There are some curious and interesting early mosaics in the chapel of S.
Isidoro in the left transept. It is always dark in this tiny recess, but
bit by bit the incidents in the pictures are revealed. They are very
dramatic, and the principal scene of the saint's torture by being
dragged over the ground by galloping horses is repeated in relief on the
altar. I have failed to find any life of any S. Isidoro that relates the
story. Note the little bronze lions on each side of the altar--two more
for that census of Venetian lions which I somewhere suggest might be
made. The little chapel on the left of S. Isidoro's is known as the
Cappella dei Mascoli, or males, for hither come the young wives of
Venice to pray that they may bring forth little gondoliers. That at any
rate is one story; another says that it was the chapel of a
confraternity of men to which no woman might belong. In the mosaic high
up on the left is a most adorably gay little church, and on the altar
are a pretty baby and angels. On a big pillar close to this chapel is a
Madonna with a votive rifle hung by it; but I have been unable to find
its story. It might be a moving one.

It is not detail, however lovely, for which one seeks S. Mark's, but
general impressions, and these are inexhaustible. It is a temple of
beauty and mystery in which to loiter long, and, as I have said, just by
the S. Liberale in the gallery of the right transept, I made my seat.
From this point one sees under the most favourable conditions the mosaic
of the entry into Jerusalem; the choir; the choir screen with its
pillars and saints; the two mysterious pulpits, beneath which children
creep and play on great days; and all the miracle of the pavements. From
here one can follow the Mass and listen to the singing, undisturbed by
the moving crowd.