oughts of the city fathers. The
earliest is that of Christ, the Virgin, and S. Mark, on the inside wall
over the central door. My own favourites are all among the earlier ones.
Indeed, some of the later ones are almost repulsively flamboyant and
self-conscious. Particularly I like the great scene of Christ's agony
high up on the right wall, with its lovely green and gold border,
touched with red. But all the patterns, especially in the roof arches,
are a delight, especially those with green in them. I like too the
picture of Christ on a white ass in the right transept, with the
children laying their cloaks in His way. And the naive scene of Christ's
temptation above it, and the quaint row of disciples beneath it, waiting
to have their feet washed.

Of the more modern mosaics the "Annunciation" and "Adoration of the
Magi" are among the most pleasing.

There are some curious and interesting early mosaics in the chapel of S.
Isidoro in the left transept. It is always dark in this tiny recess, but
bit by bit the incidents in the pictures are revealed. They are very
dramatic, and the principal scene of the saint's torture by being
dragged over the ground by galloping horses is repeated in relief on the
altar. I have failed to find any life of any S. Isidoro that relates the
story. Note the little bronze lions on each side of the altar--two more
for that census of Venetian lions which I somewhere suggest might be
made. The little chapel on the left of S. Isidoro's is known as the
Cappella dei Mascoli, or males, for hither come the young wives of
Venice to pray that they may bring forth little gondoliers. That at any
rate is one story; another says that it was the chapel of a
confraternity of men to which no woman might belong. In the mosaic high
up on the left is a most adorably gay little church, and on the altar
are a pretty baby and angels. On a big pillar close to this chapel is a
Madonna with a votive rifle hung by it; but I have been unable to find
its story. It might be a moving one.

It is not detail, however lovely, for which one seeks S. Mark's, but
general impressions, and these are inexhaustible. It is a temple of
beauty and mystery in which to loiter long, and, as I have said, just by
the S. Liberale in the gallery of the right transept, I made my seat.
From this point one sees under the most favourable conditions the mosaic
of the entry into Jerusalem; the choir; the choir screen with its
pillars and saints;