VENICE.

THE BALBI PALACE.

Questi palazzi e queste logge, or colte
D'ostri, di marmi, e di figure elette,
Fur poche e basse case insieme accolte
Deserti lidi, e povere isolette.

GIOVANNI DELLA CASA.

AMONG the hundred noble palaces which confer a peculiar air of splendour and magnificence on the city of the sea, there is scarcely one that has been less frequently described, and to which fewer associations attach, than the Balbi. Of comparatively modern character, like the Grimani and a few others, it belongs to the tasteful and elegant style in which Palladio so much excelled. Chasteness and beauty of design, with a picturesque and dignified appearance, are its characteristics. It is situated on the Canal Grande, or, as described by Sansovino, "on the left hand a little beyond the Canale Picciolo, leading towards San Pantaleone;" he also adds, "that it is an extremely beautiful edifice belonging to the Balbi family, and had been erected very recently (late in the sixteenth century) in a style of architecture at once graceful and noble." Still fewer recollections remain of the family. Among these, however, the portrait of Agostino Barberigo, proveditore of Venice, is preserved in Tintoretto's grand historical painting of the victory