Girolamo Magagnati prided himself on being a Venetian of the people, and
it was true that no member of his family had ever sat in the Consiglio;
but in few of the patrician homes of Venice could more of what was then
counted among the comforts of life have been found than in this less
sumptuous house of Murano, while its luxuries were all such as centered
about his art. He was one of the magnates of his island, for his
furnaces were among the most famous of Murano, and to him belonged
secrets of the craft in his special field to which no others had yet
attained, while in a degree that would scarcely have been esteemed by
the merchant princes of Venice, who sat in the Consiglio, they had
brought him wealth and repute. But to him, whose heart was in his work,
it was power and glory that sufficed. No stranger whom it was desired to
honor came to Venice but was conducted, with a ceremony that was
flattering, while it was also a due precaution against too curious
questioning, through the show-rooms of the factories of Murano; and
often in this chamber had gathered a group of men whom the world called
great, led by that special Chief of the Ten who was then in power at
Murano, to see the treasures of this cabinet of which Girolamo was
justly proud.
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