in the Morning is on Easter-Day made in the Afternoon because as the Latin Proverb hath it Venter jejunus non delectatur Musicâ An hungry Belly takes no pleasure in Musick The word Hallelujah is a common Text to all the Preachers on that Day which Word in its proper signification is as much as to say Praise the Lord But on Easter-Day in Italy it signifies Gentlemen and Ladies prepare your selves for a sound Laughter After they have nam'd their Text they enter upon Matter and vent all the most ridiculous Stuff they can think of These Sermons afterwards serve all the Easter-time for Mirth and Pastime in Companies where every one takes delight in relating to others what he hath heard Being once on an Easter-Day in Bononia I went to hear the Sermon at S. Peter's Church being the Cathedral of that City the Archbishop himself being then present The Preacher was one of the Fathers Soccolanti After that he had turn'd several Texts of Scripture into Ridicule he quoted the 2 d Verse of the 16 th Chapter of S. Mark where it is said That the Maries came to the Sepulchre Oâ—to jam Sole after Sun-rising as it is in the Vulgar Latin and oppos'd this to the 1 st Verse of the 20 th Chapter of the Gospel of S. John where it is said That they arriv'd very early before it was yet day-light and then put the Question how it were possible to reconcile these two places which seem'd to contradict one another For his part he said he believed That the Mâ—ries did not Rise till long after the Sun was risen and indeed till it was near Noon For we see said he that this goes for very Early Rising with our Italian Ladies who don't come to Mass on Sundays till it be half an hour after Eleven or Twelve And hereupon he began in a Comical manner to represent a Womans awaking out of her Sleep the time she takes to rub her Eyes to stretch her Arms and an hundred other impertinent Follies which put all the Church into a loud Laughter Afterwards for this Father was very fertil of his Curious Thoughts he recall'd himself and said That indeed the Maries were Risen very early in the Morning but that they needed so much time to Dress and Trick up themselves that it was very late before they could get out of Doors which was the Reason they could not reach the Sepulchre till after the Sun was risen Orto jam Sole Here he represented Women Dressing of themselves how much time they spend in dressing their Head in laying on of Paint fixing their Patches and making an hundred Faces before their Looking-Glasses and express'd all these particulars admirably well with his Mimical Gestures This Curious Thought he immediately back'd with another I cry Mercy said he the Maries were not such vain Women as I have been just now a describing But they were Gossiping-Houswives they rose and went abroad indeed betimes in the Morning but before they could take their Leaves of their Neighbours much time was spent so that they did not come to the Sepulchre till it was late Orto jam Sole Here he enlarg'd himself on the Tattle and Gossiping-Discourse of Women and mention'd such ridiculous Stuff amongst it that the Cardinal-Archbishop who was there burst-out into a loud Laughter He continued his Easter-Sermon at the same rate to the end of it profaning after a most heinous and unworthy manner so Holy a Day and the Venerable History of these Holy Women who were judg'd worthy to be the first Witnesses of the greatest Mystery of our Faith viz. The Resurrection of our Lord JESUS CHRIST Another Year being at Venice on easter-Easter-Day I heard a Benedictin that was a Genouese by Birth who amongst a great many foolish and impertinent Stories told this that follows by which you may judge of the rest A young Lady said he being newly Married did extreamly afflict her self because her Husband often told her That he could not Love her so well as otherwise he would because she had not black Eyes Whereupon she went and communicated her Grief to her Confessor the Good Father whom she had chosen to be the Director of her Conscience bade her not to afflict her self and that if she would but bring him all the Jewels and Great Pieces of Gold which her Husband kept very charily in his Closet he would by his Prayers obtain for her of God the favour of having Black Eyes The Lady in the earnest desire she had of becoming more beautiful and pleasing to her Husband follow'd her Confessor's Direction and brought him the Jewels and Gold according to his desire But her Husband missing them soon after and perceiving by the ambiguous and uncertain Answers of his Wife that she must be guilty of the Theft Beat her most outragiously and to make her Confess how she had dispos'd of them made her Black and Blew all over with the Stroaks he had given her The poor Lady in this pitiful Condition with Tears in her Eyes returns to her Confessor to acquaint him how ill she had sped with his Advice and to Redemand her Jewels but the Confessor absolutely refus'd to restore them to her maintaining That