538 
To be fhort, this pretended Coffin of Livius being 
changed for one of Wood, was carried with a great 
deal of Pomp to the Palace of Juftice, where they 
erected the fame Monument that is feen to this Day, 
and afterwards added the following Infcription, which 
was found in the Neighbourhood of the Place where 
the femple of Concord formerly ftood : 
V, F. (*) 
7 itus Livius 
Livia T. F. 
^arta L. 
Halys 
Concordialis 
Patavi 
Sibi Cs? fuis 
Omnibus, 
{*) Vivem Fecit,. 
Over this Infcription they have placed a Head of 
Marble, which pafTes for that of Pitus Livius ; but 
tho® both the Head and the Infcription are ancient, yet 
Orfato has, in his late Differtation, Efficiently proved, 
that the Titus Livius, mentioned in this Infcription, 
was no more than a freed Man, of one of the Daughters 
of Titus Livius the Hiftorian. But fatisfying the Learn- 
ed and the People are two Things. 
To leave the Fables and Incertainties of Antiqui- 
ty, I fhall give you an Account of another Monument 
which we law in the lame Hall, and which is worthy of 
Obfervation. Some have exalted Sufannah above Lu~ 
creiia ; but it may be jultly faid, that the Marchionefs 
de Obizzi furpalTed Sufannah and Lucretia both. Since 
when Ihe faw Death prefent before her, Ihe refolved to 
fuffer it courageouQy, rather than to permit her Chaftity 
to be violated. A Gentleman of Padua was paffionate- 
ly in Love with this young and beautiful Lady, and 
found an Opportunity to get into her Chamber when 
Ihe was in Bed, in the Abfence of the Marquifs 
d^Obizzi her Husband. It is probable that he tried the 
Ibfteft and moll gentle Ways before he proceeded to Afts 
of Violence : But at laft, when he faw he could not 
prevail, his Love turned to Fury, and he was fo tranf- 
ported with Rage, that he ftabb’d this virtuous Lady. 
Here is the Infcription. 
Venerare, Hofpes, Pudicitiee Simulacrum L? Vibiimam, 
Cui banc Aram Patavini erexere Proceres : 
Lucretiam, ftlicet, De Dondis Ab Horologio, 
^ce Latinam Lucretiam Intemerati Thori 
Gloria vicit, 
Hcec, inter Noblis Tenebras Mar it ales ajferuit Tedas, 
Et furiales recentis Tarquinii faces, 
Cafio Cruore extinxit. 
Per Januas Saudi oris juguli Pebiorifque 
Impid Novacula reforatas, 
Candidam efflavit Animam. 
Tam fortis Heroines 
^u&m Numen Pio ANE^ ex OBIZZONIBUS, 
Orciani Dynajiee Connubio junxit, 
Glorojis Manibus, 
Patria Lacrymis, Italia Atramento 
Parentavit, 
Anno M.DC.LXXII. 
You will, doubtlefs, commend the Paduans for ta- 
king Care to eternize the Memory of fo rare a Virtue, 
that met with fuch a barbarous Treament : And per- 
haps your Curiolity will prompt you to defire the Con- 
tinuation of the Story. When the Marchionefs was 
furprized in her Bed, her only Son, about ^ five Years 
old, was with her ; but the Murderer having carried 
him into a neighbouring Chamber before he perform’d 
his horrid Villany, the Child could not fee all that 
paflfed. The Thing being brought to Light, the faid 
Murderer was taken into Cuftody upon Sufpicion. It 
was known that he had an Inclination to. the Mar- 
chionefs. The Child gave fome Information : Some 
Neighbours affirm’d, they had feen the Gentleman in 
chat Part of the City. They found a Button of his 
Book II. 
