Water distills from the Mountain and pierces the top of the Grotto you may see the like in all such places There arises out of the Earth in this Grotto a thin and piercing Exhalation without any Smoak this seizes on the Breath and choaks one in a Minute This Vapour is vulgarly accounted to be deadly Poison though in appearance it is only a Sulphurous Steam We need not dispute about Words we may call all that kills deadly and in this sense there is not a more deadly Poison than a Musquet Bullet we shall therefore give this Vapour what Name you please and proceed to give you an account of what happen'd and what we saw He who hath the Key of the Baths of St. Germans hath also that of this Grotto for I must tell you by the way that they do not leave it open This Man enters standing as upright as he can to the middle of the Grotto He bows and kneels down by degrees holding his Head always upright he sits down on his Heels so that his Hands may touch the Earth Then he holds the Dog by all his four Feet and lays him down suddenly on his Side on the Ground in an instant the poor Creature falls into Convulsions turns his Eyes lolls out his Tongue stretches himself out without crying and becomes stiff and he that holds him throws him for dead out of the Cave He is presently put into tâ—e Lake which is not above twenty Paces distant where in less than a Minute he reassumes his Spirits and swims out of the Water he runs about crying as it were to express the Joy for his deliverance Charles VIII King of France made tryal with an Ass and the Vice-Roy D. Pedro de Toledo with two Slaves who died The Sieur Villemont speaks in his Travels of a Gentleman named Tournon who stooping in the Grotto to take up a Stone was seized by the Vapour and presently carried to the Lake and in a short time recovered his Spirits But the Author adds that Tournon died a few Moments after Samelli They have made this Experiment upon Men and all sorts of Animals with the same effect Two Foot from the Earth and even nearer there is nothing to be feared for the Spirits grow thin and are dispersed but the lower you stoop the greater is the danger These Spirits are subtle and violent they sparkle and break forth impetuously and in abundance We cannot light a Match without perceiving some appearances of the like Nature The Keeper of the Grotto made also another Experiment He went in with two great lighted Torches and when he bowed one near the Ground it not only ceased to flame but was quite extinguished without any Fire or Smoak He lighted it again with the other and thus put them out and kindled them by turns They tell us of the like Vapours in a Cave at Zoli in Hungary and Pliny making mention of this concerning which I am speaking calls it Spiraculum Puteolanum and ranks it with those which he calls Scrobes Charoneae All the adjacent Country is nothing but Brimstone We passed by Monte Secco and Solfatara which are all full of Brimstone Allom and Holes under-ground whence Flame and Smoak exhale with Noise and Stink at least as much as we see at present in Vesuvius They prepare Roch-Allom on the †Solfatara See at the end of the Second Volume the Instructions to a Traveller Solfatara which is a dry Yellow and White Mountain all baked and worn by its own Fire They erect little Cabbins there in which they labour at that Work and the sole heat of the Vents makes the Caldrons boil This Hill the highest part whereof is worn out by the Fire is in form of a kind of Oval Basin about twelve hundred and fifty Foot long and a Mile in breadth The Fumes which continually issue out are often smelt at Naples They assure me that by them the Marble is blacken'd and the Ornaments of their Churches sullied as well as the Goods in their Houses All these Spirits of Sulphur Allom Vitriol c. with which the Earth is filled do also corrupt the Waters The Capuchins of St. Januarius who are near to it have been constrained to lift up their Cisterns into the Air upon a Pillar to hinder its having such Communication with them as might spoil their Water The greatest part of the People in and about Naples no way doubt but that the fuming Holes of the Solfatara are in a literal sense the real Chimneys of Hell Capaccio who hath very nicely examined the whole matter is of the same Opinion He assures us that the above-mentioned Capuchins from time to time hear most frightful Howlings and are often plagued with Hobgoblins Spesso sono stati travagliati da il Diavoli e spesso sentono ullulati terrori di grandissimo spa vento He adds many Stories on this Occasion which he gives out for certain Truths and says further that many People believe that this Country is full of Treasures which would be easily discovered but for the wicked Spirits which domineer there and keep them Going down from thence we came to Puzzoli PUZZOLI This City formerly so famous is now very inconsiderable I will say nothing of its ancient Names nor of its Antiquity or Etymology which may be found amongst Geographers Wars Earthquakes Insults of the Sea and Time which devours every thing have almost totally destroyed it But a great quantity of stately Ruines demonstrate its ancient Magnificence Almost adjoining to St. James's Church you see the Ruines of an * The Arena or Bottom was 172 Feet long and 88 broad Capaccio Amphitheatre which was built of hewn Stone Tradition will have it that St. Januarius and †Sosius Proculus Euticetes Acutius Festus Desiderius in the Year 299. Others say 305. six other Christians were here given for a Prey to wild Beasts but the Beasts adored instead of devouring them Some time after these seven Champions had their Heads cut off near the Solfatara in that place where now a Church is built and dedicated to St. Januarius These Words are written on the Altar Locus decollationis S. Januarii sociorum ejus Close to the Amphitheatre Those of Puzzoli give to this Amphitheatre the Name of Colliseum though they have not the same reason for it as that of Rome Sarnelli hath written that it remained entire not long ago and that the Earthquakes at last destroyed it It was in the midst of the old City are great Ruines almost wholly buried which they believe are the Remainders of a Labyrinth but there is more reason to believe it hath been a Fish-Pond like the Piscina Mirabilis The Cathedral is built on the Ruines of a Temple of Jupiter and of part of the Materials of that Temple particularly the Frontispiece where it appears by an ancient Inscription that it was built by Calphurnius Luc. Fil. Between the City and the
