Merchant of Venice. - Repositories

NOTES
ACT L SCENE I.
Venice. Although in the Elizabethan age in England there
was almost no scenery on the rude stages of the London theatres,
yet to Shakespeare, and to the people who saw his plays, the
very mention of Venice must have suggested everything most
brilliant and magnificent. Travellers who had recently returned
to England gave almost incredible descriptions of the fair " Bride
of the Adriatic," as Venice was called. The audience assembled
in the theatre could easily picture the wondrously built
Italian city; in the sunlight they could see the glow of white
marble and gold from the walls of her palaces, and could catch
the iridescent rays of color reflected from the mosaics that ornamented
her churches, or at night they could hear the cry of the
gondolier, as he pushed his boat around the winding canals.
The colored photographs of Venice, now comparatively inexpensive
even in America, are very helpful in gaining some conception
of this city. See, especially, the views of the Grand
Canal, of the Eialto, of the Ducal Palace, and of St. Mark's.
However insufificient the scenery of the Elizabethan stage
may have been, the actors were not failing in splendor of costume.
We do not need to know the exact fashions at Venice
in the sixteenth century, but we must imagine them as rich and
picturesque. Antonio, Godwin thinks, would wear a doublet,
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