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ones in Piedmont^ which he said ruined and depopulated the 

 country, as I should find when I came among the rice-grounds 

 in my way to Milan. Signore Capra was polite, tendered me 

 every service in his power, and expressed the utmost readiness 

 to assist my inquiries. Signore Briolo, as soon as he understood 

 who I was, showed me every attention in his power; and that 

 I might have the benefit of conversing with such persons as he 

 thought most suitable to my inquiries, he made known my 

 arrival to Signore Fontana, a practical chemist and deputy 

 secretary to the agrarian society; to Signore Gio. Piet. Maria- 

 dana, professor of botany in the university; to Signore il 

 Dottore Buniva, his assistant, who travelled in France and 

 England as a naturalist. From these gentlemen I had this 

 morning a visit, and an interesting conversation on the present 

 agricultural state of Italy. To Signore Briolo I was also in- 

 debted for an introduction to Signore Giobert, academician, and 

 of the agrarian society, who has gained a prize by a memoir on 

 the quality of earths and manures. Viewed the king's palace, 

 sensibly built, not so splendid as to raise disagreeable emotions 

 in the breast of a philosophical spectator; and no marks of pro- 

 vinces having been oppressed to raise it. Of the pictures, which 

 are numerous, those which pleased me best are a virgin, child, 

 and St. John, by Lorenzo Sabattini ; Apollo flaying Marsias, by 

 Guido; a Venus, by Carlo Cignani; a sick woman, by Gerard 

 Dow; a virgin and child after Raphael, by Sassa Ferrata. 

 Vandyke shines greatly in this collection; there are the children 

 of Charles I. finely done; a man and woman sitting; but above 

 all. Prince Tomaraso di Carignano on horseback, which for life 

 and force of expression is admirable. In the evening to the opera, 

 and being Sunday the house was full. The Lasca Fiera ; there 

 is a pretty duet, between Contini and Gaspara, in the first act. 



28//?. Walked to Moncaglia early in the morning. The 

 palace is boldly situated on a hill, the Windsor of Piedmont: — 

 commands noble views of the Po, and a rich scene of culture. 

 After dinner, on horseback to Superga, the burying-place of 

 the royal family; where the bodies of these princes repose more 

 magnificently than the Bourbons at St. Denis. The view from 

 the tower is, I suppose, the ^nt?,t farmer's prospect in Europe. 

 You look down on much the greater part of Piedmont as on a 

 map, and the eye takes in Milan at eighty miles' distance; the 

 whole with such a horizon of mountains as is nowhere else to 

 be found, — for the enormous masses of snow, which the Alps 

 present, are easier conceived than described. 



