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exhibited in its construction. Both its facades
are alike, each divided horizontally into
nearly equal portions, of which the upper
is a marble wall of monumental solidity,
and the lower a fretwork of shafts, arches, and
intersecting circles. The columns that belong
to this division, which again is subdivided into
two galleries, are ofdifferent dimensions, varying
from three to seven diameters in height. This
strange irregularity Mr. Ruskin regards as a
proof of genius : to us it would appear a defect,
were we not persuaded that the architect was
constrained to adopt spaces and openings
which already existed, and which it was not
in his power to alter.
Mr. Ruskin has fallen into an error, or we
should rather say adopted one, long existing,
in assigning the date to both these facades. The
original palace had been destroyed by fire, and
that which succeeded it, built in the tenth
century, had been materially injured by the
same ruthless element. It had, however,
been restored, repaired, and added to in a
style more suitable to the rising fortunes of
the republic, but still without any attempt to
unite the whole into one comprehensive de-
sign. So reluctant was the Seignory to incur
the necessary expense, that a decree had been
passed condemning any individual who should
even make the proposal to an amercement of a
thousand ducats. In the year 1422, the reign-
ing Doge, Tomaso Mocenigo, having paid the
fine before he spoke, proposed and carried the
proscribed measure amidst the loud approba-
tion of the assembly (in the language of
Mann Sanuto, from whom we quote), the
"se doveseno refare le fazade del palazzo
" vecchio." Mr. Ruskin remarks with truth
that we are singularly deficient in no
tires, even the most vague, respecting the
history of this most interesting building,
but those which we do possess should on that
accountbe more prized ; and the language of
Sanuto is most precise, and cannot be post-
poned to a vague tradition that the sea facade
had been built by Filippo Calendario, who was
executed for his participation in the conspiracy
of Marino Faliero (1354), but who there is
not the slightest evidence to prove was ever
employed in the building at all. Mr. Ruskin,
in his strong admiration of the exterior of the
Ducal Palace, is willing to assign it to a date
that favours his architectural theory, and in
quoting Sanuto's words supposes them to
apply to that portion of the piazzetta facade
only which he thinks inferior, and to which an
earlier date cannot be attributed. At the time
when the completion of the Ducal Palace was
decreed the great council chamber was still un-
finished, and part of the scheme was no doubt
to connect it with the other buildings, to
bring the whole under the same roof, and
also to case the walls with marble, to re-
model the old arcades, and to decorate
them in the taste of the day. Hence that
want of proportion in the columns which Mr.
Ruskin admires, and which the architect (we
believe very unwillingly) was compelled to en-
dure. An arcade had, no doubt, always ex-
isted, two galleries were absolutely necessary
to the internal arrangements, and the height
allotted to both could not be increased. That
the interior was completed before the facade
an examination of the main wall would
show. The plan of the council chamber it is
known was altered in the course of its pro-
gress ; and that it was designed with no
reference to the facade is evident by the
position of its windows on the sea facade,
which are not all on a level, a sacrifice
of appearance that regard for internal conve-
nience could alone compel the architect to make.
We think the evidence conclusive that this
facade does not date beyond the fifteenth
century, but all proof is weak in comparison
with the inherent evidence the building itself
affords. The piazzetta facade, excepting the
six first arches at the southern extremity, is of
a later date and inferior workmanship, carried
on more hastily and more carelessly, as being
for the sake of uniformity completed in a
taste which was no longer fashionable. The
great entrance called the Porta della Carta
bears the armorial shield of Doge Foscari, who
reigned from 1423 till 1457, when he was suc-
ceeded by Doge Malipiero, but it was probably
finished before the arcade of the palace ad-
joining was commenced. The style of the

THE PRESS.

