he stairs of the Rialto, and reached my abode
in a state of mind bordering on delirium. During that interminable but
delicious night I neither sought nor wished for repose. I felt as if I
had never known sleep--as if I should never sleep again; and, when my
waking dreams occasionally yielded to brief and agitated slumber, my
excited feelings called up a flitting train of images not less vivid
and enchanting.

"Long before the commencement of the early mass, I had reached the
church indicated by the beauteous Laura. I was the first to enter it,
and I waited her arrival with an impatience which no words can
describe. Never had the celebration of the mass appeared to me so
wearisome and monotonous; and, in hopes to subdue in some measure the
wild agitation which chafed me, I withdrew the curtain which veiled
Titian's divine picture of Pietro Martire, in which the saint lies
wounded and dying before his assassin. The companion of the prostrate
Pietro is endeavouring to escape a similar fate; and two angels, whose
features are not Italian but Greek, are soaring amidst the foliage,
environed with a heavenly lustre, which throws its bright effulgence
over the foreground of the immense landscape. What a masterpiece! How
full of animation and contrast! What rich and lively local tints in
the slender and graceful stems of the lofty chestnuts, which are
painted the size of nature! And how naturally the glorious landscape
fades into the blue and distant mountains! The half-naked murderer
has all the ferocity of a mountain bandit, in figure, attitude, and
menace; while the wounded saint exhibits in his pale and collapsed
features the dying agony of a good man, blended with a consciousness
that he has achieved the rewarding glories of martyrdom.

"But no masterpiece could allay the glowing tumults of my soul, and
again I paced the church with feverish impatience. At length the
peerless Laura entered, and, alas, poor Titian! the charms of thy
creative pencil withered as she approached--the vivid splendours of
thy colouring faded before the paramount beauties of nature! She
was attired in the picturesque garb and head-dress of Venice; her
veil was raised; and her fine countenance, radiant with beauty and
intelligence, imparted life, dignity, and lustre to every surrounding
object.

"She was accompanied by her mother, and after prostration before the
altar, they retired to their devotions in the body of the church.
I stood in a posi