Martinsburg gazette and public advertiser. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1826-1833, 1833-03-07
From the New York Mirror.
FIRSF IMPRESSIONS OF EUROPE.
BY n. p. WILLIS.

| dTtysCtdt Httt--dHttdOteS 10 SddneSS--pdr-
ties on the canaks-narTop streets and
snail bridges--the RidHo-merchant
and idlers--sheH cork and je,celry-
poetry and history--general Uiep of the
city--the FriuH moHntains--the shore
Of Ltaly--a silent panaraaa--the Adri.
atic--promenaders and sitters, etc.
We stepped into the gondola to night
as the shadow Of the moon began to be
perceptible, with orders to Giuseppe to
take us where he would.--Abroad IN a
summers moonlight in Venice, is line
that might never be written but as scene
| ola play. You cannot miss pleasure. If
it were only the tracking silently and
swiftly the bosom of the broader ca
mails, lying like streets of molten silver
between the marble palaces, or shoot
ing into the dark shadows of the mar
rover, with the black spirit-like Condo
las gliding past, or lying in the shelter
of low and not unoccupied balcony;
or did you bat loiter on in search Of
music, lying unperceived beneath the
windows of a palace, and listening, half
asleep, to the sound Of the guitar and
the song of the invisible player within;
this, with the strange beauty of every
building about you, and the loneliness
of themagic lights andshadows, were
enough to make a night of pleasure,
even were no charm ofpersonal adven-
ture to be added to the enumeration.
We glided along under the Rialto,
talking of Belviiera and Othello and
Shylock, and entering a cross canal,
cut the arched shadow Of the bridge of
signs, hanging like cobweb in the air,
and SHOT in moment forth in the full,
ample, moon light bosom of the Gindec-
ca. This is the canal that makes the
{ harbour and washes the stairs of San
Marc. The Lido lay off at miles
distance across the water, and with the
moon riding over it, the bay between
as still as the sky above, and brighter.
it looked like long cloud pencilled like
landscape in the heavens. To the
right lay the Armenian island, which
Lord Byron visited so often, to study
with the fathers at the convent, and,
little nearer, the island of the Insane
spite of its misery, asleep, with most
heavenly calmness, on the sea. You re-
member the touching story ofthe GRAZ
ed girl, who was sent here with bro
ken heart, described as putting her hand
through the grating at the dash of eve-
ry passing gondola, with her unvarying
| and affecting "Venite per me? Venite
per me?
At corner of the harbour, some
three quarters ola mile from San Marc
lies an island occupied as convent.
Napoleon raized the buildings, and con-
| Meeting it with the town by new hand
some street and a bridge, laid out the
ground as a public garden. We de-
barked at the stairs, and passed an hour
in strolling through shaded walks filed
with gay Venitians, who come to en-
| JOY here what they find no where else,
the smell of grass and green leaves.
There is pavilion upon an artificial
hill IN the centre, where the lemonades
and ices of Venice are to be found; and
it was surrounded tonight by merry
groups, amusing themselves with allthe
heart cheering gaiety of this delighted
! people. The very sight ofthem is an
antidote to sadness.
In return to San Marc large gon-
dola crossed us, filled with ladies and
gentlemen, and followed by another
with band of music. This is com.
mon mode of making party on the
canals, and more agreeable one never
was imagined. We ordered the gon.
dolier to follow at certain distance,
and spent an hour or two just keeping
within the softened sounds ofthc instru-
| ments. How romantic are the veriest
everyday occurrences ofthis enchant.
| ting city.
We have strolled to-day through
most of the narrow streets between Ri.
alto and the San Marc. They are.
more properly. alleys. You wind
round them at sharp angles, turning
constantly, from theinturruptions ofthe
canals, and crossing the small bridges
at every twenty yards. They are
dark & cool; &, no hoof Of any descrip.
ton ever passing through them, the
marble flags are always smooth, and
clean; and with the singular silense,
only broken by the shutting of feet,
they are pleasant places to loiter in at
noon day when the canals are sunny.
We spent an hour on the Rialo. This
is the only bridge across the canal, and
connects the two main parts of the city.
1t is, as you see by engravings, noble
span of single arch, built of pure white
marble. You pass it ascending the
arch, by long flight of steps to the "a
pex and descending again on the oppo-
1 r,4o n,lo L. L. ,rn,rrr hr1,nd tho nn.n4.r,