It is called San Guiseppe, and has a faded fresco painting on the gable, representing the Flight of the Holy Family into Egypt, supposed to be by Frederico Zuccari, whose own house—­similarly decorated on the outside with frescoes—­was in the immediate vicinity.  From the windows of my rooms, I could see at the foot of the street the fantastic cupola and bell-turret of the church of St. Andrea delle Fratte, which belonged to the Scottish Catholics before the Reformation, and is now frequented by our Catholic countrymen during Lent, when sermons are preached to them in English.  It is the parish church of the Piazza di Spagna, and the so-called English quarter.  The present edifice was only built at the end of the sixteenth century, and, strange to say, with the proceeds of the sale of Cardinal Gonsalvi’s valuable collection of snuff-boxes; but its name, derived from the Italian word Fratta, “thorn-bush,” would seem to imply that the church is of much greater antiquity, going back to a far-off time when the ground on which it stands was an uncultivated waste.  A miracle is said to have happened in one of the side chapels in 1842, which received the sanction of the Pope.  A young French Jew of the name of Alfonse Ratisbonne was discovered in an ecstasy before the altar; which he accounted for by saying, when he revived, that the Virgin Mary had actually appeared to him, and saluted him in this place, while he was wandering aimlessly, and with a smile of incredulity, through the church.  This supernatural vision led to his conversion, and he was publicly baptized and presented to the Pope by his godfather, the general of the Jesuits; receiving on the occasion, in commemoration of the miracle, a crucifix, to which special indulgences were attached.

At the foot of the Capo le Case is the College of the Propaganda, whose vast size and plain massive architecture, as well as its historical associations, powerfully impress the imagination.  It was begun by Gregory XV., in 1622, and completed by his successor, Urban viii., and his brother, Cardinal Antonio Barberini, from the plans partly of Bernini and Borromini.  On the most prominent parts of the edifice are sculptured bees, which are the well-known armorial bearings of the Barberini family.  The Propaganda used to divide with the Vatican the administration of the whole Roman Catholic world.  It was compared by the Abbe Raynal to a sword, of which the handle remains in Rome, and the point reaches everywhere.  The Vatican takes cognisance of what may be called the domestic affairs of the Church throughout Europe; the College of the Propaganda superintends the foreign policy of the Church, and makes its influence felt in the remotest regions of the earth.  It is essentially, as its name implies, a missionary institution, founded for the promotion and guidance of missions throughout the world.  Nearly two hundred youths from various countries are constantly educated here, in order that