parallel with the holy one, by which the devotees descend. At the summit is a Gothic chapel, called Sancta Sanctorum, formerly the private chapel of the Popes. It contains a painting of the Saviour, attributed to St Luke, said to be a likeness of our Lord when 12 years of age.

A straight street (via in Merulana) leads from the Piazza of St John Lateran, to that of Santa Maria Maggiore; in the latter stands a Corinthian column of white marble, the only one left entire of those which supported the vault of the basilica of Constantine.

SANTA MARIA MAGGIORE, SO named because it is the largest of the churches consecrated at Rome to the Virgin, was founded in 352 by Pope Liberius I., and enlarged upon the plan which it still preserves in 432. Nicholas IV. rebuilt and enlarged the apse in the 13th century. F. Fuga, in constructing the principal facade, preserved the mosaics of the ancient facade. It is from the loggia constructed in front of these mosaics, that the Pope gives his benediction on Ascension-day. The posterior facade presents a solid mass of agreeably diversified lines. On this side stands the obelisk which came from the Mausoleum of Augustus, and hence is seen the fine perspective of the Via dello Quattro Fontane. The campanile, the highest in the city, dates from 1376. The interior is divided into three naves by 44 Ionic columns. The magnificent ceiling was designed by Giulio da San Gallo; the mosaics of the apse by Jacopo da Turriti ; and those between the windows by Gaddo Gaddi. Beneath the great altar is the Confession of St Matthew the Evangelist. It is preceded by an atrium similar to those at St Peter's, the Lateran, and St Paul. It is said to be

destined for the tomb of Pius XI. The chapel of the Holy Sacrament contains the tomb of Sixtus V. In a subterranean chapel, the Culla is said to be preserved. It consists of five boards of the manger in which the Saviour was laid at the Nativity. The richness of the chapel of Sixtus V. is exceeded by that of the Borghese or Pauline Chapel, built by Flaminio Ponzio (1611); it contains tombs of Paul V., Clement VIII., and frescoes by Guido, Giuseppino, and L. Cigoli. The altarpiece is formed of fluted columns of jasper.

Santa Croce in Gerusalemma, a basilica, was erected by St Helena, mother of Constantine. She deposited there a portion of the Holy Cross, found at Jerusalem. This church has lost the impress of its antiquity, having been rebuilt under Benedict XIV. (1743).

SO

BASILICAS OUTSIDE THE WALLS. SAN LORENZO, built in the 6th century. It has been repeatedly enlarged, and in 1216 was much altered that the old basilica became the choir of the present church. The portico is supported by 6 Ionic columns. Above these is a mosaic frieze of the 13th century; above this is a richly decorated marble frieze. The walls of the portico are covered with a curious series of frescoes representing four consecutive stories. The nave is divided into side aisles by 22 Ionic columns. Above the architrave are frescoes of the lives and martyrdom of St Stephen and St Lawrence. Under the high altar are the remains of these saints. At the end of the left aisle is the entrance to the Catacombs of Sta. Ciriaca. Adjoining the church is a picturesque cloister. ST PAUL, founded by Constantine, rebuilt in 388 by Theodosius and Valentinian II.,

and restored and adorned by many of the Popes, was, until its destruction by fire in 1823, one of the grandest churches in Rome. It contained many mosaics and frescoes, and the sarcophagus of St Paul. The restoration was immediately commenced by Leo XII., continued by Gregory XIV., and was nearly completed under Pius IX., by whom it was consecrated in 1854. The present building is of great dimensions (396 ft. long inside, its width 222 ft.), but of very moderate architectural pretensions. In the space near the entrance are a few of the frescoes and mosaics which were preserved, and a colossal statue of Gregory XVI. The windows are being filled with stained glass. The church contains a series of medallion portraits of the Popes in mosaic. Near the transept on the sides are colossal figures of St Peter and St Paul; and there are other ancient mosaics, and many statues and pictures. The interior is divided into five naves by 80 Corinthian columns of granite, each of a single block, brought from Bevano on Lake Maggiore. Under the high altar are preserved the remains of St Paul, except the head, which is at St John Lateran. Around the nave is a frieze of 258 portraits of Popes in mosaic. The monastery attached to this church has belonged to the Benedictines since 1442; for a small fee, visitors are allowed to inspect the interesting cloister (13th century), which contains many early Christian inscriptions from the neighbouring catacombs, a sculptured sarcophagus, with the story of Apollo and Marsyas, and other ancient remains. St Sebastian without the walls, two miles beyond the gate of that name, built in 367, was entirely restored in the 18th century, and is visited for the catacombs be

neath it. These Catacombs were originally excavated by the early Christians as burial places, and were subsequently used for meetings and religious worship. In the church is shown the stone in which is the impression said to have been left by the feet of our Saviour when He was met by St Peter on the spot where now stands the little Church of Domine quo vadis, so called from the words addressed by Peter to the Saviour.

