out the places where new
passages might be formed, and to portion out and sell the spots in which
burials might take place. The water in the wells of the catacombs was
subsequently found to possess the virtue of healing to a marvellous
degree. Nay, even the use of the drinking-cups found in the catacombs
was sufficient to cure several diseases.

In later days, many of the catacombs were opened, and a vast number of
curious and interesting objects brought to light. Not the least valuable
amongst these objects were the paintings and carvings to which we have
above adverted, and which throw some light upon the history of the
portraiture of the great Founder of our religion. Still in the great
bulk of the subjects represented the symbolical prevails; and since the
earliest masters were for a long time forbidden, by a pious awe, from
producing the figure of Christ, we find in the more ancient carvings a
decided preference given to the Old Testament over the New. Noah's ark,
Abraham sacrificing his son, Moses taking off his shoes upon receiving
the tablets of the law, the destruction of Pharaoh, and the miracle of
the water starting from the rock--in short, all the subjects of our
modern illustrated Bibles are of frequent occurrence in these ancient
houses of the dead, and one and all are intended to represent the
mission and person of Christ. The suffering of Christ, in the
delineation of which the masters of later times have so much delighted,
formed no subject for the artist in the earliest selections from the
history of the New Testament. The controversy in the temple, the entry
into Jerusalem, and the most celebrated of the miracles, were subjects
that better suited the ancient master's pencil. The infancy of Christ
was an inexhaustible subject to a later age. The Nestorian controversy
brought the religious pretensions of the Holy Virgin to an issue; and
after the church in the fifth century had bestowed upon Mary the title
of Mother of God, artists took pleasure in representing her either as
lying-in, or as holding the babe in her arms. The Eastern Kings are not
unfrequently found in the Virgin's company. M. Kinkel presumes that the
number of these wise men was first determined by the early masters, who
in all probability conferred the royal dignity upon them. Holy Writ does
not inform us that these personages were kings, and in the more ancient
carvings, they wear ordinary Phrygian caps. At a later period, and no
doub