THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY,BOHEMIA, HUNGARY, SWITZERLAND, ITALY, and LORRAIN. Giving a TRUE and JUST DESCRIPTION O F T H E PRESENT STATE of thofe COUNTRIES; T H E IR NATURAL, LITERARY, and POLITICAL HISTORY; MANNERS, LAWS, COMMERCE, MANUFACTURES, PAINT- ING, SCULPTURE, ARCHITECTURE, COINS, ANTIQUITIES, CURIOSITIES of ART and NATURE, &c. With COPPER-PLATES, engraved from Drawings taken on the Spot. By JOHN GEORGE KEYSLER, Fellow of the ROYAL SOCIETY in LONDON. Carefully tranflated from the Second Edition of the GERMAN. IN FOUR VOLUMES. THE THIRD EDITION. VOL III. LONDON: Printed for G. KEITH in Gracechurch-Street ; A. LINDE in Catherine- Street; S. CROWDER and Co. London-Bridge; ?. DAVEY and B. LAW in Ave-Maria-La.ne; T. FIELD in Cheapiide; and in the Poultry. M DCC LX. xxxxx xxxxx CONTENTS O F T H E THIRD VOLUME. LETTER LVI. Journey from Rome to Naples - - Page i LETTER LVII. Of natural Curiofities in the Kingdom of Naples 16 LETTER LVIII. Of the city of Naples in general, and its public Build- ings --- 39 LETTER LIX. Churches, and other religious Edifices at Naples - 48 LETTER LX. Of the Antiquities and natural Curiofities near the City of Naples towards Puzzuolo, Baise, Cuma, Mifeno, &c. ------ 108 LETTER LXI. Journey from Rome to Loretto - - 156 LETTER LXII. Defcription of Loretto -- 179 LETTER LXIII. Account of Ancona, and feveral Kinds of Fifhes in the Adriatic Sea j of Senigallia, Fano, Pefaro, Rimini, the 479361 CONTENTS. the River Rubicon; alfo of the Towns of Cecena and Cervia 207 LETTER LXIV. Account of Ravenna, Ferrara, Faenza, and Imola 23 1 BETTER LXV. Defcription of the City of Bologna' 247 LETTER LXVI. Account of Modena and Reggio 304 LETTER LXVII. Obfervations on Parma andPlacentia 320 LETTER LXVin. ' Journey to Cremona and Mantua 337 LETTER LXIX Account of the City of Verona 347 LETTER LXX. Account of Vicertza ' 372 LETTER LXXI. Account of the Cjty of Padua 378 LETTER LXXII. Defcription of the Country about Abano, Catajo, Batag- lia Arqua, &c. "4*9 Chronological and hiftorical Lift of the moft celebrated Painters, fmce the Revival of Painting in the thir- teenth Century - -. . 433 TRAVELS ill TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY, ITALY, SWITZERLAND, &c. .fy~%..&.,.$..-&..&^ LETTER LVI. Journey from ROME to NAPLES. S I R, H E gates of Rome are never {hut, fo that at any hour by day or night a traveller may go out or come i nto tne c - t y w i t h out ariy difficul- ^' * n trave ^ n S f rom R me to Naples it is very inconvenient to go with the Vetturini; for though the road they take lies over Monte Caffino, and confequently gives one an opportunity of fee*- ing the celebrated Benedictine monaftery on that hill ; yet it is attended with the mortification of being five days on the road, and paying the Vetturini an extraordinary price for their lofs of time. The abbey of Monte Caffino ftands on Abbey on a high mountain, the afcent to which is near two German Monte Caf- miles. The fathers are very courteous and hofpitable; the fmo * profpeft from this abbey is charming, the library well kept, and the revenues very confiderable: but what gains it an un- Voi,. III. common 2 From ROME to NAPLES. common veneration among the Roman-catholics, is, that here St. Benedict, the patriarch of the^ monks among the weftern Chriftians, firft iniUtuted his order, which has pro- duced fo many eminent pcrfonages. For in the year 1688, .the regifters of this order contained four emperors, twelve empreffes, forty popes, one and forty queens, forty-fix kings, fifty patriarchs, two hundred cardinals, fixteeri hundred arch- bifhops, -four thoufand fix hundred bifhops, and three thou- famffrx hundred canonized fs'irlts. In the road from Rome to Torre di mezza via, which is Velletri. .the firft ftage, are to be feen the noble ruins of fdnae ancient aquedufts. Velletri. lies at the diftance of three pofts or ftages from Rome, on a hill, and is celebrated by Pliny, lib. xiv. c. 6. for the excellency of its wine ; but at prefent it is much degenerated, being fo rough as to be hardly drink- able, unlefs it be boiled. The vineyards or mountains near Setia, not far from CafaNuova, have degenerated in the fame manner ; for they are now almoft barren, whereas they pro- duced a great quantity of generous wine, for which Setia is celebrated by Martial, Strabo, Athenaeus, Statius, Juvenal, and Pliny. The author laft mentioned fays, . That Au- * guftus preferred the Setia wine to any other.' The princi- Ginettipa- pal, and indeed, the only palace now in Velletri, is that which formerly belonged to the family of Ginetti, and fince devolved to prince Lancellotti. It was built by cardinal Ginetti, .from a defign of the famous architect Lunghi, and is faid to have coft five hundred thoufand fcudi^ or crowns. The great flair-cafe is built with white marble, and is fo magnificent and well-contrived, that itpafTes for the fineft in all Italy. In the aparments are a great number of fine ftatues, bufto's bajjo-relievo > s^ and paintings. The moft re- -markable among the firft are, a Venus with Cupid, and the fable of the unfortunate Dirce in little, after the manner of the Toro Farnefe. The profpect from the gardens is ex- tremely beautiful : they are alfo ornamented with fine pieces of fculpture, particularly four pillars, which were brought hither from the temple of Mars at Velletri, and feveral an- tique farcvptragi, dug up in that neighbourhood ; one of which, from the naval ornaments carved on it, is thought to have belonged to a fea-officer. Plates of thefe antiques are to be fen in cardinal orradini's Vetus Latium profanum & facrum, continued by Vulpi, a learned Jefuit. Among the antiquities collected by the Borgia family in their houfe at Velletri, the bufto's of a philofopher, and the emperor Pertinax, are worth obferving* In From ROME to NAPLES. In the market-place, near the Ginetti palace, is a fuperb bronze ftatue of Urban VIII. who is reprefented in his pon- tifical habit pronouncing the benediction : this ftatue was de- figned by Bernini. It fiands on a marble pedeftal, and, as appears by the infcription, was erected in 1637. Miflbn, relying on the authority of Suetonius, affirms that Auguftus was born at Rome, and that Velletri has no claim to the honor of being the place of his birth j but from the whether fame hiftorian (chap. v. and xciv. of his life of Auguftus j the and from the be^inninaj of the 55th book of Dio Caffius, it Au g" ftus , i t -\ c \r 11 i was born at appears, that this emperor s family was of Velletri, and Velletri. that he himfelf was educated at a feat in the neighbourhood of that town. About three Italian miles from Velletri, towards Nettuno, at a place called le Cento Colonne, are the remains of an ancient refervoir, or fimpond j and not far from Velletri, to- wards Cintiano, are to be feen the ruins of a magnificent pa- lace, which is thought to have been the refidence of the em- peror Otho, as the hill on which it flood is ftill called Colle Ottone. Copper-plates of fome lofty vaulted rooms ftill re- maining, and of the above-mentioned refervoir, are to be Remains of feen in Corradints Vetus Latium continuatum. torn, IV. tab. iii. Otho ' s P a * , Jace. and ix. On the left hand, near Cifterna, which is the fourth ftage from Rome, ftands a noble palace belonging to prince Ca- ferta. Sermoneta lies in a marfhy unheathful foil. The name of this country, in Pliny's time, was Palus Pomptina ; but inftead of twenty-three towns which flood there in his time, only a few hpufes fcattered through the country are now to be feen *. It appears indeed from trabo [Geogr* lib. v.) that the air of this country was reckoned very un- healthy in ancient times, and Silius Italicus terms it Campus Pomptinus peftifer : but at prefent it is more noxious than ever, as the extent of the fens and ftagnating waters, which were the caufes of its infalubrity, is now increafed. The woods about Cifterna and Sermoneta, especially thofe to the fouth of the former, intercept a great part of the infectious exhalations, which otherwife the ibutherly winds muft have carried towards Rome, where they naturally would be at- tended with very pernicious confequences. For this reafon, * Plin. Hift. Nat. lib. iii. c. 5. vide Corradini Latium, torn. II. B 2 in 4 From ROME to NAPLES. in 1714, the pope would not permit the duke di Sermoneta \vho could have made it turn to a very great account, to cut down thofe woods at once : for a commiffion of feveral car- dinals was appointed to examine the affair, and Lancifi, the pope's phyfician (a very competent judge of fuch matters) be- ing confulted, laid before them a weighty remonftrance, fetting forth the evils that would refult to the city of Rome by cut- ting down this wood, unlefs it was done gradually by certain parcels and divifions. Accordingly a proper regard was paid to his opinion, and the wood was cut down in fuch a manner, as to allow one part of it time to grow before another part was touched. Sermoneta lies on the left of the road from Rome to Na- Sermoneta. p| es , ^ j g f ltuate( } on an em j ne nce well planted with olive- trees. The road as far as Cafa Nuova is along a flat coun- "try, and being interfperfed with ancient ruins, is not unplea- St Paul's ^ ant '* amon g which, thofe on the left, called Tre-Taverna, three is faid to be the place mentioned in the twenty-eighth chapter taverns. o f the Ats of the Apoftles. Beyond Cafa Nuova the road bears to the left into a delightful valley, from which to Pi- perno is a continual afcent j thefe parts alfo abound with olive plantations. Thofe who are fond of natural curiofities may meet with fome entertainment in the various petrefac- tions to be found there. From Piperno the road lies through a large wood of cork-trees, the bark of which is thick, and being ftripped off for ufe, grows again in two years time. This tree is an ever-green, with leaves refembling thofe of a pear or plumb-tree, and bears a kind of maft *. This tree is to be met with on the other fide of Piperno, and likewife in Spain, and the fouthern parts of France. Terracina, by the ancients called Anxur, lies on a hill, erracuia. an( j j g ^ j,^ town j n t ^ e p a p a j dominions. The country in this neighbourhood, excepting fome morafles, is very fruit- ful, and produces good wines. It exhibits feveral delightful gardens, and is interfperfed with little groves of orange-trees which grow in the open fields. Both here and further on to- wards Naples, are to be feen great quantities of a kind of fruit called coroba y or corobola, refembling large bean-fhells. The whole country hereabouts has the appearance of a deli- cious garden, fo that it is not at all furprifing that the antient pagan inhabitants (as appears from the images of that deity * It is a kind of ever-green oak, and bears acorns, as I obferved in France ; fo that the author's defcription of it is not very accurate. carved From ROME to NAPLES. 5 carved in rmmberlefs places) fhould pay divine honors to Pri- apus, the god or patron of gardens *. Juft beyond Terracina are to be feen the ruins of the tern- Remains of pie of Janus, the palaces of Julius Caefar, Adrian, and other anti iuity. remains of antiquity ; particularly the Via Appia, which here reaches from Mola to the river Garigliano. This famous road derives its name from Appius Claudius the cen- for, who made it at his own expence, from Rome to Capua. From Tacitus's annals, Strabo, and Horace, it appears, that it extended as far as Brundufium in their time j yet they make no mention of the perfon by whom it was continued. As there are other roads to Bruridifi, and this is in fome places extremely damaged, paflengers do not always keep the Via Appia : however, by the conftant and durable repairs beftowed on it, it may be travelled hereabouts without any confiderable inconveniency. The ftones of this pavement are about a foot and a half fquare, and fo hard and firmly cemented, as to have flood the continued frictions of car- riages, &c. for above two thoufand years. This caufey is twenty pa/mi broad, and affords fufficient room for two car- riages to go abreft. From Terracina there is a fine view of the fea to the right, which is fo. near the road, that at the dif- tance of an Italian mile from that town, there was a necef- fity of breaking down a piece of a rock to clear the way, which there runs clofe by the fea. Three miles further on this road is the frontier wall of the kingdom of Naples, infcription called Portello, which extends itfelf, according to fame, from at the Nea- the hill to the fea, or at leaft to a fort, where, in war time, P? litan fron ' the Neapolitans keep a garrifon. On that fide of the gate which looks towards Naples is the following infcription : * Sinum lattis, f b#c te liba, Priape, quotannh Exfpe&arefat eft : cujlos es paitpens borti. Nuac te marmoreum pro tempore fecimus : at tu t Sif&tura gregtmfufiple-verit, aureus ejio. VIRG. Ed. vii. v. jj. This bowl of milk, thefe cakes, our country fare, ") For thee, Priapus, yearly we prepare, S Becaufe a little garden is thy care. J But if the falling lambs increafe my fold, Thy marble ftatue /hall be turn'd to gold.' DRYDEN. B 3 Phillppo From ROME to NAPLES. Pbittppo II. Rege Catholico Perafi Alcalee Duce pro- Rege. Hofpes^ hie funt fines Regni Neapolitan}. Si amicus advents, pacata omnla invenies y, malls moribus pulfis, bonas leges. Anno Domini MDLXVIIL ' Stranger, thefe are the frontiers of the kingdom of Na- ples. If thou comeft as a friend, thou fhalt meet with humane treatment ; vice and diforders being here fupprefTed by the happy influence of falutary laws. This infcription. was put up in the reign of Philip II. king of Spain, the duke of Alcala being vice-roy of Naples, and in the year of Chrift 1568.' In going from Rome to Naples it is requifite to have a pafs-port which is given gratis by the imperial minifter, or the cardinal-agent ; and in returning from Naples to Rome Difference another pafs-port muft be procured from the vice-roy. In betwixt the both of them is fpecified the time of their continuing in Neapolitan f rce 5 however it was not till we came to Mola that any dominions, pafs-port was required of our company : at Terracina, and even at the fort we were not afked to produce it. The ec- clefiaftical itate and the kingdom of Naples are diftinguifhed by giving the appellation of La Campagna to the former, and // Regno to the latter : but the difference between them is very vifible, the kingdom of Naples being much more populous and better cultivated than the papal territories. It is with pleafure I recall the idea of the fine profpecl: all the way from Fondi to Iteri : the country to the right pro- duces grofs, flax, and wheat, interfperfed by double rows of vines, the upper branches of which are interwoven in a beautiful manner. This profpecl terminates with a view of the fea, which diverfifies this charming fcene, by the vaft number of tartans and o.ther veflels continually failing on it. On the left-hand the profpecl: is not inferior to it, being variegated with vines, olive and mulberry trees, lofty, cy- prefies, and orange-groves, terminated by a diftant range of hills ; nor is the country beyond Mola lefs beautiful or fertile. In the neighbourhood of the Gargliano the foil alters for the worfe, but upon crofling the river, the road lies through a level and moft delicious country. The From ROME to NAPLES. The firft town in the Neapolitan dominions on this is Fondi. In 1534 it fuffered extremely by the attempt of Story of Hariaden BarbarofTa to carry ofF Julia Gonzaga, countefs of J" !ia Gon ~ Fondi, a celebrated beauty, with a view of presenting her to^ a the grand Signior. However, her virtue or modefty was of the favage kind, if the ftory be true, that a gentleman who refcued her in her fhift with the utmoft hazard of his life, was afterwards aflaflinated by her order, merely becaufe he had feen her in fuch a plight. If this execrable murder had been perpetrated by her hufband Vefpaiiano Colonna in a fit of jealoufy, which is almoft natural to an Italian hufband, it would in fomemeafure have exculpated the lady ; but Julia's unheard of villany and ingratitude admits of no excufe. Bran- tome in his Les Vies des Dames illuftres^ or Lives of illuftrious Ladies, and from him Varillas in his hiftory of Francis I. give a particular account of the whole transaction. They tell us, that Julia being awakened by the outcries at the approach of the Turks, leaped out of a window in her Ihift, and efcaped to the neighbouring mountains. There is not a word in thefe authors of a cavalier afliiling her in making her efcape. On the contrary it is added, that {he fell into the hands of the Banditti ; and though Julia afterwards protefted upon oath, that as foon as they knew who me was, they obferved all the diftant refpecl due to her dignity, few people could be brought to belive that fo tempting an objecl: had fuffered no indignity or indecency among a troop of fuch lawlefs and brutal people. This little agrees with the account above of the gallantry and fubfequent murder of the fuppofed ca- valier. But Brantome and Varillas are both miftaken in giv- ing the name of Livia to the countefs, and of Afcanius to Vefpafiano Colonna her hufband. Barbarofla being difap- pointed of his prize, vented his rage by destroying and. pillaging the town, not fparing fo much as the tombs of two dukes of Colonna; and befides exercifing other cruelties, carried away many of the inhabitants into flavery. Mola is fituated near the fea, where the emperor has a cuftom-houfe and a fmall garrifon which is relieved every week from Gae'ta. Here is a garden very well kept, with fine walks and abundance of orange-trees. Near Mola are to be feen the ruins of a palace, which, according to fome infcriptions faid to be found in it, belonged to Cicero ; but the grotto's and fubterraneous vaults were very much da- maged in the prefent century by the imperialifts, who when ikey laid fjege to Gaeta, made this place their magazine. It B 4 was 8 From ROME to NAPLES. Death of was on a journey from hence to fome other place that Cicero Cicero. was a flf a fiinated by that ungrateful wretch Popilus Laenas. At Mola the two unfortunate German princes Frederic of Auftria, and Conrad of Suabia, were discovered and fent to Naples, where they were beheaded. Thefe remarkable events have caufed Mola to make fome figure in hiftory, though they are fuch tranfaclions as cannot be thought of without regret. However, it is the opinion of fome men, of learning, that Cicero's laft place of refidence^was Aftura, and not Mola *. fDae'ta. The fortrefs of Gae'ta lies three Italian miles from Mola, and by water is an hour's pafiage. As Gaeta is fuppofed to have derived its name from Cajeta, ./Eneas's nurfe, who, as Virgil tells us, died and was buried here, the people, ac- cording to the common practice in Italy, might have found fome ruin or other to have {hewn to ftrangers for her mo- nument j but nothing of that kind is pretended : however, on a fortified eminence is to be feen Rolando's tower, as it is called, or rather an ancient maufoleum of Lucius Muna- tius Plancus, as appears by the following infcription : L. Munatius. L. F. L. N. L. Pron. Plancus. Co/. Cenf. Imp. Iter.VII. Vir. EpuL Triump. ex. Ratis. adem. Saturni. Fecit, de. manibiis. agros. diviftt. in. Italia* Beneventi. in. Gall'ia. colonias. dednxit. Lugdunum. & Rauricam, In * Other writers place the laft refidence of this famous orator at Cajeta, where he had another villa. It muft be owned, that Cicero's irrefolution and fear towards the laft fcene of his life, is inconfiftent with the firmnefs of a philofopher. One while his apprehenfions hurry him to fea, then lie haftens to get aftiore 5 now he entertains a glimmering hope in the clemency of his enemies : this is iucceeded by a whimfical thought of ftealing pri- vately into Auguftus's hcufe and there killing himfelf, from an idle notion, that his ghoft would haunt that emperor. Amidft thofe fludtuations he is furpriaed by that parricide Popilius, whom his eloquence had faved from the gallows. His attendants, partly by force and partly by intreaties, got him into a litter and made towards the fea ; but they were foon overtaken, and the greateft orator that Rome ever produced died obfcurely, being be- headed in a place of no note. The infults of Fulvia offered to the head of this great man after his death, are ftill more mocking. Dio Caff. (/.