is thrusting his ponderous key. In the background, in fine perspective, is seen the front of some public building with three large niches, at various distances from the spectator, each containing some statue. The drapery is finely wrought, and on many of the figures portions of it are remarkably well gilt. Some of the persons appear to stand out fully separated from the panel, whilst little more than the outline of others is discernible. On the oblong panel, over this, in the upper compartment, are two winged children, one at each extremity, who hold the ends of a finely filled festoon of leaves and flowers; over the centre of the festoon is the scutcheon with the family arms of Rovera; a sort of tree with its branches interwoven at the top, and the tiara projecting. On the lower compartment, which corresponds in size and shape with the upper, are two trees, one at each extremity, the trunks near the ends, and the higher branches extending so as to meet nearly at the top of the centre; under each tree is a winged child, and in the centre the inscription in raised letters, SIXTUS QUARTUS. PONTIFEX MAXIMUS.

On the corresponding gate to your right hand, the upper compartment is similar, but that a cardinal's hat supplies the place of the tiara. The only difference in the lower compartment is the inscription; which is: JULIUS CARD. SANCTI PETRI AD VINCULA; SANCTE ROMANE ECCLESIÆ PŒNITENTIARIUS. MCCCCLXXVII. The middle panel is divided into three parts. That on your right exhibits the interior of a prison, the apostle is lying on the floor, chained to a soldier on each side, both sleeping, one reclined, the other nearly erect and leaning against an angle. The angel is awaking the apostle; and in the background other sleepers are seen, soldiers and prisoners intermixed. In the centre is the passage outside this dungeon which extends down a good distance in excellent perspective, with a statue in a niche at its termination. The angel leads Peter from the dungeon, treading cautiously upon some armour that lies scattered over the floor. The apostle seems doubting the reality of his delivery, yet is very careful to keep close to his conductor; the compartment to your left is the outer wall of the prison in which was the large iron gate, which spontaneously opened to allow a passage, [after passing through which,] the apostle felt assured of his safety.

The collections of leaves and other decorations that go around each gate comprising its three panels, are wrought with a lightness and softness of appearance equal to wax. This is one of the chef d'œuvres of

147

the brothers Pullajoli, who cast the fine gates of St. Peter's at the Vatican. Their remains are interred in this church at the Esquiline. The Cardinal Julius Rovera was nephew to Pope Sixtus IV., and had this and other works executed for this church, of which he was the titular cardinal-priest.

has elapsed since I concluded the preceAugust 11.-You observe that a week ding sentence. Since then, the respectable abbot of St. Peter's has kindly furnished me with the dissertation which he promised, compiled by one of his order. It is a work now very scarce, [of] about fifty pages quarto; a production which, however, must have occupied much time, and required great patience and profound research. The writer is one of those laborious, enlightened, judicious, and candid critics, whom the monasteries have furnished in great abundance. He shows that it cannot be distinctly known at present whether the church, which originally stood upon the site now occupied by that in which the chains are kept, was, as many authors dedicated after his arrival in Rome,--and state, the first which the Apostle Peter that hence it was called, subsequently, and before the chains were placed there, St. Peter's Church. He shows that the chains were, from the earliest period, held in high estimation in Rome. He does not, however, bring such testimony as would make evidence for the authenticity, unless we admit one or more of the miracles which he relates as wrought by their means; and one at least of these is sustained by testimony which to me appears fully sufficient; which makes direct and circumstantial evidence abundant for every person who has not made his determination to be incredulous. He avows that great difficulty and indistinctness is found in the testimony respecting the miraculous junction of the chains brought from Jerusalem and that with which the Apostle was bound in Rome; and states that he can find no evidence beyond an unsustained, and vague, and imperfect tradition. But respecting the bringing of one of the chains from Jerusalem to Rome, the testimony amounts to a very great probability, [though] by no means sufficient to produce certainty. The reading of the work has, upon the whole, produced in my mind the conclusion of the authenticity of the the sufficiency of the proof by which it is relic itself, though I am not satisfied of sought to sustain several particular statements that are matters of pious belief. I look upon its preservation and exhibition to public respect to be not only rational and

religious, but exceedingly useful to religion. | late, seems to be equally intent upon his

