tant prospect." This is certainly true as regards the prospect from the Mont Cenis itself. But, after the traveller has followed the road in its sinuosities round the side of the mountain which overhangs the deep valley of Novalese, and has passed the Roche Melon-an enormous mountain which rises on the opposite side of that valley-then the vale of the Doria expands before him, and offers to his admiring eyes one of the most beautiful views in the Alps, bounded by Turin and the plains of the Po.

Near the entrance of Susa is the dismantled fort of La Brunette, once the key of the passes by the Mont Genèvre and the Mont Cenis, and, therefore, of this part of Italy. At Susa itself, in the garden of the governor, are the remains of a triumphal arch, built in honour of Augustus by Cotys, a petty sovereign of this mountainous region: but the diligence started much too early in the morning to afford us an opportunity of visiting it. As we journeyed along the vale of Susa, we could not help contrasting its sunny hills, its well-watered and cultivated fields, with the wilder scenery of the valley of the Arc. At Rivoli, where the gay Italian villa first meets the traveller's eye, we quitted the narrow vale of Susa, and entered that vast plain which stretches from

Apricos quosdam colles, according to the expression of Livy, rivosque propè sylvas, et jam humano cultu digniora loca. Livy has also hit off the general features of a transalpine valley happily enough:-Nives cœlo propè immista, tecta informia imposita rupibus, pecora, jumentaque torrida frigore, homines intonsi et inculti, animalia, inanimaque omnia rigentia gelu.”—Liv. xxi.

the foot of the maritime Alps to the shores of the Adriatic. During this day's journey we frequently met with the vine trained over trellises, so as to form successive avenues, but no where did we see it married to the poplar or the elm. From Rivoli, a straight road, bordered by a noble avenue of lofty trees, conducted us to Turin. Large patches of snow still lay scattered over the plain; and the Collina, a chain of hills rising to the south of the Po, was covered with it.

"TURIN commands the sublimest prospects-here a crescent of magnificent Alps-there the snow-capped cone of Monte Viso-in the middle, the king of floods,' opening his way through a rich plain which gradually widens before him-beyond him the Collina, studded with white villas, and crowned with the lofty dome of the Superga *."

Turin itself is worthy of its beautiful site, and is deservedly admired-for the straightness of its streets, which cut each other at right angles-the elegance of its buildings; though, from the holes which supported the scaffolding and are still left gaping, they have a somewhat unfinished air—and its general cleanliness. This latter peculiarity was noticed and accounted for by Addison. "By the help of a river," says he, "that runs on the upper side of the town, they convey a little stream of water through all the most considerable streets, which

• Forsyth.

serves to cleanse the gutters, and carries away all the filth that is swept into it." This statement we saw exemplified; the snow, with which the streets were filled, being carried off in the manner here described.

The royal palace is spacious, but more remarkable for richness of decoration than for beauty. That of the dukes of Savoy occupies a conspicuous position in the middle of the principal square; too conspicuous, indeed, as only one of its fronts-consisting of a Corinthian peristyle raised on a plain basement—is worthy of such a site. The other three are not only ugly in themselves, but appear still uglier by being contrasted with the fourth. The front of the Carignano palace, which is curved, is covered with whimsical decorations in such profusion that they become an incumbrance rather than ornament. In the interior is what they call a great curiosity, una cosa stupenda a staircase of Guarini's-of which the chief merit is the attempt to give the idea of weight unsupported.

It was unfortunate for Turin, that while there was no lack either of means or inclination to embellish it, the task should have devolved upon such men as Guarini and Guivarra, whose perverted taste preferred the puerile conceits of Boromini to purity and simplicity of design. In all their works they seem to have aimed at nothing

The collection of pictures in this palace consists principally of specimens of the Dutch, Flemish, and French schools, among which are several admired portraits by Vandyke. Among the productions of the Italian schools, Titian's Supper at Emmaus, and the Four Elements by Albani, are the most celebrated.

so much as the novel and the singular. At one end of the old Gothic cathedral, and common to that and the palace to which latter, indeed, it serves as a sort of squire's pew-is the Santo Sudario, a chapel so called as being the supposed depository of Christ's winding sheet, and built of slate-coloured marble. "Such materials," observes Forsyth, "were in themselves solemn and monumental; but, falling into the freakish hands of Guarini, they have been frittered away into a cupola full of triangular windows, which form the wildest lace-work that ever disgraced architecture."

The museum is rich in Egyptian antiquities, and contains one relic that is interesting in more points of view than as a mere remnant of art-the Tavola Isiaca-a massive slab of mixed metal resembling brass, inlaid with silver hieroglyphics, among which is a figure of Isis seated on a throne. This relic, which has given rise to so much discussion as to its meaning and age, contains, among its other symbols, a sort of fac-simile of the modern gondola, with this exception, that it wants the felze, or hutch; though this, by the way, makes no essential part of the boat, being removeable at pleasure*.

The Superga a handsome church, embellished by a portico of eight marble columns, and surmounted by a

* This museum has, within these few years, been enriched by the collection of Drovetti, the rival of Belzoni. Among the greatest curiosities of this splendid collection are a statue of Sesostris, and an ancient cubic measure, divided and marked. This latter was found at Memphis.

cupola, erected by Victor Amadeus II. to commemorate the raising of the famous siege of Turin in 1706, on the very spot from whence Prince Eugene reconnoitred the position of the French army-is about five miles from Turin, on the summit of a lofty hill on the south side of the river. It commands delightful views over the city, the suburbs, the Po, and the surrounding country. The ascent to it is long and steep; and it is mentioned as a proof of the obliging temper of some good-natured individual, that, just as he had reached the foot of the hill on his return from a visit to the Superga, having been met by a stranger, who inquired of him the way to that edifice, he was kind enough to retrace his steps to the top for the purpose of pointing it out.

In this costly mausoleum, together with the bones of several other princes of the house of Savoy, repose those of Victor Amadeus II., whose name figures in the page of history with those of Eugene and Marlborough. It was in a meadow near Carmagnola that Eugene and the Duke of Savoy met for the first time. To bring about this meeting the former had descended from the Tyrol, and traversed the plains of Lombardy; the latter had contrived to steal away from the recesses at the foot of Monte Viso, where he had found shelter among the Vaudois*. They ascended the heights of the Superga

These Vaudois, who dwell among the most secluded of the Alpine fastnesses, which lie between the Clusone and the Pelice-two mountain torrents that fall into the Po-are a small community of