Another room is set apart for the study of the naked figure; where, every day, the pupils have the advantage, for the space of two hours, of drawing after nature. During summer the attendance is in the morning, and in the winter in the evening. The professors take it by turns to superintend upon these occasions, as they do in the Royal Academy of London. Not far from this room is a handsome spacious gallery, containing plaster-casts from the most renowned antique statues in Italy. They are placed in rows on pedestals, and make a good appearance. At the end of the gallery is an exact imitation in plaster of the magnificent bronze doors which belong to the Baptistery.

Up stairs, in the architectural chamber, the walls are covered with drawings for buildings of every description. Among them I saw a small design, by Mr. Soane, for a hunting-casine, dated October 1779; and this is the only one I perceived to be from the English school. Twice every year the heads of the academy distribute premiums to those scholars who have profited most by their studies, as an incentive to emulation. Every three years the first, second, and third classes in painting, sculpture, and architecture, are assembled together; and to all the poor scholars are given gratuitously, paper, crayons, colours, &c. at the expense of the royal treasury.

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A president, vice-president, and a secretary, are appointed to transact the business of the academy, and for the good order and management of all its departments.

In this academy I saw many paintings in oil by the various living members who belong to it. Several were by an unfortunate young man, both deaf and dumb: but, generally speaking, they were all indifferent performances, and admit of no kind of comparison with the modern works of the English school.

At a small distance to the westward stands the church called the Annunziata, which is on a small scale, but the interior is clothed with rich marbles. The altar-pieces and their ornaments are magnificent, and it contains some excellent pictures. Among them is one, of which they tell the following whimsical story ---A painter, named Bartolommeo, was employed to execute in fresco the subject of the Annunciation: when he had finished the figure of the angel, and was going to begin the face of the Virgin, he first sat down to consider how he might be able to describe such a di vine countenance with the best effect. In this situation, fatigued with thought, he fell into a profound sleep; but when he awoke, he perceived, with amazement, that the likeness of the Virgin had been painted in the interval, with so much beauty, sweetness, and devotion, that he exclaimed with a loud voice, struck with terror---A miracle! a miracle! The report spread every-where; the church was soon filled with spectators, who paid a small gratuity for the sight to the painter and the priest, and this figure of the blessed Virgin has been looked up to with implicit faith and adoration ever since by all those who profess the

tenets of the Roman-catholic belief as the work of a celestial being.

Another of the paintings represents St. Philip travelling from Bologna to Modena, where he found some boys playing under a tree, and blaspheming, for which he reprimanded them: they in return using abusive and injurious language against the saint, the thunder instantaneously came down from heaven, split the tree to pieces, killed two of them, and the others, terrified at the sight, ran away for preservation. But that in which the highest perfection of the art may be said to concentrate, is the famous Madonna del Sacco in fresco, in one of the cloisters, by Andrea del Sarto. Michael Angelo and Titian used to say, they could not sufficiently appreciate its merits; and that in all probability it would never be equalled. Opposite this church appears an equestrian statue of Ferdinand I. grand-duke of Tuscany, cast in bronze by John di Bologna. On the horse is this inscription: "Dei metalli rapiti al fiero Trace."---I thought it but a very middling performance.

Another church worthy of observation is called Santa Croce, which is in length 440 feet, and in width 128 feet, with a cupola at top, and was designed by Arnolfo, who built the Duomo.

Travellers principally visit this church on account of the paintings it contains; together with the tombs of some of the most celebrated men Italy has produced. The first, to the memory of Michael Angelo, is on the right of entrance; and

has three statues of marble below the urn, representing Sculpture, Architecture, and Painting, in mournful attitudes, which strikingly indicate the general sorrow felt for the loss of genius. Over the urn is the bust of Michael Angelo, in marble, with three crowns, and the following appropriate motto: "Tergeminis tollit honoribus."---The three figures are the works of different masters. On the base of the sepulchre is the following epi- taph:

D. O. M.

Michaeli Angelo Bonarotio

E Vetusta Simoniorum Familia
Sculptori, Pictori, & Architecto

Fama omnibus notissimo

Leonardus Patruo Amatiss. & de se optime merito Translatis Roma ejus ossibus, atque in hoc Templo Majorum suorum sepulcro conditis

Exortant Sereniss. Cosmo I. Med. Magno-Etr.-Duce ·An. Sal MDLXX vixit Anno LXXXVIII. Dies xv.

No artist can contemplate the genius of this uncommon man without humiliation. The powers of his mind were so superior and unlimited, and so incessant was his application, that in the short space of human life he acquired a knowledge of the three most difficult and laborious arts; which the magnificent dome of St. Peter's church at Rome, the great picture of the Judgment-day in the Sistine chapel of the Vatican, and the abundance of fine sculpture he has left behind him as ornaments to Florence and other cities, indis putably testify and confirm.

The tomb opposite Michael Angelo's was erected by subscription in the year 1787, to the memory of that great Florentine politician Niccolo Macchiavelli, who died in the year 1527; and on it is the following inscription:

"Tanto nomini nullum par Elogium
Nicolaus Macchiavelli

Obit An. A. P. V. MDXXVII."

The sepulchre of the famous astronomer Galileo, and that of the great mathematician Viviani, are also within the walls of this church.

Among the paintings, which are too numerous to admit of a description, are some ancient ones in tolerable preservation, said to have been executed by Giotti and Cimabué, who were among the restorers of the art of painting in Italy.

Having spoken of the tomb of Michael Angelo, it may not be irrelevant to observe, that the house is still remaining at Florence in which he lived, and continues in the occupation of the family of Buonarotti his descendants. Some of his works are now to be seen within; and the gallery, which he himself erected, has been filled with pictures, sculpture, and other rare things, at the expense of the present owner.

The Palazzo Vecchio, or the old palace, is a dismal structure, built after the designs of Arnolfo. Attached to it is a square brick tower, 275 feet in height, which finishes on the top with projecting brackets and military battlements. The turret on the tower contains a bell, said to weigh