turn in the city; though pains have been taken to substitute the double-headed eagle of Austria and the bust of the Emperor.

The Campanile or belfry of St, Mark's is an enormous brick tower, standing in the piazza, insulated from the church. It is perhaps forty feet square, and three hundred in height, composed of a succession of arches in the interior to give it strength. Three sides of the basement are lined with paltry retail shops, and in the fourth or front, is a sort of temple, highly embellished with bas-relief and a variety of sculpture. This curious apartment is now exclusively appropriated to the drawing of lotteries. We climbed the long flight of steps in the interior, dimly lighted by small windows, at distant stages.

The cupola is formed by a colonnade, supporting a pyramid, on the top of which is poised a colossal bronze angel. Here old Gallileo, in his exile, used to watch the heavens, and make his astronomical observations; and hence we had a charming view of the same blue skies, with the hundred romantic islands, which they canopy. To adopt a simile which such an observatory suggests, Venice may be compared to a primary planet, surrounded by numerous satellites. The city itself, from this height, appears a compact mass of buildings, showing none of its canals, bridges, or narrow streets. It lies in an oval form, and is seven miles in circumference, girt by the waves, out of which rise other small islands, covered with fortresses, churches, convents, hospitals, and other buildings. To the south, the Lido di Palistrina divides the Lagunes from the Adriatic. It is an artificial peninsula, ten or twelve miles in length and of moderate breadth, constructed in the age of the republic, to protect the city and harbour from the violence of the winds and waves. It is now green and studded with white buildings.

Descending from the tower, we visited the Ducal Palace, which extends from St. Mark's to the quay, bounding one side of the Piazzetta. It is a stupendous edifice of very singular construction. The basement is composed of arches; the second story is of light open fretwork, in the Saracenic or Arabesque style; and the third story consists of heavy plain brick, loaded with a prodigious weight of Gothic pinnacles. Every principle of architecture, as well as of taste, is violated in this curious structure. The order of stories is reversed, and the ponderous battlements seem sufficient

to crush the delicate fabric below.

But with all its defects,

this old palace is peculiarly interesting. Its exterior bears the marks of neglect, dilapidation, and decay. Myriads of doves were observed hovering and seeking their homes among its shattered pinnacles. Its form is quadrangular, leaving a spacious court in the centre, which is surrounded by double ranges of arcades or corridors-one in the basement, and the other round the second story. The ground on which it is built, like that of St. Mark's, has settled to such a degree, that the frieze is crooked, and the whole fabric seems ready to follow the destiny of the government, which once occupied its halls.

Austrian placemen have established their offices in the chambers of Doges and Senators, and the tyranny of the Council of Ten is maintained by the new masters of Venice, who have ruined its prosperity and reduced its inhabitants to beggary. The Grand Council Room has been converted into a library, with groups of statues elevated upon pedestals and scattered about the hall, among which the Emperor of Austria is the most conspicuous. The walls and ceiling are ornamented with pictures and frescos of the Venetian school-Titian, Paul Veronese, and Tintoretto. The same national spirit is visible in the embellishments of the old palace, as in the church of St. Mark. All the battles and victories of the Republic are delineated; and some of them have half a dozen editions from different pencils. The Venetian artists seem to have been much more patriotic than those of Genoa.

Of the other innumerable apartments which we traversed, the most interesting is the ancient Senate-house of the Three Hundred, where the "most potent, grave, and reverend signiors" used to deliberate, and settle the affairs of state. Wooden benches, painted red, are arranged round the room; and in a central position, a rostrum is erected against the wall, which each used to ascend to make his harangue.

Near the Senate Chamber is the hall, in which the Council of Ten were wont to assemble. It is now occupied by an Austrian tribunal of Thirty; so that the number of tyrants has probably been multiplied threefold, in the revolutions which Venice has experienced. In an adjoining room, inquisitions were made. It communicates by a dark narrow passage with a third apartment, whence the accused came to whisper a defence for himself, or an implication of others in

the ear of the inquisitors, stationed in little boxes, resembling the confessories in Catholic churches. Such was the scene of some of the blackest crimes and of the most appalling tyranny, to be found in the pages of history. As the revolution has terminated, it is difficult to say, whether the subversion of the Venetian government was a curse or a blessing. It is certain that the city was never so poor and degraded as it is at present.

The Bridge of Sighs is an arched and covered gallery, extending across a canal, between the Ducal Palace and a Prison, on the opposite bank. It is perhaps thirty feet in length, and twenty above the water. Two heavy grated windows furnish the only light. The passage leading from the Palace to the Bridge is narrow, crooked, and dark. A solitary lamp glimmers on the wall, night and day, to light the footsteps of the visitant through the gloomy labyrinth. It seems still to be the avenue to the Bridge of Sighs; for while we were groping our way through its mazes, the clanking of chains was heard in the cells, and two criminals came out of the prison in their shirt-sleeves, with manacles upon their hands, and faces like dæmons. guide lighted his taper and conducted us into the Cimmerian regions, beneath the pavement of the Ducal Palace, forming the dungeons in which state convicts were confined and secretly executed.

