( H3 ) 
¥L A Letter from Mr John Monro to the Pub- 
/ifiher^ concerning the Catacombs of Komc and 
Naples. 
J. have feen thofe of Rome^ I have feen thofe of 
Naples, and as they fay there are Catacombs in the 
Neighbourhood of all the great Towns of that part of 
Italj/^l had been glad to have feen them where-ever they 
are. They are. an obfcure argument indeed 5 but perhaps 
the greateft obfcurity about them is, that a matter that 
has fo much exercised the Pens of the Moderns, fhou'd 
be totally negleded by the Ancients: Neither the 
name nor the thing is found in the latter, whereas 
among the former, Antiquaries and Travellers are full 
of them. All they into whofe way they come, think 
they do nothing if they do not exhauft them before 
%ey leave them 5 they take all their dimenfions, mea- 
iure their height, their breadth and their length ^ they 
^Turvey all the little rooms, fearch every hole and cor- 
ner, criticize nicely on the quality, and calculate the 
;'age of the poor Painting and Infcriptions, and make 
-excurfions into other arguments, to find out the end 
for which they were made. The Catacom-bs are a nar- 
row Gallery dug and carry'd a vaft v/ay under ground, 
with an infinite number of others going off it on all^ 
hands, and an infinite number of little rooms going oit 
the principal, and them too, Thofe commonly fhew'd 
Scrangers are thofe of San Seb^jlkm., thofe ofitS'.'fjf Lo-- 
renzo^ thofe of Agjiefe^ and tiie others iraJlK^Kelds 
SIR, 
are an obfcure argument. I 
H h h h h 
