As The
House Of Medici Had For Some Centuries Resided In The Palace Of
Pitti, Situated On The Other Side
Of the river, a full mile from
these tribunals, the architect Vasari, who planned the new
edifice, at the same
Time contrived a corridore, or covered
passage, extending from the palace of Pitti along one of the
bridges, to the gallery of curiosities, through which the grand-
duke passed unseen, when he was disposed either to amuse himself
with his antiquities, or to assist at his courts of judicature:
but there is nothing very extraordinary either in the contrivance
or execution of this corridore.
If I resided in Florence I would give something extraordinary for
permission to walk every day in the gallery, which I should much
prefer to the Lycaeum, the groves of Academus, or any porch or
philosophical alley in Athens or in Rome. Here by viewing the
statues and busts ranged on each side, I should become acquainted
with the faces of all the remarkable personages, male and female,
of antiquity, and even be able to trace their different
characters from the expression of their features. This collection
is a most excellent commentary upon the Roman historians,
particularly Suetonius and Dion Cassius. There was one
circumstance that struck me in viewing the busts of Caracalla,
both here and in the Capitol at Rome; there was a certain
ferocity in the eyes, which seemed to contradict the sweetness of
the other features, and remarkably justified the epithet
Caracuyl, by which he was distinguished by the antient
inhabitants of North-Britain.
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