A

The cells are eighteen in number, ten or twelve feet in length, and six or seven in breadth, arched at top, with a small aperture in front. They are built in double tiers, one above another. The lower range is on a level with the water in the canal, and the dip of the oar was heard through the partition wall. In the stones on the sides of the passage are little niches, made to receive bars extended across, on which convicts were hanged or strangled to death; and others, in which executioners set their lamps, the smoke of which has blackened the wall. The pavement is perforated with three holes, communicating with the canal, to draw off the blood shed in quartering other criminals; and on the left is a door, through which the bodies were thrown into boats, to be taken away for interment. The inscriptions quoted in a note to the 4th Canto of Childe Harold, were pointed out to us; and Byron or Hobhouse, as the case may be, has given a very accurate account of the horrors of these dungeons. Opposite the Ducal Palace is the Mint, which we visited

and saw a host of workmen forging silver bars, and coining ducats. The process is slow and capable of many improvements; but in a country where labour is so cheap, it is no object to facilitate and expedite mechanical operations. We went through the long range of palaces bordering upon the Square of St. Mark, the head-quarters of the Emperor of Austria, when he is at Venice. The saloons are neatly finished, but the furniture was strewed over the floors, and the collection of the works of art is contemptible. In the course of a long walk, seldom interrupted by any object of curiosity, we found the room in which Napoleon lived, during his residence in this city. It looks out upon a pretty garden in the There is a hole in the window sash, which he cut with his penknife, and inserted a peg, whence he suspended a small shaving-glass.

rear.

An excursion to the Public Garden furnished a more prominent memorial of the same great man, under whose direction this beautiful promenade was laid out, planted, and embellished. Artificial mounts, shaded by a young growth of trees, and overlooking the neighbouring waters, have been erected in several places; and a neat coffee-house supplies visitants with refreshments. A handsome flight of steps in front forms a landing for gondolas, and a wide avenue connects it with the Square of St. Mark. 'The fashionable hour for the promenade is from 5 to 6 o'clock in the afternoon. In taking a turn or two through the alleys, we saw two aged Greeks walking together. Both are exiles. One of them was a patriarch of the church. He looked like another Belisarius, with his hoary locks and long beard. His companion was also an ecclesiastic, and appeared to be very fond of botany, as he paused to examine every plant and flower in the garden. They were conversing in the language of their country.

The Greek exiles are numerous at Venice. In passing the arcades at St. Mark's, we frequently saw groups of them smoking, sipping coffee, playing chess and cards. They seem to lead an indolent life, perhaps because they can find nothing to co. They have a large handsome chapel in the city. It differs very little in construction, furniture, or ornaments from the ordinary churches of Italy, except that all the young females are secreted behind a screen in the gallery, after the manner of the Jewish synagogues..> The mode of worship is nearly the same as that of the Roman Catholics.

LETTER LXXXVI.

VENICE CONCLUDED-OLD ARSENAL-NAVY YARD--BUCENTAUR -EXCURSION TO THE LIDO-ARMENIAN SCHOOL-CHURCHES -TOMB OF TITIAN-PALACES AND PICTURES-ACADEMY OF FINE ARTS-MAUSOLEUM OF CANOVA-AMUSEMENTS--THEATRE.

September, 1826.-Next to St. Mark's and its attendant buildings, the most interesting object at Venice is the old Arsenal, at the eastern extremity of the city. At its entrance are four colossal lions in Parian marble. They were brought from Athens and the Piræus by the Venetians as trophies, in the age of the Republic. One of them is a beautiful specimen of sculpture, said to have been made to commemorate the battle of Marathon. The other three appeared to be ill proportioned, long, gaunt, and spiritless.

The portals of the Arsenal are lofty, and enriched with a hundred trophies, taken in the wars of the Venetians with the Turks and the Barbary Powers. But the double-headed eagle of Austria now perches upon the spoils, brought home in the triumphant navies of the old republicans, and the bust of the Emperor is the presiding genius of a place, consecrated by the fame of Dandalo and his associates in arms. The guide first took us into the Armory, or more properly the Museum of the Arsenal, occupying two large halls filled with a great variety of the implements of war, partly invented by the Venetians, and partly captured from their enemies.

Among a thousand other things, are guns and cannon of a curious construction, used by the Doges in celebrating their victories, as well as in meeting the foe-mortars for throwing stones a foot in diameter, employed with effect against the Genoese, by which one of the Dorias was killed near Venice-scimetars, pikes, small arms of all kinds, and banners won from vanquished nations. The standards have crests of horse-hair, with halberds at the top of the flagstaff, which give them a martial appearance. Some of the muskets were fired by matches, the machinery for lighting which is here to be seen. Helmets and ancient armour of