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Show TREASURES OF MARCIANA. The gaasovleo releo to n. Their Resting Rest-ing I'laoo. Lovers of Venice will remember, some time ago, a cry In the press, particularly par-ticularly In England, about the Dogea palace going more or less to ruin, and that the great Mercians library, house In It. waa much too heavy to be aafe. It Is not my Intention her to reopen th question, which waa never really cleared up, but to chronicle that at last the library Is about to be removed to Its rightful resting plsce, the Ban-sovlno Ban-sovlno pslace, erected on purpose to hold It In mil It waa removed from there to the Dogea palace by a decree of Napoleon, but haa alwaya seemed out of Ita element, aa It were, th room not being adapted for urh a purpose. The collection Is one of the most precious of rich Italy, there being be-ing 800,000 volumes, 100.000 psmphlet and 11.000 manuscript, most of them of Inestimable value. Tradition state that the nucleus of the library of St. .Mark'a waa a present made by Petrarch Pet-rarch of aome of bis own works to th city; but history has It thst the beginning be-ginning wss when Cardinal Bcsaarlon turned over hi collection, nearly 800 volume, to Venice, In Hot, the lateat additions being from suppressed monasteries mon-asteries In the provinces. Among the most ancient MRS. are the Oreek "Evengelll" of the eighth century, and n Old Testament of the ninth. I'et-hapa I'et-hapa more Interesting are the secular MHS. of the thirteenth and later cen-turle. cen-turle. Illustrated by odd little figure of horsemen and saints. There la a "Dlvlna Commedla," with grotesque figure, of tho Ar. h.i teenth century. There Is a notable code of Ilanmd. of the thirteenth ren-turr, ren-turr, with Turka depleted In full ro. tume. and a fragment of a Perahw poem or. the fir teem h century. The autogruphe are p-erlou to a. degree. There la one of Ordinal llussarlone the "Dialogues" of Tasso. writings of Oallleo, Rarpl and, more recent, of OolUonl, to mention only one or two. Of books, which can I choore to mention? men-tion? "Epistles" of ,4'ieero. printed In H": "Poems, Songs snd Triumph" of Petrarch, dated 1470; the Hrt ..mi. or printing of Nicola Jonson. and ao on. Space rorblds me to mention more, but I have given an Idea of what treasures the library contains Roman correspondence of the Pull .Mull (Ja-xette. |