now they were his own according to the Bargain and Contract made between them forasmuch as she could not deny but she had obtain'd her Desire and got Black Eyes with a Vengeance as indeed they were with the Stroaks and Bruises her Husband had given her What think you Sir was not this a pretty Story to be Told from a Pulpit on Easter-Day It being moreover very probable that this was only an Invented Tale. Thus these Wretched Monks instead of dispensing the Word of Truth to the People ordinarily feed them with nothing but Lies I suppose Sir you will not take it ill if I venture upon another short digression referring to another pleasant Custom observ'd in Italy viz. that of Blessing Eggs at Easter which are of great virtue to sanctifie both Soul and Body On Easter-Eve and Easter-Day all the Heads of Families send great Chargers full of hard-Eggs to the Church to get them Blessed which the Priests perform by Saying several Appointed Prayers and making great Signs of the Cross over them and sprinkling them with Holy-Water The Priest having finish'd the Ceremony demands how many Dozen Eggs there be in every Bason to the end he may know how many of them came to his share and sometimes are so honest as to take Three or Four out of every Dozen especially when they know the persons that send them to be Wealthy There be some of the poorer Sort who are apt to Cry when they see the Priest take more than his due or pick out the Fairest and Greatest of them These Blest Eggs have the virtue of Sanctifying the Entrails of the Body and are to be the first Fat or Fleshy nourishment they take after the Abstinence of Lent The Italians do not only abstain from
the Abbot of Citeaux who could bear such an Expence and continue it every day After Dinner the Abbot followed by many of his Officers and a great number of Lacqueys in Livery went himself to shew us the New Buildings he was then making in his Abby and which consisted in Four great Piles of Building of a magnificent Structure all of Hewn-Stone of a Diamant-Cut design'd for the separate Lodging of the four Principal Abbots of the Order with all their Train at the time of their General Chapters A fifth Building which he intended for his own person was a lofty Palace lifting up its proud Head above the other Four Buildings as it were to overlook and command them to represent the Authority he had over the other Abbots in quality of their General After we had taken a View of thesâ— Magnificent Structures we were led into thâ— Oâ— Buildings Here it was that a fair Opportunity waâ— given me to take notice of the Subtilty and Artifices of the Monks still to continue Laicks if possible in the high esteem of their Monastery aud Peâ—â—ous In order whereunto they shew to those whâ— Visâ—â— them a great quantity of Relicks and places of 〈◊〉 as they call them upon their entring into which they use freâ—uent Bowings of their Bodies and Kneelings â—â—peating some Prayers besides some Gests and Cutting of Faces wherein they oblige the Company to imitate them This done they fill your Ears with the recital of Old Stories and Miracles of the Days of Yore wrought in favour of their Order amongst which they never forget to inculcate the Tragedy of some Usurper of the Revenues of their Monastery or of some other that spoke ill of the same who at the upshot of the Story doth never fail of being struck from God with sudden Death by a Thunderbolt or of having his Neck broke by some Devil or other I have since observed the same inveigling Tricks in almost all the Monasteries and Convents of Italy and in all other places frequented upon the score of Devotion They shewed us a large Refectory of the first Religious of their Order which is a Vaulted Room and very long more resembling a hideous Cave than a place to eat in And yet said one of the Religious this is that holy Grotto where our Ancient Fathers the Blessed Founders of our Order met together every day after Sun-set wearied with their Handy-labour after having Sung the Praises of God to partake together of a piece of black Course-Bread with some boild Pulse or Roots without either Salt or Butter or any other Sawce or Dressings and in so small a quantity as designing rather to keep themselves from Starving than to make them strong and lively and continually practising those severe Mortifications which we can sooner admire than imitate These Great and Heroick Saints are now in Heaven and have changed their astonishing Severities with the Eternal delights of the Wedding-Supper of the Lamb and 't is from that high Station they with a favourable Eye look down upon those who Live or have Lived for some time in this Monastery as likewise upon those who are or have been Benefactors to it and we are assured by Revelation that none of them nay tho' they may have lived a most abominable life shall ever die in Mortal Sin A Counsellor of Dijon who was there present with us said smiling That he wanted but very little of being perswaded to leave