The Portland daily press., 1881-12-31
FLORENCE AND PISA.
Mr.. stoddard's Third Lecture.

Mr.. Stoddard last evening took his audience
on an imaginary journey meath the soft skies
of Italy, and aided by the illustrations they
wandered through the streets of Florence and
Pisa, listened to the musical Tuscan accent,
and idled among the treasures of art in the gal
leres of the palaces or sauntered by the sweetly
flowing Arno or among the beautiful parks In
the vicinity.
Mr.. Stoddard prefaced his lecture with few
remarks concerning the custom among the ma
lions from the earliest dawn of history to visit
some shrine or holy place, there to gaze with
reverent awe upon the hallowed spo t, and then
spoke of Florence as the shrine of art of the
Renaissance, the Mecca to which the feet of
the cultured in the present day are turned. The
first view given was general one OF the city OF
Florence, followed by the Piazza della Signoria
around which gather memories of a joyous and
tragic nature Views of the interior OF the
Paazza Vecchio, followed, with the Loggia OF
the Lancers and its arcade of magnificent
arches and colossal statuary, including the
Perseus and Sauonaroia. Following these
were given views of the Piazza della Signoria
by moonlight, the lecturer dwelling at some
length on the ascetic Savonarola, his power
with the people and his tragic death at the
stake
Turning from the sombre picture the audi
ence was taken to the Ufizi gallery and in the
Tribune were shown the world-renowned statue
of the Venus di Medici, and in the Hall of
Niobe were seen statues of the fearful goddess
and her children, the latter in various posi-
TONS The views of the bridges spanning the
Arno were very pleasing, as the spectator
gazed down long vista of the peaceful stream
spanned by massive structures and the banks
lined with noble buildings The Duomo, with
its facade now in process of construction, and
the tower 275 feet in height, were gazed at
with interest, and the story of the murder of
the Medicis while in the church was related by
Mr. Stoddard in graphic manner.
After views of Giotto's Campanile, the poet
Dante's house, Michael Angeles home, the
Church of Santa Crocs, and Dante's statue
with an account of its Inauguration on the
6O0th anniversary of his birth, had been given,
a trip was taken down the storied Arno to Pisa.
Here the group of four famous buildings was
shown, both by sunset and moonlight, the last
called out round of applause from the audi
ence.
The lecturer characterized Pisa as perhaps
the most lifeless city in Europe, it appears as
if it had fallen asleep five centuries ago and not
vet awakened. The four. buildings-The Cathe
deal, the Campo Santo, the Baptistery, and the
Leaning Tower, were shown and described
with considerable minuteness of detail. The
Leaning Tower has height of 179 feet, eight
stories, surrounded by beautiful columns, and
for seven centuries has occupied its present
position, leaning IS feet out of the perpendic-
ular.
bank of the river, and the city was entered over
the Ponte Vecchio, lined on each side with
jewellers shops. The Pitt Palace was next
visited, and its magnificent halls explored, with
their wealth of ornament and beautiful paint
ings, including the masterpiece OF Raphael
The Madonna of the chair. In connection
with this picture Mr.. Stoddard said it derived
it's circular form from the artist sketching it on
the head of a barrel.
The Boboli Gardens with their beautiful
drives and promenades, fountains and statuary
foliage and parterres of flowers, were exhibited
and then number of charming sketches were
shown of the suburbs Of the city, including the
Protestant Cemetery, where Mrs. Browning,
the poetess, sleeps. San Miniato was visited,
a glorious view had from its summit and pill
primaee was made to the monastery at Certosa;
the villa of Calico, his study, and the stairs by
which he assembled to the observatory to pursue
his astronomical researches were shown, and
the lecture sclosed with a peroration on the
beauties of Florence and the love which they
inspire.
Next Monday evening Mr.. Stoddard will take
his audience to Sicily and the Neapolitan
shore, and pick up driftwood from the Vesu-
vim Bay.