In the "dim, religious light" we see dusky forms flitting from column to column, like "calling shapes and beckoning shadows dire," and in their uncertain voices, which fall distantly upon the ear, we hear those

"airy tongues that syllable men's names

On sands and shores and desert wildernesses," while the soul, upborne on the slowly fading clouds of incense, has a foretaste of that "gentle wafting to immortal life" which Milton so well expressed, and which his own death so fully exemplified. The poet felt, as we know, the strongest admiration for the glorious specimens of Gothic architecture which adorn his native country, and the strongest sympathy with the influences which accompany them, and that notwithstanding the fanatical hatred expressed by his party for all such objects. Those minds which are the most strongly impressed by the beauties of "Paradise Lost" will perceive most clearly the attractions of a Gothic cathedral. The source of their power over the imagination is the Both are poems, the one written, the other hewn. "Paradise Lost" is Milton's Gothic temple, and, like that, is adorned with every image which a pure taste could draw from the beauties of nature,

same.

from herb, tree, fruit, and flower glistering with dew."

This cathedral has been called a Gothic chaos, and, so far as purity of architecture is concerned, perhaps the term is not far from correct. Yet one can never admire and study sufficiently the profuse and elab

orate decorations, especially those which adorn the exterior, and which, if not architecturally correct, are yet very impressive. The eye is captivated by elegantly carved door-ways and window-frames, rich in every form of labored ornamentation,- bird and flower, leaf and fruit, vine and herb, and all the wealth which the Gothic artist borrowed from nature's exuberant fertility; cherubim and seraphim, supporting graceful and well-designed friezes; deep mouldings adorned with ball-flowers and foliage, quatrefoil and trefoil; the delicate netted tracery of high-arched windows, bearing aloft, like gorgeous flowers, their bright glass, which, decorated with every elaborate design, glowing with varied and harmonious coloring, replete with figures taken from Scripture story, and blazing with the hues of an eternal sunset, irradiates the saints and martyrs in the interior, who, wearing the lineaments of exceeding peace, look down from many and many a quaint capital and highly wrought canopy, or stand around lofty grouped pillars, resting upon every form of leafy and floral beauty, and bathed in the misty incense or the breaking surges of the organ. Here and there appear grotesque forms, chimera or griffin, sphinx or dragon, no longer like the monsters which seem to glare from the gnarled and knotted branches of an oak, no longer quaintly and fiercely grinning from the rough grain of granite or sandstone, where the rude but independent genius of Northern workmen has placed them, but looking strangely tame

in the mellow smoothness of white marble. Soaring above all, and standing forth in clear outline against the bright blue sky of Italy, rise a thousand pinnacles of whitest marble, each formed of cluster above cluster of delicately carved canopies of ever decreasing size, till crowned with its statue of angel, apostle, or holy father, or, in more slender shape, their angles studded with knobs of marble, like the fruit of a climbing vine, spring skywards with the élan, the elastic tension, of a vigorous jet of water, suddenly checked in its first impulse and petrified into marble. Predominating over these, the bright nucleus of the whole and combining all their beauties, towers the lofty, glistening turret of the cathedral, crested with the statue of the Madonna, soaring above the gloom of the church below, as if her sainted soul were rising from the tomb to heaven, escorted by attendant angels.

The Duomo of Milan rises above the plains of Lombardy, like the mountains of Switzerland above the lower lands of Europe; and as the eye ranges from their towering and peaked snows to its lofty, shining form, it seems like a Christian temple carved from some wandering and lonely Alp, upon whose icy pinnacles, spotless, erect, untrodden of man, not bowing their crested heads even to the lightning, ever resting calmly above the wind and storm which rage about their base, glowing with the bright sunshine beyond the clouds, reposing in the blue ether, serene and silent as the morning

star, pure as the polar snow, divine messengers might well alight when charged with tidings of love and mercy to sinful men. Yes, there is indeed a "mountain brotherhood" between this cathedral, this "eternal ark of worship undefiled," and the Alps. It may well symbolize to our souls those majestic features of nature which elevate us far above the grossness of earth up to the Creator of all.

CHAPTER VI.

FLORENCE.

In the minds of many, perhaps I might say most persons, there exists a great delusion in regard to the climate of Italy. The popular prejudice is in its favor, and the great majority of people consider that country as a sort of paradise which enjoys a perpetual summer. In consequence, many travellers on their arrival find themselves unprepared with suitable clothing, and suffer from their imprudence when it is too late to remedy it. In the northern part of Italy, the cold in winter is often extremely severe, and the snow abundant. In Florence, the climate at that season is very disagreeable, and few cities offer a more comfortless residence. From November to March, the weather is at most times remarkably chilly, and the north wind, the Tramontana, blowing across the snowy Apennines, causes great suffering, especially among the indigent. To a foreigner from the North it is particularly troublesome, as cold in warm climates is always harder to bear than in more northerly latitudes. The Tramontana is full as disagreeable as the east wind of New England, being quite as raw and penetrating. When accompanied, as it frequently is, by rain,