THE DOGES' PALACE.

II: THE EXTERIOR The colour of Venice--Sunny Gothic--A magical edifice--The evolution of a palace--A fascinating balcony--The carved capitals--A responsible column--The _Porta della Carta_--The lions of Venice--The Giants' Stairs--Antonio Rizzo--A closed arcade--Casanova--The bronze wells--A wonderful courtyard--Anonymous accusations--A Venetian Valhalla.
"That house," said an American on a Lido steamboat, pointing to the Doges' Palace, "is a wonder in its way." Its way is unique.

The soft gentle pink of its south and west facades remains in the memory as long and as firmly as the kaleidoscopic hues of S.Mark's.

This pink is, I believe, the colour of Venice.
Whether or not the Doges' Palace as seen from S.Giorgio Maggiore, with its seventeen massive arches below, its thirty-four slender arches above, above them its row of quatrefoiled circles, and above them its patterned pink wall with its little balcony and fine windows, the whole surmounted by a gay fringe of dazzling white stone--whether or not this is the most beautiful building in the world is a question for individual decision; but it would, I think, puzzle anyone to name a more beautiful one, or one half so charming.

There is nothing within it so entrancing as its exterior--always with the exception of Tintoretto's, "Bacchus and Ariadne." The Ducal Palace is Gothic made sprightly and sunny; Gothic without a hint of solidity or gloom.