Francesco, the celebrated doge of Venice, was elected to that office in 1423, and retained it for 34 years, dying in 1457, three days after his resignation. He did good service to his country, both by his foreign conquests and the excellence of his home administration. His domestic relations, however, were singular. He had the misfortune to lose three of his sons, and to see a charge of treason brought against the fourth and last, who was put on the rack and tortured before his own eyes, while he was himself compelled to acknowledge the justice of the whole trial. A very detailed and excellent account of the subsequent persecution of Foscar and his unfortunate son will be found in the second volume of Smelley's Sketches of Venetian History. Byron's tragedy of the Two Foscari is based upon this narrative.