arance of Venice. An immense city in the midst of the
Ocean, five miles distant from any land; canals instead of streets;
gondolas in lieu of carriages and horses! Yet it must not be inferred from
this that you are necessarily obliged to use a gondola in order to visit
the various parts of the city; for its structure is as follows. It is built
in compartments on piles on various mud banks, always covered indeed by
water, but very shallow and separated from each other (the mud banks I
mean) by deep water. On each of these compartments are built rows of
houses, each row giving front to a canal. The space between the backs of
the rows of houses forms a narrow street or alley paved with flag stones,
very like Cranborn Alley for instance; and these compartments are united to
each other (at the crossings as we should say) by means of stone bridges;
so that there is a series of alleys connected by a series of bridges which
form the _tout ensemble_ of this city; and you may thus go on foot thro'
every part of it. To go on horseback would be dangerous and almost
impracticable, for each bridge has a flight of steps for ascent and
descent. All this forms such a perfect labyrinth from the multiplicity and
similarity of the alleys and bridges, that it is impossible for any
stranger to find his way without a guide. I lost my way regularly every
time that I went from my inn to the _Piazza di San Marco_, which forms the
general rendezvous of the promenaders and is the fashionable lounge of
Venice; and every time I was obliged to hire a boy to reconduct me to my
inn. On this account, in order to avoid this perplexity and the expence of
hiring a gondola every time I wished to go to the _Piazza di San Marco_ I
removed to another inn, close to it, called _L'Osteria della Luna_, which
stands on the banks of the _Canale grande_ and is not twenty yards from the
_Piazza_.

I then hired a gondola for four days successively and visited every canal
and every part of the city. Almost every family of respectability keeps a
gondola, which is anchored at the steps of the front door of the house.
After the _Piazza di San Marco_, of which I shall speak presently, the
finest buildings and Palaces of the nobility are on the banks of the
_Canale grande_, which, from its winding in the shape of an S, has all the
appearance of a river. The _Rialto_ is the only bridge which connects the
opposite banks of the _Canale grande_; but there are four hundred smaller