two corners of the sarcophagus are two angels bearing censers;
and on its lid two birds, with crosses like crests upon their heads. For
the sake of the traveller in Venice the reader will, I think, pardon me
the momentary irrelevancy of telling the meaning of these symbols.

Sec. LI. The foundation of the church of St. John and Paul was laid by the
Dominicans about 1234, under the immediate protection of the Senate and
the Doge Giacomo Tiepolo, accorded to them in consequence of a
miraculous vision appearing to the Doge; of which the following account
is given in popular tradition:

"In the year 1226, the Doge Giacomo Tiepolo dreamed a dream; and in his
dream he saw the little oratory of the Dominicans, and, behold, the
ground all around it (now occupied by the church) was covered with
roses of the color of vermilion, and the air was filled with their
fragrance. And in the midst of the roses, there were seen flying to and
fro a crowd of white doves, with golden crosses upon their heads. And
while the Doge looked, and wondered, behold, two angels descended from
heaven with golden censers, and passing through the oratory, and forth
among the flowers, they filled the place with the smoke of their
incense. Then the Doge heard suddenly a clear and loud voice which
proclaimed, 'This is the place that I have chosen for my preachers;' and
having heard it, straightway he awoke and went to the Senate, and
declared to them the vision. Then the Senate decreed that forty paces of
ground should be given to enlarge the monastery; and the Doge Tiepolo
himself made a still larger grant afterwards."

There is nothing miraculous in the occurrence of such a dream as this to
the devout Doge; and the fact, of which there is no doubt, that the
greater part of the land on which the church stands was given by him, is
partly a confirmation of the story. But, whether the sculptures on the
tomb were records of the vision, or the vision a monkish invention from
the sculptures on the tomb, the reader will not, I believe, look upon
its doves and crosses, or rudely carved angels, any more with disdain;
knowing how, in one way or another, they were connected with a point of
deep religious belief.

Sec. LII. Towards the beginning of the fourteenth century, in Venice, the
recumbent figure begins to appear on the sarcophagus, the first dated
example being also one of the most beautiful; the statue of the prophet
Simeon, sculptured upon the tomb which