_First side_. The moon, governing infancy for four years, according to Selvatico. I have no note of this side, having, I suppose, been prevented from raising the ladder against it by some fruit-stall or other impediment in the regular course of my examination; and then forgotten to return to it. _Second side_. A child with a tablet, and an alphabet inscribed on it. The legend above is "MECUREU' DNT. PUERICIE PAN. X." Or, "Mercurius dominatur puerilite per annos X." (Selvatico reads VII.) "Mercury governs boyhood for ten (or seven) years." _Third side_. An older youth, with another tablet, but broken. Inscribed "ADOLOSCENCIE * * * P. AN. VII." Selvatico misses this side altogether, as I did the first, so that the lost planet is irrecoverable, as the inscription is now defaced. Note the o for e in adolescentia; so also we constantly find u for o; showing, together with much other incontestable evidence of the same kind, how full and deep the old pronunciation of Latin always remained, and how ridiculous our English mincing of the vowels would have sounded to a Roman ear. _Fourth side_. A youth with a hawk on his fist. "IUVENTUTI DNT. SOL. P. AN. XIX." The sue governs youth for nineteen years. _Fifth side_. A man sitting, helmed, with a sword over his shoulder. Inscribed "SENECTUTI DNT MARS. P. AN. XV." Mars governs manhood for fifteen years. _Sixth side_. A very graceful and serene figure, in the pendent cap, reading. "SENICIE DNT JUPITER, P. ANN. XII." Jupiter governs age for twelve years. _Seventh side_. An old man in a skull-cap, praying. "DECREPITE DNT SATN UQ' ADMOTE." (Saturnus usque ad mortem.) Saturn governs decrepitude until death. _Eighth side_. The dead body lying on a mattress. "ULTIMA EST MORS PENA PECCATI." Last comes death, the penalty of sin. SECTION CI. Shakespeare's Seven Ages are of course merely the expression of this early and well-known system. He has deprived the dotage of its devotion; but I think wisely, as the Italian system would imply that devotion was, or should be, always delayed until dotage. TWENTY-THIRD CAPITAL. I agree with Selvatico in thinking this has been restored. It is decorated with large and vulgar heads. SECTION CII. TWENTY-FOURTH CAPITAL. This belongs to the large shaft which sustains the great party wall of the Sala del Gran Consiglio. The shaft is thicker than the rest; but the capital, though ancient, is coarse and somewhat inferior in design to the others of the series. It represents the history of marriage: the lover first seeing his mistress at a window, then addressing her, bringing her presents; then the bridal, the birth and the death of a child. But I have not been able to examine these sculptures properly, because the pillar is encumbered by the railing which surrounds the two guns set before the Austrian guard-house.