-iff. lib. xlvii.^ fays, Caput Ciceronis arreptum infultans amarulentls verbis & tonfynens genibus fuis impofuit Fulvia, ortque ejus aperto llnguam extraflam qualesfecum comendi capjtis caujfi mulieresferunt, compunxit, addith crebris From ROME to NAPLES. In the fourth line, I conceive Manibiis {lands for Manu- biis, and from the offices with which this Plancus, /(who jived in Auguftus's time, and had been a hearer of Cicero,) was inverted, this work muft have been erected about fifteen years before the birth of Chrift. Some are for making this tower a temple of Saturn built by Munatiua ; but this con- jecture is overthrown by the infcription, from which it may be demonftrated to have been his monument, tho' it wants the ufual preamble of Diis Manibus ; and the enumeration 'of the high offices he had filled might in his life-time, and by his order, be placed on every edifice of his building. Sue- tonius in the life of Octavius Caefar, fays, that it was by the advice of this Plancus that the furname of Auguftus was conferred on that emperor, preferably to that of Romulus. The city of Lugdimum or Lyons, mentioned in the infcrip- tion, was totally cbnfumed by fire in Seneca's time, exactly two hundred years from the foundation thereof, as appears from the niilety-firfl: letter of that philofopher, lib. i. Seven years after, Nero (as Tacitus writes, Annal xvi. c, 13.) laid a plan for rebuilding it. On the Monte della Trinita, the Benedictines have a Fiffurc church, near which is to be feen a rock with a large cleft, rock.} reaching from the fummit of it down to the bottom of the fea. That it was not originally fo, appears from the cavities and convexities on the two oppofite fides, which if they could be brought into contact, would be found to correfpond exact- ly. But whether this difruption of the rock happened mira- culoufly at the time of our Saviour's paffion, is another queftion. This opinion is grounded only upon modern, and confequently fufpicious, traditions, and is abfolutely contra- dicted by thofe who confine the miracles which the Holy Scriptures mention to have accompanied the death of Chrift to Judea ; for they alledge, that in other parts of the world where people were ignorant of the matter in proof of which N< :hcy were wrought, they would have carried neither convic- tion nor information *. But whenever the earthquake hap- pened crebris ac titrpibus opprobnis. ' Fulvia furioufly fiezing Cicero's head, fpit on it with the moft bitter revilings } then letting it on her knees, and opening the mouth, drew out the tongue, and with a bodkin, fuch as f women ftick in their hair, (he pierced it through and through, in the mean time pouring forth the fevered reproaches agahift the orator.' * This remarkable fiflure is unqueftionably to be attributed to an earth- quake, tho' not to that which happened at the death of our Saviour. The facred IQ From ROME to NAPLES. pc'hed the effec-t is furprifing and worthy of obfervation. The rent is about four or five feet wide, and by a flight of fteps you pafs through it to a fmall chapel called Capello del Crocififib, from which there is a fine view of the fea. The Benedictine church ftands about fifty-nine paces from this chapel, fifty-one of which are taken up by the rock, of which the monks prefent ftrangers with fome fmall frag- ments. To thefe fragments the grateful bigots fhew a 8;reat veneration, and give the monks a fmall offering or alms, which they need not grudge, the fathers alluring them, that S'lperftition they are now poflcfled of a fovereign prefervative againft the concerning head-ach, falling-ficknefs, &c. Tartans and other veflels, as they pafs by the lower chapel, ufually falute it with a gun, and lying upon their oars, perform a devotional office with mufic, or fend amore to the convent a pecuniary offering, at leaft, equal to the expence of a falute. But what is more extraordinary the infidel Corfairs, have frequently fent a fum of money to the monks in acknowledgment of their prefer - vation in bad weather, upon addreiling their devotions to this chapel. Fwncifcan The Francifcan convent here boafts of having been the convent. refidence of the founder of that feraphic order, as it is ftiled ; Place where and by the fea-fide, without the Porta di Ferro, is fhewn the St. Francis pi ace where St. Francis flood when he preached with fuch thTnihes. 10 P ower that the veiy fifties raifed themfelves above the fur- face of the water, liftening to his voice. Confederated In the choir of the cathedral hangs the confecrated ftandard prefented by pope Pius V. to Don John, on his going to fea to fight againft the Turks as commander in chief of the uni- ted fleets of the Chriftian powers : in the middle of this flag is reprefented our Saviour on the crofs, and St. Peter, and St. Paul, with this motto: In hoc figno vinces. * This is the ftandard by which thou (halt conquer.' The people never fail to pay their devout adorations to this ftandard. facred hiftorians make mention of many miracles and prodigies which hap- pened at that time, but without particularly fpecifying the places. Phlegoh Trallian indeed Ipeaks of a limilnr earthquake in Bithynia ; but the date being in the 4th year of the aozd Olympiad, it cannot be reconciled with the time of ChriiVs pafiion, See Bayle on the word Pblegon, The From ROME to NAPLES. 11 The la/Jo-relievo's on the marble font exhibit Fauns and Remarkable fatyrs dancing, and Mercury delivering Bacchus to Ino* to be nurfed. The workmanfhip is exquifite, and, as ap- pears by the following infcription, was done by Salpion an Athenian : 2 A A n i n N A H N A 1 O :? E n O I H 2 E. c Salpion, an Athenian, carved it. This vafe, fupported by four lions of marble, was brought from the ruins of Formia to Gaeta, and probably belonged to a temple of Bacchus. The ftatue of ^fculapius, facing the altar of the holy facrament, has been defcribed by Mif- fon, torn. II. p. 23. Beiides this, there is another fmall pagan idol alfo fixed in the church-wall. On a pillar near eighteen feet high, is a curious piece of fculpture, repre- fenting the martyrdom of St. Erafmus, whofe body, depofi- ted in this church, is to be feen. A fubterraneous chapel under this cathedral is painted by Brandi. The altar and, the baluftrade before it are of beautiful inlaid marble ; here are alfo fix ftatue,s of caft filver, as big as the life. The tower is faid to have been built by Frederic Barbarofla, by- way of attonement for his fins. Near the door of the caftle, which {lands upon a hill, is R ema ; ns O f fhewn the remains of the famous Charles of Bourbon, with the famous a wooden lower-jaw inferted to fupply the place of the na- Charles de tural one, long fince decayed. This nobleman was fhot in florming Rome, and thus dying under the pope's excom- munication, and being openly in arms againft the holy fee, he could not be allowed a burial-place in confecrated ground ; . arid to leave him unburied, or lay him among the vulgar, did not feem compatible either with his dignity, or the fegard due to his eminent fervices. The Spaniard^, therefore, had recourfe to another expedient, for they dried his corps like a mummy, and iet it up here. He ftands in a clofer, being properly cloathcd ; his boots are yellow, with red facings ; and the ftockings, which come but a little above the boots, have a border of fine lace. In 1719 general Prampero, go*; vernor of the city, had this memorable fkeleton new cloath- ed in blue trimmed with filver, and furnifhed it with a fword, cane, and hat and feather. Over the clofet-door are thefe lines in Spanilh : Fran/fa 12 From ROME to NAPLES. to ***. Francia me dio la leche, Efpanna fuerza y Ventura. -;ii yjisma me dio la muertc, y Gaeta la fepultura, < France gave me birth, Spain flrcngth and honours gave, ' Rome my death's wound, and Gaeta a grave.' Ciacconi, in his life of Clement VII. p. 465, gives us the following epitaph on this famous warrior : Autfo Imperio, Gallo viflo, Superala Italia, Pontifice obfejfi, Roma capta, Carolus Borbonius in viftoria cafas Hie jacet, ' Here lies Charles de Bourbon, who after enlarging the * empire, defeating the French, conquering Italy, befieg- ' ing the Pope, and taking Rome, loft his life in the midft * of a victory.' However, it is a known ftory, that a. Spaniard, in whofe houfe the duke had taken up his quarters, fet fire to it the very next day, to efface the infamy of its having harboured a traitor ; and indeed all the epitaphs written on this hero are far from running in the fame {train. On each fide of the fkeleton is an infcription, one in Ita- lian, the other in French ; both of which are to the fame purpofe. The latter, which has been incorrectly printed before, is as follows : Au Charles Due. de Bourbon de la Malfon Royale de France^ Grand Connetable du Royaume, clair par fa naiffance, plus clalr par fa fortune , qui perfecute de fen Roy, protege de P Empereur C:ng, fait j on Capita! n General de I Armee, glorieux par fes ex- ploits 6f par ft-s vicicires emportees fur les trouppes du metne Roy, ait il fit prifonnier e.n Pavie, ? acbeminant a la ville de Rome, ou chaciiti croyoft, qttil alia triompher, comme un Her as de FAnti- quite, it y fut tue pendant le Jjege 1527. Son corps cnbaume flit iranfporte^M Gaeta & Monf. le General Comte de Prampero, GouvernfUr de cette place & de fan chateau pour donner un ad- mirable exemple aux autres Mini/ires de tres jujle Impereur Charles Six^ rejlaura le tombeau 1719. 4 To Charles duke of Bourbon, of the blood-royal of * France, conftable of the kingdom, illuftrious by his birth, and From ROME to NAPLES. .13 and yet more fo by his perfonal merit, who being perfecutecl by his fovereign, was protected by the emperor Charle V. and made captain-general of his army, in which quality he acquired immortal honour by his glorious exploits, having feveral times defeated the troops of that king by whom he had been injured, and taken him prifoner at Pavia 5 from thence he directed his march to Rome, into which it was expelled he would have entered in triumph, like the heroes of antiquity ; but he was killed in an aflault during the fiege of that city, in 1527. His body was embalmed and fent to Gae'ta, where, by the generality of the count de Prampero, governor of that town and caftle, to let a worthy example to the other pfficers of the moft gracious emperor Charles VI. this monument was repaired in the year 1719.' Formerly the officers of this garrifon, when in their .tups, Drinking on any public rejoicings, ufed to take off the duke's, fkull, ut .? fa and fill it with liquor, in order to drink healths out of it j " but this favage cuftom frequently occasioning quarrels, fome of which had unhappy confequences, has been for- bidden *. The garrifon of Gae'ta at prefent conflfts of a thoufand men. Siege of In 1707 this place was taker! fword in hand by the Imperial ifh, Gaeuin under Count Dauri, after a fiege which greatly redounded to * 707 '* - the honour both of the befieged and aflailants ; the Spanifh garrifon having fired fifteen thoufand cannot (hot, and four thoufand bombs ; which, on the part of the Germans, were returned with twenty thoufand of the former, and fourteen thoufand of the latter. The marquis de Vigliena, after- wards vice-roy of Naples, who commanded in the fort, with two thoufand Spaniards furrendered themfelve* pri- foners of war. The ten colours and ftandards taken on that occafion were, purfuant to a vow made to St. Januarius, hung up in the Capella del Teforo at Naples, where they are ftill to be feen f. About eight Italian miles from Mola is a ruinous aqueduct, which begins at Trajetto, a little town two miles to the left * This favage cuftom of drinking out of the enemies fkulls was of a very ancient date, and very common among the Scythians, Germans, and northern nations, as appears from Herodotus, Diodorus Siculus, and Livy. f In 1734., Gacta was recovered by the Spaniards, and without any considerable lofs. 14 From ROME to NAPLES. fointuma. o f the road, on a pleafant eminence, and fome ruins of thfe 'ancient Minturna. Near it runs the Gariglianb, antiently CarigHano. ca ii e( j t h e Liris, which was the boundary of Latiuirt. The village of the fame name, which lies along the river, be- longs to the Caraffa family, who alfo have the profits arif- ing from the ferry. The author of the Voyage Hiftoriqub d'ltalie, lately publifhed, talks of croffing the Garigliano over a bridge (torn. II. p. 196.) but either his memory has fbrangely failed him, or, as I am more inclined to fufpeft from fevcral other particulars in that work, he never fet a foot in thcfe parts. After croffing this river, the road lies through a luxuriant country as far as Capua, and on the left lies the Dockings, and gloves, are knit with a kind of hairy filaments growing on a fpecies of fhell-fifli. In foft- * Saffron alfo grows in the fouthern parts of Germany, and alfo in Normandy, Languedoc, Provence, and the principality of Orange in France. [The Englifh faffran is the beft of any in the world, but is not mentioned by the author. nefs Kingdom of N A P L E S. heCs and firienefs this ftuff yields indeed to filk ; but it re- tains a particular glofs to the laft. The natural colour of thefe filaments is a kind of an olive-green, and the (hell ori which they grow is alfo commonly found about Malta, Cor- fica, and Sardinia : I have met with fome of thefe (hells even in the Adriatic^ which afford but few of thefe ufeful filaments, which yield a comfortable fubfiftence to the in- duflrious. Among trie natural curiofities of the kingdom of Naples Laph' may be alfo reckoned the Lapis Pbrygius *, or Pietra fun- &'"*> * gifera, as it is commonly called, which, when laid in fhady^^. or damp places, within a few days yields two, three, or more fungi or muftirooms, according to the largeriefs of the ftone. Thele are eaten by the Neapolitans; but it is a mif- take to imagine that the vegetable proceeds fimply from a real ftone. This Lapis Phrygius is only a hard congeries of earth, rotten box-wood, and fprays of feveral fhrubs and herbs, together with the rhumroom-feeds, which are fo very fmall, as not to be diftin2;uifhed from duft, but by the help of a very good microfcope. That thefe feemingly ftrange fungi iffue from homogeneous feeds is manifeft from hence, that if a mufhroom be not left to ripen on the (lone till it drops its feeds, the ftone lofes its virtue ; or, to fpeak more properly, the feeds being taken away before they come to maturity, the vegetation ceafes. Warm water poured ori the ftone is found cdnfiderably to forward the growth of thefe fungi^ as it penetrates into the clofeft interftices, and dilates the pores of the ftone, caufing a fermentation in the confined fap, and fomenting the feeds to a fpeedy vegetation. The natural feafon for thefe ftoncs, when they lie in the earth, to produce mufKrooms, is the fpring ; but by putting them in pots filled with moill earth, they yield them all the year round. Poffibly many other feeds are contained in this mafs ; though,- for want of a proper cultivation, &c. their growth may be checked. The fungi, when the ftone is duly pre- pared, generally appear on the third or fourth day, and ori the fixth attain to their full maturity. They grow to the height of a fpan above the ftone, and are of different figures. The outfide of them is of a brovvnifh red ; but within they are very white. Thefe fungiferous ftones are chiefly found on eminences, but feldom in valleys and low grounds. They * Here is another fort of Lapis P/vygktf, not unlike theEnglifli fuller's*' arth s which is dcfcribed bv Plinv, lib. xxxvi. r . 10. VOL. Ill, C *re i8 NATURAL CURIOSITIES in the are to be met with in great plenty, and of all fizes, in the fouthem parts qf the JLccJeliaftical State, and near Fondi, Gaeta, Itri, about Naples, and in other parts of this king- dom. This mafs, which has neither the hardnefs of a ftone, nor the properties of earth, by its fecundity becomes gra- dually more porous, and decreases in weight. Paolo Boccone, botanift to the great duke of Tufcany, afterwards a Cifter- tian monk under the name of Silvio Boccone, and Michael Mercati, in his Mctallotheca, publiftied in folio at Rome in 1717 by Lancifi, .whom I have frequently mentioned with the honour due to his great abilities, have made fome re- marks on this Lapis Pbrygitts. The heat of the climate, and the fatnefs of the foil of Italy, is very proper, with fuitable moifture, for producing truffles, morels, mumrooms, &c. of Muftrooms an extraordinary fize. On an eftate called Guadagnola, of an extra- about twenty miles from Rome, belonging to the Conti fa- -Jnitys a verv palatable fort of mufhrooms are produced, fome of which have weighed twenty pounds ; but unlefs they are carefully watched, the birds are apt to peck them to pieces. The duke of Poli prefented queen Chriftina of Sweden with one of thof? mumrooms, which weighed thirty pounds ; of which, on account of its extraordinary fize, Kircher has given an accurate defcription. MountVefu- Mount Vefuvio often fills the neighbouring country with i terror ; but few things in nature are fo abfolutely noxious and hurtful, as not to be productive of fome good. Even this raging vulcano, by its fulphureous and nitrous manure, and the heat of its fubterraneous fires, contributes not a little to the uncommon fertility of the country about it, and the pro- fufion of fruit, herbage, &c, with which it is every-where covered. The fame happy effet from the fame caufe is vi- ilble about mount ./Etna in. Sicily; where the general produce of grain is thirty-fix fold, and in one part, when well culti- vated, .fifty fold. Thofe are obferved to be the moft fertile fpots which abound in fulphur, falt-petre, &c. If fuch ig- neous and inflammable fubftances were pent up, their fer- mentation and ebullition would be productive of the moft calamitous effedh ; whereas they find a vent through thefe vulcano's, and make frequent difcharges. Experience mews, that earthquakes, after any continued eruptions of Vefuvio, are not fo frequent, and lefs fatal in their cffedts than at other times. The inhabitants are far from being alarmed at this mountain's vernal eruptions, when they are not very violent; and the air is fo far from being rendered unhealthful by them, that Kingdom of NAPLES. 19 that Barra, a village at the foot of Vefuvio near the tea, is remarkable for its healthful nefs. r Fhe ancient fertility of this mountain is celebrated by Mar- tial in the following lilies : 'Hie ejl pampineis viridis Vefuvius um&ris 9 Prcjjerat Kic madldos nobilis uva lacus. Hcsc juga, quam Nife colles^ plus Bacchus amavit 9 Hoc nuper Satyri Monte dedere chores. HcC Veneris fedes, Laced&mcne gratior illl ; Hie locus Hercuko nomine clarus erat. Cunfta jacent flammis, & tr'ijTi merfa fayilla. Nee fuperi vellent hoc licti(ffe fibi. Lib. ii. Epig. 105* Vefuvio, cover'd with the fruitful vine, Here flourifh'd once, and ran with floods of wine ; Here Bacchus oft to the cool fhades retir'd, And his own native Nifa lefs admir'd j Oft to the mountain's airy tops advanc'd, The frifking fatyrs on the fummits danc'd ; Alcides here, here Venus grac'd the more, Nor lov'd her fav'rite Lacedaemon more : Now piles of ames, fpreadina; all around, In undiflinguim'd heaps deform the ground. The gods themfelves the ruin'd feats bemoan, And blame the mifchiefs that themfelves have done.