windows in the upper compartment are more
modern : they are broken out irregularly with-
out regard to symmetry; the principal window
on the piazzetta side bears the arms of Doge
Andrea Gritti, who did not reign till 1629, nor
were these windows terminated much before
the fall of the republic, Canova himself, in his
youth, having supplied one of the statues for
a niche.
The solid superstructure, so oddly built of
polished marble, but so arranged as to imitate
bricks laid in diamond patterns, was unques-
tionably the quaint device of the architect
Buono: it neither belongs to theVenetian-Gothic
at the beginning of the fifteenth century, nor to
the revived classic at its close ; we think it
highly probable that it was copied from the de-
sign of the old palace, vartly from respect, and
partly in the spirit of imitation. Many of the
ancient materials were probably used ; but
the solid wall, supported by an arcade, and
topped by an Arabian parapet, were pretty
faithfully copied by the modern architect.
The inconsistency and partiality of our
author is manifested in his account of this
building. According to him the sea facade,
with six of the arches of the angle, were begun
in 1301 and finished in the course of about
a hundred years, and to this portion of the
building he accords the highest praise his
ample vocabulary can furnish ; and yet the
decree to fill up the gap in the same style be-
tween the unfinished arcades and the church,
in the year 1424, was " the knell of architecture
" and of Venice itself."
Mr. Ruskin gives a long catalogue of the
allegories and puzzles which are inserted
among the cauliflower capitals of the bearing
shafts in the arcades, each illustrated by a motto
in had Latin, inscribed on a scroll placed too
high to be legible, and which, mistaking their
date, he cites as a proof of the piety and inge-
nuity of the age. He is also profuse in his
admiration of two of the three groups of high-
reliefs which adorn the angles of the palace.
One represents the fall of man, another the
drunkenness of Noah, and the third the judg-
ment of Solomon. The two former he assigns to
the early part of the fourteenth century ; the
latter to the fifteenth. "It is impos-
" Bible," he says, " to regard with too much
" admiration the significance of this single
" fact. It is as if the palace had been built at
" various epochs and preserved uninjured to
" this day for the sole purpose of teaching us
" the difference of the temper of the two
" schools."—Vol. 11., p. 301. In the selection
of the two first subjects he discovers a confession
of the weakness of man, in that of the latter a
pregnant proof of his vanity and self-suftl-
ciency. Now in truth the style of all the
groups marks them as belonging to the first
and last division of the fifteenth century ; and
the subjects have been repeated again and
again by the Romish Church in all ages. The
fall of man and the consequent proneness to
evil, even in the best of the species, are
represented in the two first; and the latter
is a favourite type of Justice, and has pe-
culiar propriety when placed by the entrance
of the national council chamber, near which all
proclamations and edicts were uttered, and
above which criminal sentences were published.
We cannot but regret that before undertaking
to write on the fine arts Mr. Ruskin should not
have qualified himself better for the task by
preliminary study. His knowledge, in fact, is
far too limited both of authors and places. He
seems familiar with no books but his own, and
those he quotes much in the style in which
the Old Testament is referred to in the New.
His curiosity, too, seems very easily satisfied,
since the appendix to his third volume contains
an astonishing list of pictures and places un-
seen and unvisited in Venice itself, all well
worthy his attention, and all accessible at any
time.
In pointing out the defects of his volumes,
we recommend them nevertheless very sin-
cerely to the attention ofour readers. They con-
tain much valuable matter, and exhibit great
talent and ingenuity in their author.We fear they
are too bulky to be longlived or generally po-
pular. He has adopted the fashionable opi-
nions of the day, which he has clothed in
language and with a wealth of illustration to
which none of his rivals and contemporaries
have attained ; but we fear they will hereafter

SATURDAY,

be quoted rather in proof of the extravagance
to which the love of novelty hurried the writers
of the nineteenth century than for the valu-
able matter they really contain. His style
has many beauties and some defects, but he de-
lights in expressing with elaborate ingenuity
what could be told better with perfect simpli-
city. It is deficient also in perspicuity. His
digressions are numerous and perplexing. He
travels out of his way to discuss points un-
connected with his subject, his metaphors and
illustrations fatigue by their repetition, and
his moral philosophy and his theology are out
of place and unsound.

The History of Yucatan from its Discovery to
the Close of the Seventeenth Century. By
Charles St. John Fancourt, Esq. London :
Murray.

COLONEL FANCOURT has done his work well.
It is not easy to find a new subject for history ;
but Yucatan is unexplored ground, historically
as well as physically, and the late Superin-
tendent of Honduras knows how to profit by
this advantage. He has compiled from Spanish
chroniclers a narrative which is neither prolix
nor jejune, but abridged to the length most
suitable for English readers; the style agree-
able, the incidents well selected and well told ;
a work without fault so far as it goes, though
not aiming at any high degree of literary merit.
We speak only of such qualities as are obvious
to the reader ; for, not having compared Col.
Fancourt's compilation with the original au
thors, we can give no opinion as touching his
fidelity. The book is incomplete, a second
volume being meant to follow, in which the
later history of the colony will be detailed,—a
promise which reconciles us to what would
otherwise be a grave omission—the total ab-
sence of any physical or geographical account
of the country described. Even though this
deficiency be hereafter supplied, it ought not
to have been left to the last. The annals of a
colony are imperfect without some mention of
its climatic and external peculiarities. A map
alone is insufficient as a guide.
The first discoverers of Yucatan were De
Solis and Pinzon, in 1506 ; but for eleven
years no use was made of the knowledge by
them acquired. In 1517 Hernandez, either
driven by a storm or, as others say, impelled
by the desire to gain renown by a discovery of
his own, visited this unexplored coast. His
voyage led to no material results, but ended
in a battle between his crew and the natives,
wherein the latter, though unused to firearms,
gained the advantage by sheer courage and
force of numbers. The story runs that Yuca-
tan received its present name from the reply
of one of these people, who, questioned on the
subject, replied " Tectatan," that is, " I do
not understand." Similar fables are told of
all navigators in all countries. Hernandez
got little in exchange for his loss of men, for
Yucatan still continued to be thought an
island—the Spanish voyagers, notwithstanding
the experience of many years, not yet being
able to reconcile their minds to the idea that a
solid continent interposed between them and
that Asia which they thought themselves
always on the point of reaching. After his
return, a second expedition under Grijalva
having added something to the explorer's
geographical knowledge, Hernan Cortes was
chosen for a third and more important voyage.
The talents of this great man had produced
their natural effect in raising him up a host of
enemies, whose persevering calumnies at last
induced Velasquez, Governor of Cuba, who
had nominated him to this high comman,
to recal his appointment. But the governor's
vacillating policy only lost him the confidence,
without preventing the success, of his subor-
dinate. Cortes, dreading a formal prohibition
to depart, was already on board and had
weighed anchor. Velasquez, yielding to a
stronger will than his own, reversed his sen-
tence of recal, and repaired to the fleet to bid
him farewell. Here his displeasure found vent
in words ; but Cortes, nothing abashed, ex-
cused himself briefly, and they parted on
terms of friendship. Out of the voyage thus
inauspiciously begun arose the world-wide
fame of Hernan Cortes. Ho directed his
efforts against Mexico, and five years passed