ry
pleasing impression, being dark and oily-looking; and the cross-lights
in the place interfere with the expression of the figures. We can
recognise much of the force and graphic power of Michael Angelo, whom
the painter sedulously imitated, in various parts of the composition;
but it seems to me greatly inferior as a whole to the better-known
picture of Rubens. In another chapel of this church was interred the
celebrated painter Claude Lorraine, who lived for many years in a
house not far off; but the French transferred the remains of their
countryman to the monument raised to him in their native church in the
Via della Scrofa.

Adjoining the church is the convent of the Sacred Heart, which
formerly belonged to French monks, minims of the order of St. Francis.
It suffered severely from the wantonness of the French soldiers who
were quartered in it during the French occupation of Rome in the first
Revolution. Since 1827 the Convent has been in possession of French
nuns, who are all ladies of rank. They each endow the Convent at their
initiation with a dowry of L1000; the rest of their property going to
their nearest relatives as if they were dead. They spend their time in
devotional exercises, in superintending the education of a number of
young girls in the higher branches, and in giving advice to those who
are allowed to visit them for this purpose every afternoon. The
Trinita dei Monti is the only church in Rome where female voices are
to be heard chanting the religious services; and on account of this
peculiarity, and the fresh sweet voices of the nuns and their pupils,
many people flock to hear them singing the Ave Maria at sunset, on
Sundays and on great festivals, the singers themselves being
invisible behind a curtain in the organ gallery. Mendelssohn found
their vespers charming, though his critical ear detected many
blemishes in the playing and singing. I visited the church one day. As
it is shut after matins, I was admitted at a side door by one of the
nuns, who previously inspected me through the wicket, and was left
alone, the door being locked behind me. The interior is severely
simple and grand, preserving the original pointed architecture
inclining to Gothic, and is exquisitely clean and white, as women
alone could keep it; in this respect forming a remarkable contrast to
the grand but dirty church of the Capuchin monks. I had ample leisure
to study the very interesting pictures in the chapels. The sol