* ADDISON. Though the upper part of mount Vefuvio be covered with wines of cinders, ames, oV. the lower parts yield three forts of ex- the growth iquifite wine, namely, the Vino Grecc> white mufcadel, and a wine called Lacrymte Chrijii ; the fecond has the advantage in flavour, but will not bear any diftant exportation. At Pietrabianca this wine is fold for a carlino and a half * per bottle. The Vino Greco was originally made from the pro- duce of fome vines traniplanted hither from Greece f, which have iucceeded to admiration. C 2 The * About fix-pence. f The tranfplant-ng cf vines, ?<. has often turned to the great im- provement of them. From the vines growing near the Rhine, tranfplanted to another climate, the celebrated Canary was firft produced ; and from this fame vine, and that of Burgundy, we have that delicious wine brought from the cape of Good-Hope, The China oranges, of fuch advantage to Portugal* 2O NATURAL CURIOSITIES in the Wine why The LacrymtE Chrljli is fo called from the drops of juice ou ^ n S fro m the grapes when fully ripe. This year, fo early as the clofe of February, mount Ve- fuvio began to iflue flames ; and the fmoke was to be feen from Naples rifmg to a confiderable height, in a large black column, till it was broke and diflipated by the wind : this happens in three or four minutes, and then one has a clear fight of the top of the mountain, till another eruption comes on in a few minutes, and throws up cinders, fmoke, and ftones. Amidft the variety of agitations into which the wind blows the fmoke, fome fanciful perfons have imagined that they difcerned many forts of frightful figures. Accord- ing to Dion Caflius, lib. xvi, in Vefpafian's time the country . was terrified with the imaginary reprefentation of a troop of fuliginous giants ifluing from the mouth of Vefuvio. The fmoke is not immediately diflipated when blown from the mountain, but expands itfelf in thick clouds. At night, after every explofion, the mountain was obferved to difcharge a fhort fiery column, which was feen to {hoot upwards, but was extinguimed before it fell. Probably, this only proceeded from the ignited ftones thrown up in a perpendicular direc- Portugal, were tranfplanted thither from China, and from thence to Naples, where they alfo thrive. The fame frequently holds good with regard to animals. The wool of Andalufia is known to furpafs all other; and yet that kind of fheep on which it grows were originally natives of tngland, where the wool, though preferable to any other country in urope, is inferior to the Spanifh. The Spanifh horfes, though in fome parts of the Weft-Indies they degenerate, in Chili they become far pre- ferable to their progenitors. The origin and defcent of nations is co- pioufly fet forth in hiftory ; and an account of the transmigrations and fettlements in the animal and vegetable kingdoms would be no lefs enter- taining. The firft pheafants were aborigines of the country about the river Phafis (which iffues from the mountains of Armenia, and runs through Mingrelia) and are faid to have been firft brought into Greece by the Argonauts ; red-legged partridges are natives of Numidia ; the firft, of the turkey fowls, as they are commonly called, came from Mexico, and were ferved up at the nuptial feaft of Charles IX, king of France, in 1570. That the difference of air, diet, &c. confiderably influences the melioration or degeneracy confequential to thefe changes of climate is manifeft in the human fpecies ; the iflue of negro parents, when born in Europe, gradually acquire the fair complexibn of Europeans ; and the descendants of the Portuguefe colonifts fettled on the weftern coaft of Africa, are known to have cont rafted not only the African complexion of the natives, but the woolly hair, the flat nofe, and thick lips, yet ftill re- taining the names of their European anceftors. It is remarkable that the rr.I'k of the European women, on their coming to Batavia in the Eaft- Indics, becomes fo brackifh, that their children refufe the breaft, and muft be fuckled by female negro flaves. tion, Kingdom of NAPLES. 21 tion, of which the greateft part, efpecially in ftill weather, drop again into the caverns from whence they iflued. After a week's expectation that Vefuvio would return to a ftate of tranquillity, at the end of which, on the contrary, an in- creafe of its violence v/as apprehended by the inhabitants, or at leaft that it would continue longer than my purpofed ftay at Naples ; on the fourteenth of March I refolved that its commotion fhould not deter me from vifiting this extraordi- nary mountain. The parties for this expedition can never be very numerous ; hackney horfes being fcarce at Naples, and the peafants on the mountain (whole afliftance is abfo- lutely neceffary) being too few in number to attend on a large company. The diftance from Naples to the foot of Vefuvio (here commonly called Monti di Somma y either from femtnita, a fummit*, or fromfornma, an adjacent eftate) is five Italian miles, including the circuit round the bay ; and from the foot of the mountain to the fummit it is near three miles further. By an infcription at Capua, mentioned Jupiter Ve by Parini, Vefuvio feems to have been confecrated to Jupiter fuvlus * Tonans ; Jovi Vefuvio Sacrum D.D. < Sacred to Jupiter of Vefuvius.' Mount Vefuvio, like Parnaflus, confifts properly of two heads, or fummits, though at prefent only that on the right- hand as you come from Naples, emits fire and fmoke. The valley betwixt thofe hills is about a mile long, and extremely fertile. The height of the burning fummit (which is the lower of the two) is computed to be eleven hundred fathoms above the furface of the fea. This mountain by a fudden eruption in the year 1631, laid wafte all the neighbouring country; and an earneft admonition to poiterity in Latin was cut in ftone, and fet up in Refina, a village within three miles of Naples, to advife the inhabitants to fly in time, when they are threatened with an eruption of Vefuvio. At Torre del Greco, a village fituated on the fea-coaft, three miles from this mountain, are two other infcriptipns, giving an account of the deftru&ion of three convents and * As JEtna. is now called Monte Gibello ; for the Saracens, when they were mafters of Sicily, gave it the name of Gihel, which has the fame fig- nification with the German word Giebel or Gipfd, the fummit of a hill. C 3 other p 22 NATURAL CURIOSITIES in the other buildings thereabouts by the fame terrible eruption I ft 1631, &c. From Refma the acclivity of the mountain increafes, yet; fo that one may ride ftill on horfe-back. Here are feen fe- veral large ftones half calcined, fcattcred in different places, which are left as memorials of former devaluations ; the greateft part having been cleared away by the peafants liv- ing on the mountain, and ufed tor inclofing their vineyards. It is aftonifhing to think of the impetuofity by which huge mafles of four or five hundred weight have been thrown to the diitance of feveral Italian miles. At laft the fteepnefs of the afcent, efpecially as it is all over covered with afhes and cinders, will not admit of riding, and the horfes are left to be taken care of by the fervants. It is advifeable alfo both for eafe and expedition in climbing among the afties, ts\\ to Hermitage change boots for fhoes. Hereabouts a hermit has built a on mount dwelling, but of a meannefs entirely correfpondent to the . wuli character of felf-denial ; and fuch is his fortitude, that Ve- fuvio muft rage with uncommon vehemence before he removes his quarters j as travellers are apt to be fatigued with climb- ing up this uncommon afcent, he ftands ready with fome wine to refrefti them at their return ; and as the rules of his order do not prohibit him from fingering money, he thank- fully receives any little acknowledgment made for his fea- fonable civility. CharaVerof At this hermitage the attendance of the peafants who fol- fliepeaaot.]ow travellers from the neighbouring villages, becomes ne- ceflary ; but if there happen to be more than can be employ- ed, they are apt to quarrel with one another ; this is fome- times attended with bloodfhed, and proves of ill confequence to the ftrangers whom they are fo eager to ferve. A travel- ler fhould by all means carry fire-arms with him on thefe oc- cafions ; thofe people being trained up to rob and murder, and accuftomed to wear at their fides large couteaux. Be- fides, they are fo void of all fhame as to make a jeft of their deteftable practices among one another, when they are laid down to reft. Whilft we were about the fkirts of the mountain they talked big, and boafted that they would car- ry us up to the bccca or mouth on the fummit of it ; but in advancing upwards their note was changed ; and at every lit- tle blaze they called upon the virgin Mary and St. Januarius, telling us of the great danger we were expofing ourfelves to ; fo that we ourfelves were obliged to be upon the chearful ftrain, in order to keep our guides in heart. All the fervice they Kingdom of NAPLES. 23 they do is to go before with leathern belts round their waifts, T . heir lep< by which travellers hold, that they may climb up with gi'ea- vice * ter eafe. If the two peafants that go before every traveller are not fufficient, others help by fhoving him behind. Be- fore a perfon puts himfelf in their power, an agreement muft be made ; and at difmifling them it is beft to add \i fmall gratuity, as they have been known to proceed to r r ude- nefs without it, and indeed are feldom fatisfied with the Tsare wages agreed upon. The mountain being very fteep and rnoftly covered with black ames, the afcentis very difficult ; the afhes giving way caufes a man to flide feveral fteps downwards, and in places free from the afhes, the ruggednefs of the melted matter puts ycu to no lefs trouble. That fulphur lies here a foot deep, as a certain writer takes upon him to advance, is what I faw nothing of; but among thefe drofly clods I met with foms red and yellow ftony fubftances, containing a great deal of fulphur : neither is there any necefiity of treading in the guide's fteps ; for, very often, it cannot be done, the afhes inftantly filling up the impreflion of his feet. From this Vulcano has been, too often known to ifiue a lava or mixed floods of melted fulphur, metallic ore and rofin, to the inex- prefiible damage of the neighbouring country. The fcoria of this ejected matter {till lies ftratum upon ftratum with large /tones projecting from them, which, in their courfe along the fulphureous ftream, were flopped by their inequali- ties ; and fixed as the melted matter gradually hardened ; whereas had the ftream been entirely fluid, it would have cooled and fettled in a more even and uniform furface. In the year 1694, the country was vifited with one of thofe fiery lava's ; and the burnt (tones, though forced under the melted matter with poles, immediately emerged again. Thefe ftreams or currents are not thrown up from the moun- tain like the ftones, but pour down as from an inclined vef- fel ; fo that it feems as if fuch an effufion could proceed from no other caufe but the fulnefs of the whole cavity and all the recefles of the mountain of melted fubftances. Some pretend to have computed, that, during the eruption in the year 1694, fo great a quantity of lava was difcharged, that in fome places it hardened at the height of fixty ells above the furface of the ground ; and that, if it had been accum'ulated into one mafs, it would have equalled in bulk the mountain from the bowels of which it had iflued. If this be true, what muft: we think of the abyfs to which this vait moun- C 4 tain 4 NATURAL CURIOSITIES in the tain is, as it were, the fpiracle. The matter thrown up by mount Mtna, in 1669, is faid to have amounted to No pumke- 93,838,750 cubic feet *. I here fearched very narrowly for inomtve P urmce -ft nes but could not f ee a fingle ftone of that 'kind fuvio. a ll over the mountain. In the fcoriee are fcattered up and dpwn feveral burnt ftones that are very porous ; but, on ac- count of their weight and dark adtnt colour, they differ ve- ry much from the genuine pumice-ftones found about Baize Minerals In and fts neighbourhood, By chemical experiments it ap- the ftones. pears, that the ftones ejected by Vefuvio contain pitch, ful- phur, vitriol, alum, antimony, marcaflite, arfenic, &c. The differences of the fcori& in colour and fubftance have therefore nothing ftrange in them ; as, from the various mix- tures of fuch bodies with earth and ftone, there muft refult a great diverfity in the alterations they undergo by fuch a ve- hement and lafting fufion or ignition. Small quantities of gold, filver, copper, tin, lead, and other minerals have al- J!o been extracted from them, which give a light into the Experiment conftitution of the adjacent ftrata. I pulverifed one of thefe < ^ ones f a rec ^ an d yellow colour, and applied the magnet to it, but I could obierve no attraction or even adhefion ; which unqueftionably was owing to the prevalency of the re- maining fulphur. I was fenfible the magnet has no effel upon iron ore, however abounding with metal, till by a ftrong fire the fulphur mixt with it be expellee! ; and here- upon repeating the trial with a black clod which had been thoroughly burned, the adhefion was very ftrong, I fhall not animadvert on what fome perfons have faid of their find- ing in thefe cinders fparks of rubies and other gems : vitre- ous fubftances I myfelf faw ; but thefe may have been cauf- ed by the fufion of a fine fand, fait, and marcaflite. As I was {landing at one of the former mouths or apertures of Vefuvio, a ftone of a greenifn yellow, ejected from the mountain, fell clofe by me. Upon taking it up when it had cooled, I found it to be covered with a kind of glofTy varnifli, and to contain feveral bits of glafs ; but, at my return, I * This is the computation of Dr. Burnet in lus Theory of the Earth. Virgil fays, Vidimus undanlem rnpth fornaeibm Mtnam, Flammarumque globos, liquefa&aque volverefaxa. What rocks did ./Etna's bellowing mouth expire ' Froro her torn entrails ! and what floods of fire ! DRYPE*. fouiid Kingdom of N A P L E S. 25 found its beauty very much diminifhed by rubbing againft feme other ftones in my pocket, which I had picked up. I made ufe of water for cleaning it, which rather penetrated the {tone, and diflblved its texture, fo that a greenifh liquor was continually oofing from it, and I was obliged to ufe pro- per means for drying it. Near to the fummit of the mountain we met with ftones, Red-hot at leaft of a hundred weight, glowing hot, and when broken ftones * exactly refembling red-hot iron, or the flag juft taken out of a fmith's forge. Thefe ejected ftones immediately fet paper on hrc ; and, it our guides may be relied on, they had been but juft ejected from the abyfs. I faw about fifteen of thefe, but not one thrown in the air or in motion. As we ftill ad- vanced, our ears were frequently afiaulted with a horrid noife like that of the explofion of a whole battery of cannon ; and under our feet we were furprifed with a continued noife, not unlike the boiling of a large cauldron. Upon making Heat of the a hole with a ftick in the aihes but a few inches deep, a heat foil< was immediately felt in it, which in fome places was hotter than a man's hand could bear. We perceived the fmoke to ifiiie out as it were in feveral places through fmall fiflures. I was foi a long time at a lofs what to make of great numbers of little round holes about half an inch diameter in this part of the hill, till I found them to be avenues to the nefts of wafps and hornecs, which retreated hither on account of the heat ; the cold at this time of the year, and efpecially in the night, being too ievere for them at the foot of the hill. We found a fcorched acorn among the afhes, a confiderable way up the hill, but it is no eafy matter to form a probable con- jecture from whence it came; not a fingle tree or fhrub be- ing to be feen on all that part of the mountain, which is covered with afhes and ftones; and birds, which might have carried fuch a thing by a way of food, are never known to vifit this dreary region. At length, after many weary fteps, we came to the place where formerly the largeft mouth or aperture of the moun- mo uth of tain was ; but this has undergone fuch changes by the fre- Vefiwo. quent eruptions, that at prefent it is not only choaked up, but covered by a round hill of afhes and cinders. In Addi- fon's and Miflon's time there was a plain of near three hun- dred paces to crofs before they came to the fkirts of this found hill or new mountain ; but fuch great eruptions have |b enlarged the circumference of the hill, that this interval in moft places is now no more than a kind of trench feven 26 NATURAL CURIOSITIES in the or eight feet deep, and about thirty paces wide. It is not improbable but in a few years this vacuity may be filled up, and thus the two mountains form but one. The lower or old mountain is of fuch a height that the trench is not per- ceived at the foot of it, Here we felt a very fenfible in- creafe of heat ; and efpecially at every exploilon of the moun- tain, .which made the afhes fly againft our faces, fo that ibme of the company were obliged to cover their eyes. The ground alfo was almoft infupportably hot under our feet; for the embers or flag burnt the very foles of our fhoes. Here in- deed we were not terrified with the horrid noifes we had heard below j but every difcharge was attended with a whizzing like that of a great number of rockets flying up at once. The mul- titude of ftones and other matter ejected, together with the clouds of fmoke with which the fky is totally obfcured, re- femble the fpringing of a mine. Molt of the ftones, efpe- cially the largeft, the weight of which has not been much diminifhed by burning, return perpendicularly into the abyfs from whence they were thrown up ; and this poflibly is le- veral times repeated till their weight decreafes, or a violent eruption happens, and then they are thrown beyond the verge of the aperture. Great quantities, however, fall on the fides of the hill, and the noife they make in rolling down is indeed fomething terrible. As the wind generally drives the afhes, fmoke, &c. one particular way, it gives the fpeclator an opportunity of chufmg the moft favourable ftation ; yet if the eruptions happen to be violent, there is danger of ap- proaching on any fide. It being a very blight day, we could perceive no flame at the mouth of the hill 3 and the great increafe of the, heat felt at every difcharge might proceed, from the melted matter and ignited ftones thrown into the air, which in the night appear like red-hot bullets. The phenomena exhibited by vulcano's are not conftantly alike; for they differ according to the violence or moderation of the eruptions. This has been obferved fo long ago as Virgil's time, who gives this defcription of .^Etria : - - - - Horrifids juxta tonat Mtna minis : Inter dumque atram prcrumpit ad atbera nubem y Turbine fumant em plcco, & candente javilla ; Attdlltque gkbos fammarum^ & fidcra lambit. Inter dum fcopulos avulfaque vifcera month Erigit eruttans^ liquef aft aque faxa fub auras Gum gemitu gkmerat^ fundoque exafluat imo. VIRG. yEneid. III. v. 571. 'And Kingdom of NAPLES. 