Here we see her peerless domes and towers rise in all their stately grandeur beneath a lovely Italian sky. We are now at the station. Alighting, we soon found the ’bus for “Hotel Minerva” (this we had selected before hand) so were soon once more settled for a little while. Our hotel was very comfortable, and we found mine host most gracious, and evidently most desirous to satisfy us, and so keep our patronage as long as possible. The rooms were lofty and furnished with taste, dinner served in good style, which included everything we could wish for. A look round the city for a little while, was our first thought, so out we went into the great open square, facing which is the Duomo or Cathedral Maria del Fiore, so called from the lily which figures in the arms of Florence. This vast pile of buildings was begun in the year 1298, and finished in the year 1462. It is stated it was built on the foundations of an earlier church. It is a grand example of the Gothic art. The length of the building is 185 yards, and its width, 114 yards. The dome is 300 feet high, and with the lantern 352 feet. On the 8th of September, 1298, a representative of Pope Boniface VIII. blessed the foundations of this new grand temple in the presence of the “Gonfaloniere Borgo,” many bishops, “the chapter,” all the Florentine clergy, the captains of the arts, and the magnificent and sublime “Signori of the Republic,” as they were called. The words with which the community gave charge of this sumptuous building were, literally translated, “to make it so magnificent and so sublime that it would be impossible that it should be surpassed.” And it seemed to us that for size and strength and adornments, few can compare with it. Many vicissitudes occurred during the building—wars, deaths of architects, etc.—till in the year 1492 it was something like a completed building. In April, 1860, King Victor Emmanuel laid the foundation of a new facade, which was to replace one taken away, as the design was considered unsuitable. Above the south door is a Madonna between two angels. Inside we were struck with its massiveness, more than with its decorations. On the right there is a fine equestrian statue of John Hawkswood, of date 1384, an English soldier of fortune, who had served the Republic with unswerving fidelity. Over the portico is a fine picture of the Virgin Mary in mosaic. On the right side are some fine marble figures of great men of ancient dates. In the east nave are fine statues of St. John and St. Peter; a fine stained-glass window with most attractive and telling designs. Inside the great dome is a very peculiar, very grotesque frieze, by a great painter named Vasari, depicting the flames of hell and awful monsters around them. Also the heaven of delight and bliss.