All in the near view was clothed in midnight loveliness, and all in the distance bespoke the solemnity of nature at peace.

The city and the Lagunes, the gulf and the dreamy Alps, the interminable plain of Lombardy, and the blue void of heaven, lay alike in a common and grand repose.
There suddenly appeared a gondola.

It issued from among the watery channels of the town, and glided upon the vast bosom of the bay, noiseless as the fancied progress of a spirit.

A practised and nervous arm guided its movement, which was unceasing and rapid.

So swift indeed was the passage of the boat, as to denote pressing haste on the part of the solitary individual it contained.