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beautiful coloring and light though it have 

 neither in itself. Even artificial waters, though 

 they are usually dull and lifeless in body, are 

 better than none at all. The formal beauty of 

 the landscape-gardener is about them, but taken 

 in connection with houses, trees, and skies, 

 they may have a certain artistic charm. This 

 charm is well shown in the pleasure-lakes of 

 various European estates, and particularly in 

 the canals of Venice. The canals were origi- 

 nally the natural tide-ways between islands, 

 and when the city was built the mud-banks 

 formed the foundations for the houses, and 

 the canals themselves became the water-streets 

 of to-day. Not a place in Europe can show 

 such beautiful and picturesque compositions as 

 Venice. The color, light, and reflection of the 

 city and its waters are world-famed. The 

 Ducal Palace, St. Mark's, the towers and domes 

 and palaces that heave out of the blue-green 

 tide, change their color fifty times a day with 

 the changing of the sky; the swaying waters 

 of the canals are tremulous with direct and re- 

 flected light ; and the ships, sails, wharves, and 

 bridges splash the horizon-line with countless 

 patches of orange, blue, red, and yellow. And 

 these are only the pronounced hues. From 