Sleeve upon the Bed, Fellow to that which he ftilf 
wore *, and thefe Things were llrong Prefumptions of 
his Guilt. They then put him to the Torture, both 
ordinarily and extraordinarily ; but he ftill denied the 
Fa6t, and after fifteen Years Imprifonment, his Friends, 
by their Importunity, faved his Life, and even, as I 
fuppofe, obtained his Liberty, which yet he enjoyed not 
long j for fome Months after his Deliverance, the 
young Marquifs, which was the Child I fpoke of, fhot 
him with a Piftol in the Head, and fo revenged the 
Death of his Mother. He is at prefent (1687) in Ger» 
many in the Emperor’s Service. 
The Amphitheatre of Padua exceeded that of Verona ; 
however, nothing is to be feen of it now, but an Heap 
of Ruins. I muft tell you, to ffiew how different Peo- 
ple’s Notions are, that going into a Tennis-court here, 
I found the Walls white, the Balls black, and the Rac- 
kets of the Bignefs of a large Sieve. 
3. We left Padua the 20th of December, and came 
to Venice the fame Night in good Time. By the Way 
we faw many good Villages and fine Country-houfes 
belonging to Noble Venetians. Coming to Mejire, a 
little City on the Shore of the Gulph, five Miles from 
Venice, we took a Gondola, which carried us in an Hour 
and a half thither. 
To give a true Idea of Venice, I muft lay Ibme- 
thing of the Waters, in the Midft whereof it is built. 
It is certain, that the Grounds upon which Venice now 
ftands were, thirteen or fourteen hundred Years ago, 
drowned by the Sea, till afterwards they were raifed out 
of the Water, and Chanels made betwixt them, for the 
more convenient Approach of Veffds to the City, fome 
of them being capable of admitting Ships of the great- 
eft Burthen ; whereas fome cannot carry Veffels of 
above two hundred Tuns. To empty the Mudd out 
of thefe Chanels, they have Mills and other Engines, 
and have turn’d the Mouth of the Brent and other 
Rivers, to prevent their forcing the Sands into the La- 
gunes or Chanels, for Fear the Earth fhould gain upon 
them, who put their greateft Safety and Strength in 
their watery Situation : But as they are obliged on one 
Side to keep the Depth of their Waters, fo on the 
other hand, it is not for their Intereft that thefe Cha- 
nels fliould be of an equal Depth in all Places, this 
being one of their main Securities, which has ftood 
them in good Stead at feveral Times, witnefs the Mif- 
carriage of Pepin's Veffels in thefe Chanels, and of the 
Genoefe Fleet about three hundred Years ago. 
Imagine then, a City with thirty or forty tall Steeples 
to rife from among thefe Chanels, at a League and a half 
Diftance from the Continent, without any other Defence 
than the Waves of the Sea, and you will have a to- 
lerable Idea ©f Venice. 
I know that all Geographers agree, that Venice is com- 
pofed of feventy two Ifles 5 nor will I controvert fo re- 
ceived an Opinion : But I muft confefs, that I can by 
no Means conceive where thefe feventy two Ifles fliould 
be j and I dare affure you, that this Account gives a 
falfe Notion of the Situation of this City. It fhould 
feem by this Defeription, that there were feventy two 
little Hills, one near the other •, and that thefe little 
Eminencies being all inhabited, had at laft formed the 
City of Venice ; which is not true. Venice is generally 
flat, and built on Piles in the Water, which waffles the 
Foundations of the Houfes, to the Height of four or 
five Feet. It is true, they have made the beft Ufe of 
feveral Spaces of Ground of a reafonable Bignefs, which 
may, indeed, give Qccafion for one to believe, there 
was formerly fome Land there j but not feventy two 
Ifles, or any Thing like them. For the Streets, they 
are very narrow, and the moft Part of them feem to 
have been filled up, and raifed with Mud and Rubbifh, 
efpecially along the Canals ; but it is not at all pro- 
bable, that they have a folid natural Ground at the 
Bottom. If all the Divifions, which the Canals make, 
were reckoned for Ifles, we fhould find near two hun- 
dred inftead of feventy two. It muft be farther ob- 
ferved, that the Number of thefe Ifles might be arbi- 
trarily increafed, and new ones made in any Place, by 
fixing Piles, and building Houfes upon them, as Bridges 
are 
M I s s o n’j Travels through the 
