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of two slaves. We were met first by an officer wearing a long cloak, one corner of which was thrown over his shoulder, and a three-cornered hat, adorned with a large bunch of black rooster's feathers, falling gracefully over his side face. He walked up and down without saying a word; but another officer, dressed in red, white, and gold, pointed to the beautiful marble entrance, which is quite beyond description. There are six white marble steps to the first landing, from which other wide marble steps lead to the second story. The ceiling is beautifully frescoed. On the walls of the stairway are fine paintings. One represents Tasso, richly dressed in black velvet, being introduced to the Court; and another, "The Receipt of the Declaration of War by Spain." We walked first into the footmen's room, elegantly furnished with rich paintings on ceiling and walls; then into the pages' room, equally elegant, and next to the throne room, and so on until we had passed through some twenty rooms in all. Over the throne is a canopy of red velvet shaded to orange. The doors are richly gilded and the ceilings of the rooms, some of which are lined with red velvet, are beautifully frescoed, while the window curtains are of silk lace. There are many fine paintings in the different apartments, the floors of which, of inlaid wood, are so smooth that we were obliged to slip or slide over them. Among the paintings is a magnificent one of "Solomon on his Throne." In the dining room there is a crystal chandelier, and there is another in the large ball room, which is splendidly finished with Doric columns and heavy gilt cornices. The Queen's Chapel is small but elegant. The furniture of all the rooms is very rich, none of it more so than a number of mosaic tables,

which are surprisingly beautiful. The Palace also contains an extensive library.

There is an Armory, Museum of Natural History, Museum of Antiquities, and an extensive Painting Gallery here; but we did not take the time to visit them, since we expect to see everything of this kind in other Italian cities.

M

CHAPTER XXXIII.

ILAN, NOVEMBER 5.—We left Turin yesterday forenoon, and arrived at Milan in time to ride an hour around the city, visiting the Cathedral of St. Ambrose and the celebrated picture of the "Last Supper," by Leonardo da Vinci. The Cathedral was founded by St. Ambrose in the fourth century, and the guide-books tell us that the gates are those which he closed against the Emperor Theodosius after the cruel massacre of Thessalonica; also, that the Lombard Kings and German Emperors formerly caused themselves to be crowned here with the Iron Crown, which is still preserved at Monza. The interior is richly adorned with fresco and other paintings, mosaics, statues, etc. "The brazen serpent on a column in the nave is said to be that raised We had not time

by Moses in the wilderness." to investigate the truth of this statement, and therefore accepted it as authentic without controversy. It is no doubt just as true as that a certain silver case in the Cologne Cathedral contains the bones of the three wise men who came from the East to Bethlehem to offer their presents to the infant

Christ, and which precious remains, it is said, were presented to the Archbishop of Cologne by the Emperor Barbarossa when he captured them with the city of Milan. We were shown here, also, some very curious old parchment books of the fourteenth century, and sat in a marble arm-chair made at the time the church was founded.

The painting of the "Last Supper" is in the refectory (now a cavalry barrack) of the suppressed Monastery of the Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie. There is nothing very remarkable in the church, but we viewed this picture with great interest, notwithstanding it has been much defaced. Roscoe, in his "Life of Leo X.," speaking of Leonardo da Vinci, observes: "By his astonishing skill in music, which he performed on a kind of lyre of his own invention, and by his extraordinary facility as an improvisatore, in the recitation of Italian verse, no less than by his professional talents, he secured the favor of his patron (Lodovico, 1492,) and the applauses of the Milanese Court. Lodovico had, however, the judgment to avail himself of the opportunity afforded him by this great artist, to enrich the city of Milan with some of the finest productions of his pencil; and if the abilities of Leonardo were to be estimated by a single effort, his panegyrist might perhaps select his celebrated picture of the "Last Supper" as the most valuable of his works. In this piece it was doubtless the intention of the painter to surpass whatever had before been executed, and to represent not merely the external form and features, but the emotions and passions of the mind, from the highest degree of virtue and beneficence in the character of the Saviour to the extreme of treachery and guilt in that of Iscariot; while the

various sensations of affection and veneration, of joy and of sorrow, of hope and of fear, displayed in the countenances and gestures of the disciples, might express their various apprehensions of the mysterious rite. In the midst sits the great founder, dispensing with unshaken firmness, from either hand, the emblems of his own approaching suffering. The agitation of the disciples is marked by their contrasted attitudes and various expressions. Treachery and inhumanity seem to be concentrated in the form and features of Judas Iscariot. In representing the countenance of Christ he found, however, the powers of the artist inadequate to the conception of his own mind. To step beyond the limits of earth, and to diffuse over those features a ray of divinity, was his bold but fruitless attempt. The effort was often renewed, and as often terminated in disappointment and humiliation. Despairing of success, he disclosed his anxiety to his friend and associate, Bernardo Zenale, who advised him to desist from all further endeavors, and in consequence of which this great work was suffered to remain imperfect." The size of this picture is fifteen by thirty feet.

In the evening we went into the great Cathedral, which, by many travelers, is regarded as the most majestic and beautiful in the world. It had been a great day there, but we arrived only in time to see a long line of priests leaving for their cloisters, and the removal from the altar of a number of silver saints- statues, of full size, in solid silver-all of which we saw in the sacristy to-day, after which we spent an hour or two on top of the building, the whole of which, including the roof, its ninety-eight pinnacles, and its innumerable statues, is of white marble. Some travelers have stated the number of

statues in the interior and on the outside as high as seven thousand, with places for three thousand more. Here is a true picture by Tennyson:

"O Milan, O the chanting quires,

The giant windows' blazoned fires,

The height, the space, the gloom, the glory!

A mount of marble, a hundred spires!

I climbed the roofs at break of day;
Sun-smitten Alps before me lay.

I stood among the silent statues,
And statued pinnacles mute as they.
How faintly-flushed, how phantom-fair,
Was Monte Rosa, hanging there.

A thousand shadowy-penciled valleys
And snowy dells in a golden air!"

The interior is hardly less imposing than the exterior. "Its double aisles, its clustered pillars, its lofty arches, the luster of its walls, its numberless niches filled with marble figures—give it an appearance novel even in Italy, and singularly majestic.' Its works of art, consisting of paintings, statuary of various kinds, bronze as well as marble, monuments to distinguished persons, etc., with nearly four hundred representations of Scriptural subjects on the stained glass of the choir windows, afford boundless satisfaction to the visitor. We should not forget to speak of one other thing we saw on our visit here: Within a circular railing, twenty feet or more in circumference, near the altar, a white covering had been spread on the floor, and a choir boy was engaged in gathering into a bag thousands of soldi or sous that had been thrown in there by the faithful worshipers, literally covering the floor with them.

In the Picture Gallery here are many noted paintings of Rubens, Tintoretto, Paul Veronese, Bellini, Giotto, Leonardo, and other distinguished artists.

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