82 BKOWX : 



either into the Royal Museum or back into the wall of the new 

 structure. The fall of a dynasty is of small moment compared 

 with the crumbling of a many and much storied Campanile. 



As time goes on, we shall find precious details and fascina- 

 ting bits of true history continuing to reach us from that 

 enchanting city at the head of the Adriatic, and by the time 

 our pressing, pinching trouble of to-day, whatever it may be, 

 shall have passed and been forgotten, this whole countiy will 

 have learned what it never dreamed of concerning the Tower 

 that saw Marco Polo start off — the wrong way as it seemed, 

 the right way as it proved — towards the discovery of America. 

 The builders of old time had nothing to learn from the moderns 

 in matters of masonry. And generally it may be remarked 

 that the hysterical fears set out in the newspapers of a few 

 weeks ago lest Venice should be sliding into the water would 

 seem to be utterly vain. Buildings fall in time just as moun- 

 tains, trees and men do. Trees and men, if neglected, come 

 down the sooner. So buildings. So the Campanile, as cer- 

 tain facts would seem to show. Be pleased to keep one fact 

 among many others in mind for the present. Between the time 

 when the Campanile was founded and the disastrous hour 

 when it fell in piteous ruins, no less than thirteen high raised 

 towers in \'enice have crumbled to the ground. I do not know 

 of a " plumb " bell tower in all Italy. There may be such a 

 thing, but I never saw it. The campanile of the old, old 

 Cathedral of Fiesole comes nearer to the true line of architec- 

 tural beauty than any other that I can recall. It was timbered 

 and shored and banded, and was undergoing repairs when I 

 saw it, in '96 of the last century. Even the Tower of Giotto 

 in Florence overhangs perceptibly. Wherever one looks these 

 structures are seen to be out of the vertical. There is an enor- 

 mous weight upon a small base. 



I will save you the trouble of looking in the proper place 

 for a few details, historic and otherwise. 



Wniice was founded by certain tribes of the North of Italy, 

 who toc^k refuge from barbarian incursions upon the islands at 



