Childe Harold, Canto IV

The Rialto, rendered immortal by the genius of Shakespeare, is the largest and finest bridge in Venice. It connects the island of Rialto with the isle of St. Mark, across the Grand Canal. The present marble structure dates from 1588; it is a single span of 91 feet, 24 1/2 feet above the level of the water. The width of the bridge is 72 feet, divided into three passage-ways and two rows of stores; the central street is 21 feet 8 inches wide, and each of the two side ones 11 feet; there are twenty-four stores, tastefully arranged with dainty wares. The bridge and the street leading to it form the principal business thoroughfare of Venice.

Bridges broad enough for a row of shops on each side of their roadway are now rare. In mediaeval Europe they were common. A guard or gate at each end of a bridge made the shops secure from burglars. Water was easily procured, and they faced the street where all persons who would cross the stream must perforce congregate. Besides the Rialto, the Florentine Ponte Vecchio is another survival of the ancient inhabited bridges.

"Shylock, the Jew," is one of the principal characters in Shakespeare's "Merchant of Venice;" "The Moor" is "Othello, the Moor of Venice," also Shakespeare's'; "Pierre" is a blunt, bold, outspoken man, in "Venice Preserved," by T. Otway, who heads a conspiracy to murder the Venetian senators.