is the Custom of this Country I am SIR Yours c. At Padua Dec. 1687. LETTER XVI SIR IT was an extraordinary satisfaction to me to meet with your Letters in this place besides the pleasure I had to learn good news of you you have done me a singular kindness in proposing Questions to me about those things concerning which you desire to be most particularly inform'd Assure your self Sir my best endeavours shall not be wanting to answer your Demands exactly I entreat you to continue the same Method hereafter that I may be better enabl'd to send you such Accounts as may be acceptable to your self and those of our Friends to whom you communicate them You desire me to tell you sincerely whether our present Travels be really pleasant to us or at least whether the pleasure we take in them be not over-balanced by the trouble which they give us I am not at all surprised that you should entertain such a doubt of it for though we are not among Wild Bears or in the Desarts of Arabia yet are we not without some difficulties The Weather is very rough the way of Travelling ordinarily unpleasant and the days so short that we get late in at Night and rise very early We oftentimes meet with hard Lodging and worse Diet and besides we are exposed to many dangers Nevertheless with a good Stock of Health Money Chearfulness and Patience we have surmounted these difficulties even almost without taking notice of them Custom makes all things easie and is a sovereign and universal Remedy We take some days of rest when we think we want it The variety and perpetual Novelty of Objects recreates the Spirits as well as the Eyes A little weariness supplies the want of a Bed and Exercise sharpens our Appetites Offa torus herbaceus famis laboris dulcissimae medullae sunt With good Furrs we defended our selves against the Cold in spite of all the Frosts and Snows of the Alps In fine without alledging those general Reasons which render Travels profitable and pleasant I will positively tell you that the tenderest and most delicate Persons of our Company have easily overcome all those Obstacles which might hinder the satisfaction which we expected Our stay at Venice will perfectly recruit us and when we shall proceed on our Travels the sweetness of the Spring will insensibly begin to succeed the rigours of the Winter As to the rest I have let a whole Month pass without writing to you since we arrived in this City that I might more certainly inform my self of the things with which I intend to entertain you I will tell you nothing but what I have seen my self or of which I have had particular Information You are in the right to conclude that I will not undertake to give you a description of Venice that would be a work too tedious and foreign to my design Yet I will not affect to tell you only such new and singular things as were never mention'd by any other Being willing to be ignorant what others have written I will speak as an Eye-witness and represent to you as naturally as I can the principal part of such things as I shall judge worthy of observation without giving any heed to what others have said You will perceive that I take care throughout to answer your particular Questions If you have forgotten any thing you may acquaint me with it in your next Letters Venice is so singular a place look on it which way you please that I have proposed to my self to consider it with care I have filled all my Memorials and I hope I shall be able to give a satisfactory answer to most of your Questions But I must advertise you of two things before I put an end to this little Preface The first is that I reserve some of the most notable Observations to be communicated to you on some other occasion The other is that I will not oblige my self to any order in my Observations but relate things as I chanc'd to meet with them as I have already intimated to you in another place We parted from Padua on the twentieth of the last Month and came hither betimes that Evening There are many good Villages on the way and a great many Houses of Pleasure which belong to noble Venetians and were built by Palladio The Ausbourg-Post brought us to Mestré which is a little City on the Bank of the Gulf Five Miles from Venice I have read somewhere in Mezeray's History that the Adriatick-Sea was frozen in the Year * Others say in 859. 860 and that they went in a Coach from the main Land to Venice As for us we were oblig'd to take Gondola's at Mestré and were about an Hour and an half on the Water That I may give you a true Idea of Venice VENICE call'd the Rich. I must in the first place describe those Waters in the midst of which it is seated The general Opinion of Geographers is That Venice is built in the Sea and this in some measure is true nevertheless it requires Explication It is certain it is not the Main Sea but drown'd Lands yet such as were drown'd before the Building of Venice that is at the least Thirteen or Fourteen Hundred Years ago The greatest Vessels float in some places on those Waters and there are Chanels by which those that are of no greater Burden than Two Hundred Tuns can go up to Venice it self The Sea there hath a free Communication with the Main Sea by the Ebbing and Flowing Tides The Oysters and other Shell-Fish stick to the Foundations of the Houses of Venice and Murano as they do in other places to the Rocks so that I think it may be truly said that Venice is in the Sea Yet since 't is plain that this drown'd Country was formerly a Marish these Waters have but very little depth and after all this is not the true and ancient Sea This Extent of Water is at Venice call'd only the Lake or Marish and they gave it the Name of Lacuna I observe that the greatest part of Strangers adopt this Word every one disguising it according to his own Language for want of a fit term to express it Lacune hath another signification in French which perhaps is the reason that they change here the C into G and call it Lagune Tho' this be a barbarous Word and newly invented yet I am resolv'd to make use of it such as it is rather than give my self the trouble to frame a better They have Mills and other Machines to empty the Mud and Ouse which gather continually and discover themselves in several places when the Sea is at the lowest Ebb They have turn'd the Mouth of the Brent and some other Rivers to prevent their throwing of Mud and Sand into the Lagunes and that the Earth may not regain from the Sea which would be very prejudicial to Venice whose Strength and Security consists in its
