186 
4 
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to fay of it here. The chief bufinefs on this fhore is the 
herring-fifhery : the herrings about October come driving 
up the Severn fea and from the coaft of Ireland in prodi¬ 
gious fhoals. and beat all upon this coaft as high as Bid- 
deford and Barnftaple in Devonfhire ; and are caught in 
great quantities by the fiftiermen, chiefly on account of 
.the merchants of Falmouth, Foy, Plymouth, and other 
ports on the fouth. 
Not far from Padltow lies the refpeffable and immacu¬ 
late borough of St. Michael’s, which we introduced to 
the notice of our readers at vol. xv. p. 322. Britijh Direc¬ 
tory, vol. iv. Beauties of England, vol. ii. 
PAD'UA, a city of Italy, and capital of the Paduan, 
fituated on a fmall river, which runs into the Brenta. 
The Romans granted the inhabitants the right of citizens, 
and leave to choofea fenate. It was deftroyed by Attila, 
repaired by Narfes, and again deftroyed by the Lombards: 
often ravaged, and as conftantly re-eftablifhed. In 1406, 
it was taken from the duke of Milan by the Venetians, 
and, with the territory, annexed to that republic. See 
Paduan. 
Padua is of large extent, and is interfered by a canal. 
It is in the form of a triangle, meafuring 1735 paces in 
length and 1450 in breadth, and is furrounded with broad 
ditches 7000 paces in circumference, with twenty baf- 
tions, and walls 6200 paces in contour. The town is be- 
fides encircled, at the diftance of a mile, with the fpia- 
nata, or efplanade, which was made by the government 
of Venice, anno 1513, after the war with the emperor 
Maximilian ; but the fortifications were in a very bad 
condition at the commencement of the French war, and 
have fince undergone fome reparation. The houfes, 
which are very high, diftinguifh themfelves but very little 
in point of architedhire, and have on each fide low ar¬ 
cades or piazzas, which have hitherto much favoured noc¬ 
turnal aflaflinations. The following belong to the prin¬ 
cipal buildings : The palace della Raggione, or the town- 
houfe, reprefents an oblique quadrangle; it is fupported by 
galleries, refting on 56 large, and 580 fmall, red-and-white 
pillars of marble; at the eaft and weft ends are two ftair- 
cafes, 50 fteps high, which lead to an arched faloon, ithout 
any fupporting pillars. This fabric is 256 feet in length, 
86 broad, and 75 high, and is the moft fpacious in the 
world. As a foundation of this ftruflure, in the year 1132, 
large piles were driven into the ground, and their inter- 
ftices filled -up with mafonry to a level with its furface. 
The foundation remained in this ftate until the year 1209, 
that it might fettle and become firm and compaft. In 
that year the walls were railed up to the wdndows ; and 
in 1218 they were totally completed. In the year fol¬ 
lowing the faloon was roofed ; and in 1306 it was arched 
with great art, and covered with lead, after the plan of 
friar John, a monk well Ikilled in architecture. This fa¬ 
loon contains, befides the elegant bull of the Roman 
hiftorian Livy, a native of Padua, many infcriptions and 
bufts of celebrated perfons ; for example, that of Livy 
Halys, an emancipated flave of Levia, fourth daughter of 
Livy; that of Redaw; of the philofopher and poet Spe- 
roni ; of the marchionefs of Obizzi, killed, anno 1661, on 
account of her chaftity; of the chafte Paduan lady Bianco 
de Rofli, murdered on the grave of her hufband by the vo¬ 
luptuous Ezzelin; and over the door is an infcription of 
the celebrated philofopher and phyfician Peter of Abano. 
Of peculiar value are the many paintings al frefco, of 
which the uppermoft row alone contains 319. Near the 
town-houfe is the palace of the podejla, or chief-juftice of 
the city, and remarkable on account of its pending faloon 
of the Doric order in the fecond ftory, and of its good 
paintings. The palace of the commandant, built in th'e 
Ionic and Corinthian orders, with a large portal of the 
Doric order, by Falconetto, is a mafter-piece of archi¬ 
tecture; its front was begun in 1599, by the comman¬ 
dant Auton Priuli, and completed, anno 1605, under 
Stephen Viario. The turret above the portal contains a 
clock of curious workmuiftiip, made in the year 1428 j 
D U A. 
which points out, befides the hour of the day, the days of 
the month, the motion of the fun through the figns of 
the zodiac, and the afpe&s oLthe moon. The infide of 
the palace difplays great magnificence and conveniency ; 
it has fine paintings, and a public library, placed in a 
large faloon, called the Giant’s Hall. At the entrance of 
the court-yard, near the church-yard of the dome, ftands 
the fplendid triumphal arch, ereCted in honour of the 
commandant Alvife Valereflo, for having rendered fignal 
fervices to the city during the plague in the year 1631. 
