University of Virginia Library

THE LAST EXCURSION.

The day was drawing to a close when I embarked
for a final excursion, and, having reached the lido,
passed a pleasant hour in promenading the Adriatic
shore, with that beautiful expanse of water stretching
beyond the limits of vision, and soothingly laving
the sands at my feet. Upon returning, the sun was
below the horizon, and the deep, pompous outline
of the Tyrol rose commandingly in the distance; a
rich glow suffused the face of the western sky, and
the evening star gleamed peacefully. The still waters
of the gulf reflected with beautiful distinctness
the spires and adjoining buildings, and the few vessels
in the port lay perfectly tranquil upon its bosom.
At that hour, when the associations of Venice are
so earnestly excited by its own quiet beauty, my
old gondolier grew communicative. To-morrow, he
said, was the anniversary of one of the most splendid
festas of the republic. On that day, fifty years ago,
the doge, senators, nobility and distinguished strangers
embarked in the golden barge, and when arrived
at the lido, the former dropped a ring into the sea,

and then the whole company repaired to a neighbouring
church to celebrate a solemn function, after
which a grand fete was partaken of at the palace, and
innumerable comfits distributed upon the piazza;
thus, yearly, were observed the nuptials of the Adriatic.
He had been in the service of Byron three
years and a half, and during that time, had daily,
after dinner, transported the poet to the shore, where
he rode along the sands for some hours; and often
had he followed him with the gondola as he swam or
floated for miles upon the calm surface of the bay.
The little white house to which the curious repaired
to see him mount his horse, and the convent which
he daily frequented, were pointed out; and as an
instance of his lordship's generosity, the bargeman
bid us remember that when the printer whom he
employed in Venice lost his establishment by fire,
he privately sent him a hundred louis d'ors. As
an evidence of the fallen fortunes even of the gondoliers,
he declared that immediately prior to the
downfall of the republic, he received forty francs
per day from two Signori Inglesi, for fifteen days,
beside a buonamano of a suit of clothes; while an
eighth of that sum is the present stipend. I induced
the old man to sing a stanza of Tasso, as I thus
approached the city. The evening gun resounded,
a band of music struck up, and silently contemplating
the realization of my dreams of Venice, I
touched the steps of the quay, and emerged from
that silent solemnity upon the illuminated and gaily
occupied Piazza of St. Marco—to feel with him of
whom I was just conversing, that