the Romans themselves, at the time of levying it, the patient, the persevering Hebrew has managed to pay it to the very letter of the law-nay even with interest!

The policy which induces the Romans to keep a portion of the population in a state of greater impurity than their own, is more human than humane; but it is a disgusting principle in Papal politics to circumscribe and condense their Hebrew subjects within a narrow and stinking boundary on the banks of the Tiber, while grass, and weeds, and wild beasts are taking possession of several of the seven hills! Shame on the Vicegerent of Christ! How will he meet the looks of Moses and Aaron, of Abraham and of Solomonof the divine and benevolent Author of the Religion which he professes, when he goes to the judgment seat himself, and is asked if he has proclaimed and practised peace and good-will to his fellow-creatures on earth? That the CHOSEN PEOPLE" incurred the displeasure and experienced the chastisement of their GOD, is manifest from profane as well as sacred history;-but that MAN should claim the prerogative of his Maker, and take upon himself to visit the sins of the fathers, not only on the "third and fourth generation," but to the end of time, is an impious assumption which will assuredly recoil on himself, in the shape of retributive justice from Heaven. This retribution is evidently in operation at the present moment, and will not cease till the desolation of the Eternal City is complete.

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The preservation of the Jews themselves in the pestiferous nook into which they are crowded on the banks of the Tiber, would look like a miracle; but— Nec Deus intersit nisi dignus vindice nodus.

This very condensation of the Israelites in their own filth, and in a low and sheltered site, preserves them from a worse evil-the deadly malaria of the higher and more open parts of the city.

TIBER ISLAND.

It would appear that the popular monomania for destroying the grain which a bountiful earth has produced for the sustenance of man, can boast of tolerable antiquity. The small island on which I stand, is said to be the product of one of these paroxysms. The people of Rome disdained to eat the corn of their Tarquin tyrants, and therefore precipitated it—not into the flames, but into the Tiber! It sunk to the bottom, and the turbid stream supplied it so plentifully with aggregations of mud, that an island was ultimately formed in the midst of the current. It is to be presumed that the Roman populace were not then so much in want of bread as they are now-for, mad as a populace sometimes is, it is not credible that the people of Rome would throw any thing into either fire or water that was capable of affording nutriment to their bodies.

VIEW FROM TIBER ISLAND.

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It is impossible to stand on this island, and survey the Yellow Tiber rolling along the wretched shores on each side of the muddy stream-the squalid inhabitants passing and repassing on tottering bridges or leaky boats-the narrow lanes and sordid streets that line its banks-the absence of all marks of industry and comfort, without comparing the situation where we stand with the Island of the Rhone, on which Geneva is partly built, and where the blue waters of the Glaciers are rushing past us, aiding the labours of man in every kind of manufacture that conduces to the health, happiness, and luxury of the human race! A distant view of the Apennines also, reminds us of those "palaces of Nature,” their parent Alps; while the invigorating atmosphere of the Swiss mountains, contrasts with the sedative and enervating air in which we breathe and languish among the seven hills. We need not wonder that Esculapius, in the disguise of a serpent, soon died after his landing on this island. Apollo himself could not render the atmosphere salubrious, or endue it with those qualities which, among the mountains of more northern countries, impart elasticity to the body and energy to the mind.

Before an increasing population lowered the hills and raised the valleys, the site of Rome must have been rather attractive, or even picturesque. A cluster of eminences, not very high, but steep, overlooking the banks of the best river in the country, with an extensive circumjacent plain in every direction, which promised fertility, and exhibited no apparent sign of insalubrity, might naturally enough suggest the idea, and invite to the erection of one of those petty principalities or republics which were then the order of the day. Industry, wealth, and power, with their inevitable attendants, an exuberant population, rendered MALARIA rather a blessing than a curse. The endless allusions to pestilence, in all periods of Roman history, prove that this scourge existed from the first formation of Rome; but, however the prophecy may be ridiculed, at this time, I have not the smallest doubt that the silent and invisible enemy, which has already taken possession of at least three of the seven hills of Rome, will, ere many centuries, reduce the former mistress of the world to a wretched village or a den of robbers, and compel the statues of her gods and men to seek other and more salubrious asyla. ST. PETER'S, like PÆSTUм, will yet be visited at the risk of life, as the wonder of the desert -but more fortunate than the latter, in having its history rescued from oblivion by the magic power of the press

!

