On the left side, where the city mostly is
situated, the buildings hang directly over the stream; on the other,
where stand the Castle of St. Angelo and the Church of St. Peter, the
town does not press so imminent upon the shore. The banks are clayey,
and look as if the river had been digging them away for ages; but I
believe its bed is higher than of yore.
February 10th.--I went out to-day, and, going along the Via Felice and
the Via delle Quattro Fontane, came unawares to the Basilica of Santa
Maria Maggiore, on the summit of the Esquiline Hill. I entered it,
without in the least knowing what church it was, and found myself in a
broad and noble nave, both very simple and very grand. There was a long
row of Ionic columns of marble, twenty or thereabouts on each side,
supporting a flat roof. There were vaulted side aisles, and, at the
farther end, a bronze canopy over the high altar; and all along the
length of the side aisles were shrines with pictures, sculpture, and
burning lamps; the whole church, too, was lined with marble: the roof was
gilded; and yet the general effect of severe and noble simplicity
triumphed over all the ornament.
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