of the relative importance of the ideas of the
Madonna and of Christ, in the modern Italian mind.

Some further account of this church is given in the final Index to the
Venetian buildings at the close of the third Volume.

3. TIDES OF VENICE, AND MEASURES AT TORCELLO.

The lowest and highest tides take place in Venice at different periods,
the lowest during the winter, the highest in the summer and autumn.
During the period of the highest tides, the city is exceedingly
beautiful, especially if, as is not unfrequently the case, the water
rises high enough partially to flood St. Mark's Place. Nothing can be
more lovely or fantastic than the scene, when the Campanile and the
Golden Church are reflected in the calm water, and the lighter gondolas
floating under the very porches of the facade. On the other hand, a
winter residence in Venice is rendered peculiarly disagreeable by the
low tides, which sometimes leave the smaller canals entirely dry, and
large banks of mud beneath the houses, along the borders of even the
Grand Canal. The difference between the levels of the highest and lowest
tides I saw in Venice was 6 ft. 3 in. The average fall rise is from two
to three feet.

* * * * *

The measures of Torcello were intended for Appendix 4; but having by a
misprint referred the reader to Appendix 3, I give them here. The entire
breadth of the church within the walls is 70 feet; of which the square
bases of the pillars, 3 feet on each side, occupy 6 feet; and the nave,
from base to base, measures 31 ft. 1 in.; the aisles from base to wall,
16 feet odd inches, not accurately ascertainable on account of the
modern wainscot fittings. The intervals between the bases of the pillars
are 8 feet each, increasing towards the altar to 8 ft. 3 in., in order
to allow for a corresponding diminution in the diameter of the bases
from 3 ft. to 2 ft. 11 in. or 2 ft. 10. in. This subtle diminution of
the bases is in order to prevent the eye from feeling the greater
narrowness of the shafts in that part of the nave, their average
circumference being 6 ft. 10 in.; and one, the second on the north side,
reaching 7 feet, while those at the upper end of the nave vary from 6
ft. 8 in. to 6 ft. 4 in. It is probable that this diminution in the more
distant pillars adds slightly to the perspective effect of length in the
body of the church, as it is seen from the great entrance: but whether
this was the intentio