The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1870-03-19
.eT"'s $500 per anmXns, in adrance.

o,a ,L.- f~p'is nave aDounded with such,
~ = 'neie Is no occasion for a renewal. But
l nave oeeh conveyed for miles along her
highways the canals, in a gondola-wbich
here occupies the place OF the fiaere and cecil,
in other Italian cities-have seen the mo-,
nificent array of structures that rise alone
their borders; her busy Rialto, her Piazza ST
Mark, her Riva Schiavona, her palace of the
Doges and her hundred other palaces. her
churches-all "her tiara of proud towers:o
have passed over her Bridge of Sighs Ia sad.
gloomy bridge it isl and penetrated into her
deepest dungeons, where SO many victims of
Jealousy and wrong have pined in utter gloom
or suffered the death which in many cases
must have been welcome. Nay, more! Ihave
heard the voices of her gondoliers with raw
ishing harmony, floating over the waters in
the still, misty evening-it is not myth or a
thing Of the past, this custom of singing to
each other-but the romance was not little
damaged, when they rowed up under my win
dow, and awaited pour-boire in the shape Of
a franc; not that it was not worth a dozen
francs, but am afraid the custom is degener-
ating into business!
In fine, have at last realized what in my
boyhood dreamed of as the acme of all that
was desirable-have seen the City of the Wa
ters-and have not been disappointed
Venice is not of, or for, the present day.
Trieste is fast taking away her commercial
Importance. Like Bologna, she is finished,
completed; and, framed in by the Ad-iatic,
she will hereafter be admired only as grand
-. "a - ~--.- and luxury
Of the past!
Standing on one of the marble bridges on
her Kiva Schiavona, last evening, as the sun.
olazlng into the haze that partially enveloped
ner domes and towers and painting with rich
est hues the tranquil waters before me, went
down over the distant expanse, could repeat
WIN the fullest realization of their sgnifi.
eance, the words Of the poet:
"a thousand years their cloudy wings expana
"a around me, and dying glory smiles
Oer the far times when many q subject land
Looked to the winged lions marble pies.p
Everywhere about me is the wealth, taste,
power, of the by-gone demonstrated. The la
Dor, the industry, the exquisite art, that was
lavished upon her churches, palaces and other
public ediices, extended down to the minut-
est details, and must have been the work
tens OF thousands of skillei artists and arti-
zans. More than wonderful, it is almost in.
comprehensive.
Then the solidity with which everything is
built strikes one with admiration. The pal
ace of the Doges, although constructed more
than eight hundred years ago, in all its beau
tiful columns, its mosaic floors, the magnif-
cent staircases its marble statuary, its delicate
tracery, its golden ornamentation-even to
the boxes in which secret accusations were
deposited-remains fixed, unchanged, perfect,
as though completed yesterday And with
costly st. Marks.
Indeed, what wonderful people were those
old Venetians! They lived, thought, demon
strated, in an atmosphere of romance. Con-
querors in war, patrons of all arts in peace,
they adopted from snbject nations, Moor,
Arab, Greek and Turk, something of their
architecture, dress and manners-even of their
almost criminal luxuries, and constructed the
most unique and gorgeous city on the face of
the earth!
It must not be left to those unacquainted to
suppose that the canals are the only means of
getting about Venice. They are the chief
thoroughfares for business, and for transit from
one distant quarter to another. But there are
labyrinthine streets to every point, and bridges
over the smaller canals by hundreds. Still,
you see no carriages, no horses, no teams Of
any kind, in these streets-their width, never
more than eight, seldom more than three or
four feet, would not allow of such convenien-
ces. Everybody goes on foot, and in passing,
the general in his glittering regimentals may
of necessity rub against the humble lahorer.
the dame of fashion against the abject beg
gar!
A maritime city has an adjunt for pictur-
esque effect in its shipping, which gives it an
advantage over one at a distance from the sea.
Vessels here come up to the mouth of the
Grand Canal, and the forests of masts blends
with marble colonnades and bridges. As for
me, always hail the ships as old friends
particularly those bearing the stars and stripes.
Here looked in vain for single one flying
the American flag. Nor did see any among
sAAS AeAASASetS hSSlo oe L oAt odiu VI kAltxdu-
dria in Egypt, nor at Malta, Naples or Leg
horn; and, leaving out the men-of-war, only
two at Marseilles.
They tell me that it was not so in former
times.--What has become of all our shipping /?
Certainly there is something wrong in our
laws in regard to this branch of national pros
perity-grievously, criminally wrong, and It
should be remedied at the earliest practicable
moment.
But the limits which have assigned my.
self, in these letters, are about occupied, ani
for the present will bid you adieu.
S. B. B.
T. s. 1t would not be wonderful, if, writing
as do, in the midst of the hurry of travel and
sightseeing, should occasionally be chargea-
BILE with lapsus pennae, but your types are
at fault in single case at least. In one of INV
letters from Egypt, they make me call my
friend, four consular agent at Tentah,) "the
achite and gentelmanly Lahan Lahan. pro-
badly wrote mbane, or polite, &c. His name
is Dahan Dahan, and be is genuine Egyptian
color. s,B.B.
The relatives and friends of Capt. Williams