begun in 1865 and finished in 1878. The latter façade was completely reconstructed upon 2200 piles driven to great depths, with the result that the general harmony of the monument—the effect of time and of atmospheric conditions-was completely lost.' A lively agitation all over Europe, and particularly in England (Conducted by Ruskin and William Morris), led the ltalian government to discard the Austrian plan of restoration, at least as regards the interior of the Basilica, and to .respect the ancient portions which had stood the test of time and had esmped “renewal” by man. In 1880 a Vi ilance Committee was appointed to watch over the restoration ofg the interior. The committee secured much verde antico and porphyry for the restoration of the pavement, in place of the common marbles which it had been intended to useyand organized special workshops for the restoration and preservation of the ancient mosaics, which it had been intended to detach and replace. Pieces already. detached were restored 'to their original positions, and those blackened by damp and dust were care ully cleaned. Breaks were filled up with cubes obtained from fragments of contemporary mosaics previously demolished; In-this way the mosaics of the two arches of the atrium and those of the~~Zeno chapel were cleaned and preserved. ' i-Contemporaneously with the restoration of the southern facade

of -St Mark's, the restoration of the colonnade of the ducal palace towards the Piazzetta and the Mole was -undertaken at a; cost of £23,000. The chief work was 'executed at the south-west angle, where the columns of the arcade had become so broken and distorted as to menace the safety of the whole building. The corner towards the Ponte della Paglia was also restored, and the hideous device of walling up the five last arches, adopted in the 16th century by the architect Da Ponte, was removed .without prejudice to the stability of the structure. In order to lighten the palace the Venetian Institute of Science, Letters and Artsremoved 1t s headquarters and its natural history collection to Santo Stefano. Forthe same reason the Biblioteca"Marciana*with its 356,600 volumes was moved to the Old Mint, opposite the ducal palace. The space thus .cleared has been used or the 'rearrangement of the Archaeological and Artistic Museum. Side by{side with these changes has proceeded the reorganization of the oyal Gallery of Ancient Art, which, created by Napoleon I. for the students of the adjoining Academy of Fine Arts, gradually aequiredisuch importance that in 1882 the government divided it from.the academy and rendered. it autonomous. The gallery now constitutes a unique collection of Venetian paintings from the most ancient artists down to Tiepolo, one hall only being reserved for other Italian schools and one for foreigp schools. Altogether the gallery contain sf twenty rooms, one eing assigned# to fthe complete cycle of the “ History of Saint Ursula, " by Carpaccio; another to Giambellino and to the Celiinianij and a whole wall' of a third being occupied by the famous Veronese, “ Il Convito 'in casa di Levi.” 'I'itian's “ Presenta-zione al Tempio, " painted for the Scuola della Carita, which is now the seat o the gallery, has been placed in its original position. The hall of the Assumption has been left untouched. Nineteenth-century'pictures have been eliminated as foreign to the 'character of the collection, and inferior works relegated to a side passage. The reorganization of the Archaeological and Artistic Museum and of the Royal Gallery of Ancient Art coincided with the 'inauguration in April 1895 of a series of biennial Intemational Art Exhibitions, arranged in 'order to celebrate the silver wedding of the king and queen of Italy. A s 'al brick structure was erected in the public gardens to receive thgaworks of contemporary artists, both Italian and fforeign. The selection of works was made by an international jury from which Venetian artists were excluded. The second exhibition, visited by 336,500 rsons, was held in 1897, and a third' in 1899. The success of th; exhibition (visited by 407,930 persons) led to -the organization of, a fourth exhibition in 1901, largely devoted to the works of Ruskin. The institution of these exhibitions furnished Prince Giovanelli with an opportunity to found at Venice a Gallery of Modern Art, for which a home was found in the Palazzo Pesaro, bequeathed to the city by Princess Bevilacqua laMasa. H istofy.-#It is usually affirmed that the state of Veniceowes its origin to the barbarian invasions of north Italy; that it was founded by refugees from the mainland- cities who sought asylum from the Huns in the impregnable shallows and mud banks of the lagoons; and that the year 452, the yearwhen Attila sacked Aquileia, may be taken as the birth-year lof Venice. That is true in a measure. Venice, like Rome and other famous cities, was an asylum city. But it is nearly certain that long before Attila and his Huns swept down upon the Venetian plainthe little islands of the lagoon already had a. population of poor but hardy fisher folk living in quasi-independence, thanks to their poverty and their inaccessible site. This population was augmented from time to time by refugees from the mainland cities-of Aquileia, lCohcordia, ,' Opitergium Altinum and Patavium. But these did not mingle readily with the indigenous population; as each wave of barbarian invasion fell back, these refugees, returned to their mainland homes, , and it 'required the pressure of many successive incursions to induce them finally to abandon the mainland for the lagoon, a decision which was not reached till the Lombard invasion'of' 568. On each occasion, no doubt, some of the refugees remained behind in the islands, and gradually built and peopled the twelve lagoon townships, which formed the germ of the state of Venice and were subsequentlylconcentrated at Rialto or in the citywe now know as Venice. These twelve townships were Grade, Bibione, Caorle, ]'esolo, Heraclea, Torcello, Murano, Rialto, Malamocco, Poveglia, Chioggia and Sottomarina. The effect of the final Lombard invasion is shown by the resolve to quit the mainland and the rapid building of churches which is recordedyby the Cranacd, allinate. The people who finally abandoned the mainland and took their priests with them are the people whomade the Venetian republic., But they were not as yet a homogeneous population. The rivalries of the mainland cities were continued at Closer quarters inside the, narrow circuit of; the lagoons, and thgre was, moreover, the initial schism between the indigenous fisher population and the town'-bred 'refiigeesj and these, facts constitute the first of the problems.whichfnow at fronted the growing community: the internal problem of fusion and development. The second problem of ~prime importance' was thefexternal problem of independence. The early history of the republic is chiefly concerned witlrthe solution of these two problems. ', To-take the problem of independence first. There is little doubt that the original lagoonrpopulation depended for its administration, as far as it had any, upon the larger 'cities of the mainland. Thereis 9, tradition that Venice was founded by “consuls from Padua ”; and Padua. claimed complete control of the course of the Brentadown to its mouth at- Malamoccoj The destruction of the mainland cities, san1'l the Bight of their, leading inhabitants to the, .lagoons, ', encouraged the lagoon population to 'assert a growing independence, and led them to advance the doctrine -that they were »“ born independent.” Their development as a maritime people, engaged in srnalltrading and intimately acquainted withptheir home waters, led Belisarius to seek their help in his task of recovering Italy-from the Goths. He was successful; and the lagoonsbecameytheoretically at least, apart of the Eastern empirel

