Life on the Lagoons
Life on the Lagoons, which deals with the history and topography of the watery area around the city of Venice, is the first book by the Scottish historian Horatio Brown. The first edition was published in London in 1884, a revised second edition appeared ten years later in 1894, and there were further editions in 1900, 1904, and 1909. The book was republished as a paperback in 2008. Outline. Brown begins by setting out the natural topography of the lagoons, then their history from the year 452. He goes on to describe the human and animal  life to be observed in and around the lagoons in his own day, based on his excursions (sometimes with his friend John Addington Symonds) in a sandolo called "Fisole", which had orange sails decorated with a fleur-de-lis. The book is dedicated "To my Gondolier, ANTONIO SALIN, my constant companion in Venice and Venetia". The chapter-headings of the second edition are: "The Lagoons : their Nature and their History; The Gondola; The Traghetti; A Gondolier's Bank; Floods in the City; The Casa degli Spiriti; Sant' Elena; Osele; Sails and Sailmaking; A Vision of La Sensa; Processions; San Nicolo  del Lido; The Doves of Saint Mark; The Ducal Palace; All Souls; The Madonna della Salute; Home Life; Popular Beliefs; Popular Poetry; A Regatta and its Sequel"; and "Mi Chiama il Mare". Poem by Stevenson. Horatio Brown met Robert Louis Stevenson in 1881 at Davos, Switzerland, through their mutual friend John Addington Symonds. Stevenson took a liking to Brown and later sent him a copy of William Penn's "Fruits of Solitude". Stevenson read "Life on the Lagoons" and wrote the poem "" to celebrate the book. Reviews. The "British Quarterly Review" said of the first edition in 1884 — "The Literary  World" said in 1894 of the second edition — Charles Dudley Warner, in "A Library of the World's Best Literature" (1896) says –