This morning employed a Guida de Piazza, as they are called in Milan - an old militarian under Napoleon and well acquainted with the works of art & antiquities of Milan. He is to take me to see the cenacula of Da Vinci, the arco della pace and the accademia di Bresso, the Ambrosian library etc. etc. He is likewise to perform the part of ruffiano, as I told him I could not think of leading the life of San Girolamo at Milan.

The arch of peace commenced by Napoleon and finished by the Austrians is the finest monument of the kind I have yet seen, of marble surmounted by bronze statues. The Arc de Etoile is the only one to be compared to it, but the arch of Milan carries the palm. After looking round at the alter pieces in the old church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, found in the refectory of an old convent the well known cenacula of Leonardo da Vinci, but time the universal conqueror has done his work the dampness of the wall has nearly obliterated this master piece of art. Some of the faces, particularly that of the saviour, may still be admired and put at defiance all the copies and engravings that I have seen of it. I should say little more than 10 years must complete its decay as the nitre arises from the wall and for which there is no remedy.

The modern amphitheater well built of stone and of large dimensions used for equestrian exercises and nautical exhibitions being supplied with water by the canals with which Milan is so abundantly furnished and in winter as at present the water is let in, and serves as a skating pond to the gentry and nobility of the city.

Snow coming on returned to the Hotel - in the evening the opera of the Straniera & ballet at the La Scala. Ranconi sang admirably in the part of Valdeburgo - Salvi that I saw at Trieste was not so favorably received - the three ballerinas of the accademia received their usual applause -