But thefernpire was 'vast and weak, and its capital lay far away; in practice, , no doubt, the -lagoon population enjoyed virtual independence, though later the Byzantine claim to suzerainty becameonefof the leading factors. in the formation of the state. Itwas; from Byzantium that ithe Venetian people received the first recognition of their existence as -a. separate community. Their maritime .importance compelled Narses, the imperial commander, to seek"their aid in transporting his army from Grado; and when the Paduans appealed to the Eunuchto restore their rights over the Brenta, the Venetians replied by declaring that islands of the lagoon and the river mouths that fell into 5 the estuarylwere the p'roperty of those who hadvrendered shea habitable and serviceable. Narses declined to intervene, Padua. was powerless to enforce its claims and Venice established a virtual independence of the mainland. Nor waslit long before Venice made a similar assertion to the imperial representative, Longinus. He was endeavouring to treat with Alboin and the Lombards, and desired to assure himself of Venetian support. He invited the Venetians to give him an escort to Constantinople, which they did, and also to acknowledge themselves .subjects of the empire. ~But they replied that »“ God, whois our help and protector has saved us that we might dwell upon these waters: This second Venice which we have raised in the lagoons is our mighty habitation; no power of emperor or of prince can touch us, ” ' That was an explicit statement of Venetian .aims and contentiouszsthe place and people had madeeach other and now belonged exclusively to each other. Longinus' admitted that the Venetians were indeed i“ a great people, with 'a strong habitation 'f; but [by

dint of promising largelconcessions and' trading privileges, he