p I 
furprifed with the look of the fineft houfes outfide, particu¬ 
larly that of the ground-floor. The ftables ufed often to 
be there, and their place is now as often occupied by 
fhops. In the infide of the great private houfes there is 
always a certain majeftic amplitude; but the entrances of 
the rooms and the ftaircafe on the ground-floor are often 
placed irregularly, fo as to facrifice every thing to conve¬ 
nience. In the details there is fure to be a noble eye to 
proportion. You cannot look at the elevation of the 
commonelt doorway, or the ceiling of a room appropriated 
to the humbleft purpofes, but you recognize the land of 
the fine arts. 
The fineft group of buildings perhaps in the world, is 
that which Pifa prefents to the contemplation of the tra¬ 
veller in her cathedral, and its attendant edifices, the 
baptiftery, the belfry, and the cemetery. The cathedral 
is the grandeft, as it is the mod; ancient; it was begun in 
the middle, and finished before the end, of the nth cen¬ 
tury. It contains a great number of excellent paintings 
and other curiofities. This church is dedicated to St. 
Mary ; is very ad vantageoufly Situated in the middle of a 
large piazza, and built out of a great heap of wrought 
marble, Inch as pillars, pedeftals, capitals, cornices, and 
and architraves, part of the fpoils which the Pifans took 
in their eaftern expeditions, when the republic was in a 
flourishing condition. The roof is fupported by 76 
high marble pillars of different colours, and finely gilt. 
Both the church and the cupola are covered with lead. 
The choir is painted by good hands, and the floor is 
mofaic work. The brazen doors (faid to have been 
brought from the Temple at Jerufalem) are curioufly 
wrought with the hiftory of the Old and New Teftament, 
by Bonanno, an ancient Statuary. The chapel of St. 
Rainerius is richly adorned with gilt metals, columns of 
porphyry, and fine paintings. In the middle of the nave 
of the church you fee two brazen tombs, raifed upon 
pillars. The marble pulpit was carved by John PiS'ano, 
and the choir by Julian da Majana. Joining thereto is 
the altar, over which is preferved a hollow globe or veffel 
of marble, wherein they kept the Sacrament for the newly 
baptized, according to the opinion of Father Mabillon. 
In the fquare before the church, you fee a pillar upon 
which is the meafure of the ancient Roman talent, fn 
the fame fquare with the dome Stands the Baptiftery, a 
round fabric fupported by Stately pillars, and remarkable 
for a very extraordinary echo. 
The campanile, or belfry, which is the celebrated 
leaning tmver of Pifa, is a feparate building; it Stands at 
the end of the cathedral, oppofite to the Baptiftery, and 
confifts of eight Stories, formed of arches fupported by 
pillars, and divided by cornices. The elevation of the 
whole is about 150 feet. The form and proportion of 
this tower are graceful, and its materials, being of the 
fineft marble, add to its beauty; but its grand distinction, 
which alone gives it fo much celebrity, is a defeCt which 
difparages the work, though it may enhance the Skill of 
the architect, and by its novelty forcibly arreft the atten¬ 
tion ; we allude to its inclination, which exceeds fourteen 
feet from the perpendicular; (that is, a plumb-line let 
fall from the top touches the ground at the distance of 
more than 14 feet from the bafe;) fo that its overhanging 
afpeCt feems to menace the houfes near it with inSlant 
deftruCtion ; and we wonder that people Should build 
houfes underneath it, till we recolleCt that the tower has 
probably Stood, thus ever fince it was built, that is to fay, 
for nearly fix hundred and fifty years ; and that habit 
reconciles us to any thing. “The Leaning Tower at firft 
fight,” fays Mr. Matthews,in his Diary of an Invalid, “is 
quite terrific, and exceeds expectation. There is, I be¬ 
lieve, no doubt of the real hiftory of this tower. The 
foundation-ground gave way during the progrefs of the 
building, and the architect completed his work in the 
direction thus accidentally given to it. Accordingly we 
find, in the construction of the upper part, that the weight 
S A. 515 
is fupported in a way to fupport the equilibrium.” The 
Structure was begun by a German artift, William of Nu¬ 
remberg, on the 9th of Augult, 1174; and finished by 
Buonannoof Pifa. Several other towers in Pifa, including 
the Obfervatory, have a very vifible inclination, owing to 
the fame caufe, the finking of the foil, which is light, 
Sandy, and full of fprings; and furely nothing is more 
probable than an attempt on the part of the builders of 
fo beautiful a Structure to counteract the confequences 
of the foundation’s having given way. Upon the whole, 
it is a very elegant Structure; and the general eSFeCt is fo 
pleafing, that, like Alexander’s wry neck, it might well 
bring leaning into faShion amongft all the towns in 
Christendom. It is represented on the annexed Plate. 
