
church : we were accordingly present at the first of
these., that of Mocenigo. I was extremely well pleased
that I had not permitted so fine a show to escape me,
though afflicted with a tormenting pain in my stomach
the whole time. The procession of the gondolas to the
church was very fine: the gondoliers, dressed in gold
and silver stuffs, made a most brilliant contrast with the
blackness of their boats. We got into the church before
the bride and bridegroom, with their suite, arrived, where
the pillars and walls were covered with crimson damask,
fringed with gold, the altar richly adorned with lace and
flowers, and the steps up to it spread ovei- with Persian
carpets; the whole church was illuminated with large wax
tapers, though at noon-day.
“ As soon as the company were disembarked from their
gondolas, they formed themselves into a regular pro-
cession. The ladies walked two and two : they were all
dressed in thin black silk gowns (excepting the bride),
with large hoops : the gowns are strait-bodied, with very
long trains, like the robes de cour at Versailles ; their
trains tucked up on one side of the hoop, with a pro-
digious large tassel of diamonds. Their sleeves were
covered up to the shoulders with falls of the finest
Brussels lace, a drawn tucker of the same round the
bosom, adorned with rows of the finest pearl, each as
large as a moderate gooseberry, till the rows descended
below the top of the stomacher; then two ropes of pearl,
which came from the back of the neck, were caught up
at the left side of the stomacher, and finished in two fine
tassels. Their heads were dressed prodigiously high, in .