566 
M I s s o n’j ’Travels through the 
Book II, 
ters, that were obliged to live- near Tyler ^ to pre- 
vent its Inundation on that Side, by catling together 
the Pieces of the broken Idols, Bathing-tubs, Statues, 
Tiles, and other Sorts of earthen Vejfels, which amount- 
ing to a vaft Quantity in fo great a City, produced this 
Hillock. 
But as probable as this Opinion appears at firft View, 
I have upon flrid: Examination of the Matter, ©bferv’d 
Things which induce me to believe otherwife ; for 
having feen, at feveral Times and at feveral Places, the 
People dig Caves under this Hill to keep their Wine 
in, I could never obferve them bring out any Fragments 
of Images, Tiles, &c. but only the Remnants of Urns ; 
whence I conjedlure, that whilft the Cuftom of burning 
the Dead continued, a prodigious Quantity of earthen 
Urns were made for the common People, and as of 
NecefTity many of them mnft be broken, the Reve- 
rence they had to thofe Vejfels, that had contain’d the 
Afhes of the dead Bodies, had induced them to affign 
a certain Place for thefe Fragments to be laid up in a 
Heap, juft as we, out of ReTpedt to the Dead, preferve 
their Bones. 
Your Curiofity concerning the famous Pafquin and 
his Antagonift Marforio, I will fatisfy as well as I can : 
This Pafquin was a Taylor, a jovial fmart Fellow, at 
whofe Floufe the Newfmongers ufed to meet *, his Lam- 
poons were called Pafquinades, and thefe, as well as all 
the other Libels of the Town, were affix’d to a Statue 
which flood near his Gate : It is a mangled Statue, 
thought by fome to be a Roman Soldier -, it ftands 
leaning againft a Houfe at the Corner of a Place where 
feveral Streets meet. Pope Alexander VI. being advifed 
to throw this Pafquin into the Tiber, he anfwer’d, / 
Jhould be afraid it would turn into a Frog, and trouble me 
Day and Night with its Croaking. Marforio is likewife 
a maim’d Statue, faid by fome to be made for Jupiter, 
others for the Rhine, or for Nera, which runs by Terni : 
It ftands in one of the Courts of the Capitol ; and 
Marforio commonly asks the Queftions which are re- 
folved by Pafquin. 
You will perhaps expecfl me to relate Wonders of Ti- 
voli 2in6. Frefcati, and it is not to be denied but that they 
pleafant, or (if you will have it io)fine Places, but if 
Things are bell diftinguifhed by Way of Comparifon, 
(as for Inftance, betwixt Frefcati and Verfailles, or even 
fome other that are not Royal Seats) I dare boldly af- 
firm, that both Tivoli and Frefcati, and all the other 
celebrated Places about Rome, in refpedl to their Gar- 
dens and Waterworks, are only Toys. Frefcati is a fmall 
Town feated on the Brow of a Hill, twelve Miles from 
Rome ; it has feveral beautiful Country Seats, the three 
principal of which are, Monte Dracone, belonging to 
Prince Borghefe *, Belvedere, to the Prince Pamphilio ; 
and the Villa Ludovijia, to the Dutchefs of Guadagnola, 
the Conftable Colonnals Sifter ; all which are in Gpm- 
parifon to Verfailles the fame as Frefcati is to Rome. 
Monte Dracone is a very large Strudure, feated on an 
Afcent, from which you may fee Rome and the inter- 
jacent Plain ; but |as the City lies at too great a Dif- 
tance, and the Plain is not embellifh’d with that Va- 
riety of things which render a, Landfhip agreeable, fo 
the Profpe6l of Paris from St. Clou is infinitely more 
delightful : On the Side of Monte Porch there is much 
greater Variety in the Profped, but more ftraitned. 
The Avenues to the Houfe are but indifferent, and very 
difficult, and the Gardens and Fountains much out of 
Order. The Situation of Belvedere is near the fame 
with Monte Dracone ; it has a pretty Gafcade and a 
Grotto, where you fee Apollo with the Nine Mufes on 
Parnajfus. The chief Ornament of the Villa Ludovijia 
is the Cafcade ; but the Furniture of all thefe Houfes 
were but very indifferent. 
