teenth century, and the other being an old basilica, founded by Honorius I., 625, and restored by Honorius III. in 1221, when it was consecrated afresh. The interior, which reeks with damp and mould, is almost entirely of this date. The two saints whose relics are affirmed to repose here are St. Vincenzo of Spain, and Anastatius, a native of Persia, martyred in the early part of the seventh century. The convent is inhabited by Trappist monks; it was once a splendid monastery. There is not now a more melancholy spot in the vicinity of Rome; the ravages of that mysterious scourge of the Campagna, the malaria, have rendered it a desert. Anything more dreary cannot be imagined. Buried in a hollow, it is surrounded by desolate hills, removed from all other habitations, and so unhealthy that in the hot weather one fears to breathe in the pestilential vicinity. Pius IX. gave the convent to the French Trappists in 1867; and twelve brethren of the order went to reside there. A mile nearer the city, and close to the Tiber, stands the grand Basilica of St. Paul, which early tradition marks as his burialplace. This magnificent temple stands alone on the edge of the Campagna, and is entirely deserted except by a few monks, who linger in its monastery through the winter months, but take flight before the unhealthy season commences; for the Campagna on this side of Rome is perhaps more stricken with the miasma than any other part, and consequently more forsaken. Though it was not so once! Stately villas and beautiful gardens filled the suburbs of Rome; and Pliny speaks of "the vital and perennial salubrity of its atmosphere;" while under the Emperors the suburbs of Ostia are described as joining those of Rome-one long, magnificent street uniting, as it were, the whole. Now, beyond San Paolo, the road lies through a desert, and only two or three human habitations break the solitude. San Paolo was once surrounded by the flourishing fortified suburb of Joanopolis. The present church stands on the site of the ancient Basilica built in the days of Constantine, and before the Reformation it was under the protection of the Kings of England. It was destroyed by fire on the 15th of July, 1823, on the night which preceded the death of Pope Pius VII. Of all its costly marbles and mosaics, only a few fragments were saved. Its restoration was immediately begun, and it was opened in 1854 by the late Pius IX. It is spoken of as cold and uninteresting compared with the ancient structure, "venerable from a thousand associations, standing in solitary grandeur on the banks of the Tiber" One traveller says that "its exterior is below contempt;" and certainly anything more unattractive cannot be conceived; altogether it is more a pagan temple of old than a place of Christian worship. Of its external appearance Mr. Davies, the learned author of the "Pilgrimage of the Tiber," says: "Bare, blank walls blink with straight, ugly-looking slits for windows, while the campanile is a monumental epitome of architecture gone mad. Pile upon pile of incongruous masonry climbs to a height of ugliness it would be hard to match in the whole history of architectural follies. Perhaps, however, in neglecting the outside of the building, the architect may have had the artistic intention of surprising the spectator with the contrast between the exterior and interior. If he had any such aim he certainly could not have carried it out more effectually." Just after passing the Basilica, the main branch of the little river Almo empties itself into the Tiber. In ancient days this was the spot where the image of Cybele, and the sacred vessels of her temple, were annually washed. This streamlet is said to flow from the so-called Grotto of Egeria, but its source really lies in the Alban Hills, near Marino, from which place it is conveyed by a subterranean channel to the Grotto. Soon afterwards we landed in Rome, at the Ripa Grande; the distance between Rome and the mouth of the Tiber twenty-seven miles. There was a Roman tradition that the original name of the Tiber was Albula, on account of the light colour of its waters, but that afterwards it was changed, because Tiberinus, one of the legendary kings of Alba, was drowned in its stream, or else slain on its banks, and carried away by the flood. It was probably called "white" by a figure of speech. The tawny yellow, or chestnut colour that really belongs to it, is communicated by vast quantities of earthy deposit, of which it contains as much as seventeen per cent. at times of flood, gathered during its course from the regions of Umbria. The first object one sees on entering the City of Rome by the upward course of the river is the Protestant burial-ground,* of which, however, I have written before; on the same side of the river, and just beyond the confines of the cemetery, rises the wide and lofty eminence of Monte Testaccio. It is worth ascending, though about only 160 feet in height, for the noble prospect it affords; as well as on account of its extraordinary formation, which at first sight seems natural, but on closer examination proves to be entirely composed of broken pieces of pottery, or rather of the sherds of broken amphora, or wine jars! It was for long a puzzle, for how could so large an accumulation be the * Vide Christian World Magazine for January, 1881.-" Our Christmas in Rome." result of fragments so small? It has been explained, however' that it was once the site of a manufactory of these articles, the broken ones being thrown aside as useless; as frequently happens in our own potteries, where immense heaps of spoiled crockery, and fine ware, continually increasing, are to be found in the vicinity. Looking down from this curious hill-or monster hillock rather-one sees not only the Pyramid of Caius Cestius, and the Mausoleum of Cecilia Metella, but dim aqueducts and straight roads crossing the Campagna to the distant mountains, among them the Appian Way. To the right winds the Tiber, by the church of St. Paul, beneath the range of the Janiculum-anciently called Mons Aureus, from the yellow sand which forms its upper surface; while over a shoulder of the sacred hill of Numa Pompilius the dome of St. Peter's shows itself, as well as the more distant Monte Mario, crowned with cypress spires and its single grand stone-pine. A little further up the river we come upon a series of ancient docks and quays, only lately opened up, parts of which remain as entire as when in regular use. There are sloping pavements for the convenience of landing goods; and the name of the maker stamped upon the tiles is still fresh