And long and prosperous were the days of Gervase Forrester. In his greatest need he had put his simple trust in Heaven, and large had been his reward. His son rose to high eminence as a Turkey merchant, he became owner of the vessel which had conveyed him to England; and old Master Hakluyt, and the “ Annals of Commerce," will inform the inquiring reader how many a rich cargo was brought by the " Lyon of London." But Gervase Forrester, though he rejoiced in the good fortunes of his son, still would not wholly give up his pleasant dream of alchemy; again was the "beechen fire" lighted, and Alderman Fraunceys stood beside him as an humble pupil, while he was pointed out by both neighbours and strangers as the only alchemist who ever obtained wealth. Whether he, indeed, ever found the great secret was a question very warmly debated among the adepts, both during his life and after his death, and it was finally agreed upon that he had. And when, at length, his comely effigy in branched damask gown, and his head supported by three books, adorned the table-tomb on the north side of the church, many a student, down to the days of the indefatigable Elias Ashmole, went a pleasant pilgrimage to Edmonton, to discover, if possible, among the fanciful emblems that decked the crumbling stone, some hint at least of that mighty secret which undoubtedly lay buried below.

THE DOGE'S PALACE, VENICE.

BY J. B. PAPWORTH, ESQ.

THE splendid city of Venice, built on a site rescued from the bosom of the Adriatic and created by a forlorn and almost destitute people, seeking refuge from the scourge of conquering enemies, rises from the sea, a constellation of exquisite beauty. Several centuries of her existence passed, after many struggles in arriving at and maintaining her immense wealth, her maritime power, and her elevated rank amongst contemporaries, stimulated to exertion by her example. The splendid and palace-like demonstrations of this prosperity, spreading luxuriously around, cannot be viewed without a deep sense of the perseverance of her founders and the acuteness of her statesmen, however the feeling of respect may be alloyed by contemplating the means by which her eminence was acquired means foreign to justice and repugnant to humanity.

Of the pictorial beauty of Venice perhaps no view excites greater admiration than the groupe formed by the Ducal Palace and the Piazzetta di San Marco: great and simple in character, surmounted as it is by the lofty campanile, it gives assurance that there is to be found the grave and directing power of the state. How splendid, how beautiful, when viewed from the sea, between the palace and S. Giorgio Maggiore, il

luminated by the mid-day sun, giving force of shadow to its masses and splendour to the exquisite embellishments of the façade !

The annexed engraving is a portion of the Ducal Palace, taken from a situation which embraces the approach to the celebrated Scala, or Giants' Stairs. These are a flight of stairs, surmounted by two gigantic figures at the ends of the topmost step, leading to a platform, and considerably in advance of the piazza of the principal or state floor, being altogether in the middle of an uncovered court of the palace.

There exists an anecdote relating to this palace which accurately fixes the date of its erection. About the end of the fourteenth or the beginning of the fifteenth century, the former Ducal Palace was much injured and in part destroyed by fire. The nobles, adverse to the splendid state assumed by their chief magistrate, decreed the penalty of a heavy fine on any one who should dare to propose the restoration of the building. In 1413, the then Doge Moncenigo, scorning the motives that swayed the Senate in that decree, boldly commenced before them an eloquent appeal, demanding the re-building of the palace; and, by paying down the fine of one thousand ducats, he purchased his right to propose the restoration, and shamed the opposers by his liberality. The great work was thence begun, and it speedily became an example of magnificence, that was emulated by others, and added to the splendour of this unique and extraordinary city.