now used as chapels called ancient Exedræ or Cellæ, and appropriated to private devotion in prayer or meditation. Such is the form of St. Clement's, which, though not originally a basilica, is evidently modelled upon such buildings; as may be seen not only by the description given of them by Vitruvius, but also by several other churches in Rome, which, having actually been basilicæ, still retain their original form with slight modifications. The same form has been retained or imitated in all the great Roman churches, and indeed in almost all the cathedral and abbey churches in Italy; a form without doubt far better calculated both for the beauty of perspective and for the convenience of public worship than the arrangement of Gothic fabrics, divided by screens, insulated by partitions, and terminating in gloomy chapels*.

S. Pietro in Vincoli, so called from the chains with which St, Peter was bound both in Rome and at Jerusalem, now preserved, as is believed, under the altar, was erected about the year 420, and after frequent reparations presents now to the eye a noble hall, supported by twenty Doric pillars of Parian marble, open on all sides, adorned with some beautiful tombs, and terminating in a semicircle behind the altar. It is pity that the taste of the age in which this edifice was erected should have been perpetuated through so many successive reparations, and the arches carried from pillar to pillar still suffered to appear; while an entablature, like that of St. Maria

* I recommend to my readers the account of ancient churches and their ornaments given by the judicious and learned Fleury. The work which contains it, with many curious details and interesting observations, is entitled Les Mœurs des Chretiens. The perusal of it will give the traveller a very accurate notion of the subject at large, and enable him, not only to comprehend what he finds written upon it, but also to pronounce with some precision on the form and ornaments of such churches as he may hereafter visit. (See chapters xxxv. et seq.)

VOL. I.

2 R

Maggiore, would have concealed the defect and rendered the order perfect. The pillars are too thin for Doric proportions, and too far from each other; very different in this respect from the Doric models still remaining at Athens. But the proportions applied by the ancient Romans to this order, rendered it in fact a distinct order, and made it almost an invention of their own. Among the monuments the traveller will not fail to observe a sarcophagus of black marble and of exquisite form, on the left hand; and on the right, the tomb of Julius II. indifferent in itself, but ennobled by the celebrated figure of Moses, supposed to be the masterpiece of Michael Angelo, and one of the most beautiful statues in the world*.

Not far from S. Pietro in Vincoli is the church of S. Martino and S. Silvestro, formed out of a part of the ruins of the neighbouring baths of Titus, and, as far as regards the Crypta or subterraneous church, as ancient as the times of St. Sylvester and Constantine the Great. It has, as will easily be imagined, undergone various repairs, and is at present one of the most beautiful edifices in Rome. It is supported by Corinthian columns of the finest marbles, bearing not arches but an entablature, irregular indeed as to ornament, but of great and pleasing effect. The walls of the aisles are adorned with paintings by the two Poussins, and much admired by connoisThe tribuna or sanctuary is raised several steps above the body of the church: the high altar which stands immediately above the steps is of the most beautiful form and of the richest materials. The paintings on the walls and the roof are coloured in the brightest yet softest tints imaginable, and seem to shed over the whole

seurs.

* The ode or sonnet of Zappi, inspired by the contemplation of this wonderful statue, is well known, and may be found in Roscoe's late excellent work, the Life of Leo the Tenth, with a very accurate translation.