ny human feet as this old Flaminian road. The present gate is said
to have been designed by Michael Angelo; but it shows no signs of his
genius. On the inner side, above the keystone of the arch, is a lofty
brick wall in the shape of a horse-shoe, built exclusively for the
purpose of displaying in colossal size, emblazoned in stucco, the city
arms, the sun rising above three or four pyramidal mountains arranged
above each other. The external facade consists of two pairs of Doric
columns of granite and marble flanking the arch, whose colour and
beauty have entirely disappeared through exposure to the weather. In
the spaces between the columns are two statues, one of St. Peter, and
the other of St. Paul, of inferior merit, and very much stained and
weather-worn. The inscription above the arch, "To a happy and
prosperous entrance," seemed a mockery in the old douanier days, when
delays and extortions vexed the soul of the visitor, and produced a
mood anything but favourable to the enjoyment of the Eternal City. But
now the grievances are over. The occupation of the place is gone. The
barracks on the left for the papal guards are converted to other
purposes; no custom-house officer now meets one at the gate, and all
are free to come and go without passport, or bribe, or hindrance.
Since I was in Rome this old gateway being found too narrow has been
considerably widened by the addition of a wing on each side of the
large central arch, containing each a smaller arch in which the same
style of architecture is carried out.

On the right as you go out is the remarkable church of Santa Maria del
Popolo. It is built in the usual Romanesque style; but its external
appearance is very unpretending, and owing to its situation in a
corner overshadowed by the wall it is apt to be overlooked. It is an
old fabric, eight hundred years having passed away since Pope Paschal
II. founded it on the spot where Nero was said to have been buried.
From the tomb of the infamous tyrant grew a gigantic walnut-tree, the
roosting-place of innumerable crows, supposed to be demons that
haunted the evil place. The erection of the church completely
exorcised these foul spirits, consecrated the locality, and dispelled
the superstitious fears of the people. Reconstructed in the reign of
Sixtus IV., about the year 1480, this church has not the picturesque
antiquity in this dry climate and clear atmosphere which our Gothic
churches in moist England present. Not