27 - - - c And fecure from wind, Is to the foot of thund'ring JEtna join'd. By turns a pitchy cloud fhe rolls on high, "J By turns'hot embers from her entrails fly ; And flakes of mounting flames that lick the fky. 3 Oft from her bowels mafly rocks are thrown, And fhiver'd by the force come piece-meal down. Oft liquid lakes of burning fulphur flow, Fed from the fiery fprings that boil below.' DRYDEN T . Sarnelli, bifhop of BifcegHa, informs us, that the upper or new mountain firft appeared on the 26th of September, 1685. We had ftill about eight hundred paces to afcend among hot ftones and afhes ; but the eruptions followed fo thick upon pne another, that before we could have reached the fummit we muft have ftood at leaft eight fhocks more ; and as the danger every minute became rnanifeftly greater, and our faint-hearted guides grew exceffively out of humour, we all agreed to return. After all, it is very probable, that, had we ventured to the aperture or mouth of Vefuvio, a thick fmoke would have been all we could -have feen, which would not have rewarded our pains and hazard. I wonder fome travellers who affect great courage and intrepidity fliould pre- tend that they had been on the fummit of the hill during an eruption, and that looking down the aperture they faw the vaft hollow allon fire and full of fulphur, pitch, and metal boiling wjth prodigious vehemence; whereas feveral curious perfons of undoubted veracity, who have been more tnan once on the top, when tha mountain was ftill, afTured me, that, by reafonof the fmoke, it is very feldom they could get a fight of the bottom of the cavity ; which is alfo fubje& to great variations : for it is fometimes of a vaft depth, and at other times but a little more than two hundred feet, accord- ing to the height of the melted matter, at the laft eruption, which by hardening gradually forms this bottom. Some have ventured a confiderable way down the cavity ; but this is a temerity from which no real advantage or glory can ac- crue. Such r :mneis about two years fince unhappily proved fatal to an Englifh gentleman of a very good character, both for his learning and morals. If a ftone be rolled down the aperture ; within a fliort time after, an eruption, followed by a hollow found and a cloud of fmoke, happens. The afcent 28 NATURAL CURIOSITIES in the afcent to the fummit takes up two hours j but the defcent takes lefs, and is much eafier : for the afhes often carry one feveral paces downwards at one flide. Some days after this excurfion, I obferved from Naples, in the evening, that the mountain continually ejected ftones, &c. and over it appear- ed a pale gleam, which, at firft, I took to be flame : it con- tinued a long time gradually afcending, and at length I difco- vered it to be the refraction of the beams of the fetting fun through the fuliginous exhalations ifluing from the aperture. As the fun gradually defcended towards the horizon, this phenomenon infenfibly diminifhed ; when it was fet, it total- ly difeppeared. A flrong party of us (for otherwife it is ve- ry dangerous to walk the ftreets of Naples in the night) ufed moft evenings to go to the great area near the vice-roy's pa- lace, to obferve the changes in the appearance of Vefuvio. On the i yth of March, to the left of the place where we had taken our ftation on the mountain there was a continual fire ; and from the upper aperture, every four or five minutes, if- fued ignited columns, in appearance about four feet high, t and near a foot and a half in diameter. On the i8th, that part near the old bocca or mouth of Vefuvio was all in glowing fire, but without any confiderable blaze ; whilft tho upper, or new mountain, emitted towering flames without intermiffion ; and vaft clouds of fmoke appeared above the fummit of the mountain. On the iQth there was a general fire fpread all over the upper mountain, and in the city of Naples were heard fubterraneous rumblings and concuffions ' like the difcharge of cannon at a diitance, On the 2,cth, and likewife on the ift day of April, the fire was vifible at Gae'ta, which is fix ftages from Vefuvio ; and as abundance of afhes was driven by the wind to Naples, recourfe was had to proceflions, and thd invocation of St. Januarius, in whom, in all public calamities, the Neapolitans place a great confi- dence ; but of late, to make matters fure, the archangel Michael has been added as a collegue to that faint. Tt mutt be owned their devotion is very well grounded if what they tell us be true, namely, that upon the faint's head being ex- pofed, and proper fupplications made to him, the wind has immediately fhifted, and fometimes the eruptions of Vefuvio ifedalof St. have been fupprefied ; arid fo powerful a protector well de- Januanus. f eive( j tne honour of a large medal, which the governor of the treafury-chapel, where the faint's reliques are kept, had (truck. On one fide is the effigies of this fainj, with thefe words round it : D. JAN, Kingdom of N A P L E S. 29 D. JAN. LIBERATOR!. VRBIS. FVNDATORI. QVIETIS. 4 To St. Januarius, the deliverer of the city, author of c its fecurity.' On the reverfe are two phials, reprefenting thofe in which his miraculous blood is kept ; under them is a garland, with this legend : POSTQVAM. COLLAPSI. CINERES. ET. FLAMMA. QVIEVIT. GIVES NEAPOLITAN!. INCOLVMES. A. D. MDCCVII. < The ames fubfided, the eruption fufpended, and the c citizens of Naples preferved in the year 1707.' In commemoration of this fame miracle of the year 1707, Tbankf a marble ftatue of the faint, with the following infcription, in s mon has been erected on the fpot near the church of S. Caterina a mcnt * Formello, where the faint's head, attended by numerous proceffion, was placed on an altar which faces Vefuvio, as it were to keep it in awe : DJVO JANUAR10, Urbis Neap. Indigetum Principi, Ghiod Montis Vefwuli Anno MDCC'ni. Cum Maxima Ignis eruptlone Fafia^ dies complures magis Magifquc ftrociret^ "Jam nt certijjimum Urbi Totique Campania Incendlum minaretur^ Sacri oftenfu cafiitis In ara hie cxjlrutta Excidiofos impetus Extemplo opprejfcrit) Et omnia fere narit^ Neapcliiani Ejus divini Beneficii Uti C5 5 innumerorum aliorum Quibus a Bf/lo, Fame, Peftikntia, Terra motn. jo NATURAL CURIOSITIES in die Urbem, Civitatemqiie Liberavlt memores P. P- ' To St. Januarius, the chief of the Neapolitan faints, by the expofure of whole facred head on an altar creeled on this fpot, a moft dreadful eruption of mount Vefuvio in 1707, which had raged feveral days with increafmg vio- lence, fo as to threaten the city and the whole country with an unavoidable conflagration, was inftantaneoufly fupprefled, and fair profperous weather fucceeded, the Neapolitans, in acknowledgment of this, and innumera- ble other, fignal deliverances from war, peftilence, famine, and earthquakes, -have eretled this monument.' Aurelius Victor, and other hifforlans, who relate that it tfas in the reign of Vefpafian when fiery eruptions from this vulcano were firft perceived, are eafily confuted from Stra- bo, who lived in Augustus's time. It is alto far from being true that Pliny the elder loft his life on this mountain ; for it appears from the younger Pliny's account of his uncle'* death *, that he was at a confiderable diftance from Vefuvio ; and being very fat and afthmatic, the air then faturated with fulphureouS particles, obftru&ed his refpiration. Since the Chriftian ^Era above twenty remarkable erup- tions of Vefuvio are recorded by hiftorians ; but it is very probable that in fo many centuries the number muft have been greater. It is certain, however, that one of the mofl violent eruptions of this vulcano, was that which happen- Deftruaion ed in Titus's reign, by which Herculaneum, or Heraclea f, of Hercuia- an( j Pompeii, two towns near Naples, were deftroyed t. neum and A j Pompeii. Accord- * Pliny's words are, Inmxus ftr--vis duobiis adfurrexit & flafim condJit, ut ego conjefio, craffiore caligine fpiritu obftruflo, claufoque fortacho, qui illi natui'a in-jaliJus & an^uftus & frequenter intertejtuans erat. Ubi dies red* dilns, corpus ittventum ejl integmm, illafum opfrtumque, ut fuerat indutns t habitus cnrpvris quiefceiiti qtcam defunfio Jimilior. f The remains of Heraclea, discovered in our days, have for fome years exercifed the pens of the moft learned antiquarians. J This country lias, by earthquakes and eruptions of Vefuvio, under- gone fo many changes, that the fituation of thefe towns cannot be exactly determined. In the iike deftiny Thaurania, Cora, or Thorn, and Stabia have been involved. The damages which Pompeii and Herculaneum fuf- tained by an earthquake in Seneca's time, are related at large in the vith book of his Natural Queftions, and likewife in Tacitus's Annals, lib. xv. Probably it is to that earthquake, and not to an eruption of Vefuvio, that Dion Kingdom of N,APLES. 3! According to Dio CafTius, the afhes, during that erup- tion, were driven as far as Africa, Syria, and Egypt j and at Rome the fun was totally obfcured by them *. It might be fuppofed that the manifeft danger continually hanging over the heads of the inhabitants 'of this country from earthquakes and the irruptions of Vefuvio fhould make fome happy impreflion on their minds, and difpofe them to lead pious and moral lives ; but it is far otherwife : for the generality of thefe- people are like failors, and never think of heaven or hell but in imminent danger; and, as foon as that is over, eagerly return to their former wicked practices. Of this there was a ftriking inftance in the year 1707, when the people flocking out of the city to fee the fiery torrent from the mountain, which began to harden, gave themfelves up to all forts of debaucheries. The variety of mineral and other fubftances ejected by Ve- Infide of fuvio, fufficiently indicate the nature of the vaft hollow with- Vefovio. in the mountain, and the caufe of its fiery eruptions ; for quick fulphur and the filings of iron being kneaded together into a kind of dough, is not only violently heated, but even kindled into a flame, by the addition of a little cold water. Lemery, in his garden at Paris, once made an artificial vol- Artificial cano of this fort, which took fire fpontaneoufly ; and later vulcano chemifts inftantly produce flame from the mixture of two dif- ferent liquids properly prepared. That the ftrata under Ve- fuvio and other volcano's, contain abundance of fulphur and iron f, appears evident both by the cinders -ejected and the chalybeate fprings ilTuing from the root of this mountain to- wards the fea-coaft. The proximity of the main fea not on- Dion CafTius, Kb. Ixvi, alludes, when he fpeaks of the fudden fall of a theatre when crouded witli the inhabitants of thefe two cities : for the ra- vages caufed by the eruption of Vefuvio, as appears' from Pliny, were not caufed on a fudden, but the fire gradually increafed ; and felf-prefervation would naturally have prompted the people to huny .out of the theatre at the firft appearance of danger. * The eruption of Vefuvio in 473, according to Marccllinus Comes, covered all Europe with afhes : VefiFuius, mons Cambeiniee 'tornJus, intfjlhiis ignibus aftuans exujla vemmt is Bi- Kaniii anmie celebrant viii. Idus Nc-vefiibris * f Veluvius, a volcano in Cam- ' pania, ejected from its inflamed bowels fuch prodigious quantities of' matter as obfcured day-light, and covered all Europe with afhes. The ' anniverfary of this devaftation is obferved at Conftantinople on the 6th of * November.' This day of humiliation is likewife mentioned by Proco- pius de Bella Goth. lib. ii. c. 4. f The foil about Viter'^o, Pozzuolo, Sienna, and the iflaads of Strom- Loli, Lepari, Sicily, &c. is of the fame nature. 32 NATURAL CURIOSITIES in the ly (applies water for the aliment of the inflammable fub^ fiances, but likewife fait and pitch, which it wafhes away from their fubterraneous beds ; and from thefe alfo proceeds the faline acridity of the fea- water : for oil of fea-coal (which has a great deal of pitch in it) mixed with common fait and water, gives it a tafte like that of fea-water. In a calm the fifhermen about Refma and Torre, two villages on the fea- coaft near Vefuvio, look out for Pretoleum, a fragrant kind of oil which floats on the furface of the fea, and take it off with pieces of fpunge : this they fell for a good price to the Communi- apothecaries. It is plain that Vefuvio has a communication cation be- w [ tn t ne f ea? no t only from the waters being furprifingly ab- * V ' > and7he~ f r bed in 1631 as an immediate prelude to the eruption of the f^ mountain, fo that feveral veflels, afloat before, were left dry; but alfo by what happened in 1698, for in that year the fea fuddenly ebbed twelve paces, and the mountain difembogued a vaft torrent of pitch and other combuftibles ; and on the return of the fea to its former height, and the ceflation of the igneous difcharge, great quantities of fhells, &. were found along the fhore near the mountain, which were half burnt, and emitted a fulphureous fmell. Parrini and Boccone far- ther affirm, that, in a violent eruption of Vefuvio, hot fea- water, fifhes, fhells, and lea-weeds have been ejected by that mountain. Freih water This vulcano, however, affords feveral frefli fprings, of in the which fome are conveyed to Naples by a beautiful aqueduct, mountain. to tne g rea t eonveniency of the inhabitants. Thefe waters have not the leaft heat in them ; and, what one could lefs expect, a very cold wind is felt to blow from feveral fifTures or chafms in the fide of the mountain. I fhall add, that tho' a new mountain has rifen on the furrt- niit of Vefuvio over its former aperture, yet it wants forne- thing of its ancient height. Of this there is ocular demon- Oration likewife with regard to mount ./Etna in Sicily ; the top of which, within thefe fixty years, might be feen from Furnari and other places thereabouts, but cannot be difcern* ed from thence at prefent. . Stm fa _ % Such is the climate of Naples, and the fouth part of thi$ cure of the kingdom, that little or no winter is known there. Garden- if. vegetables are in feafon there all the year round. Ice is feU dom feen in the level country, and fnow fell but twice dur- ing thefe laft fire years ; and then it diflblved a"s foon as it touched the ground. Among the inhabitants of the moun- tains it is a branch of trade to gather fnow, and fend it to Naples, Kingdom of NAPLES. 33 Naples, where it fupplies ths want of ice for cooling liquors *, &c. The extreme iummer heat.s, however, never fail of being tempered by cool evenings, which are fpent in taking the air, after being; confined within-doors during the ifultry heat of the day. Of the fertility and wealth of this Fruitfulnefi country, fome idea may be formed by confidering how long oftheccun- it has been under a foreign government, which by contribu- trjr * tions, troops, wars, and other circumftances, muft necefla- rjly have drained it of vail fums. Yet this country is ftill in a much better condition than many of the dates of Italy, and capable by proper meafures of affording new fources of wealth. The tobacco-farms alone in this kingdom produce near thirty thoufand ducats annually. But amidft its fertility and other natural advantages, the inconveni- kingdom of Naples is not without many inconveriiencies. encies in the Befides the frequent calamities this country is fubjectto from N^ies" 1 f the neighbourhood of mount Vefuvio, it fuffers extremely by Earth-' earthquakes ; particularly the fouth part of the kingdom, all quakes. over which are to be feen the melancholy remains of cities, once famous in hiftory, but now ahnoft without a name f. Another difagreeable circumftance, but common to moft Lizards, other parts of Italy, is the fw;!MTis of lizards, efpecially of the green kind. In fpring hundreds of thefe little animals are feen bafking themfelves on the flat roofs, and as they crawl up and down the walls, if a window or door be left open, they make their way into the houfes. The green li- zards are very nimble, and have a fine glofly fkin and very beautiful eyes ; but they are quite harmlefs. About Fondi, Capua, and Gaeta, there is a noxious fpecies of lizards, * The climate of Sicily is fo hot, that even in January the fhade is a- greeable, and not a chimney is to be feen all over the ifland. In March fome cold piercing winds may happen to fet in for a few days ; but this in- ' tonveniency is relieved by a very fimll coal fire. The ui'e of ice and fnow in liquor, I fuppofe, was firfl: introduced to gratify the palate; but now it has the fanclion of the faculty : and line- its coining into general vogue, the fatal rage of fevers isfaid to be confidently abated. Plempius, in his treatife de Valetudine Togatorum tuenda, affinns, that fir.Ce tlu ui'e of fnow has obtained in Meilina, the burials of that city are decreafed a thoii- fjnd every year ; and that this cultom has been attended with the fame fuc- cefs in Spain, appears from L'.idov. Nonnius, de re cibaria, lib; iv. cap. 5. [The author takes r;o m.uice of the frequency of pleurilies in thofe countries where this cuiioru has been introduced, particularly in France.] t Sicily, which formerly made one continent with the kingdom of Na- ples, is, in- this refpecl, not lefs unfortunate, having, in J.mu.lry 1693, by one fingle earthquake loft forty-nine towns and villages, nine hundred and" twenty-two churches, colleges and convents, with musty-three thoufknd gerfons buried in the ruins. VOL. III. D commonly 4 NATURAL CURIOSITIES in the commonly but improperly called tarantula^ whofe bite is attended with danger ; thefe are brown, larger than the green fort, and, when the tail is cut off, refemble a toad. Scorpions. The fcorpion is a much greater nuifance, which har- bours not or'y in old buildings and under large ftones, but infefts the houfes in this country ; fo that in fome places it is not unufual to make the bed-fteads of polifhed iron, and to place them at fome diftance from the wall, to prevent thefe vermin from getting into the beds. It is true, they feldom hurt, unlefs they are firft affaulted or accidentally in- jured ; which may eafily happen only by a man's turning himfelf or moving a leg or an arm in a bed where thefe noxi- ous animals harbour themfelves. The fureft remedy againft the fting of a fcorpion is to bruife that animal and bind it faft on the wound ; or if that cannot be done, the beft way is to foment it with oil-olive, in which dead fcorpions have been fteeped, applying warm bandages to the part, and to give the patient warm draughts of theriaca mixed up with a generous wine to promote perfpiration. This oil, Boccone (Obferv. Pbyf. xviii.) fays, is a fovereign remedy againft the Where moft fting of the fptder called folifuga. In the northern' parts of dangerous. j ta j v ^ creature h as little or nothing of that rage and ve- nom which appears in thoib of hotter climates, as Malta and Africa. The venom or poifon of vipers has alfo the like gradations according to the proximity of the country to the equator. Scorpions yield a fait and oil which are a part of the materla medlca. They are caught in great numbers a- mong ruins or in ftcny places, and being taken hold of with a pair of pincers, are- dropped into a narrow-necked glafs veflel which is too flippery for them to climb out of. Whether A late naturalift fays, that the fcorpion, when hemmed in theykiH w j t } 1 jj ve coa | s or ar) y j^d o f re upon its being moved themfeives. j r j- i r ir nearer to him, and finding no way to efcape, plants itfelf in the middle of the circle, turns up his tail and flings himfelf in the head. This obfervation at firft fight had appeared to me very fufpicious,' and made me imagine that this pretend- ed fuicide was no more than a natural motion of the animal on fuch an occafion. Being at Naples I was determined to bring this vulgar error to the teft of repeated experiments, which proved it to be no other. Some of the fcorpions, in- ftead of going round to look out for a paffage to efcape, ran 'direclly Into the fire, where they were foon confumed ; others, upon feeling the heat of the fire, drew back and fell into a kind of convulfion*, but never offered to dart their Kingdom of N APLES. 