Easter Sunday at length arrived, which in every respect, and particularly in point of pageantry, is the greatest festival observed by the Roman church throughout the year. The two first grand ceremonies of the procession, and the pope’s benediction, I did not attend. I was present, however, at the illumination of St. Peter’s, and the exhibition of fire-works at the castle of St. Angelo; but, alas! denied the gratification of seeing the brilliant spectacles. I cannot, however, resist the inclination to transcribe the following animated description of these enchanting scenes, as well as the preceding ceremonies, extracted from a late publication, entitled “Rome in the Nineteenth Century.” “On this day the church puts forth all her pomp and splendour. The pope assists at high mass, and there is a procession, which, seen to the highest advantage in that noble church, is as grand as any such procession can be. A pen was erected for the ladies on the left of the high altar, for wherever the pope comes, they are always cooped up for fear of accidents. Luckily, however, it was unprovided with a grate, so they could see more to perfection. It was, in all respects, a happy liberation from the gloomy imprisonment they had been sustaining, day after day, behind the grate, in the sistine chapel. The sable robes that they wore during the last week, were now universally thrown aside, and the gayer—the more catholicly orthodox—were they. “The church was lined with the Guarda Nobili, in their splendid uniforms of gold and scarlet, and nodding plumes of white ostrich feathers; and the Swiss guards, with their polished cuirasses and steel helmets. The great centre aisle was kept clear by a double wall of armed men, for the grand procession, the approach of which, after much expectation, was proclaimed by the sound of a trumpet, from the farther end of the church. A long band of priests advanced, loaded with still augmenting magnificence, as they ascended to the higher orders. Cloth of gold and embroidery of gold and silver, and crimson velvet, and mantles of spotted ermine, and flowing trains, and attendant train-bearers, and mitres, and crucifixes glittering with jewels, and priests, and patriarchs, and bishops, and cardinals, dazzled our astonished eyes, and filled the long length of St. Peter’s. Lastly came the pope in his crimson chair of state, borne on the shoulders of twenty Palefrenieri, arrayed in robes of white, and wearing the tiara, or triple crown of the conjoined Trinity, with a canopy of cloth of silver, floating over his head, and preceded by two men, carrying enormous fans, composed of large plumes of ostrich feathers, mounted on long gilded wands. He stopped to pay his adorations to the miraculous Madonna, in her chapel, about half way up; and this duty, which he never omits, being performed, he was slowly borne past the high altar, liberally giving his benediction with the twirl of his fingers as he passed.