those
decrees.

Meantime, in order to complete the evidence respecting the main dates
stated in the text, I have collected here such notices of the building
of the Ducal Palace as appeared to me of most importance in the various
chronicles I examined. I could not give them all in the text, as they
repeat each other, and would have been tedious; but they will be
interesting to the antiquary, and it is to be especially noted in all of
them how the Palazzo _Vecchio_ is invariably distinguished, either
directly or by implication, from the Palazzo Nuovo. I shall first
translate the piece of the Zancarol Chronicle given by Cadorin, which
has chiefly misled the Venetian antiquaries. I wish I could put the rich
old Italian into old English, but must be content to lose its raciness,
as it is necessary that the reader should be fully acquainted with its
facts.

"It was decreed that none should dare to propose to the Signory of
Venice to ruin the _old_ palace and rebuild it new and more richly, and
there was a penalty of one thousand ducats against any one who should
break it. Then the Doge, wishing to set forward the public good, said to
the Signory, ... that they ought to rebuild the facades of the _old_
palace, and that it ought to be restored, to do honor to the nation: and
so soon as he had done speaking, the Avogadori demanded the penalty from
the Doge, for having disobeyed the law; and the Doge with ready mind
paid it, remaining in his opinion that the said fabric ought to be
built. And so, in the year 1422, on the 20th day of September, it was
passed in the Council of the Pregadi that the said new palace should be
begun, and the expense should be borne by the Signori del Sal; and so,
on the 24th day of March, 1424, it was begun to throw down the _old_
palace, and to build it anew."--_Cadorin_, p. 129.

The day of the month, and the council in which the decree was passed,
are erroneously given by this Chronicle. Cadorin has printed the words
of the decree itself, which passed in the Great Council on the 27th
September: and these words are, fortunately, much to our present
purpose. For as more than one facade is spoken of in the above extract,
the Marchese Selvatico was induced to believe that both the front to the
sea and that to the Piazzetta had been destroyed; whereas, the "facades"
spoken of are evidently those of the Ziani Palace. For the words of the
decree (which are much more trustworthy than those of the Chroni