Gondola

[It.] A peculiar kind of boat used at Venice for the same purposes as cabs and carriages in other cities. They are usually about 30 feet long, five in breadth, and light and elegant in form, having high prows, some of which are of elaborate workmanship and exquisitely carved. About the centre a cabin is erected for the pa engers, which is carpeted, hung with curtains, and fitted with stuffed cushions. By the ancient republic a law was pa ed ordaining that all these boats were to be painted black and hung with black cloth, except those for the use of foreign amba adors IMG:content-0410.png:[ocr errors] Fig . 1179.-A GONDOLA ON THE GREAT LAGOON, (VENICE.) and for state purposes. The boatmen who navigate these boats are called gondolier i , and were formerly a very important body. Goloe'-shoe, n. Corrupted form of GALOCHE, q. v. Golo'vin, IVAN, (PRINCE HOVNA,) a Ru ian man of letters, B. abt. 1813. Becoming implicated in the Po- lish troubles in 1848, G. took refuge in England, where he became a naturalized citizen in 1853. His chief works are Esprit de l'Économie Politique (1842); Pierre , rows a gondola. le Grand (1844); La Ru ie sous Nicholas I. (1845); "And silent rows the songle gondolier." - Byron. -Any flat-bottomed boat used for carrying produce. -A platform-car of unusual length, with or without sides, used on railroads. Gondolier', n. [Fr., from It. gondoliere.] One who The Caucasus, from an Historical , Political , and Physi-Gone, pp . of Go, q . v. cal Point of View (1853); Progre in Ru ia (1859); .