Vecchio_ is a large Gothic building by Arnulpho and has a very
lofty square tower or _campanile_.

The Gallery of Florence being so close to my abode demanded next my
attention. The building in which this invaluable Museum is preserved forms
three sides of a parallelogram, two long ones and one short one, of which
the side towards the south of the quai of the Arno is the short one.

On the north is an open space communicating with the _Piazza del Gran
Duca_. The Gallery occupies the whole first floor of this vast building.
The _rez de chaussee_ is occupied, on the west side, by the bureaux of
Government, and on the south and east sides by shopkeepers, in whose shops
is always to be seen a brilliant display of merchandize. As there are
arcades on the three sides of this parallelogram, they form the favorite
meridian promenade of the _belles_ and _beaux_ of Florence, particularly on
Sundays and holidays, after coming out of Church. I ascended the steps from
a door on the east side of the building, to visit the Gallery.

The quantity and variety of objects of art, of the greatest value, baffle
all description, and it would require months and years to attempt an
analysis of all it contains. I shall therefore content myself with pointing
out those objects which imprinted themselves the most forcibly on my
imagination and recollection. In a chamber on the left hand of one wing of
the Gallery stands the Venus de' Medici, sent back last year from France.
In the same chamber with her are the following statues: the extremely
beautiful _Apollino_; the spotted Faun; the _Remouleur_ or figure which is
in the act of whetting a sickle. All these were in Paris, and are now
restored to this Gallery. In this chamber two pictures struck me in
particular: the one the Venus of Titian, a most voluptuous figure; the
other a portrait of the mistress of Rafaello, called "_La Fornarina_," from
her being a baker's daughter.

Returning to the Gallery I was quite bewildered at the immense number of
statues, pictures, sarcophagi, busts, altars, etc. Among the pieces of
sculpture those that most caught my attention were: the _Venus genetrix_
(which I had seen before at Paris); the _Venus victrix_; the _Venus
Anadyomene_; Hercules and Nessus, a superb groupe; a young Bacchus; and an
exquisitely chiselled group representing Pan teaching Olympus to play the
syrinx, tho' the attitude of the former is rather indecorous from not being
in a very quiescen