hing.

The expense of building and decorating this church is said to have
amounted to 45,852,000 dollars. It occupies the site of Nero's
circus. Two arcades, with four rows of pillars and ninety-six
statues, surround the square leading to the church.

The facade of St. Peter's is decorated with Corinthian pillars, and
on its parapet stand statues fifty-two feet in height.

The entrance is so crowded with statues, carved work, and gilding,
that several hours may be spent in examining its wonders. The
traveller's attention is particularly attracted by the gigantic
gates of bronze.

I cannot adequately describe the splendour of the interior, nor have
I seen any thing with which I could compare it.

The most beautiful mosaics, monuments, statues, carvings in bronze,
gilded ornaments, in short every thing that art can produce, are
here to be found in the highest perfection. Oil-paintings alone are
excluded. Every thing here is in mosaic; even the cupola displays
mosaic work instead of the usual fresco-paintings. Immense statues
of white marble occupy the niches.

Beneath the cupola, the finest portion of the building, stands the
great altar, at which none but the Pope may read mass. Over this
altar extends a giant canopy of bronze, with spiral pillars richly
decorated with arabesques. The weight of metal used in its
construction was 186,392 pounds, and the cost of the gold for
gilding was 40,000 dollars; the entire canopy is worth above 150,000
dollars. The cupola was executed by Michael Angelo; it rests on
four massive pillars, each of them furnished with a balcony. In the
interior of these pillars chapels are constructed, where the chief
relics are kept, and only displayed to the people from the balcony
at particular times. I was in the church at the time when the
handkerchief which wiped the drops of agony from our Lord's brow,
and a piece of the true cross, were shewn.

The pulpit stands in a very elevated position, and was executed in
bronze by Bernini; 219,161 pounds of metal, and 172,000 dollars,
were spent upon its construction. In the interior is concealed the
wooden pulpit from which St. Peter preached; and immediately beside
this we find a pillar of white marble, said to have belonged to
Solomon's temple at Jerusalem.

The lions on the monument of Clement XIII., by Canova, are
considered the finest that were ever sculptured.

I was fortunate enough to penetrate into the catacombs of St.
Pe