35 - ftirig into their heads ; others again lay quite ftill, and, as if they made a virtue of hecefiity, quietly fubmitted to be burnt to death. As groundlefs is the notion, that a fcor- pion when thrown into oil, deftroys itfelf in the fame man- ner, whereas fome will live in it twenty-four hours, and when ' they expire do not exhibit the leaft appearance of ftinging themfelves to death. Another plague almoft peculiar to the kingdom of Na- tarantula, pies, efpeciaily the fouthern parts, is the tarantula ; fo call- ed from the city of Tarento, iri the neighbourhood of which they abound, and are the largeft and moft venomous. This is the Phalangiui and Phalenges of Pliny and other ancient naturalifts. The perfons bit by this infec^ by the Italians are called Tarantolati ; and their extravagant viciflitudes of fhrieking, fobbing, laughing, dancing, &c. are pretty well known. Very few of fuch unhappy perfons can bear the fight of black or blue, but feem delighted with red and green objects. They are alfo feized with an averfion to eating fruit or vegetables. A melancholy filence and a fixed eye are the firft fymptoms by which the bite of the tarantula difcovers itfelf; and then mufic is immediately called in to the aflift- ance of the patient to roufe him to a violent motion, and by that means to promote perfpiration and a copious fweat. But neither the lame tunes nor the fame inftruments anfwef this end with regard to different patients ; feveral trials^ are therefore made, and chiefly with the guitar, hautboy, trumpet, volin, and Sicilian kettle-drum. The tunes that ufually have the beft effect in thefe diforders are la Paftorale and la Tarantella. In fome parts of the kingdom of Naples, par- ticularly in Apulia, the venormof the fcorpions is fo fubtle, that their fting produces the like effects as the bite of the tarantula; and though the two before-mentioned tunes have a proper effect on thefe patients alfo, yet they require fofter instruments, as the flute, &c. but accompanied with a brifk beat of the drum. The country people, who are more or lefs fkilled in all thefe inftruments, iriforce the operation of their muiic with grimaces and odd gefticulations. The Ta- rnntolati on their fide Vigorously exert themfelves, regulating their motions according to the inufic till the venom is quite expelled; this exercife and cure fometimes takes up .five or fix days. It is not to be ftippofed that they are kept conti- nually dancing for fo many days : when nature feems to be exhaufted the mufic is fufpcndcd, and the patient put to bed well covered, and a fudorific cordial given him. to promote D 2 perfpira- NATURAL CURIOSITIES in the! perfpiration. It is remarkable, that the patient on his reco- very remembers nothing of what parted during his diforder. If. the cure be not perfectly effected, and the poifon entirely expelled, the fame fymptoms fail not to appear again the fuo ceeding year, efpecially during the fummer heats ; and fome have laboured under this terrible diforder at intervals for ten, twenty, 'and thirty years, and others during their lives. In- itances are not wanting of fuch perfons who merely from a fenfe of their incurable ftate, or from the melancholy effects of the venom, have dr6wned themfelves. If the tarantula be killed immediately after the bite, the venom with its ef- fects is in a way of being expelled the firft year by vigorous dancing ; or if with the fame exercife, previous to a fomen- tation, an inciiton be made in the part affected, and Venice- treacle, or in want of that, mithridate, orvietan, or a clove of garlic bruifed be applied, the fame fuccefs may be expec- ted : but in cafe thefe two precautions be neglected, it is fel- dom that any remedies adminiftered afterwards, can preferve the unhappy patient from a long continuance of the ufual ill confequences attending fuch a misfortune, as melancholy, latitude, lofs of appetite and indigeftion. If the patient ufes no means for cure, a few days infallibly carry him off. The petticoats of women are apt to harbour thefe vermin, and confequently they are more liable to be bitten by them than men. The bite of a tarantula at firft occafions only a fmall red fumour like that occafioned by the fting of a wafp ; and there are above eight fpecies of them differing in fixe, colour, and form, but producing the fame mifchievous ef- fects by their venom. In the dog-days 'and during the vio- lent heats, the tarantula is moft dangerous ; efpecially on the plains, as if thefe creatures were incited to greater rage by the heat of the fun : for thofe of Tufcany never occafum fuch deplorable diforders as the malignant kind found in Apu- Jia ; and even in thefe, when carried to the northern parts of the kingdom of Naples, or to Rome, the venom is rendered lefs noxious, fo that their bite is attended there only with a flight tranfitory pain *. In the ifland of Corfica there are neither wolves not vi- pers ; but its tarantulas and fcorpions are extremely venom- ous f. * Vide Boccone, Objlrv. Phyf. XVII. f One kind of the Corfican fpiders bite like the Apulian tarantulas, a- nother ftings ; but .the beneficent Creator has checked their increafe by means of' a fpecies of wafps which make terriWe havock among them. Eocccnc Obft I. The Kingdom of N A P L E S. 37 The tarantula's chief haunts are holes in the earth, old its haunts, walls and hollow trees, and the cobweb it makes is ftronger and coarfer than that of a common fpider. The poifon is contained in two fmall veficules within the gums near two fangs, with which they are armed befides lefler teeth. But, according to fome, a greater evil frill remains; and The people the wo rft creatures in this delicious country, fay they, are the wicked, inhabitants themfelves, who, befides their execrable and unna- tural lufts, are of a vindictive, treacherous, bloody difpofition. Though national charges generally imply ignorance, nar- rownefs of foul, and uncharitablenefs, it is certain, how- ever, that the hiflory of Naples, almoit beyond any other, abounds in fad inftances of the exceflive depravity of human nature. Tophana the noted female poifoner, who firft in-Poifoning. vented the Aqua Topbania is ftill living in prifon here, and few foreigners leave Naples without feeing this infernal hag. She is a little old woman who had entered into a kind of re- iigious flfterhood ; and on this account, if not on a worfe, her life has been hitherto fparcd. She is faid to have poi- foned fome hundreds of people, and was remarkably liberal of her drops, which file gave by way of alms, to wives who, from feveral intimations, (he knew would not be inconfolable for the death of their hufbands. Five or fix drops' of this liquid it feems anfwer the purpofe, and may be lowered or tempered fo as to take effect in any determinate time. This water continues ftill to be privately made at 'Naples under the appellation of Acquetta dl Napoli^ and not many years fince a fmall'cafk of it was according to orders lent to a cer- tain country. But fince lemon-juice has been found to be a fort of antidote againft it, this vile compofition is fallen into, fome difrepute. The humane Dr. Brauchaletti wrote a book, exprefly on the remedies or antidotes againft thefe Stygian drops ; but all the inventions to counterwork this poifon pre- fuppofe the fatal potion to be very recently adminiftered, or previoufly guarded againft, upon any fufpicion, by iuch pre- fervatives. The inhabitants of this country have in all ngcs been re- markable for a voluptuous manner of living ; the luxury of Capua and Atella is well known, and Naples is, by Ovid, ftilcd, - - in otia natam Partbenopen - - * Naples of luxury the native feat.* D 3 It 38 NATURAL CURIOSITIES, &t. It muft be owned that in no great city in Europe the pro- flitutes are fo numerous and fo abandonee! : thefe Donne libere, as they are called, amount to eighteen thoufand in this city, and in one particular part of it is a receptacle for two thoufand of them ; and yet it is no uncommon thing for ecclefiaftics to lodge in thofe infamous parts of the town. This totally corrupts all the youth ; and the clergy being '., exempt from the civil jurifdiclion, and connived at by their fuperiors that the facred order may not be difgraced by pu- nifhments, fet the worft of examples. Any complaints as;ainft the latter from laymen are looked upon as the height oT infolence j it is not for them to Scrutinize the actions of thofe, to whofe fupcrior lights they owe an implicit fub- mifiion. Sloth. The peafants in this country are fo flothful, as to prefer beggary or robbing to labour and induftry ; but in the city of Naples there is fomething of an induftrious fpirit, and . feverai flourifh'ing manufactures are carried on there. It is a fihrafe here, that a vice-roy,, to keep the people quiet, muft provide three F's, namely, fejle^ far'me^ forche, i. e. * feftivity, flour, and gibbets ;' the people being exceflively fond of public diverfions, clamorous upon the dearth of corn, and feditious unlefs they are intimidated by feverity. Among their public entertainments, one of the moft remarkable is the proceffion with four triumphal cars on the four Sundays immediately preceding Lent, the firft loaded with bread, the fecond with flefh, the third with vegetables, and the fourth with fifh. Thefe provifions are piled up very high, with rnuftcians placed at the top, and guarded by armed men till they are given up to be pillaged by the populace. But that which draws the greateft concourfe at Naples is the Cocagna, or caftle, built according to the rules of fortification, and faced all over with pieces of beef, bacon, hams, geefe, tur- keys, and other provifions, with which the imaginary coun- try of Cocagna is faid to abound ; where the very trunks or branches of trees are fuppofed to be Bologna faufages. This welcome fpeitacle is exhibited once a year, and on each fide of the caftle is a fountain running with wine during the whole day. A party of foldiers is ported to reftrain the ardour of the populace till the yice-roy appears in his bal- cony, which is the fignal for the affault. Neapolitan It is ufual for the Neapolitan nobility to fpend fome years oobihty. j n a parfimonious retirement on their eftates in the country, that they may cut a figure for a while in the city, and live in a profufe NAPLES. 39 a profufe magnificence ; fo that the generality of them are ever running into extremes, but their fortunes are not very confiderable. This is the confequence of the difproportiou of their great number to the fmall extent of the kingdom; for there are in the kingdom of Naples a hundred and nine- teen princes, a hundred and fifty-fix dukes, a hundred and feventy-three marquifles, forty-two counts, and four hundred and forty-five barons, all vafials of the crown. Many a fpot of land not worth above fifty dollars a year gives the title of marquis to the owners ; fo that they are in general very poor. The {landing forces throughout the kingdom do not ex- Army. ceed fourteen thoufand men, a number very infufficient for keeping the inhabitants in awe on the approach of an enemy. The vice-roy's ordinary income is eighteen thoufand fcudi* or crowns, a month ; and the feveral officers of his court, which is very fplendid, have ftated falaries from funds appro- priated to thofe fervices ; fo that here is no room left for favings out of the pay of the guard, the chapel, the band of mufic, company of comedians, and the like attendants on a court, but every thing continues on its original footing. The vice-roy's poll is only triennial ; but, at the expiration of fuch a term, the comrniilion is renewable *. As to the currency of money, a Spanifh piftole, or old Current louis-d'or, is here equal to forty-five carlini. The papal >ins. money alfo goes at the rate of four carlini for three paoli. By a ducat is here meant an imaginary piece, equal to ten carlini f. &^ LETTER LVIII. Of the City of NAPLES in general, and its public Buildings. S I R, THE city of Naples lies in forty-one degrees and twenty minutes north latitude : its walls are moftly faced with a hard black ftone, called piperno, and are nine Italian miles * The render will naturally fuppofe that the court and government have undergone great alterations within thefe few years, fince a prince <->f Spain of the Bourbon family afccmled the throne of Naples and Sicily, s,nd rcfides in the capital of the former. f Three (hillings and four-pence fterling. D 4 in 40 NAPLES. Buildings, in circuit ; but there are near twenty fuburbs included. If Naples has not fuch magnificent palaces as are to be feen at Rome and Genoa, it has alfq very few of thofe mean houfes, which, in other cities, difgrace their fineft ftreets. The: roofs of the houfes here are flat, and iurrounded with elegant baluftrades : the ftreets alfo are vecy well paved, and molt of them with very large fquare ftories ; but the fault is, that they have no flope or gutters to carry off water, &c. The fineft ftreet for 'length, breadth, &c. is that called lp Strqda di Toledo, and yet not one eminent palace is to be fcen in it; the breadth is about twenty-three common paces; and, after running in a direct line of fifteen hundred paces, it is continued fome hundreds more in an eafy curve line. It feems an inexcufable neglect that the ftreets of Naples are not lighted at night, as the lamps would not only be an or- nament to the city, but would alfo prove a considerable fe- curity for perfons who walk the ftreets \ for few cities are more dangerous after dark. Harbour. The harbour of Naples is very fpacious, and has a grand light-houfe, with a mole near five hundred paces in length, which feparates the Porto della Cii.a, or main harbour, from the Darfena, or bafon. The latter lies behind the Caftello Nuovo, and has generally in it four galleys, the crews of which, both rowers and foldiers, are obliged every Lent to come to a formal confcflion, and to receive the facrament. Annual The devotions of the firft galley are followed by a day of communion re ft, the fecond by a like interval, and fo on. In the even- '"' at t ^ e c ^^ e ^ tne proceffion ufual on fuch folemni- ties, the hoft is expofed, and all the galleys honour it with a falute. Number of The number of inhabitants at Naples cannot be lefs than inhabitants three hundred thoufand ; and as its commerce occafions a t Naples. g rea t ftj r an d buftle, Rome, in companion of this city, has by fome travellers been looked upon as a kind of defart. The Fountains, great number of fountains in Naples are very elegant orna- ments to the city, though in moft of them the water is none of the beft. Of theie fountains the fineft is that of Medina, facing Caftello Nuovc, cr the new caftle; the upper bafon is fupported by the three graces, and on the top ftands a fu- perb Neptune, attended by feveral other figures, all ejecting water, which make a very grand appearance. The infcrip- tion is as follows : CAROLO NAPLES, 41 CAROLO 11. REGNANTE lllc ubi puhereo f-jualelat Olytnpia traftu, Nunc hilarant fcnies Jlrataque faxa viam^ )uam Duels adjuta aiijpidis opibufque dicavij Medina Coeli nomine Parihencpe, Excdl. Dcni. D. Ludcvico de Cerda^ Cash Duce, Prcrege Cavitas Neapclis Anno M. DC. XCV1L * In this place, which was formerly a dufrywafte, Naples, under the aufpices of the duke of Medina Coeli, has caufed this refreshing 'fountain, which, in gratitude to his muni- ficence, bears his title, and a noble pavement to be made, in the reign of his catholic majefty Charles II. his excel- lency don Lewis de Cerda, duke of Medina Coeli, being vice-roy. 1697, *3c? There is a long infcription on a fountain in the great market-place, and on moft of the other fountains in the city, which are full of flattery to their vice-roys. The fountain in St. Lucia, by Giovanni di Nola, an emi- nent architect, with that in the ftreet near St. Lucia, by Cofmo Fanlego, are both of an elegant architecture, and adorned by good pieces of fculpture. Not far from the Dar- fena is another fountain, adorned with a fpread eagle. A very fine aquedu<5t fupplies the city with a vaft quantity Aqueduft of water from the foot of mount Vefuvio, by means o f^ mVcfu - which, Alphonfo II, in 1442, 'made himfelf matter of the city of Naples. The place where formerly was the greateft refervoir of thefe waters, is at prefent known by the name of Seggio di Nido^ or di Nilo ; where there is an antique ftatue of the river Nile, reprefented under the figure of an Statue of old man fitting on a crocodile, with boys playing about J^ e mcr him ; the head is modern, as appears by an infcription under it. The ftatue of yup'zter Terminalis, another antique, ftands near the arfenal : it was dug up at Puzzuolo, and erekd in this place by the duke of Segovia, when vice-roy. Of all the palaces in Naples,, that of the vice-roy is, agree- Vice-roy's ably to the dignity of the owner, unquestionably the moftP alace ' magnificent. As to its beauty, it is iufficient to lay that it is the work of the famous cavalier c Fcntana. The great per- ron 42 K A P L E S. ran is divided into two flights of fteps, and is of white mar- ble. It is eleven common paces in breadth, and a fuperb work. At the foot of the fteps on each fide is the ftatue of a river ; that on the left-hand reprefenting the Tagus, and that on the right the Ebro, with infer iptions under them. The eye of a connoifleur, at entering the palace on this fide, muft be immediately offended at the difproportionate narrownels of the court to fuch a large and fuperb perron. In the audience-room are finely painted the moft remarkable actions of the Spanifh nation, among which it has been thought fit to place the expulfion of the Jews out of Spain. The Sala Regia, where the carnival entertainments are given, is hung with the pictures of all the vice-roys at full length. A particular gallery is taken up with the exploits of the duke d'Alva. In another falcon is reprefented the war carried on by Charles V. with John Frederic elector of Saxony. In- deed all the apartments abound in fine paintings, and beau- tiful tapeftry. In the palace-chapel are furprifing quantities of plate ; and behind the altar ftands a moft exquifite white marble ftatue of the virgin Mary. This palace has a fubterraneous com- munication with the Caftello Nuovo, which, in cafe of an jnfurrection, is a very necefTary refource to the vice-roy and courtiers. Caftello Caftello Nuovo on one fide joins to the fea, and is always Nuovo. well garrifoned j forty-two pieces of ordnance are mounted on the walls and baftions, among which are nine pieces taken by Charles V. from the elector of Saxony at the battle of Muhlberg. An infcription informs us, that on the baftion del San Spirito formerly ftood a large piece, called Magdalena, weigh- ing twenty-one thoufand pounds, which carried balls weigh- ing a hundred and twenty pounds. This deftructive engine was caft in the time of the emperor Maximilian I, and brought hither by Charles V. Near the entrance of the' caftle ftands a triumphal-arch, adorned wilh fculpture, and the two following infcriptions : dtybonfus Regum Princcps bane condidit arcem. ' This caftle was built by Alphbnfo, the beft of princes.' Aipkcnfus Rex Hifpaxtts, Siculus^ P:'j~> Clemsns t Jnvitfus* c Alphonfo NAPLES. 