where St. Peter was buried after his crucifixion on the Janiculum. As early as the year A.D. 106 an oratory was erected here to mark the site of St. Peter's tomb; and in the year 319, Constantine, at the suggestion of Pope St. Sylvester, founded a basilica on this spot, and worked with his own hands in its construction, by carrying twelve baskets of earth in honour of the twelve Apostles. This basilica stood for over a thousand years, and then threatening to collapse, Nicholas V. in 1447 determined to erect a more magnificent one in its place; but the idea was not put into execution till 1506, when Julius II. laid the foundation-stone of the present church. The first architect, Bramante, designed the building on the plan of a Greek cross, but he died while the works were in a very early stage of progress. Then Raphael, with two other architects, was appointed, by whom Bramante's design was altered, and a Latin cross substituted. These architects died, as did the Popes who appointed them, and for years the works were suspended; but in the time of Paul III., Michael Angelo, then in his seventy-second year, had the superintendence of the work committed to him; and it is one of the most marvellous events in the career of that marvellous man that in fifteen days he had completed a new design, on the plan of a Greek cross. He did not live to complete the whole work, but he succeeded in carrying the dome, according to his own design, to its present height. Under other Popes and other architects the work progressed, sometimes with extraordinary rapidity, as when Giacomo della Porta, during the pontificate of Gregory XIII., employed six hundred workmen night and day for twenty-two months, and completed it, with the exception of the lantern and the portico of the façade. The latter was entrusted to Carlo Maderno, who prolonged the nave into the form of a Latin cross, and marred the exquisite design of Michael Angelo.

Fifteen architects succeeded one another in the construction of St. Peter's during the pontificates of twenty-eight Popes, and during a period of one hundred and seventy-six years; or, including the colonnades erected by Bernini, and the sacristy consecrated by Pius VI. in 1784, three hundred and thirty-four years. According to the calculation of Carlo Fontana, the cost, exclusive of 405,453 pounds of bronze used in constructing the chair of St. Peter and the confessional, amounted to about eleven millions of our money.

The following figures may be of interest. The space occupied by the buildings is 240,000 square feet. The façade is three hundred and seventy-two feet broad and one hundred and fifty-four high, ornamented by eight columns ninety-three feet high, and crowned with thirteen statues, nineteen feet high, of our Lord and the Apostles. The vestibule is two hundred and thirty-five feet long, forty-two wide, and sixty-six high. The length, from the statues of Constantine and Charlemagne in the wings of this atrium, is four hundred and sixty-six feet. The interior of the basilica is six hundred and nineteen feet long, and from the floor to the summit of the cross four hundred and fifty-three feet. The number of columns, within and without, including the colonnade, is seven hundred and fifty-six, of which two hundred and forty-five are in the interior; the number of statues, three hundred and ninety-six. "There are forty-six altars and one hundred and twenty-one lamps, the greater number of which are always kept burning. One hundred and thirty-two Popes have been interred here, counting from St. Peter to Gregory XVI." The sum annually expended in keeping the building in repair is 30,000 scudi, or £6,300 sterling.

The impression produced on the mind of the beholder on entering the nave has been given. a hundred times over, and in a hundred different ways. One sees it like some great work of nature rather than the work of man, unparalleled in beauty and of surpassing splendour; another sees a noble work desecrated by vanity and ambition; in one it inspires reverential awe and worship, in another it gives the impression of a pantheon rather than of a Christian church; one sees in it a place in which the soul may find a heaven, another sees "the angels in the baptistery enormous giants; the doves, colossal birds of prey." One feels that it is a place in which every Christian heart can find rest and satisfaction; to another it appears "like an apotheosis of the popedom rather than a glorification of Christianity and its doctrines."

Whatever other feeling may impress the visitor on first entering St. Peter's, there is one which is universally felt it is the failure to recognise the real magnitude of the edifice; nor can the mind be disabused of the idea that the church is only of ordinary size until the eye has accustomed itself to take in the immensity of the whole by careful examination of different parts. For instance, the cherubs supporting the fonts for holy water appear to be but models of little children; standing beside them, however, they are found to be larger than ordinary grown-up people. There are ledges and ornaments on the pilasters which the guides take pleasure in asking if you think you can reach, and the visitor unhesitatingly replies in the affirmative; but on nearing the object, he finds it is as high again as he anticipated. It is by such devices as these that the colossal size of the building is estimated, but it is a controverted point whether or not it is a radical defect in architecture to need such aids. On the floor of the nave there are stars indicating the length of the building as compared with others: viz., St. Peter's itself, 619 feet; St. Paul's, London, 516 feet; Duomo, Florence, 495 feet; Milan Cathedral, 448 feet; St. Petronio, Bologna, 440 feet; St. Sophia, Constantinople, 364 feet, &c.

