Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1869-01-17
FAMOUS PLACES.
The old wsrrd in Its New Face.

Almost every newspaper reader is
aware that DIR. Bellows has been abroad,
fer his exceedingly interesting letters
descriptive Of his travels have gone the
round of the newspaper exchange, and,
doubtless, have been more widely read
than those of any other cotemporary
tourist.
We present the following excerpts to
our readers, from the second volume
HThe churches illustrate four differ
ent STYLES of architecture in the Gothic,
of the palmer, more massive and solemn
kind the Lombard, or Romanique the
Italian, or Palladian school, and the
forid italian, full of Haunting statues
and gilded stucco. Very few Of them
are finished The plan was to start with
a grand design, in which size and splen
dor were both aimed at ; to build them
in such way that some important por
tions of the edifce could be made at an
early period of the construction, to add,
as they had means, the other parts /;
to finish the interior before the exterior,
and to leave the facade to the last. The
towers, were, of course, seldom compile
ted, and many of the most elegant
churches are still without any front
finish.
Coarse brick walls have stood for ages
waiting for the marble which was to
cover them with costly designs There
is certainly something dignifed in pre-
senting boldly, upon the most cOnsplc-
Gus front OF these churches, the failure
or deficiency which modern prudence
keeps in the sides and rear Of its
churches, Ga dignity which DIR. B's own
church illustrates) which are often with
out any finish except on the face.
The famous Bridge of Sighs runs
from the rear of the Ducal Palace, over
the canal to the State prison, it derives
its name, as everybody knows, from the
fact that over it prisoners were con-
Quoted to the hall of judgment in the
palace, from which they are sent to exc
cution Its fame is due chiefly to Lord
Byron, for in itself it presents, amid so
many other subjects of superior inter
est, little to concentrate the attention of
visitors"
The famous Rialto, beautiful bridge,
whose sides are lined with stores and
stalls, was once the real business center
of Venice. 1t is still u crowded
thorOughfare, but no longer the com
mercial exchange of the town. Near it
are the ruins of the old BOrsa, and it Is
said that they are in process of restora-
ton. Here modern Jews, with grizzly
boards, may still be seen, reviving the
memory of ShylOck. But there are no
Antonios in Venice now, and, although
Shylocks doubtless still exist, they do
their business after the Rothschild
fashion, without suspicion or prejudice,
being the recognized, and almost the
sole financiers, in all continental cities.
"What swans are among fowls, Venice
is among cities-white, graceful, web
footed, melancholy, lonely and prineely.
The sunsets here are pictures, the pie
lures sunsets The very sails look like
painters pallets. The churches burn
and blush with gold and rossO antieo, or
copy the sea in Malachite, and the sky
in lapis lazuli."
The East seems to stretch the fringe
Of its black and orange shade as far
West as this half Turkish city. And
here Shakespeare, and Titan, and
Michael Angelo, and Palladio and
Dante, and Tintoretto and Paul Yeronese
fill the air still with their universal
genius, and seem present existence. The
love and homage of all cultivated minds
make it populOus, even in its deserted
days. No streets are so often threaded
by recolleetions as its canals. Those
who come here never leave it, for it lives
in them wherever they go, the city of
imagination all compact substantial
even in dreams, and omnipresent like the
sea on which it sits, and which shouts
It's name on every shore it beats."
Bologna we find a city Of 10000
people, situated in a plain just at the
foot of some lovely hills, crowned with
churches, monasteries and villas, and in
distant view of the Corihthian Alps. 1t
is still surrounded with its old wall
which serves well enough as the defence
of its octroi or-tax on provisions coming
into the gates, which is so unwisely
kept up in most European cities
Bologna is a very ancient looking town,
but not a town in decay. On the con-
trary, it has an air of great hustle, and
look of substantial prosperity, totally
unlike what one observes in Venice
Its population are evidently thriving
and one feels almost a Protestant pulse
stirring in the place.
Bologna is marked above all cities
bv the extent to which it has carried its
street arcades. The whole city is
colonaded with them, at a labor and
cost which is surprising. They give a
great dignity, although at the expense
Of much gloom, to the domestic arehitec-
ture.
Adopted to protect the side walks
from snow, they have been perpetuated
apparently from imitation and usage.
They are fatal to any convenient use Of
the ground-foor, must prevent the en-
trance Of wholesome light and air, and
ruin the shops. But they are appar-
emily fixed beyond change in the
BOlognese affections, and must make
most other cities seem very strange to
those living here. One of these covered
ways is carried at least two miles be-
yond the city, up a lofty hill to use
less church, and furnishes one of the
most extraordinary examples of an OUT
lay of labor and expense upon a COM
paratively Insignificant object, which l
have ever seen. But what can fully ex-
plain to moderns the motives that COVER
ned the practical economies of a people
living three centuries ago? They are
unfathomable by any of our Protestant,
nineteenth century plummets.
Growing Trees.