Wilmington daily commercial., 1873-08-14
FIRST EDITION..
VENICE, CONTINUED.

| Seventh Month 2Gtl, 1873.
The DogsIs Palace, at Venice ia the most mag.
niicent OF all the royal residences that we have
seen. From the audience chamber down to the
long bail room, twenty-nne retiring, refresh
ment, card, and smoking rooms lead one into
another and all furnished in different oolors OF
damask. They are the most gorgeous rooms
imaginable, modern in style and furniture, and
only occupied for one or two days in year,
when Victor Emanuel comes. The suite used
by poor Maximon before his Inflated venture
to Mexico, il shown; there s the writing desk
and tho bureau and the bed which have never
been used since. Under the windows, in the
/ great square st. Marc, the pigeons flock in
great numbers, and everybody feeds them.
| They are 20 tame, that il We hold out some corn
in the hand they will fly up and cling there, and
/ pick the grains. They are held in reverence by
| the people, and there is law for their protec-
| tion. Ever 30 many years ago, some Doge, or it
| may be st. Marc himself. who ia the patron
saint OF Venice, brought some pigeons here, and
they have lived hero beloved and increasing
| ever since.
| The hotel at which we stay is an old palace
with the freecoes and the marble pillars still re-
| naming, while the Carrara that faced the walls
| and formed the floors is replaced by plaster and
| stuccO. These stucco floors of Venice are beau
! titul we walk over Tennessee marble apparent
Small bits OF stone, terra Gotta, marble, ,porce-
| lane. any thing hard is thrown into strong
cement, aud pounded and rolled till it is smooth
aud hard as one concrete stone 1t iH then pol
ished, till 1t shines almost like glass. Rugs are
thrown about where they are needed, but pre-
| snme they never cover them entirely with car
| pet, though in 1854 when the Lagoon was all
| frozen over it must have been pretty cold
| Every place We went We saw these conglomer-
| ate floors in the royal palace, each room had
different shade OF color, and some rooms
bOrdered with one kind and the center filled up
with another. ln some of the older rooms Of
| the hotel, the stucco ID made into lower-pots,
| and various figures. all differently colored,
Some little folks that know would be Won
derfnlly pleased to see the town clock of Venice
in which two great bronze men, in threatening
attitude stand on each side of big bell, with
hammers in their hands ready to strike it the
lumber OF times Indicated by the hour, which
il shown on the face below. not by hands as our
clock faces have, but by the number OF the hour
on one side, and the number Of minutes on the
other which latter changes only every five min
utes. 70 that person hurrying along the square
to depot or church, aud looking up could not
tell any more than five minutes how much time
he had.
The people here, though, don't calculate 80
closely that; they always start in time, and
take il lesurely. Why when they send this
crowd OF 1.-TWO hundred GOUernmeHt teachers
from America (according to the Geneva papers.)
to tile depot. we are always there from half to
a whole hour ahead OF time aud no place to sit
down, either, as we have in our own depots at
home, which are patterns Of luxury, compared
to most European ones.
These numbers on the face-to go back to the
clock-are brilliantly illuminated at night, and
the time OF the rising and setting of the sun and
moon shown, with all the figures Of the 20
diac in circle and hands pointing to the one in
aaceudeucy. The moon is a ball. gilded on one
side and black on the other-the proportion of
the gllded part showing represents the position
OF the moon with regard to the earth | noticed
that il showed what is called ''old moon" 30
that we shall not have any ''moonght on the
roofs of Venice" which has always been in my
imagination the fulness of poetry and romance.
ever since read Consnelo, at least. But
think that it would have to have even more than
its customary beautifying effect to spread gla-
mour over these broken tiles; and yet, l fee in
a measure the witching spell which sezes every
one who comes here.
1t is 30 delightful to the lazy for little time.
and this sightseeing in gondola with your
hand playing in the smooth, green water, and
the sunshine dancing but not expressing you,
and with the houses of Marco Polo, the first
great traveller to the East, and OF Martin Luther
who first made the Reform" and grand
churches built and ornamented by few noble
families, all standing looking down upon you i'll
turn, but all fast asleep the great marble
lions brought from Greece and Constantnople
by some Of the conquertng Doges, or az the
Sleeping Beauty in the wood, only more 30, for
when asked the guide Antonio, if it was not
80 he said - Yes, only the Prince will never
come to wake her with kiss, she is dead !" and
with the gondoer's singing operatically 3" Viva
lltaa, Viva la Roi,' to the soft accompaniment
Of the plashiug oars sight t-seeing in snch
way is no longer labor but continuous dream
of delight ia which you become rapidly, one
after another, living character III romance.
| do not wonder at the delights of Venetian
Life" to Howells l too wonld love to stay and
dream, and to do more, to climb the be-tower
which has steps, but a spiral inclined plane,
and where the only dust in Venice was tonnd
to mingle in the brilliant scene where st. Mark7
square IL lighted at night, and tho gay shops
aud the Jewels and the happy people crowding
the piaZzas, and the palaces. and the church, aud
the tower, all are radiant in the hundreds OF
lights which bnrn from every possible niche and
corner. would go over and at once the gae-
res OF Art and revei in the lights aud grace of
Titan who was the first to paint his figures
from living models, 30 they say, as Oimi WAS the
first to introduce landscapes as background to
his pieces before him gllded backgrounds were
used altogether. But before even Titlans WON
drous works.-and his masterpiece is here = the
Assumption of the Virgin, = and glorious
ly beautiful conception it is, would
Hector and Ajax; two colossal figures in marble
of the most perfect proportions, and yet the
boldest and fullest embodiments OF strength,
vigor, life, that can conceive OF. They are
perfectly satisfying. You look and rest aud al
most worship there ia sphnx-like secret
that torments you IN the ex-pl ession, all is
open, honest, pure and grand The tomb of
CanOya, designed by himself Tor Titan 3 monu-
ment but he dying before it was completed his
friends and pupils decided to take it for himself,
is great work, in conception and expression.
The female figure bearing the urn to the door
of tho tomb, and representing Genius mourning
his death, is sinGularly graceful and pure. The
same design is made the monument OF Maria
Christina, the daughter OF Maria Theresa, in
the church Of st. Augustine in Vienna. there
are many fine pieces of sculpture in Venice,
some very old, brought from Greece and the
east some it iA said are the works Of Phidias,
aud wonld fan believe that Ganymede and the
Eagle OF Jouc, as well as the wounded and dy-
ing Gladiators were the work of his hands, and
the result of his genius.
All round the chief gallery in the Academy OF
Art, are hung the portraits of the Doges OF We
nice, all but one, where black curtain hangs
and an inscription says that ''the Great Repub-
lie Furnishes Treason with Death" 1t is the
place of Marino Falieri of whom the books
know more than do, but fancy he was SEN
tenced unjustly by that grim Council OF Three
who met in the middle of the night in masks
unknown to each other and to the world, and
passed sentence on those who had been accused
through the mons mouth and tried by the au-
gust Council OF Ten, and lcommitted to those
horrid stone dungeons underneath the sea, with
not ray of light nor breath of air to penetrate.
1t is no wonder that covered passage over the
water that divides the Palace aud the Wallis of
| Justice from the dark prison, called the
bridge OF Signs" One or two small windows,
| give glimpse OF life and freedom but no more
| to the poor prisoner led over it and down the
atatNr tn tla 1arlF Nulnn