and legible as ever. The doors of the warehouses, and many pieces of the walls, yet remain. It is a strange coincidence that the modern marble wharf should have been fixed at almost the same spot, the position of the ancient one having only been discovered rather recently. Opposite to this wharf, or dockyard (navalia), on the ground lying between the Janiculum and the river, was "the little farm of four acres," once held by Cincinnatus. Just above the new marble wharf rise the abrupt heights of the Aventine Hill, the highest of all the seven hills of Rome, and certainly presenting the most picturesque appearance. Leaving the Aventine, we see before us a range of white buildings, including the hospital, schools, and prison of San Michele; while stretching in front of it is the Ripa Grande, or port of the river, beneath whose tall beacon tower lie many vessels with their sails furled. A little lower down we come upon the foundations of the old Pons Sublicius-massive fragments of masonry in the bed of the river, only to be perceived when the water is low. This is the oldest and most famous bridge of Rome, built by Ancus Martius. Here it was that the brave Horatius Cocles and his two companions "kept the bridge" against the Etruscan army of Lars Porsenna, of Clusium. Back darted Spurius Lartius; And as they passed, beneath their feet But when they turned their faces, Saw brave Horatius stand alone, They would have crossed once more But with a crash like thunder Fell every loosened beam, And, like a dam, the mighty wreck Rose from the walls of Rome, As to the highest turret-tops Was splashed the yellow foam. The bridge was rebuilt again and again, and finally destroyed by an inundation, in the reign of Adrian I. A little farther on, the famous drain, the Cloaca Maxima, empties itself into the river. It is held to be one of the most stupendous pieces of engineering works of antiquity. It is attributed to Tarquinius Priscus, the fifth king of Rome, and extended from the Forum to the Tiber, and is still, after 2,400 years, used, during the latter part of its course, for the purpose for which it was originally intended-viz., to dry the marshy land of the Velabrum. The inner vaulting reaches to the height of twelve feet. The mouth of the Cloaca, composed of three concentric blocks of peperinc, without cement, is visible on the river, a little to the right of the Temple of Vesta. It formed the outlet of the principal part of the sewerage of ancient Rome, and even now remains as solid and firm as when it first was built. Further on, the river is spanned by the Ponte Rotto, or Broken Bridge the ancient Pons Æmilius-completed in the second century before Christ. Hence the body of Heliogabalus was thrown into the Tiber. The bridge has undergone several restorations; but in 1598 a severe flood carried away two arches, which have never since been replaced, and the deficiency is supplied by a suspension-bridge, which joins the still existing portion to the other shore. From this bridge is the best view of the Sacred Island of the Tiber, the formation of which is ascribed by tradition to the produce of the corn fields of the Tarquins, cast contemptuously on the waters after their expulsion, and here arrested, till the silt of the river accumulating upon and around it, resulted in a solid piece of land, anciently known as the Isola Tiberina. The island is joined by two bridges to the mainland. Just past the island, on the right bank of the river, is the Ghetto, or Jews quarter. The forefathers of this colony were first brought to Rome, as slaves, by Pompey, fifty years before the birth of Christ. At first they suffered only persecution and indignities, but Julius Cæsar somewhat relieved their position, and Augustus gave them more liberty, assigning them a quarter in the Trastevere. With varying fortunes they continued in the city, till, in 1556, they were confined within the limits of the present Ghetto by the intolerant and fanatical Paul IV., the same who established the Inquisition on the banks of the Tiber! He compelled every Jew to display a badge; the men to wear yellow hats, the women yellow veils. Under Clement IX. all trade was forbidden to them, except that in old clothes, rags, and iron. The trade in drapery, to which they are still much addicted, was afterwards added. They were also compelled to listen to a sermon preached against their religion every Sunday, and they were driven to church by the police with scourges ! This and other cruel customs were not actually abolished till the accession of Pius IX., in 1846, when the walls of the Ghetto were levelled with the ground, and all oppressive laws revoked. The whole place, as it now exists, is dirty and unsavoury; yet strange to say, it is less unhealthy than many other quarters of the city, there being fewer endemic diseases prevalent, while malaria is absolutely unknown. There is no Jewish hospital in Rome, or at least was none, and the Jews going to any ordinary hospital, have to submit to a crucifix being hung over their beds. The colony numbers upwards of four thousand persons. The Ponte Sisto is a comparatively modern bridge, built by Pope Sixtus IV., in the latter half of the fifteenth century. Beautiful views may be obtained from this bridge, some of them extremely quaint and characteristic. Tall picturesque old houses rising straight out of the water " as if they grew in it;" garden terraces, built on broken archways of brick, loggias, and irregular balconies. Orange trees, on which the golden fruit clusters thickly amongst dark green leaves; trellissed vines with long tendrils; St. Peter's pre-eminent in the distance; the blue ridge of the Janiculum, the ruins on the Palatine-modern and ancient Rome mizgled altogether. Again, a little farther on, and the river makes a sudden bend in an easterly direction; and here, along the left bank, runs the immense Hospital of San Spirito, the first foundling hospital established in Europe, and founded by the kind-hearted Pope Innocent III. And precisely at this curve of the stream, may be discerned, when the water is low, the remains of the ancient Pons Triumphalis, across which the barbarous, but splendid spectacle of the Roman Triumph, used to pass. The Ponte di Sant, Angelo is the Pons Elius of the Emperor Hadrian, which was built by him in the second century, as a passage to his famous Mausoleum. It is almost entirely ancient, except the parapets. Facing the bridge is the well-known Castle of St. Angelo, of which I need not speak, as I wrote about it all that I could remember in the paper before mentioned. The cele |