114 MEMOIR OF DR. EARVEY. 



with its vastuess. Even at a first glance there is nothing to 

 disappoint you in this way, which is by no means the case with 

 many other large buildings. One thing about it I was not 

 prepared for — to find that it is dedicated as a Christian church, 

 and that a large cross stands in the centre, where Nero's 

 statue stood. What a contrast ! Were this all, it would be 

 well, and we Christians would certainly have no right, to 

 complain that the arena of blood was converted into one of 

 prayer, but the circus is defaced with fourteen little altars, 

 over which are ill-done paintings, representing passages in our 

 Saviour's life, and on the walls is stuck up an inscription, 

 that a year and forty days' indulgence may be obtained by 

 kissing the holy cross — cheap terms, truly ! Similar signboards 

 are so common here, that I should not think this worth mention- 

 ing but for the place where it is stuck up. Almost every church 

 has something of the kind. N.B. I don't think the Roman 

 Church a bit altered in these respects with the times. However 

 she may appear to you in Ireland, here she is just the same old 

 lady as ever she was. Well, no matter. What next ? St. Peter's ; 

 a church or temple, which has vastly surpassed my notions, 

 though I have not perfectly seen it as yet, not having been in the 

 dome. You know I am prejudiced against the Grecian archi- 

 tecture in Christian churches, and even after seeing St. Peter's, 

 I still think there is nothing so suited to our religion as the 

 Gothic, whose very irregularities are an advantage. But St. 

 Peter's is so vast and stately, so richly adorned with marbles 

 and statues, with gilded roof and mosaic floor, and yet the 

 whole so nobly chaste, that it insensibly wins upon the mind 

 and compels it into feeling the sanctity of the place. Many of 

 the Italian churches are so overloaded with ornament, that you 

 are as much disgusted as with a vulgar Lady Mayoress 

 dressed in the pink of the fashion and full flounces. But this 

 is not the case here. It is so large that there is room for an 

 almost unlimited set of statues, and accordingly there are 

 countless marble monuments of popes and such like, besides 

 the statues of the apostles and saints, with great abundance of 

 little angels, &c. There is not much painting save around the 

 roof, at a considerable elevation. This is quite an advantage, 

 for most churches here are a great deal too much painted. 

 Then the immense length and height of the aisles, the breadth 



