1; "'--- 
 
 fornia 
 lal 
 
 y
 
 LETTERS 
 
 FROM 
 
 IT A L y, , 
 
 ^ I 
 
 v. 
 
 DESCRIBING THE 
 
 CUST MS an d MANNERS 
 of tht COUNTRY, 
 
 *. 
 
 In the YEARS 170^ and. 1766. 
 
 To which is ANNEXED, 
 
 An ADMONITION to GENTLEMEN who 
 pafs the ALPS, in their Tour through ITALY. 
 
 1 1 
 By S A M U E L SH A R P, Efq. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 Printed by R. CAV-E, at St Jobn's-Gate ; and fold by 
 W. NICOL, in St Parts Church-Yard. 
 
 M.DCC. LXVI. 
 
 * 

 
 PREFACE. 
 
 TH E Reader will plainly perceive the 
 following LETTERS, though now a 
 little altered and curtailed, were not origi- 
 nally intended for the Prefs. My Conefpon- . 
 dents, who preferved them, have perfuaded me 
 to believe they may poffibly amufe the 
 World ; but, had I forefeen this Publication, 
 I might, with very little Trouble, have been 
 particular in many Inftances, where I am now 
 fuperficial. 
 
 Before I left England, I was fully apprifed 
 of the Danger a Traveller is expofed to, of 
 miftaking Singularities for Cuftbms, and hope 
 J have guarded againft that Error. I had 
 known fcverai Frenchmen, who, having ac- 
 quired Ejiglijb enough to read a News Paper, 
 believed that Treaties of Marriage in England 
 are ufually negotiated by Advertifcments. I 
 was once acquainted with a poor ftarving 
 Gentleman, at Paris, who knew no more of 
 the Hiftory of England, than the Fate of our 
 unhappy Kings, Charles I. and James II. I 
 have heard this poor Man, with Tears in his 
 Eyes, thank the ben Dicu, he was not born a 
 King of England. At this prefent Time, I 
 know a very fenfible and learned Italian, who, 
 being curious to examine the Truth of a po- 
 pular
 
 :v. PREFACE. 
 
 puiar Opinion in Italy^ That no Englimmafl 
 fears Death, prevailed upon himfelf to attend 
 the Execution of my Lord Lovat, and Mr 
 Radclijfe. It is very well remembered, with 
 what iingular Tranquillity and Heroifmthofe 
 Gentlemen died ; but this Accident has con- 
 firmed, as he imagines, the Truth of that 
 Opinion. Inftruded by fuch Leffons, I flat- 
 ter myfelf I have not often been too hafty in 
 judging of the Cuftoms and Manners of Italy. 
 Should the more Veafonable Catholicks of 
 England think 1 have been too particular in 
 my Defcriptions of the fuperflitious Practices 
 ,of their Religion, I muft beg Leave to re- 
 mind them of their own frequent Declarati- 
 ons, that, in this enlightened Age, thofe Pa- 
 geantries are continued abroad, merely to 
 comply with the Wcaknefs of the ignorant 
 Multitude, who would imagine the Funda- 
 mentals of their Faith fhaken, by any Re- 
 trenchment of thofe Ceremonies j and, if 
 this be their Avowal, certainly what a Papiii 
 difapproves of, a Proteftant may describe, 
 without giving Offence.
 
 LETTER L 
 
 VENICE, September 1765. 
 DEAR SIR^ 
 
 WE are arrived at Venice by the road 
 of Geneva, Turin, Milan, Vero- 
 na, Vicenza, and Padua ; but as 
 my refidence in thefe cities has not been of 
 fiifficient continuance to give me more thaii 
 a fiiperficial idea of all that 1 have feen of 
 heard, I (hall not communicate what obfer- 
 Vations I have made; till my return ; when, 
 perhaps, a fecond vifit, and a farther acquain- 
 tance with the manners of Italy, will enable 
 me to judge better of men and things. I do 
 not mean to trouble you, or my other friends^ 
 during my ftay abroad, with defcriptions of 
 churches, ftatues; and pictures 5 for, befides, 
 that I can fay no more on that fubject thari 
 what every account of Italy, every guide for 
 travellers, furnifhes in a moft tedious abun- 
 dance, I have generally found the reading 
 
 A of
 
 2 LETTER f. 
 
 of fuch defcriptions infipid and tirefome -, 
 deed, how can it be otherwife, fmce the 
 touches of a Raphael, or Michael Angela j 
 muft be feen to be admired, and are no more 
 fafceptible of a defcription in words, than is 
 the air of a mufical compofition ? Thefe ac- 
 counts, however, are both pleafant and ufe- 
 ful in the hands of a traveller, who, if he 
 compares them with the originals, will bor- 
 row a thoufond hints, which would other- 
 wife efcape the moft diligent obferver. 
 
 I muft confefs to you, that I have yet feerr 
 nothing which has afforded me fo much plea- 
 fure as that extraordinary Genius Monf. Vol- 
 taire. My principal motive for ' pafling the 
 Alps, by the way of Geneva, was a vifit to 
 that Gentleman. I knew him in the days of 
 my youth, and had the honour to be fome- 
 times his conductor when he was in London. 
 I alfo faw him at Paris in 1749, and now 
 that he is become the topic of converfation 
 in almoft every village in Europe, I could 
 not think of going to Italy, without granting 
 myfelf the indulgence of feeing him once 
 more. He lives about four miles from Ge- 
 neva, in a moft fplendid and hofpitable man- 
 ner, keeping an open table, to which ftran- 
 
 gers
 
 LETTER I. 3 
 
 gers of every nation find an eafy introduction. 
 Contiguous to his houfe is a fmall theatre, 
 which holds about fifty people, but, when 
 enlarged, will contain two hundred ; the car- 
 penters were beginning the alteration the day 
 I dined with him. Perhaps he never had 
 been more happy in any one period of his life 
 than at the juncture I law him. Mademci- 
 felle Clairon, who has quitted the ftage, was 
 on a vifit there, and had exhibited that week 
 in two characters of his own writing. I un- 
 fortunately arrived at Geneva the night after 
 (he had performed for the laft time. I had 
 often feen her in 1 749 j but I found by Vol- 
 taire, that, excellent as me was in thofe days, 
 fhe had improved in the laft fixteen years be- 
 yond all imagination. I cannot give you an 
 idea of the ecftaeies he was in, for fevcral 
 hours together, acting and repeating a hun- 
 dred paffages where me had been particularly 
 happy in her expreffion. His eyes have fuch 
 a brilliancy in thofe moments, that you forget 
 he is above feventy-two. He had that morn- 
 ing written an epiftle to Mad. Clairon y in 
 ^erfe, which he read to the company from 
 the foul copy : There were fome erafements 
 in it, but not many. To perform a play, he 
 
 A 2 is
 
 4 LETTER 1. 
 
 is obliged to feize the opportunity, when any 
 ftroling comedians come into the neighbour 1 -" 
 hood of Geneva ; with fome of thefe, and a 
 niece who lives with him, he then entertains 
 himfelf and friends ; but the vifit of Mad. 
 Clairon had given a perfection to this lafl fpec- 
 tacle which he had never hoped for. 
 
 I wifh, for the honour of my country, it 
 were poffible that a Frenchman could tafte 
 the language of Shakefpeare : I am perfuaded 
 could Voltaire feel the energy of our Poet's 
 defcriptions, he would talk no more of his 
 Barbarifms, and his fome beauties. He who 
 has fo great a mare of merit himfelf, would 
 gladly pay the tribute due to the mrine of 
 Sbakefpeare, and, pombly, grieve to have at- 
 tempted thofe tranflations which he has pre- 
 fented to his countrymen, as a fpecimen of 
 Shakefpeare's manner of writing. It is true, 
 he apologifes for the faintnefs of the executi- 
 on 5 but, dill, had he felt the exceffive infe- 
 riority of his imitations ; had he known fo 
 well as an EngHJhman does, that they have 
 not the leaft refemblance of the flrength, 
 fpirk, and imagination of the original, he 
 certainly would never have hazarded the 
 publication. I remember to have heard him 
 
 fay
 
 LETTER I. 5 
 
 fay, about the year 1726, that, before he 
 learnt Englifo, he had read the Spectators in 
 French, and often wondered that fuch dull 
 writings mould pleafe a polite nation ; but 
 " Now," faid he, " that I have acquired 
 
 <f the tongue, I wipe my b h with Plu- "I 
 
 " tarch" The phrafe was too remarkable, 
 and made too ftrong an impreffion on the ears 
 of a young man, to be ever forgotten. 
 
 This ftory I would apply to Voltaire him- 
 felf, and every Frenchman who learns Englifb 
 after he is twenty-five years of age. Though 
 they may be fufficiently inftructed to relifli 
 the good fenfe, and, poflibly, the wit and hu- 
 mour of our Spectators in profe, the powers 
 of Shakefpeare in meafure, will always remain 
 unfelt. They may underftand the conftruc- 
 tion, as a fchool-boy reads Virgil, but they 
 never will catch the fire. If Voltaire found 
 fo much difference betwixt t)ie original and 
 tranflation of the Spectators, I do not doubt, 
 but with a thorough knowledge of Englijh, 
 he would find as much, or more, betwixt the 
 Shakefpeare he now reads, and the Shakefpeare 
 he would then feel. 
 
 Jam, dear Sir, &c. 
 
 A 3 LET-
 
 LETTER II. 
 
 VENICE, Sept. 1765. 
 SIR, 
 
 WE came from Padua to Venice^ by the 
 river Brent a , in a private boat. 
 There are boats which fet out every day, to 
 and from Padua, like our flage-coaches, and 
 carry paflengers for about a fhilling Englifo ; 
 but it is ufual for people of a certain rank, to 
 take a vefTel to themfelves. It is larger than 
 a Gravejend boat, and is. provided with a 
 room built in the middle, and covered in, big 
 enough to hold a company of twenty at leaft ; 
 every expence included, it cofts an Rnglijh 
 company about thirty-five millings. The ri- 
 ver Brent a is famous for the beauty of the 
 country boufes built on its banks, which 
 here, as through all Italy, bear the name of 
 palaces. We did not difembark ? to vifit the 
 gardens of thefe palaces, and, therefore, can- 
 not give our judgment upon the fubjecl: ; but 
 they are much celebrated by the people of 
 the country. When you arrive within four 
 or five miles of Venice, at a place called Fu- 
 Jitia, where the river opens into the Laguna 
 
 (lake)
 
 LETTER II. 7 
 
 (lake) on which the city and adjacent iflands 
 are fituated, you hire gondolas. Here a 
 wonderful fcene opens to every ftranger, 
 when he firft carts "his eye on this enchanting 
 profpect. There are few Gentlemen who 
 are not, in fome degree, apprized of what 
 they are to expect from the views they have 
 feen of this place, exhibited by Canaletti ; 
 neverthelefs, the real object exceeds in beau- 
 ty, what the imagination is led to conceive 
 from thefe draughts j which, however, fel- 
 dom happens, as the reprefentation of build- 
 ings in pictures is generally more gaudy and 
 flattering than the life itfelf, Here the fuel 
 being wood, there is no dirty fmoak to deface 
 the heavens, the water, and the buildings. 
 There are no dirty barges, nor dirty men j 
 for the Barcaroles (Gondaliers) have moft of 
 them an elegant waterman's livery, and the 
 others, who are not in Gentlemens fervice, 
 being a fober body of men, are not in rags, 
 as the lower fort of people in England, who 
 fpend all they can get in porter, or fpirituous 
 liquors. 
 
 In Venice there is one larse canal, which 
 
 o * 
 
 runs through the middle of the city, in this 
 
 A 4 form,
 
 8 LETTER II. 
 
 form O^, and which receives an infinity of 
 fmaller. Almoft every houfe has one door 
 communicating with a ftreet, and another o- 
 pening immediately upon a canal. There 
 are a few canals from which you land into a 
 narrow ftreet betwixt the houfe and the canal. 
 The houfes, the gondolas, and the canals, 
 were there no other curiofity, would be very 
 amufing ; but the delights of this place are 
 the views oFthe iflands in the neighbourhood. 
 South of the city is another range of build- 
 ings and canals, called Giudecca ; they are 
 divided by a canal, of the breadth of the 
 ^Thames at London j and here an airing upon 
 the water, is the diverfion of the Sunday 
 evening and feftivals, an hour before dark. 
 The ladies, with their Cavalieri Serventi, 
 (called Clcejbei in other parts of Italy) row 
 backwards and forwards near the bank of the 
 Giudecca^ a?, in former days, our gentry in 
 JLngland frequented the Ring in Hyde-Park. 
 
 In the way to the Lazaret to t the ifland 
 where quarantine is performed, you pafs in 
 fight of feveral iflands, where the churches, 
 convents, &c. furnifh an abundant entertain- 
 ment to the Virtuofi, who have a tafte for 
 Palladia, Titian^ Paul Feronefe, &c. One of 
 
 the
 
 LETTER II. 9 
 
 the moft curious fights we faw amongft thefe 
 
 curiofities, was the famous Mr , %vho 
 
 was performing quarantine at the Lazaretto. 
 All the Englijh made a point of paying him 
 their compliments in that place, and he feem- 
 ed not a little pleafed with their attention. It 
 may be fuppofed that vifitors are not fuffered 
 to approach the perfon of any who is per- 
 forming quarantine. They are divided by a 
 paffage of about feven or eight feet wide. 
 Mr - ~. - was juft arrived from the Eaft ; 
 he had travelled through the Holy Ltnd, - 
 gyp?, Armenia, &c. with the Old and New- 
 Teftament in his hands for his direction, 
 which he told us had proved unerring guides. 
 He had particularly taken the road of the If- 
 raelttes through the Wildernefs, and had ob- 
 ferved that part of the Red Sea which they 
 palled through. He had vifited Mount SV- 
 nai, and flattered himfelf he had been on the 
 yery part of the Rock where Mofes fpake face 
 to face with God Almighty. His beard 
 reached down to his breaft, being of two 
 years and a half growth ; and the drefs of his 
 head was Armenian. He was in the moft 
 enthufiaftic raptures with Arabia, and the 
 Arabs i his bed was the ground, his food 
 
 rice,
 
 jo LETTER II. 
 
 rice, his beverage water, his luxury a pips 
 and coffee. His purpofe was to return once 
 more amongft that virtuous people, whofe 
 morals and hofpitality he faid were fuch, 
 that, were you to drop your cloak in the 
 highway, you would find it there fix months 
 afterwards ; an Arab being too honeft a man 
 to pick up what he knows belongs to ano- 
 ther j and were you to offer money for the 
 provifion you meet with, he would aik you 
 with concern, why you had fo mean an o- 
 pinion of his benevolence, to fuppofe him 
 capable of accepting a gratification. There- 
 fore money, faid he, in that country, is of 
 very little ufe, as it is only neceffary for the 
 purchafe of garments, which, in fo warm a 
 climate, are very few, and of very little value. 
 He diftinguimes, however, betwixt the wild 
 and the civilized Arab, and propofes to pub- 
 lifh an account of all I have written. 
 
 I mould do an injuflice to our Refident, 
 Mr Murray, did I not mention the politenefs 
 with which he receives us, and all his country- 
 men. I do not doubt, but from a man of his 
 underftanding, and communicative difpofition, 
 I fhall learn all a traveller would wifh to know. 
 
 lam, Sir, &c. 
 
 LET-
 
 VENICE, Sept. 1765, 
 SIR, 
 
 VENICE, with a few alterations, might 
 appear much more magnificent than 
 it now is : The windows, inflead of fafhes, 
 are flill as in the other parts of Italy, made of 
 fmall panes of glafs, inclofed in lead, which 
 is exceedingly paltry j and what is ftill worfe, 
 they are covered with iron grates, exactly re- 
 fembling thofe of our prifons, which makes 
 a dreadful gloomy view of the fronts of their 
 palaces. Thefe grates were formerly called 
 Gelojias, but I queftion whether they flill re- 
 tain that name, for never was fo entire a revo- 
 lution effected in the manners of a nation, as 
 in this inftance of jealoufy. In antient days 
 wives were immured in Italy, and hulbands 
 were jealous : Now, no women on earth are 
 under fo little reftraint, and the word jea- 
 loufy is become obfolete. The mutters of 
 their houfes are plain deal boards tacked to- 
 gether without the leaft form or decoration, 
 and not painted like ours in England, fo that 
 when a palace is fhut up^it very much re- 
 
 fembles
 
 12 LETTER III. 
 
 fembles a bridewell, or an hofpital for lunar 
 ticks. They like wife lay on the roofs of 
 their houfes fuch heavy clumfy tiles, that 
 they very much offend the eye. Houfe-rent 
 is remarkably cheap for fo large and fo trad- 
 ing a city. A houie of feventy pounds a year 
 I mould have guefled at near two hundred, 
 and fo of others I enquired after. 
 
 The Republick is extremely rigid in what 
 regards the quarantine ; and, indeed, as they 
 border upon thofe confines where the plague 
 fo frequently breaks out, they cannot be too 
 %vatchful. There is not the leaft connivance 
 ever practifed ; all letters, to whomfoever di- 
 redted, are firft opened by the officers, and 
 then fmoaked before they are delivered. 
 Were Mr - - to have handed over a 
 news-paper to me, and we had been detected 
 in the action, I muft inevitably have per- 
 formed quarantine in the Lazaretto, a certain 
 number of weeks. A few years fince, a boy 
 got on board one of the veffels performing 
 quarantine, and flole fome tobacco ; he was 
 purfued into Venice, and mot dead in the 
 ftreets. There are many cuftom-houfe offi- 
 cers in their boats, watching the quarantine 
 night and day, who would certainly kill the 
 
 ' firft
 
 L E T T fi R III 13 
 
 firfl man who mould attempt do efcape on 
 more, before the expiration of the quarantine. 
 
 Their churches, their pictures, and their 
 arfenal, admit of no other obfervation than 
 what is to be found in books upon that fub- 
 ject j I mall however mention one remark, 
 that their men of war are built under cover, 
 and not being expofed to the. weather, are 
 confequently lefs liable to decay. 
 
 The church, called Redemtore, is a curious 
 inftance of the power of art ; for though it 
 is not to be ranked amongft the rich and ex- 
 penfive churches, abounding neither in gold 
 nor marble, yet the fimplicity and elegance 
 of its ftru&ure had a wonderful influence on 
 us the moment we entered within the door, 
 and convinced us how defervedly Palladia is 
 admired, and how poffible it is to tafte the 
 beauty of proportion and defign, without 
 having ftudied the rudiments of the art. 
 
 I am> Sir, 
 
 LET-
 
 LETTER iV. 
 
 VENICE. Sept. 176?". 
 SIR, 
 
 IWas prefent this morning in the Senate- 
 houfe, at an election of fome officers of 
 the State. The Venetian Nobles have va- 
 rious methods of electing by ballot thei? ma- 
 giftrates and officers, according to the dignity 
 of their office, but they refemble one another 
 in the efTential form fo much, that the fpe- 
 cimen I faw will give you no bad idea of 
 the whole. Suppofiag there are feveral hun- 
 dred nobles prefent who are to vote, juft fo 
 many hundred balls afe put into a box, two 
 hundred of which, or thereabout, are golden j 
 thofe who take out the golden balls are en- 
 titled to vote, and for that purpofe retire with 
 the Doge and others into an adjacent room ; 
 fo that, by this means, the candidates can- 
 not know who are to be their electors. If, 
 amongft thofe that have taken out the golden 
 balls, there are any related to the candidates, 
 they do not ballot, but ftand neuter at one 
 end of the room. The ballots of two hun- 
 dred people are collected in half a minute 
 by about forty little boys, from feven to 
 
 eleven
 
 L T T E R IV. 15 
 
 deven years of age ; they have each their 
 feveral ilations, where they collect the balls 
 from a certain number of the nobles j and 
 funning on their errand as faft as they can, a 
 ballot for fix or feven candidates is foon dif- 
 patched. 
 
 The theatres are not now open ; but when 
 they are, all the world goes thither, particu- 
 larly in the feafon of the Carnival, where 
 the Barcaroles (Gondaliers) make fo great a 
 figure, that it is faid of them, what our 
 Bickerftajf faid of the trunk-maker in the 
 Tatler^ that what they cenfure or applaud, is 
 generally condemned or approved by the 
 publick : in fhort, that it is the Barcaroles 
 who decide the fate of an opera or play, 
 Thefe Barcaroles are certainly fuch a body of 
 fbber men as in England we have no inftance 
 of amongfl the lower clafs of people : In 
 mafking-time, however, they indulge the 
 tafle of gaming, and doubtlefs often play 
 with the nobles their mafters 5 but the brown- 
 nefs and coarfenefs of their hands betray 
 their occupation ; befides that, it is impoffi- 
 ble for them to forbear making their boafts, 
 or their complaints, of good and bad fortune, 
 when their dialect and deportment never fail 
 to difcover them. 
 
 The
 
 J6 L E T T E R IV. 
 
 The number as Well as the character 01 
 this people renders their body very refpecta- 
 ble : When one confiders, that in all the 
 great families, every gentleman keeps a dif- 
 tindl gondola rowed by two men; except 
 fome few who have but one rower, it will 
 be readily conceived, that the number of Bar- 
 caroles muft be very confiderable. They are 
 exceedingly proud of their ftation, and with 
 fome reafon 9 for their profeffion leads them: 
 into the company of the greateft men of the 
 flate, and it is the fafhion to converfe with 
 them, to hear their wit and humour, and 
 applaud all they fay ; befides, the pay of a 
 Barcarole is about eighteen pence Englijh; 
 with liveries and little perquifites, which, in 
 fo cheap a country, is a plentiful income to 
 a fober man : accordingly,- it is notorious, 
 that all of them can afford to marry, and do 
 marry. 
 
 The manner of rowing a gondola, ftand- 
 ing and looking forward, may be feen in 
 every view of Venice, and this manner is ab- 
 folutely neceffary for the guidance of a 
 boat in thefe narrow canals ; but it is curious 
 to obferve how dextrous they are by ufe , for 
 it is very rare that they touch, much lefs en- 
 danger over-fetting, though they are every 
 
 inftant
 
 L E T T E'R IV. 17 
 
 Inftant within half an inch of each other. 
 One cannot be an hour on thefe canals with- 
 out feeing feveral of the Barcaroles fhifting 
 thernfelves ; for it is a cuftom amongft them 
 to have always a dry mirt ready to put on, 
 the moment after they have landed their fare; 
 and they would expect to die, if by any ac- 
 cident they were under the neceflity of fuffer- 
 ing a damp mirt to dry on their bodies. On 
 the other hand, it is curious to obferve how 
 little they dread damp meets through all Italy ', 
 at lead in fummer ; and the people at inns 
 are fo Httle apprifed of an objection to damp 
 meets, that when you beg they would hang 
 them before the fire, they do not underftand 
 you, and defire you will feel how wet they 
 are; being prepofTetfed, that you mean they 
 have not been warned : In fact, unlefs you 
 have fervants who will dry them for you, it 
 is in vain to expect it fliould be done. 
 
 By a fumptuary law of the State, all the 
 gondolas muft be black, fo that their appear- 
 ance is very difmal ; and every body, at firfl: 
 fight, compares the roof you fit in to a- 
 hearfe. The nobles too, by a fumptuary 
 law, cannot wear a fword, and are obliged to 1 
 drefs in black, and long wigs. 
 
 lam, Sir, 
 B
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 VENICE, Sept. 1765. 
 SIR, 
 
 GALLANTRY is fo epidemical in this 
 city, that few of the Ladies efcape the 
 contagiqn. No woman can go into a public 
 place, but in the company of a Gentleman, 
 called here, a Cava/iere Servente, and in o- 
 ther parts of Italy > a Cicejbeo. This Cavaliere 
 is always the fame perfon ; and me not only 
 is attached to him, but to him fingly j for 
 no other woman joins the company, but it is 
 uiual for them to fit alone in the box, at the 
 opera, or play-houfe, where they muft be, 
 in a manner, by themfelves, as the theatres 
 are fo very dark that the fpectators can hardly 
 be faid to be in company with one another. 
 After the Opera, the Lady, and her Gavaliere 
 Servente retire to her Cafine, where they 
 have a Tete-a-Tete for an hour or two, and 
 then her visitors join them for the reft of 
 the evening, or night ; for on feme feflival 
 and jolly days, they fpend the whole night, 
 and take Mafs in their way home. You mufl 
 
 know
 
 LETTER V. 19 
 
 know a Cafme is nothing more than a fmall 
 room, generally at or near St Mark's-P/ace, hi- 
 red for the riioft part by the year, andfacred to 
 the Lady and her Cavaliere ; for the hufband 
 never approaches it. On the other hand, 
 the hufband has his revenge ;^for he never 
 fails to be the Cavaliere Servente of fome o- 
 ther woman -, and, I am told, it would be fo 
 ridiculous for a hufband to appear in publick 
 with his wife, that there is no inftance of fuch 
 a phenomenon ; and, therefore, it is impoffible 
 for a woman to bear up againft the torrent of 
 this fafhion. V/ere a young wife to flatter her- 
 felf me had married a man for the love and 
 efteem me bore to him, and that it would be 
 injurious to his honour to pafs fo many private 
 hours with a Cavaliere Servente, what would 
 be the confequence ? She muft live for ever 
 at home ; no woman would dare to appear 
 with her, and me could not find a man who 
 would not exact the privileges of a Cavaliere 
 Servente : Accordingly, it feldom happens 
 that a bride holds out beyond a few months 
 after marriage againft this mode, and there 
 are many examples where the Cavaliere, and 
 not the Hufband, is the object $ where the 
 Cavaliere is taken immediately t into fervice, 
 
 B 2 and
 
 20 LETTER V. 
 
 and for whofe fake the marriage is a pretext 
 and fcreen. 
 
 So many opportunities muft, therefore, 
 render this Republick a fecond Cyprus, 
 where all are. votaries to Venus, unlefs it 
 pleafe Heaven to pour down more grace a- 
 mongft them, than falls to the mare of other 
 nations in this degenerate age ; but the de- 
 tractors deny that the huibands believe in this 
 partial favour, and aflert, they have very little 
 fondnefs for their children, compared with 
 the Parents of other kingdoms : They are the 
 children of the Republiek, fay they, but not 
 fo certainly the children of their reputed fa- 
 thers : The girls, therefore, are early fent to 
 convents, where they remain till they marry, 
 or die, and are vifited by their fathers and 
 mothers feldom or never j if they marry, they 
 at once burfl out from a fecluded life, and 
 a narrow education, into the fcene of licenti- 
 oufnefs I have jufl defcribed. 
 
 Some of thefe Cavalieres, according to the 
 nature of the parties, are faid to be very ab- 
 ject and fervile, doing the meaneft offices, 
 and fubmitting to the grofleft tyranny : Others 
 have an afcendant over their miftrefles, and 
 there is often as much jealoufy betwixt the 
 
 Ladies
 
 LETTER V. 21 
 
 Ladies here, on the fubjed: of their Cava- 
 lieres, as in other countries on the account of 
 their hufbands j and it happens now and 
 then, that the Ladies and Cavalieres feparate 
 in favour of others ; but this feems to be a 
 delicate point, and to be avoided as much as 
 divorces are with us. The ambition, the 
 rage for a Cafine, is become fo efleniial to 
 fafhionablenefs, that it is ludicrous to fee how 
 low it defcends amongft people who wifh to 
 be efteemed the beau-monde. It is impoffible 
 to refrain from laughter, when fuch or fuch a 
 man is pointed out as going to his Caflne -, 
 men that you know to have the graveft cha- 
 racters in every other place but a Cafine, and 
 whom you would rather have fufpedted of 
 hypocricy, fuperftition, and fanaticifm, than 
 of an avowed and publick gallantry. 
 
 This is the picture of Venetian amours, in 
 the prefent age j but Charity would lead one 
 to hope the colours are laid on too ftrong : 
 Politicians, however, pretend to give an eafy 
 folution of this licentioufnefs amongft the La- 
 dies : They tell you, that, in former times, 
 the courtezans were a ufeful clafs of citi- 
 zens, whofe arms were always open to the 
 wealthy, whether they were young or old ; 
 
 B 3 that
 
 s.2 LETTER V. 
 
 that now they have no fuch character among 
 them, and the flews that are connived at, 
 receive only the very dregs of the people. 
 Every difiblute man of fortune is, therefore, 
 in a manner driven into the practice of either 
 keeping a miftrefs/or becoming a Cavaliere 
 Servente : The former method is more expen- 
 five, and lefs honourable ; the latter, confe- 
 quently, the more prevalent. 
 
 The Bank of the Rialto is a very fmall of- 
 fice, and the whole bufinefs is tranfacted by 
 a few clerks, who fit in a fmall room, like an 
 open booth, which faces the Exchange. The 
 bufinefs of the Bank may be aptly compared 
 to that of a Banker in England, where mer- 
 chants depofit a large fum of money, and 
 draw upon the mop for their difburfements. 
 At Venice, every bill of exchange of above a 
 hundred iilver ducats, that is, fo many times 
 three millings and four-pence, muft be paid at 
 the Bank. This method is very concife, as 
 a transfer is finifhed in half a minute ; Then 
 you avoid the trouble of weighing and exa- 
 mining the- coin, which would be neceflary iq 
 this country, where many of the fequins are 
 light ; befides that, no chicanery can be prac- 
 tifed, in cafe you lofe the receipts, the transfer 
 
 being
 
 LETTER VI. 23, 
 
 being a fufficient teftimony of the payment. 
 Jt may be prefumed too, that the Republic 
 has fome private views in this ordinance, be- 
 fides the benefit of the merchants ; for, mould 
 any fudden exigency of the State occur, they 
 have a quantity of cam in their hands for im- 
 mediate ule. 
 
 / am, Sir, &c. 
 
 LETTER VI. 
 
 VENICE, Sept. 1765. 
 SIR, 
 
 WE have this day feen a wedding, at 
 La Madona Delia Pefta, of two of 
 the greateft families in Venice : I fay families ; 
 for all matches are rather alliances of families, 
 than attachments of the parties married. 
 Thefe marriages are generally publick, and 
 the relations are defirous to have as many af- 
 fiftants and witnerTes at church, as they can 
 colled: : It is ufual upon this occafion to fend 
 an invitation to foreigners. All the women 
 who are admitted, have likewife a formal in- 
 
 B 4 Vi-
 
 24 LETTER VI, 
 
 vitation ; but no Gentleman is denied entrance. 
 The Ladies who are the acquaintance of the 
 parties, appear as gawdy as their fumptuary 
 laws will fuffer them j but thefe laws oblige 
 them to wear black, fo that their laced ruffles 
 and head-drefs, with their diamonds, are the 
 chief ornament ; and, to fay the truth, though 
 their diamonds are numerous, they appear to 
 great difadvantage, by being ill fet in a large 
 quantity of filver. The number of the well- 
 dreffed Ladies was only fifteen ; the reft of 
 the women in the church were of low rank. 
 The bride alone was dreiTed in white, with a 
 long train ; the bridegroom, in the ufual black 
 drefs of a Venetian Noble, not unlike one of 
 our Counfellors in England with a Judge's 
 wig. She was led up towards the Altar by 
 a Venetian Noble, where fhe kneeled, with 
 her hufband qn her right hand. They both 
 continued on their knees till the ceremony 
 was finimed, which, with the Mafs, was above 
 half an hour. She was then handed out of 
 the church by the fame Noble, and, as is the 
 cuftom, me curtfled and paid her comple- 
 ments, en paflant, to all her's and her huf- 
 band's friends. Upon this occafion there are 
 Epithalamiums printed, and made prefents of 
 
 to
 
 LETTER VI. 25 
 
 to certain fpeftators and acquaintance. I 
 fhouid fuppofe that the poems I received, 
 were of a fize to fell for eight or nine (hillings 
 in England. It muft happen, now and then, 
 that a rich Venetian has no fon ; in which 
 cafe, a daughter may be a great fortune ; 
 but, in general, a young Lady with fix or fe<- 
 ven thoufand pounds, is efteemed a good for- 
 tune ; for the ambition of the noble families 
 is to unite, as much as pofllble, their riches 
 with their name. The Ladies here, as alfo at 
 Turin, and Milan, are generally very fair : 
 The men are not fo handfome, but, I think, 
 remarkably tall. Look at any clafs amongft: 
 them which cannot be felected, the Nobles 
 for example, and you will find very few fhort 
 men amongft them. 
 
 1 am, Sir, &c. 
 
 LET-
 
 LETTER VII. 
 
 VENICE, Sept. 1765. 
 
 VENICE, from its fyftem of policy, 
 opens the doors of her nobles- to very 
 few ftrangers. No country in the world ad- 
 heres more rigidly to her antient laws and 
 cuftoms than this Republick. Amongft o- 
 thers, there is one ordinance that not only 
 prohibits the nobles themfelves from holding 
 the leaft intercourfe with foreign minifters j 
 but it is fo very fevere, that mould even one 
 of their fervants pafs the threfbold of an am- 
 bafTador, he would infallibly be fent to pri- 
 fon. The law renders the life of a foreign 
 minifter exceedingly dull and unfocial j be- 
 fides that it flops the channel through which 
 young gentlemen on their travels would na 7 
 turally find accefs to the beft company. I 
 believe the origin of this law at Venice^ had 
 its rife from a frivolous narrow conceit of 
 confounding and preventing plots againft the 
 ftate; but, in a fumptuary view, it may be 
 ufeful, as it fuppreffes that emulation in lux- 
 ury,
 
 LETTER VII. 27 
 
 ury, which the vifits betwixt their nobles and 
 the foreign minifters would naturally pro- 
 duce. 
 
 The Nobles are faid to be above fifteen 
 hundred in number, and it will therefore be 
 readily fuppofed, that far the greater part of 
 them are poor, as all the fons are noble, and 
 they have no means of adding to their patri- 
 mony, but by attaining magiftracies and offices 
 in the government, which are not lucrative, 
 compared with Engtijb employments : for, 
 by an antient act of the fenate, a noble muft 
 not be concerned in any article of commerce, 
 though it is whifpered, that many of them 
 Lave clandeftine partnerfhips. The fons too, 
 being all nobles* they divide their eftates more 
 equally than in monarchichal kingdoms ; 
 where the eldeft fon only, in order to fup- 
 port the honour of the family with the more 
 fplendor, enjoys the title and eftate. It is 
 true, that, in Venice, the eldeft has fome be- 
 nefit from his primogeniture ; but, for the 
 reafons I have mentioned, that benefit is not 
 very confiderable. It is the ambition of e- 
 very Noble to marry one daughter to a No- 
 ble ; on which account he fends the others 
 p convents, that he may be better enabled 
 
 to
 
 28 LETTER VII. 
 
 to give her a fortune, and provide handfome? 
 Jy for his fons. 
 
 There are four convents in Venice , to which 
 four hofpitals are annexed, that give names 
 to the convents. They are of a very fingu- 
 lar institution in one article, being open to a 
 certain number of poor young women, who 
 are thoroughly inftructed in both vocal and 
 inftrumental mufick. They exhibit in their 
 churches, on particular days of the week and 
 fome festivals, (to the public gratis,) and are 
 much frequented, as the performance is finer 
 than one expects in any other place than a 
 theatre. The terms upon which they accept 
 their education, is, to remain in the convent 
 until fuch time as their talents fhall induce 
 fome one to marry them. This happens very 
 rarely, fo that they generally fing on till their 
 voices are loft, and their names are almoft 
 forgotten. The founders of this charity had, 
 as it appears, too exalted an opinion of the 
 power of mufick ; for, however beautiful the 
 girls may be, they truft only to their melody, 
 being intercepted from the fight of the audi- 
 dence, by a black gauze hung over the rails 
 of the gallery in which they perform : It is 
 
 tranfparent
 
 L E T T fi R 
 
 tranfparent enough to (hew the figures of wo- 
 men, but not in the leaft their features and 
 complexion. 
 
 lam, Sir, &c. 
 
 LETTER VIII; 
 
 VENICE, Sept. i76r. 
 SIR, 
 
 THE poor people live very well in the 
 city of Venice^ which, however, may, 
 in a great meafure, be afcrrbed to their igno- 
 rance of gin and brandy. They love gaming, 
 and are, confequently, often needy ; but the 
 Government connives at it, and are rather 
 pleafed to have them fo : As for thofe who 
 by (icknefs, or other accidents, are reduced to 
 poverty, there is an abundance of charitable 
 foundations ; however, the fwarms of beggars 
 are furprifingly great. The trade of begging, 
 in all Catholic countries, will neceflarily pro- 
 fper, fo long as that fpecies of charity, which 
 is beftowed on beggars, continues to be incul- 
 cated
 
 36 LETTER VIII. 
 
 cated by their preachers and confeffbrs, as the 
 moft perfect of all moral duties. 
 
 I muft take notice of fome difadvantages 
 this city labours under. The water here is 
 fuch an invitation to gnats, that no flrangef 
 to this place will conceive the torments we 
 fuffered every day and night from thefe in- 
 fects ; and, it muft be granted, that the ca- 
 nals, at low water, are often, in the fummer, 
 very offenfive, perhaps unwholfome. The 
 bread is" indifferent, and the wine, as through 
 all Italy to this city, very bad. As they live 
 in the midft of fait water, all the water they 
 drink, except what is brought from the Bren- 
 ia> is collected from the rain which falls on 
 their houfes : To this end they dig a well, 
 which, at a certain depth, they furround with 
 a wall of terras, made very compact, that the 
 fait -water in the canals may not tranfude into 
 the well : Then they lay a bed of fand,> thro' 
 which the water filters into the well, as they 
 imagine, in the moft perfect ftate of the purefE 
 water: However, as every houfekeeper thinks 
 his well better finifhed than that of his neigh- 
 bour, one may conclude that fome of them 
 are porous, and do admit more or lefs falt- 
 water into them. The frequency of diarrhoeas 
 
 is
 
 LETTER VIII. 31 
 
 is another argument, that the water they 
 drink is purgative j but perhaps one of the 
 greateft inconveniencies of thefe wells, is, 
 that they do not contain water enough for a 
 family, in cafe of long droughts, which -fre- 
 quently happen in Italy. 
 
 All pleadings at the bar muft be in the 
 Venetian dialed:, which is unpleafant to the 
 ear of a foreigner ; and though none but an 
 Italian fhould dare to critieife on the flile 
 and tafte of an Italian, yet a foreigner may 
 venture to pronounce, that the Venetian dia- 
 lect is a corrupt Italian^ as they have letters 
 in their alphabet, which moft of the natives 
 of this town can never learn to utter ; and 
 are therefore obliged to drop entirely, or to 
 fubftitute others in their place. For exam- 
 ple, in all words where the letter g is intro- 
 duced, this obfervation takes place ; for, in- 
 ftead of pronouncing it in the words Giudice, 
 Giulio, Giovanne, and a thoufand others, they 
 fay Dudice, Dulio, Diovanne, &c. and in the 
 words Mangiare^ Ragione, they drop it al- 
 moft entirely, and fay Maniare, Raione, &c. 
 Then again the T'ufcans, and indeed the Ita- 
 lians of almoft every other State, pronounce 
 the ci and ce> as we mould by putting an b 
 
 betwixt
 
 Jl LETTER VIII. 
 
 betwixt the initial and final letters, as in the 
 Words chirp and chefs ; but a Venetian has 
 not the power of expreffing thofe words, o- 
 therways than firp and fejs. 
 
 If this ftri&ure on their language be a lit- 
 tle too bold, I may venture at leaft to take 
 fome freedoms with the indecorum of their 
 bar. I mail not enter into the particulars of 
 the extraordinary forms of their narrators, 
 their interrupters, &c. a noify, uncivilifed 
 manner of pleading; but fliall only defcribe, 
 if I am able, the agitation and fury of the 
 pleaders, more like that of a Demoniac , than 
 of a man endeavouring, by found reafon, to 
 convince the judges and the audience of thd 
 juftice of his client's eaufe. Every advocate 
 mounts into a fmall pulpit, a little elevated 
 above the audience, where he opens his ha- 
 rangue with fome gentlenefs,- but does not 
 long contain himfelf within thofe limits ; his 
 Voice foon cracks, and, what is very remark- 
 able, the beginning of mbft fentences (whilft 
 he is under any agitation, or feeming enthu- 
 fiafm, in pleading) is at a pitch above his na- 
 tural voice, fo as to occafion a wonderful dif- 
 eord : then, if he means to be very empha- 
 tical, he flrikes the pulpit with his hands' 
 
 five-
 
 LETTER vm. 33 
 
 five or fix times together, as quick as thought, 
 ftamping at the fame time, fo as to make the 
 great room refound with this fpecies of ora- 
 tory 5 at length, in the fury of his argument, 
 he defcends from the pulpit, runs about plead- 
 ing on the floor, returns in a violent paffion. 
 back again to the pulpit, thwacks it with his 
 hands more than at firftj and continues in this 
 ragej running up and down the pulpit feveral 
 times, till he has finifhed his harangue* 
 They feem to be in a continual danger of 
 dropping their wiggs from their heads, and I 
 am told it fometimes happens. The audi- 
 ence fmile now and then at this extraordinary 
 behaviour ; but, were a Counfellor to plead 
 in this manner at Wejlminjler^ his friends 
 would certainly fend for a Bedlam Doctor* 
 I take it for granted there may be forae few 
 who fpeak with more dignity j but the Advo- 
 cates I faw were all men of eminence in their 
 profeflion ; and believe me, when I allure you, 
 that the account I have here given of the 
 ufage of the Bar, is exact and fimple, though 
 it may feem to favour of extravagance. 
 
 LET-
 
 LETTER IX, 
 
 PADUA, September 1765". 
 S I R, 
 
 THIS State continues to encourage 
 private informations. Thefe are about 
 the Doge's palace an infinity of fmall lyon's 
 heads in the walls, large enough to receive 
 into their mouths a letter or billet : Over the 
 heads are labels, pointing out what the nature 
 of the information mould be 5 fome of them 
 direct the accufation to be againft this or that 
 kind of contraband j others againft different 
 fpecies of crimes,- and fo on. As every man 
 knows thefe elandeftine informers are fure of 
 fecrecy, and a reward from the State, it ren- 
 ders every illegal act, which requires accom- 
 plices, extremely dangerous j but the practice 
 has a terrible tendency to corrupt the heart 
 of man, and make him facrifice his friendfhips 1 
 and benefactors to the luft of gain. 
 
 The Doge's ftation is not fo enviable as 
 may be imagined, and many accept of the 
 dignity rather for the honour of their families 
 and pofterity, than to gratify their own incli- 
 nation ;
 
 LETTER ix. 35 
 
 fiation ; for, in general, they are chofen from 
 fome high office, which they can hold com- 
 patibly with the enjoyment of a focial life ; 
 but the moment they become a Doge, they 
 are to avoid all mew of equality 'and familia- 
 rity, and muft, in a manner, feclude them- 
 felves from the fvveets of fociety : Befides, 
 the office is laborious, and a Doge has not 
 pre-eminence enough above the other Nobles, 
 to render the bitter draught palatable. 
 
 The common people flatter themfelveS 
 they are the freeft ftate in Europe, and the 
 nafty fellows efteem it a proof they are fo, 
 that they can let down their breeches where- 
 cver, and before whomfoever they pleafe j 
 accordingly all St Marti $>-P lace > and many 
 parts of that fumptuous marble building, the 
 Doge's palace, are dedicated to Cloacina, and 
 you may fee the votaries at their devotions 
 every hour of the day, as much whilft the 
 Nobles are going in and coming out, as at any 
 other time. 
 
 This morning we arrived at Padua, in our 
 way to Bologna. A fecond and more perfect 
 view of the palaces on the banks of the Bren- 
 ta, gave us a higher opinion of them, parti- 
 cularly that belonging to Pifani, which is 
 
 C 2 truly
 
 36 LETTER IX/ 
 
 truly magnificent : The gardens are likewife 
 noble, but laid out in a tafte long fince dif- 
 carded in England, namely, in. a variety of 
 plots rilled either with fand, or long unmowed 
 grafs, and bordered with box, G?r . 
 
 The fecond vifit to Padua has made the 
 fame impreflion on me as the firft, leaving a 
 melancholy on the mind, to fee fo noble and 
 renowned a city in ancient days, fo depopula- 
 ted and impoverished as it now is. They 
 have a fair which lafts from about the middle 
 of June to the middle of July, and is their 
 greateft harveft ; for, during that time, they 
 have a fine opera, and it is the cuftom of 
 the rich Venetians to come and pafs that 
 month there. Many Venetians have houfes 
 at Padua, which are fhut up all the reft of the 
 year. It is not only Padua, but every other 
 town in the territory of the Republick, that 
 appears poor in comparifon of the mother- 
 city. It is faid that the Senate of Venice treats 
 her fubjects with great partiality, difcourag- 
 ing every invention, or manufacture, though 
 it mould be for the good of the whole, if it 
 clam with the immediate benefit of Venice 
 itfelf. It is to be remembered, that the Re- 
 publick of Venice was originally nothing more 
 
 than
 
 LETTER X. 37 
 
 than the city of Venice ; it was by cpnquefl 
 that (he acquired territory, and added other 
 cities to this capital j no wonder, therefore, 
 if (lie retain fome prediledion. 
 
 / am, Sir, &c. 
 
 LETTER X. 
 
 LORETTO, Off. 1765. 
 
 SIR, 
 
 WE are arrived at Loretto, through the 
 moft fertile and beft inhabited coun- 
 tries of the Ecclefiaftical State. We have 
 paffed Bologna, Immo/a, Faenza, Forti, Gefa- 
 nea y Rimini, Cattolico, Pefaro, Fano, Sinigag- 
 lia, and Ancona. Becaufe I will not tire you 
 with accounts of things to be found in books, 
 unlefs I am particularly ftruck by them, I 
 have forborne to enter into any detail of the 
 moft venerable remains of antiquity in the 
 world, I mean the Amphitheatre at Verona^ 
 nor have I fpoken of the excellent worfcs ofPal- 
 ladio, at Vicenza, particularly the Olympic The- 
 
 C 3 atre.
 
 S 8 L E T T E R X. 
 
 atre. I have faid nothing of the Inftitute, or 
 Mufaeum, at Bologna, and the collection of pic- 
 tures in that city, which is efteemed the fe- 
 cond or third in Italy. I might have expati- 
 ated on the bridge at Rimini, built in the Au- 
 guftan age, which is wonderfully preferved, 
 . and is fo beautiful, that it is faid Palladia de- 
 clared he could not improve upon it. I con r 
 fefs, I could not behold this bridge, and the 
 triumphal arch of C<zfar in the fame town, 
 without great pleafure ; but what crowned 
 that day's journey was the paiTage of the ce- 
 lebrated ancient Rubicon : I mall juft obferve, 
 on Sinigaglia, that it feems to be the only rifing 
 town in Italy. The occafion of this flourim- 
 ing condition of a town, in the Pope's domi 
 nions, is the vogue of a fair, once a year, 
 which is annually improving, and draws fuch 
 a concourfe of people from diftant countries, 
 as, with time, will enrich this diftrict. 
 
