serves the name of more than a mere temporary triumph. Such, as we have seen, is the picture every where presented to us by the history of the arts among the ancients; at Sparta, at Rome, at Marseilles, the republican austerity rejected them; at Carthage commercial ignorance neglected them; at Athens they were encouraged from motives of policy; and they prospered at Sicyon and Syracuse, by the wisdom and magnificence of enlightened princes. In all climates nature fits men for the enjoyment of the arts; in every climate, and under every form of government, their success is the result of public munificence, and the favour of the laws. Q.
PRESENT STATE OF THE CITY OF VENICE.
For the following particulars respecting the present state of the city of Venice, and especially for the description of its great mole or pier, we are indebted chiefly to the communication of a gentleman of this city, who lately visited that celebrated spot.
Venice, it is well known, is built on a cluster of islets, situated among the shallows which occur near the head of the Adriatic Gulf. The houses and spires seem to spring from the water; canals are substituted for paved streets, and long narrow boats, or gondolas, for coaches. Some parts of the city are elegant, exhibiting fine specimens of the architecture of Palladio; but the splendid Place of St Mark is no longer thronged by Venetian nobles; the cassinos are comparatively deserted; and the famed Rialto bridge has ceased to be distinguished for its rich shops and their matchless brocades. The ancient brazen horses have returned from their travels to Paris; but Venice has not been suffered to resume its consequence as the capital of an independent state; the bucentaur is rotten, and there is no longer any Doge to wed the Adriatic.
The great mole is situated about seventeen miles to the south of Venice. It was begun so long ago as the year 1751, and it was not completed when the French revolution broke out. On one part of the wall were inscribed these words: "Ut sacra æstuaria, urbis et libertatis sedes, perpetuo conservetur, colosseas moles ex solido marmore contra mare posucre curatores aquarum." This truly colossal rampart passes through a morass, from l'Isle di Chiusa on the west, along l'Isle di Murassi, to the Bocca del Porto on the east, being an extent nearly of three miles. Towards the land side, it is terminated by a wall about ten feet high and four feet broad. If one stands on the top of this wall, the whole is seen slanting on the other side till it majestically dips into the Adriatic; and the magnitude of the undertaking forcibly strikes the spectator's mind. The slanting part of the work commences about two feet and a half below the top of the wall, and descends towards the water by two shelves or terraces. A great part of the embankment is of close stone-work: this vast piece of solid masonry is about fifty feet broad, measuring from the top of the wall to the water's edge. The stones are squared masses of primitive limestone, or "solid marble;" they are very large, and are connected by Puzzulana earth, brought from Mount Vesuvius. Beyond this pile of masonry many loose blocks of marble are placed, and extend a considerable way into the Adriatic. When very high tides occur, accompanied with wind, the waves break over the whole pier; and sometimes, on these occasions, part of the loose blocks are thrown up and lodged upon the level part of the rampart: it may be questioned, therefore, if this exterior range of loose masses of stone be not likely to prove rather detrimental than useful. Near to this pier, on the side next the sea, there is water for vessels of considerable size. The great object of the work is to guard the Lagoon on its south and most assailable point, "contra mare," as the inscription bears; and but for it, Venice, it is thought, would by this time have been in ruins, from the gradual encroachments of the sea. It is kept in good order, and seems lately, during the dominion of the French, to have received extensive repairs. This magnificent work is said to have excited even the admiration of Napoleon, which he has marked by this inscription: "Ausu Romano, ære Veneto."
It may be noticed, that the part of the rampart next to the entrance of the harbour, was the scene of many combats between the French troops and the English sailors, during the blockade of Venice by our navy. The
