length of the piazza
six of the arches on the right hand of one facing St. Mark's church
are occupied by the celebrated caffe. The six never-closed rooms,
corresponding each with one of the arches of the arcade, are very
small, and would not suffice to accommodate a twentieth part of the
throng which finds itself at Florian's quite as a matter of course
every fine summer's night. But nobody thinks of entering these
smartly-furnished little cabinets save for breakfast or during the
hours of the day. Some take their evening ice or coffee on the seats
under the arcade, either immediately in front of the cabinets
or around the pillars which support the arches, and thus have an
opportunity of observing the never-ceasing and ever-varying stream of
life that flows by them under the arcade. But the vast majority of the
crowd place themselves on chairs arranged around little tables set out
on the flags of the piazza. A hundred or so of these little tables
are placed in long rows extending far out into the piazza, and far on
either side beyond the extent of the six arches which are occupied by
the caffe itself. A London or New York policeman would have his very
soul revolted, and conclude that there must be something very rotten
indeed in the state of a city in which the public way could be thus
encumbered and no cry of "move on" ever heard. Assuredly, it is
public ground which Florian, in the person of his nineteenth-century
representative, thus occupies with his tables and chairs. Probably,
if a Venetian were asked by what right he does so, the question would
seem to him much as if one asked by what right the tide covers the
shallows of the lagoon. It always has been so. It is in the natural
order of things. And how could Venice live without Florian's?

But it is not Florian's alone which is thus a trespasser on the domain
of the public. The other less celebrated caffes do the same thing.
One immediately opposite to Florian's, on the other side of the
piazza--Quadri's--has almost as large a spread of chairs and tables
as Florian himself. But it is a curious instance of the permanence of
habits at Venice, that though at Quadri's the articles supplied are
quite as good, and the prices exactly the same, the fashionable
world never deserts Florian's. The only difference between the
two establishments, except this one of their customers, that is
perceptible to the naked eye, is that at Quadri's beer is served,
while Florian ignores