THE PIAZZA DI SAN MARCO.

Did you know the rare beauty of this virgin city, you would quickly make love to her, and change your Royal Exchange for the Rialto, and your Gray's-Inn Walks for St. Mark's Place.

HOWELL'S FAMILIAR LETTERS.

THE Piazza di San Marco, containing within its limits the most magnificent and striking edifices in Venice, presents, both to the mind and to the eye of the traveller, a picture of no common interest. It forms an oblong rectangle, surrounded on three sides by buildings exhibiting the most varied styles of architecture. On the south side stand the Procuratorie Nuove, commenced in 1583, from the designs of Sansovino, and completed under the directions of Scamozzi and other architects in the year 1682. The Procuratorie were originally erected for the accommodation of the procurators of St. Mark, but were converted by the French into a palace for the Viceroy of Italy, and are still used by the Austrians as apartments of state when the emperor visits Venice. On the north side of the square, opposite to the Procuratorie Nuove, stand the Procuratorie Vecchie, a range of buildings erected about the year 1500. The east side is filled with the Church of St. Mark, and on the west formerly stood the Church of St. Geminiani; but as that edifice interrupted the range of arcades which extended along the north and south sides of the piazza, it was removed

by the French, who constructed in its place the grand staircase of the palace, and continued the arcades along the west side of the square.

The most striking point of view from which to examine the architectural wonders of St. Mark's Place is the eastern end of the square, whence, in addition to the edifices which surround the piazza, the eye catches, in the adjoining piazzetta, the Ducal Palace and the Library of St. Mark, one of the most celebrated labours of Sansovino, and of which a faithful representation is given in the present volume. Passing a few paces onwards towards the columns of the piazzetta, the traveller obtains a view of the Church of S. Georgio Maggiore, one of the master efforts of Palladio.

In traversing the area of the Piazza di San Marco, the mind of the stranger is almost confounded with the varied recollections which it presents. The centre of an imperious republic-the great mart of Europe for so many centuries-the inner shrine of the temple of pleasurethe scene of many a dark intrigue, and of many a deed of blood and violence-in every point of view it offers associations more striking than any other city of Christendom can afford.

The sea, that emblem of uncertainty,

Changed not so fast for many and many an age
As this small spot. To-day 't was full of masks,
And lo! the madness of the carnival,

The monk, the nun, the holy legate, masked.
To-morrow came the scaffold and the wheel;
And he died there by torch-light, bound and gagg'd,
Whose name and crime they knew not.

When Venice was the principal mart of the civilized world, the Place of St. Mark was celebrated for the singularity of the scene which it presented in the varied assemblage of persons from every quarter of the globe.

There," says Coryate, " you may see many Polonians, Slavonians, Persians, Grecians, Turks, Jews, Christians of all the famousest regions of Christendom, and each nation distinguished from another by their proper and peculiar habits-a singular show, and by many degrees the worthiest of all the European countries." Evelyn, also, was struck with the same spectacle. " Nor was I less surprised with the strange variety of the several nations which were seen every day in the streets and piazzas-Jews, Turks, Armenians, Persians, Moors, Greeks, Sclavonians; some with their targets and bucklers, and all in their native fashions, negotiating in this famous emporium, which is always crowded with strangers." Madame de Staël has described, with lively fidelity, the impressions which the varied crowd of the Piazza di San Marco produces. "L'aspect de la ville est d'ailleurs à lui seul singulièrement propre à reveiller une foule de souvenirs et d'idées; la Place de Saint Marc, tout environnée de tentes bleues, sous lesquelles se repose une foule de Turcs, de Grecs et d'Armeniens, est terminée à l'extremité pour l'église, dont l'exterieur ressemble plutôt à une mosque, qu'à un temple chretien: ce lieu donne une idée de la vie indolente des orientaux, qui passent leurs jours dans les cafés à boir du sorbet et à fumer des parfums; on voit quelquefois à Venise des Turcs et des Armeniens passer nonchalamment couchés dans des barques de couvertes et des pots de fleurs à leurs pieds."

But the palace of St. Mark was not celebrated only as the great mart of Christendom; for there did not exist in any city of Europe a spot of ground so devoted and dedicated to pleasure as the space enclosed within its arcades. Deprived as Venice is of any other considerable portion of the terra firma, the Piazza is the only place in which the population can assemble for the purposes of public festivity and enjoyment. Here were celebrated all the great triumphs of the state; and here were represented those characteristic national ceremonies with which the Venetian government was accustomed to stimulate the energies of its citizens. The effects of this system are even yet visible in the demeanour and expressions of the people, while the pageants which reminded them of their former glories have passed away. A Venetian of the lower ranks threatening to avenge himself upon his neighbour will exclaim-"I will make a war of Candia upon him." One of the most singular of the public spectacles exhibited in the Piazza di S. Marco was the annual tribute of the patriarch of Aquileia. During the twelfth century, in the time of the doge Michieli the Second, or according to some authorities of Angelo Partitiato, the patriarch of Aquileia having ventured to oppose the republic was made prisoner. In order to obtain his liberty he submitted to the payment of a singular tribute, which for centuries, as the period of its annual payment arrived, excited the pride and the derision of the Venetians. He engaged yearly to despatch to Venice a bull and twelve hogs, which were supposed to represent the patriarch and his twelve canons. After being paraded through the city the animals were