Modern Eloquence: Vol III, After-Dinner Speeches P-Z
History
Modern Eloquence: Vol III, After-Dinner Speeches P-Z
Speeches, addresses, etc.
The return of the Venetian to his native city was attended by incidents
which have not occurred among us. Bronzed by long residence under the
sun of the East--wearing the dress of a Tartar--and speaking his native
language with difficulty, it was some time before he could persuade his
friends of his identity. Happily there is no question on the identity of
our returned fellow-citizen; and surely it cannot be said that he speaks
his native language with difficulty. There was a dinner given at Venice,
as now at Boston, and the Venetian dinner, after the lapse of nearly
five hundred years, still lives in glowing description. On this occasion
Marco Polo, with his companions, appeared first in long robes of crimson
satin reaching to the floor, which, after the guests had washed their
hands, were changed for other robes of crimson damask, and then again,
after the first course of the dinner, for other robes of crimson velvet,
and at the conclusion of the banquet, for the ordinary dress worn by the
rest of the company. Meanwhile the other costly garments were
distributed in succession among the attendants at the table. In all your
magnificence to-night, Mr. Mayor, I have seen no such largess. Then was
brought forward the coarse threadbare clothes in which they had
travelled, when, on ripping the lining and patches with a knife, costly
jewels, in sparkling showers, leaped forth before the eyes of the
company, who for a time were motionless with wonder. Then at last, says
the Italian chronicler, every doubt was banished, and all were satisfied
that these were the valiant and honorable gentlemen of the house of
Polo. I do not relate this history in order to suggest any such
operation on the dress of our returned fellow-citizen. No such evidence
is needed to assure us of his identity.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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