There is also here a fine statue of Pope Gregory XIII and a magnificent
bas-relief, the subject of which is the reform of the calendar by that
Pope.
Here too is a monument to Christina Queen of Sweden, and a bas-relief
representing her abjuration of the Lutheran Faith.
But why should I attempt to detail all these monuments, while it would
require folios for the purpose; let me rather introduce you to the hero and
tutelary saint of this sanctuary. St Peter, a superb bronze statue
something above the usual size of men, is seated on a curule chair in the
nave of the church on the right hand side as you approach the baldachin. He
holds in his hands the keys of Heaven. He receives the adoration of all the
faithful who enter into this temple, and this adoration is performed by
kissing his foot which, from the repeated kissings, is become of a bright
polish and is visibly wearing away. The statue was formerly a statue of
Jupiter Capitolinus, but on the grand revolution among the inhabitants of
Olympus and the downfall of Jupiter, it was broken to pieces, melted down
and fabricated into an image of St Peter, so that this statue has lost
little of its former sovereignty and still rules Heaven and Earth if not
with regal, with at least vice-regal power, tho' under a different name.
In the Sistine Chapel is the celebrated painting al fresco of the day of
Judgment by Michel Angelo, an aweful subject and nobly and awefully
executed.
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