of the name of Visconti transmitted his temporal authority to his nephew, whose descendants reigned for several generations with considerable influence and reputation. Of these dukes, for such was their title, John Galeas Visconti, was the most distinguished, and the first perhaps who merited both by his military talents, and by his useful institutions, the sovereignty which his ancestors had in part usurped. The cathedral of Milan, the Carthusian abbey of Pavia, several bridges and aqueducts, and above, all the various canals that intersect, drain, and fertilize this country, are to this day monuments of the piety, the patriotism, and the benevolence of this prince.

Unfortunately for Milan, and indeed for all Italy, the family of the Visconti formed matrimonial connexions with the royal dynasty of France, which on the extinction of the former, laid claim to its territories, and made repeated attempts with various success to take possession of them. These attempts at length terminated in the decisive battle of Pavia, which broke the French power in Italy, and secured the possession of Milan to Spain, and eventually to Austria, who retained it, with a few intervals of incidental and temporary incursions, till the French revo lutionary invasion.

I have elsewhere observed that the Austrian government is in general mild and benevolent, and that the provinces under its control enjoy a fair proportion of ease and prosperity. This observation is peculiarly applicable to the Milanese, the natural fertility of which, if the cultivators be not checked by despotic regulations, and partial taxation, supplies in abundance all the comforts of life, and all that can stimulate and recompense industry. Hence, under the Austrian sway, it exhibited, like the Netherlands, a scene of population, riches, and felicity, seldom equalled even in free countries, and alike delightful to the eye, and to the mind of the humane traveller. The Emperor Joseph, with good intentions but bad policy, first disturbed the tranquillity of both these happy provinces, in attempting to introduce innovations, most of which, whether in their own nature useful or not, were unquestionably unpopular. The fermentation excited by these ill-advised measures, was scarcely appeased by the prudence of Leopold, Joseph's successor, when the French revolution burst forth like a volcano, and disgorged its burning torrent over all the neighboring territories. How long the effects of this infernal abullition may be felt, or how far its ravages may extend, it is difficult to determine. Suffice it to say, that both the Milanese and the Nether

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lands fell within its range, and have experienced the full effect of its fury. The latter, plundered of its riches, and its constitution, and deprived. of half its population, shares with France, her name, her misery, and her infamy: The former erected into the capital of a nominal republic, but in fact, of a miserable and oppressed province, sees its resources swallowed up in contributions, its churches stript, its public establishments plundered, its youth corrupted and enrolled in the armies of its oppressors, and all its scenes of opulence, and all its prospects of security, turned into want and uncertainty.

Milan is a great and splendid city, near eleven miles in circumference, containing about one hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants. Its general appearance however, does not in my opinion, correspond with its reputation; the streets are not always either wide or regular, or well built, and it presents few edifices of magnificence or beauty sufficient to attract attention. Of these, the Cathedral without doubt is the principal. It is situated almost in the centre of the city, and occupies part of the great square. It is of Gothic architecture, and its materials are white marble. In magnitude this edifice yields to few. Inferior only to the Basilica Vaticana, it equals in length, and in breadth surpasses the cathedral of Florence

and St. Paul's; in the interior elevation it yields to both; in exterior it exceeds both; in fret-· work, carving, and statues, it goes beyond all churches in the world, St. Peter's itself not excepted. Its double aisles, its clustered pillars, its lofty arches; the lustre of its walls; its numberless niches all filled with marble figures, give it an appearance novel even in Italy, and singularly majestic. Such, at least, it must appear to those who admire the Gothic manner called by the Italians Tedesca, so uncommon in Italy in its purity, as most of the edifices that bear that appellation are, as I have before observed, a mixed style formed of a degradation of Roman architecture dressed up in moresco ornaments. The admirer of English Gothic will observe one peculiarity, which is, that in the cathedral of Milan, there is no screen, and that the chancel is entirely open, and separated from the nave only by its elevation. In the front of the chancel, and almost immediately above the steps, rises on four additional steps the altar, and behind it, in a semicircular form, the choir. Thus the altar stands as in the Roman Basilica, and indeed in all ancient churches, between the clergy and the people.

Two circumstances are particularly observable in this church; the one is, that there are no

chapels properly so called, because the Ambrosian rite, which long retained the ancient custom of allowing one altar only, and one service in each church, not having conformed to the modern mode when the cathedral was commenced, no. provision was made in the plan for private masses and oratories. This omission contributes much to the simplicity and the unity of the edifice. Altars however there now are in abundance, but placed in such a manner as does not interfere with the general design. The second is the thinness of the pillars or rather of the clusters of pillars, which, while they support the vault, and are of course numerous amounting to fifty-two, yet conceal no part of the edifice, and allow the eye to range over the whole at pleasure. How much superior are pillars to buttresses, and colonnades to arcades! the lightness, the simplicity, and the openness of the one, to the cumbersome weight of the other, which occupies so *much space, conceals so many parts, and so obstructs the appearance of an edifice. In truth, the traveller when he has seen and admired the majestic simplicity of St. Peter ad Vincula, Sta. Maria Maggiore, and St. Paul, fuori li mura, views even the towering arcades of St. Peter's with regret, and laments that a colonnade is wanting to the interior perfection of the Vatican.