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194 Music of the Waters. |
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demanded a kiss, is well-known on the Adriatic and Mediterranean coasts—
" Oh ! pescator dell' onda Findeliu, Vieni pescar in qua ! Colla bella sua barca, Colla bella se ne va Findeliu ! liu ! la ! "
The charm of a gondolier's early morning cargo Is well described in the following verse. All lovers and habitues of the City of Doges are familiar with the sight of the gondolas coming into Venice, in the early mornings, laden with fresh fruit and flowers.
" To-night their boats must seek the sea, One night his boat will linger yet ; They bear a freight of wood, and he A freight of rose and violet."
Amongst the curious articles on folk-lore which appeared in the pages of The Gentleman's Magazine, there is a very graphic account given in one of the ceremony known as " Wedding the Adriatic" on Ascension Day. It says, " The most ridiculous, though perhaps the most pompous show in the world, is that of the annual ceremony of the Doge's marrying the sea. It is said to have taken its rise from a grant of Pope Alexander III., who, as a reward for the zeal of the inhabitants in his restoration to the Papal chair, gave them power over the Adriatic, as a man hath power over his wife; in memory of which the chief magistrate annually throws a ring into it, with these words : ' Desponsamus te, mare, in signum perpetui dominii' (' We espouse thee, O sea, in testimony of our perpetual dominion over thee')."
Of the many authors who have given to the world their impressions of Venice and the Venetians, there is not one who has more truthfully and poetically (for they may be combined) represented them than Mr. Horatio F. Brown in |
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