It is an octagon of fifty feet diameter, crowned with a dome, the walls of which are lined with Sicilian Jasper, and richly inlaid with precious stones.

Upon six of its sides are marble Sarcophaguses, designed by the prolific genius of Michael Angelo, two of which are surmounted by Regal Crowns, placed upon cushions of red Jasper, and studded with transparent gems.

Near it is the Capella dé Principi—a secluded Chapel, designed by the same creative Pencil, and filled by the same various Hand, with the Tombs of Giuliano Duke of Nemours, and Brother to Leo X. and Lorenzo Duke of Urbino, on the right and left of the Altar.

Each

Each of them exhibits its princely Occupant, in complete armour, sitting with in a niche, behind his Tomb-the Former, accompanied by recumbent Figures of Day and Night-the Latter, by DayBreak and Twilight-Ideas happily emblematical of Monumental fame, in which, as in the Paris Register,

To be born and die,

Of Rich and Poor, makes all the history-
Enough if Virtue filled the space between,
Prov'd by the ends of being to have been.*

In the adjoining Convent there is a noble Library, particularly rich in ancient. Manuscripts and early editions of the classics.

Among the former there is a Bible of the Vulgate Translation, supposed to have been written as early as the Se

• Pope.

venth Century, in which the Curious have observed the omission of the con

troverted text of St. John,

"There are

three that bear record in Heaven."*

There is also a copy of Virgil's Æneid, said to be of the Fifth Century, in which the four first verses,

Ille ego qui quondam, &c.†

are wanting. The Poem begins with

Arma Virumque cano.‡

The

"For there

• This disputed text stands, in our Bibles, as follows.

are three that bear record [in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the

And there are three that bear

Holy Ghost and these three are one. : witness in earth] the spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one:" But in the most ancient Greek Manuscripts, collated by Stephens, Mills, and other learned men, the words included within crotchets were totally wanting, viz. v T spavã, i Narns, i ΛόγΘ, και το ἅγιον Πνευμα και ήτοι οἱ τρεις ἂν εἰσιο και трые son of μapropõvres ev rũ yñ. So much therefore of the seventh and eighth verses of the fifth chapter of the first Epistle of John, appears to be an interpolation, which whenever fabricated) was not universally adopted by the Latin Church until the Middle Ages.

I who but lately sung, &c.

Arms and the Man I sing.

The Antichamber and Stair-Case of this famous Library were designed by Michael Angelo, and are deservedly admired.

In the Church of Santa Croce, belonging to a Convent of Benedictines, a Gothic edifice, erected by Arnolfo, in 1294, are seen a number of interesting Monuments, particularly those of Galilleo, the Precursor of Astronomical Truth, and of Michael Angelo Buonarotti, who died at Rome, in his 89th year, but was here interred, by command of the reigning Duke.*

Galilleo,

* I need not tell the well-known story of the Persecution of the Astronomer-because his discoveries were supposed to controvert the descriptions of the Sacred Books; nor need I add the mortifying recantation by which the Philofopher was fain to make his peace with the Bigots of his Age: But it may not be generally known that some of the works of Galilleo are yet prohibited in his native city.

Galilleo is happily represented, upon his funeral urn, as having gazed through his telescope until weariness obliges him to discontinue his contemplations. He is accompanied on one side by the Genius of Astronomy, on the other by that of Geometry, with their discriminating attributes.

Buonarotti, reposes upon a monumental stone, surrounded by the Sister Arts of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture, weeping over the happy Genius by whom they were once-and but once united.