• But the crowning glory of Pifa is the Campo-Santo. 
It is an oblong inclofure, about the Size of Stratford Place, 
and furrounded with cloisters wider and lighter than 
thofe of Weftminfter. The middle is graSTed earth, the 
furface of which, for fome depth, is fuppofed to have been 
brought from Palestine at the time of the crufades, and 
to polTefs the virtue of decompofing bodies in the 
courfe of a few hours. The tradition is, that Ubaldo 
Lanfranchi, archbishop of Pifa, who commanded the 
forces contributed by his countrymen, brought the earth 
away with him in his Ships; but, though fuch a proceeding 
would not have been impoflible, the Story is now regarded 
as a mere legend. The decomposition of the bodies 
might have been effected by other means. Perfons are 
buried both in this enclofure and in the cloifters, but 
only perfons of rank or celebrity. Moft of the infcrip- 
tions are to the memory of the Pifans in the rank of no¬ 
bility ; -but there are feveral alfo to artifts and men of 
letters. The moft interesting grave is that of Benozzo, 
one of the old painters, who lies at the foot of his own 
work's. Here is a liandfome monument, with a profile, 
to Algarotti, ereCted by Frederic of Pruflia. Pignotti, 
the fabulist, has another; and Fabroni, the late eulogilt 
of eminent Italians, has a bult fo good-natured and full 
of a certain jolly gulto (fays the Liberal), that we long 
to have eaten olives with him. Befides thele modern pieces 
of fculpture, there has been for fome years a collection 
of ancient marbles, chiefly urns and Sarcophagi, together 
with fome fragments of the early Italian fchool. The 
firft impreflion is not pleafant; their orderly array, the 
numerals upon them, and the names of the donors upon 
the walls behind, giving the whole too much the air of a 
Show-room, or common gallery. The pictures form part 
of the Sentiment of the place as a burial-ground, and 
would certainly be better by themfelves ; but the anti¬ 
quity of the marbles reconciles us at laft. The paintings 
on (he walls, the great glory of Pifa, are by Orgagna, 
Simon Memmi, Giotto, Buffalmacco, Benozzo, and others; 
all more or lefs renowned by illuftrious pens ; all, with 
more or lefs gufto, the true and reverend harbingers of 
the greateft painters of Italy. Simon Memmi is the 
artift celebrated by Petrarch for his portrait of Laura; 
Buffalmacco is the mad wag who cuts fucli a figure in the 
old Italian novels: and Giotto, the greateft of them ail, 
is the friend of Dante, the hander-down of his likenefs 
to pofterity, and himfelf the Dante of his art. High as 
this eulogy is, nobody will think it too high who has 
feen his works in the Campo Santo. The pictures are 
painted on the walls of the four cloifters : they occupy 
the greater part of the elevation of thefe wails, beginning 
at top and finifhing at a reafonable diftance from the 
pavement. The fubjeCts are from the Old Teftament up 
to the time of Solomon, from the legends of the middle 
ages, particularly St. Ranieri (the patron faint of Pifa), 
and from the hiftory of the Crucifixion, RefurreClion, &c. 
with the Day of Judgment. There is alfo a Triumph 
of Death. The colours of fome of them, efpecially of the 
Sky and Ship in the Voyage of St. Ranieri, are wonderfully 
pieferved. The Sky looks as intenfely blue as the fineft 
out of doors. But others are much injured by the Sea- 
