Monaco and the palace of Prince Grimaldi, while on the opposite point is Monte Carlo, the famous gambling place of Europe, which the prince rents to a French company for a fabulous sum.

On the top of the mountain stand romantic ruins of old Roman towers, further down, magnificent gardens, filled with palm and date trees, beautiful flowers, and a luxuriance of other tropical growth, while below, the blue curves of the bay, combine to render the scene a most charming one. The Casino is a magnificent harmony of frescoes, gildings, mirrors, and paintings. The Concert room seats 1,000 people, and is free to the habitués of the place, who congregate there daily to listen to the strains of the finest string band in Europe. The Gambling rooms, three in number, open one into the other, and contain seven tables for the game which begins at 12 M. and closes at 11:30 P. M. No one is permitted here under sixteen years of age, but in singular contrast is tottering old age and blooming youth, dazzling beauty and frivolous fashion, nobles, plebeians, actresses, and demi-mondaines, all intent upon the game; money flowing lavishly, fortunes made and lost in a few hours.

The Cornice road, which extends from Nice to Spezia, runs parallel with the railway skirting the shores of the Mediterranean, passing near a number of small villages and places of resort, one of the most attractive of which is San Rémo.

CHAPTER XVI.

GENOA : TURIN MILAN: VERONA: VENICE: BOLOGNA: FLORENCE: CARRARA : PISA.

GENOA, is a city of 162,000 inhabitants, built on and between hills overlooking the bay. Its streets are very narrow, especially in the old quarter, and its houses, many of which are of marble, rise to a great height, having as many as eight and ten stories. As a rule the exterior of the houses are stuccoed, painted red or yellow, and frescoed from top to bottom, while the roofs being flat and filled with plants and shrubs serve as a promenade for the owners.

Genoa is especially noted as having been the native city of Columbus, who was born here in 1436. His statue adorns a square in the city, and represents him leaning on an anchor, America kneeling at his feet, and surrounding him figures typical of Wisdom, Strength, Geography and Religion.

The city is celebrated for its delicate filagree work in gold and silver, and is a great manufacturing place for silks and velvets.

The Cathedral of San Lorenzo, a portion of which was a heathen temple of worship in olden

times, is built of black and white marble in horizontal stripes, and is adorned with handsome columns, and grotesque figures representing animals. In the treasury of this church is the Sacro Catino, the dish from which it is said Christ ate the Last Supper. It is of dark green glass, ten inches across and four deep, and was kept in the Temple until Cæsarea was taken by the combined armies of Pisa and Genoa, when the latter took it as their share of the booty. So great was the veneration in which this dish was held, the Jews loaned 5,000,000 francs-$1,000,000-on it, and when on exhibition once a year, it was attached by a strong chain which was held by a priest, and was guarded by twelve noblemen.

The Church of the Annunciation has the finest interior of any in Genoa, being finished in a great variety of marbles, its ceiling and dome frescoed to represent scenes from the Old and New Testaments.

The palaces of Genoa are of marble with an open court inclosed in pillars; the entrance doors or gates are frequently forty feet high, and surmounted by the coat-of-arms of the owner, and both exteriorly and interiorly, they are dingy, damp, cold, and prison-like. The principal of these are the Pallavicini, Doria, Brignoli, and Doria-Torsi palaces, in all of which are fine paintings, while the ducal palace, formerly the residence of the Doges, is now used for public offices.

The Campo Santo, or Cemetery, three miles from Genoa, is on the side of a hill, and is justly celebrated for its many magnificent monuments; these, the best works of Villa, Benetti, and Moreno, are cut from the purest white marble; their originality of design and delicacy of execution, being truly wonderful. The humble graves of the poor offer a striking contrast, being simply mounds of earth surmounted by lanterns.

Seven miles from Genoa is the villa of Count Pallavicini, in the grounds of which are a great variety of plants and trees, miniature mosques, pagodas, and temples, with numerous jets of water, leaping up here and there at most unexpected turns, and a stalactite grotto in which is a small lake, winding through to an opening on the opposite side, where a scene of unexpected beauty greets the eye.

Turin, on the river Po, with a population of 193,000, differing from other Italian towns, is well built, with streets running at right angles, and houses massive and substantial, its several squares containing many fine monuments. In the Piazza Castello stands the old castle of the dukes of Savoy, also the present palace, adjoining, which is the Royal Armory, noted for its fine display of arms. In the chapel of St. Sinode attached to the · Cathedral, is preserved the winding sheet of the Saviour.

From Turin, there is a magnificent view of the

Alps, and from this point rail is taken to Iorea, thence stage and horse to the Hospice at the summit of the great St. Bernard.

Milan, the capital of Lombardy, with a population of 261,000 and noted for its manufacture of silk and velvet, is the finest and most modernbuilt city in Italy, full of activity and thrift, and free from those evidences of decline visible in other Italian cities. It is nearly circular in form, and seven miles around, with thirteen gates of massive proportions, the finest of these being the Porta della Pace, on the Simplon road; it is of marble ornamented with statues, and surmounted by the bronze figure of Peace in a chariot drawn by six horses.

Within the city are the well-preserved remains of an ancient Roman arena, sufficiently large to accommodate 30,000 spectators. Here Napoleon witnessed a regatta in 1807, water having been introduced into it by artificial means.

The Duomo, or Cathedral of Milan, the finest in Italy, is one of the most beautiful existing specimens of Gothic architecture. It is constructed of white marble, from the quarries of Gandolia, which was bequeathed to the Cathedral by Gian Galleazzo, and is in the form of the Latin cross, 477x183 feet, surmounted by hundreds of spires and 4,000 statues. The interior, with its double aisles, lofty arches, and clustered pillarsninety feet high, and eight in diameter, is very