We were driven along the descent with such rapidity, that I cannot possibly describe any particular scene on this part of the Simplon. It was by far the wildest part of our journey.

The village of Gondo consists of very few houses, and their appearance is most wretched. There is an inn, several stories high. Its small grated windows give it a gloomy aspect; but it is in keeping with the surrounding scenery. The glacier galleries through which we passed, had been, to a considerable extent, formed by chiselling and blasting. The largest of these subterranean excavations, and the most boasted work of the whole road, has been chiselled through the solid mass of rock. Its length is 206 yards; and it required eighteen months' constant labour, night and day, with workmen at both ends, to complete this single excavation. The mountains are solid granite; and their tops often project so much, as nearly to touch those on the opposite sides of the chasms that lie between them.

We only just saw the Bridge of Gondo and its magnificent cataract. The torrent issues from the gorge of Zwischbergen, and falls almost perpendicularly, with such force, close to the bridge over which the traveller has to pass, that it is not possible to look at the dashing of its spray, without feeling a dread of being overwhelmed by it.

The Valley of Chamouni and the environs of Mont Blanc presented to me the finest and grandest scenery I had ever beheld; but this part of the Simplon surpasses it. It is, however, totally different in its features. Here there is a savage grandeur, as if the Almighty Creator had been heaping rocks upon rocks, to impress his creatures with an awful sense of his power. Scenes like these strike the beholder dumb with astonishment; and, viewed with the eye of a painter, they generate an enthusiastic feeling of admiration mixed with awe. The head becomes dizzy with looking down the abysses where the enraged torrents conceal themselves, as if the dark caverns were best adapted for their wild uproar. We hear their thunder, when we cannot see

them; but, when the descending rains have increased their fury, they burst the barriers of their confinement, and carry destruction on every side; uprooting, in their turbulent career, the stately trees that have withstood the shocks of many winters, and whose massive trunks are tossed along the flood, as the feather is wafted by the gentle breeze.

From Divedro, we continued our descent through a narrow glen, of a wild and desolate aspect; and, before we passed through the last grotto, we crossed the torrent twice, over strong and well-built bridges. At Crevola, we again crossed the river Vedro, by a handsome bridge, which is a very fine piece of architecture.

We now began to emerge from these wild and savage scenes, to others of a more sylvan character, enlivened by villages and vineyards; and we soon found ourselves on the classic plains of Italy.

On quitting the Simplon,-a work which does more honour to the name of Napoleon than all his battles,-I have extracted, from the "Memoirs of the Bureau of Longitudes," the account given of it by the French authorities. It cannot fail to interest the scientific, as well as the picturesque, tourist :

"The width of the road is uniformly 24 feet, and its slope of ascent and descent varies from 2 to 7 inches for every 6 feet in length; to preserve this gentle slope, the road follows all the inequalities of the mountain, consequently, lengthening the distance travelled over, but rendering the passage easier.

"If, in comparing with each other divers monuments of the same kind, we consider the quantity of labour which they have required, and the art with which they have been planned and executed, with regard to their destination, we ought to place in the first class of roads that have ever been constructed, those of Mont Cenis and of the Simplon."

"In setting off from Brigg, on the French side, to cross the Simplon, we ascend to the height of 1304 mètres,* as far as the Barrier, near where the Emperor

*The French metre is a measure of 37 inches English.

has ordered a hospital to be built, in traversing an inclined length of road of 22,500 mètres, the direct horizontal length being 10,490 mètres.

"From the Barrier we descend 1707 mètres to the lowest point on the side of Italy, at Duomo d'Ossola, in traversing an inclined length of road of 41,400 mètres, the direct horizontal length being 29,980 mètres.

"The works of art, in walls of support, in bridges, and in subterranean galleries, are greater on this road than on that of Mont Cenis."

Duomo d'Ossola, where the road of the Simplon terminates, is a place of some bustle; and its market is resorted to by all the neighbouring villagers, both Swiss and Italian. It is situated in the richly cultivated valley of Ossola, and is surrounded by mountains of stupendous grandeur. Their snow-clad summits, when seen glistening in the setting sun, give the scenery a splendour that cannot be described by words.

