282 Travels in Italy 



the two figures, but particularly the child, is strictly in nature; 

 yet there is something that goes apparently beyond it in their 

 expression ; and as passion and emotion are out of the question 

 it is to be resolved into ideal grace. The air of the virgin's head, 

 and the language of the infant's eyes, are not easily transfused 

 by copyists. A group of four men at a table, by Rubens, which 

 for force and vigour of the expression of nature is admirable. 

 A portrait of Paul III. by Titian, and of a Medicis by Raphael. 

 A virgin, Jesus, and St. Jolin, by Rubens, in which the expression 

 of the children is hardly credible. A Magdalen, and portrait of 

 a woman in a scarlet habit, by Titian. A copy of Correggio's 

 holy family, at Parma, by Barrocio Cataline, a copy of Salvator 

 Rosa by Nicolo Cassalve; and last, not least, a marine \dew by 

 Salvator. — But to enumerate such a vast profusion of fine pieces 

 in so many splendid apartments is impossible ; for few sovereigns 

 have a finer palace or better furnished. Tables inlaid, and 

 curiosities, both here and at the gallery, abound that deserve 

 examination to mark the perfection to which these arts have been 

 carried in a country where you do not find in common life a door 

 to open without wounding your knuckles or a window that 

 shuts well enough to exclude the Apennine snows. The gardens 

 of this palace contain ground that Brown would have made 

 delicious, and many fine things that itineraries, guides, and 

 travels dwell amply on. 



2']th, To the palace Poggio Imperiali, a country seat of the 

 Grand Duke's only a mile from Florence, which is an excellent 

 house of good and well proportioned rooms, neatly fitted up and 

 furnished, with an air of comfort without magnificence, except 

 in the article beds, which are below par. There is a fine vestibule 

 and saloon, that in hot weather must be very pleasant ; but our 

 party were frozen through all the house. Lord Hervey's rooms 

 are warm from carpets and good fires; but those are the only 

 ones I have seen here. We have a fine clear blue sky and a bright 

 sun, with a sharp frost and a cutting N.E. wind that brings all 

 the snow of the Alps, of Hungary, Poland, Russia, and the frozen 

 ocean to one's sensation. You have a sun that excites perspira- 

 tion if you move fast; and a wind that drives ice and snov/ to 

 your vitals. And this is Italy, celebrated by so many hasty 

 writers for its delicious climate ! To-day, on returning home, we 

 met many carts loaded with ice, which I found upon measure to 

 be four inches thick ; and we are here between latitude 43 and 44. 

 The green peas in December and January in Spain show plainly 

 the superiority of that climate, which is in the same latitude. 



