Ara Celi, built on the
site of the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, and partly from its ruins.
The scene here from the gloomy grandeur and situation of the church,
was exceedingly fine: but we did not stay long enough to see the
concluding procession, as we were told it would be much finer at the
Santa Maria Maggiore; for there the _real_ manger which had received
our Saviour at his birth was deposited: and this inestimable relic was
to be displayed to the eyes of the devout; and with a waxen figure
laid within (called here Il Bambino), was to be carried in procession
round the church, "with pomp, with music, and with triumphing."

The _real_ cradle was a temptation not to be withstood: and to witness
this signal prostration of the human intellect before ignorant and
crafty superstition, we adjourned to the Santa Maria Maggiore. For
processions and shows I care very little, but not for any thing, not
for all I suffered at the moment, would I have missed the scene which
the interior of the church exhibited; for it is impossible that any
description could have given me the faintest idea of it. This most
noble edifice, with its perfect proportions, its elegant Ionic
columns, and its majestic simplicity, appeared transformed, for the
time being, into the temple of some Pagan divinity. Lights and
flowers, incense and music, were all around: and the spacious aisles
were crowded with the lowest classes of the people, the inhabitants of
the neighbouring hills, and the peasantry of the Campagna, who with
their wild ruffianlike figures and picturesque costumes, were lounging
about, or seated at the bases of pillars, or praying before the
altars. How I wished to paint some of the groups I saw! but only
Rembrandt could have done them justice.

We remained at the Santa Maria Maggiore till four o'clock, and no
procession appearing, our patience was exhausted. I nearly fainted on
my chair from excessive fatigue; and some of our party had absolutely
laid themselves down on the steps of an altar, and were fast asleep;
we therefore returned home completely knocked up by the night's
dissipation.

27.--"Come," said L. just now, as he drew his chair to the fire, and
rubbed his hands with great complacency, "I think we've worked pretty
hard to-day; three palaces, four churches--besides odds and ends of
ruins we dispatched in the way: to say nothing of old Nibby's lectures
in the morning about the Volces, the Saturnines, the Albanians, and