ence he invoked. And the man must be little capable of
receiving a religious impression of any kind, who, to this day, does not
acknowledge some feeling of awe, as he looks up at the pale countenances
and ghastly forms which haunt the dark roofs of the Baptisteries of
Parma and Florence, or remains altogether untouched by the majesty of
the colossal images of apostles, and of Him who sent apostles, that look
down from the darkening gold of the domes of Venice and Pisa.

Sec. LXIV. I shall, in a future portion of this work, endeavor to discover
what probabilities there are of our being able to use this kind of art
in modern churches; but at present it remains for us to follow out the
connexion of the subjects represented in St. Mark's so as to fulfil our
immediate object, and form an adequate conception of the feelings of its
builders, and of its uses to those for whom it was built.

Now there is one circumstance to which I must, in the outset, direct the
reader's special attention, as forming a notable distinction between
ancient and modern days. Our eyes are now familiar and wearied with
writing; and if an inscription is put upon a building, unless it be
large and clear, it is ten to one whether we ever trouble ourselves to
decipher it. But the old architect was sure of readers. He knew that
every one would be glad to decipher all that he wrote; that they would
rejoice in possessing the vaulted leaves of his stone manuscript; and
that the more he gave them, the more grateful would the people be. We
must take some pains, therefore, when we enter St. Mark's, to read all
that is inscribed, or we shall not penetrate into the feeling either of
the builder or of his times.

Sec. LXV. A large atrium or portico is attached to two sides of the
church, a space which was especially reserved for unbaptized persons and
new converts. It was thought right that, before their baptism, these
persons should be led to contemplate the great facts of the Old Testament
history; the history of the Fall of Man, and of the lives of Patriarchs
up to the period of the Covenant by Moses: the order of the subjects in
this series being very nearly the same as in many Northern churches, but
significantly closing with the Fall of the Manna, in order to mark to
the catechumen the insufficiency of the Mosaic covenant for
salvation,--"Our fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are
dead,"--and to turn his thoughts to the true Bread of which that ma