43 * Alphonfo king of Spain, Sicily, and Italy, the pious^ * the merciful, and the invincible.' The place where this arch was erected is fomething too narrow : the gate near it is adorned with fome fine fculpture in ftone. Further on is a brafs gate, decorated with fine baffo-relievo's, reprefenting fome of the atchievements of th.e kings of Arragon. The caftle-church is handibmely deco- rated with gilding and ftucco-work j and a Pieta, in a room adjoining to it, is greatly admired. Facing the armory, Armoiy. which, according to Parrini, can compleatly furnifh fifty thoufand men, ftands a marble antique ftatue of a young foldier *, or, according to fome, of the emperor Nero j as likewife that of brafs in the facade of St. Barbara's church in this caftle is faid to be. In the church dell' AfTunto is a pidure of the wife men of the Eaft, two of which reprefent Alphonfo and Ferdinand, kings of Spain. Vafari fays, this piece was the firft work of Giov. da Bruggia in oil-colours: fome, however, attribute it to the celebrated Zingaro, with this addition, that the heads of the three wife men are copied From the portraits of Charles king of Naples, and his fons the prince of Salerno and the duke of Calabria. - The caftle- hall is fo conftrucled, that a whifper on one fide is diftinclly heard at the other. Cajlello delUovo, i. e. Egg-cattle, fo called from its oval Caftello del figure, ftands in the fea, on a rock, which is joined to the Uovo> continent by a bridge of two hundred and twenty paces long. This caftle is faid to have been anciently Lucullus's palace, and not originally fituated on an ifland, but altered to its prefent ftate and form by the Norman kings, on which ac- count it was, for a long time, called the Norman caftle. Over the entrance are thefe words : Philippus Secundus Rex Hifpanlarum Pcntem a ccntimnti ad Lucullanas arces, ollm Aujlri fluflibus conquajjainm, nunc faxeis obidbus reftauravit, firmumqut reddidit^ D. Joanne r Lunlca Pro-Rege, Anno MDLXXXW. * Coeleftin tells us, that this foldier was a native of France, and main- tained a poft fo bravely againft a hundred men of the enemy, that he laid forty of them dead at his feet j but the Roman habit little agrees with the firft part of this account. The 44 NAPLES. ' The bridge from the continent to Lucullus's palace, hav- * ing been broken down by the violence of the fea and; * ftorms, is now, by order of Philip II. king of Spain, re- ' paired with greater ftrength, and fecured by a mole of huge ' ftones, in the year 1595, &(* This caftle is fupplied with frefh water by means of a, ftone conduit embellifhcd with marble figures of all kinds of animals : it conveys the water from the city unde'r the bridge to the caftle, where are two refervoirs, near a marble lion, with an infcription in honour of Charles II. -and the vice-roy. Invention The memory of Pedro Navarro is loaded with execrations of mines. at ]\f a p] eSj f or ^j s fi r ft. ma king ufe of mines in fieges : he was, not, however, the inventor, but firft conducted them fo as to take effect. In the year 1487, an officer in the Genoefe army, then in the field againft the Florentines, and befieging Serezanella, had contrived a mine, and fprung it ; but not anfwering the great expectations conceived of it, the inventor loft all his credit, and fuch projects were looked upon as chimerical. Pedro Navarro, at that time only a private cen- tinel, having attentively confidered the invention, thought the want of fuccefs to be rather owing to mifmanagemenr, than to the impracticability of the thing itfelf ; and, in the year 1503, the fiege of the caftle of Naples gave him an op- portunity of putting his conjecture to the trial ; which he did fb effectually both to the damage and terror of the befieged, that in a few days the Spaniards faw themfelves mafters of the place. St. Elmo The third check upon the city of Naples is the caftle of caftle. St. Elmo, or St. Eramo, fo called from a church dedicated to that faint, formerly (landing on this fpot. It is fituated on an eminence towards the weft, and the plan is in the form of a ftar, with fix rays. As its fortifications were chiefly built by Charles V, this infcription is placed over the gate : Imperatoris Caroli V. dug. C&faris jnjfu^ ac Petri Toleti Franches Marcbionis jtiftiJJ. Proregh aufpidis^ Pyrrhus Aloyfius Serina Valentinus., D. Joannis Eques, Ceefareufque mi- litum Prafeftus, pro fuo bellicis in rebus experiment!) F. curavit. MDXXXVUL This NAPLES. 45 c This caftle was fortified by order of his imperial and" au- guft majefty Charles V. under the aufpices or' our excellent vice-roy Don Pedro de Toledo, marquis of Villa Franca, and from a plan of that excellent engineer Pyrrho Aloyfio Serena Valentini, knight of St. John, and colonel in the imperial fervice. I53B.' The fubterrarieous works are very fpacious, and hewn out of the rock to fuch a depth as to be bomb-proof, on which account a great quantity of military ftores are kept here. This caftle can likewife be fupplied with provifions from Caf- tello Nuovo by means of a fubterraneous communication, at prefent walled up. In the upper part of St. Elmo's caftle are feven cifterns for water; and under the vaults and mines citterns, is a refervoir large enough for two galleys to fail on. The water which is always extremely cold, is drawn from it by a bucket through a kind of aperture or well. The arms of Naples are a horfe ; and formerly near the city arms, church di Santa Reftituta, ftood a brafs one of fuch an enor- mous fiz.e, that the commonalty have a notion that it was caft by Virgil, by the help of magic, whom they imagine to have been a forcerer. It was alfo the object of a moft grofs Superftitlon fuperftition, being accounted of fuch efficacy againft all dif- concerning tempers incident to horfes, that they were brought hither .j ior f e a s from all parts, and led round this all-healing ftatue. At laft, in the year 1322, Maria Caraffa, archbifhop of Naples, to abolifh a practice which reflected difgrace on human nature, had it demolifhed and caft into a large bell for the cathedral. The head being relerved for a memorial, is ftill to be feen in the court of the Caraffa palace, among a colleclioii of fta- tues and bafib-relievo's. Charles king of Naples having made himfelf mafter of the city, after an eight-months liege, ordered a bit to be put in the mouth of this horfe, whofe attitude exprefied its impatience of controul, as an em- blematical reprefentation of his having tamed the Neapo- litans. In the above-mentioned court is alfo to be feen, on a pillar, a fmall equeftrian ftatue of Alphonfo the Second. Poggio Reale, formerly a magnificent royal palace with- Peggie out the city, is now fo fallen to decay as not to be worth Reale - feeing. Among the ruins is fhewn a fteep place,, from whence queen Joanna ufecl to have thofe whom me wanted out of the way to be privately thrown down headlong. In NAPLES. In returning from the laft mentioned place to the city, degli Spirit!, on the left are the ruins of an old caftle, commonly called haunted ^ Palagio degli Spirit^ from a vulgar fancy, that this palace, palace. was deferted by the owners, on account of its being haunted. At prefent there is nothing worth obferving to be feen here, though it feems once to have been a charming re- treat. Bats cave. On the right hand, in returning from Poggio Reale lies the Grotta degli Sportiglioni, or the bats cave, which is an Italian mile and a half in length, very broad and high. About the middle it divides, forming two vaults, one of which ex- tends itfelf towards Poggio Reale, but has been walled in fmce the year 1656, when it was made a repofitory for the bodies of above fifty -thoufand perfons who died of the pefti- lence. The hill over this cavity is extremely pleafant, and called Monte del' Trecco^ from the French General Lautrec, who, in 1528, befieging Naples, pitched his camp here ; and not to damage a city of which he thought himfelf fure of being matter, he broke up and ruined the aqueducts, in order to reduce it by diftrefs. But the ftagnation of the waters occafioned thereby, together with the fummer heats,' bred fuch a contagion, as fwept away the greateft part of the army and Lautrec himfelf; and of thofe who furvived the ficknefs, very few efcaped the rage of the Italians. Lautrec's fatal overfight was, that, previoufly to the demolifhing of the aqueducts, he had not cut a canal for carrying off the waters to the fea. It was alfo the fate of Henry VI, em- peror of Germany, after clofely befieging Naples for three months, to fee his army dwindle away by epidemical diftem- pers, fo that he was obliged to raife the fiege. Noblemen's The moft remarkable palaces at Naples are thofe of the palaces. prince di S. Agata, the dukes di Gravina and Mataloni, and a few others, though indeed they will hardly bear feeing after thofe of Rome. The houfe of Ferdinando di S. Fe- lice or Sanfelicius, as he is called in fome infcriptions, not yet finifhed, will be very fuperb' and elegant ; he orders every thing himfelf, and is not only a judge in pictures, but no mean painter ; having purely from inclination been a dif- ciple of Solimene. Befides feveral fruit-pieces, here are fome capital paintings of his, one of the maflacre of the in- nocents, and another of Jofeph's efcape into Egypt. A hall of this palace is to be entirely painted in frefco from defigns of Solimene. One of the pleafanteft parts of the city is the Aiburb, commonly called Chiaia, but more properly Spiaggia or NAPLES. 47 or Piaggia, i- e. the Strand, from its proxirhity to the fea- fhore. The coolnefs of the air, the agreeablenefs of the profpeft, the extent of the area, and the freedom from duft, make it the evening refort of the quality ; fo that it is no un- common thing to fee fome hundreds of coaches here ; but on thefe occafions perfons of different fexes never ride together in the fame coach. Nothing can 'be more delightful than the gardens to the right-hand on the hill, adorned with walks of orange, cedar, and palm-trees, and a profufion of the moft beautiful flowers, At Pietra Bianca, fituated about four Italian miles from Pietra Naples, at the foot of mount Vefuvio, is a country feat, ori- Bianca - ginally built by Bernardino Martirano, fecretary to Charles V, where the emperor was entertained on his return from Tunis in 1535, which, according to the infcription over the gate, has made this place for ever facred : Hofpes, Etji properas, ne fis tnrpius, Prteteriens hoc nf procefilon, which is exhibited almoft every day, is not fftj" much intended to excite devotion as to raife a fuiid for peni- tent proftitutes who have quitted their abandoned way of liv- ing for a convent. In order the more effectually to move the fpeclators to charity, the youngeft and moft beautiful or" thefe penitents are {"elected, who are ordered to walk bare- footed through the city, two a-breafr. : at feme particular places they kneel down, acknowledge their paft wickednefs, and fing penitential hymns ; the ecclefiafuc and a lay-afftft- ant who attend them in the mean time receiving the contri- butions of the public in a purfe fattened to the end of a flick. Their habit on thefe occafions is a violet-coloured gown tied! round the waift with a cord of the fame colour. Their heads are ftiaved, but they Wear a blue veil, which however is thin enough to give a fight of the charms of youth and beauty, as powerful incentives to a liberal contribution. The vivacity and penetration of the Neapolitans, (as they The Neapo- do not always meet with a fatisfactorv folution of religious llta " s lncil " r i / r_ i r n i ' r nab' 6 to a- fcruples from their eccleuaftics, and want an opportunity of theifin. receiving better information by foreign books, or verbal inftrudtions) too often carries them into wild fyftems of re- ligion, and fometimes to downright atheifm : and the ne- ceflity of concealing fuch notions makes them take the deeper root ; fo that it is with great difficulty any one of them is reclaimed. Molinos had a ftrong party in this city; and Molinifts Erneft Ruthan (who had been amanuenfis to M. Arnauld, ^J anf and lately died at Brudels, where his burial met with no fmall oppbfition) affured rne in 1715, that in Naples above half of thofe, who, difdaining the yoke of human ordinances, had been endeavouring to bring the eftablifhed religion to fome teft, were, in their hearts, Janfenifrs. Perhaps it is owing to the apprehension of finding the delinquents too numerous, . VOL. III. E that 50 N A P L E S. that profecutions are not fo indifcrectly carried on here as in many other places, and the punimments for fuch offences are tempered with i'o much lenity j which would not be the Freedom of cafe if the ecclefiaftics had a manifeft fuperiority. At leaft bookfcllers. Naples is the place of all Italy where bookfellers are under the leaft reftraint ; for they openly fell L' Enfant' s Bibliothe- que Gcrmaniqiic, and other books written by proteftants, even on religious and polemical ftibje&s ; whilit, in other popifh cities, it would be dangerous to have fuch works in their houfes. Fault in the The roofs and facades of the churches of Naples are but ^v&va '^ contrived, and the monuments within them, in fize and Their beau- grandeur, are vaftly inferior to thofe at Rome ; but, in the ty and rich- beauty and richnefs of other ornaments, fcarce any country nefs> can equal them ; fo that only the jewels and altar-plate in many of the churches amount to many millions of dollars. It muft be acknowledged, that the clergy here are extremely civil to ftrangers, and freely beftow their time and trouble in gratifying their curiofity. To take a view of all the churches in Naples would be a work of time, there being no lefs Number, than three hundred and four in all, conventual and pa- rochial. I mall therefore only take notice of the moft re- markable churches and convents, keeping to my ufual alpha- betical order. St.Apnello's S. Agnello is famous for a miraculous crucifix in the Ca- miracvtlous p e |j a ^e Monaci, which, upon a debtor's denying a debt in its prefence, is faid to have reproached his ingratitude, fcrV. The greateft altar is of white marble, adorned with exquifite bafib-relievo's. The ftatue of St. Dorothea, by Giovanni da Nola, is a good piece : and in the wall oppoiite to it are feveral ancient baflb-relievo's. In the Capella del Purgatorio, over the tomb of Antonia Capuana, is a fuperb marble baffo- relievo feprefentins: the virgin Mary with the divine infant in her arms, {hewing herfelf to the fouls in purgatory *. Marino's In the adjoining convent is a monument of G. Battifla tomb. Marino, a celebrated poet, with a brafs buft of him erected purfuant to a claufe in the will of his liberal Maecenas the marquis di Villa, which formerly flood in that nobleman's houfe, from whence it was removed hither. The following infcription ori the monument was drawn up by Cornelio : * Abundance of reliques, Gfr. jire here omitted in the translation. NAPLES, 51 D. O. M. Et Mem&ia fcquitis Jonnnis Baptifta: Marinty Poetcc incomparabilis^ ^hiem ob fummam in condendo Omnls generis carmine felicitatem Urges & virt Principes cobonejlarunt^ Omncfcue Mujarum aniicifufpexerttty "Joannes Baptifta Manfus Villa Marcbio, Dum pr&claris fa~oet ingeniis^ Ut pojleros ad cciebrandam iUius Irmnortalem ghriam excitaret, Monumentum extrucndum legavlt^ Quod Montis Manfi Rcclores Ad pnefcripti narmam exegere, Anno M. DC. LXXXIIL ' This monument, facred to God the greateft and beft of Beings, and the memory of John Baptifta Marino, knight, an univedal poet, whofe incomparable verfes, admired by all lovers of the mufes, endeared him to feveral monarchs and other illuftrious perfonages, was erected purfuant to a legacy left by John Baptifta Manfi, marquis of Villa, &c. He died in 1625 ; and feveral other epitaphs were compof- . ed for him, one of which, together with a picture of him, on the wall, was fet up by the academy of the Humorifts, of which he had been prefident. This poet was a knight of the order of St. Lazarus and St. Maurice, which honour was c6nferred on him by Charles Emanuel duke of Savoy. Several manufcripts of his, are ftill kept among the records of this church, where his re- mains are depofited. This church of S. Angelo a Segno is confecrated to St. s. Angelo Michael the archangel) and was built on the following occa- a Segno. fion : In 574 the Saracens had forced their way into the city T f u P tion of i-t-nir r i , i--- n theSaracens. by the rorta VentoUi ; but, being on this ipot vigorously at- tacked by Giacomo de Marra, were repulfed after a very fliarp fkirmifli. How far thefe ravagers had penetrated is feen by a brafs nail on a piece of white marble fixed in .the wall of this chiirch. E 2 In 5* NAPLES. S. Angeloa I n the church of S. Angelo a Nido are feveral fine monu- 1 * ments, particularly one belonging to the Brancaccio family. Cardinal Francefco Maria Brancaccio has bequeathed a good library to this church. The great altar-piece, reprefenting the archangel Michael, is a celebrated piece, by Marco da Siena, SS.Apoftoli. The church de' SS. Apoftoli is almoft covered with gild- ing and painting ; fo that, with a fuitable fc^ade^ which it wants, it would be a beautiful edifice. Over the entrance is a piece of painting, by Lanfranco, reprefenting the angel defcending to ftir the waters of the pool of Bethefda j and near it the fame artift has fo curioufly drawn a crack or fif- fure, that the wall appears to be actually cleft : a fimilar de- ception is alfo to be feen in the refectory of the Theatines convent, to which this church belongs. The roof is beau- tifully painted by Lanfranco, and the cupola by Benafchi. The tabernacle on the great altar is faid to have coft forty thoufandy?W/, or crowns, and is indeed a moft admirable piece, confuting of eight pillars, and other decorations of amethyfts, emeralds, lapis lazuli^ agates of feveral colours, a topaz of the bignefs of a walnut, and other gems. The al- tar is of marmo fiorito, or flowered marble, and thebaluftrade before it of red and white marble. On the two fides ftand two brafs gueridons nine palmi high, but much more valua- ble for the workmanfhip than the fize. The baflb-relievo re- prefents the four beafts in Ezekiel's vifion, which are general- ly fuppofed to be emblematical reprefentations of the four evangelifts ; the defigns were Finelli's, but they were caft by Berfotino, a Florentine. On the altar-piece is a fine paint- ing of Chrift's head with a crown of thorns. On the right Capelladel fide of the high altar is cardinal Afcanio Filamarmo's chapel, card. Fila- where the greatcft artifts in the time of Urban VIII. havedif- toarino - played their Ikill ; and, though it be conftruded of feveral pieces of white marble, no joinings are difcernible. Its fplendid appearance is greatly heightened by five mofaic pieces, by Giov. Battifta Calandra da Vercelli : the noble altar- piece, reprefentiug the annunciation, together with the four Chriftian virtues, Faith, Hope, Charity, and Humility, on each fide, were originally painted in oil-colours by Guido Rheni, but have fince been altered into very beautiful mo- faic pieces. The groupe of cherubim, feraphim, &c. in a marble baflb-relievo is by Francefco Fiamingo, who, for fculp- ture, is accounted a fecond Michael Angelo. The two lions on which the altar refts, together with the intended fa- crifice NAPLES. 