MILA N. 
&as a turn for all forts of accomplifliments. His country¬ 
men have taught the modern world mulic, painting, and 
poetry : it is of thefe that his pleafures are compofed; 
*nd his very atmofphere feems made for them to be feen 
and heard in. Charles V. well defcribed his language, 
when he faid he would fpeak Italian to his miftrels, and 
German to his horfe. And he (till is, or is capable of be¬ 
ing, all that he was; for, not to mention the greatefl fol- 
dier now living, who is an Italian iflander, the greatefl: 
fculptor, and the only dramatic poet, are Italians, Ca- 
nova and Monti. The celebrated Metaftaflo was living 
the other day; fo was that elegant fatirift Parini, per¬ 
haps is now. You fcarcely meet, in other countries, 
with an accomplifned finger or teacher of languages, who 
is not an Italian : in fliort, the whole nation want nothing 
but the abfence of the prefumptuous oppreffors, who have 
taken advantage of circumftances and flipped among 
them, to renew the belt part of their former glory, and 
again warm the hearts and fancies of Europe at their de¬ 
lightful funfhine. 
MILAN, a city, and capital of the lately-eftabliflied 
kingdom of Lombardy, was founded by the Gauls about 
584 years B. C. It has undergone many fieges, and parti¬ 
cularly that by the emperor Frederic I. in 1162, who, after 
a fiege of feven months, deftroyed the gates, ramparts, and 
edifices, leaving only a few churches, and fowed fait on 
the ruins. However, it recovered from thefe difafters ; 
and it ftill maintains many manufacturers and artifans 5 
and, by means of feveral rivers and canals, carries on a 
confiderable trade. Including its gardens, it is faid to 
be ten miles in circumference; and it is chiefly defended 
by a wall and rampart, together with a citadel, having fix 
baftions at l'ome cliftance, fo that it has been reputed a 
ftrong place. It has lome flraight and broad ftreets, among 
many that are narrow and crooked ; but its paper win¬ 
dows, or thofe of glafs and paper intermixed, give it a 
mean appearance. It has 12 gates, 230 churches, 90 con¬ 
vents, 100 religious fraternities, 120 fchools, and about 
150,000 inhabitants. It is the fee of an archbifhop, and 
its nobles are numerous. Its cathedral is a large but ir¬ 
regular building, conftrudted of marble, and ornamented 
with marble ftatues ; its treafury, among other valuable 
articles, contains an invaluable coffin of rock-cryftal, in 
which are depofited the remains of St. Charles Boromeo, 
cardinal and archbifhop of Milan. Among the ftatues 
crowded in and around this edifice, that of St. Bartholo¬ 
mew is the molt elteemed. It reprefents the faint hold¬ 
ing his own (kin, which had been drawn oft" like drapery 
from his (boulders ; but the irritated play of the mufcles is 
■'•fhov. n with an accuracy that rather terrifies than pieafes 
the fpedtator. 
The Seminary for Sciences, where Undents are both 
taught and maintained, and the College of the Nobles, 
are ftately buildings, but inferior to the Helvetian Col¬ 
lege, founded for a number of Swifs. Here is alfo a ma¬ 
thematical academy. The great hofpital is a fine build¬ 
ing, and liberally endowed by duke Francis Sforza IV. 
its income is faid to be between 90 and 100,000 rix- 
dollars. This hofpital, which has feveral others de- 
f iendent upon it, admits not only fick perfons, but alfo 
oundlings and lunatics. The large lazaretto is only uled 
in time of contagion. Among the civil buildings is the 
old and fpacious regency-houfe, and the new and ftately 
town-houfe, where is an equeftrian ftatue of Philip II. 
