a, which slopes upwards, is an ancient
Egyptian obelisk brought from the circus of Nero, and surrounded by
points of the compass let into the pavement. This is flanked by two
immense fountains, from which the water rises in a sparkling column to
the height of seventy feet. They are supplied by an aqueduct from Lake
Bramano, some seventeen miles distant.

St. Peter's is approached from the piazza, by a long-graduated series of
great steps. It is from the top of these that the Pope gives his
blessing at Easter to the multitude in the immense court below. The
piazza is environed by more than a thousand shops, which impede the
view, considerably foreshorten and hide the great dome of St. Peter's,
and detract from its imposing grandeur; causing the facade to appear of
an immense and disproportionate height. The whole stupendous
structure--the cross of which, lifting itself literally to the blue
skies, can be seen over the hills from the sea--occupied 116 years in
building, and was continued during the reigns of eighteen popes. Leo X.
was one of these, and his scheme of raising money for the work by the
sale of indulgences, went far to produce the Reformation. Truly God's
ways are wonderful, the almost trifling acts of a single person often
bringing about the most mighty results and changes in the world!

"St. Peter's is less like a church than a collection of large churches
enclosed under one gigantic roof.... One is lost in it. It is a city of
columns, sculptures, and mosaics." So says the clever, versatile Willis,
in his "Pencillings by the Way," and it would certainly take months to
examine minutely all that is worthy of attention in this vast pile. Our
time, unfortunately, was limited, and we were only able to notice some
of the more celebrated and striking features. Of the plan of the
building, and its architecture, external and internal, I will say
nothing, for what can now be said that has not been said before, and far
better than I could say it? Almost every one nowadays has formed his own
idea of what this great church is like--of its exceeding vastness and
extent, the immensity of its over-arching dome, and its gorgeous and
profuse decorations. Yet when they at length come to visit this
preconceived and idealized vision, perhaps their feeling is almost one
of vague disappointment. Like Hilda in the "Marble Faun," we at first
prefer our own dream-edifice to the solid reality. It is, in fact, so
immense that you utt