ason for the odium under which the one lay,
and the repute in which the other was held, save that the art, though
one, was termed witchcraft in the one case, and religion in the other.
The one was compelled to shroud his mysteries in the darkness of the
night, and seek the solitary cave for the performance of his spells. The
arts of the other were performed in magnificent and costly cathedrals,
in presence of admiring assemblies. The latter were the licensed dealers
in magic; and, enjoying the public patronage, they carried their
pretensions to a pitch which their less favoured brethren dared not
attempt to rival. They juggled on a gigantic scale, and the more
enormous the cheat, the better was it received. They rapidly grew in
numbers and wealth. Their chief, the great Roman necromancer, enjoyed
the state of a temporal prince, and had a whole kingdom appropriated to
his use, that he might suitably support his rank and dignity as
arch-conjuror.

But to return to Venice;--the great stream of concourse flowed in the
direction of the _Giardini Pubblici_, which are a nook of one of the
more southerly islands on which the city stands, fitted up as a
miniature landscape, its lilliputian hills and vales being the only ones
the Venetians ever see. The intercourse betwixt Venice and the Continent
has no doubt become more frequent since the opening of the railway; but
formerly it was not uncommon to find persons who had never been on the
land, and who had no notion of ploughs, waggons, carts, gardens, and a
hundred other things that seem quite inseparable from the existence of a
nation. Twilight came, walking with noiseless sandals on the seas. A
delicious light mantled the horizon; the domes of the city stood up with
silent sublimity into the sky; and over them floated, in the deep
azure, a young moon, thin as a single thread, and bright as the polished
steel.

"A silver bow,
New bent in heaven."

When darkness fell on the Lagunes, the glories of the piazza of San
Marco again blazed forth. What with cafes and countless lamps, a flood
of light fell upon the marble pavement, on which some ten or twelve
thousand people, rich and poor, were assembled, and were being regaled
with occasional airs from a numerous band. The Sabbath closed in the
Adriatic not altogether so tranquilly as it had opened.

The Venetians have long been famous for their peculiar skill in
combining devotion with pleasure,--more devout t