At the farther corner of the Campo S. Samuele is the PAL. MALIPIERO, seventeenth-century. At the near corner of the next rio is the CA’ DEL DUCA (di Milano), begun for Francesco Sforza when he was the Venetian Captain-General. The construction was vetoed by the Signory at a point easily discernible, when Sforza began to play Carmagnola’s game and was outlawed. The late Gothic PAL. CAVALLI beyond the iron bridge has been wholly restored by Baron Franchetti. At the farther corner of the rio dell’ Orso is the fourteenth-century Gothic PAL. BARBARO debased by additions. Beyond the traghetto S. Stefano and a garden is the PAL. CORNER DELLA CA’ GRANDE now the Prefecture, a stately Renaissance edifice by Sansovino (1532). Past the traghetto S. M. del Giglio are three palaces all more or less restored which form the Grand Hotel. The first, PAL. GRITTI, is fourteenth-century Gothic; the second, PAL. FINI, is by Tremignano (1688); the third, PAL. FERRO, fifteenth-century Gothic. The small PAL. CONTARINI-FASAN is the so-called Desdemona House. The balcony with its rich tracery is unique in Venice. Some distance farther on is the PAL. TIEPOLO, now the Hotel Britannia. The Hotel d’ Italia is a new building. The fifteenth-century PAL. GIUSTINIANI is now the Hotel de l’ Europe. The next house but one is the old RIDOTTO, the famous Assembly Rooms and Gambling Saloon of the later Republic, in its day the Monte Carlo of Europe. It is still used for _bals-masqués_ at Carnival time. We pass the gardens of the Royal Palace; the Zecca (mint), and the S. end of the Libreria Vecchia, both by Sansovino, and reach the Piazzetta, whence we started. Fortunate are they who have the opportunity of seeing the Grand Canal at the time of a royal visit, or other great occasion when steamer traffic being stopped, the waters regain the placidity we see in old engravings, and the lines of palaces hung with tapestry are mirrored in the sea. The grand _bissone_ (festal gondolas) are brought forth, decked with brilliant colours, some of them manned by a score of gondoliers in gorgeous old Venetian costume, and we then catch a glimpse of what Venice was in her splendour. The traveller will probably choose an afternoon for his survey of the Grand Canal, and no better rounding-off of the day may be imagined than to ferry across from the Molo to the island of S. Giorgio Maggiore, the ancient Isle of the Cypresses, and, after visiting the church, to ascend the campanile and enjoy the beautiful view from the summit. Northwards is the line of the mainland, fringed with trees and dotted with villages; in the foreground the broad curve of the city of a hundred isles; around, as the eye sweeps the horizon, are the lagoons, studded with islands and marked by the bold strokes of the lidi; farther to the S. is the open Adriatic. As the sun sinks to its setting the vast expanse will glow in a symphony of ravishing colour.