seemed; the man, poor little fellow, had a mistress, and his wife had
maddened him with reproaches. _Come si fa_? He had to stab her. The
woman's case was not one that appealed to popular compassion, and the only
words of pity for her which I heard were expressed by the wife of a
fruiterer, whom her husband angrily silenced.



CHAPTER XXI.

SOCIETY.


It was natural that the Venetians, whose State lay upon the borders of the
Greek Empire, and whose greatest commerce was with the Orient, should be
influenced by the Constantinopolitan civilization. Mutinelli records that
in the twelfth century they had many religious offices and observances in
common with the Greeks, especially the homily or sermon, which formed a
very prominent part of the service of worship. At this time, also, when
the rupture of the Lombard League had left other Italian cities to fall
back into incessant local wars, and barbarized their customs, the people
of Venice dressed richly and delicately, after the Greek fashion. They
combed and dressed their hair, and wore the long, pointed Greek beard;
[Footnote: A. Foscarini, in 1687, was the last patrician who wore the
beard.] and though these Byzantine modes fell, for the most part, into
disuse, in after-time, there is still a peculiarity of dress among the
women of the Venetian poor which is said to have been inherited from the
oriental costumes of Constantinople; namely, that high-heeled, sharp-toed
slipper, or sandal, which covers the front of the foot, and drops from the
heel at every step, requiring no slight art in the wearer to keep it on at