New-York daily tribune., 1851-07-30
CHANCES AT EUROPE. No. XVI
ST. PETER s.


Editorial Correspondence of The Tribune
ROME, Saturday, June %, 1851
ST PETERS is the Niagara Of edihces,
having the same relation to other master pieces
of human effort that the great cataract bears to
other terrestrial effects of Divine power la
either case, the first view disappoints, because
the perfection OF symmetry dims the conscious
ness of magnitude, and the total absence of ex-
aggeration in the details forbids the conception
of yastness in the aggregate. In viewing Lon
don's St Paul's, you have a realization of bulk
which ST. Peters does not give, yet ST. PauPs
is but a wart beside St. Peters | do not
know that the resemblance has been noticed
by others, but the semi-clrcle of gigantic yet
admirably proportloned pillars which encloses
the grand square In front of St Peters reminds
me windy of the general conformation OF our
great waterfall, while the column or obellsk in
the center OF the square (Which column Is
mistake, in my humble judgment, and should be
removed) has its parallel in the unsightly tower
overlooking the main cataract from the extreme
point OF Goat Island. Eternal endurance and
repose may be itly typihed by the oceans and
snow crested mountains, but power and energy
find their best expressions In the cataract and
the dome Time and Genius may produce
other structures as admirable in their own way
and regarded in connection with their uses but,
viewed, as a temple 81. Peters will ever stand
unmatched and unapproachable.
| chose the early morning for my first visit.
The sky was cloudless, as 1t mainly Is here save
in winter, but the day was not yet warm, for the
sumner nights are cooler here than IN New
York, and the current English talk Of the exces-
sve heat which prevails In Rome at this season
is calculated TO deceive Americans No one fails
10 realize from the first the great beauty and ad
mirable accessories of this edifce, with the far
stretching but quite other than lofty pile Of the
Vatican en- It's night and its own magnificent col
onnade IN 'front.' but YOU do not ieel that It Is lOf
IL, nor spacious, nor anything bat perfect. You
ascend the steps and thus gam some idea Of the
immense proportions prevailing throughout for
the church seems scarcely 1t all elevated above
the square, and yet many are the steps leading
up to the doors Crossing grand porch with an
arched roof Of glorious mosaic, you find your
sell III the body OF the edlhce which now seems
large ard lofty indeed bu; hy 10 means unparal-
leIed BIZ, you walk on and On, 5etT sen opposing
pillars the grandest the world ever saw, the
space at either side between any two pillars con
sti,uting separate chapel with lis gorgeous al
tar It's grand pictures IN mosaic, It's sculptured
saints and angels, each Of these chapes having
a larger area than any church ever entered IN
America; and by the time you have walked
slowly and obseryingly to the front Of the main
altar you realize profoundly that Earth has moth
ing else to match with 81. Peters. No matter
though another church were twice as large. and
erected at a cost Of twice the Thirty Millions of
dollars and fifty years expended upon this, 81.
Peters would still stand unrlvaled For every