alms for the souls in Purgatory. The Apostle Paul said to the Romans of his time, that not through the works of the law, nor through our own righteousness are we saved, but through faith in Jesus Christ. The so-called Vicar of Christ, says the contrary; we are saved by crawling upon our knees, or by performing some other works of self-righteousness.

I would lead my readers into a church near St. Sebastian, there they will find a square stone of white marble, upon which the impression of two feet are seen, to which the people pray and cover with kisses, being [as we are told] the stone where our Lord was standing, when he met the apostles after his glorious resurrection. We are informed by the priests at Rome, that the stone came flying in the air from Jerusalem to Rome, and remained where it is now. Plenary indulgence is granted to every one who says certain prayers to that flying stone.

I would continue to lead my readers into a cellar of a chapel near the mount Tarpea, which is said to be the prison of the apostle Paul, the very place where the jailor was converted; there they will see a spring in the middle of the cellar, which sprung up in a miraculous way in order to baptize

him and his family. That water has great healing virtues; Brandreth's and Morrison's pills are mere quackery compared with it. It is good for the inflammation of the eyes if washed with it, also for pulmonea if regularly taken and some prayers be repeated at the time. That water is bottled and sold for the spiritual and temporal welfare of the faithful.

I would continue to lead my readers into a church not far from the ancient Forum Romanum, called St. Peter in vinculis, where the priests assure us that they are in the possession of the identical chain with which the apostle Peter was fettered before his crucifixion in Rome. There is a discrepancy of historical tradition with regard to the manner in which that chain came into that church; it would however be too ridiculous to relate all those legends which are afloat.

In the same church is to be seen the pillar to which our Saviour was bound, when he was scourged before his crucifixion. One of the Catholic sovereigns asked Gregory the VII. for some holy relic, and the Pope caused a peace of the pillar to be broken off and sent it to his majesty, but the fragment disappeared, and in the morning the pillar was entire; it had returned of

its own accord and joined itself again in such an artful manner that it can scarcely be seen. This chain and pillar are adored, kissed, prayed to by the people of Rome, who receive plenary indulgence for their devotion to it.

If my readers are not tired, I will accompany them to the amphitheatre Flavianum, now called, "the Colosseum Romanum," a building which was erected by the emperor Flavian, by 60,000 Jews which he brought captive from Jerusalem. It is properly called Colosseum, for it is colossal in its dimensions, colossal as a living monument of the fulfilment of the prophecies. A theatre in which the first martyrs of the cross were exposed to the fury of wild beasts, and sealed with their blood the truth as it is in Jesus, in the presence of a hundred thousand spectators, which that building could conveniently contain. Now my readers will find in that splendid relic of antiquity and christianity a miserable hermit with a box in his hand, to the annoyance of the passengers, begging for souls in purgatory.

I shall not leave the Colosseum, without showing my readers another, not less barbarous act of the infallible Pope of Rome. The Pope Barbarini had a nephew, who asked from his holiness

his uncle the permission to carry off some stones. from the Colosseum. The Pope [as it is histori cally reported] did not at first give his permission for three strong reasons. First. It was not his property, it belongs to the State. Secondly. It is too holy to make use of it for any profane object. Thirdly. It is such a splendid piece of antiquity that it cannot be equalled in the world. But his nephew giving him no rest until the Pope [in spite of all these sound reasons] gave him the permission to take as many as he could carry off in one night. That wretch demolished in one night a third part of that relic, which the tooth of time could not destroy, and the hand of the northern barbarian dared not touch, and carried off in one night as many as were required to build that splendid palace Barbarini, one of the most magnificent in Rome. Let us turn our eyes from that scene of which barbarians were ashamed, but which the Pope Barbarini [the little barbarian] was able to perpetrate, and direct our steps to the Roman capitol. Let us traverse the Forum Ro manum, now called: Campo Vaccino," the field of the cattle, where Cicero harangued the Roman citizens. In passing the Via Apia, the road where the Roman conquerors entered in tris

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umph, we shall leave at our right the ruins of the most splendid Temple of Peace, in which the riches of heathen Rome were preserved, and from which when in flames the melted gold flowed in streams into the streets; but as the Virgin Mary has wrought no miracle in that temple, it was left to its own destruction, and scarcely a vestige of the beautiful architecture is to be seen. At our left we shall leave the mount Palatinum, where the ruins of the palaces of Roman emperors are yet to be seen, in which the begging hermits have made their nests, and trouble the visitors with their Purgatory box, fabulous legends and miraculous stories.

But let us ascend the capitol of the city of the world; the place where the voice of the Roman senators caused the inhabitants of the earth to tremble, is now changed into a mournful and nasal sing-song of Franciscan friars. Look at that high stair-case [with forty steps] leading to the Franciscan convent; see those fanatics who ascend upon their knees, and at every step say an Ave Maria to the Virgin Mary, that she might tell them in a dream, what numbers they shall take in the lottery, that they might gain a terno, In the face of the nineteenth century, in the pre