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should say that comfort and cleanliness are yet further removed from the domestic economy of Northern Italy, than even from that of Southern France. If the favoured inhabitants of this noble and interesting place could generally be persuaded to apply a small quantity of the clear wholesome water, that forms running brooks through al! their principal thoroughfares,* to the needful purposes of personal and household ablution, they would become an infinitely more agreeable set of folks to live among.

In the outskirts of the place, we observed large swarms of Lizards basking on the parapets of gardens, or running along the walls of houses: symptoms these, of being in a hot climate!

The French appear to have established their cookery as well as their language pretty generally in Turin: we recognize but very little difference in the carte à manger, or in its corresponding dishes when set on the table, between the restaurations of the capital of France and of Piedmont. The vin ordinaire of this country is terribly meagre and acid. But in the white wine of Asti we found a reputable article. The mousseux, or sparkling sort, forms a pleasant beverage mixed with water: and the superadded luxury of ice, (thanks to the neighbouring glaciers) is here enjoyed in perfection. The rosolio, a cordial

* Addison alludes to this convenience, which says he "I never observed in any other city, and which makes some amends for the badness of the pavement. By the help of a river that runs on the upper side of the town, they can convey a little stream of water through all the most considerable streets, which serves to cleanse the gutters and carries away all the filth that is swept into it. The manager opens his sluice every night, and distributes the water into what quarter of the town he pleases. Thus when a fire chances to break out, they have at a few minutes warning a little river running by the wall of the house that is burning.”—Remarks on Italy.

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made from cherries and other fruit, is another of the good things of Turin.*

The arts are cultivated and manufactures carried on in this city with great ingenuity, taste, and skill. We saw velvets, silk stuffs, and tapestry of excellent fabric. At a respectable artist's we purchased some few specimens of carving in ivory. His shop was quite a museum of curiosities and beauties. The choicest models of the antique are studied by his workmen; and the products of their labour and dexterity exceed, for accurate and superior finish, any thing of the kind I ever witnessed.

The population is estimated at 85,000 souls. The streets, crossing each other at right angles, divide the town into 145 parts or squares. It is a place of great antiquity, said to have been built by a colony of Marsilians, who named it Taurinium.-The Sanctuary at the east end of the Cathedral alluded to in this chapter under the French appellation of the Saint Suaire, but which our local guide called the Santissime Sindone, is described in Nugent as "the Chapel of the Holy Handkerchief." Popish legends state that St. Veronica presented a handkerchief to our Saviour, to wipe his face when he was carrying the cross, and on which the impression of his countenance was left, and is still to be seen! As if the miracle that a handkerchief should remain in a state of perfect preservation for 1800 years was not great enough. But the " Santissime Sindone” of Turin, and St. Veronica's Handkerchief are certainly two different things; and yet there would not be more difficulty in proving them to be one and the same, than in authenticating the pretensions that have been respectively set up for them by the relic-mongers of Italy.

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CHAPTER VI.

Piedmontese Towns and Scenery-Vercelli-Novara-Entrance into the Milanese-River Tesino-Bufalora.-MILAN-The Cathedral -The Corso-The Royal Palace—Church of the Jesuits—Theatre of La Scala-Academy of Arts and Sciences; Picture Gallery— Church of the Madonna delle Grazie-Refectory of the Dominicans; Leonardo da Vinci's "Last Supper"—Saint Ambrose— St. Victor-The Canobiana Theatre-Ambrosian Library-Academy of Painting and Sculpture-Roman Antiquities-St. Laurence-St. Eustorgio-Indulgences-The Forum-Buonaparte's Arena S. Celso-Miraculous Image of the Virgin-Evening Service at the Cathedral-General Remarks-Journey to Como,

AT six o'clock in the afternoon we quitted Turin by the gate of Milan, immediately afterwards crossing the Dora a little above its confluence with the Po. After another intensely hot day, the sun was casting the mitigated lustre of his oblique rays upon the hills of the Superga, which extend for many miles in the direction of our present course, and which in the neighbourhood of Turin exhibit a continued succession of villas and vineyards. On the other side, extending as far as the eye can reach, in a direction likewise parallel with our road, we behold the Alpine walls, abrupt and vast! one immense ridge of hoary peak and table-land rises above the other, till the furthest and highest are lost in the clouds. No powers of description, possessed by pen or pencil, can convey an adequate idea of the sublimities of these

mountains, which are still the objects of our incessant regard, of our unabated admiration.*

Plantations of mulberry trees for the silkworm, whose produce is well known to form a staple commodity of Piedmontese merchandise, line each side of the road for a considerable space. We cease to wonder at the fertility and verdure that display themselves in this part of the great plain of Lombardy, on observing the numerous rills (some of them fine ones) that cross our path. By means of road-side brooks the farmer here is enabled to irrigate even his arable land. They plough with oxen, yoked in our English fashion, and not by the horns as in Savoy. The cattle are of a very large breed, and are used as well in waggons and carts as for tillage. At most of the relays, the post horses exhibit good size and tolerable make, and seem by no means deficient in strength and activity.

At a quarter past seven we entered Settimo. The sun was at that moment descending upon the Alps: a glorious sight! Some thickly gathering clouds, that obscured his beams just before he had sunk behind the summits of these heaven-aspiring rocks, seemed to promise rain, but they

From their commencement at the Mediterranean to Mount Viso the Alps were called Maritime, now Le Montagne di Tenda. Hence to Susa run the Cottian Alps, separating Dauphiny from Piedmont, and extending from Mount Viso to Mount Cenis, between the Maritime Alps to the south, and the Grecian Alps to the north. The Grecian Alps begin at Mount Cenis, where the Cottian terminate, and run between Savoy and the Tarentese on the west, and Piedmont on the east, to the Great St. Bernard, where the Pennian Alps begin. After these the Rhetian Alps continue to the head of the river Piave, a part of which to the north of Trent are called the Tridentine Alps. To these join the Norician Alps, reaching to Doblach in the Tyrol. Thence begin the Carnician Alps, or of Carniola; and the last called the Pannonian and Julian Alps, extend to the Adriatic.

opened only to emit the electric flash; and the dust of the road continued to be literally suffocating. Settimo is an apt specimen of an Italian, or at least of a Piedmontese, village: inns with religious signs; ruined houses; nothing in repair but the church. Instead of Crosses as in France, we observe Shrines of the Virgin Mary, and frequently with worshippers kneeling at them. On bridges of stone and sometimes of boats, we pass several rivers* produced by snows,

"That melting on the hoary mountains lay,

"And in warm eastern winds dissolved away."

The frequent overflowing of these waters have made extensive marshes. Amidst them, coasting the left bank of the Po, we entered and passed through the town of Chivasco. At half-past ten we alighted at the village of Cigliano; imagining it better to pass the night in that vile place, than to encounter the troublesome impediments of imperial douaniers further on. Subsequent experience, however, taught us that there is more wisdom in the general practice of our countrymen, who push on to Milan without stopping. There is certainly not a comfortable place to lodge at the whole way thither from Turin.

July 22d.-At two P. M. though in some need of more prolonged repose, we gladly obeyed the call, from our courier, that summoned us to leave "the worst inn's worst room," and pursue our way. Yet to see Night's dark curtain exchanged for the grey-tinted drapery of Aurora-the brilliant morning-star growing dim-" the eastern clouds checquered with streams of light”— these gradually increasing in richness of hue; till soon

The Stura, the Molone, the Orco, and the Dora Baltea, all swallowed up by that greatest of Alpine currents, the Po.

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