 Ancena is one of the moft ftr iking profpefls 
 in Italy-, it ftands both on the fummit and 
 the brow of a hill. It has a mole, a fine ci- 
 tadel, and, in mort, is a flourishing town, 
 when considered under the difadvantages that 
 every place labours here, from the infinite con- 
 ceflions that are made to the church, both by 
 
 tbq
 
 LETTER X. 39 
 
 the commercial and the military parts of the 
 nation. It is hardly to be expreffed how 
 beautiful the environs of Ancona are ; the road 
 is hilly, but the gradual wavings of the vine- 
 yards, and arable grounds, afford the moft 
 pleafing images I have feen of Peace and 
 Plenty. The Adriatick on one fide, and the 
 Appenines on the other, at the diftance, per- 
 haps, of thirty miles, ferve to beautify the 
 profped. 
 
 This morning we vifited our Lady of Lo- 
 retto, in her Santa Cafa (Holy Houfe.) The 
 church, 'and the porticos leading to it, make 
 a good appearance, and the infide of the 
 church would be thought very handfome in 
 ILngland. The Santa Cafa is an oblong fquare 
 room, and, to the beft of myjudgment, of about 
 thirty three feet by fifteen, the walls of which 
 are ordinary brick, but by the care of Sixtus 
 Quintus, and other Popes, the four fides were 
 furrounded with marble, on which Michael 
 Angelo> and his rival cotemporaries, have la- 
 vifhed all their fkill in the fculpture. The 
 good people tell you, that care was taken not 
 to give any fupport to the walls, left the Vir- 
 gin mould have been offended at the pre- 
 fumption j for they believe that every part of 
 
 C 4 the
 
 40 LETTER XI. 
 
 the Santa Cafa is durable to all eternity, and 
 refer you to the marble fteps, and a brazen 
 J3as Relief of our Saviour ; the firft of which 
 have deep irqpreflions made by the pilgrims, 
 who walk round the Santa Cafa on their 
 knees, and the other is almoft worn out by 
 the kiffes of devout Chriftians j whilft, fay 
 they, there is not the leaft fymptom of decay 
 from ufe, in the threshold of the Santa Cafa, 
 though trodden every day by many thoufands. 
 
 Our Lady of Loretto has a black face, and 
 is ornamented with an infinity of rich jewels. 
 She is lodged in a fanctuary $ for the room is 
 divided into two apartments, and the walls of 
 that in which fhe is lodged are lined with 
 gold. Under the image is the Camino Santo, 
 or Holy Chimney. They are continually 
 faying Mafs before her ; and, indeed, the re- 
 fort of Pilgrims and Votaries is fo great, that 
 they fay in the whole church about two hun- 
 dred Maries every day. Laft Saturday and 
 Sunday, many thoufand communicants re- 
 ceived the Sacrament each day, as they tell us. 
 
 The Treafury of our Lady is not open every 
 hour of the day, as the Santa Cafa is. We 
 waited till about ten o'clock, when we were 
 admitted gratis, with the other expectants, 
 
 who.
 
 LETTER XI. 41 
 
 who were all, except one Gentleman and 
 Lady, peafants and poor folks. The trea- 
 fures are ranged all along one fide of a hand- 
 fome room, and contained within folding 
 doors. They are donatives from all the 
 Princes of Europe, and others, who have w idl- 
 ed to make their court to our Lady, infinitely 
 exceeding in value what the moft fanguine vi- 
 fitors fuppofe. 
 
 It appears wonderful to me, that fome Cor- 
 fair, with a hundred and fifty, or two hun- 
 dred men, mould not attempt to furprize and 
 plunder this church. A coup-de-Main, well 
 managed, I think would fucceed. There are 
 about thirty foldiers in the town, to defend it 
 in cafe of an attack j and, I fuppofe, they, 
 as well as the Monks, and common people, 
 believing that the Virgin would certainly in- 
 terfere in the caufe, and not require their af- 
 fiftance, would inftantly take to their heels j 
 they do not, however, live under the lead: ap- 
 prehenfion of danger. Every body in that 
 country ftill tells a ftory how the *Turks have 
 more tjian once undertaken the enterprize, 
 but have immediately retired, upon finding 
 that the BlefTed Virgin threw a cloud before 
 their eyes, and obftructed their farther pro*- 
 
 grefs j
 
 42 LETTER X. 
 
 grefs j and they are now perfuaded they will 
 nevermore revifit them. However, if a re- 
 folute Italian renegado, who knew the town, 
 were to land a crew of brave Mahometans in 
 the night, I do not doubt but the Virgin, 
 with all her miraculous powers, would yield 
 to the Turban, and take a trip to Barbary. 
 
 Their annals inform us, that two or three 
 experiments have been made by the Pope's 
 permiffion, of removing a ftone, or a piece of 
 wood j but the poffefTors, though they received 
 it for a holy purpofe, have found themfelves 
 under the neceffity of reftoring it, in order to 
 pacify the Blefled Virgin ; as they always felt 
 themfelves unhappy, either in body or mind, fp 
 Jong as the Santa Cafa remained difmantled, 
 
 am 
 
 IET-
 
 BETTER XL 
 
 ROME, Oft. 1765, 
 SIR, 
 
 WE arrived at this place, after a journey 
 of feven days, with accommodations 
 uncomfortable enough. Give what fcope 
 you pleafe to your fancy, you will never ima- 
 gine half the difagreeablenefs that Italian 
 beds, Italian cooks, Italian poft-horfes, Ita- 
 lian poftilions, and Italian naftinefs, offer to 
 an Engtijhman, in an autumnal journey j 
 much more to an Englijh woman. 
 
 At Tz/r;w, Milan, Venice^ Rome, and, per- 
 haps, two or three other towns, you meet 
 with good accommodation j but no words 
 can exprefs the wretchednefs of the other inns. 
 No other beds than one of ftraw, with a ma- 
 trafs of ftraw, and next to that a dirty meet, 
 fprinkled with water, and, confequently, 
 damp ; for a covering you have another meet, 
 as coarfe as the firft, and as coarfe as one of 
 our kitchen jack-towels, with a dirty cover- 
 let. The bedfted confifts of four wooden 
 forms, or benches : An Englijh Peer and 
 
 Peerefs
 
 44 L E T T E R XI. 
 
 Peerefs mufl lye in this manner, unlefs they 
 carry an upholfterer's mop with them, which 
 is very troublefome. There are, by the bye, 
 no fuch things as curtains, and hardly, from 
 Venice to Rome, that cleanly and molt ufeful 
 invention, a privy j fo that what fhould be 
 collected and buried in oblivion, is for ever 
 under your nofe and eyes. Take along with 
 you, that in all thefe inns the walls are bare, 
 and the floor has never once been warned 
 lince it was firft laid. One of the mod inde- 
 licate cuftoms here, is, that men, and not wo- 
 men, make the Ladies beds, and would do 
 every onice of a maid fervant, if fufFered. 
 To fum up, in a word, the total of Italian 
 naftinefs, your chamber, which you would 
 wifh to be the fvyeeteft, is by far the moft of- 
 fend ve room in the houfe, for reafons I fhall 
 not explain. I muft tell you, that except in 
 two or three places, they never fcour their 
 pewter, and unlefs you were to fee it, you will 
 not conceive how dirty and naufeous it grows 
 in thirty or forty years. Their knives are of 
 the fame colour as their pewter, and their ta- 
 ble-cloths and napkins fuch as you fee on 
 ioint-ftools, in Bartholomew-Fair, where the 
 mob eat their faufages. In thefe inns they 
 
 make
 
 L E T T E R XL 45 
 
 make you pay largely, fo much a head, and 
 fend up ten times as much as you can eat; 
 For example, this is almoft conftantly the 
 fare. A foop like warn, with pieces of liver 
 fwimming in it j a plate full of brains, fried 
 in the ihape of fritters j a dim of livers and 
 gizzards ; a couple of fowls (always killed 
 after your arrival) boiled to rags, without any 
 the leaft kind of fauce, or herbage ; another 
 fowl, jufl killedj ftewed as they call it ; then 
 two more fowls, or a turkey roafted to rags, 
 I muft not omit to mention, that, all over 
 Italy , I mean on their roads, the chickens 
 and fowls are fo ftringy, you may divide the 
 breaft into as many filaments as you can a 
 halfpenny-worth of thread. Now and then 
 we get a little piece of mutton, or veal, and, 
 generally fpeaking, it is the only eatable mor- 
 fel that falls in our way. I mould mention, 
 that pigeons boiled and roafted, often fupply 
 the place of fome of the abovementioned 
 dimes. The bread all the way is exceedingly 
 bad, and the butter fo rancid, it cannot be 
 touched, or even borne within the reach of 
 our fmell. We procured, the other day, a 
 pint of cream, and made a little extempore 
 butter, which proved almoft as good as any 
 
 we
 
 46 LETTER XI. 
 
 we eat in England, fo that the fault feems to' 
 lye in the manufacture, and n6t in the milk j 
 yet fuch is the force of education and cuftom,' 
 that the people here do not wifh to have if 
 better than it is. In Savoy, amongft the 
 Alps, we were often aftonifhed at the excel- 
 lence of their diet 5 fo great is the difparity 
 betwixt French and Italian cooks, on the Sa- 
 voy and the Loretto roads. 
 
 But what is a greater evil to travellers thari 
 any of the above recited, though not peculiar 
 to the Loretto road, are the infinite numbers of 
 gnats, bugs, fleas, and lice, which infeft us by 
 ftight and by day. 
 
 You will grant, after this defcription of 
 the horrors of an Italian journey, that one 
 ought to take no fmall pleafure in treading on 
 claffic ground , yet, believe me, I have not 
 caricatured ; every article of it is literally true. 
 If the fubjecl: of this Letter be difguftful,' 
 comfort yourfelf I (hall feldom or never touch 
 upon it more, during my abfence. 
 
 I am, Sir, &c. 
 
 LBTF-
 
 LETTER Xlf, 
 
 ROME, Oft. 176$. 
 SIR, 
 
 I Should not have clofed the account of 
 my journey to Rome, without mentioning 
 a few more particulars. When you are in 
 the neighbourhood of Ancona, were you not 
 to behold the extreme wretchednefs of the 
 inhabitants, you would think yourfelf from 
 the afpect of the country in the moft opulent 
 kingdom of the world : The towns, all pla- 
 ced on eminencies, look beautiful at a dif- 
 tance, and would be much admired were 
 they never approached. Betwixt Macerata 
 and Tolentino by the fide of the road, there 
 are the remains of a large amphitheatre, 
 which amongft a thoufand other indications, 
 proves how populous that diftricT: muft have 
 been, where now we did not fee a hut. I 
 cannot fay the pafiage of the Alps had abfo- 
 lutely inured me to that of the Apennines ; 
 fome precipices here are fo lofty, that whoever 
 k terrified at the Alps, mould never pafs the 
 Apennines for pleafure. 
 
 There
 
 48 LETTER XII. 
 
 There has fallen this laft year, prodigious 
 quantities of fain, which have carried away 
 many bridges, broken down feveral banks, 
 and very much overflowed the country : Ne- 
 verthelefs the rivers near the mountains foon 
 empty themfelves into the diftant rivers, driv- 
 ing before them great quantities of dirt and 
 mud, which have been warned from the 
 mountains j it is this dirt and mud, which, in 
 the courfe of a few ages, choaks up certain 
 rivers of Italy ; and the waters feeking new 
 beds, produce a total alteration in the face of 
 the country* Betwixt Padua and Roverigo 
 you fee one great branch of the Po y quite 
 deferted by its waters, and I fuppofe it was 
 the revolution produced by this accident that 
 was the fubjecl of an expenfive law-fuit, 
 which I heard tried at Venice for an eftate of 
 about fix thoufand pounds a year flerling ; 
 The matter in conteft was this : About fifty 
 years fince the banks of one branch of the Po 
 gave way, the water took another courfe, 
 and overflowed the neighbouring diftridts ; 
 but the revulfion was fo great, as to expofe 
 and lay dry a large extent of marfliy ground, 
 which is now worth annually the above fum. 
 The queftion in difpute, is the title to the 
 
 drained
 
 LETTER XII. 49 
 
 drained ground. This grand caufe was to 
 have been finally heard by the court of forty, 
 one of the days that I attended their plead- 
 ings: the fuit had been carried on at an in- 
 Credible expence during forty years, and now, 
 upon adivifion of the judges, there were fe- 
 venteen for the plaintiff, and feventeen for 
 the defendant, two judges not voting, the 
 other four being abfent. The form of the 
 ftate admitted of a fecond hearing before the 
 fame court, the enfuing day, but unhappily 
 their voices agaifi were equal, and, now the 
 parties muft renew the whole procefs, and be 
 led through all their courts again, perhaps 
 for the fpace of another forty year?. 
 
 We patted the Campania of Rome, the un- 
 wholefomenefs of which, is held in fuch 
 horror, that no foreigner, nor any Italian, if 
 he can poffibly avoid it, lies on the road there. 
 Accordingly it will be conceived, there is very 
 indifferent accommodation in the Campania, 
 on wliich account, we found it necefiary to 
 keep our poft-horfes all night at a fhabby inn, 
 half way to the p'oft-houfe, before you arrive 
 at the Campania, as preferring dirty beds and 
 dirty provifions, to no beds, no provifion, and 
 a peftilential climate. The Romans when 
 
 D they
 
 5 o LETTER XIII. 
 
 they travel poft on this road, ufually fet out 
 from Rome early enough to reach Terni the 
 firft evening ; or, if they muft lye one night 
 in the Campania, when the days are fhort, it 
 is at Caftel-NiiGvo, a little above thirty miles 
 from Rome. It grieves one to behold fo fine- 
 a country as the Campania might be made, 
 by a plentiful population, now almoft a wafte 
 and barren defart. There is a part of the road 
 within twenty miles of Rome exceedingly 
 well paved with large ftones of flat furfaces > 
 but the grafs rifes betwixt their interfti- 
 ces ; fo little is now trodden that path which 
 leads to the city of Rome, once fo mighty, fo 
 populous, and fo frequented. 
 
 lam. Si}*, &c. 
 
 LETTER XIII. 
 
 ROME, 051. 1765. 
 SIR, 
 
 A MAN, on his firfl arrival at Rome, is 
 not much fired with its appearance ; 
 the narrownefs of the ftreets, the thinnefs of 
 the inhabitants, tl;e prodigious quantity of 
 
 Monks
 
 LETTER Xltt. 51 
 
 Monks and beggars, give but a gloomy afpect 
 to this renowned city. There are no rich 
 tradefmen here, who, by their acquifitions, 
 either enoble their fons, or marry their daugh- 
 ters into the houfes of princes. All the mops 
 leem empty, and the mop-keepers poor j not 
 one hackney coach in fo large a town, a no- 
 table proof there is no middle ftation betwixt 
 thofe who always ride, and thofe who al- 
 ways walk* This is the firft impreffion $ but 
 turn your eye from this' point of view, to the 
 magnificence of their churches, to the vene- 
 rable remains of ancient Rome, to the prodi- 
 digious collection of pictures, and antique 
 flatues, to the very river and ground itfelf, 
 formerly the habitation of that people, which 
 from our cradles, we have been taught to a- 
 dore, and, with a very few grains of enthufi- 
 afm in your compofition, you will feel more 
 than fatisfied. 
 
 The furface of modern Rome is certainly 
 more elevated than it was in antient times $ 
 fuch'an alteration muft happen, in the courfe 
 of ages, to every city which has been often 
 deftroyed by time and fire, as all the rubbifb 
 is feldom removed ; but the antient pavement, 
 on which Trajan's pillar Hands, mews the 
 D 2 clc-
 
 2 LETTER XII!. 
 
 elevation in that place not to be above feve'ft 
 or eight feet ; and, I am informed, fome of 
 the triumphal arches are not above three or 
 four feet in the ground. The T&rpeian rock 
 is ftill of fuch a height, that, mould a man 
 be thrown from it, his bones would be in the 
 greateft danger, though there would be no 
 certainty of breaking his neck ; nor, indeed, 
 would it be certain, though the rock were 
 ten or fifteen feet higher, as fome have fup- 
 pofed it in the time of the Romans, when this 
 kind of execution was in vogue : I mould 
 imagine, therefore, they had fome method of 
 difpatching the delinquent, when death did 
 not immediately enfue from the fall -, perhaps 
 an executioner was at the foot of the rock, 
 ready to give the coup-de-grace in cafe of that 
 event, which, I imagine, would often happen, 
 though the rock had been of twice its prefent 
 height. Men, in falling from high places, 
 are forhetimes killed on the fpot, but more 
 frequently languifli a corifiderable time before 
 death. I conclude, therefore, from thefe con- 
 fiderations, that there is no greater alteration 
 in the fite of Rome than what I have menti- 
 oned. The moft remarkable change is this, 
 that the Campus Martius was, in the time of
 
 LETTER XIII. 53 
 
 the antient Romans, an open area, and now 
 it is covered with houfes. The circuit of the 
 city, in Pliny's time, did not, by his account, 
 exceed the prefent dimenfions, but its popu- 
 loufnefs muft have been amazingly different. 
 
 Were an antiquarian to lament over any 
 fall, any metamorphofis of antient Rome, per- 
 haps it might be the prefent ftate of the Fo- 
 rum, where, now, there is every Tburfday and 
 Friday, a market for cows and oxen, on the 
 very fpot where the Roman orators were ac- 
 cuftomed to thunder out their eloquence in 
 trje caufe of their clients, their country, and 
 their gods : Accordingly, the Forum now is 
 known by the name of Campo Vaccino. 
 
 Surrounding the Forum are many vefliges 
 of antique grandeur ; triumphal arches ; re- 
 mains of temples ; the ruins of the Imperial 
 Palace ; the Camfidogllo, &c. all befpeaking 
 the magnificept ftate of Rome in the times of 
 the Emperors. The great Amphitheatre, 
 called alfo // Col^feo, where the fpeclacle of 
 combats was exhibited, is alfo in its neigh- 
 bourhood. In this place the fpirit of modern 
 Rome feems to prevail over that of antient 
 Rome -, for where the wild beads and gladia- 
 tors formerly entertained feventy or eighty 
 
 D 3 thou-
 
 54 LETTER XIV. 
 
 thoufand fpe<5tators, you now fee a few mife- 
 rable old women and beggars, who are pray- 
 ing at the feet of fourteen fmall chapels, 
 which reprefent the fourteen myfteries of our 
 Saviour's paffion. 
 
 i) dear Sir, &c. 
 
 ROME, Qftober 1765, 
 SIR, 
 
 ONE of the moft curious arts of modern 
 Rome, is the Mofaick work carried on 
 in St Pefer's church, which they are now 
 cultivating at an expence beyond the 
 reach of a private purfe. I am not to tell you 
 the invention is ancient ; but it has been fo 
 little pra&ifed till within the prefent century, 
 that it appears almoft a difcovery. It is a me- 
 thod by which the capital pictures of the 
 great matters will be tranfmitted to pofterity 
 in great perfection. The manner of working 
 in Mofaickj you will, I hope, conceive, from 
 the following fuperficial defcription. 
 
 The
 
 LETTER XIV. 55 
 
 The artifts, by the means of fire, cornpofe 
 a cake of a nature betwixt ftone and glafs, but 
 not in the lead tranfparent ; it is as hard and 
 durable as marble, and they have the {kill to 
 ftain it with a colour of what fhade they 
 pleafe, which they fo fix by the fire, that it 
 preferves its livelinefs for ever. They manu- 
 facture as great a variety of thefe coloured 
 ftones, as will anfwer to the different tints of 
 any picture. The artificial (tone is brittle, 
 and the workmen acquire, from ufe, the dex- 
 terity of chipping off at a ftroke, with a pro- 
 per inftrument, pieces of the fhape and fize 
 they wifh, fome exceedingly fmall, but, ge- 
 nerally fpeaking, nearly fquare, and from two 
 or three lines to half an inch broad - 3 never- 
 thelefs, as the thicknefs of the cake is often 
 near an inch, the mape of the pieces chip- 
 ped off will be an oblong fquare, and may be 
 aptly enough compared to a double or treble 
 cube. The workmen have an infinite variety 
 of thefe differently coloured pieces of flone 
 placed in different cells of a drawer j thefe 
 lye within their reach whilft they are compo- 
 fing the picture, and they felect the proper 
 coloured pieces of ftone, as a compofitor does 
 the types, when he is fetting the prefs. 
 
 D 4 That
 
 56 LETTER XIV. 
 
 That the Mojalck in very large pictures 
 may not be fubject either to fall in, or bulge 
 out, they -make the back, or flab, of feveral 
 pieces of flat ftones, cramped together with 
 iron j thefe ftones are of a very hard nature, 
 and are alfo extremely thick, in order to ren- 
 der them ftill lels liable to warp. They 
 unite as many of thefe flat ftones to each other 
 as will equal the fize of the picture they are 
 to copy. On this flab, or frame, they lay a 
 particular pafte, or cement, which, in a fhort 
 time, becomes almoft as hard as marble ; but, 
 whilft it remains in a ftate of foftnefs, they 
 apply the Mojaick work, ftriking into the ce- 
 ment with a gentle ftroke of a fmall hammer, 
 the little oblong pieces of ftone, of fuch tints 
 as will reprefent the part they are to imitate. 
 They lay but little of the cement at a time, 
 left it fhould grow hard too fuddenly. This 
 procefs goes on fo very flowly, that ten or 
 eleven men working on the famous picture of 
 the Transfiguration, by Raphael., require eight 
 or nine years to finim it j when compleated, 
 it will cort about three thoufand pounds 
 fterling. 
 
 When they have covered the cement en- 
 tirely, the work appears extremely rude j the 
 
 workmen,
 
 LETTER XIV. 57 
 
 workmen, therefore, wait till fuch time as the 
 jcement has acquired the hardnefs of ftone, 
 and that its coalition with the Mofaick be per- 
 fect, when they rub down and poiim the fur- 
 face, after which it affumes a wonderful beau- 
 ty, though it muft be confefTed, it is not equal 
 to the painting on canvafs ; for, in fome lights, 
 you fee not only a gloffinefs, but even the 
 cracks in the Mofaick. The copy, however, 
 in Mofaick, of the celebrated St Michael of 
 Guido> looks almoft as well as the original. 
 It is certain that the artifts improve daily -, for 
 J obferve that the late works greatly excel 
 thofe done fome years fince, which, on a clofe 
 infpection, appear in certain places uneven and 
 coarfe, and make you regret the original. 
 
 The ConnoifTeur, or, indeed, any man who 
 has a relim for the fine arts, muft be delighted 
 on this occafion, to reflect, that the example 
 of fuch wonderful excellence will now be 
 preferved, to excite the emulation of the fame 
 kind of geniufles, fhould the world once more 
 produce fuch a clafs j or, to fpeak in the lan- 
 guage of the painters, fuch a fchool of men. 
 
 I might have taken notice, that the artifts 
 do not work from the original, but from a 
 popy, which is another article of great ex- 
 pence.
 
 58 LETTER XIV. 
 
 pence, as it is neceffary the copy fhould be a 
 good one. I had imagined the reafon for 
 employing a copy was to obviate the danger 
 of injuring the original j but they fay as the 
 colours of the copy are frefh, they can imitate 
 them better than from an original, where 
 they are by time become faded and dead. J 
 have mentioned that the Antients ufed Mofa- 
 icks, but it is to be remembered that they had 
 not the art of making and ftaining ftone j 
 they ufed only natural marble, ?<:. which did 
 not furnifh them with the fame quantity of 
 {hades the moderns are poffeffed of, and, con- 
 fequently, their colouring was lefs perfect. 
 
 The Mofaic of Florence is not unlike that 
 of the antients : It is compofed of a great 
 variety of differently coloured marbles, flints, 
 {tones, &c f The workmen are obliged to 
 faw offevery little piece, which demands much 
 more time than the method of chipping them 
 off, as practifed in the Roman Mofaiik, and, 
 therefore, the Florentine is ftill much dearer 
 than the Roman - 3 indeed a large picture would 
 amount to an incredible fum : On this account 
 they confine their work to fmall pictures, ta- 
 bles, &c. which, after all, not with (landing the 
 great expence, are by no means fo beautiful as 
 ithe Roman Mofaick pictures, / am y &c.
 
 LETTER XV, 
 
 ROME, Oft. 1765. 
 
 IT would be idle, and contrary to my de 
 clared plan of writing, fhould I attempt 
 any defcription of the celebrated pictures, or 
 ftatues at Rome j I {hall therefore only beg 
 leave to obferve, from my own feeling, that, 
 in the midft of all this excellence, the dying 
 Gladiator affects me moft. The Farnefe 
 Jlercuks is in the higheft reputation, as an ex- 
 quifite performance, and would, indeed, have 
 been a fine piece of fculpture, had there been 
 fuch an original in nature ; but, as I happen 
 to know from my particular ftudies, that the 
 mufcles of a man's body, however much in- 
 flated, would not affume the fhape they do 
 here, I cannot be pleafed, as foine men are, 
 with the Farnefe Hercules ; on the contrary, 
 all is nature in the dying Gladiator, and, indeed, 
 the exprefiion is fo ftrong, a man may walk 
 round and round the ftatue till he almoft 
 forget it is ftone, 
 
 The
 
 6o L E T T E R XV. 
 
 The magnificence of the Roman emperors, 
 in embellifhing the city, rofe to fuch a height, 
 that they ranfacked all the quarries of Egypt, 
 for alabafter, granite, porphyry, and every 
 kind of marble that country afforded 5 and, 
 though time and Gothic rage muft have de- 
 ftroyed great quantities, yet, fuch was the pro- 
 fufion brought to Ro?ne, that, befides the in- 
 finite numbers of columns, ftatues, vales, and 
 tables, ftili preferved intire, you fee the very 
 pofts in the ftreets, all of them without ex- 
 ception, made of granite, alabafter, or marble ; 
 but the moft ftupendous fights of all, are the 
 monftrous obelifks,confiftingof only one piece 
 offtone. I meditate on thele objects till lam 
 loft in wonder and confufion. We have no 
 idea of the mechanical powers by which 
 they have been brought from Egypt: We 
 are aftonifhed at the enormous fize of the 
 ilones at Stonebenge, and cannot comprehend 
 by what contrivance they were carried and 
 laid in that form ; but the largeft of them is 
 fmall, compared with the largeft obelilk at 
 Rome, which I think is a hundred and one 
 feet long, and proportionably thick. 
 
 The ruins of the triumphal bridge near St 
 Angelo, is an object that cannot but ftrike a 
 
 man
 
 LETTER XV. 61 
 
 man of letters : This was the bridge over 
 which every general marched into the city, 
 to whom a triumph was decreed, either for 
 the conqueft of a province, or any other fig- 
 nal victory. From the time of Romulus, to 
 that of the emperor Probus, there were 
 about three hundred and twenty of thefe tri- 
 umphs. There are now only a few remains 
 of the piers. Who can behold this fcene 
 without ruminating on the nature of the hu- 
 man heart, and recollecting to what trials it 
 muft have been expofed in the courfe of fo 
 proud and fo flattering a proceffion ? 
 
 Many of the churches in this city, and 
 above all St Pefer's, are fo very magnificent, 
 that they vie with ancient Rome in every ar- 
 ticle, but that of durablenefs, much of their 
 beauty being derived from pictures, ftucco, 
 and gilding, the tranlitory ornaments of two 
 or three ages. I cannot forbear remarking, in 
 this place, that the pride of modern Rome is 
 the principal caufe of her wretchednefs : She 
 boafts of her gold and filver lying dead in her 
 churches 5 but had that gold and filver a free 
 circulation through the country, it would en- 
 liven trade, and furnim property to thoufands, 
 
 who
 
 62 LETTER XV. 
 
 who are now ftarving in the mod preffing 
 indigence. 
 
 St Peters never fails to pleafe both the 
 learned and the unlearned eye ; the wonder- 
 ful regularity and adjustment of its parts, like 
 the beauty of a fine face, demand no fkill in 
 drawing, to tafte its charms: Then its colo^ 
 nadcs, fountains and obelifk give it alfo an 
 inimitable eclat. It muft be confefTed, 
 however, the approach to this noble edi- 
 fice, is confined and fhabby j but they 
 now talk of demolishing the narrow mean 
 ftreet leading from St Angelo ; and mould 
 this defign take place, the avenue will be 
 anfwerable to the building ; though, to ren- 
 der St Peter's church ftill more perfect, the 
 Vatican^ with its eleven thoufand chambers, 
 fhould be removed, which, like an ugly ex- 
 crefcence, protuberates on one fide, and de- 
 ftroys the fymmetry of the elevation. 
 
 In the Vatican, befides an amazing num- 
 ber of Raphael's paintings, are the excellent 
 and celebrated ftatues, of the Befoedere Apollo, 
 the Laocoon and the Antinous. The Lao- 
 coon wants an arm: There lyes on the 
 ground one of marble, which, it is faid, Mi- 
 chael Angelo had begun, in order to perfect 
 
 the
 
 L E T T E R XV. 63 
 
 the ftatue, but, perceiving how unfpirited his 
 work would appear, compared with the ori- 
 ginal, he left the limb in the ftate we fee it, 
 not half executed, a monument of his mo- 
 defty and felf knowledge. It maybe imagin- 
 ed, that no one fmce, has been fo prefumptu- 
 ous to make an attempt after him, and there- 
 fore the deficiency is fupplied by an arm of 
 terra cuota. 
 
 lam, Sir, &c. 
 
 LETTER XVI, 
 
 NAPLES, Nov. 1765. 
 SIR, 
 
 THE road from Rome to this place is bad 
 enough, the inns are ftill worfe ; nay 
 worfe than thofe on the Loretto road j for, 
 in the town of Loretto, there was good ac- 
 commodation j but all the way to Naples we 
 never once crept within the ftieets, not dar- 
 ing to encounter the vermin and naflinefs 
 of thofe beds. I attempted to pleafe myfelf 
 with the conceit of travelling the fame road 
 that Horace did in his journey to Erundu- 
 Jium -, but my fenfations were too ftrong for 
 
 my
 
 64 LETTER XVL 
 
 my fancy. The fwampy foil and marmes oil 
 the right hand, with a firing of barren moun- 
 tains on the left, for fcores of miles together, 
 may amufe, but cannot delight a traveller, 
 Did we not know that antient Italy was in- 
 finitely more populous than it now is ; did 
 we not know that populoufnefs renders a 
 country rich and chearful, I mould have fuf- 
 pected thofe mafters of the univerfe had 3 in 
 their haughtinefs, and, from a contempt of all 
 other nations, called theirs the Garden of the 
 World : for, beautiful and fertile as fome parts 
 of it are, the amazing quantity of barren 
 mountains, extending from almoft the one ex- 
 tremity to the other, fhould feem to deprive 
 it of that character j and, however bold and 
 uncommon the aflertion may appear, 1 
 think England a better refemblance of a gar- 
 den than Italy ; and mould not helitate to 
 oppofe our verdure and inclofures, to their 
 myrtle and orange-trees, which laft, by the 
 bye, are not to be feen in the winter, except 
 in the Southern parts of Italy. 
 
 Whilft I was in England, I never heard the 
 words Northern Climate pronounced, but they 
 conveyed to me an idea of barrennefs and 
 imperfection. I had always conceived, that 
 
 vegetables
 
 LETTER XVI. 6j 
 
 vegetables and garden fruits attained a flavour 
 and favourinefs in the more Southern climes, 
 unknown to the latitude of 52 ; but, to my 
 great furprize, I do not find that any of their 
 herbage is equal, in tafte and fweetnefs, td 
 that which grows in our gardens ; and, what 
 is dill more furprifing, few of their fruits ex- 
 cell ours ; I believe none, except their water- 
 melons, their grapes, and their figs. If they 
 have not peaches to be compared with ours, 
 and no nectarines, I prefume it is owing to" 
 the violence of the fummer funs, though 
 poffibly it may arife from their ignorance of 
 cultivation in Italy. A certain Noble of Ve- 
 nice^ well known in the polite world for his 
 attachment to the fine arts, has procured a 
 fkilful gardener from England within thcfe 
 few years, in hopes of improving the culture 
 of his garden. I converfed with this gardener, 
 whom I found under a ftate of difcouragement 
 and defpair. He told me, he had not yet 
 ever tafted a peach in Italy of a true flavour, 
 and he believed he never mould ; for that he 
 was thwarted and obftructed by the other 
 gardeners, in his attempts to reform their 
 practice ; that he had no authority over them, 
 bot was confined to his own proper depart- 
 
 E ments,
 
 66 LETTER XVlt 
 
 ments, which he told me would anfwer very 
 little purpofe. 
 
 From Capua, (about four miles from the 
 ruins of the antient Capua] the road to Naples 
 is very pleafant ; the gardens and vineyards on 
 each fide are well cultivated ; however, the 
 dhlrict of Capua does not anfwer to the idea 
 we have of its luxury in the times of Hanni- 
 bal y if I may judge from the great difficulty I 
 found of procuring a morfel of dinner in that 
 town. 
 
 I am y Sir, &c. 
 
 LETTER XVII. 
 
 NAPLES, Nov. 1765, 
 SIR, 
 
 AFTER an abfence of fome months, 
 I am perfuaded you will be pleafed ta 
 hear from your old friend and acquaintance j 
 and, therefore, I (hall not furfeit you with 
 naufeous apologies for the trouble I give you. 
 I take it for granted, Mr has commu- 
 nicated
 
 L E T T E R XVII. 6? 
 
 fticated fome part of my correfpondence, as 
 he tells me you fhuddered at our pallage over 
 the Alps. I know your averfion to altitudes, 
 and conceive you would be giddy, if not ter- 
 rified, in looking down fuch perpendicular 
 depths and precipices. Some parts of the 
 Alps exhibit a moft delightful and tremendous 
 profpecT:, and were the firft great object I met 
 with amongft the marvellous. I think the 
 city of Venice floating on the water, with its 
 beautiful adjacent iflands, may be ranked as 
 the fecond ; and I will venture to mention St 
 Pefer's as the third, though it partake not of 
 beauties derived from Nature, being a mcer 
 work of Art ; but, above all, I admire the 
 heavens, the earth, and the fea of Naples. 
 The iflands, the mountains, the Bay, the 
 buildings, and the flope on which the buildings 
 ftand, render the view of this city enchantingly 
 pretty. I am lodged on the brink of the Bay, 
 with a beautiful winding coaft, the celebrated 
 Ifland Caprea, and the more celebrated Mount 
 ffefuvius before my eyes. Since my arrival, 
 we have had bluftering weather, and more 
 thund-er and lightning than I ever knew in 
 jfy(y, in our latitudes j but the fea is fo (hel- 
 tered that there is no horror in the feene, and 
 
 E 2 the
 
 63 LETTER XVII. 
 
 the flreets are fo well paved, that they becoms 
 clean and dry in a few hours after a deluge. 
 I can imagine, and am told, that the heats of 
 fummer are dreadful, but, thank God, they 
 are not to be my concern ; I am to enjoy the 
 fweets only of a Neapolitan winter, and, as far 
 as I can judge, they are unfpeakable to a man 
 who fuffers in his lungs from moifture and 
 cold. Damps are little known in this place, 
 neither furniture nor walls fuffer from that 
 circumftance ; and for temperature of the 
 air, fuffice it to inform you, that, in order to 
 write this letter comfortably, I chufe to open 
 the windows. Could an afthmatic man jump 
 from London to the lodgings I have taken, 
 though at any rilk^of his neck, he would do 
 well to venture > but I cannot fay it would 
 be worth while to go and return as we do, 
 through fo much filth, and fo many fufferings 
 from bugs, lice, fleas, gnats, fpiders, &c. 
 
 Rome gave me much entertainment, and I 
 propofe to make it another vifit ; could I ftay 
 there four or five months, I mould certainly 
 run over all the daffies, and compare the ob- 
 jects with the defcriptions. If a man has no 
 tafte, not to fay a little enthufiafm for the an- 
 tiquities and glory of antient Rome, I do not 
 
 know
 
 LETTER XVil. 69 
 
 know a more melancholy place than modern 
 Rome. Indeed, the excellent pictures to be 
 feen in their churches and palaces are ambro- 
 fia to fome palates j but, I confefs, after having 
 paid my refpects to fifty thoufand of them, I 
 grow indifferent in my vifits to the fecond 
 fifty thoufand. One fees too quick a fuccef- 
 lion to be much gratified ; one has not time 
 to contemplate, and fix in the memory the 
 feveral characterifticks of the different matters, 
 and I queftion whether I mould not have had 
 much more pleafure in feeing twelve or fifteen 
 only, of the firft pieces, than of that infinite 
 quantity which has palfed fo rapidly in review 
 before my eyes. The churches at Rome are 
 fo fplendid and rich, that they have deftroyed 
 my appetite for that purfnit too ; befides, to 
 ufe a metaphyfical expreffion, the aiTociation 
 of ideas fpoils my relim for thefe gaudy and 
 fumptuous objecls. I cannot look on their 
 golden altars, and their fat monks, without 
 reflecting on their deferted Campania, and 
 ftarving laity. The Pope is faid to be a good 
 naturedold man, and, I think, I can read that 
 character in his countenance and geftures : 
 When he returned to Rome for the winter, 
 from his palace in the country, my company 
 E 3 and
 
 7 o LETTER XVII. 
 
 and I met him in the fkirts of the town, and 
 haying no fcruples of confcience to pay the 
 fame devoirs that others do here to a Prince 
 of the country, and the head of the church, 
 we threw ourfelves on our knees, evidently 
 to h*s great fatisfaclion, for, I arTbre you, his 
 eyes fparkled. We made a fmall groupe at 
 a diftance from any croud : I could fee he was 
 gathering himfelf into an attitude to give us 
 an extraordinary benediction as he approach- 
 ed us, perceiving we were EngHJb ; and, I 
 flatter myfelf to this moment, he felt an in- 
 ward joy, when he extended his hands, and 
 poured out the bleffing on fo many wretched 
 Hereticks. I will not fay we are the better 
 for his Holinefs, but, to ufe the Catholick ar- 
 gument, we are certainly not the worfe. 
 
 ^ Sir, 
 
 LET-
 
 LETTER XVIII. 
 
 NAPLES, Nov. 1765. 
 SIR, 
 
 YOU tell me, two or three hufbands are 
 lately feparated from their wives, and be- 
 moan the degeneracy of the age in thefe inftan- 
 ces. You fuppofe the manners of our people 
 .corrupted, becaufe two or three married couple, 
 either on the account of gallantry, or averfion, 
 have parted : With us here, it is an argument 
 of national virtue. We read with aftonifti- 
 inent that the examples are only two or three 
 in fo 1 large a kingdom. Were Italians tofe- 
 parate either on the account of indifference or 
 gallantry, there would be almoft as many di- 
 vorces as marriages. It appears to us, that, 
 becaufe fome feparate where there is no affec- 
 tion, others may remain together be- 
 caufe there is affection ; a paffion in a manner 
 almoft unknown betwixt hufbands and wives 
 in this climate. When I pafs fo fevere a cen- 
 fure on the ftate of matrimony in thefe king- 
 doms, do not believe that I fpeak from a fpi- 
 rit of detraction, or without good grounds: 
 I believe I can much more fatisfactorily folve 
 
 E 4 this
 
 72 LETTER XVIII. 
 
 this phenomenon, than the ingenious Mon- 
 tefquieu does the different chara&ers of differ- 
 ent nations, from the various latitudes in which 
 ' they are fituated, &c. How is it probable 
 that hufbands and wives mould have any 
 efteem, much lefs love for each other, when 
 they are always brought together without the 
 leaft participation of their own ? The fathers 
 never confult the liking of the young people, 
 but look forwards to the endowments of the 
 next generation, which are comprifed in two 
 , words, Fortune and Family. All that I have 
 here faid is fo literally true, that it very fel- 
 dom happens the parties know one another be- 
 fore the marriage articles are drawing up, and, 
 perhaps, do not viflt twice, before the day of 
 confummation ; (lie, to that moment, is lock- 
 ed up in a convent. 
 
 Bad as the above fyftem is, it would not be 
 fufficient to diffufe univerfal unhappinefs 
 through the domains of Hymen : Chance and 
 good fenie would now and then render this 
 fort of union agreeable, and even friendly ; 
 but that abominable and infernal fafbion of 
 taking a Cicefbeo fo foon after they have quit- 
 ted the altar, is a never failing meafure to 
 eftrange whatever affection might otherwife 
 
 have
 
 LETTER XVIII. 73 
 
 have fprung up. Many people in England 
 imagine the majority of Cicefbeos to be an 
 innocent kind of dangling fribble ; but they 
 ire utterly miftaken in the character ; nor do 
 I find that it is underftood here that the La- 
 dies live in greater purity with their Cicdbeos 
 than with their hnfbanda j and, generally 
 fpeakingj with much lefs : If only one half 
 of the Ladies practiced this cuftom, the other 
 half would defpife them j but, in fact; very 
 few have any pretence to upbraid the reft 
 with bad conduct, either from having no Ci- 
 cefbeo, or living innocently with him -, if 
 there be any of the latter fort, their reward 
 muft be in Heaven, or, Virtue muft be its 
 own reward} as nobody gives them the leaf! 
 credit here for their continence, orfuppofesit 
 practicable, nay, perhaps, they may laugh at 
 it as ridiculous, fo pardonable and fo polite do 
 they efteem this fpecies of criminality } and, 
 to fay the truth, I myfelf have feen Prin- 
 cefTes, DutchefTes, and their Cicefbeos, 
 vifiting with the fame unconcernednefs, 
 as an honeft citizen and his wife do , 
 nor, after a little habit and ufe, do they afford 
 me more matter of fpeculation. To give 
 you an idea in one word, how much the 
 
 mode
 
 74 LETTER XVIII. 
 
 mode of infeperablenefs is eftablimed, fuffice 
 it to fay, that if you invite five ladies to din- 
 ner, you of courfe lay ten plates, as each for 
 a certainty, brings her Ciceibeo with hen 
 You are not to imagine, that when I fpeak 
 .of an invitation of ladies, that a fingle woman 
 is ever thought of; that charm in fociety, that 
 innocence and fprightlinefs attendant upon 
 youth, and the ignorance of a deceitful world, 
 is utterly unknown in Italy p , nor are there more 
 than two unmarried ladies in this metropolis, 
 who vifit j all the others are locked up in 
 monafteries. 
 
 Children here have very little tendency to 
 fupport the friendfhip and harmony of the 
 married (late ; with us, the joint intereft of 
 both father and mother in their little ones, 
 with perhaps the blended features they each 
 difcover in their progeny, does not contribute 
 in a fmall degree to heal any accidental brea^- 
 ches, or at leaft, to make them live on good 
 terms for the fake of their pofterity. In 
 Italy., a certain knowledge of every wife's 
 attachment to a lover, extinguishes all focial 
 affection, and all fondnefs for the off- 
 fpring ; and it is only the eldeft born, who 
 the hufband is fure belongs to him 5 and for 
 
 that
 
 LETTER XVIII. 75 
 
 that fecurity, it is generally requifite, the birth 
 (hould take place the firft year, as the women 
 feldom hold out longer without a Cicefbeo ; 
 indeed how mould they ? for a hufband will 
 not wait on his wife to a public place, and it 
 is not the fafhion for women to go, as in En- 
 gland, without men. I have been told, by a 
 grave Neapolitan old Gentleman, the fault is 
 entirely on the fide of the hufoands, who are 
 fickle from the nature of the climate, and 
 cannot continue conftant to their wives ma- 
 ny months, fo that the poor women are driven 
 into this meafure ; but, whether the practice 
 arife from levity or compulfion, the confe- 
 quence is dreadful to fociety, if there be any 
 real delight, any charms in Virtue, and mutual 
 Love. 
 
 Mr Hamilton, the Envoy, a very polite 
 Gentleman, receives company every evening, 
 which conduces much to the pleafure of the 
 EngfiJJj refiding here. It is the cuftom, 
 when neither the Opera, nor any particular 
 engagement prevent, to meet at his houfe, 
 where we amufe ourfelves as we are difpoied, 
 either at cards, the billiard-table, or his little 
 concert - y fome form themfelves into fmall 
 parties of converfation, and as the members 
 
 of
 
 76 LETTER XIX. 
 
 of this fociety are often AmbafTadors, Nun- 
 cios, Monfignoris, Envoys, Refidents, and the 
 firft quality of Naples, you will conceive it to 
 be inftru&ive as well as honourable. 
 
 lam, Sir, &c. 
 
 LETTER XIX. 
 
 NAPLES, Nov, 1765, 
 S I R, 
 
 A STRANGER, upon his arrival in 
 fo large and celebrated a city as Na- 
 ples, generally makes the publick fpeftacles 
 his firft purfuit. Thefe confift of the King's 
 Theatre, where the ferious Opera is per- 
 formed, and of two fmaller theatres, called 
 ^fheatro Ntwvo, and the Thcatro del Fioren- 
 tim, where they exhibit burlettas only. There 
 is alfo a little fhabby kind of a play-houfe, 
 where they perform a comedy every night, 
 though* the Drama has fo little encouragement 
 at Naples, that their comedies are feldom fre- 
 quented by any of the gentry, but feem to be 
 chiefly an amufement for the populace, at 
 
 leaft,
 
 LETTER XIX. 77 
 
 leaft, that clafs of people juft above the popu- 
 lace : However, I fhall not fail to defcribe 
 the prefent ftate of that ftage, after having fpo* 
 ken of their Opera-houfes. 
 
 The King's Theatre, upon the firft view, 
 is, perhaps, almoft as ftriking an object, as 
 any a man fees in his travels : I not only fpeak 
 from my own feeling, but the declaration of 
 every foreigner here. The amazing extent 
 of the ftage, with the prodigious circumfe- 
 rence of the boxes, and height of the cieling, 
 produce a marvellous effect on the mind, for 
 a few moments ; but the inftant the Opera 
 opens, a fpedtator laments this fine coup d'teil. 
 He immediately perceives this ftructure does 
 not gratify the ear, how much foever it may 
 the eye. The voices are drowned in this im- 
 menfity of fpace, and even the orcheftra it- 
 felf, though a numerous band, lyes under a 
 difadvantage : It is true, fome of the firft fing- 
 ers may be heard, yet, upon the whole, it 
 muft be admitted, the houfe is better contrived 
 to fee, than to hear an Opera, 
 
 There are fome who contend, that the 
 fingers might be very well heard, if the audi- 
 ence were more filent j but it is fo much the 
 fafhion at Naples, and, indeed, through all 
 
 Italy,
 
 I 
 
 fi L E f T E R XIX. 
 
 ltal)\ to confider the Opera as a place of ren- 
 dezvous and vifiting, that they do not feent 
 in the leaft to attend to the mufick, but laugh 
 and talk through the whole performance, 
 without any reftraint ; and, it may be imagi- 
 ned, that an afTembly of fo many hundreds 
 converting together fo loudly, muft entirely 
 cover the voices of the fingers. I was pre- 
 pofTefTed of this cuftom before I left England, 
 but had no idea it was carried to fuch an ex- 
 treme. I had been informed, that though 
 the Italians indulged this humour in fome 
 degree, yet, when a favourite fong was fing- 
 ing, or the King was prefent, they obferved a 
 due filence: I muft, however, deny both 
 thefe facts, from what I have feen, though, 
 poffibly, they may have paid more regard ta 
 fome fongs, than to thofe I heard j and, pro- 
 bably, the audience may have {hewn to Dorr 
 Carlos, King of Naples, more refpect than 
 they do to his fon, a youth of fifteen. 
 
