310 TEAVEL, AD VENTURE, AXD SPOKT. 



the Beautiful, and paint lovely women in lovely atti- 

 tudes. But tell me, Antonello," continued he, re- 

 suming his -wonted kindness, " how came that horrid 

 visage across thy path, or rather across thy fancy 1 ? for 

 surely no such original exists. Say, didst thou see it 

 living, or was it the growth of those distempered 

 dreams to which painters, more than other men, are 

 subject 1 " 



"Xo, padre mio ! it was 110 dream," eagerly an- 

 swered his pupil. " Yesterday I went in our gondola, 

 as is my wont on festivals, to the beautiful church 

 of San Moyses, which I love for its oriental and 

 singular architecture. When near the church I heard 

 a melodious voice calling to Jacopo, my gondolier, 

 the only boatman in sight, and begging a conveyance 

 across the canal. Issuing from the cabin, I saw a 

 tall figure, closely veiled, standing on the steps of the 

 palace facing the church and occupied by the Arch- 

 duke's ambassador. Approaching the steps, Jacopo 

 placed a plank for the stranger ; but, as she stepped 

 out to reach it, a sudden gust caught her large loose 

 mantle, which, clinging to her shape, displayed for a 

 moment a form of such majestic and luxuriant ful- 

 ness such perfect and glorious symmetry, as no man, 

 still less an artist, could look on unmoved. In trem- 

 bling and indescribable impatience I awaited the 

 raising of her veiL Another gust, and a slight stumble 

 as she bounded rather than stepped into the boat, be- 

 friended me ; the partial shifting of her veil, which 



