young’s TRAVELS IN FRANCE.

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pal objeCt, and equally agreeable in the little circumftances that have power fufficienteither to gild or {hade every objedt. Pafs the houfe of the Marchefa di Fagnani, whohas been much in England, and celebrated here for being the lady with whom our in-imitable Sterne had the recontre at Milan, which he has defcribed fo agreeably.-32

miles.

The 9th. This day was appointed for vifiting a few objedts at Milan, for which Sig-nore Beecken had the goodnefs to defire to be my cicerone ; his chariot was ready af-ter breakfaft, and we went from fight to fight till five o’clock. Buildings and pictureshave been fo often and fo well defcribed, that for modern travellers nothing is left, ifthey expatiate, but to talk of themfelves as much as of the objedts. I fliall note, in afew words, the things that {truck me mod. I had read fo much of the cathedral, andcame to it with fuch expedtation, that its effedt was nothing. There are comparativemeafurements given of it with St. Paul’s and St. Peter’s, that feem to rank it in thefame clafe for magnitude : to the eye it is a child’s play-thing compared to St. Paul’s.Of the innumerable ftatues, that of St. Laurence flayed is the fineft. The architec-ture of the church of St. Fedele, by Pellegrino, is pleafing ; it contains fix columns ofgranite ; and there are other fine ones alfo in that of St. Alefandro. But I found Pa-dro Pini, profeflor of natural hiftory, a better object than his church; he has madea great and valuable colledtion of foflils, and has taken the means necefiary for felf-in-ftrudtion, much travel, and much experiment. At St. Celfo, there are two ftatues ofAdam and Eve, by Lorenzi, that cannot be too much admired; and a Madonna, byFontana. Here alfo are pidtures by the two Procacinis, that will detain your fteps.The great hofpital is a vaft building, once the palace of the Sforzas, Dukes of Milan,and given by Duke Francis for this ufe. It has a net revenue of a million of livres, andand has at prefent above one thoufand three hundred patients. At the Abbey of St.Ambrofe, built in the ninth century, and which has round arches, anterior to Gothicones, they fhewed us a MS. of Luitprandus, dated 721, and another of I.othaire, be-fore Charlemagne . If they contained the regifter of their ploughs, they would havebeen interefting; but what to me are the records of gifts to convents for faving foulsthat wanted probably too much cleaning for all the fcrubbing bruffies of the monks tobrighten ? Unqueftionably the moft famous production of human genius at Milan isthe laft fupper of Lionardo de Vinci, which Ihould be ftudied by artifts who underftandits merit, as it is not a picture for thofe who, with unlearned eyes, have only their feel-ings to direCt them. View the Ambrofian library.

The 10th. The climate of Italy , I believe, is generally in extremes; it has rainedalmoft inceffantly for three days part, and to-day it pours. I have made a fad blunder,

I find more and more, in felling my French equipage; for the dependence on hiringand on the vetturini, is odious. I want to go to-morrow to Lodi, &c. and have loftmuch time in finding a horfe and chaife ; and after all can have only a miferable thing,at 7I livres a day.—In the evening, at the opera, Signore Beecken came to me in thepit, and afked me if I would be introduced to one of the prettieft ladies at Milan ? Senzadiibbio. He conducted me to the box of Signora Lamberti, a young, lively, and beau-tiful woman, who converfed with an eafy and unaffected gaiety, that would make evena farmer wilh to be her cicifbeo. The office, however, is in the hands of another,

who was feated in his poft of honour, in the front of the box, vis-a-vis the lady.--

Refrelhments—fuppers—magnificent ridotto. Having mentioned the cicilbeo, I mayobferve, that the cuftom feems to flourilh at Milan ; few married ladies are withoutthis necefiary appendix to the ftate : there were to night a great number of them,each attending his fair. I afked an Italian gentleman why he was not in his poft as a

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