VENICE, the city which was the seat of government of the Venetian republic, is built on 72 small islands at the head of the Adriatic or gulf of Venice, about five miles from the main land. That part of the gulf which lies between the city and the continent forms a kind of lagoon or lake, which, at low water, is very shallow, and on the opposite side of the islands there are numerous shallows, the channels between which are marked by stakes, to direct ships in entering the port. The lagoons that lie between the islands form so many canals that intersect the city in all directions, and over these the streets communicate by not fewer than 500 bridges. The principal or great canal is broad, and has a serpentine course through the middle of the city, but the others are narrow and crooked. The streets are also narrow and winding, but clean and neat. The houses are built on piles, and have each a door opening to the adjacent
adjacent canal, and another to the street. As the narrowness of the streets but ill adapts them for walking in, the only places of resort on land are the Rialto, a noble bridge across the great canal, bordered with booths and shops, and the great square of St Mark, or Piazza di St Mark, an irregular quadrangle, formed of several buildings, some of which are magnificent. Of these, the ducal palace, where the business of the state used to be transacted; the patriarchal church of St Mark; the steeple of St Mark, at a little distance from the church; the church of St Geminiano; and the new and old Procuracies, are most deserving the notice of travellers. The canals form the great medium of communication, as well as the principal scene of relaxation and amusement to the inhabitants. Here ply numerous gondolas, (see GONDOLA, and Macgill's Travels, vol. i.) which are rowed with admirable speed and dexterity by the gondoliers; and here are occasionally held races, or rather rowing matches. As the canals are, of necessity, the receptacles of all the filth of the city, they become, in hot weather, very offensive; while, in winter, from their free communication with the gulf, they are frequently agitated by the Adriatic storms. The whole city is about six miles in circumference, and the inhabitants are estimated at 160,000.
The inhabitants of Venice carried on a flourishing trade in silk manufactures, gold lace, mirrors and other articles of glass, besides military stores and implements of war. At some distance from the city there is a large and commodious lazaretto, where ships coming from the Levant unload their goods, and perform quarantine from 20 to 40 days.
This celebrated city, once the seat of power, opulence and the fine arts, whose carnival revelries have been the subject of so many animated descriptions, has undergone a melancholy change. Her streets and canals no longer resound with the strains of the musician and the serenades of watchful lovers, and her gay gondolas, which were formerly occupied by fashionable groups and parties of pleasure, are now become the vehicles of trade, or serve for the accommodation of the soldier and the mechanic. The trade of the city, which had long declined, has, since the cession of the Venetian territory to Austria, been almost entirely transferred to Trieste. Venice is 72 miles E. by N. of Mantua; 115 N. E. of Florence; 140 E. of Milan; 212 N. of Rome, and 300 N. by W. of Naples. E. Long. . N. Lat. .