What in 1843 would have cost six English shillings, now stood us eight
or nine. The gondola, as is well known, is a long boat, pointed at
both ends, and painted black--furnished in the centre with cushioned
seats, all black, over which is erected a kind of cot, with windows,
to screen the passengers. One man stands in the fore, another in the
back part, rowing with their faces forward, the oar working in a
twisting manner on the top of a piece of wood curiously grooved for
the purpose. I cannot say that I saw anything very peculiar in the
dress of the gondoliers, or indeed in the appearance of any of the
people of Venice, excepting the female water-carriers. With that
exception, the people are dressed in much the same manner as is
customary over Europe generally. So far as I recollect, not a single
veiled or half-veiled lady, sailing in her own gondola, met our eyes
while we were in Venice. We have to revert for all such things to
Goldoni's plays and the pages of our own Byron.

The real grand thoroughfare of Venice is the _Canale Grande_--a wide
curving street, which sweeps through a great part of the city. The
principal palaces of the nobility, the superbest of the churches, and
the best hotels, are placed along this water-street. As we moved
along, Alessandro told us, in respectable French, the history of each
great mansion, and what its owners had done in the history of the
republic: a recital as intelligent and as accurate as could have been
expected in a book. Most of these buildings have a melancholy, decayed
look, being generally very old, and few of the owners being able to
spend much in or on them. A few that look tolerably fresh, are found
to be occupied by the post, the customs, or some other office, the
insignia of which figure in gaudy colouring over the principal
entrance. In connection with most of the palaces, the name of some
architect of reputation is mentioned. They are wholly of marble; and,