all he had to the Monastery and gently pushing my Arm ask'd me Whether I was not well pleased to Hear a fat and burly Monk after having so well Dined discoursing of the Abstinence and Penance of those Ancient Fathers and of the Blessings God hath in store for his Abby too upon their account with so much energy But after all the plain Truth is That it is nothing but an Artifice they make use of to strike the Spirits of Men with some kind of Veneration for their Orders and Persons From this place they led us to another which they call the Old Chapter-House which is a Building after the Gothic way with many Rows of Pillars like a Church yet stately enough The Stones of the Pavement are cut into Letters which make up all the Psalms of David and near the midst of this place they shewed us a large Stone on which of Old they were used to lay the Religious of the Monastery some hours before their Departure where they were exposed all Naked upon Ashes and an Hair-Cloth until they breath'd their last But this Custom said the Father has since been abolished because it was found by Experience that some of those who were so exposed having more strength left than was imagined continued sometimes in that condition exposed to the violence of Cold for Twenty four Hours or more before they died so as those who thus exposed them question'd whether in so doing they had not been their Murtherers At the present said he smiling the case is alter'd and we die softly on the Feathers after having essay'd whatsoever the Art of Medicine can afford for our Recovery and which is every whit as meritorious to us as that pityless Rigour our Predecessors were oblig'd to forasmuch as herein we submit our Wills to those who command us and whom we are obliged to obey Obedience even in pleasing and agreeable things being more acceptable to God than all Sacrifices Thus gallantly the Father excused the Decay of their Observance endeavouring to make that seem a Vertue which indeed is nothing else but an effect of their Softness and Effeminacy Or rather we may say That by a just Judgment of God these kind of Men having rashly Vowed what was not in their power to perform are fallen by so much lower by how much they aspir'd to fly higher 'T is upon this account that we see so many Reformations of these Religious Orders and soon after other Reformations of them again who in a short time will stand in need still of another Reformation But that which is the strangest thing of all is That they fall into prodigious Corruptions and into those habits of Sinning which strike the most Worldly men that are with horrour as may be seen from the hint I gave of Monsieur Bourré Monk of that Order and many other Examples that fill the World with their Report There is but one only Religious Order in the Church of Rome that can boast of its Antiquity and of having never been Reformed which is that of the Chartreux Having stay'd two days at Citeaux we took our Way through Lionnois and Dauphiné and finding our selves not far from the Monastery called the Great Chartreux our Curiosity invited us to take a View of it This Monastery is the Chief Head of all those of the Order of Chartreux and in it their General Chapters are held St. Bruno who was the Founder of this Order retir'd hither with his Companions in the Year of our Lord 1080. What is commonly
dismounted him had taken away all his Mony and all they found in his Portmantel except his Breviary which they had restor'd to him which seem'd to vex him more than all the rest For said he had they but taken this with the rest I should at least have been excused from saying my Breviary till I came to Rome We made a shift to get him on Horsback again perswading one of the Guides to lend him his in consideration of which the Monk promis'd to give him his Boots and we defrayed his Charges between us till we came to Luca. He assured us That the Men that had Robbed him were Armed and Cloathed in the same manner as the Guides and that if he were not extreamly mistaken he had seen the very same persons in the Market-place of Sestre We were told since That these Robbers are the very Guides themselves who accompanying Travellers out of Town do afterwards by a shorter Way get before them placing themselves in Ambush near the Road by which they are sure they must pass and never fail of Robbing those who have refus'd to make use of them or any of their Companions By ill-luck for our Father Benedictin he had but lately receiv'd a Letter of Exchange at Turin and was not to receive another till he came to Rome This forced us to part Company because I was not in a condition to bear his Expence and my own too He resolved therefore to take his Journy the best way he could to Rome through the Monasteries of all sorts of Orders and Hospitals also Necessity forcing him thereto I saw him afterwards at Rome where I found him not wholly recovered yet from the Miseries he had suffered since our parting He gave me a particular and