On Christmas Eve, a Presepio is exhibited in several of the churches.  The most splendid is that of the Ara Celi, where the miraculous Bambino is kept.  It lasts from Christmas to Twelfth Night, during which period crowds of people flock to see it; and it well repays a visit.  The simple meaning of the term Presepio is a manger, but it is also used in the Church to signify a representation of the birth of Christ.  In the Ara Celi the whole of one of the side-chapels is devoted to this exhibition.  In the foreground is a grotto, in which is seated the Virgin Mary, with Joseph at her side and the miraculous Bambino in her lap.  Immediately behind are an ass and an ox.  On one side kneel the shepherds and kings in adoration; and above, God the Father is seen surrounded by clouds of cherubs and angels playing on instruments, as in the early pictures of Raphael.  In the background is a scenic representation of a pastoral landscape, on which all the skill of the scene-painter is expended.  Shepherds guard their flocks far away, reposing under palm-trees or standing on green slopes which glow in the sunshine.  The distances and perspective are admirable.  In the middle ground is a crystal fountain of glass, near which sheep, preternaturally white, and made of real wool and cotton-wool, are feeding, tended by figures of shepherds carved in wood.  Still nearer come women bearing great baskets of real oranges and other fruits on their heads.  All the nearer figures are full-sized, carved in wood, painted, and dressed in appropriate robes.  The miraculous Bambino is a painted doll swaddled in a white dress, which is crusted over with magnificent diamonds, emeralds, and rubies.  The Virgin also wears in her ears superb diamond pendants.  Joseph has none; but he is not a person peculiarly respected in the Church.  As far as the Virgin and Child are concerned, they are so richly dressed that the presents of the kings and wise men seem rather supererogatory,—­like carrying coals to Newcastle,—­unless, indeed, Joseph come in for a share, as it is to be hoped he does.  The general effect of this scenic show is admirable, and crowds flock to it and press about it all day long.  Mothers and fathers are lifting their little children as high as they can, and until their arms are ready to break; little maids are pushing, whispering, and staring in great delight; contadini are gaping at it with a mute wonderment of admiration and devotion; and Englishmen are discussing loudly the value of the jewels, and wanting to know, by Jove, whether those in the crown can be real.

While this is taking place on one side of the church, on the other is a very different and quite as singular an exhibition.  Around one of the antique columns of this basilica—­which once beheld the splendors and crimes of the Caesars’ palace—­a staging is erected, from which little maidens are reciting, with every kind of pretty gesticulation, sermons, dialogues, and speechifications, in explanation