A great time to visit Rome. that honored title. But the charm of that name has long since dissolved; its glory paling like the morning-star before the uprisen sunlight of "I am a Britain—I am an AMERICAN." In like manner, there is less of novelty and, therefore, less to arrest public attention in the writer's declaration, "I have been at Rome," for many do the same, each year. Grant it, but that does not diminish the value of the fact to himself, however it may affect those around. It is an event well calculated to leave an impression on the mind, beyond almost any other, and that of present interest, together with a strong desire that others within the circle of friendship, may enjoy the same pleasure. It is an era in one's life-history, to ascend the steps, and pass the portal, and pace the aisle, and have eye and ear greeted with the sights and sounds of St. Peter's at Rome! Compared with this structure and its attendant, the Vatican, what are all other buildings which have ever been, or are to be seen, throughout the wide world! It is incident to such a visit (an evil perhaps), to create a distaste for all other structures of a like design-so small-so mean in the comparison. St. Paul's at London is the pride of the British capital, and well merits its wide fame-but what is it, and the many like it throughout Europe, compared with this? Original-unique-pre-eminent! Blessed be the day when it was mine to stand beneath its skylit dome, and thanks to that Providence which allowed me a privilege so great and memorable. Was it strange to me that so many go thither to testify by personal observation to what they have heard and read. Far otherwise! Rather let there be surprise, that they who have time and pecuniary means at command, do hesitate a month in an excursion (now of less than twen Advice to the Reader. ty days, with full allowance for delays), the gratifying memory of which, they will bear with them to the grave. The writer advises no journey to Rome, theological or ecclesiastical, but a visit to the city for purposes of seeing the Cathedral of St. Peter's, he does counsel, and that with the assurance that instead of disappointment, there shall be the cheerful admission, "THE HALF WAS NOT TOLD ME.” I CHAPTER XXIII. Brief Notice of Roman Celebrities. There is a temple in ruin stands, Fashioned by long-forgotten hands; Two or three columns, and many a stone, Fragments of stone reared by creatures of clay. THE obvious fact, that a visit to the same place awakens in different persons very different emotions, finds a satisfactory explanation in natural taste or acquired habit. A locality which one reaches and beholds with an enthusiasm bordering on veneration, has no power to hold the interested attention of another for a day. One looks out upon the ocean, and exclaims, "Thou glorious mirror, where the Almighty's form Glasses itself in tempests." While the friend at his side asks whether the expected ship has arrived safely in port, and whether the cargo will make large returns to the owner. This is human nature in all ages and climes, to deny which, were no greater folly, than to resist, were a vain attempt. There are three cities across the sea which embody three types of temperament and character. These are London, Paris and Rome. To be greatly delighted with one of these is to indicate a disposition or education less disposed to relish the other two,-London for commerce and trade; -Paris for fashion and present enjoyment;-Rome for ac Characteristics of London, Paris and Rome. quaintance with the past. The tradesman, beau, and antiquarian, find in each, aliment for their individual appetites -sources of personal and peculiar enjoyment. We have been to the British capital, traversed its thronged streets, entered its docks to see them crowded with freighted ships, looked into its numberless stores, shops and markets, and thus found it the commercial emporium of the world. We crossed the channel, and admired Paris for its Tuileries, its Champs Elysees, its everything, to make the human being contented with the present life without much longing for another of higher enjoyment. And now we are in Rome, where there is no commerce and nothing of modern freshness and attraction. Rome is visited for the PAST. It abounds with wonders of genius and art and energy; but all belonging to ages long gone by. Shipping, rail-road stations, telegraph offices, exchanges, newspapers, none of them are to be found here any more than in Pompeii and Herculaneum. But here are to be seen palaces in splendid ruin; columns, arches, fountains, churches, basilicas, each a study in itself, but interesting to those who are versed in ancient history, and find a pleasure in re-calling the time, when it could be written, "Roma est," and not, as now, "Roma fuit." Rome is thronged with monuments of former greatness, scattered jewels which indicate the splendor of its ancient crown. Let me acquaint the reader with a few among many objects of interest which he may expect to find when he visits the city of the Tiber. The Palazzo Borghese, a palace erected by Paul V. (Borghese), between 1590 and 1600, contains one of the richest galleries of paintings to be found in Italy. They Antonine Column and Temple. Forum and Column of Trajan. number eight hundred and fifty-six, arranged in twelve rooms, with every facility for observation by artists and visitors. The Entombment of Christ, the first historical painting by Raphael, has a great and just reputation, while others, by Rubens, Vandyke, Domenichino, Titian, Michael Angelo, and Correggio, received our brief though gratified attention. The Antonine Column, erected to Marcus Aurelius by the Senate and Roman people, in the year 174, is a shaft about one hundred feet high, and composed of twenty-eight pieces of white marble, the surface of which is covered with basrelief representations of martial scenes and other national reminiscences. On the summit is a statue of St. Paul, ten feet high, with sword in hand, the point of which has not unfrequently attracted the lightning, and thus endangered the entire structure. The Temple of Antoninus Pius is interesting chiefly on account of the eleven columns of Greek marble, fortytwo and half feet in height and four and half in diameter, which have escaped the ravages of time. The Forum of Trajan, built by the emperor whose name it bears in the year 114, now exists but as a mass of buildings in ruins, the chief attraction of which is an unrivaled column of Egyptian granite which graces the center, and which was the admiration of the ancient world, as it is the wonder of the modern traveler. The Column of Trajan, erected by the Senate and people of Rome, in honor of this renowned conqueror, in the year 114, has ever been regarded as a triumph of art and the most beautiful historical column in the world. Composed of thirty-four pieces of white marble, its surface is covered with bas-reliefs presenting a continuous history of |