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    marked one in particular , a grey-headed old man , with his long staff in his hand and his wallet on his back . ; I cannot say that there was any great appearance of fervour in his manner ; his mind , too , might be dark , and his form of religion very different from mine ; yet I could not resist a feeling of sympathetic joy to think that he had at length arrived at the end of his pilgrimage , and had doubtless found comfort in putting up his prayers to the

    Almighty at the tomb of the chief of the apostles . Near him were kneeling several others who were not pilgrims . I felt ashamed that I was not kneeling too ; I caught the inspiration of the place and addressed my prayer to the Giver of all good , that he would purify my heart and make me more worthy of his manifold mercies . In the central and western part of the church there are a number of confessionals for the service of the faithful , who repair hither from every part of the Christian world , and that they may

    make no mistake by applying to a priest who does not understand their tongue , there is written upon each the name of the language , to which it is appropriated , for instance , Pro Lingud Gallicd , Pro Lingud Illyricd , Italiand , &c . The celebrated bronze statue of St . Peter is placed at the extremity of the nave next to the dome . The left foot projects over the pedestal , and is actually an inch shorter than the other , from the attrition of the

    lips of those who have kissed it . I spent some time in this magnificent temple , and was gratified with almost every thing that I saw . As I wandered through its aisles , its transepts , and its chapels , every object which met my eye seemed to be a master-piece of art ; and there was none of that littleness of conception and puerility of taste by which Catholic churches are so often disfigured . " Truly , " I said to myself as I came out , " the men who planned this church must have had great souls . "

    April 1 st . I took a carriage along with three friends to visit a number of curiosities , the greater part of which lie at a considerable distance from the centre of the town . I was the most interested with the baths of Caracalla . These contained 1600 selZa or bathing places , in the lower apartments , and had two stories above them . The massive walls which still remain , and the great extent of the whole , furnish a striking exemplification of Roman magnificence ; but this is now past , and the asses were browzing on the thistles , the

    thrushes were singing , and the wall-flowers blooming on the spot which was formerly devoted to the refinements of luxury , perhaps to the excesses of voluptuousness . The contrast between its ancient splendour and its present desolation conveyed an affecting lesson on the decay of all human grandeur . In the course of this morning ' s drive we had seen several places and buildings which are intimately connected with some of the most important events in the Roman history ; but it is singular how much less we feel the genius

    loci when we are actually on the spot than we expected to do before we reached it . Perhaps I may be peculiar , but I have often experienced this . Probably it is that we are disappointed that the rude , neglected appearance of the place does not correspond more exactly to the glory of the deeds of which we have been reading in our closets , or that there is little or nothing correspondent with the conceptions which we had previously formed . ** ********

    The ceremonies of the Holy Week began with the benediction of the Palms by the Pope , on the Sunday which bears that name . I arrived in Rome just too late to see this ; perhaps if I had been here , I should not have been able to see it on account of the crowd . On the Wednesday , the Miserere and the Tenebrce are sung by the Pope ' s choir in the Capella Sistina , which is the private chapel of the Vatican or Pontifical Palace . I ac-

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    684 Journal of a' Tour on the Continent .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1828, page 684, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2565/page/28/