I write from my own experience when I inform you that by it the understanding is enlightened, the heart is moved, the respectful recollection of the Apostle raises the soul to a still higher veneration for the commission with which he was invested, and of the faithful and painful discharge of whose duties this chain is an enduring witness; and he who contemplates the relic upon the altar, who misses that iron which enclosed the martyr's neck, bows in silent adoration, more resigned to the worldly and transient afflictions which Providence allots to him, and the history of the saints is the justification of that Providence, which by some afflictions subjects to a penance in this transient state, and makes perfect by tribulation those who, enriched by grace, are found faithful and destined for glory. Who would not prefer to suffer upon earth, and to be glorious in heaven with Lazarus and with Peter, than to die like Dives or like Nero. The sumptuous repasts have long since [ceased], the bright and delicate vesture has faded and decayed. The golden palace is a heap of ruin. Ages have flowed away, and eternity is yet, if I might use the expression, in the very infancy of its duration; sorrow is changed into joy, and the instrument of pain, and the badge of disgrace, has become the evidence of fidelity, as it was the occasion of merit, and continues to be the emblem of triumph, and the incitement to virtue. We feel the full force of that passage of the Apostle in which he says, that "God chooses the foolish things of the world that he might confound the wise-and the weak things of the world that he might confound the strong-and the ignoble things of the world, and the contemptible things of the world, did God choose, and the things that are not, that he might bring to nought the things that are, that no flesh should glory in his sight."

own occupation. He has a large shell with which he appears determined to draw off the waters of the ocean, and to pour them on the land.

The saint relates that one day, when endeavouring to form some idea of the nature of the infinite and eternal Creator, and led in his contemplations to try [to] find some objects of comparison, and to try [to] discern the mode of the Triune existence of the Almighty; after many a fruitless effort, he saw [that] a child thus occupied was the best emblem of an aspiring mortal who would endeavour, with his limited faculties, to grasp infinity! It reminded me of the solemn and sublime address of the Lord himself to the wise, the patient, and the contemplative Eastern. (Job xxxviii.)

I have not yet done with this church. I like the dress of these canons regular; it is a white sutan of fine flannel, over which they wear a fine linen rochet, rather short, and in the streets they throw a black cloak over the rochet.

August 14-A few days since, an Invito sagro, or invitation for religious purposes, was posted in the form of a proclamation by the cardinal-vicar throughout the city. In it the faithful were invited to go, on the evening of the three days previous to the Assumption, to the Church of St. Mary Major, to pray for the peace and prosperity of the church, and especially to avert the evils which seem to impend over Spain and Portugal. I am told that on Tuesday evening there was a very large concourse; on yesterday evening I went rather early, and stopped for a few moments at the Church of St. Lorenzo in Panisperna, which stands upon the spot where the martyrdom of St. Laurence took place. On my way from this to the basilic of St. Mary, I was overtaken by half a dozen of the juniors of the canons regular of Saint Peter's, In this church is another of Guercino's who appeared to have conceived a friendpieces, which attracted my notice, and for ship for me since they saw me taking notes a time riveted my attention more even in their church, and we proceeded togeupon the moral than upon the production ther; the crowds were thronging the streets of the artist. The altar over which it is in all directions, hundreds of carriages were placed is near that of the chains; St. Au- drawn up round the building. We went in gustine, the great Bishop of Hippo, is finely and found it was but one-third filled; after represented in the mood of most intense remaining to pray for a time, we came out, investigation. In the features you at once and perceived the holy father at a distance. perceive the deep research and the anxiety His carriage soon arrived, a dragoon, and of inquiry; the eye would seem to pene- at a short distance another, then about four trate beyond the sphere of his existence, or five, a carriage drawn by six horses, with and to scrutinize a world far, far beyond the scan of ordinary men. He is seated near the margin of the ocean; and a beautiful child, at a small distance from the pre

the superior officers of the palace. The Pope's carriage, open on every side, drawn by six horses, the holy father praying for blessings on the people as he passed, and

this enthusiastically responded to by them. The guards of nobles, two carriages drawn each by four horses, about twenty dragoons, two carriages drawn each by two horses, two dragoons. The cardinals received his holiness. The church was now

thronged, and I never witnessed more devotion than amongst the crowd where I knelt. The usual prayers were gone through, and the benediction of the sacrament given by a canon. Upwards of ten thousand persons then separated.

