Eternal Father, the saints, and chiefly | the little angels, it is a fine, noble, and graceful work. Another retouching has destroyed the figure of St. Sebastian, with St. John the Baptist and St. Erasmus, by Giovanni Bellini; but the St. Erasmus remains untouched, and has preserved all the charming characteristics of the artist.

The front of the church of Saint Giovanni del Tempio, or Saint Gaetan, is worthy, from its purity and chasteness, of its date, 1508, which is inscribed on it, and it shows the style of the Lombardi; but with the exception of a small gallery with a cupola, the interior, horribly modernised, is not at all in conformity with such an exterior.

The steeple of Saint Martin indicates that the building is of a very ancient date. An Assumption by Spineda is much esteemed; likewise St. Martin giving alms, and a Trinity by Orioli, a prolific painter and poet of the seventeenth century, born at Trevisa, to which he confined his natural but almost uncultivated talents.

At Saint Andrew, the Virgin, St. John, Chrysostome, St. Lucy and below a little angel playing on the harp, in spite of its dilapidated state, exhibits the simplicity and taste of Gentile Bellini.

The most ancient church of Trevisa is that of San Giovanni del Battesimo, which possesses a Baptism of Christ, by Spineda, and a St. Apollonius, by Francesco Bassano.

The small church of Saint Gregory has the picture of the Saint habited in his pontifical robes, one of the masterpieces of the younger Palma.

CHAPTER XXXIII. Mont-de-Piété.-The Dead Christ, by Giorgione.

The Mont-de-Piété (where money is lent by the State on pledges) of Trevisa has still its celebrated Dead Christ, by Giorgione, painted for this establishment, a most magnificent proof of its antiquity and richness. Christ is supported in a sitting posture by angels on the long marble stone of the sepulchre. The paleness and sunken appearance of the dead body is wonderfully contrasted with the freshness, strength, and agility of the angel, who has started to the opening of the tomb to which he clings with one hand,

and with the other holds the corne the crimson cloth, placed under the of Christ. In spite of the injury of t the retouchings, and the bad light placed in, it will ever be admire boldness of foreshortening. the ple the light, and the terror blended compassion that it inspires.

One of the rooms of the Mont-dedisplays a Miracle of the loaves fishes, a small, curious, and unne fresco full of life, with a charming i scape; this fresco, although much maged, obtained the suffrages of good judges, S. Missirini, and ( Cambray Digny, a Tuscan architect ginally from Picardy; they were bo them at Trevisa in 1831, and m said to have in some manner found it An old clerk told these gentlemen tradition attributed it to Ludovico micelli, a native of Trevisa, who too abandoned the study of painting for of architecture and fortification, b Missirini has no hesitation in believ to be worthy of the able Venetian m Bonifacio. In the same room are the rich Epulon and Moses strikin rock, presenting two__animated scapes, by Ludovico Pozzo, a Fle artist, long resident at Trevisa, and re posterior to Fiumicelli.

Such was the fecundity of art in in the sixteenth century that it is found even in an establishment to ai indigent, where it shines amid the ple garments of the poor, making a M de-Piété almost a museum.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

Library. Theatre. Pola palace-Ancient I palace.-Hospital. - Bridge.

The chapter library was founded liberal and noble Trevisan, Count Az Rambaldo Avogaro, a celebrated quary, the friend of Muratori, a c zealous for the literature and histor his country. He resuscitated the academy of the Solleciti, which f length of time had ceased to deserv name. The correspondence of Avo with the learned of different countri preserved in this library, and fo no less than 26 folio volumes.

The Onigo theatre, a good substar building of stone both inside and harmonious in its construction, was

and with the other holds the corner of the crimson cloth, placed under the body of Christ. In spite of the injury of time, the retouchings, and the bad light it is placed in, it will ever be admired for boldness of foreshortening, the play o the light, and the terror blended with compassion that it inspires.

Eternal Father, the saints, and chiefly the little angels, it is a fine, noble, and graceful work. Another retouching has destroyed the figure of St. Sebastian, with St. John the Baptist and St. Erasmus, by Giovanni Bellini; but the St. Erasmus remains untouched, and has preserved all the charming characteristics of the artist.

The front of the church of Saint Giovanni del Tempio, or Saint Gaetan, is worthy, from its purity and chasteness, of its date, 1508, which is inscribed on it, and it shows the style of the Lombardi; but with the exception of a small gallery with a cupola, the interior, horribly modernised, is not at all in conformity with such an exterior.

The steeple of Saint Martin indicates that the building is of a very ancient date. An Assumption by Spineda is much esteemed; likewise St. Martin giving alms, and a Trinity by Orioli, a prolific painter and poet of the seventeenth century, born at Trevisa, to which he confined his natural but almost uncultivated talents.

At Saint Andrew, the Virgin, St. John, Chrysostome, St. Lucy and below a little angel playing on the harp, in spite of its dilapidated state, exhibits the simplicity and taste of Gentile Bellini.

The most ancient church of Trevisa is that of San Giovanni del Battesimo, which possesses a Baptism of Christ, by Spineda, and a St. Apollonius, by Francesco Bassano.

The small church of Saint Gregory has the picture of the Saint, habited in his pontifical robes, one of the masterpieces of the younger Palma.

