Page:Life in the Old World - Vol. II.djvu/62

72 many shops for the mosaic work, and full of admirable productions in this beautiful art, which is carried on to a great extent in Florence, and with a taste peculiar to its people.

You often come upon splendid private palaces; but so built up by other houses, that it is not until you are quite close to them, that you are aware of having a grand seigneur before you, amongst the buildings. Of many handsome churches, and many other works of art, I shall now say nothing; because the time fails me to observe them more closely, and six months would not suffice to become well-acquainted with the treasures of art and science, which this flower of cities contains. They do not, however, constitute the highest interest for one in Italy; and the year draws towards its close. I therefore leave the beautiful Florence; leave Milan and Venice, Bologna and Ferrara, to another time—perhaps till my return home—and hasten to prepare for myself and my young friend, comfortable winter-quarters in Rome, “the eternal city,” the centre of Italy, anciently of the civilized world.