The charm of Venice

by Unknown

VENICE OF THE PAST

Dim phantoms of banners for conquest unfurl’d,

Of brows bright with diamonds, of bosoms empearl’d,

Of Venice, the mistress and Queen of the world;

Of argosies laden with damask and gold,

Of tributes barbaric from kingdoms grown old;

Of spousals fantastic and rings in the tide

Of Venice the bridegroom, and Ocean the bride.

CHARLES MACKAY.

Venice ... a ghost upon the sands of the sea, so weak—so quiet,—so bereft of all but her loveliness, that we might well doubt, as we watched her faint reflection in the mirage of the lagoon, which was the City, and which the Shadow.... It would be difficult to overrate the value of the lessons which might be derived from a faithful study of the history of this strange and mighty city: a history which, in spite of the labour of countless chroniclers, remains in vague and disputable outline,—barred with brightness and shade, like the far-away edge of her own ocean, where the surf and the sandbank are mingled with the sky.

JOHN RUSKIN.

In Venice ... one cannot think if not in images. They come to us from all quarters, in countless numbers, in endless variety, and they are more real, more living, than the people that elbow us in the narrow street. They let us bend down to scrutinize the depths of their lingering eyes, and we can divine the words they are going to say by the curves of their eloquent lips.

GABRIELE D’ANNUNZIO.