e, among the paintings in fresco, a
representation of the death of Admiral Coligny at the Massacre of St.
Bartholomew; and if this were not intended to express approval of that
horrible massacre, I would like to know what was meant by having it
painted and placed there.

But to return to St. Peter's. The entrance of the grand procession from
the Vatican was a very slow process. In its ranks were the Noble Guard,
the Swiss Guard, the Cardinals, and many other divisions, each in its
own imposing and picturesque costume. At length came the Pope, seated in
a magnificent chair on a raised platform or palanquin, the whole borne
on the shoulders of some ten or twelve servitors. This was a capital
arrangement for us strangers, who wished a good view of His Holiness;
but I am sure it was very disagreeable to him, and that he would much
rather have walked like the rest. He passed into the church out of my
sight, dismounted, and I (having also entered) next saw him approach one
of the altars on the right, where he knelt and silently prayed for some
minutes. He was then borne onward to his throne at the further end, and
the service commenced.

The singing of the Mass was very good. The Pope's reading I did not
hear, nor was I near enough even to see him, except fitfully. I think
there were more than five thousand persons present, including a
thousand priests and a thousand soldiers. There would doubtless have
been many more, but for the fact that a smart shower occurred just
before and at the hour (5 o'clock), while no public notice had been
given that the Pope would officiate.

In the evening, St. Peter's and its accessories were illuminated--by far
the most brilliant spectacle I ever saw. All was dark and silent till,
at the first stroke of the bell, light flashed from a hundred thousand
burners, and the entire front of the Church and Dome, up to the very
summit of the spire, was one magnificent galaxy, while the double row of
gigantic pillars or columns surrounding the square was in like manner
radiant with jets of flame. I thought the architecture of St. Peter's
Rome's greatest glory when I had only seen it by daylight, yet it now
seemed more wondrous still. The bells rang sweetly and stirringly
throughout the evening, and there was a like illumination on the summit
of the Pincian Hill, while most of the shops and dwellings displayed at
least one row of burning candles, and bonfires blazed brightly in the
streets, which were