'Twas a sad day for the Republic, girl, when it first permitted the stranger to come into the waters of the Adriatic!" "Is it certain, Gino, that the arm of St.Mark was strong enough to keep him out ?" "Mother of Diana! I would rather thou didst not ask that question in a place where so many gondoliers are in motion! Here are Ragusans, Maltese, Sicilians, and Tuscans without number; and a little fleet of French lie near each other there, at the entrance of the Giudecca.

They are a people who get together, afloat or ashore, for the benefit of the tongue.

Here we are, at the end of our journey." The oar of Gino gave a backward sweep, and the gondola was at rest by the side of a felucca.
"A happy night to the Bella Sorrentina and her worthy padrone!" was the greeting of the gondolier, as he put his foot on the deck of the vessel.
"Is the honest Stefano Milano on board the swift felucca ?" The Calabrian was not slow to answer; and in a few moments the padrone and his two visitors were in close and secret conference.
"I have brought one here who will be likely to put good Venetian sequins into thy pocket, caro," observed the gondolier, when the preliminaries of discourse had been properly observed.

"She is the daughter of a most conscientious wine-dealer, who is quite as ready at transplanting your Sicilian grapes into the islands as he is willing and able to pay for them." "And one, no doubt, as handsome as she is ready," said the mariner, with blunt gallantry, "were the black cloud but fairly driven from before her face." "A mask is of little consequence in a bargain provided the money be forthcoming.

We are always in the Carnival at Venice; and he who would buy, or he who would sell, has the same right to hide his face as to hide his thoughts.