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these swell in the month of April, and continue to overflow 
their banks during three or four months, covering the low¬ 
lands in their neighbourhood. They abound in aligators and 
fish. The Portuguesa, which is formed by the union of the 
two rivers, the Pao and the Barquisimeto, flqws through the 
greater part of Venezuela, and joins the Apure; 40 miles 
north-west of its mouth. 
To VENGE, v. a. [yenger, Fr.] To avenge; to 
punish. 
Plight your honourable faiths to me. 
With swift pursuit to vengc this wrong of mine. 
Shakspeare. 
VE'NGEABLE, adj. Revengeful; malicious.—She was 
not vengeable, necruel. Bp. Fisher. 
VE'NGEANCE, s. [ vengeance, French.] Punishment; 
penal retribution; avengement. 
All the stor’d vengeances of heav’n fall 
On her ingrateful top! Shakspeare , 
It is used in familiar language. To do with a vengeance, 
is to do with vehemence. This phrase was formerly solemn 
and dignified ; what a vengeance, emphatically what ?— 
When the same king adventured to murmur, the pope could 
threaten to teach him his duty with a vengeance. Ralegh. 
VE'NGEFUL, adj. Vindictive; revengeful; retributive. 
Doubt not but God 
Hath wiselier arm’d his vengeful ire. Milton. 
VE'NGEMENT, s. [vengement, old Fr.] Avenge¬ 
ment; penal retribution. 
Witnesse thereof he shewed his head there left. 
And wretched life forlorne for vengement of his theft. 
Spenser. 
VE'NGER, s. An avenger; one who punishes. Prompt- 
Him booteth not resist, nor succour call, 
His bleeding hart is in the vcnger's hand. 
Who streight him rent in thousand peeces small. Spenser. 
VE'NIABLE, or Ven'ial, adj. [from venia, Latin.] 
Pardonable; susceptible of pardon ; excusable.—If they do 
nothing ’tis a venial slip. Shakspeare. — Permitted; al¬ 
lowed. 
No more of talk where God, or angel-guest, 
With man, as with his friend familiar us’d 
To sit indulgent, and with him partake 
Rural repast; permitting him the while 
Venial discourse unblam’d. Milton. 
VE'NIALNESS, s. State of being excusable. 
VENICE, a large and celebrated city in the north-east of 
Italy, situated near the northern extremity of the Adriatic. 
It is built on an island, or rather collection of small islands, 
separated from the mainland by shallows, of a depth of three, 
four, five, or six feet. These shallows have been formed in 
the course of ages, by the vast quantities of sand carried 
down by the rivers flowing from the Tyrolese alps into the 
Adriatic. This position of Venice in the midst of waters, 
gives it a singular appearance from a distance. Its domes 
and spires, its churches and public buildings, appear to the 
spectator, particularly in approaching by sea, to float on the 
surface of the waves. This appearance is particularly striking 
at night, when the town is lighted. 
The length of the city is somewhat more than two miles, 
its breadth a mile and a half, its circuit six miles ; so that 
its form, without being either square or circular, is compact. 
It is divided into two parts, nearly equal, by a great canal 
which winds through its whole length in a serpentine form. 
This canal is above 100 feet in width, and is crossed on one 
part by a bridge of a single arch, the celebrated Rialto. 
Every part almost of the town is intersected by smaller 
canals, navigated by gondolas, or by small barks. Mer¬ 
chandise is thus conveyed by water to the door of the 
warehouses. The gondolas are 5 feet in width, and 20 in 
length. The usual hire of one is a shilling an hour; but 
it is customary among the fashionable families to keep a 
gondola, as in other towns they would keep a carriage. 
I C E. 
Exclusive of the general division into North and South by 
the great canal, Venice is separated for the purpose of police, 
into six parts, of which the most eastern adjoins the castle, 
and bears the name of Sestiere de Castello ; the Sestiere de 
St. Marco lies more towards the centre of the city, and that 
of Canareggio comprises the north-west division. These 
three are to the north of the great canal; the remaining 
quarters are situated to the south of it. That of St. Paolo 
is in the south-east; that of St. Croce in the west, including 
several small gardens; and lastly, that of Dorso Duro forms 
the most southern division of the city, bordering on the 
arm of the sea called Canale della Giudeca. 
The aspect of Venice is stately, and even magnificent, 
whether we look to public or private edifices; for though 
few of the buildings are in a pure style of architecture, or 
exhibit judicious decoration, the general effect is grand and 
imposing. In regard to the streets, as they are termed, it 
will hardly be credited, that their breadth is in general only 
four, five, or six feet: in many places still less. The only 
exception is in the street called the Merceria, situated near 
the centre of the town, and containing shops of all kinds; 
but even of that the breadth is insignificant, varying only 
from 12 to 20 teet. The only open place entitled to the 
name of square is the Piazza di San Marco, an oblong of 
280 feet in length, by nearly 100 in breadth, bordered by 
several handsome buildings, singularly contrasted in their 
outward decorations. Of these, the principal are the churches 
of St. Marco and Geminiano ; the palace formerly occupied 
by the doge, and the buildings fronted in the Grecian style, 
called the Procureria. This small but elegant square, a 
miniature of the Palais Royal of Paris, is bordered by 
arcades, containing elegant shops and coffee-rooms, which, 
when lighted at night, have a splendid appearance. It 
forms the central point of the gaiety and amusements of 
Venice, the resort of foreigners, and of loungers of every 
description. The Piazetta is a smaller opening, leading from 
the square of St. Marco to the sea, and having on the one 
side the palace of the doge, on the other the public library, 
with its pillars of granite. This spot presents, from the 
concourse of people, an animated and interesting scene. 
The only other open spaces in the city are in the front of 
some of the churches, and at each end of the Rialto. To ride 
either in a carriage, or on horse-back, is wholly out of the 
question in Venice. Accordingly, the streets, or rather lanes, 
are paved, not with round stones, but flags or marble slabs, 
having small sewers for carrying off the filth. The ordinary 
dwellings are built of brick, and in general covered with 
wood. Without having arcades, as is the case in many 
towns in the north of Italy, they are in general provided 
with balconies. From the extreme narrowness of the streets, 
the houses are in general gloomy, and in the inside are 
miserably deficient in that commodious distribution of parts 
which marks the dwellings of Britain, the Netherlands, and 
the improved parts of France and Germany. The rooms are 
often wretchedly small. Personal accommodation, and in a 
great measure the enjoyment of good air, are sacrificed, that 
space may be found for magnificent statues, and other works 
of art. The general height is three or four stories. The lar¬ 
ger houses are commonly of a square form, with an inside 
court, containing a cistern, into which, after rain, water 
flows from the roof; and after being filtrated, serves for do¬ 
mestic purposes. Such houses have in general one door to 
a canal, and another to a street. A number of them are 
built of marble, either hewn or polished. The line of the 
great canal presents on each side a rich and varied spectacle 
of such buildings. 
Several of the churches of Venice were built or designed 
by Palladio, and bear witness to the taste and genius of that 
distinguished architect. Others, and indeed the greater 
number, are in the Saracenic, or, as it is currently termed, 
the Gothic style, and are less distinguished by elegance of 
structure, than by richness of interior decoration. The 
church of St. Martin, Mark, or Marco, the most entitled 
to notice of any in Venice, stands at one end of the Piazza 
di St. Marco, but is so loaded with ornaments, as to bear 
some 
