Each
Barge Bore An Appropriate Ensign, And The Dresses Of The Crew Were All
Tasteful, And Thoroughly Analogous To The
Profession they represented.
These barges are richly gilded, and from the variety of the costumes and
streamers, I thought it
One of the most beautiful sights I ever beheld.
Here were the bankers' barge, the jewellers', the mercers', the tailors',
the shoe-makers', and, to crown all, the printers' barge, which showered
down from the masthead sonnets in honor of the fete, printed on board of
the barge itself. Every trade or profession, in short, had a barge and
appropriate flag and costumes. A quantity of private barges and gondolas
followed this procession. The Archduke and his staff occupied the
Government barge, which is very magnificent and made in imitation of the
Bucentaur. Musicians were on board of many of the barges, and the houses on
both banks of the Canale Grande were filled with beautiful women and
other spectators waving their handkerchiefs. Guns were fired on the
embarkation of the Viceroy from the Piazzetta di San Marco, and on his
return. The Piazza itself was splendidly illuminated, and the cafes
which abound there, and which constitute one half of the whole quadrangle,
were superbly and tastefully decorated.
The Piazza di San Marco is certainly the most beautiful thing of the kind
in the world. It is a good deal in the style of the Palais Royal at
Paris, and tho' not so large, is far more striking, from the very tasteful
and even sumptuous manner in which the cafes are fitted up, both
internally and externally; they have spacious rooms with mirrors on all
sides, some in the shape of Turkish tents, others in that of Egyptian
temples. The Piazza, forming an oblong rectangle, is arcaded on the two
long sides, and of the two short ones, one presents a superb modern palace
built by Napoleon, and richly adorned with the statues of all the heathen
Gods on the top, which Palace was usually occupied by Eugene Napoleon; the
other presents the church of St Marco and the old palace of Government,
where in the time of the Republic the Doge used to reside. The church of St
Mark is unique as a temple in Europe, for it is neither Grecian nor Gothic,
but in a style completely Oriental, from the singularity of its structure,
its many gilded cupolas and the variety of its exterior ornaments. At
first sight it appears a more striking object than either St Peter's in
Rome or St Paul's in London. On the top of the facade, which is singularly
picturesque, stand the four bronze horses which have been brought back from
Paris to their old residence.
I ascended the top of the facade in order to examine them. They are
beautifully formed, in very good cast and have not at all been damaged by
the journey. The Piazza is paved with broad flagged stones. The Doge's
palace is a vast building, very picturesque withal, and seems a melange
of Gothic and Moorish architecture.
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