n Byron's (or
Count Maddalo's) gondola, there was such an evening view as one often
has, over Venice, and beyond, to the mountains. Shelley describes it:--

Paved with the image of the sky ... the hoar
And aery Alps towards the North appeared
Through mist, an heaven-sustaining bulwark reared
Between the East and West; and half the sky
Was roofed with clouds of rich emblazonry
Dark purple at the zenith, which still grew
Down the steep West into a wondrous hue
Brighter than burning gold, even to the rent
Where the swift sun yet paused in his descent
Among the many-folded hills: they were
Those famous Euganean hills, which bear,
As seen from Lido thro' the harbour piles,
The likeness of a clump of peaked isles--
And then--as if the Earth and Sea had been
Dissolved into one lake of fire, were seen
Those mountains towering as from waves of flame
Around the vaporous sun, from which there came
The inmost purple spirit of light, and made
Their very peaks transparent.

Browning never tired, says Mrs. Bronson, of this evening view from the
Lido, and always held that these lines by Shelley were the best
description of it.

The poem goes on to describe a visit to the madhouse of S. Clemente and
the reflections that arose from it. Towards the close Shelley says:--

If I had been an unconnected man
I, from this moment, should have formed some plan
Never to leave sweet Venice,--for to me
It was delight to ride by the lone sea;
And then, the town is silent--one may write
Or read in gondolas by day or night,
Having the little brazen lamp alight,
Unseen, uninterrupted; books are there.
Pictures, and casts from all those statues fair
Which were twin-born with poetry, and all
We seek in towns, with little to recall
Regrets for the green country.

Later in 1818 Mrs. Shelley joined her daughter in Venice, but it was a
tragic visit, for their daughter Clara died almost immediately after
they arrived. She is buried on the Lido.

In a letter to Peacock, Shelley thus describes the city: "Venice is a
wonderfully fine city. The approach to it over the laguna, with its
domes and turrets glittering in a long line over the blue waves, is one
of the finest architectural delusions in the world. It seems to
have--and literally it has--its foundations in the sea. The silent
streets are paved with water, and you hear