Every capital is different.

Round arches are here and pointed; invented patterns and marble with symmetrical natural veining which is perhaps more beautiful.
Every inch has been thought out and worked upon with devotion and the highest technical skill; and the antiseptic air of Venice and cleansing sun have preserved its details as though it were under glass.
In the walls beneath the arcade on the Piazzetta side may be seen various ancient letter-boxes for the reception of those accusations against citizens, usually anonymous, in which the Venetians seem ever to have rejoiced.

One is for charges of evading taxation, another for those who adulterate bread, and so forth.
[Illustration: S.TRIFONIO AND THE BASILISK FROM THE PAINTING BY CARPACCIO _At S.Giorgio dei Schiavoni_] The upper gallery running round the courtyard has been converted into a Venetian--almost an Italian--Valhalla.

Here are busts of the greatest men, and of one woman, Catherine Cornaro, who gave Cyprus to the Republic and whom Titian painted.

Among the first busts that I noted--ascending the stairs close to the Porta della Carta--was that of Ugo Foscolo, the poet, patriot, and miscellaneous writer, who spent the last years of his life in London and became a contributor to English periodicals.