348 V E N 
some resemblance to an eastern pagoda. It is partly_ of stone, 
partly of marble, and surrounded, like a Greek temple, with 
a portico of no less than 288 pillars of marble, porphyry, 
or other valuable materials. Its inside is ornamented with 
the spoils of Constantinople, and displays a profusion of 
marble, alabaster, emeralds, &c. Its Mosaics are surpassed 
only by those of St. Peter at Rome. Its paintings are nu¬ 
merous and splendid. It is on the portico facing the piazza, 
that the Venetians once more see the bronze horses which, 
during 18 years (from 1797 to 1815), crowned the triumphal 
arch in the Place du Carousel at Paris. The church of 
Santa Maria della Salute, the work of Palladio, is an elegant 
structure, open to the great canal, and built outside and in, 
of marble, with a moderate share of ornament. It was 
built by the government, on the cessation of a dreadful pes¬ 
tilence. The church il Redemptore is also an elegant 
building, and was built after a similar deliverance, at a 
different period. The cathedral of Venice, dedicated to 
St. Peter, stands on an island at the eastern end of the city. 
It is built of Istrian marble, and adjoins the former resi¬ 
dence of the patriarch of Venice. The church of St. 
Georgia is remarkable for its front of marble and its cupola ; 
that of St. Giovanni and St. Paolo is a large Gothic edifice, 
surmounted by a cupola, and is the Westminster abbey of 
Venice, containing the tombs of many of its defenders and 
doges. 
Of the other public buildings, the most conspicuous is the 
palace of the doges, the place of assemblage for the senate 
and different councils of state, during the independence of 
the republic. It is an ancient fabric in the Gothic style, vast 
in its extent, and venerable in its appearance. Its lofty 
apartments are ornamented with paintings by the first 
masters of the Venetian school; its court and staircases with 
elegant statues. Of the other palaces or mansions of the 
great families, the most conspicuous are those of Goiniani, 
Tiopolo, Balbi, Cornaro, &c. all more remarkable for their 
size than for elegance or symmetry. The arsenal of Venice 
is a commodious, and even a magnificent building, situated 
on an island near the eastern end of the city. It is defended 
by a rampart, as well as by the surrounding water; and has 
before its gates two great pillars, with the two gigantic lions 
in granite, which stood formerly on the Pirceus at Athens. 
Its halls are lofty and commodious. Its stores, once so 
abundant, have been greatly diminished since Venice lost 
its liberty in 1797: 
The Rialto consists of one great arch, of 90 feet span, 
equally remarkable by its height, its boldness, and solidity. 
It is wholly of marble, and is ascended at each end by a 
flight of steps. Its height would afford the passenger a 
beautiful view of the city, were not the prospect impeded 
by a row of shops which run across it at each side. The 
public library stands in a fine marble structure, near the 
square of St. Mark. Adjoining it is the mint, also an elegant 
building, with arcades. On the great canal, not far from 
the Rialto, stands the Fondaco di Tedeschi, long a depot 
for the goods of German merchants, now the council-house 
of the city. Of theatres, Venice has no less than eight, 
great and small; but several of them are open only during 
the carnival. In regard to the state of its hospitals and 
prisons, Venice is not entitled to favourable notice. In both, 
its apartments are ill contrived, and in general devoid of a 
free circulation of air. In the prisons, the roof being of 
lead, the degree of heat in summer is intolerable. 
Trade and Manufactures.—The commercial greatness of 
Venice dates, like that of Bruges, Antwerp, and Pisa, from 
the middle ages; the time when navigation was compara¬ 
tively little followed, and when the merchandise of India 
was conveyed to Europe by the medium of the Levant. 
The crusades opened an additional field to Venetian enter¬ 
prise, augmenting their wealth by the sums paid for transports 
and military stores, and by giving them possession of several 
portions of the Greek empire, desirable for a maritime 
power. The trade of Venice, in its best days, in the 12th, 
13th, and 14th centuries, was certainly far inferior to that 
of Amsterdam in the last age, perhaps not equal to that of 
ICE. 
