rch of Murano, and have seldom seen even Monkish Latin
less intelligible. There is no mistake in the letters, which are all
large and clear; but wrong letters may have been introduced by ignorant
restorers, as has often happened in St. Mark's.

9. SHAFTS OF ST. MARK.

The principal pillars which carry the nave and transepts, fourteen in
number, are of white alabaster veined with grey and amber; each of a
single block, 15 ft. high, and 6 ft. 2 in. round at the base. I in vain
endeavored to ascertain their probable value. Every sculptor whom I
questioned on this subject told me there were no such pieces of
alabaster in the market, and that they were to be considered as without
price.

On the facade of the church alone are two great ranges of shafts,
seventy-two in the lower range, and seventy-nine in the upper; all of
porphyry, alabaster, and verd-antique or fine marble; the lower about 9
ft., the upper about 7 ft. high, and of various circumferences, from 4
ft. 6 in. to 2 ft. round.

There are now so many published engravings, and, far better than
engravings, calotypes, of this facade, that I may point out one or two
circumstances for the reader's consideration without giving any plate of
it here. And first, we ought to note the relations of the shafts and
wall, the latter being first sheeted with alabaster, and then the
pillars set within two or three inches of it, forming such a grove of
golden marble that the porches open before us as we enter the church
like glades in a deep forest. The reader may perhaps at first question
the propriety of placing the wall so close behind the shafts that the
latter have nearly as little work to do as the statues in a Gothic
porch; but the philosophy of this arrangement is briefly deducible from
the principles stated in the text. The builder had at his disposal
shafts of a certain size only, not fit to sustain the whole weight of
the fabric above. He therefore turns just as much of the wall veil into
shaft as he has strength of marble at his disposal, and leaves the rest
in its massive form. And that there may be no dishonesty in this, nor
any appearance in the shafts of doing more work than is really allotted
to them, many are left visibly with half their capitals projecting
beyond the archivolts they sustain, showing that the wall is very
slightly dependent on their co-operation, and that many of them are
little more than mere bonds or connecting rods between the foundation
a