Mr Wilson on the State of the Arts in Italy. 99 



George the Fourth subscribed ; and I may mention that the 

 fa9ade of another church in the Eternal City has been built at 

 that sovereign's expense, in a way which he must little have 

 anticipated. When the celebrated Gonsalvi visited England, 

 his Majesty presented him with a magnificent snuff-box, which 

 the cardinal in his will directed to be sold, and the proceeds 

 applied to put a front on a church which had for a long time 

 been unfinished in that respect. 



The passion which all pontiffs have displayed for building 

 still animates the less potent holders of St Peter's chair of our 

 day ; and although inhabiting a palace which contains twenty- 

 two court-yards, twelve halls of entrance, twenty-two grand 

 stair-cases, and thirteen hundred of various descriptions ; two 

 large chapels, and eleven thousand rooms and galleries, in 

 which miles may be walked without returning on the steps, 

 yet each succeeding pope adds or alters, or marks repairs with 

 his sculptured coat of arms. 



Although there is not much employment for architects in 

 Italy, there can be no question of the skill displayed in erect- 

 ing their designs. The masonry is excellent, and the ancient 

 Roman brick-work is rivalled by that of the present genera- 

 tion ; houses are built of brick, in which all the exterior de- 

 corations are moulded in that material as perfectly as if exe- 

 cuted in stone. The skill with which the Italian workmen 

 build in brick may be exemplified by a notice of the Floren- 

 tine practice of arching over rooms without centering of any 

 description. Two thin moulds of board, the shape of the in- 

 tended arch, alone are used ; these are placed at each end of 

 the apartment which it is intended to cover in, and pieces of 

 string are stretched from the one to the other, guiding the 

 workman as he advances in the formation of his arch, which 

 he builds, uniting the bricks by their thin edges (oreatly 

 thinner than in those we use), and trusting entirely to the te- 

 nacity and quick setting of the cement. 



Plastering is carried to a perfection in Italy of which we 

 have, I believe, no idea in this country ; rooms are so exquisitely 

 finished, that no additional work in the shape of house-paint- 

 ing is required, the polish of the plaster and its evenness of 

 tint rivalling fine porcelain. At times the surface of the plas- 



