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Rh bk. VIII. ch. n. MILAN. 307 mosaics, its pulpit, and the bronze doors, not to mention the brazen serpent — said to be the very one erected by Moses in the wilderness — and innumerable other relics, make this eliurch one of the most interesting of Italy, if not indeed of all Europe. Generally speaking, the most beautiful part of a Lombard church is its eastern end. The apse with its gallery, the transepts, and above all the dome that almost invariably surmounts their intersection with the choir, constitute a group which always has a pleasing effect, and 744. Atrium of Sau Anibrogia, Milan. (From Ferrario.i) is very often highly artistic and beautiful The sides of the nave, too, are often well designed and appropriate ; but, with scarcely a single exception, the west end, or entrance front is comparatively mean. The building seems to be cut off at a certain length witliout any appropriate finish, or anything to balance the bold projections towards the east. The French cathedrals, on the contrary, while they entirely escape this defect by means of their bold western towers 1 Ferrarro, " Monumenti Sacri e Profani dell' I. R. Basilica di S. Ambrogio.' Milan, 1824.