"Santo Padre! That a christian should die the d of a hunted dog by the carelessness of a gondolier!”

It may have been lucky for the Ancona-man that fell out, for they say the Roman was one of influ enough to make a senator cross the Bridge of Sighs need.”

"The devil take all careless watermen, say I!-And became of the awkward rogue ?"

"I tell thee he went outside the Lido, that very h

"He was brought up by the oar of Giorgio, for bot us were active in saving the cushions and other valuable "Couldst thou do nothing for the poor Roman? I I may follow that brig on account of his death!"

"Ill luck follow her, say I, till she lays her bones some rock that is harder than the heart of her padro As for the stranger, we could do no more than offer u prayer to San Teodoro, since he never rose after the blo But what has brought thee to Venice, caro mio? for thy fortune with the oranges, in the last voyage, caused th to denounce the place."

The Calabrian laid a finger on one cheek, and drew t skin down, in a manner to give a droll expression to dark, comic eye, while the whole of his really fine Greci face was charged with an expression of coarse humour. "Look you, Gino-thy master sometimes calls for gondola between sunset and morning?"

"An owl is not more wakeful than he has been of lat This head of mine has not been on a pillow before the s has come above the Lido, since the snows melted fro Monselice."

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Diamine! "Twould be the last night I served t Duca di Sant' Agata were my tongue so limber! The go dolier and the confessor are the two privy councillors of noble, Master Stefano, with this small difference-that t last only knows what the sinner wishes to reveal, while t first sometimes knows more. I can find a safer, if not more honest employment, than to be running about wi my master's secrets in the air."

"And I am wiser than to let every Jew broker in S Marco, here, have a peep into my charter-party.'

Nay, old acquaintance, there is some difference 1 tween our occupations, after all. A padrone of a feluc cannot, in justice, be compared to the most confident gondolier of a Neapolitan duke, who has an unsettled rig to be admitted to the council of Three-hundred."

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'Just the difference between smooth water and rough you ruffle the surface of a canal with a lazy oar, while run the channel of Piombino in a mistral, shoot the Fa of Messina in a white squall, double Santa Maria de Leu in a breathing Levanter, and come skimming up the Ad atic, before a sirocco that is hot enough to cook my ma caroni, and which sets the whole sea boiling worse th the cauldrons of Scylla."

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Hist!" eagerly interrupted the gondolier, who had dulged, with Italian humour, in the controversy for p eminence, though without any real feeling; "here con one who may think, else, we shall have need of his ha to settle the dispute-Eccolo !"

The Calabrian recoiled a pace, in silence, and stood garding the individual who had caused this hurried rema

mature age. The cheeks were bloodless, but they betrayed rather the pallid hue of mental than of bodily disease. The perfect condition of the physical man was sufficiently exhi bited, in the muscular fulness of a body, which, though light and active, gave every indication of strength. His step was firm, assured and even; his carriage erect and easy, and his whole mien was strongly characterized by a self-possession that could scarcely escape observation. And yet his attire was that of an inferior class. A doublet of common velvet, a dark Montero cap, such as was then much used in the southern countries of Europe, with other vestments of a similar fashion, composed his dress. The face was melancholy rather than sombre, and its perfect repose accorded well with the striking calmness of the body. The lineaments of the former, however, were bold and even noble, exhibiting that strong and manly outline which is so characteristic of the finer class of the Italian countenance. Out of this striking array of features gleamed an eye that was full of brilliancy, meaning, and passion.

As the stranger passed, his glittering organs rolled over the persons of the gondolier and his companion, but the look, though searching, was entirely without interest. 'Twas the wandering but wary glance, which men, who have much reason for distrust, habitually cast on a multitude. It turned, with the same jealous keenness, on the face of the next it encountered; and by the time the steady and well balanced form was lost in the crowd, that quick and glowing eye had gleamed, in the same rapid and uneasy manner, on twenty others.

Neither the gondolier nor the mariner of Calabria spoke

dily disease. The s sufficiently exhi Ay, which, though of strength. His carriage erect and characterized by a be observation. And Mass. A doublet of , such as was then f Europe, with other sed his dress. The bre, and its perfect ing calmness of the however, were bold g and manly outline r class of the Italian Sarray of features

ancy, meaning, and

rolled over g organs companion, but the

y

without interest.

who

e, which men, ally cast on a multius keenness, on the the time the steady e crowd, that quick me rapid and uneasy

er of Calabria spoke,

His companion raised three of his fingers, with an occult meaning, towards the palace of the doges.

"Do they let him take the air, even in San Marco ?" he asked, in unfeigned surprise.

"It is not easy, caro amico, to make water run up stream, or to stop the downward current. It is said that most of the senators would sooner lose their hopes of the horned bonnet, than lose him. Jacopo! He knows more family secrets than the good Priore of San Marco himself, and he, poor man, is half his time in the confessional !"

"Ay, they are afraid to put him in an iron jacket, lest awkward secrets should be squeezed out."

Corpo di Bacco ! there would be little peace in Venice, if the Council of Three should take it into their heads to loosen the tongue of yonder man in that rude manner." But they say, Gino, that thy Council of Three has a fashion of feeding the fishes of the Lagunes, which might throw the suspicion of his death on some unhappy Anconaman, were the body ever to come up again.

be so.

"Well, no need of bawling it aloud, as if thou wert hailing a Sicilian through thy trumpet, though the fact should To say the truth, there are few men in business who are thought to have more custom than he who has just gone up the piazzetta."

"Two sequins!" rejoined the Calabrian, enforcing his meaning by a significant grimace.

"Santa Madonna! Thou forgettest, Stefano, that not even the confessor has any trouble with a job in which he has been employed. Not a caratano less than a hundred will buy a stroke of his art. Your blows, for two sequins.

seemed to be a sort of summing up of all his aversion and horror.

The gondolier shrugged his shoulders, with quite as much meaning as a man born on the shores of the Baltic could have conveyed by words; but he, too, appeared to think the matter exhausted.

"Stefano Milano," he added, after a moment of pause, "there are things in Venice which he, who would eat his maccaroni in peace, would do well to forget. Let thy errand in port be what it may, thou art in good season to witness the regatta which will be given by the state, itself, to-morrow."

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Hast thou an oar for that race ?"

"Giorgio's, or mine, under the patronage of San Teodoro. The prize will be a silver gondola to him who is lucky or skilful enough to win; and then we shall have the nuptials with the Adriatic."

Thy nobles had best woo the bride well, for there are heretics who lay claim to her good will. I met a rover of strange rig and miraculous fleetness, in rounding the headlands of Otranto, who seemed to have half a mind to follow the felucca in her path toward the Lagunes.'

Did the sight warm thee at the soles of thy feet, Gino dear ?"

There was not a turbaned head on his deck, but every sea-cap set upon a well-covered poll and a shorn chin. Thy Bucentaur is no longer the bravest craft that floats between Dalmatia and the islands, though her gilding may glitter brightest. There are men beyond the Pillars of Hercules who are not satisfied with doing all that can be done on their own coasts, but who are pretending to do much of that which can be done on ours."