A Wanderer in Venice Part 1

The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Wanderer in Venice, by E.V. Lucas

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net

t.i.tle: A Wanderer in Venice

Author: E.V. Lucas

Ill.u.s.trator: Harry Morley

Release Date: September 17, 2005 [EBook #16705]

Language: English

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A WANDERER IN VENICE ***

Produced by Pilar Somoza and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

A WANDERER IN VENICE

BY E.V. LUCAS

WITH SIXTEEN ILl.u.s.tRATIONS IN COLOUR BY HARRY MORLEY AND THIRTY-TWO PHOTOGRAPHS FROM PAINTINGS AND A MAP

New York THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1914

_All rights reserved_

COPYRIGHT, 1914, BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.

Set up and electrotyped. Published November, 1914.

Norwood Press: Berwick & Smith Co., Norwood, Ma.s.s., U.S.A.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE GRAND Ca.n.a.l FROM THE STEPS OF S. MARIA DELLA SALUTE]

"In like manner I say, that had there bin an offer made unto me before I took my journey to Venice, eyther that foure of the richest manors of Somerset-shire (wherein I was borne) should be gratis bestowed upon me if I never saw Venice, or neither of them if I should see it; although certainly these manors would do me much more good in respect of a state of livelyhood to live in the world than the sight of Venice, yet notwithstanding I will ever say while I live, that the sight of Venice and her resplendent beauty, antiquities, and monuments, hath by many degrees more contented my minde, and satisfied my desires, than those foure Lordships could possibly have done."--THOMAS CORYAT.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A Bird's Eye View Of Venice]

PREFACE

For a detailed guide to Venice the reader must go elsewhere; all that I have done is invariably to mention those things that have most interested me, and, in the hope of being a useful companion, often a few more. But my chief wish (as always in this series) has been to create a taste.

For the history of Venice the reader must also go elsewhere, yet for the sake of clarity a little history has found its way even into these pages. To go to Venice without first knowing her story is a mistake, and doubly foolish because the city has been peculiarly fortunate in her chroniclers and eulogists. Mr. H.F. Brown stands first among the living, as Ruskin among the dead; but Ruskin is for the student patient under chastis.e.m.e.nt, whereas Mr. Brown's serenely human pages are for all. Of Mr. Howells' _Venetian Life_ I have spoken more than once in this book; its truth and vivacity are a proof of how little the central Venice has altered, no matter what changes there may have been in government or how often campanili fall. The late Col. Hugh Douglas's _Venice on Foot_, if conscientiously followed, is such a key to a treasury of interest as no other city has ever possessed. To Mrs. Audrey Richardson's _Doges of Venice_ I am greatly indebted, and Herr Baedeker has been here as elsewhere (in the Arab idiom) my father and my mother.

E.V.L.

_June, 1914._

CONTENTS

PAGE

PREFACE vii

CHAPTER I

THE BRIDE OF THE ADRIATIC 1

CHAPTER II

S. MARK'S. I: THE EXTERIOR 6