Ferdinand I. by an Emir of the Druses, who offered his aid to steal this relic from the Holy Land. The pious intention failed; and the structure was thenceforward destined to be the mausoleum of the Medicean family. The building is still in an unfinished state, and some parts contrast violently with others; there is notwithstanding a gorgeous yet solemn magnificence about this chapel, which strikes the beholder with awe and amazement; and enough has been accomplished to show that if the structure were finished in accordance with the original design, it would be the most sumptuous mausoleum in the world. Its form is octangular, its diameter ninety-four feet, and its elevation to the vault two hundred feet. It is lined with lapis lazuli, agate, jasper, onyx, and other precious stones; furnished with sarcophagi of porphyry; and supported by granite pilasters with capitals of bronze. The niches between these pilasters are of touchstone. Underneath is a subterranean chapel, where repose the bodies, whose names are inscribed on the sarcophagi above. The crucifixion of our Saviour, a group in white marble by Giovanni di Bologna, and a Virgin by Michael Angelo, grace this dormitory of the dead. Description is utterly inadequate to convey any idea of this magnificent building, wherein the skill of the artist is rivalled by the preciousness of the materials with which he wrought. The mosaics are exquisite; the cenotaphs of the Medici exhibit a costly display of chalcedony, jasper, mother of pearl, turquoises, and topazes; and the statues of Ferdinand I. and Cosmo II. are marvellous works of art. It is highly improbable that this structure will ever be completed; at least, in accordance with what is already done. Eustace says, indeed, that the materials of the inlaid pavement are still in store; but if so, what labour of art must be bestowed to work these materials, before the pavement could worthily hold companionship with the mosaics on the walls. And if the pavement were finished, there would be yet more to do, to render the kingly mausoleum of the Medici a perfect work.

The cloister of San Lorenzo opens into the Laurentian Library, which originally consisted of manuscripts collected by the first princes of the Medicean family. After their dispersion, in the time of Piero, some were recovered, and many were subsequently added by Leo X. and Clement VII. These are of rare value, and give to the collection a celebrity equal to that of the Vatican. The library now contains upwards of nine thousand manuscripts, including the richest treasures of literature that the world can boast.

The Church of Santa Croce, a noble and richly decorated building, having much of the character of the Duomo, holds pre-eminence over the other churches, on account of its being the Westminster Abbey of Florence. Here repose the remains of men, whose names have gone forth into every civilized land, in connection with all that is illustrious in literature, science, and art. The mausoleum of Michael Angelo is a marble sarcophagus, raised upon an oblong platform of the same material, and surmounted by a bust of the deceased. Seated on the platform are three fine emblematic figures of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture, in various attitudes alike expressive of grief. The tomb of Alfieri, the work of Canova, is also a sarcophagus, bearing a bust of the poet in bas-relief, and elevated upon two huge elliptic bases of marble. A colossal statue of Italy, clad in flowing drapery, leans upon the tomb, and bows her castellated head in sorrow. The monument to Macchiavelli supports a statue of Justice, holding in one hand a medallion bearing a bust of the historian, and leaning with the other on the balance and the sword. Galileo's tomb is appropriately adorned with statues of Geometry and Astronomy. Besides these, there are also monuments to the poet Filicaja, to Lanzi the connoisseur, to the theologian Lami, the historian Bruni, the statesman Signorini, and a host of others whose

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genius and fame render sacred the earth which covers them, and give a lustre beyond the reach of art to the tombs which commemorate them.

In Santa Croce's holy precincts lie

Ashes which make it holier, dust which is

Even in itself an immortality,

Though there were nothing save the past and this,

The particles of those sublimities

Which have relaps'd to chaos :-here repose

Angelo's, Alfieri's bones, and his,

The starry Galileo, with his woes;

IIere Macchiavelli's earth returned to whence it rose.

But where repose the all Etruscan three

Dante, and Petrarch, and scarce less than they,

The Bard of Prose, creative spirit! he

Of the Hundred Tales of love?

Childe Harold.

"The all Etruscan three," Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio, sleep in exile; Dante at Ravenna, Petrarch at Arqua, and Boccaccio at Certaldo.

"And Santa Croce wants their mighty dust."

We pass on to a brief mention of the palazzi of Florence; of which, space permits us to notice only a few of the most striking features. The Palazzo Vecchio, in the Piazza del Granduca, is a noble structure. Here passed the most stirring events of a period pregnant with all the virtues and crimes that usually mark the struggle between the defenders and assailants of liberty. In front of the entrance to this massive edifice, are placed the colossal statues of David and Hercules; the first by Michael Angelo, and the second by Bandinelli. The Palazzo del Podestà was formerly the residence of the chief criminal magistrate of the Florentine republic. It is now used as a prison. The palazzo Ricardi is worthy of remark as the palatial residence of the first Cosmo de' Medici. The Palazzo Pitti presents the greatest attractions to tourists and visitors; being the residence of the sovereign, and also the building most intimately connected with the fate and fortunes of Florence. The erection of this edifice was begun, early in the fifteenth century, by Lucca Pitti, an opponent of the Medici. After the disgrace of Pitti, the structure came into the hands of the Medicean family. This building is in the true Florentine style, and its prevailing character is that of massive dignity. Some of Salvator Rosa's finest works exist here; amongst which is a battle piece, full of force, life, and energy. Rubens' picture of the Four Philosophers is esteemed one of the most perfect works of this master. Andrea del Sarto's St. John in the Wilderness, and the St. Mark by Fra Bartolomeo, are greatly admired. And Vandyke is here shown in some of his most perfect performances. Canova's Venus forms one of the grand ornaments of the Pitti palace. And amongst the paintings, the celebrated Madonna della Seggiola, of Raphael d'Urbino, stands distinguished for majesty of conception, and artistic excellence in all its details.* We regret

This magnificent painting has recently been made patent to the public of Britain, through the medium of a beautiful engraving, included in the series of Illustrations prepared for the Imperial Family Bible. Before that plate was engraved, the only transcripts from this picture, accessible to the community at large, were worthless caricatures, utterly inadequate to convey the faintest idea of the original.

that we are compelled to pass these treasuries of art with such brief notice; but our rapid sketch does not admit of more extensive description.

