DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.62267#0017
Ch. I.
THROUGH ITALY.
7
lands fell within its range, and have experienced
the full effect of its fury. The latter, plundered
of its riches, and its constitution, and deprived
of half its population, shares with France, her
name, her misery, and her infamy. The former
erected into the capital of a nominal republic,
but in fact, of a miserable and oppressed
province, sees its resources swallowed up in
contributions, its churches stript, its public esta-
blishments plundered, its youth corrupted and
enrolled in the armies of its oppressors, and all
its scenes of opulence, and all its prospects of
security, turned into want and uncertainty.
Milan is a great and splendid city, near eleven
miles in circumference, containing about one
hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants. Its ge-
neral appearance however, does not in my opinion,
correspond with its reputation; the streets are
not always either wide or regular, or well built,
and it presents few edifices of magnificence or
beauty sufficient to attract attention. Of these, the
Cathedral without doubt is the principal. It is
situated almost in the centre of the city, and
occupies part of the great square. It is of Gothic
architecture, and its materials are white marble.
In magnitude this edifice yields to few. Inferior
only to the Basilica Vaticana, it equals in length,
and in breadth surpasses the cathedral of Florence
THROUGH ITALY.
7
lands fell within its range, and have experienced
the full effect of its fury. The latter, plundered
of its riches, and its constitution, and deprived
of half its population, shares with France, her
name, her misery, and her infamy. The former
erected into the capital of a nominal republic,
but in fact, of a miserable and oppressed
province, sees its resources swallowed up in
contributions, its churches stript, its public esta-
blishments plundered, its youth corrupted and
enrolled in the armies of its oppressors, and all
its scenes of opulence, and all its prospects of
security, turned into want and uncertainty.
Milan is a great and splendid city, near eleven
miles in circumference, containing about one
hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants. Its ge-
neral appearance however, does not in my opinion,
correspond with its reputation; the streets are
not always either wide or regular, or well built,
and it presents few edifices of magnificence or
beauty sufficient to attract attention. Of these, the
Cathedral without doubt is the principal. It is
situated almost in the centre of the city, and
occupies part of the great square. It is of Gothic
architecture, and its materials are white marble.
In magnitude this edifice yields to few. Inferior
only to the Basilica Vaticana, it equals in length,
and in breadth surpasses the cathedral of Florence