The mental excitement and corporeal fatigue of a ROMAN VISITATION, more especially when curiosity, self-interest, time, and inclination all pull different ways, prove no inconsiderable trial for the constitution. To be chilled by the Apennine blast on the Tower of the Capitol or Aurelian's Column, one day-exhausted by eight hours' peregrination through unventilated streets, the second-and parboiled in ST. PETER'S copper-kettle, the third, is not

quite safe.* I suspect that health is annually damaged—perhaps some lives sacrificed by such over-exertion of mind and body. Indeed I have reason to know that this is the case. Certain it is, that some premonitory sensations, which it would have been unsafe to despise, warned me to " change the air" -and, as the most exquisite pleasures are of shortest duration; as the most savoury viands soonest pall upon the sense of taste, I began, like Gibbon, to be tired of Paradise, and to pant for new scenes! And lest the reader should become as fatigued by Roman meditations as I was by Roman perambulations, I shall absolve him from the penalty of wading through many an evening's lucubration, which, though interesting to myself at the moment, might not be equally so to him now. One other subject of contemplation, and we leave the former mistress of the world.

ST. PETER'S.

I give myself some credit for not ascending the MONTE VATICANO until I had visited the other hills of Rome—for not rushing to the grand PoLYTHEON, until I had explored half a hundred temples dedicated to the minor divinities of the holy Roman Catholic religion. Long experience had cautioned me to reserve the greatest pleasure for the last-though the same experience had also too often taught me that pleasures are almost all in perspective—

And when in act they cease, in prospect rise.

Whatever momentary disappointment may be experienced in the primary glance at ST. PETER'S PORTICO, when approaching that noble edifice, first, through a mean suburb, and then through a magnificent cycle of colonnades, enclosing fountains that fling their pearly waters almost as high as that tallest of Egyptian obelisks which stands in the centre; it will be found, on entering the holy fane, that the feebler sense of PLEASURE is quickly drowned in the more tumultuous emotion of SURPRISE-that this, in its turn, is superseded by ADMIRATION-and that all three are ultimately absorbed in the stupor of AMAZEMENT.†

* The first day that I ascended to the summit of St. Peter's, was very hot, though in October. I spent an hour in the copper ball, enjoying the magnificent prospect, in which time the perspiration actually exuded through my clothes! It was as hot as the black-hole of Calcutta; but with the advantage of several crevices through which the fresh air might be inhaled.

↑ Mortals are constantly complaining of the short duration of pleasure and happiness, (for they are very different things, though often confounded) and the almost perpetuity of disappointment, discomfort, and even misery. The

Sober reflections are necessarily banished or prevented by vivid sensations. It is not in the heat of battle that we can best calculate the consequences of victory or defeat. But ardent impressions supply the best fuel for subsequent cogitation, as collisions of flint and steel furnish the sparks that ultimately kindle the glowing flame.

It was not till after the third visit to St. Peter's, and the second ascent to its summit, that I was able to reflect with coolness on the origin, the object, and the end of an edifice, to which the epithet "nil simile aut secundum" may well be applied. My tribute of praise to its matchless perfections may not have been the less because not arrayed in language, which is inadequate to convey it. The most heartfelt admiration is, I apprehend, least noisy in its annunciation, as the most poignant grief is generally void of utterance. Those who feel but little, can afford to profess much;—when feeling is overpowered, silence is the most eloquent, as well as the most natural mode of expression.

