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dino, and Politiano at his side, he delighted his hours of leisure with the beautiful visions of Platonic philosophy, for which the summer stillness of an Italian sky appears the most congenial accompaniment." The view from Fiesole is very fine when the weather is clear; but we thought the picture of the place itself, with the charming residences and gardens of the dwellers on the slope of the hill as we approached it, was finer still. In the spring, when the foliage is fresh and green, it must be beautiful indeed. It is reached from Florence only by a zigzag turnpike.

CHAPTER XL.

LORENCE, NOVEMBER 23.-On the morning of the 18th instant we were prompt at breakfast in order to be early at the Painting Galleries, and by nine o'clock we were at the Uffizi Gallery, fifteen minutes' walk from our boarding house, No. 7 via Palestro; but, very much to our disappointment, we found a notice on the door stating that the hour of opening was eleven A. M., notwithstanding Bædeker's Hand-book says nine A. M. Since the latest edition of this book, however, we understand a law has been passed in Italy providing for an admission fee to all the public Galleries on every day of the week except Sunday and Thursday, but whether the hours of exhibition are to be different on the free from the paying days we do not know. The admission fee here is one franc, or, what is the same, one lira; and it is evidently the purpose of this poor

Italian Government to reap a handsome income in fees from the thousands of travelers who flock here every year. Seeing we had nearly two hours to wait, we crossed the Ponte Vecchio (bridge) and passed the intervening time in the Royal Palace heretofore briefly described. At the appointed hour we were on hand at the Uffizi Gallery door, and save a short time for lunch we occupied the day until three o'clock in that and the Pitti Gallery. In this time, however, we could give little more than a glance even at a very small part of the pictures, statuary, and other rare objects of art here; and it would be folly to attempt to give an intelligent description of them. The Uffizi Gallery is on the north and the Pitti Gallery, adjoining the Royal Palace, on the south side of the Arno, which divides the city, and both are connected by a covered way, which crosses above the street, and, turning at right angles, runs over the tops of the buildings along the river side a considerable distance to the Ponte Vecchio; thence again turning a square corner, extends over the long rows of jewelers' shops, by which the bridge is lined on either side from one end to the other, and ascends by steps to the Pitti Gallery, looking out on the southeast side upon the beautiful Boboli Garden. These shops in themselves, like many others along the Lung Arno and in other parts of the city, of similar character, are a sight to behold, brilliant as they are with all kinds of the most attractive jewelry that can be made of gold and precious stones. Nowhere else have we seen such quantities of turquoise, lapis lazuli, agate, jasper, and onyx, not to mention diamonds. The Florentine mosaics, a specialty, are very beautiful. It is a walk of ten minutes from one Gallery to the other

through the covered passage or corridor, which is well lighted. On the walls of this corridor are gobelin works, some oil paintings, many engravings, and an endless number of drawings, many of the latter regarded as very valuable, being the works of Michael Angelo, Giotto, Leonardo da Vinci, Tintoretto, Albert Dürer, and other old artists. The inlaid marble tables, of which there are several in these Galleries, like those in the King's Palace, are superb beyond description. Villages, landscapes, birds, musical instruments, people, and other objects are represented in them in a wonderfully perfect manner. One of them is said to have kept twentyfive men busy twenty-two years in its constructiona work for one man of five hundred and fifty years! In one of the rooms are the marble statues of "Venus di Medici," "The Wrestlers," "Young Apollo," "The Dancing Fawn," and "Slave Whetting his Knife"-all originals, and plaster casts of which are common. Here, also, are Titian's "Venus" and Raphael's pictures of "The Madonna with the Goldfinch," "St. John as a Boy," "St. John Preaching in the Desert," and his "Portrait of Pope Julius II.," as well as many others of his celebrated paintings. Correggio's "Madonna Adoring the Child," and Raphael's "Madonna of the Chair," or "Sitting Madonna," both original and both universally copied, are among the most attractive pictures of the thousands of fine paintings in these Galleries. In a corridor of the Uffizi Gallery is a cabinet of gems, consisting of costly jewels and numerous other valuable articles of virtù not unlike what we saw in the Green Vaults at Dresden. Since our first visit we have been several times to these Galleries, and were we to go there every day for a year we should

hardly be able to examine critically all that there is here to be seen. We could but think that were the collection of pictures reduced by casting out no small number of nude figures, inferior "Madonnas," "Holy Families," and "Saints," it would be a great improvement; and the same thinning out of the statuary could not, we think, be any matter of regret.

We spent the afternoon of the 22d instant in the National Museum, which building, in the olden times, was the Hall of Justice, and is itself an object of more interest, perhaps, than what it now contains. The sides of the walls in the court are covered with coats of arms of the different podestàs, or principal officers of the city, and inscriptions of various kinds are inserted in the walls under the two stages of arcades which extend entirely round the court, in the center of which is a well like those in the court of the Doges' Palace in Venice. In the lower story is a collection of old armor, the most formidable weapon being a large brass cannon of the sixteenth century, bearing the coat of arms of the Medici. It is highly ornamented, and at its breech is a complete bust, intended to represent St. Paul. What he could have had to do with such a monster of destruction does not appear. Near by were several pyramids of cannon balls, cut out of granite, and a weapon resembling the Gatling gun, quite remarkable. This gun has nine barrels, with a groove for the priming, the ignition of which by a flint lock served to discharge all the barrels at once. Unlike the Gatling gun, however, this was a hand weapon, the barrels and stock being about the length of those of a horse pistol. Among the works of sculpture here is Michael Angelo's

"Dying Adonis;" "Adam and Eve," formerly of the Garden of Eden, by Bandineli; and "Virtue Triumphant," by Giambologna. This last is a stalwart and rather fierce-looking damsel, very much in the dress of her sister Eve-rather too scant, we could not help thinking, for a virtuous lady triumphing over vice—with her foot on the neck of an unfortunate young man, also lightly clad, who had evidently in some way gotten into a bad scrape. There is also a celebrated statue of "Mercury," by Giambologna, and one of "David," by Verrochio. If this last had been named "Isaac" we should never have known the difference. We gaze with wonder at many a statue and many a painting, which we might pass with only a glance but that it has some great name and is said to be the work of some famous artist. We were interested in two small pieces of sculpture in bronze, representing "Abraham's Sacrifice." This subject was given to artists on trial as competitors for the doors of the Baptistery; and these two specimens were by Ghiberti and Brunellesco, the former of whom was successful, as he was evidently entitled to be. In one of the rooms is a large collection of fancy ivory carvings of a most ingenious character. For instance, you see a ball three or four inches in diameter with half a dozen or more balls, all separate, one within the other, neatly carved by some instrument or instruments admitted through small openings on four sides, or opposite points of the sphere. Various other devices are chosen to show the ingenuity of the artist and excite the wonder of the beholder. A most wonderful piece of wood carving is also exhibited in the same room; and then there are anatomical statuettes in wax and bronze, a series of

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