duro, inlaid with precious gems, paintings, and gilding are lavishly distributed all over it.

The church is in the form of a Latin cross, and has three naves. The arms of the cross are finished by two grand altars; and fourteen chapels, seven at each side, occupy the remaining part of the church. In the centre of the cross rises a cupola, divided into eight compartments; each of which are covered by frescos, representing the visions of St. John, executed by Casolan, of Sienna.

The roof of the whole church is painted in the brightest ultra-marine blue, studded with golden stars, which has the most brilliant effect; and the riches that every where meet the eye are positively dazzling. Vain would be the attempt to enumerate even half the treasures of the Certosa, all its walls being literally incrusted with objects of art and beauty. It is related that Francis I., when taken prisoner at the battle of Pavia, which was fought in the park near the Certosa, requested to be allowed to offer up his prayers in the church. I thought of this circumstance; and the temple acquired a new interest from the recollection. There is something touching in such a trait of devotion, while the mind of the gallant monarch was still smarting under the humiliation of defeat, which makes one feel an increased admiration for him.

To stand in the centre of this gorgeously decorated temple, not a portion of which is left uncovered by rare and precious works, glittering with the pris

matic hues thrown on them from the richly stained windows, through which an Italian sun is casting his golden beams; and to hear no sounds save the echoes of our footsteps, and the monotonous voice of the concierge, as he slowly repeats his description, one might fancy himself in the palace of a dethroned monarch; whose vast riches accumulated in this shrine, had excited the envy of some wizard, who had touched them with his wand of enchantment, causing them to remain for ages in solitude, as a memento of the ostentation of him who had willed them to be placed here as trophies of his vainglory.

The monument erected to John Galeas Visconti, the founder of the Certosa, by the monks, proves that these sons of the church forgot the sins of the man in their gratitude for the benefactions he conferred on their order: thus offering a dangerous example that guilt of a deep die might be pardoned by the ministers of religion of former times, provided it was accompanied by generosity to the church. This monument was raised a century after the death of the Duke Visconti, and is only a cenotaph; for when the remains were to be disinterred for the purpose of being placed in the sarcophagus within this splendid tomb, they could nowhere be found ; all trace of the spot in which they had been buried being lost, a proof of the little interest the death of this wicked man had occasioned.

This monument was designed by Galeas Pelegrini, but several artists were employed in its exe

cution. Six bassi-rilievi, representing the most remarkable of the praiseworthy actions of Visconti, ornament the mausoleum; and each has an inscription explanatory to the action represented. These bassi-rilievi are said to be the work of La Porta; and the trophies, arabesques, and foliage, which are lavishly spread over the whole, are by Romano. A statue of Visconti, the size of life, reposes on the tomb; and on each side are seated a statue of Victory and Fame, by Bernardino da Novi.

The deserted temple, and the vacant tomb, struck me as offering a curious and remarkable lesson on the vanity of human intentions. The one raised by its wicked founder more in ostentation than piety, and meant to excite the wonder and admiration of succeeding generations, is now seldom opened, except to be shown to the few travellers who journey from Milan to behold it; and the other, erected by the monks to receive the bones of their unworthy benefactor, empty!

The Lavatojo, or washing-room of the monks, partakes of the general character of the church, being covered with bassi-rilievi; and the roof is of ultramarino, interspersed with gold stars. Among the windows, a magnificent one of stained glass by Matteis, represents St. Bernard with Satan; and is a fine specimen of the work of the fourteenth century. The door of the Lavatojo is of marble, admirably sculptured by Amadeo.

The splendour of the decorations of the fourteen

chapels, equal those of the rest of the building; and the eyes are absolutely fatigued with the multiplicity of rare and precious objects that court their glance. It was a relief to find ourselves in the dwellings allotted to the monks; the plainness and simplicity of which offered an agreeable contrast to the gorgeous temple we had quitted. These are twenty-four in number, and are behind the cloisters, which serve as porticos to them. Each dwelling is apart, and consists of two small rooms, a little garden in which is a fountain, and a marble bench.

These gardens are now little wildernesses of flowers, many of them so closely interwoven as to conceal the earth; and in the tangled mazes of flowers and shrubs innumerable birds were flitting, and sending forth notes of joy.

The repose and stillness of these cells had an indescribable charm; and made me feel that the life of a cenobite, "the world forgetting, by the world forgot," might not be as destitute of enjoyment as many people imagine it to be. I should only add a plentiful supply of books, to render such an abode not only bearable, but agreeable for those who are no longer in the heyday of youth; and who have experienced that the illusions of life, once known to be such, leave a regret behind that well fits the mind for solitude, and contemplation.

Each garden bore evidence that a love of nature dwelt in the breasts of the inhabitants of these abodes ; and who, deprived of other pleasures,

sought the pure and innocent one to be found in the cultivation of flowers, that, frail as they are, were to outlive the mortals who cherished them.

I loitered long in these cells, reflecting on the probable destinies and condition of their former tenants; and a little romance of each was imagined, as I reposed where they had spent so many solitary hours. If such an impossibility as the discovery of twenty-four friends could be accomplished, how happy might they be here! each occupying his or her cell, into which no one should intrude uninvited, the general meeting when desired taking place in one of the apartments in the building allotted to the reception of visitors, and the repasts being served from the refectory.

But alas! whoever had twenty-four real friends? and among those whose cultivation of mind most fit them for the enjoyment of a life of seclusion and study, how few are exempt from the jealousies du métier, which render a near neighbourhood so dangerous a trial of friendship? Without a similarity of tastes, such a proximity of residence would be unbearable, and with it, how long would harmony continue? Alas! for poor, poor human nature, I fear my desire of peopling the cells of the Certosa must be abandoned for some less Utopian scheme.

The building designed for the reception of strangers, and occupation of the Prior, is separated by magnificent vestibule from the cloisters which form the porticos of the dwellings of the monks. These