EIGHTH LETTEE. 



[E visited one division of the Catacombs of Rome 

 where, it is said, one million of persons were 

 buried, nearly a hundred thousand of whom died vio- 

 lent deaths, being slain by the cruel hand of persecu- 

 tion, " overcame by the blood of the Lamb, and by 

 the word of their testimony, loving not their lives 

 unto the death." Many thousands of these were killed 

 in the Catacombs, whither they had fled from the 

 soldiers. 



In the Sistine chapel we saw the famous picture of 

 the " Last Judgment," in which Michael Angelo repre- 

 sents a cardinal, who had offended him, in hell with a 

 pair of horns on his head. When the cardinal saw 

 the picture he went to the Pope and told him that the 

 great painter had put him with the lost in hell, and 

 asked the Pope to use his influence with Angelo to 

 take him from that part of the picture and put him 

 somewhere else. 



I think, very likely, the cardinal was no greater 

 favorite with the Pope than he was with Angelo, so 

 he was told that if he was in hell his Holiness could 



