bells. This surprising structure was begun in the year 1174, according to the city records, under the management of two architects, Tedesco and Pisano, and is said to have been completed within two years after its commencement. On the plan it forms a circle, and its superstructure has the shape of a cylinder, comprising on the outside seven stories of antique columns, thirty in each story, of white marble, bearing arches on their capitals, and a cornice above them. The lower story is several feet under ground, with a few steps leading down to it, and has but fifteen columns, which are of granite, much larger, and placed close against the wall; but in the six upper stories the columns stand insulated, at the distance of three feet six inches, and form very handsome peripteres. The wall of the lower story projects forwards, and is as much thicker than that above as is necessary to receive the insulated columns. The staircase which winds

up the centre of the circular wall is three feet wide, cut out of the solid materials, and communicates with the different stories by landings and doorways, till it reaches the top of the tower. The number of steps contained in this spiral staircase is 293, and the height from the ground within is 179 feet, exclusive of the small belfry at top, about twenty feet higher, and which originally was no component part of the tower, having been added at a subsequent period. The dimensions of the diameter of this tower I ascertained on the second story. The inside circle or well-hole, where the bells are rung (which are five in number), is twenty-four feet diameter. The circular external

wall, including the excavated staircase, is eight feet thick; that in the lowest story is twelve feet eight inches. The columns are placed three feet six inches from the outer face of the eight-feet wall, and are one foot two inches in diameter: so that the whole diameter of the tower is fifty feet or thereabouts. The columns that encircle the different stories are a medley: some have plain caps, others rich ones; some partake of the Corinthian, others of the composite; and many have caps of a fanciful nature, with lions' heads, eagles, and other animals, instead of the regular scrolls.

Much has been said respecting the inclination of this celebrated tower, which is nearly fifteen feet out of the perpendicular. Some have thought that it was so constructed to display the dexterity of the architect; others, that it has been moved by a slight. shock of an earthquake into that position: but I believe the most generally received, as well as the most reasonable, conjecture is, that it was occasioned by a want of care in laying the foundation. For my own part I am incapable of supposing for a moment that any man of common sense would have designed so expensive and ornamental a building as this, if he had only been ambitious to shew, by making nice calculations on the principles of the balance, how far he might construct a tower out of the upright. And what may be urged as a further proof that its inclination is to be attributed to the partial compression of the earth is, that there is every reason to suppose it began to give way when the building was about half finished; because from the third story the whole appears to have re

ceived a more upright direction. The architects were aware of their danger; and though they were not deterred from prosecuting the work, they here began to counteract the mischief by increasing the height of the columns on the inclined side, so as to approach by slow degrees to a level with the other and this was done by means the most judicious---the higher they went the columns on the inclined side were increased in a greater proportion; and by this circumstance we see how strenuously they laboured to correct the evil tendency of the settlement, by throwing the centre of gravity as much as they could within the base of the tower.

By looking over the iron railing at the top, a sensation is occasioned which has much the same effect as if you were falling, and, perhaps, it is increased by the knowledge of the situation of the tower. The great Galileo, inventor of the telescope, and renowned for astronomical researches, made many philosophical experiments from its summit, particularly those on the principles of descending matter.

Its

After the traveller's curiosity is sufficiently gratified with this singular sight, the great Duomo, almost as curious on account of its style of architecture, immediately arrests his attention. plan is a Roman cross, and the façade exhibits three large bronze doors, with antique columns on each side, which partake of the Corinthian order. Over them are four tiers of antique columns, with foliage capitals, in a bad taste, placed one above the other. The columns bear arches on their capitals, which have a strong similitude to those of the

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Saxon structures in this country. The third tier of columns, does not extend so far as the tiers underneath, because here the roof falls in so as to leave the front only the width of the nave; and the columns of the top tier in the tympanum of the pediment are of course shorter or longer, following its raking lines. Round the whole of the church are six steps leading to a broad handsome landing, which forms a sort of terrace on every side. The exterior is cased with white marble on brick-work, and so crowded with ornaments in a grotesque taste, and with ancient inscriptions, that it is hardly possible to impart without explanatory drawings any correct idea of its true character. We are told by the city records, that the foundations were begun to be laid in the year 1063 by the Pisans, in commemoration of a signal victory they' had gained over the Saracens, and the whole was completed in thirty years, after the designs of Buschetto, a Greek architect. In length it is 309 feet, the width is 104 feet, divided into a nave and four aisles; and the length of the transverse cross is 234 feet, divided into three parts by superb columns of granite. Others of rare marbles, as porphyry, jasper, verd-antique, &c. are to be seen in different parts of the interior. The columns having been collected from ancient buildings, are found of various dimensions. False bases have been added to the shorter columns to make them answer to the higher in supporting the roof and other parts of the church: but the columns themselves are all in one piece, and some of them are three feet six inches and two feet eight

inches in diameter, with fanciful caps, having angels, lions' heads, eagles, &c. instead of the scrolls, like those of the Campanile. The ceiling over the nave is of wood exquisitely carved and richly gilt. The pavement consists of white and cerulean marble, and under the cupola there is a splendid mosaic payement. Attached to one of the large granite columns is the marble pulpit, of an octangular shape, with fine sculpture in the pannels; with two staircases of white marble leading into it. The front is supported by two columns, one of porphyry, the other of oriental broccatello, which rest on lions of white marble, with horses beneath their paws. Under the pulpit are five statues; the most conspicuous personifies Pisa, and the other four the cardinal virtues. The dome over the centre of the cross is superbly painted with the subject of the Virgin Mary ascending into heaven: and among other fine historical paintings that of Saint Agnes, by Andrea del Sarto, well deserves the fame it has acquired. The walls are nearly covered with magnificent altar-pieces, of the most excellent workmanship, by Michael Angelo, Pietro Tacca, Stagi, John di Bologna, and other eminent masters. They consist of precious marbles, adorned with small parts of lapis-lazuli, gilt bronzes, silver ornaments, vases and figures. Upon one is a marble urn, said to have inshrined the body of Nicodemus, which was sent as a present from Geoffrey the conqueror of Jerusalem, to Pisa, as a token of his gratitude for the assistance this city rendered him in his expedition to the Holy Land. By the small windows of painted glass is