first hand but I have not hitherto had an opportunity to get acquaintance with any of them nor have I yet been present at their Publick Worship because they are at present at Work in the repair of their Church and so cannot yet assemble there One of my Friends among other things assur'd me of these four or five Articles That they Communicate under both kinds That they give the Sacrament to little Children That they believe the sequestration of Souls as the Greeks do That they give a Bill of Divorce That they believe there will be no difference of Sexes after the Resurrection And after all there are so many particular Opinions among all these People that it is not easie to tell positively what they believe There are yet many particulars in my Journal with which I might entertain you at present but I had rather joyn them to those other Observations which I shall make hereafter that I may have occasion to add also such new Instructions as I hope to receive I was just now with the Abbot Lith whom I mention'd before and it comes into my Mind to inform you before I finish my Letter of a thing which he assured me of and I should have been sorry to have forgotten though it hath no relation to Venice We were discoursing of the few numerous Families which are taken notice of here in comparison to other places and he told me on this occasion that one of his Kindred had twenty four Sons by one Wife who were all marri'd and that all the twenty four with their several Wives had been seen in a Company together Though there is nothing in this but what is very possible yet is it a thing extreamly rare I hope I shall quickly receive one of your Letters As for me I will not fail to write to you before I depart from hence I am SIR Yours c. At Venice Jan. 20. 1688. LETTER XVII SIR The Bridg of Rialto Vol. 2. P. 182. The best Houses of Venice are upon the great Canal and there are some which appear very * Above all the Palaces of Pisani Morosini Lorodano Rosini Vandramino Grimani magnificent These are great Bulks which would have no Beauty were it not for the Mask which I told you of in my Letter from Vicenza I mean that Frontispiece which commonly consists of Two or Three Orders of Architecture and which covers the Building on that side which is most in view and the rest is ill order'd and no way pleasing to the Eye I mean the rest of their out-sides The Lagunes may cause you to judge that the Air of Venice is unwholsome but they assure us of the contrary However they cannot say the same of the Water which is almost all very bad Of more than One hundred and fifty Wells which are here there are but Two or Three good for any thing and the best Water is the Rain-Water which some private Persons reserve in Cisterns The common Wines are also very unpleasant that which they call dolce sweet is of a pall'd disgustful taste and the Garbo or sowre on the contrary is extreamly sharp After they have drawn off the pure Liquor they mix Water with the Husks that they may squeeze some sharpness from the Grapes which give it some piquant briskness but makes it very harsh otherwise this mixture palls the Wine very much and weakens it which never had much Strength in it self They have also a very ill way of making their Bread Let it be as fresh as you will the Paste is so hard that you must break it as they do Bisket with a Hammer In other things you are well enough treated Strangers have so little Commerce with the Natives of this Country that it is difficult to learn their Customs and Manners of House-keeping Wherefore I can say very little concerning these things I read the other day in a Preface of Henry Stephens that in his time they had an ill Opinion in France of a Woman who went Bare-Neck'd whereas in Italy and particularly at Venice every old Hag expos'd her wither'd and swagging Breasts to view But things are much * There are none but professed Whores who shew their Necks bare chang'd since his time At present the Women of Quality are shut up so close that you can scarcely see their Face not even in the Churches which are the only places where they appear in Publick When they go abroad they are shut up in their Gondola's and accompanied with Two or Three old Women who never leave them The ordinary Women cover themselves with a great Scarf which opens only a little before their Eyes and they go abroad but rarely because the Men make Provision and take care of all Business without Doors They send the Girls to the Convent in their tenderest Infancy and when grown up they conclude their Marriages without their Knowledge nay often without letting them see their future Husbands That you may not be surprized at this you are to know that they make not Marriages here on the same Accounts they do in other places They never trouble themselves with Love Affection or Esteem If any of those things happen it is good luck but they mind nothing but Kindred and Riches not regarding the Person The use of Concubines is so generally receiv'd that the greatest part of the Wives live in good Correspondence with their Rivals and that way the Men remedy the personal Faults of the Women which they marry There is also another sort of keeping Concubines very much used by those of tender Consciences a thing in truth very rare at Venice It is a kind of clandestine Marriage the Ceremony whereof is not perform'd a long time after the Consummation and commonly some Days or some Hours perhaps only before the death of one of the Parties The Men find this Method convenient because it keeps the Women in perpetual awe and constant complaisance being in daily fear of being turn'd off I know a rich Merchant who hath lived thus for above Twenty Years with his Female Companion when he is in a good Humour he will promise to marry her before he dies and make their Children his Heirs But the most usual practice is to live on the Common at so long kept so much paid until the first desire of change without fixing on any certain Person either for Wife or Concubine Those who have not the Means singly to keep a Whore join with Two or Three Friends and this Plurality which would in other places be insupportable does here make the Knot of Friendship firmer between Companions of equal Fortunes Libertinism in respect of Women is turn'd to so common and general a Custom that to speak truly it takes away all sence and remembrance of the Sin As one of their finest Stroaks of Policy here is to bring up all Persons in Effeminacy and especially the young Nobility The Mothers are the first who find out Courtesans for their
