672 



AUSTRIAN ITALY. 



Vicio ill Venice, 



tume ; the thin veil, covering the pale Venetian beauty ; the Turks, with their beards and 



caftans, and long pipes, and chess playing ; 

 the Greeks, with their skull-caps and richly 

 laced jackets. Venice is in everything de- 

 lightful, and may be called a great pleasure- 

 house. It is the chief book-shop of the south, 

 and prints for Italy in general, as well as for 

 Greece and Germany. It has a public library 

 of 150,000 volumes. 



Verona, on the Adige, is a large manufac- 

 turing city, with an extensive trade and 55,000 

 inhabitants. It is pleasantly situated, and, 

 though many of the streets are narrow and 

 dirty, contains several fine buildings. Here 

 are 93 churches, 41 convents, and 18 hospi- 

 tals. The scene of Shakspeare's Romeo and 

 Juliet is laid in Verona, and a sarcophagus is 

 still shown here as the tomb of Juhet. Ve- 

 rona also contains the remains of an ancient 

 Roman amphitheatre, built of enormous blocks 

 of marble, 1,290 feet in circumference, and 

 capable of accommodating 22,000 specta- 

 tors. 



Padua is a flourishing city, with an exten- 

 sive trade and manufactures. It is remark- 

 able for the number and excellence of its 

 learned establishments, among which is its 

 celebrated university, formerly visited by stu- 

 dents from all parts of Europe ; attached to it 

 are an observatory, a botanic garden, and rich 

 cabinets of natural history and physics. Pop- 

 ulation, 50,000. Vicenza, situated in a fertile 

 plain, has extensive manufactures of silk. It is 

 adorned with the works of the celebrated archi- 

 tect Palladio, who was born here. In its vici- 

 nity is the sanctuary of Our Lady of the Mount, 

 the entrance to which is through an arcade a 

 mile in length. Population of Vicenza, 30,000. 



8. Agriculture. Agriculture is the chief de- 

 pendence of the inhabitants, but the implements 

 and operations of husbandry are imperfect. The artificial irrigation of lands is a striking fea- 

 ture of agriculture in Lorabardy ; the canals for this purpose are very numerous, and water is 

 thus employed for grass and corn lands and vineyards, and also to flood lands sown with rice. 

 It is also used, when charged with mud, for depositing a layer of it as manure. The lands in 

 Lombardy are generally farmed on the metayer or half-profit system. The landlord pays the 

 taxes and keeps the buildings in repair, while the tenant provides the cattle, implements, and 

 seeds, and cultivates the ground, and the produce is equally divided. 



9. JManufactures and Trade. The chief manufactures are silk, glass, and hardware. At 

 Venice and Murano, beautiful mirrors are made. Hardware and firearms are made at Brescia. 

 Jewelry and plate are wrought at Milan and Venice. There are some manufactures of woolen, 

 musical instruments, china, carpets, paper, artificial flowers, perfumes, vermicelli, macaroni, 

 glass beads, &c. Venice has been made a free port, but its commerce is trifling. The inter- 

 nal trade is pretty active. 



10. Government. Religion. Education. The government is arbitrary, and is administered 

 by an Austrian viceroy. There is a show of representation, yet everything is controlled by 

 the authorities at Vienna. All the taxes are imposed by the Emperor. The administration 

 of justice is arbitrary and wretched in the extreme, and the censorship is very rigid. The re- 

 ligion is the Roman Catholic. Education in this kingdom is wholly under the control of the 



btreet in Verona 