full account of the Hospitals at which he called in his Journy what they were and the Entertainment he had met with in them I have heard Roman Catholicks often reproachfully object to Protestants That they have no Hospitals amongst them to entertain Strangers and confounding this kind of puplick Hospitality with Charity boldly conclude That they are not Charitable and consequently no true Children of the Church 'T is the mark of a Weak Cause to lay hold of every thing it meets with to support it self which notwithstanding commonly contributes most to its overthrow To defeat this pretended Charity of Catholicks it will be sufficient to relate to you what this Father told me and what I have learnt of some other Travellers which I intend in part to make the Subject of this my Third LETTER I shall tell you first of all in general Sir That all the Ancient Hospitals of Italy owe their Foundation to the Holy places of Rome and Loretto The Pilgrimages to these some Ages ago by reason of a more Universal Deluge of Superstition were much more in Vogue than they are at present tho' it were to be wished they were much less than they are A Man was scarcely reputed a good Christian except he had been at Rome And the Popes perceiving how much this vast Concourse did augment their Revenues and rendred their Capital City rich and wealthy found a way to oblige Confessors to enjoyn their Penitents for the Expiation of the greatest Sins such as Rape Incest and Murther a Journy thither so that there was no Remission for these kind of Sins without going to Rome They afterwards made reserv'd Cases of most of these kind of Sins whereof we find still at this day a great number in the Bull Entituled In Coena Domini reserving to themselves alone the power of Absolving them so that in these Cases the parties concern'd must either go to Rome or else resolve never to enter into Paradice It is true that at present they have bethought themselves of a way to spare men this Trouble which is of sending thither a good Sum of Mony With this they content themselves now for I am sure it is not the Person they desire but his Purse which at any time will abundantly supply his Absence And forasmuch as amongst the great number of Pilgrims that flock'd thither out of Devotion or of Necessity for the expiation of their Sins there were many Poor people that had not wherewith to defray their Charges in publick Inns many Rich persons moved with Compassion towards these poor Wretches Founded Hospitals for their Entertainment where they received both Lodging and Diet or at whatsoever Hour of the Day they call'd there had an Alms given them which they call La Passade according as the Foundation was more or less Endowed such was the Alms in some places more in others less We met with many Hospitals in Italy that were founded towards the end of the 10 th or the beginning of the 11 th Century the cause of which was a False Opinion that was uppermost then viz. That the Day of Judgment was near grounded upon a Forged Tradition which is preserved still to this day in the Church of Rome That Christ being asked by his Apostles How long this outward World should last He Answer'd them A Thousand years and upward So that the most part of Christian Princes and great Lords about this Time took a Journy to Rome Founded Hospitals for the Poor and Pilgrims and several Abbies into which many of them retired themselves in expectation of the dreadful Day of Judgment As for the Hospitals they Founded the Care and Administration of them was committed to Priests as being the Men who think themselves concern'd in all Pious Legacies and who very readily take upon them the Care of those places where they find a plentiful Current of Devotional-Mony It was too much their Interest not to encourage so favourable Beginnings and therefore were not wanting no more than at this day constantly to frequent the Houses of Widows and Rich persons to induce them by their Last-Wills to enlarge the Revenues of their Hospitals of which they were constituted the Stewards and Overseers Insomuch that in a little Time these Hospitals became prodigiously Rich. It remains now only that we take a view of the Use which is made of them at present that thence we may judge whether from them a good Argument can be drawn in favour of those of the Roman Communion to prove that their Charity so far exceeds that of the Protestants as they would fain make People believe or whether indeed we have not much more Reason to infer the contrary Our Benedictin by sad Experience was in a condition of giving me some Information concerning this matter He told me That after he had parted with me at Luca which is a small Republick he took his Journy on Foot by Alto Passo which is a very ancient and famous Hospital founded by a Queen of France Eight Miles distant from Luca. He could not exactly tell me what were the Revenues of that Hospital but that this was the Law of it That all Strangers of what Rank or Quality soever Rich or Poor were to be
