purple line on the horizon, so small as to be scarcely visible; the
purity of the atmosphere enables the eye to discern the most distant
objects with accuracy, and the brilliant sunshine gives inconceivable
splendour to every part of the scene; each antique spire and
curiously-wrought tower sparkles brightly in its beams, whilst the dark
foliage of fine trees, even in the heart of the city, relieves the eye,
and produces a beautiful and pleasing effect."

The cathedral will be recollected as the finest specimen extant of
pointed Gothic architecture, and termed by the Milanese, the eighth
wonder of the world. It is entirely of white marble, and its highest
point four hundred feet from the base. A better idea of its minute as
well as vast beauty will be afforded by the reader turning to our
engraving of the exterior in vol. xiv. of _The Mirror_. It is
successfully painted in the Panorama, although it has not the dazzling
whiteness that a stranger might expect; and, on it are those beautiful
tinges which are thought to be shed by the atmosphere upon buildings of
any considerable age. This effect is visible ever in the fine climate of
Italy: it is ingeniously referred to by Sir Humphry Davy in his last
work[6] to the chemical agency of water. He speaks, however, rather of
the _decay_ produced by water, of which _tinge_ is but the first stage.
The latter is very pleasing, and, about two years since, the fine
portico of the Colosseum, in the Regent's Park, was artificially
coloured to produce this effect of _time_, as it has been poetically
considered.

[6] "Consolations in Travel, or the Last Days of a Philosopher."
1830.

The City of Milan is not particularly interesting, though to an