e; it
has delicately carved devices in stone let into each pinnacle.

The parapets of the palaces themselves were lighter and more fantastic,
consisting of narrow lance-like spires of marble, set between the
broader pinnacles, which were in such cases generally carved into the
form of a fleur-de-lis: the French word gives the reader the best idea
of the form, though he must remember that this use of the lily for the
parapets has nothing to do with France, but is the carrying out of the
Byzantine system of floral ornamentation, which introduced the outline
of the lily everywhere; so that I have found it convenient to call its
most beautiful capitals, the _lily_ capitals of St. Mark's. But the
occurrence of this flower, more distinctly than usual, on the
battlements of the Ducal Palace, was the cause of some curious political
speculation in the year 1511, when a piece of one of these battlements
was shaken down by the great earthquake of that year. Sanuto notes in
his diary that "the piece that fell was just that which bore the lily,"
and records sundry sinister anticipations, founded on this important
omen, of impending danger to the adverse French power. As there happens,
in the Ducal Palace, to be a joint in the pinnacles which exactly
separates the "part which bears the lily" from that which is fastened to
the cornice, it is no wonder that the omen proved fallacious.

Sec. XIV. The decorations of the parapet were completed by attaching
gilded balls of metal to the extremities of the leaves of the lilies, and
of the intermediate spires, so as literally to form for the wall a diadem
of silver touched upon the points with gold; the image being rendered
still more distinct in the Casa d' Oro, by variation in the height of
the pinnacles, the highest being in the centre of the front.

Very few of these light roof parapets now remain; they are, of course,
the part of the building which dilapidation first renders it necessary
to remove. That of the Ducal Palace, however, though often, I doubt not,
restored, retains much of the ancient form, and is exceedingly
beautiful, though it has no appearance from below of being intended for
protection, but serves only, by its extreme lightness, to relieve the
eye when wearied by the breadth of wall beneath; it is nevertheless a
most serviceable defence for any person walking along the edge of the
roof. It has some appearance of insecurity, owing to the entire
independence of the piece