the chief of a civilised people to make conquests in the North, a solitary fact in the history of distant expeditions. The wars of Charlemagne had at least the pretext of converting the Saxons to Christianity, or rather he yielded to the grand necessity for repressing in person the incessant inroads of the barbarians. "He had no wish," says Mézeray, "to possess the ice and rocks of the North."

One must go back to the epoch of the great Roman captain to enliven this dull and tedious road from Turin to Milan, which, on this side, does not present the imposing and majestic aspect of the Alps.

Vercelli has some delightful walks and a few palaces. The ancient castle or ducal palace, where the blessed Amadeus III. died, is converted into barracks. At the Tizzoni palace, now Casa Mariano, the property of a Jew merchant, is a superb fresco by Bernardino Lanino, a great Mi- | lanese artist of the sixteenth century, representing the Assembly of the gods, in the style of the Farnesine fresco, a brilliant decoration of an antique hall now turned into a granary.

sixteenth century, Pellegrini, surnamed
the Reformed Michael Angelo by the
Carracci, and the exterior by Count Be-
nedetto Alfieri Bianco, the first architect
of Piedmont. The silver tomb of the
blessed Amadeus of Savoy, given by king
Charles Felix in 1823, is from the design
of a clever artist of Turin, S. Sevesi.
The choir, in sculptured wood, of the
year 1822 and by Ranza, an architect of
Vercelli, is an ingenious construction
which holds together without a single
nail and can be taken down in a day; a
precautionary measure of the canons, as
the first choir was burnt by the French
who were lodged in the church in 1798.
I saw in the treasury the celebrated book
of the Gospels said to be copied by the hand
of Eusebius, the first bishop of Vercelli in
the fourth century, and which Lalande
gives for the autograph of Saint Mark,
although it is a Latin version, and the
apostles wrote only in Greek and Hebrew.
This manuscript, formerly sealed with
the bishop's seal and never opened but by
his permission, the covering of which it
was only permitted to kiss kneeling, was
shown to me without ceremony by one
of the choristers: it is in very bad con-
dition, and I think one may venture to
wish it a more attentive librarian. I
also remarked an autograph letter of
Saint Francis de Sales to the duke of
Savoy, dated from Annecy, the 17th Fe-
bruary 1615, on the canonisation of
Amadeus III.; it is elegantly written,
and would deserve a place in the edition
of the complete works of this amiable
and kind hearted saint.

The vast church of Saint Andrew, surmounted with four steeples, of a fine demi-gothic architecture, built in 1219 by Cardinal Guala de Bicchieri, legate in England the year before, has been ascertained to be from the same design as a church at Winchester, the plan of which, probably, Bicchieri brought away with him, as well as the 12,000 marks of silver, a sort of booty with which history reproaches him. This church has been recently restored in its primitive style at Saint Mary Major, called the Mathe expense of an association of pious donna grande, a church of the last cenpersons. On the curious mausoleum of tury, has replaced the ancient church of Thomas Gallo, first abbot of the monas- the time of Constantine, which was a tery of Saint Andrew, who died in remarkable monument; the remains of 1246, a fresco of that day, the oldest pic- its portal, presenting a very curious asture of Vercelli, and one of the most in-tronomical basso-relievo, are preserved teresting in Italy for the history of the infancy of the art, represents him in his Saint Christopher, the ancient church theological chair; among his six scholars of the Umiliati, is recommended by the is Saint Anthony of Padua, distinguished paintings of Gaudenzio Ferrari, a distinby a glory; at the bottom of the mauso- guished assistant of Raphael, and chief leum a contemporary basso-relievo in of the Milanese school. The frescos, stone shows Gallo_kneeling before the some of which have been retouched a Virgin and Infant Jesus, while his pro- few years since by an incompetent hand, tector, Saint Denys the Areopagite, stand-representing divers subjects of the Life ing, affectionately lays his hand on Gallo's head.

