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Paul Veronese, but also to the great numbers and size of them. "How could these great artists have painted so much, and at the same time so weli as they are said to have done?" he asked.

8. But," remarked the Professor, "although it is customary to praise all the works of these artists, yet there are some among them that are not great. There are some that have been excelled by many modern painters, even in our own land. The guide-books tell us that such and such paintings are grand and unequalled, and we think it must be true; so we do not use our own eyes in seeing, and our own brains in judging, and thus we fail to cultivate our tastes in the only reasonable and successful way.

9. "And then," he observed, "as to these grand old palaces in which the noble and wealthy reside, and we must admit that they are truly grand,-we can see at a glance that they were built, not for comfort, but for pride and for show, for courts and for state occasions, and not for ordinary life. Their vast halls are cold, and dreary, and gloomy, and their pavements of marble and mosaic are not half so comfortable as a plain wooden floor covered with a carpet. Their spacious apartments, into which but little sunlight enters, are not lighted by gas, but by candles, and they have nothing of that abundant water-supply which is found in most American dwellings.

10. "Our homes, on the contrary," said he,—“ and I mean by that not only our rich city houses, but thousands of plain country houses also,-are a hundred times more comfortable than these palaces of the great. And so," he remarked, "we may well be contented with our republican ways and our modest republican homes, so full of sunshine and so full of peace, for these are the things that make a nation happy."

11. As the Professor concluded these remarks, our entire party gave him one hearty round of applause; and then, at the Doctor's suggestion, we all united in singing that

dear old song of "Home! Sweet, Sweet Home!" which so carried our thoughts away from the scenes of magnificence and splendor that we had recently visited, that, if we had entertained any envy of the great and wealthy of these foreign climes, I am sure it soon gave way to the gentler and more ennobling thoughts that mingle with recollections of our own happy land. I went to sleep that night repeating to myself,

"'Mid pleasures and palaces, where'er we roam,

Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home;"

and in the morning I remembered that visions of dear Lake-View had pleasantly mingled with my dreams.

12. At length we bade adieu to Venice, and left the city -drowsy, sleepy, slumbering on in its decline-as we found it. As we passed down the Adriatic, the Professor gave us an account of the founding of this city of the sca.

13. He said that, a little more than fourteen hundred years ago, the wild Hunnic tribes of the north, under their king, “Attila the Terrible," swept down, with his hundred thousand horsemen, upon the fertile plains of Italy, and so complete was the desolation following in their path, that their haughty leader declared that the grass never grew again where his horse had trod.

14. Some of the inhabitants from the conquered and ruined cities fled for safety to the low islands in the Adriatic, off the mouth of the river Po, and there, concealing themselves and their rude huts among the tall reeds and grasses of the marshes, gave birth to Venice.

15. It was a terrible tribulation to the fugitives to be compelled to abandon the fertile plains of Lombardy, the lowing of fat cattle, and the bleating of white-fleeced flocks, for the monotonous lapping of the fretful waves, the shriek of the sea-bird, and the sea-harvesting of fish and sea-weed; yet, with bold hearts and unceasing toil,

they brought soil from the mainland and raised the level of their houses beyond the reach of advancing tides.

16. Thus, resolute in times of trial, loyal to the public good, and crafty in trade and commerce, they brought their little republic, by slow degrees, to the very height of opulence and power. Says a modern writer, "They who first drove the stakes into the sand, and strewed the ocean weeds for their rest, little thought that their children were to be princes of that ocean, and their palaces its pride." (Ruskin.)

17. The Professor also entertained and instructed us in reading, from the well-furnished library of the steamer, stories of Italian life and manners. One of them, which I have his permission to copy, I enclose herewith. The Professor assured us that it is no fiction, but a story founded on fact.

II.-The Rich Jeweller of Padua.

1. At the time when the cities of Italy had become rich by their trade with the East Indies, Pad'ua was one of the most flourishing of its towns; and its merchants, goldsmiths, jewellers, and dealers in silks and laces, were not surpassed by those of Venice itself."

2. Among the goldsmiths and jewellers was one more eminent than the rest, and the most skilled workman in Pad'ua. His well-known residence was at the end of the noble bridge which spans the river;' and Pad'ua itself was scarcely better known in Italy, than Vin-cen'te the jeweller was known as its richest citizen.

3. "It never rains but it pours," says a Northern prov

a The Teacher.-This was before the discovery of America and the passage to India around the Cape of Good Hope, the former of which events occurred in 1492, and the latter in 1497.

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The river Bacchiglio'ne (Bak-kel-yo'na), which runs through the city.

erb: "riches beget riches," says an Italian one. Vincen'te had long felt the truth of the latter of these sayings: he was about to experience the truth of the former.

4. He was already rich enough to satisfy a dozen merchants, or a score of German princes; but fortune seemed yet loath to desert him. Every day some traveller was arriving at Pad'ua, by the exchange of whose money for the coins of the city, Vincen'te obtained good bargains, and added to his almost unbounded wealth."

5. Those who died without relatives, left to him the charge of their estates; many made him their heir; public contracts were given to him; and he almost sunk under the weight of offices and honors that were showered upon him.

6. Who could be happier than Vincen'te? So he proudly asked himself, as he walked on the bridge of Pad'ua one beautiful summer's evening. A coach of one of the nobles passed at the time, but no one noticed it. Everybody

saluted Vincen'te as he passed.

7. "Such," said he to himself, "have been the effects of my industry, and my capacity for business. Others, Vincen'te, have to thank their ancestors: you have to thank only yourself. It is all your own merit."

8. With these reflections, he assumed a nobler gait; he seemed to grow some inches taller; and he walked proudly, and almost in defiance of everything, and of every one, to his own house.

9. The same spirit of worldly vanity pervaded even his dreams. He dreamed that the ancient fable of Jupiter was repeated in his own house, and that the heavens opened, and there descended upon him a shower of ducats and pistoles.'

a The coins of Pad'ua, well known as being of the standard purity of gold, had a better reputation for commercial uses than the money of most other cities or countries out of Italy.

¿ The gold dúc ́at is equal to about two dollars of our money,

and

10. In all these things there was not a word or thought of any one but himself, and his own glory. He did not attribute his plenty to the blessing of God, or realize any dependence upon his fellow-men. In the pride of his heart he said, "I am, and there is none beside me."a

11. But, on a sudden, Vincen'te saw, to his astonishment, that the respect which had so long been paid to his wealth and reputation was on the decline, and without any apparent cause. Some, who had before nearly bowed to the earth on his approach, now looked him boldly in the face, or passed him without recognition. Two or three recalled their trusts, without a word of explanation; others, happening to call for their accounts when he was not at home, spoke in a bold tone, and dropped hints of the duty of guardians, and the laws of the country.

12. What could it all mean? If there could be any doubt that something unusual had happened, Vincen'te soon had sufficient proof; for, having offered himself for one of the leading offices of trust in the city, on a popular vote, it was given to another, less wealthy than himself by many thousands.

13. Vincen'te returned home, quite confounded by this unexpected defeat. In vain he examined himself and his situation for the cause. "Am I not as rich as ever?" said he. "Have I defrauded any one? No. Have I suffered any one to demand payment of me twice? No. What, then, can be the cause of all this ?"

14. This was a question he could not answer; but the fact became daily and hourly more and more apparent; and he soon found himself as much avoided as he had, formerly, been courted, respected, and honored.

the silver duc'at to one dollar. The pis-tōle' varies in value, in different countries, from three dollars to five dollars.

a The language of proud Babylon. See Isaiah xlvii. 8. Babylon, in all her pride and glory, was finally humbled in the dust.

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