for saying that the pavement of the most venerated parts, and the chief altars and other objects of devotion in the nave and transepts, were ali left, with the single exception of those places where the foundations of the new walls were to come. This done, the digging deep to lay solid foundations commenced, and the grand fabric was really set on foot.

This stage of the work presents to us a scene worthy of its greatness, and exhibiting to us the zeal and energy of Julius II. On the day appointed for laying the foundation-stone of the new Basilica, the Saturday before Low Sunday, April 11th, 1506, the Sovereign Pontiff gathered around him, in the patriarchal Basilica, the Sacred College of Cardinals, the Prelates, and the Chapter and Clergy of the Vatican, along with his whole Court. Francesco Soderini, Cardinal of Volterra, celebrated Pontifical Mass at the high altar, after which, from his throne, the Pope blessed with all solemnity the corner-stone of the edifice, on which was sculptured the following inscription "Aedem Principis Apostolorum in Vaticano, vetustate et situ squallentem a fundamentis restituit Julius II., Ligur. Pont. Max. an. MDVI." As Constantine had shown his veneration for the twelve Apostles by carrying from the foundations on his own shoulders twelve vessels full of earth, so Julius II., with his own hand, placed in the foundation-stone ten coins or medals of silver and two others of gold, in honour of the Apostles and of St. Peter and St. Paul. All then moved forward in procession towards the round church of Petronilla, and passed out in the direction of the foundations through the door to the left of the apse. Arrived at the deep trenches filled with scaffolding, the Pope, bearing lightly the weight of seventy years, descended to their very lowest depth, and with his own hand warned off the large concourse of people, lest so great a number should weigh down the sides of the caverned earth, and cause some serious accident. Having then removed his mitre, he commenced the progress of the function, sprinkled the stone with holy water, and with a sharp instrument traced out the form of a cross, dedicating the stone in the name of the Blessed Trinity and in honour of the chief of the Apostles. The Litany of the Saints was chanted, when the Pope, having recited the prayer, directed the stone into its allotted place, and the choir intoned the Antiphon-Mane surgens Jacob, together with the 126th Psalm. Other prayers having been said, the Veni Creator Spiritus was sung, and the Pope's blessing, followed by the promulgation of the Indulgence, closed the solemnities. On the 16th of April in the succeeding year the Archbishop of Taranto laid a foundation-stone for the three remaining pilasters in that now called after St. Longinus. So rapidly did the building, not only of the four massive pilasters but of the northern and western tribune, proceed, that Bramante, before his own and the Pope's death, or within eight years, raised them to the height of the great cornice whence the arches were to spring. He had also finished the vaulted roof of the west tribune, and had

raised a little higher the walls of the north tribune, and cased the exterior wall to protect it from various kinds of injury. On his side, the Holy Father, in a Bull, granted spiritual favours and graces to all the Faithful who should contribute to this great work.* And now we have to record the death of Pope Julius II., on the 13th of February, 1513; and very shortly after, that of Bramante, in the following year, unable to work alone without the aid of that large heart and master-mind. The first architect of the new Basilica was carried to his long resting-place in the old Basilica, bearing witness to the imperfection of man and of his works, in the midst of that Court and of those friends and companions in his art who had assembled there to do him honour, and who returned to contemplate his work and to find it already in need of repairs, so unduly had it been pushed forward, and to search in vain for many paintings, mosaics, marbles, and columns, which haste had either recklessly broken or hopelessly lost.

To Julius II. succeeded the celebrated Pope Leo X., known as Cardinal Julian de Medici. So great a patron of the arts might be safely depended on as an equally energetic promoter of the great work now begun. The death of Bramante, however, placed him in considerable difficulty. That architect had inherited, as we may say, the responsibility of carrying on a design scarcely begun, and to him already a successor must be found, to share indeed the future glory of the building, but to bear along with him in the first place the heavy responsibility of accepting and making use of what had been begun. Leo X., inclining to the choice of Raphael di Urbino, and yet hesitating to place entire trust in one whose fame was rather in the line of painting, and who had barely reached twenty-three years, wisely appointed a commission of three architects-Giacondo da Verona, a Brother of the Order of Preachers, Raphael di Urbino, and Julian da Sangallo. Of these Sangallo was the greatest architect, and it must have been a moment of special satisfaction and triumph to him to receive the courteous summons of the Pope, bidding him repair once more to Rome to undertake a work which he had so much ambitioned. The inspection of the building they had to carry on soon convinced the three architects appointed that much of it required to be done over again. It has not been reserved for the builder of the present day to experience the evil results of hasty building and of the use of bad materials. And it must have been a painful surprise for the Pope when he was assured that what was built to be a substitute for a crumbling Basilica, and itself to bear up a vast and glorious dome for ages, was already, by its own weight, and ere scarcely finished, on the very point of falling to pieces. Many a strong-minded contractor of our own day might be excused for acknowledging himself completely

Ciace, p. 234. Turingius de Sacris. Crypt, p. 12. Idem. de Basil. Vat. cap. i. Jac. Grimaldi de Sac. Sud., p. 97.