Liverpool in the present. Still, in these times of national 
indolence and limited intercourse, it sufficed to give this 
republic a superiority in the Mediterranean, to obtain for it 
possession of the Ionian isles, the Morea, and the more dis¬ 
tant settlements of Candia and Cyprus: farther, it enabled 
the Venetians to maintain maritime contests with the Turks, 
not unworthy of being compared to those of the Dutch with 
the Spaniards. Since the discovery of the passage to India 
by the Cape of Good Hope, the trade from Venice to the 
east has gradually diminished: at present the mercantile 
transactions of this city are less active than those of Trieste, 
and are confined to intercourse with the Levant and other 
parts of the Mediterranean; to the import of hardware, 
linen, and other manufactures from the north of Europe; 
of East and West India goods, director through the medium 
of Malta; and finally, of salt fish from Newfoundland or 
England, for the consumption of the Catholics during fast 
days and Lent. Vessels arriving at Venice, after surmount¬ 
ing the intricacy of the approach, find a spacious and com¬ 
modious harbour: it contains four separate quays or landing 
places; but most of the shipping lie near the mouth of the 
great canal, or along the shore from that spot to the west¬ 
ward. 
The manufactures of Venice, if not extensive in any one 
branch, are of considerable diversity: they consist of wool¬ 
lens, serges, canvas, and ropes; gold and silver stuffs, velvet, 
and silk stockings; and of lace, which is made chiefly on 
the adjacent island of Murano. Venice contains also various 
petty manufactures, such as imitations of pearls and other 
precious stones, ornamental glass works, jewellery and wax 
work. Printing is carried on here more extensively than in 
any other town in Italy; and books are supplied by whole¬ 
sale to the Grecian islands, Constantinople, Spain, and Por¬ 
tugal. The price is as low as that of books in France; the 
type is usually good, but the quality of the paper inferior. 
Education and Literature .—Venice cannot boast of 
many literary institutions. It is, however, the seat of an 
academy of the fine arts, of an athenaeum, or seminary form¬ 
ing a medium between a great school and an university; 
and it contains, moreover, one of the five sections of the 
imperial institute for the kingdom of Italy. It contains 
also a navigation school, and a female establishment called 
the conservato : the Rio de Pieta, where education is given 
gratuitously to more than one hundred young women. 
The public library of Venice is extensive; and there are 
a number of private collections of curiosities and objects 
of art. At some distance from the town, on the small 
island of Lazarus, there is a seminary of Armenians, who 
have an extensive library and printing office; they edu¬ 
cate young Armenians, and publish a newspaper, circulated, 
under certain restrictions from the Turkish government, in 
their own country. 
Venice has by many been represented as a delightful resi¬ 
dence ; but an attentive consideration of its merits and de¬ 
merits will lead to a very different result. If at first it sur¬ 
prises and gratifies by its novelty, it soon becomes tiresome 
from the appearance of so much water, the narrowness of the 
streets, the small size and want of air in many of the rooms, 
and, finally, from the general monotony of the situation. 
Such a position would, in fact, not be habitable were the 
water fresh: its insalubrity is lessened by the saltness of the 
water, and by the flux and reflux of the tide; but these 
changes, at all times much smaller in the Mediterranean than 
on the British shores, become in summer so inconsiderable 
as to render the canals stagnant, offensive, and unhealthy. 
The characteristics of the climate of Venice are a summer 
heat, much greater than is experienced in England; a winter 
not of great length, but sharp, particularly during the preva¬ 
lence of a north-west wind, which blows across the interior 
of Switzerland and the Alps. Rains are frequent in Venice, 
particularly in spring; and there being no springs or wells, 
the inhabitants are supplied, as in many towns of Holland, 
with water collected in cisterns, from the tops of the houses. 
This frequently wants the freshness of running water. But 
the chief privation to a Venetian, is an exclusion from fields 
and 
