Horror and Mirth. Both vanished in one hour! His ancient rule, shall wash away their footsteps. Enter the palace by the marble stairs 76 Down which the grizzly head of old FALIER Rolled from the block. Pass onward through the hall, 77 Led to another on the wall as brief; "7 And thou wilt track them wilt from rooms of state, CARRARA 78 and his valiant sons were slain; He first then they, whose only crime had been Under the flood, where light and warmth were never! And to that fatal closet at the foot, Lurking for prey. But let us to the roof, And, when thou hast surveyed the sea, the land, Day after day, beat unrelentingly; Few houses of the size were better filled; Though many came and left it in an hour. "Most nights," so said the good old Nicolo (For three-and-thirty years his uncle kept The water-gate below, but seldom spoke, Though much was on his mind), "most nights arrived The prison-boat, that boat with many oars, And bore away as to the Lower World, Disburdening in the Cànal ORFANO, 81 That drowning-place, where never net was thrown, And where a secret, once deposited, Lay till the waters should give up their dead." Yet what so gay as VENICE? 2 Every gale Breathed music! and who flocked not, while she reigned, To celebrate her Nuptials with the Sea; To wear the mask, and mingle in the crowd With Greek, Armenian, Persian-night and day "Who were the six we supped with yesternight?" "Kings, one and all! Thou couldst not but remark The style and manner of the six that served them." 83 "Who answered me just now? 84 Who, when I said, 'Tis nine,' turned round and said so solemnly, 'Signor, he died at nine'?"-"'T was the Armenian ; The mask that follows thee, go where thou wilt." "But who moves there, alone among them all?" 85 "The Cyprict. Ministers from distant courts Beset his doors, long ere his rising-hour; His the great secret! Not the golden house Of Nero, nor those fabled in the East, Rich though they were, so wondrous rich as his! "And mark him speaking. They, that listen, stand Such their discourse. Assembling in St. Mark's, All nations met as on enchanted ground! What though a strange mysterious power was there Moving throughout, subtle, invisible, And universal as the air they breathed; A power that never slumbered, nor forgave? All eye, all ear, nowhere and everywhere, No place of refuge for the Doge himself; 86 Most present when least thought of 87— nothing dropt In secret, when the heart was on the lips, Nothing in feverish sleep, but instantly Observed and judged a power, that if but named In casual converse, be it where it might, The speaker lowered at once his eyes, his voice, And pointed upward as to God in heaven What though that power was there, he who lived thus Pursuing Pleasure, lived as if it were not. But let him in the midnight air indulge A word, a thought against the laws of VENICE, THE GONDOLA. Boy, call the Gondola; the sun is set.- Though she had stept on board so light of foot, With her loose tresses, and drew more and more Contemplating that face so beautiful, That rosy mouth, that cheek dimpled with smiles, 'T was all in vain. Love would not let me rest. So, nor long since, Sung a Venetian; and his lay of love,& 88 Dangerous and sweet, charmed VENICE. For myself (Less fortunate, if Love be Happiness), No curtain drawn, no pulse beating alarm, Those porches passed, through which the water-breeze Isles such as cluster in the Southern seas, All verdure. Everywhere, from bush and brake, |