crush the delicate fabric below.

But with all its defects,

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

Austrian placemen have established their offices in the hambers of Doges and Senators, and the tyranny of the Council of Ten is maintained by the new masters of Venice, vho have ruined its prosperity and reduced its inhabiants 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 åre 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.

J

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

ad saw a host of workmen forging silver bars, and coining cats. The process is slow and capable of many improveents; but in a country where labour is so cheap, it is no oject to facilitate and expedite mechanical operations. We ent through the long range of palaces bordering upon the quare of St. Mark, the head-quarters of the Emperor of ustria, when he is at Venice. The saloons are neatly finhed, but the furniture was strewed over the floors, and the ollection of the works of art is contemptible. In the course

f a long walk, seldom interrupted by any object of curiosity, e found the room in which Napoleon lived, during his resience in this city. It looks out upon a pretty garden in the ear. There is a hole in the window sash, which he cut with is penknife, and inserted a peg, whence he suspended a mall shaving-glass.

An excursion to the Public Garden furnished a more promient memorial of the same great man, under whose direction his beautiful promenade was laid out, planted, and embel. ished. Artificial mounts, shaded by a young growth of rees, 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 do. 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 ap peared 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 invent ed 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

very description are suspended from the Gothic pillars, hich support the ceiling.

We visited every department of the Arsenal, which is two iles and a half in circuit. It is one of the finest Navyards I have ever seen, not excepting Toulon itself.

The

ater is of sufficient depth to float the largest ships; and e docks are surrounded with substantial quays, covered y acres of roofed buildings, supported by stone and brick rches.

In the depository of models, occupying an extensive hall, ut not so well filled as that of Toulon, the most interesting rticle is an exact copy of the old Bucentaur, so famous in he annals of Venice, as the state-boat which used to coney the Doge and Senate to the nuptials of the Adriatic with Es mistress, as well as to other splendid fetes. It had two lecks, one for the gondoliers and the other for passengers. t is pierced for fifty oars; but only twenty-one upon a side vere used. In its best estate, it was probably inferior to the Royal Yacht of England, or Cleopatra's Barge of our own country. On the deck is a staff, for hoisting a banner, and he bow carries the lions of St. Mark. The model is comletely equipped, and exhibits a perfect idea of the original, which was laid up in ordinary, after the conquest of the French in 1796. We visited the dock in which the Bucentaur used to lie. Fragments of her are still preserved, suspended from the walls of a ship-house by cords. One side of the boat is nearly entire. It is painted red, and embossed with gilt emblems in bold relief. In the same dock is the state barge built for Napoleon, and now transferred to his imperial successor also a boat belonging to the Grand Dutchess of Parma, the late Empress of France.

From the Navy-Yard, we crossed the Lagune, a distance of a mile or more, to the Lido di Palestrina, the outlines of which have already been described. The inside is lined with a perpendicular wall of brick and stone. We walked across the peninsula, which is less than half a mile in width. Much of it appears to be the natural surface, composed of moderate swells, coated with grass and wild bushes.

The sum

mit of the ridge presents a glorious view of the Adriatic on one side, and of Venice on the other, with the Rhætian Alps beyond. In crossing the neck, we accidentally stumbled upon an old cemetery of the Jews, whose very dust is kept distinct from the rest of mankind. The rude slabs are enVOL. II.

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