The church of St. John Lateran, founded by Con stantine, is the regular cathedral of the bishop of Rome, and assumes the title of the parent and mother of all churches. The principal portico, which is of the composite order, consists of four lofty columns and six pilasters. The decorations of the church are rich in the extreme. It was anciently supported by more than 300 antique pillars, but the architect walled them up in the buttresses. In a semicircular gallery, there is an altar decorated with four ancient columns of gilt bronze, which arc unique; and are said to be the identical columns made by Augustus out of the rostra of the ships taken in the battle of Actium, and dedicated by Domitian on the Capitol. The Corsini chapel in this church, in the form of a Greek cross, is reckoned one of the most perfect buildings of the kind. The ancient marbles which line its walls, the columns which sustain its rich frieze of sculptured bronze, its gilt dome, the polished marbles of its pave ment, and the magnificent tombs of its popes are said to surpass conception. The tombs, with the statues, are much admired, particularly that of Clement XII. who was entombed in a large and finely shaped antique sarcophagus of porphyry, originally found in the por tico of the Pantheon.
The Basilica Liberiana, or church of Santa Maria Maggiore, stands on the highest of the two sum mits of the Esquiline hill, in the midst of two great squares, which terminate two streets nearly two miles long. It is supposed to occupy the site of the ancient temple and grove of Juno Lucina. The principal front consists of a double colonnade; the lower Ionic, the upper Corinthian; and before it is a Corinthian pillar, supporting a brazen image of the blessed virgin. On entering the church, there appear two magnificent co lonnades lining the nave, and separating it from the aisles. They are each supported by more than twenty pillars. The Ionic pillars are thirty feet high, and the length of the colonnade 250. The altar is over shadowed by a large canopy of bronze, sustained by four lofty Corinthian columns of porphyry. One of the chapels was built by Sextus Quintus, and contains his tomb. A chapel on the opposite side, belonging to the Borghese family, surpasses it in decorations. In the latter, bronze, marble, lapis lazuli, jasper, and the more precious stones, cover the walls with a blaze of ornament.
The Basilica of St. Paul, without the walls, at some distance from thePorta Ostiensis, is one of the grand est temples erected by Constantine on the spot of the apostle's martyrdom. This church is said by Proco pius to have been held in such veneration, that Theo dosius and Honorius built a portico from the gate to the Basilica, a distance of nearly a mile. This porti
co, which seems to have equalled the greatest works of the ancient Romans, was supported by marble pil lars, and covered with gilt copper, but not a trace of it now remains. The interior of the church is of an cient brick. The portico is supported by twelve pil lars; the principal doors of bronze, and the nave and double aisles are supported by about 80 Corinthian columns in double rows, 24 of which are of Pavonazzo marble; the walls and arches rest upon 12 other co lumns, and 30 more decorate the apostle's tomb. These pillars are in general porphyry, and the 4 that support the central arches are of vast magnitude. The church is 300 feet long and 150 broad, and it exhibits the finest collection of pillars now known.
The church of Santa Croce in Gierusalemmo stands in a solitary situation on the Esquiline hill, close by the walls of Rome, and near the Claudian aqueduct. It was erected by Santa Helena, the mother of Con stantine on the ruins of a temple of Venus and Cupid. It derives its name from some pieces of the holy cross, and a quantity of earth taken from Mount Calvary and deposited in it by its founder. It is remarkable only for its antique shape, and the eight magnificent an cient columns of oriental granite that support its nave; two of these, which support the canopy of the altar arc of the Peacock's eye marble. Beneath the altar is the beautiful bagnaruola, a bath of some ancient Roman, formed out of one block of basalt. Its front, which is modern, is of rich materials, but indifferent The church of St. Lorenzo was built by Constantine on the Via Tiburtina, about a mile from the Porta San Lorenzo, and over the tomb of the martyr of that name. It is distinguished by ten magnificent columns of pa vonazzeta marble buried nearly to the top of their shafts below the pavement of the old church. On the right hand side, in walking up the nave, is the Ionic column having a frog and lizard sculptured on its ca pital, and which is considered as the very column which Pliny mentions as having been that marked by two Spartan architects, Battroccus and Saurus. It must, therefore, have been brought here from the temple of Jove in the portico of Oetavia. The frog is sculptured in the eye of one volute in place of the rose, and on the other the lizard, in its own natural posture, encircles the rose.
The three pontifical palaces in Rome are the Late ran, the Quirinal, and the Vatican. The Lateran is a palace of great extent, adjoining the church of the same name, and a part of which is reserved for the pontiff, when he performs service in the church. The main body of the building was turned into an hospital for the reception of 250 orphans by Innocent Xl.