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Music of the Waters. 193 |
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and I see my joy, who starts. I go out on the balcony ; I see the sea, and I see my love, who rows."
There is a lovely little song well-known in Venice, " Song of a Mariner," which combines with the exquisite simplicity of the Tuscan the glow and fervour so characteristic of the Venetian ; though I must admit a glow and fervour which are born of the ever egotistical nature of their songs, and in which a blending of the Tuscan humility and sweetness would be an additional charm. Was it not Dante who so grieved for the character of these lyrics, and who spoke so contemptuously of the vulgarity of the language they were written in, as " The Jargon of the Lagunes " ?
SONG OF A MARINER.
" Fair art thou born, but love is not for me, A sailor's calling sends me forth to sea. I do desire to paint thee on my sail, And o'er the briny deep I'd carry thee ; They ask, what ensign ? when the boat they hail. For woman's love, I bear this effigy, For woman's love, for love of maiden fair ; If her I may not love, I love forswear ! "
Probably the author of these picturesque and most truly nautical words was some Istriot fisherman, though but little credit is given to seafaring men in Italy for being poetical, and Dr. Pitre remarks that, " Sailors pick up foreign songs in their voyages, chiefly English and American, and come home inclined to look down upon the songs of their native land." Dr. Pitre perhaps does not know the contagious vigour of a good British hauling chanty, or has not been moved by the pathos of a score or more faithful sailor-husbands, trying to make the time pass in the far-away tropics with " Home, Dearie Home."
The story of a damsel who dropped a ring in the sea, and owed its rescue to a fisherman, who for sole reward
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