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(Venice)
A railroad brings you to Venice, which once could only be reached by boat,
as is insinuated in the lines of Rogers:
There is a glorious city in the Sea
The sea is in the crowd, the narrow streets,
Ebbing and flowing; and the salt seaweed
Cling to the marble of her palaces.
No track of me, no footsteps to and fro.
Sacred to her gates. The path lies over the Sea.
Invincible; and from the land we went,
As to a floating city – steering in,
And gliding up her streets as in a dream.
A unique and wonderful city is Venice, the Queen of the Adriatic, and
having her foundation in the sea. Her principal streets are canals, her
omnibuses and carriages are gondolas. You hear no tramp of horses’
feet, no sound of rolling wheels. The only horses in the city are four
of bronze, over the porch of St. Mark’s Cathedral, and they are
about two-thousand years old.
The city is remarkable for its varied history, and former wealth and power;
for its numerous and splendid palaces, now tinged with decay, for the
multitude of its churches, adorned with rich statuary and paintings, for
its galleries of art, and other varied attractions. The masterpieces of
Britain and Tintoretto are here. The tomb of the former is in one of the
churches, and opposite to it that of Canoser, are admirable specimens
of sculpture. St. Mark’s Square is the great and brilliant center
where every lady goes, for promenade and for shopping. In the evening
a thousand lights shine upon you from jeweled windows, and the walls of
palaces radiant with images of art and beauty.
Before you is the St. Mark’s Cathedral, blossoming with domes, minarets,
and statues, and wonderful for its serious mosaics on its outer and inner
wall. There, too, is the Doge’s
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