Among The Many Valuable Pieces Of Sculpture To
Be Met With Here Is A Most Lovely Cupid In Parian Marble.
He is represented
sleeping on a lion's skin.
It is the most beautiful piece of sculpture I
have ever seen next to the Apollo Belvedere and the Venus dei Medici; it
appears alive, and as if the least noise would awake it.[77]
Turin used to be in the olden time one of the most brilliant Courts and
cities in Europe, and the most abounding in splendid equipages; now very
few are to be seen. When Piedmont was torn from the domination of the House
of Savoy and annexed to France, Turin, ceasing to be the capital of a
Kingdom, necessarily decayed in splendor, nor did its being made the Chef
lieu of a Prefecture of the French Empire make amends for what it once
was. The Restoration arrived, but has not been able to reanimate it; an air
of dullness pervades the whole city. Obscurantism and anti-liberal ideas
are the order of the day.
I witnessed a military review at which the King of Sardinia assisted. The
troops made a very brilliant appearance and manoeuvred well. His Majesty
has a very good seat on horseback and a distinguished military air. He is a
man of honor tho' he has rather too high notions of the royal dignity and
authority, and is too much of a bigot in religion; but his word can be
depended on, a great point in a King; there are so many of them that break
theirs and falsify all their promises.
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