uta_,
and _St Stefano del Cacco_. At Sienna, the temple of Quirinus became
the church of _St Quiricus_.

_ 23 Translator's Note._--And still more to their corruption.

_ 24 Translator's Note._--Christ has said, "Come unto me, all ye that
labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke
upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye
shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden
is light."--Matt. xi. 28-30. I would ask the learned author, whether
these words of our Saviour are not sufficiently mild, tender, and
consoling, and whether there was any necessity to _consecrate_ some
new ideas in order to temper their severity?

_ 25 Author's Note._--Amongst a multitude of proofs I shall choose only
one, in order to show with what facility the worship of Mary swept
away in its progress the remnants of Paganism which were still
covering Europe:--Notwithstanding the preaching of St Hilarion,
Sicily had remained faithful to the ancient worship. After the
council of Ephesus, we see eight of the finest Pagan temples of that
island becoming in a very short time churches dedicated to the
Virgin. These temples were, 1. of Minerva, at Syracuse; 2. of Venus
and Saturn, at Messina; 3. of Venus Erigone, on the Mount Eryx,
believed to have been built by Eneas; 4. of Phalaris, at Agrigent;
5. of Vulcan, near Mount Etna; 6. the Pantheon, at Catania; 7. of
Ceres, in the same town; 8. the Sepulchre of Stesichorus.--V. _Aprile
Cronologia Universale di Sicilia_. Similar facts may be found in the
ecclesiastical annals of every country.

_ 26 Translator's Note._--The time when the church is to accomplish this
purification has, alas! not yet arrived.

27 Beugnot, vol. ii., book xii., chap. 1, pp. 261-272.

28 The opinions of different writers on the number of Christians in the
Roman empire at the time of Constantine's conversion greatly varies.
The valuation of Staudlin ("Universal Geshichte der Christlichen
Kirche," p. 41, 1833) at half of its population, and even that of
Matter ("Histoire de l'Eglise," t. i. p. 120), who reduces it to the
fifth, are generally considered as exaggerated. Gibbon thinks that
it was the twentieth part of the above-mentioned population; and the
learned French acade