to make up the
necessary number for a party.

And here I ought to say in explanation, that what is called the
"Vatican" is a vast collection of very magnificent and imposing
buildings,--consisting of palaces, chapels, halls, galleries, and the
like, almost without number,--and it is filled with paintings,
sculptures, manuscripts, books, jewels, gems, and other curiosities and
treasures of incalculable value. It is situated in close proximity to
the great Church of St. Peter's--the largest and most gorgeous church in
the world. Indeed, the church and the palaces form, as it were, one vast
architectural pile, which is of almost inconceivable magnificence and
grandeur.

The various edifices which compose the Vatican were several centuries in
building, and the immense magnitude and extent of the edifice, and the
exhaustless wealth of the treasures of art deposited there, astonish
every beholder. The buildings are so extensive that they require eight
grand staircases and two hundred smaller ones to gain access to the
different stories. There are twenty open courts and over four thousand
different rooms. Some of these rooms are galleries nearly a quarter of a
mile long, and are filled on each side with sculptures and statuary, or
other works of art, from end to end. The length of these galleries is
not, however, out of proportion to other parts of the structure. The
church of St. Peter's, including the portico, is considerably _more_
than a quarter of a mile long.

Now, among the treasures of the Vatican are an immense number of ancient
statues which were dug up, in the middle ages, in and around Rome; and
some of these sculptures are the most celebrated works of art in the
world. They are arranged with great care in a great number of beautiful
chambers and halls, and are visited during the daytime by thousands of
people that have come to Rome from every part of the world. The picture
galleries, the collection of ancient curiosities, and the library rooms
containing the books and manuscripts, are also in the same manner thrown
open, and they are thronged with visitors almost all the time. These
apartments are so numerous and so extensive that in one day a person can
do little else than to walk through them, and give one general gaze of
bewildering wonder at the whole scene. And a very long walk it is, I can
assure you. At one time, when I set out from the painting rooms, (which
are far in the interior of the buildings,) w