53 crifice of Ifaac in baflb-relievo, are the workmanfhip of Giul. Finelli da Carrara. This chapel has always the appearance of being new ; the heirs of the founder being, by his will, obliged to have it twice a year carefully cleaned and beautified, under the penal- ty of two hundred ducats for every neglecT:, payable to the convent, to be laid out for the above-mentioned purpofes. The Capella de' Pignatelli, on the left-fide of the high- Capella de- altar, is equally worf:h feeing. Its altar is inlaid with gems. p 'S nateill among which is an amethyft feven inches broad, and near ten fpans in length. In the veftry are feveral good paintings, and a great quantity of very fine plate; particularly a very large filver lamp, valued at two thoufand fcudi^ which was defigned by Solimene. Here are allb feveral golden chalices, fet with rubies and diamonds ; fix filver flower-pots ; a cru- cifix which coft fifty tnoufand fcudi ; and fix chandeliers of coral fet in gold. In the vaults belonging to this church are feveral bodies of both fexes wrapt up in linen, which have lain there feveral years undecayed. In the convent are three galleries over one another ; but Convent, that on the ground floor is by much the fined. The ftair- cafe runs in a fpiral line, and the fteps, like thofe of St. Pe- ter's at Rome, are very low, for the conveniency of afles car- rying up corn to the granaries. The library is elegant, well furniihed with books, and affords a delightful profpeir.. Near this convent is held a weekly meeting of the heads of a focie=L. ty, confuting of two hundred gentlemen of the law, to ex- amine the private grievances of the poor ; and in cafe any pauper is found to be opprefTed, and that his complaint is well founded, a member of this fociety is nominated to undertake his caufe : but neither this member,' nor the fociety, are 1 at any expence in fuch cafes ; the law-charges being defrayed by the Theatine convent, which has large endowments for this particular purpofe. This is an inftitution which muft gire pleafure to every benevolent and humane perion. In the church of S. Catarina a Formello are feveral mo- S. Catarina a numents, of which the moft remarkable are thofe of the Spi- Formell0t nelli family. In the Capella di S. Domenico are feveral good pieces in painting and fculpture. Under the altar is the-figure of a dog, with a horn in his mouth, in which is a flaming torch ; on his back refts a globe, with thefe words on it: E 3 Afetul* 54 NAPLES. d feculo nfque ad feculwn. 4 From age to age.' And under the hound : Stiftinet, infiammat *. e It fupports and inflames.' This is the coat of arms belonging to the court of inqui- fition. Eaftem The altar- piece, reprefentino; the arrival of the three eaftcrn **&' magi at Bethlehem, is by Silvefter Buono. In the area be- fore the church is erected a buft ef St. Januarius, with an infcription. In the difpenfary of the adjoining; Dominican convent one is fhewn a copy of the head of the famous rebel or patriot Mafaniello. Here is alfo a cabinet of curiofities, with abundance of antique medals, urns, idols, minerals, petrifactions, large pieces of coral, 6fc S. Chiaria. S. Chiaria is one of the principal churches in Naples. Facing the high altar are two fuperb pillars of white marble, pretended to have belonged to Solomon's temple ; two others nearer the altar, in appearance perfectly refembling Monument the former, are only of wood incrufted with marble. The kt- R of rt * ab ' oft ^ e k'gh altar is a *i n gl e P' ece of marble eighteen Sicily? palmi in length ; and behind it lies the brave and excellent founder of this church, king Robert, with this Ihort in- fcription : Cernlte Robcrtum Regcm vlrtut; refertum* c Behold king Robert, a prince endowed with every virtue.' He died in 1343, after a reign of thirty^ three years. Near the high altar is the monument of Charles the illu- ftrious, fon of king Robert, and duke of Calabria. , In 1686 part of the roof of the vault happening to fall in, the body of this excellent prince was found without any vifi- ble decay. Of Mary of On the other fide of the altar ftanrls the marble tomb of France ' Mary, fifter of Joanna I, a pofthumous child, and born in * This motto is capable of various explanations. NAPLES. -55 1329 ; flie was firft married to Charles duke of Durazzo, af- terwards to Robert de Baux ; her third hufband was 'Philip IT, prince of Tarcnto, when Ihe bore the title of emprefs of Conftantinople. Her ftatue has a crown on the head, and the drapery is enriched with gilded lilies, with this epitaph : Hie jacet corpus llluftrh Domince D. Maria de Francia Irn- peratricis Conftantincpoiitante, ac DuciJJie Duracii^ quts obiit anno Domini 1366. die 20. menfes Maji Ind. 4.. c Here lies the body of the illuftrious Mary of France, 4 emprefs of Conftantinople, and duchefs of Durazzo, who ' died on the 2Oth of May, in the year 1366, and of the in- 4 diction the fourth.' In a chapel under the organ-loft lies a fitter of this Mary, daughter to Charles duke of Calabria and Mary de Valois. Near the veftry is the monument of queen Joanna I. who Of Joanna, caufed her firft hufband Andrew of Hungary to beftrangled ; and (he herfelf met with the fame fate, from king Charles, her fecond hufband : thefe two circumftances are mentioned in the epitaph which is now fcarce legible : Inclyta Partbenopes jacet hie Regina Joanna Prima, prius felix^ max miferanda iiimis \ tjhiam Carolo genitam mulclavit Carolus alter^ Qufi niorte ilia virum Jiijlulit antt jktum. MCCCLXXXIL 22. Maji v. India. 4 Here lies Joanna the Firft, queen of Naples, whofe prof- perous life was terminated by a wretched exit. To one Charles (he owed her being ; another, juftly fevere, -de- prived her of it, by the fame means that fhe had made ufe of to put an end to the life of her former hufband. May 22, 1382.' Hie jacet is an impropriety in the epitaph ; the body of this unhappy woman beina; in reality buried in the church di S. Francefco del Monte Gargano. - Near one of the doors of this church is to be feen a beau- tiful marble tomb, adorned with fculpture by Giovanni da Nola, on which is an admirable ftatue of a young lady, with the following epitaph by Antonio Epicure, a Neapoli- tan poet : E 4 Nata % NAPLES. , EToeu miferitm ! mifero mihl nata parenti^ Unicin utjjeres, unica nata, dolor. Dum hbi ncirr.quc virum, tedas^ thalamumqiit parabarn Funera & inferias anxius ecce faro. ' DtbuirKUs tecum poni Materqtte Paterque y Ut tribus hac miferis urna parata forei. At nos perpetui ge miius, tu nata fepuhbri Ejlo bare!) ubi jic impiafatavolunt. Antonia filia tbarijf. qua HieronytfU Grcmatee Juveni orna^ tiff, deftinata uxor Ann. no^dum X1IIL impleverat, Joannes Gaudinus fcf Heliodora Boffa Parentes infelicij/'. pof. raptcs ex eorum complexil. ann. jal. MDXXX. Prid. KaL Jan. My only child, alas, my only grief ! With filer.t raptures of paternal love For thee the bridal robe and nuptial bed I late prcpar'd, which now, alas, are chang'd To death's black trophies and funereal rites. O that one grave the wretched parents held With thee, whom from their arms relentlefs fate Has fnatch'd in all the pride of blooming youth ; And left them to lament, but all in vain, With endlefs fighs and tears thy early doom.' ' To their dear daughter Antonia, who was betrothed to Gieronimo Granata, a youth of the fineft accomplifliments, and fnatched from their embraces on the laft day of the year 1530, by a premature death, before (lie had com- pleated her fourteenth year, John Guadiano and Helio- dora Bo/Fa, her dilconfolate parents, have erected thismo- ' nument.' In this church lies alfo the author of this epitaph : a mo- nument, with the following infcription, was erected to him by a perfon,to whom his poetical talent had endeared him : ANTONIO EPICFRO, Mufarum Alumno, Bernar- dinus Rota, primis in annis Jiudwrum focio pofuit. Atorltur ottuagenarius^ unico fipulto filio. I nunc Cf diu vlvere milfr cvra. MDLV. ( To Anthonio Epicuro, a favourite of the mufes, who, e after burying his only fon, died in his eightieth year, this * monument NAPLES. 57 ( monument was erected by Bernard Rota, his quondam * fchool-fellow. 1555. ' Go now, vein man ? and coyet length of days.' All the monuments in this church are of white marble, and fome are embellifhed with mafterly baflb-relievo's. In the convent adjoining, none but women of the nobleft fami- lies are admitted ; and as the rules are not very ftric~r., the number of nuns, exclufive of maid-fervants and other atten- dants, exceeds three hundred and fifty. The church is ferved by the Francifcans, who alfo are the fpiritual guides of this beautiful flock, unqueftionably the moft rjumerous of the, kind in the Chriftian world. The Jefuits college, as ufual, is one of the fineft ftruc- II Collegia tures in the city : the refectory, the library, the great ftair- dd Gicfu * cafe, the difpenfary, and the church belonging to this college, will afford entertainment to a traveller of tafte. Moft of the buildings belonging to this afpiring order are generally embellifhed with the moft fumptuous ornaments, of which the church della Concezzione, adjoining to which the fathers Chieft have their feminary, is an inftance. The front is built with large cubic ftones of pietra pipernina. The moft remarkable altars in this church are thofe of St. Ignatius, St. Francis Xavier, and F Altare Maggiore^ or high altar, which, though it i>e not quite finifhed, is adorned with fix Corinthian pil- lars of a carnation marble, four ftatues, &c. The cupola, which is exquifitely painted by Lanfranco, was damaged by an earthquake in 1688 ; fo that the only remains of that eminent pencil are the evangelifts on one fide of it, the reft being painted fince by Paolo de Mattheis, a Neapolitan. St. Ignatius' s chapel is particularly remarkable for two ftatues, by Cofmo Fonfago ; one of David with Goliah's head at his feet, the other of Jeremiah bewailing the calamities of his country. Here is alfo a porphyry tomb of Nicolas Sanfeve- rini, the laft prince of Bifigriano. In the church are alfo to be feen two curious holy-water bafons of a yellow and brown marble. In the veftry, which is finely gilded, are three pictures of the Virgin, one by An- nibal Caracci, and two others by Raphael. The filver tiilbe in thetreafury, valued by the weight of the filver, amounts to a hundred and fifty thoufandy#/. Here are alfo feveral iiatues and bufts ; St. Cyr, as big as the life, of filver, en- riched with emeralds , feveral chalices, a curious altar cover- ing* 58 NAPLES. ing, cart in filvcr by Gennaro Monte, and many other things of immenfe value. The Jefuits alfo, befules other churches, are in poiTeffion of that of S. Giufcppe, of which, in its proper place, I (hall ei\e a full defcription. S. Dcmenico Maggiore belongs to the Dominican monks; ant ] con tjo- uous to it is a convent, where there are generally a hundred and forty monks. The church was built by king Charles II. whole heart is kept here embalmed in a fmall ivory urn, with this inscription : Conditorium hoc eft cordis Car oil II. Ilhi/injfflmi Regis^ Fun-. datdr-is Convent us. Ann. Domini MGCC1X. * The repofitory of the heart of the moft illuftrious prince, * Charles II. founder of this convent. 1309.' Crucifix I J1 tne Capella del Santiilimo Crocefiflb is the crucifix which which fpoke coridefcendcd to exprefs its approbation of the writinys cf the toThomas ce } e b ra(;e( j Thomas d'Aquino, or Aquinas, concerning the real prefcnce of the body and blood of Chrift in the facra- ment in. thefe Words : Bene fcripjifli de ?ne t Thoma^ qi(Ci?n erg& merc'edem accipies? 'Thomas, thou haft written well con- ' cerning me ; what reward fliall I give thee thee on that * account ?' To which the doctor is faid to have anfwered : Nnn aliam nifi te ipfum. I'll have no other recompence but ' thyfelf *.' On certain days of the year this crucifix is with great pomp expofed to public view ; but, at all other times, is not to be feen ; feven perfons having in their cuftody as many different keys of the fhrine in which it is kept. Over the crucifix is an admirable picture of the defcent from the crofs, by Zingaro. On a monument in the chapel belong- ing to the Caraffa family is the following epitaph : Huic Virtus gloriam, Gloria imtnortiditatcm Comprtravtt, M. CCCC. LXX. c By virtue he acquired glory, and glory gained him im- * mortality. 1470-' * At Salerno this crucifix is accounted an impofture, the right one keing, as the} 7 fay, in their poffeffion. In NAPLES. 59 In the duke d'Acerenaa's chapel is an highly-efteemed annunciation-piece, by Titian. The monument of Befnar- dini Rota, in St. John the Baptift's chapel, is worth feeing, both on account of his ftatue, and thofe of the Tiber and the Arno, with which it is adorned. Jn the Capella di Stigliano is an exquifite image of the virgin Mary, by Giov. da Nola j and in that of St. Jofeph are two fine pictures, by Guido, The veftry is very lofty, and finely painted by Solimene. In the gallery lie feven coffins richly covered, in which are the remains of the kings and queens of Naples, and other great perfonages. Of thefe the firft in order is Antonio Petruccio, fecretary to the errr- peror Ferdinand. The lid can be taken off", to give a fight of his body, which is in a full drefs, and fo far undecayed, that all the teeth are ftill found, and in their proper arrange- ment. He loft his life in the confpiracy of the barons, being ftrangled, and not beheaded, as is manifeft from the Cord which ftill remains about his neck. MifTon gives fome of the infcriptions on the coffins ; but the prefent coverings, which are of crimfon velvet and filk damafk, would not ad- mit my comparing his copies with the originals. The riches of this church in plate, &fr, is very confide- rable. Some of the paUiotti, or altar-coverings, are of caft filver, and one for the high altar coft fourteen thoufand fcudi. In the veftry is an admirable bufto of pope Pius V. Near the ,o ate of the college which was formerly appropriated to the ftudy of divinity, ftands a ftatue of Thomas Aquinas, Statue of with this remarkable infcription : Thomas Aquinas. Viator ', hue ingredient^ Jifte gradum, atque venerare bane ima- ginem & Catbedram^ in qua fedens Mag. ilk Thomas de Aquino de Neap, cum frequent 'e, ut par erat^ Audit orum concur fu^ & illius fectfli fehcitafty cater of que quam plurimos admirabili doc- trina TbcJogiam docebat, accerfiio jam a Rege Carolo L conftittita ilia mercede unius w:ci Mr. Neuman a celebrated chemiu at Berlin invented a me- thod by which the liquefiiclion of blood fo much boaited of with regaicl to Januarius is eafily and at any time imitated; and it is to be hoped, that. he will lay it open to the world. Dr. Callebom, profeflbr of phyfic at Hall, is faid to be poflefled of a like feax-t. Betides-, it bears very hard upon the Auftrian party here, that, at the lateunjuft irruption of the Spaniards into the kingdom of Naples, St. Januarius fliifred iides, and by the Ipeecly liquefafcion of his blood declared for Don Carlos. Oppofite 64 NAPLES. Oppofite to the Teforo, is the entrance into St. Reftitufa's church, which was formerly the cathedral. Many of the pillars of this church are faid to be the remains of a temple of Neptune. On the wall is the virgin Mary in mofaic, given out to be the firft image, riot of Naples only, but of all Italy, to which adoration was paid ; but its apparent an- tiquity, however, little agrees with the opinion of thofe who place the building of this church fo far back as the age of St. Peter and his difciple St. Afpreno, whom they alfo are pleafed to make bifhop of Naples. In the area between the cathedral and the Strada Capu- ana ftands a fine marble obelifk by Cofmo Fonfeca, on which is ere&ed a brafs ftatue of St. Januarius by Finelli,' with this infcription : Divo Januario Patria Regnique pr&fentijfimo Tutelart Grata Neapolit Civ. optime merito. ' Erected by the city of Naples out of gratitude to St. Ja- c nuarius, the ever propitious and powerful protector of hrs ' native city and the whole kingdom.' This obelifk is illuminated annually on the igth of Sep- tember with a fplendor hardly to be conceived ; while a nu- merous band of mufic play by it, and all the guns in the fe- veral forts are fired on the occafion. Church of The church of S. Francefco di Paola which faces the vice- S. Frartceko rO y' s palace is remarkable for a beautiful pavement, a roof i0 a ' finely gilt and carved, and feveral marble ornaments, efpe- cially at the high altar. The tabernacle is embellimed with eight incomparable pillars, two of lapis lazuli, and the . other fix of green jafper. In the middle of this altar is an Remarkable excellent piece of perspective in enamel. Befides very large iataglio. pieces of agate, it is profufely enriched with gems, one of which is an intaglio, faid not only to be the work of nature without any human fkill, but by it defigned to reprefent St. Francis, to whom the church is dedicated. The painting about the altar and of the whole choir is by Luca Giordano. Virgin Among its reliques are two fmall phials full of the virgin M *|"y' s Mary's milk, as is pretended, which is dried to a refem- blance of white terra figillatts^ but liquefies on the feftival* of the virgin Mary. In the adjoining cloifter formerly re- fided S. Francis de Paola ; and to the reputation of his fanc- tity NAPLES. 6$ tlty it owes the beft part of its prefent opulence. Among the filver ornaments in the chapel contiguous to the difpen- fatory, is a ftatue of St. Michael near three feet high, glit- tering with jewels, which is valued at twelve thoufand ducats. In the difpenfatory, not to mention the curiofities in coral and gems, and the water- works, a perfon cannot forhear being extremely pleafed with the elegancy and moft judicious oeconomy of it. Some continue to c^ll this church by its ancient name of S. Luigi detto di Palazzo. St. Gaetano's church is entirely new and worth feeing, s - both for its architecture and marble ornaments. The veft- ments are fhewn here which cardinal Orfini, afterwards Be- nedict XIII, had on at the time of his providential deliver- ance in an earthquake. S. Gennaro extra moenia is alfo called ad fores, and acl (orpuS) the body pf St. Januarius having been flrft interred there. The church formerly belonged to the Benedictines, but at prefent to an adjoining hofpital. On an eminence to the right of this church Hands St. Severus's chapel, and near it is the entrance into St. Gennaro's catacombs j of the four Catacom * hitherto difcovered in Naples thefc are both of the greateft extent and kept in the beft order. The vulgar opinion that thefe fubterraneous vaults were the work of the primitive Chriflians, and ferved them as retreats in times of perfecu- tion, is entirely confuted by taking a view of the Neapolitan catacombs ; which are hewn out of a folid rock, and could not have been accomplifhed clandeftinely, or without im- menfe charges; and confequenrJy could never be the work of the Chriftians either of Rome or Naples during the fupe- riority of the pagans. The fandy foil at Rome, perhaps, would not admit of making the fubterraneous galleries wider; but here, where the work was carried on through a folid rock, the galleries or paflages are lofty, and generally arched, and fo broad, that fix perfons may walk in them a-breaft. That the Romans buried their dead long before the eftablifh- ment of Chriftianity is out of difpute ; befides, the Chriftians wanted no fuch ipacious repoiltories for their dead. The bodies in thefe catacombs were depofitcd in cavities on both fides of the vaults, four or five one upon another j and the cavity, when full, was clofed up with a marble flab, or with tiles : but as moft of thefe are taken away, the pagan monumental infcriptions do not occur fo frequently here as in the cata- combs at Rome, where many of thefc cavities ftill remain clofed up. The pretended bones gf. the primitive Chriftians, VOL, III. F poffibly 66" NAPLES. poflibly to inhance the refpect paid to them, or to attract cu- riofity, have been removed into churches and confecrated vaults ; but the bones now to be feen here lying in heaps are chiefly the remains of thofe who were fwept away by the terrible peftilence in 1656. Inftead of confecrated tapers, as at Rome, the guides here ufe common flambeaux. At the entrance of the firft vault in St. Gennaro's catacombs is to be feen a marble baflb-relievo of St. Januarius, in a reclining poflure, indicating the fpot where he had lain buried fome centuries. Behind it is St. Severus's marble feat, clofe by the grave wherein he was firft depofited, and near it this diftich : Saxum, quod cernis, fupplex vcnerare, viator, Hie dim quondam jacuerunt ojja Severi. " < Traveller, devoutly venerate this ftone, for St. Severus's * remains were formerly interred here/ At a little diftance from this are the tombs of St. Agrip- pino, Lorenzo, and other faints ; and likewife a mofaic altar in a fmall cavity within the wall. The guides tell us, that in moft places there are three galleries over one ano- ther. The paflages branching out on each fide are very narrow ; and in many parts, where they are faid to extend feveral Italian miles, are walled up ; robberies, &c. having been committed by banditti, whoufed to lurk in thefe vaults. Here is one particular vault, or grotto^ of fuch a height, that the roof cannot be difcerned by the light of the flam- beaux. In another large empty vault, which our guide told us was the cathedral in the primitive times, are three huge pillars, which feem to fupport an arch hewn out of the rock j and near it is {hewn a baptiftery, with the mark annexed oiv the wall near it : NI KA Thefe, with feVeral other paintings and characters, many of which are disfigured by the plafter falling off, though they NAPLES. 