A WANDERER IN
VENICE
BY
E.V. LUCAS
WITH SIXTEEN ILLUSTRATIONS 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.
Norwood Press:
Berwick & Smith Co., Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.
"In like manner I say, that had there bin an offer made unto mebefore I took my journey to Venice, eyther that foure of the richestmanors of Somerset-shire (wherein I was borne) should be gratis bestowedupon 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 respectof a state of livelyhood to live in the world than the sight of Venice, yetnotwithstanding I will ever say while I live, that the sight of Venice andher resplendent beauty, antiquities, and monuments, hath by manydegrees more contented my minde, and satisfied my desires, than thosefoure Lordships could possibly have done."—Thomas Coryat.
PREFACE
For a detailed guide to Venice the reader must go elsewhere; all that Ihave done is invariably to mention those things that have mostinterested me, and, in the hope of being a useful companion, often a fewmore. But my chief wish (as always in this series) has been to create ataste.
For the history of Venice the reader must also go elsewhere, yet for thesake of clarity a little history has found its way even into thesepages. To go to Venice without first knowing her story is a mistake, anddoubly foolish because the city has been peculiarly fortunate in herchroniclers and eulogists. Mr. H.F. Brown stands first among the living,as Ruskin among the dead; but Ruskin is for the student patient underchastisement, whereas Mr. Brown's serenely human pages are for all. OfMr. 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 hasaltered, no matter what changes there may have been in government orhow often campanili fall. The late Col. Hugh Douglas's Venice on Foot,if conscientiously followed, is such a key to a treasury of interest asno other city has ever possessed. To Mrs. Audrey Richardson's Doges ofVenice I am greatly indebted, and Herr Baedeker has been here aselsewhere (in the Arab idiom) my father and my mother.
E.V.L.
June, 1914.