New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1844-03-30


NY-cHURCH OF ST. MARK.
Your first glimpse of VENICE from the distant
shore of Fusina, shows you a glittering mass of
domes, towers and palaces, rising from the sea-
like fairy exhalation. You almost expect to see
it sink again into the element from whose bosom
it seems to have sprung, or to find It sailing OFT
before the wind, or fading out into nothlngness
But as you approach tim your nolseless gondola,
the city shows itself too real and substantial to be
a creation of fancy; but still you are lost in adj
mration of the fortitude of the fugtives from the
devastating Goths, who abandoned the earth to
their irresistible conqueror, but contested the sea
with the monsters of the deep, and founded city
in mid ocean. The structures increase III maJes-
ty and splendor as you approach them, and at
length you enter the Grand Canal, the main ar
terry of the great body, with countless smaller
veins of water branching off on either slde,) and
gliding up this trackless street, smoothly, ST.
lently, as in dream, you pass by palace alter
palace, of strange oriental architecture, with
their fronts washed by the waves of the sea, land
bearing names of ancient greatness which thrill
YOU with excitement, when you recall to mind
the achievements and the fates of those who
once dwelt here. Over the side canals you see
many bridges, but the main channel bears none,
till YOU reach broad massive arch which spans
it at one stretch, and as you shoot beneath its
shadow, the gondoGer says, e The Ratio - AS
you emerge from under it, you peer eagerly among
the crowd moving around nc shops, which still
line its sides, and almost expect to see there
Shylock himself. At length you turn aside from
the Grand Canal, and your gondola winds
through various smaller watersheds, which seem
to YOU perfect labyrinth, but by which you are
brought to your hotel, in the court Of which are
two doors, one, (by which you have entered,) Ia
belIed Egress by WATER" and the other "EgreSs
by land" giving to the amphibious inhabitants
their choice of either element.
Though right had now come on, we were too
impatient to delay till the next day the view Of
the famous Piazza di San Marco, and accord
ingly passed out by the land door," and trav-
ersed the "land. streets" of Venice. They are
narrow and winding, and are lined by very lofty
houses whose lower stories are occupied by shops,
crowded into such confined limits as show how
valuable is, or rather was every foot of ground
wrested from the sea. Broad flag stones pave
their whole width, which is all foot-path, for no
horses or carriages ever intrude here, and the Pc
destrian has the entire monopoly of the street,
without fear of being run down at every instant,
"a luxurious freedom which is an unique excep-
ton on the continent. After several turns from
one dark and narrow lane into another, we pass
ed under broad archway, and suddenly emerged
into the startling magnifcence of the Piazza d.
San Marco. Behind us was palace forming the
side ofthe square through which we had entered !;
on our left hand stretched out the palace of the
Procurasie Vecchie, standing on an arcade of
fifty arches, and extending for five hundred feet
along one side of the Place. On your right hand
was the corresponding colonnade of the PdtaSSo
Reale, busting with gay crowds OF every nation;
but as our eyes passed along the long range OF
brilliant lights which lined the fronts Of the two
opposite palaces they were met at the farther ex-
tremity of the Place, by the gorgeous eastern
splendor of the arches, columns, and domes OF
the Church Of San Marco while in one corner
rose the tall tower of the Campanile, and on the
opposite side that OF the Horologe. The whole
world beside cannot present such spectacle.
Crossing the square to its farther right-hand
corner, YOU there find smaller Piazza, or PtaS.
setta, one side of which is formed by the Palace
of the Doges, and another by the sea, on which
once rode so triumphantly the galeys Of the We
netan Republic. Two granite columns, trophlc
from Constantinople, adorn one extremity OF tn
Piazzetta, and the piers of the gate of St. Johl
of Acre, brought from that city by its conqueror
stands opposite. Every thing reminds you of tn
former greatness of the Venetian Republic, nov
become slave Of Austrian tyranny Returnin!
from the dimly lighted Piazzetta, and passing tn
Church OF San Marco, which seems relic Q
another hemisphere, and almost OF another world
you enter the arcades under the palaces which
are lined with brilliant cafes, before which ar
lounging crowds of every nation, among whc
are most conspicuous the Turks, with their tul
bans and pipes, and the Greeks, with their re-
Fee caps and embroidered jackets. The galel
of the Piazza is in striking contrast to the gloon
which hangs over the rest of Venice; but 1t /
the gaiety of aliens, and in all the crowd yo
seldom see any one who looks as if he might be
Venetian noble ; the few VINO remain arc too prou
TO expose their degradation to the world Gulta
players and singers pass and repass, performin:
their national airs, and singing comic canzonets
which those who understand the dialect receiv
with shouts of laughter. Sellers of iced drink
and candied fruits fill up the symphonies witt
their cries. while the pretty flower-girls, instea
of rying their wares, silly slip bouquet Int