by the means of the communication of pulleys from the vaults of the cieling. Between each pillar are placed fuits of ancient armour of different ages and fashions; many of them finely wrought and gilt, which had belonged to the ancestors of the present King. To the wrifts of fome of them are fastened weapons that make one tremble; one refembles a fail, the handle ebony; at the end of which is faftened, by two fmall iron chains, another length, of about two feet and a half, and feems by its weight to be filled with lead: it is garnished round with iron fpikes. Here are many other inftruments of death of old time equally deftructive and cruel. No nation but the English is permitted to see the citadel; but they are never refused upon a proper application. As it affords neither pictures, ftatues, nor other curiofities of that kind, and having been told there is a great quantity of gun-powder and ball in the fouterreins, you may be fure I have not explored them, M- has been there, and has feen every thing above ground and below it; if you should be curious in regard to its pregnability or impregnability, &c. you must apply to him for information, as he is indefatigably induftrious in his researches and in his notes, which I have always permiffion to make use of. Turin is about a league in circumference; has four beautiful gates, and ramparts all round, which are very pleasant to walk upon, and from which the profpects are moft agreeable. Almoft all all the streets are quite straight*, and finely built; the fronts of the houfes uniform; and what adds greatly to its magnificent appearance is, that every street is terminated by fome agreeable object; either a church, some ornamental building, or the rampart planted with fine trees. The best street is the Rue de Po; it has open porticoes on each fide, which are ornamental, as well as useful for foot-people. The fituation of Mr. L's house is delightful, and commands a very fine prospect; it is almost close to the rampart. I now come to the environs of Turin; and, first, Valentin, shall begin with the airing-place, or Corfo, called or Corfo. the Valentin: you enter an avenue, formed by four rows of lofty trees, conducting to the palace, which is at the end, and fituated upon the borders of the Po. There are alfo other avenues, one of which leads to the church, called the Servites. The Royal Family, and almoft every body at Turin who are not bed-rid, lying-in, or dying, make their appearance in these avenues every day, from the hours of five or fix until feven, when they change their ground to another avenue at fome distance from thefe, and very near the citadel. This they leave at eight for the theatre, or fome private affembly. Those who cannot afford to keep equipages are here on foot; and let the weather be fine or rainy, the coaches never * The King is conftantly improving the town; fo that in a short time every street must be perfectly ftraight, nor will there be a house that advances beyond another. Galley Palace fail to come. The Royal Family make a noble The Galley Slaves work here at present, and draw, themselves, in harness, the carts of earth; an occupation no freeman could be brought to perform. Thefe Slaves are fent once a-year from Turin to their Galleys at Nice; till which time they are lodged in the citadel, and employed in fome public works; of these there are always a fufficient number going forward to occupy more culprits than the town and country can furnish. The Palace Valentin is in a ruinous condition ; Valentin. it contains many bad pictures, and but two we think tolerable; one represents a Magdalen expiring in the arms of angels. There is great merit in the angel that fuftains one of her arms. The other represents Romulus and Remus fucking the wolf, wolf, who expreffes an amiable character in her countenance, and feems to affume all the gentlenefs that her ferocious nature can admit of. I do not know the authors of these pictures; the palace. being fo much neglected, as not to be thought worthy of a Ciceroni to fhew it. Here is a fine faloon, a double cube of thirty feet, painted all round with the battles of Philibert: very indifferent. We faw three groups fculptured in ivory Sculptur and cyprefs-wood, which never decays; a prefented group. from the Emperor to the King of Sardinia. One represents the judgment of Solomon, and is finely done. The executioner, about to divide the child, who is the principal figure, has great boldnefs, and is near three feet high. The fecond, Solomon upon his throne: He is well executed, as are the angels who bear his canopy. And the other, which I like the beft, is the Sacrifice of Ifaac: Abraham, Ifaac, and the angel, form fine contrafts to each other, by the fculptor's having ftrikingly expreffed their different feelings. The manner in which the angel is fupported, who is defcending, is fo extremely ingenious and wellcontrived, that we confidered it for fome time before we could discover the means by which it was effected. All these figures are ivory, and the clothing cyprefs-wood, which has a good effect. The gardens are old-fashioned; and contain a few botanic plants, which they shew to strangers. La Venerie is a country palace, much admired La Veneby the Turinese and the French, for the beauty of its criePalace. its architecture, gardens, &c. Both the one and the other are quite in the French taste.-The road from Turin is planted with white mulberries. The approach is through a wide ftreet, regularly built, at the end of which is a large fort of place, shaped like an egg cut the long way, or a concave half oval, furrounded with a piazza; behind are buildings for the King's guards, and two churches, one oppofite the other: at the extremities of this great court are two pillars of marble, on the top of one is a virgin, and on the other the angel Gabriel. These ftatues are scarce worth remarking. Probably they are placed here only as being the infignia of the highest order of knighthood of Piedmont, that of the Annunciation. Through this oval place you enter into the great court of the palace. The building is not yet completed. Duke Charles Emanuel the Second, about the middle of the last century, began it; and what is curious, he himself drew the plans. It is built of brick, and highly ornamented with balluftrades of white marble before each window, and one continued balluftrade all round the top of the walls, whhich crowns the building. The roofs are high and staring, like those of Versailles. It fhocked me to fee beautiful white fculptured marble married to brick. The front altogether has a flat, unfinished, infipid appearance. There are two pavillions, one at each end of the building, in the fame tafte with the middle part. The entrance is by a great hall, as high as the building, where are fome pictures by John |