St Agnes without the walls. The floor of this church is below the surface of the ground, and 45 steps lead to it. The mosaic of the tribune dates from 626. This church was damaged by a shell during the siege of Rome by the Italian army, Sept. 1870. About a quarter of a mile beyond this church is the entrance to the Catacombs named from it, on the side of the Via Nomentana. These are of particularly interesting construction, as the use to which the chambers of which they are formed were dedicated, as schools, chapels, &c., may be clearly determined; and there are some mural paintings representing the Saviour, and the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

While mentioning these we may remind the reader that on the Via Appia, one mile and a quarter beyond the Porta Sans Sebastiano, are the CATACOMBS OF ST CALLIXTUS, in which some of the most interesting discoveries have been made. The entrance is from a vineyard. In the principal chamber are the tombs of several Popes, of Anteros, Lucius, Fabianus, and Eutychianus, and the Martyr Pope Sixtus II. The chamber in which St Cecilia was entombed, before her remains were transferred to her church in Trastevere, is here: and upon the walls are frescoes in the Byzantine style of the 7th and 8th centuries, of St Cecilia,

St Urban, and a head of Christ. Popes Eusebius and Cornelius are also buried in this catacomb. About the entrance are a great number of ancient inscriptions, dating from the 4th to the 6th centuries.

Opposite to those of Calixtus, on the Appian Way, are the Catacombs of St Prætextatus, containing the tomb of St Januarius, and some important paintings, which, however, are not always to be seen, while the excavations are in progress.

In the vicinity, on the via Ardeatina, are the Catacombs of Sts Nereus and Achilleus, or of Domitilla, the architectural decorations of which seem to belong to the 3rd century.

CHURCHES.

Rome has more than 300 churches, the most remarkable of which are the following:

St Agnes, in the Piazza Novana, upon the site of the scaffold where St Agnes was burnt alive. The church is in the form of a Greek cross. It contains few objects of interest. Beneath it are chambers said to be part of the house where the saint was exposed before her execution. S. Andrea delle Fratte, near the Propaganda, contains the tomb of Mademoiselle Falconnet by Miss Hosmer. S. Andrea della Valle contains some of the most celebrated frescoes of Domenichinothe four Evangelists in the angles under the cupola, and the 66 Call of Peter and Andrew" on the ceiling of the tribune-works to which posterity has done the justice which his contemporaries denied. SS. Apostoli, adjoining the Palazzo Colonna, founded in the 6th century, modernized in 1602. In the portico is a monument by Canova. In the centre

of the floor is the so-called grave of St Philip and St James the Less, to whom the church is dedicated. SANTA MARIA in ARA CŒLI. It is stated that the temple of Feretrian Jove stood on the very foundations of this church, that the columns of the aisles supported the last temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, and that the altar, which gave name to the convent, was raised by the Christian piety of Augustus. The church is undoubtedly of great antiquity, but not older than the 6th century. It has nothing of especial interest. It possesses the Santissimo Bambino, the figure of an infant, said to have been carved out of wood which grew on the Mount of Olives, and to have been painted by St Luke. Its alleged power to cure the sick has given it great popularity. Gibbon states that it was in this church, as he sat musing amidst the ruins of the Capitol while the barefooted monks were singing vespers, that the idea of writing the decline and fall of the city first started to his mind."

"The church is not architecturally handsome, but is eminently pictur

esque, with its relics of centuries, its mosaic pulpits and floors, its frescoes of Pinturicchio and Pesaro, its antique columns, its rich golden ceiling, its Gothic mausoleum to the Savelli, and its mediaval tombs. A dim, dingy

of faded splendour; and one cannot stand there, knowing the history of the church, its great antiquity, and the varied fortunes it has known, without a peculiar sense of interest and pleasure.

look is over all, but it is the dimness

"It was here that Romulus, in the grey dawning of Rome, built the temple of Jupiter Feretrius. Here the spolia opima were deposited. Here the triumphal processions of the emperors and generals ended. Here the victors paused before making their vows, until, from the Mamertine prisons below, the message came announce that their noblest prisoner

to

and victim-while the clang of their triumph and his defeat rose ringing in his ears, as the procession ascended the steps-had expiated with death the crime of being the enemy of Rome. On the steps of Ara Coli, nineteen centuries ago, the first great Cæsar climbed on his knees after his first triumph. At their base, Rienzi, the last of the Roman tribunes, fell; and if the tradition of the Church is to be trusted, it was on the present high altar that Augustus erected the 'Ara Primogeniti Dei,' to commemorate the Delphic prophecy of the coming of our Saviour."-Roba di Roma, i. 73.

