AND LOWER EGYPT. 6l 



reception and the cordial civilities which I met 

 with from several of them, and particularly from 

 citizen Dolomieux, whom the sciences have rank- 

 ed in the number of their most respected and 

 most illustrious partisans. 



At the distance of a league from the new city 

 stands the old one, or Citla Vecchia ; it was the 

 residence of the bishop of the island. The cathe- 

 dral is a very beautiful edifice. There are to be 

 seen marbles the most invaluable, such as those 

 known by the name of fixe, green and yellow antique. 

 Though of a vast size, it is lined internally, the 

 whole length of the building, with crimson damask, 

 bordered with a broad lace of fine gold. These 

 religious monuments, more simple at Malta than 

 at Genoa or Palermo, are there likewise, in my 

 opinion, more beautiful, and in a better taste. In 

 truth, the extraordinary quantity of ornaments with 

 which the churches of Genoa are overloaded, pre- 

 sents to the dazzled eye tinsel merely, which, join- 

 ed to their over-cramped and niggardly construc- 

 tion, if I may be allowed the expression, destroy 

 that idea of magnificence and majesty which one 

 expects to meet in the temples of the Deity. From 

 the turrets of the cathedral, the eye easily disco- 

 vers Mount Etna and its thick smoke, though at 

 the distance of near sixty-seven leagues. 



Near 