On the right side of the nave is the celebrated bronze statue of St. Peter, whose extended foot has been kissed by generations of worshippers until it is worn out of shape. It is asserted by antiquarians, and others, that this is a statue of Jupiter adapted to its present purpose, the symbolical key being placed in one hand and a halo over the head. One thinks of the joke of Dean Swift, that the only difference between the ancient and the modern city was that the one was the worship of Jupiter and the other the worship of Jew Peter. It is curious how the Roman Catholic Church has always had the knack of adapting what it finds to its own purpose; this statue, for example, is only a transformed statue of Jupiter, executed in the worst days of paganism; the Column of the Immaculate Conception was an unfinished column of an amphitheatre, and lay for centuries in neglect, till Pius IX. found a use for it, to commemorate a dogma; and the very chair of St. Peter has carvings on the back representing the labours of Hercules, and an inscription in Arabic proclaiming that "there is but one God, and Mohammed is his prophet!

Standing beside the statue of St. Peter, one of the finest, or perhaps the finest view of the dome is obtained, but it is impossible to convey any idea in writing of the magnificence of this stupendous vault; it is useless to give the measurements or other details. "The cupola," says Forsyth, "is glorious, viewed in its design, its altitude, or even its decorations; viewed either as a whole or as a part, it enchants the eye, it satisfies the taste, it expands the soul. The very air seems to eat up all that is harsh or colossal, and leaves us nothing but the sublime to

From the western side of the Piazza di Spagna ascends the great wide staircase known as the Scalinata, or the Spanish Staircase. There are one hundred and thirty steps, very easy of ascent, with broad and commodious landings. At the top of the staircase is an obelisk which once adorned the Circus of Sallust, and was placed there in 1788, the bronze cross which crowns it being remarkable as containing, according to the statement of Cancellieri, relics of the true crosses of St. Joseph, St. Peter, St. Paul, and others. the back of this obelisk rises the handsome Church of the Trinità de' Monti.

On the steps of the Scalinata picturesque groups may be found-artists' models waiting to be engaged. Among them are peasant girls from their mountain homes, in the costumes of the contadini; old men with white beards and capacious cloaks; sprightly boys; shepherds from the Campagna; bag-pipers from the Abruzzi, and others—all of whom are familiar from the numberless pictures in which they are represented.

On the second floor of the first house, on the right hand as you mount the steps of the Trinità de' Monti, John Keats-in broken health, spirits, and fortune-took up his abode. There it was that he wrote his last and finest composition, the "Ode to the Nightingale," whose song, heard in the mind's ear from among the woods which were then putting on their verdure, heralded the revival of nature and the glorious Italian summer he was never to share. With that poem, "most musical, most melancholy," on his lips, he passed away. In keeping with the practice, so worthily observed by the Roman Town Council, of marking the dwelling-places of distinguished Italians or foreigners, a memoria!stone has been let into the wall of Keats's residence, and a double inscription, in English and Italian, records the fact that there the poet died. Similar memorial-stones are to be found all over the city-here, on the house where Goethe "thought and wrote immortal things;" there, where Adam Mickiewicz organised the Polish legion for the defence of the Roman Republic, and so on.

The Church of the Trinità de' Monti, erected by Charles VIII. in 1495, is a conspicuous feature in all the views of this neighbourhood. Beside it is the Convent of the Nuns of the Sacré Cœur. The church contains the celebrated "Descent from the Cross," the masterpiece of Ricciarelli, commonly known as Daniele di Volterra-a fresco which Poussin considered one of the three finest pictures in the world. Claude Lorraine was buried in a chapel of this church, but his remains were removed. This is the only church in Rome where female voices are to be heard chanting the religious services, and as the singing is very sweet, there are always a great number of persons present at sunset on Sundays, and on great festivals, to hear the nuns from the adjoining convent, the singers themselves being invisible behind a curtain in the organ-loft. Mendelssohn used to delight to drop in here and listen to the vespers.

The College of the Propaganda Fide, of vast size and plain massive architecture, waz begun by Gregory XV. in 1622, and completed by his successor, Urban VIII., and his brother, Cardinal Antonio Barberini, from the plans partly of Bernini and Borromini. The Propaganda used to share with the Vatican the conduct of the whole Roman Catholic world, the former taking the affairs of the Church in Europe under its special care, the latter superintending its foreign policy in heathen lands.

It is a missionary institution, and its influence is felt to the remotest corners of the earth.

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Pupils of every nationality are educated here-generally about two hundred at a time-who return to their own lands, after ordination, to spread the Roman Catholic faith, the cost of their education and support in Rome being paid by the College. Their costume is familiar to every visitor to the city, consisting of a long black cassock, edged with red and bound with a red girdle, with two bands, representing leading-strings, hanging from the shoulders behind. The "congregation" of the college is composed of twenty-five cardinals, sixteen of whom are resident in Rome, and they meet to transact business once every month. At the beginning of each year a public festival is held in the large hall attached to the college, when students deliver speeches in the different languages taught here, and take part in musical performances, the score of which is usually composed by the Professor of Music in the college. The strange costumes, the differing types of countenance, the varying shades of colour, the medley of strange languages, the peculiarities of voice and expression, all combine to make the gathering of great interest, and the hall is always crowded on these occasions.