LETTERS ON THE

MISREPRESENTATIONS OF N. P. WILLIS'S "FIRST
IMPRESSIONS OF EUROPE."

[It may seem invidious to reproduce, after so long an interval, a series of letters in which one of our most agreeable and popular American authors is somewhat severely, though courteously criticised. This fault, however, though perhaps personally a venal one, is nevertheless so common even among the most amiable and respectable writers of similar works, and involves in itself such great injustice, as well as such serious consequences of harm, towards those whose minds are in this way fatally prejudiced against the Roman Church, that no good opportunity can with propriety be let pass, in which something may be done to counteract the evil. It is often the case that persons, even those whose minds are partly imbued with Catholic doctrine, inquire with an appearance of the deepest earnestness and concern, what can be said against the grave charges made by so many writers of name against the Roman dignitaries and clergy. It is felt, on the one hand, that the mere fact that the Roman Hierarchy are such a body as it becomes the chief priests and ecclesiastical princes of the Catholic Church of Christ to be, would, if proved, constitute a powerful moral argument in favour of the high claims of the Roman See; and, on the other, that the absence of sanctity and virtue among them throws a fearful weight into the opposite scale. To those who have been themselves educated for the priesthood in Rome, or who have the advantage of deriving personal information from them, it appears almost an idle task to set seriously about the refutation of the ordinary charges against the Roman clergy. But to such as have not this advantage, the letter of one like Bishop England, whose competence and veracity as a witness are alike above suspicion, must be of great service, and will, it is hoped, be found amply sufficient; while they exhibit to all, and especially to such as feel called upon to write against our holy religion, an example of that dignity, courtesy, and Christian charity, which, in every Catholic prelate living in these times, is put to such severe and trying tests. The letters were first published in the "Baltimore Gazette," and are extracted from the United States Catholic Miscellany," into which they were copied-Nos. 18-21 of Vol. XIII., for 1833.]

LETTER I.

To the Editor of the Baltimore Gazette.

SIR-Having upon my return from Europe, been told by some friends that a writer who has furnished the "New York Mirror" with articles under the head of "First Impressions of Europe," had mentioned a lecture delivered by me in Rome, in terms that appeared somewhat strange to them, I requested to be shown the passage; and the following paragraph in that paper, under date of September 7, was pointed out to

me:

Bishop England, of Charleston, South Carolina, delivered a lecture at the house of the English Cardinal Weld, a day or two ago, explanatory of the ceremonies of the Holy Week. It was principally an apology for them. He confessed that to the educated, they appeared emp. ty, and even absurd rites, but they were intended not for the refined, but for the vulgar, whom it was necessary to instruct and impress through

their outward senses. As nearly all those rites, however, take place in the Sistine Chapel, which no person is permitted to enter who is not furnished with a ticket, and in full dress-his argument rather fell to the ground."

I shall premise to my other observations, that it affords me some relief to find the writer does not assert that he heard me; and therefore, though I should consider the passage to be a gross misrepresentation, I am not compelled to charge him with having deliberately published an untruth. He probably heard some one who was present, or some one who had heard from one that was present, notions of what I said, and then gave his own first impressions, hasty and imperfect as they were, instead of my explanation.

