r
baggage, on account of the crowds of ragged _faineans_ that surround your
carriage while it is unloading.
The first thing that the _ciceroni_ generally take you to see in Italy are
the churches, and mine would not probably have spared me one, but I was
more anxious to see the University. I however allowed him to lead me into
two of the principal churches, viz., the _Duomo_ or Cathedral, and the
church of San Petronio, both magnificent Gothic temples and worth the
attention of the traveller. On the _Piazza del Gigante_ is a fine bronze
statue of Neptune. The _Piazza_ takes its name from this statue, as at one
time in Italy, after the introduction of Christianity and when the ancient
mythology was totally forgotten, the statues of the Gods were called Giants
or named after Devils and their prototypes believed to be such.
In the Museum at the University is an admirable collection of fossils,
minerals, and machines in every branch of science. There are some excellent
pictures also; the University of Bologna was, you know, at all times famous
and its celebrity, is not at all diminished, for I believe Bologna boasts
more scientific men, and particularly in the sciences _positives_, than any
other city in Italy.
In the _Palazzo pubblico_ (_Hotel de Ville_) is a Christ and a Samson by
Guido Reni; but what pleased me most in the way of painting was the
collection in the gallery of Count Marescalchi. The Count has been at great
pains to form it and has shown great taste and discernment. It is a small
but unique collection. Here is to be seen a head of Christ, the colouring
of which is so brilliant as to illuminate the room in which it is appended,
when the shutters are closed, and in the absence of all other light except
what appears thro' the crevices of the window shutters. This head, however,
does not seem characteristic of Christ; it wants the gravity, the soft
melancholy and unassuming meekness of the _great Reformer_: in short, from
the vivid fire of the eyes and the too great self-complacency of the
countenance, it gave me rather the idea
Del biondo Dio che in Tessalia si adora.
I passed two hours in this cabinet. I next repaired to the centre of the
city with the intention of ascending one at least of the two square towers
or _campanili_ which stand close together, one of which is _strait_, the
other a leaning one. _Garisendi_ is the name of the leaning tower, and it
forms a parallelipipedon of 140 feet in he
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