Readers of Henri de Regnier's Venetian novel _La Peur de l'Amour_ may like to know that much of it was written in this palace.

We shall see porphyry all along the Canal on both sides, always enriching in its effect.

This stone is a red or purple volcanic rock which comes from Egypt, on the west coast of the Red Sea.

The Romans first detected its beauty and made great use of it to decorate their buildings.
Another rio, the Torreselle, some wine stores, and then the foundations of what was to have been the Palazzo Venier, which never was built.
Instead there are walls and a very delectable garden--a riot of lovely wistaria in the spring--into which fortunate people are assisted from gondolas by superior men-servants.

A dull house comes next; then a _stoffe_ factory; and then the Mula Palace, with fine dark blue poles before it surmounted by a Doge's cap, and good Gothic windows.