who would suppose that a white stone
could do justice to the beauty of a pure child of nature? The marble may
present a most perfect _form_; but what becomes of the glow of life and
flush of beauty upon the maiden's cheek, the ruby lips and the grace and
elegance of her movements and winning manners? We may speak of ideal
beauty in countries where the physical development of the inhabitants is
blasted by the severities of the extreme heat and cold of an inhospitable
clime, where the blasts of winter make every form shiver for many months
of the year; but the superior beauty of the daughters of Northern Italy,
if they were placed side by side with Venus de Medici, would laugh that
frigid form to scorn! As compared with these, I thought I had seen no
others that could either _talk_ or _laugh_ or _walk_!

The Italians live upon a very simple diet. When I first saw numbers of
them make meals of dry bread and fruit, I supposed poverty impelled them
to partake of so scant a diet, but by the time I came back from Egypt, I
too had learned to sit down and eat dry bread and grapes together, though
I could procure meat as cheap in Italy as elsewhere in Europe. It is not
advisable to partake of much meat in any warm country. Any one may form an
idea of what kind of a consumer of food cold is, when he reflects how much
more flesh we consume in winter than in summer. I did not partake of more
than half the amount of food in southern Italy and Egypt that I needed in
England, Germany or Switzerland, and there is little room for doubt that
many Italians do with one third of the amount of food that we require in
the severer climate of the Middle States. I was always reminded of the
story of "Cornaro the Italian," related in Wilson's Fourth Reader,
whenever I saw them eat their simple meals. It is very singular, too, that
they should all look full, healthy and robust; and many of us, on the
contrary, lean and sickly. Twelve ounces of solid food and thirteen ounces
of drink, seems a very spare supply to an American, but I do not believe
that it is accounted very extraordinary in Italy.

Milan.

The praises of the magnificence and splendor of the Cathedral of Milan are
sung all over the world. It is nearly 500 feet long and 250 feet wide
through the transepts, covering an area of almost _two acres and three
quarters!_ The height of the nave is 150 feet! Its entire walls, and its
pinnacles, spire and roof are all constructed of fine m