Sine
cembalo), his desk, two pairs of sheets, a velvet quilt, a
counterpane, a feather-bed - all on the same conditions as above, and
to remain with the trustees till his son returns to Venice.
Meanwhile the trustees are to invest the money at his son's risk and
benefit, but only here in Venice (investiant seu investire,
faciant).
From the proceeds to come in from his partnership with his brothers
Nicolo and Maffeo, he bequeaths 200 lire to his daughter Maroca.
From same source 100 lire to his natural son Antony.
Has in his desk (capsella) two hyperperae (Byzantine gold coins),
and three golden florins, which he bequeaths to the sister-in-law
Fiordelisa.
Gives freedom to all his slaves and handmaidens.
Leaves his house in Soldachia to the Minor Friars of that place,
reserving life-occupancy to his son Nicolo and daughter Maroca.
The rest of his goods to his son Nicolo.
[25] The terms in which the younger Maffeo mentions these half-brothers in
his Will (1300) seem to indicate that they were still young.
IV. DIGRESSION CONCERNING THE MANSION OF THE POLO FAMILY AT VENICE.
[Illustration: Corte del Milione, Venice.]
[Illustration: Malibran Theatre Venice]
[Sidenote: Probable period of their establishment at S. Giovanni
Grisostomo.]
23. We have seen that Ramusio places the scene of the story recently
alluded to at the mansion in the parish of S. Giovanni Grisostomo, the
court of which was known in his time as the Corte del Millioni; and indeed
he speaks of the Travellers as at once on their arrival resorting to that
mansion as their family residence. Ramusio's details have so often proved
erroneous that I should not be surprised if this also should be a mistake.
At least we find (so far as I can learn) no previous intimation that the
family were connected with that locality. The grandfather Andrea is styled
of San Felice. The will of Maffeo Polo the younger, made in 1300, which
we shall give hereafter in abstract, appears to be the first document that
connects the family with S. Giovanni Grisostomo. It indeed styles the
testator's father "the late Nicolo Paulo of the confine of St. John
Chrysostom," but that only shows what is not disputed, that the Travellers
after their return from the East settled in this locality. And the same
will appears to indicate a surviving connexion with S. Felice, for the
priests and clerks who drew it up and witness it are all of the church of
S. Felice, and it is to the parson of S. Felice and his successor that
Maffeo bequeaths an annuity to procure their prayers for the souls of his
father, his mother, and himself, through after the successor the annuity
is to pass on the same condition to the senior priest of S. Giovanni
Grisostomo.
