currency to that of
Vienna.

Napoleon seems to be as much regretted by the Milanese as the Austrian
Government is abhorred; in fact, everybody speaks with horror and disgust
of the _aspro boreal scettro_ and of the _aquila che mangia doppio_, an
allusion taken from the arms of Austria, the double-headed Eagle.

I have visited the ancient Ducal, now the Royal, Palace; it is a spacious
building, chaste in its external appearance, but its ulterior very
magnificent; its chiefest treasures are the various costly columns and
pilasters of marble and of _jaune antique_ which are to be met with. The
_salle de danse_ is peculiarly elegant, and in one of the apartments is a
fine painting on the plafond representing Jupiter hurling thunderbolts on
the Giants. Jupiter bears the head of Napoleon. Good God! how this man was
spoiled by adulation!

The staircase of the Palace is superb, and the furniture is of the most
elegant description, being faithfully and classically modelled after the
antique Roman and Grecian. After visiting the Ambrosian library (by the
way, it is quite absurd to visit a library unless you employ whole days to
inspect the various editions), I went to the Hospital, which is a
stupendous building, and makes up 8,000 beds. The arrangement of this
hospital merits the greatest praise. I then peeped into several churches,
and I verily believe my conductor would have made me visit every church in
Milan, if I had not lost all patience, and cried out: _perche sempre
chiese? sempre chiese? andiamo a vedere altra cosa_. He conducted me then
to the citadel, or rather place where the citadel stood, and which now
forms a vast barrack for the Austrian troops. We then went to visit the
_Teatro Olimpico_, which was built by Napoleon. It is built in the style of
the Roman amphitheatres, but much more of an oval form than the Roman
amphitheatres were in general; that is to say, the transverse axis is much
longer in proportion to the conjugate diameter than is the case in the
Roman amphitheatres, and it is by no means so high. In the time of
Napoleon, games were executed in this circus in imitation of the games of
the ancients, for Napoleon had a great hankering to ape the Roman Caesars
in everything. There were, for instance, gymnastic exercises, races on
foot, horse races, chariot races like those of the Romans, combats of wild
beasts, and as water can be introduced into the arena, there were sometimes
exhibited _naumachiae_ o