the date is Post Interramnam conditam DC C IIII. Terni was called Interamna or Interamnium by reason of its situation inter amnes between the two Arms of the River which Waters it There is also another Inscription which was put on the Bridge in the time of Urban VIII in which it is said that this Bridge was built by Pompey the Great We went to see the famous Water-fall of Mount del Marmore which is three Miles from Terni The Way is rough and pleasant both together You must ascend very difficult Rocks and sometimes light from your Horse for fear of Precipices But in recompence we had the pleasure in these Mountains to meet with some Nooks to the Southward which never felt the Winter We found amongst the Bushes Jasmins Laurels Myrtles Rosemary and Nature smiling in February though it had been a very hard Winter as much as you find it in April in your Island At the third part of the Way ascending the Hill Papinio I observ'd below on the River side a great space of Ground planted with Orange-Trees I counted at least seven hundred and this was the first time we saw them in them in the plain Field without any Shelter But let us proceed to the Water-fall The River called Velerio hath its source in the Mountains twelve or thirteen Miles from the place where it falls down It passes into the Lake of * Or Piede Luco The Trouts of this Lake have no Back-Bones Du Val. Peter Tolentin a Sieneze having rid into the River on Horse-back above the Fall was hurried away by the Current and took leap with his Horse but having time to call on our Lady of Loretto he escaped being only soundly weâ— Balt. Bartoli descript of Loretto Luco at the distance of nine Miles from its Head and goes out bigger by half than it entred into it When it comes to the place of its Fall the Vally which it quits proves to be on a high Mountain considering the depth which attends it there then this River which already marched with a swift Current all in an instant throws it self down from a craggy Rock three hundred Paces high and falls into the hollow of another Rock against which its Waters break themselves with such Violence that it rises like a Cloud of Dust double the height of the Fall which makes a perpetual Rain in all the adjacent parts This pulverized Water forms in the Sun an infinite number of Rain-bows which are always diminishing and encreasing which cross themselves and flutter about according to the various rebounding and spurting up of the Surges and as this Watry Smoke is thicker or thinner I can assure you the sight of this Object fills the Spectator with an Astonishment that I cannot express The River seems to hasten its Course before its Precipitation because of the sloping of its Chanel These Surges press on as if they strove for precedency Du Val hath written that there is a certain Land near the Nera which in dry Weather turns to Dirt and when it Rains moulders into Dust Whilst they are still in the Air they foam dash against encounter and shock each other and seem to be entangled together At last they fall into an Abyss which they themselves have made from which they break forth impetuously some through the Crevices of one Rock others through the Jaws of another after which they run on grumbling and murmuring a little farther and at last mingle themselves with the Waters of the little River Nera which they enlarge by at least three quarters And so ends the poor Velino NARNI From Terni to Narni is a plain Way and a good Country it is but seven Miles This last City promises something at a distance because of the pleasant little Hills which we see about it when we come from the side of Terni But when we entred it we were surprised to find it in a manner desolate Its Streets are dirty and narrow and the situation so rough and uneven that one cannot go scarce three Steps without mounting or descending According to the sordid custom of the Country you can see nothing in the Windows but torn pieces of Paper which is a sign of beggary and makes the Houses appear as if they were uninhabited I observed as we passed two pretty handsome Fountains of Brass The Emperour Nerva was a Native of Narni We turned aside a little before we went into the City to see the Ruines of a Bridge which as they say was built under the Empire of Augustus and which they look upon as a thing worthy of Admiration The great pieces of Marble with which it is built are joined dry without any Cement and without Hold-fasts of Iron It s height is extraordinary it joyns the Mountain of Spoletto to a neighbouring Mountain and ends in the Way that leads to Perusa Of four or five Arches there remains but one entire the top of the Mold of the greatest is broken Many Persons who I believe are well informed have told me that this Arch is one hundred and seventy foot in breadth and one may by the Eye guess it near so much which far exceeds the famous Bridge of the Rialto Departing from Narni we found our selves again between the Mountains which continue for eight Miles to the Town of Otricoli Near that on a Plain OTRICOLI are the Ruines of the ancient Ocriculum We went a little aside to take a nearer view of these dismal Remains but we could find nothing which might afford us any Instruction A while after we passed the Tyber over a fair Stone Bridge which was begun under Sixtus V. and finished under Urban VIII as appears by an Inscription engraven on it It was late before we arrived at Citta-Castellana CITTA-CASTELLANA and our intention being to part thence early the next Morning we willingly gave credit to the Report of those who told us we should find nothing remarkable in it Near to Regnano we found the old Via Flaminia with its Pavement of nine hundred Years continuance which remains entire in this place to Admiration we not having perceived any Footsteps of it since we left Rimini to which this Way extended it self I shall give you a more particular Account of it on some other Occasion We dined at Castel Nuovo which is but a Paltry Town as well as Regnano Almost all the rest of the Country hitherto is untill'd and without Inhabitants The Soil is bad and the Land generally flat but uneven We saw every where an infinite Number of ancient Ruines After we had repassed the Tyber upon the Bridge which by Tacitus and other ancient Authors is call'd Pons Milvius and at present by corruption Ponte-Molle we met with a paved Way for two Miles which lead us between Gardens and Houses of Pleasure to the famous City of Rome I am SIR Yours c. At Rome Mar. 4. 1688. LETTER XXI SIR IT is so pleasant to travel
