Chapter CX: Section III: Before, however, the reader can enter upon any inquiry into

the history of this building, it is necessary that he should be thoroughly familiar with the arrangement and names of its principal parts, as it at present stands; otherwise he cannot comprehend so much as a single sentence of any of the documents referring to it. I must do what I can, by the help of a rough plan and bird's-eye view, to give him the necessary topographical knowledge:

Opposite is a rude ground plan of the buildings round St. Mark's Place; and the following references will clearly explain their relative positions:

A. St. Mark's Place. B. Piazzetta. P. V. Procuratie Vecchie. P. N. (opposite) Procuratie Nuove. P. L. Libreria Vecchia. I. Piazzetta de' Leoni. T. Tower of St. Mark. F F. Great Facade of St. Mark's Church. M. St. Mark's. (It is so united with the Ducal Palace, that the separation cannot be indicated in the plan, unless all the walls had been marked, which would have confused the whole.) D D D. Ducal Palace. g s. Giant's stair. C. Court of Ducal Palace. J. Judgement angle. c. Porta della Carta. a. Fig-tree angle. p p. Ponte della Paglia (Bridge of Straw). S. Ponte de' Sospiri (Bridge of Sighs). R R. Riva de' Schiavoni.

The reader will observe that the Ducal Palace is arranged somewhat in the form of a hollow square, of which one side faces the Piazzetta, B, and another the quay called the Riva de' Schiavoni, R R; the third is on the dark canal called the "Rio del Palazzo," and the fourth joins the Church of St. Mark.

Of this fourth side, therefore, nothing can be seen. Of the other three sides we shall have to speak constantly; and they will be respectively called, that towards the Piazzetta, the "Piazzetta Facade;" that towards the Riva de' Schiavoni, the "Sea Facade;" and that towards the Rio del Palazzo, the "Rio Facade." This Rio, or canal, is usually looked upon by the traveller with great respect, or even horror, because it passes under the Bridge of Sighs. It is, however, one of the principal thoroughfares of the city; and the bridge and its canal together occupy, in the mind of a Venetian, very much the position of Fleet Street and Temple Bar in that of a Londoner,--at least, at the time when Temple Bar was occasionally decorated with human heads. The two buildings closely resemble each other in form.