The Quirinal palace on Monte Cavallo is the sum mer residence of the Pope. It has two long, plain, and unadorned fronts. The court within is about 350 feet long and about 900 wide; a broad and lofty porti co runs along it on every side and terminates in a grand staircase leading to the papal apartments, cha pel, &c. The adjoining gardens are spacious, and are ornamented with rivers, natural and artificial brooks, and by statues, urns, and other objects of antiquity. We have already mentioned the obelisk of the colos sal horses. The principal paintings here are Guer cini's Madness of Saul; Caravaggio's Christ and the Doctors; the original sketch of the Transfiguration; Domenichino's Ecce Homo; Bartolomew's St. Peter and St. Paul, and some paintings by Carlo Maratti. There is here a small chapel painted by Guido.
The Vatican hill gives its name to the palace and church which stand upon its declivity. The Vatican was erected by different architects; and is more an as semblage of palaces than a regular palace. It covers a space of 1200 feet in length and 1000 in breadth. The number of its apartments is reckoned to be 10,000, and its halls and palaces are on a scale of grandeur truly Roman. The grand entrance is from the portico of St. Peter's by the Scala Regia, the most superb staircase in the world, composed of four flights of marble steps with a double row of marble Ionic pit lars. This leads to the Sala Regia, a hall of great length and height, communicating by six folding doors with as many other apartments. At one end of the Sala Regia is the Capella Paolina, the altar of which is supported by porphyry pillars, and bears a taber nacle of rock crystal. On the other end of the bill on the left is the Sistine chapel, containing on its walls and vaulted ceilings the fresco paintings of Michael Angelo and his pupils, which are its only ornaments. The Last Judgment of Michael Angelo occupies one end entirely. Opposite to the Sistine chapel a folding door leads into the Sala Ducale, a very large ball. Hence the visitor passes into the Loggio de Raffaelli, a series of open galleries in three stories, lining the three sides of the court of St. Damasus. These gal leries were either paint- d by Raphael or by his scho lars. The first gallery in the middle story is the only one executed by Raphael or retouched or corrected by him. The thirteen arcades that form this wing of the gallery contain rtpi esentations of the history of the Old and part of the New Testament. The first com partment represents God with arms and feet expanded darting into chaos, reducing its distracted elements into order by the word of his command. This repre sentation is said to have astonished Michael Angelo. From one of the galleries a door opens into the Ca mere de Raffaello, which are a range of unfurnished halls, the walls being covered with figures.
Two antichambers, adorned with the paintings of great masters, lead to the first ball, called the Hall of Constantine, because it is adorned with the achieve ments of that emperor. The second chamber contains
the story of Heliodorus from the Maccabees, the in terview of Pope Leo and Attila, the miracle of Boise na, and the fine picture of the liberation of St. Peter from prison. The third chamber contains the School of the Philosophers, the Debate on the Sacrament, the Judgment of Solomon, and Parnassus with its groves of bays, Apollo, the Muses, and the poets whom they inspired. The fourth chamber contains the Burning of the Borgo San Andre, the Victory of Pope Leo over the Saracens at Ostia, and the Corona tion of Charlemagne. These paintings are the work of Raphael.
From these state apartments of the Vatican, we pass to the Belvidere, so called from its elevation and pros pect, and, advancing along an extensive gallery, we reach an iron door, which conducts us into the library of the Vatican. The books arc all kept in cases, and are not seen. Their number, Eustace says, has been estimated at 2 and 400,000, while others raise it to a million, but a more recent author says that it scarce ly possesses 40,000. The usual entrance into the li brary is by the office of that of the clerks, or writers of the principal European languages who are attached to the library. Passing through an anti-room, you enter a hall 200 feet by 50, painted in fresco. In this hall there is a column of oriental alabaster, for the baths of the emperor Gordian, and other curiosities. At both ends of this hall is a long gallery, the one being terminated by the sacred, the other by the pro fane cabinet ; the former being a collection of Christ ian, and the latter of Pagan antiquities. The first consists of curiosities from the catacombs, carvings of Madonnas, martyrdoms in bas reliefs, &c. The ad jacent chamber of the Papyrus, decorated by Raphael and Mengs, is highly admired. The pavement is of the richest marble, and the walls are enamelled with giallo and verde antico, with porphyry, and pilasters of oriental granite of the highest polish. The papyrus MSS. are enclosed in the walls in long columns under glass. At this end the late Pope has added some rooms, in which the books arc both visible and tangi ble, and in which there is a fine collection of Greek vases. There is a good cabinet of medals in the li brary, and also a collection of prints. At the other end of this immense gallery is the profane cabinet, which possesses a grand collection of antiques, parti cularly of bronze. Here there arc some types for stamping, approaching closely to printing types. There are here several lead water pipes marked with the plumber's name; and perhaps the most singular curiosity is the long hair of a Roman lady, found in a tomb in the Appian way, and in a state of perfect pre servation.