 An Englijkman wonders at this behaviour 
 of the, Italians j he comes with a notion that 
 they are all enthufiaftically fond of mufick ? 
 that there is fomething in the climate which 
 gives them this propenfity, and that their na- 
 tural genius is nuj-fed and improved by a mu- 
 
 fical
 
 L WT T E R XIX. 79 
 
 education : Upon enquiry, he finds his 
 opinion almoft groundlefs ; very few Gentle- 
 men here practife the riddle, or any other in- 
 jftrument, and all the young Ladies are placed 
 in convents, where they remain until they 
 marry, or take the veil, and where mufick is 
 no part of their education ; nor can it be fup- 
 pofed that any woman, after marriage, un- 
 dertakes fo laborious a tafk as that of making 
 
 o 
 
 a proficiency on the harpfichord : For thefe 
 reafons, therefore, an Italian audience has no 
 other pleafure in melody than what pure Na- 
 ture affords ; whereas, in England, the fine 
 Ladies have alfo an acquired tafte, the effect 
 of affiduity and cultivation. 
 
 I cannot place in a ftronger light, how 
 much the ftudy of mufick is neglected a- 
 mongft the Gentry in this country, than by 
 mentioning, that I found it impofiible, at Ve- 
 nice and here, to hire a harpfichord fit to play 
 on ; fo fmall is the demand, I prefume, for 
 that inftrument. Another argument how lit- 
 tle mufick is cultivated here, may be gathered 
 from the circum fiance of never prinute their 
 operas, or favourite airs, which woirre be a 
 neceffury confequence of a general demand, 
 as we fee is the cafe in London and Paris. By 
 the bye, it may not be unworthy notice (to 
 exemplify how neceffary ufe is in every kind 
 
 of
 
 8o LETTER 
 
 of exercife) that the greateft maflers here; 
 cannot play readily, at fight, a piece of printed 
 mufick. The reafon they have affigned 
 to roe, is, that printed notes are placed much 
 clofer to each other, than the written ones 
 which they are accuftomed to. It will be 
 natural, then, to afk, after this account, how 
 it happens, that Italy furniflies all Europe with 
 muficians ? The anfwer is, tkat the infinite 
 quantity of mufick exhibited in their churches 
 and chapels, provides bread, though the wages 
 be fmall, fora prodigious number of perform- 
 ers ; and, as trade is defpicable, and laborious 
 employments are held in deteftation, parents 
 are induced to bring up their children to this 
 profefiion, which they can do at a fmall ex- 
 pence ; for there are feveral hundred youths 
 brought up to mufick, in their Confervato- 
 rios, or charitable foundations : now, where 
 there are fomany hundreds in continual prac- 
 tice, it is not ftrange that emulation and ge- 
 nius, fliould, every now and then, produce an 
 excellent performer, who, if he be well advi- 
 fed, \^U certainly fet out for England, where 
 talents^f every kind are rewarded ten-fold" 
 above what they are at Naples, except in the 
 fingle inflance of the firfl clafs of opera fing- 
 ers, who are payed extravagantly, as I fhall ex- 
 plain in fome future letter. / am, Ice.
 
 L E T T. E R XX, 
 
 -/ 
 
 NAPLES, JVci;. 1765. 
 SIR, 
 
 NOtwithftanding the amazing noifinefs 
 of the audience, during the whole per- 
 formance of the Opera, the moment the dan- 
 ces begin, there is a univerfal dead filence, 
 which continues as long as the dances conti- 
 nue. Witty people, therefore, never fail to 
 tell me, the Neapolitans go to^, not to hear 
 an Opera. A ftranger, who has a little com- 
 paffion in his bread, feels for the poor lingers, 
 who are treated with fo much indifference 
 and contempt : He almoft wonders that they 
 can fubmit to fo grofs an affront, and I find, 
 by their own confeffion, that however accuf- 
 tomed they are to it> the mortification is al- 
 ways dreadful, and they are eager to declare 
 how happy they are when they fing in a coun- 
 try where more attention is paid to their ta- 
 lents. 
 
 One would fuppofe, from the regard {hewn 
 to the dances, that a fuperior excellence was 
 to be expected in this art ; but Naples does 
 
 F not
 
 82 LETTER XX. 
 
 not, at prefent, afford any very capital per- 
 formers, nor do the dances, which have been 
 brought on the ftage thisfeafon, do much ho- 
 nour to their tafte. They are, in general, 
 exceedingly tedious, foroe lafting thirty- five 
 minutes, and others twenty-five, with inci- 
 dents and characters too vulgar and buffbonim, 
 but it muft be confefTed that their fcenery is 
 extremely fine, and their drefles are new and 
 rich, the mufick is well adapted, but, above all, 
 the ftage is fo large and noble, as to fet 
 off the performance to an inexpreflible ad- 
 vantage. 
 
 The Neapolitan quality rarely dine or fup 
 with one another, and many of them hardly 
 ever vifit, but at the Opera ; on this account 
 they feldom abfent themfelves, though the 
 Opera be played three nights fucceffively, and 
 it be the fame Opera, without any change,, 
 during ten or twelve weeks. It is cuflomary 
 for Gentlemen to run about from box to box, 
 betwixt the acls, and even in the midftof the 
 performance ; but the Ladies, after they are 
 feated, never quit their box the whole even- 
 ing. It is the fafhion to make appointments 
 for fucli and fuch nights. A Lady receives 
 vilitors in her box one night, and they remain 
 
 with
 
 LETTER XX. 83 
 
 with her the whole Opera ; another night 
 flie returns the vifit in the fame manner. In 
 the intervals of the ads, principally betwixt 
 the firft and fecond, the proprietor of the box 
 regales her company with iced-fruits, and 
 fweet-meatSi I will foon take an opportunity 
 of explaining to you what I mean by the pro- 
 prietor of a box. 
 
 Befides the indulgence of a loud converfa- 
 tion, they fometimes form themfelves into 
 card parties ; but, I believe, this cuftom does 
 not prevail fo much at prefent, as it did for- 
 merly, for I have never feen more than two 
 or three boxes fo occupied, in the fame night. 
 There is a notion in England, that the Itali- 
 lians frequently fup in their boxes, and that> 
 by drawing the mutters in front, they may be 
 in private j but there are no fuch fhutters, and 
 the practice of fupping is fo rare that I have 
 never feen it. 
 
 y Sir, 
 
 F 2 LET-
 
 LETTER XXI. 
 
 NAPLES, November 1765. 
 S IR, 
 
 IP R O P O S E, in this letter, to give you 
 a defcription of the great Opera- Houfe j 
 and as all the Italian theatres are built on the 
 fame plan, I defire you will confider it as a 
 fpecimen of the others : If they differ a. little 
 it is in the pit, as, for example, at Naples y the 
 feats have elbows, which are uncommon in 
 the other parts of Italy. 
 
 The Pit here, as I have already hinted, is 
 very ample ; it contains betwixt five and fix 
 hundred feats, with arms refembling a large 
 elbow chair, befides ah interval all through 
 the middle, and a circuit, all round it, under 
 the boxes, both of which I judge, in a crouded 
 houfe, will hold betwixt one and two 'hun- 
 dred people, ftanding. The feat of each 
 chair lifts up like the lid of a box, and has a 
 lock to fatten it. There are, in Naples, Gen- 
 tlemen enough to hire by the year the firil 
 four rows next to the orcheftra ; who take 
 the key of the chair home with them, when 
 
 the
 
 LETTER XXI. 85 
 
 the Opera is finifhed, lifting up the feat, and 
 leaving it locked. By this contrivance they 
 are always fure of the fame place, at what- 
 ever hour they pleafe to go to the Opera ; nor 
 do they difturb the audience, though it be in 
 the middle of a fcene, as the intervals betwixt 
 the rows are wide enough to admit a lufty 
 man to walk to his chair, without obliging 
 any body to rife. The ufual payment for 
 the feafons, or the whole year, in which they 
 give four operas, is twenty ducats, about three 
 pounds fifteen millings ; the people who do 
 not hire their feats by the year, pay three car- 
 lines, about thirteen pence halfpenny, for their 
 place in the pit. 
 
 The boxes are not difpofed like ours, into 
 front and fide boxes, but into fix ranges, one 
 above another, all round the houfe : The 
 three lower ranges are hired either for the 
 feafon, or the whole year, by the Ladies of 
 diftin&ion : The price of a box for the whole 
 year, is two hundred and forty ducats, equal 
 to about forty-fix or forty- feven pounds fter- 
 ling. The price of a feafon is proportioned 
 to the length of the feafon. The other three 
 ranges are let by the night ; but no maa or 
 woman can go into the boxes, paying only 
 
 F 3 for
 
 86 LETTER XXL 
 
 for one perfon, as in France and England. 
 Strangers who come to Naples for a mort 
 time, if they are either people of figure, or 
 well recommended, are invited into the boxes 
 of the nobility j if they are not, they hire a 
 box for the night, and feldom fail to find one 
 in the fecond or third range ; for, mould it 
 happen that they are all taken up for the fea- 
 fon, by perfons of quality, yet fome of thefe 
 perfons of quality are not fo delicate, but that 
 they order the undertaker of the opera to let 
 out their boxes when they do not go them- 
 felves, and often flay at hc/me purpofely on 
 gala nights, and the opening of a new opera, 
 when, fometimes, they are hired for the night 
 at an exorbitant price, fuch as fifteen ducats, 
 and fometimes much mqre. 
 
 Each qf the fix ranges, confiiling of thirty 
 boxes, would make one hundred and eighty 
 in all, if the King's box, in the front, did not; 
 occupy the place of four of them. Jt is fitu- 
 ated on the fame level with the fecond range, 
 and is both of the extent and height of two. 
 boxes, pofleiling, as J have intimated, the 
 fpace of four boxes. This fituation of his 
 JVJajefty in front has a good effect, and, if our
 
 LETTER XXI. 87 
 
 Royal Family approved of it, the imitation 
 would grace our London theatres. 
 
 The boxes are large enough to hold twelve 
 people flooding, but their fize is owing to 
 their depth, for they are ib narrow, that only 
 three Ladies can fit in front, and the three 
 next behind them mufl ftand up, if they 
 would fee all the flage and the actors ; fo 
 that if more than fix are prefent, all thofe be- 
 hind fee little or nothing : This arifes from a 
 partition which runs betwixt each of the 
 boxes, and prevents the fide view. Were 
 thefe partitions removed, the houfe would be 
 much cooler in warm weather j two or three 
 hundred people more would partake of the 
 diverfion than they now do j the Ladies 
 would be more confpicuous, and, confequent- 
 tly, the theatre appear more gaudy than now, 
 that they are mut up in fuch dark clofets j 
 but I fhould fuppofe that this alteration will 
 never take place, becaufe if the box which 
 now hold fix only with convenience, were 
 made commodious for ten or fifteen, two fa- 
 milies would join for one box, and, confe- 
 quently, not above half the boxes would be 
 hired. What I have here faid, relates 
 
 F 4 only
 
 88 LETTER XXII. 
 
 only to the fide boxes, becaufe every one in 
 the front boxes niuft have a a view of the 
 
 ftage. 
 
 I am , Sir, &c. 
 
 LETTER XXII. 
 
 NAPLES, Dec. 1765. 
 SI R, 
 
 IT is the cuftom in Italy to light the ftage 
 only, which renders their fpeclacles fright- 
 fully dark and melancholy. They pretend 
 it is an advantage to the performers and the 
 ftage ; and fo far is true, that if there muft be 
 only fuch a fmall quantity of light in the 
 houfe, it is much better to place it on the 
 ftage, than on any other part ; but on gala 
 nights, when it is illuminated in every part, 
 the Italians feem as much pleafed with it as 
 a ftranger, fo that I imagine it is to fave the 
 expence of fo many wax tapers, that the cuf- 
 tom is continued. Thefe tapers are almoii 
 as big as fmall torches, and are difpofed very 
 
 unart-
 
 LETTER XXII. 9 
 
 unartfully againft the fides of the boxes, as 
 high as the fourth range ; fo that the glare, 
 the heat, and the fmell of them, are very of- 
 fenfive to thofe who fit in the boxes, on 
 which account, it is not unufual, on the g a la 
 nights, when the King is not there, to fee 
 the people in the boxes extinguifli feveral of 
 them. When his Majefty is prefent, they 
 do not take that liberty, but if, inftead of 
 thefe tapers, there were a fufficiency ofluflres 
 hanging over the pit, the purpofe would be 
 anfwered without the leaft annoyance. 
 
 Dark as the boxes are, they would be ftill 
 darker, if thofe who (it in them did not, at 
 their own expence, put up a couple of can- 
 dles, without which it would be impoffible to 
 read the opera ; yet there are fome fo frugal, 
 as not to light up their box, though the in- 
 fiances are rare. It is not the famion here, 
 nor in any partof/ta/y, to take a fmall wax 
 light to the houfe, and, therefore, hardly any 
 man has eyes good enough to make ufe of a 
 book in the pit. 
 
 The Ladies in the boxes and pit of the O- 
 pera Houfe in London^ make a much more 
 brilliant appearance than they would in the 
 dark boxes at Naples, where, on common 
 
 nights,
 
 9 o LETTER XXII. 
 
 nights, it is not poffibleto diftinguifli a feature 
 a-crofs the houfe. The men in the pit do 
 not, upon the whole, make a good figure ; 
 for, though there are many officers, who are 
 well dreft, yet they and the Gentlemen arc 
 much the fraaller portion of the company 
 there. There is a fhabby fett of men who 
 frequent the pit, and another fett ftill mabbier, 
 who pay nothing for their entrance, fuch as 
 the upper fervants of the Ladies who have 
 boxes, the upper fervants of embafladors, and, 
 fometimes, for a fraall fee to the door-keepers, 
 thofe fervants introduce their friends. It is 
 not to be omitted, amongft the objections to 
 the immenfe largenefs of the houfe and ftage, 
 that, in windy weather, you would imagine 
 yourfelf in the ftreets, the wind blows fo hard 
 both in the pit and boxes ; and this feldoni 
 happens without caufing colds and fevers. 
 
 The performers are not paid fo liberally at 
 Naples as at London, but, confidering the dif- 
 ferent expence of living in the two places, the 
 proportion is not very fhort amongft the capi- 
 tal fingers, as may be gathered from the falary 
 of La Gabrieli, who received for finging the 
 laft year, eighteen hundred fequins, (nine hun- 
 dred pounds flerling) and has contracted for 
 
 the
 
 LETTER XXII. 9* 
 
 tl)e fame Turn, the enfujng year. Apr He ^ the 
 rft man, has three thoufand five hundred du- 
 cats. Genaro, the firft dancer amongft the 
 men, has two thoufand ducats, and La Mo- 
 relliy the firft woman dancer, one thoufand 
 five hundred ducats. A ducat is worth about 
 three (hillings and ten pence. 
 
 The Impresario, or manager, is bound to 
 very hard terms, fo that his profits are incon- 
 f;derable, and fometimes he is a lofer. The 
 theatre being a part of the palace, the King 
 referves for himfelf, Officers of State, and 
 Train, fifteen boxes j nor does the King (or 
 rather the Regency) pay the manager one far- 
 thing, whereas the late King ufed to prefent 
 him annually with four thoufand ducats. 
 The junto deputed by his Majefty to fupervife 
 the Opera, referve to themfelves the right of 
 nominating fingers and dancers, which obli- 
 ges the manager fometimes to pay them an 
 extortionate price. Another difadvantage he 
 lyes under, is, the frequent delay of payment 
 for the boxes, and a manager mud not take the 
 liberty to compel perfons of quality to pay 
 their juft debts. 
 
 You will wonder how I became pofleflld 
 ofthefe particulars i accident threw them in 
 
 my
 
 92 LETTER XXII. 
 
 my way, and you may depend on their au- 
 thenticrty. 
 
 The two burletta Opera Houfes are not in 
 much requeft, except when they happen to 
 procure fome favourite compofition, the grand 
 Opera being the only object of the Neapoli^ 
 fans, which, indeed, has fuch pre-eminent en- 
 couragement, that the others are forbidden, 
 by authority, to bring any dancers on their 
 ftage, without a ipecial licence, left they 
 mould divert the attention of the public from 
 the King's Theatre. I muft not omit a 
 foolifh Angularity, in relation to the women 
 dancers at Naples, that, in confequence of an 
 order from court, in the late King's time, they 
 all wear black drawers. I prefume it was 
 from fome conceit on the fubjeclof modefty, 
 but it appears very odd and ridiculous. I {hall 
 not enter into any detail of the two houfes $ 
 but their dreffes, their fcenery, and their ac- 
 tors, are much more defpicable than one could 
 
 poflibly imagine. 
 
 I am, 
 
 LET-
 
 LETTER XXIIL 
 
 NAPLES, Dec. 1765. 
 S IR, 
 
 TH E play-houfe is hardly better than a 
 cellar, and is really very much known 
 by that name, being ufually called the Can-* 
 tina (cellar.) You defcend from the ftreet 
 down ten fteps into the pit, which holds fe- 
 venty or eighty people, when crouded, each 
 of which pays a carline, that is, four pence 
 halfpenny, for his admittance. There is a 
 gallery round the pit, which is formed by par- 
 titions, into ten or twelve boxes. Thefe boxes 
 holding four perfons conveniently, let for 
 eight carlines. Under thefe difcouragements 
 it will not be difficult to conceive, that the 
 fcenes, the drefTes, the aftors, and the decora- 
 tions of the houfe, muft be very indifferent : 
 It will not, however, be fo eafy to imagine 
 the mabbinefs of the audience, which chiefly 
 confifts of men in 'dirty caps and waiftcoats, 
 in the pit, for the boxes are generally empty. 
 All the Italian Gentlemen and Ladies are 
 
 very
 
 #4 LETT E R XXllL 
 
 very indelicate in the article of fpitting beford 
 them, never making ufe of a handkerchief, or 
 feeking a corner for that purpofe ; but in the 
 Cantina their naftinefs is ofFeniive to the laft 
 degree, not only fpitting all about them, bat 
 alio on every part of the wall, fo that it is 
 impofnble to avoid foiling your cloaths. This 
 habit is carried by fome to fuch excefs, that I 
 cannot but afcribe the leannefs of many Ne- 
 apolitans, and the fallownefs of their com- 
 plexionS) to the abundance of this evacua- 
 tion. 
 
 The drama is fo little cultivated in Italy, 
 that I believe they feldorh or never act a tra- 
 gedy, at leaft I have never yet heafd of fuch 
 a reprefentation, nor has it been my good 
 fortune to fee a comedy of more than three 
 acts. The prefent (late of the ftage here, is 
 what it always mufthave been in its infancy, 
 before it became polifhed, and whilft the au- 
 dience were a rude and illiberal people -, that 
 is to fay, the principal entertainments feem to 
 arife from double entendres and blunders, 
 miftaking one word for another, and even 
 from dirty actions, fuch as fpitting or blow- 
 ing the nofe in each others faces - t Juft as We 
 fee ftill practifed in England by Merry An~ 
 
 dreivs,
 
 LETTER XXIII. $ s 
 
 drews, on the ftages of Mountebanks, and on 
 the outfide of the booths in Bartholomew* 
 Fair ; |but what appears moft eflential to the 
 delight of a Neapolitan audience, are two or 
 three characters, Inch as Punch and the doc- 
 tor's man, who fpeak the dialect of the lower 
 people, which is unintelligible to a foreigner, 
 however well he may understand pure Itali- 
 an ; and it is chiefly by thefe characters that 
 the company is recreated, not only with the 
 poet's obfcenities, but alib as many loofe jokes 
 of the actors, as their extempore wit and hu- 
 mour can fuggeft. The rage for this fpecies 
 of comicality js fuch, that even in their burlet- 
 tas they introduce one or two perfonage?, 
 who fpeak Neapolitan, and I queftion whe- 
 ther a ferious opera would be borne without 
 them, if the populace frequented that theatre. 
 Notwithftanding the unfavourable light in 
 which I have placed thefe actors, I really 
 think the Italians, by nature, have a genius 
 for comedy ; and, were the audience of this 
 play-houfe more elegant and more refpecta- 
 ble, fome of thefe very actors would appear 
 to have great talents, but, at prefent, they 
 ftand fo little in awe of criticifm, that they 
 do not fludy the leafl decorum, and are even 
 
 fo
 
 96 LETTER 
 
 Ib negligent in learning their parts, that I have 
 ibmetimes heard them prompted every wordj 
 in the fame manner as the fingers are in the 
 recitative of an opera< Amongft the few ac- 
 tors of merit, there is one who always fepre- 
 fents a character called Don Faflidio; this 
 man is fo very unaffected and naturalj in all 
 he fays and does, upon the ftage, that, with 
 a little correction, he would make a great 
 figure on the theatre of London^ or Paris. 
 
 It would conduce much to the improve^ 
 ment of the manners and literature of this 
 people, were fome of the Quality to give their 
 protection to the ftage. It cannot be doubted 
 that a Maecenas would now$ as formerly, in 
 the fame climate, call forth the poetic fpirit 3 
 and it is a little Wonderful this event does not 
 take place* as there is .a kind of propenfity 
 
 r / y e/*f(r7?r*~ r r J 
 
 amongft them to pjlRinun. Comedy ; for, 
 during the Carnival* there are three or four 
 plays reprefented feveral nights, by private 
 perfons, and by Convents, at their own ex- 
 pence, which meet with great applaufe, and, 
 amongft others, there is one given by the Ca- 
 leftine Monks, which is extremely celebrated, 
 They perform with remarkable humour and 
 exactnef?, nor do the Fathers fcruple to weai 4 
 
 womens
 
 LETTER XXIV. 97 
 
 ivomens drefles, and appear in very lafcivious 
 characters. How extremely capricious, that 
 the fame mother-church fhould fuffer her 
 fons to play at Naples, and deprive the poor 
 French comedians of Chriftian burial, for act- 
 ing at Paris / 
 
 lam, Sir, &c. 
 
 LETTER XXIV, 
 
 NAPLES, Dec. 1765. 
 SIR, 
 
 TH E populoufnefs of Naples is fo re- 
 markable, that a ftranger, the firfl 
 time he pafles through fome parts of the city, 
 would imagine the people were affembled in 
 the flreets on fome extraordinary occafion ; 
 but the truth is, that fome thoufands of the 
 populace (called the Lazoroni, or Black- 
 Cuards) have no other habitation than the 
 ftreets, and much the greater part of the other 
 portion, having no employment either from 
 the want of manufactures, or their natural 
 propenfity to idlenefs, are fauntering in the 
 ftreets from morning to night, and make 
 
 G thefe
 
 98 LETTER XXIV. 
 
 thefe crowds, which are not feen in other 
 places, but upon feftivals, elections, &c. It 
 is computed that Naples contains three hun- 
 dred, or three hundred and fifty thoufand in- 
 habitants -, fome exaggerate the number to 
 four hundred thoufand, but if there are three 
 hundred thoufand, it is much more populous 
 than either London or Paris, in proportion to 
 its extent j and I fuppofe it is the only me- 
 tropolis in Europe which furnimes its own 
 inhabitants : All the others are fupplied with 
 people from the provinces, the luxury and 
 expeniivenefs of large cities being fo great an 
 impediment to marriage, and populoufnefs, 
 that they would all in the ordinary courfe of 
 nature, be depopulated in a few years, were 
 they not annually recruited from other parts ; 
 but in Naples the cafe is different from a fin- 
 gular cuftom amongft the gentry of hiring 
 married, in preference to unmarried fervants. 
 In Paris, or London, very few fervants can 
 hope to be employed who are not tingle, and, 
 therefore, an infinite number of this clafs of 
 people pafs their Jives in celibacy, as the in- 
 ftances are but rare, in thofe cities, where foot- 
 men and maid-fervants can fupport them- 
 fclves after marriage by a different occupation. 
 
 In
 
 LETTER XXIV. 99 
 
 In Naples it is almoft an univerfal fafhion 
 to keep their men-fervants at board-wages, 
 not admitting them to fleep in their houfes ; 
 this naturally leads them into marriage, as it 
 gives them a fettlement fo eflential to the 
 character required here, by all ranks of ma- 
 ilers ; but what feems ftill more to facilitate 
 matrimony, in this order of people, is, the pro- 
 digious number of young women ready to ac- 
 cept the firft offer ; for in Italy they are not 
 taken into fervice, as in England. A Noble- 
 man who keeps forty men fervants, has fel- 
 dom more than two maids ; and, indeed, it 
 is fo much the province of men to do the 
 houfe bufinefs, that they are employed all 
 over the kingdom, even to the making of the 
 beds. This circum fiance, with the difficulty 
 a woman has to acquire her living here, by 
 any other means, is the reafon why they fel- 
 dom make an objection to the certain poverty 
 attending matrimony. The fwarms of chil- 
 dren in all the ftreets, inhabited by the poor, 
 are fuch as will necefTarily refult from this prac- 
 tice j and as a married couple, though they 
 have fix or feven children, never occupy more 
 than one room, the extreme populoufnefs of 
 
 G 2 Naples
 
 ioo LETTER XXIV. 
 
 Nggfa muft, confequently, follow from fuch 
 caufes. 
 
 I have not been able to procure an annual 
 lift of the births and burials at Naples, but 
 am told that each parifh Prieft can give an 
 exact account of thofe in their refpective pa- 
 rimes, and therefore it (hould feem an eafy 
 matter to publifh the fum total, if the Go- 
 vernment efteemed it an objedt worthy of 
 their regard. I prefume, however, mould 
 this publication ever take place, that the num- 
 ber of births will be found to exceed that of 
 their burials very confiderably. 
 
 The Lazeroni, or Black-Guards, are fuch 
 miferable wretches as are not to be feen in 
 any other town in Europe ; perhaps amongft 
 the afhes of our glafs-houfes in London, you 
 may find two or three beggars not unlike 
 them ; but here the number is faid to be fix 
 thoufand, not one of which ever lies in a bed, 
 but upon bulks, benches, &c. in the open 
 ftreets, and, what is fcandalous, they are fuf- 
 fered to fun themfelves, a great part of the 
 day, under the palace walls, where they lye 
 balking like dirty fwine, and are a much 
 more naufeous fpectacle. Being almoft na- 
 ked, they fuffer extremely in cold weather, 
 
 and
 
 LETTER XXIV. 101 
 
 and were the climate lefs mild, they would 
 certainly perifh ; even the greater part of 
 thofe who work for their livelihood, feldom 
 wear {hoes or {lockings, and their children 
 never j but, notwithftanding the power of 
 ufe, the cold in the winter months produces 
 chilblains and fore legs to a piteous degree. 
 When the fpring advances, the poor people 
 {trip their infants entirely, and fpare fomc 
 little expence by that ceconomy. The Con- 
 vents at Naples are rich, and make a practice 
 of diftributing broth and bread, once a day, 
 to the poor who apply for charity ; and it is 
 merely by this chanty that the Lazeronis 
 principally fubfift, though by pilfering and 
 begging fome of them acquire enough to fa- 
 tisfy the necefllties of nature, and even to ap- 
 pear healthy and robuft. 
 
 / am. Sir, &c. 
 
 03 LET-
 
 LETTER XXV, 
 
 NAPLES, D*c. 1765. 
 SIR, 
 
 TO give you an idea of the ftarving life 
 of the major part of the poor, I mall 
 only mention the wages of fervants, to which 
 all kinds of wages are nearly proportionable. 
 A Neapolitan Gentleman gives his footman 
 five dupats a month j a Nobleman, perhaps, 
 fix : All the Quality who keep pages, give 
 them fix or feven ducats, with a livery once 
 in two years, and another for gala days only, 
 which lafts ten years j but neither moes, 
 ftockings, nor wafhing : With this fum they 
 lubfift themfelves and families ; for their pay 
 includes board-wages ; nor are the tables of 
 the Gentry fo amply provided here as to ad- 
 mit of the leaft depredation', as is the cafe in 
 JLngland) where married fervants generally 
 maintain their wives frcm their matter's lar- 
 der. Now a ducat is about three {hillings 
 and nine or ten pence, five of which make 
 fomething lefs than eighteen millings, the 
 whole monthly income of far the greater 
 
 number
 
 LETTER XXV. 103 
 
 number of livery fervants in Naples j as the 
 fafliion of vails is in a manner unknown, ex- 
 cept by great chance, or at the beginning of 
 the year, when they receive a few trifling 
 perquifites. The generality of fervants mar- 
 rying very young, their wives are, for the moft 
 part, bleft with a numerous progeny, the 
 cares of which are a fufficient occupation for 
 the wife, fo that the labour of her hands can 
 add but little to their flock. The rent of a 
 room for a month, is a ducat, which leaves 
 exadly fifteen {hillings forcloathingand main- 
 taining the whole family. After this detail it 
 fhould not appear ftrange that they feldom 
 have either meat or frem fifh, but find them - 
 felves under the neceffity of feeding chiefly on 
 the produce of gardens, a cheap fort of cheefe, 
 falt-fi(h, and a coarfe bread, the lafl of which 
 articles is unfortunately as dear or dearer at 
 Naples, than at London. I have converfed 
 with Neapolitan Gentlemen, who feemed as 
 much aftonifhed as myfelf, at the poffibility 
 of bringing their expences within the com- 
 pafs of their wages ; and yet if this be won- 
 derful, how much more is it fo to live on four 
 ducats only, or four ducats and a half, which 
 is the ufual price given by the lawyers and 
 
 G 4 trading
 
 io4 LETTER XXV. 
 
 trading people ; for every body here has the 
 rage of keeping a footman, down to a fett of 
 houfekeepers, who hire one for the Sunday 
 only ; and there are fome who hire one for 
 an hour or two only ; fo that there are fer- 
 vants who let themfelves out to three or four 
 different matters on the fame unday it fuit- 
 ing one matter to have his fervant in the mor- 
 ning, another at noon, and a third after din- 
 ner, &c. This clafs of fervants are wittily 
 called Domenichini by the Neapolitans, from 
 an allufion to the word Domenica, fignifying 
 Sunday. I am not to forget, that in the 
 great families a few of the upper fervants are 
 not at board-wages, but are dieted by their 
 matters, for the convenience of confuming 
 what remains at table. 
 
 The King's footmen receive only eight du- 
 cats and fix carlines a month, equal to 
 i/. I2s. bd. and two carlines a day extraordi- 
 nary, when his Majefty is at any of his pala- 
 ces out of Naples. This extraordinary allow- 
 ance is granted them for their particular 
 maintenance, as they cannot partake of the 
 fame dinner with their wives and families. 
 
 I mall clofe this account of the lownefs of 
 fervants wages, with remarking, that they all 
 
 prefer
 
 LETTER XXV. J0 j 
 
 prefer a carline (four-pence halfpenny) a day 
 for board-wages, to the being maintained by 
 their mailers ; by which one may judge with 
 what vile provifion they can fublift. They 
 know nothing of the fuperfluities fo common, 
 amongft our poor, fuch as the exceflive ufe 
 of ftrong and fpirituous liquors, a matter of 
 fuch notoriety, that I do not remember to 
 have feen in the ftreets one drunken man or 
 woman, if I may except a few foldiers, and 
 a few Valets-de-Place. Indeed the cuftom 
 or fpirit of fobriety, is rooted fo deeply in 
 their manners, that the luxury they indulge 
 is a paffion for fnow or iced- water, and lemo- 
 nade. You fee the very dregs of the mob 
 fpcnding their farthing or halfpenny on a 
 glafs of thofe liquors, in the coldeft feafon 
 of the year ; the fame thing is practiced by 
 the great, in a more elegant and expenfive 
 fiiape : Perhaps the heat of the climate may 
 have indicated this luxury firft, in the fum- 
 mer months 5 but it is now become, in a 
 manner, one of the neceffaries of life, and 
 the Government has availed itfelf of the fa- 
 fhion, by making a monopoly of the fnow at 
 Naples, and felling it at a very high price, 
 about three farthings a pound. By the bye, 
 
 the
 
 106 LETTER XXV. 
 
 the prejudices in favour of the wholfomenefs 
 of fnow, or ice, and alfo their medicinal quali- 
 ties, have prepoffeffed the phyficians here be- 
 yond all credibility. It is not to be imagined 
 how fanguine they are in the relations they 
 give of their miraculous effects in moft inflam- 
 matory diforders of the head, the lungs, and 
 the bowels ; and they not only in thefe cafes 
 prefcribe them inwardly, but likewife apply 
 them externally. It is almoft rude to doubt in 
 converfation the virtue of this remedy, becaufe 
 they produce a thoufand inftances of wonder- 
 ful cures, wrought in their own practice , but 
 we know the advocates for hot water have 
 likewife, in the very fame cafes, pretended, 
 from experience, the fame good effects ; and, 
 perhaps, were the truth known, Nature, in all 
 the inftances, may have done more than ei- 
 ther of the parties fufpect, and, poffibly, have 
 worked a cure, in fpite of their boafted 
 i dicines. 
 
 I am, Sir, &c f 
 
 LET-
 
 LETTER XXVI. 
 
 NAPLES, Dec. 1765. 
 SI R, 
 
 WHAT I faid in my former letter with 
 regard to the cheapnefs of fervants, 
 will account for the fhewy appearance fome 
 of the Quality make here, with fmall for- 
 tunes ; but what enables themalfo to fupport 
 a large houfhold, and a vaft quantity of coach 
 horfes and carriages, is the circumirance of 
 confining themfelves to that one luxury. 
 They have no expensive country-houfes and 
 gardens, no hounds, no face-horfes, no parlia- 
 ment elections, and, in fhort, no great de- 
 mands for the education of their children, dif- 
 poling of all the girls in Convents, upon very 
 eafy terms, whilft they are children, where 
 they are left all their lives, unlefs they provide 
 them huibands j for fingle young Ladies are 
 not fuffered to appear in the world, neither at 
 fpedacles nor vifits. 
 
 Another reafon why the Neapolitan Gen- 
 try can figure with their equipages, is the 
 very fmall expence they admit at their tables. 
 
 It
 
 ip8 LETTER XXVI. 
 
 It is not ufual here to dine or fup at each 
 others houfes, and there are fome who never 
 do, except only on Chriftmas-)ay, or, per- 
 haps, during the week ; nay, they are, in ge- 
 neral, fo unaccuftomed to entertain one ano- 
 ther, that the greater number feldom receive 
 their friends but upon weddings, deaths, and 
 lyings in : They alfo carry their parfimony 
 fo far as to lock up their fine furniture in the 
 intervals of thofe ceremonies. Upon thefe 
 occafions they are very pompous, and, what 
 is extraordinary, the lying-in Ladies receive 
 company in great crowds, the day after their 
 delivery, which, however, after the compli- 
 ments paid, retire immediately into the adjacent 
 chambers, where they form themfelyes into 
 card parties, or converzationi, and are regaled 
 with every dainty the confectioner can furnim : 
 thefe compliments are continued nine days. 
 It is alfo the fafhion to vifit the widow, or 
 neareft relation of the deceafed, the day after 
 his or her death ; and this compliment of 
 condolance is likewife paid by every acquain- 
 tance, before the expiration of nine days. 
 
 It is amazing at how fmall a charge the ge- 
 nerality of the firft people live here, for their 
 kitchen. It is not an uncommon thing to 
 
 contrail
 
 LETTER XXVI. 109 
 
 contract with the cook, or one of the upper 
 fervants, to fupply their dinners, at fo much 
 a head, and I (hall hardly be credited, when I 
 mention fo fmall a fum as nine-pence En- 
 glijh^ wine included ; neverthelefs it is a prac- 
 tice not only at Naples, but Rome , and other 
 cities of Italy, and is a fact that may be de- 
 pended on. However, it muft be underftood 
 there are a few exceptions amongft the No- 
 bility to this retired manner of eating : There 
 are fome, who, when they entertain, give tht 
 mod fplendid, expenfive, and elegant dinners 
 that can be imagined. The Prince of Fran- 
 ca Villa keeps a kind of open table every 
 night, with twelve or fourteen covers, where 
 the Englijh of any figure are at all times re- 
 ceived with the greateft politenefs. Though 
 it be not the cuftom to dine or fup with one 
 another, except on extraordinary occafions, 
 their viiits being mere converfations, yet, du- 
 ring the Carnival, fome few exert themfelves 
 fo far as to give balls, and even fome of the 
 merchants adopt this practice ; but the Prin- 
 cefs of Franca Villa this feafon gave three in 
 one week, where the company amounted to 
 feven or eight hundred people each time. 
 Now I have mentioned vifiting, it may be 
 
 worth
 
 no LETTER XXVI. 
 
 worth remarking, on a certain tirefome eti- 
 quette prevailing in this place, of waiting in 
 the ftreets on evening vifits, till two pages give 
 in your name, and bring down flambeaux to 
 light you up (lairs, perhaps almoft to the top 
 of the houfe, as the Quality live, for the mofl 
 part, a great height from the ground j but this 
 ceremony is much more inconvenient at the 
 Opera Houfe, when you are invited to a box, 
 as you fit in your coach, to the obftrudion of 
 all others, till one or two pages come down 
 with their flambeaux to conduct you to your 
 feat. 
 
 The general cuflom of fpending fo little in 
 other articles of luxury, leaves them the means 
 of indulging their paflion for fhew and equi- 
 pages ; accordingly fome of their Princes 
 have forty or fifty coach-horfes, more than 
 twenty different carriages, thirty, forty, or 
 fifty domefticks and pages, befides four or 
 jfive (and I once faw fix) running footmen 
 before their chariots. A running footman 
 feems almofl an indifpenfible neceflary of life 
 here, for a Gentleman never rides poft on 
 the road near Naples y nor takes an airing, that 
 he is not preceded by one of thefe poor breath- 
 lefs fellows. It may be obferved, however, 
 
 that
 
 LETTER XXVI. in 
 
 that a running footman in the crowded ftreets 
 of Naples is very ufeful, where the pave- 
 ment is fo fmooth, and the noife of the crowd 
 fo great, the motion of a coach is hardly 
 heard, and many would be trampled by the 
 horfes, if they had not timely notice to get 
 out of the way. 
 
 This love of mew feems to be more the 
 charade rift ick of an Italian than even of a 
 Frenchman, and is a ftriking novelty to an 
 Englijkman. In Great-Britain, when a Gen- 
 tleman can live comfortably within doors, 
 and has a furplus, he thinks of a coach ; but 
 in Italy a coach and fervants feem to be the 
 firft objecl, and, when they are provided, they 
 do as they can for the reft. The Italian turn 
 for grandeur appears not only in this fplen- 
 dour of their equipages, but in the very ge- 
 nius of their language. What we call in 
 England a little cram of mufick, compofed of 
 two or three inftruments, is pompoufly ftiled 
 in Italy an Academia : If you fend your fer- 
 vant on a trifling halfpenny errand, he tells 
 you, upon his return, he has executed the 
 ambafciata-, and fo in other inftances. 
 
 lam, dear Sir, &c. 
 LET-
 
 LETTER XXV1L 
 
 NAPLES, Dec. 1765. 
 SIR, 
 
 THOUGH the Dukes and Princes here 
 are faid to have immenfe eflates, ne- 
 Verthelefs, excepting two or three, they are 
 not to be compared to thofe of our En- 
 glijh Nobility. The Prince of Franca Vil- 
 /a's, amounts, as I have been informed, to' 
 about thirteen thoufand a year, and no Prince 
 makes a greater figure at Naples than he. 
 'The emoluments of the great Officers of State, 
 and the falaries of all the King's fervants, are 
 fnuch fmaller than in England : The fees 
 alfo of lawyers and phyficians are trifling, 
 compared with thofe in England -, and talents 
 of every kind are but poorly recompenfed, fo 
 that affluence is not diffufed through every 
 flreet, as in London, but is confined almoft 
 within the narrow circle of the Nobility : 
 The following fpecimens will give you an 
 idea of the fmallnefs of their, court appoint- 
 ments : 
 
 The
 
 LE T T E R XXVII. 
 
 The Lord Steward, Lord Chamberlain, and 
 Mafter of the Horle, have each eighteen 
 hundred ducats a year, not thr. e hundred and 
 fifty pounds fterling ; and about twenty- fix 
 Shillings a day for their table, when the King 
 is not at Naples. The Mafter of the Horfe 
 has likewife a coach and fix, two running 
 footmen, and two footmen at the King's ex- 
 pence. The Lords of the Bedchamber have 
 but thirty ducats a month, which is about 
 feventy pounds a year, and thirteen millings 
 a day for their table, when the King is at any 
 of his country palaces j but there are no per- 
 quifites, no douceurs attached to thefe em- 
 ployments : It is therefore not to be won- 
 dered at that fo many of the Nobles, with 
 fmall eftates, are obliged to live retired, not- 
 withftanding the very low price of eatables 
 and labour. 
 
 It is probable, that, with good manage- 
 ment, their eftates would bring in a much 
 larger income to them, and a more comforta- 
 ble fubfiftenee to their tenants. I have, in 
 converfation with Gentlemen of fortune, in- 
 timated, that, would they parcel and leafe out 
 their eftates in large farms, the farmer would 
 improve the land, and enrich both the propri- 
 
 H etor
 
 n 4 LETTER XXVII. 
 
 etor and himfelf 5 but they do not fee fo far, 
 and grudge the tenant a better livelihood than 
 roots and brown bread. In confequence of 
 this maxim of keeping down their tenants, 
 their farms are fo very fmall, that it feldom 
 happens that the farmer pays his rent in cafh, 
 but the landlord receives it in kind ; fo that a 
 Nobleman is obliged every year to fell corn, 
 wine, oil, and filk, and employ a great num- 
 ber of ftewards for that purpofe, who are faid 
 to defraud them very grofsly. 
 
 From this flate of the cafe it fhould ap- 
 pear, that the value of the lands is not fo great 
 as it ought to be, and as it certainly will be, 
 whenever they (hall encourage agriculture, 
 by fuffering their tenants to acquire property, 
 and the Government fhall think proper to re- 
 form the police, in removing the heavy duties 
 on the exports of this country, fuch as filk, 
 corn, oil, &c, and lay them on the luxurious 
 imports. 
 
 1 am y Sir, &c. 
 
 LET-
 
 LETTER xxvm. 
 
 NAPLES, Dec. 1765. 
 SIR, 
 
 THERE does not feem to be much cur- 
 rent coin in this kingdom, at leaft not 
 much gold, fo that every confiderable pay- 
 ment muft be made either in their bank- 
 bills, or in filver ; indeed there is fo much 
 larger a proportion of filver than gold, that 
 an allowance of one third per ce?:t. (fix miU 
 lings and eight pence) is given in the ex- 
 change : This fcarcity of gold is very incon- 
 venient, and I have feen five or fix Gentlemen 
 fit down to cards, under the neceffity of 
 marking their lofings, as none of them were 
 provided with gold ; and four or five guineas 
 in filver being too great a weight for the 
 pocket, not one of them had money to any va- 
 lue about him. The Neapolitans, who, like 
 all other people on the face of the earth, are 
 not a little difTatisfied with their adminiftra- 
 tion, afcribe the fcarcity of gold to a bad po- 
 lice, and to the exceffive duties on their ex- 
 portations, which makes the ballance of trade 
 
 H 2 run
 
 n6 LETTER XXVIII. 
 
 run fo heavily againft them } but notwith- 
 ftanding there is fo much larger a proportion 
 of filver than gold, the proportion of copper 
 is fr.il! greater with refpecl to the filver, info- 
 much, that the retail traders are overloaded 
 with it to a degree that obliges them to make 
 a certain allowance for the exchange, and in 
 confequence of this neceflity, you fee in the 
 market-places and ftreets, great numbers of 
 money changers, who have a little ftall, 
 heaped with copper money, which they de- 
 liver out for filver to thofe who want change ; 
 and they receive of the mop-keepers about a 
 halfpenny for every four milling's worth j fo 
 that if they difpofe of as much copper as pro- 
 duces one hundred millings, they earn that 
 day one milling and a halfpenny. The car- 
 line (four-pence halfpenny) is worth ten 
 grains. The grain (not quite a halfpenny) 
 confiits of twelve calli (cavalli) and the leaft 
 piece of coin is three of thefe calli, with 
 which the poor can purchafe a fmall bit of 
 cheefe, chefnuts, apples, and other fruits, on 
 which they feem to fubfift, almoft as much as 
 on bread. 
 
 v About two years fince, there was a great 
 fcarcity of bread in this kingdom, which pro- 
 duced
 
 LETTER XXVIII. 117 
 
 duced very fatal effects. Frequent mention 
 was made of it in the London news-papers, 
 but I do not remember that our ideas an- 
 fwered to the horrors which really attended 
 it. It began in December 1763, and was 
 followed by a fkknefs. The famine and the 
 ficknefs together, carried off, as they com- 
 pute, betwixt three and four hundred thou- 
 fand people. There were fome villages al- 
 moft entirely depopulated, only two or three 
 perfons furviving the fury of one or the other 
 of thefe calamities. It is faid that near fifty 
 thoufand were deftroyed in the city of Naples 
 only. From the relations I have heard and 
 read, it feems to me wonderful it mould have 
 ceafed fo fuddenly as it did, fince, in fome of 
 the cafes, it bore ftrong marks of a plague, 
 the moft robuft dying in two or three days 
 after the feizure, befidesthat bubos and car- 
 buncles were no uncommon fymptoms. The 
 ftarving condition of the poor was fo great, 
 that they were glad to get the food of the 
 very dogs, which now and then produced a 
 fpectacle -mocking to human nature ; for the 
 famimed animals were frequently feen feed- 
 ing on the dead bodies of fuch who died in 
 the ftreets, the moment after their breath 'was 
 
 H 3 ex-
 
 Ii8 LETTER XXVIII. 
 
 expired. A twopenny loaf not only fold at 
 this time for fourteen pence, a fum as much 
 above the abilities of the poor as a guinea, 
 but often it was not to be purchafed ; and it 
 was no unufual thing, when friends dined 
 upon an invitation at each other's houfes, to 
 take their own bread with them. There was 
 a charitable endeavour fet on foot, to diftri- 
 bute bread, at a low price, amongft the poor. 
 Some bakers, at a particular hour every day, 
 delivered out, by his Majefty's command, 
 and at his Majefty's expence, a certain num- 
 ber of loaves : But the defign was entirely 
 frustrated ; for fuch only of the mob procu- 
 red it, who were ftout, and could make their 
 way with fticks, and other weapons, to the 
 door. Thefe people poffelTed themfelves of 
 all the bread at the low price afcertained by 
 his Majefty, and fold it in the city at an enor~ 
 mous profit : In the mean while the old, the 
 fick, and the decrepit, for whom, principally, 
 this benevolent defign was calculated, as at 
 the pool of Bethefda, could never partake of 
 the bleffing. It is remarkable, that whilft 
 the poor were groaning under this affliction, 
 the moft abandoned fet of villains in the 
 
 world,
 
 LETTER XXIX. 119 
 
 world, namely the Haves aboard the galleys, 
 and the prifoners in the feveral goals, by vir- 
 tue of their ftated allowance of bread, en- 
 joyed perfect health and happinefs. 
 
