172 The Austrlam in Ilaly. [Fkb. 



makes snow-white marble appear out of keeping with gothic architec- 

 tin"e. It is true, there is no original or natural reason why this species 

 of stone should not be used in this species of building, but none of 

 the gothic buildings which we so justly venerate and admire, are of 

 so gay a material ; a portion of their grandeur, perhaps, consists in 

 their gloom, and it is disagreeable, if not revolting, to our ideas and eyes, 

 at least to mine, thus to see a gothic cathedral, as it were, white- 

 washed. But besides this, the church at Milan is disfigured by all the 

 vices with which the enemies of gothic architecture reproach it : it is 

 minute in all its parts, even to microscopic littleness ; it is florid, even to 

 being frippery, and has none of that general vastness and soaring height 

 which throw an awe into the soul that the earth-loving squareness of 

 Grecian buildings never can excite. 



Neither do I think that the amphitheatre, of which so much has been 

 said, redounds much to the credit of Napoleon's taste. Napoleon, upon 

 occasion, affected the ancient, in a manner unworthy of a mind so free 

 from the influence of prejudice and 'prestige. That extreme and minute 

 love for every thing classical, which is so fashionable and so common 

 with a certain calibre of understanding, is seldom to be found in a mind 

 of vigorous discernment and sound deduction. The swarm of exaggera- 

 tions and flat lies with which the ancient accounts, both Grecian and 

 Roman, of themselves and their doings abound, is calculated, with 

 them, to excite the predisposition the other way. And even when their 

 great glories in some cases, and their extraordinary advancement in 

 many respects, are fully admitted and considered, our utter and 

 measureless superiority to them in all things is sufficient cause why we 

 should not play the apes to their customs. But Napoleon, in many 

 instances, shewed this disposition : the similarity, in some points, 

 between his story and that of Caesar, and, perhaps, the Roman-like 

 extension, through his means, of French glory and power, may have 

 instigated this taste, and rendered it gratifying to him to play the 

 ancient Emperor ; but still, I cannot help thinking that founding a thea- 

 tre for ancient games was not worthy his taste and mind : in the miserable 

 state of the arts of life in the classical days, they might be very well ; 

 but to say nothing of the races of Roman chariots in modern Lombardy, 

 what are we to think of the exhibition of Naumachia — a few cock-boats 

 spluttering a'^out in an oval puddle ? There is something, in all this, 

 not only pedantic, but affected and unreal. Let us have, even in our 

 public sporti^, something which has purpose and meaning, which is 

 consonant with our age and country, with our habits and our wants. 



As a work, however, the amphitheatre well merits attention. It has 

 scats for 34,000 people, a fact which surprised me extremely ; for my 

 eye, unaccustomed, probably, to a similar formation, would certainly 

 never have led me to giiess even nearly half that number. The build- 

 ing, also, for the reception of the public authorities, is handsome and in 

 good classical taste. A saloon within it is very remarkable for a painted 

 border, in imitation of relief, which is done in a style really wonderful. 

 It is scarcely possible to believe, even when you are told, that j'ou are 

 gazing upon a flat surface. 



But these are only " shews ;" " bread," or the means to obtain bread, 

 was still more the gift of Napoleon's government to Milan, than Avorks 

 of public decoration. Milan differs from nearly every town in Italy, 

 by its striking and extreme superiority in every thing that concerns 



