In the Collection were the well known Portraits of Titian, Julius II. Philip of Spain, and Paul III. together with the celebrated one of his own Mistress, the famous Picture of Raphael, in which he has introduced the Cardinals Giulio de Medicis, afterward Clement VII. and Luigi de Rossi, in the presence of Leo X. Rubens's Family Piece, including his Philosophic Friends, Grotius, and Lipsius; another of Cardinal Bentivoglio by Vandyke; one by Rembrandt; and a Holy Child, sleeping, by Carlo Dolce.

There was also a drawing of the Fatal Sisters, by Michael Angelo, which may probably remain upon the walls: for the French do not relish his Pindaric fire as much as the English; their taste is bet

ter

ter suited with the air of Raphael, and the grace of Guido.

In some gloomy Chamber were hung three Battle Pieces, and the Conspiracy of Cataline-dark with the savage dashes of Salvator Rosa.

The adjoining Gardens are nobly ornamented with a spouting Fountain, that falls into a bason of granite, twenty feet diameter, in which stands a marble Neptune, by Giovanni di Bologna, attended by recumbent Figures of the Euphrates, the Ganges, and the Nile; and in a dripping Grotto are four unfinished Figures, from the chisel of Michael Angelo, preserved, like the Torso, from the touch of inferior Artists.

In this genial climate the Poplar and the Phillyrea retain their leaves till the end of December; and, among groves of Evergreens, are here remarked the Olive, the Cypress, the Holly, and all the branches of the Family of Pines, plentifully interspersed with Laurels.

At the rural Retreat called Carreggi de Medici, on the banks of the Arno-in the days of Lorenzo the Magnificent, the Platonic Society used to assemble, every week, to plan Public Edifices, and useful Institutions.

At Pratolino, another Royal Villa, in the neighbourhood, is a marble Statue of the Genius of the Appenines, executed by the gigantic standard of sixty feet.

On the Vigil of San Giovanni, the Wives and Daughters of the neighbouring Peasants, with their languishing black eyes, and lofty eye-brows set off by Arcadian dresses, crowd the streets of the Capital, to see the Chariots of the Nobility drive round the Statue of Ferdinand I. in the Square of the Annunciation; and to behold the dangerous horse races of the Strada del Duomo, which are evident modifications of the games of the Ancient Romans.

Within the Cloisters of the Church that fronts this Square is the celebrated Fresco of the Madonna del Sacco, so called from having been executed for the Fathers of the Convent, during a period of famine, for the price of a sack of corn. In a semicircle of one of the Arcades

cades, the Painter has represented the Holy Family, at their devotions. Mary sits in the centre, with her infant Child, and both of them listen with earnest, but resigned attention, to Joseph, recumbent on a sack, and reading to the Mother and her Son, the predictions of the Prophets, which announce the sufferings of the Messiah, before he should enter into glory.

The Cathedral Church, remarkable for being the first Dome that was raised in Europe, after the decline of the Roman Empire, was begun in 1294 by Arnolfo, the Disciple of Cimabue, and finished in 1445, by Brunellesco, the Contemporary of Michael Angelo. The Prince of Architects is here said to have complimented

his