tion 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 neighbouring territories. How long the effects of this infernal ebullition 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 Netherlands 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 peace and opulence, and all its prospects of security, turned into dismay, 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 fcw 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 in the universe. 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 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, in fact, 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.

The pillars of the cathedral of Milan are more than ninety feet in height, and about eight in diameter. The dimensions of the church at large are as follows: In length four hundred and ninety feet, in breadth two hundred and ninety-eight, in interior elevation under the dome two hundred and fiftyeight, and four hundred in exterior, that is to the summit of the tower. The pavement is formed of marble of different colours, disposed in various patterns and figures. The number of niches is great, and every niche has its statue, which, with those placed on the ballustrade of the roof, are reported to amount to more than four thousand. Many among them are said to be of great merit.

Over the dome rises a tower or spire, or rather obelisk, for its singular shape renders it difficult to ascertain its appellation, which, whatever may be its intrinsic merit, adds little either to the

beauty or to the magnificence of the structure which it surmounts. This obelisk was erected about the middle of the last century*, contrary to the opinion of the best architects. Though misplaced, its form is not in itself inelegant, while its architecture and mechanisin are extremely ingenious, and deserve minute examination. In ascending the traveller will observe, that the roof of the church is covered with blocks of marble, connected together by a cement, that has not only its hardness and durability, but its colour, so that the eye scarcely perceives the juncture, and the whole roof appears one immense piece of white shining marble. The view from the summit is extensive and even novel, as it includes not only the city and the rich plain of Milan, intersected with rivers and canals, covered with gardens, orchards, vineyards, and groves, and thickly studded with villages and towns; but it extends to the grand frame of this picture, and takes in the neighbouring Alps, forming a magnificent semicircle and uniting their bleak ridges with the milder and more distant Apennines.

The traveller will regret as he descends, that instead of heaping this useless and cumbersome quarry upon the dome, the trustees of the edifice did not employ the money expended upon it in erecting a front, (for that essential part is still wanting), corresponding with the style and stateliness of this superb temple. A front has indeed been begun, but in a taste so dissimilar to that of the main building, and made up of such a medley of Roman orders and Gothic decorations, that the total suspension of such a work might be considered as

* 1763.

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an advantage, if a more appropriate porta were to be erected in its place. But unfortunately the funds destined for the completion and repair of this cathedral are now swallowed in the general confiscation; and an edifice destined to be a monument of the piety of fifty generations, will be abandoned by the present atheistical government to neglect and decay. Had it been finished, and the western front built in a style corresponding with the other parts, the admirers of the Gothic style would have possessed one specimen perfect in its kind, and accompanied with all the advantages of the best materials set off by a fine climate.

In materials indeed, the cathedral of Milan surpasses all the churches of the Universe, the noblest of which are only lined and coated with marble, while this is entirely built, paved, vaulted, and roofed with the same substance, and that of the whitest and most resplendent kind. Here then there would have been an object of comparison, and the lover of sacred architecture, after a minute examination, I will not say of the Vatican, for the magnitude, elevation, and accompaniments of that vast fabric, admit of no comparison, but of Santa Maria Maggiore, S. Paolo fuori li Mura, Sta. Justina at Padua, St. Paul in London, might decide which of the two styles is best adapted to the solemnity of religious offices, or which delights the eye and the mind most. The decision would be difficult. Most men have habits to resist, and prejudices to conquer on the subject. All the ancient, and with the exception of St. Paul's only, all the great edifices dedicated to religion in our own country are Gothic and Saxon, while Greek and Roman architecture is seen only in palaces, villas, and theatres. How naturally there