.. The other evening we were surprised by a
perfect fleet of gondolas stopping under our windows, from one of
which we had the most beautiful serenade; the moonlight was like
day, and the effect was admirable. There was a _festa_ the other
night in a church on the water's edge; the shore was illuminated
and hundreds of gondolas were darting along like swallows, the
gondoliers rowing as if they had been mad, till the water was as
much agitated as if there had been a gale of wind: nothing could be
more animated. You will perceive from what I have said that the
evening, till a late hour, is the time for amusement, in consequence
of which I follow the Italian custom of sleeping after dinner, and
am much the better for it. This place agrees particularly well with
all of us, and is well suited for old people, who require air
without fatigue....

Most affectionately,
MARY SOMERVILLE.

* * * * *

FROM MRS. SOMERVILLE TO WORONZOW GREIG, ESQ.

VENICE, _27th August, 1843_.

MY DEAR WORONZOW,

Your excellent letter, giving an account of your agreeable
expedition up the Rhine, did not arrive till nearly a month after it
was written.... I regret exceedingly you could not stay longer, and
still more that you could not come on and pay us a visit, and enjoy
the charm of summer in Venice, so totally unlike every other place
in every respect. I wished for you last night particularly. As we
were leaving the Piazza San Marco, about eleven, a boat came up,
burning blue lights, with a piano, violins, flutes, and about twenty
men on board, who sang choruses in the most delightful manner, and
sometimes solos. They were followed by an immense number of
gondolas, and we joined the _cortege_, and all went under the Bridge
of Sighs, where the effect was beautiful beyond description. We then
all turned and entered the Grand Canal, which was entirely filled
with gondolas from one side to the other, jammed together, so that
we moved _en masse_, and stopped every now and then to burn blue or
red Bengal lights before the principal palaces, singing going on all
the while. We saw numbers of our Venetian friends in their gondolas,
enjoying the scene as much as we did, to whom it was almost new. I
neve