the city of Venice--say four hundred and fifty years after Christ--(for

Venice is much younger than any other Italian city,) a priest dreamed

that an angel told him that until the remains of St. Mark were brought to

Venice, the city could never rise to high distinction among the nations;

that the body must be captured, brought to the city, and a magnificent

church built over it; and that if ever the Venetians allowed the Saint to

be removed from his new resting-place, in that day Venice would perish

from off the face of the earth. The priest proclaimed his dream, and

forthwith Venice set about procuring the corpse of St. Mark. One

expedition after another tried and failed, but the project was never

abandoned during four hundred years. At last it was secured by

stratagem, in the year eight hundred and something. The commander of a

Venetian expedition disguised himself, stole the bones, separated them,

and packed them in vessels filled with lard. The religion of Mahomet

causes its devotees to abhor anything that is in the nature of pork, and

so when the Christian was stopped by the officers at the gates of the

city, they only glanced once into his precious baskets, then turned up

their noses at the unholy lard, and let him go. The bones were buried in

the vaults of the grand cathedral, which had been waiting long years to

receive them, and thus the safety and the greatness of Venice were

secured. And to this day there be those in Venice who believe that if

those holy ashes were stolen away, the ancient city would vanish like a

dream, and its foundations be buried forever in the unremembering sea.

255

The Innocents Abroad