The interior of the majestic Duomo is by the great Bolognese architect of the

in the gardens of the Gattinara palace.

of Jesus-Christ and Saint Mary Magdalene, a large and pleasing composition, remarkable for the beauty of the heads and the graceful expression of the little

The noble and elegant baptistry, once a columbarium,' belongs to the best days of Roman architecture.

angels, are perhaps the most excellent | it has some rich and beautiful churches. work of this artist. The best preserved is the Adoration of the Magi. The fresco of the Martyrdom of saint Catherine, considerably damaged, contains the portraits of Gaudenzio Ferrari, of his master Jeronimo Giovannone, and of his ablest pupil Bernardino Lanino, of Vercelli. These paintings, which were ordered in 1532 by Fra Angelo de' Corradi, recall a noble action of the young marquis de Leganez, a Spanish general, who died in 1711, in exile at Paris, after having been imprisoned as an Austrian at Vincennes. When he besieged and took Vercell in 1638, he forbade his bombardiers to fire on the church of Saint Christopher, lest the masterpiece of Ferrari should be injured, an act almost unknown, but which equals that of Demetrius Phalereus protecting the painter Protogenes and making war on the Rhodians and not on the fine arts.

The antique portico of the Duomo, a kind of lapidarian museum, presents a curious collection of votive altars, inscriptions, and funereal urns. The church is old and ugly, but has several paintings very remarkable; in the chapel of Saint Benedict, the Christ, saint Gau denzio, saint Benedict, and the Magdalene at the foot of the Cross, the heads of which, supposed by Gaudenzio Ferrari, are exquisite; in the chapel of Saint Joseph, the Sibyls, the Eternal Father, and the other poetic and sublime frescos, unfortunately damaged, by Bernardino Lanino; on the cupola the elaborate frescos of Giuseppe Montalto; in the chapel of the Three Magi, a Nativity, by an unknown author, which has been deemed worthy to be attributed to Titian, Corregio, or Paris Bordone; in the sacristy, the imposing and graceful Marriage of saint Catherine, by Gaudenzio Ferrari; a Last Supper, varied, by Cæsar da Sesto, the best pupil of Leonardo di Vinci, the friend of Raphael, who delicately said to him :-- Is it not strange, that with a friendship like ours we reciprocally show each other so little regard in painting, and contend so much one against the other?"

Among the documents of the capitulary archives, are some of the oldest in Italy: the Life of St. Gaudenzio and other Saints of Novara, written in 700, and the petition addressed in 730 by Rodoaldo di Gansingo to the bishop Gra

The library of Vercelli, the Agnesiand, contains twelve thousand volumes. The archives, long neglected, though containing diplomas and documents to as far back as the eighth century, have been recently confided to the enlightened management of a distinguished Pied-zioso to obtain the consecration of an montese, professor Baggiolini, who had earned his livelihood as a schoolmaster, one of those talented Italians, as I myself have witnessed, whom adverse fortune prevents from gaining celebrity.

CHAPTER XII.

Suvara - Duomo - Capitulary Archives-Library.

→ Nestor Denis-Saint Mark -Saint Peter #gria — Fra Dulcino,-Salut Gaudenzio.— Florin

altar erected by this Rodoaldo to Saint Michael. A precious consular diptych, of ivory, gives the names of some ancient bishops, and has this singular inscription: -Ajraldus sublevita indignus domui precepto Arnaldi sine manibus fecit oc opus.

The library of the seminary, public three days a week, has about twelve thousand volumes. Among the editions of the fifteenth century may be remarked the Dictionarium alphabetico

Novara is an old dirty Spanish town, but ordine of Fra Nestor Denis, a scholar of

This name is derived from the resemblance of the hams where pigeons make their nests, whether is or doter es to the little niches intended by the humans to hold the urus of the same family.

The columbarium contained the remains of a great number of bodies in a small space; it was not lighted, except by the lamps used during the funeral ceremonies.

1

senting the architectural contradiction of the Corinthian order at bottom and the Jonie at top, is ornamented with some good paintings. A Paradise, composed altogether of Dominicans, on the cupola, and the frescos of the chapel of Saint Dominick, are by Gilardini. The Virgin, Saint Peter the martyr, and Saint Catherine di Siena, on the ancone of the rich chapel of the Rosary, is a fine production and deservedly praised; it is by Giulio Cesar Procaccini, the ablest of the Procaccini.

