t him? Instant
banishment to the one,--instant imprisonment to the other. The Pope has
set up the symbol of intolerance and persecution at his gate. He has
written over the portals of Rome, as Dante over the gates of hell, "All
ye who enter here, abandon"--God.

I do not say that the place is incommodious internally. The stigma lies
in the proscription put upon Protestant worship. It is held to be an
abomination so foul, that it cannot be tolerated within the walls of
Rome. And the same spirit which banishes the worship to a garret, would
banish the worshipper to a prison, or condemn him to a stake, if it
dared. The same principle that makes Rome lock her earthly gates against
the Protestant now, makes her lock her heavenly gates against him
eternally.

There are, however, annoyances of a palpable and somewhat ludicrous kind
attending this expulsion of the Protestant worship beyond the walls. The
granary to which I have referred adjoins the cattle and pig market. In
Rome, although it is a mortal sin to eat the smallest piece of flesh on
a Friday, it is no sin at all to buy and sell swine's flesh on a
Sabbath. Accordingly, the pig-market is held on Sabbath; and it is
customary to drive the animals into the back courts of the English
meeting-house before carrying them to market. So I was informed, when at
Rome, by a member of the English congregation. The uproar created by the
animals is at times so great as to disturb the worshippers in the attic
above, who have been under the necessity of putting their hands into
their pockets, and buying food for the swine, in order to keep them
quiet during the hours of divine service. Thus the English at Rome are
able to conduct their worship with some degree of decorum only when both
cardinals and swine are propitious. Should either be out of humour,--a
thing conceivable to happen to the most obese cardinal and the
sweetest-tempered pig,--the English have but little chance of quiet.
Nor is that the worst of it. I read not long since in the public
journals, a letter from a Romish dignitary,--Dr Cahill, if I mistake
not,--who, with an immense amount of bravery, stated that there was no
Roman Catholic country in the world where full toleration was not
enjoyed; and that, as regarded Rome, any Roman might change his religion
to-morrow with perfect impunity. He might adopt Protestantism or
Quakerism, or any other ism he pleased, provided he could show that he
was not acting under the co