St. Mark's incrusted walls and lustrous gold,
Those single shafts, those subtle lineaments
Of chiselled marble, and the wealth untold
Of precious blazonry, bear evidence
Of truthful love and humble reverence,
Which Venice had of old, when she applied
Her wealth to honour God, in permanence
Of stone and rich adornment, at her side
As Table of the Law and symbol of the Bride.

So stood the Church, a Bible lifted high
Above the turmoil of the restless crowd,
As seeming ever solemnly to cry

"He shall return," with strength and power endowed

To raise the humble and lay low the proud.

But Venice hearkened not: at her right hand

A glorious Bible stood; yet she allowed

Transgression from His law and mild command, And sinning found in sin her peace for ever banned.

What though the East has lavished all her skill
To gild each letter with a living fire,

Though Fancy's richest hues the pages fill
With all that men should reverence or admire?

Its language is forgotten: men aspire

Not to regard the lesson of its lore,

But to be dressed in vain and tricked attire,

To enter Pleasure's portals, or the door
That lustful Vice and Sin hold open evermore.

It is alone and desolate amid

A crowded city, that will never know

Its beauty and its teaching, lying hid

From their dull hearts and eyes, although they go Before its gates for ever to and fro.

Revels and tragedies have passed away

Forgotten; idle masquers still below

Pursue their heedless path, though day by day

Those solemn domes are witness to the paltry play.

The madness of the World assembles there,
And Horror strives with Mirth and Vanity,
Vice joins with Pleasure, Murder with Despair;
While over all the Temple mournfully

Stands silent unregarded, and the cry,

"St. Mark and Liberty," the ancient boast

Of glorious Venice, is a memory,

That wakes no echo, dies itself almost

St. Mark's behest unheeded and all freedom lost.

"Doctrina sed vim promovet insitam."

CONSIDERANTI mihi diversas erudiendi pueros rationes, illud in mentem occurrit, e veteribus aliquem, si de caelo post tot saecula delabi in has terras posset, miraturum esse suas litteras iam in tanto honore haberi ut cum puerilis disciplinae elementa sint, tum maturae nonnunquam aetati mentis prope solum pabulum suppeditent. Quanquam enim Theognis ille Cyrnum suum versibus appellans ita loquitur:

μελήσεις

ἄφθιτον ἀνθρώποις αἰὲν ἔχων ὄνομα

et ille alter de se eodem modo vaticinatur :

:

Non omnis moriar, multaque pars mei

Vitabit Libitinam

vix, opinor, re vera finxissent extremis in Britannis olim fore ut carmina Graeca et Latina a pueris decantarentur. Igitur non est mirandum quod sunt hodie qui pueros ita instituentibus succenseant, quia meliorem ex recentioribus artibus studiisque erudiendae iuventutis rationem quam quae tam longe exquisitae sint inveniri posse arbitrantur. Hi enim affirmant totum hoc lumen antiquorum doctrinae quum in Anglia primum emicuisset, oculos novo et antea incognito fulgore ita strinxisse, ut nostri modo omni omisso servitium alienae linguae libenter acceperint, nec senserint si nimia vetustatis admiratione caperentur, periculum. fore ne artes a recentibus magis expolitas et perfectas negligerent: quod commune est omnibus vitium a Tacito memoratum, ut dum