tial source descend to rekindle
it. Architecture, music, new constitutions, the ever glorious face of
nature itself, will not prevent the approaching death of the continental
nations. There is but one book in the world that can do it,--the Book of
Life. Unfold its pages, and a more blessed and glorious effulgence than
that which lights up the Alps at sunrise will break upon the nations;
but, alas! this cannot be so long as the Jesuit and the Croat are there.
We saw, too, on our journey, other things that did not tend to put us
into better spirits. As we approached Milan, we met a couple of
gensdarmes leading away a poor foot-sore revolutionist to the frontier.
Ah! said I inly, could the Jesuits look into my breast, they would find
there ideas more dangerous to their power, in all probability, than
those that this man entertains; and yet, while he is expelled, I am
admitted. No thanks to them, however. I rode onwards. League followed
league of the richest but the most unvaried scenery. Campanile and
hamlet came and went: still Milan came not. I strained my eyes in the
direction in which I expected its roofs and towers to appear, but all to
no purpose. At length there rose over the green woods that covered the
plain, as if evoked by enchantment, a vision of surpassing beauty. I
gazed entranced. The lovely creation before me was white as the Alpine
snows, and shot up in a glorious cluster of towers, spires, and
pinnacles, which flashed back the splendours of the mid-day sun. It
looked as if it had sprung from under the chisel but yesterday. Indeed,
one could hardly believe that human hands had fashioned so fair a
structure. It was so delicate, and graceful, and aerial, and unsullied,
that I thought of the city which burst upon the pilgrims when they had
got over the river, or that which a prophet saw descending out of
heaven. Milan, hid in rich woods, was before me, and this was its
renowned Cathedral.

CHAPTER VIII.

CITY AND PEOPLE OF MILAN.

The Barrier--Beautiful Aspect of the City--Hotel Royale--History of
Milan--Dreariness of its Streets--Decay of Art--Decay of Trade--The
Cathedral--Beauty, not Sublimity, its Characteristic--Its Exterior
described--The Piazza of the Cathedral--Austrian Cannon--Pamphlets
on Purgatory--Punch--Punch _versus_ the Priest--Church and State in
Italy--Austrian Oppression--Confiscation of Estates in
Lombardy--Forced Loans--Niebuhr's Idea that the Da