The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1860-11-08

man. As well a. the large clusters hsnginl
over the top Of the baskets. arc tho mos
perfect imitstioos have ever sesn- Th'
main support Of the family is derived frou
his earnings in sitting for artists. M Z
says the boy astride the donkey Is the mos
perfectly formed child he has ever seen. :
) He gets . half scudi (ahou, 54e) for q morn
, ings sitting. sometimes earning . scudi
, dAv By sitting in the morning tor one anf II
the evening for another artist. Mr.. Z. ha
kept the ex .ct cost OF this painting. chary
in. his labor as he worked on it: he make'
it ], 200 scudi, the price a>ked tor the paint
ing.
i On arriving here We took the advice oi
friend Henry Davis. and secured the servi-
ces Of old Paul a. a vale du place. An old
Italian who has served in that capacity for
! many years. and is posted IS to every nook
and corner of Rome We also have TIE
advantage of the kind services OF Rev Po-
bisch. . Young priest. TO whom Mr. Kinney
! had letter OF introduction from Bishop Pur.
cell. do not think it possible that the
Bishop could have eelected young man of
more talent or mind to send here. He Is
quite linxuist. speaking several languag s.
q master histor an. sud . kind and aff+bIs
gentleman. His knowledge Of the city and
its history has been Of great advantage and
interest to US. Our FIRST visit Was To st. Pc
ter's; we nscended the dome to the top,
where wife Kinney ard myself entered ,be
bronze ball on top Of the dome. by climb
ing up small iron ladder through round
hole some eighteen inches in diameter: II
was rather = tight squeeze for me. but s'sc-
ceeded. From outside the dome We ,Oked
down on the prisons of the inquisitio". now
occupied IS barracks by the -rench soldiers.
The interior Of the dome is beautifully dec
Grated by mosaic pictures OF scriPtural
groups. The immense size Of some OF them
Is lost in the magnitude Of the grand struc-
ture. For instance. a quill seven ieet long.
held 10 the hand of q figure representing
John. does not appear to be over IL to 10
inches.
We then visited the Vatican galleries OF
ancient sculpture, paintings AMI curios'tiss.
Here is a vase Of alabaster, said to contain
the remains of Augustus Ca 'ar; two tombs
OF porphyry. taken from the ruins OF old
Rome. are very eiaborstely carved in bas
relief. and valued at ten million dollars; ss
this was about 475 more than | thought
they were worth, ] did not buy them
From the old Capitol building, we had fine
view Of the old Roman Forum. the Palace
of the Caesars. and the Baths Of Titus. Cse-
sar's Palace, crumbling away. still gives an
idea OF the grandeur Of old Ro ne. Tho
greater part of the structure has gone to de-
cay. and the spo. is now in a high state of
cultivation, yielding fine crop Of pumpkins,
beans and cabbage. There are also num-
Der of Il trees bearing beautiiu ly. One of
the most odd sights | have seen. is At the
Church Cappucina. where is q suite Of rooms
used as a Cemetery for the monks.
There were pyramids Of monks skulls
some ten feet high. and their bones are piled
up like cordwood. The rooms were besuli-
fully fesrooned with bones tied together.
Corpses of monks were dressed as when liv-
ing, and placed around the rooms in an up
right position. like sen,inels keeping guard
over the bones of the dead. When \ monk
dies he is buried in the grave OF the oldest
occ pant, whose bones are removed and add
to the pyramids. Close by this church is
the Marman,ine Prison. where (accOrding
to church trajition) ST. Peter was confined
by Nero We saw the rock he Was chained
to. and drank from the we'll or spring which
he miraculously created. There Is 40 doubt
bu, this prison was used in the time Of Cic
e,o, and that it was in this dark damp dun
g-on that the acconpltces of Ca aline we're
strsn9l-d. TIE prison is two stories. below
ground; the original enhance being but .
round hole in the center of the root. through
which the prisoners we're lowered.
j. A. F.