1826.] The Aiislriuns in llaly. 171 



passage is performed in nine liours : and this road, wliich appeared to 

 me very nearly equal to the finest road, as to surf'aec, I ever saw in my life 

 (I allude to Mr. Telford's new road through Wales), is continued the whole 

 way to Milan, a distance of seventy miles. It was, as is well known, to 

 have been terminated by a triumphal arch, which was but just com- 

 menced at the period of Napoleon's abdication. This would have been 

 one of the finest specimens of modern architectural art any where to be 

 seen in Europe. It would have possessed, in the first place, great ad- 

 vantages of situation, being on the edge of the fine plain, as it may almost 

 be termed, on the outskirts of Milan — the Piazza iC Arme ; and, both in 

 design and sculpture, it would have been well worthy of any situation in 

 which it could be placed. The piers, if I may so call them, of the arch, 

 are raised to about the height of fifteen or twenty feet, and covered over 

 at the top to preserve them from the rain ; they are surrounded by a 

 boarded enclosure, within which are nearly all the various parts of the 

 structure in a state ready to be put up ; the large blocks of stone are 

 squared out, and chiselled into form, and the reliefs are nearly all of 

 them finished. The beauty and perfection of these last went far to con- 

 firm me in the opinion I have long been nearly holding ; the eqality, 

 namely, of modern to ancient art. These adnnrable pieces of sculpture 

 possess all the spirit and freedom of the one, with the delicacy and 

 correctness of the other. By a very aj)propriate choice, the granite of 

 the Simplon mountain has been selected for a great part of the stronger 

 portions of this work ; all of these had not arrived at the time of Napo- 

 leon's downfall, and, since then, no more have been brought. In 

 descending the Simplon, we saw one of them lying by the road side ; it 

 had been mounted on a carriage made for the purpose, and was just 

 ready for transport, when the news of the abdication put a stop to all 

 further progress in the work ; it, therefore, remained where it was, and 

 has ever since Iain there ; the wooden carriage has rotted from under it, 

 and it has now sunken to the ground : truly, in that " stone," there is a 

 " sermon !" 



The triumphal arch having thus not been raised, the road up to it 

 has not been finally completed, and now branches off in another direc- 

 tion into the town, about a mile from the gates. The Austrian govern- 

 ment, however, I was told, has at last determined to complete the 

 work ; the arch is to be finished, and the statue of the Emperor of 

 Austria is to be placed at the top ! Why is it not also put upon the 

 Marengo arch on the other side of the town ?* 



But In grandeur of ornament, as well as grandeur of utility, Napoleon 

 was the benefactor of Milan. The cathedral, which had remained 

 unfinished for nearly three hundred years, was completed by his orders ; 

 but, as a work of art, I confess I can in no degree admire this comple- 

 tion ; It is one of the few instances of bad taste in public works under- 

 taken under the reign of Bonaparte. It is true, the small part that was 

 built of the original structure, in some degree cramped the architect as 

 to the further design ; but he could have chastened it as he proceeded, 

 instead of making It, as he has done, more ornamented, even to taw- 

 driness. In the first place, the prescription of long and milversal habit 



* In like manner the Bourbons have taken downi the statue of Napoleon from the 

 pillar in the Place Vendome, and placed tlie white flag, and a huge ^i\(\e& fleur-de-lis 

 in its place. The white flag and the lily at Austerlitz ! " cdu fait epi^rumme." 



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