St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1880-02-13

capture Gambia in consequence of iufor-
nation conveyed by one of their ances.
tors, early in the 18th century, and also
that they are daily fed at the hour of
two. L was in the vicinity several times
at and near the appointed bour. bnt
saw no general gathering of the pigeons
and no general preparations to feed
them, beyond what one might see in
front of the cafes at almost any other
time of the day. There was formerly a
benevolent Countess who provided for
the daily care of the birds, but latterly
they have been LETT to shift pretty much
for themselves, and the evidences of
rank independence on the part of the
feathered vagabonds are found on every
neighboring building, be it palace or
less noble edifice. The roof OF the
church of San Noise, near the square, is
one of their many favorite resting
places. ......... .....
THE CHURCH OF ST. MARK.
In front of st. Marks are three pill,
or staffs, of cedar, rising from pedestals,
which formerly bore the banners of Cy-
prus, Gambia and MOrea, in token of the
subjugation of the people of those coun-
tries. The form of the church is Greek
cross, and its architecture is mixture
of the Romanesque and Byzantine, with
a modern addition Q4th century, of
little Gothic facade. There is large
Byzantine dome i'll the centre and
smaller dOmes upon the four arms of
the cross. Outside and inside there is
over an acre of mosaics, and there are
no less than five hundred marble col
umns. In every aspect, without and
within, the editice has picturesque
and fantastic appearance. Over the
main portal are the four famous gilded
bronze horses which Napoleon carried
off to Paris to ornament his lesser AIc
de Triomphe i'll the Place du Carrousel,
back of the Tuileries. These horses
were long supposed to have been the
workmanship of the Greek master, Ly-
sippus, but they aIe now believed to
have been produced in Rome at the
time of Nero. They have travelled
much, albeit they are only bronze. They
are known to have been in Rome, where
they adorned successively the arches of
Nero, Domitian, Trojan and Censtan-
tine. Early in the 5th century the En-
perOr Theodosius transported them to
COnstantinOple and placed them in the
centre of the Hippodrome, which was
quite as appropriate place for them
as the front of Christian church. In
the year 1905, after the conquest of
ConstantinOple by the Venetians and
French, the horses and much other spoil
which now enriches ST. Marks, fell to
the lot of the Venetians and were sent
thither by the Podesta Marino Zeno.
With these spoils came sundry sacred
relics including the head of John the
Baptist (the body having fallen to the
lot of the French), the body of St.
Luke, IL phiaI of Christ's blood (now
kept in the treasury of St. Mark's), and
a fragment of the cross. 1t is recorded
that the phial of blood was claimed by
two soldiers, and that one shed the
others blood to secure the precious
booty. For nearly six hundred years
until 1796-the horses looked forth upon
the gay Piazza di San Marco. When
that eminent freebooter, Napoleon Bo-
naparte, came to Italy, he seized the
bronze steeds and led them over the
Alps back to Paris. By the treaty of
1914, they were restored in common
with all other works of art Napoleon
had stolen, but not until copy had
been made of them for the before-men-
toned arch.
The interior of the church is quite as
fanciful in design as the outside. The
domes are lofty and are adorned with
pictures in mosaic, and the pavements
are fashioned in the same way, the mo-
saics forming geOmetIical figures. In
some places these worn and sunken
stones have supplanted still more an
cient pavements. The relics of St.
Mark, brought from Alexandria in S28,
repose beneath the high altar. Behind
the high altar is second altar, with
four spiral columns of alabaster. Two
of these columns, as the guide will show
you by means of lighted taper, are
transparent. According to tradition
these came from Solomon's Temple.
THE PALACE OF THE DOGEs.
The Palace of the Doges, or the Du-
cal Palace, is interesting beyond almost
everything else one sees in Venice. 1t
is richly decorated, and the senate and
council halls contain a great number of
magnificent paintings. Many of the
finest pictures of Tintoretto and Paolo
Veronese are to be seen here. Then
there are a number of apartments
containing statuarv and antiquities,
mainly flom Greece. The visitor wan
ders Though the great hall of the Sen
ate, the hall of the Council of Ten, the
hall of the Council of Three and the
ante-chamber of the Three Inquisitors
where may still be seen the hole in the
wall where documents imparting secret
information were formerly thrust. He
can also cross the Bridge of Signs and
enter the gloomy old dungeons, where
the victims of the cruel rulers were i'm