tello, are justly admired for the beauty of their workmanship. On the right of the great altar is placed the new sacristy, which was erected by an order of Leo X. who intended it as a mausoleum for himself and family. It is a small building thirty-six feet square, enriched within by two stories of Corinthian pilasters, with entablatures complete, and finishes at top with a dome. The sculpture it contains, by Michael Angelo, who was also the architect, is the chief ornament of the interior. Juliano, brother of Leo X. and Lorenzo duke of Urbino, were the first persons interred here. Above the tomb of the first appears his statue, as large as life, sitting in a niche over a sarcophagus, clad in a military habit, with two recumbent figures, representing Day and Night, one on each side. The figure of Night is so beautifully characteristic, as to have occasioned the following lines, by way of encomium, upon the sculpture :

"La Notte che tu vedi in si dolci atti
"Dormire fu da un angelo scolpita
"In questo Sasso, e perche dorme a vita
Destala, se no'l credi e parleratti.”

To which the figure is feigned to answer in these words,

"Grato m'e il sonno e piu l'essere di Sasso
"Mentre che'l danno, e la vergogna dura:

Veder, e non sentir mi e' gran ventura
mi destar, deh parla basso."

"Pero non

On the side opposite is the statue of Lorenzo de' Medici, executed in a similar manner; with two other figures, expressive of grief, representing the Evening and the Morning, by the same artist. He who aims at perfection in the art of sculpture, will do well to study with unwearied attention these most astonishing, and, I might almost say, supernatural performances. The statues, thus faithfully formed from nature, appear all but living. So accordant, solemn, and well conceived are the attitudes, that they impress the mind as the accidents of reality; and the emblems, for suitableness, character, and truth, will perhaps never be surpassed.

Adjoining to this sacristy, and immediately behind the choir of the church, is the fine chapel and sepulchre of the grand-dukes. The first stone of this building was laid in the year 1604, after a plan and model made by Prince Don Giovanni de' Medici, and under the management of an architect named Nigetti, who was appointed assistant to the prince. Ferdinand I. then grand-duke, flattered himself that he might be able to remove secretly from Jerusalem the holy sepulchre of Christ, which he intended to deposit in this magnificent mausoleum; but he was defeated in that enterprise, by his intention being discovered to the Turks, either by accident or treachery.

The plan is an octagon, nearly ninety feet across; and from the pavement to the top of the cupola, in the centre of the dome, is said to be 190 feet in height, without including the subterraneous vault. The walls of the interior are co

vered with a diversity of marbles, and adorned with stately pilasters, of the composite order; consisting of jasper of Barga, with bases and capitals of bronze, standing on a lofty plinth, which is continued round the building. Placed upon these pilasters is an appropriate entablature, from which the dome springs. The plinth, or zocle, contains the arms of the cities of Tuscany, composed of valuable stones and marbles; that is, of lapis-lazuli, of jaune and verde antique, motherof-pearl, oriental alabaster, and others. At present the floor is only of earth, no doubt meant to be paved with marble; and the inside of the dome is of plaster, in an unfinished state, but which was originally intended for paintings of a suitable description. Against the sides of the octagon are six cenotaphs. The first, on the right of the entrance, to Ferdinand II. who died in 1670, is of Egyptian granite and green jasper, and the escutcheon is of flowered Sicilian jasper. The second to Cosmo II. who died in 1620, is of white oriental granite, and on it is an enriched helmet of hard stone, beset with ornaments. In the niche, immediately over, is contained the statue, in bronze, of the same prince, by John di Bologna. The others are of a like description, to the memory of Ferdinand I. the founder of this noble pile, Cosmo I. Francis I. and Cosmo III. granddukes of Tuscany. From hence, by a commodious staircase in the thickness of the wall, you descend to the subterraneous chambers; where, under the cenotaphs, are so many chapels, destined for the tombs of the princes I have already

mentioned, and whose bodies were here deposited in coffins of wood, after they had been dug up and removed from the other sacristy. The walls of the basement are twenty-two feet thick, and the exterior of the building is all of hard stone, intermixed with ornaments of white marble, in a fanciful and bizarre manner; but the interior is in a regular style of architecture, and, were the whole finished, it would be one of the most magnificent and expensive monuments of art to be seen at this day.

Appertaining to this church and college is the celebrated Laurentian library. The plan of the room itself is a parallelogram, 146 feet in length, thirty-three feet in width, and twenty-six feet in height. It contains a vast quantity of the most rare and valuable manuscripts, in Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Chinese, Arabic, Chaldee, Syriac, Tuscan, and old French; many of them enriched with curious paintings and miniatures. These books were collected chiefly from Asia and remote parts by Cosmo I. styled Father of his country, at an immense expense; and the collection has been increased from time to time by contributions from various celebrated libraries, and donations from successive grand-dukes.

At Florence there is also a royal academy for the encouragement of the fine arts, which was removed in 1784 from its original to its present situation, as a more convenient place, by Leopold, then grand-duke, afterwards emperor of Germany. By the munificence of this prince it was enlarged and furnished with all things necessary for such

an institution. In its establishment are seven professors, one for each of the following arts; namely, design, colouring, grotesque, engraving, sculpture, architecture, and one for the youth who study in the great gallery, and for practical mechanics.

Over the entrance door are three crowns cut in stone; the first represents a crown of oak, the second of laurel, and the third of olive, which are the emblems of the academy and underneath, on a frieze, is the following epigraph :-

"Liberalium Artium Incremento
Petrus Leopoldus

Anno MDCCLXXIV."

The gallery for the arts of design and colouring is furnished with specimens and casts for the use of students. From thence you pass into a great hall, which serves for public meetings, and which is hung with many fine original pictures, from some of the greatest masters of the Florentine school, with a variety of other works and cartoons by eminent painters of other countries. These paintings are held out as examples for the young students. Beside them are some models in wood; that of a bridge with three arches, designed by the Marquis Tacoli, is much admired: and there are also many models and casts in terra cotta, by different professors who belonged to the academy, and who bequeathed these works to it, that their memory might be perpetuated among the scholars.

H