It would be folly for me to affect that I did not know the nature of what I delivered after mature reflection, upon what I consider an exceedingly important subject, at the

request of an estimable and highly dignified | tensive might be their knowledge, and culcardinal, in the capital of the Christian tivated their taste; because by those means world, to a select and specially invited the understanding was informed - they company of several of the best informed wrought upon the will and engaged the members of the British and Irish nobility affections. I did show that the principle and gentry, and a number of my own re- they involved was that upon which were spectable fellow-citizens; especially, when based the rites instituted by the Almighty, besides the ordinary motives which should when he gave his revelations to Moses in influence any prelate so circumstanced, I the desert-upon which Solomon acted subhad some very peculiar, to urge me to per- sequently in the application of science and form the duty in the best manner that I arts, under the guidance of inspiration. And could. One of them, I will confess, was to by a variety of similar topics I showed that secure as far as I could, that the land that by judicious impressions upon the senses, adopted me should not suffer discredit by (I am not aware that I found it necessary to my negligence. Had some English tourist introduce the word outward,) the sage and endeavoured to strike anything belonging the simpleton, the philosopher and the child to the United States, through my sides, I might be equally induced to practice virtue, should feel less than I do. I avow that I and to cultivate religion. did not imagine that any American then in Rome, would have been so thoughtless.

I was quite aware, it is true, that a large portion of the rites took place in the Sistine I had previous to delivering the three lec- Chapel, of which I have the honour of being tures (not a lecture,) written after some con- a member; and of course I know that being siderable study, an explanation of the Cere- a papal chapel, and the private place of monies of the Mass, and those of the Holy worship of his holiness and his attendants, Week, consisting of about three hundred not a public or parochial church, the etipages in duodecimo, and this little book quette required for admittance was that of a was then actually in the course of publica- court. But if that writer were sufficiently tion. I was therefore fully prepared upon informed upon the subject of which he the subject. I conversed after each lecture treated, he would have been fully aware, with several exceedingly intelligent Protes- that the religious ceremonial which I extants and Catholics; for the double purpose plained, though observed in the papal chaof ascertaining what were their impressions pel, was not confined thereto, but might be respecting the elucidations that had been seen with more or less solemnity in every given, and the topics of which it was de- Catholic church of the Latin rite, from sirable still to treat. With them I spoke China to California, from Siberia to Cape freely, and had their sentiments with a be- Horn. Had he known this, he would have coming candour. I feel competent then to perceived that what he instituted as my state at least, the nature of my lectures, and argument would not have "rather fallen to assure you that nothing can be more unlike the ground." Had he known this, when he what they really were than is the descrip- wrote as he did, what shall be said of his tion given by the correspondent of the Mir- veracity? Had he been present at my lecYet he has caught some of my ideas-tures, he could not have been without the perhaps even some of my expressions- knowledge. I must, sir, request of you as but has altogether distorted my explanation. an act of kindness not to me, but to the reIf vindicatory elucidation, following a ligion which has bestowed upon so undebrief apologetic introduction, be "principal- serving an individual so many favours, to ly an apology," then is that writer correct- give to your readers my protest against a for in such a way have I betrayed my place, paragraph which contains at least as many belied my conscience, and deceived my incorrect averments as it does lines. I trust friends. I did say that sometimes even to the also that the editor of the Mirror will, as an educated the ceremonial might appear empty, act of justice to that religion, be induced to and to the refined abstract philosopher it insert this and a few other communications, might seem absurd, because the form would which I shall endeavour to make upon the be considered useless: but that the obser- subject of the "First Impressions," should vances were calculated, when duly under- my leisure permit. stood at all events to impress usefully the great bulk of mankind, who did not enjoy such opportunities of mental cultivation as did the audience I then had the honour of addressing and that even for the educated and refined, they would, I was convinced, be of the greatest advantage however ex

ror.

I am sir, your obedient, † JOHN, Bishop of Charleston. Baltimore, October 23, 1833.

LETTER II.

To the Editor of the "Baltimore Gazette."

SIR-I find in the "New York Mirror" of Sept. 21st, another passage, on which I shall take leave to remark. It is the description which the writer of the "First Impressions of Europe" gives of his presentation at the Papal Court:

ceive us.

large-rather pendant than prominent, and an incipient double chin, slightly hanging cheeks, and eyes, over which the lids drop, as it in sleep, at the end of every sentence, confirm the general impression of his presence-that of an indolent and good old man. His inquiries were principally of the Catholic church in Baltimore, (mentioned by the bishop as the city of Mr. Meyer's residence.) of its processions, its degree of state, and whether it was recognised by the government. At the first pause in the conversation, His Holiness smiled and bowed, the Irish priest prostrated himself again and kissed his foot; and, with a blessing from the father of the Church, we retired.'

