magnificence and
repose about Rome, and an indefinable pleasure in the atmosphere,
the colouring, and the ruins, which are better felt than
described. We lingered about the aqueducts till dark, but there
is hardly any twilight here; the sun sets, and in half an hour it
is night. Almost everybody is gone or going, but the heat can't
have driven them away, for it is perfectly cool.

[3] The Claudian aqueduct, which is the grandest, and whose
enormous remains form the great ornament of the
Campagna, was begun by Caligula, and finished by
Claudius. The structure of the arches is exactly like
those of the Coliseum. The first aqueduct was built by
Appius Caecus, the censor, the same who laid down the
Via Appia, 310 B.C.

As we set out on our ride we passed a little church called
'Domine, quo vadis?' which was built on this occasion:--St. Peter
was escaping from Rome (he was a great coward, that Princeps
Apostolorum), and at this spot he met Christ, and said to him,
'Domine, quo vadis?' 'Why,' replied our Saviour, 'I am going to
be crucified over again, for you are running away, and won't stay
to do my business here;' on which St. Peter returned to suffer in
his own person, and the church was built in commemoration of the
event. The Saint has no reason to be flattered at the character
which is given of him by the pious editors of his Epistles.
'Confidence and zeal form a conspicuous part of his character,
but he was sometimes deficient in firmness and resolution. He had
the faith to walk upon the water, but when the sea grew
boisterous his faith deserted him and he became afraid. He was
forward to acknowledge Jesus to be the Messiah, and declared
himself ready to die in that profession, and yet soon after he
thrice denied, and with oaths, that he knew anything of Jesus.
The warmth of his temper led him to cut off the ear of the High
Priest's servant, and by his timidity and dissimulation
respecting the Gentile converts at Antioch he incurred the
censure of the eager and resolute St. Paul.'

[Page Head: MODERN MIRACLES]

We returned through the Porta di San Giovanni, and by the Scala
Santa. There are three flights of steps; those in the middle are
covered with wood (that the marble may not be worn out), and
these are the holy steps; the other two are for the pious to walk
down. I had no idea anybody ever went up on their knees, though I
was aware they wer