seeing every individual church and
chapel in each place they stop at. The hotel-keepers, who make the
objects of interest as numerous as possible, derive by far the greatest
benefit from it.

Florence is truly wonderful in picture-galleries, and nearly every
antique shop is worth stopping at, to look at the copies of great works,
though there is too frequently a doubt as to their genuineness; for
there is great difficulty in obtaining permission to copy some of the
most celebrated of the old masters, therefore the demand for these
copies far exceeds the supply, and the shopkeepers resort to
unscrupulous means to satisfy their customers and fill their own
pockets. Many a British householder has pictures hanging upon his walls
with which he is so well pleased, that it would be a pity to question
their genuineness and undeceive him.

The chief and most important of the Art Museums are, the Uffizi or
National Gallery of Florence, and the royal Pitti Palace. These two
buildings, although on opposite sides of the river, are connected by a
picture-gallery some seven hundred yards long, which extends across one
of the bridges of the Arno. It is impossible to view separately, or form
a very connected after-idea of, all the various treasures gathered
here--a collection which equals any other in the world. The chief and
most universally admired paintings by the old masters are contained in
one room called the Tribune--here are also five of the most beautiful of
antique statues--the Wrestlers, the Dancing Faun, the Apollino, the
Slave, and lastly, the famous Venus de' Medici. Of this last I may truly
say, with Hawthorne, "It is of no use to throw heaps of words upon her,
for they all fall away, and leave her standing in chaste and naked
grace, as untouched as when I began." It is very, very beautiful, but
not to be compared with that perfect _chef d'oeuvre_ of sculpture, the
Venus of the Capitol, of which it is supposed to have been a copy.

The statues are hardly seen to the best advantage, as the paintings
behind them, and the many beautiful art treasures in the room, distract
the attention and weary the eye. In fact, in visiting all these
celebrated galleries in Italy, one is really unable to devote to each
the attention and admiration it deserves, and which we should naturally
accord were we not simply overwhelmed and dazzled with such profusion of
treasure; the mind refuses to store away all the beautiful and tender
thought