view in the windings of the road; and when it was no longer visible, what words could tell the loneliness that fell upon my heart! . . . . A child sat by the roadside binding lilies in her raven hair: as we passed, she raised her hand towards us, and I felt as if her sunny eyes laughed out a sweet farewell. Addio, bellina!—it was the last adieu I spoke ! We reached the eminence of Baccano, from which I enjoyed another view of Rome-glittering, as Eustace saw it, in the rays of the morning sun! The whole firmament was glowing with the rich hues and dazzling splendour which are peculiar to the lucid atmosphere of this favoured clime. The golden light, the airy perspective, in which everything was adorned and revealed, gave an air of beauty and magnificence to the scene which shall long remain impressed upon my mind. The towers and domes of the Eternal City lifted themselves in majestic masses against the deepblue sky, and marked their beautiful forms on the purple distances of the horizon. It was the last time these eyes rested upon Rome. I rode on, wondering if I should ever see those towers and those domes again. Chi sa? I know not. . . But for the present-FAREWELL TO ROME !* * The feelings experienced in the moment of departure from the capital of the world are thus eloquently and poetically expressed by an ancient writer : "Crebra relinquendis infingimus oscula portis ; Inviti superant limina sacra pedes. . Exaudi Regina tui pulcherrima mundi, Exaudi genetrixque hominum, genetrixque deorum ; Te canimus, semperque, sinent dum Fata, canemus; Sospes nemo potest immemor esse tui. ... Auctorem generis Venerem, Martemque fatemur, Mitigat armatas victrix clementia vires, Convenit in mores nomen utrumque tuos. . . Te, Dea, te celebrat Romanus ubique recessus, ... Quod regnas minus est quam quod regnare mereris, Rutil. Iter. lib. i. ver. 43, et seq. APPENDIX. ST. PETER'S. THE following selections from other writers, who have described this matchless structure, though too lengthy to be inserted in the text, will, I have no doubt, be read with considerable interest as a note. Byron's lines, from which I have already quoted, stand thus in full: : "But thou, of temples old or altars new, Standest alone-with nothing like to thee- Power, glory, strength, and beauty-all are aisled His holy of holies, nor be blasted by His brow." And Forsyth, Hilliard, Eustace, Gray, Mabillon, Madame de Staël, and Dr. Meyer are no less enthusiastic when they touch upon the same lofty theme. "The cupola is glorious," says the accomplished Forsyth "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 exhausts the soul. The very air seems to eat up all that is harsh or colossal, and leaves us nothing but the sublime to feast on-a sublime peculiar as the genius of the immortal architect, and comprehensible only on the spot. The four surrounding cupolas, though but satellites to the majesty of this, might have crowned four elegant churches." "From the bridge and Castle of S. Angelo" (thus speaks the author of the "Classical Tour"), "a wide street conducts in a direct line to a square, and that square presents at once the court, or portico, and part of the basilica. When the spectator approaches the entrance of this court, he views four rows of lofty pillars, sweeping off to the right and left, in a bold semicircle. In the centre of the area formed by this immense colonnade, an Egyptian obelisk, of one solid piece of granite, ascends to the height of one hundred and thirty feet; two perpetual fountains, one on each side, play in the air, and fall in sheets round the basins of porphyry that receive them. Before him, raised on three successive flights of steps, partly of marble, extending four hundred feet in length, and towering to the elevation of one hundred and eighty, he beholds the majestic front of the basilica itself. This front is supported by a single row of Corinthian pillars and pilasters, and adorned with an attic, a balustrade, and thirteen colossal statues. Far behind and above it rises the matchless dome, the justly celebrated wonder of Rome and of the world. The colonnade of coupled pillars that surround and strengthen its vast base, the graceful attic that surmounts this colonnade, the bold and expansive swell of the dome itself, and the pyramid seated on a cluster of columns, and bearing the ball and cross to the skies, all perfect in their kind, form the most magnificent and singular exhibition that the human eye perhaps ever contemplated. Two less cupolas, one on each side, partake of the state, and add not a little to the majesty, of the principal dome. "The interior corresponds perfectly with the grandeur of the exterior, and fully answers the expectations, however great, which such an approach must naturally have raised. 66 As you enter, you behold the most majestic hall ever constructed by human art, expanded in magnificent perspective before you. Advancing up the nave, you are delighted with the beauty of the variegated marble under your feet, and with the splendour of the golden vault over your head. The lofty Corinthian pilasters, with their bold entablature; the intermediate niches, with their statues; the arcades, with the graceful figures that recline on the curves of their arches, charm your eye in succession as you pass along. But how great your astonishment when you reach the foot of the altar, and, standing in the centre of the church, contemplate the four superb vistas that open around you; and then raise your eyes to the dome, at the prodigious elevation of four hundred feet, extended like a firmament over your head, and presenting, in glowing mosaic, the companies of the just, the choirs of celestial. spirits, and the whole hierarchy of heaven, arrayed in the presence of the Eternal, whose throne, high raised above all height,' crowns the awful scene. "When you have feasted your eye with the grandeur of this unparalleled exhibition in the whole, you will turn to the parts, the ornaments and the furniture, which you will find perfectly corresponding with the magnificent form of the temple itself. Around the dome rise four other cupolas, small, indeed, when compared with its stupendous magnitude, but of great boldness when considered separately; six more-three on either side-cover the different divisions of the aisles, and six more, of greater dimensions, canopy as |