sto, Rome, Fish
Market, Ruins, ditto, and a Vignette of Constantine's Arch.

The Descriptions are from the elegant pen of Thomas Roscoe, Esq. By
permission, of the proprietor we have selected one of the plates, and a
portion of its accompanying description.

BOLOGNA,

"Celebrated alike in arts and in letters, Bologna, 'the mother of
studies,' presents numerous objects of interest to the amateur and to
the scholar. The halls which were trod by Lanfranc and Irnerius, and
the ceilings which glow with the colours of Guido and the Carracci, can
never be neglected by any to whom learning and taste are dear.

"The external appearance of Bologna is singular and striking. The
principal streets display lofty arcades, and the churches, which are
very numerous, confer upon the city a highly architectural character.
But the most remarkable edifices in Bologna are the watch-towers,
represented in the engraving. During the twelfth century, when the
cities of Italy, 'tutte piene di tirranni,' were rivals in arms as
afterwards in arts, watch-towers of considerable elevation were
frequently erected. In Venice, in Pisa, in Cremona, in Modena, and in
Florence these singular structures yet remain; but none are more
remarkable than the towers of the Asinelli and Garisenda in Bologna. The
former, according to one chronicler, was built in 1109, while other
authorities assign it to the year 1119. The Garisenda tower, constructed
a few years later, has been immortalized in the verse of Dante.

"When the poet and his guide are snatched up by the huge Antaeus, the
bard compares the stooping stature of the giant to the tower of the
Garisenda, which, as the spectator stands at its base while the clouds
are sailing from the quarter to which it inclines, appears to be falling
upon his head,

"'As appears
The tower of Cariaenda from beneath
Where it doth lean, if chance a passing cloud
So sail across that opposite it hangs;
Such then Antaeus seem'd, as at mine ease
I mark'd him stooping.'

"The tower of the Asinelli rises the height of about 350 feet, and is
said to be three feet and a half out of the perpendicular. The
adventurous traveller may ascend to the top by a laborious staircase of
500 steps. Those steps were trod by the late amiable and excellent Sir
James Edward Smith, who has described the view presented at the summit.
'The day was unfavourable for a view; but we could well distinguish