This Is Singular, I Say, When One Recollects The Peculiar Attributes Of Juno Lucina And The Assistance She Was Supposed To Give To Persons In The Same Situation.

You cannot expect me to detail to you all the riches in precious stones and gifts of pious princes

That adorn the several chapels of this and other churches; but they appear to contain every stone and jewel mentioned in the Arabian Nights as being to be found in the cave where Aladdin was left by the magician; and it must be allowed that the Popes have been remarkably adroit inchanters in conjuring to Rome all the riches of the Earth.

The church of St John Lateran is larger and more striking as to its exterior and as to its architecture than that of Santa Maria Maggiore, but it is not so charged with ornament and there is scarce any gilding. There is a simple elegance about it that I think far more pleasing than the magnificence of Santa Maria.

St John Lateran contains several beautiful pieces of sculpture in white marble, rather larger than the usual size of man, of the twelve Apostles, six on one side of the nave and six on the other; and above them are bas-reliefs, also in marble, representing the various scenes from the history of the Old and New Testament. These twelve statues are admirably well executed and they give to this temple an air of simple grandeur. In this church are very few paintings on mosaics, but little gilding and no superfluous ornaments.

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