the primitive christians, one altar only was permitted: and, so sensible are priests of the inconvenience attendant on this multiplicity of altars, that the Communion is given at one altar only; a restriction most vexing to the people, and directly contrary to the Rubric, which orders that after the communion of the priest, si qui sunt communicandi eos communicet. Can any thing be more scandalous than what so frequently occurs in the large churches on the continent; that after the people have been kept for an hour, more or less, in expectation of Mass being celebrated, two or even three priests should suddenly appear at different altars, in different parts of the church, and that they should then perform the sacrifice as quickly as possible, as if a prize were to be gained by him who should first get over his task? A provision against this number of Masses at the same moment has, I believe, been made by the Church. Another inconvenience of Mass being celebrated at side altars is, that the altar is visible to those only of the assistants, who are directly in front of it: whereas the high altar is seen from all parts of the church. But the high altar is generally dedicated to Almighty God, while the side altars

are under the immediate protection of the different saints, to whom people pray more willingly, considering them to be more à portée. But these and many other scandals, which, I doubt not, I shall have occasion to observe, only prove the good sense of the Jew, who, on arriving at Rome, made himself a Catholic, saying, "that "no religion, but the true one, could continue "to subsist in spite of such abuses." I do not, however, know what you, a Protestant, will think of this discussion, which has indeed little to do with my present purpose, and which has made me forget that I am still only at the beginning of my rainy walk.

From S. Maria Maggiore I passed au hazard through a number of dirty streets, which brought me to the point at which I most wished to arrive -the Forum Romanum. I needs must say, that here disappointment was the prominent feeling: and what a disappointment! Though well acquainted with every monument I was to meet with, I walked over the ground, astonished at finding them so much ruined. Columns falling from the ravages of time, but braced up with modern iron work ;* walls tottering for * Temple of Jupiter Stator.

want of this very iron work, torn away by the ancestors of those who now replace it; one half of a building destroyed to construct palaces for those whose successors now prop up the remaining half with the greatest care and attention; one race of men building altars in veneration of the victims slain for the amusement of a former race; the triumphal monuments of one age destroyed to adorn those of another-too barbarous to suffice itself to itself,-while other arches, raised to record other victories, are mutilated by the shabby and parsimonious attempts made at this moment to preserve them; in short,

*

admire, exult, despise, laugh, weep, for here "there is such matter for all feeling." The

* The Coliseum, which Clement X. consecrated on account of so many Saints having suffered martyrdom in its arena, around which he erected chapels, or rather altars.

The arch of Constantine is adorned with bass reliefs taken from that of Trajan.

The reparations making to the Arch of Titus, by Pius VII. are now nearly completed. I admire and give due credit to the spirit which prompted Pius VII. to preserve these monuments of antiquity, but I would rather he should have built plain buttresses or walls to support them, as in the Coliseum, than have attempted to restore their ancient architecture, as in this beautiful Arch of Titus.

best description of the Roman forum is contained in that simple, historical, and at the same time, prophetic line

"passimque armenta videbant Romanoque Foro, et lautis mugire carinis."

More than this can be told you by a guide-book only. The Forum, though still used as an ox market, has in a great measure lost the denomination of Campo Vaccino.

I returned along the Via Sacra, and went out at what is now the northern end of the Foro Romano. How much I had lost, but how much also I had acquired, during the short hour I had passed within its limits! All All my "sixth form "notions," all my enthusiasm, all my dreams, were broken in upon and vanished. I had entered it, exalted by the very thought of where I was; I had passed between the trees as if intruding on a ground sacred to classical recollections; I had hurried, with a feverish impatience, from one ruin to another; and I left it, myself and every thing else lowered in my own opinion; discontented with myself for having conceived such high notions of the place; discontented with the place, for not having equalled the ideas I had been taught to form of it; regretting that

I had come to Rome, since the knowledge of the reality had deprived me of my enthusiastic and more pleasing suppositions, yet pleased with being bereaved of them, and with being now unable to give way to others on the future; for the Roman Forum was the death-stroke to my curiosity, but gave a just level to my expectations.

In these dispositions I walked on, perfectly indifferent as to what path I followed. Indeed I thought it impossible for me to arrive at my inn without meeting with one or other of the many monuments I had not yet seen; and such, indeed, was the case. Coming out of a small street, I found myself in the square of S. Maria alla Minerva: in the center of this, a marble elephant supports a small obelisk on his back; but an obelisk is one of the few things which have never stood on the back of an elephant. From this place I saw, on my left, a low dome, which I recognised as that of the Pantheon. The difficulty was how to get at it? Small shabby houses were built against it, and these, as I approached nearer, intercepted the sight of it. Of two narrow filthy streets, I chose that on my right; and soon reaching the edge of a short but rapid descent, I found myself nearly