67 they are unqueftionably the work of Chriftians, the Gothic letters, fsc. fhew them to be of no great antiquity. S. Giacomo degli Spagnuoli was built by Don Pedro des. Giacomo 'Toledo, vice-roy of Naples; whofe tomb, by Giov. 4| degli. Spag. Nola, is a great ornament to the church, being one of the nuo1 ' fined: pieces of fculpture in all Napjes. The fculpture and inlaid work at the high altar make a very noble appearance. The clock of this church ftrikesthe hours after the French and German method of computation ; and indeed in Naples there are more French clocks, as they are called, than in any other city in Italy. S. Giovanni a Carbonara, fo called from the Carbonara S.^ Giovanni family, who were once proprietors of a considerable eftate in aCarbonari this part of the city, or from the charcoal faid to have been formerly burnt near it, is famous for being the burying-place of Ladiflaus king of Naples, Sicily, and Hungary, artd lord of Rome, whofe military glory was fullied by an inglorious Inglorious death. For a phyfician, whofe daughter was the king's death f a miftrefs, being bribed by the Florentines, poifoned him. pr ince. This poifon was adminiftered under colour of a philtre, which the daughter was perfuaded to give the king, in order to raife his love to the higheft pitch, and to fix it un- alterably en her. Some, indeed, give a different account of this affair, affirming that Ladiflaus befieging Florence, of- fered the city very favourable terms, upon delivering up to him the daughter of a phyfician, the report of whofe beauty had inflamed his defires. All private concerns being obliged to give way to the public welfare, the father could not re- fufe his confent ; but by his artful management the concef- fion proved fatal both to the inamoured monarch, and his beautiful miftrefs, as is related by a Latin hiftorian : Et itd nova Venus ad inaritum fuum egredlebatur^ cut amore de- jlagranti cum fe permltterct, ex domejlico mandate incalcfcentes carries fudariolo perfricat ; qua re venenum in utriufque corpus ea pcnetravit vehement jd^ ut max inter mutuos ampkxus ambv expirarent. This unhappy end of Ladiflaus, which happened in 1414, little agrees with the title of divus y or faint, given him in his epitaph. His monument, though of Gothic architecture, is a grand piece ; and his epitaph, in Latin verfe, is full of the grofieft flattery. Behind the high .altar, which is of a moft beautiful white marble, is to be feen the tomb of Caracciolo, the favourite F a f 68 NAPLES. of king Ladiflaus, whofe abilities were of fmgular to queen Joanna the Second ; but, by the wicked inftiga- tion of the duchefs of Sefla, he was aflaffinated in his bed on the night of the 2fth of Auguft, 1438, as appears by his epitaph. The chapel 1*he chapel of the marquifTes de Vice, of the Caracciola e Vko. R fl* a family^ abounds in moft exquifite marble ftatues and bano-relievo's ; thofe of St. John the Baptift, St. Sebaftian, St. Luke, St. Mark, and St. George^ are by Pietro di Piata* a Spaniard ; the reft by Giov. da Nola, Santa Croce, and Caccavello. In the chapel of the Mirabella family are feven white marble ftatues, and two lions j all curious pieces. Scipio di Somma, the great favourite of Charles V, has a noble monument in the chapel of that name. In another chapel is an admirable crucifixion, by Vafari ; and in the church a ftatue of St. Monicaj in a black habit. The hif- tory pieces painted oh wood in the veftry, are by Vafari. A curious There is alfo to be feen the paffion of Chrift in feven exqui- paffion., flte mar y e baffo-relievo's, which fold up like a fcreen, and were a part of king Ladiflaus's baggage in all his expedi- tions, and placed on the altar when mafs was performed be- fore him *. 5. Giovanni The Auguftine monaftery near S. Giovanni Bait. Carbo- de?F 8 ontmo nara nas a ^ ne ^^ rar V> furnifhed with a great many Latin and Greek manufcripts, which were the gift of cardinal Se- ripando. The church di S. Giovanni Vangelifta del Pontano derives the laft name from its noble founder Giovanni Pontano. On the walls both without and within this; church are feveral moral maxims compofed in Latin by Pontano. Miflbn has publifhed four epitaphs in this church, com- poled by Pontano for himfelf and family, which are all ac- cdiirited mafterpieces both in fentiment and exprefllon. That on his daughter Lucia is as follows : f Tumulus Lucia Filits Liquijli patrem in tenebris^ mea Lucia^ poftqudm E luce in tcnebras filia rapt a rnibi. es. Sed neqtie Tu in tenebras rapta es, quin ipfa tenebras Liquifti) & media lucida fole micas. Ccelg * Here an account of miracles, fife, is omitted ; whoever is defirous of iacli an entertainment, may confult the Jefuit Silvefter Pietrafanta's I'haiimqfia. f The poet's playing fo much on the word tenebra, is, I think, fome- thing NAPLES. 9 Ccelo te natam ajpicio, nttm Nata parentem Afpicis ? an fingit beec fill vana Pater? Sglamen mortis mrjcra'^ Te, Nata, fcpulcbrum. Hoc tegit, hand cincri fenfus incjje pctefl. Si qua tamen de Te fttperat par^ Nata y faiere Felicem quod Te prima juventa rapit. At no s in tenebris v'uum luttitque trabemus,, retium JPqtri, Filia, quod genui. Mufe, Filia^ luxerunt Te in obitu y at laplde In ho.c luget Te Pater tuns, quern liquifti in fqualore^ cruciatu^ genniv. ; heu / Filia^ quod nee morienti Pater adfui, qui mortis cordohy.ni tibi demere?n ; nee for ores ingemifcentl collaclrymarentur mifeUce \ nee Frater fingultiens^ qui fitienii mlnijtraret aquulam ; nee Mater ipfd) qua col/o inipiicita^ ore animulam acciperet infill a jjima j hoc tamen felix^ quod hand multcs poft annas rcvi/lt^ t^cxmque nunc culat. Ajl ego felicior, qui brevi cum uiraque edormifeam eodem In conditorio. Vale, Filia. Mutri frigefoznti cincres z,v- terim cahface, ut poft etiain refocilles ?neos. y oannes Jovianus Pontanus L. Martta Fiiics dulciffl P. qua ixit Ann. XIIII. Men. VII. D. XTL c My deareft Lucia, finpe them from light was fnatched ' into darknefs, to thy father light is become darkneis : no, < thou art not in the regions of darknefs ; but being paffed * from darknefs, thou now {hineft in the plenitude of light. ! I behold thee amidft the celeftial effulgence : doft thou, dear ' child, look down on thy father ; or is all a pleafmg illu- * fion ? It is fome folace that after death thou lieft in this * tomb ----- but, alas, thy dead remains are quite infenfible. 4 If any part of thee, once the joy of thy fond parent, fur- ' vives the grave, let it own thy early death a happinefs, * whilft a gloomy life of farrow and grief is my portion ; and ' the only folace I now have is that of having once been thy * father. c Thy death, my Lucia, the Mufes have bewailed, which 5 on this ftone thy wretched father laments, whom thou ' haft left in anguilh, forrow, and continual fighs and tears. * Alas, alas, my child, that thy father was not with thee in thing puerile. I have omitted the other fix epitaphs by Pontanus, (which the author has tranfcribed) and given this as a fpecimen. F 3 thy 70 N A P L E S. thy laft moments, to alleviate the pangs of dying ; nor thy unhappy fifters to echo back thy dying groans with their fighs, nor thy fympathifing brother to allay thy thirft with a few refreshing drops of cold water ; nor even thy difcon- folate mother, who, with a fond embrace, would have re- ceived thy departing foul with a kifs : who in this, how- ever, was happy, that, after few years, fhe again enjoyed the fight of thee, and now lies in the fame grave ; but greater ftill will be my happinefs, who fhortly fhall fleep with you both, and the fame repofitory fhall hold us all three. Adieu, rny child ! cherifh thy mother's cold afhes, and hereafter perform the fame kind office to thofe of thy affectionate father.' S. Giovanni The church of S. Giovanni Maggiore is fuppofed to have b een or igi na lly a temple built by the emperor Adrian, in ho- nour of his favourite Antinous ; but, by Conftantine the Great and his mother Helena, confecrated to John the Bap- tift. They who derive the name Parthcnope, which the city bore antecedently to that of Naples, from Parthenope, a ThefTalian princefs, affirm that her tomb is ftill to be feen in this church, being brought hither from fome qther place ; but the following characters were all J could perceiye en it; From NAPLES. From the word jEGE orTEGE in tne ialt line, this in- fcription is fuppofed to be an epitaph ; but I queftion whether, in fuch compo- fitions, the laft word Fan/is was ever ufed. Befides, the favourers of the above- mentioned opinion muft prefuppofe the middle line, whether St. John or St. januarius be meant, to have been done by modern Chriftians; but that the other two lines are a Lom- bard or Gothic compofi- tion, or of earlier date, without any difference of characters. That this fa- bulous opinion is exploded in Naples itfelf, appears from an infcription on the wall under the ftone above oefcribed, which was put up by the Jefuits in 1689 to undeceive the credu- lous, The church of S. Giovanni Pappacodi derives its laft name S. Giovanni from the founder, who being too haftily buried whiHl in .an apoplectic fit, came to life again : for a relation of his, upon advice of his friend's death, coming poft to town, ordered the coffin to be opened * three days after he was buried, and * Such over-hafty interments, as we learn from Pliny, H:JI. Nat. /. xxvi. c, 3, were not uncommon among the ancients. Was it not the F 4. ueplorable NAPLES. and found that the deceafed had bruifed himfelf by ftruggling, and altered the pofture in which he had been laid in the coffin. Here alfo lie two excellent biihops of the fame family ; one of which declined the offer of the purple, and the other diftinguifhed himfelf by his extraordinary diffufive charity. Their epitaphs are as follow : Sigifmundo Pappacudts Franc. F. Tropejenjium Presfuli^ Vifft Opt. & "Jurifconjulto, qui cum in ccetum Cjardinalium futffet a Clemente VU. adfcitus, maluit in patria Epifcopus vivere. Ha~ redtspof. vixit arm. LXXX. M. VI. D. X. Obiit 1536. ' To Sigifmund, fon of Francis Pappacodi, bifhp.p df Tropea, who to his noble endowments added a confurrr- mate knowledge of the law, and, being nominated cardinal by Clement VII, rather chofe to remain a bifhop in his own country, this monument is erected by his heirs. He lived fourfcore years, fix months, and ten days, and died in the year 1536.' Angela Pappacuda Franc. Fil. Martoranenfi Epifcopo^ vifo OTnatijf, qui in non magnis opibus magnum exercens animum^ nulla mag'is in re, quam in aliorum levanda inopia fuis bonis ufus eft. Hte redes B. M. Deceffit ex mortalibits Ann. not. LXVL ab ortu mundi rcdivivi 1537. 4 To Angelo, the fon of Francis Pappacodi, bifhop of Martorano, a perfon of great virtues and endowments, whofe beneficent foul employed the beft part of his mode- rate income in relieving the indigent, this monument was erected by his heirs. He departed this life in the fixty- fixth year of his age, and in the year of the Chriftian, jEra 1537.' The front of the church abounds with Gothic ornaments. deplorable misfortune of Job. Duns Scotus, diftinguifhed by the appella" tion of DoElor fubtilis, to be too foon put into the ground ? Was not a perfon laid on the funeral pile foon reiiored to life by Afclepiades the phy- fician ? And who has not heard of the Norman lord, Louis de Cirille, who was more celebrated for having been buried three times, than for any heroic achievements ? It is matter of great concern that real nar- ratives of this kind fhould be obfcured and brought into difrepute by other, abfurd fictions. In NAPLES. 73 In the church di S. Giufeppe, belonging to the Jefuits, S. Giufeppe are four Corinthian pillars, of a beautiful grey marble, de ' Giefuiti. which, though fixty palmi in height, and nine in circum- ference, are each of one block. Formerly, in the Tribuna hung a large picture of St. Jofeph with the child Jefus in his arms, and a group of angels, by Francefco di Maria, a Neapolitan; but this is removed into the veftry, and its place fupplied by one which far furpafles it, of our Saviour when an infant, and his parents, by Amato. On the right- hand of the veftry is a grand altar-piece, which is glazed and covered with a curtain, reprefenting St. Xavier in a very devout pofture, by Luca Giordano ; who alfo painted the other pieces in the chapel to which this fuperb altar belongs. Oppofite to it is another altar-piece, likewife glazed, &c. painted by de Mattheis, exhibiting the virgin Mary and her divine infant ; and, were it not for the incomparable beauty of the former, a connoifleur fhould not omit feeing this church. The pulpit is of marble, finely inlaid with pre- cious ftoncs. The church di S. Lorenzo de'Padri Minori has a lofty S.Loren arched roof, and on its high altar the ftatues of St. Francis, de '. Pa ? r * St. Antony, and St. Laurence, finely executed by Giov. da L Nola. The three baflb-relievo's under them, and the virgin Mary amidft four angels over thefe three ftatues, are by other artifts, whofe names are not known. On one fide of the altar is the chapel of S. Antonio di Padua, built from a de- fign of Cofmo Fanfago, which is worth feeing; but it is far exceeded by the chapel of the Rofary, in which are two pillars of verde-antico, and an altar of .kilaid work of lapis- lazuli^ topaz, agate, jafper, and other gems. At the fides of the chapel, on their refpe&ive monuments, ftand the ftatues of its founders Camillo Cacace and his wife. Thefe ftatues, according to the ufual phrafe, want only fpeech, and are the work of Bolgi da Carrara, a Roman. In another chapel, from its foundrefs queen Margaretta V. confort to Charles III, called la Reina, lies Charles duke of Durazzo, beheaded in 1347, by Lewis king of Hungary, to revenge the death of his brother Andrew, who was ftrangled. Alfo Robert of Artois, with his wife Joanna dutchefs of Du- raz^o (both poifoned by queen Margaret) together with a daughter of Charles III. Catharine a daughter of the em-; peror Albert I. and married to Charles duke of Calabria, and Lewis a fon of Robert king of Naples, lie here. In 74 NAPLES. Firft paint- In the veftry is {hewn a pi&ure of St. Jerom, as the firft iugin oil piece painted in oil colours, being the work of Cola Antonio colours - de Fiore, in 1436. The invention of oil colours, of which the Neapolitans claim the honour, is morejuftly attributed to John of Bruges, otherwife Van Eyck, a Fleming, who was both a chymift and painter; he was born in 13/0, and died in 144.1, at the age of feventy-one. The epocha of this noble invention was the beginning of the fifteenth century, about the year 1410, though Malvafia of Bologna, in order to attribute the honour of this invention to his countrymen, mentions fome paintings in oil colours of a prior date, with the year and the painter's name annexed. However, a fmall difference in time is of MO great importance, fince it is certain that no other method but painting a frefco, as it is called by the Italians, was known before the fifteenth century. In a fubterraneous chapel under the choir, the coronation of Robert, by his brother St. Lewis, is painted in colours by Simon of Cremona, who lived about the year 1353 ; and in the cloifter of the convent is a tomb embellifhed with admi- rable bafTo-relievo's. In the refectory of this convent is a fine geographical piece of the twelve provinces of the kingdom of Naples, by the famous Sicilian painter Luigi Roderico, being a prefent to this convent from the count d'Olivares, when viceroy. Here the ftates of the kingdom annually meet to delibe- Liberal free- rate .on the cuftomary free-gift made to their fovereign, gifts. which has often exceeded a million and a half of fcudi> or crow,ns. S. Maria S. Maria Annunziata is one of the fineft churches in Annunziata. }sf a p} es ; for the eye every-where meets with noble paintings, Its riches, ftatues, monuments, baflb-relievo's, &-c. The gilding only of the high altar, and the chapel belonging to it, coft twenty- three thoufand crowns ; and the other ornaments, enriched with lapis-Iazuli, cornelian, jafper, agate, and a profufion of otlier gems, eighteen thoufand ducats more. In thefe computations, and in common difcourfe at Naples, a ducat is equal to ten car lint *. The plate in the veftry of this church a few years fince weighed above twenty-one thou- 'fand marks. In theTeforo is an admirable tomb of Alphonfo Sancio de Luna, who died in 1564. To the left of the high altar when facing it, ftands the ftatue of a lad-y, hold-ing * Three Shillings and four-pence fterling. a death's NAPLES. 75 a death's head in her hand, with her eyes fixed on it j 3114 underneath is an encomium on her virtue and beauty. Near the altar is the following epitaph on queen Jo 7 anna II. II. Hungarian Hlerufalcm^ 5/V/7/W, Ramies *, Service, Galatiee^ Lodomerite, Bulgariteque Reglna^ Provindts ff Folcalqucrii ac Pedemonth Comitiffa, Anno Domini M.CCCC.XXXV. die II. Menfis ' Repiis ojjibus & memcritS) fepulckrum? quod ipfa moriens huniz delegerat^ inanes in funere pampas exofa, Reglnce pietatem fecitti, tf merltorum non immemores Oeconomi reflituendwn iff exornan- dum curaverunt, magnlficent'ius pofiturl^ Ji liculffet. Anno Do- mini M.DC.VL Mcnf. Maji. 6 To the memory of Joanna II. queen of Hungary, Je- rufalem, Sicily, Dalmatia, Croatia, Ramia, Servia, Ga- latia, Lodomeria, Comania, Bulgaria ; countefs of Pro- vence, Folcalquier, and Piedmont ; this monument was ere&ed the 2d day of February, 1435. 4 This plain tomb, chofen by herfelf preferably to all the vain pomp of obfequies, the magiftrates have, in confor- mity to her majefty's humble piety, and in regard to her merits, thus repaired without ornaments : and, hadfplen- dor and magnificence beep permitted, they ihould not have been wanting. 1606.' Near the church-door is a little ftatue ? holding out a la- bel, with thefe words : urtjfimum Vlrginh tcmplum cafte memento Ingredl. ' As thou art entering the pure temple of the Virgin, let * thy thoughts be pure and chafte.' The hofpital called la Cafa Santa, belonging to church, was once the beft endowed in the whole world ; for Santa - its "annual income inlands, tythes, imports, endowments, intereft of money, &c. amounted to two hundred thoufand * Miflbn and others have it Rotuf, but erroneoyfly, as is evident from the titles of the ancient kings of Hungary. ducats, NAPLES. ducats, or, as fome compute it, to a million offeudi *. On, the other hand, the annual expences for the Tick, poor, foundlings, and other charitable ufes, were no lefs ; fo that the following lines over the main entrance fay no more than what is ftri&ly true : Lac ptteris, Dotem innuptis, Velumq Datque medelam esgrh h