One should stay in her midst either long enough really to know something about her or only for three or four days. In the second case all is magical and bewildering, and one carries away, for the mind to rejoice in, no very definite detail, but a vague, confused impression of wonder and unreality and loveliness. Dickens, in his _Pictures of Italy_, with sure instinct makes Venice a city of a dream, while all the other towns which he describes are treated realistically. But for no matter how short a time one is in Venice, a large proportion of it should be sacred to idleness. Unless Venice is permitted and encouraged to invite one's soul to loaf, she is visited in vain. CHAPTER II S. MARK'S. I: THE EXTERIOR Rival cathedrals--The lure of S. Mark's--The facade at night--The Doge's device--S. Mark's body--A successful theft--Miracle pictures--Mosaic patterns--The central door--Two problems--The north wall--The fall of Venice--Napoleon--The Austrian occupation--Daniele Manin--Victor Emmanuel--An artist's model--The south wall--The Pietra del Bando--The pillars from Acre. Of S. Mark's what is one to say? To write about it at all seems indeed more than commonly futile. The wise thing to do is to enter its doors whenever one has the opportunity, if only for five minutes; to sit in it as often as possible, at some point in the gallery for choice; and to read Ruskin. To Byzantine architecture one may not be very sympathetic; the visitor may come to Venice with the cool white arches of Milan still comforting his soul, or with the profound conviction that Chartres or Cologne represents the final word in ecclesiastical beauty and fitness; but none the less, in time, S. Mark's will win. It will not necessarily displace those earlier loves, but it will establish other ties. But you must be passive and receptive. No cathedral so demands surrender. You must sink on its bosom. S. Mark's facade is, I think, more beautiful in the mass than in detail. Seen from the Piazza, from a good distance, say half way across it, through the red flagstaffs, it is always strange and lovely and unreal. To begin with, there is the remarkable fact that after years of familiarity with this wonderful scene, in painting and coloured photographs, one should really be here at all. The realization of a dream is always amazing.