Then ten master-tailors changed their dresses, and donned white suits sprinkled with vermilion stars, and {105} traversed the city singing the popular songs of the day; each one carried a goblet of malmsey and occasionally sipped it. This was extremely Venetian; and we can but wonder if the tunes these tailors sung are not the same that have descended through many generations to the gondoliers of our own day. There were also games in which buffoons played the principal parts, and men carrying cages of birds many of which were liberated when they came near the court; this was greeted with hearty approbation, and the whole scene was as merry as possible. We are sorry to add that then, as now on like occasions, there were many light-fingered ones among the crowd who filled their pockets at the expense of honest folk. All these entertainments closed with an industrial exhibition in the palace in compliment to the Dogaressa, who, as she passed through the apartments, was presented with gifts which she graciously received; and thus auspiciously was the reign of the new Doge inaugurated. This flattered his vanity; and when he was borne about the Piazza, scattering gold as he went, he may have been elated and imagined himself of great consequence. Every four years the citizens swore allegiance to him, his person was declared sacred, and he never left the palace without an attendant train of nobles and citizens. On the other hand, his oath now obliged him to execute the orders of the various councils implicitly. He was not permitted to exhibit his portrait, bust, or coat-of-arms outside the Ducal Palace; he could not announce his election to any court save that of Rome; no one could kiss his hand, or kneel to him, or make him gifts,--in short, no homage must be personal to the Doge; it must be rendered to the aristocracy who had made him Doge, and who were the State. No member of the Doge's family could hold government appointments in any part of the Venetian territory; {106} and his sons, who had formerly been associated with him in office, could now be elected to the Great Council and Senate only, and in the latter had no vote. To make the power behind the throne more absolute, it was finally decreed that no one elected to the ducal office could refuse to serve, neither could he resign nor leave Venice. Thus the Ducal Palace became a prison, and the Doge the only man in Venice who absolutely could have no will of his own. The quiet that followed the execution of Bocconio was a quiet full of storms. The discontents were not yet ready, and had no leader to inaugurate a revolution. Meantime the foreign policy of Gradenigo was making him the best-hated man imaginable. He had involved the Republic in a most disastrous war with Ferrara, in consequence of which the Pope had pronounced the sentence of excommunication against the whole Republic of Venice. It is difficult in our day to appreciate the full meaning of this.