of the different rich marbles and precious stones with which the monuments therein are made and incrusted.  Among these Chapels are those of Sixtus V, Paul V. The grand altar is of porphyry.  But the most striking beauty of this church and which eclipses all its other ornaments, are the forty columns of beautiful Grecian marble on each side of the nave.  The ceiling, too, is superb and richly gilt; the gilding must have cost an immense sum and was done, it is said, with the first gold that was brought from America.  Nothing can be more rich than this plafond.  The above forty columns belonged formerly to the temple of Juno Lucina.  It is singular that the ceremony of the accouchement of the Virgin and the birth of Christ should be performed here.  On the 24th December this pantomime is regularly acted, and crowds of all sorts of people attend, particularly women.  At the moment that the Virgin is supposed to be delivered a salve of artillery announces the good tidings.  This is singular, I say, when one recollects the peculiar attributes of Juno Lucina and the assistance she was supposed to give to persons in the same situation.

You cannot expect me to detail to you all the riches in precious stones and gifts of pious princes that adorn the several chapels of this and other churches; but they appear to contain every stone and jewel mentioned in the Arabian Nights as being to be found in the cave where Aladdin was left by the magician; and it must be allowed that the Popes have been remarkably adroit inchanters in conjuring to Rome all the riches of the Earth.

The church of St John Lateran is larger and more striking as to its exterior and as to its architecture than that of Santa Maria Maggiore, but it is not so charged with ornament and there is scarce any gilding.  There is a simple elegance about it that I think far more pleasing than the magnificence of Santa Maria.

St John Lateran contains several beautiful pieces of sculpture in white marble, rather larger than the usual size of man, of the twelve Apostles, six on one side of the nave and six on the other; and above them are bas-reliefs, also in marble, representing the various scenes from the history of the Old and New Testament.  These twelve statues are admirably well executed and they give to this temple an air of simple grandeur.  In this church are very few paintings on mosaics, but little gilding and no superfluous ornaments.  Sculpture is, in my opinion, far more appropriate to a place of worship than paintings or dazzling ornaments.  Another very striking beauty of this noble and venerable temple are the columns it contains some of which are in granite and others of the most beautiful verd-antique.  There are besides two superb Corinthian columns of bronze which adorn one of the altars.  Among the chapels of this Cathedral is one belonging to the Corsini family, which is probably the richest in Europe, and contains more precious stones and marbles than any other.  Yet as this and the other chapels are in recesses and separated from the aisles of the church by large bronze gates, you cannot see their contents till you enter the said chapels; and thus your attention is not diverted by them from the contemplation of the simple grandeur of the columns and statues which adorn the body of the temple.