parts without confusion or difficulty. When each object is minutely
examined, we are astonished at its magnitude, so much more considerable
than appears at first sight. The immense canopy of the high altar,
supported by four bronze pillars of 120 feet in height, particularly
attracts the attention. The dome is the boldest work of modern
architecture. The cross thereon is 450 feet above the pavement. The
lantern affords the most beautiful prospect of the city and the
surrounding country. The splendid mosaics, tombs, paintings, frescos,
works in marble, gilded bronze and stucco, the new sacristy--a beautiful
piece of architecture, but not in unison with the rest--deserve separate
consideration. The two most beautiful churches in Rome next to St.
Peter's are the St. John's of the Lateran, and the Santa Maria Maggiore.
The former, built by Constantine the Great, is the parochial church of
the pope; it therefore takes precedence of all others, and is called
_Omnium urbis el orbis ecclesiarum mater et caput_ (the head and mother
of all churches of the city and the world). In it is celebrated the
coronation of the popes. It contains several pillars of granite, _verde
antico_, and gilt bronze; the twelve apostles by Rusconi and Legros; and
the beautiful chapel of Corsini, which is unequalled in its proportions,
built by Alexander Galilei. The altar-piece is a mosaic from a painting
by Guido, and the beautiful porphyry sarcophagus, which is under the
statue of Clement XII., was found in the Pantheon, and is supposed to
have contained the ashes of M. Agrippa. The nave of the church of Santa
Maria Maggiore is supported by forty Ionic pillars of Grecian marble,
which were taken from a temple of Juno Lucina: the ceiling was gilded
with the first gold brought from Peru. We are here struck with
admiration at the mosaics; the high altar, consisting of an antique
porphyry sarcophagus; the chapel of Sixtus V., built from the designs of
Fontana, and richly ornamented; the chapel of Paul V., adorned with
marble and precious stones; the chapel of Sforza, by Michael Angelo; and