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. At right angles to it and facing the
_Piazzetta_, which issues from the _Piazza_ and forms a quai to the _Canale
Grande_, stands the famous state prison and _Ponte de 'Sospiri_. On the