being so close to the Cathedral, we saw just enough of its
external beauty and grandeur on the evening of our arrival, to
anticipate with the greatest eagerness our visit on the morrow to this
magnificent structure of white marble, which stood so majestically
outlined under the blue, star-lit sky, its graceful spires and peaks
seeming interminable:

"And high on every peak a statue seem'd
To hang on tiptoe."

It is regarded by the inhabitants as one of the wonders of the world,
and is certainly unique in its style, which belongs to no school. "From
the beginning," says a modern writer on architecture, "it has been an
exotic, and to the end of time will probably remain so, without a
follower or imitator of the singular development of which it is the only
example.... It has all the appearance of having been the work of a
stranger, who was but imperfectly acquainted with the wants or customs
of Italian architecture, working to some extent with the traditions of
his own native school before him, but at the same time impressed with a
strong sense of the necessity under which he lay, of doing something
quite unlike what he had been taught to consider necessary for building
in his native land.... There is a constant endeavour to break up plain
surfaces of wall, unlike the predilection for smooth surfaces of
walling so usual in thoroughly Italian work."

Early the following morning, immediately after breakfast, we proceeded
to the great open Piazza in which the Cathedral stands. It is of almost
dazzling whiteness in the bright sunshine, and I could not but think
what a contrast it offered to our great St. Paul's, so buried in the
heart of the city, amid the roar and din of commerce. And how different
the smoky atmosphere in which the great Dome is enshrouded, to the
clear, bright air of Milan, where every delicate spire, every graceful
projection with its play of light and shadow, is seen to perfection, and
the pure whiteness of the marble is unsullied by the soot and dirt which
form, alas! a complete veil to our own Cathedral! What aspect, I
thought, would the fairy-like Dome of Milan present after a winter in
our city of fogs? The lights and shades of Wren's great work appear to
be made up of smoke, which has been partially washed off by driving
winds and rains.

The roof is adorned with a hundred turrets, and more than a thousand
statues of angels, saints, and men of genius. On the topmost spire
towers a gilt