that of the Parisian Massacre A poor Venus one of the Masterpieces of the famous Caracchio was smutted all over from head to foot and transform'd into I know not how many Figures which fill at present the corner of a Picture of which she was formerly the fairest Ornament But the Prince having at last chang'd his Mind and being resolv'd to prefer the Company of his Princess to that of the Society was desirous to redress all these Disorders and to restore his good People to their ancient Privileges In pursuance of this design he order'd the nasty Clay with which they were cover'd to be taken off but the clumsy-fisted Masons had unfortunately mangl'd several parts of the Marble to make their Plaster stick the better so that the greatest part of these curious Pieces were very much damag'd I must not forget to tell you that I observ'd at the Villa Savelli an unusual Figure of Abraham's Sacrifice by l'Espagnolet for whereas Isaac is commonly painted on his Knees and blind-folded and his Father with a short two-handed Sword like a Switzer's or with a Turkish Scimitar ready to cut off his Son's Head like a Frenchman L'Espagnolet has only given him a plain sacrificing Knife as if he were going to cut Isaac's Throat which certainly agrees better with the Truth of the History Julius Romanus was the Architect of the Duke of Parma's House of Pleasure commonly call'd Vigne Madame This Building is neither great nor magnificent but its beauty is regular and unaffected and its situation extreamly delightful On one side it enjoys a prospect of Rome with several Gardens and many pleasant Seats and on the other the Eye is ravish'd with a beautiful Landskip of little and well cultivated Hills over-against it the Tiber creeps thro' the Fields and Meadows and at a distance the Snowy tops of the Appennin do insensibly mingle with the Clouds behind it is a shady Wood of tall Trees adorn'd with cool and solitary Walks which are incomparably charming The Gardens rise into Terras-walks and want neither Fountains nor Statues I might add several other Observations concerning the Pleasure-houses of Medicis Matthei Lanti Caesarini Justiniani and some others but I ought to pity you for I 'm confident you could not much longer have Patience to hear of nothing but Statues and Pictures And besides 't is time to put an end to this long Scroll I am SIR Your c Rome April 11. 1688. LETTER XXV SIR I shall begin this Letter by answering the Questions you Propose concerning the Tiber. The Tiber was formerly call'd Rumon Terentus and Albula It receives forty Rivers before its arrival at Rome Martian 'T is certain that this River has nothing in its self that could have render'd it so famous as it has been and without doubt it ows the Honour it has to be so generally known to the Reputation of that Noble City which it waters unless perhaps some part of its Fame may be ascrib'd to the noise which its frequent Inundations have made in the World Nevertheless it must be acknowledg'd that it has been often treated with too much contempt the great Rivers are jealous of its Glory and would have it pass for a muddy Brook such as I perceive it has been represented to you But you may reckon that The Bridg of S. Angelo is 330 foot long and that of Sixtus 300. Some Antiquaries affirm that it was not lawful to build Houses on the Banks of the Tiber out of respect to that sacred River But this is an Error which might be easily refuted Clandian and several other Authors have left positive accounts of the great number of noble Structures that were erected on the Banks of this River The greatest Inundation happen'd under Clement VIII in the Month of December 1598. by a general Computation the breadth of the Tiber at Rome amounts to about three hundred Feet and besides it is rapid and of a great depth Suetonius relates that Augustus caus'd it to be cleans'd and somewhat enlarg'd it's Chanel to facilitate it's Course Other Princes have also endeavour'd to prevent the Disorders that attend it's Inundations but with little or no Success The Sirocco Levante which is the South-East of the Mediterranean and is here call'd the Sea Wind does sometimes blow with so terrible an Impetuosity that it drives back or at least stops the Waters of the Tiber at it's Mouth And when it happens at the same time that the melted Snow of the Apennins swells the Torrents which fall into that River or the same effect is produc'd by continual Rains the Conjunction of these various Accidents must necessarily increase its Waters and cause those Inundations which may be term'd the Scourge of Rome as the fiery Eruptions of Vesuvius are call'd the Scourge of Naples There are Inscriptions fasten'd in several Places against the Walls to denote the Year and Height of the Inundations The Water of this River is always thick and yellowish but if it be suffer'd to stand a whole night it grows clear and limpid and they assur'd us also that 't is very good Nevertheless I perceive that some Persons in all Ages have been at prodigious charge to bring other Waters to Rome in order to which they have diverted the course of Rivers pierc'd Mountains and built great Aqueducts And they continue still to make new Attempts to compass the same design The Aqua Felice was twenty Miles distant from Rome and cost Pope Sixtus the V. near four hundred thousand Crowns to bring it thither And 't is probable that * Paulus V. Pont. Max. aquam in agro Braccinensi saluberrimis â— fontibus collectam Veteribus aquae Alseatinae ductibus restitutis novisque additis XXXV ab Urbe Milliario duxit An. Dom. 1612. Pontificatus sui septimo Fountain of Montorio cost a great deal more since its Waters are brought from a much greater distance Since I have mention'd the Montorio I will add some other Remarks concerning it There is to be seen on the high Altar of the Franciscan Church that admirable Picture of the Transfiguration which is the last Work and Master-piece of Raphael And not far from hence they visit with great devotion the Chapel which is built on the very same place where they believe St. Peter was crucify'd In the middle of this Chappel they have made a deep hole where they affirm the Cross was fixt You know what Platina and others have related that St. Peter desir'd to be crucify'd with his Head down-ward not esteeming himself worthy to suffer in the same manner with Christ The Picture of this Crucifixion is to be seen at St. Paul's at the three Fountains by the hand of Guido And in the same Church they show the Pillar on which they pretend St. Paul was beheaded This may serve to exercise the Wits of those Critics who are lovers of such Curiosities to show how a Man could be beheaded on a Pillar This Column puts me in