and sent it to them the Fryar Cook having opened and gutted this Fish found the Diamond in the Intrails of it which the Merchant had dropt into the Sea which was immediately restor'd to him and Thanks return'd to the Saint who had heard their Prayers This Story is related at large in the Legend of his Life But does it not seem to you Sir to be contrived or invented of these good Monks to persuade Men to send them in good Dinners and to get them to say Masses for them They tell another pleasant Story which however they were very Cautious of inserting in their Legend The Fryars del Santo go without contradiction for the most Debauched that are in all Padua and who in this quality out-vie the Scholars themselves of the University One of these Monks having for some Months Sollicited a young Woman to comply with his Lust she at last fell under the Temptation but soon after was so extreamly grieved for the Sin she had committed that she was ready to Despair The Fryar perceiving it notwithstanding what was past made a shift to perswade her that in case she would give him some considerable Sum of Mony for Masses to be said to S. Anthony that Saint should restore her the Virginity she had lost Thus besides the satisfying of his Lust he got Mony of her wherewith to glut his Luxury elsewhere I will not oblige you to believe this Story having no sufficient Warrant to believe it my self However sure I am that these Jolly Monks under the Cloak of their S. Anthony play many Tricks not a whit inferior to this I may possibly have occasion to entertain you with some of them in one of my LETTERS and in the mean time conclude this assuring you that I shall be all my Life Sir Your c. The Fifth LETTER Of Festivals and Confraternities c. SIR I Met with nothing considerable in my Journy from Loretto to Rome save the Accident that hapned to me in passing of a Bridge whereof I gave you an Account in my Last LETTER I arrived there about Christmass and continued in that City all the Holy-days and the Lent following until Easter My principal Employment during my stay here was to frequent their Festivals to hear their Sermons and to be present at their Confraternities which accordingly I do intend shall be the Subject of this present LETTER This Word Feast or Festival in the Church of Rome properly signifies those Days of the Year which are more Religiously observed than the rest in honour either of the Virgin or of some Mystery of the Gospel or of some Saint which we in England call Holy-days Some of these Feasts are Universal others only Particular The Universal Feasts are those that are generally observ'd in all Countries that profess the Romish Religion and on these Days they are bound under pain of Mortal Sin to go to Mass The Particular Feasts are such as are only kept in certain Provinces Cities Parishes or Chappels Thus forasmuch as at Rome there is a prodigious Number of Churches and Chappels it is every day Holy-day in divers parts of that City But they have another sort of Feasts in Italy which for distinction sake I may call Feasts of Gallantry These are When some Noble or Wealthy Persons do at their own Costs and Charges undertake to have the First and Second Vespers together with the Mass Sung in Musick in Honour of some He or She Saint I give them the Name of Gallant Feasts not so much for the Musicks sake that is to say for the admirable Sympathy of Voices and Concerts of Instruments which are so great a part of them but with respect to the Ladies who are Invited to them or who do commonly frequent them After that I had for some Days rested my self at Rome I went abroad to take a View of the Curiosities and Antiquities of that Great City As I was Walking one Evening on the Piazza Navonna I passed by a very fine Church called De la Pace The Porch which of it self was a most exquisite piece of Architecture of the fairest White-Marble was over and above magnificently Embelish'd and Adorn'd with most curious Pictures and a multitude of Figures made of small Sheets of Silk of different Colours of the Bononia fashion This gave me the Curiosity of entring into the Church where I saw a very fine Company of Gentlemen who had caused a kind of a Throne to be made for them in a part of the Church from whence they could very Commodiously view those who either came in or went out It was one of these Gentlemen as I understood afterwards at whose Appointment and Charges this Feast was Celebrated in Honour of S. Agnes thô it was not the day of the year which is Consecrated to her viz. the 21 st of January But there was another Mystery in the case which we shall presently discover These young Lords had each of them in their Turns appointed the Celebration of their Mistresses Festivals they were Eight of them in all whereof the Four first had already kept theirs in other Churches and this was the Feast appointed by the Fifth of them He was of the Family of Carpegna and his Mistresses Name