 I am, Sir, &c. 
 
 LETTER XXIX. 
 
 NAPLES, Dec. 1765. 
 SIR, 
 
 THERE are three days in the year, the 
 1 6th of December, the 4th of May, 
 and, I think, the i9th of September, that the 
 miracle of the liquefaction of St Jartuartus's 
 blood is performed in this city. I had the 
 pleafure of going through the ceremony this 
 morning at the Cathedral : One of the three 
 times it is exhibited not at the Cathedral, but 
 in the ftreets, in a fort of open portico, or pa- 
 vilion, of which there are fix in Naples, 
 called feggias, and thefe pavilions are ho- 
 noured with the exhibition in turns. In the 
 Cathedral, or St Januar jus's church, amongft 
 H 4 other
 
 120 LETTER XXIX. 
 
 other chi pels, there is one where the blood, 
 or what is called the blood, is preferved. I| 
 is contained in two different phials, one of 
 which holds very near an ounce of the liquor, 
 the other only a few drops. Both the phials 
 very much refemble the Ladies fmelling-bot- 
 ties for fairs, the larger being a deprefled 
 fpheroid j the fmaller, a narrow cylindrical 
 one : They are contained in a golden cafe, 
 betwixt two circular glafles of about three 
 inches diameter, by which means, when it is 
 held upagainft the light, or a candle is placed 
 behind, the fpectator fees clearly the bottles 
 and their contents. Mr Addifon^ fpeaking of 
 this miracle, fays, it is a bungling trick, but 
 not entering into any explanation how it is 
 done, or in -vhat confifts the clumfmefs of the 
 performance, we are left either to believe in, 
 or ridicule the miracle, jufl as we are edu- 
 cate d For my part, I do not treat it as an 
 impofture which requires no dexterity nor 
 fcience ; becaufe unbelieving Proteftants and 
 fcoffers have not very clearly demonstrated 
 how the fraud is carried on. That it is a 
 congealed fubftance ^not unlike a lump of 
 Spanifo fnuff; which melts either from the 
 heat of the hand, the candles, or the atmo- 
 
 fphere,
 
 LETTER XXIX. 
 
 fphere, is moft probable, though it is poffible 
 that it may be of a nature to be liquified by 
 fome chymical fluid poured upon it a few mi- 
 nutes before it is expofed to the publick. 
 The operation of liquefying is generally ex- 
 ecuted in eight, ten, fifteen, or twenty mi- 
 nutes ; to-day it was above an hour and a 
 half ; and as I find, by the thermometer, it 
 was colder this morning than it has been any 
 day during the whole winter, I am inclined 
 to judge that the liquefaction is owing to the 
 heat of the atmofphere. In May and Sep- 
 tember the feafon is much warmer and fitter 
 for this operation. Some Hereticks, finding 
 how (lowly the miracle operated, thought 
 proper to retire, in order to lave their bones -, 
 for the Neapolitans entertain an opinion that 
 the Saint refufes to act when Hereticks are 
 prefent ; and as the refufal is efteemed omi- 
 nous, they have fometimes chaced them very 
 rudely from their altars. The Scandalous 
 Chronicle fays, that, once upon a time, the li- 
 quefaction not taking place, the people of Na- 
 ples were fo uneaiy, that the Government 
 thought proper to give orders that they mould 
 always work the miracle for the future, fince 
 which it has never failed. 
 
 The
 
 122 LETTER XXIX. 
 
 The liquefaction in the larger phial was 
 very evident ; in the fmaller, the matter, af- 
 ter the miracle, appeared only of a more 
 vivid red. I cannot fay it refembled blood 
 very much in either of them. A philfopher 
 would not infift on the liquefaction, to be 
 convinced of a miracle j it would be enough 
 for him (confidering the peri(hable nature of 
 fluids) that the blood itfelf was preferved 
 without diminution fourteen or fifteen hundred 
 years j but the believers do not fee fo far, and 
 are in agonies till the Te Deum is fung for 
 the fuccefs. You may eafily conceive how 
 eager the congregation is to kifs fo venerable 
 a relick. I was one amongfl others fo happy 
 to have it applied to my lips, to my forehead, 
 and then to my breaft, though the prieft is 
 in fo great a hurry to blefs the croud, that he 
 does not offer it to the generality on their 
 breafts, but only to the lips, and perhaps 
 the forehead. I overheard a woman declare, 
 that it muft be owing to fome Proteflants in 
 the church, that the miracle went on fo 
 (lowly. I.fhall not defcribe the other cere- 
 monies of this grand day ; the proceffions, 
 the exhibition of all their images on the great 
 altar, and the Mafs, which is ufually celebra- 
 ted
 
 LETTER XXIX. 123 
 
 ted by the Archbifhop, but was not to-day, 
 I am not to tell you that St Jamtarius is the 
 patron of Naples, their guardian Saint, 
 There is a famous ftatue of him at Pozzoli, 
 a few miles off, which the Saracens, in one 
 of their expeditions to this kingdom, wan- 
 tonly defaced, by breaking off his nofe, and 
 putting it in their pockets j upon which, 
 ftorms arofe, and continued blowing fo vio- 
 lently that they could never put to fea, till, 
 providentially, fome of them thought it was 
 owing to the refentment of the image, who 
 would not be appeafed fo long as his nofe was 
 in their poffeffion ; upon which they threw it 
 into the fea, and fine weather immediately 
 fucceeding, they failed profperouily to their 
 havens. In the mean while, the artifts en- 
 deavoured to repair the image with a new 
 nofe, but neither art nor force could fatten one 
 on ; at length fome fimermen took up the 
 original nofe in their nets, but disregarding 
 it, becaufe they did not know what it was, 
 they flung it again into the fea ; neverthelefs, 
 the nofe continuing to offer itfelf to their nets 
 in whatever place they fifhed, they began to 
 conceive it muft be fomething fupernatural j 
 and one, more cunning than the others, fug- 
 
 gefted
 
 124 L E T T E R XXIX. 
 
 gefted it might be thenofe of the Saint, upon 
 which they applied it to the flatue, to exa- 
 mine whether it fitted, and immediately, 
 without any cement, it united fo exactly, as 
 hardly to leave any appearance of a fear ; in 
 which ftate we fee it. I do not infift upon 
 your believing all the particulars of this mi- 
 racle, but, let me tell you, I have feen fome 
 thoufands to-day who would think you a vile 
 wretch if you would not. I hope the above 
 defcription will give you an idea of the ma- 
 chine which contains the two phials of blood ; 
 if it does not, you are only to conceive a very 
 flat watch, of three inches diameter, without a 
 dial-plate, &c. and with glafTes both,before and 
 behind it, in which cafe you would fee the 
 guts of the watch, as you now do the phials : 
 By this method of enclofing the phials, the 
 heat of the hands can have very little effect 
 on them, .fo as to liquefy their contents. 
 
 We live in a quarter of the town called St 
 Lucia, a Saint, as the legend informs us, who, 
 in the perfecution of the Chriftians, under 
 Dioclefian, had her eyes torn out by the ex- 
 ecutioner ; which circumftance has given her 
 a great reputation for working miracles on 
 every fpecies of blindnefs. Her chapel is 
 
 clofe
 
 LETTER XXIX. 125 
 
 clofe to our houfe, and the day before yef- 
 terday was her anniverfary. I attended the 
 fervice both morning and afternoon, to fee 
 the method of cure. In the midft of the 
 chapel is a paltry wooden image of her faint- 
 fhip, with a platter in her hand, containing 
 the reprefentation of two eyes. All the pati- 
 ents pafs their hands over thefe eyes, and im- 
 mediately rub their own, before the virtue 
 exhales. There is alfo a fmall piece of bone 
 fet in (ilver (a filver arm) which they pretend 
 to be a relick of the faint ; this they kifs, 
 which likewife operates miraculoufly 5 but I 
 believe mofl of the patients take the advan- 
 tage of both methods. At the church door 
 there are feveral ftalls, where they fell prints 
 of the martyr ; the very poorer! of the dif- 
 eafed can afford to buy the cheapeft : I was 
 offered one for fo fmall a fum as three calli, 
 which is not quite half a farthing. 
 
 It is faid to have been a practice amongft 
 the Heathens, not only to upbraid, but even to 
 chaftife their Gods, when they were not pro- 
 pitious to their prayers ; the fame thing is 
 faid of the lower clafs of people amongft the 
 Neapolitans : If a Madona, or any particular 
 Saint upon whom they depend, does not an- 
 
 fvver
 
 ia6 LETTER 
 
 Aver their expectation, they will fometimes 
 behave very rudely on the occafion. I can- 
 not fay I have feen any inftance of this grofs- 
 nefs ; but, furely, if ever a Saint deferved pu- 
 nifhment, it is this fame Santa Lucia. Had 
 you beheld the infinite number of blind peo- 
 ple I did that day in the neighbouring ftreets, 
 who have come from year to year for her 
 fuccour, I do not doubt but you would have 
 cudgelled her like the Medecin malgre lui, in- 
 to the exertion of her powers ; I mean, upon 
 the fuppofition that you were one of this fort 
 of Catholicks. 
 
 I am y Sir, &c. 
 
 LETTER XXX. 
 
 NAPLES, Jan. 1766. 
 S I R, 
 
 IT muft be in confequence of the precari- 
 oufnefs of punimment, that this city fur- 
 nifhes many more delinquents, in proportion 
 to its dimenfions, than our wicked London. 
 I think there are in the prifons here, about 
 
 four
 
 LETTER XXX. 127 
 
 four or five thoufand, (fuppofe two or three 
 thoufand) befides about two thoufand in the 
 galleys, lying in the harbour. Thole in the 
 galleys are chained two and two, and may be 
 thought to fuffer from lying on the decks, but 
 their condition is far preferable to that of many 
 of the poor, who lye in the ftreets ; befides that 
 they have a certain allowance of bread from the 
 King, and even fome cloathing ; but above 
 all, and what renders the life of a poor Nea- 
 politan happy, they are, in a manner, exempt 
 from labour, for very few are employed in 
 cruizing, or other bufinefs; whatworkthey do 
 aboard the vefTels, is chiefly for their own bene- 
 fit, and, I may fay, luxury. If a taylor, a fhoe- 
 maker, or any other handicraftfman earns a 
 few pence, he puts it into his pocket, and pur- 
 chafes fome rarity, the government, as I have 
 intimated before, furniming him with bread. 
 The gallyes lye very near my lodgings, and 
 I have often diverted myfelf with fpeculating 
 on, the lives and manners of thefe flaves. 
 The Neapolitans are not a gay mercurial 
 people, but thofe aboard the galleys are by no 
 means graver than thofe out of the galleys ; 
 and a man who has vifited them fo frequently 
 as I have done, will never afterwards, when he 
 
 means
 
 LETTER XXX. 
 
 means to picture extreme mifery, reprefent if 
 as the proverb does, in the mape of a galley- 
 flave. I have feen a mufician aboard, enter- 
 taining them with vocal and inftrumental mu- 
 lick, whom I fuppofed one of their gang, but, 
 upon enquiry, found he was a poor man, 
 they paid for his performances when they 
 were difpofed to be merry j and I do not 
 doubt but this poor man ftyled thofe we call 
 wretches, his good matters. If then fo fober, 
 fo phlegmatic a nation as ltaly y finds fuch 
 delights aboard a gaily, what do you think 
 of the lively {kipping Frenchmen in the gal- 
 leys at Marseilles ? I fhould fuppofe, take 
 one with another, they are a jollier, happier 
 fet of people than our city plumbs. There are 
 many fervices, however, to which thefe idle 
 fellows might be very properly deftined, 
 fuch as mending the horrid roads of this 
 kingdom, which could not fail to redound to 
 the honour and profits of the nation, and at 
 a very fmall immediate expence ; but, as I 
 told you before, the police here is not on a 
 good footing. 
 
 I have, in fome of my letters, mentioned 
 how often murderers efcape unpunimed, and 
 have affigned it as the obvious reafon, why 
 
 murders
 
 LETTER XXX. 129 
 
 murders are fo much more frequent in Naples 
 than London. Would you believe it poiliblei 
 that a Magiftrate of this city, a few days 
 fince, declared to a Gentleman who interro- 
 gated him on this fubject, that the preceding 
 week the populace had been very orderly, for 
 that only four murders had been committed ? 
 I have this account from very good autho- 
 rity, a Neapolitan^ of great birth, and 
 a high ftation, who attefts it to be a fact. 
 Perhaps, however prone the populace are to 
 fo atrocious a deed as murder, the relation 
 may be exaggerated ; yet, certainly, they do 
 not here hold it in fuch horror as we do iri 
 the colder climates. A young Gentleman 
 informs me, that, on the road to this place 
 from Rome, he faw, at a diftance, a fcuffle 
 amongft fome poftillions, in which, as it pro- 
 ved afterwards, one of them was ftabbed dead. 
 Upon an enquiry into the occafion of the tu- 
 mult, his meffenger was coolly anfwered, that 
 it was a colpo di coltello, (a ftab with a 
 knife.) If the guilty efcape, or the innocent 
 are convicted, you, an Englift>man> will not 
 admire at it, when I tell you, that the plain- 
 tiff and defendant do not appear face to fate be- 
 fore the judges, nor are the evidences confron- 
 I ted j
 
 i 3 o LETTER XXX. 
 
 ted ; but the method of trying criminal caufes 
 here, is by the intervention of a Scrivano( At- 
 torney) both on the fide of the profecutor and 
 the delinquent, the one of which, ftates the ac- 
 cufation, and the other the defence ; after 
 that, the judges, by a plurality of voices, de- 
 termine according to the nature of the evi- 
 dence ; a very loofe vague manner of decid- 
 ing caufes of this nature, and which muft 
 leave a door open to a thoufand fubterfuges, 
 chicaneries r and villainies j in facl r by this 
 means, juftice is often eluded, either abfolute- 
 ly, or for a length of time j and the delays 
 of criminal caufes become as tedious as the 
 delays of civil caufes. 
 
 It a little hurts me, that fo many of my ac- 
 counts from this kingdom mould feem fe- 
 vere. I defire, therefore, you will remark, 
 that my cenfures regard only the morals of 
 the lower people, and the gallantry of the 
 great. I wifh I could always write panegy- 
 ric ; for, fpeaking as an Englijhman, every 
 partiality allowable mould be admitted in 
 their favour. I allure you, the politenefs of 
 the Italians towards our nation is very win- 
 ning : Towards the French they are not fa 
 cordial ;, that people, by their frequent and 
 
 wanton
 
 L E T T E & XXX. i 3 i 
 
 wanton inva/ions of Italy, for Tome few cen- 
 turies paft, have given birth to a national ani- 
 mofity which will not foon be appeafed. 
 
 There are not, as I have faid, many of the 
 Nobility who keep any kind of open table ; 
 but thofe who do, never fail to invite fuch 
 Englijh, whofe quality, connections, or re- 
 commendatory letters, render them proper 
 company for people of the firft rank. The 
 Prince of Franca Villa clofed the carnival 
 laft week with a fplendid dinner, (perhaps 
 more fplendid than any you fee in London, 
 provided for eighteen guefts, ten of which 
 were the Englijh Gentlemen on their travels, 
 I do not find, by my obfervationSi that fo- 
 reigners think fo abjectly of us, as we do 
 ourfelves; It is much for our honour they 
 do not read our news-papers, fo filled with 
 groans, complaints, and defpair, on the fub- 
 ject of our prefent ftate j for abroad we are 
 efteemed a happy, rich, triumphant nation. 
 Madam , a German Lady of the firft 
 diftinction, has lately procured the good opi- 
 nion of the Englijh by a bon mof which, 
 however, came better from her mouth, than 
 it does from my pen, as it owes fome part of 
 its beauty to the emphafis with which flie ut- 
 
 I 2 tered
 
 -132 LETTER XXX. 
 
 tered it. It feems me had fallen into a flight 
 altercation with a Frenchman on national fub- 
 jects, and being a little provoked by his man- 
 ner, which me thought vain and overbear- 
 ing, {he told him with fome indignation, 
 Sir, you Frenchmen, I know, defpife every na- 
 tion under the fun except the E?2g!iflj, and 
 them you hate ; but you would defpife them if 
 you could. 
 
 I am, Sir, &c. 
 
 LETTER XXXI. 
 
 NAPLES, Jan. 1766. 
 SI R, 
 
 YO U have no idea of the populoufnefs 
 of this city : Many of the ftreets re- 
 femble a crouded market ; and, it is true, thefe 
 ftreets are a kind of market ; for the princi- 
 pal trade carried on here is for eatables. The 
 flreet of Toledo, by far the moft magnificent 
 one in Naples, is very much disfigured by 
 numberlefs flails, which attract an infinity of 
 cuftomers j but I fuppofe another reafon why 
 
 Naples
 
 LETTER XXXI. 133 
 
 Naples appears fo much peopled, is, that 
 very few manufactures are carried on there j 
 and the lower clafs of people, chufing rather 
 to live on the chanty of monafteries, than do 
 any kind of work, are therefore always loi- 
 tering in the ftreets ; whereas- our labouring 
 artificers, in London, are generally fhut up the 
 whole day, either in fhops, cellars, or gar- 
 rets ; but, upon the whole, I can venture to 
 declare, that the flreets in London appear like 
 a defert, compared with many in Naples ; 
 which lafl almofl referable King-flreet, near 
 Guildball t when fome popular or mutinous 
 election is going forward. But if I wonder 
 at the fullnefs of their flreets, how fhall I 
 defcribe their Vicaria> their Weftminjler- Hall? 
 If I remember well, Mr Addifon fays, that 
 when a Neapolitan does, not know what to 
 do with himfelf, he tumbles over his papers 
 in order to flart a law-fuit j but, (incerely, if 
 the Kingdom of Naples were as extenfive as 
 the Commonwealth of Rome, when at its 
 highefl pitch of glory, and every caufe were 
 to be tried in the capital, the thoufands of 
 lawyers you fee here would anfwer to that 
 idea j but how they are fupported is to me a 
 problem. The firfl time I went to the VI- 
 I 3 caria,
 
 I 3 4 LETTER XXXII. 
 
 caria, I was mortified to have fet out fo late 
 from home, finding the ftreets crouded with 
 advocates in their way to dinner ; but not- 
 withftanding the difficulty of threading the 
 multitude, who were pouring out in fuch 
 numbers, I found, when I had pufhed into 
 the hall, almoft as much prefljng as we ufu- 
 ally meet with the firft night of a new play 
 in our London theatres. What a blelfed 
 country, where all who are not princes or 
 beggars, are lawyers or priefts ! 
 
 I am, Sir y &c. 
 
 NAPLES, Jan. 1766. 
 SI R, 
 
 TH E manner of burying their dead in 
 Italy is at firft very {hocking to an 
 Englijhman. Their cuftom is, to carry the 
 corpfe, dreft in his ufual wearing apparel, 
 with his face expofed, on an open bier, 
 through the ftreets, to the church where the 
 
 fervice
 
 LETTER XXXII. 135 
 
 Service is read j after which it is ftripped, 
 
 and at a convenient hour buried ; but there 
 
 is a pride and rivalfhip among the middling 
 
 rank of people, in dreffing out their dead 
 
 children for this exhibition, which is truly 
 
 ridiculous and laughable. The other day 
 
 there palled under our window the body of 
 
 a boy, about eight years old, whofe figure 
 
 and face were as hideous as the fmall-pox 
 
 could make them : Would you believe, the 
 
 parents had dreffed him in a fine laced hat, 
 
 bag wig, blue and filver cloaths, &c. and, 
 
 above all things, had not forgot to ftick a 
 
 fword on ? I do not in the leaft doubt but 
 
 the friends found a real confolation in the 
 
 prettinefs and richnefs of the corpfe, and were 
 
 amongft their neighbours more occupied with 
 
 this idea, than with that of the eternal ab- 
 
 fence of the child.' I have not had the good 
 
 fortune to meet with an Italian yet, who is 
 
 well enough read in the hiftory and cuftoms 
 
 of his country, to inform me of the origin 
 
 of this practice ; but I mould conjecture, 
 
 that it was at firft defigned to prevent foul 
 
 play. The reality of every man's death is 
 
 now evident to the whole parim ; and no 
 
 young fpendthrift can fpirit away a father, or 
 
 I 4 rich
 
 LETTER XXXII. 
 
 jich uncle, fill a coffin with Hones, fend it to 
 the grave, and then take poileflion of the 
 eftute. I fuppofe fame fuch imaginary evil, 
 was the ground of this conceit ; but it is a 
 famion 1 much condemn ; for the afpect of 
 death, ihould never be fuffered to become fa- 
 miliar to the common people, with fo much 
 bricnftone in their veins as the Neapolitan 
 mob have. -If a dead, or dying man, were a 
 {rightful object, a murderer would feel re~ 
 morfe in the very act of homicide, or the mo- 
 ment after j but there are ways to render 
 men capable of butchering a man and hog 
 with thefameyrf/2g-ym</. One would think, 
 that at Naples, the police had cultivated this 
 art j for the moft atrocious parricides, are fel- 
 dom punifhed here. I think the laft four years, 
 have furniiLed but four examples of executi- 
 ons j and as if a fatality were to attend all their 
 judgements, two of the four proved after - 
 warcis to have been innocent. Jf a murderer 
 touches a church wall (and many walls arc a 
 church wall in this city) before he is feized 
 by the officers, holy church will not admit 
 him to be hanged. Then take with you, that 
 if one man ftabs another in the light of ten 
 witneffes, they all decamp, and leave the coaft 
 
 clear
 
 LETTER XXXII. n 7 
 
 to the afTaffin. The murderer and all the 
 fpedtators, who remain with the corpfe, are 
 indifcriminately feized and carried to prifon j 
 forjuftice will not fee for many days, and 
 fometimes weeks, which are the criminal, 
 and which the witnelTes. You will not 
 therefore wonder at the difficulty of procur- 
 ing evidence, upon the/e occafions. Mr 
 Hamilton^ the minifter, once this year, gave up 
 thirty two, who had taken fanduary within 
 the privileges of his walls, amongft which 
 there were five or fix murderers, and they 
 all found means to be difcharged the next day. 
 There was a foldier executed laft week, who 
 complained he was dealt very hardly with ; 
 and indeed it feemed rather an act of wanton- 
 nefs in the executive power, than ufeful juf- 
 tice ; for the poor devil had been in prifon 
 near fix years, fince his condemnation, and 
 both he and his crime were forgotten long 
 ago. For what reafon he was produced to 
 terrify murderers, I do not know ; but I 
 think a recent example, would have made 
 more impreffion on this barbarous populace. 
 He was a hardened dog it feems, and availed 
 himfelf of a ridiculous Gothick privilege, 
 granted to criminals here, of having a fumptu- 
 
 ous
 
 138 LETTER XXXII. 
 
 ous dinner before the execution, and inviting 
 what friends he pleafed to it. 
 
 I {hall now give you a defcription of a 
 ftrange, wild, and barbarous entertainment 
 given to the populace here four Sundays fuc- 
 ceflively in the Carnival. Oppofite to the 
 King's palace, at forty or fifty yards diftance, 
 they build a kind of booth, with deal boards, 
 of about the fize of the largeft booth in Bar- 
 tholomew fair, but a little different in form, 
 being rather a fcaffolding than booth, and ha- 
 ving no top or covering j there is fome kind 
 of order or architecture in it, there being at 
 each end two large doors, fupported each by 
 two columns : You afcend by thefe doors 
 into the body of the building, which rifes to 
 a height equal to that of a moderate houie in 
 London. Upon the feveral parts of the fcaf- 
 folding are intermixed a variety of bumes and 
 branches of ever- greens j and behind the 
 whole, and indeed in the midft of it, are fome 
 painted fcenes, to render the object gaudy, 
 and to deceive the eye with a view of a dif- 
 tant landfcape. The fides, of the building are 
 ftudded with an infinite number of loaves, 
 placed in a beautiful architectical order, and 
 likewife with a great quantity of joints of 
 
 meat.
 
 LETTER XXXII. 139 
 
 meat. Amongft the bufhes are thirty or 
 forty living fheep, fome hogs, fmall beeves, 
 and a great many living fowls. Now, the 
 bufmefs of the day is to facrifke thefe poor 
 creatures, to the hunger of the mob $ to do 
 which with fome order, the foldiery, to the 
 number of three thoufand men, furround the 
 Building, to keep off the people till the King 
 appears in the gallery, who waves his hand- 
 kerchief for a fign when to begin the cere* 
 mony. Upon this, the foldiers open their 
 ranks, and all the mob rufh in, and each, as 
 he can, feizes his prey, and carries off the 
 provifion and the living animals. The whole 
 operation is almoft inftantly over. You may 
 imagine the mob form into little confedera- 
 cies, or partnerfhips, for the more convenient 
 execution of this purpofe, and the carrying 
 off a fheep or an ox. There have been in 
 thefe riots much mifchief done formerly, but 
 this year I do not find that any man was ei- 
 ther killed or hurt. The four companies of 
 butchers, bakers, fishmongers, and poulter- 
 ers, defray the charges of the four days. I 
 cannot meet with any Neapolitan who knows 
 the antiquity of this cuftom, or can tell me 
 whether it be derived from the Moors, when 
 
 they
 
 1 40 LETTER XXXII. 
 
 they were in poffeffion of fome pan of the 
 Sicilies, or whether it be originally of Chrif- 
 tian growth. 
 
 An Engltfkman beholds with aftonimment 
 fo many thoufands collected together, and 
 behaving fo peaceably. In London, upon fuch 
 an occafion of jollity and riot, one half of the 
 croud would have been drunk ; we fhould 
 have feen one party quarrelling, another fight- 
 ing, fome laughing, all noify ; and, to corn- 
 pleat the confufion, perhaps two or three 
 dead cats hurled about from one to another, 
 during the whole time of waiting. It ap- 
 pears to me, therefore, that, diabolical as the 
 Neapolitan lower people are in their nature, 
 when exafperated, they are much more un- 
 der the reftraint of order, when in good hu- 
 mour, than our mob. 
 
 I am, Sir, &c. 
 
 LET-
 
 LETTER XXXIII. 
 
 NAPLES, January 1766. 
 SIR, 
 
 IBELIEVEI have writ you word, that 
 in fo large a city as Rome, there is not 
 one hackney coach j an argument how few 
 people can afford to ride, who do not ride in 
 their own carnages. At Naples there is no 
 other convenience of this kind than fmali 
 chairs, fuch as we call fulkies, which, how- 
 ever, two people make fhift to fit in j they 
 are drawn by a fmall horfe, which fcampers 
 at a good rate, and the owner who lets it, 
 ftands behind, like a footman, with the whip, 
 whilft the riders in the chaiie hold the reins. 
 The pavement of this city is amazingly good 
 and fmooth, fo that the draught is exceedingly 
 fmall. It is a ftone, compofed of the mate- 
 rials within the bowels of Mount Vefuvius^ 
 which, when it burns, are liquefied into a 
 mafs, and, by the eruption, are poured down 
 the mountain, into the circumjacent country. 
 This liquefied matter, when it cools, becomes 
 wonderfully hard, and makes the beft pave- 
 ment
 
 i 4 2 LETTER XXXIlL 
 
 ment in the world j and it is thought by 
 ibrne antiquarians, that the famous Roman 
 road, called the Appian Way^ fome of 
 which has fubfifted near two thoufand years, 
 was paved with the fame ftone, or rather 
 lava, the proper name for this liquefied fub- 
 fiance. You may imagine the fare of thefe 
 fulkies is not great ; they carry a man, at 
 leaft a Neapolitan^ for four-pence halfpenny, 
 about a mile, and, if you keep them in 
 waiting, it is about four-pence halfpenny an 
 hour ; but there is no fixed price, and a 
 ftranger mould make a bargain. I have ne- 
 - ver yet rid out an airing in them, neverthe- 
 lefs Englifhmen of the firft famion take them 
 for their excurfions into the neighbouring 
 towns and villages. They are likewife ufe- 
 ful, as being expeditious j for all the job- 
 horfes in the coaches you hire, are fuch poor 
 ftarved things, they can hardly drag you a 
 moderate trot; and fo wretchedly is this city 
 provided with the luxuries, or, indeed, many 
 of the conveniencies of life, that I queftion whe- 
 ther if another foreigner were to come here, he 
 could poffibly procure a coach, and a pair of 
 job-horfes ; or, in other words, whatever en- 
 gagements a foreign family may have made 
 
 for
 
 LETTER XXXIII. 143 
 
 for the evening, if their horfes were to be ta- 
 ken ill, they muft ftay at home, for the reafon 
 I have juft affigned. 
 
 Surprifingas this facl: muft appear to you, 
 you will think it ftill more furprifing, that in 
 a metropolis faid to contain three hundred 
 and fifty thoufand inhabitants, it mould be 
 impoffible to find lodgings fit to receive a 
 Gentleman ; yet fo it is j and there are no 
 apartments to let here, equal in accommoda- 
 tion to what may be taken amongft the poor 
 houfekeepers in Shoreditcb : But how can 
 this poffibly be the cafe, have I often cried 
 out, when there are no courts of judicature 
 in the kingdom, except thofe of Naples, 
 where all the world muft come to try their 
 caufes ? I am anfwered, that is very true ; 
 but Neapolitans of every kind, from the bed 
 to the loweft, fatisfy themfelves with thefe 
 accommodations : In mort, except the houfe 
 where I am, and another juft by it, there are 
 only two more indifferent houfes of reception 
 in all Naples, where ftrangers refort. 
 
 I write mifcellaneoufly, as my thoughts oc- 
 cur ; for, upon cafting an eye over the prece- 
 ding paragraphs of my letter, I perceive that 
 I {hould have told you why the pavement in 
 
 ~
 
 LETTER XXXIV. 
 
 Naples is always fo good; the reafon is, that 
 no heavy carriages ever pafs over it ; the 
 heavieft are coaches and chariots ; as all the 
 goods brought into, and carried out of the city 
 are upon a fingle afs's back. The gardeners, 
 who are the principal traffickers, fend their 
 commodities on an afs, which returns laden 
 with dung. I believe they are very impolitic 
 in this particular, as a gardener who fends 
 three alTes loaden in this manner, might, with 
 a fmall cart, lend by thofe three afles, three 
 times as much burthen, and return three times 
 as much dung. 
 
 lam, 
 
 LETTER XXXIV, 
 
 NAPLES, March 3, 1766. 
 SIR, 
 
 THE excurfions from Naples are de- 
 lightful ; we are now making our 
 country vifits to all the environs, where either 
 nature. or antiquity 'invites us. Upon the 
 borders of our Bay, ran that range of beauti- 
 ful villages and villas which were the refi- 
 
 dence, y
 
 LETTER XXXIV. 145 
 
 dence and luxurious retirement of the Ro- 
 mans, in the times of their politenefsand glo- 
 ry. Read Horace, or fome of Mr Pope's 
 Imitations of Horace's Satires and EpifUes, 
 and, if I remember rightly, you will meet 
 with allufions to thofc places, and almoft con- 
 ceive of them as well as we ourfelves do -, for 
 we only fee the ground where thofe magni- 
 ficent palaces and villas flood. Many of the 
 noble Romans chofe the circuit of this Bay for 
 their country-houfes, and winter retreat. CV- 
 cero had one of his eighteen villas here. A 
 great part of this coafl lies expofed to the 
 South fun, and under the brow of a cliff, 
 which renders the climate here much hotter 
 than that of Naples, fo that though it be 
 only from five to ten miles diftance, the fruits 
 and herbage are more than a fortnight for- 
 warder, than near the city. 
 
 At a town called Puzzoli, about half 
 way to Baia, on one fide of the Bay they 
 have within thefe few years difcovered 
 an antient temple, dedicated to Serapis, with 
 fome magnificent remains, and, amongft 
 others, three pillars, of an immenfe diame- 
 ter. Were Martinus Scribkrus here, he would 
 be miferable to behold the little veneration 
 
 K (hewn
 
 146 LETTER XXXIV. 
 
 ihewn to thefe curiofities. I really believe, 
 a Gentleman, with five thoufand a-year, in 
 England, would mortgage a part of it, to 
 preferve the building in its exact form, with 
 all the ornaments, paintings, &c. Here the 
 King, or, rather, the Regency, lays violent 
 hands on the ftatues, pictures, &c. as they 
 occur in digging, and tranfport them to fome 
 of the royal palaces, where they lofe half 
 their merit'. Some of the paintings on the 
 walls fufTer extremely on the removal, and 
 would be a precious relick, if properly prefer- 
 ved in their own places. 
 
 On the other fide of the Bay is a city un- 
 der ground, called Pompeio ; it is about twelve 
 miles from Naples. The fhort hiflory of 
 this town, is, that it fuffered from an earth- 
 quake, and, amongft other buildings, a cer- 
 tain temple, dedicated to Ifis, was fwallowed 
 up. This temple was re-built, as appears 
 from fome infcriptions lately found, together 
 with the temple itfelf 5 for the town being 
 fituated but a few miles from the neigh- 
 bourhood of Mount fefuvtus, an eruption 
 (I think in Vefpafian's time) from fome one 
 of thefe infernal caverns, threw up a fuffici- 
 cnt quantity of dirt to bury the whole town-, 
 
 which
 
 LETTER XXXIV. 147 
 
 which has lain concealed from that time till 
 within the laft fifteen years, when a peafant, 
 who was plowing or digging the ground, hit 
 by chance againft fome fragment of ftone, 
 which, upon examination, led on to the 
 above-mentioned temple of Ifis. They are 
 now removing the rubbifb, by flow degrees, 
 and have already made difcoveries which in- 
 tereft every fpeclator who has the leaft curi- 
 ofity. Beiides the Temple, they have found 
 the two gates of the High-Street, at about 
 a mile's diftance from each other, leading to 
 Naples. The pavement is in as perfect or- 
 der as if the flones had been laid but yef- 
 terday, and the foot-path on each fide is 
 juft like ours made lately in Weflminfter, 
 though not quite fo high. There are the 
 bones of fix or feven perfons which lay in 
 the prifon, from whence it may be conclud- 
 ed the town was not overwhelmed fo fud- 
 denly, but that all the inhabitants, except 
 thefe poor confined wretches, had time to ef- 
 cape. 
 
 Perhaps, could we know what a dreadful 
 hollow we tread upon, and what a quantity 
 of combuftible matter there is within it, we 
 mould rejoice that we are on the point of 
 
 K 2 leaving
 
 148 LETTER XXXIV. 
 
 leaving fuch treacherous ground : At prefent 
 we comfort ourfelves, that what happens 
 only once in a thoufand years, will hardly 
 happen during our ftay ; but it really is cu- 
 rious, if not frightful, that, in a certain place 
 called Solfatarra, not half a mile from Puzzoli, 
 which abounds fo with fulphur as to be almofl 
 intolerable to the noftrils,you not only hear the 
 water boil under your feet like a great boiling 
 cauldron, but if you ftrike the ground with a 
 rammer, or let fal la heavy ftone, you are asfen- 
 fibleof a cavity underneath, as that a drum is 
 hollow, from the found it yields. In all this 
 neighbourhood you have continually before 
 your eyes a very extraordinary phenomenon, 
 a mouHtain called Monte Nuovo (the New- 
 Mountain) becaufe it appeared fuddenly in 
 the night of the 2gth of September 1538. 
 That night there was a terrible earthquake in 
 this place, which made great havock, and, in 
 exchange, poured out from its bowels this 
 monftrous mountain, which occupies the 
 place, where, before that accident, there was 
 even ground. 
 
 Mifeno, fo celebrated by the Antients, 
 near which the Roman navy was ufually fta- 
 tioned, cannot efcape a traveller's regard when 
 ue is in its neighbourhood j but this promon- 
 tory
 
 LETTER XXXIV. 149 
 
 tory draws our particular attention from the 
 manner in which ^/rg/'/fpeaks of it. It was 
 very fingular that he mould chara&erife any 
 place, by prophecying it would always bear 
 the fame name ; but thus far his prophecy 
 holds true ; for, through a feries of barbarous 
 ages, it has preferved, and ftill does preferve 
 the fame name. 
 
 qui nunc Mifenus ab illo 
 Dlcitur^ aternumque tenet per fecula ncmen. 
 
 Herculaneum is the fubterraneous town 
 whofe name and reputation we are moft ao 
 quainted with ; but at prefent there is hardly 
 any thing to be feen there j for, in proporti- 
 on as they have emptied, they have rilled it 
 up with dirt -, and now, when you go under 
 ground, you fee nothing but a few remains 
 of a theatre. The opening into it refembles, 
 very much, the entrance into a large wine- 
 vault. The antiquities found there are car- 
 ried to the King's palace at Portici^ and com- 
 pofe a moft curious Mufasum. I fhall not 
 give you a lift of the antient implements re- 
 covered from this city, but, amongft others, 
 they have preferved the utenfils of a Roman 
 kitchen, fuch as gridiron, fpits, pots, &c. 
 like thofe in modern ufe. There is a great 
 collection of manufcripts, but, though they 
 
 K 3 retain
 
 150 LETTER XXXIV. 
 
 retain the form of an antique volume, upon hand^ 
 ling, they prove tinder, and fall into a powder. 
 They have a moft ingenious device for fepa- 
 rating one leaf from another, but the rotten- 
 nefs of the paper baffles their purpofe, and it 
 fo feldom happens that they can detach an 
 entire paragraph (which, by the bye, when it 
 iucceeds, is of little ufe) that they "have given 
 up all hopes of gratifying the world with the 
 publication of thefe manufcripts. The learned 
 have, probably, a great lofs in this difappointr- 
 ment ; they flattered themfelves that the re- 
 maining books of 'Ltvy y and other valuable 
 writings, might have been found in this col- 
 lection ; now it is to be feared, that, though 
 they (hould be there, we {hall not avail our- 
 felves of thepoffeffion. 
 
 The men who are removing the rubbifh 
 at Pcmpeio, are day-labourers, but the people 
 firft employed were the galley-Haves, who 
 proved fuch curfed thieves, that they were 
 obliged to difmifs them very foon ; for no pu- 
 nifhment, howfoever fevere, deterred them 
 from ftealing every valuable antiquity that of- 
 fered in their way ; fo impoffible is it for fin- 
 gers accuftomed to pilfering, to refrain from 
 ' the practice, when opportunity invites. 
 
 It
 
 LETTER XXXIV. i 5 r 
 
 It may be remarked, that the common 
 people of Naples are much addicted to lar- 
 ceny. An eminent merchant of this city 
 tells me, that when he returns from his 
 country-houfe, to town, for the winter, he 
 conftantly brings the window-cafemeQts home 
 with him, and that every body who does not 
 leave a fervant, takes that method, for they 
 would certainly be ftolen if they were left. 
 You will conceive, from this ftory, how pal- 
 try country- houfes are in this place, where 
 they leave them open, and, confequently, 
 without furniture, all the winter. 
 
 The gentry of this country have fo few 
 purfuits, that they are quite at leifure to fol- 
 low any favourite ftudy j and what feems to 
 engage their principal attention, is, the means 
 of preferving and lengthening life. This 
 conceit is uppermoft in their thoughts from 
 morning to evening, and leads them into 
 much quackery, and, confequently, into fome 
 whimfical opinions and practices. As I live 
 clofe to the water- fide, I fee great numbers 
 who come there to take a dofe of health : 
 They do not ride about, but fit ftill, and 
 fnuff up the air, as a man takes rappee. Their 
 notions in regard to a confumption, are dread- 
 
 K 4 fully
 
 152 LETTER XXXIV. 
 
 fully inconvenient to lociety ; they are fd 
 fully perfuaded of the contagioufnefs of this 
 diftsmper, that when any of the family la- 
 bour under it, they abandon them almoft as 
 cruelly as if they had the plague. Brothers 
 and lifters are forbidden viiiting each other, 
 when any one of them is in this predicament j 
 and it is a rule, without exception, to burn 
 the doors, the hangings, and almofl the whole 
 furniture of a room in which any one dies of 
 a coniumption j and, lately, they have begun 
 the practice of removing the floor, for farther 
 fecurity. At firft I fmiled at this prejudice, 
 but I foon found it offenfive, not only to Nea- 
 politanS) but alfo to the Englijh who have 
 lived here fome time. At prefent I hold my 
 tongue when they talk on this fubject. Men 
 muft not be contradicted in opinions which 
 they efteem grounded on experience and mat- 
 ters of fact; more particularly when they 
 think the facts have fallen within their own 
 knowledge. 
 
 The whole navy of the kingdom of Naples 
 is generally to be feen in this port j for, in- 
 fignificant as it may appear to an Englijhm^n\ 
 it is much larger than they have any ufe for, 
 and therefore it lies rotting in the docks, and 
 
 mole
 
 LETTER XXXV. 153 
 
 mole of 'Naples. The only purpofe for which 
 they employ their {hips of war and frigates, 
 is acruife againft the Barbary rovers ; and this 
 happens but rarely. They feem at length to 
 have difcovered, that gallies are but a poor de- 
 fence againft frigates, or even fuch veflels as 
 our fmall privateers -, for which reafon, they 
 never fit them out for fea, but referve them 
 merely for prifons. The following is a true 
 lift of the fleet. Two men of war ; one of fixty 
 four guns, the other of fifty four. Two fri- 
 gates of thirty two guns each. Four gallies. 
 Four galliots. Six xebecks. A formidable 
 navy againft Lilliput> or their neighbouring 
 potentate the Pope, mould he declare war a- 
 gainft Naples. 
 
 I am y Sir > 
 
 LET-
 
 LETTER XXXV. 
 
 NAPLES, March 1766. 
 SIR, 
 
 IHave not yet told you, that I faw the 
 King's eldeft brother a few weeks fince : 
 He is rarely vifible, but the Regency think 
 proper to exhibit him a few times in the year : 
 Namely, when the King removes from Na- 
 ples to Portici, and from Portici to Naples, 
 I took the opportunity, when the family came 
 to town, of entertaining myfelf with that 
 fpedlacle. I met them half way on the road, 
 and flood in a' place where the coaches muft 
 neceflarily pafs near me. The adminiftra- 
 tion acl: wifely in expofing him now and then, 
 in this manner, to the eye of the publick, as 
 the very fight of him is a full vindication of 
 their conduct, in regard to the fentence of 
 idiotifm, and difinheritance, pafled on him 
 fome years fince. The court was in mourn- 
 ing ; but he was as well dreffed, as a youth in 
 mourning can be, and his hair as well comb- 
 ed, and as well powdered. With all thefe 
 advantages however, the very firft glance of 
 
 him
 
 LETTER XXXV. 155 
 
 him, convinced me that he wants 'every one 
 faculty of the mind. He has that wandering 
 roll of the eye, which is peculiar to idiots, 
 and new born infants j who, not having the 
 endowment of thought and reflection, confe- 
 quently cannot fix their attention to one ob- 
 ject. There are fome knavifh quacks, and 
 ibme filly doctors, who fay, the cure is not 
 jfiible, and that he may be reftored to his 
 fenfes, which, by the bye, he never enjoyed in 
 the lead degree, from the hour of his birth. 
 The opinion, however, might, in future times, 
 be attended with pernicious confequences : 
 A faction, in oppofition to the King, his 
 younger brother, might poflefs themfelves of 
 his perfon, affirm he had, by the virtue of 
 fome remedy, recovered his underftanding, 
 and, attempt to place him on the throne. 
 Perhaps, I am too deep-fighted a politician, in 
 looking fo far into futurity ; and, when I ap- 
 plaud the councils of Spain, for keeping him 
 at Naples, in order to obviate fuch a milchief, 
 perhaps they have no other meaning in it, 
 than avoiding the expence, the trouble, and 
 the many inconveniences of a change of 
 houfhold, and of fo long a journey, as that 
 from Naples to Madrid. By what I can 
 
 learn,
 
 i s 6 LETTER XXXV. 
 
 learn, he leads a happy kind of animal life. 
 He eats and drinks with much pleafure, is 
 fubject to no guft of paffion, and enjoys fuch 
 infantine amufements, as a child in arms, may 
 be fuppofed to enjoy. Certainly, the depri- 
 vation of reafon, is one of the greateft evils 
 that can befall a man ; and yet, poflibly, 
 whilft we are lamenting this Prince's deftiny ; 
 that, by the lofs of reafon, he lofes alfo his ti- 
 tles, his fplendour, and his profpect of a 
 throne ; were he, as by right of birth he 
 fhould be, Prince of Afturias, he might then 
 be curfed with ambition, difappointment, and 
 impatience for a crown, fo as to render him a 
 more miferable being than he now is, 
 
 The equipages which attended his Majefty, 
 and the court, were mean, old, and paltry, to 
 a degree truly curious ; therefore, if ever you 
 hear the King of Naples' s fine coaches men- 
 tioned, you muft underftand it of thofe he 
 ufes only on gtf/tffdays, and not of thofe he 
 travels in. The coaches of Naples are not fo 
 magnificent as thofe of Rome, but are more 
 numerous in proportion to its fize, than in any 
 city of Europe. At Rome fome of the coaches 
 are very fplendid ; but they want the tafte 
 with which the Paris coaches are both built 
 
 and
 
 LETTER XXXV. 157 
 
 and painted j betides, that the Paris varnifli 
 gives them an unfpeakable beauty. I am de- 
 lighted with the liveries at Rome, which I 
 think are fumptuous, and not tawdry. The 
 lace of them is neither gold nor filver, but 
 iilk and worfted extremely rich, and about 
 two inches and a quarter broad. I could 
 wim our quality would adopt this modeft 
 handfome famion, and the more, as it would 
 fuit the folid genius and character of our na- 
 tion, which is not quite fo prone to glare and 
 foppery, as the people of fome neighbouring 
 kingdoms. 
 
