effects of red, and he was altogether as infamous a figure as any friend
of brigands would like to meet in a lonely place. He did not offer to stab
me and sink my body in the Grand Canal, as, in all Venetian keeping, I
felt that he ought to have done; but he implored an alms, and I hardly
know now whether to exult or regret that I did not understand him, and
left him empty-handed. I suppose that he withdrew again the blessings
which he had advanced me, as we pushed out into the canal; but I heard
nothing, for the wonder of the city was already upon me. All my nether-
spirit, so to speak, was dulled and jaded by the long, cold, railway
journey from Vienna, while every surface-sense was taken and tangled in
the bewildering brilliancy and novelty of Venice. For I think there can be
nothing else in the world so full of glittering and exquisite surprise, as
that first glimpse of Venice which the traveler catches as he issues from
the railway station by night, and looks upon her peerless strangeness.
There is something in the blessed breath of Italy (how quickly, coming
south, you know it, and how bland it is, after the harsh, transalpine
air!) which prepares you for your nocturnal advent into the place; and O
you! whoever you are, that journey toward this enchanted city for the
first time, let me tell you how happy I count you! There lies before you
for your pleasure, the spectacle of such singular beauty as no picture can
ever show you nor book tell you,--beauty which you shall feel perfectly
but once, and regret forever.

For my own part, as the gondola slipped away from the blaze and bustle of
the station down the gloom and silence of the broad canal, I forgot that I
had been freezing two days and nights; that I was at that moment very cold
and a little homesick. I could at first feel nothing but that beautiful
silence, broken only by the star-silvered dip of the oars. Then on either
hand I saw stately palaces rise gray and lofty from the dark waters,
holding here and there a lamp against their faces, which brought