Chamberss Edinburgh Journal, No. 425 | Page 6

could do little more than pause here and
there as a Titian or Tintoretto cast up in the multitude of pictures, or
when we came before some specimen of the very early masters, of
whose works there are many dating so far back as the end of the
fourteenth century. There were some pictures representing transactions
in Venice, of not much later date, which I regarded with interest, as
preserving to us the appearance of men and things in that age;
particularly one depicting some miracle, in which several grave
ecclesiastics are seen swimming about in the Grand Canal, while ladies
look on from windows and balconies, which I convinced myself still
exist there. I must be equally brief with that place which no
countryman of Shakspeare can avoid visiting, though the present Rialto
is, after all, later than his time. It is of a curious structure as a bridge;
there being three rows of building along it, containing shops, with two
roadways for passengers. One crosses backwards and forwards,
muttering: 'On the Rialto thou hast rated me,' &c.; goes distractedly
into a shop, to purchase a breastpin, as a memorial of the place; and
then plunges down the stairs, to resume his place in the gondola. We
took a couple of hours to pay a visit to the Armenian monastery, on the
island of San Lazzaro--the place to which Byron resorted in order to
study the Armenian language. It is a curious old establishment, with
some modern activity about it in the diffusion of literature; the monks

having a printing-office in tolerable briskness, whence they issue books
in various languages. We were delighted with the flush of beautiful
flowering, from the oleander bushes in the central court, and the
vine-hung alleys in the garden behind. I must not forget, in this hurried
close of my adventure, the two moonlight sails we had through those
mysterious watery streets, where, the associations of day and of the
active world being shut out, we felt as if each light in the old palazzi
illumined some scene of mediæval romance. That was like no other
thing in our lives. On the third evening, we left this dream-city by a
means which we had studiously ignored all the time of our
visit--namely, a railway, which crosses from Venice to the mainland. It
was something of a wakener to find ourselves at 'the station,' on the
bank of one of the canals, and see a range of 'omnibus gondolas,' all
duly labelled for their respective courses through the city, and ranked
up in front like so many of the terrestrial machines which haunt the
ordinary railway termini of this earth. However, we had the consolation
of reserving this to the close of our visit, when, of course, we must
have awaked out of our Venetian feelings at anyrate. The train brought
us to Padua long before bedtime.

REALLY! INDEED! IMPOSSIBLE!
During a prolonged summer sojourn with kind friends resident in a
quiet country town, we became quite interested in the tactics of the
neighbours, and acquainted with their social condition.
'I think we have almost exhausted our visiting round,' said our hostess,
Mrs Smith, one morning, as she replenished her card-case, 'with the
exception of Really, Indeed, and Impossible, to whom we must
introduce you. You look puzzled! but I mean the three Misses
Bonderlay, who are usually distinguished by these interjectional names.
We will forthwith send them an invitation to tea this very evening, and
they shall be their own etymologists.'
At the appointed hour, three ladies were ushered into the drawing-room,
bearing so startling a resemblance to each other in person, manner, and

costume, that we at once decided they must be trins. Not so, however;
there was a year or two's difference in age between them, which
rendered the strong resemblance more remarkable. They were tall,
well-formed, plump ladies, of middle or uncertain age; with round,
unmeaning faces, flaxen locks, and pale-blue eyes. There was not a
perceptible thread or pucker different in their three dresses, which must
have fitted all indiscriminately; the flaxen curls were arranged in
precisely the same waves round each mealy countenance; and the neat
caps, with bright-green ribbons, doubtless had the same exact quantity
of tulle and gauze in their fashioning. Each sister owned a delicate
work-basket--trinal baskets also; and in each receptacle reposed a
similar square of worsted-work, the same to the last stitch. We heard
the visitors named as Miss Bonderlay, Miss Paulina Bonderlay, and
Miss Constantia Bonderlay; but that was of no use, since they were not
ticketed, and our blunders became embarrassing and ludicrous. We
addressed Miss Bonderlay as Miss Paulina, when the senior lady drew
up with dignified composure, and pointing to a sister, said: 'I am Miss
Bonderlay: that lady is Miss