The principal city of the grand dutchy of Tuscany, is one of the most interesting and remarkable places in the world. Few cities have received more advantages, from nature, and hardly any has been more indebted to the embellishments of art. The vale of Arno is the Arcadia of Italian poets; and even Milton himself, frequently alludes to the exquisite beauties of its scenery. The city stands in the midst of a verdant amphitheatre of smiling hills, covered to their summits with olive and fig trees; while these again are overtopped by the dark and frowning Appenines, clothed with immense forests of chestnut trees, and giving birth to the numerous tributary streams, that enrich the vale beneath, and go to swell the current of the beautiful Arno. The whole valley is one continued grove and garden, where the beauty of the country, is enlivened by the animation of the town; and the fertility of the soil, is redoubled by the industry of its cultivators. The trees in the hedgerows are covered with vines, which are trained upon their stems; while the white villas that gleam through the orchards, the populous hamlets that line the roads, and the banks of the river, with the many small towns, sometimes boldly rising on the sides of the hiiis, and at others half concealed in their woods and recesses, present on every side a varying scene of inde. scribable beauty, comfort, and prosperity.

The city itself spreads along the sides of the river, which forms one of its principal ornaments. Its streets are well flagged, and are wider than is usual in southern climates. The buildings are lofty and ancient looking, the palaces massive and ponderous, like so many fortresses, throwing a shade of gloom over the interior of the city. The churches are magnificent, though their exterior, in general, does not show to advantage, the rough appearance of most of them not corresponding with the splendour of the interior. The first edifice which arrests the attention of the traveller is the Cathedral, a building of great extent and magnificence, and in boldness of design and skill in execution inferior only to St. Peter's at Rome. This building is four hundred and twenty-six feet in length, and three hundred and sixty-three in height. It is completely cased with polished black and white marble, and the interior paved with variegated marble, part of which was arranged by Michael Angelo. Its most remarkable feature, however, is the dome, which was raised under the direction of Brunellesco, the most celebrated architect of the fifteenth century. The dimensions are within a few feet of the dome of St. Peter's, and as it is prior to it in date, by nearly a century, and was always the peculiar object of Michael Angelo's admiration, it has been supposed that the plan of the Roman edifice was, at least in part, suggested by the Florentine. In the church of Santa Cruz, the Pantheon of Florence, are the Mausoleums of Galileo, Machiavelli, Michael Angelo, and Alfieri. That of Michael Angelo, ornamented by the statues of the three sister arts, architecture, sculpture, and painting, is particularly remarkable. Among the other churches we may name Santa Maria and San Marco, both of which contain excellent paintings, and are also famous for their adjoining pharmacies and perfumeries kept by the industrious Monks. Florence abounds with beautiful walks in its neighbourhood; every gate leads to some of them. The Cascine, out of Porto di Prato, is the most delightful of them all. While the central avenues are crowded with splendid

equipages which are seen glittering through the foliage of the trees; the admirer of nature by rambling along the solitary paths that skirt the banks of the Arno may find inexhaustible gratifications. The palaces of Florence are remarkable for a style of architecture peculiar to themselves, to which the long civil wars in the thirteenth century, between the Guelf and Ghibbiline families, first gave rise. The Palazzo Strozzi and Palazzo Ricardi, the later of which was built by the great Cosmo de Medici, are curious specimens of this style. They are square, heavy, solid masses, whose strength is their principal ornament; the walls are thick, and broken by a few windows, and these of a very diminutive size, and the whole basement fortified with large unhewn masses of stone. The upper stories are faced with free-stone, and the whole is crowned with a very heavy projecting cornice. Florence is a most delight ful residence for a person fond of the arts; indeed such is the display of statues, relievos, and pictures, that almost any one living among them would acquire a taste for them. The gallery is one of the richest museums in Europe; its numerous masterpieces of sculpture and painting have been described in every language. The collection of busts of the Roman Emperors is most complete, in the best preservation, and arranged with great judgment and taste."

The principal libraries are rich in manuscripts and rare books. There are several Acadamies; the Academy of the Fine Arts, that of the Georgofili, for the encouragement of agriculture and industry; and the Florentine Academy, which assumes an authority over the Italian language.

It is difficult to ascertain with certainty the precise era of the foundation of Florence. It appears to have been a place used for markets, and fairs, by the Etruscan inhabitants of the town of Fiezoli, whose situation, on one of the rocky eminences that command the Val darno, was ill adapted for such purposes: and the first houses erected in Florence were the booths for t arction of traders. Under the government of Syl.

became the seat of a Roman colony. The walls of the new city were first traced out by that dictator, and it is supposed to have derived its name from the officer who had charge of the settlement of the infant colony.

For the Monthly Repository and Library of Entertaining Knowledge.] ON THE VALUE OF TIME TO THE YOUNG,

BY MRS. L. H. SIGOURNEY.

As nothing truly valuable can be obtained without industry, so there can be no persevering industry without a sense of the value of time. The Psalmist makes the numbering of our days, antecedent to the application of the heart to wisdom. And well does it become us to adopt his prayer, "teach us to number our days."

As the nature of many bodies, is best discovered by the examination of their smallest portions, so a just estimate of time is most correctly formed, by weighing its hours and moments. Dr. Franklin urges upon those who would be adepts in economy the care of halfpence: those who would make the most of life, must 'not despise its half hours. The Italian philosopher was wise, who affixed to his study-door, the inscription, "Time is my estate. If I lose an hour, I shall incur a debt, which I can never pay." Bishop Taylor, in his "Holy Living," recommends that at the striking of every clock we should recall the manner in which the past hour was spent, and by an aspiration of the heart, invoke divine aid for the right use of the one on which

we enter.

Useful and regular employment of time, should be cultivated, for the sake of the happiness which it imparts. Industry is the aliment of health, cheerfulness, and contentment. "Idle persons," says Burton, in his Anatomy of Melancholy, "whatever be their age, sex, or condition, however rich, well-allied, or fortunate, can never be well, either in body, or mind." The disuse of our faculties, creates an inability to command them.