ical convulsion. Here are wide spaces to
walk about in, houses for human habitation, a fountain playing, and all
the signs of life. The views are everywhere fine, and one can fancy that
the air is purer and the sky more blue than to those left below. The
dome soars high above the eye, and a new sense of its magnitude seizes
upon the mind. The two cupolas which flank the facade are upward of one
hundred feet high, and the five smaller ones which crown the chapels are
of great size; but here they seem like dwarfs clinging about a giant's
knee.

The dome of St. Peter's, as is well known, is double; and between the
outer and inner wall is a series of winding passages and staircases, by
which the ascent is made to the top. The length of these passages and
staircases, their number, and the time it takes to traverse them, are a
new revelation of the size of this stupendous structure. We begin to
comprehend the genius and courage which planned and executed a work so
novel and so bold. From the galleries inside, the view of the interior
below is most striking. It looks as the earth may look from a balloon.
The men moving upon the pavement appear like that "small infantry warred
on by cranes"; and even the baldacchino hardly swells beyond the
dimensions of a candelabrum.

At the base of the ball, a railing, unseen from below, enables the
visitor whose nerves are tolerably good to enjoy an extensive and
beautiful prospect, embracing a region interesting not merely to the eye
but to the mind: the cradle of that mighty Roman race which here began
its ever-widening circle of conquest and annexation. It comprises the
Campagna, the Tiber, the distant Mediterranean, the Apennines, the Alban
and Sabine hills, and the isolated bulk of Soracte. From no point on
earth can the eye rest upon so many spots on which the undying light of
human interest lingers.

From this place the ascent is made to the interior of the ball itself,
into which most travelers climb, probably more for the sake of saying
that they have been there than anything else. Tho the ball looks like a
mere point from below, it is nearly eight feet in diameter; and the
interior will hold a dozen persons without inconvenience. Altho I
visited it on a winter's day, the atmosphere was extremely hot and
uncomfortable, from the effect of the sun's rays upon the gilded bronze.
By means of an exterior ladder, it is possible to climb to the foot of
the cross; a feat which few lands