 Devotion, at Naples, is very much the mode 
 in Lent ; at this feafon they atone for pad 
 negligencies by many religious affiduities, and 
 even frequenting fermons, which are left 
 chiefly to the middling and poor people the 
 reft of the year ; but, previous to Lent, during 
 three weeks or a month, there is a fpecies of 
 devotion to be feen here, almoft peculiar to 
 Naples, either not being known, or at leaft 
 tnuch practifed in the other cities of Italy. 
 This is a dedication of a Prefepio to theBlef- 
 fed Virgin, and the Infant Jefus, in many of 
 their churches and many of their private 
 houfes. A Prefepio properly iignifies a man- 
 ger,
 
 LETTER XXXV. 
 
 ger, and as our Saviour was immediately after 
 his birth depofited in a manger, the inventi- 
 on of a Prefepio was defigned in honour of 
 that event. It is a group of little figures, 
 or puppets, reprefenting the whole tran- 
 faction. There are the Wife men of the 
 Eaft, with a ftar over their heads on one fpot : 
 The mepherds attending their flocks, with the 
 Angel defcending towards them on another ; 
 The Virgin, the Infant, Jcfepb, and the afs, on 
 another. In mort, the compofer has intro- 
 duced fuch figures, and hiftorical facts, into 
 the group, as the New Teftament, and fome- 
 times his genius, have fuggefled : But, what 
 renders a Prefepio really an object for a man 
 of tafte, is the artful difpofition of the figures, 
 amidft a fcenery of perfpective, moft won- 
 derfully deceitful to the eye. A certain mer- 
 chant has one on the top of his houfe, where 
 the perfpective is fo well preferved, that, by 
 being open at one end, the diftant country and 
 mountains become a continuity of the Prefe- 
 pio, and feem really to be a part of it. It is 
 faid, it coft five hundred pounds but a few 
 years fince. A nobleman here had one, where 
 fo much filver, and fo many beautiful fcenes 
 were admitted into the work, that it was va- 
 lued
 
 LETTER XXXVI. 159 
 
 lued at eight thoufand pounds. This noble- 
 men was expenfive in other articles, befides 
 that of his devotion, and was at laft obliged 
 to part with his filver Prefepio . to fatisfy his 
 creditors. All the poor people, if they are not 
 already provided with a Prefepio, purchafe a 
 cheap trumpery one at this feafon, which, 
 with care and locking up the remainder of 
 the year, will laft them their lives. 
 
 lam, dear Sir, &c. 
 
 LETTER XXXVI, 
 
 NAPLES, March 1766. 
 SIR, 
 
 WE purpofe foon to fet out for Rome, in 
 order to fee the ceremonies, or, as 
 they are ftiled in this country, the functions 
 of the Holy Week. You may imagine where 
 the Pope and Cardinals are, there the finefl 
 fpedlacle will be exhibited ; but there is a kind 
 of rivalmip amongft the cities of Italy at this 
 feafon, and one would think each was endea- 
 vouring to exceed the other in folly and fuper- 
 ftition. At Naples they have a pradice un- 
 known
 
 i6o LETTER XXXVI. 
 
 known at Rome, and which is meant as a 
 piece of devotion, a compliment to the Savi- 
 our of the World. From the Friday to the 
 Sunday inclufive, which three days our Lord 
 remained interred in the earth, the quality all 
 viiit in chairs, and thofe of inferior rank 
 walk. No carriages are allowed at that time 
 to pafs the ftreets, left by their clatter, they 
 fhould difturb our Saviour in his grave. I am 
 aware, a fenfible Catholick, and a fcholar, will 
 upbraid me with the groflhefs of this repre- 
 fentation, will tell me the ceremony is purely 
 allegorical, and that there is not a living mor- 
 tal fo ftupid, as to imagine they really can dif- 
 turb the reft of our Saviour, whom they know 
 to have rifen the third day after he defcended 
 into the grave. I confefs this kind of argu- 
 ment might have made fome impreffion in 
 me, had I never come into thefe countries ; 
 but here I fee that mankind is incapable of 
 allegory. Place before them an image to re- 
 mind them of the deity, and they prefently 
 fall down and worfhip the image itfelf ; fo, 
 at Naples, I perceive there are thoufauds who 
 do not reafon and refine, but underftand this 
 ceremony in its plain, obvious, literal fenfe. 
 
 Amongft
 
 LETTER XXXVI. 
 
 Amongft other ridiculous pra&ices, which' 
 are meant as facred ones, they faften a man on; 
 a crofs, and carry him in proceffion through 
 the ftreets of Naples. On each fide the crofs 
 are two vulgar women, who with their hair 
 dimevelled, and fome geftures of lamentation, 
 reprefent Mary and Mary Magdalen in tears. 
 The man who reprefents our Saviour on the 
 crofs, is fome poor fellow, who is paid a mil- 
 ling or two for his trouble, the extenfion of 
 his arms for a length of time being very un- 
 eafy and painful to him. As I never faw 
 this function myfelf, I fhall not enter into a 
 farther detail ; fuffice it to fay, it has an irre- 
 ligious tendency : The perfonages who re- 
 prefent are too infignificant to fupport the 
 dignity of the defign, and the mob, iriftead of 
 Cfteeming it an awful folemn emblem, every 
 now and then break out into ludicrous mock- 
 eries upon Jefus and the two Mary's, to the 
 gfeat fcandal of true religion. 
 
 They have even admitted into their devo- 
 tion the noife and explolion of gunpowder. 
 I was roufed one day from my feat, by an uni- 
 verfal difcharge of the artillery of Naples. 
 Had an enemy been near, I mould have been 
 terrified. As matters flood, I was only GU- 
 I'* rious
 
 162 LET T E R XXXVI 
 
 * 
 
 nous ; and to my great furprize was ipform- 
 ed, the guns had been fired for the immacu- 
 late Conception of the Virgin Mary : In truth > 
 the Neapolitans are the rnoft gunoowder na- 
 tion in the world. A merchant dee not fend 
 a few barrels of wine into the city, but the 
 carriages are preceded by fquibs, crackers, 
 and mufkets ; then what is worfe, during the 
 Cbriftmas week, all the young men, boys, and 
 little children, fpend every farthing they can 
 fcrape together, in gunpowder, and pop and 
 fhoot all day, and all night, to the great an- 
 noyance of thofe in health, as well a5 thofe 
 in ficknefs ; but it is an evil not to be re- 
 dreffed, becaufe it ic efteemed a religious ce- 
 remony done in honour of the feafon. 
 
 1 am, Sir, &c. 
 
 LET-
 
 L "E T T R XXXVII. 
 
 NAPLES, March 1766. 
 SIR, 
 
 IM A K E no doubt that you are apprifed 
 the Italians count their hours till twenty - 
 four o'clock j but I (hall inform you of fome 
 particulars on this fubjed, which, I prefume, 
 you cannot be apprifed of. They do not 
 reckon as we do, from the moment the fun is 
 in its highefl meridian, or, in other wordSj 
 from noon, but they begin their account from 
 the time it is almoft, and not quite dark ; 
 which inftant of time varying every day, ren- 
 ders this reckoning very inconvenient, vague* 
 and perplexed. For example j if to-day 
 they begin to count from our fix o'clock in 
 the evening, it will be one with them, when 
 it is feven with us ; but to-morrow at our 
 feven, it will with ' them exceed one, by as 
 many minutes as the day is lengthened. To 
 obviate, therefore, this error in time, in fome 
 degree, they alter their clocks and watches as 
 often as the error amounts to fifteen minutes, 
 advancing, or putting them back, as the days 
 fhorten or lengthen : However, if a man for- 
 
 L a ' gets
 
 164 LETTER XXXVII. 
 
 gets to alter his watch on the appointed day, 
 he lofes of gets a quarter of an hour, and 
 cannot be very punctual to his engagements. 
 I hope I have ftated this matter in fuch a 
 light as to make you entirely matter of it. In 
 this Southern latitude, the days are neither fo 
 fhort in winter, nor fo long in fummer as with 
 us. The fhorteft day in the year is nine 
 hours, ten minutes long, that is, the fun fets 
 at thirty- five minutes after four, and they 
 begin their reckoning from five minutes after 
 five, allowing half an hour of an interval, 
 after fun-fetting, which is very near the 
 whole twilight. The longefl day in the 
 year is but fifteen hours; that is, the fun fets 
 at half an hour after feven, and they begin 
 their reckoning at eight, the twilight in this 
 country lafting but little more than half an 
 hour aften fun-fet, on the 2oth of June. A 
 man, however, who would be critically exadt 
 as to time, mould be furnimed with proper 
 tables of calculation, as they do not reckon 
 always from jufl half an hour after fun-fet, 
 but vary the reckoning from twenty-feven 
 to thirty-one minutes, as I find by thefe ta- 
 bles. If one did not know, from an infinity 
 of experience, how difficult it is to change 
 
 eftab-
 
 LETTER XXXVII. 165 
 
 eftablimed cufloms, it would be natural to 
 exclaim againft the abfurdity of this people, 
 in not adopting Englijh and French clocks, 
 where the utility is fo notorious. At Turin 
 there are two Engl/JJj clocks : There are alfo 
 two publick ones here, and one or two in 
 moft of the great cities in Italy ; but I obferve 
 the natives of the lower fort do not compre 
 hend them ; fo far are they yet from prefer- 
 ring this kind of reckoning. You will be fur- 
 prifed when I tell you, that I cannot find one 
 learned man here, who knows the origin of 
 this method of reckoning, though I have con- 
 fulted fome, who, I thought, fhould have 
 been matters of the fubject. 
 
 Our long twilight in England^ during the 
 fummer, is one of the chief delights of our 
 climate, and I at firft pitied the Neapolitans 
 that they were fo foon involved in darknefs 
 after fun-fet, till I reflected on the benefits of 
 this providential contrivance in the frame of 
 the world ; for, had the ftructure of the 
 globe admitted of the oblique defcent of the 
 fun, in thefe hot countries, as it does in our 
 Northern regions, the poor inhabirants would, 
 in a manner, have been parched, or, rather, 
 this part of the world muft have been unin- 
 L 3 habited ;
 
 i66 LETTER XX%V1I. 
 
 habited ; but the fudden fetting of the fun, 
 not allowing in the long days of any confi- 
 derable twilight, the night becomes long, and 
 the intemperate heats are inftantly fucceeded 
 by a cooling frefhnefs. This frefhnefs of 
 the evening and night is fo comfortable dur^ 
 ing the fummer feafon, that the Neapolitans 
 generally live out of bed the whole night, and 
 fleep in the extreme heat of the day. 
 
 Now I have mentioned the heat, I cannot 
 help obferving, that, to a man in health, 
 the climate of England^ with its fogs and 
 cold, mould appear preferable to that of Na-* 
 ples^ where the fummers, by all defcription, 
 are fo grievouily burning, that, were it an ac* 
 cident that happened but once in thirty or 
 forty years, they might poflibly call it a 
 plague. They fit in chairs, with only a 
 thin callico gown, for hours together, fome 
 days, wholely occupied in wiping off the 
 fweat that runs in channels down their bodies. 
 Is not cold, with a good fire, a more defira- 
 ble iituation ? The winters here, excepting 
 that fometimes the immoderate rains render 
 them melancholy, are exceedingly pleafant 
 and wholefome ; for, notwithstanding the 
 rain, you fee no damps on their flair-cafes, 
 
 nor
 
 LETTER XXXVII. 167 
 
 nor on the walls of their chambers ; their 
 iron does not ruft as with us, nay, the paint- 
 ings on the outfide of buildings in water-co- 
 lours, remain for years. The feafon has been 
 much colder than ufual, and 1 have heard fome 
 of the Engliflj affert fuch a day to be as cold 
 as any day he ever felt in England^ but then 
 I have heard another declare that fame day 
 to be as warm as our firft of May ; fo little 
 can we depend upon one another, and fo vi- 
 olently affected are we, generally, by our pre- 
 fent feelings. Take along with you, as fome 
 meafure, however, of the moderatenefs of 
 the winter, in companion of ours, that the 
 flies are not all gone into winter quarters, ^ 
 and, I believe, in England we fee the laft of 
 them in November. Naples would not be fo 
 cold as it is, if it were not environed with very 
 high mountains, at the diftance, fome of 
 twenty-five, others of twenty and fifteen 
 miles, which, together, form an amphithea- 
 tre, except in that part where the Bay opens. 
 Thefe mountains, towards the North, North- 
 Eaft, and Eaft, are, in dry winters, often co- 
 vered with ihow, and when the wind blows 
 over them, Naples feels the effects ; and it 
 therefore, often happens, that, on the fame 
 
 K 4 day
 
 16? LETTER XXXVII. 
 
 day, you are fcorched by the heat of the fun, 
 and frozen by thefe penetrating winds, which 
 I iuppofe, muft fometimes produce various 
 diiorders. I cannot difmifs this fubjecl: 
 without informing you, that Mount Vefuvius 
 ftands in the midft of this amphitheatre, on a 
 plain, which has given rife to an opinion 
 amongft the naturalifts, that, originally, the 
 whole amphitheatre was flat, and that the 
 mountain was formed by an eruption from 
 the bowels of the earth. 
 
 Notwithftanding I fpeak of the temperate- 
 nefs of the winter in this climate, yet the pre- 
 fent year has exhibited the tops of the above- 
 mentioned mountains very frequently covered 
 with fnow, and, fometimes the fetting fun 
 mining upon the fnow, has afforded a moft 
 glittering profpect. I mould have told you, 
 when I mentioned, in a former letter, the cuf- 
 tom of expofing their corpfes in the procef- 
 fion of funerals, that the people of condition 
 are carried in coffins, as with us, except offi- 
 cers of diftinclion, who are expofed on a bier, 
 like the common people ; but I do not know 
 the reafon of the exception. 
 
 S/r, &c. 
 
 I, E T-
 
 LETTER XXXVIII, 
 
 N4PLES, March 1766, 
 S I R, 
 
 I A M now looking forwards towards En- v 
 gland i and next winter perhaps the cold 
 weather of the enfuing January may make 
 me regret the mild winters of Naples, but, I 
 am perfuaded, will never make me wim my- 
 felf there upon the only terms a man can get 
 there ; I mean, to travel fo great a diftance, 
 either by land or by fea. I have a notion 
 few men accommodate themfelves better than I 
 myfelf, to the little inconveniencies and diffi- V> 
 culties which muft occur j but I own to you, / 
 were I to remain long in Italy, the profpect \ 
 would be uncomfortable. I think I (hall J 
 love England the bettef for having quitted it : v 
 I am fure I (hall always entertain a higher 
 opinion of the people there, for this excur- 
 fion. Perhaps it is a kind providence which, 
 according to our quaint proverb, Home /s 
 borne, &c. but really and impartially, there 
 are in England more bleffings, more fweets of 
 life, and more virtues, in my opinion, than 
 are generally met with in other countries. 
 
 Even
 
 i 7 o LETTER XXXVIII. 
 
 Even the climate, bad as it is in winter, when 
 compared with the intemperate heats of the 
 fummer feafon here, is preferable to that of 
 Naples. An afthmatic man will contradict 
 this afTertion, but a man in good health will 
 fay with Charles II. " There is not a king- 
 " dom in the world where a man can walk in 
 " the (Ireets more days in a year, nor more 
 44 hours in the day, than in England" Both the 
 rains and the heat in this country are Ibme- 
 - times immoderately tedious. A certain Ne- 
 K apolitan, with whom 1 have contracted a 
 friendfhip, has, for many years, kept an ac- 
 count of the rain, which he tells me, falls to 
 the quantity of thirty or thirty-one inches in 
 a twelvemonth ; now, if I remember exactly, 
 there falls only from nineteen to twenty two 
 inches in London ; the difference, therefore, of 
 this kind of bad weather, in the two cities, is 
 prodigious. The news-papers have told you, 
 that the winter at Naples has been extremely 
 fevere, but yoUjmuft remember, it has been 
 only fo by comparifon, for the flies have not 
 been fo pinched, but that fome of them have 
 kept out the whole time ; a very fure criterion 
 of the moderatenefs of the cold. I cannot 
 drop this fubject, without obferving, that I 
 
 have
 
 LETTER XXXVHI. 171 
 
 have not feen one young gentleman on his 
 travels, who does not appear more eager than 
 I am to return to his friends and country. 
 I had always figured to myfelf, that they, 
 were in the higher! delight, when making 
 the Grand Tour ; but I find by experience, 
 that when they are here, they confider it as 
 a kind of apprenticelhip for qualifying a gen- 
 tleman, and would often return back abruptly, 
 did they not feel themfelves amamed to in- 
 dulge the inclination : Indeed, were it not, 
 that in the great cities they meet with num- 
 bers of their countrymen, the hours would 
 lye too heavy on their hands ; for few men 
 can fpend their whole life in the purfuit of 
 virtii, and fome have not the qualifications 
 of birth to recommend them to perfons of 
 high rank, where only is to be found what 
 little fociety there is in Italy. It muft be 
 confeiTed, the nobility here are not only po- 
 lite to Enghjhmen, but almofl proud of their 
 company, provided they c^me with a teftimo- 
 ny, that they have blood in their veins, or are 
 gentlemen of large fortunes ; yet, upon the 
 whole, their converzationi, as they are called, 
 grow tirefome, being fo little diverfified, in 
 comparifon of the elegant amufements of Lon- 
 don.
 
 LETTER XXXVIII. 
 
 don. One may eaiily conceive how limited a 
 converfation muft be, where men dare not fpeak 
 on the fubject of liberty, politics, or religion j 
 and where no drama is exhibited, and very 
 few writings, except of the moft ridiculous, 
 abject, fuperftitious kind, are published ; fo 
 that a man, in a liberal way of thinking, has 
 no refuge in thefe converfations, but cards, 
 where, Scandal fays, there is much foul play ; 
 and, probably, Scandal fpeaks truth ; for I 
 have heard of many young gentlemen who 
 have loft confiderably, but I never heard of 
 one who carried off his trunk full of fequins. 
 The race of men in this city, feem, in my 
 eyes, more robuft and athletic than the run of 
 mankind in London, and I am told they carry 
 larger burdens here than ours can do. When 
 I reflect on the wretched nourimment with 
 which the poor children are fed here, and 
 how miferably fallow and bloated they ap r 
 pear during their infancy, I cannot but fay I 
 am aftonifhed at this phenomenon ; perhaps 
 all thofe who have not very good ftamina 
 perifh, and the flout ones only furvive, which 
 may ferve as a kind of folution of this extra- 
 ordinary fact. I am very much difpofed to 
 account for it in this manner, becaufe, not- 
 
 withflanding
 
 LETTER XXXVIII. 173 
 
 withftanding the great numbers of children 
 in this city, as all the lower people marry, 
 they would fwarm ftill more, were they not 
 carried off under two years of age, in a much 
 greater proportion than amongft us. 
 
 The other day I faw a fellow fix foot high, 
 and very brawny, affault another with his 
 fift, but in fo aukward and womanly a man- 
 ner as made not only me but the ladies laugh. 
 Were you to fee fuch a man at Brougbton's, 
 you would bet on his head, whoever was his 
 antagonift ; but, I dare fay, an Etonian boy 
 of feventeen or eighteen would have boxed 
 him to a jelly. I never had a good opinion 
 of this Englifl} practice of boxing till I came 
 to Italy, but I now find it is a laudable and 
 innocent fafhion ; for men muft have fomc 
 kind of vent for their indignation, fome falvo 
 for their honour ; and it is happy, when the 
 worft thing a man does in his wrath, is the 
 giving a flap on the face, or a punch in the 
 ftomach, to the offending party : Here angry ~) 
 men immediately have recourfe to the knife, v -jj 
 and ftab in an inftant. It is amazing how J 
 many affafiinations there are in Italy, almoft 
 all of them the effects of quarrels. Now, 
 none of thefe affafiinations would take place, 
 
 were
 
 i 7 4 LETTER XXXVIII. 
 
 were the good Englijh mode of boxing in> 
 troduced amongfr. them. I was much pleafed 
 when I dined with Voltaire, to hear a remark 
 of his on the common people of England: 
 Some Frenchmen, impolitely enough, in my 
 pretence, took occafion to fneer at the whole 
 nation, on the account of this cuftom amongft 
 the common people. Voltaire, with great 
 vivacity, vindicated, in fome degree, the prac- 
 tice. " You may ridicule, faid he, if you 
 pleafe, the manners of an RitgKfl mob j but, 
 in the very inftance you have pitched upon, 
 they (hew a fpecies of honour not known in 
 any other part of the world ;" and then ap- 
 pealed to me, whether it was not true, that 
 when two fellows fought in the jftreet, if one 
 threw down the other, he did not fufFer him 
 to rife, and come to a fecond attack, fcorn- 
 ing to take any bafe advantage of him in that 
 predicament ; nay, continued he, is not this 
 generous principle fo well eftablimed amongft 
 the mob, that were a revengeful man, by 
 chance, to attempt any unfair cruelty, whilft 
 he was fuperior, the fpeclators would fly to 
 the relief of the diftreffed combatant, and 
 place him on his legs again in fpite of his 
 triumphant adverfary. You may imagine I 
 
 gave
 
 LETTER XXXVIII. 175 
 
 gave my aflent to this panegyrick, and was 
 not a little delighted to fee the tables turned 
 in favour of 'Engliftmtn. 
 
 It has always been faid, that the guardians 
 of a pupil King, endeavour to keep their ward 
 in ignorance, as a means.to preferve their own 
 power when he comes of age. The Neapo- 
 litan regency feem to have adopted this gol- 
 den rule. Would you believe, that though 
 the King is turned of fifteen, and is contract- 
 ed to a daughter of the Queen of Hungary , 
 his tutors fuffer him to play with puppets, 
 and are not afhamed to let ftrangers, and all 
 the world fee, in what his principle amufe- 
 ment confifts ? In one of the chambers of 
 the palace, you find Punch and the whole 
 company of Comedians, hanging upon pegs, 
 and clofe to them is a little theatre, where 
 they are exhibited, not to the monarch, but 
 by the monarch. 
 
 At Rome and Naples, during the Holy 
 Week, there are feveral religious, or, if you 
 pleafe, fuperftitious ceremonies performed j 
 and the King here, becaufe he cannot with 
 propriety partake of the publick communion, 
 has, juft by Punch's Theatre, in the fame 
 chamber, a little piece of fcenery, as long as a 
 
 dining
 
 176 LETTER XXXYI1I. 
 
 dining table, which is to be lighted up with 
 candles as thick as packthread ; and here 
 the Function, as they call it in Italy, of bury- 
 ing our Saviour, is to be performed for his 
 entertainment and devotion in a few days. 
 
 Every Friday, during the month of March, 
 there is a fa'fhion in Naples for every body to 
 go in proceflion to a certain church about a 
 mile out of the' city, in their fineft coaches, 
 and many of them with fix horfes, and a fe- 
 venth on the off hand, between the two fore- 
 moft pair, ornamented with jingling bells. I 
 was at this ceremony yefterday, and was 
 much furprifed to fee fo prodigious a quantity 
 of equipages ; for though I am 'perfuaded 
 many keep their coaches here, who dine upon 
 ftewed cabbage, yet the concourfe vaftly ex- 
 ceeded my expectation j for I can confident- 
 ly affirm, that upon no occafion whatfoever, 
 either in London or in Paris, have I feen near 
 
 fo great a number. 
 
 lam, Sir, &c. 
 
 LET
 
 LETTER XXXIX. 
 
 NAPLES, Marco 1766. 
 SIR, 
 
 SERMONS are not the purfuit of the 
 gentry in Catholick countries, and good 
 preachers are therefore uncommon. I had 
 flattered myfelf I (hould have gathered much 
 fruit from the pulpit, or atleaft, that I fhould 
 have been entertained. At this feafon of the 
 year, preachers of the moft diftinguiftied parts 
 quit their convents; and fpread themfelves 
 through the great cities of Italy -, to inftriic! 
 the people, and difplay their own talents. 
 You may imagine fuch a capital as Naples , in- 
 vites fome of the moft eminent amongft them. 
 Thefe I have followed ; but, as I have hinted, 
 am difappointed and mortified. A foreigner 
 cannot be too cautious in forming an opinion 
 on the declamation, either of the ftage or the 
 pulpit: In every country, there is a different 
 tone peculiar to that country, which it re- 
 quires a man (hould be born there, to tafte and 
 Co feel j fo that what is fweetnefs to a native, 
 is diffonance to a ftranger. Making therefore 
 M an
 
 178 LETTER XXXIX. 
 
 an allowance for the chantisgBe& of Italian 
 eloquence, and fuppofing that their fing fong 
 manner of preaching be perfuafive and maf- 
 culine, I will endeavour to afiign other rea- 
 fons why I am mortified. 
 
 The picture of St Paul preaching at Athens, 
 and 'the comparifon (fo common) of his at- 
 titude, with the action of the Italian preach- 
 ers, had given me great prejudices in their fa- 
 vour : I had not conceived, till I was brought 
 to the experiment, how dangerous it is to at- 
 tempt much action, which, to be graceful, 
 demands the niceft guidance. Some of the 
 pulpits here, are a kind of gallery, which al- 
 low great fcope for action : The injudicious 
 preachers do aot fail to take the advantage of 
 it 5 very often in the heat of their difcourfe 
 running from one end to the other ; and it is 
 this excefs, this abufe of action, which I ob- 
 ject to. It is the habit of this country to 
 employ much action in the molt trivial con- 
 verfations : This habit infefls the bar and the 
 pulpit, and, from an indifcriminate applica- 
 tion of it, on flight occafions, the force and 
 effect of it is loft on great ones. We fee upon 
 the ftage, where action is ftudied, how few 
 know how to adapt it to the fentiment and
 
 LETTER XXXTX. 179 
 
 degree of paffion they are to exprefs ; no 
 wonder, therefore, if the generality of preach- 
 ers, men bred in a monaftery, far from the 
 circle of the polite world, and, perhaps, urt- 
 der the influence of a fuperftitious enthufi- 
 afm, fhould be deficient in an art of fo deli- 
 cate a nature. You fee my opinion is, that, 
 however powerful action may be, when re- 
 ftrained within the bounds of decorum and 
 good fenfe, it becomes unpleafant and dif- 
 guftful when it runs into boifteroufnefs, as is 
 too frequently the cafe in Italy. 
 
 But what gives me more offence ftill, is; 
 a familiarity of ftile which they have introdu- 
 ced into their compofitiohs, when even God 
 Almighty and our Saviour are the fubject in 
 queftion. I went the other day to hear the 
 moft celebrated preacher now in Naples^ 
 who, amongfl other inelegancies; gave us a 
 familiar dialogue betwixt God and Jcfus 
 Chrift, in which our Saviour begg'd and 
 pray'd him that he would not damn man- 
 kind ; but God being inexorable, and deaf 
 to all entreaty, our Saviour faid, " Why then 
 if your juftice muft exceed your mercy, be 
 fo good to damn me, ?nd fpare them." This 
 the preacher told us God was fo good to com- 
 
 M 2 ply
 
 i8o LETTER XXXIX. 
 ply with. I believe I have not miftaken him 
 a jot, becaufe another Gentleman, who was 
 prefent, agreed with me, in every particular, 
 word for word, and I was fo fearful of mif- 
 reprefenting the truth, that I immediately 
 committed it to paper. Now if I do not 
 abufe your confidence, and if this preacher be 
 in the higheft eftimation, as I believe he is, 
 in what a ftate of barbarifm mufl the pulpit 
 be at this juncture ! 
 
 There has crept alfo into fafhion, an idle 
 cuftom of telling a ftory in their fermons, 
 with which they fometimes finim their dif- 
 courfe, as our clergy do with a practical infe- 
 rence. It is true, the moral of their ftories 
 is meant to be a religious one, but their at- 
 tempts to tell them in the character of a fine 
 Gentleman, and a man of the world, you will 
 readily imagine mufl often mifcarry. A cer- 
 tain Catholick Lady informed me, that laft 
 year me was at church, when a celebrated Je- 
 fuit told the following ftory. " That Queen 
 Elizabeth, fo famous throughout the world 
 for her herefy, made a compact with the De- 
 vil, that if he would indulge her in all me 
 defired, and fufFer her to reign fo many years, 
 me would furrender her foul at the conclufion 
 
 of
 
 LETTER XXXIX. 181 
 
 of that term." Accordingly, the day me died, 
 there was a great black cloud afcended from 
 the Thames, which drew the attention of an 
 infinite number of fpeftators, who at laft 
 heard a voice from the cloud pronounce thefe 
 words, / am the foul of Queen Elizabeth, now 
 going to the Devil for the Jim I have committed. 
 
 There is one week in Lent, that mod of 
 the Ladies of diftinclion go to hear a fermon 
 feven days fucceffively, in the above-mentio- 
 ned church, and it was on one of thofe days 
 the Jefuit told this ftory to the politeft congre- 
 gation in Naples. 
 
 The preachers here, have a crucifix, about 
 two feet high, flicking clofe to their elbow, 
 in the pulpit, but moveable at pleafure. The 
 Chrifl upon it has, generally, a crown of 
 thorns, and the ftreams of blood down his 
 face and breaft are painted with a lively red. 
 At the conclufion of the fermon, or on any 
 other appofite occafion, when the preacher is 
 to fet forth the fufFerings and agonies of our 
 Saviour, dying for the falvation of the world, 
 he takes the crucifix in his hands, difplays the 
 bleeding wounds of the image, and, if he 
 have any pathetic powers, never fails to ex- 
 tort from the audience fuch marks of con- 
 
 M 3 tri-
 
 i8i LETTER XXXIX. 
 
 trition and horror, fuch knockings on the 
 breaft, fuch an effufion of tears, and, fome- 
 times amongft the women, fuch involuntary 
 hifterical fcreams as you Proteftants have no 
 idea of; fo forcibly is the foul acted on when 
 the eyes are the inftruments by which it feels, 
 and not the ears only. It would be a danger- 
 ous experiment, the adopting fuch a crucifix 
 for that ufe, but, were it received, I would 
 defy any of the audience to fleep as they do 
 now a-days in Proteftant churches. 
 
 Powerful as the crucifix ufually is, parti- 
 cularly in the hands of an eloquent prieft, 
 I am tempted to tell you a ludicrous ftory, 
 bordering upon prophanenefs, where its ef- 
 ficacy failed ; it is one of thole inftances 
 where a burning zeal, through a deplorable 
 ignorance, furnifhes matter or raillery to fcof- 
 fers, and compaffion to fuch who are truly 
 religious. " At Naples there is a place called 
 the Largo del Caftelto, not unlike our Tower- 
 Hill, the refort of the idle populace. Here 
 every afternoon, Monks and mountebanks, 
 pick-pockets and conjurors, follow their fe- 
 veral occupations. The Monk (for I never 
 faw more than one at a time) holds forth, like 
 our itinerant field-preachers, to what congre- 
 gation .
 
 LETTER XXXIX. 183 
 
 gation he can colled j the Mountebank, by 
 means of Punch and his fellow comedians, 
 endeavours to gather as great an audience as 
 he can. It happened one day, that Punch 
 fucceeded marvelloufly, and the poor Monk 
 preached to the air , for not a living creature 
 was near him : Mortified and provoked that 
 a puppet-mew, within thirty yards of him, 
 ihould draw the attention of the people from 
 the Gofpel, to fuch idle trafh, with a mixture 
 of rage and religion, he held up the crucifix, 
 and called aloud, Ecco il vero Pulcinello , 
 " Here is the true Pulchinello, come here, 
 " come here !" - The ftory is fo well 
 known in Naples to be true, that the moft de- 
 vout. people tell it j and, were it not for fuch 
 a fanction, I fhould hardly have repeated it. 
 
 > Sir, 
 
 MA. LET-
 
 LETTER XL, 
 
 ROME, March 21, 1766. 
 S IR, 
 
 WE arrived laft night, in good health at 
 this place, after a difagreeable jour- 
 ney/iffuch a thing be poffible, when the wea- 
 ther is as fine as you can conceive it. We took 
 another road for our return, but both in our 
 going to, and coming from Naples , our views 
 were fo circumfcribed by the adjacent moun- 
 tains, that, were Italy to take its character 
 from the profpects, or the foil, in this tour a 
 the proudeft Roman could not have called it 
 the Garden of the World-, for all thefe moun- 
 tains are exceedingly barren. I fhould men- 
 tion, however, that the foil in the valleys is 
 very rich, and really, in general, fo exempt 
 from ftones, or clay, that I had been many 
 months here before I faw a man ufe a com- 
 mon fpade, the implement for digging being 
 the iron part of a fpade, fattened to a long 
 handle, and worked like a hoe j which, you 
 may imagine, is an expeditious method, where 
 the foil is foft, but would be impracticable 
 
 where
 
 LETTER XL. 
 
 where it is ft iff with clay, or clogged with 
 ftones. 
 
 In travelling through the kingdom of Na- 
 ples, and the Ecclefiaftical State, an Englifo* 
 man is ftruck at the fcarcity of villages and 
 cottages j indeed one may almoft afiert, that 
 there is no fuch thing as a village, or even a 
 clufter of houfes approaching to the refem- 
 blance of a village -, what fingle feparatc 
 houfes there are, you fee at a fmall diftance 
 from the towns j accordingly, as the country 
 is fo thinly inhabited, you find the towns 
 fwarming with inhabitants, moft of which, I 
 fuppofe, walk forth every day, to the dif- 
 tance of feveral miles, to labour in the coun- 
 try, I mean fuch who do labour ; for there 
 are infinite numbers of thefe idle people, who 
 wrap themfelves up in their cloaks, and ftand 
 penfively ftupid in the ftreets, from morning 
 to night. Holydays, which are very frequent 
 in this country, prefent x an appearance very 
 difagreeable to my eyes, that is, every foul in 
 this fauntring attitude. 
 
 The towns ftand on the fummit of a hill, 
 and, at fome diftance, afford a pleafant pro- 
 fpecl, being built with ftone, and flat roofs ; 
 tut, when you enter within the walls, and fee 
 
 the
 
 i86 LETTER XL. 
 
 the houfes fo offenfively nafty, and not only 
 without glafs, but even without (butters, the 
 marks of dirty poverty are fo ftrong as almoft 
 to turn the ftomach. The inns, on this road, 
 exceed in filth and bad accommodations all 
 that I have ever written on that iubject be- 
 fore ; I do fincerely believe, that they no 
 more think of wiping down a cobweb in a 
 bed-chamber, than our farmers do of fweep- 
 jng them away in an old barn ; and can af- 
 fure you, upon my honour, that, were a fpi- 
 der ever to fall from his manfion, every guefl 
 would be liable to receive it in his face as he 
 lies in bed j for the whole cieling is covered 
 with them j and, as I have lain on my back, 
 philofophically fpeculating on their numbers, 
 it has been matter of wonder how nature 
 fhould have provided for their fubfiftence, 
 fince the whole nation of flies hardly feems a 
 fufficient fuftenance for fo many beafts of 
 prey. 
 
 My conilant degree of afthma would not 
 fuffer me to afcend Mount Fefuvius to the 
 very top, fo as to take a furvey of its open- 
 ings, or, as it is called, the crater ; and, per- 
 haps, it may have been well for my bones that 
 I could not attempt it 5 for the party with 
 
 which
 
 L E T T E R XL, 187 
 
 which I Should probably have made the ex- 
 pedition, but narrowly efcaped with their 
 
 lives. Mr , Mr -, and Mr , 
 
 on fyefday fe'ennight, notwithstanding the 
 menaces of the mountain, which, at prefent, 
 is in a bluftering ftate, had the curiofity to fee 
 all that could be feen, and were not intimi- 
 dated enough, by fome fmall eruptions, to 
 withdraw, till they had indulged their fpe- 
 culation j when the mountain poured out fuch 
 a quantity of large ftones, that it is wonder- 
 ful they were not overwhelmed and demo- 
 limed. Mr received a wound in his 
 arm, which has been attended with fome 
 alarming circumftances, and confined him a 
 
 considerable time. Mr received a large 
 
 contulion on the calf of his leg, which, how- 
 ever, will do him no mifchief. Mr 
 
 was not hurt, but a ftone was hurled againft 
 his walking flick, with fuch velocity as to 
 carry it out of his fight. After this accident 
 nobody will go up the mountain till it be- 
 comes more pacific, and, probably, that will 
 not happen before it is delivered of the bur- 
 then with which it now groans. 
 
 Laft Saturday I went up with fome gen- 
 tlemen to the Hermitage, which is as high as 
 
 horfes
 
 j88 L E T T E R XL. 
 
 horfes or mules can carry a man ; it is inha- 
 bited by a French hermit turned of feventy, 
 who fells wine, and makes a profit of Englijh 
 travellers. In that cell, you are too far off to 
 be annoyed by the ftones, and have a very 
 fine profpect of the moft fertile country in 
 Europe ; the city, the bay, and the adjacent 
 iflands making together, what the French call 
 a beautiful Coup d'ceil. When you are at 
 the Hermitage, you difcover more clearly the 
 true fhape of the burning mountain, which 
 is evidently a diftindr, mountain, very fteep, 
 placed on another, which rifes with a gradual 
 afcent as far as the foot of this diftinct moun- 
 tain ; that is to fay, as high as the Hermitage ; 
 the whole furface is covered with vineyards, 
 except in certain channels where the ftreams 
 of lava have run down when the mountain 
 boiled over : Some of thefe vineyards pro- 
 duce the wine called Ldcbrimdc Cbrifti. 
 
 I believe, I need not now explain to you, that 
 the lava is that matter which is melted within 
 the bowels of the mountain, and is thrown out 
 by the eruptions, and which, when grown 
 cold, affumes the nature of ftone. From 
 the Hermitage, all the way up to the furnmit, 
 the mountain is covered with afhes, or lava, 
 
 and
 
 LETTER XL. iS 9 
 
 and, being exceffively fteep, is afcended with 
 the greateft difficulty, by the affiftance of 
 guides accuftomed to it; fome of which, 
 going before, draw you up by a firing faften- 
 ed round them ; and others, pufhing behind, 
 forward the motion. By the beft informa- 
 tions, I can get, the gentlemen were, with all 
 thefe aids, betwixt one and two hours arriving 
 to the top ; fo perpendicular is the rifing, and 
 fo flippery is the footing. I mould not fay 
 flippery, but rather loofe, being ames, or fand, 
 which gives fo much way, that, though you 
 advance your foot twenty four inches, the 
 weight of your body makes it link almoft to 
 the place from which you advanced, fo that 
 you gain but very little way every ftep. 
 What gave me the greateft pleafure, in this 
 day's purfuit, were the explosions within the 
 cavity, which very much refembled the noife 
 of a proof of cannon at Woolwich, heard at a 
 little diftance j they were at times very fre- 
 quent, and one of the gentlemen who was with 
 us, counted, with his moment hand watch, 
 eight explofions in fourteen feconds. I con- 
 fefs, amongft the operations of nature, hardly 
 any ever affected me more with the idea of 
 grandeur, than this. I wifh I had good 
 
 lungs,
 
 j$o LETTER XL. 
 
 lungs, and there had been lefs danger in peep- 
 ing; for, I am forry not to have feen the 
 whole wonder of this phoenomenon. You, 
 at a diftance, perhaps hold this infernal moun- 
 tain in fome horror, but the people in the 
 neighbourhood, I mean the curious, confider 
 it as an amufing object ; and the Hermit, 
 with great exultation^ and a caper, told us, we 
 fhould certainly have an eruption this year; 
 Ah mejjieurs, difoit /'/, certainment nous aurons 
 de la lave cette annee. 
 
 N. B. The Hermit's prediction was ful- 
 filled a few days after I left Naples, when the 
 mountain boiled moft plentifully. 
 
 lam, Sir, &c. 
 
 LET-
 
 LETTER XLI. 
 
 / 
 
 ROME, March 23, 1766, 
 SIR, 
 
 I Have been this morning (Palm Sunday) 
 at the Pope's Chappel, to fee one of the 
 ceremonies of this feafon, called here a Func- 
 tion. I queftion whether the account of it, 
 be worth the time you will fpend in reading 
 it ; fo much mummery, farce, and pageantry, 
 one would have thought impoffible to be in- 
 troduced into any religion, if we had not 
 feen it introduced into fo many. The Func- 
 tion of to day, was the Benediction of the Palm 
 Branches, carried in proceffion afterwards, by 
 the Cardinals, Bimops, Penitentials of St 
 Peter's, Prelates, (a different appellation here 
 from Bifhops) Generals of Orders, Cavalieri 
 dei Cardanali, (Cardinal's Gentlemen) and 
 other claffes of men, admitted into this ce- 
 remony, down to the foreigners, who all 
 may, if they pleafe, and fome did, receive a 
 blefled Palm-branch from the Pope's hand, 
 and kifs the hem of his garment. 
 
 I can-
 
 i 9 2 LETTER XLf. 
 
 I came into Italy with an opinion, that the 
 fineft mufic in the world, arid the fineft per* 
 formers were procured for the Pope's chap- 
 pie ; guefs how much I was furprifed to be 
 told, that a Pope never admits any other in- 
 ilrument than an organ, and generally hears 
 vocal mufic only. The office, therefore, be- 
 gan by finging, without mufic, in the manner 
 of our pfalm-finging in England ', for the firfl 
 time I ever heard it in a Catholic country. 
 This did not laft above rive or fix minutes, 
 when the proper officers prefented to his Ho- 
 linefs, an implement, which, viewed at adif- 
 tance, refembles one of our beef-eater's hal~ 
 berts, but is compofed of a kind of water-flag, 
 interwoven, fo as to be knotted a little, like a 
 pine-apple, and, for want of real Palms, is 
 underftood to be a Palm. After bleffing this 
 inftrument, the Pope delivers it into the hands 
 of the Cardinals, Bimops, &c. fo there are as 
 many bleflings and Palms as there are Cardi- 
 nals, &c. Upon receiving the blefTed palm, 
 they kneeled and kifled it, and then killed the 
 garment of his Holinefs at about the height 
 of his knee ; but when the prelates, and the 
 orders below them, received the Palm, the 
 proper officer gave them notice, as I obferved, 
 
 to
 
 LETTER XLI. 193 
 
 to kifs the hem of his garment near the 
 ground. After thefe benedictions of the 
 Palms, and the diftribution of them, which 
 was very tedious, lading fifty minutes, with- 
 out the leaft variation in the ceremony, ex~ 
 cept that the lower clafles, inftead of the im- 
 plement I have juft defcribed, received only 
 a (mall branch of a tree, they all walked 
 in proeeffion, with the Palms in their hands* 
 the Cardinals firft, and the Pope laft, who 
 was carried on the ihoulders of twelve men, 
 in an elbow-chair. As he paiTed along, we 
 all proftrated ourfelves, and received his Be- 
 nediction both in going outv and returning 
 into the chapel. After this, Mafs was cele- 
 brated by the Pope's nephew. I mould have 
 told you, that no Enghjhman prefented him- 
 felf to the Pope, nor do I think it would be 
 decent for Proteflants to do fo publick an aft, 
 were there no other objection than the rifk 
 of giving offence to rigid Catholics, who, 
 probably, would fuppofe it mockery and ridi- 
 cule in a Heretick. 
 
 I am now in a country where the Sove- 
 reign is a Pried j at a time of the year too, 
 when the priefthood difplays all its pomp, not 
 to call it arrogance j and, I allure you, it is a 
 , N trial
 
 i 9 4 LETTER XLI. 
 
 trial for the patience of reafon. We very 
 well know, from the hiftory of the church, 
 what tyrants they have been formerly, before 
 the laity dared to affume the prerogatives of ci- 
 vil liberty ; and, that they do not yet abate one 
 jot of their prefumption, you may learn from 
 a pafTage or two I lately met with, in a book 
 printed at Naples, fince the commencement 
 of the prefect century. Believe my candour 
 and veracity, when I give you my word that 
 I do not ftrain the fenfe in the tranflation. 
 In a chapter upon the article of Confeflbrs, 
 the author (a Prieft) fays, A Confejfir far- 
 fakes both of the nature of God and of man $ 
 'with God, he is a man ; 'with man, he is a 
 God. Again, Jefus Chrift, to abfohe man, 
 fitff'ered injinite agonies, and even death itfelf, 
 whilft a Confejjor, by only lifting up his hands, 
 acquits the guilty /inner. 
 
 The Pope and his Council have come to a 
 v refolution, upon the death of the Pretender, 
 to have no more concern in this bufinefs, 
 and not only do not acknowledge the title of 
 the prefent Pretender, but have forbidden all 
 the Princes and Cardinals here to vifit him j 
 fo that he fees only two or three friends, and 
 leads a reclufe and melancholy life. We this 
 
 morning
 
 LETTER XLT. 195 
 
 morning faw him at St Peter's chufch ; he 
 came there, attended by three Gentlemen, 
 and feven fervants, to pay his devotions 3 
 there was hardly one in the church but our- 
 felves, fo that we had the opportunity of ex- 
 amining his perfon and behaviour very mi- 
 nutely. When I firft faw him on his knees, 
 I felt ibme compundtion, which went off by 
 degrees, as I became more certain, from his 
 geflures, of the extreme bigotry and fuperfti- 
 tious turn of his mind. After he had prayed 
 at one altar (for it was not to hear mafs) he 
 walked to another, and prayed a fecond time, 
 kneeling in both places on the hard pave- 
 ment. I never faw any one more ftedfafl in 
 prayer than he appeared, not allowing his 
 eyes to wander one moment from either the 
 altar, the ground, or the book in his hand. 
 During this tranfaction, reafon fuperfeded my 
 pity, and I felt a kind of exultation in reflect- 
 ing we were not under the dominion of a 
 Prince fo fond of images and hierarchy. 
 Now I have feen him before the Virgin Ma- 
 ry, I can believe all that was faid of his grofs 
 attachment to Popery, when he was with us 
 in 1745. His revenues are faid to be very 
 Straight, not exceeding four thoufand pounds 
 N 2 a -year j
 
 196 LETTER XLI. 
 
 a-year. His ftature is very elegant, but 
 his face is a little bloated and pimpled, 
 as if he had drunk too much, a vice laid 
 to his charge, but, perhaps, without good 
 grounds. I am told, his brother, the Cardi- 
 nal, relents the conduct of this court more 
 than he himfelf does ; perhaps as his heart is 
 more fet upon propagating the true faith in 
 the realms of Great-Britain ; for, however 
 enthufiaftic the Prince, as he was called, may 
 be in his perfuafion, the Cardinal is much 
 more fo ; and, poffibly, he may think his 
 brother deprived of all hopes, by this ftep. 
 I have had fome converfation with a very fen- 
 fible Ecclefiaftick here, who knows every 
 thing which pafTes, both in the Pope's and 
 the Pretender's palace. I afked, what name 
 the Pretender goes by at prefent ? to which 
 he could hardly give an anfwer, as he fays 
 they fo ftrictly obferve the prohibition not to 
 ftile him King, that he is never mentioned > 
 or if, by chance, they are obliged to fpeak of 
 him, it is under the abfurd appellation of 
 Prince of Wales. 
 
 I forbore to give you the full detail of the 
 Function I faw at the Pope's chapel, becaufe 
 I would not give you any of my fuggeftions 
 
 for
 
 LETTER XU. 197 
 
 for matter of fact, but now I am fully in- 
 formed. I told you, the Pope, Cardinals, 
 &c. went in proceffion out of the chapel, 
 with their Palm-branches in their hands, in- 
 to an adjacent great Hall, but did not 
 mention the whole form, becaufe I was not 
 matter of the words fet to mufick, and fung 
 by two Eunuchs, upon {hutting the chapel 
 door, the moment the procefiion had entered 
 the Hall. The words were thefe, (the very 
 fame I had fuggefted) Lift up your heads, O 
 ye gates, that the King of Glory may come in ; 
 upon which the doors flew open, and the pro- 
 ceffion returned into the chapel. 
 
