On the galley which bore a Tiberius over the Mare Magnum, might be seen at the prow a Castor or a Pollux, as now we find on the bark and the sails of the fisherman a Madonna, or a Bambino, or a saint; nay, on the very cup with which they regaled themselves at the festive table, religion and rioting were united in the contemplation of a Bacchus and his train, as now the images of the Madonna often preside over a strange mixture of devotion and dissipation. The images of Pagan, as of Christian Rome, were made also of every kind of material, and were supposed to be filled by the divinity whom they represented. It is easy to conceive what would have been the part of Lucian had he lived during the Iconoclastic controversy, when we find him thus speaking," But they who enter his temples [Jupiter's] do not think they see ivory brought from India, or gold dug out of the veins of Thrace, but the very son himself of Rhea and Saturn." Such was generally supposed to be the case with other statues, and history is full of instances in which speech and action are ascribed to them; they moved, and spoke, and "sweated," and hungered and thirsted, aye, and had their wants supplied, thus presenting an example which has been closely followed by the saints of modern Rome. It is almost unnecessary to observe, that to images thus consecrated, and supposed to be endowed with life, the Romans paid every mark of respect and adoration. "If any is poor," says Lucian, "he so sacrifices to the god [speaking of Jupiter] that he kisses his right hand." How similar is this to the homage which is paid to the image of St. Peter! and how much more striking does the resemblance become when we con

sider that this statue is made, according to report, from the very same materials which formerly composed the statue of Jupiter Capitolinus! Times, indeed, have changed, one generation has succeeded another, but the same religious ceremonials remain, proving to us that the drapery of the Pagan and the Roman Catholic religion in Italy has been taken from a common wardrobe. But we must literally look into the wardrobe of the Pagan gods before we complete the parallel between them and the Roman Catholic saints. As a matter of taste, you will remember that I objected to the crowns with which the images of the Madonna and Christ are often honoured; yet the same objection might have been made, under different circumstances, full two thousand years ago. Coronam auream Jovi donum in Capitolium mittunt, says Livy. When, too, one looks on the image of St. Peter on the day of his fête, with a crown on his head, clothed with a pallium, and wearing rings on his fingers, the mind instantly recurs to the image which the Sicilian tyrant deprived of his mantle of gold, as being too cold in winter and too hot in summer. Again, I mentioned in an early part of this letter that I had seen in the church of Ara Cœli an image of the Bambino which was literally covered with jewels. By a curious coincidence, Livy writes of an image on the very same spot (for this church stands on the site of the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus),-Torques multos ex quibus unnum magni ponderis Claudius in Capitolio Jovi donum in æde positum scribit. The same author, as well as Cicero in his Oration against Verres, and many others, writes of the immense wealth that was lavished upon

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images, shewing that religious enthusiasm was then as - strong as it is now, that it adopted a similar mode of expression, and thus adding another to the many proofs we already have of the common lineage of the rites and ceremonies of the two religions.

I here, then, close my observations on images and image-worship in ancient and modern Rome. As I have investigated the subject rather from antiquarian curiosity than from religious or party feeling, I trust that I may have given to you the results of my reading with a due respect to the feelings and opinions of others. I have not hazarded any remark in support of which I have not brought forward either facts, quæque ipse miserrima vidi et quorum pars fui, or else authorities selected from Roman Catholic writers.

I give you here the works I have consulted for this letter:-Dizionario di Teologia di M. Berger,-Durantus de Ritibus, &c.,-Martinetti Tezoro della Antichità,-Discours de la Religion des Anciens Romains, par Noble Guillaume,-Montfaucon's l'Antiquité expliquée et representeé par le R. P. Louis Thommasin, Prêtre de l'Oratoire,-Dizionario di Erudizione Storico Ecclesiastico di Gaetano Moroni Romano,-Molanus de Historia S.S. Imaginum,-Livy,-Dialogues of Lucian.

LETTER IV.

I AM not going to do that which I might very easily do, -fill this sheet with an account of the church ceremonies of the last week; still, en passant, I must give a glance at them, leaving a fuller description to some future opportunity. I have witnessed once more scenes both extraordinary and interesting, if it was only that they opened to us people from the North a new and strange chapter in the history of the human mind. The whole scene of the Passion of Jesus Christ has been enacted, with great dramatic effect, in every church in Italy. On the Thursday, the Apostles, represented by twelve beggars, had their feet washed,- —an office often no sinecure, I assure you, as I have seen it performed, and an act of true Christian charity. This ceremony being concluded, Jesus, in the person of a large-sized doll, was carried round the church in great pomp, followed by a long funeral procession, and finally laid in the grave. Then succeeded eight-and-forty hours of gloom, penitence, and self-denial. In private all amusements were suspended,-flesh was eschewed, even the neces

sary avocations of life were deemed a sin,—the peasantry considering it a peccato to sweep their floors "in the face of Jesus Christ," and some even to brush their hair in fact, a great moral change seemed to have taken place; the sinner had become a saint, the saint an angel,-if his Holiness will admit that to be a grade higher. In public, the change was no less marked. The churches were darkened,—an altar was fitted up to represent the sepulchre,-the Host was covered with crape, the bells were silent, and worshipers were summoned to the churches by a watchman's rattle, whose hoarse tones resounded in every street. On Saturday morning, I stepped into a church, about ten o'clock, and saw one of the finest scenic effects I ever witnessed. The lustral water had just been blessed, and the priests were returning to the altar, when, as if by magic, a blaze of light poured in upon us from every avenue through which it could stream,-every curtain had been raised,-the high altar was exposed to view, glittering in all its wealth of silver and gold,-tapers blazed,-bells pealed,-the organ burst forth in a Te Deum,-and, what added a most beautiful and poetical effect to the whole, numbers of birds, which the crowd below had let loose, fluttered about the roof, rejoicing in their liberty and typifying the resurrection of the great Saviour of men: the bonds of death had been burst asunder, and Jesus was supposed to have risen. In these three days, then, were united all that could dazzle the eye or charm the ear,—all, in short, of external effect that could impress the imagination; and there were very few, perhaps, who witnessed these scenes for the first time, who did not