DIRECTIONS FOR PLACING THE PLATES. Page 77 77 VOL. II. .... MAP OF ITALY, TO FACE THE TITLE-PAGE OF VOL. I. BASILICA OF ST. SEBASTIAN BASILICA OF ST. LAWRENCE BASILICA LIBERIANA, OR STA. MARIA MAGGIORE... BASILICA OF ST. PAUL..... BASILICA VATICANA, OR ST. PETER'S 81 89 105 108 112 118 119 131 66 THE Author presents the following pages to the Public with diffidence... He is aware thats the very title of a Tour through Italy" is sufficient in itself to raise expec tation, which, as he has learned from the fate of similar compositions, is more fre quently disappointed than satisfied. To avoid smuch as possible this inconve nience, he thinks it necessary to state pré cisely the nature and object of the present work, that the reader may enter upon its perusal with some previous knowledge of its' contents. chiefly for the information of young and inexperienced travellers, and points out the qualities and accomplishments requisite to enable them to derive from an Italian Tour, its full advantages. The Reader then comes to the Tour itself. The epithet Classical sufficiently points out its peculiar character, which is to trace the resemblance between Modern vand Ancient Italy, and to take for guides and companions in the beginning of the nineteenth century, the writers that preceded or adorned the first. Conformably to that character, the Author may be allowed to dwell with complacency on the incidents of ancient history, to admit every poetical recollection, and to claim indulgence, if in describing objects so often alluded to by the Latin writers, he should frequently borrow their expressions; or¶ 3.17 nolie gi 197e bang ylistares as yout Materiæ scripto convéniente suæ.* 1987 70 29097 grittide as tqmatron bre Citations, in fact, which notwithstanding the example of Cicero, and the précept of Quintihan, q some severe scntics are disposed to proscribe, may here be introduced or even lavished, without censure; they rise spontaneously from the soil we tread, and constitute one of its distinguishing beauties.[words as ;*bice ai olttilvistl yusm Jaioggezib bas osirque ysm doidw In Modern History, he may perhaps be considered as sometimes too short; but it must be remembered that Modern History is not Classical, and can claim admission only as an illustration. As for the forms of government established in many provinces by the present French rulers, -uit Das Saulze odt god e15 30 Dir- NAJ es Ovid, Trist. loving m 983 to og aalimis bas queT odio to feet6a00) + Quintil. lib. i. cap. v. Edit. Rollin. they are generally passed over in silence and contempt, as shifting scenes or rather mere figuranti in the political drama, destined to occupy the attention for a time, and to disappear when the principal cha racter shows himself upon the stage. Of the state of painting and sculpture, though these arts reflect so much lustre on Italy, little is said*; an acknowledgment which may surprize and disappoint many readers. But, on the one hand, to give a longcatalogue of pictures and statues, without explanatory observations, appeared absurd; and on the other, to execute such a work in a becoming manner requires leisure, technical information, and the ་་ * Little is said of the arts, when the extent and importance of the subject are considered; but much is said in comparison of other Tours and similar compositions. |