Whatever differences of opinion there may be as to the faith itself, no one can read the bold inscription upon the front of the building, "Collegio di Propaganda Fide," without feeling admiration at the way in which the objects in view have been carried out. When other churches were idle, this church was at work, and from North Pole to South, from the rising of the sun to its setting, there is not a region that has not been taken possession of by members of this college, and cultivated for the Roman Catholic Church. And in all the stories of heroism ever told, there is not a nobler than that of the struggles of the students of this college.

The Library is very rich in rare theological works and Oriental MSS.; there is also a printing-office, formerly celebrated as the richest in type for foreign languages. From this office have gone forth innumerable books and tracts and pamphlets, in all languages, and to suit the education of all peoples. There is also a bookseller's shop connected with the establishment, where the publications of the institution may be obtained.

On the most prominent parts of the exterior of the edifice are sculptured bees, the well-known armorial bearings of the Barberini family. "The bees of the Barberini carved upon its architectural ornaments are no inapt symbol," says Hugh Macmillan, "of the spirit and method of working of this busy theological hive, which sends its annual swarms all over the world to gather ecclesiastical honey from every flower of opportunity."

In front of this college stands the Column of the Immaculate Conception, of green and white marble of Carystus, generally known as cipollino, from the veins of pale green, which resemble those of an onion. The column is one of the largest known monoliths, being forty-two feet high and five feet in diameter, and is some two thousand years old. It was found about a hundred years ago when digging among the ruins of the Amphitheatre of Statilius Augustus, constructed in the reign of Cæsar Augustus, and was erected by Pius IX. to commemorate the establishment by Papal bull (in 1851) of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. On the summit of the column is a bronze statue of the Virgin—a wretched work of art and beneath are statues of Moses, David, Isaiah, and Ezekiel, and some poor bas-reliefs of the incidents connected with the publication of the dogma.

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From the western side of the Piazza di Spagna ascends the great wide staircase known as the Scalinata, or the Spanish Staircase. There are one hundred and thirty steps, very easy of ascent, with broad and commodious landings. At the top of the staircase is an obelisk which once adorned the Circus of Sallust, and was placed there in 1788, the bronze cross which crowns it being remarkable as containing, according to the statement of Cancellieri, relics of the true crosses of St. Joseph, St. Peter, St. Paul, and others. At the back of this obelisk rises the handsome Church of the Trinità de' Monti.

On the steps of the Scalinata picturesque groups may be found-artists' models waiting to be engaged. Among them are peasant girls from their mountain homes, in the costumes of the contadini; old men with white beards and capacious cloaks; sprightly boys; shepherds from the Campagna; bag-pipers from the Abruzzi, and others—all of whom are familiar from the numberless pictures in which they are represented.

On the second floor of the first house, on the right hand as you mount the steps of the Trinità de' Monti, John Keats-in broken health, spirits, and fortune-took up his abode. There it was that he wrote his last and finest composition, the "Ode to the Nightingale," whose song, heard in the mind's ear from among the woods which were then putting on their verdure, heralded the revival of nature and the glorious Italian summer he was never to share. With that poem, "most musical, most melancholy," on his lips, he passed away. In keeping with the practice, so worthily observed by the Roman Town Council, of marking the dwelling-places of distinguished Italians or foreigners, a memoria!stone has been let into the wall of Keats's residence, and a double inscription, in English and Italian, records the fact that there the poet died. Similar memorial-stones are to be found all over the city-here, on the house where Goethe "thought and wrote immortal things;" there, where Adam Mickiewicz organised the Polish legion for the defence of the Roman Republic, and so on.

The Church of the Trinità de' Monti, erected by Charles VIII. in 1495, is a conspicuous feature in all the views of this neighbourhood. Beside it is the Convent of the Nuns of the Sacré Cœur. The church contains the celebrated "Descent from the Cross," the masterpiece of Ricciarelli, commonly known as Daniele di Volterra-a fresco which Poussin considered one of the three finest pictures in the world. Claude Lorraine was buried in a chapel of this church, but his remains were removed. This is the only church in Rome where female voices are to be heard chanting the religious services, and as the singing is very sweet, there are always a great number of persons present at sunset on Sundays, and on great festivals, to hear the nuns from the adjoining convent, the singers themselves being invisible behind a curtain in the organ-loft. Mendelssohn used to delight to drop in here and listen to the vespers.

The College of the Propaganda Fide, of vast size and plain massive architecture, was begun by Gregory XV. in 1622, and completed by his successor, Urban VIII., and his brother, Cardinal Antonio Barberini, from the plans partly of Bernini and Borromini. The Propaganda used to share with the Vatican the conduct of the whole Roman Catholic world, the former taking the affairs of the Church in Europe under its special care, the latter superintending its foreign policy in heathen lands.

It is a missionary institution, and its influence is felt to the remotest corners of the earth.