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VENICE-Continued.

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Mary Wortley Montagu-Academy of Arts-" Home and Hearth"
-Poor Ranieri - Manufacture of Glass-Armenian Convent-
Father Pasquali-Palaces-The Michieli-Bianca Capello-Cate-
rina Cornaro-The Foscari Palace-The Rialto

114-239

PADUA House of Petrarch-Boccacio and Petrarch-Byron and the
Countess Guiccioli
239-245
VICENZA.-Bad Inn-Library-Theatre-Palladio-Churches and Pa-
laces-Church of Nostra Signora del Monte-Rotondo 245-255
VERONA.-Shakspeare-Excellent Hotel-Monument of Juliet-Am-
phitheatre-Principal Palaces and their Treasures-Monuments
and Churches-Maffei-The Libraries

255-276
DESENZANO. The Fortress of Peschieri - Lago di Garda- River
Mincio-Catullus
277-280

MILAN.-The Duomo-Splendid Buildings-Triumphal Car-Arco
della Pace-Public Garden-Ambrosian Library-Lucretia Borgia-
Leonardo da Vinci-Pictures-Saint Carlo Borromeo-Santa Maria
della Grazie-The Last Supper-The Simmonetta-La Scala-
Pavia-Boethius-Dr. Scarpa-Battle of Pavia-The Vertosa-
Benvenuto Cellini-Theodolinda—Gown of the Virgin 280-324
ARONA.-Colossal Statue of Saint Carlo Borromeo

324-325

LAVENO.-Borromean Islands-Isola Bella-Isola Madre-Isola Pisca-
tore-Return to Milan

325-328

BOLOGNA.-Fête of the Madonna-Church of St. Petronius-Professor
Mezzofanti-Palaces-Fountain of Neptune-The Asinelli Tower
-Library-Paintings-Campo Santo

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330-347

- The Orsini Palace-

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Museum
Library

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MODENA. Gallery
"Ginevra" Tarquiniaza The Brothers Grillenzone
Reggio-Birth-place of Ariosto-Cathedral-Church of the Ma-
donna della Ghiara-Library-Theatre

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347-354

355-359

PARMA.-Maria Louisa-Ducal Palace-Lord and Lady Burghersh-
Steccata Church-Palazzo di Giardino
PIACENZA.-Cathedral and Church of the Madonna della Campagna-
Equestrian Statues-Alberoni

359-360

GENOA.-Lord Byron-Mr. Barry-The Public Walks-Ada and Lady
Byron-Il Paradiso-The Opera-Family Group

360-372

THE

IDLER IN ITALY.

May 8th, 1828, half-past eleven at night.-The only melancholy hours that I ever passed at the beautiful Villa Palatina, were those which I spent there last evening. Our kind and amiable friend its owner, Mr. Mills, insisted that our last dinner at Rome should be partaken of beneath his roof, and collected some of the persons we most value to meet us. Will the same party ever again meet together? The thought occurred to me more than once during the evening, and added to my tristesse. Alas! who can hope, much less count, on what a short time may bring forth. Death is ever hovering within reach of his prey, and if the grim tyrant spares some, during a few brief years, he

VOL. III.

may snatch

B

away those whose loss destroys all the happiness of the survivors.

Never did guests do so little honour to the recherché dinner given to them, as did those of Mr. Mills, yesterday. Schemes of future meeting, too faintly spoken to cheat into hope of their speedy fulfilment, furnished the general topic; and some were there, already stricken with maladies, the harbingers of death-and they, too, spoke of again meeting! Yet who can say whether the young and the healthy may not be summoned from life before those whose infirmities alarm us for their long continuance in it?

As my eyes glanced over the extensive view beheld from the windows of the Villa Palatina, embracing some of the finest ruins of Rome, I was so forcibly reminded of the instability of all earthly things, that I became almost ashamed of indulging in selfish melancholy for my own private regrets, in face of the desolation of the once proud scene before me. And there were with me two persons to whom every ruin, and every spot in view, were "familiar as household words;" men who had explored them all, with the feelings of the historian, the research of the antiquarian, and the reflections of the philosopher-Sir William Gell and Mr. Dodwell; both

advanced towards the downward path of life, every step of which rapidly abridges the journey, and consequently reminds parting friends of the probability that each farewell may be the last. There was our host, seated in a paradise of his own creation, based on the ruins of the palace of the Cæsars, yet, forgetful for the moment of the mutability of fortune of which such striking memorials were before his eyes, thinking only that we were on the eve of parting. Mrs. Dodwell was there, her lustrous eyes often dimmed by a tear of regret at our separation, but her rare beauty in no way diminished by the sadness that clouded a face always lovely.

Baron Mortier, besides the persons already named, and our own large family, formed the party at the Villa Palatina. Baron Mortier is a very superior man; well educated, highly informed, frank and manly; he has the bearing of a preux chevalier, with the urbanity of a finished gentleman. Here were the natives of so many different countries— English, Irish, French, and Italian,* united by the bonds of friendship, and animated by one sentiment -regret at separation.

Some one remarked on the pain of parting being

* Mrs. Dodwell is an Italian, and universally considered to be one of the most beautiful women of our time.

always enhanced by the dread of never again meeting, when Mr. Dodwell, willing to give a more lively turn to the conversation, observed that the meeting of friends long separated, was, perhaps, as much to be feared.

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They will be all so changed in looks," said he, "as to render a recognition painful, if not difficult. The old will have fallen into dotage, the mature into senility, and the young will have lost the charms of youth, their dimples having undergone the fearful metamorphosis of being converted into wrinkles. But grant that the meeting should occur before the persons of the parties should have undergone any injurious alteration, who can answer for the changes that may take place in their minds ?" continued he. "Different scenes, pursuits, and trains of thought, new associations supplying the place of old attachments, the impossibility of recalling the feelings to the precise state in which they were, when daily habits of intimacy rendered the persons not only so agreeable, but almost necessary to each other. Ah! here's the rub; and this certainty of change produced by time, occasions a meeting after long absence to be rather more painful than pleasant. You ladies would exclaim- Poor dear Lady Soand-so, or Mrs. Such-a-one, how dreadfully changed

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