VIII. THE DUCAL PALACE 423

employments of the months, with which we are already tolerably acquainted.¹ There are, however, one or two varieties worth noticing in this series.

First side. March. Sitting triumphantly in a rich dress, as the beginning of the year.

Second side. April and May. April with a lamb: May with a feather fan in her hand.

Third side. June. Carrying cherries in a basket.

I did not give this series with the others in the previous chapter, because this representation of June is peculiarly Venetian. It is called “the month of cherries,” mese delle ceriese, in the popular rhyme on the conspiracy of Tiepolo, quoted above, Vol. I. Appendix iii.²

The cherries principally grown near Venice are of a deep red colour, and large, but not of high flavour, though refreshing. They are carved upon the pillar with great care, all their stalks undercut.

Fourth side. July and August. The first reaping; the leaves of the straw being given, shooting out from the tubular stalk. August, opposite, beats (the grain?) in a basket.

Fifth side. September. A woman standing in a wine-tub, and holding a branch of vine. Very beautiful.

Sixth side. October and November. I could not make out their occupation; they seem to be roasting or boiling some root over a fire.

Seventh side. December. Killing pigs, as usual.

Eighth side. January warming his feet, and February frying

an old convent window out of which you will not see a Croat’s face peeping, or his pipe-clayed sword-belt hanging. It reads curiously enough over the Gothic doors, ‘Caserma de’ Gesuiti.’ However, better the Croats than the Jesuits.”

The quotation “lonely isle” is from Shelley’s description in Julian and Maddalo (line 248: “Amid you lonely isles of desert sand.”) For a description of such an island-garden as Ruskin refers to, see the chapter on “Sant’ Elena” in H. F. Brown’s Life on the Lagoons; the island, a barracks under the Austrians, is now the site of an iron foundry. Ruskin mentions the island in Fors Clavigera, Letter 72.]

¹ [See above, pp. 317-321. This is a new capital. March, the month of blustering winds, is blowing two horns; inscribed “MARCIUS CORNATOR”; in the old capital, as seen and described by Ruskin, the horns had been broken away. On side 4, August with chisel and mallet is making a barrel for the coming vintage. On side 6, October is a man with a massa, a loaf-shaped stone for beating out grain by hand. Then November is pouring grain into an upper mill-stone. On side 8, January is a double-faced Janus.]

² [Vol. IX. p. 418.]

[Version 0.04: March 2008]