"I have been presented to the Pope this morning, in company with several Americans-Mr. and Mrs. Gray, of Boston, Mr. Atherton and daughters, and Mr. Walsh, of Philadelphia, and Mr. Meyer, of Baltimore. With the latter gen. tleman, I arrived rather late, and found that the Each individual must be the exclusive rest of the party had been already received, and witness of his own impressions. The corthat His Holiness was giving audience, at the mo- respondent of the Mirror has published those ment, to some Russian ladies of rank. Bishop which he says he had regarding Pope GreEngland, of Charleston, however, was good enough to send in once more, and, in the course gory XVI., and gives his character in the of a few minutes, the chamberlain in waiting phrase "indolent and good old man." The announced to us the Il Padre Santo would re- particulars of the holy father's appearance The ante-room was a picturesque and are described in such a way as to sustain rather peculiar scene. Clusters of priests, of the general correctness of the drawing which different ranks, were scattered about in the is exhibited. The writer had ample opporcorners, dressed in a variety of splendid costunity and full leisure, as he states himself, tumes, white, crimson, and ermine; one or two monks, with their picturesque beards and flow"to study his features and manner"-and ing dresses of gray or brown, were standing the result of that study is, the conclusion near one of the doors, in their habitually humble that the face was expressive mainly of attitudes; two gentlemen, mace-bearers, guarded sloth and kindness”—and in viewing him the doors of the entrance to the Pope's presence," it was easy to conceive that the father of their silver batons under their arms, and their the Catholic Church stood before" the specopen-breasted cassocks covered with fine lace; the deep bend of the window was occupied by the American party of ladies, in the required black veils, and around the outer door stood the helmeted guard, a dozen stout men-at-arms, forming a forcible contrast to the mild faces and priestly company within.

The mace-bearers lifted the curtain, and the

Pope stood before us, in a small plain room. The Irish priest who accompanied us prostrated himself on the floor, and kissed the embroidered

slipper, and Bishop England hastily knelt and kissed his hand, turning to present us as he rose. His Holiness smiled, and stepped forward, with

a gesture of his hand, as if to prevent our kneel-I

tator.

These are given as the first impressions of the writer, but it is rather unfortunate, that not only are they very different from those which I entertained, but also from those which, if my recollection serves me, were, immediately after the presentation, communicated to me by the writer himself.

I am neither disposed to quarrel with the correspondent of the Mirror for his painting, nor to say that his impressions were what think he formerly expressed, and not what The now describes; but I shall take the liberty of stating some facts within my own knowledge, for the purpose of enabling your readers to decide how far the pontiff deserves the character of being indolent and slothful.

ing, and, as the bishop mentioned our names, he looked at us. Whether he presumed we did not speak the language, or whether he thought us too young to answer ourselves, he confined his inquiries about us entirely to the good bishop, leaving me, as I had wished, at leisure to study his features and manner. It was easy to conceive that the father of the His ordinary hour of rising is about four Catholic Church stood before me, but I could o'clock in the morning, at all seasons of the scarcely realize that it was a sovereign of Eu- year. He devotes to private religious exrope, and the temporal monarch of millions. ercises, such as prayer, meditation, the He was dressed in a long vesture of snow-white celebration of Mass, and spiritual reading, flannel, buttoned together in front, with a large crimson cape over his shoulders, and band and nearly three hours. At seven o'clock he tassels of silver cloth hanging from beneath. A commences his audiences of the secretary small skull cap covered the crown of his head, of state, and other officers employed in the and his hair, slightly grizzled, fell straight to- temporal government of his states. In this wards a low forehead, expressive of good nature laborious occupation several hours are daily merely. A large emerald on his finger, and consumed. He takes no breakfast; but ocslippers wrought in gold, with a cross on the instep, completed his dress.-His face is heavily casionally a cup of coffee-of which bevemoulded, but unmarked, and expressive mainly rage he is extremely fond-is brought to of sloth and kindness; his nose is uncommonly him as a refreshment.