A VISIT TO ST. PETER'S AT ROME. 445 



new order of beings. One could stand and feed one's gaze with it 

 for ever. 



"Are you fond of relics ? There are plenty here, but we cannot get 

 at them. Of the few which are exposed to the public, those two beau- 

 tifully twisted columns of white marble which are elevated in that 

 niche half way between the pavement and the cupola, are said to 

 have been brought from the temple at Jerusalem ; and that splendid 

 Corinthian pillar near the Pieta of Michael Angelo, is affirmed to be 

 one against which our Saviour leaned while discoursing in the Tem- 

 ple. Many of the Roman relics are undoubtedly spurious, but I am 

 far from being so universally sceptical upon the subject as many per- 

 sons profess to be. It is certain that all the relics to which any de- 

 gree of credit is attached were actually brought from the Holy Land, 

 and it is more than probable that those who imported them believed 

 them to be genuine. When, as in the cloisters of St. John Lateran, 

 they show you with a grave face the well from which the woman of 

 Samaria was drawing water when our Saviour addressed her, the 

 stone on which the cock was perched when he crew to St. Peter, the 

 two halves of a column rent in twain at the Crucifixion, &c., &c., we 

 may reasonably assent to what we are told with a certain degree of 

 mental reservation; but it would be difficult I think to prove the im- 

 possibility that a pillar may now stand in the church of St. Peter's 

 at Rome which formerly made part of the Temple at Jerusalem. 

 ~ " But I see you are almost tired, so we will return home. You 

 must come again, and again, and again, in order to understand 

 thoroughly the marvels heaped together upon this spot. Every tomb, 

 every mosaic picture, almost every block of marble is a study, and 

 has its history and its associations. The human mind can regale it- 

 self with only a limited quantity of dainties at one repast, so we will re- 

 tire now that we have feasted sufficiently for one day. 



" And having once more arrived at the open air, you will confess 

 that your eyes are dazzled and your mind is saturated with the num- 

 ber and variety of the new ideas you have just imbibed. Our friend, 

 the Cardinal, seems also to have taken his leave, and is driving off in 

 a carriage that is resplendent with gilding, brick-red, and waggon- 

 blue. The only respectable part of his equipage (to English eyes) 

 are the black, long-tailed horses, and they really are handsome. But 

 one wholesome, healthy-looking footman would make a far better 

 appearance than the three unwashed, unshaven, ill-clad varlets who 

 ride behind his Eminence's vehicle. They are now rumbling off in 

 quest of his palace through some of the intricate windings and dirty 

 streets of the Campus Martius. We will take a short cut across the 

 fields, pass the Tiber by the ferry-boat, and, on arriving at Monte 

 Pincio, I hope we shall find that the ' trattore* has sent us an excellent 

 dinner, for I am sure we have worked hard, and well deserve it." 



D. 



