[Illustration:  THE ADAM AND EVE CORNER OF THE DOGES’ PALACE]

The eighteenth has eight stone-carving saints, some with a piece of coloured marble, all named, and all at work:  S. Simplicius, S. Symphorian, who sculps a figure, S. Claudius, and others.

And now we are at the brave corner column which unconcernedly assumes a responsibility that can hardly be surpassed in the world.  For if it were to falter all would go.  Down would topple two of the loveliest facades that man ever constructed or the centuries ever caressed into greater beauty.  This corner of the palace has an ever-increasing fascination for me, and at all hours of the day and night this strong column below and the slenderer one above it hold the light—­whether of sun or moon or artifice—­with a peculiar grace.

The design of this capital is, fittingly enough, cosmic.  It represents the signs of the Zodiac with the addition, on the facet opposite the Dogana, of Christ blessing a child.  Facing S. Giorgio are Aquarius and Capricornus, facing the Lido are Pisces and Sagittarius.  Elsewhere are Justice on the Bull, the Moon in a boat with a Crab, and a Virgin reading to the Twins.

Above this capital, on the corner of the building itself, are the famous Adam and Eve, presiding over the keystone of the structure as over the human race.  It is a naive group, as the photograph shows, beneath the most tactful of trees, and it has no details of beauty; and yet, like its companions, the Judgment of Solomon and the Sin of Ham, it has a curious charm—­due not a little perhaps to the softening effect of the winds and the rains.  High above our first parents is the Angel Michael.

The first capital after the corner (we are now proceeding down the Riva) has Tubal Cain the musician, Solomon, Priscian the grammarian, Aristotle the logician, Euclid the geometrician, and so forth, all named and all characteristically employed.

The second has heads of, I suppose, types.  Ruskin suggests that the best looking is a Venetian and the others the Venetians’ inferiors drawn from the rest of the world.

The third has youths and women with symbols, signifying I know not what.  All are corpulent enough to suggest gluttony.  This is repeated in No. 11 on the Piazzetta side.

The fourth has various animals and no lettering.

The fifth has lions’ heads and no lettering.

The sixth has virtues and vices and is repeated in the fourth on the
Piazzetta.

The seventh has cranes, and is repeated in the third on the Piazzetta.

The eighth has vices again and is repeated in the seventh on the
Piazzetta.  Above it are traces of a medallion over three triangles.

The ninth has virtues and is repeated in the eighth on the Piazzetta.

The tenth has symbolical figures, and is repeated in the sixth on the
Piazzetta.

The eleventh has vices and virtues and is repeated in the ninth on the
Piazzetta.