In a short time we arrived at Isella, the Sardinian frontier, where I am now writing. The scenery by which this place is surrounded, is fine; but not to be compared with that which we have passed during the day. We stay here to-night, and have been making ourselves acquainted with a few of the more interesting particulars of the neighbourhood. The houses here are covered with red tiles; and, as the walls are built of lightcoloured marble, the contrast of the roofs is very pleasing. Dear Sir, yours truly,

I am,

J. H.

LETTER VI.

JOURNEY FROM ISELLA.-ARONA.-CARLO BARROMEO. SESTO-CALANDE.-MILAN.-THE DUOMO. ANECDOTE OF NAPOLEON.-THE TOMBS IN THE DUOMO.-AGRATI'S STATUE OF ST. BARTHOLOMEW.-THE PAINTINGS IN THE PALAZZO DELLE BELLE ARTI.-RAFFAELLE'S MARRIAGE OF THE VIRGIN.-THE SCULPTURE ROOMS. THE ARC DE TRIOMPHE.-THE AMPHITHEATRE. THE AMBROSIAN LIBRARY.THE CONVENT OF ST. MARIA DELLA GRAZIE. -LEONARDO DA VINCI'S LAST SUPPER.

To the Editor of the Halifax Express.

Milan, Oct. 3, 1840.

Dear Sir,-My last letter was written from Isella. We left that place on the 24th of September; and, pursuing our journey, we soon came to the ferry over the river Tocia. Formerly there was a bridge here; but it was destroyed by a flood, in 1834.

It was lamentable to behold the extensive damage done to the corn-fields and vineyards, by the late rains and the inundations which they caused. The effects of this calamity were painfully visible all the way to Fariola, and thence till we reached the Lake Maggiore. I fear that the peasantry will be great sufferers by this visitation.

We arrived at Arona, to dinner; and we stayed there all night, as the diligence went no farther. By this delay, we were enabled to make a few sketches of the scenery of the Lake Maggiore, and of the statue of Carlo Barromeo. The statue is placed on the summit of

a hill, and the approach to it is through a fine avenue of

E

trees, which give it a striking effect. The height of the

pedestal is 46 feet;

The head, feet, and

figure is 66 feet, and that of the making a total height of 112 feet. hands, of the statue are of bronze; and the body is of thick sheets of copper, over a stone mould.

The Barromeo family is one of the most ancient and opulent of the families in the north of Italy. Carlo Barromeo, in honour of whom this statue was erected, was born in the year 1538, at the Castle of Arona. From infancy, he was destined for the church; and his uncle, Cardinal de Medici, having been elected Pope under the title of Pius IV., his prospects of preferment were highly flattering. At the early age of twenty two, he was created a Cardinal, and nominated to the Archiepiscopal see of Milan. At the invitation of his uncle, he went to reside at Rome, and was there entrusted with the chief administration of the pontifical affairs. For a while he was led away by the dissipations of the capital; but he had the wisdom to perceive that these were derogatory to his clerical profession, and he withdrew from them, to devote his time and wealth with greater zeal to the service of his fellow-countrymen, whose esteem and veneration he obtained, by spending the remainder o his life in relieving the poor and the necessitous, and in the foundation of colleges, and establishments for the indigent. This colossal statue was raised to his memory, by public subscription, as a tribute to his virtues, and as a testimony of the esteem in which his services were held by those who were most benefited by them, and whose intimate knowledge of his character, rendered them the most fitting judges of his worth.

We left Arona by a car-a-banc; and, after riding for an hour, were ferried over the river, to Sesto-calande, the Austrian custom-house. Passports are very strictly examined here; and we had to wait three hours, for a diligence to Milan. On leaving, we had with us an Austrian soldier, who sat on the coach, with fixed bayonet, as guard. The country through which we passed is regarded as classic ground; Scipio having fought a battle with Hannibal, on the banks of the Ticino, near