206 FIRST JOURNEY IN EUROPE. [1839, 



with me. And here everything is strange, canals for 

 streets, gondolas for coaches ; not a horse to be seen 

 in the city, except the celebrated bronze gilt steeds of 

 St. Mark ; palaces of barbaric magnificence, splendid 

 churches ; people of all nations and tongues, Christians, 

 Turks, and Jews.- Surely there is nothing like it. 

 The view from Fusina, on the mainland, which was 

 the first I obtained, was charming. . . . 



You will wonder at the comparison, but the dis- 

 tant view of Venice reminded me strongly of New 

 York, as you approach from Amboy. The gondola 

 that brought us stopped in the Grand Canal near the 

 Kialto, or rather the bridge of the Rialto, for the name 

 properly belongs to the island ; and in crossing this 

 bridge during the day, I found some of the little shops 

 still occupied by money-changers, and I saw more 

 than one hard Jewish countenance that might sit for 

 the picture of Shylock. This part of the town is un- 

 pleasant, although the canals are lined with what were 

 once stately palaces, which now look as if about to 

 sink again into the water. While on my way to a ho- 

 tel, I came abruptly upon a view that seemed like en- 

 chantment : the Piazza of St. Mark, a large quadrangle, 

 three sides inclosed by a magnificent range like the 

 Palais Royal ; on the fourth, the church of St. Mark, 

 and adjoining it the Palace of the Doges, scarcely 

 less magnificent, and in an equally Oriental style. In 

 front is the Campanile, taller than that of Florence, 

 but not handsome. As you turn out of the quadrangle 

 in full front of the palace, you see the two granite col- 

 umns, one of them surmounted with the winged lion ; 

 and you stand on the mole, with the most superb view 

 of sea and city, shipping, churches and palaces, before 

 and around you. I never expect again to see anything 