CHAPTER XXXIII. Mont-de-Piété.-The Dead Christ, by Giorgione.

The Mont-de-Piété (where money is lent by the State on pledges) of Trevisa has still its celebrated Dead Christ, by Giorgione, painted for this establishment, a most magnificent proof of its antiquity and richness. Christ is supported in a sitting posture by angels on the long marble stone of the sepulchre. The paleness and sunken appearance of the dead body is wonderfully contrasted with the freshness, strength, and agility of the angel, who has started to the opening of the tomb to which he clings with one hand,

One of the rooms of the Mont-de-Piéto displays a Miracle of the loaves and fishes, a small, curious, and unnotice fresco full of life, with a charming landscape; this fresco, although much damaged, obtained the suffrages of tw good judges, S. Missirini, and Coun Cambray Digny, a Tuscan architect, ori ginally from Picardy; they were both o them at Trevisa in 1831, and may be said to have in some manner found it out An old clerk told these gentlemen tha tradition attributed it to Ludovico Fiu micelli, a native of Trevisa, who too early abandoned the study of painting for tha of architecture and fortification, but S Missirini has no hesitation in believing i to be worthy of the able Venetian master Bonifacio. In the same room are als the rich Epulon and Moses striking the rock, presenting two animated landscapes, by Ludovico Pozzo, a Flemish artist, long resident at Trevisa, and rather posterior to Fiumicelli.

Such was the fecundity of art in Italy in the sixteenth century that it is to be found even in an establishment to aid the indigent, where it shines amid the pledged garments of the poor, making a Montde-Piété almost a museum.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

Library.-Theatre. Pola palace-Ancient Daffa palace.-Hospital. -Bridge.

The chapter library was founded by a liberal and noble Trevisan, Count Azzani Rambaldo Avogaro, a celebrated antiquary, the friend of Muratori, a canon zealous for the literature and history of his country. He resuscitated the old academy of the Solleciti, which for a length of time had ceased to deserve its name. The correspondence of Avogaro with the learned of different countries is preserved in this library, and forms no less than 26 folio volumes.

The Onigo theatre, a good substantial building of stone both inside and out, harmonious in its construction, was ar

less than a poor boatman with but little poetry in his composition, whose only song is a harsh screaming ah eh at the turning of each calle, to avoid the danger of collision with other gondolas that are not immediately visible. This aspect of Venice has a something in it more gloomy than that of ordinary ruins: nature lives still in the latter, and sometimes adds to their beauty, and although they are the remains of by-gone centuries, we feel they will live for centuries to come, and probably witness not only the decay of their present master's power, but of succeeding empires too here these new ruins will rapidly perish, and this Palmyra of the sea, retaken by the avenging element from which it was conquered, will leave no trace behind. No time ought to be lost in visiting Venice, to contemplate the works of Titian, the frescos of Tintoretto and Paolo Veronese, the statues, the palaces, the temples, the mausoleums of Sansovino and Palladio tottering on the very verge of destruction.

I visited Venice three different times, at intervals of about a year; and at each visit was forcibly struck with its rapid decline. A skilful observer who was living there then calculated that it might go on for sixty years more in this manner. I cannot avoid acknowledging that the description I gave of Venice on my first visit, to be accurate now, must be reduced in some of its features. The population formerly was one hundred and ninety thousand, at the end of the last century it was but one hundred and fifty, and is now not more than one hundred and three, out of which forty thousand are dependent on the charity of the rest. The number of gondolas, formerly six thousand five hundred, was in 1827 six hundred and seventy-eight. Comines pretended when he was there they amounted to thirty thousand (il s'en finiroit trente mille).

In the midst of its destruction Venice found a man full of zeal, taste, and knowledge, who has collected, and rendered imperishable in some degree the grandeur and magnificence of its monuments. In the work entitled Fabbriche più cospicue di Venezia, by Cicognara

The calle are the streets, the passages of Venice, of which there are two thousand one hundred and eight; the number of houses twenty seven thousand nine hundred and eighteen, and of bridges three hundred and six,

|

and the members of the academy of fi arts of Venice, which is the first and on complete work on this fine city, is faithful and precious inventory of all masterpieces, some of which even sin its publication are no longer in existen Another excellent work, a collection Venetian inscriptions by S. Cigogn will also be the means of preserving collections of what Venice was, a which the author has nobly dedicated his country.

Some years ago a bold plan was pr posed by a zealous Venetian in order prevent the ruins of his native city; th was to join Venice to the continent, project already formed by Marco Fosc rini, an enlightened Doge of the la century, at the epoch which preced the fall of the republic. A road of cor munication was proposed to be made the narrowest point of the lagoon, t length of which does not exceed ty miles and a half; the materials to ma this road might be easily procured in t mud of the marshes and the gravel the neighbouring rivers; it was suggest that it should be planted with tree paved for foot passengers, and edged two parallel canals, with drawbridges f the defence of the city the expen would not exceed a million and a half florins (156,000 pounds). Not cortestir the material advantages that Veni might immediately gain by its being joi ed to terra firma, the more particular since the permission granted for a rai road between Milan and this city, I not know, if it were carried into effec whether such a change would not be the imagination at least a different sp cies of destruction, since it would tal from the queen of the Adriatic her pec liar character and wondrous aspect.