 This evening fome of the great Functions 
 will begin at the chapel, in the Vatican j 
 fome of the Noblemen wafh the feet of the 
 men pilgrims, and the noble Ladies the feet 
 of the women pilgrims. On Sunday next, if 
 I miftake not, the Pope himfelf, after faying 
 Mafs, performs the fame ceremony. There 
 is a prohibition of forbidding the prefence of 
 women at moil of thefe Functions j but a 
 'Roman woman of Quality can introduce fo- 
 reign Ladies into a certain gallery (where men 
 only are fuppofed to be) without offence, and 
 they ate fo ready to fhew their politeneis to 
 
 N 3 j . the
 
 198 LETTER XLI. 
 
 the Ettgttjh nation, that our Ladies find an 
 cafy introduction to them, and, with a pro- 
 per recommendation, never fail to partake of 
 all the ceremonies. 
 
 There are many Englifo at Rowe^ moft of 
 them gentlemen of fortune, and moft of them 
 men who do honour to their country. I 
 know it is a received opinion in England, 
 that our youth, who travel, fall immediately 
 into difiipation, and difgrace their country, 
 but I have feen no fuch examples in Italy j 
 perhaps the cafe is fingular, and any other 
 year I might have formed a different judg- 
 ment ; but I fpeak from what I know, and, 
 were I to give an opinion upon that difputa- 
 ble queftion, The advantages and difadvanta- 
 ges of 'Travelling, I mould not heiitate to 
 declare, that the benefits are numerous, and 
 that I fee no other evil in it than what arifes 
 to the nation from the fums expended in fo- 
 reign parts. 
 
 / a m y Sir, &c. 
 
 LET-
 
 LETTER XLII. 
 
 ROME, March 31, 1766. 
 SIR, 
 
 THE Holy Week, with all its Fundi- 
 ons, ended laft night. Thefe cere- 
 monies, like the fpedlacles of the ancient Ro- 
 mans, ferve to entertain the people, and keep 
 them in good humour, who, otherwife, would 
 be as mutinous in thefe days for want of bread, 
 as they ufed to be in the times of the firft 
 confuls. Wherever I travel, I find the mul- 
 titude difcontented with their governors, and 
 I fuppofe it muft be always the cafe, fome- 
 times with, and fometimes without founda- 
 tion 3 therefore fome play thing or another 
 muft be thrown out to them to prevent their 
 petulancy. A good Catholick would be 
 mocked to hear me treat thefe Functions, 
 where they think the falvation of Souls is con- 
 cerned, as having a temporal and political ufe ; 
 but we Hereticks, who are denied grace, efteem 
 it the moft favourable conftruction that can be 
 given to all thefe raree fhews : A four Maho- 
 metan, whofe whole religion confifts in pray- 
 N 4 ers,
 
 200 LETTER XLH. 
 
 ers, faftings, and ablutions, would treat the 
 exhibitions of Saints, Relicks, Virgins, Crur 
 cifixes, &c. with more rigour, and call the 
 whole, prophanefs, blafphemy, and idolatry. 
 Laft Thurfday the Pope, according to an- 
 nual cuftom, pronounced his Benediction 
 from a Balcony in St Peter's, which overlooks 
 the Church-yard, where an infinite crowd of 
 people was collected on the occafion. The 
 manner of the form is more fuitable to the 
 holinefs of his character than I was aware of; 
 for I had understood, he curfed all Turks, 
 Hereticks, &c. on the face of the Earth ; 
 whereas, that part of the Function is perform- 
 ed by the two Deacons, who read the Curfe, 
 one in Italian, the other in Latin j and the 
 words are no fooner out of their mouths, 
 than he pronounces the Benenediction, and 
 wipes off all the efficacy of the curfe : The 
 Pope is, during the whole ceremony, fupport- 
 ed on the moulders of twelve men, in an 
 armed chair, holding in his hand, a large light- 
 ed wax taper j and, in the very inftant tha,t 
 the laft words of the curfe are uttered, the 
 bell tolls, and he throws it down among the 
 people: which circumftance clearly explaiqs 
 the fenfc of a proverb well known in Eng- 
 land,
 
 LETTER XLII. 201 
 
 land, of fwearing, or curfing, by bell, book, t 
 and candle. I had the good fortune to be 
 placed clofe to his Holinefs's elbow ; and, 
 \vhilft he read the blcfiing, and three or four 
 prayers, or exhortations previous to it, I over- 
 looked the book ; and, confefs to you, was 
 edified by the modefty and decorum of the 
 form, as well as by his Holinefs's manner of 
 chanting them. The exhortations are of the 
 declaratory kind j that if the afTembly would 
 repent lincerely of their fins, and fin no more, 
 there was room for abfolution ; and the Be- 
 nediction feemed to be as little arrogant as 
 that pronounced by our Minifters at the end 
 of the Liturgy, viz. he Grace of our Lord 
 Jefus Cbrifty &c. In the moment that he is 
 fpeaking the Benediction, the bells toll, the 
 drums beat, and the cannon at the caftle of 
 St Angelo fire, which adds to the awefulnefs 
 of the fcene, and renders the performance 
 truly folemn. 
 
 Yefterday (Eafter Sunday) the fame Func- 
 tion was repeated, with this difference, that 
 there was no Curfe, but only the Benediction. 
 The concourfe of people was greater, as all 
 the Peafants from the adjacent countries were 
 more at leifure, on a Sunday ', to come and par- 
 take
 
 202 LETTER XLII. 
 
 take of the bleffing. As it is a religious cere- 
 mony, and the mob make all their religion 
 confift in ceremony, and a due fubmiffion to 
 the church and the priefthood, there are no 
 riots here, as there would be witlf usj but 
 they are as peaceable and filent, from the be- 
 ginning to the end of the Function, as an ele- 
 gant audience at Drury Lane, when Garrick 
 is on the ftage. The moment the cannon at 
 St Angela fire, the good people, in the envi- 
 rons of Rome, who hear them, proftrate 
 themfelves, and are fuppofed to have the 
 benefit of the Benediction. There are both 
 days two fquadrons of horfe, and a fmall 
 battalion of foot, drawn out before the 
 church, which is not a little ornament to the 
 Feftivalj for, though his Holinefs's troops 
 might poflibly make no great figure in the 
 fields of Minden, they are very well cloathed, 
 and add much to the glory of the day, and 
 the beauty of St Pefer's Church-yard. 
 
 I (hall not defcribe any of the other Func- 
 tions, fuch as feeding pilgrims, warning their 
 feet by people of quality ; and, again, the fame 
 ceremony performed by his Holinefs, with 
 Prieils and Cardinals. 
 
 Yefterday
 
 LETTER XLIII. 203 
 
 Yefterday he celebrated Mafs in St Peter's, 
 before he pronounced the Benediction, a very 
 tedious and tirefome fervice, both for the 
 poor old man, and his congregation ; yet thefe 
 things are worth feeing once, and were a man 
 to chufe a month in the year to fpend at 
 Rome, I would recommed that month, in 
 which the Holy Week is included. 
 
 * 
 
 I am, dear Sir, &c. 
 
 LETTER XLIII, 
 
 ROME, April 7, 1766. 
 SIR, 
 
 YESTERDAY we had another Func- 
 tion, which I believe is the laft trick 
 we mall fee performed by his Holinefs. It 
 was a blefling beftovved on about two hun- 
 dred and thirty Maidens, the greater part of 
 which are to get hufbands if they can, and 
 the remainder are to dedicate themfelves to 
 a Monaftick life j but, befides the celeftial 
 ^Benediction, the Pope beftows likewife the 
 Terreftrial one, of forty or fifty fcudi (an En-
 
 204 LETTER XLIII. 
 
 glijh crown) to each maiden ; and, what may 
 feem abfurd to us Englijbmen, a double portion 
 to thofe who take the veil: They make a pro- 
 ceffion through the ftreets, drefled all in white, 
 like the ancient Roman veftals, to a certain 
 church, where the Pope expects them to kifs 
 his flipper, and receive the good things both of 
 Heaven and Earth at his hands. Thofe who 
 take the veil, bring up the rear, adorned with 
 a crown of flowers on their heads, and a 
 Chrift on their bofoms, who, in Italy ', is called 
 the fpoufe of thefe felf denying Virgins. It 
 mould feem, that, in the imagination of young 
 women, and old Monks, Matrimony is the 
 mofl: flattering of all ideas ; for, at fhe very 
 inftant, that a Virgin renounces the world, 
 and dedicates herfelf to celibacy and retire- 
 ment, I mean at the ceremony of her pro- 
 fefiion, the prieft holds forth fometimes very 
 gayly on this fubj eel j and, though her fup- 
 pofed marriage with Chrift, be allegorical, 
 and fpiritual, his difcourfe, I aiTure you, is 
 often plain and carnal. The girls too, who 
 are defigned for the veil, are kept in very 
 good humour the year before they take it, by 
 conferring on them, the endearing title ofSpo- 
 jina, that is, the little fpoufe of Chrift. 
 
 It
 
 LETTER XLIII. 205 
 
 It is worth knowing, that there are at Rome 
 many legacies left, and donations given, for 
 this purpofe of marrying off young women, 
 fo that every young woman, with fome in- 
 tereft, may hope for a little fortune to fur- 
 nifh a lodging for their outfet in the world, 
 but it is only once a year that his Holinefs at- 
 tends on this ceremony. Formerly, before 
 the ufe of coaches became fo common, this 
 was a moft fhewy anniverfary, not only all 
 the Cardinals, but the Princes alfo, accom- 
 panying the Pope on horfeback, with their 
 horfes caparifoned in the richeffc manner. 
 In thefe diilributions, every parifh in Rome 
 has a certain proportionate intereft, fending 
 fuch or fuch a number of girls, according to 
 their refpe&ive donations. It does not follow, 
 however, that becaufe they are entitled to a 
 fortune, they procure a hufband ; and, what 
 is worfe, if they do not get a hufband, they 
 renounce the portion : But every young wo- 
 man in Rome has a right to get as many no- 
 minations as (he can ; and there is a poor 
 young Lady here, of a certain family in Scot- 
 land, who, by the late Chevalier's friendship, 
 procured as many nominations to the feveral 
 charities of this kind, as amount to two thon- 
 
 fand
 
 206 LETTER XLIII. 
 fand crowns, which (lie can demand, upori 
 producing a certificate of her marriage. The 
 fpectacle yefterday would have been more 
 curious, if I had remained ignorant of a cer- 
 tain abufe crept into this inftitution ; for it is 
 a practice amongft the young women who 
 are not of the lower clafs, to depute o- 
 thers, at the expence of two (hillings, 
 or two (hillings and fix-pence, to walk 
 in the proceflion, and receive the benediction 
 in their (lead ; the great probability, there- 
 fore, of not feeing the individuals who are to 
 be married, deprives the fpectators of all the 
 pleafure. 
 
 I have often mentioned to you, that fome 
 of the Italians have a due fenfe of the bene- 
 fits accruing to their flate, from the great 
 fums of money foent by the Englifo amongft 
 them. The Governor of Rome is in this 
 number, and even his Holinefs himfelf is 
 fometimes pleafed to fpeak with a kind of 
 gratitude on this fubject. A very great man 
 here, has a converzattone every Sunday even- 
 ing, and is very happy to fee Englifi Gen- 
 tlemen in the company. I am told he car- 
 ries his politenefs fo far, as to declare, that, 
 iince it is impoffible to be an antient Roman j 
 
 eould
 
 LETTER XLIII. 207 
 
 could lie chufe his birth, he would be born 
 an Englijbman. Some time fmce, one or 
 two of our countrymen, on fome jolly fcftival, 
 got drunk and mad ; ran into the ftreets, and 
 fell into an unlucky fray, where they drew 
 their hangers, and committed fome outrages. 
 The government behaved on this occallon 
 with a gentlenefs and partiality, that ought 
 not to be forgotten. Private intimations 
 were given to the offenders, that they mould 
 efcape, firft doing the juftice of making re- 
 paration to thofe who had been outraged. 
 His Holinefs, who was well informed of 
 every particular, and that it was drunkennefs, 
 not cruelty, or wantonnefs, which led them 
 into this miibehaviour, was pleafed to fay, 
 " I have now fet in the chair, fo many years, 
 " that I have feen at leaft four hundred En- 
 ct gbjhmen in that time, and never heard any 
 " complaint againft one of them ; yet really, 
 " when I confider how young they are, how 
 <c diftant from controul, how full of fpirits, 
 " and how full of money, I rather wonder, 
 " this accident fhould not have happened 
 " before." 
 
 Rome is a much pleafanter city to inhabit, 
 during the fine weather, than Naples, as there 
 
 are
 
 208 LETTER XLIIt 
 
 are many gardens where one may walk, anct 
 where cufrom allows the Ladies to go ; not- 
 withftanding that, in general, the Italian wo^ 
 men hardly know what it is to walk. The 
 chief amufement, through all Italy, is their 
 Cor/o, an airing in their coaches, backwards 
 and forwards, in fome principal ftreet of their 
 cities, or fome avenues of their fuburbs, 
 where they make a difplay of their coaches, 
 horfes, and liveries, as we formerly did in 
 Hyde-Park. It is a moft melancholy enter- 
 tainment, when confidered as the only one j 
 but, for the firft time, is a gawdy, and even a 
 pleafing mew ; for the Italians, fpending no- 
 thing in race-horfes, hounds, parliamenteer- 
 ing, ?<:. referve their whole income, in a 
 manner, for their equipages, which, indeed, 
 are more magnificent than you would believe, 
 and thofe of Rome are finer, in my opinion, 
 than any others in this country. There are 
 a prodigious number of palaces here, but they 
 in general rather appear monftrous than 
 grand ; and the iron grates before the win- 
 dows, which are only fmall panes of dirty 
 glafs, in leaden frames, give them all a 
 gloomy afpecl, rather refembling prifons than 
 hotels 3 but what is the greate/l difgrace to
 
 LETTER XLIII. 269 
 
 Rome, and, indeed, to every city in Italy, is 
 the uncomfortafylenefs and danger of paffing 
 through the ftreets after fun-fet ; for there is 
 not the leaft provifion made for lighting them. 
 London feems to be the fingle town in Eu- 
 rope where that convenience is rightly under- 
 ftood, and carried effectually into execution ; 
 for, at Paris, the candles in their brown glafs 
 lanterns, give but little light whilft they do 
 burn, and, being fmall, are foon extinguimed: 
 It is aftonifhing this evil mould not be re- 
 formed, as every night's experience mews 
 how much darknefs invites to the perpetration 
 of (hameful and atrocious deeds. Perhaps 
 there is not a more fingular proof, that the 
 Church prefides in this country than that the 
 Cardinals only, are allowed to take flambeaux 
 behind their coaches : All their Princes and 
 Quality are forbidden to ufe any other light 
 than fmall lanterns, of which every footman 
 behind the coach carries one. 
 
 Proteftants, I mean the very good ones, 
 who take all occafions to abufe the Pope, 
 laugh frequently, that his Holinef?, in his 
 holy city, mould licenfe brothels ; but, if I 
 am well informed, this fubject of derifion will 
 dwindle in a few years, and quite wear out, 
 
 O the
 
 210 LETTER XLIII. 
 
 the poor whores labouring under fo many 
 difficulties and.difadvantages, that their num- 
 bers and quality diminifh daily, there not be- 
 ing, at prefent, above fifty in all, and moft 
 of them a beggarly fet of Neapolitan out- 
 cafts. They are obliged to live at a certain 
 diftance from a church, a convent, or any 
 confecrated place ; are all regiftered j a very 
 ftric~l eye is kept over them j and, when they 
 die, they are buried with dogs and hereticks, 
 in unhallowed ground : But what is, perhaps, 
 worfe than all this, they muft pay, each of 
 them, eighteen- pence a-day to an officer, a 
 kind of conftable, to watch their conduct, 
 and, poffibly, to bully for them. I fuppofe, 
 , upon the whole, Rome is the chafteft city in 
 Europe, there being very few publiek women, 
 (none for a gentleman) hardly any kept mif- 
 trefles, and, in comparifon of all other Italian 
 towns, even their Cicefbeos are faid, by fome, 
 to be innocent ; fo that fuch a fober court, as 
 that of .his Holinefs, has fome influence on the 
 manners of the gentry. 
 
 Naples, you know, is infamoufly wicked 
 in this laft article, and Venice moft hellifhly 
 wicked, if all that is affirmed be true j in fact, 
 the fafhion of Ciceibeos is the moft deftrudive 
 
 in-
 
 LETTER XLIlt 211 
 
 invention for fociety that I know of. Some 
 volatile inconftant men in England, are falfe 
 to the beds of their wives, at the fame time 
 that they honour, and even love their per- 
 fons ; but this exchange of wives, this mar- 
 rying one, and affociating with another, de- 
 ftroys all affection and regard for the progeny. 
 I intended to have mentioned to you, when 
 I was at Naples, for a wonder, that I had 
 feen a mother with a child of feven or eight 
 years old in the chariot with her ; but, real- 
 ly, I have been out many days and weeks to- 
 gether there without beholding fuch a phe- 
 nomenon. How different from the other ex- 
 treme in England, where the fondnefs of pa- 
 rents croud their children into every party 5 
 and, fometimes, very improperly ! Now I 
 am mentioning the comparative fobriety of 
 Rome, I mould tell you, that his Holinefs ad- 
 mits neither of operas, plays, nor balls, during 
 the whole year, except in the Carnival j and 
 then, in order to preferve a greater decorum, 
 and to banifh even the appearance of licenti- ^ 
 oufnefs, women are not fuffered to reprefent ( |V 
 on that ftage, but their characters are per- ( 
 formed by beardlefs youths, in womens dreffes.- J 
 
 lam, Sir, &c. 
 O 2 LET--
 
 LETTER XLIV. 
 
 ROME, April 14, 1766. 
 SIR, 
 
 NOtwithftanding the fouthern latitude 
 of this country, the fpring is very 
 backward here, and to a degree that an 
 Englijhman little expects; this you may 
 imagine is owing to natural caufes ; but, like 
 all other contrivances of nature, is a very wife 
 and providential one j for as they are, in 
 this mountainous part of the world, fubject 
 to cold northern winds in the months of 
 March and April^ were vegetation as much 
 advanced as I mould have fuppofed, their 
 fruits would generally be cut off. I prefume, 
 one caufe amongfb others, which may con- 
 tribute to retard the fpring, is the fnow on 
 the adjacent mountains, and, perhaps, the 
 fhortnefs of the twilight, in the months of 
 March and April, when compared with ours; 
 though ftill the feafon feems to be a fort- 
 night, or, perhaps, three weeks for warder than 
 with us. As the year advances, the power 
 of the fun increafes much fafter than in 
 
 England,
 
 LETTER XLIV. 213 
 
 England, fo that, in July and Auguft^ they 
 are three weeks or a month before us. 
 
 Rome has not been in fuch a political up- 
 roar thefe laft fifty years as at this prefent 
 juncture. One would imagine his Holinefs 
 had the promife of Pefer's pence once more 
 from our fide of the water, fo devoted does 
 he feem to the court of England ; laft Wed- 
 nefday, he banifhed from Rome^ four heads 
 of Colleges here, for having admitted mafs 
 to be faid before the Pretender, under the title 
 of King : It certainly was a foolifh and rafli 
 ftep in thefe zealots to fly in the face of go- 
 vernment, in fo publick and outrageous a 
 manner; and, without a compliment to Eng- 
 land, it was incumbent on the Pope, in fup- 
 port of his Edict and Prerogative, to make 
 an example of the offenders. The intereft 
 of the Stuart family, by length of time, feems 
 to be almoft worn out, in the court of Rome ; 
 and, at this inftant, the power of England is 
 coniidered to be fo refpe&able, that, it is 
 affirmed and believed, the council were 
 unanimous in refufing to acknowledge Mr 
 Stuarfs preteniions, and, in confequence of 
 this refufal, to give out an Ordinance, or 
 Prohibition, to the Cardinals, Princes, &c. 
 
 O 3 forbid-
 
 2i 4 LETTER XLV. 
 
 forbidding them to fee him, but as a private 
 gentleman ; which, in other words, is the 
 fame as to declare, he mall keep no company 
 but that of his domefticks. It is faid, the 
 meafures would not have been fo fevere, had 
 not the Cardinal of York behaved, on this 
 occafion, with fo unfeafonable an obfcinacy, 
 It is thought the Pretender himfelf would 
 have acquiefced and waited for better times ; 
 but the Cardinal has been, and continues to 
 be furious ; a little more indignation and 
 difloyalty will certainly drive both the bro- 
 thers from this Afylum. The Cardinal, in a 
 memorial he delivered to his Holinefs, pray- 
 ing him to acknowledge his brother's title, 
 amongft other arguments, advances that he 
 has nothing to fear from the power of the 
 Englifo ; for that the preient race of Italians 
 are not degenerated in the leaft from their 
 anceftors, the ancient Romans. I don't know 
 how the allegation will affecl: EngliJJmen, 
 but, I aflure you, the Italians themfelves laugh 
 aloud, when they are told the ftory, fo ridi- 
 culous does the expreffion appear in their 
 eyes. 
 
 You may judge, from this fyftem of poli- 
 ticks in the court of Rome, that they know 
 
 as
 
 LETTER XLV. 215 
 
 $& well as you or I, how weak and low at pre- 
 fent is the caufe of the Stuart family, and 
 how much they wifh to be well with En- 
 gland. They give out, that they cannot, nor 
 will not embroil themfelves with a nation 
 which has iuch long arms, (meaning our 
 navy) but though, perhaps, their fears are 
 groundlefs in that refpect, as I do not ima- 
 gine, (notwithftanding the eafy practicability 
 of it) we fhould have attacked them either at 
 (ttvita Vecchia, or Anchona, in cafe of the ac- 
 knowledgment j yet the King of England 
 has it much in his power to diftrefs the Ec- 
 clefiaflical State, by difcouraging his Nobility 
 and Gentry from coming to Rome. If I had 
 not been at Rome myfelf, I could never have 
 conceived in how wretched a condition every 
 Jdnd of bufinefs and manufacture is here, fo 
 that the ballance of trade is dreadfully in their 
 disfavour ; and, it feems to me, that their great 
 refource is the quantity of money fpent by 
 the Engliflj. I do not fpealc altogether fpe- 
 culatively, for I have informed myfelf, that 
 when, by chance, there has been a notable 
 fcarcity of travellers, their clamours and de- 
 folation have proved the truth of my fug- 
 geftion, 
 
 4 It 

 
 2 i6 LETTER XLIV. 
 
 It is with pleafure I can tell you, that the 
 ILnglifo ftudents here, both in painting and 
 fculpture, have great merit, and are a remark- 
 able fet of fober modeft men, who, by their 
 decorum, and friendly manner of living a- 
 mongft one another, do credit to their pro- 
 feffion. It is a pity they mould leave this 
 city and their ftudies ; for, as certainly as they 
 arrive at London, they will quit their works 
 of genius, and be totally abforbed in portrait- 
 painting, the ftumbling-block on which all 
 the Englijh painters fall. It is very pcffible, 
 however, that they will, mod of them, remain 
 fome years longer here, as it is of late become 
 a famion amongft our Nobility, to befpeak 
 copies of ftatues and pictures from their coun- 
 trymen, and they all find employment enough 
 to fubfift comfortably, by this new-invented 
 fpecies of encouragement, which, with a little 
 fhare of enthufiafm, the common lot of paint- 
 ers, who have any tafte or feeling, will be a 
 fufficient allurement to keep them in a place 
 where they have continually before their eyes 
 fuch excellent gratifications. They do, as I 
 am told, earn one hundred pounds a year, each 
 of them, by their labour, which they efteem 
 equal to three hundred pounds a year in Lon- 
 don
 
 LETTER XLIV. 217 
 
 don ; not that living is three times as cheap 
 here, but becaufe the plan of living is humble * 
 and fober at Rome, whereas, in London, it is 
 diffipation and extravagance. I mould there- 
 fore hope, that, for thefe reafons, if the fame 
 humour of employing them mould continue, 
 they will perfift fome time to profecute their 
 fludies, and improve their heads and their 
 hands. 
 
 I am now matter of all the particulars re- 
 lating to the banimment of the four fuperi- 
 ors, two of which are Irifi, one E,nglifh, and 
 one Scotch. My authority is no lefs than 
 
 from the Abbe himfelf, who was a 
 
 principal perfonage in the fcene, and lyes 
 under an interdict for the part he performed. 
 
 The Abbe is a very gentleman-like 
 
 Scotchman, refiding at Rome, and well known 
 to all the Englifi Nobility and Gentry who 
 come there : His life feems a pleafant one, 
 as he is of confequence enough to be enter- 
 tained by them all, on the footing of an equal. 
 He is very courteous and happy in the oppor- 
 tunity of inftruding them, and is fully quali- 
 fied to give a ftranger all the lights a curious 
 man could wim for, in every thing relating 
 both to antient and modern Rome , and, at 
 
 the
 
 ci8 LETTER XLIV. 
 
 the fame time, is far above receiving a pecuni- 
 ary gratification. The Abbe, from an early 
 attachment to the Chevalier, and his family, 
 prefer ves fome political prejudices, which 
 certainly have milled him. I (hall endeavour 
 to tell you his {lory, and I do not betray pri- 
 vate converfation ; for every one here knows 
 it. He fays, that, finding the Pretender de- 
 ferted by the court of Rome., he was cautious 
 enough to afk the Secretary of State, whe- 
 ther he (hould give umbrage to the Pope if 
 he paid his vifits to him in the character of 
 Count Douglas, (the name which the Preten- 
 der afTumed when he came to Rome] for that 
 he r A 7 as under fuch obligations to his Holinefs, 
 that he would facrifice any pleafure, or any 
 duty, rather than give him the leaft offence. 
 The Secretary aflured him, he might conti- 
 nue to pay his refpects in that manner, with- 
 out the leaft exception. In the courfe of his 
 vifits, it was mentioned to him, that the Pre- 
 tender took it very ill of the fuperior of the 
 Scotch college, that he had neglected him. 
 The Abbe fpoke of it to the Superior, who 
 declared, he had been at the Pretender's pa- 
 lace to pay his devoirs, and, hearing nothing 
 fi nee, he fuppofed, as he was neither received 
 
 then,
 
 LETTER XLIV. 219 
 
 then, nor invited afterwards, that his vifit 
 was not acceptable : Prefently after this, the 
 Abbe received an anonymous letter, praying 
 him to deiire the Superior of thefe colleges 
 to read Mais before the Pretender as to a 
 King : He did fo ; and, when they fignified 
 that they could not dare to contravene the 
 Pope's ordonance, he was zealous enough to 
 recommend fome Francijcan, who had al- 
 ready performed the ceremony, without hav- 
 ing been reprimanded ; this was complied 
 with ; fo that you fee he was the great mover. 
 The Pope has ordered him never to come, 
 either alone, or in. company, to his palace, 
 and has fufpended his appointments *. The 
 Abbe has an infinite number of friends, and 
 the Pope's nephews are his intercefTors. He 
 lays, farther, in mitigation of his behaviour, 
 that he was at the funeral oration of the late 
 Chevalier, and four Cardinals were prefent,* 
 when the preacher, in deploring the lois of 
 James the third f 'faid, a That Heaven, how- 
 " ever, had been pleafed to give us a full 
 
 * In a few days his appointments were reftoretl, and 
 in a few weeks he was, 1 am informed, received again 
 at Monte Cavallo^ the Pope's palace. 
 
 com-
 
 220 LETTER XLIV. 
 
 " compenfation, in the perfon of his eldefl 
 (l fon, Charles the Third, King of Great- 
 " Britain, France^ and Ireland, &c. &c." 
 < Now, faid the Abbe, in his defence, when 
 he was examined ; as this was connived at, I 
 thought the Prince might have been inno- 
 cently indulged with this poor gratification j" 
 but one of the Cardinals anfwered this plea, 
 by faying, the one tranfadion (at the fune- 
 ral) was done in private, and by obfcureper- 
 fons, the other in the face of day ; and that 
 the occafions were of a different nature. 
 
 You will conclude, from this long account, 
 that, for the future, the Stuarts will be a dif- 
 ngreeable weight on the Pope's moulders, 
 and that if the Pretender have the leaft fpirit of 
 a man in him, he will bid adieu to Rome, and 
 rather take fandluary mConftantmople,z.mon%flL 
 Mahometans, than remain in a city amongft 
 Papifts, for whofe tenets his family have for- 
 feited three fuch glorious kingdoms. 
 
 JMk 
 
 1 am, Sir, 
 
 LET-
 
 LETTER XLV. 
 
 FLORENCE, April 20, 1766. 
 SIR, 
 
 WE arrived here laft night, after a jour- 
 ney of four days from Rome, and 
 found much more agreeable accommodati- 
 ons than we experienced either on the road to 
 Rome from Venice^ or to Naples from Rome ; 
 indeed, to do juftice to the inns, we met 
 with fo much cleanlinefs, and fuch good 
 beds, that we found ourfelves moll agreeably 
 difappointed in that article ; and, what has 
 added, beyond all expectation, to our pleafure, 
 is the coolnefs of the feafon, which, with all 
 its other advantages, has flill confined the 
 fleas, the bugs, and the gnats, to their winter 
 quarters. 
 
 It is a melancholy profpect you have al- 
 ways before yoiir eyes, in travelling from 
 Rome to the dominions of the Grand Duke, 
 there being very few places where you are 
 not within the diftance of half a mile, or a 
 mile at moft, of dreary barren mountains > 
 no villages, no cottages betwixt the great 
 
 towns 5
 
 222 LETTER XLV. 
 towns ; and the few people you meet with, 
 carrying the ftrongeft marks of poverty and 
 "wretchednefs in their faces and garb. This 
 I difcovered to be the cafe likewife in the rout 
 from Rome to Naples ; yet, were there a pro- 
 per civil police in thefe countries, the country 
 itfelf is of a nature to enrich its inhabitants ; 
 for the foil of the vallies is fertile, and would 
 yield abundantly, with a moderate cultivati- 
 on ; and, perhaps, thofe mountains, which 
 now produce nothing, might, by induftry 
 and art, be forced to recompence, in fome de- 
 gree, the labours of the plowman. At pre- 
 fent, the Ecclefiaflical State, and even the 
 kingdom of Naples, are either fterile mour>- 
 tains, or luxuriant vales, as the people are ei- 
 ther beggars or nobility. 
 
 As oncultivated as many of thefe pro- 
 vinces lye, and as depopulated as we fee them, 
 compared with antient times, neverthelefs, 
 in every town you pafs through, the men 
 ftand idling: in the ftreets, and have no occu- 
 
 O * 
 
 pation j if you upbraid a beggar with his idle- 
 nefs, he anfwers, he cannot find work ; and 
 his plea is partly true } for, as they have not 
 the fpirit of commerce amongft them, they 
 only think of tilling fo much ground as will 
 
 barely
 
 L E T T E R XLV. 223 
 
 barely fubfifl the country ; and you would 
 wonder to fee how little employment there is for 
 artificers of every kind ; fo that, in fhort, the 
 poor have no recourfe but to the plough, 
 which can occupy but fmall numbers, where: 
 it is a fafhion to live, according to our En- 
 glijh phrafe, from hand to month. Knowing 
 what I have here related, one cannot be fur- 
 prized that a fcarcity of bread is fo common 
 an event in thefe kingdoms, where no provi- 
 fion is made againft fuch a poffibility, by 
 growing more corn than can be confumed 
 when the year is plentiful. Droughts and 
 tedious rains, both of them common in thofe 
 climates, ruin a harveft, and then the poor 
 people ftarve, as they did laft year in the Ec- 
 clefiaftical State, and the year before through 
 the whole territory of Naples. Neverthelefs, 
 thefe fevere afflictions are not, nor, in the na- 
 ture of things, cannot be a ufeful leflbn to the 
 farmer, unlefs the Government ftep in to his 
 aid ; for, as he cannot export any fuperfluity, 
 it muft remain on his hands, and fpoil, which 
 will always be an obftacle to plenty ; and both 
 States are fo far from adopting our principle 
 of encouraging agriculture, by granting a 
 bounty on the exportation of corn, that they 
 
 lay
 
 224 LETTER XLV. 
 
 lay a duty on all exported corn, fo little ard 
 they convinced of the utility of that police,* 
 and fo wedded to the ancient opinion of pre- 
 venting the dearnefs of bread, by keeping the 
 whole growth at home. 
 
 Another great difcouragement to agricul- 
 ture, is the affize put on the price of corn, by 
 the Government ; however thin the crop be, 
 the farmer is obliged to fell it at that price j 
 this is defigned as a relief to the poor, but ul- 
 timately is an injury : Corn, like every other 
 merchandize, fhould find its own fair value* 
 though monopolies are to be difcouraged ; 
 and, if the farmer be not allowed the fame 
 advantages with his commodity, that every 
 other merchant has in his dealings, he will 
 never pufh to lay in a large ftock, or, in other 
 words, will be afraid to till much ground. 
 
 Some years fince, at "Naples there was fuch 
 an amazing harveft through the whole king- 
 dom, that they had upon their hands a quan- 
 tity to the amount of two or three hundred 
 thoufand pounds in value, which they could 
 not confiime. There was, at that time, an 
 application made for the exemption of the 
 duty on exportation, without which the mer- 
 chant could not find his account in fending 
 
 if
 
 L E T f E R XLV. 22$ 
 
 it abroad ; and, though the minifter was in- 
 formed by feveral, and, amongft the reft, by 
 an old Neapolitan Gentleman, of my acquain- 
 tance, that the revenue would certainly feet 
 the good effects of fo much money brought 
 into the country, is fully as in the fhape of a 
 duty on the export, he was deaf to all their 
 feafonings, and would not eftabliih fo danger- 
 ous a precedent, as he thought it ; the con- 
 fequence was, that the corn grew mouldy, and 
 perifhed, the next harveft failed; and a dread- 
 ful dearth enfued. 
 
 Betwixt Viterbo and Radic&fani, lyes the 
 town of Bolfena, almoft in ruins. This place , 
 is famous for having given occafion to Pope 
 Urban IV. in the thirteenth century, to eftab- 
 li(h the grand folefnnity of the Fete de Dieti. 
 It feems, that, in thofe days, a prieft of Bol- 
 fena having fome doubts concerning the real > 
 prefence, in the Eucbarift, God was pleafed; 
 they fay, to make the wafer bleed, when he 
 broke it. You may imagine, fuch a miracle, 
 Wrought under his own hands and eyes, could 
 not fail to convince the unbelieving priefh 
 This miracle is the fubjecl: of a fine picture 
 in the Vatican, by Raphael. 
 
 B Upon
 
 226 LETTER XLV. 
 
 Upon our entrance into Tufcany, we were 
 furprized at the remarkable change in the ap- 
 pearance both of the country, and the people. 
 The whole face of Tiufcany is covered with 
 farm-houfes, and cottages, an object very rare 
 in the Pope's, or the King of Naples' 6 domi- 
 nions 5 but the cottages here, and, indeed, 
 through all Italy, are not, as in France and 
 Englatid, thatched huts, with walls of mud : 
 they are all built of ftone, or brick, and, to out- 
 ward appearance, mould contain richer inha- 
 bitants than in fact they do. The peafantry, 
 in the Grand Duke's dominions, are much 
 handfomer than in the more Southern lati- 
 tude, look florid, lively, and contented ; be- 
 tides that, they are infinitely better, and more 
 fmartly dreiFed : I am not yet clear to what 
 caufe this feeming opulence is to be imputed ; 
 whether the genius of the country be more 
 difpofed to induftry than that of fome other 
 parts of Italy, or whether the foil itfelf be 
 more grateful, and the peafant's wages higher - y 
 or, pofiibly, whether the habit of dreffing neat- 
 ly, may not be derived from the time of the 
 Medicis family, when the country round Florence 
 was notorioufly the richeft fpot of ground in Eu- 
 rope, and the people pf every rank were infi- 
 nitely
 
 LETTER XLV. , 227 
 
 nitely more at their eafe than any other fubjecls 
 in this part of the globe : I believe, however, 
 from what I am able to learn, that the pea- 
 fantry here are a laborious people, and that 
 the land is alfo better cultivated than either in 
 the dominions of his Holinefs, or of the King 
 of the two Sicilies. 
 
 A finking circumftiince, though a trivial 
 one, offers itfelf on fir ft entering the Grand 
 Duke's territories ; I mean, the ingenious me- 
 thod of figuring their mile-ftones, which I 
 could wifh were imitated in England, as time 
 and weather have a tendency to obliterate the 
 figures cut in coarfe ftone, and, what is worfe, 
 as idle boys, in all the world, are apt to make 
 it an amufement to deface the figures of mile- 
 flones, and deftroy, by that practice, the very 
 ufe of them ; the Florentines, therefore, let 
 into the figures a fmall flip, or bar of iron, 
 which is fattened with folder, in the ufuat 
 manner plumbers fix iron in flone ; by this 
 means the figures on the flones remain legi- 
 ble almoft for ever, (or, at teaft, would do fo, 
 if the iron were painted black once in two or 
 three years) and the difficulty of breaking them 
 to pieces difcourages the attempt. 
 
 Pa la
 
 228 LETTER XLIV. 
 
 In our way to Florence we paffed througtl 
 Sienna, the town which gave name to the ce- 
 lebrated Senejino ; as I had always heard he 
 finished his days very comfortably in his na- 
 tive place, and had built a beautiful palace 
 with the thoufands he had acquired in En- 
 gland, one of my firfl enquiries was after his 
 hiftory and his houfe, which we vifited with 
 a defign to take only a view of its outflde ; 
 but the eagernefs with which I furveyed it, 
 and the appearance of foreigners, foon brought 
 the Lady of the houfe to the window, and her 
 politenefs, together with a good-natured offi- 
 cious forwardnefs in the fervant who attended 
 rne, produced an invitation in lefs than half a 
 minute. She proved to be the wife of Sene- 
 fao's eldeft nephew, and principal heir; a very 
 fine, beautiful, and affable woman ; was more 
 rejoiced to fee us than you can readily imagine, 
 from the grateful fenfe me entertained of the 
 favours her uncle had received at the hands of 
 the Englifh nation. The houfe is really hand- 
 fome, but not fo gaudy and expenfive as to 
 refled: on the modefty of the owner : Some 
 of the rooms are furnimed entirely with En- 
 gliJJ} furniture, an indication he had fome pre- 
 judices in favour of England, as the freight 
 
 and
 
 LETTER XLV. 229 
 
 and carnage muft have been expenfive. It 
 ftands in a kind of Forebury, the moft plea- 
 fant fpot of ground in the city, and very gay, 
 becaufe it is the Promenade. Senefino gave 
 his eldeft nephew about ten thoufand pounds, 
 and to three or four other nephews, and their 
 fons, two thoufand five hundred pounds each, 
 a confiderable fortune at Sienna t but not an 
 enormous one. 
 
 It is impoflible for any man, a little ac- 
 quainted in hiftory, not to beftow a figh on 
 this once celebrated City and Republick, which, 
 when it flourished, fmall as it was, by the re- 
 nown of its arms and its arts, made no de- 
 fpicable figure in Europe ; and, in thofe day?, 
 three or four hundred years fince, contained 
 within its walls ninety or one hundred thou- 
 fand inhabitants, where, now, there are, 'at 
 moft, twelve or fourteen thoufand. A plague 
 greatly depopulated it ; but the lofs of its li- 
 berty proved the incurable wound, which has 
 continued to drain and wafte its flrength. 
 The Cathedral is a very curious Gothic ftruc- 
 ture ; the Stenncfe call it a fine one, and be- 
 lieve, if it were at Rome, it would ftand in ho- 
 nour next to St Peter's ; but I queftion whe- 
 ther it be not more whimfical than fine : To 
 
 P 3 the
 
 230 LETTER XLV. 
 
 the beft of my memory, the Minfter at Tork, 
 though confifting of ftcne and white walls 
 only, is a more beautiful defign j but this 
 building, both on the infide and out, is en- 
 tirely marble j and, what renders it fo re- 
 markable, is, that fome blocks are white, and 
 others black j there is a larger portion of the 
 building white, but the black is in a very 
 confiderable quantity ; this variegation, upon 
 the firft fight, ftrikes ; but I queflion whe- 
 ther, upon the whole, it will ftand the tefl of 
 criticifm. 
 
 It happened, that the very evening of the 
 day I arrived in this city, Sir Horatio Man, 
 our Envoy, had provided a moft elegant Ccn- 
 verfazioni at his houfe, in honour of a Nea- 
 folitan Princefs, who was on a vifit to her 
 friends at Florence ; by this accident I had 
 the opportunity of feeing the flower of the 
 Florentine nobility j otherwife it is a matter 
 hardly worth mentioning, iince the Italian 
 Converfazioni differ very little from our Lon- 
 don routs, being compofed of card parties, and 
 lookers on. 
 
 I am, Sir, &c. 
 
 LET-
 
 LETTER XLVI. 
 
 FLORENCE, April 28, 1766. 
 
 SIR, 
 
 THIS city is paved with larger ftones 
 than our foot-paths in London are, but 
 they are chiffelled in fuch a manner as to pre- 
 vent the horfes fliding, at leaft with light car- 
 riages, and I fee no others ; the pavement, 
 therefore, is the fmootheft and eafieft perhaps 
 in the world. The river Arno runs through 
 the town, dividing it as the Thames does Lon- 
 don from Southivark. Our lodgings overlook 
 the flream, which, like moft others in Italy y 
 is turbid; it has found, however, many pa- 
 negyrical writers, though it has two very bad 
 properties for a river, that is, a propenfity to 
 overflow its banks after heavy fhowers, and 
 to be almoft dry at other times. I faw an in- 
 fcription on the walls of a houfe, about ten 
 feet from the ground, fignifying, that, in the 
 year 1557, the river overflowed the city, to 
 the height of that infcnption ; there was 
 likewife another in 1761, to the height of 
 two feet in the ftreets. Thefe inundations 
 P 4 happen
 
 232 LETTER XLVI. 
 
 happen very often, and, though not to the de r 
 gree I have defcribed, yet fufficiently to caufe 
 much defolation. A fliort hiftory of the ri- 
 vers, or, rather, torrents of Italy ', their fre- 
 quent emptinefs, and their frequent overflow- 
 ings, would give a man the higheft relifh for 
 Sir John Denham's few panegyrical lines on, 
 our Thames. 
 
 I faunter, now and then, in the fuburbs, 
 amongft the poor, and not without finding 
 matter of contemplation. I am very well in- 
 formed, that a woman here, though (he have 
 no children and family to take care of, and 
 employ her time, with the utmoft diligence 
 cannot earn above two-pence halfpenny a day, 
 by fpinning, the ufual occupation of the poor; 
 yet, compare either their habitations, or their 
 children, with thofe of the inhabitants of the 
 ikirts of Londen y and you will blum for the 
 mifery and dhTolutenefs of our country-folks. 
 It would be wonderful, however, that the 
 poor could fubfift on fuch fmall wages, if 
 we did not know, that mere bread alone, in 
 fufficiency, is their principal objecl: of ex- 
 pence. They talk much here of their pre- 
 fent wretchednefs, the laft year having neither 
 produced corn or wine equal to their home 
 
 con-
 
 LETTER XLVI. 233 
 
 confumption ; and, what is worfe, (not be* 
 ing a temporary evil, which may be redrefled, 
 perhaps, the enfuing year) their manufactures 
 have decayed fo much, that the induftrious 
 cannot always find work : They fay, that, a 
 few years fince, they exported vaft quantities 
 of wrought iilks to England ; now they fend 
 few, or none ; nay, that the Englifh have 
 gained fo much upon them, in the art of 
 weaving, that they find a profit in importing 
 Englijb filk manufactures, particularly filk 
 (lockings, by reafon of their durablenefs. It 
 is true, the prime coft is above one third more 
 than you pay for the fame commodity in 
 Italy ', but, if it lafls twice the time, you know 
 it anfwers. A. man fliould come abroad, ei- 
 ther to raife his opinion of his country, or his 
 countrymen. I was much pleafed, the other 
 day, to hear an Englijhnan, who has lived 
 abroad above thirty years, burft into an un- 
 feigned exclamation, upon being (hewn one 
 of the newly invented cork-fcrews, Well / 
 faid he, theje Engliflimen are the moft inge~ 
 nious creatures in the world ! 
 
 I have almoft infenfibly quitted my fubje& 
 in relation to the poor j but I intended to 
 make a reflection, that, when the populace 
 
 do
 
 234 LETTER XLVI. 
 
 do not give themfelves up to fplrituous li- 
 quors, they make fome fhift to fcramble 
 through life tolerably well, as may be feen at 
 Florence. I am aware that the richeft cities 
 will always fwarm, for that very reafon, with 
 the moil indigent poor, fo long as men are 
 men ; for, fince many will be idle, they will, 
 confequently, be, in proportion, more wretch- 
 ed, as the means of fubfiftence is experifive ; 
 and neceiTaries will grow dearer, as riches 
 multiply: Neverthelefs, as brown bread is 
 ilill cheaper in England than elfewhere, I 
 cannot but impute it to pride and idlenefs, 
 that the greater part of our poor in and about 
 London , are ever in want. The lower people 
 in Italy fpend more than you would believe 
 in wine, but neither their abilities, nor the ex- 
 ample of their betters, lead them into drunk- 
 ennefs : They have a great notion it is whole- 
 feme, and they give it to their children at the 
 
 breafl. Sir , and fome of the Nobles, 
 
 allow their men fervants feven or eight mil- 
 lings a month for wine, rather than furnifh 
 them with it, and, he tells me, they always 
 fpend it ; for I had figured to myfelf, that a 
 ibber faving man would have drunk water, 
 and put the money in his pocket -, but, he fays, 
 
 that
 
 LETTER XLVI. 235 
 
 that examples of that kind are very rare, and 
 almoft unknown. 
 
 I am much pleafed with the contrivance 
 jifed in the great hofpital here, to avoid bugs ; 
 it is no other than a plain bedftead of iron, 
 made fo fimple, that there is not a crevice 
 where a bug can conceal itfelf. I remember 
 there have been attempts of this kind made 
 in England^ but they have proved ineffectual, 
 becaufe they faflened ticking to the frame, 
 with oilet- holes, and cording, which afforded 
 feme harbour to thefe animals. In this ho- 
 fpital they only lay acrofs the frame about 
 four or five boards, a little longer than the 
 width of the frame, and about a foot broad, 
 upon which they lay the bedding ; thefc are 
 moveable, and, if neceffary, may be brumed 
 when the bed is made, as eafily, and in as iliort 
 a time, as a man brumes his hat. In the hof- 
 pitals at London, bugs are frequently a greater 
 evil to the patient, than the malady for which 
 he feeks an hofpital ; and, could I have 
 intereft enough with the governors, to bring 
 about an imitation of this frame, I mould 
 be exceedingly rejoiced in the comfort it will 
 afford to fo many thoufands of miserable 
 
 wretches
 
 236 LETTER XLVII. 
 
 wretches, that are tormented fometimes even 
 to death, by thefe naufeous vermin. 
 
