BOD

different seats; but as almost all the shell or outer part of the theatre is destroyed, there is only a small remnant of these corridores now to be seen.

Not far from this amphitheatre is a modern theatre, which has a projecting portico of six Ionic columns, standing within a quadrangle, surrounded by a Doric colonnade; under which is a variety of antiquities, medals, sculpture, inscriptions, bassreliefs, and other curiosities. They were deposited here by the famous antiquary Maffei, and in some instances elucidate the habits and domestic manners of the ancient Romans.

The cathedral is an old Gothic structure; at the altar is a fine picture, attributed to Titian, representing the Assumption; and appertaining to the church is an extensive library.

In a garden belonging to one of the convents is a large square stone sarcophagus, which is shewn for the tomb of Romeo and Juliet.

From Verona to Milan the distance is about 112 English miles. In performing this journey I crossed many small rivers, which communicate with the Po. The road on each side abounds with mulberry-trees; but they were so much lopped by the French armies for fuel when they occupied this part of Italy, that the peasants, who formerly kept a vast multitude of silk-worms for spinning, have suffered a serious loss in their trade on this account.

Milan is well fortified, situated in a fertile plain; and, for the benefit of trade, the inhabitants have. made various canals from the city into small rivers which connect with the Po. The architecture at

Milan is of an inferior description, although the palaces and public buildings are very extensive, and even the private dwellings themselves are generally large on the plan. They are entered by a spacious archway in the front, as usual, and their walls consist chiefly of brick stuccoed on the surface, but they are built in a very ponderous and massive manner The windows and doors in their elevations have heavy stone architraves and caps like those at Rome, and if possible are altogether more remote from taste and elegance. The squares or piazze in the different parts of the city are small, and the streets upon the whole narrow and dismal.

The only piece of antiquity I remarked here, is before the modern octagonal church of St. Lorenzo. It consists of sixteen Corinthian fluted columns of marble bearing an unbroken entablature, and has the appearance of a square projecting colonnade without any covering, but is much dilapidated by time.

The cathedral stands in the centre of a large square or area. It is an immense Gothic structure, 449 feet long, 170 feet wide in the body, and 275 feet wide in the transept part. This edifice was begun in the year 1386, but it is not yet finished. On the plan it forms a cross, as is usual. The interior is clothed with white marble, and divided into five parts, namely, a nave and four aisles, which are separated from each other by lofty slender clustered columns of white marble, from their capitals the groined ceiling springs, which is composed of brick and stone, and laced with intersecting ribs at the angles and spandrils of the

arches. Some part of the pavement is of marble, and other parts are of brick only. Within, it is lighted by narrow lancet-headed windows filled with painted glass, which are placed between a kind of projecting pilaster or buttress on the outside; and over them are smaller Gothic windows, which afford additional light to the interior. At the west end of the sacristy is a beautiful piece of sculpture the size of life, in white marble, representing the fleaing alive of St. Bartholomew; and on the right and left of the church are other pieces of sculpture of saints, &c.

*

The cupola is octangular, crowned with a Go

* When comparing the cupolas of St. Paul's and St. Peter's together, I omitted replying to some remarks, which I intended to do, made by Mr. Dallaway, in his Observations on English Architecture. He there says, foreigners have enquired, "Why is the inside surface of the cupola of St. Paul's made into an imperfect cone, which throws the pilasters out of their upright, and forces them to lean toward the centre?" Whether that part to which Mr. Dallaway alludes is a cone or not is very immaterial; but suppose that it had been a perfect cone, if Mr. Dallaway will take the trouble of only cursorily examining the whole section of this cupola or dome, he will readily perceive that the pilasters would then have been thrown more out of the perpendicular than they are even at present. No small part of the merit of Sir Christopher Wren, as a mathematician, consisted in his profound knowledge of statics and the conic sections; and it was not long before he discovered that the parabola is better calculated to resist great weights by the slightest means than any other figure. Now, had the wall against which these pilasters come been perfectly upright, the lateral pressure and impulse of the cupola would have been greatly increased, and in a place less capable of resistance. The method Sir Christopher has adopted, I consider one of the strongest proofs of his sound judgment both as a mathematician and a practical builder: every

thic spire; said to have been built by Brunelleschi; and in the sides of it are quadrefoil and other windows that throw light to the centre of the cross underneath. The walls of this cathedral are of brick, incased on the outside as well as within with white marble; and the exterior altogether-exhibits a very singular and fastidious kind of Gothic, adorned with pilasters or ornamental buttresses, which are richly pannelled and filled with statues. (many as large as life) placed one above the other on sculptured corbels, and overhead are rich protruding canopies.. Indeed the whole is so profusely ornamented, that it may be properly called a continued piece of shrine-work. Above the lower story,

part now inclines as to a centre, cordially supporting each other; and by that general position the enormous weight of the dome presses pyramidally, with little or no horizontal action, where there was every precaution taken to receive it, namely, on the solid piers underneath; which also derive additional aid and steadiness from the whole body of the edifice by which they are surrounded. The conical part above which bears the timber framing of the outer dome is also placed equally judicious, by being contrived to press on that part which is strengthened and fortified, not only by the superincumbent weight, but by the entablature and side-arches of the colonnade around the cylinder of the dome, and is thereby in less danger of stirring any part of the work than it would have been had it been placed higher or lower than it is. If the pilasters, by being out of the upright, are in an improper attitude, still, when they are viewed from below, as the defect is not perceivable, it is nevertheless of little or no consequence in regard to the general effect, and is amply compensated for by the wisdom displayed in the mode of construction. The cupola of St. Peter's consists entirely of stone, and does not stand so high above the body of the church by a vast deal as the cupola of St. Paul's, therefore I do not see how, in a practical sense, they can be compared together.

in which are the long lancet-headed windows, are two other stories containing smaller Gothic windows: but each story being set back and distinctly borne by the different tiers of clustered columns in the interior, the lateral elevations retire in separate heights till they end with the sides of the great nave. On each of the upper buttresses rises a pinnacle (except those not yet finished) capped with a statue; and the battlements around the church are pointed like small pediments, luxuriantly enriched with delicate foliage, and minute ornaments of a capricious nature. But the manner in which the interior is finished is rather plain, very much resembling that of the church of Batalha in Portugal. The roof over the nave is flat without, paved with marble slabs, channelled, and so united together as to prevent any wet from getting in. This situation affords an extensive view of the surrounding country. The principal façade is composed of a centre, with two square towers one at each angle, which are also adorned with pannels, statues, canopies, &c. and crowned with pinnacles suitably decorated. Between these towers are five doors leading into the interior: the largest is in the centre; and they are separated from each other by a rich pilaster or buttress, as before described. Over these doors are windows with circular and pointed pediments: but what is most inexcusable in Pellegrini, the architect who designed this part of the cathedral, is, that they are all of Roman architecture; and by this neglect of that general actuating principle, by which every kind of composition ought to be regulated, the

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