In M. Petit-Radel’s Voyage in Italie, we have the follow¬ 
ing account of the edifices and mode of life of the Milanefe, 
which may, with a few variations, be applied to the Ita¬ 
lians in general. Milan is the door of Italy ; and, as the 
traveller advances, the account becomes more and more 
faithful: “ The palaces are on a fcale of vaftnefs appro¬ 
priate to Italian conftrudtion. At Milan we begin to fee 
magnificent flights of fteps and terraces, interior bafins 
receiving the water of fountains exquifitely ornamented, 
porticoes embeliiihed with columns, galleries, veftibules 
adorned with fine frefcoes, Mofaic pavements in the Ita¬ 
303 
lian manner; in a word, that archltedlural luxury which 
elevates the mind. True it is, thefe luxuries are fre¬ 
quently gained at the expenfe of thofe convenient diftrir 
butions which render the houfe agreeable as a habitation ; 
but, when we aim at infpiring refpedl, we muft fubmit to 
a few facrifices. The principal buildings are the palaces 
of Serbelloni, Litta, Belgiolo, Melzi, Caftelli, thofe of 
Finance, of the Minifter of the Interior, and of the Arch- 
biftiopric, in which a fubterraneous paflage leads to the 
cathedral, the royal palace, the refldence of the viceroy, 
and formerly that of the grand duke, and many others, 
to be obferved in the ftreets in fituations in which they 
are the leaft expedted. The exterior of thefe buildings 
ufually promifes a fplendor of interior which is far from 
being realized. The Milanefe eat too much, keep too 
many horfes and miftreffes, and gamble too deeply, to 
referve a l'ufficiency for eftablifhing a correfpondence be¬ 
tween the exterior and the interior of their habitations. 
The palaces are (or the molt part adorned outwardly wi t& 
columns of granite of a lurprifing height and volume i 
and they fupport cornices of the boldeft projections. The 
doors are of a mean defeription, frequently of deal un¬ 
painted ; they admit the light, but merely to expofe an 
inner door, which is always (hut, and only half of the 
height of the outer, 1b that the columns which form the 
interior of the portico appear above it. The inner door 
is divided into another yet lmaller, through which, as 
through a wicket, perfons in general are admitted, and 
the rnafter himfelf when at midnight he returns from a 
party or from the play. The (tables are on the ground- 
floor of thefe vaft edifices ; and the dung which is thrown 
agatnft the walls of the cellars, or piled up, evaporates in 
(team through the grating over which the paflengers tread : 
thefe are fo many dens, where the rats revel in full fecu- 
rity.*’ The Milanefe, governed alternately by an Auf- 
trian and a Spanilh prince, and lately ltibjedt to the 
French, are faid to unite in theml’elves the goodnefs of 
thefirft, the bigotry of the fecond, and the vivacity of the 
laft-mentioned nation. The Facilities of fexual inter- 
couvfe afforded by the facrednefs of private boxes at the 
theatre muft have their effedt: thefe boxes are regular 
chambers, with their fofas, mirrors, tables for refrelh- 
ment, and jalonjtes, by the railing or lowering of which 
is underftood the with to receive or deny accefs to com¬ 
pany. The truth is, that the fex are in general very at¬ 
tractive in this city : Nature, who has here done fo much 
for her children, is afliited by art; and all that French 
fafliion and (kill can accomplifli is here called into aid her 
charming creation. 
It remains only to fpeak of the church of St. Ambrofe, 
where lie the bodies v of that father "and of king Pepin. 
The Ambrofian College, in the centre of the town, is a 
foundation of Frederic Boromeo, where fixteen profelfors 
teach gratis. He alfo began to build a fine library, which 
cardinal Gilbert Boromeo finilhed, with many large addi¬ 
tions, It is (aid to contain upwards of 40,000 printed vo¬ 
lumes, and fome thoufands of manuferipts. In this col¬ 
lege is alfo an academy of painting, and a mufeum. M 
Angelo Mayo, one of the keepers of the Ambrofian li¬ 
brary, has recently iflued a prol'pedtus, announcing the 
publication of fome fragments of a very ancient and beau¬ 
tiful Greek manufeript of the Iliad difeovered there. 
This manufeript, remarkable for its large fize and elegance, 
and adorned with paintings of fubjedts in the poem, hav¬ 
ing probably fallen into the hands of a perlon incapable of 
appreciating its value, has been cut in pieces (o as to pre- 
ferve feveral pidtures. Thus the only part of the manu¬ 
feript pteferved is that which happened to be at the back 
of thele pidtures, to the number of 58, containing all to¬ 
gether about 800 verfes. As the fubjedts of the paint¬ 
ings were left obfeure by the deftrudtion of the interven¬ 
ing matter, Greek notes intended to explain them have 
been written on the 111k paper with which the backs were- 
covered, and alfo inferiptions under the pidtures them- 
feives. The latter, though not free from the defedls with 
which 