 I am, Sir, &c. 
 
 LETTER XLVIL 
 
 FLORENCE, May 2, 1766. 
 SIR, 
 
 ' I ^H ERE is but one theatre open at 
 JL Florence, juft at this juncture, and 
 there is feldom more than one at a time, ex- 
 cept in the feafon of the Carnival, when the 
 rage of frequenting fpectacles is fuch in Italy, 
 that, in this fmall city, the people fill fix or 
 feven houfes every night ; but, in mort, as if 
 it were an act of devotion, every body makes 
 a point of going ; whereas, in France, the mad- 
 nefs of a Carnival is, in a manner, unknown. 
 There are, however, at Florence, but three 
 confiderable theatres, one very large, and two 
 of about the dimenfion of that in Drury- 
 lane. The large one is dedicated to the feri- 
 ous Opera, the other two to Comedy and Bnr- 
 
 lettas.
 
 LETTER XLVIL 237 
 
 lettas. Upon a calculation, I find, that, 
 though the extent of the houfe, now open, 
 be equal to that of Drury-iane, it does not 
 contain near the number of people, from the 
 nature of its form, there being no galleries, 
 (where fo many hundreds croud together 
 with us) but confining merely of boxes and 
 pit. The pit I apprehend to be twiceas big 
 as ours, but the boxes muft be incommodi- 
 oufly crammed to receive feven hundred peo- 
 ple ; whereas, if I remember rightly, our two 
 galleries alone will hold near a thoufand. 
 The comedy they exhibit here is very 
 low indeed, by no means exceeding what 
 is called, in 'England^ a droll, and what 
 would be very tirefome to an En- 
 glijhman, but for the pleafure there is in no- 
 velty. To give you fome idea of the fmall 
 progrefs of the drama through all Italy > I 
 need only repeat, that I have never yet feen 
 there one play coniifting of five acts ; and that 
 the joy it affords arifes from miflaking one 
 word for another, blunders, indelicate jokes, 
 &c. At Parts, Harlequin is allowed fome 
 freedoms, which, I believe, would hardly be 
 fufTered in a London theatre, (however a 
 Frenchman may value himfelf on the elegance 
 
 of
 
 238 LETTER XLVIL 
 
 of their tafte) but then the Parif.ans have 
 the refource of another theatre, where both 
 tragedy and comedy may be faid to flourifh 
 aim oft to perfection ; whereas Harlequin ', 
 and the other Italian characters of Punch, 
 Don Faflidio^ Pantaloon^ &c. are, in a man- 
 ner, the only characters you fee on the ftages 
 of this country. The Harlequin of this thea- 
 tre is very popular, and, what you will be 
 furprized at, very rich, though the falary paid 
 both to him and his wife be but feventy-rlve 
 pounds a year fterling ; but, to folve the rid- 
 dle, you muft know, that the Harlequin is a 
 tradefman, and, perhaps, may have as much 
 merit in that department, as in his black face, 
 and party coloured fuit ; however it be, he 
 is a great favourite, and his mop is much fre- 
 quented : I have been his cuflomer for no 
 other reafon, in preference, but the Angularity 
 of the tradefman, not that of the goods. Mr 
 Addifcn, and Sir William Temple, I believe,- 
 have both fpoken, with great applaufe, of the 
 Dutch theatres, becaufe the company of co- 
 medians was faid to be compofed of artifi- 
 cers, who, after their day's labour, recreated 
 themfelves, and the publick, with their drama- 
 tick exhibitions, not making the profeffion as, 
 
 in
 
 LETTER XLVII. 239 
 
 in other kingdoms, an idle calling: but, 
 with fubmiffion to fuch great men, I mould 
 imagine, were the pradice general, it would 
 fpoil both the tradefman and the ador -, and 
 thefe fober comedians would frequently become 
 bankrupts. We have much more pleafure at 
 their burletta operas, than at their comedies, 
 though they have not, in their company, any 
 finger or actor of very diftinguimable talents ; 
 but, upon the whole, it does very well, and 
 paffes off the evening pleafantly. The church 
 keeps a ftrid hand over the fubjeds of Tufca- 
 ny, as well as the other dates of Italy. On the 
 page of the opera -book, where, in England, 
 the argument is ufually printed off, you have 
 here, in capital letters, a Protefla. This pro- 
 teft is a declaration, that, though the writer 
 of the drama has made ufe of the words God, 
 Gods, Deities, &c. he means no offence to 
 the Church ; but that, in conformity to 
 the Mythology of the Antients, he has been 
 obliged to introduce thofe fables, and thofe 
 phrafes. 
 
 I never trouble you with defcriptions of 
 churches and palaces, but, rather, with the 
 cuftoms and manners of the people I vifit ; 
 yet I cannot forbear mentioning the ducal 
 
 palace
 
 2 4 6 . LETTER XLVII. 
 
 palace at Florence , which has, by far, 
 moft noble range of rooms I ever beheld ; I 
 mould not, however, have thought this cir- 
 cumftance worth a paragraph in my letter, 
 but for this particular, that it was built by one 
 Pitti a private man, before the eftabliihment; 
 of the Medici family, into whofe hands it im- 
 mediately fell ; yet, in fpite of their great re- 
 putation, and magnificence, through a long 
 courfe of years, it ftill retains the name of its 
 firft owner, and is called the Pitti palace to 
 this hour. I own to you, I look with admira- 
 ration on this monument of Tufcan tafte and 
 grandeur, and cannot but reflect, with afto- 
 nilhment, at the low ebb of commerce, and 
 the fine arts, in other ftates of Europe, when 
 they flourifhed with fo much vigour in this 
 dutchy. The gardens are efteemed fine by 
 the Italians^ but, in the eyes of an Englifo- 
 man, they are execrable j undoubtedly our tafte 
 in gardening is infinitely more elegant than 
 that of the Italians ; befides., as they cannot 
 have either green grafs, or fine gravel, they 
 want fome of the proper materials to render a 
 garden perfectly beautiful ; but, what is un- 
 pardonable and abfurd, among ft a thoufand 
 other defects in their laying out a garden, is, 
 
 their
 
 LETTER XLVII. 241 
 
 their contrivance to calculate them for win- 
 ter, when nobody walks, and not for fummer, 
 when gardens a* agreeable. This abfurdity 
 is, the prodigious number of large trees, all 
 of the ever-green kind, with which their 
 gardens abound ; it is true, they afford a 
 lhade, but of fo difmal a hue as is hardly to 
 be imagined, and, at the times they want 
 fhade, trees of a beautiful verdure would be 
 flocked with leaves ; certainly this vice will 
 be reformed as their tafte improves. If they 
 adapt their gardens to the winter, they al- 
 moft as ridiculoufly build their houfes for 
 the fummer only, notwithftanding the ri- 
 gour of the winter in this mountainous 
 country. It is hardly thirty years ago, that, 
 except kitchen chimneys, there were fcarce- 
 ly any, not only in Naples^ but even in 
 the Northern latitude of Venice. Antiquity 
 renders every cuftom venerable, and almofl 
 facred, but you would wonder to fee how 
 prejudiced the Italians are againft the in- 
 troduction of chimneys j they have an idea 
 they muft be unwholfome, fo little do they un- 
 derftand the nature of a ventilator, and that 
 a thorough draught muft purify the air we 
 breathe. It happened, that my chimney at 
 
 Naples
 
 242 LETTER XLVII. 
 
 Naples took fire, being ill built, and hav- 
 ing never been fwept fince it was erected, 
 (about three or four years fil>ce) this accident 
 alarmed fo the landlord, that he demurred 
 whether he mould not turn a gentleman, 
 who lodged over my head, out of his a- 
 partments, becaufe he refufed to pull down 
 his chimney on this occafion. The gentle- 
 man is, certainly, one of the beft tenants in 
 Naples y and the landlord's intereft prevailed 
 oyer his frights and prejudices at laft ; 
 but he lives in a ftate of unhappinefs, that 
 his houfe mould be proftituted to the vile 
 life of chimneys. 
 
 Through all 'Tufcany, the inhabitants have 
 a guttural pronunciation, which prevails,, 
 too, even amongft their gentry, and, fome- 
 times, to a grofs degree. I have often 
 " heard it faid, that the pureft Italian is fpo- 
 v ken at Sienna ; but I am very well per- 
 fuaded, that, were a child fent there, to 
 learn the language, he would acquire this 
 imperfection of fpeech. One of the moft 
 ingenious men I have feen in ltaly> is a 
 Siennefe, and has the guttural pronunciation 
 to the greateft excefs ; however, he is fa 
 little confcious of it, that he frequently af- 
 
 ferts,
 
 LETTER XLVII. 243 
 
 aflerts, the charge againft Tufcany is ground- 
 lefs and fcandalous ; the afTertion feldoin 
 fails to make us fmile, as he cannot fpeak 
 without furnifhing a proof of the allegation. 
 I know an Englifo gentleman who has 
 lived here fo many years, that he is be- 
 come as blind as the Siennefe to this de- 
 fed: of the Tufcans y but is now and then fo 
 guilty of it himfelf, as even to fpeak En- 
 g/rflj gutturally, without being in the leaft 
 fenfible of it. It is curious to obfervej 
 how many ages the fame virtue, or the fame 
 vice, continues to be local. Dante com- 
 plains of this very defect, as general, in his 
 time, amongft the people of Tufcany. I 
 prefume, that, in all countries, a man may 
 attain the pureft language, and accent, where 
 the beft company refides, which will always 
 be in the metropolis. I mould therefore 
 fuppofe, as Florence is exceptionable, if it 
 were poffible to avoid countrymen, that 
 Rome is the place where a foreigner mould 
 go for Italian. It is a Well known proverb, 
 Lingua Tofcana, in Bocca Romana.- That is 
 to fay, The Tufcans 'write pure Italian, the 
 Romans pronounce it purely -, but, though 
 that part of the proverb, which regards the 
 
 pro-
 
 244 LETTER XLVII. 
 
 pronunciation, be undoubtedly true, fome Ro- 
 mans difpute the other. 
 
 By what I can forefee, Florence, in our 
 judgment, will be preferred to all the 
 other cities in Italy, as a place of refidence ; 
 though, perhaps, we may be partial in our 
 opinions, as accidents contribute to raife or 
 fink the ideas of travellers in their eftima- 
 tion of places ; and here we run a rifk of 
 being extremely prejudiced, as the polite and 
 courteous behaviour of Sir Horatio Man to all 
 his countrymen, muft have rqade our flay 
 very agreeable, had the place and the peo* 
 pie been ever fo exceptionable and unpleaf- 
 
 1 am, Sir, &c. 
 
 LET-
 
 LETTER XLVIII. 
 
 FLORENCE, May 6, 1766. 
 SIR, 
 
 WHILST I am in Italy, I feldom fail 
 to be prefent every evening at their 
 Theatrical Entertainments, as being the place, 
 where next to good company, a Traveller is 
 befl enabled to catch the manners of a peo- 
 ple. I have, for the firft time, feen a Come- 
 dy here, of five acts ; and what I did not 
 expedl: to meet with, on the Italian ftage ; 
 a Tragedy ; it is tranflated from Voltaire's 
 Mahomet^ and though Tragedy be fo little 
 cultivated in Italy, I perceived the audience 
 were more attentive, than I ever faw them 
 at any other exhibition ; fo forcible are the 
 dramatic powers of Volt air e y even in the dif- 
 guife of a Tranflation. 
 
 If a man may dare to pronounce upon the 
 ftage, and language of a foreign country, I 
 think the Italian tragick declamation is far 
 from indifferent in its nature ; it appears to me 
 much more fweet and pathetick, I might alfo 
 venture to fay natural, than the declama- 
 
 tion
 
 246 LETTER XLVIII. 
 
 tion of the French Tragedians ; but I do not 
 fee any profpect of the Italian ftage, being 
 raifed to the dignity it is fufceptible of: 
 There muft be a fucceffion of Princes to pro- 
 tect, honour, and re ward, both Poets and Play- 
 ers, before fuch a reformation can be effected ; 
 but you will conceive at how low an ebb thefe 
 liberal arts are at Florence , when I tell you, 
 the price of the pit is only fix-pence Englijh. 
 I have the honour to be much with the 
 Abbe Nicolini) who, though he lives here, 
 is by birth, a Roman, and his eftate lies in 
 the Pope's Dominions ; he is uncle to the 
 Prince Corfmi , he was very well known in 
 England, during the years 1746-7-8, by his 
 connections with Lord Chefterfield^ Lord 
 Bath, Lord Melcomb^ and that fet of Gen- 
 tlemen the late Prince of Wales was pleafed 
 to honour with his efteem and friendfhip. 
 He fpeaks ExgKJh almoft to perfection, and, 
 by virtue of his particular talents, good fenfe, 
 and long opportunity of fludying our laws, 
 and cuftoms, he has attained to fuch a know- 
 ledge of them, as I believe no foreigner be- 
 fides could ever pretend to. My converfa- 
 tions with this nobleman, on the plan of En- 
 gUJh law, and Englifo liberty, has fuggefted to 
 
 me
 
 LETTER XLVHI. 247 
 
 me a new opinion, that though England be 
 not a fafhionable object for travellers, as Italy 
 and France are, yet, could a foreigner poffefs 
 our language to the perfection as fonie of 
 us do French, and Italian^ and, were he a man 
 of fo liberal a turn of mind, to make the fyf- 
 tem of our laws, and liberties, his principal 
 purfuit, I think it is the country of the world, 
 where fuch a man would find the moft plea- 
 fure, and the moft improvement. It is with 
 a fondnefs, bordering on enthufiafm, the 
 Abbe talks on thefe fubjects, and you L will 
 not wonder, if he declares, that could he lay 
 afide the partiality for his own country, which 
 providence has been kindly pleafed to plant 
 in the breaft of every man, TLngland is the 
 kingdom where he would fix his refidence. 
 
 The Grand Duke, I find, upon good au- 
 thority, to be a young man of a moft bene- 
 volent difpofition j but the excefs of this vir- 
 tue, at leaft in fome mapes, becomes a vice ; 
 his charity leads him to encourage beggars 
 to fuch a degree, that they multiply enor- 
 moufly, and hang in fuch numbers about 
 his horfes and coach, that they obftruct his 
 paffage through the ftreets. This encou- 
 ragement of beggary will foon corrupt the 
 
 induf-
 
 248 LETTER XLVIII. 
 
 .induftrious poor, and I really think, that, at 
 this inftant, I fee more beggars in Florence 
 than I ever faw, even at Rome, where no va- 
 grant is driven out, as they are in every other 
 city of Italy ^ after the third day. I prefume, 
 his eyes will (hortly be opened to this abufe, 
 and that he will lay afide the charitable cha- 
 rader, to afiume that of the politician ; if he 
 does not, the evil will ftill encreafe ; for idle- 
 nefs is catching, and few will work, who can 
 find a fupport without working. He has a 
 great ambition to be informed ; but I quef- 
 tion, whether the late Emperor, and. the 
 Queen of Hungary (his father and mother) 
 were fo eager to inftruct, as he was to be in- 
 ftructed j at prefent, he is much delighted 
 with experimental philofophy, and, I am 
 told, has a remarkable inclination to chy- 
 miftry j he is but nineteen, and therefore 
 may become a knowing man, if thefe ac- 
 counts be true, and he have the good fortune 
 to fall into able hands. His body guard 
 confifts of young nobles only ; they are about 
 fifty two in number, and will certainly, in a 
 few weeks, be by far .the moft magnificent 
 troops in Europe. Their new uniform, and 
 horie furniture, will then be ready, and I am 
 
 inform-
 
 LETTER XLVIII. 249 
 
 informed, will coft fixty thoufand crowns ; 
 which divided amongft fifty two, amounts to 
 above a thoufand crowns Englifo for each 
 man and horfe. The army is fmall j I believe, 
 in the whole dutchy, there are not above five 
 thoufand men, which, however, are more 
 than they want, as the fecurity of ^ufcany 
 depends wholly on its fituation, and the in- 
 tereft of her neighbours that me mould be 
 unmolefled. Look on the Map, and you 
 will fee it furrounded by the Ecclefiaftical 
 State, which muft be invaded, before an ene- 
 my can penetrate into the Dutchy. 
 
 The environs of Florence are delightful ; 
 the hills round the town, at the diftance of 
 two or three miles, form an amphitheatre, 
 where a thoufand country houfes, built of 
 white ftone, beautify the profpect. The 
 fields, as indeed the whole face of Tufcaxy 
 are, in a manner, covered with olive-trees ; 
 but the olive tree does not anfwer the charac- 
 ter I had conceived of it : The Royal Pfalmift, 
 and fome of the facred writers, fpeak with 
 rapture of the green olive tree, fo that I ex- 
 pected a beautiful green ; and I confefs to 
 you, I was wretchedly difappointed, to find 
 its hue refemble that of our hedges, when 
 
 they
 
 250 LETTER XLVHL 
 
 they are covered with duft. The olive-tree 
 may, poffibly, delight in the barren diftricl: 
 of Judtza, but, undoubtedly, will difguft a 
 man accuftomed to Englifh verdure. 
 
 Madam Minorbetti, a woman of diilindbi- 
 
 on, has, through the means of 
 
 , (hewn great civilities to my daugh- 
 ters ; I mention her name for having given 
 occafion to one of the moft ridiculous events 
 that has fallen within my knowledge, and 
 which will put to mame fome of the Greek 
 etymologies we are entertained with in the 
 pofthumous works of D<.an Swift. You 
 may remember, he afferts, for the honour 
 of Great Britain, that many of thofe names 
 which we fuppofe to be originally Greek, 
 are really derived from the Britijh language, 
 and, by corruption, have attained the Greek 
 idiom. For example j he fays, " that Andro- 
 mache is a corruption of the Scotch name 
 Andrew Mackey : Archimedes, of Hark ye 
 Maids, &c.&c." It feems, that a relation 
 of Madam Minorbetti, in the agonies of 
 death, was defirous to have a famous relick 
 in this city, no lefs than an arm of our 
 Archbifhop Becket, brought to his bed-fide, 
 from a perfuafion he fhould be reftored to 
 
 health
 
 LETTER XL VIII. 251 
 
 health, by its miraculous influence : The 
 Monks, in whofe pofTeffion the arm is, 
 rejected the petition, and pleaded the im- 
 pofTibility of carrying it beyond the precincts 
 of the convent ; the relations, on the other 
 hand, urged, that they were defcended from 
 the family of the Beckets, and, therefore, 
 that fuch a ufage might be difpenfed with ; 
 the argument was admitted to be good, and 
 the Monks demanded only a proof of the 
 confanguinity, which was demonstrated in 
 the following manner : <c A Bimop, faid 
 they, in England, is always called Milor, 
 (my Lord) which eafily, in Italian, is cor- 
 rupted into Minor > then Becket as eafily 
 degenerates into Betti j fo that Milor-becket 
 naturally becomes Minor-betii" This nota- 
 ble argument was deemed fo valid, that the 
 relick was brought out of the convent to the 
 fick man. Do not doubt the truth of the 
 fact becaufe of its ludicroufnefs ; you may 
 depend on every circumftance of the ftory,. 
 
 At all the houfes of the Nobles in Florence -, 
 you fee an empty flafk hanging out, to de- 
 note they fell wine by retail $ this cuftom 
 mocks an Englijbtnan, as a practice very de- 
 rogatory of their dignity, and he cannot but 
 
 fpeak
 
 252 LETTER XL VIII. 
 
 fpeak of it with furprize. A Florentine 
 cooly and fenfibly anfwers, " Sir, your Duke 
 
 *< of , by the interpofition of a freward, 
 
 " iells a tree for ten fhillings ; our Noble, by 
 " his porter at the door, fells ten fhillings 
 ** worth of wine ; but our Noble appears no 
 " more in the fale of the wine, than your 
 
 ct Duke of , in the fale of his tree ; 
 
 " different countries have their different 
 " modes." The truth is, that, through all 
 Italy, great part of the rent for eftates, is 
 paid in kind, which, joined with a certain 
 exemption from the imports on wine, grant- 
 ed to the Nobles in Florence, has led them, 
 I believe, into this feeming littlenefs. 
 
 I was, the other night, at a mofl elegant 
 concert, given by the Luccbefe Envoy, at his 
 own palace. The fafhion, upon this occa- 
 fion, is, to calculate the number of people 
 the rooms will hold, and to invite according- 
 ly ; but Ladies only are invited. It is com- 
 pufcd, that cards fent to twenty-five or 
 twenty-fix Ladies, will bring near fourfcore 
 Gentlemen ; and the number at this aflem- 
 bly annvered to that calculation. The great 
 difproportion betwixt the number of Ladies 
 at the Italian Conwrzetioni, and the London . 
 
 routs
 
 LETTER XL VIII. 253 
 
 routs, is very ftriking to an EngKJbman j but 
 the phenomenon admits of an eafy iblution. 
 No fingle Ladies, as I have told ycu before, 
 vifit in Italy ; all who are feen in the world 
 are married women. If a gentleman here 
 has three fons and three daughters, two of 
 the daughters are moft probably in a con- 
 vent, whilft all the three fons, at leaft two 
 of them, have nothing elfe to do, than to 
 frequent the Spectacles and Converzationi. 
 
 The palace of the Luccbefe Envoy is very 
 large j fo are the palaces of all the Nobles in 
 Florence ; indeed, they are of fuch an extent, 
 that ufually one floor only is occupied at the 
 lame time. During the winter, they inha- 
 bit the upper apartments j and, during the 
 fummer, they refide all together on the 
 ground- floor ; a moft agreeable piece of 
 luxury in the Northern climate of Italy, 
 which is fo extremely hot, and fo extremely 
 cold in the two feafons. Houfe rent at Flo- 
 rence is flill cheaper than at Venice. 
 
 In Florence, the generality of Ladies have 
 each of them three Cicefbeos ; the firft is the 
 Cicefbeo- of dignity ; the fecond is the Ci- 
 cefbeo who picks up the glove, gives the fan, 
 and pulls off, or puts on the cloak, G?r. 
 
 the
 
 254 LETTER XLVIII. 
 
 the third Cicefbeo is, by the wags, deemed 
 the fubftantial Ciceibeo, or Lover. God 
 knows how thefe matters go; for, in public, 
 the Ladies behave with fo much modefty 
 and decorum, that I mould be tempted to' 
 treat fome of thefe reports as mere detrac- 
 tion, were not the truth of them fo notori- 
 ous j in fact, the univerfality of the vice has, 
 in a manner, diverted it of the appearance! 
 of vice : With us, a woman who is pub- 
 lickly criminal, ufually becomes profligate 
 and abandoned ; here, almoft every woman,- 
 of however virtuous a difpofition, falls into 
 the general cuftom, and is equally criminal 
 with the woman of loofe principles ; fo that 
 the diftinction of good and bad, I mean 
 chafte and difTolute, is hardly known in Ita- 
 ly ; in a word, 'tis the mode, the etiquette, 
 the bon ton of the fine people ; and now 
 wives and cicefbeos hardly give more fcan- 
 dal than wives and hufbands ; excite as little 
 animadverfions when together ; and, indeed, 
 exclufive of gallantry, lead as innocent and 
 fober lives, 
 
 I {hall finim this letter with an extract, 
 taken from a curious furvey of the Dutchy 
 of Tufcany, made on the acceffion of the pre- 
 fect
 
 LETTER XLVIII. 255 
 
 fent Grand Duke. It contains an account of 
 the numbers of inhabitants in the feveral dif- 
 tridts of this principality 5 and is certainly a 
 meafure of government, worthy the imita- 
 tion of every ftate, as nothing can tend to en- 
 lighten an adminiftration, fo much, in regard 
 to the real ftrength of a kingdom, as a tho- 
 rough knowledge of the numbers of the fe- 
 veral clafies of the people. This furvey is 
 not printed, but as I was allowed the liberty 
 to make what ufe I pleafed of the manu- 
 fcript, I thought I could not furnifh you with 
 a more agreeable entertainment, than with the 
 fums total of the feveral claffes, which are as 
 follow : 
 
 Married men 142699 
 
 women - 143590 
 
 Unmarried men - 180348 
 
 women 190874 
 
 Boys 128199 
 
 Girls - 119986 
 
 Churchmen 35 2 9 
 
 Priefts 8355 
 
 Monks 5548 
 
 Hermits - 144 
 
 Nuns 9349 
 
 Proteftant
 
 256 LETTER XLIX. 
 
 Proteftant men 230 
 
 women 55 
 
 Jews, men 4464 
 
 Jews, women 45 13 
 
 Total 941883 
 lam, Sir, &c. 
 
 LETTER XLIX. 
 
 BOLOGNA, May 9, 1766. 
 SIR, 
 
 WE arrived at Bologna in two days, 
 after a pleafant, or rather, an amuf- 
 ing journey ; for travelling fo many miles 
 amongft the barren Apennines can hardly be 
 called pleafant. The country, however, for 
 feveral miles, after we left Florence, was very 
 agreeable, and ilill more agreeable for fome 
 miles before We reached Bologna, as there 
 are no olive trees in the neighbourhood of 
 this laft city, but a verdure almoft rivalling 
 burs in England. It happened to be a week 
 
 of
 
 LETTER L. 257 
 
 of a remarkable Function, called the Pro- 
 eeffion of the Rogation (Rogation week,) 
 when all the communities of the city, walk 
 feveral days in form, every man with a wax 
 taper in his hand, and every community 
 with a crucifix^ or dying faviour: The 
 images are of different fizes, from one foot 
 to four feet high, and of different defigns ; 
 in all of them he is crowned with thorns ; 
 but in fome the thorns have not wounded 
 him, in others his face and neck are cover- 
 ed with drops, or ftreams of blood. During^ 
 the proceffion, both through the church and 
 ftreets, there is an accompanyment of martial 
 mufickj and tolling of bells. There wag 
 fuch an extraordinary fucceffion of crucifixes, 
 (I think about fifty four of them) that I 
 was much tired of the famenefs of the ob- 
 jects, but at laft, the appearance of a Ma- 
 dona, which clofed the proceffion, brought 
 me relief. She was painted, as are many 
 others in Europe^ by St Luke, and is much 
 reverenced here, for the number of mira- 
 cles fhe has wrought in favour of the Bollo- 
 nefe. This ceremony would provoke fome 
 Proteftants, and furnimes all,' with ftrong 
 arguments againft Catholick tenets and prac- 
 
 R tices 5
 
 258 LETTER XLIX. 
 
 tkes ; for, during the appearance of the fe- 
 veral figures of Chrift, the people were fo in- 
 different, that I obierved fome of them flood 
 with their hats on ; but, upon the exhibition 
 of the BlefTed Virgin, they not only proftrat- 
 ed themfelves on their knees, but, in anfwer 
 to three bows ma,de by the picture, they, in 
 the attitude of kneeling, bent their heads to 
 the ground three times. At the church 
 door, there was a kind of Litany pronounced, 
 to the praife of the Blefled Virgin, where, 
 the refponfe of the people, for feveral mi- 
 nutes together, was Ora pro nobis. A mo- 
 derate Catholick may refine, and plead, that 
 the picture is not an object of worfhip, but 
 a mere memento of the Virgin ; yet, a man 
 who travels through Popim countries, will 
 always believe the picture itfelf is honoured -, 
 and, a Proteftant may naturally afk, how it 
 happens, that one Madona has more fame, 
 and more power, than another, if it be only a 
 picture to remind us of the original ? I could 
 write you a letter every week on the finglc 
 fubject of vulgar religious prejudices, were I 
 ^ to enumerate all thofe I hear j but I cannot for- 
 bear telling you, that the common people of 
 Bologna believe, that if the Madona was not car- 
 ried
 
 LETTER XLIX. 259 
 
 Hed in this proceffion, (he, the picture, would 
 defcend from her ftation, and walk through 
 the ftreets. 
 
 At Rome, there is a fociety, who advance 
 money to the poor, upon depofiting a pawn, 
 without intereft. This defign appears ufe- 
 ful j but I had not an opportunity of learn- 
 ing whether it be abufed, as moft other good 
 intentions are. I mould not have mention- 
 ed it, but that I have feen a like inftitutiori 
 at BokgtiO, with this remarkable antient in- 
 fcription, over the gate of the building, 
 where the bufinefs is tranfa&ed. This injli- 
 tution was &c. &c. in order to put an end to 
 tbe ufury pratfifed by the Jews. The truth 
 is, that in thofe times, the Jews were the 
 only factors, or money lenders, in Europe, 
 and it it is no wonder, that what was a 
 jfewijh practice, mould be held in fuch de- 
 teftation by Chriftians ; but, with the times, 
 we fee the modes of religion totally alter, and 
 good bifhops now, make no fcruple to re- 
 ceive five per cent, if they can get it honeft- 
 ly. A few days fince, I beftowed a mi- 
 nute's penfive contemplation, on the monu- 
 ment of Galileo. I could not but reflect 
 with forrow, and fome indignation, that the 
 
 R 2 priefls
 
 2 6o LETTER XLIX. 
 
 priefts of the fame church, treated him as i 
 blafphemer, for afferting the Copernican fyf- 
 tern, who now treat the Hutchinfonians as 
 fanaticks, for doubting it. I am not to tell 
 you, that poor Galileo remained in the pri- 
 fons of the Inquifitions many years, fuffering 
 extreme hardships in his old age there, and 
 was not fet at liberty till he retracted his 
 doctrine. 
 
 At Bologna, as at Florence,, the nobles are 
 numerous and poor; indeed, for the fame 
 reafon ; that is to fay, becaufe all the chil- 
 dren are noble, and, becaufe it is a fafhion 
 to divide their eftates almoft equally amongft 
 them : This cuftom had a very good effect, 
 when it was honourable to be engaged in 
 commerce, as was the cafe, when the trade 
 of Europe was in a manner carried on by the 
 nobles of Florence, Venice, and Lombardy : 
 Every fon, by this article, improved his for- 
 tune, and enriched his country ; but the 
 difcovery of the paffage to the Indies, by the 
 Gape of Good Hope, putting an end to this 
 monopoly, and to the exorbitant gains attend- 
 ing it, commerce, by degrees, became con- 
 temptible, as it grew lefs profitable; and 
 tile nobility, finding no refources beyond their 
 
 pitiful
 
 LETTER XL1X. 261 
 
 pitiful incomes, became wretched, at leaft, 
 the greater part of them. I have been cre- 
 dibly informed, that a noble at Florence, 
 with five hundred pounds a year, is reputed 
 to be in pretty good circumftances. 
 
 I mould have told you, when I wrote from 
 Florence, that the laft fixteen years, by an 
 order of the late Emperor, clocks after the 
 EngHJh manner, have been ufed in Tufcany^ 
 the lower people ftill talk of 24 o'clock, and 
 the firft and fecond hour of the night ; but, 
 I mould fuppofe, that, in the northern parts 
 of Italy, this inconvenient method of count- l - 
 ing the hours, will be abolifhed in a few 
 years ; for at Parma, and Placentia alfo, the L 
 Englifo method gains ground. 
 
 ALEXANDRIA, May 12, 1766. 
 THE country from Bologna, to this 
 place, is a delightful fertile plain, and the 
 accommodations fo much better than thofe 
 we meet with, on the road to Rome, by the, 
 way of Loretto, that I defire you will make 
 the diftindlion betwixt my journey thither, 
 and my return, whenever you give a charac- 
 ter of Italy from my letters. Walking in 
 the gardens of the palace at Parma, I had 
 &3 the 
 
 .
 
 262 LETTER XLIX. 
 
 the good fortune to fee the young Duke ; he 
 is the moft manly youth I ever beheld, and 
 has a great reputation. The King of France, 
 his grandfather, appointed him able pre- 
 ceptors, and, it is laid, they have culti- 
 vated his genius in a very extraordinary 
 manner : It is certain he has had great ad- 
 vantages, and the example of his own father, 
 the late Don Philip, was no fmall one, who, 
 undoubtedly, was a virtuous Prince. He is 
 but little more than fifteen years of age : I 
 was clofe to him long enough to pronounce, 
 that his demeanour is courteous and elegant. 
 Here, as in moft parts of Italy, the fize 
 of the palace, now building, is too gigantic 
 for the court, and the expence of it too 
 great for the Treafury ; fo it remains, 
 and will for ever remain half finifhed. 
 The garden is likewife in a rude con- 
 dition. A certain gentleman, of great 
 figure in the world, told a friend of mine, 
 that, fome years fince, having had the 
 honour to dine with Don Philip, in the 
 courfe of converfation, he gave an opinion, 
 that, were the garden his, he would do fo 
 and fo ; Aye, faid the Duke, and were I 
 you, Sir, I would dojuji tbejame thing ; but, 
 
 Sir,
 
 LETTER XLIX. 263 
 Sir, added he, / have not a falling to do it - 9 
 my brother, the King of Spain, has Jlript my 
 palaces, has emptied my gallery, and, believe 
 me, my pockets are as empty as my gallery. 
 The truth of part of this afiertion is very no- 
 torious, for many of the curious pictures 
 and ftatues were fent from Parma to Naples 
 and Spain. 
 
 TURIN, May 14, 1766. 
 W E are arrived at Turin -, but the jour- 
 ney from Alexandria has been unpleafant ; 
 one night's rain has made the road almoft 
 impalpable, fo muddy and fo clayey is the 
 foil. I mould conclude, therefore, that, in 
 winter, it is more advifeable to travel by the 
 way of Milan to Turin, from Placentia, 
 than by the road of Alexandria. The 
 whole country is extremely fertile, and to a 
 degree that, it may be truly faid, there is 
 not an acre of barren ground through all the 
 tract of Lombardy which we have pafTed. 
 The earth produces three crops at once, 
 namely wine, filk, and corn. The mul- 
 berry-trees fupport the vines, and the corn 
 grows in the intervals betwixt the trees. It 
 js certainly an inftance of extraordinary plen- 
 R 4 tyj.
 
 264 LETTER L. 
 
 ty 5 but, probably, either of the three pro r 
 ducts would be more perfect in their kind, 
 if the foil was appropriated to one or two 
 of them only. From ten miles beyond Bo- 
 logna, to this place, I did not fee an olive- 
 tree ; fo that the verdure is much more 
 beautiful than in Tufcany. 
 
 Sir, &c. 
 
 LETTER L. 
 
 TURIN, May 18, 1766. 
 SIR, 
 
 I POSTPONED giving you any account 
 of Turin, till my return, hoping I mould 
 have been able to entertain you much more 
 agreeably, by a feconcl vifit to this city ; but 
 I find, upon examination, the defcriptions I 
 have already fent you, of Italian cuftoms and 
 manners, anticipate almoft every thing I had 
 to fay upon that fubject in relation to Turin. 
 What few peculiarities I have obferved, con- 
 - cerning
 
 LETTER L. 265 
 
 cerning both the place and the people, I 
 fhall, however, make the fubject of two or 
 three letters. 
 
 The apartments of the palace are much 
 more magnificent than is to be expected from 
 its outward appearance ; and, perhaps, were 
 they as large as thole at Verfailles, might 
 vie with them in elegance and furniture : 
 They are certainly a beautiful range of rooms, 
 and are one amongft the very few inftances 
 where the real merit exceeds the popular 
 character. His Majefty, the Duke of Sa- 
 voy ^ and the younger fon, the Duke of Chab- 
 lais, are all much beloved ; but the Duke of 
 Savoy i the heir apparent, is almolt adored 
 by the people. The King, through the 
 courfe of a long reign, has iupported fuch a 
 reputation for policy, affiduity, and faithful- 
 nets to his engagements, that you will not 
 charge me with an affectation of vvifdom, 
 if I ailert, that the government of this coun- 
 try is carried on with more fpirit, and lefs 
 corruption, than that of any other in Ifafy, 
 or, perhaps, in Europe. 
 
 His Majefty is, certainly, one of the moft 
 regular men in the world ; indeed his life is 
 fo regular, that it is almoft mechanical. He 
 
 gives
 
 266 LETTER XLV. 
 
 gives audience from fix to eleven every mon- 
 ning; goes to Mafs about twenty minutes 
 before twelve j dines at half an hour after 
 twelve; generally takes an afternoon's air- 
 ing ; and fups fo exactly at ten, that they 
 told me, he leaves the Opera fometimes a few 
 minutes before it is finifhed, if it exceed 
 ever fo little the hour of ten. His virtue is 
 fo rigid, that the gallantry of the Cicefbeos 
 give him much offence ; and he is fo fcanda- 
 lized at this fafhion, that he difcountenances 
 it to the utmoft of his power -, but I per- 
 ceive no human power can deftroy a mode 
 fo well eftablifhed, and fo flattering to our 
 depravity j for, both at the Promenade, and 
 the Spectacles, the Ladies flill appear with 
 their Cicefbeos, in defiance of the royal dif- 
 pleafure. 
 
 The Promenade, or, what is called the 
 Corfej in thefe countries, is always under- 
 ftood to be in coaches : The Gentry never 
 walk, as the French Ladies do in the T/6#//- 
 Icries, and the Englijh in St James's-Park ; 
 but the Promenade in coaches is the firft and 
 predominant purfuit, to which all others are 
 fubfervient. Thus, all over Italy, the hours 
 of opening the Spectacles wait on the length 
 
 of
 
 I, E T T E R L. 267 
 
 pf the days ; that is, in the longed days, 
 the Promenade finifhes a little before eight 
 o'clock, and then the theatres open ; but, 
 when the days are fhorter, the theatres open 
 fooner ; ib that in winter the Spectacles be- 
 gin betwixt five and fix ; but, in the very 
 hot nights of the fummer, the Corfo, in 
 fome pities of Italy, continues almoft till 
 rnorning, when the Italians are as riotous 
 as their fobriety admits of, regaling them- 
 felves, according to their fafhion, with ices, 
 fweet-meats, and lemonades. 
 
 There are two theatres at Turin ; the one 
 for the ferious Opera, almoft as large and 
 magnificent as that at Naples ; the fecond, 
 a fmaller, for the three other kinds of fpec- 
 tacles, namely, the Comedie Fran$oife y the 
 Comedie Italienne^ and the Opera Comique. 
 Thefe four exhibitions fucceed each other 
 in the four different feafons of the year $ but 
 the King and Family never frequent any 
 but the Grand Opera. I do not learn that his 
 Majefty lays himfelf under this reftraint, 
 from any religious exception to a play-houfe, 
 but merely becaufe it is the etiquette of the 
 court. Should the Royal Family break 
 through this ridiculous form, it would cer- 
 tainly
 
 2 68 LETTER L. 
 
 tainly tend to improve their ftage, and ren* 
 der the fpectacles more brilliant , but they 
 have a cuflom here which will always pre- 
 ferve elegance and decorum in their operas. 
 There is a fociety of forty gentlemen, an- 
 , fwerable for every expence whatfoever, viz. 
 the falaries of the adlors and the orcheftra, 
 the purchafe of the fcenery, the drefles, &c. 
 &c. fo that the performers are fure of their 
 pay, though the operas mould not fucceed. 
 It is not fo with regard to the Italian and 
 French Comedians, thofe two companies ta- 
 king the chance of good and bad houfes. 
 
 In my r ^alks, not far from the city, I ac- 
 . cidentally faw a mill for grinding corn, the 
 ^ mechanifm of which is very remarkable ; 
 perhaps there may be fome of the fame kind 
 in England ; but, as I never faw fuch a one, 
 I will endeavour to give you fome idea of it. 
 It is a contrivance to avail themfelves of the 
 benefit of evefy ounce of water in the river. 
 In the generality of mills, however large the 
 body of water be, it is feldom applied, as I 
 apprehend, to the turning of more than two 
 or three wheels j in- this inftance, if I re- 
 memember rightly, there are towards twenty. 
 The river which fupplies the mill, J guefs, 
 
 by
 
 LETTER L. 269 
 
 by my fteps, to be about thirty -fix feet wide ; 
 it is very rapid, and, by means of a flood- 
 .gate, rifes to a great height, and falls in large 
 quantities, over the flood-gate, down a con- 
 fiderable depth, into feveral troughs placed 
 on the other fide, and is conveyed by them 
 into the bed of the river. The troughs are 
 about two or three feet diameter, and are of 
 different lengths, having, at their extremities, 
 a wheel of fuch a fize, as .the weight of wa- 
 ter in the trough can turn with a fufficient 
 velocity. The fame mechanifm is practifed 
 by a body of water which falls from the 
 fide of the river into another river below it j 
 
 but, as words only, will hardly make you 
 comprehend the defign, I have annexed a 
 
 drawing,
 
 2 7 o L E t t E R L. 
 
 drawing, which, perhaps, may illuilratc what 
 I have meant to explain. 
 
 In this figure you fee, at a glance, a num- 
 ber of troughs, which I have fuppofed four- 
 teen, though I think there are more. Ima- 
 gine a wheel under the extremity of each 
 trough, and you will conceive, from their 
 oblique termination, that there is a fufficient 
 fpace for feveh wheels, &c. It is this mul- 
 tiplication of wheels which conftitutes the 
 ingenioufnefs of the device, and renders the 
 mill equal in powers to two or three millsj 
 becaufe the weight of every drop of water is 
 employed to a good purpofe, none of it fall- 
 ing fuperfluouily on any of the wheels. 
 
 lam, dear Sir , &c. 
 
 LET-
 
 TURIN, May 10. 1766. 
 SIR, 
 
 WHILST I am at 7r/, I go every 
 day to the King's antichamber, to 
 fee him and his Court pafs to chapel, and 
 as conftantly wait on them through the whole 
 fervice : If merely attending on public wor- 
 fhip be a work of merit, I may vaunt with the 
 Pharifee in the Gofpel, of my great defert. 
 You will wonder to hear fo much of my 
 perfeverance in the purfuit of thefe religious 
 ceremonies ; but, as the folly I am enquiring 
 after is infinite, were I to live here for ever, 
 the fearch would like wife be endlefs. The 
 good old King, in his latter days, gives him- 
 felf up entirely to devotion ; the reft of the 
 family too are exceedingly devout : The 
 church, therefore, is triumphant at Turin, 
 and the chief fplendor of this city is to be 
 found in the King's chapel. He has a choice 
 Orcheftra, at the head of which are Pugnani y 
 and the two Bifoucts. He feldom prays to 
 God, but as Nebuchadnezzar prayed to his 
 
 God,
 
 272 LETTER LI. 
 
 God, with the found of the fackbut, the pfal- 
 ter, and all kinds of mufical iriftrufnents. 
 Certainly, if a gilded church be an honour to 
 the-Deity, he is much more honoured in Italy 
 than in England, and the Catholic Religion, 
 if I may ufe the expreffion, is much more 
 flattering to him than our plain home-fpun 
 form of prayer. 
 
 On Saturday laft, the whole mafs was 
 performed in the pantomime manner, the priefl 
 not pronouncing one word aloud, but only 
 accompanying the mufick through the whole 
 office, with a thoufand unintelligible, (at 
 leaft to me,) ridiculous geftures. The day 
 following being Wbltfundoy^ there was a high 
 mafs, which continued exactly fifty minutes, 
 and was celebrated both by mufick, and by 
 chaunting. The tricks played by the priefts, 
 and their attendants, during the celebration, 
 are fo whimfical, that, were I capable of de- 
 fcribing them, you would imagine I had 
 fet down to invent raillery, farcafm, and car- 
 ricature. To give you fome idea of one 
 part : Conceive to yourfelf, four young 
 men in fcarlet banyans, and White nightrails, 
 walking half the time of the fervice before 
 the altar j one moment bowing like the 
 
 judges
 
 LETTER LI. 273 
 
 judges in Bays' s dance, to the king, the next 
 moment to the altar, and, prefently after, to 
 the ground ; thus ringing the changes for 
 fifty minutes ; then each of them ha., a large 
 lighted taper, which, for a certain length of 
 time, they carry horizontally, walking fo- 
 lemnly one after another, with the lame 
 care as you would ftep along a narrow deal 
 board, without touching the cracks of the 
 floor : After this procefiion they bend both 
 knees towards the ground, but not fo far as 
 to touch the ground, juft in the method you 
 have feen dancers on the flack rope, but fome- 
 thing more deliberately ; after this, they raife 
 themfelves from that uneafy pofture, to an 
 creel; lituation, but with fo circumfpedt. and 
 gradual a motion, that they tremble and 
 totter, not without fome ri(k of falling : 
 when the genuflection and elevation are 
 finimed, or, rather, during the operation, the 
 tapers are thrown into various pofnions, as a 
 foldier would exercife with a pike or a muf- 
 ket. How the fertile and foolim brain of 
 man could invent all this foppery and non- 
 fenfe is wonderful ; but it would, perhaps^ 
 be curious, could we come at the hiftory of 
 its origin, and on what pretence thefe feveral 
 
 S prac-
 
 274- LETTER LI. 
 
 practices were introduced. I am afraicf 
 to go on with my defcription, becaufe I 
 feel .myfelf unequal to the ridiculoufnefs, 
 and, indeed, left I mould forfeit the cha- 
 racter of veracity, by telling truths fo very 
 like falfhoods > but I muft not omit to men- 
 tion, that, at a certain moment, (I think the 
 inftant after the elevation of the Hoft) the 
 two Priefts who officiate at the altar, em- 
 brace and kifs other priefts who fit on the 
 bench near the altar, with a folemnity and 
 grimace truly ludicrous. I confefs it is fel- 
 dom pardonable, to deride the ceremonies of 
 any religion lincerely profefled by its follow- 
 ers ; but, when the ceremonies of a religion 
 are farcical, and fo palpably the inftruments 
 of oppreffion and tyranny, by which the com- 
 mon fenfe and civil rights of the world are 
 enflaved to a proud priefthood, it were virtue 
 to laugh till- men grew afhamed of their folly. 
 There is at Tiurin a famous violin, called 
 Pugnaniy in the higheft reputation for his 
 proficiency on that inftrument, and, in the 
 opinion of the Italians, and even the Engtijh 
 here, fuperior to Giardini. It has been my 
 good fortune to hear him to the greateft ad- 
 vantage j but, if Imay hazard my fentiments on 
 
 this
 
 LETTER LI. 275 
 
 this delicate point, &$ I muft tell you, tho" 
 I am fingular in my judgment, I prefer Gt- 
 ardini y and efleem him a much more agree- 
 able performer than Pugnani. It is faid 
 Pugnani draws out a louder tone from the 
 upper part of the fiddle, than Giardini does, 
 and this, it mufh be granted, is his fort > but, 
 with fubmiflion to Italian ears, mine were a 
 little '{hocked in feveral parts of his folo. I 
 wimed he had been a little more fweet^ 
 though he had been lefs forte ; and, from 
 this example of fo excellent a performer, it 
 may be fufpecled that a firing, of a certain 
 mortnefs, will not admit of fweetnefs beyond 
 fuch a degree of loudnefs. His tafte and 
 elegance I thought by no means comparable 
 to Giardini's $ but, perhaps, I may have 
 been miftaken in all my criticifms ; howe- 
 ver, I am perfuaded, though my judgment 
 may be falfe, that it does not fpring from a 
 want of feeling ; for the Bifoucis, both of 
 them, (the hautbois and the baflbon) ga-ve 
 me the pleafure I expected from their fame, 
 who, though they are extremely old, have 
 ftill the fame powers as formerly* Moft 
 probably Pugnani will find his way to En- 
 gland fome time or another 5 but, at prefent, 
 
 S 2 I am
 
 276 L E T T E R LI. 
 
 I am told the King will noj differ it ; 
 though his Majefty has no relifh for mufic, 
 he will have the beft hands he can procure 
 for divine fervice. I fuppofe, were a plain 
 Chriftian to aik, why all this noife and pa- 
 rade in divine wormip ? why all thefe drums, 
 trumpets, and clangor ? Are not a good life, 
 a devout heart, and a fober prayer, the moft 
 pleafing offering that can be made to the 
 Deity? the men with (ha ved heads, holy 
 water, fweet burning incenfe, tapers lighted 
 at noon-day, and a wafer god, would treat 
 him as a fanatick, a heretick, a blafphemer ; 
 and, in my opinion, confiftent enough with 
 the reft of their conduct, who are fo abfurd 
 and cruel as to mutilate young lads, in order 
 to render their voices and praifes more accep- 
 table to an Almighty Being. 
 
