The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-08-23

Paris in 1897, where they crowned a
Triumph Arch until in 1915 Francis I. of
Austria sent them back to Venice and
had them replaced. These wonderful
horses weigh about two tons apiece and
are pure copper. / presume that nothing
finer can be found in the world. Time
has made little impression upon them.
In the pavement of the vestlbule Is
porphyry slab which is thus described by
Rogers:
SIN that temple porch
(The brass is gone, the porphyry NC
main9
Did Barbarossa fling his mantle off,
And knecling, on mis- neck receive the
boot
OF the proud Pontiff thus at last con-
soled
For blights, disguise. and many an an
guish shake
On his stone pillow
THE council of Ten established in 1910
and invested with supreme authority,
hated by many and dreaded by all-se
cret, powerful relentless and omnipotent
sent forth its terrible DEGREES, and in
the same building received denuncia-
tions through the lions mouth
The lions mouth was everywhere, at
the portals of the ducal palace. at the
landing of the Giants staircase at the
entrance of the chamber of the Ten;
lions mouth of marble, with yawning
jaws, for every department. of State, for
every crime, for all corners, against all
persons, for written or for oral communi-
cations anonymous or signed and below
each inscription, "Denouncei denounced"
Once denounced the victim is seized; once
seized he IS sentenced; once sentenced
all is over. Nothing is seen, heard.
suspected of his fate. He disappears! A
man is suddenly missed by his family
Where is he? They dare not ask. At
midnight one hears a splash. He stops,
he listens, he hears no more-all is still!
He hurrics on, breathless with terror.
with quaking footsteps.
The Palace and the prison are on OPP
pcslte sides of a canal, and connected by
The Bridge of Sighs. We visited the
dungeons or cells i'll the prison below the
water with little ventilation, and they are
places where eternal night reigns-for
they are pitch dark at midday. The place
where the guilotinc cut their heads OFT
and TIE prison is empty. l stood where
Byron did when he wrote these lines:
Il stood in Venice on the Bridge of
Signs:
palace and a prison on each hand
| saw from out the wave her structures
rise
AS front the stroke of the enchanter's
words,
A thousand years their cloudy wings
expand
Around me, and a dying glory smiles
Der the far times, when many subject
land
Looked to the terrorized lions marble
piles,
When Venice sat in state throned on her
hundred isles.
In the Doge's Palace IS "The Golden
Stairs" which were once only trodden by
those of the nobility whose names were
written in the Golden Book" This book
contains the names of the patricians of
Venice and is the standard of nobility.
giving births, brdals and deaths of the
nobles., Some foreign names of royalty
appear on the pages. There are the
names of Henry " of France and the
Princess Marie de Medici-placed at his
request on the day of their marriage.
In this Palace is the Hall of the Grand
Council-t75 feet long and So broad. Here
sat the nobility. Around the Hall is the
celebrated fresco with portraits of 76
Doges, arranged in chronological order.
with one vacant space upon which instead
OF a portrait there is This inscription:
''Hic est locus Marini Falethri, decapi-
tati pro criminibus.''
There are a multitude of famous pic
lures on the wall, the most famous is
the GLORY of Paradise largest pic
ture ever painted on canvas-84 feet by
81 feet. Ruskin says this is 'the artists
chef d'oeuvre and the most precious
thing Venice possesses
In the Museum we were shown
MAP of the world by Fra Mauro exc
cuted in 1457-1459--the greatest curl
osity of its kind in the world
As we rode on the Grand Canal we
were shown the palaces in which had
lived Lord Byron. Browning, Desdemora,
the Medcis Shyloek and the foreign con
suls and diplomats.
There are enough legends and romances
connected with Venice to fill many vol
CmeS.