Now it happen'd that the Moscatello of Montefiascone pleas'd Mr. Taster's Palate to such a degree that he thought it deserv'd a triple Encomium and therefore wrote three Ests over the Door And it seems the Master was no less pleas'd with it than the Man for he drank so much of it that he fell sick and dy'd on the spot We went to see his Monument in St. Flavian's Church about Two hundred paces from the Town where he is represented with a Miter on his Head and on each side of him there are two * Quarterly in the first a Lyon in the second two Fesses The Shield is not blazon'd Scutcheons with as many Drinking-glasses At his Feet are these words in worn and half Gothic Characters Est Est Est propt nimium Est Jo. de Fuc. D. meus mortuus est that is Est Est Est for taking too much Est my Master †His Name according to the Tradition was John de Fucris This is the Name of one of the greatest Families in Augsburg Jo. de Fuc. lost his Life 'T is plain that this Epitaph was made by his Servant I remember I have seen it quoted in three or four places but never without some Error In our Journey from this Town to Bolsena we coasted tho' at some distance the Lake that bears its Name This Lake is almost of an oval figure and as we were inform'd forty miles in compass There are two Islands in it call'd Martana and Passentina to the first of which the unfortunate Amalasuntha Daughter of Theodoric King of the Goths was banish'd she was afterwards * Or poinarded strangl'd there by the order of her ingrateful Cousin Theodat whom she had associated with her in the Government BOLSENA Bolsena is a little inconsiderable Town it was formerly an Episcopal See but the Bishopric was afterwards translâ—ted to Orvieto On a rising ground behind it are the Ruins of the ancient †Or Vulsinium Volsinium which as Pliny relates was reduc'd to Ashes by a Thunderbolt There cannot be a worse Country seen than all the way between Bolsena and Aquapendente AQUAPENDENTE The last-nam'd Town is very poor and ill Peopl'd yet it has enjoy'd the Title of a Bishopric ever since the destruction of Castro The utmost limit of the Pope's Dominions on this side is at the little Village Centino at the foot of the Hill Radicofani Radicofani The Town and ‡ It was first built by Desiderius the last King of the Lombards Citadel which bear that Name if you take the whole year round are half the time wrapp'd in Clouds on the top of that high Mountain A furious Storm forc'd us to lye there and we heard the Thunder as it were rumbling under our Feet during the whole night Leaving Radicofani to proceed on our Journey towards Siena we saw nothing but bare and almost wholly barren Mountains but about eight or ten miles further the Land begins to grow better towards the Burrough of St. Quirico 'T is true this lasts not long for about Torrinieri the Land is worse than ever and we observ'd the same variety in all the Country thro' which we pass'd till we approach'd Siena which stands on a little and very rich Hill Siena is an Archbishopric SIENA the third City in Tuscany and one of the most pleasant places in it It s situation being high and low makes it somewhat incommodious but it enjoys a good Air and its Streets are near and almost all pav'd with Bricks laid sidewise besides the Houses are handsom and the Waters excellent Here the Tuscan Language is spoken in perfection without the roughness of the Florentines and Strangers oftentimes chuse to reside here when they apply themselves to the Study of the Italian Tongue The Cathedral is a Gothic Structure There is a Corridor that runs about the Body of the Church on the inside adorn'd with the Statues of the Popes Among the rest there is one smooth-chin'd young Creature said to be plac'd in the room of Pope Joan. I remember I saw these Statues but I must confess I did not examine 'em carefully They are somewhat too high to be view'd without difficulty and besides I had not time to observe ' em All the Authors I have yet seen who deny the Story of the Popess and mention this Statue affirm unanimously either that it is still remaining or did really subsist heretofore Baronius says that it was taken away and broken to pieces Launoy who wrote in the year 1634 assures us that it was to be seen at that time Blondel acknowledges the same as to the main neither does he deny the Story of the other Statue at Rome mention'd by Theodore de Niem which was erected in the place where Pope Joan was deliver'd and afterwards thrown into the Tiber by Sixtus the Fifth's Order but he forgets to tell us what became of the first Father Mabillon who is the latest of all these Authors not only confesses that there was such a Statue but informs us that the Name of the Popess was express'd Adpositum Statuae nomen fuit Johannes VIII Foemina de Anglia But he adds That under the Pontificat of Clement VIII it was disfigur'd and transform'd into a Prophet Zachary whose Name was written at the side of it yet its beauty is so much the more remarkable that it is compleat in all its parts for very few great Churches are ever perfectly finish'd This is all cover'd over with Marble without and with in and the Ornaments of its Architecture are not inferiour to any of their kind The Pavement is of white and black Marble the pieces of which are join'd together in the Quire after the manner of Inlaid or Mosaic Work This Building was begun by Duccio and finish'd by Dominic Beccafumi The part next the Quire is the least damag'd and is adorn'd with the Pictures of Abraham's Sacrifice and the Passage thro' the Red Sea The Arch'd Roof is azur'd and strew'd with Stars of Gold From the Church we enter'd without ascending into the place where the Library was formerly kept to see those fine Pictures in Fresco which represent the whole Story of Pope Pius the Second They were design'd by Raphael after his first way of Drawing but the Painting was perform'd by Pietro Perugin his Master Most of these Faces represent Persons who were then alive with Bernardin and Pinturicchio they are finish'd Pictures and inferiour to none of that nature in the World * Peter Damian says That Souls fly every Sunday out of the Lake of Purgatory in the shape of Birds to take the fresh Air. The Pope's Soul flying up under the figure of a Bird of Paradise and the honest Hermit gazing on it is a much esteem'd Piece If you are a stranger to the History of St. Katherine of Siena you must first learn the Etymology of her Name which according to the Legend is