was Agnes Victorini The Church de la Pace that is of Peace is extreamly well Adorn'd it is Guilt and Painted all within in like manner as almost all the Churches of Rome be however the more to exalt its Beauty and to add something peculiar with Relation to the Feast now to be Solemniz'd there there were several Triumphal Arches erected in the Middle of the Church which afforded a Lively Representation of the History of S. Agnes who by her Constancy Triumphed over all the Torments which Tyrants could inflict upon her This whole History was represented to the Life with little Scrowls of Silk These are of different Sizes and of all sorts of Colours They know the set Price they are to pay for an Hundred Ells thereof ready wrought and every one chuseth what pleaseth them best There are a sort of Men at Rome and throughout all Italy who are called Addobbatori or Adorners of Churches these Furnish the Silk themselves and are extreamly Ingenious and Artificial to Fold and Form them in all manner of Shapes and Figures They had been three Weeks a preparing these Ornaments I am speaking of There were two Theaters erected on each side of the Quire which were Embellish'd all over with Histories Represented in the foresaid Silken Figures the one being designed for the Vocal Musick the other for the Instrumental each consisting of Fifty Musicians Besides these there were in a little Box near the Altar Four Musicians called Sing-alones which were said to be Four of the best Musicians that were in Rome who were to sing by themselves the one after the other They never go any where to Sing but they are paid 40 Crowns for each Motet The Italians more than any other Nation of
seeing Jesus Christ carrying his Cross up to Mount Calvary and whom our Saviour bade not to Weep for him but for themselves caus'd their Sighs to be heard aloud and a few Minutes after all that Quarter where the Women fat being all in Tears the Emotion soon caught amongst the Men also so that the whole Church was fill'd with Groans Sighs and Sobs Whereupon the Capuchin resolv'd to prosecute his Conquest Cast himself down upon his Knees and fixing his Great Crucifix upon the Pulpit he lifted up both his Hands to Heaven and with a mournful and terrible Voice Twisting the Cord about his Neck as if he had a mind to strangle himself he cried out Mercy Mercy and continued in the same manner to repeat the same Word about Forty or Fifty times till he made all his Auditory cry so after him Then there was a most dreadful Noise heard in the Church which continued for a good Quarter of an Hour till their Breaths being spent the Noise began to lessen by degrees and at last ended in a great Silence which gave occasion to the Father to Resume his Discourse which he continued with the same Tender Affections to the End I don't pretend in the least to blame here the Sensibleness and Tenderness of Mens Hearts with respect to our Saviour's Passion I am so far from that that I wish it were in my power to make a most deep Impression thereof in the Hearts of all Men But withal this shall never hinder me from averring That these Affections do ordinarily pass away like Lightning and that good solid Motives laid down in a Sermon to engage People to a truly Christian Life make a longer stay in a mans Mind and are there ready upon occasions to move the Will and this is that which these Missionaries wholly neglect Accordingly we don't find that the Italians after all these Missions are ever a whit the better Men. At the end of Three Weeks or a Month which commonly is the term of these Missions they go with a great deal of Solemnity and plant a Great Cross of Wood of about Thirty or Forty Foot high on some Eminent place near the Cities where the Mission has been discharg'd ad perpetuam rei memoriam This Action is perform'd with a great deal of Ceremony and Superstition thither they repair all and Worship Bare-footed and Cords about their Necks and here it is the Preacher Concludes and Seals his Mission in giving the People a grand Benediction and all the Indulgences the Pope has afforded him It was once my hap to meet with some Missionaries on Mount Apennine who came from Preaching in a City belonging to the County of Urbain A Lusty young Man who had been their Guide for Seven or Eight Miles together and who had carried them on his Shoulders over a Brook declar'd That he had never found any thing more Light than they were and that he thought that they weighed no more than a Feather The Hostess at whose House they had Lodg'd Answer'd Smiling That this Miracle did surprize her the more because she had given them a good Dinner just before their going away and if there were nothing but what they had eaten they must needs weigh something The place where I met them was at another Inn where they notwithstanding caus'd a second Dinner to be prepar'd for them By this I perceiv'd That all these Zealous Missionaries with their Ropes about their Necks are not always the greatest