 The environs of Turin are nearly as plea- 
 fant as thofe of Florence-, and, if you confi- 
 der the beauty of the river, fully fo : The 
 city itfelf is, certainly, much more regular 
 and handfome than any other in Italy, and 
 would be a delightful abode, were a man 
 well recommended and introduced into the 
 beft company ; for our notions and characters 
 of places often depend on the little accident 
 
 of
 
 LETTER LI. 277 
 
 of falling into agreeable or difagreeable focie- 
 ty. The young 'EngH/hmen here complain 
 of the dulnefs and melancholy of the court, 
 which throws a gloom over the whole face 
 of Turin , as there is neither an E^ngHJh or 
 a French ambaflador here, the common re- 
 fources of amufement and politenefs, in the 
 principal courts of Europe. The King, as 
 I have intimated, prays much ; the Duke of 
 Savoy not a little ; the Ladies in waiting 
 are ancient, the fame that adorned the 
 drawing-room fome thirty or forty years 
 ago ; then the Duke is the father of nine 
 children, a circumftance which naturally ren- 
 ders a man fomewhat ferious in every ftarion 
 of life. All thefe things confidered, you will 
 imagine Turin is not fo gay as it might have 
 been under other circumftances. The wo- 
 men, however, are extremely beautiful and 
 fair in this country, though, indeed, the La - 
 dies of Milan and Venice almoft vie with 
 them in complexion and features. It is a 
 matter of aftonifhment, to what a degree this 
 fairnefs of fkin prevails in the Northern parto 
 of Italy. I can hearken to a reafoner, who 
 informs me, that the frequent mixture of the 
 fl'lcors, and their intermarriages with the 
 
 S 3 Spa-
 
 278 L E T T E R LI. 
 
 Spaniards, during the feveral centuries they 
 occupied fo large a portion of Spain, will 
 account for the olive complexion of that na- 
 tion ; but we are ftill at a lofs to comprehend 
 why the French are a browner people than 
 the inhabitants of Piedmont and Lombardy, 
 who live in nearly the fame latitude. The 
 common people are more olive- coloured than 
 the gentry here, but that, perhaps, is owing 
 to the heat of the fun ; fo that, in fact, they 
 are rather fun-burnt, than of a natural olive- 
 colour. The women here, are fo much 
 i handfomer than thofe in Naples, that, on 
 the firfr. thought, one wonders that a Neapo- 
 litan, of a large fortune, does not, for the 
 fake of a fair offspring, feek a wife in thefe 
 parts 5 but, when it is confidered how little 
 the charms of beauty, affection, fociety, and 
 conftancy, are required in marriage here, the 
 wonder ceafes : Family connections, fortune, 
 and an eldeft fon, feem to be the only objects 
 of matrimony. 
 
 I go every night to the comedy. The 
 company of comedians are from Venice, and 
 perhaps are the beft company in Italy, but, 
 as I have mentioned in former letters, the 
 drama all over Italy is in a very low ftate, 
 
 and
 
 LETTER LI. 279 
 
 and how a reformation fhould be effected, 
 I can hardly conceive. Their plays are ge- 
 nerally dull 3 where they are not farcical ; 
 and where they are farcical, they defcend to 
 the ribaldry of our jack puddings at- Bartho- 
 lomew fair. How, therefore, fhould they 
 ever have good actors, till their adors are 
 furnimed with better competitions, and bet- 
 ter heard ; and, what is alfo of equal con- 
 fequence, better paid than at prefent ? I mud 
 not, now I am upon the fubjecl: of plays, any 
 longer forget to tell you, that at Florence, 
 women, as with us, fit in the pit ; a cuftom, 
 I believe, peculiar to that city. 
 
 In the great guard room, adjoining to the 
 King's apartments, I fee the fame cobwebs 
 I left there laft year, and, which poffibly, 
 have fubfifted ever iince the beginning of 
 this century. Strange, that, in fo elegant a 
 palace, there fhould be fo glaring, fo nafty a 
 deforVnity ; but it is in England only, where 
 a uniformity of grandeur, and cleanlinefs, be- 
 fpeaks the riches of the matter ! In Italy > 
 you fee fome palaces with pictures and fta- 
 tues to the value of ten or twenty thoufand 
 pounds, and a bricked floor, you would' be 
 afhamed of, in your kitchen j then the hang- 
 S 4 ings,
 
 2 8o L E T T E R LI. 
 
 ings, chairs, and curtains, are fuch, as aa 
 ILngliJhman would blufh to put into his 
 garrets. Another inftance, a finking one 
 indeed, of parfimony mixed with royalty, 
 is, that at this moment, both in the gardens 
 at Parma, and Tz/r/Vz, they are actually 
 making hay in the (mall plots, or partitions, 
 and I mould fuppofe, the quantity is rather 
 an object of {hillings, than guineas; for the 
 abundance of meadow grounds all through 
 Piedmont and Lombardy, is really furpriiing. 
 
 I take pleafure in furveying the fortifica- 
 tions of Turin. I confider this ftate as our 
 natural ally, an enemy to France, from 
 its fituation ; and it gives me the utmoft 
 delight, to fee the exact order, in which 
 they are kept : It appears to me, that 
 if a brick decay-, it is immediately fup- 
 plied with a new one. The repairs of fo 
 many fortified towns in fo fmall a principality, 
 muft fall heavy on the King's revenue ; but 
 there is an ceconomy here practifed in govern- 
 ment an Englifbman has no idea of: I have 
 it from the beft authority, that the appoint- 
 ments of the fecretary of ftate, are about four 
 hundred pounds a year fterling. 
 
 1 am, Sir, &c. 
 L E T-
 
 LETTER LIL 
 
 TURIN, May, 1766. 
 SIR, 
 
 1 THINK I have 'mentioned to you, how 
 frequently I have blufhed in E :.'/(?.,;. 
 the brutal cuftom, which prevails amongft 
 the common people there, of boxing upon 
 every little quarrel, and how often I have 
 fince blufhed in Italy , that I mould have been 
 afhamed of my country, for a practice, which 
 I now efteem laudable, taking mankind iuch 
 as they are. I find, by my experience here, 
 that the fudden indignation, and tranfports of 
 a choleric man, muft be immediately gra- 
 tified, and when a bloody nofe given on the 
 fpot, or the gentle and cooler method of 
 challenging the offender to flrip, does not 
 fatisfy, aiTafiination will take place, and ftab?- 
 bing will be the fubflitute of boxing. I am 
 led into the repetition of this remark, by a 
 ftory, I picked up the other day, in this city, 
 which pleaies me extremely, as it characte- 
 rifes fo ftrongly, the different geniufes of the 
 Italian^ and the Englijh common people. 
 
 It
 
 282 LETTER LII, 
 
 It feems, that a few weeks fince, fome En- 
 glifo failors in the port of Nice, had got 
 drunk at a publick hcufe, grew noify, and 
 quarrelfome, ftript into buff, and fought it 
 out ; but the poor landlady, who, expected 
 nothing lefs, from the outfet of the fray, than 
 blood, ^and murder, had, in the very begin- 
 ning of it, run forj the guard of the town, to 
 take them into cuftody : The guard accord- 
 ingly cainej but, before this period, the fai- 
 lors had finiflied their battle, and had fet 
 down to drink again, the bed friends in the 
 world, which they explained to the foldiers ; 
 but, the foldiers not having the leaft compre- 
 henfion of fuch fudden forgivenefs and 
 friendfhip, infifted they (hould all go to the 
 guard-houfe : This obftinacy, affronted our 
 tars, who fell violently upon them, and, I 
 think, broke two or three of their mulkets ; 
 but in the end, they were overpowered, and 
 one of them taken prifoner, the reft efcaping 
 to their fhip. The fequel of the ftory is, 
 that the commandant put the prifoner into the 
 flocks all night, which is an infamous kind 
 of puniihment here - y for they do not fit, but 
 lye, (perhaps in the mud) on their backs: 
 Now, the prifoner happening to be the boat- 
 
 fwain
 
 LETTER LII. 283 
 
 fvvain of the {hip, he thought his dignity af- 
 fronted, and lodged a complaint againft the 
 commandant, with the Engiifh Charge d* Af- 
 faires, who reported it to the King. His 
 Majefty was very gracious, condemned the 
 precipitancy of the commandant, who, he 
 faid, mould have fent to court for his 
 inftruclions, laughed at the ridiculoufnefs of 
 the event, but told the Charge d' Affaires, that 
 no reparation could be made, in any kingdom 
 of the world, to a man, who had oppofed 
 the officers of juftice, in the regular execu- 
 tion of their duty. 
 
 The frequency of ftabbing in thefe coun- 
 tries, is not, however, merely owing to the 
 ungovernablenefs of the paffions ; for, were 
 men under more reftraint, the crime, I am 
 perfuaded, would be lefs common j but, 
 here, befides the fan&uary which delinquents 
 find in churches and holy places, there is a- 
 nother (till more open fandtuary, I mean, the 
 remifTnefs both of law and profecution. Mr 
 Murray, our late refident at Venice, upon his 
 firft arrival there, loudly proclaimed, that 
 fhould any Englifoman be arTaffinated during 
 his refidentfhip, no expence, no interposition, 
 fhould prevent his bringing the criminal to 
 
 con-
 
 284 LETTER LIT. 
 
 condign punifhment : The Venetian com- 
 mon people are all apprifed of his refolution, 
 and, that no Engli/hman has been murdered, 
 he afcribes to this meafure. Sir James Gray, 
 our late Envoy at Naples, I am told, was 
 once extremely active in bringing a criminal 
 to the gallows, who had ailiffinated one of 
 our countrymen. The example, perhaps, 
 had a good effect on their behaviour, as there 
 has been no inch other inftance ilnce that 
 time ; but it had little influence on their 
 morals ; for, the day happening to be black 
 and ftormy, the common people believed 
 that Heaven was offended at the execution of 
 a Catholick for the death of a heretick j fo 
 far were they from imagining it was a proper 
 juftice, and a Sacrifice pleafing to God. 
 Could the church be prevailed on to recede 
 from the right of fheltering murderers, it 
 would be a great ftride towards a reformation 
 of this enormous evil. At F/orence, where Sir 
 Horatio Man informed me fewer capital crimes 
 are committed than in any other city of Italy ^ 
 my eyes were tired with the view of an afTaflm 
 .and another delinquent, who had taken re- 
 fuge on the fteps before a church contiguous 
 
 to Lord 's houie. One could not 
 
 look
 
 LETTER LII. 285 
 
 look out of window, but thcfe fellows pre^ 
 fented themfelves to your fight j they faun- 
 tered upon the fteps all day, and retired into 
 the church during the night. His Lordfhip 
 told me they had led this life many months, 
 and fo badly do good people often judge of 
 real charity, that it was efteemed a matter of 
 religion in the neighbourhood to fupply thefe 
 wretches every day with a fufficiency of pro- 
 vifion. I muft not omit, however, to men- 
 tion, that Government, upon very extraordi- 
 nary occafions, will fometimes encroach a 
 little upon the privileges of the church. Not 
 long ago, there was a murder, of a very atro- 
 cious nature, committed in that city, and the 
 perpetrator, as ufual, flew to a church for his 
 afylum j upon which, the Magiftracy caufed 
 it to be furrounded night and day, with a 
 guard fufficient to prevent any one from go- 
 ing to Mafs there, and, confequently, from 
 carrying him any fuftenance. In a few days, 
 the criminal, from a certainty of prefent death, 
 by ftarving, threw himfelf into the hands of 
 juflice, to take his trial, when he met with his 
 deferts. 
 
 I am> 5/r, &c. 
 
 LET-
 
 LETTER Lilt 
 
 LYONS, May 29, 1766; 
 
 S I R, 
 
 WE are this moment arrived at Lyons} 
 without having fufFered the lead 
 alarm from the paffage of the Alps,, which 
 appeared fo terrifying to fome of us the laft 
 year. Certainly there cannot be produced a 
 ftronger inftance of the power of ufe and 
 practice, than the total banifhment of fear, 
 which we experienced upon this occafion j 
 and, though I am well apprifed that carpen- 
 ters and bricklayers, from habit, work with 
 the fame indifference on the ridge of a houfe, 
 that they do on the ground, I cannot but 
 wonder at the compofure with which we tra- 
 velled fo many miles, on the edges of fo ma- 
 ny precipices, having often on one hand, mon- 
 flrous impending rocks, threatening to fall on 
 our heads every moment ; and, on the other, 
 a boifterous torrent, fome hundreds of feet 
 below us, filled with vaft fragments of thofe 
 fame rocks, which, from time to time, in the 
 eourfe of ages, have fallen into it. 
 
 Mount
 
 LETTER LIII. 287 
 
 Mount Cents was in the worft ftate it ever ' 
 can be ; for we travelled over it not only in 
 the worft feafon of the year, but alib after as 
 fevere a winter as can be recollected in the 
 memory of man ; fo that it was loaded with 
 much greater quantities of fnow than is ufual. 
 The pafTage into Italy is compofed of a very 
 fteep afcent, almoft three miles high ; then 
 of a plain, nearly flat, about five or fix miles 
 long 5 and, laftly, of a defcent, about fix miles 
 in length j fo that you will conclude, the de- 
 fcent on the Italian fide is not fo fteep as that 
 on the fide of Savoy. Both the hills are co- 
 vered with large Hones, fome fixed in the 
 ground, the others loofe : the plain is fmooth, 
 and full of good gra'fs. Both going and re- 
 turning, when you arrive at the foot of the 
 mountain, your coach, or chaife, is taken to 
 pieces, and carried upon mules to the other 
 fide, and you yourfelf are tranfported by two 
 men, on a common ftraw elbow chair, with- 
 out any feet to it, fixed upon two poles, like 
 a fedan-chair, with, however, a Twinging 
 foot-board to prop up your feet ; but, though 
 it be the work of two men only to carry you, 
 fix, and fometimes eight, attend, in order to 
 relieve one another. The whole way that 
 
 you
 
 2 S8 LETTER LIII. 
 
 you riJe in this manner being fourteen of 
 fifteen miles, when the perfon carried is- cor- 
 pulent, it is necefiary to employ ten porters. 
 Though I have defcribed the rife of both the 
 hills to be extremely craggy, yet the chair- 
 men, from long ufe, become fo habituated 
 to the footing, that, like goats, they feldom 
 make a falle ftep, and you hardly advance 
 fifty yards, before you are perfuaded, that 
 there is very little danger in this method of 
 tranfporting you. The plain upon the fum- 
 mit is almoft even, fo that, upon the whole, 
 it is rather an amufing, than a frightful paf- 
 fage in the fummer. In the winter, except- 
 ing the cold, (which it is eafy to provide a- 
 gainft) the paffage is ftill more pleafant ; for 
 the whole furface of the ground being co- 
 vered with fnow, to a confiderable depth, 
 the paths are hard and fmooth, fo that gen- 
 tlemen, for the moft part, defcend the fteep 
 hill in fledges, which is faid to be an agreea- 
 ble and fafe kind of pafTage. The only in- 
 convenience which can occur in the winter, 
 is, that, in fome parts, en the plain of the 
 mountain, -fudden gufts and florms of wind 
 blow down vafr, heaps of fnow, which may 
 overwhelm a paflenger -, but this feldom hap- 
 pens,
 
 L E T f E R LIII. 289 
 
 pens, as they avoid to carry people In windy 
 weather, and likewife pretend to know when 
 it ought to be expedled ; however, in our 
 way over the fummit, we faW feveral of thefe: 
 accumulations, the work of the laft winter. 
 
 The fummer months may be efteemed 
 June^ Jufy, Auguft, September, perhaps 0to- 
 ber, and part of November ; for it is acciden- 
 tal how foon the deep fnows will foil. The 
 winter months are Dece?nber t January, Fe- 
 bruary, March, and, moft probably, April 5 
 or, if the fnows begin to melt at that time, 
 they freeze again in the night, and are hard, 
 long enough in the morning to admit of a 
 fafe and pleafant paflage : This is likewife 
 the cafe the firft week or two in May : but 
 It was our ill fortune to pafs over it on the 
 twenty-third, and, unluckily, on a dreadful 
 tainy morning, fo that it is almoft impoffible 
 to give you a true idea of the badnefs of the 
 road ; neverthelefs, with all this difagreea- 
 blenefs, there was nothing to terrify ns but 
 the dangerous lituation of the poor chairmen ; 
 for, with regard to ourfelves, if they let us 
 fall, which they did feveral times, we fell 
 but the diftance of two feet, on foft fnow : I 
 fealty think, therefore, that the only horror 
 
 T which
 
 LETTER Lilt. 
 
 which attended it, was the danger of the poof 
 men breaking their legs ; for, the fnow being 
 rotten and deceitful in feveral places, when they 
 thought they had a good footing, they fometimes 
 funk into it deeper than their knees, and fo let 
 us drop gently on the ground. Another evil 
 waiting on thefe deep fnows, are fprings; 
 kaving a furface of fnow on their tops, and 
 may aptly be compared to quickfands : One 
 of thefe we faw v in our pafTage, with a dead 
 horfe lying on the brink of it : It feems that 
 a boy had, the day before, not being apprized 
 of the well, either rid or driven the horfe into 
 it, and was unable to extricate it by himfelf. 
 If I have drawn too frightful a picture of this 
 paflage, give me leave to ridicule the defcrip- 
 tion, by telling you, in one word, that, from 
 firft to laft, during the whole fcene, I can fo- 
 lemnly affirm, that neither I, nor any of my 
 company, have felt more concern than in ri- 
 v ding from London to Kenfmgton in our own 
 coach. 
 
 An axle-tree of my carriage breaking down, 
 amongft the Alps^ I availed myfelf of the 
 misfortune. As I was near the place where 
 the Chevalier de Eellijle was killed in his at- 
 tempt to force a way into Piedmont ' 3 I hired a 
 
 mule r
 
 LETTER LIU. 291 
 
 mule, and rode near the fpot to take a view 
 of the field of battle ; it is a fmall diftance 
 from the high road, contiguous to which is 
 a fortification, called La Bru?tetta y which, 
 with more reafon than ufual; is ftiled impreg- 
 nable. It was built foon after the peace of 
 Utrecht S and, being formed out of the folid 
 rock, which faces the road to Sufa, renders 
 the paffage of an 'army that way impradtica- 
 ble now, which was formerly very eaiy. 
 Bellijle was fo fixed in the opinion of the im- 
 pregnablenefs of La Brunetta, that he chofe 
 rather the pafs of the intrenchments on the 
 heights of Exilles into Piedmont, a method 
 fuppofed by many, at that time, and by all 
 now, ftiil more defperate. Every body re- 
 members that fignal defeat, where, from the 
 advantage of fituation, a few Piedmont efe ea- 
 fily vanquifhed a numerous gallant French 
 army. 
 
 Nature feems to have formed a barrier be- 
 twixt France and Italy -, and the prefent King 
 of Sardinia is very affiduous in ftrengthening 
 it by art, all the fortifications being not only 
 kept in excellent repair, but daily improved 
 and augmented. You remember how the 
 French were baffled at Com, though they 
 
 T 2 had
 
 tgz LETTER OIL 
 
 had taken Demont, beaten the army which 
 came to its relief, and carried on the liege to 
 all appearance with the utmoft fuccefs ; yet y 
 as it was undertaken late in the feafon, 
 the fnows fell before they had finimed their 
 operations, and rendered all they had done 
 of no effed:. Neverthelefs, the wonderful 
 ftrength of La Brunetta, will, probably, 
 compeHhe French, if ever they fhall again 
 invade Piedmont ', to enter by C0/, as the more 
 eligible alternative, where both are fo hazar- 
 dous. It is true, there are fome other open- 
 ings into Piedmont, but they are efteemed by 
 the military men ftill more impracticable. 
 
 I met with an old Monk in Savoy, whofe 
 knowledge of men, and the world, aftonimed 
 me, till I learnt he had paffed the younger 
 years of bis life in armies. He informed me 
 that hay, in the French camp, in j 747, fold 
 for fix-pence Englijh a pound, which cir- 
 cumftance alone was almoft fufficient to ruin 
 an expedition. It was all brought on mules, 
 and each mule confumed a great part of his 
 load, which was the caufe of its exceflive 
 dearnefs. He told me, that the commander 
 of the French army, after the war in 1736, 
 returning home from Italy, through the town 
 (La Chambre) where he refides, faid, u Fa- 
 
 " ther y
 
 LETTER LIII. 293 
 
 tf ther, by my matter's alliance with the 
 ( f King of Sardinia, we have now leave to 
 " march peaceably into France > but, for 
 " thefe two hundred years paft, (and I be- 
 " lieve it will always be the fame thing,) the 
 " French have been kicked home ; (coups de 
 ** pied au venire ', was the expreffion.") 
 
 We are fo accuftomed to confider the inha- 
 bitants of Savoy as Mountaineers, and a fa- 
 vage race of men ; that I was extremely furr 
 prized to find them docile, not to fay polifh- 
 ed ; but now, that I am better acquainted 
 with the ftate of the country, I no longer 
 wonder that their behaviour is fuch as a fre- 
 quent commerce with ftrangers will naturally 
 produce. As I have intimated before, the 
 winter is no impediment to travelling in this 
 part of the world ; for the fnow renders the 
 whole road excellent, and, in fome of the 
 rough craggy ways, much better than in the 
 fummer -, fo that there are people continu- 
 ally paffing into Italy through the Alps. At 
 one of the inns, I afked the fervant maid if 
 they were not often a long time without fee- 
 ing company ? Cc Yes, faid me, fometimes, 
 " in the winter, we are three or four days 
 f without feeing a foul, and then they come 
 
 T 3 " in
 
 LETTER LIII. 
 
 " in fuch crouds, that we can hardly provide 
 " beds for them." From this anfwer you 
 you may gather how much this road is fre- 
 quented ; nor would I have you fuppofe the 
 accommodation is fuch as I defcribed in the 
 road from Loretto to Rome, or from Rome to 
 Naples ; far from it j fome of the cooks are 
 good, and alfo fome of the provifions. I will 
 not boaft of the bed-chambers, 'but they are 
 excellent in companion of thofe in the above- 
 mentioned roads. Certainly Savoy is a dif- 
 mal barren diftrid:, in competition with the 
 generality of the kingdoms in the Southern 
 parts of Europe - y yet there are many fertile 
 fpots in it, and, during the firfl and fecond 
 day's journey from Lyons, one would almoft 
 be tempted to call a confiderable extent of it, 
 a plentiful country. J had heard, the fix 
 provinces brought in a very trifling revenue 
 to the King, but my old Monk afTured me, 
 that the taxes of all kinds amounted to conii- 
 derably above one hundred thoufand pounds, 
 fieri ing a year. When you approach to- 
 wards the very barren parts, every one of the 
 peafants is in polTeffion of a fmali quantity of 
 ground, which he cultivates for the mainte- 
 nance of his family, and there is hardly an 
 
 in-
 
 LETTER LIII. 295 
 
 inftance of a man's labouring by the day in 
 thefe parts. It is fuppofed that there are ge- 
 nerally iixty thoufand Savoyards abfent from 
 home, during the winter ; for thofe who have 
 no vineyards, as foon as they have got in their 
 little harveft, and fown their feed, fet out, 
 fome for France., fome for ltaly\ and others 
 for different parts, in order to procure a fmall 
 pittance, which they bring home to their 
 wives and children. When I paffed, foon af- 
 ter harveft, the laft year, through Savoy, I 
 was amazed at the infinite number of fmall 
 flacks of corn fpread over the face of the 
 country j in fome places like hay -cocks in a 
 meadow j but this partition of the country 
 into fuch an infinity of fmall farms, accounts 
 for the appearance j befides, that the peafants 
 make their ftacks fmall, from a perfuafion, 
 that, if they were larger, the corn in that cli- 
 mate would become difcoloured and mufty. 
 I afked my friend, the Monk, if thefe 'poor 
 people preferved the fame character of inte- 
 grity in foreign kingdoms they did formerly jv/ 
 in anfwer to which, he told me the fame 
 ftory I had heard a thoufand times at Paris. 
 <c How the Savoyards in that city having de- v 
 tected one of their brethren in fome piece of 
 T 4 roguery.
 
 296 LETTER LIIL 
 
 roguery, thought it fuch a difgrace to the 
 whole body, that they determined to make 
 an example of him ; and, in confequence, 
 obliged him to run the gantlet, the whole 
 length of the Place Roya/e. Their diftribu- 
 tion of juftice gave fome offence to govern- 
 ment, but the King laugh'd it off, and fo it 
 ended." I muft not, however, omit menti- 
 oning, to the dishonour of the Savoyard^ 
 that, in our way through the Alps, laft year, 
 on the evening of a feftival, we met great 
 numbers of them returning home from their 
 merry meeting, and, I think, I never faw in 
 England a flronger example of drunkennefs ; 
 they feemed to be every one of them more or 
 lefs jolly : Whether it was accident, or whe- 
 ther it was cuftomary, I do not know, but it 
 never happened to me, during my flay in 
 Italy, to fee fuch a light. 
 
 I am, Sir, &c. 
 
 LET-
 
 LETTER LIV. 
 
 LYONS, 'June 1766. 
 SIR, 
 
 WH E N I patted the Alps into Italy, 
 laft year, I made fome fhort memo- 
 randums of what I obferved amongft thofe 
 mountains. I propofe now, by the help of 
 thefe notes, to give you a few mifcellaneous 
 remarks on that country, which will finifli my 
 accounts of Italy. 
 
 A man advances but a little way into the 
 
 j 
 
 mountainous country, before he perceives 
 many of the natives, of both fexes, labouring 
 under that fpecies of fwelled throat, which 
 the common people call the Deer's Neck, 
 and the medical people a Bronchocele. I was 
 apprized, before I went into Savoy, that in 
 what place foever the inhabitants drink fnow v 
 water, they are fubject to this diftemper ; v 1 
 but I had not the leaft idea of fuch an uni- 
 verfality j for, as you approach towards Mount 
 Cents, you find very few exempt from it j and 
 many of thofe fwellings are fo enormous, and 
 of fo loathfome an appearance, efpecially in
 
 298 LETTER LIV. 
 
 ugly, ragged, half ftarved old women, that 
 the very fight of them turns the ftomach. I 
 do not learn, upon enquiry, that the malady 
 is ever mortal j not but that fometimes the 
 tumour comprefTes the wind- pipe fo much, 
 as to render refpinuion very difficult, which, 
 at the long run, though infenfibly, may affect 
 life. I was curious in my examination, whe- 
 ther any children were born with this ma- 
 lady upon them : I did not know but that the 
 blood of the mother,. imbued with fnow- 
 water, might operate this effect upon the 
 foetus before the birth ; however, I was in- 
 formed, to my fatisfaction, that there is no 
 fuch inftance, and even that the fwelling ne- 
 ver begins to form, till towards two years of 
 age, fome examples of which I myfelf faw. 
 
 The river Arc accompanies the road two 
 days journey of the feven, and affords much fpe- 
 culation and entertainment to the traveller, 
 who has no concern upon him; but the horrid 
 quantity of vaft fragments fallen into it from 
 the impending rocks, and the noify foaming 
 of the waters againft thofe fragments, add to 
 the terror of fuch who are already frightened 
 at the precipices. In moft places the rivers 
 fvvell in winter. Amongft cold mountains 
 
 they
 
 LETTER LIV. 299 
 
 they are almoft empty in that feafon ; for, 
 there, what generally falls, is fnow, which 
 lodges all the winter ; or, if it rain, the rain 
 is foon converted into ice, which lodges alfo j 
 fo that it is in the fummer months, and chiefly 
 in Jufy, when the fnows and ice are melting, 
 that this river is fulleft. Where it happens to 
 be narrow, and where, by accident, there is 
 a confiderable collection of fragments, the 
 ilreamdafhes with fuch rapidity againft them, 
 as to refemble not only the found, but, in 
 fome degree, the very appearance of cafcades. 
 From the heights of the mountains you fee, 
 in various parts, a little torrent of melted 
 fnow, making its way down into the bed of 
 the river with great velocity : Some of thefe 
 torrents are fmall channels ; others, by length 
 of time, have carried away the foil, and ac- 
 quired the breadth of one or two, and even 
 three feet. The induftry of the Savoyard 
 has availed him of thefe currents of water ; 
 for there are very few of them which are not 
 directed to fome ufe. The frequent acci- 
 dents which happened to my carriage a- 
 mongft thole mountains, brought me much 
 acquainted with the blackfmiths there, and I 
 was exceedingly pleafed to find in feveral of 
 
 their
 
 300 LETTER LIV. 
 
 their (hops, not only their bellows blown, 
 and their grindftones turned, but alfo amon- 
 ilrous heavy hammer, for forging iron, work- 
 ed by thefe ftreams. I do not, however, 
 fpeak of this mechanifm as a new thing -, I 
 know that in our iron and copper-mills, it 
 is carried to the higheft perfection j but I 
 mean to tell you that the Savoyard is not in 
 fuch a ftate of barbarifm as you may poffibly 
 fafped. 
 
 There is fo much rocky and barren ground 
 in Savojj particularly towards Mount Cents, 
 that the leaft fpot of earth capable of produc- 
 ing corn or grafs, does not lye uncultivated, 
 and you fee all through the country, one or 
 the other growing on the Hope of the rocks, 
 wherever the peafant can find a little piece 
 of fiat furface, with a depth of foil fufficient 
 to admit of vegetation. Many of thefe pieces 
 of land are not bigger, and many are lefs than 
 the hall of an old Engiijh country manfion- 
 houfe ; but, in fome places, they are nume- 
 rous, and, by hanging one over the other, 
 from the top to the bottom of the hill, make a 
 pleafant picture. I have more than once, 
 upon this journey, had occafion to fpeak of 
 the providential and blind partiality which 
 
 almoft
 
 LETTER LIV. 301 
 
 almofl every individual feels for his native 
 
 * / 
 
 country. I do not know that I ever met 
 with Ib great and fo enviable a degree of it in 
 any man, as in my good fritnd the Monk I 
 fpoke of in my laft letter. Whilfl I was 
 converfing with him, I turned my eyes to- 
 wards two or three of thefe little patches of 
 cultivated ground, encompaffed with a mon- 
 ftrous extent of barren rock, and, feeling fome 
 companion for the fuppofed mifery of the 
 inhabitants, I opened my mouth to fay fome- 
 thing on that fubject ; but he imagining I 
 meant a panegyric on the ftate of their agri- 
 culture, interrupted me, with great eagernefs, 
 faying, Aye, God be praifed, ive are not like 
 other nations , dependent for our food upon a due 
 courfe ofthefeafons ; for 'whether the rains or 
 the droughts prevail, we are always affiired of 
 our harve/i ; ive havefo many crops on the hot* 
 torn , the middle ', and the fummits of the moun- 
 tains ', that, when fome fail, the others necefia- 
 rily fucceed. You may imagine I did not a- 
 waken him out of his pleafing dream, and, 
 indeed, I muft have been a brute had I at- 
 tempted to open his eyes. 
 
 When I firft entered into Savoy, I faw but 
 very little fnow on the tops of the hills ; but, 
 
 as
 
 301 LETTER LIV. 
 
 as I advanced towards higher hills, I coula 
 Hot but admire at the quantities which ftill 
 remained unmelted at the end of Auguft ; 
 though there was none but what laid on that 
 fide of the mountains which faced the North, 
 the North-Eaft, and Eaft j a proof, however, 
 of what little efficacy are the early and ob- 
 lique rays of the fun on great heights. But 
 why do I wonder at fo familiar a phenome- 
 non ? All the world is informed, that very 
 high mountains are covered with eternal 
 fnows, and that even the meridian rays of 
 the fun are impotent, at a certain elevation 
 from the earth ; of which I afterwards faw 
 examples in abundance. 
 
 Mount Cents is, certainly, a very high 
 mountain, but it is the road, and not its fu- 
 perior height, which has rendered it fo cele- 
 brated. When you arrive at the plain I have 
 before defcribed, (on its top) there are, both 
 on your right, and on your left, ftill higher 
 mountains ; and, as you defeend towards Pi- 
 edmont, you fee, on your left hand, Notre 
 Dame de la Neige, which is reputed by fome 
 to be the higheft mountain in Europe on the 
 Continent j it is always covered with mow, 
 and, generally, to fueh a depth as renders the 
 
 road
 
 LETTER LIV. 303. 
 
 road impafiablc ; but, when the year is fa- 
 vourable, the inhabitants of the neighbouring 
 diftricls make a kind of pilgrimage to the 
 chapel. It is computed, that, in 1764, three 
 thoufand peafants laboured up the hill, to 
 hear Mafs there. Churches, chapels, and 
 convents, on the fummits of mountains, are 
 common through all Italy : The Italians^ 
 like the idolaters of old times, chufe to wor- 
 fliip and burn incenfe on their high places. 
 
 I am, Sir, &c. 
 
 An Admonition to Gentlemen who pafs 
 the Alps, and make the Tour of Italy. 
 
 AT Lyons, or Geneva, the Voiturins, 
 (men who furnim horfes for the jour- 
 ney over the Alps) make their demands ac- 
 cording to the number of travellers who are 
 on the fpot, or (as they hear) are on the road. 
 If there are but few, they are fometimes very 
 reafonable ; if there are many, they rife in 
 there demands, and even confederate not to 
 
 take
 
 304 An ADMONITION to 
 
 take lefs than a certain extortionate fum, fti-* 
 pulated amongft themfelves. When there 
 are but few travellers going on, he who takes 
 a pafienger has a very good chance upon his 
 arrival at Titrin^ to find cuftomers back again, 
 and, therefore, will agree on very moderate 
 terms. The price of a voiturin, and pair of 
 horfes, is, generally, from eight, to ten or ele- 
 ven louis (guineas) befides the prefent of a 
 louis, or^ at leaft, half a louis, at the end of the 
 journey ; however, without accidents to en- 
 hance the price, one may expecT: a pair of hor- 
 fes for eight louis. 
 
 Some travellers have not a chaife of their 
 own, but pafs the Alps in the voiturin's chaife, 
 in which cafe, the voiturin will fometimes 
 take a man ftill a louis cheaper ; becaufe, when 
 he arrives at Turin, he, by this means, has a 
 double chance of bringing back a traveller - y 
 for, if the traveller have no chaife himfelf, the 
 voiturin has one ready for him ; and, if he 
 have a chaife, the voiturin leaves hisat7#r/ 
 till an opportunity offers of returning it. 
 
 In going from Geneva to Turin^ I paid thir- 
 ty-one louis for fix horfes, and three voitu- 
 rins ; viz. four horfes for my coach, and two 
 for my ehaife, but then both the coae'h and 
 
 the
 
 Gentlemen who pafs the A L p s. 305 
 
 the chaife were very heavy. On my return 
 to f lurm t a voiturin offered to take me, the 
 day after my arrival, for twenty- eight louis ; 
 but, as I chofe to make fome rtay there, this 
 voiturin went off with other gentlemen, and 
 feverai travellers happening to come in, none 
 of the voiturins would take me, unlefs I 
 hired fix hories to the coach, and paid 
 thirty fix louis, which I was obliged to 
 fubmit to ; and, had I deferred it one day 
 longer, I muft have paid forty, as I after- 
 wards learnt, from one who fat out the fol- 
 lowing day, with the fame equipage as mine. 
 It feems the voiturins picker chaifes to coach- 
 es, as they demand ufualiy in a higher pro- 
 portion for a coach and four than for a chaife 
 and two. 
 
 The voiturins, for this fum, defray your 
 charges on the road ; they pay for your din- 
 ner, fupper, and lodging ; fo that the feven 
 days journey from Geneva, or Lyons, to "Tu- 
 rin, cofls little more than what you contract 
 for with them, the extraordinaries being only 
 the fmall prefents made to the fervants, and the 
 expence of breakfafting. The voiturins are 
 generally obliging and bufy in providing the 
 beft eatables the country affords, becaufe 
 
 U they
 
 306 An ADMONITION to 
 
 they pay the fame ordinary, whether the inn- 
 keepers give you good or bad provifions ; 
 befides, they are all ambitious of character, 
 which procures them recommendations from 
 one traveller to another. The voiturin -is 
 likewife at the whole expence of carrying 
 you and your equipage over Mount Cents, 
 except a little gratuity, which every gentle^ 
 man gives to the poor chairmen, perhaps iix- 
 pence to each, and a little drink at the reiling 
 place, or half way houfe. As the voiturins 
 are obliged to hire a number of mules, in 
 proportion to the quantity of luggage, and the 
 weight of the chaife, or coach, this confide- 
 ration, befides the draught for their horfes, 
 makes them raife their demands when the 
 equipage is heavy. I would advife no gentle- 
 man to hire horfes by the day, and pay for 
 his diet, lodging, and paflage over Mount 
 Cents, as he will be much impofed on m ma- 
 ny of thefe articles ; but, if he be fo inclined, 
 the voiturins will furnim horfes at four Savoy 
 livres a day each, allowing feven days for going, 
 and feven days for returning, that is, for a 
 chaife and a pair, fourteen times eight livres, 
 about five pounds eighteen millings j but this, 
 
 as
 
 Qe?2tlemen who pafs the ALPS. 307 
 
 as I have intimated, turns out a dearer method 
 of travelling, and is never to be practifed. 
 
 The trouble and expence of taking a car- 
 riage to pieces, and tranfporting it over the 
 mountain, lying entirely on the voiturin, ex- 
 cept a prefent to the coach-maker, it is only 
 to fatisfy curiofity that I here give| the parti- 
 cular rates, charged by an ordinance of his 
 Sardinian Majefty^ to prevent difputcs and 
 impofitions. 
 
 Every perfon who is carried over Mount 
 Cents in a chair, is obliged to employ fix 
 chairmen, or, if he be lufty, eight ; or ex- 
 tremely corpulent, ten ; of which, and, in- 
 deed, of all difputable matters, the Syndics are 
 appointed by his Majefty abfolute judges. 
 The Syndics are magiftrates, living the one at 
 Lanneburg, on this fide of the mountain, and 
 the other at Nova/eze, which is fituated at the 
 other foot of the mountain, on the fide to- 
 wards 'Turin ; they are poor men, and not 
 above accepting a fmall prefent for drink $ 
 but are inverted with fufficient power to com- 
 pell both the muleteers and the chairmen to 
 attend, when any traveller arrives. I had an 
 opportunity, when I went into Italy, of fee- 
 ing this power exerted ; for the chairmen 
 
 U 2 were
 
 308 An ADMONITION to 
 
 were in the midft of their harveft, gathering 
 in the produce of their own little" farms, and 
 would gladly have been excufed. The Syn- 
 dic, therefore, rung the alarum-bell, which 
 fummons was immediately obeyed, and a fuf- 
 ficient number of them were felecled to tran-* 
 fport me and my company the next morning. 
 
 The pay to each chairman is fifty fous of 
 Savoy, that is, two (hillings and feven-pence 
 halfpenny. The pay for a mule, to carry 
 over a fervant, is forty fous, about two fhil- 
 lings and a penny. The pay for each mule 
 which carries the baggage, is fifty fous, two 
 fhillings and feven pence halfpenny. 
 
 A mule is not obliged, by the ordinance, to 
 carry above three hundred and fifty pounds ; 
 therefore, if the body of the coach, or chaife, 
 or any parcel of luggage weigh more, it is in 
 the breaft of the muleteers to demand what 
 fum they pleafe ; a privilege they feldom 
 neglecl: to avail themfelves of, and, fometimes, 
 moft extortionately, to the amount of many 
 guineas j therefore, above all men, the En- 
 g/tftj, who are reputed rich, fhould contract 
 with the voiturins to defray this expence. 
 Some Italians, who pafs often over the moun- 
 tain, build the body of their coach as light as 
 
 poflible,
 
 Gentlemen 'who pafs the ALP s. 309 
 
 poffible, and of fuch a ftructure that it may 
 be feparated into two parts, by which con- 
 trivance they tranfport it on the cheapeft 
 terms. Engliftmen, who take their own 
 coaches, mould provide fuch a carriage as 
 may be taken to pieces, which thofe with a 
 perch do not admit of. 
 
 A man may travel poft, if he pleafes, 
 through the Alps^ but it is attended with fome 
 trouble j and, as I would not advife any one 
 to drive faft on the edges of thofe precipices, 
 I mail forbear to enter into any detail on that' 
 fubjecT:. 
 
 When you arrive in Piedmont, you travel 
 either by the Po/t, or the Ca?nbiatura. A fo- 
 reigner is furprifed at the diftindlion, when 
 he finds there is no difference betwixt the 
 two, except the price j the payment for the 
 poft being confiderably larger than for the 
 Cambiatura -, but the poft-horfes are the fame, 
 and the fpeed in travelling is the fame. It 
 may therefore be concluded, that every body 
 chufes the Cambiatura. I mould, however, 
 to be minute, mention that there is one dif- 
 ference, though I have faid there is none j for 
 if a man travel in the night, he is obliged to 
 pay the price of the poft. I believe I do not 
 
 exactly
 
 3io An ADMONITION to 
 
 exadly know the hiftory of the cambiaturd,- 
 but whatever was originally the defign, and 
 the practice, every man now eafily procures 
 an order for it. -The fame thing happens 
 with regard to the Eolletlno, in the fta*e of 
 Venice, which anfwers to the Cambiatura in 
 Lombardy. Both the Cambiatura and the 
 Bolletino, are orders to the poft-mafters to 
 furniih horfes at the low price ; but I was ne- 
 ver called upon to mew them at any of the 
 poft-houfes. 
 
 Through all Italy, the ports are, upon an 
 average, eight or nine miles, and, perhaps, in 
 Piedmont, a little more. 
 
 In the Venetian {rate, if a man travels by 
 the port, he muft pay fixteen livres and a 
 half for his horfes, three livres to the poftili- 
 on, and half a livre to the hoftler, making, in. 
 all, twenty livres, about ten (hillings ; but as 
 no gentleman travels without a Bolletino, the 
 expence is, eleven livres for the horfes, three 
 to the poftilions, and half a livre to the hoft- 
 ler, in all about feven millings and three- 
 pence per poft. 
 
 In the Ecclefiaftical State there is no dif- 
 tinction betwixt the Poft and the Cambiatura, 
 
 
 
 and the Poft is cheaper than in the other ftates 
 
 ef
 
 Gentlemen who pafs the A L p s. 311 
 
 of Italy. Every Port there, is but eight pauls 
 and a half, and three pauls to the poftilion. 
 and the hoftler. A paul is about fix-pence. 
 It may be remarked, that the Italian prin- 
 ces give only two pauls to the poftilions ; 
 but fo much is expelled from Tnglifhmin t 
 that, to avoid trouble, and even infults, it is 
 advifeable to pay them three pauls. I knew 
 a nobleman, who, from his princely diipofi- 
 tion, gave the poftilions five (hillings a poft, 
 though even that fum did not content them ; 
 but fuch inftances of generolity rei.der it very 
 difagreeable to future Englijb travellers, who 
 are all fuppofed to be Lords, and are expected 
 by the poftilions to follow the moft extrava- 
 gant examples. No Englijhman mould there- 
 fore pay more than three pauls, which is a 
 greater reward than a poftilion in England TQ- 
 ceives, where other wages are higher, and the 
 neceflaries of life dearer than in Italy. 
 
 Through Piedmont and the Mi/anefe, poil- 
 horfes are dearer than in the other parts of 
 Italy y the payment, together with the eighteen 
 pence given to the poftilion, and fomething to 
 the hoftler, amounting to about ten millings 
 fer poft. 
 
 From
 
 312 An ADMONITION, &c. 
 
 From Rome to Naples you may travel pott, 
 but the road is fo bad, in fome places, that I 
 would rather advife the moderate rate c r tra- 
 velling with a voiturin. The moft eligible 
 method is, to leave your own carriage at Rome^ 
 and to go in the chaife belonging to the voi- 
 turin ; he will carry you (I always fuppofe 
 two perfons) for about four pounds fterling, 
 and pay for your fupper and lodging 5 how- 
 ever, the accommodation is fo wretched on 
 the Neapolitan road, that every gentleman 
 mould furnifh himfelf with fuch cold provi- 
 fion and wine, as wilt fubfifl him four or five 
 days. 
 
 I would not advife any gentleman to travel 
 with voiturins in the other parts of Italy , un- 
 lefs it be necerTary for the ftate of his finances, 
 to take the cheapeft method. ! In point 
 of ceconomy it certainly is preferable ; but it 
 is extremely tedious, as they feldom go above 
 two miles and three quarters in an hour, and 
 what is equally uncomfortable, carry you to 
 the dirtied and moft noifome inns on the road. 
 
 FINIS. 
 
 (O
 
 ERRATA. 
 
 Page 16, line 
 
 28, line 
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 Une 
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 Hne 
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 74, 
 87, 
 87, 
 96, 
 136, 
 
 157, 
 160, 
 167, 
 178, 
 1 86, 
 
 *33, 
 241, 
 
 242, 
 248, 
 
 13, for unfocial read unfodablg. 
 15, for ir read arv. 
 
 19, for does read do. 
 1 6, for /foy read there. 
 21, for box read AOAT^J. 
 19, for patronize read perform. 
 
 14, after tht: words fan^f roid add 
 zz, after the word leaft add not. 
 1 8, for / read on. 
 
 ii, for prefent read different. 
 i ft, for chantingnefs read ^Aj/. 
 75, for openings read opening. 
 az, dele of. 
 
 2, for way read might. 
 
 7, after the word but add /foy ar?. 
 
 3, read this accident fo alarmed. 
 26, for /ros/u read troop. 
 
 17, for Minor- betii read Minor-betti. 
 13, for imports read i 
 i ft, dele /^ 
 iz, for/z/
 
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