A story of Venice at a period when her strength and splendor were put to the severest tests. The hero, the son of an English trader, displays a fine manliness which carries him safely through an atmosphere of intrigue, crime, and bloodshed. I his gondola on the canals and lagoons, and in the ships which he rises to command, he is successful in extricating his friends and himself from imminent dangers, and contributes largely to the victories of the Venetians at Porto d’Anzo and Chioggia, and finally takes the hand of the daughter of one of the chief men of Venice. “Of all the chapters of history, there are few more interesting or wonderful than that which tells the story of the rise and progress of Venice. Built upon a few sandy islands in a shallow lagoon, and originally founded by fugitives from the mainland, Venice became one of the greatest and most respected powers of Europe. She was mistress of the sea; conquered and ruled over a considerable territory bordering on the Adriatic; checked the rising power of the Turks; conquered Constantinople; successfully defied all the attacks of her jealous rivals to shake her power; and carried on a trade relatively as great as that of England in the present day. I have laid my story in the time not of the triumphs of Venice, but of her hardest struggle for existence–when she defended herself successfully against the coalition of Hungary, Padua, and Genoa–for never at any time were the virtues of Venice, her steadfastness, her patriotism, and her willingness to make all sacrifice for her independence, more brilliantly shown. The historical portion of the story is drawn from Hazlitt’s History of the Republic of Venice, and with it I have woven the adventures of an English boy, endowed with a full share of that energy and pluck which, more than any other qualities, have made the British empire the greatest the world has ever seen.” -G. A. Henty “Everybody should read ‘The Lion of St. Mark.’ Mr. Henty has never produced any story more delightful, more wholesome, or more vivacious. From first to last it will be read with keen enjoyment.” -Saturday Review “Mr. Henty has probably not published a more interesting story than ‘The Lion of St. Mark.’ He has certainly not published one in which he has been at such pains to rise to the dignity of his subject.” -The Academy “Mr. Henty is one of the best of storytellers for young people.” -The Spectator “Mr. Henty had a knack of rousing the interest of the reader on the first page and of keeping it alive to the last. The sentiments his books instill are irreproachable and he had the best of gifts in writers for youth of being able to impart knowledge without forgetting for an instant that his first business was to amuse.” -The Saturday Review of Politics, Literature, Science and Art, “No living writer of books for boys writes to better purpose than Mr. G. A. Henty.” -Philadelphia Press