Volume I Part 38 (1/2)

[Page Head: BRESCIA AND MILAN]

Brescia, June 21st, 1830 {p412}

This is a particularly nice town, airy, spacious, and clean, and inwomen There is a drive and walk on the ramparts, where I found all the beauty and fashi+on of Brescia, a string of carriages not quite so numerous as in Hyde Park, but a very decent display The women are excessively dressed, and almost all wear black lace veils, thrown over the back of the head, which are very beco The walks on the ramparts are shaded by double rows of trees, and command a very pretty view of the mountains and country round This inn is execrable I stopped at Verona to see the Amphitheatre, which is only perfect in the inside, and has been kept so by repeated repairs It is hardly worth seeing after the Flavian and the Pompeiian There is a wooden theatre in it, where they act, and the spectators occupy the ancient seats The toraceful Gothic; their castle (now the Castle Vecchio) a glooe over the Po The Church of St Zeno is remarkable from its Gothic antiquity and the profusion of ornae sort Here is the tone, but empty; for the French, in one of their invasions, carried the body to France In the Cathedral is a fine picture of the 'assuin' by titian I saw many Veronese beauties in their balconies, but none quite like Juliet Her tomb (or, as they would say at Rome, 'sepolcro detto di Giulietta') I did not see, for it was too far off I was in a hurry to be off, and there was nobody to detain ht_

The road, which is excellent, runs in sight of the Alps all the way, and the Lago di Garda is excessively pretty

Milan, June 23rd, 1830 {p413}

Milan is a very fine toithout much to see in it The Duomo, Amphitheatre, Arch of the Simplon, Brera (pictures) There are a few fine pictures in the Brera; a others Guido's faar and Abraha about till the French set thes; Leonardo da Vinci's fresco, which is entirely spoilt The view from the top of the Duomo is superb, over the boundless plain of Loe of the Alps, and the Apennines in the distance I like the Duomo, but I know my taste is execrable in architecture I don't, however, like the mixture of Italian with the Gothic--balustrades over the door, for instance--but I adnificence Buonaparte went on with it (for it was never finished), and this Governrees; there will be 7,000 statues on different parts of the outside, and there are already 4,500 St Charles Borromeo's tomb is very splendid, and for five francs they offered to uncover the glass case in which his much esteemed carcase reposes, and show me the venerable mummy, but I could not afford it The entrance to Milan from Venice, and the Corso, are as handsome as can be The Opera is very bad, but the Scala is not open, and none of the good singers are here

Varese, June 26th, 1830 {p414}

Left Milan at six o'clock on the 24th, and got to Coht yesterday ot out, saw the Villa Soio to see the opening of the Lake of Lecco, turned back to the Villa Melzi, saw the house and gardens, and then went back to dine at Cadenebbia, and waited for the steaot back to Co can surpass the beauty of all this scenery, or the luxury of the villas, particularly Melzi, which is the best house, and contains abundance of shade, flowers, statues, and shrubberies The owners live very little there, and principally in winter, when, they say, it is seldom cold in this sheltered spot The late Count Melzi was Governor of Milan under Napoleon, and used to feast the Viceroy here He once gave him a _fete_, and had all the mountain tops illuminated, of which the effectTop of the Simplon_--Set off at five froh a very pretty road to Navero, where I crossed the Lago Maggiore in a boat, and landed at the Isola Bella, which is very fine in its way, though rather flattered in its pictures The house is large and handsome, and there is a curious suite of apartments fitted up with pebbles, spars, and arden and terraces are good specirandeur, and as the Count Borromeo's son is a botanist, they are full of flowers and shrubs of all sorts and climates

Whatever fruits in different cliround; Whatever sweets salute the northern sky With vernal flowers, that blosso, own the kindred soil, Nor ask luxuriance fro this place up is iust and September, and has fifteen other country houses All the island belongs to hiardens, except some fishermen's huts, which are held by a sort of feudal tenure They live there as his vassals, fishi+ng for hi him about the lake, and their children and wives alone are eo by a younger son (a nephew of San Carlo), as richer than his elder brother He was his own architect, and planned both house and garden, but never cons The cost was enormous, but if he had lived and finished it all, he would have spent four est in Europe, two trees growing frohty high; under this tree Buonaparte dined, as he cao, and with a knife he cut the word 'Battaglia' on the bark, which has since been stripped off, or has grown out--so the gardeners said at least Breakfasted at Baveno, which is the best inn I have seen in Italy The road froly beautiful, but on the whole I ah it is very wild and grand; but I aht of mountains that I hen I entered Savoy and saw them for the first time I walked the last thirteen miles of the ascent to this place, and found one of the best dinners I ever tasted, or one which e Head: RETURN TO ENGLAND]

Geneva, June 29th, 1830 {p415}

Got here last night, and found twenty letters at least I only think of getting home as fast as I can Left the Simplon in torrents of rain, which lasted the whole day The descent is uncoe, and picturesque, the Swiss side the finest All along the valley of the Rhone fine scenery; and yesterday, in the ny, along the lake and under the mountains, is as beautiful as possible The approach to Geneva is gay, but Mont Blanc looks only very white, and not very tall, which is owing to the level fro here, while on the other side of the Alps hardly a drop has fallen Only three rainy days while I was in Italy--one at Venice, one at Ro_--Passed the whole day driving about Geneva, in Bautt's shop, and at the Panorama of Switzerland Dined with Newton, drove round the environs by Secheron; a great appearance of wealth and coars, and none of the houses tuether I like the appearance of the place, though in a great hurry to get away fro, which was neither violent nor long, but I had the pleasure of hearing

Jura answer from her misty shroud Back to the joyous Alps, that call on her aloud

Mont Blanc was hid in clouds all day, but the e Mont Blanc won't show his snows, nor would Vesuvius his fires It was dark when I crossed the Cenis, and raining when I descended the Sie Head: DEATH OF GEORGE IV]

Paris, July 3rd, 1830 {p416}

Got here last night, after a fierce journey of sixty-three hours fro two hours for breakfast; but by never touching anything but bread and coffee I was neither heated nor tired The Jura Mountains, which they say are so tedious, were the pleasantest part of the way, for the road is beautiful all through them, not like the Alps, but like a hilly, wooded park

It rained torrents when I set out, but soon cleared up, and when I got to the top of the first mountain, I saw a mass of clouds rise like a curtain and unveil the whole landscape of Geneva, lake, 's death in the ht

Calais, July 6th, 1830 {p417}

Voila qui est fini Got here last night, and found the Governoes out five days a week, and not to-day I alad to find et there I saw Lord Stuart at Paris, just breaking up his establish his wife off to the Pyrenees Heard all the news of London and Paris, such as it was Not a soul left in Paris, which was like a dead city I only heard that, notwithstanding the way the elections are going against the Govern of France was very civil about the death of our King,[14] and, without waiting, as is usual, for the announcelish Araphic account reaching Paris

[14] [George IV died at Windsor on the 26th of June, 1830]