The symbol of these is the gondola and gondolier, indivisible, and the only conditions under which they can be preserved are quietude and leisure.

The motor-boat, which is always in a hurry and which as it multiplies will multiply hooters and whistles, must necessarily destroy the last vestige of Venetian calm.

A second reason is that a small motor-boat makes a bigger wash than a crowded Grand Canal steamer, and this wash, continually increasing as the number of boats increases, must weaken and undermine the foundations of the houses on each side of the canals through which they pass.

The action of water is irresistible.

No natural law is sterner than that which decrees that restless water shall prevail.
Enjoyment of voyages up and down the Grand Canal is immensely increased by some knowledge of architecture; but that subject is so vast that in such a _hors d'oeuvre_ to the Venetian banquet as the present book nothing of value can be said.