s wife had been nurse to one of the
Countess's boys, and the Grimanis had promised her twenty ducats a-year;
if the ambassador liked to pay that amount, the gondolier would turn
out; if not, they must manage to share the palace between them. The
consul appealed to the English Resident, John Murray, who wrote an angry
letter to the Government, complaining of this treatment; 'La carita
della nobile donna,' he says, 'verso la moglie del gondoliere merita
senza dubbio gran lode, ma il sottoscritto s'imagina che l'avvocato piu
scaltro si troverebbe bene intrigato di produrre una legge o esempio per
incaricare l'Ambasciatore Inglese di questa carita.'

The matter was probably arranged, for on the 22nd of October Lord
Northampton arrived, incognito, of course, with all his suite, and took
up his residence. Lord Northampton was ill, and it was not until the
beginning of the next year that he took the necessary steps to make his
entry and to secure his first audience. The etiquette observed upon such
occasions required that the ambassador should send his secretary to
leave copies of his credentials at the door of the College, and to ask
on what day the Doge would receive him. The College reply through one of
their secretaries that an answer will be sent. The Doge was then
consulted what day would suit him, and he answers by putting himself at
the disposal of the College. The Senate is then informed of the
ambassador's arrival, and sixty senators, under the direction of a
leader, are appointed to attend the ambassador until the ceremonies of
his reception shall be completed. The days selected for Lord
Northampton's reception were the 29th and 30th of May, 1763; and the
Caveliere Ruzzini was named as head of the sixty senators who were to
attend the ambassador. Ruzzini informed Lord Northampton of these
arrangements, and at the same time sent him a programme of the ceremony,
which was based upon that observed towards Lord Holdernesse, and was
identical with that which the Republic offered to the ambassador of the
King of Sardinia. Before his public entry, the ambassador and all his
suite went to the island of San Spirito, in the lagoon towards
Malamocco. The fiction of the ceremony supposed all ambassadors to be
lodged there until they had presented their credentials. San Spirito was
chosen as the point of departure for the ambassadorial procession
because the distance between that island and Venice was supposed to
correspond exac