Lovers of Penance herein resembling the Pharisees who tho' they carried the Commandments of the Law written on their Foreheads yet were not the strictest Observators of it And yet it is to these kind of Missionaries the Roman Catholicks assure us That the Gift of Preaching is particularly communicated by the Holy Ghost in the particular dispensation and division of his Graces and Gifts For my part I should rather believe That this excellent Priviledge does in the first place belong to the Bishops and Ministers of the Churches these are the True Pastors whom the Sheep are to hear Indeed we may say in one Sense That the Ministry of Preaching is quite ceased in Italy where they hear in a manner nothing else but the Voice of Strangers I mean of a vast number of Miserable Monks who are not Curates of Churches I have already mention'd in one of my LETTERS That during the space of Seven Years that I Liv'd there I never heard any Man preach that had Ecclesiastical Authority that is to say who was either Curate or Bishop except only Cardinal Visconti Archbishop of Milan whose Custom was to preach on the Four principal Feasts or Holy-days of the Year in his own Cathedral And yet herein also I found a great Inconvenience for this Cardinal Archbishop that he might preach with the greater Magnificence and probably also by a motive of Vain-glory would not permit any Sermon to be preach'd that Day neither in the Morning nor Afternoon and this in Milan which is a very great City and full of People The Church indeed is very spacious but yet I don't believe it can contain the Fiftieth part of the Inhabitants at such a distance that they may understand the Preacher So that excepting only a certain Number of persons all the rest are depriv'd of Hearing the Word of God I went once to hear him preach on an Easter-Day I could say indeed that I saw him preach but I could not hear him the Sound of his Voice not reaching so far as where I was and because of the great Crowd it was not possible for me to get nearer He was magnificently Apparel'd in his Pontifical Habiliments with the Mitre on his Head And the Pulpit of that Cathedral being very spacious he had several Canons that assisted on each side of him likewise drest in all their most pompous Ornaments Having therefore seen him for a good while shaking his Head and casting abroad of his Hands I went out of the Church without having understood one word that he said And forasmuch as I have now made mention of an Easter-Day I cannot refrain Sir from giving you some account of a pleasant but yet truly detestable and abominable Custom which takes place on Easter-Day throughout all Italy in reference to Preaching They tell us That easter-Easter-Day is a Day of Merriment and Rejoycing for Christians applying to this purpose that Text of the Psalmist Haec est dies quam fecit Dominus exultemus laetemur in ea This is the Day which the Lord hath made let us be glad and rejoyce therein And indeed it is such a Day but in another Sense than they take it Wherefore to make the People merry all the Preachers on that Day how grave or serious soever they be must play the Merry Andrews in their Pulpits and Act a kind of Comedy that the People may hear the Preacher with the greater pleasure and satisfaction The Sermon that is us'd to be preach'd during Lent time
related as the Reason of his Retirement is rather a Fable than an History which notwithstanding is maintain'd by a great deal of heat as a great Truth by the Fathers of this Order who have caus'd the Story to be Painted at large and hung up in their Cloisters but on the other hand it is denied by the Doctors of the Famous University of Paris This Fable tells us That Bruno who had a long time frequented that University being present at the Interment of a Doctor who had been a Member of the same a person of an irreproachable Life to outward view and who died with the odour of Sanctity when the Office for the Dead was reciting in the Church for him and that they were come to those Words of the Lessons Responde mihi quantas habeo iniquitates Answer me How many Sins I have the Dead-Body raised himself on the Bier and sitting upright with a terrible Voice pronounced these Words Accusatus sum I am Accused At which astonishing Accident when all that were present were extreamly amazed it was thought fit to put off the Obsequies till the next day at which time they began again the Office for the Dead and when they were come to the same Words Responde mihi c. the Dead answered with a Tone much more terrible than at first these two Words more Judicatus sum I am Judged which increasing the horrour and amazement of all those that were present made them resolve to delay the Burial one Day longer at which time a vast Crowd of People being assembled the Office was begun again and at the same Words the Dead raising himself the third and last time said with a pitiful and mournful Accent Condemnatus sum that he was Condemned to Hell without Recovery