. Tivoli is fuch another fmall Town, about eighteen 
Miles from Rome : Here is a Country Seat belonging 
to the Duke of Modena, commonly in the Poffeffion of 
the Cardinals of that Family j it is very fpacious, but 
wants both convenient Apartments and good Furni- 
ture the beft Thing belonging to it are three Rooms 
painted in Frefco by Raphael, and fome ancient Statues : 
The Gardens, though but fmall, yet are adorn’d with 
moft dehghtful Terrafs Walks and curious Waterworks 
far beyond thofe of Frefcati, and perhaps all other Works 
of this Nature in Italy ; but at prefent, what with the 
Stoppage ot the Canals, and the Defea of the Pipes 
every Thing is fo much out of Order in this Houfe* 
that you fee only the Remains of its Beauty. This 
Sight, as well as of moft other celebrated Country 
Seats, put me in Mind, after the furprizino- Things I 
had heard concerning the Italian Waterworks, that if 
formerly they did furpafs thofe of France, the Face of 
Affairs is much altered now ; and allowing even what 
they fay of the Palace ddEfte, that the Waterworks 
coft no lefs than three millions, it is neverthelefs beyond 
all Difpute, that the Waterworks and other Beauties of 
Verfailles abundantly exceed all thofe at Tivoli The 
Cafcade or Cataraft of the River Treverona (which pro- 
duces white fmooth Flints call’d the Hailjhot of Tivolh 
m this fmall Town is very pleafant, being not very 
high. Near it you fee the Ruins of an ancient Struc- 
ture, reputed by fome to have been the Sybils Houfe bv 
others a Temple of Hercules : In the Court ftand^ two 
ancient Statues of a reddilfi Granite fpeckled with 
Black, reprefenting (according to Mr. Spon^s Opinion) 
the Goddefs Ifts, which he fuppofes to have been brought 
Uy Adrian out of Mgypt, to adorn his Country Seat 
ftilf Ages ago, and 
ftill affords moft of the Stones ufed in Romf, called 
common^ Travertin by Corruption, inftead of Tibur.. 
tm : The Front of St. PeteA^ Church is built of the 
fame, as v/ell as the Collijfeum, which is quite cover’d with 
It : The Stone is very excellent, but yellowifti and po- 
rous, and not fo ferviceable as your Portland Quarry 
and thofe of Paris and. Caen. Alexander Tajfoniin his 
Various Thoughts, fays. That fome Workmen ’ having 
cleft a great Piece of one of the Stones of Tivoli, found 
in the Middle of it, in an empty Space, a Crayjijh weicrh- 
ing four Pounds, which they boil’d and eat. Alexander 
ab Alexandro affures us, that he found a wroucrht Dia- 
mond' in the Heart of a great Piece of Marble, and at 
another Time a confiderable Quantity of fweet-fcented 
Oyl in another Piece of Marble. Baptijla Fulgofus fpeaks 
of a Worm found in the Middle of a Flint. The be- 
fore-mentioned Taffoni relates, (to fhew the Spirit of the 
Man) that a Cat ilickled a Rat at Tivoli. 
About three Miles from Tivoli we faw a fmall Lake 
called Lago de Bagni, or Solfatara, called by the Vulo-ar 
the Sixteen Barges, from the fame Number of fn?all 
floating Ifles that are upon it ; It is no more than a 
large round Pond, of about two hundred Paces diame- 
ter, the Water whereof is very tranfparent, and of a 
blueifli Colour ; it gives Rife to a fmall Rivulet which 
after a fhort but rapid Courfe, joins its Waters with 
the Anieno ; they fay the Waters of the Anieno whiten 
the Teeth. The Lake as well as the Brook emit a 
very ftrong fulphureous Scent. The late Cardinal d'EJi0 
in vain attempted to found the Depth of this Lake 
though two Divers were prevailed upon to enter into if* 
one of whom never return’d, and the other related, that 
coming at a certain Depth, he found the Water fo 
hot, that he was not able to endure it, though on the 
Surface it is very cold : The Sound caufed by the tread- 
ing of the Horfes thereabouts, makes it apparent, that 
there is a Hollownefs underneath the Ground near the 
Banks of this Lake. It is not unlikely that the Cir- 
cumference of this Lake is only the Mouth of a much 
larger Abyfs extending a great Way under-ground on 
all Sides, and chat the Diver, who was never feen again, 
happened to be carried into the fubterraneous Gulph, 
and could not find out again the Entrance of the Lake, 
for he never appeared afterwards upon the Surface of 
the Water. Near the Bank of this Lake are feen fome 
Ruins, fuppofed by many to be the Baths of Agrippa .* 
The largeft of the floating Hands is of an oval Figure, 
not above fifteen Foot long : As the leaft Touch puts 
them in Motion, fo they are eafily carried by the Wind 
which Way foever it blows. Two of our Company 
got upon the leaft of thefe Hands, and pufh’d it from 
the Bank only with the Points of their Swords. 
The Villa Borghefe is in my Opinion one of the moft 
pleafant and the beft kept of any about Rome 5 it is all 
cover' 
