The whole world has now adopted, with various modifications, the
picturesque and exciting pastime of the regatta, which, according to
Mutinelli, [Footnote: _Annali Urbani di Venezia_.] originated among
the lagoons at a very early period, from a peculiar feature in the
military discipline of the Republic. A target for practice with the bow
and cross-bow was set up every week on the beach at the Lido, and nobles
and plebeians rowed thither in barges of thirty oars, vying with each
other in the speed and skill with which the boats were driven. To divert
the popular discontent that followed the Serrar del Consiglio and the
suppression of Bajamonte Tiepolo's conspiracy early in the fourteenth
century, the proficiency arising from this rivalry was turned to account,
and the spectacle of the regatta was instituted. Agreeably, however, to
the aristocratic spirit of the newly established oligarchy, the patricians
withdrew from the lists, and the regatta became the affair exclusively of
the gondoliers.
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