trifling Conjectures concerning this Wand concludes that Moses carried it to the Mountain where he dy'd and that it was afterwards plac'd in his Tomb. But after all it was never known what became either of this or of the Ark. Moses's Rod. The ‡ 'T is the Opinion of some Authors That Theodosius the Great gave this Nail to St. Ambrose others say that Saint went to look for it in the Shop of a certain Ironmonger at Rome call'd Paolino where he was warn'd in a Dream that he should find it Nail of the Crucifixion of which they say Constantine made a Bit for a Bridle is the most respected Relick in Milan 'T is kept on the great Altar surrounded with five Lights which burn night and day In the year 1576. Cardinal Borromeo call'd St. Charles carried it in a solemn procession to stop the Plague he walk'd bare-foot with a great Rope about his Neck tho' he was also cloth'd with the usual Ornaments of a Cardinal The * This Pavement is not yet finish'd The Charge of it will amount to Threescore and six thousand Two hundred and ninety Crowns without reckoning that of the Quire which has already cost Five thousand Two hundred and fifty Morigi Pavement of this Church is finer and more solid than that of St. Peter's at Rome where the Floor is laid with thin Leaves of Marble which begin already to cleave and will in a short time be quite rais'd up whereas here the pieces are very thick There are always Masons hewing Stone and Women spinning sewing and selling Fruit in the middle of the Church besides 't is dark and many parts of it imperfect All which Considerations laid together will easily convince you that the inside of it can neither charm nor surprize the Eye of a curious Beholder We went up to the Steeple from whence we had a view not only of Milan but of four or five other Cities in the vast Plain of Lombardy We discover'd also the Alps which are united to the Appennine Mountains towards Genoua The great Bell bears the name of St. Ambrose it contains seven feet in diameter and weighs Thirty thousand pounds Over against the Church there is a pretty large Place where in the Evening I usually observ'd about thirty Coaches which mov'd and stopp'd from time to time that the People within 'em might see those who pass'd along The place for taking the Air in Coaches is a great unpav'd Street in the Suburbs which is sprinkl'd every day with water * And therefore call'd Strada Marina as the Voorhout is at the Hague The Ambrosian Library was so nam'd by Cardinal Frederic Borromeo Ph. Vannemachero and Ch. Torre affirm That this Library contains Fourteen thousand Manuscripts but mention not the number of the printed Books It was much augmented by the addition of Vincent Pinelli's Library R. Lassels Rufinus's Version of Josephus is one of the oldest Manuscripts in this Library G. Burnet Fabio Mangoni built it It contains several Apartments The great Hall is 75 foot long and 30 broad It could not be made larger because of the Churches and Houses that surround it Besides the Books and Pictures 't is enrich'd with several Collections of very fair Medals and with rare and curious Pieces of antique Sculpture and Architecture with others moulded on the Originals Boschi wrote a Treatise De Origine Statu Bibliothecae Ambrosianae C. Torre Archbishop of Milan who founded it and dedicated it to St. Ambrose I read in a little Description of this Library printed at Tortona That it contains twelve thousand Manuscripts and seventy two thousand printed Volumes but we must not depend on that Author's Testimony for it appears plainly to the Eye that there are not so many and besides the Library-keeper told us that there were not above Forty thousand in all This Library is kept open two hours every Morning and Afternoon there is a Fire in it during the Winter and there are also Seats and Desks with all the other Conveniencies that are to be found in the Library of St. Victor at Paris They shew'd us a great Book of Mechanical Draughts which they told us Leonard de Vinci wrote with his own hand The Writing is extreamly awry and can hardly be read without a Perspective-glass There is an Inscription on the Wall which says That a certain King of England whose Name is not mention'd offer'd Three thousand Pistols for this Volume Adjoining to this Library there is an Academy for Painting where we saw many good Pictures Among the rest I remember one of Clement the Tenth which resembles a Print so exactly that we were all deceiv'd by it The Citadel is a regular Hexagon well lin'd furnish'd with store of Cannon and surrounded with a good Ditch and Counterscarps but the old Walls should be pull'd down with all those Towers Forts and other antique Works which are contain'd in the Citadel besides a considerable number of Houses for if all this useless Rubbish were taken away the place would be infinitely better After we had walk'd round the Ramparts we enter'd into a Hall in the Governor's Lodgings to see a score of Soldiers who were exercising their Postures and practising Spanish Sarabands against the Solemnity of Corpus-Christi-day when they were to dance before the Procession The principal Buildings in Milan without mentioning the Churches and Convents are the Palaces of the Governor and Archbishop the Houses of the Marquess Homodeo Count Barth Arese and Signior T. Marini the * This Structure was founded by Charles Borromeo and built by Joseph Mela. A double Portico 176 foot and 3 inches long and 16 foot 10 inches and a half broad goes round the great square Court on the inside The first Order is Doric and the second Ionic Over the great Portal stands Piety having on her Breast the Sun who is the Father of Light and on the other side Wisdom with swelling Breasts full of Provision for her Children C. Torre Seminary the Colleges of the Switzers of Breva and of the Jesuits the Town-house and the chief Hospital the great Court of the last-nam'd Structure is a Hundred and twenty paces square with two rows or stories of Portico's about the inside both which are supported on every side by Two and forty Pillars of a kind of Marble found in the neighbouring Alps every Pillar consisting of a single Piece The Body of the Edifice is of Brick moulded and fashion'd into several Ornaments of Architecture The old Hospital is join'd to this and both together make but one The †Begun 1489 by Duke Lewis Sforza call'd the Moor and finish'd by Lewis XII 1507. Bramante was the Architect of this Structure Lazaret or place appointed for the entertainment of those that are sick of Pestilential Distempers depends on the great Hospital and is situated about two or three hundred paces from the City It consists of four Galleries join'd in a square each containing Ninety two Chambers and
