402 MifcelUnea Curidfa. Vol. IIL 



complaint on them ; nay, one wouM wonder 

 more, to fee thefe Gentleman fo little ambi- 

 tious of a future reputation, when they may 

 infallibly afliu*e it themfelves, without refign- 

 ing the prefent, by tranfmitting the know- 

 ledge of things, the knowledge of which 

 may in a fmall ferics of Years become other- 

 wife irretrievable they cannot but obferve 

 every Day what efteem is placed on thofe 

 Authors, to whom we are forced to go, to 

 find in them what cannot be found elfewhere, 

 to compare with the others, in whom no- 

 thing is to be found, but what Men of Rea- 

 fon are able to find at home. 



Upon the whole, the Catacombs I humbly 

 conceive were the Burying-places of the An- 

 cient Romans at length the manner of Burn- 

 ing, which they received from the Gr^ciahsy 

 coming by degrees to prevail univerfally, 

 they fell under a total negleft. This is the 

 State'in which the Primitive Chriftians muft 

 be fuppos'd to have found them ; 'tis not to 

 be imagined they could have made any ule 

 of them, at a time when 'twas the daily pra- 

 dice to lay up even the depofitions of the 

 Slaves in them ^ fo that either the Chriftians 

 made no ufe of them at all, or they never 

 were the burying Place of the Slaves. Now 

 as thefe areSuppofitions that naturally deftroy 

 one another, one would count it more fafe to 

 follow the faint light of a glimering traditi- 

 on, than abandon ones felf to the Conduft 

 of an Ignis fatum^thatfoY ought a Man knows 

 is adually mifleading him, fo I beg leave to 

 call the Teftimony of FeJIm Pompelm^ that 

 may rather be apply'd to any other thing- 



than 



