} 
SSO 
of maintaining all that belong to the boiy Houfe, amounts 
to no lefs than 38634Crowns, whereas their ordinary 
yearly Revenue is no more than 27000 Crowns. 
From the Treaiury we were conduced to a little 
Arfenal, which has fcarce any thing remarkable but 
fome Arms taken from the Turks^ who about fifty Years 
before (under the Reign of Mahomet II. and Belim) 
made a Defcent thereabouts, to plunder this facred 
Place, but were ftruck blind by our Lady, as they were 
endeavouring to break into the Houfe. Fhom the Win- 
dows of this Arfenal they fiiew you that Part of the Sea 
over which the Houfe was carried by the Angels ; and 
our Jefuit made moft folemn Proteftations, that ever 
fince there remains a certain white Tra6l on the Water, 
and that he had often obferved it. I can’t pafs by in 
Silence, that as we were going towards the holy Houfe, 
the Rabble flock’d about us, telling us, that we mufl: 
not approach the holy Place without confefling and 
communicating, unlels we would throw ourfelves into 
manifefl: Danger of fudden Death. 
From hence we went to the great Wine Cellar, flor’d 
with an hundred and fifty Tuns of excellent Wine. And 
in the Apothecary^ ^ Office they fliew’d us an hundred and 
forty five earthen Veflels, highly efteem’d, becaufe they 
believe them to have been painted by Raphael On 
five of the largeft are painted St. Raul and the four 
Evangelijls, the reft being adorn’d with the Hiftories of 
fome Saints, the Metamorphofes of Ovid, i^c. The 
City of Loretto is but fmall, yet well fortified, and has 
the Title of a Biflioprick. In the Great Place ftands a 
moft noble Fountain of Marble, beautified with divers 
Brafs Statues, and another erefted by the Citizens of 
Loretto, in Acknowledgment of certain Privileges grant- 
ed them by Vo'pt Sixtus V. The Inhabitants get their 
Livelihood by raaking and felling Medals, Rofaries, 
fanftified Beads, Images, Agnus Dei*s, Meafures of the 
Height of the Image of our Lady, and fuch Trifles. 
They fell here Chaplets, the Beads of which wers as big 
as Goofe-Eggs, and are ufed on Days of extraordinary 
Devotion. The Tradition of the Removal of the holy 
Houfe is fo ftedfaftly maintain’d in this Place, that there 
is fcarce an Inhabitant lb mean, but pretends to be de- 
fcended from the Race of thofe that faw the holy Houfe 
^ fix’d where now it is, by which Means they tranlplant 
this Tradition from Father to Son in infinita. 
8. Travelling from hence through Recanati, a little 
City feated on the Top of a Hill, three Miles from Lo- 
retta, I look’d into the great Church, where I could fee 
nothing worth mentioning but the Tomb of Pope Gre- 
gory XII. who was depofed from the Pontificate by the 
Council of Pifa. Ten Miles further, in a moft fertile 
Country, on the Bank of the Potenza, we paflfed thro’ 
the Ruins of the City formerly known by the Name of 
Helvia Ricina, where we law vaft Fragments of an Am- 
phitheatre built of Stone and Brick mingled together. 
We 'travel’d on this Side of the River for two Miles 
among the Hills, till we came to Macerata, where we 
lodg’d that Night ; it being foul Weather, we could 
not ftir abroad, but were told by the Inhabitants, that 
it was a pretty large and pleafant Place. The Country 
between Macerata and Lolentino lies all upon a Level, 
and is extremely fruitful, but very indifferently peopled. 
They prop their Vines with Reeds, and plough with 
Boufflos, thefe Beafts being ftronger than Oxen, and 
eafier fed. 
‘Tolentino is feated on a rifing Ground ; for the reft, 
a Place that has nothing remarkable belonging to it. 
