New-York daily tribune., 1844-04-16


two in Venice resident friend to whom men,
toned the extraordinary sight, enquircd if it was
the white or The brown one for there arc TO
others. Ii excited more attention from the people
than an elephant does in Ncw-York, and many
persons here doubtless pass their lives without
seeing any horses, except the brazen ones over
the door of San Marco.
In the Pdla=zo BarJerigO was the studio of
Titan, 300 years ago, and in its gallery still! re-
main twenty,eight of his genuine and indubitabIc
productions. Among them is his Saint Scbas-
tian on which he was engaged when he sckened
Of the plague (Which ended his life at the age Of
SO years. and which still remains unfinished, as
he left it, when he laid down his brushes for the
last time. Here too is his beautiful Venus,
with Cupid holding up mirror before her and
another offering her garland. Just opposite
to it IS the Beauty Of beauties, veied by cur
tain, which the cnstoa will not draw till you
have seen every thing else, and then he lets you
view Titian's lovely Magdalen She is the only
Beauty in tears" that ever lived, out of poetry
The tears are still on her cheeks, and you see
that she has been weeping bitterly, but even thus
she is more charming than any other beauty in
smiles Her long hair falls in dshcvelled curls
upon her bosom, and half wells her from your
eyes. She IS gathering the folds Of her dress
about her with her taper fingers, and looking up
from the skull and holy book beside her to im-
plore pardon from Heaven, and if such beauty in
repentance can plead in vain; all the rest Of the
world may well despair.
Three duplicates of this charming picture are
known to exst-one in The Pitt Palace at Flor
ence one in the Palazzo Durazzo at Genoa, and
one in the Museo Barbonico at Naples. Of all
four, the Venice one is the best authenticated
and the most touching. 1t had inspired the cara-
lie, Marino with the following lines, which are
hung up under the picture.
- ia ce,la Ia Naiurs, ceda Il vsro
a quei che d0uo Artiicf M hrese,
Che quail |, aves relP alma nel rensefo
Tai bella e viva sncor Gr la depuisse
o celeste s-mbianzA; m'rlsfaro.
Ovs nell upra 50 t-sso ei vluSse;
Nl,ravislia I,ll monde, onor dell, aIte."
All the pictures hang as they'dd three hundred
years ago; for the present Count, with excellent
But the frequency with which the keeper took oc-
casion to say "None of these are for sale, be-
cause the Count is very rich," induced me to
suspect the reverse to be the truth. Most of the
ancient Venetian nobili'y are very poor; nearly
thousand Of their body receive pecunlary and
from the Austrian government. The offices Of
the state, which were once an abundant resource,
are now filled by Germans, some of whom can
not speak the language of the country. Not one
twentieth of the palaces are now occupied by the
families who built them. The decay Of the city
constantly dimirishes the income Of those who
still remain nominally rich, and they abandon
their palaces for less expensive apartments. The
city is visibly fading away. AT the end of the
seventeenth century lis population was two hun
drcd thousand In 1916 it was only one hun
dred and three thousand. Another century or two
may sec it reduced to nothing. The existence
of the city has always been forced and unnatural.
1t was founded as place of refuge from the de-
vastating Huns; when that cause ceased, it was
sustained by the pride oiindcpendencc, and byits
commercial advantages. Now these pcculiarites
are reversed, and the once mighty republic OF
Venice is petty serf of barbarons Austria. Her
mobiles 90 to hide their shame in the crowds of
the mainland where they arc less conspicuous
her merchants leave her for more profitable sta
tons the common people follow them as fast as
they can and the time may not be very distant
when her inhabitants and houses shall all have
disappeared, and few fishing huts on her Islands
shall alone mark the spot where once stood
VrN1cr. W. NJ. q.