FOOTNOTES:
[64] This ceremony (first instituted by Pope Alexander III.) took place every Ascension-day. The Doge of Venice, attended by his nobles and the senate, went in a vessel called the Bucentaur to the Adriatic sea, which he married by casting a gold ring into it, using at the same time these words: "We wed thee, O Sea, in token of a true and lasting dominion," &c. This circumstance is frequently alluded to in the course of the play.—Thornton.
