ree with Selvatico in thinking this has been
restored. It is decorated with large and vulgar heads.

Sec. CXXIII. TWENTY-FOURTH CAPITAL. This belongs to the large shaft which
sustains the great party wall of the Sala del Gran Consiglio. The shaft
is thicker than the rest; but the capital, though ancient, is coarse and
somewhat inferior in design to the others of the series. It represents
the history of marriage: the lover first seeing his mistress at a
window, then addressing her, bringing her presents; then the bridal, the
birth and the death of a child. But I have not been able to examine
these sculptures properly, because the pillar is encumbered by the
railing which surrounds the two guns set before the Austrian
guard-house.

Sec. CXXIV. TWENTY-FIFTH CAPITAL. We have here the employments of the
months, with which we are already tolerably acquainted. There are,
however, one or two varieties worth noticing in this series.

_First side._ March. Sitting triumphantly in a rich dress, as the
beginning of the year.

_Second side._ April and May. April with a lamb: May with a feather fan
in her hand.

_Third side._ June. Carrying cherries in a basket.

I did not give this series with the others in the previous chapter,
because this representation of June is peculiarly Venetian. It is called
"the month of cherries," mese delle ceriese, in the popular rhyme on the
conspiracy of Tiepolo, quoted above, Vol. I.

The cherries principally grown near Venice are of a deep red color, and
large, but not of high flavor, though refreshing. They are carved upon
the pillar with great care, all their stalks undercut.

_Fourth side._ July and August. The first reaping; the _leaves_ of the
straw being given, shooting out from the tubular stalk. August,
opposite, beats (the grain?) in a basket.

_Fifth side._ September. A woman standing in a wine-tub, and holding a
branch of vine. Very beautiful.

_Sixth side._ October and November. I could not make out their
occupation; they seem to be roasting or boiling some root over a fire.

_Seventh side._ December. Killing pigs, as usual.

_Eighth side._ January warming his feet, and February frying fish. This
last employment is again as characteristic of the Venetian winter as the
cherries are of the Venetian summer.

The inscriptions are undecipherable, except a few letters here and
there, and the words MARCIUS, APRILIS, and FEBRUARIUS.

This is the last of the capitals of the early