require no guide to point
out the remarkable monuments. We do not fail to recognize at a glance
the tall masts from which the banners of the republic floated in
triumph, when the carrier pigeons brought news that "blind old Dandolo
had captured Constantinople!" We recognize the lofty Campanile, the
sumptuous palace of the Doges, and the gorgeous front of the Cathedral
over-topped by its graceful domes, bristling with innumerable pinnacles.
Above the portals of St. Mark we gaze upon the celebrated bronze horses
which Napoleon I. stole and transported to Paris, but which the Emperor
Francis restored to Venice. It is not the first time these historic
horses of Lysippus have been stolen, these monuments of the departed
glory of Chios and Constantinople--of Venice and Napoleon.

In many respects the Cathedral of San Marco is the most remarkable
church in existence, while its ornamentation is rich to excess. For good
architectural effect it stands too low, the present grade of the
surrounding square being some fifteen inches or more above its mosaic
pavement. The pillars and ornaments are too crowded; having been brought
hither from other and historic lands, there is a want of harmony in the
aggregation. Nearly a thousand years old, it has an indescribable aspect
of faded and tarnished splendor, and yet it presents an attractive whole
quite unequalled. It combines Saracenic profusion with Christian
emblems, weaving in porphyries from Egypt, pillars from St. Sophia,
altar pieces from Acre, and a forest of Grecian columns. Especially is
this church rich in mosaics--those colors that never fade. There is a
sense of solemn gloom pervading the place, the dim light struggling
through the painted windows being only sufficient to give the whole a
weird aspect, in its over-decorated aisles. Some idea may be formed of
the elaborate ornamentation of the Cathedral from the fact that it
contains over forty thousand square feet of mosaic work! The vaulting
consists entirely of mosaic, representing scenes in the Old Testament,
beginning with the story of the creation, and followed by scenes from
the New Testament. As we walk about the church, the floor beneath our
feet is found quite uneven from the slow settlement of ages. Inside and
out the structure is ornamented by over five hundred columns of marble,
the capitals of which present a fantastic variety of styles true to no
country or order, but the whole is, nevertheless, a grand example o