The next Place we came to was Belfort, built all of 
Stone : A Mile beyond it begins the Province of Um- 
bria, where we enter into the Apennine, I remember 
we fell into the Company of a Gentleman, who was go- 
ing from Macerata to Foligno, who, after fome Dif- 
courfe relating to the Lady of Loretto, told us, among 
other Things, that they were extremely pleafed in Italy 
at the News they had lately received from England, that 
their King was turn’d Chriftian. I defir’d him to ex- 
plain his Meaning, which he did in fuch Terms, that I 
could not but ftand amaz’d at his Ignorance, his No- 
tions of the Proteliants being very near the fame the 
Pagam entertain’d of the Primitive ChriPHans^ fo that 
M I s s o n’s travels through the 
Book IL 
with all the Art I had, I could not perfuade him that 
we ufed Baptifm among us : This Simplicity is fo uni- 
verfal in this Country, that they are more ignorant of 
our Religion than the Chinefe themfelves, in which they 
are encourag’d by their Clergy, who leave no Stone 
unturn’d to make the Protejlants odious to the Peonle ar 
any rate. ^ 
After we had left Tolentino, we travel’d for forty 
Miles among the Rocks ; the chief Villages we took 
Notice of in our Way, were Valcimara, Ponte di Trava, 
Matia, Bignano, Colfiorito, Cafa Nuova, &c. We left 
the Mountains near the Village of Pala, from whence 
we difcover’d the Plain Foligno, which affords the 
moft delightful Profped from the Hill, being water’d 
with many Rivulets, well inhabited, and extraordina- 
rily improv’d 5 fo that we had no fooner quitted the 
Mountains, but we found ourfelves, as it were, on a 
fudden, in a fweet and agreeable Climate, where we 
faw the Almond-trees already in Bloflbm, after we had 
fcarce recover’d our felves from the Cold of the frofty 
Rocks. Having continued our Journey for four Miles 
in a continual eafy Defcent, we came into a narrow 
level Way, on one Side whereof runs a fmall and clear 
River, at the End of which lies Foligno, in the moft fer- 
tile Country in the World j it has the Reputation of a 
better Trafiick than moft of the other Cities in the Ec- 
clefiaftical State ; their Trade confifts chiefly in Drape- 
ries, Gold and Silver Laces, Silk Stuffs, and Spices. 
Soon after we came out of Foligno, we difcover’d, on 
the other Side of the Plain, upon an Eminency, the 
Town of Montefalco, famous for the Interment of St. 
Clara. They fliew here the three Stones of the Bignefs 
of fmall Nuts, faid to be found in the Heart of that 
Saint, upon which the Hiftory of the Paffion is engrav’d. 
Near the Village of Pejignano, between Foligno and Spa- 
leto, at the Foot of the Hill which enclofes the Plain, 
a large Spring arifes through four feveral Outlets from 
under the Rocks, which make a fmall Lake by their 
Conjundlion, and thence fend forth a pleafant Rivulet, 
which waters the adjacent Country. 
Not above two hundred Paces from the Spring-head, 
you fee, near the Road, a fmall Temple of the Corin-' 
thian Order, called St. Salvatore, where the Bilhop of 
Spoleto fays Mals once a Year. We obferved the three 
following Infcriptions on the Front, and on both Sides 5 
(i.) + S. C. S. Beus Pro f etar um qui fecit Redemptionenig 
(2.) Beus Angelorum qui fecit RefurreAionem. 
(3.) Hh S. C. S. Beus Apojl « ^ * 
the reft being quite defac’d ; which together with its 
Manner of building Crofs-wife and Eaftward, as moft 
other Churches, and the Croffes carv’d in divers Parts 
of the Pediments, fufficiently contradid the Opinion 
of thofe who would have this Temple to have been 
confecrated to Clitumnus, though perhaps it may have 
been ereded upon or out of the Ruins of that of CIF 
tumnus. But it is much more probable what I heard a - 
skilful Antiquary fay at Spoleto, viz. that the River be- 
fore-mentioned is the Clitumnus mention’d by the An- 
cients, and among the reft, by Virgil, in the fecond of 
his Glorgicks. 
From Pefignano to Spoleto you travel for feven Miles in a 
plain Country, at the Foot of the Hills, full of Inha- 
bitants. Spoleto is feated within the Mountains, beyond 
the before- mention’d Plain, a poor, ill-built, and thinly- 
peopled City. The Cathedral is celebrated for its 
Height, which however is not extraordinary. The 
Pavement is inlaid with fmall Pieces of Marble, like 
St. Marhls Church at Venice, and the Pediment of the 
great Portal is very fine Mofaick Work on a golden 
Ground, The Caftle is feated on the higheft Ground, 
and has nothing to boaft of but its Situation. About 
five hundred Paces without the City, is a Church con- 
fecrated to Concord, and fince called the Chapel of the 
Crucifix. Spoleto has alfo fome Remnants of Antiqui- 
ty, a triumphal Arch half ruin’d, and the Fragments 
of an Amphitheatre with divers loofe Marble Stones, 
without 
