he way of refreshments, away you glide for a
day's genuine pleasure.

I am afraid the romance of the gondola days will be sadly invaded by the
number of little "Citizen" steamers, which ply from pier to pier; but,
as they will necessarily be confined to the traffic of the Grand Canal,
the smaller canals will still be sacred to the sombre, silent gondola.

The day of our departure at last drew near, and we felt we must bid a
reluctant farewell to--

"The marble city by the silent sea."

On the whole we had not found it a very dear place. The charges at
Danieli's were moderate, and the hire of gondolas far cheaper than
carriages elsewhere. There is also far less inducement to spend money
than at Florence, Rome, and other places, for the shops are in a decided
minority, and sight-seeing the order of the day. We spent our last
evening in storing up in our minds all the pleasant memories of the past
week, and--

"The following morning, urged by our affairs,
We left bright Venice."

CHAPTER XXI.

Leaving Venice--Hervey's Lament--Scenery _en route_--Padua--Associations
of the past--A brief history of Padua, and the House of Carrara--General
appearance of the town--Giotto's Chapel--His beautiful frescoes--Character
of Giotto's work--The Cathedral--Palazzo della Ragione--The Wooden Horse
--St. Antonio--The Hermitage--The Fallen Angels--The University and its
students--Ladies of Padua--Situation of the city--An old bridge--Climate.

The silvery-voiced bells of Venice chimed sweetly over the waters as we
left her, bidding us a tender farewell, almost reproachful that we could
leave her so soon. Siren-like, she would fain entice us to remain with
her, but the old charm-power has departed with her past glory; and we
echoed Hervey's beautiful lament as we watched her domes and minarets
disappear slowly one by one in the distance.

"And where art thou, with all thy songs and smiles,
Thou dream-like city of the hundred isles--
Thy marble columns, and thy princely halls,
Thy merry masques and moonlight carnivals,
Thy weeping myrtles and thy orange bowers,
Thy lulling fountains 'mid ambrosial flowers,
The cloudless beauty of thy deep blue skies,
Thy starlight serenades to ladies' eyes,
Thy lion, looking o'er the Adrian sea,
Defiance to the world and power to thee?
That pageant of the sunny waves is gone,
Her glory li