inside is ornamental as usual with Italian churches, and the ceiling is richly gilt.
Close to this church is the famous Scala Santa, a marble stair-case of 28 steps, which, tradition states, belonged to the house of Pontius Pilate, and by which Jesus descended from the Judgment Seat. No human foot is allowed to touch these steps,—they are covered by wood,—and even thus, people are not allowed to walk on them, but have to go on their knees from the bottom to the top. As I saw numbers of faithful believers slowly and painfully ascending these wood cased steps on their knees, I was reminded of the still more rigid penances imposed by a still grosser superstition in my own country, where pilgrims from the north of India measure their length, and thus creep along day after day and month after month along the high road to Juggernath.
There is another magnificent church in Rome which well repays a visit—it is the church of Santa Maria Maggiore. It was built in the fourth century but has been considerably enlarged and decorated subsequently. The richly gilt ceiling, the fine mosaics of the apse, and the splendour of the chapels charm the beholder as he enters this magnificent edifice. In front of it is the obelisk which at one time decorated the Mausoleum of Augustus.
Such are some of the most remarkable monuments of Ancient and Mediæval Rome. My list, however, I need hardly say, is exceedingly meagre and defective. I could, within the short period of my stay, only visit the most celebrated among those countless monuments
