The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1878-12-19
OUR EUROPEAN CORRESPONDENCE


not Of A single letter, and 50 we can hope
10 only glance az some Of the most strik-
ing features and record general impress
sions.
Following our own inclinations, a.
we'll as the custom of travellers, we 90
az once 10 st. Peters, crossing the Tiber
directly opposite the castle OF st. Angelo,
on a massive stone bridge Of five arches,
built by the Emperor Hadrian, more
than seventeen hundred years ago. We
were sadly disappointed in the Tiber
When we recalled Rll we had read Of
this grandly historic river, the pride Of
the ancient Roman, we were hardly
prepared TO see small, muddy, COM
mon-place sort Of stream, creeping
along at a snairs pace toward the ocean.
Macaulayis "Horatius at the Bridge"
has lost much Of its charm for us now,
and is more than ever poem Of the i'm
agination. The castle was originally a
huge cylindrical structure covered with
marble, on which colossal statue Of
Hadrian was placed. This was built by
him for a tomb, and contained the fam
/ lily cenerary urns. IL was converted
into a fortress as early as when the
Goths besieged Rome. and the beautiful
statues which adorned its summit were
hurled upon the heads Of the invaders.
At present il is used as fort, and is con-
nected with the Vatican by an under
ground passage nearly three-fourths Of
a mile long.
The approach to st. Peters, with its
great elliptical colOnnades, is grand and
impressive beyond description, and
forms a most striking introduction to
the largest church in the world In the
center Of the large open space in front
Of the church is the great obelisk which
was brought to Rome by the mad En-
peror Caligula and set up in the circus
Of Nero. The church itself is reputed TO
have been founded by the Emperor
Constantine on the spot where st. Peter
suffered martyrdom, and contains the
buzen sarcophagus Of that Apostle
/ The present building, which was
planned by the great Michael Angelo,
and which has cost more than $50, ,OOO,-
O00 was dedicated exactly thirteen
hundred years after the first structure.
IL is the largest, but not the most beau
tiful, church in the world. Some idea
Of its size may be gained from the fact
that 10 covers three acres of ground, is
six hundred and fifty feet long, two
hundred aud nine wide, four hundred
aud sixty-five high, and has two humid
red and ninety windows, three hundred
and ninety statues, forty-six sltars, and
seven hundred and forty-eight columns.
Large as il is, its gigantic dome Is three
feet less in diameter than that Of the
Pantheon, which was built twenty-seveu
years B. c., and il yet standing In per-
feet repair, aud three buildings just like
il could be placed within the outer wall
of the Colosseum. In the dome are
mosaics, Of heroic size, Of the four Evan
gelists. -. Luke is writing with a pen
seven feet long, yet from the pavement
il looks only about the size Of a full
grown lead pencil. At the base Of one
Of the pillars is the famous sitting statue
Of ST. Peter, in bronze, whose great toe
has been worn away by contact with
the lips Of devotees. The statue is said
to have originally been one Of Jupiter
and was taken from heather temple
and dedicated to st. Peter.
In the center Of the cross beneath the
dome, rises the beautiful and costly can.
opy uuder.which, and Immediately ovel
the tomb Of St. Peter, is the altar from
which the Pope only reads mass on higl
festival occasions. Beneath this, anC
reached by double fight Of marbI,
stairs, is the vault which contains tn,
sarcophagus Of the apostle.
The remains Of Plus IN. had recently
I been placed in the Popes' niche in th,
= wall Of the church where the bodies y
all the Popes are placed temporarily
We can only add that the longer on,
wanders through this great cathedra
and examines it in detail, the more tn
D impression Of its vastness grows upor
$ him.
= Probably there is no place in Europ
l where centers so much Of interest a
upon the little parallelogram, less thai
; thousand feet in greatest dimensions
, known as the Roman Forum. Aroun,
) Us on every side we see ruins Of temples
e public buildings and triumphal arches
E u re are three columns where once wa
the magnificent temple Of Castor an
e Pollux, near II the foundation Of tn
q temple Of the Deified Julius, erected ol
the spot where Cesar's body was ere
mated by the populace after the funera
oration by Mark Athony, which is $
a graphically described in Shakespeare
d Julius Caesar" There are identifie
e remains OF the temple of Vespesian, tn
I, Tabularium or great Record Office q
: ancient Rome, the temple Of Saturn, th
= the old rostrum from which orators ad
dressed the people, and at one end q
which was the central milestone of tb
!, Roman Empire, and a shapeless mass {
: concrete all that remains of the famou
temple Of Nesta, founded by one Of th
first kings Of Rome. On the Forum al
also the remains Of the great buildiu
erected by Julius in which the publi
business was transacted. In the marbl
e floor Of the pOrticO and 10 the stems fif