The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 14, No. 379, July 4, 1829

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Various. The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 14, No. 379, July 4, 1829

MILAN CATHEDRAL

RUSTIC AMUSEMENTS

Old Poets

CUPID'S ARROWS

MIND

THE WORLD

KINGS

COMPANY

POESIE

TWELVE FOUL FAULTS

RIVERS

The Naturalist

QUADRUPEDS AND BIRDS FEEDING ON SHELL-FISH

Notes of a Reader

SUSSEX COTTAGES

A WINTER'S NIGHT

HACKNEY COACHES

FRANKLIN'S GRAVE

AN INDIAN SULTANA IN PARIS

MAKING PUNCH

LION-EATING AND HANGING

HEAD WAGER

The Novelist

FAIR FANARIOTE

Retrospective Gleanings

JOHN LOCKE

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS

NEW MAGAZINE

EPITAPH IN BUTLEIGH CHURCH

LOVE

Spirit of Discovery

THE SELECTOR; AND LITERARY NOTICES OF NEW WORKS

AN ILLUSTRIOUS SWINDLER

ANCIENT TYRE

SIR WILLIAM DEVEREUX,

The Gatherer

STINGING MISTAKE

THE LATE SIR HUMPHRY DAVY, BART

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"Show the motley-minded gentleman in;"—the old friend with a new face, or, in plain words, THE MIRROR in a new type. Tasteful reader, examine the symmetry, the sharp cut and finish of this our new fount of type, and tell us whether it accords not with the beauty, pungency, and polish of the notings and selections of this our first sheet. For some days this type has been glittering in the printing-office boxes, like nestling fire-flies, and these pages at first resembled so many pools or tanks of molten metal, or the windows of a fine old mansion—Hatfield House for instance,—lit up by the refulgent rays of a rising sun. The sight "inspires us, and fires us;" and we count upon new letter bringing us new friends, and thus commence our Fourteenth Volume with new hopes and invigorating prospects. But what subject can be more appropriate for such a commencement, than so splendid a triumph of art as

situate almost in the centre, and occupying part of the great square of the city. It is of Gothic architecture, and its materials are white marble. In magnitude this edifice yields to few in the universe. Inferior only to the Vatican, it equals in length, and in breadth surpasses, the cathedral of Florence and St. Paul's; in the interior elevation it yields to both; in exterior it exceeds both; in fretwork, carving, and statues, it goes beyond all churches in the world, St. Peter's itself not excepted. Its double aisles, its clustered pillars, its lofty arches; the lustre of its walls; its numberless niches all filled with marble figures, give it an appearance novel even in Italy, and singularly majestic. The admirer of English Gothic will observe one peculiarity, which is, that in the cathedral of Milan there is no screen, and that the chancel is entirely open, and separated from the nave only by its elevation.

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The traveller, says Eustace, will regret as he descends, that instead of heaping this useless and cumbersome quarry upon the dome, the trustees of the edifice did not employ the money expended upon it in erecting a front, (for that essential part is still wanting,) corresponding with the style and stateliness of this superb temple. A front has indeed been begun, but in a taste so dissimilar to that of the main building, and made up of such a medley of Roman orders and Gothic decorations, that the total suspension of such a work might be considered as an advantage, if a more appropriate portal were to be erected in its place. But unfortunately the funds destined for the completion and repair of this cathedral are now swallowed up in the general confiscation. Had it been finished, and the western front built in a style corresponding with the other parts, the admirers of the Gothic style would have possessed one specimen perfect in its kind, and accompanied with all the advantages of the best materials, set off by a fine climate.

In materials, the cathedral of Milan surpasses all the churches of the universe, the noblest of which are only lined and coated with marble, while this is entirely built, paved, vaulted, and roofed with the same substance, and that of the whitest and most resplendent kind. The most remarkable object in the interior of this church is the subterranean chapel, in which the body of St. Charles Borromeo reposes. It is immediately under the dome, in form octangular, and lined with silver, divided into panels representing the different actions of the life of the saint. The body is in a shrine of rock crystal, on, or rather behind the altar; it is stretched at full length, drest in pontifical robes, with the crosier and mitre. The face is exposed, very improperly, because much disfigured by decay, a deformity increased and rendered more hideous by its contrast with the splendour of the vestments which cover the body, and by the pale ghastly light that gleams from the aperture above. The inscription over this chapel or mausoleum, was dictated by St. Charles himself, and breathes that modesty and piety which so peculiarly marked his character. It is as follows:

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