erected, serve rather to encourage idleness in the people, than to set them at work; not to mention the great riches which lie useless in churches and religious houses, with the multitude of festivals that must never be violated by trade or business. To speak truly, they are here so wholly taken up with men's souls, that they neglect the good of their bodies; and when, to these natural evils in the government and religion, there arises among them an avaricious pope, who is for making a family, it is no wonder if the people sink under such a complication of distempers. Yet it is to this humour of Nepotism that Rome owes its present splendour and magnificence: for it would have been impossible to have furnished out1 so many glorious palaces with such a profusion of pictures, statues, and the like ornaments, had not the riches of the people at several times fallen into the hands of many different families, and of particular persons: as we may observe, though the bulk of the people was more rich and happy in the times of the commonwealth, the city of Rome received all its beauties and embellishments under the emperors. It is probable the Campania of Rome, as well as other parts of the pope's territories, would be cultivated much better than it is, were there not such an exorbitant tax on corn, which makes them plough up only such spots of ground as turn to the most advantage: whereas were the money to be raised on lands, with an exception to some of the more barren parts, that might be tax-free for a certain term of years, every one would turn his ground to the best account, and in a little time perhaps bring more money into the pope's treasury. The greatest pleasure I took in my journey from Rome to Naples was in seeing the fields, towns, and rivers, that have been described by so many classic authors, and have been the scenes of so many great actions; for this whole road is extremely barren of curiosities. It is worth while to have an eye on Horace's voyage to Brundisi, when one passes this way for by comparing his several stages, and the road he took, with those that are observed at present, we may have some idea of the changes that have been made in the face of this country since his time. If we may guess at the common travelling of persons of quality, among the ancient Romans, from this poet's description of his voyage, 1 It should have been "to furnish out." we may conclude they seldom went above fourteen miles a day over the Appian Way, which was more used by the noble Romans than any other in Italy, as it led to Naples, Baix, and the most delightful parts of the nation. It is, indeed, very disagreeable to be carried in haste over this pavement. Minùs est gravis Appia tardis. HOR. Lucan has described the very road from Anxur to Rome, that Horace took from Rome to Anxur. It is not, indeed, the ordinary way at present, nor is it marked out by the same places in both poets. Jamque et præcipites superaverat Anxuris arces, Lib. iii. In my way to Naples I crossed the two most considerable rivers of the Campania Felice, that were formerly called the Liris and Vulturnus, and are at present the Garigliano and Vulturno. The first of these rivers has been deservedly celebrated by the Latin poets for the gentleness of its course, as the other for its rapidity and noise. Where the smooth streams of Liris stray, And steal insensibly away. The warlike Arpine borders on the sides Of the slow Liris, that in silence glides, And in its tainted stream the working sulphur hides. Vulturnusque rapax— CL. DE PR. ET OL. CON. A canal, the marks of it still seen. Vulturnusque celer Luc. lib. ii. 28. Vulturnum SIL. IT. lib. viii. -Fluctuque sonorum The rough Vulturnus, furious in its course, With rapid streams divides the fruitful grounds, And from afar in hollow murmurs sounds. The ruins of Anxur and old Capua mark out the pleasant situation in which those towns formerly stood. The first of them was planted on the mountain, where we now see Terracina, and by reason of the breezes that came off the sea, and the height of its situation, was one of the summer retirements of the ancient Romans. O nemus, O fontes! solidumque madentis arenæ Littus, et æquoreis splendidus Anxur aquis! MAR. lib. X. Ye warbling fountains, and ye shady trees, On the cool shore, near Baja's gentle seats, Where silver lakes, with verdant shadows crowned, The grasshopper avoids the untainted air, Nor in the midst of suminer ventures there. Impositum saxis latè candentibus Anxur. HOR. Sat. 5. lib. i. Monte procelloso Murranum miserat Anxur. SIL. IT. lib. iv. -Scopulosi verticis Anxur. Capuæ Luxum vide apud Idem, lib. iv. Idem, lib. xi. Murranus came from Anxur's showery height, With ragged rocks, and stony quarries white; I don't know whether it be worth while to take notice that the figures, which are cut in the rock near Terracina, increase still in a decimal proportion as they come nearer the bottom. If one of our voyage-writers, who passed this way more than once, had observed the situation of these figures, he would not have troubled himself with the dissertation that he has made upon them. Silius Italicus has given 1 us the names of several towns and rivers in the Campania Jam verò quos dives opum, quos dives avorum, In primis Capua, heu rebus servare secundis Inconsulta modum, et pravo peritura tumore. SIL. IT. lib. viii. NAPLES. My first days at Naples were taken up with the sight of processions, which are always very magnificent in the holy week. It would be tedious to give an account of the several representations of our Saviour's death and resurrection, of the figures of himself, the blessed virgin, and the apostles, which are carried up and down on this occasion, with the cruel penances that several inflict on themselves, and the multitude of ceremonies that attend these solemnities. I saw, at the same time, a very splendid procession for the accession of the Duke of Anjou to the crown of Spain, in which the viceroy bore his part at the left hand of Cardinal Cantelmi. To grace the parade, they exposed, at the same time, the blood of St. Januarius, which liquefied at the approach of the saint's head, though, as they say, it was hard congealed before. I had twice an opportunity of seeing the operation of this pretended miracle, and must confess I think it so far from being a real miracle, that I look upon it as one of the most bungling tricks that I ever saw: yet it is this that makes as great a noise as any in the Roman Church, and that Monsieur Paschal has hinted at among the rest in his marks of the true religion. The modern Neapolitans seem to have copied it out from one, which was shown in a town of the kingdom of Naples, as long ago as in Horace's time. -Dehinc Gnatia lymphis Iratis extructa dedit risusque jocosque, Dum flammâ sine thura liquescere limine sacro At Gnatia next arrived, we laughed to see SAT. 5, lib. 1. One may see at least that the heathen priesthood had the same kind of secret among them, of which the Roman Catholics are now masters. I must confess, though I had lived above a year in a Roman Catholic country, I was surprised to see many ceremonies and superstitions in Naples, that are not so much as thought of in France. But as it is certain there has been a kind of secret reformation made, though not publicly owned, in the Roman Catholic Church, since the spreading of the Protestant religion, so we find the several nations are recovered out of their ignorance, in proportion as they converse more or less with those of the Reformed Churches. For this reason the French are much more enlightened than the Spaniards or Italians, on occasion of their frequent controversies with the Huguenots; and we find many of the Roman Catholic gentlemen of our own country, who will not stick to laugh at the superstitions they sometimes meet with in other nations. I shall not be particular in describing the grandeur of the city of Naples, the beauty of its pavement, the regularity of its buildings, the magnificence of its churches and convents, the multitude of its inhabitants, or the delightfulness of its situation, which so many others have done with a great deal of leisure and exactness. If a war should break out, the town has reason to apprehend the exacting of a large contribution, or a bombardment. It has but seven galleys, a mole, and two little castles, which are capable of hindering an enemy's approaches. Besides, that the sea, which lies |
