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struck me from its shape; that is to say, it is contracted so much across the stage, that it appears almost like a neck to the body of the house and although I think this theatre much larger than ours in Drury-lane, the voices of the actors are as distinctly heard at its extremity as if they were speaking through a trumpet: this I presume is to be attributed to the sound being compressed in a smaller compass than it is in those theatres where the stage is so much wider in proportion to the extent of the interior.

In one of the churches which belongs to the Jesuits, are some very curious effects produced by marble. In the first place, the pulpit consists of a sort of flowered marble; and on each side of it are representations of curtains in marble of the same description, hanging in festoons from a marble canopy, which really look like linen. Also the wide steps leading up to the great altar are of marble, and so ingeniously worked as to resemble a carpet with all its folds and wrinkles, which positively deceive the spectator till he almost begins to tread on it. Also the walls of the church are lined with the same kind of marble, which makes the interior, on the first view, appear as if it were all hung with a delicate chintz linen, producing thereby a very pleasing deception.

The works of Titian, Tintoretto, Paolo Veronese, and other great masters of the Venetian school, abound in the churches, palaces, and public buildings; and in the church called I Frari is the sepulchre of Titian, in which his bones were deposited in the year 1576. He died of the

plague at the advanced age of ninety-nine years; and over him is the following inscription:

Qui giace il gran Titiano di Vercelli,
Emulator de Zeusi, e de gli Apelli.

At Venice there is neither a horse, an ox, nor an ass, to be seen from one end of the city to the other; nor any carriage whatever, beside boats: and, among other evils, the inhabitants have no fresh water, except what is brought from inland places, and the river Brenta, which they preserve in large cisterns and reservoirs, as at Calais.

From Venice I went to Padua (about thirty miles); and the readiest manner of performing this voyage, is to take a place in the boat which carries goods, letters, and passengers, to and fro twice every week. The boat is drawn by a horse up the river Brenta, which runs from the country, and disgorges itself into the Adriatic, near Malamocca. Variety of villas are delightfully situated on its banks, belonging to the Venetian nobility and citizens; but the greater part of them are nothing more than white plastered buildings, without much attempt at architecture, surrounded by pleasuregrounds. The nobility and citizens go backwards and forwards to these summer retreats in barges kept for that purpose, which may be compared (only much smaller) with those belonging to some of the city companies of London.

The old part of the city of Padua is badly built. The streets are extremely narrow, and the houses stand on arcades like those at Bologna, which

make the lower stories very melancholy and confined. In some parts of the city, particularly in the squares and other large open places, grass is growing between the stones, which has a desolate appearance.

Appertaining to the palace of Justice, is an immense ancient hall, 300 feet in length and 100 feet in width, or thereabout; but as it is on the first floor of the palace it seems to have been pinched in height, except in the centre part, and that is owing to the high-ridged roof which covers the building: also the walls which the rafters rest on being very low, the hall has too much the character of a barn to be grand. But what the inhabitants so much boast is, that this stupendous roof has no tye-beams; nevertheless, I perceived about half-way up the rafters some iron rods running across at certain distances to bind the timbers together, yet even they are said to have been added latterly. The walls are extremely thick, and it is pretty evident they were designed for the purpose of resisting unusual pressure. The tyebeams were omitted, I am inclined to think, not with a view of displaying the ingenuity of the architect; for had they been introduced they would have come down so low as to be very unsightly in a chamber of this description: and, on the other hand, the vast expense of carrying up the walls to such a level as would have made the height under the tyebeams proportionate with the other dimensions of the hall, was in all probability too serious to be complied with.

The church of St. Antonio stands in a spacious area, and was built in the thirteenth century, by Nicola Pisano. It is in a bad Gothic style of architecture. The plan is divided into a nave and two aisles by clustered columns, and lighted within by six cupolas---two over the nave, and two over each of the aisles. The interior consists of various marbles, and contains many superb altars, paintings, statues, and bass-reliefs. The chapel of the saint is extremely loaded with bassreliefs, representing the remarkable actions and miracles of his life, combined with other orna

ments.

Before this church stands an equestrian bronze statue of a Venetian general, said to be the work of Donatello.

Another church worthy of remark, called St. Giustina, is of Grecian architecture, and supposed to be from the design of Palladio. The façade remains in an unfinished state; but within, it is simply elegant, resembling the churches at Venice, The choir displays some excellent sculpture in nutwood, representing subjects from the Old and New Testament; and the interior is lighted by seven cupolas, three over the nave and two over each of the aisles. The painting at the great altar, by Paul Veronese, expressing the martyrdom of the saint, is reckoned a chef-d'oeuvre of that master. Appertaining to this church are a monastery and an extensive library, containing some scarce and valuable books.

The university is also generally understood to be from the design of Palladio, On the plan it

forms a square. The outside is no better than a bare wall with plain windows; but the quadrangle is adorned with two orders of architecture, namely, the Doric and Ionic, one over the other, making thereby two open galleries all round the courtyard, which communicate to the different chambers, the anatomical theatre, the museum of natural history, and other halls and apartments.

Leaving unnotice a few other objects in this city of a secondary nature, I will now speak of Vicenza, which is about sixteen English miles from Padua.

The road to this city is across a fertile plain well watered by small rivers and canals; and in the fields, by the wayside, orchards of mulberrytrees abound. They are planted from time to time to afford leaves for the silk-worms; silk being one of the staple commodities of this part of Italy. Two or three miles before arriving at Vicenza, you will perceive, both on the right and left of the road, a few of the villas erected by Palladio; the designs of them are to be found in his works.

Vicenza is situated on the banks of the Bacchiglione, a small river which connects itself with the Brenta; and it may truly be distinguished as the Italian modern school for fine architecture, chiefly owing to the many excellent designs of Palladio and Scamozzi, who were both born here. In short, the works of these two celebrated men stamp on this city an incontestible pre-eminence in this respect over every other in Italy; nor should we ever forget how much is due to their memory and labours: first, for preserving their minds

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