On The Promenade Lungo L'Arno Near The Cascino Is A Fountain With A
Statue Of Pegasus, With An Inscription In Italian Verse Purporting That
Pegasus Having Stopped There One Day To Refresh Himself At This Fountain,
Found The Place So Pleasant That He Remained There Ever Since.
This is a
poetic nation par excellence.
Affiches are announced in sonnets and
other metres; and tho' in other countries the votaries of the Muses are but
too apt to neglect the ordinary and vulgar concerns of life, yet here it by
no means diminishes industry, and the nine Ladies are on the best possible
terms with Mr Mercury.
I shall not attempt a description of the various palazzi and churches of
Florence, tho' I have visited, thanks to the zeal and importunity of my
cicerone, nearly all, except to remark that no one church in Florence,
the Cathedral and Baptistery on the Piazza del Duomo excepted, has its
facade finished, and they will remain probably for ever unfinished, as the
completion of them would cost very large sums of money, and the restored
Government, however anxious to resuscitate the ancient faith, are not
inclined to make large disbursements from their own resources for that
purpose. I wish however they would finish the facade of two of these
churches, viz., that of Santa Maria Novella and that of Santa Croce.
Santa Maria Novella stands in the Piazza of that name which is very
large. It is a beautiful edifice, and can boast in the interior of it
several columns and pilasters of jaune antique and of white marble.
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