This was the more
singular as Saint Mark's square had for centuries been the meeting-place
of East and West, and the goal of artists, scholars and pleasure-seekers
from all parts of the world. Indeed, as Coeur-Volant pointed out, the
Venetian customs almost appeared to have been devised for the
convenience of strangers. The privilege of going masked at almost all
seasons and the enforced uniformity of dress, which in itself provided a
kind of incognito, made the place singularly favourable to every kind of
intrigue and amusement; while the mild temper of the people and the
watchfulness of the police prevented the public disorders that such
license might have occasioned. These seeming anomalies abounded on every
side. From the gaming-table where a tinker might set a ducat against a
prince it was but a few steps to the Broglio, or arcade under the ducal
palace, into which no plebeian might intrude while the nobility walked
there. The great ladies, who were subject to strict sumptuary laws, and
might not display their jewels or try the new French fashions but on the
sly, were yet privileged at all hours to go abroad alone in their
gondolas. No society was more haughty and exclusive in its traditions,
yet the mask leveled all classes and permitted, during the greater part
of the year, an equality of intercourse undreamed of in other cities;
while the nobles, though more magnificently housed than in any other
capital of Europe, generally sought amusement at the public casini or
assembly-rooms instead of receiving company in their own palaces.
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