I have more than once observed that MAN is too apt to measure the attributes of his Creator by the standard of his own passions, propensities, and appetites. The GREAT and the LITTLE, in this world, are much gratified by presents-nay, even by compliments. A diamond snuff-box, an Arabian courser, or a sparkling aigrette, has sometimes set armies in motion, and settled or unsettled the fate of dynasties. Through every gradation of society, the bribe operates according to its own intrinsic value, the rank of the donor, or the dispositions (good or evil) of the receiver. A principle so universally diffused among mankind could hardly fail to shew itself in that paramount sense of duty, implanted by Nature in the human breast-ADORATION OF THE DEITY, whether expressed in superstitious idolatry or true religion. The blood of a calf, the entrails of a pig, or the milk of a goat began, however, in process of time, to be considered as presents or propitiations too ignoble and inefficient for Olympian Jove ;—and, as men came to feel the comforts or luxuries of splendid mansions for themselves, they could not do less than erect magnificent abodes for their GoDs, who condescended to spend the greater part of their time on earth, not, certainly, in pursuits the most decorous or moral for celestial personages. Of the stupendous edifices, the extensive establishments of priests, the bloody sacrifices, and the degrading

majority are unaware that our present state of existence is incompatible with long-continued pleasure or happiness. These would soon destroy the earthly fabric and corrupt its immortal tenant, the soul. A life of the greatest pleasure is, in reality, a life of the greatest pain-and as for a life of happiness, it exists only in the imagination of poets and maniacs. I believe that the greatest proportion of these much-desired objects is obtained by the earnest pursuit of them—and that he is the most fortunate who never gains possession!

modes of worship, which engrossed the attention or subjugated the reason of man, century after century, it is not necessary to speak. One thing appears pretty clear-that the ignorant multitude bribed, or hoped to bribe the Gops, through the instrumentality of the priests-while the crafty priesthood cajoled the people with the oracles of the gods.

It is greatly to be feared that, when a pure religion was revealed to MAN, the latter was not always able or willing to shake off the trammels of an antecedent superstition. The gorgeous fane which I am now contemplating, would cast in the shade the magnificent temple of Jupiter on the Capitoline hill. Will any one say that it was not erected to honour the ashes of a MAN, rather than to form a place of worship for the ALMIGHTY? But, allowing that the design was solely that of testifying our veneration for the supreme Creator, is it to be supposed that the Architect of the Universe can be either pleased or propitiated by the mimic architecture, however splendid, performed by human hands? Is it to be imagined that the dimensions or ornaments of a place of worship can render that worship more or less acceptable in the sight of God? Certainly not. The next question that suggests itself to the inquiring mind is this-can the inimitable statues, the beautiful paintings, the rare marbles, the polished pillars, the incalculable treasures of a temple like that of ST. PETER'S, contribute, directly or indirectly, to a more sincere and heart-felt adoration of the Divinity, contrition for our sins, supplication for pardon, or determination to reform, than a place of worship that merely protects us from the rains and winds, while performing our devotions to the MOST HIGH? It has been argued (and the argument is almost irresistible) that the feeble and plastic mind of man is disposed to the worship of his CREATOR, and to religious devotions in general, by the contemplation of solemn temples, filled with sensible representations of all the great historical facts, momentous miracles, and sublime truths of our holy religion—with images and delineations commemorating the origin, life, crucifixion, and resurrection of the Divine Founder of our Faith-with statues and paintings of saints and martyrs, who shed their blood, and laid down their lives in attestation of the heavenly mission and super-human works of our Saviourand all this in the midst of a gorgeous, mystical, and ceremonious ritual, performed by the delegated authorities of heaven-even by the vice-gerent of Christ on earth! It would be extremely difficult to start even a hypothetical objection to this line of argument, did not that sure and sole test of theory— EXPERIENCE-intrude itself on our sight, to confound the ingenuity of human speculations. Without reference to the sarcastic adage-" the nearer the church, the farther from God"—we may safely aver that, in no part of Christendom, have the precepts of Christianity less practical influence on the lives and actions of man than here in the very PATRIMONY of ST. PETER, where the churches would contain the whole of the population, and do contain the