New-York daily tribune., 1844-02-17
VOL. HEs. NO. 2es.

before, and ordering him what to Go and what to
avoid, and scarcely allowing him to sneeze with
out special license
Leaving Como for MILAN, you enter upon the
great plain of Lombardy, soon after losing sight
Of the Lake. The roads are broad and well Mac
Adamzed, and generally raised by a causeway
above the level of the surrounding country, which
Is very rich and fertile, and therefore, like Elan.
ders, generally flat and uninteresting. On such
roads an English coach would whirl over the 80
miles 10 Milan in three hours, but the diligence
takes twice that time, though often changing its
big horses, which never 90 faster slower than
their regular pace, and would no more think of
houses on rollers in America. 4 dragoon rides
beside the diligence as a guard, but with bis mus
ket SO securely strapped to his saddle, that he
might be knocked down dozen times before he
could get it ready for use. Al each little village
through which we pass, the Postllons snap their
whips TO regular tune, playing scientific ductto
to astonsh the natives, who congregate IN the
streets in dense masses with an air Of comfortable
do-nothing. At length the villas grow more fre-
quent, and soon after passing that Of MInbelto,
where Napoleon established himself after the fall
of Venice, and where Josephine held her brilliant
Court, you reach Milan entering under the mag
nifcent Triumphal Arch, first erected in honor
of the Victories of Napoleon, but now dedicated
to his Conquerors the Allied Sovereigns. It's
still more imposing copy of the Arch of Constan-
tine, (Which vet stands beside the Coliseum and
is Of brilliant white marble, adorned with sculP-
lures, and surnounted by bronze chariot and
horses
MILAN is the least picturesque in outward ap-
pearance Of any of the great cities of Italy Built
in plain, none of its Churches or Palaces rise
prominently abovethe general level and though all
its houses are lofty and massive, few arc striking
or beautiful. All look like modern and everyday
affairs, and they are indeed comparatively new,
all older ones having been destroyed when the
city was utterly razed to the ground in the twelfth
century, by the neighboring rival towns and the
inhabitants dispersed in the surrounding villages.
But though the buildings are not picturesque they
look comfortable, which is much better. There
seem to be no mean suburbs to the city, but all
the streets are lined with uniform ranges oflolty
and solid houses, apparently Of stone, of light
yellow, all with balconies to each of their numer
Gus stories, but with no other ornament exter-
nally There is none of the rich carving SO pro-
fusely lavshed in other cities, but all the labor
seems to have been more proftably applied TO the
production of substantial wealth. The same
shrcwdness has also led the inhabitants to turn
all their streets into railroads, by laying down
wheel-tracks of smooth slabs Of granite through
out all the thoroughfares. On these carriages roll
smoothly and easily, while the horses have firm
footing upon the small rough stones between.
similar experiment would be worth trying in the
Broadway of Newly York, if that can be called an
experiment. which has been here practised SO long
and so successfully
OF all Churches IN the world, not even except
ing St. Peters, the Cathedral of Milan is the
Queen. Imagine marble pyramid miraculously
sprouting and shooting up from every part of its
surface, spires pinnacles and statues, and you
will have better idea of this most glorious Du
omo than by comparing it with any other Church.
None but itself can be It's parallel. faclle
princeps' The Cathedral of Cologne is indeed
inspired by the same feeling and akin IN some OF
its Details but it is only the bare single rose, while
here in the more luxurlant soil and more balmy
sky of Italy the flower puts forth SO many new
leaves and so doubles and redoubles It's petals,
that the luxuriant double rose OF Milan can
scarcely recognize its prototypeln the slnglew wild
flower of Cologne
This mountain of marble sends out flying but
tresses on both sides, and arched bridges connect
them with the main mass From the front also.
six buttrcsses project and rise above the slopins
summit of the body of the Church. All these are
filled with statues, each with a niche oil It's own
and from each butress rise plnnacles on pnnacles'
and spire branching from spire, each crowned
with statues. so that the whole church is COW
cred with marble population of SAINTS and An
gels. The whole front is also embossed with
sculptures in high relief wherever the statues
have left room, and these pictures carved IN stone
record the various scenes and events IN sacred
history with more distinctness and expresson'han
could any words Between them are fantasuc
heads, smiling and frowning on you like mlschleV-
Gus sprltes and among other whims OF the scu!p-
tor is a female head, covered with a marble Yeli'
through which you seem to see features, winch
in reality have never been chiseled out Days
might be given to the study of all these devices,
and at every visit much would be found both new
and beautiful.
But, great as is your admiration while you are
below. YOU find when you mount to the roof, that
YOU had not vet seen the tithe OF Its splcndors'-
4 winding staircase conducts you up, and you
ca th.t The same lavish and tasteful labor IS