The superb basilick of Saint Gaudenzio, by the architect Pellegrini, is rich in paintings by the best masters of the Milanese school. In the chapel of the Happy-Death, a Deposing of the Cross passes for the masterpiece of Moncalvo; and the different frescos, the Last Judgment, of Morazzone, prove the power, grandeur, and truth of his talents. The Guardian Angel in the chapel of the name, by Hyacinth Brandi, the most celebrated pupil of Lanfranchi, recalls the lofty style of his master. There is some resemblance to Paul Veronese in the Overthrow of Sennacherib, a lively and intelligent composition by Antonio Ratno, the Novarese painter of the seventeenth century. The ancone in 1 compartments of the chapel of the maddie Madonna was painted, in 1514, by Gaudenzio Ferrari, at the command of the canons of Saint Gaudenzio, who patronised the arts; it is his largest work in oil before his journey to Rome, and the last of his earlier style; and, although the colar ng is injured, it has his sweet, graceful and natural expression. The chapel of the Crucifix has an earthen crucifix by Gaudenzio Ferrari, who was also very clever in this kind of sculpture. The vigorous frescos of the four greater Prophets are by S. Ludovico Sabatelli, a Tuscan, professor in the academy of Milan. The Saint Augustine writing his treatise on the Trinity, in the chapel of Saint Barbe, is an esteemed performance of Giuseppe Nuvolone. The two superb doors of the inner chapel of the tomb of Saint Gaudenzio are a solid mixture of east steel and bronze: the four great bronze statues represent the patrons of the town and diocese of Novara; the Triumph of Saint Gaudenzio in fresco on the cupola, full of imagination, is the masterpi-re of Stefano Legnani, a good painter of the Lombard school at the

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beginning of last century, celebrated
for his frescos. The tomb of the saint
may be compared for magnificence to the
most splendid in Italy. The colossal
high-altar is resplendent with marble
and bronze; it was consecrated in 1725,
by Cardinal Gilberto Borromeo, bishop
of Novara, and suffers from the corrupt
taste prevalent at that epoch. The sta-
tues of the doctors of the church by
Rusca of Milan, from their slender phy-
siognomy, look like youthful old men,
and the St. Jerome has the appearance of
wearing a wig. The statues of S. Binetti
are held in higher estimation, especially
those of St. Andrew, St. Paul and St.
Bartholomew. In the chamber of the
chapter, the St. Jerome writing, by
Spagnuoletto, has his energy and effect.
The oldest document in the archives is
the Acts of the life of St. Gaudenzio of
the eighth century; they also possess a
consular diptych in ivory, still superior
for its workmanship to that of the Duo-
mo, and on which are sculptured two
Roman consuls giving the signal for the
public games. On the outside of the
basilic is a St. Peter, a carving of the
dark ages, and some Roman sepulchral
stones. The steeple, a splendid struc-
ture by Count Benedetto Alfieri, finished
in 1786, was built with the funds
proceeding from a tax of a farthing on
every pound of meat sold. On each side
of the entrance a Roman inscription is
enchased; one of them perpetuates the
memory of a certain Tilianeoreus, who,
although questor, owed nothing to the
Republic (reipublicæ nihil debuit), an
unusual circumstance, it appears, among
the Roman questors, since it was thought
worthy of being transmitted to posterity
in an epitaph.

CHAPTER XIII.

Route.-Bridges.-Roads in Lombardy.

The road enters Lombardy on this side at Buffalora, on the Ticino: a magnificent bridge has been built there of that fine hard shining stone found in the vicinity of Lago Maggiore. In no district has the administration des Ponts et Chaussées been more active or rendered greater services. The numerous rivers and canals on the road can now be passed Agriculture without inconvenience. flourishes in all this part of Italy, and

BOOK THE THIRD.

MILAN.