Yet not a soul has uttered
A word in praise of me."




THE FAMOUS HORSES OF VENICE.

BY MARY LLOYD.


No doubt you all know something of Venice, that wonderful and
fairy-like city which seems to rise up out of the sea; with its bridges
and gondolas; its marble palaces coming down to the water's edge; its
gay ladies and stately doges. What a magnificent pageant was that which
took place every Ascension Day, when the doge and all his court sailed
grandly out in the "Bucentaur," or state galley, with gay colors
flying, to the tune of lively music, and went through the oft-repeated
ceremony of dropping a ring into the Adriatic, in token of marriage
between the sea and Venice! This was a custom instituted as far back as
1177. The Venetians having espoused the cause of the pope, Alexander
III., against the emperor, Frederic Barbarossa, gained a great victory
over the imperial fleet, and the pope, in grateful remembrance of the
event, presented the doge with the ring symbolizing the subjection of
the Adriatic to Venice.

But one of the most wonderful things about Venice is that, with the
exception of those I intend to tell you about, there are no horses
there. How charming it must be, you think, when you want to visit a
friend, to run down the marble steps of some old palace, step into a