hly necessary, and
productive of an effect which can be obtained no other way. Were the
houses in Parliament Street to hang damask curtains, worked carpets,
pieces of various coloured silks, with fringe or lace round them, out of
every window when the King of England goes to the House, with numberless
well-dressed ladies leaning out to see him pass, it would give one an
idea of the continental towns upon a gala day. But our people would be
apt to cry out, _Monmouth Street!_ and look ashamed if their neighbours
saw the same deckerwork counterpane or crimson curtain produced at
Easter, which made a figure at Christmas the December before; so that no
end would be put to expence in our country, were such a fancy to take
place. The rainy weather beside would spoil all our finery at once; and
_here_, though it is still cold enough to be sure, and the women wear
sattins, yet still one shivers over a bad fire only because there is no
place to walk and warm one's self; for I have not seen a drop of rain.
The truth is, this town cannot be a wholesome one, for there is scarcely
a possibility of taking exercise; nor have I been once able to circulate
my blood by motion since our arrival, except perhaps by climbing the
beautiful tower which stands (as every thing else does) in St. Mark's
Place. And you may drive a garden-chair up _that_, so easy is the
ascent, so broad and luminous the way. From the top is presented to
one's sight the most striking of all prospects, water bounded by
land--not land by water.--The curious and elegant islets upon which, and
into which, the piles of Venice are driven, exhibiting clusters of
houses, churches, palaces, every thing--started up in the midst of the
sea, so as to excite amazement.

But the horses have not been spoken of, though one pair drew Apollo's
car at Delphos. The other, which we call modern, and laugh while we call
them so, were made however before the days of Constantine the Great.
They are of bright yellow brass, not black bronze, as I expected to find
them, and grace the glorious church I am never weary of admiring; where
I went one day on purpose to find out the red marble on which Pope
Alexander III. sate, and placed his foot upon the neck of the Emperor:
the stone has this inscription half legible round it, _Super aspidem et
basiliscum ambulabis_[Footnote: Thou shalt tread on the asp and the
basilisk]. How does this lovely Piazza di San Marco render a
newly-arrived spectator brea