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Article LETTERS FROM T. DUNCKERLEY, ESQ. ← Page 2 of 4 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Letters From T. Dunckerley, Esq.
very hi gh arid uniform , of a white stone or marble , and over the doors of the best part of them are beautifull y painted in large oval shields the arms of the Grand Duke ; the streets are very beautiful , well paved , and wide ; the Exchange , or place where the merchants meet , is a large spacious square , not unlike Covent-Garden , the houses being all raised on piazzas . Straw hats , silks , velvets , embroideries and silver lace
, gold , & c . ate very cheap and good here . The two chief things that attract the eye of a stranger at his landinoare , the Brazen Men , as they are called , and the Courtezanes Galley The former is a piece of statuary , universally allowed to be the most finished work in its kind ; it is erected in the market-place . On a large square black marble pedestal stands the fi of a manlarge
gure , r than the life , habited like a Roman , with a truncheon in his hand ; the statue is of white marble , about the size of that of King James in the college-garden of Chelsea . Round the pedestal are the ° ngures of four men chained , three times as large as the life ; the eldest of these is represented with his back bowed and broke , and surely nothing but the view of these admirable ieces can ive an adequate
p g idea of their beauties . Sorrow , distress , age , and misery , are lively represented in the old man . In the three young ' ones appear a mixture of manly courage and filial tenderness contending for the superiority ; two of them have their looks turned toward Their suffering father , and seem to tell him with their eyes the . share they bear in his misfortune ; the other looks up to Heaven as implorin g-
assistance in their behalf ; not a muscle nor vein but what are as justly ex-pressed here as in the most correct anatomical print . The occasion of erecting this statue is said to be as follows : One of the Dukes of Tuscany , in his excursions on the Barbarians , having taken prisoners an old man and his three sons of a more than common and gigantic stature and strength ( and who had frequently made great depredations on the Legonese in their small feluccas
, or row-boats , carrying away whole families at a time , and bearing all before them by their sole strength and powers ) , was particularly pleased with this his conquest , and reserved them for an appointed day to satisfy his people ' s desire in putting them to death . One night , however , having by some means or other escaped from their guard , they seized on a small boat ling in the harbourand rowed
y , off till they came to the great chain which gees across the entrance of the mole , which they with prodigious strength ' of rowing burst open , unperceived by the guard that were asleep , and passed out ; but the centinel being awaked by the noise alarmed the town ; it was , however , day before it was known that it was the Moors who had made their The duke was greatltroubled at their
escape . y flight , which the young prince his son perceiving , offered himself ; ' on the forfeiture of his head , to fetch these fugitives back ; upon which his father gave him several small vessels , and a sufficient number of armed men , with which he immediately set out , and overtook' these poor wretches just as they were on the point of landing on the Barb . iry coast , which is a considerable distance from
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Letters From T. Dunckerley, Esq.
very hi gh arid uniform , of a white stone or marble , and over the doors of the best part of them are beautifull y painted in large oval shields the arms of the Grand Duke ; the streets are very beautiful , well paved , and wide ; the Exchange , or place where the merchants meet , is a large spacious square , not unlike Covent-Garden , the houses being all raised on piazzas . Straw hats , silks , velvets , embroideries and silver lace
, gold , & c . ate very cheap and good here . The two chief things that attract the eye of a stranger at his landinoare , the Brazen Men , as they are called , and the Courtezanes Galley The former is a piece of statuary , universally allowed to be the most finished work in its kind ; it is erected in the market-place . On a large square black marble pedestal stands the fi of a manlarge
gure , r than the life , habited like a Roman , with a truncheon in his hand ; the statue is of white marble , about the size of that of King James in the college-garden of Chelsea . Round the pedestal are the ° ngures of four men chained , three times as large as the life ; the eldest of these is represented with his back bowed and broke , and surely nothing but the view of these admirable ieces can ive an adequate
p g idea of their beauties . Sorrow , distress , age , and misery , are lively represented in the old man . In the three young ' ones appear a mixture of manly courage and filial tenderness contending for the superiority ; two of them have their looks turned toward Their suffering father , and seem to tell him with their eyes the . share they bear in his misfortune ; the other looks up to Heaven as implorin g-
assistance in their behalf ; not a muscle nor vein but what are as justly ex-pressed here as in the most correct anatomical print . The occasion of erecting this statue is said to be as follows : One of the Dukes of Tuscany , in his excursions on the Barbarians , having taken prisoners an old man and his three sons of a more than common and gigantic stature and strength ( and who had frequently made great depredations on the Legonese in their small feluccas
, or row-boats , carrying away whole families at a time , and bearing all before them by their sole strength and powers ) , was particularly pleased with this his conquest , and reserved them for an appointed day to satisfy his people ' s desire in putting them to death . One night , however , having by some means or other escaped from their guard , they seized on a small boat ling in the harbourand rowed
y , off till they came to the great chain which gees across the entrance of the mole , which they with prodigious strength ' of rowing burst open , unperceived by the guard that were asleep , and passed out ; but the centinel being awaked by the noise alarmed the town ; it was , however , day before it was known that it was the Moors who had made their The duke was greatltroubled at their
escape . y flight , which the young prince his son perceiving , offered himself ; ' on the forfeiture of his head , to fetch these fugitives back ; upon which his father gave him several small vessels , and a sufficient number of armed men , with which he immediately set out , and overtook' these poor wretches just as they were on the point of landing on the Barb . iry coast , which is a considerable distance from