inn, at the door of which we found ourselves in the hands of the Dogani, and, with a sad feeling of helplessness, were turned into our salon. One beau accompanied us upstairs; we found he was the garçon. We asked for the fille-dechambre; but what was our dismay when he replied, with a graceful bend, "Moi, je fais la fille de chambre!" When our English feelings, and the annoyance of the Dogani, were a little appeased, we had leisure to enjoy the scene. Looking from our Belvidere, to the left was the Ticino, running down to the plains of Lombardy, where it throws. its waters into the Po, about three miles below Pavia, with a gradual fall of four hundred and eighty feet. Over the Lake, to the north, were the Alps of Switzerland and Piémont ;-the atmosphere was delicious. The soft Ticino reflected the beam of Venus from its bosom; the stars gradually adorned the deep Italian blue of the heavens ; and the calm stillness was only interrupted by the occasional paddling of the boatmen's oars. The distant Alps formed a beautiful line on the horizon; the evening star brought dear friends, and scenes long past, to mind; and, as I looked upon the clear flowing Ticino, I thought of Scott's lines addressed to the Teviot :

"Unlike the tide of human things,

Which, though it runs with ceaseless flow,
Reflects each grief, reflects each crime,
Our earliest years were doomed to know."

CHAPTER II.

Milan-The Cathedral-The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci-The Amphitheatre-St. Ambrose-Lodi-The Trebbia-The Po-Placentia-Borgo St. Domino-Parma-Reggio-Modena—Bologna.

Ox leaving Sesto Calendo, we turned to the long plains of Lombardy towards Milan, twenty-eight miles distant from this end of the Lago Maggiore. Standing up, and turning our eye to the north and east and west, we had a very fine view of the whole chain of the Helvetic, and part of the Rhetian Alps. The multiform top of La Bella Rosa d'Italia, glowing with orient hues, was seen high above the glaciers and snow peaks of this truly sublime mountain range.

From the moment I touched Domo d'Ossola, I had been disappointed in not finding what one's imagination had formed of the old Italian countenance. I think the northern hordes have left the impress of their vulgar, barbarous nature on the Lombardians. Fields of Indian corn, rich meadows, mills, and vineyards loaded with purple grapes, occupied the extensive plains. Passing through the villages of Somma, Gallarate and Castollanza, and the large market-town of Rho, we reached Milan. Including its gardens, it is said to be ten miles in circumference; it is defended by a wall and rampart and a citadel, and six bastions: it has twelve gates, two hundred and thirty churches, ninety convents, one hundred religious fraternities, one hundred and twenty schools, and one hundred and

twenty thousand inhabitants. In 1800, it was taken by Buonaparte; it now belongs to Austria. Its cathedral is a large, but irregular building; its treasury contains an invaluable coffin of rock crystal, containing the body of our before-mentioned saint, Carlo Borromeo. The cathedral is of white marble, white as it had yesterday been dug from the quarry every Gothic pinnacle, three hundred in number, is finished by a statue; the eagles, everywhere intermingled by Buonaparte, have had their innocent heads knocked off. From the top of the cathedral, Mount Rosa, and the range of Alps, are seen to the north, and the Apennines to the south. Within all is in deepest shade, its noble windows ornamented with old stained glass, and beneath is the tomb of Carlo Borromeo.

Our visit to the refectory of the Capuchins was a real treat. The picture of Leonardo da Vinci has suffered from damp and time, but the expression of our Lord's countenance is exquisite; his love beams forth, whilst the calmest resignation is manifested in his whole action; the incredulous look of the disciples brings the whole scene before you, and you partake of their anxiety as they exclaim, "Lord, is it I?" Leonardo painted it with oil colours on a plastered wall; the colour has cracked and pealed off, and it has frequently been partly restored; but the composition, the truth, the richness, are incomparable. We went the next morning to the Amphitheatre erected by order of Napoleon; it is after the ancient models: grass covers its seats. At the back of those appropriated to the Sovereign and his suite, are eight noble columns of red granite from Baveno: it is capable of holding forty thousand persons.

Before the noble portico is the Place-d'armes, an area of about one thousand two hundred feet radius, walled in. A

very fine Austrian regiment was under review on this spot. We proceeded to the Marengo gate, a triumphal arch, commenced by Buonaparte, as the termination of his Simplon road. The designs in the magazine are very fine: the frieze represents his victories; and Fame appears just offering laurels, as he dismounts from his horse. The attitude in which he is seems to say, "I have conquered-I have finished." A higher Power decided his conquests and his lonely end. How truly did he exemplify the remark, that "the success of the ambitious is almost instantly followed by the loss of the prize; that the grave is ever beside the throne!"

We did not see the Ambrosian library, founded by Carlo Borromeo. The apartments of the royal palace are very spacious; its statues are by Franchi; its caryatides pleased us very much, especially one veiled; there was a good bust of the Emperor of Austria.

The fine buildings of this city are exceedingly numerous ; we had not time to examine any number of them. The ramparts, the Corso, and the parade, form agreeable promenades. Near the church of St. Ambrose is a pillar, called "the Pillar of Infamy," to which martyrs were chained and stoned to death.

We entered the church, interesting from association. You approach through the portico of a heathen temple, the pillars of which, instead of being ornamented with the acanthus, have their capitals sculptured with subjects from the heathen mythology. Ambrose succeeded an Arian bishop, at Milan, in 374; his mother, a widow, went with him, after his father's decease, to Rome, where he made himself master of all the learning that Greece and * See Milner's Church History.

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Latium could afford. He pleaded causes in Italy, and was taken notice of by Anicius Probus, prætorian prefect of Italy. He sent Ambrose to Milan, as its governor ; and said, as he departed, “Go, and govern more like a bishop than a judge!" He was governor five years; and such was the estimation in which he was held, that he was suddenly elected bishop. He was shocked-refused, and stole out of Milan at midnight; but, missing his way, found himself in the morning at its gates. Guards were then placed about him; but he again made his escape, and hid himself in the country-house of a friend. At last he yielded to persuasion: he immediately gave to the poor all the gold and silver he had, and his lands to the church. Having hitherto read little else than profane authors, he now gave himself up to the study of the Scriptures, and his public labours went hand in hand with his studies; and, through his exertions, arianism was at that time expelled from Italy.

His labours were so immense, that Augustine says he found it difficult to get access to him on account of the multiplicity of his employments. He was constant in the instruction of his people. He would say to them, "Why do you not revisit Christ-speak to Christ-hear Christ? We speak to him when we pray-we hear him when we read his sacred oracles: what have we to do with idle chit-chat? but take care lest you have to answer for idle silence."

Valentinian the Second, a furious pagan, now succeeded to the empire. Coming to Milan-to this very church, he ordered his guards to surround it, and Ambrose to come out of it. "I shall not willingly," replied the bishop, give up the sheep of Christ to be devoured by wolves. You may use your swords and spears against me—such a

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