ends itself to a vast
distance over the tranquil mirror; and as all is still around, he is, as
it were, in a solitude in the midst of a large and populous town. Here
is no rattling of carriages, no noise of foot passengers; a silent
gondola glides now and then by him, of which the splashings of the oars
are scarcely to be heard.

"At a distance he hears another, perhaps utterly unknown to him. Melody
and verse immediately attach the two strangers; he becomes the
responsive echo to the former, and exerts himself to be heard as he had
heard the other. By a tacit convention they alternate verse for verse;
though the song should last the whole night through, they entertain
themselves without fatigue: the hearers who are passing between the two
take part in the amusement.

"This vocal performance sounds best at a great distance, and is then
inexpressibly charming, as it only fulfills its design in the sentiment
of remoteness. It is plaintive, but not dismal in its sound, and at
times it is scarcely possible to refrain from tears. My companion, who
otherwise was not a very delicately organised person, said quite
unexpectedly: E singolare come quel canto intenerisce, e molto piu
quando lo cantano meglio.

"I was told that the women of Libo, the long row of islands that divides
the Adriatic from the Lagoons,[555] particularly the women of the
extreme districts of Malamocca and Palestrina, sing in like manner the
works of Tasso to these and similar tunes.

"They have the custom, when their husbands are fishing out at sea, to
sit along the shore in the evenings and vociferate these songs, and
continue to do so with great violence, till each of them can distinguish
the responses of her own husband at a distance."[556]

The love of music and of poetry distinguishes all classes of Venetians,
even amongst the tuneful sons of Italy. The city itself can occasionally
furnish respectable audiences for two and even three opera-houses at a
time; and there are few events in private life that do not call forth a
printed and circulated sonnet. Does a physician or a lawyer take his
degree, or a clergyman preach his maiden sermon, has a surgeon performed
an operation, would a harlequin announce his departure or his benefit,
are you to be congratulated on a marriage, or a birth, or a lawsuit, the
Muses are invoked to furnish the same number of syllables, and the
individual triumphs blaze abroad in virgin white or party-coloured
placards on