London Pub Cet.28.1850.by Jennungs & Chaplin 62 Cheapside & Giralde u Bovinet Gallene Vivienne Paris

Engraved by JLewis.

Printed by Fenner Seart &

THE CAMPANILE.

Underneath,

Where the archangel, as alighted there,
Blesses the city from the topmost tower,
His arms extended-there in monstrous league
Two phantom shapes were sitting, side by side,
Or up, and, as in sport, chasing each other,
Horror and Mirth.

ROGERS.

IT was mentioned in the former volume of this work that the Campanile of St. Mark was the scene of Galileo's observations while resident in Venice. It ought to be added, that when the philosopher, in the year 1609, exhibited to the Doge and to the senate his discovery of the telescope, he was munificently rewarded by a decree confirming him in his professorship for life, and by the doubling of his annual salary. A curious anecdote respecting the prosecution of philosophical studies in the Campanile is related by the author of the lately published and excellent "Life of Galileo." Sirturi describes a ludicrous violence which was done to himself, when, with the first telescope which he had succeeded in making, he went up into the tower of St. Mark at Venice, in the vain hope of being there entirely unmolested. Unluckily he was seen by some idlers in the street: a crowd soon collected round him, who insisted on taking possession of his instrument, and, handing it one to the other, detained him there for several hours,

till their curiosity was satisfied, when he was allowed to return home. Hearing them also inquire eagerly at what inn he lodged, he thought it better to quit Venice early the next morning, and prosecute his observations in a less inquisitive neighbourhood.

The loggia, at the foot of the Campanile, was built from the designs of the celebrated Sansovino, whose genius has added so much beauty to the Piazza di S. Marco. The edifice is of the Corinthian order, ornamented with very rich columns, and with four niches, in each of which stands a bronze statue of the size of life, and executed with the greatest skill. It was the original intention of the architect that the loggia should extend all round the tower, so as to form a perfect base to it, and not be confined, as at present, to one of the fronts only. The marble of which the loggia is built is allowed to be of great beauty and rarity.

About the beginning of the last century, the Campanile is said to have been the scene of a singular and fatal catastrophe, the narrative of which has never, we believe, hitherto appeared in print. In the autumn of the year 1713 two strangers arrived at Ravenna-an elderly lady with a young and beautiful girl, who appeared to be her daughter, and whose health had evidently suffered from recent illness. They only stayed at Ravenna till they could obtain possession of one of the small retired villas situated on the borders of the Pineta, or Pine Forest, which stretches over the hills almost as far as Rimini. In this retreat, attended only by a single servant, they passed their time in the most secluded manner, seldom even appearing in the open air