MORTADELLO; OR, THE 
ANGEL OF VENICE 
 
SCENE I.  The action takes place at Venice. R. the Palazzo of 
MAGDALENA, C. its entrance and steps to the canal L.; its 
gilded and armorial mooring-posts stand L. and U.C.  It is 
midnight, and there is no light in the palace, or on the 
water, but only the faint light of the stars.  There is also 
access to the palazzo by land, a narrow passage C. along the 
edge of the canal.  A bridge leads to this passage. 
 
Enter upon the bridge LORENZO and ALESSANDRO. 
They lean upon the parapet. 
 
LORENZO. 
 
HE solemn stones upsoar ;  the dimpled water smiles. 
How good to see once more the City of the Isles ! 
ALESSANDRO.  No fairer than before ;  ‘tis absence that be-
guiles. 
Why do we love the rude, the rancid and the rotten, 
The crazy and the crude ?  Familiar things forgotten ! 
We are but ghosts renewed, not infants new-begotten.
T