PADUA.

THE TOWN-HALL.

For the great desire I had
To see fair Padua, nursery of arts,
I am arrived for fruitful Lombardy,
The pleasant garden of great Italy;
And by my father's love and leave am arm'd,
With his good will and thy good company,
My trusty servant well-approved in all.
Here let us breathe, and happily institute
A course of learning and ingenious studies.

TAMING OF THE SHREW.

PADUA " la dotta," as, in compliment to its celebrated university, it is still termed, is situated in the midst of a rich and abundant country. 66 Padua," says Mr. Forsyth, "has contracted from its long low porticos and its gloomy churches, a grave old vacancy of aspect." Since the fall of Venice, however, this city has increased in importance, and presents a more animated scene than when it was visited by Mr. Forsyth.

The town-hall of Padua, usually called Il Salone, was commenced in the year 1172, and is said not to have been completed until 1306. It is the largest hall in Europe with a roof unsupported by pillars, being about 300 feet in length, and 100 in breadth, while Westminster hall only measures in length 270 feet, and in breadth 74. The walls of this magnificent structure are ornamented with frescoes by Giotto, which, in the course of the last

century, were retouched by Zannoni. The bust of Livy, and a tomb, which was supposed to have covered his remains, are also displayed in the hall. About the year 1340 a monumental stone was discovered in the monastery of S. Giustina, upon which the name "T. Livius" appeared. This was quite sufficient to satisfy the antiquarian patriotism of the Paduans, who, transported at their discovery, assembled in crowds round the relic, and bore it in pomp and triumph through the streets of their city. At length an inquisitive scholar, upon an examination of the inscription, found that the T. Livius to whom it was dedicated was some forgotten freedman, and not the celebrated Patavinian. In the town-hall may be seen a stone inscribed with the words " lapis vituperü," formerly applied to a singular use, and serving, by a very simple machinery, all the purposes of our insolvent courts. Any unfortunate Paduan, who found himself unable to pay his debts, and was willing to swear that he was not worth five pounds, was seated, in a full hall, upon this stone, without that protection from the cold which his garments usually supplied, and was by this process relieved from the burthen of his debts. "But this is a punishment," says Addison," that nobody has submitted to these four and twenty years." "None of the confined debtors," observes Mr. Howard, in his remarks on the prisons at Padua, "would sit on the elevated stone in the great hall, and I was informed that not one had submitted to this ignominy these ten years." In other cities of Italy the same custom was formerly prevalent. The ceremony consisted in the debtor sitting down three times, each time repeating the words " cedo bonis."