* * * * *

"And there are dresses splendid, but fantastical,
Masks of all times, and nations, Turks and Jews,
And harlequins and clowns, with feats gymnastical,
Greeks, Romans, Yankee-doodles, and Hindoos
All kinds of dress, except the ecclesiastical,
All people, as their fancies hit, may choose,
But no one in these parts may quiz the clergy,
Therefore take heed, ye Freethinkers! I charge ye."


The Bridge of Sighs (to return to prose) is a long covered
gallery, leading from the ducal palace to the old State prisons
of Venice. It was frequently traversed, we may be sure, in the
days of some of the Doges, to one of whom, our old friend, and
Byron's--Marino Faliero--the erection of the ducal palace is
sometimes falsely ascribed. Founded in the year 800, A.D., the
ducal palace was afterwards destroyed five times, and each time
arose from its ruins with increasing splendor until it became,
what it is now, a stately marble building of the Saracenic style
of architecture, with a grand staircase and noble halls, adorned
with pictures by Titian, Tintoretto, Paul Veronese, and other
famous masters.

It would be difficult to find gloomier dungeons, even in the
worst strongholds of despotism, than those in which the State
prisoners of Venice were confined. These "pozzi," or wells, were
sunk in the thick walls, under the flooring of the chamber at the
foot of the Bridge of Sighs. There were twelve of them formerly,