The glory of Florence is the Uffizj, or Gallery, erected by Cosmo I. to be the seat of magistracy, and which is now a repository of art, second only to the unrivalled collection of the Vatican. The first vestibule contains busts of the Medici family. The second vestibule exhibits a fine specimen of ancient sculpture, the Florentine Boar; and a remarkable example of restoration in the Apollo Cœlispex, of which scarcely any thing beyond the trunk, the right thigh, and a portion of the right arm, belongs to the original sculptor. The corridors are adorned with paintings and arabesques; busts of the Roman emperors; the Bacchus and Faun of Michael Angelo; and the David of Donatello. The Hall of Niobe presents a group of noble figures, illustrating the fate of the unhappy mother who, proud of her offspring, claimed superiority over Latona. In the Tribune " stands the statue that enchants the world," the far-famed Venus de' Medici. This unrivalled work of art, was discovered in a broken state, and some portions were wanting; but the fragments have been united with wonderful skill, and the necessary restoration made. That this statue possesses excellence of the very highest order, is sufficiently evident from the unqualified commendations bestowed upon it by the best judges. It is, however, amusing to read the thousand and one critiques on the Venus, by tourists male and female; the whole, with very few exceptions, characterized by an amusing absurdity. We have been invited to mark the purity of the Venus, and then desired to note her sensuality; one tells us that she is a nymph rather than the Paphian Queen, and another sees in her something perfectly transmundane, celestial, and madonnalike! Some few have sense and candour enough to decide, that the statue is an exquisite portraiture of woman placed in very peculiar circumstances. Amongst the sculptures of the Tribune, should be particularized, the Wrestlers or Lottatori; the Arrotino; the Apollino; and the Dancing Faun. Passing over the paintings and other works of art, which are too numerous for us even to catalogue, we may name the Egyptian Antiquities, the Vases and Terra-cottas, the Medals, the Cabinet of Gems, and the Collection of Drawings and Engravings, as so many sources of refined amusement presented to the connoisseur in the Gallery of Florence.

"There be more things to greet the heart and eyes," in Florence, than we have glanced at, "there be more marvels yet;" but we have already exceeded our limits, and we must rest content with having indicated a few leading characteristics of this famous city. It remains only to notice very briefly two localities in its neighbourhood, to which Milton has given a classic interest. The one is the beautiful village of Fiesole, placed on the summit of a lofty and broken eminence, overlooking the Arno and the city of Florence. To this spot, the scene of his converse with Galileo, Milton refers in that well-known passage:

The other locality is Vallombrosa, celebrated for its abbey and beautiful scenery.

CERTALDO.

HE little township of Certaldo, in the Val d'Elsa, is principally remarkable for its being the disputed birth-place, and the undisputed resting-place of Boccaccio. It was formerly the seat of an extensive Vicariat; and the remains of the old town, occupying the summit of a hill which rises abruptly from the plain, present a striking and picturesque appearance. The modern town, built at the foot of this eminence, is divided into two portions, between which passes the road, named the Traversa, leading from Poggibonsi to Siena. History hás recorded little of importance concerning Certaldo In 1164 it was conveyed by a diploma of the emperor Frederick I., to Count Alberto of Prato, a descendant of whom yielded up the place to Florence. The rebellion of the Alberti, at Simifonte, led to the destruction of the castle of Certaldo, and the town was thenceforward declared to be a district of the Florentine Republic.

Dante ascribes the degeneracy of the Florentines, in his day, to the admission of families from the neighbouring villages, into Florence, and to their mixture with the primitive citizens. Before the acquisition of contiguous territories had extended the citizenship, he tells us,—

-the citizen's blood that now is mix'd From Campi, and Certaldo, and Fighine,

Ran purely through the last mechanic's veins.

Paradiso, XVI. 47-49.

And he applies the defeat at Simifonte as a taunt against the descendants of these intruders into civic privileges:

Such a one as hath become a Florentine,

And trades and traffics, had been turn'd adrift
To Simifonte, where his grandsire plied
The beggar's craft.

Paradiso, XVI. 59-62.

The French and the Italians are at issue regarding the birth-place of Boccaccio. The former contend that he was born in Paris, in 1313; the latter admit the correctness of date, but denying the locality, stoutly assert that he was born at Certaldo. There is no evidence to settle these rival claims. It is, however, certain that he was educated in Florence; and with the exception of six years of mercantile drudgery in Paris, he spent nearly the whole of his life in Italy. The Decameron, on which the fame of Boccaccio rests, was written at the court of Naples, by desire of queen Joanna, a sovereign equally celebrated for her beauty and licentiousness. It consists of a series of one hundred tales supposed to be related by a society of young people of rank, who had fled from Florence during the dreadful pestilence which, in 1348, devastated