New-York daily tribune., 1843-12-14
T n E. T R IB u N E
Foreign Correspondence.
aetters from ftalp.,,....No. XVI.
By j. TYLER HEADLEy..


Noone can ascend If without an order from the
osee of the Cardinal Secretary Of State. This
ordet is obtained bya paper from somebody else.
toroet whom. This paper my friend had sent
me with the request to send and get the order.
mt it in nv pocket with the full determination
to do as he requested. But just as our carriage
was driving up to the magnificent steps OF st,
Peters he asked if I had the order. | slowly
pplled forth the paper from the spot where it had
lain snugly for two or three days, and shook my
head. "Then we arc done for it," said he. /
I had no apology to make-therc sat his lady,
who had taken all this trouble for nothing. Ne
yer mind" said he, "et us try what we can do
without an order"
We went to the Sacristan who kept the door,
and told him our case, and plead to have the re-
gaation dispensed with, but he was inexorabe,
asked him if he could bear to have us return
TO our own country, after having come SO far,
without ascending st. Peters. 'Mi ia niente
ma non posse permittero." 1t is nothing to
me, but cannot allow it, then appealed to
his gallantry, and made up a long story about
the lady on my arm. "Mi rncresce moltiSSimo
sgnore, ma non G possibiIe' g. am very sorry,
sir but can't help it," was all | could get out Of
him. then undertook to bribc him, but it was
Of no use He was the first Italian | had seen
money would not buy. (" Never mind,' said Mr..
-,"I understand that some of these Sacris
tans keep permissions to SELL" Off he started
and in few minutes returned with one that cost
l..lr ILL. 7 .lol = al
Sacristan, and said, "There, will that do ?''-
Oh YOU would have shouted at the look of blank
astonishment with which he regarded me. 1t
~as all right, signed and sealed as his Holiness
directs, but said he, "Did you not write it your
self?" "What!'' said /, forge that seal?"
pointing to the Cardinals signet. He shook his
head" but where did you get it 2" 'St. Peter
gaveit to me-" l replied (He opened his eyes
still wider)-" He did not wish me to leave his
church without seeing its wonders" Z" II Santo
Petro e piu generoso di le.'' /" Pass on said
the old man, with an ominous shake of the head,
and we began to mount. The ascent to the top
of the roof is so gradual that horses pass up and
down with loads. On the roof the houses of the
wolkmen scattered around look like a little vii
lage.
The Dome is double and you ascend between
the double walls. Every now and then door lets
you through to the inside Of the Dome, where there
ia narrow path on which to walk, and gaze
downtown on the pigmies that are crawling
over the dim pavement below. The enormous
statues are dwinded to point, and the smoke of
incense throws haze like summer atmosphere
over the wealth of marble below. The concave
Of the Dome is wrought in Mosaic, represent
ing virgins and saints &C. From below it seems
to be the finest Of work, while here the stones
large as the end Of your thumb. The sentence
in Mosaic, Tu es Petrus,' &c, Thou art Peter,
which is barely visible from below is found to be
composed of letters sir feet long. An American
Vandal had been here few days before, and in
order to carry away memento of the Dome had
gouged out one Of the eyes of the saints with his
jack.knie
will not attempt to describe the view from
the top. The Mediterranean, blue and dim, in
the distance on the one side, the Albano, the Sa-
hne and Volscian hills on the other Rome, the
Coliseum Forum, the winding Tber, palaces
and temples, immortal each with It's history,
and all grand and mighty with the Past, were too
much for one glance. The mind became per-
Nc'ly supplied with the crowd Of images and
emotions that overwhelmedit. Glorious old Rome,
aat coup d'euit,' has become part of my ex-
Mence. 1t IS daguerreotyped on my heart for
ever.
Now for a chapter of statistics hate them,
ou' IN no other way can you get an idea OF the
SIZE OF St. Peters. | will not give you feet and
inches, but say that if Trinity Church is finished
III We plan with which it was commenced you
could pie about - Of them into st. Peters and
aaSe considerable room left for walking about
oy taking off the steeples you could arrange
'So rows OF them in the Church, three in row,
@eh clap on the stceples again under the Dome
aiu tney would reach a trihe more than half way
" @e top. You could put two Churches like
se innty under the Dome and have the entire
usSe OF the Church, and both Size aises wholly
aaoccuped. Take three Astor Houses and place
'aem lengthwise, and they would nearly extend
Ielength Of the inside of ST. Peters-make
u0aoe row Of them and they would fill it up half
way TO the roof pretty snug.
From these statements you can get some idea
o the magnitude of St. Peters. Thirty or forty
common churches could be slowed away in
Without much trouble. The four columns
aas support the Dome are each larger than an
0dnary dwelling house, and yet they do not
'aSe you as particularly large. But this is
a'lalng-the marble-the statuary-the costly
onbs-the architecture-the art arc indscribablc.
] But thou, of temples old, or atars new,
Stsndest alone-wi,h nothing like TO thee