hehind assisted his voice by holding his hand to one side of his mouth. The carpenter used a quiet action, which he evidently endeavoured to restrain; but was too much interested in his sub. ject altogether to repress. From these men we leasnt that singing is not confined to the gondo liers, and that, although the chant is seldom, if ever, voluntary, there are still several amongst the lower classes who are acquainted with a few stanzas, It does not appear that it is usual for the per formers to row and sing at the same time. ALthough the verses of the Jerusalem are no longer casually heard, there is yet much music upon the Venetian canals; and upon holidays, those strangers who are not near or informed enough to distinguish the words, may fancy that many of the gon. dolas still resound with the strains of Tasso. The writer of some remarks which appeared in the Curiosities of Literature must excuse his being twice quoted; for, with the exception of some phrases a little too ambitious and extravagant, he has furnished a very exact, as well as agreeable, description. "In Venice the gondoliers know by heart long passages from Ariosto and Tasso, and often chant them with a peculiar melody. But this talent seems at present on the decline: at least, after taking some pains, I could find no more than two persons who delivered to me in this way a pas. sage from Tasso. I must add, that the late Mr. Berry once chanted to me a passage in Tasso in the manner, as he as-ured me, of the gondoliers. "There are always two concerned, who alternately sing the strophes. We know the melody even. tually by Rousseau, to whose songs it is printed; it has properly no melodious movement, and is a sort of medium between the canto fermo and the canto figurato; it approaches to the former by recitativical declamation, and to the latter by pas. sages and course, by which one syllable is detained and embellished, "I entered a gondola by moonlight; one singer placed himself forwards, and the other aft, and thus proceeded to St. Georgio. One began the song: when he had ended his strophe, the other took up the lay, and so continued the song alter. nately. Throughout the whole of it, the same notes invariably returned, but, according to the subject matter of the strophe, they laid a greater or a smaller stress, sometimes on one, and sometimes on another note, and indeed changed the enunciation of the whole strophe as the object of the poem altered. "On the whole, however, the sounds were hoarse and screaming: they seemed, in the manner of all rude uncivilized men, to make the excellency of their singing in the force of their voice: one seemed desirous of conquering the other by the strength of his lungs; and so far from receiving delight from this scene (shut up as I was in the box of the gondola), I found myself in a very unpleasant sitnation. "My companion, to whom I communicated this circumstance, being very desirous to keep up the credit of his countrymen, assured me that this singing was very delightful when heard at a distance. Accordingly we got out upon the shore, leaving one of the singers in the gondola, while the other went to the distance of some hundred paces. They now began to sing against one another, and I kept walking up and down between them both, so as always to leave him who was to begin his part. frequently stood still and hearkened to the one and to the other. "Here the scene was properly introduced. The strong declamatory, and, as it were, shrieking sound, met the ear from far, and called forth the attention; the quickly succeeding transitions, which necessarily required to be sung in a lower tone, seemed like plaintive strains succeeding the vociferations of emotion or of pain. The other, who listened attentively, immediately began where the former left off, answering him in milder or more vehement notes, according as the purport of the strophe required. The sleepy canals, the lofty buildings, the splendour of the moon, the deep shadows of the few gondolas that moved like spirits hither and thither, increased the striking peculia. rity of the scene; and amidst all these circumstanecs it was easy to confess the character of this wonderful harmony. "It suits perfectly well with an idle, solitary mariner, lying at length in his vessel at rest on one of these canals, waiting for his company, or for a fare, the tiresomeness of which situation is somewhat alleviated by the songs and poetical stories he has in memory. He often raises his voice as loud as he can, which extends itself to a vast distance over the tranquil mirror, and as all is still around, he is, as it were, in a solitude. in the midst of a large and populous town. Here is no rattling of carriages, no noise of foot pas. sengers: a silent gondola glides now and then by him, of which the splashings of the oars are scar. cely to be heard. "At a distance he hears another. perhaps utterly unknown to him. Melody and verse immedia. tely attach the two strangers; he becomes the responsive echo to the former, and exerts himself to be heard as he had heard the other. By a tacit convention they alternate verse for verse; though the song should last the whole night through, they entertain themselves without fatigue: the hearers, who are passing between the two, take part in the amusement. "This vocal performance sounds best at a great distance, and is then inexpressibly charming, as it only fulfils its design in the sentiment of remoteness. It is plaintive, but not dismal in its sound, and at times it is scarcely possible to refrain from tears. My companion, who otherwise was not a very delicately organized person, said quite un. expectedly: e singolare come quel canto intenerisce, e molto più quando lo cantano meglio. "I was told that the women of Libo, the long row of islands that divides the Adriatic from the Lagons . particularly the women of the extreme districts of Malamocco aud Palestrina, sing in 1) The writer meant Lido, which is not a long row of islands, bat a long island littus, the shore. like manner the works of Tasso to these and similar tunes. "They have the custom, when their husbands are fishing out at sea, to sit along the shore in the evenings and vociferate these songs, and ontinue to do so with great violence, till each of them can distinguish the responses of her own husband at a distance 1).. The love of music and of poetry distinguishes all classes of Venetians, even amongst the tune. ful sons of Italy. The city itself can occasionally furnish respectable audiences for two and eyen three opera houses at a time; and there are few events in private life that do not call forth a printed and circulated sonnet. Does a physician or a lawyer take his degree, or a clergyman preach his maiden sermon, has a surgeon performed an operation, would a harlequin announce his depar ture or his benefit, are you to be congratulated on a marriage, or a birth, or a lawsuit, the Muses are invoked to furnish the same number of syllables, and the individual triumphs blaze abroad in virgin white or party-coloured placards on half the corners of the capital. The last curtsy of a favourite "prima donna. brings down a shower of these poetical tributes from those upper regions, from which, in our theatres, nothing but cupids and snow storms are accustomed to descend. There is a poetry in the very life of a Venetian, which, in its common course, is varied with those sur. prises and changes so recommendable in fiction, but so different from the sober monotony of northera existence; amusements are raised into duties, duties are softened into amusements, and every ob. ject being considered as equally making a part of the business of life, is announced and performed with the same earnest indifference and gay as siduity. The Venetian gazette constantly closes its columns with the following triple advertise ment. 1) Curiosities of Literature, vol. ii. p. 156, edit. 1807; and Appendix xxix. to Black's Life of Tasso. Charade. Exposition of the most Holy Sacrament in the church of St. — Theatres. St. Moses, opera. St. Benedict, a comedy of characters. When it is recollected what the Catholics believe their consecrated wafer to be, we may perhaps think it worthy of a more respectable niche than between poetry and the playhouse. 4. Sparta hath many a worthier son than he. Stanza x. line 5. The answer of the mother of Brasidas to the strangers who praised the memory of her son. 5. St. Mark yet sees his lion where he stood Stanza xi. line 5. The lion has lost nothing by his journey to the Invalides but the gospel which supported the paw that is now on a level with the other foot. The horses also are returned to the ill-chosen spot whence they set out, and are, as before, half hidden under the porch window of St. Mark's church. Their history, after a desperate struggle, has been satisfactorily explored. The decisions and doubts of Erizzo and Zanetti, and lastly, of the Count Leopold Cicognara, would have given them a Roman extraction, and a pedigree not more ancient than the reign of Nero. But M. de Schle. gel stepped in to teach the Venetians the value of their own treasures, and a Greek vindicated, at last and for ever, the pretension of his countrymen |