It was built by the ftatuary and architect John Baptift 
della Scala. Clofe to the palace of the commandant are 
the public inftitutions for advancing money on pledges, 
which were founded by Vicenzo Datlo, a nobleman and 
mathematician of Padua, and are fuppofed to be the moft: 
ancient in Italy. The front of this edifice was completed 
in 1618 ; the portal is adorned with fbur Doric pillars, 
and the fuperior part of the building embellilhed with as 
many, but of the Compofite order. The above public 
inftitutions were ereCted in 1491, which occafioned twelve 
pawnbrokers’ fliops, kept by Jews, to be (hut up, fince 
the former demanded only five per cent, intereft, while 
the latter exaCted twenty. In the Lord’s Square, as it is 
called, ftands the lodge or council-hall, with two ftair- 
cafes of marble; it was began to be built, 1494, after a 
model of the architect Alexander Baflano, and the whole 
was finilhed in 1761 ; it contains feveral good paintings. 
The college, or univerfity, built in a noble ftyle by 
Sanfovin and Palladio, during the years 1493 and 1552, 
at the expenfe of the Venetian government, goes alfo by 
the appellation of II Bo, on account of an inn that Hood 
here formerly with the fign of a bullock ; it contains 
many ftatues and coats of arms of celebrated perfons. 
This univerfity, which formerly enjoyed great celebrity, 
was founded by the emperor Frederic II. during his dif- 
agreement with the pope. From a lyceum, which it was 
in the year 1020, it enjoyed great repute till 1200; and 
the laid emperor ereCted it, 1222, into an univerfity, and 
endowed it with all the privileges formerly enjoyed by the 
univerfity of Bologna, together with other immunities. 
In the year 1260, the univerfity became a feparate body, 
entirely diftinCt from the burghers of the town, and go¬ 
verned itfelf according to its peculiar ftatutes; obtain¬ 
ing in 1262 the confirmation of pope Urban IV. and in 
the year 1345 that of pope Clemens. It is indebted for 
its rapid progrels, during the period from 1308 to 1404, 
to the prince of Carara, its former fovereign; in the laft- 
mentioned year it came under the Venetian dominion. 
Its new fovereigns ftudied unremittingly its welfare, ap¬ 
pointing the moft celebrated profeflors, and augmenting 
the various falaries ; fo that the univerfity dates its golden 
age from this period. The number of liudents frequent¬ 
ly amounted to 8000; they formed forty different coun- 
trymanlhips’, among which the G.erman, French, Englilh, 
Polilli, and Greek, were the moft numerous, and enjoyed 
peculiar prerogatives, which in part ftill exift. This uni¬ 
verfity has at all tunes formed celebrated men; and among 
its fcholars are to be numbered Plutarch, Galileo, and 
Columbus : we may alfo mention Gabriel Fallopius, who, 
in 1551, was profeflor of anatomy and furgery of this 
place, well known fronl the difcovery he made of the tuba 
Fallopiance. See vol. vii. Since the year 1 722 this uni¬ 
verfity has been on the decline; the number of ftudents 
at prefent amounts fcarcely to 600, among whom are fe¬ 
veral Jews, Turks, and Greeks, ftudying phyfic. Thefa- 
lanies of the profeflors are rated at from 300 to 2000 filver 
ducats per annum, and all the ledhires are given gratis; 
it is however to be lamented that the vacations laft near 
fix months. The anatomical theatre was built in 1594, 
in the form of an inverted cone, after the plan of Fra 
Paolo Sarpi. It may contain 600 perfons, feated on 
benches, placed in the form of an amphitheatre, fo that 
they are able clearly to difcern the operations of the pro- 
feflors. The inftruments belonging to experimental phi- 
lofophy, collefted by the celebrated mathematician mar- 
3 quls 
