"I remember being at Brighton, many years 66 ago, and having great difficulty in making the "land, the wind blowing off the shore, and "the tide setting out. Crowds of people were "collected on the beach to see us. Mr. 66 66 66 (I think he said Hobhouse) was with me; and," he added, "I had great difficulty in saving him—he nearly drowned me. "When I was at Venice, there was an Ita"lian who knew no more of swimming than a "camel, but he had heard of my prowess in the "Dardanelles, and challenged me. Not wish 66 ing that any foreigner at least should beat me "at my own arms, I consented to engage in the 66 contest. Alexander Scott proposed to be of "the party, and we started from Lido. Our "land-lubber was very soon in the rear, and "Scott saw him make for a gondola. He rested "himself first against one, and then against 66 66 another, and gave in before we got half way "to St. Mark's Place. We saw no more of "him, but continued our course through the “Grand Canal, landing at my palace-stairs. "The water of the Lagunes is dull, and not 66 very clear or agreeable to bathe in. I can "keep myself up for hours in the sea: I delight "in it, and come out with a buoyancy of spirits "I never feel on any other occasion. "If I believed in the transmigration of your "Hindoos, I should think I had been a Merman " in some former state of existence, or was going 66 to be turned into one in the next." "When I published Marino Faliero' I had "not the most distant view to the stage. My 66 object in choosing that historical subject was "to record one of the most remarkable incidents "in the annals of the Venetian Republic, embo 66 66 resting form-dialogue, and giving my work "the accompaniments of scenery and manners "studied on the spot. That Faliero should, for 66 46 a slight to a woman, become a traitor to his country, and conspire to massacre all his fel"low-nobles, and that the young Foscari should "have a sickly affection for his native city, were no inventions of mine. I painted the "men as I found them, as they were,--not as "the critics would have them. I took the sto"ries as they were handed down; and if human "nature is not the same in one country as it is "in others, am I to blame?--can I help it? "But no painting, however highly coloured, can 66 give an idea of the intensity of a Venetian's "affection for his native city. Shelley, I "remember, draws a very beautiful picture of "the tranquil pleasures of Venice in a poem * * The lines to which Lord Byron referred are these: "If I had been an unconnected man, I from this moment should have form'd the plan It was delight to ride by the lone sea; "which he has not published, and in which he "does not make me cut a good figure. It de"scribes an evening we passed together. "There was one mistake I committed: I "should have called 'Marino Faliero' and The "Two Foscari dramas, historic poems, or any 66 thing, in short, but tragedies or plays. In the "first place, I was ill-used in the extreme by "the Doge being brought on the stage at all, "after my Preface. Then it consists of 3500 harmaton And then the town is silent-one may write Or read in gondolas by day or night, Having the little brazen lamp alight, Unseen, uninterrupted: books are there, Pictures, and casts from all those statues fair Julian and Maddalo. "lines:* a good acting play should not exceed 56 66 66 1500 or 1800; and, conformably with my plan, the materials could not have been compressed into so confined a space. "I remember Hogg the Ettrick Shepherd "telling me, many years ago, that I should "never be able to condense my powers of writing sufficiently for the stage, and that the "fault of all my plays would be their being too "long for acting. The remark occurred to me "when I was about Marino Faliero; but I 66 thought it unnecessary to try and contradict "his prediction, as I did not study stage-effect, "and meant it solely for the closet. So much "was I averse from its being acted, that, the "moment I heard of the intention of the 66 Managers, I applied for, an injunction; but * He gave me the copy, with the number of lines marked with his own pencil. I have left it in England. |