) and R. Senger (_Die
beiden Foscari_, 1878, p. 116) take the same view. On the other hand,
Miss A. Wiel (_Two Doges of Venice_, 1891, p. 107) points out that,
according to the _Dolfin Cronaca_, which Berlan did not consult, Jacopo
was in a "mutilated" condition when the trial was over, and he was
permitted to take a last farewell of his wife and children in
Torricella. Goethe (_Conversations_, 1874, pp. 264, 265) did not share
Eckermann's astonishment that Byron "could dwell so long on this
torturing subject." "He was always a self-tormentor, and hence such
subjects were his darling theme."]

[38] {122}[It is extremely improbable that Francesco Foscari was present
in person at the third or two preceding trials of his son. As may be
gathered from the _parte_ of the Council of Ten relating to the first
trial, there was a law which prescribed the contrary: "In ipsius Domini
Ducis praesentia de rebus ad ipsum, vel ad filios suos tangentibus non
tractetur, loquatur vel consulatur, sicut non potest (_fieri_) quando
tractatur de rebus tangentibus ad attinentes Domini Ducis." The fact
that "Nos Franciscus Foscari," etc., stood at the commencement of the
decree of exile may have given rise to the tradition that the Doge, like
a Roman father, tried and condemned his son. (See Berlan's _I due
Foscari_, p. 13.)]

[39] {123}[Pietro Loredano, admiral of the Venetian fleet, died November
11, 1438. His death was sudden and suspicious, for he was taken with
violent pains and spasms after presiding at a banquet in honour of his
victories over the Milanese; and, when his illness ended fatally, it was
remembered that the Doge had publicly declared that so long as the
admiral lived he would never be _de facto_ Prince of the Republic.
Jacopo Loredano chose to put his own interpretation on this outburst of
impatience, and inscribed on his father's monument in the Church of the
Monastery of Sant' Elena, in the Isola della Santa Lena, the words, "Per
insidias hostium veneno sublatus." (See _Ecclesiae Venetae_, by Flaminio
Cornaro, 1749, ix. 193, 194; see, too, Cicogna's _Inscrizioni
Veneziane_, 1830, iii. 381.)

Not long afterwards Marco Loredano, the admiral's brother, met with a
somewhat similar fate. He had been despatched by the X. to Legnano, to
investigate the conduct of Andrea Donate, the Doge's brother-in-law, who
was suspected of having embezzled the public moneys. His report was
unfavourable to Donato, and, shortly after, he too f