valuable contents, he transferred to the treasury of Milan. The hulk afterwards, under the name of the Hydra, became a guard-ship, mounting seven guns, and was anchored to protect the mouth of the Lido, till, in 1824, a decree of the Aulic Council ordered her final demolition. A model of this once magnificent and historical barge, which, in the course of centuries must have been frequently rebuilt, is now preserved in the arsenal of Venice.
The progress and commercial policy of Venice. Although the Holy Wars gave Venice, Genoa, and Pisa a position which they might never otherwise have attained, other causes contributed to revive the spirit of commerce between different and distant nations. The Italians, by their intercourse and commercial relations with various cities of the Greek empire, and especially with Constantinople, had obtained a knowledge of the valuable trade of the East, and had cultivated a taste for its precious commodities and curious manufactures. They were consequently not slow to embrace and develope direct intercourse with India; hence, in the course of the twelfth century, Venice established a regular commerce with the East through the ports of Egypt, which she maintained during four centuries. Introducing into their own territories manufactories of various kinds, and carrying on these with surprising ingenuity and vigour, the Italians transplanted from warmer climates several new productions which furnished the materials of a lucrative and extended trade. "All these commodities," remarks Dr. Robertson,[1] "whether imported from Asia, or produced by their own skill, they disposed of to great advantage among the other
- ↑ History of Charles V. i. p. 94.