baffled, where, however, Leo X. and Sangallo triumphed over every difficulty. It reminds us of that clever achievement of a few years ago, by which Mr. Townsend, not an architect, but the proprietor of large manufacturing works in Glasgow, himself directed the slicing down near its base of a huge chimney upwards of 400 feet in height, in order to restore its perfect level, when we read how it was decided by Sangallo in the sixteenth century to give new foundations to the four huge pilasters and to the walls which he found already built. That he might accomplish this difficult enterprise he first caused a number of square pits to be dug at a certain distance from the foundations laid by Bramante, and so deep as to reach beneath them. These pits he filled with masonry, built in with heavy stones bound together by the firmest cement. From wall to wall arches of unusual strength were thrown, in such a manner that, without the slightest disarrangement, the pilasters and walls were made to rest on entirely new foundations. This done, the commission of architects resolved to change the form of the whole Basilica into that of a Latin instead of a Greek Cross, as corresponding better with its

But these necessary expenses had far overdrawn the balance in the Pontifical treasury. In order, then, to raise the funds requisite for a work certainly world-wide both in importance and in interest, Leo X. not only ratified all indulgences and spiritual graces and favours previously granted to those who would piously help towards its successful completion, but, in extending these indulgences to the Augustinians in England for the building of their own great church, he required that the half of what was so collected should be given over to the Vatican Basilica-a good stroke of business, with which neither calculating Englishman nor canny Scot can afford to find great fault.

And here the share of this triumvirate of architects in the fame to be gathered from the erection of St. Peter's abruptly and unexpectedly terminated. These architects, with Julian Sangallo at their head, did the most necessary work of all and then passed silently away; as though to exemplify the parable of our Blessed Lord, they laboured and then others came and entered upon the fruits of their labours. And here, again, architect and patron passed away from the scene almost together, for Leo X. only survived to be able to commit the work to Baltassar Peruzzi, and to give him as colleague Julian Sangallo's nephew, Antonio Picconi de Sangallo, a name more prominently and litigiously known in connection with the history of the Basilica. As we might have expected, Peruzzi's first act in addressing himself to the work before him was to change the plan back again to Bramante's design, adopting the Greek instead of the Latin Cross, and making each of the four sides terminate in a large apse. Four entrances directly facing each other were to have admitted into

* Vasari, tom. iii., pt. i., p. 69; pt. iii., pp. 37, 252.

the four apses, while the angles of the cross were to have been filled in by four sacristies.*

Under the next three Popes the Basilica entered upon a new stage, the stage first of suspension and patient expectancy, and then of impending destruction. Well was it that Julian di Sangallo had made its foundations so strong. For though Clement VII., to secure larger and more permanent results, organised a Congregation of sixty persons from each country to collect offerings from every part of the Catholic world, and to supervise the entire work, securing correctness of architectural detail, and excellence in every material employed; though greater expectations than ever were formed, yet the clouds were gathering round his throne, and such a storm burst forth upon the Pope and upon Rome, that the laborious work of years seemed doomed to destruction in a moment. German legions, Spanish troops, Italians, and a horde gathered from different nations-40,000 in all-swooped down upon the city, and literally made its streets, its churches, and its very altars, run down with blood. Seven thousand of the inhabitants were massacred, and the Pope was forced to fly into Tuscany. Twice was the Vatican Palace sacked, twice was the Vatican Basilica given up to plunder and violence, and everything valuable or beautiful was carried off. And yet, even within these nine years of trouble, Peruzzi was able to complete the western tribune of the Basilica, where now stands the Chair of St. Peter.†

On the death of Clement VII., in 1534, Alexander Farnese was by universal consent elected his successor, under the title of Paul III. Seeing that no time was to be lost, he formed the desire of at once carrying on the building to its completion, and ordered that the interior should be lined with marble and the exterior faced with travertine, rather than with that lighter stone which Bramante had used. Peruzzi dying within a very short time, the Pope placed the design entirely in the hands of Antonio di Sangallo. The result of this step brought of course a new and fourth plan into the field, and one that introduced a more complete change of conception than had been before thought of.

Serlius, lib. iii. Vasari, pt. iiii, p. 143.

+ Oldoinus, pp. 47, 448; Vasari, pt. iii., p. 147.

μ.λ.

Madame de Miramion.

We live in an atmosphere whose temperature of excitement has been so imperceptibly increased that its evils have stolen away our strength unawares. It is with us all, to a degree, as with those who walk through a range of heated conservatories, culminating in an orchid-house, where the moist heat, saturated with delicate tropical fragrance, infects the senses and bodily powers, till, succumbing to the lotus-eating influence, we return to the region of health and oxygen with shivering repugnance and regret.

In like manner our intellectual and moral vigour have succumbed to the heated, artificial literature of the day, and in spite of our reason we crave for its sweets, its zest, its varieties of flavour. Happily there has arisen also a strong interest in lifeincidents and historical detail, and the chronicles of real lives afford us a continued variety of moving interest. Even a small portion of any stirring reign will open abundant matter of study, for throughout the whole length of the outward events-often in themselves picturesque and deeply suggestive-there lies the inner life of providential circumstances, the hidden government of the Church; and within that again, fold within fold, runs the richer innermost chain of grace, as manifested in chosen souls. If any one craves for or seeks some tale of arousing, special marvel, let him study the stories of grace.

In returning once more, by accident, to a time much written about latterly, much used, so to speak, by many writers, we seem to have fallen upon still fresh matter of pleasure and benefit. We must go back to the beginning of the seventeenth century (1629), and to a certain November morning, when the wintry sun was shining brightly on the hooded towers and high-pitched roofs and turrets of Paris-then still under that varied and picturesque aspect which is now "improved" away for ever-and when a little daughter was born to the ancient family of Poitou. Jacques Bonneau, Lord of Rubelle, the father of the little girl, held a whole cluster of offices under the Crown, among which was the comptrollership-general of the taxes called gabelles, and the sheriff

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