This so strange and terrible a Spectacle saith the Fable had that effect on the Spirit of Bruno that from that instant he resolved to quit the World and to retire into some Solitary place for to live there wholly to God solitary and separate from the view of the World and by his perswasion engaged seven Students of the University of Paris his Companions with him in the same Resolution who being all of one mind went and cast themselves at the Feet of the Bishop of Grenoble to beg of him the Desert called Chartreuse which belonged to him and having obtained their Request they retired there and built themselves Cells The Truth of the matter is That this Saint did indeed retire with his Companions into this place but all the Story of the Doctor is evidently false as has been incontestably proved by the Doctors of the University of Paris there being none of the Contemporary Writers or any that were Two Hundred Years after that make the least mention of it and is indeed nothing else but an Invention of the Papists very fit to be joyned with the rest of their Stories concerning the Apparitions of Souls in Purgatory Probably Sir your Curiosity will incline you to desire I should give you a description of this Place and its Situation which without doubt is the most Desert place Nature could form and yet notwithstanding is at this day become a very pleasant Seat by means of the immense Expences which these Fathers who are extreamly rich have been at to make it more pleasing to Sense Wherefore Sir I shall endeavour in order to your Satisfaction to set down what comes to my Mind concerning it This Desert called Chartreuse which has given the Name to the Order that is thence denominated is a place situate in the Bosom of an exceeding high Mountain the Top of which parts it self into Four others leaving in the midst of them a place of a Mile in length and above a Quarter of a Mile in breadth in which space the Cells of these Fathers are built The Waters gushing forth from these Mountains make a most impetuous Torrent which bears the Name of St. Lawrence This was a place altogether unfrequented and almost inaccessible when St. Bruno first retired thither tho' at present by a vast profusion of Mony the Religious of the place have made the access to it not only easie but pleasant having cut out large Steps in the Rock and by that means made as it were many Stairs to get up to it However such is the situation of the place that neither Coaches nor Carts no nor Horses neither can come up to it but they make use of Mules accustomed from their Youth to go up and down those Steps to convey their Provisions to them We got up to the place by means of the same Conveniences and found the Snow in several places lying still on the Eminences of the Rocks notwithstanding that it was in the midst of August and that at the Foot of the Mountain the Heat was almost insupportable The Building of the Monastery was not yet quite finished when we arrived there having been reduc'd to Ashes some short time before There was a Suspicion that the Religious themselves had been the Incendiaries because their Cells displeased them as being too mean and Old-fashion'd and besides too much pinch'd of room so that they could not enjoy themselves in them with that ease and convenience they desired It hapned at a time when the Wind extreamly favour'd their design and the Fire began in a Quarter where so much Combustible matter was lodged and so far from the places where any Fires were made that it was easie to judge That it was not a thing hapned by accident but contrived on purpose Besides the delays and indifferency shewed in quenching of it gave a sufficient Testimony That the Fryers desired nothing more than to see it with all expedition burnt down to the ground Yea some have averred it for a certain Truth That the News of it was known many days before in Forein Countries which was related to us by one of the Fathers of that Society for a Miracle saying That without doubt the Tutelary Angel of the place foreseeing what was to happen to it had communicated the knowledge of it to so far distant Countries But not to insist on this any longer certain it is that the whole Building was reduc'd to Ashes and in less than six Months in a manner quite Rebuilt again a good part of the Materials having been prepared before-hand and as it were by a Divine Providence as the said Father exprest himself in places adjacent to the Mountain It is to be noted That their General Chapter having some Veneration for those Ancient Buildings of their First-Fathers and to prevent Lay-men from Taxing them with Niceness and Luxury had refused them their permission to Build But what is capable to restrain the Longing of Monks whenas by direct or indirect means by Hook or by Crook they are in a condition to effectuate it In a word These New Buildings were brought to perfection with a Magnificence very unbeseeming the Modesty of Hermits and more becoming the Palace of