of large pieces of ice cut into suitable snapes. The walls were three feet thick. The several apartments were. furnished with tables, chairs, beds, and all kinds of household furniture of ice.

In front of the edifice, besides pyramids and statues, stood six cannon, carrying balls of six pounds' weight, and two mortars, entirely made of ice. At a trial from one of the former, an iron ball, with only a quater of a pound of powder was fired off, and went through a two inch board, at sixty paces distance. The illumination in this palace, at night, was wonderfully grand.

CHURCHES AND OTHER PUBLIC EDIFICES.

ST. PETER'S AT ROME.

The cathedral church of St. Peter's, at Rome, is considered the master-piece of modern architecture. The space in front of the edifice is surrounded by a beautiful colonnade, composed of four rows of columns, forty feet high, and two hundred and fifty-six in number. They are surmounted with one hundred and ninety-two statues of saints, each eleven feet in height. In the centre an Egyptian obelisk, nearly eighty-four feet in height, rises between two magnificent fountains of ever flowing water.

The front of St. Peter's is one hundred and sixty feet in height, and three hundred and ninety-six in width. The length of the church, within the walls, is about six hundred and seven English feet; and the height from the pavement to the summit of the cross, is four hundred

and forty-eight feet.

This enormous pile nowhere displays its dimensions so strikingly as on the roof, and the dome appears in itself one immense temple, encircled with magnificent columns.

Over the portico, which is supported by pillars eighteen feet in circumference, are the statues of our Saviour and the twelve apostles; and there is also a fine balcony, where the popes are crowned, in view of the assembled multitude. The body of the church, as well as the cupola, is sustained by large square pillars; and under the middle of the cupola stands the high altar. This is a kind of pavilion, ninety feet in height, and supported by four wreathed columns of brass, adorned with foliage.

On the top of the canopy are four angels of gilt brass, holding wreaths of flowers, most beautifully carved.

The interior of the church is adorned with various colossal paintings of angels, prophets and apostles; grand columns of marble, porphyry, and granite, the gigantic supporters of the dome. In the niches there are numerous colossal statues of saints, at least thirteen feet high. The walls are inlaid with a variety of precious stones. Around the tomb of the patron saint, with its gilded and ornamented gate of bronze, an hundred brazen lamps are continually burning. The pavement is composed of the most rare and curious marbles of beautiful workmanship.

This magnificent edifice was going forward during three centuries and a half. It is calculated that the cost must have been between fifteen and twenty millions of pounds sterling.

CATHEDRAL AT SEVILLE.

Some persons are of opinion that the cathedral at Seville, in which there is a mixture of the Gothic and Moorish style, has an appearance of majesty beyond any other in the kingdom. It is four hundred and seven feet in length, two hundred and seventy in breadth, one hundred and twenty-eight in height; and its roof is supported by two double rows of beautiful columns.

The tower of this church is three hundred and fifty feet high, built of brick, with large windows to give light to the stair-case, the ascent of which is so easy that person may ride up on horseback, or even in a chaise."

It is terminated by a cupola, on the top of which is the figure of a woman in brass, that turns like a weathervane to tell the direction of the wind. The inside of the church is adorned with statues, paintings, monuments and other decorations; and the magnificent tabernacle on the high altar is of massy silver, weighing above 600 pounds.

This celebrated leaning tower is of a round form, and one hundred and eighty feet high, built entirely of white marble. It was finished in 1174, and is ascended by two hundred and thirty steps; has several galleries on the outside, and is open in the interior. It overhangs fifteen feet, and to a spectator looking down from the top, the

effect is terrific. The view from the top is extensive and beautiful, commanding to the westward the course of the Arno, winding through fertile plains to the sea; the spires of Leghorn marking the line of coast across the marshes, and the purple ridge of Montenero behind. The doors are of bronze, and are said to have been brought from Jerusalem.

Two reasons are suggested for the leaning of this tower. One is the softness of the soil, in which water springs every where at the depth of six feet. Another supposes that it was built so through a whim of the original architect.

The City Hall is the most prominent and important building in the city of New York. It is situated in the