glanced mournfully athwart the moral barrier which divided them, and sadly
and dejectedly turned away. Amazed at this singular species of social
enjoyment, I inquired afterward, of a Venetian lady, if evening parties in
Venice were usually such ordeals, and was discouraged to learn that what I
had seen was scarcely an exaggeration of prevailing torments. Commonly
people do not know each other, and it is difficult for the younger to
procure introductions; and when there is previous acquaintance, the
presence of some commanding spirit is necessary to break the ice of
propriety, and substitute enjoyment for correctness of behavior. Even at
dancing parties, where it would seem that the poetry of motion might do
something to soften the rigid bosom of Venetian deportment, the poor young
people separate after each dance, and take each sex its appointed prison,
till the next quadrille offers them a temporary liberation. For my own
part, I cannot wonder that young men fly these virtuous scenes, and throng
the rooms of those pleasant women of the _demi-monde_, who only exact
from them that they shall be natural and agreeable; I cannot wonder that
their fair partners in wretchedness seize the first opportunity to revenge
themselves upon the propriety which has so cruelly used them. It is said
that the assemblies of the Jews, while quite as unexceptionable in
character, are far more sociable and lively than those of the Christians.
The young Hebrews are frequently intelligent, well-bred, and witty, with a
_savoir faire_ which their Christian brethren lack. But, indeed, the
young Venetian is, at that age when all men are owlish, ignorant, and
vapid, the most owlish, ignorant, and vapid man in the world. He talks,
not milk-and-water, but warm water alone, a little sweetened; and, until
he has grown wicked, has very little good in him.

Most ladies of fashion receive calls on a certain day of each week, when
it is made a matter of pride to receive as many calls as possible. The
number sometimes reaches three hundred, when nobody sits down, and few