Borghese chapel, it has more simplicity in its form and more purity in its decoration. This chapel is in the form of a Greek Cross. The entrance occupies the lower, the altar the upper part: a superb mausoleum terminates each end of the transept: the rail that separates the chapel from the aisle of the church is of gilt brass: the pavement is the finest marble; the walls are incrusted with alabaster and jasper, and adorned with basso relievos; six pillars adorn the recesses, the two on each side of the altar are Verde antico; the four others are porphyry, their bases and capitals are burnished bronze. The picture over the altar is a mosaic, the original by Guido. The tombs with their statues are much admired, particularly that of Clement XII. the Corsini pontiff, whose body reposes in a large and finely proportioned antique sarcophagus of porphyry.* Four corresponding niches are occupied by as many statues, representing the Cardinal virtues, and over each niche is an appropriate basso relievo. The dome that canopies this chapel, in itself airy and well lighted, receives an additional lustre from its golden pannels, and sheds a soft but rich glow on the marble scenery beneath it. In the whole, though the Corsini chapel has not escaped criticism, yet it struck me as the most beautiful edifice of the kind; splendid without gaudiness, the valuable materials that form its pavement, line its walls and adorn its vaults, are so disposed as to mix together their varied hues into soft and delicate tints; while the size and symmetry of its form

* This sarcophagus was taken from the portico of the Pantheon, and is supposed by some antiquaries to have contained the ashes of Agrippa.

enable the eye to contain it with ease, and contemplate its unity, its proportions, and its ornaments without effort.*

The Baptistery of St. John Lateran, which according to the custom of the early ages still observed in almost all the cathedrals of Italy, though near, is yet detached from the church, is called S. Giovanni in Fonte, and is the most ancient of the kind in the Christian world. It was erected by Constantine, and is at the same time a monument of the magnificence of that Emperor and the bad taste of the age. A small portico leads into an octagonal edifice, in the centre of which there is a large bason about three feet deep, lined and paved with marble. This bason is of the same form as the building itself, and at its corners stand eight beautiful pillars, which support eight others of white marble, and these latter bear an attic crowned with a dome. These pillars, with their entablature, were probably taken from various buildings, as they differ in order, size, and proportion. The attic is painted in fresco, as is the gallery around the pillars below; the former represents several Gospel histories, the latter some of the principal events of the reign of Constantine. The modern font, a large vase of green basaltes, stands in the centre of the bason, raised on some steps of marble. Anciently the bason itself was the font into which the Catechumen descended by the four steps which still remain for that purpose. There are two chapels; one on each side of

*This edifice might be recommended as an excellent model for a domestic or college chapel, or a mausoleum. Some critics have ventured to censure its architecture as too tame, and deficient in boldness and relievo. Its size is not, I believe, susceptible of more; the defect, if it exist, is scarcely perceptible.

the Baptistery, formerly destined for the instruction and accommodation of the catechumens. In this chapel only, and only upon the eves of Easter and Pentecost, was public baptism administered anciently in Rome; many magnificent ceremonies, which occupied the whole night, accompanied this solemnity, and rendered it more delightful to the fervent christians of that period than the most brilliant exhibitions of the day.

The view from the steps of the principal portico of St. John Lateran is extensive and interesting. It presents a grove before; on one side the venerable walls of the city; the lofty arches of an aqueduct on the other; the church of Santa Croce in front, and beyond it the desolate Campagna bounded by the Alban Mount tinged with blue and purple, and checkered with woods, towns and villages.

A wide and strait road leads through the solitary grove which I have just mentioned, to the Basilica di Santa Croce, in Gierusalemme, another patriarchal church erected by Constantine on the ruins of a temple of Venus and Cupid destroyed. by his orders. This church derives its name from some pieces of the holy cross, and a quantity of earth taken from Mount Calvary, and deposited in it by St. Helena, Constantine's mother. It is remarkable only for its antique shape, and the eight noble columns of granite that support its nave. Its front is modern, of rich materials, but of very indifferent architecture. The semicircular vault of the sanctuary is adorned with paintings in fresco, which, though very defective in the essential parts, yet charm the eye by the beauty of some of the figures and the exquisite freshness of the coloring. The lonely situation of this antique Basilica, amidst groves, gardens and vineyards, and the