that the number of the latter is much diminished. The botanical garden enjoys a high reputation.

Leaving Padua early in the evening, we reached Mestre the same night,-a small town on the Lagune of Venice, where travelers embark in gondolás for that city. The inn was completely full; but, fortunately for us, those who occupied it were English friends whom we had known at Naples. They had the kindness to resign in our favor some of their rooms: and we spent the evening very pleasantly in their society.

On the following morning we entered one of these celebrated boats, and left the terra firma.

The passage of the Lagune is estimated at five English miles. Nothing could be more agreeable or more singular than this little voyage. As we rowed along this smooth water, which communicates with the Adriatic, we impatiently looked for the first sight of Venice. After being several times visited by the ustomhouse officers of the imperial government, who are not less rigid in the execution of their duty than were their predecessors in the employ of the ancient republic; and having been conveyed to a kind of fort, where a commissioned officer examined our passports; we at

last discovered the lofty domes of the interesting city which we were about to visit, and which has the appearance of rising from the sea. In an hour afterwards we entered the great canal of Venice.

The best hotel, kept by Petrillo, was filled by the officers of a British frigate lately arrived: we consequently were obliged to take apartments at L'Ecu de France, an inferior inn, which is neither very clean nor very comfortable.

When I have seen the curiosities of Venice, you shall hear from me again.

I am, &e.

LETTER XXXIĻ

First view of Venice-Gondolas-Venetian Ladies-Sketch of the history of Venice-Detailed account of Venice-Place of St. Mark-Ancient pillars-Church of St. Mark-Ducal pa lace-Rooms and pictures there-State prisons, or Sotto & Piombi-Prigioni Nuovi-The Broglio-Zecca, or mint Procuratie Nuovi-Procuratie Antique-Church of S. Germiniano-Belfrey of St. Mark-Geographical divisions of Venice-Church of St. Zaccharia-La Pieta-Il SepolchroBridge of the Riolto-Piazza Santi Giovani e Paolo---S. Francesco della Vigna---Arsenal of Venice---Palazzo Barbarigo, called La Scuola del Titiano---Pictures there---Southern part of Venice---La Salute --- The Dogana di Mare---San Georgio Maggiore--- Il Redentore---General remarks on society, manners, and morals at Venice---Dress of the ladies--Anecdote relating to the same ---Cicesbeos ---Cassinos --- The opera---Lodgings and living at Venice.

My dear sir,

Venice, April 28, 1803.

My expectations were fully gratified by the first coup d'œil of Venice: nor did I ever experience a sensation of greater surprise than I felt on entering the great canal, surrounded on all sides with churches and lofty palaces, the foundations of which are literally fixed in the water. But when my eye became accustomed to this scene, and I had opportu nities of examining Venice in detail, my sur

prise was followed by disappointment. The smaller canals, forming the streets of this town, are narrow, dirty, and offensive. The gondolas, which have been so often praised, both in poetry and prose, and which my imagination had painted as so many little temples of Venus, are very far from possessing any of those elegancies which are generally supposed to be the concomitants of that deity. An order of the police directs that these boats shall all be of one color, and that color is black; though the decorations within depend on the taste of the proprietor.

To give you some idea of a gondola, I must request you to suppose a hearse, such as dead bodies are carried on in England, placed on a boat of the ordinary size of those employed on the Thames and you will then have the exact picture of the exterior of one of these singular conveyances. You enter by one end, which is left open for the purpose, and turn your back to the top, stooping as you go in. Within are stuffed cushions, either of leather or of silk, according to the choice of the person to whom the gondola belongs; and on the sides are curtains, which may either be drawn, rendering the passengers invisible, or left open for the benefit of the air. The gondoliers stand on the outside and it is the boast of these fellows, that they have neither ears nor eyes!As to the

verses of Tasso and Ariosto, which they are said to sing habitually, it was not my good fortune to hear them recite any such poems; though the existence of such a custom is so well proved by the testimony of different travelers, that it would be absurd to dispute it. Perhaps the practice has been discontinued. I only remarked the exclamations by which they inform each other of the approach of their respective boats, the sound of which is extremely harmonious.

From the gondolas the mind wanders, I know not why, to the ladies of Venice.-In this respect I have been again disappointed. I had expected to see innumerable beauties, dressed with peculiar taste, and possessing countenances of irresistible animation. My stay here has certainly been very short, and I have had no opportunity of entering into private society: but neither on the canals, nor at the theatre, nor in the churches, have I observed any of those elegant figures which my fancy had pourtrayed as characteristic of the belles of this celebrated city. It is, indeed, more than probable, that many of the most distinguished females have with their families removed from Venice, since it has lost its independence, and become one of the many cities belonging to his imperial majesty, after having long been the capital of an ancient republic.