At the Zecca I was shown some gold, silver and bronze medals, struck in
commemoration of the formation of the Lombardo-Venetian Kingdom, under the
sceptre of Austria. They bear the following inscription, which, if I
recollect aright, is from Horace:
Redeunt in aurum
Tempora priscum,[54]
but this golden age is considered by the Italians as a very leaden one; and
it seems to bear as much analogy to the golden age, as the base Austrian
copper coin, daubed over with silver, and made to pass for fifteen and
thirty soldi, has to the real gold and silver Napoleoni, which by the way
are said to be fast disappearing; they are sent to Vienna, and Milan will
probably be in time blessed with a similar paper currency to that of
Vienna.
Napoleon seems to be as much regretted by the Milanese as the Austrian
Government is abhorred; in fact, everybody speaks with horror and disgust
of the aspro boreal scettro and of the aquila che mangia doppio, an
allusion taken from the arms of Austria, the double-headed Eagle.
I have visited the ancient Ducal, now the Royal, Palace; it is a spacious
building, chaste in its external appearance, but its ulterior very
magnificent; its chiefest treasures are the various costly columns and
pilasters of marble and of jaune antique which are to be met with.