Capuchin Church, or Santa Maria della Concezione. In this church is Guido's Archangel Michael. With respect to the merits of this famous picture a remarkable difference of opinion prevails. In the opinion of Forsyth it holds the same rank in painting that the Belvedere Apollo does in sculpture. Opposite to Guido's Archangel is the "St Paul restored to sight by Ananias," one of the best works of Pietro da Cortona. Over the door is the cartoon of Giotto's Navicella: it represents St Peter walking on the waves, and is copied in mosaic at St Peter's. Under this church is a charnelhouse, or CEMETERY OF THE FRIARS, divided into recesses. Each recess is faced with bones, of disinterred Capuchins, and adorned with lamps, festoons, crosses, &c., formed of the same reverend materials. A few skeletons are dressed in their tunics, and set in various attitudes, each in a niche built up with reeky shanks and yellow chapless skulls." When a friar dies he is buried in the oldest grave, and the bones of the former occupant are removed to the ossuarium. S. Cecilia, convent and church, founded by Urban I. after the death of the saint, modernized in 1720. Beneath the altar is the

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famous statue of St Cecilia by Stefano Maderno. Opening out of the right aisle are two rooms of the house of the saint, one of the rooms, in which she was imprisoned, containing the pipes and heating apparatus of an ancient bath. S. CLEMENTE, in the street leading from the Coliseum to St John Lateran, consecrated to St Clement, and situated upon the site of his house. It is of the 9th century. Beneath the church is a lower and more ancient church, discovered in 1857, in which are shown marble pillars and curious frescoes. Beneath is still a third structure supposed to be the house of Clement. IL GESU, near the Palazzo Venezia, a modern church handsomely decorated. St Ignatius Loyola is buried under the high altar. S. GREGORIO, which, among many other interesting objects, contains in one of the chapels frescoes by Guido and Domenichino. S. Lorenzo in Lucina in the small Piazza S. Lorenzo, leading out of the Corso. Over the high altar is Guido's famous painting of the Crucifixion. Niccolas Poussin, the painter, is buried in the church. S. MARIA DEGLI ANGELI, converted into a church from the great hall of the Baths of Diocletian by Michael Angelo. In the body of the church are many celebrated pictures, several of which were formerly at St Peter's. Eight of the sixteen huge columns are of Egyptian granite. The fountain in the great cloister behind the church was designed by Michael Angelo. S. MARIA SOPRA MINERVA occupies one side of the Piazza della Minerva near the Pantheon, the most important of the Gothic churches of Rome. Besides several interesting tombs and works of art, the church contains, on the left of the high altar, Michael Angelo's famous statue of Christ. In the

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choir is the tomb of Pope Leo X. In the convent of this church Galileo was tried for "heresy in saying that the earth moved round the sun. S. PIETRO IN MONTORIO, on an eminence not far from the Villa Pamfili, was built by Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain upon the spot where St Peter is supposed to have been crucified. The church contains little of interest. The view from this church is one of the finest in Rome. In the cloister is the little Doric temple of Bramante, placed over the spot where the cross was supposed to have been fixed. S. PIETRO IN VINCULO, not far from the Baths of Titus, built to receive the chains with which St Peter was bound in prison. The chains are preserved in a chapel. The longest is about 5 feet in length. They are exhibited on the first Monday in Lent. The great object of interest in this church is the famous STATUE OF MOSES by Michael Angelo. The figures of Rachel and Leah, in niches on either side of the Moses, are also by Michael Angelo. The famous picture of "Hope," by Guido, formerly in the sacristy, is now in England. S. Pudentiana, at the foot of the Esquiline, the oldest of the Roman churches. It occupies the site of the house of Pudens the senator, with whom St Paul lodged. It has been rebuilt, and beyond some fine marbles and frescoes, contains little of interest. S. STEFANO ROTONDO, a curious round church dedicated in 467. The walls are lined with frescoes. Trinita di Monti, near the head of the famous "Spanish Stairs " above the Piazza di Spagna, built by Charles VIII. of France. It contains Daniele da Volterra's famous picture of the "Descent from the Cross," and several other interesting paintings.

PALACES.

The VATICAN is less a palace than an assemblage of palaces; of irregular edifices, upon which the most celebrated architects, as Bramante, Raphael, Pirro Ligorio, Dom, Fontano, C. Maderno, and Bernini, have been employed. It is of three storeys, and contains an infinity of saloons, galleries, chapels, corridors, a library, an immense museum, and a garden; there may be counted 20 courts, 8 grand staircases, and 200 ordinary staircases. The popes first took up their residence in the Vatican after their return from Avignon. John XXIII. made a communication between the palace and the Castle of San Angelo by means of a covered gallery. Nicholas V. surrounded it with walls. In the fourteenth century, Sixtus IV. built the library and the Sixtine chapel. Alexander VI. built the Borgia addition. In 1490, Innocent VIII. built the villa of the Belvedere, at some distance from the palace. Julius II. charged Bramante with the task of uniting it with the palace. The lodges commenced by him were completed by Leo X. Paul III. built the Sala Regia and the Pauline chapel. Sixtus V. constructed the transverse gallery, which contains the library, and commenced the east wing of the court San Damaso, or of the Lodges. Other Popes continued to embellish and make various additions to the Vatican. Clement XIV. and Pius VI. added buildings for the establishment of the Pio-Clementino museum. Pius VII. added a transverse gallery, parallel with the library, called the Braccio Nuovo (the new arm). Gregory XVI. built the Etruscan and Egyptian Museums.

The Sixtine Chapel.—Sixtus IV.