is transported to France The Winter has been very sharp and long almost all the Oranges and Citrons were frozen and the Ground under the Trees was cover'd with 'em in the above-mention'd places where those Fruits are most common I observ'd that they take a great deal of care at Rome to preserve themselves from the Inconveniences occasion'd by the Heats which are usually very troublesome in that place The great Lords have low Apartments where the Sun never appears which are pav'd with Marble and furnish'd with Fountains and Water-spouts and besides the Doors and Windows are so contriv'd that they are never without a cool Brize The Beds are encompass'd at some distance with a Circlet of Gawze or Tiffany which is join'd close to the Boards of the Floor and Ceiling above and below and hinders 'em from being tormented with Gnats 'T is also the Custom to sleep two hours immediately after Dinner but they never lye down for they have a sort of folding Chairs which are usually garnish'd with Leather and have Backs that rise and fall with a Spring The use of Vmbrello's is common every where The Serain or Evening Dew in Campagna di Roma is esteem'd mortal during three or four months in the Summer and great care is taken to avoid it Travellers double their pace to arrive at Rome in time or stay at the distance of eighteen or twenty miles from it I found the following Verses over the Gate of a House at Rome they contain the Rules that ought to be observ'd for the preservation of Health in that City Enecat insolitos residentes pessimus Aer Romanus solitos non bene gratus habet Sospes ut hic vivas lux septima det * Mark 2.17 Medicinam Absit odor foedus sit modicusque labor Pelle Famem Frigus fructus femurque relinque Nec placeat gelido fonte levare sitim That is The Roman Air is fatal to Strangers and troublesome even to the Natives If you would live securely here observe the following Rules Take Physic every seventh day avoid stinking Smells use moderate Exercise Fence your self against Cold and Heat abstain from Fruit and Women and quench not your Thirst with cold Water You may observe by the bye that the Author chose rather to run the hazard of a false quantity than to lose the Jingle of his four F's He might have said Venerem instead of Femur the first Syllable of which is short Et corpus quaerens femorum c. Mart. I have not given you an account of the Antiquity of several Cities I confess Enquiries of that nature are very curious but besides that they require a great deal of time and labour and have been prosecuted already by very able Pens I find that these Controversies are usually meer Questions concerning Names of Places for in many of these Cities there are not the least Remainders or visible Marks of their ancient Foundations and they have been subject to the same Alterations which the Vessel of the Argonauts underwent of old To conclude the sight of the Places might perhaps raise a Traveller's Curiosity but that wears off by degrees when they are only the Objects of his Imagination I must tell you now I think on 't that in all Italy we observ'd but one Wind-mill or rather the Ruins of one at Leghorn They use no Tin-Vessels in this Country because of the scarcity of that Metal All their Vessels are made of Earth leaded or of _____ We have seen _____ made in several places but there is none that resembles Porcelain so exactly as that of Delft Whereas we place the beginning of the natural Day immediately after Midnight The Babylonians began their natural Day at Sunrising and the Jews at Sunsetting as the Italians do at present The Inhabitants of the Province of Umbria with Ptolomy and some others in former times reckon'd the beginning of the Day at Noon and the Egyptians at Midnight as we do The ancient Romans did also begin the Day at Midnight but their Hours were unequal the Italians make it begin after Sunsetting and their Clocks strike always Four and twenty hours from one Sunsetting to another you may easily perceive that according to this computation the Hour of Noon varies daily for when the Sun sets at Four a-clock according to our calculation they reckon One when we count Five and consequently the next day 't is Noon at Twenty hours And in like manner when the Sun sets at Eight on our Dials 't is One a-clock with them when we reckon Nine and 't is just Noon at sixteen hours Nevertheless with respect to the artificial Day between Sunrising and Sunsetting they use the words Yesterday and To morrow as we do I cannot forbear acquainting you that we left Rome without having seen the Pope there were doubtless some Reasons that would not permit him to appear in public and there were others that hinder'd us from paying him a Visit I shall conclude this Letter with telling you that we bought some modern Medals at Rome from the famous Hameranus who is reputed to excel in that sort of Workmanship Of all the Medals we saw of Queen Christina this in my opinion is one of the most Heroical and most worthy of that great Princess Her Dominions are on the Reverse with the whole Hemisphere and this Motto Ne mi bisogna ne mi basta I want nothing and yet I have not enough Alexander the Great could use the last part of this Motto but instead of reigning over himself his Ambition made him desire more Worlds I shall only add an Inscription which one of my Friends transcrib'd just now from the Pedestal of a Statue of Justice in the Convent of the Jesuits Quae Dea Sacra Themis Quae Patria Regna Tonantis Qualis Origo Fuit Sanctus uterque Parens Cur Frontem Facies aperit formosa severam Nescio corrumpi non amo Blanditias Aurium aperta tibi cur altera altera clausa est Una patet justis altera surda malis Cur Gladium tua Dextra gerit cur laeva Bilancem Ponderat haec causas percutit illa Reos Cur sola incedis Quia copia rara Bonorum Haec referunt paucos saecula Fabricios Paupere cur cultu Semper Justissimus esse Qui cupit hic magnas vix cumulabit opes What Goddess art thou I am Sacred Justice What happy Region boasts thy presence Heaven Whose Offspring art thou I 'm of holy Race What sullen Glooms hang o'er thy lovely Face I cannot fawn nor bribe nor will be brib'd Why hast thou one Ear shut and t'other open This to the Good that to th' Unjust I turn What mean thy brandish'd Sword and well-pois'd Ballance That strikes the Guilty this gives Righteous Judgment Why stand'st thou thus alone All Men avoid me Why in so Poor a Garb Few Just are Rich. I am SIR Your c. Turin June 29. 1688. LETTER XXXIV SIR Veillana WE lay at Veillana