CONCLUSION OF THE CONGRESS.

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expected, every member received as a parting present from the Duke a medal having on one side a representation of the Galileo tribune, with his statue au fond, and on the other these words: "Nei congressi degli Scienziati Italiani l'accademia del Cimento Rinasceva" surrounded by a label inscribed "Provando e Reprovando."

A very handsome guide to the city of Florence, published expressly for the occasion, with an excellent map of the city, and an envoy to each member by name on a fly-leaf, was presented to them at the opening of the congress.... and in the course of it a lithograph of a newly-discovered portrait of Dante, the finding of which has lately produced a great sensation here, was also given to each member. The lithograph bears the following inscription:

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Dipinto da Giotto in Firenza, nel cappella del Palazzo del Podesta, et col patrocinio de S. A. I. e R. il Gran' Duca di Toscana restituto alla luce per le cure del Pittore Antonio Marini."

It seems to have been long known, by the testimony of contemporary writers, that Giotto painted a portrait of "Il gran' Toscano," in the abovenamed chapel when twenty-two years of age. But till last year this precious portrait has remained invisible, beneath a coat of white-wash. Three sides of the little chapel were carefully cleared of this their envious whitening, which, unlike that of the Pharisees, hid that upon which all men most fondly desired to look: ... three sides had with

20

CONCLUSION OF THE CONGRESS.

cautious reverence been made to exhibit their partycoloured mixture of fresco painting and stains, without disclosing the hoped-for portrait; but the perseverance which shrunk not from continuing the tedious operation, was at length rewarded by finding what it sought. . . . The face is that of a man, young enough to pass easily for a woman, notwithstanding a something of thoughtful severity in the features which claims resemblance with the portraits.... all I believe following more or less closely that in the Duomo.... with which we were before familiar.

And thus ended the Congress of Florence.... And I greatly doubt if any nine hundred men were ever convocated by the will of a Prince, who separated again with feelings so highly gratified, and satisfaction so entire.

We leave Florence to-morrow, having made an arrangement which we flatter ourselves will prove a very pleasant one-to travel to Venice by vetturino, with a party of English friends;... but whatever pleasures may be before us, we can neither quit Florence, nor the kind friends we leave here, without deep regret. . . . I never remembered to have enjoyed any three weeks in my life more completely than the last.

LETTER II.

Journey from Florence to Bologna. - City of Bologna. — Picture Gallery The University.-Abolition of certain Professorships. -Campo Santo.- Madonna della Guardia. Leaning Towers. -Arcades of the Town. The Neptune.-Ferrara.-Desolate Appearance of the Tower. - The Castle. - Calvin. — Duchess Renée. Parisina. - Tasso. Ariosto.

Crossing the Po.

Rovigo. Its Leaning Tower.-Monselice.-Arquâ.—Padua.— Giotto.

Padua, October, 1841.

It is now nearly a week ago that we started at a reasonably early hour from Florence for Bologna. The Apennine road we travelled between these two cities has more of interest than of beauty. This interest lies first from the fact of its being among the Apennines, and surrounded by these poeticallysounding heights on all sides; and, as long as Florence remains in sight, by every object that the eye can recognise, in or near her for-ever-venerated walls.... And then there is the little smoking Fuoco del legno, which some folks call a volcano, and which at least affords the amusement of talking about it, and looking this way, and that way, for something as you drive along; but as for beauty, I really think it scarcely possible to drive through a mountainous region that offers less. . . . Every hill side

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THE CITY OF BOLOGNA.

with a few trees upon it pleases the eye, and on a day when the sun shines, every hollow, deep enough to refuse it admittance, pleases the imagination, by giving it the opportunity of creating what it will, because nothing can be seen to contradict it;... but there are no bold and majestic outlines traced by these mountains on the sky. The forms of the heights are almost all alike, and one very soon wearies, I think, of being pulled up and dragged down them. The last descent, however, that brings you upon Bologna, is very striking; for not only does it display with great and good effect the broad city of Bologna with the river Rino, (lying as usual in a bed a great deal too big for it,) but it exhibits the enormous plains of Lombardy stretching forward with a vastness that is almost sublime in its unvarying flatness. These historic plains of Lombardy, though anything but picturesque, cannot be quite looked upon with indifference; and independent of their own peculiar claims upon the attention, their being the first extensive level seen since we crossed the Alps gave them something of wonderful in our eyes.

Instead of two days, I believe that wise people would remain at least two months at Bologna; and even then would probably leave it without having seen half the precious things it has to show. But it is exceedingly difficult in travelling through such a country as Italy, even though not particularly pressed by time, to make the journey soberly.

THE BOLOGNESE GALLERY.

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There are particular points upon which the heart and the fancy have fixed themselves long before leaving our own fire-sides, the intervals between which we seem to think are to be passed over very nearly as rapidly as possible. This is a great mistake; and it was at Bologna that I first learned to be fully aware of it. The city, and it is a very large one, is crammed full of interesting objects of all kinds; and of the pictures I almost fear to speak at all, so impossible does it seem to find words that can do them justice.... I believe I felt half ashamed, and in a certain degree mortified, as I stood in the Bolognese gallery, and remembered how long I had lived without my mind's ever having conceived the idea that such canvass could exist.

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My newness was shocking to me!".... Of course I do not mean that I was absolutely ignorant of the names of these transcendent master-pieces, or that I did not know that in the gallery of Bologna I should find the Sta. Cecilia of Raphael . that

...

Domenichino was seen there to perfection.... that the Caracci race were there found in truth at home .... or that Guido's Madonna della Pietà was there: ....all this I had heard, and pretty well remembered; ... but if I had never heard a single syllable on the subject, I could scarcely have been more electrified than I was in the presence of these wonders. Oh where is it gone?....how was it ever here? or why has it vanished? This power, this magical, and well-nigh super-human, power of so