Opposite the church of Santa Restituta is the Chapel of San Gennaro, which has the form of a Greek cross, and is perhaps more splendid than beautiful, although not without some architectural merit. Two elegant columns of verde antico adorn the entrance. The whole is rich, with various marbles, and with several showy altars, and forms in itself a little church. On a feast-day, fifty-three busts of the saints, protectors of Naples, are exhibited to the devotion of the people in this chapel; thirty-five of these are of silver, the remaining eighteen of bronze. Behind the principal altar there is a little cupboard in the wall, closed with doors of silver, where I am told that the skull of St. Januarius is preserved, and the famous blood, which forms the standing miracle of the city. There are in this chapel some admirable productions of Domenichino; and Guido was also engaged to employ here his pencil, but the jealousy of the Neapolitan artists prompted them to poison the former, and the latter was frightened away by their machinations and conspiracies against him. In the treasury behind, you are shewn a multitude of relicks, and rich presents, but nothing which has made much impression on my memory. There are some Gothic tombs in this church, and a fine Gothic pulpit and canopy. In this part of Naples we find several buildings of the _renaissance_, (I wish I could express this neatly in English), and many little chapels and altars in the churches of that style, which is everywhere very distinctly marked. The relief of the different parts is small, the entablature frequently breaks round the pilaster, which thus becomes a mere decoration; the ornaments are light and elegant, and the execution generally beautiful; the character is rather Greek than Roman, though the plans are such as the purity of Greek taste would not have tolerated. In the edifices of that period there is always something to be admired, yet it must be confessed that it is a mode of art which succeeds better in small compositions than in large structures; and the former, whether from the abundance of talent among the artists, or from some other circumstance with which I am unacquainted, are almost always good: possessing beautiful proportions, and just feeling. The Church of the Gerolomini is very near the cathedral. The nave is formed by beautiful granite shafts, supporting arches, and above them are an entablature, a second order, and a flat ceiling; the decorations are exceedingly tawdry, but the proportions are good.