y 
I 
A 
568 M I s s o n’j Travels. 
the transfiguration, which is the lafl: Work and Mafter- 
piece of RaphaellJrhin the greateft Painter of his Time. 
Not far from thence ftands the Chapel, built in the 
fame Place, as they believe, where St. Peter was cruci- 
fied ; for which Reafon they fliew a deep Hole in the 
Chapel, where they affirm the CrofS was fix*d. The 
Pi( 5 lure 6f this Crucifixion, with the Head downwards, 
is to be feen at St. Paulas at the three Fountains, by the 
Hand ot Guido *, where they alfo fliew you the Pillar, 
on which, they fay, St. Paul was beheaded. In the 
Cloyfter of St. John de Lateran they fliew the Column 
on which St. PetePs Cock crew ; and another, which, 
they tell you, was cleft afunder from the Top to the 
Bottom, on the Day of ChrifPs Paflion : Here you fee 
alfo the Meafure of Chriil’s Height, and the Stone on 
which Pilateh Soldiers call Lots for ChrifPs Garments ; 
it is of Porphyry, four Foot long, and three broad ; 
the Dice they pretend to be kept at Umhriatico in Gala‘S 
bria, I will not trouble you with many other Curiofities 
pretended to be preferved here, but cannot forbear to 
mention the Chair I faw there, being a kind of arm’d 
Chair of one Angle Piece of Porphyry, about which 
you defire to be inform’d, as being that which was for- 
merly made ufe of in the Ceremony inftituted to pre- 
vent all , Doubts concerning the Pope’s Sex. 
I will not be too curious to enquire into the Reafon 
, and End of that Search, but fince you have given me 
fufficient Occafion to make the befl; Refledions I can 
upon the Subjed of the She-Pope, I mull frankly con- 
fefs, that I have not hitherto met with the leaft Solidity, 
either in your Objedions, or any made by others, 
againft the Truth of this Hiftory ; though I am not 
ignorant that fome Protestant as well as Roman CathoUck 
Dodors of the lafl; Ages, have rejeded the fame as a 
Fable. For, what Reafon can be given to rank this 
among many other extraordinary Events recorded in Hi- 
ftory, when feventy or eighty Authors {Blonde! fays feven- 
ty one Greek and Latin, fome too canoniz’d Writers) all 
Men of Senfe, not prompted either by Interefi: or Ho- 
nour, have related the fame at divers Times ; nay, when 
the Interefl; of Religion, and Fear of Punifliment, 
might, in all Likelihood, rather have deterr’d them from 
publiffiing the fame i It is a very flender Objedion to 
alledge the Difficulty of the Thing, the fame not be- 
ing fufficient to difprove a Matter founded upon fo un- 
queffionable Authority, efpecially if we give fome AF 
iowance for the Diverfity of Times, it being certain, 
that People living then in an Age of Ignorance and 
Stupidity, they might be fooner impos’d upon than in 
this crafty Age ; befides, that Things which feem’d to 
be involv’d in infurmountable Difficulties, have never- 
thelefs been brought about by Time and Chance ; wit- 
nefs Joan of Arc, known by the Name of the Maid of 
Orleans, born in the Village of Damremy, in the Year 
1429, who at the Age of eighteen or twenty, from a 
poor Shepherdefs, became at once a great General : Be- 
fides, the Difficulties objeded by our Adverfaries are of 
fuch a Nature, as cannot render this Hiftory fabulous, 
all the Circumftances attending the fame, being, if 
not altogether probable, or at leaft within the Com- 
pafs of PolTibility. 
The beardlefs Chin objeded to her Holinefs is of little 
Validity, when we confider that the papal Chair has at 
«)ther Times been filled with beardlefs Youths, witnefs 
Benedidl IX. and John XII. the firft of whom was chofe 
at ten or eleven, and the lafl; at eighteen Years of Age. 
Perhaps this She-Pope might be of the Number of thofe 
Viragoes, who have not only a mafculine Mien and 
Beard, but alfo the Courage and other Qualifications of 
great Men ; and why might not fuch a one, in Difguife, 
have as fair a Fretenfion to the papal Chair as a beg- 
ging Vagabond, fuch as Adrian IV. or a Swineherd, 
like Sixtus V •, iind others who might be mentioned ? 
But, fay they, how could a Woman hide her great 
Belly fo long, and at laft expofe herfelf to the Danger 
of being deliver’d in a folemn Proceflion ? As to the 
firft Part of your Objedion, What Difficulty is there 
for a that is taken for a Man to hide her great 
Belly, any more than for a Man that has a fwell’d 
“^elly to be imagined to be with Child ? And a§ to the 
pretended Imprudence of om She.Pope, it is to be con- 
fider d, that certain Things in this W^orld are involv’d 
in fuch Difficulties as muft be overcome at' any Rate, 
maugre all the Danger that attends them ; befides that’ 
it is no hard Matter to fuppofe that ftie might be deli- 
ver’d before her Time^ 
You alledge the different Calculations of the Time, 
but the Reafon is obvious, thofe who have expung’d the 
Popefs^^ Name out of the Catalogue of Popesf being 
forced to extend the Reigns of the preceeding Popes, to 
fill up the Breach they made themfelves. ^The next 
Objedion, concerning her Voyage to Athens, when fhe 
was but a young Scholar, is founded upon a frivolous 
Suppoficio'n, which I may foon anfwer, by telling you, 
that perhaps fhe was old enough to be admitted amon<? 
the Auditors of the Philofophers ; befides thag 
it is not all the Authors who mention her, fpeak of 
her ’going to Athens : And though from thefe various 
Relations of my Authors you may feem to hope for an 
Advantage on your Side, I muft tell you, that even in 
facred^ Hijiory there are not wanting Inftances of Varia- 
tions in Circumftances of this Nature, and that thefe 
Variations, provided they do not amount to Contra- 
didions, do not in the leaft weaken, but rather ftrength- 
en the Credit of fuch a Relation •, for had there been a, 
Combination fet on Foot on Purpofe to ufher a fabu- 
lous Story, as that of Pope Joan is pretended to be, they 
would have certainly agreed in all the Circumftances re- 
lating to the Story. 
_ The ftrongeft Argument (in your Opinion) againft us, 
is the Silence of thofe Authors v/ho were Contempo- 
raries of Pope Joan ; but you will find this as weak as 
the reft, if you confider that Marianaus Scotus, viho 
died at Fulda in Germany, 1086 j Sigebert a learned 
Monk, who died in the Beginning of the twelfth Cen- 
tury, and divers other more ancient Authors, did in all 
Probability take it from thofe Authors that had men- 
tioned the fame before them, there being not the leaft 
Likelihood that they invented it, for the Reafons before- 
mentioned : Befides, Jet me tell you, your Argument is 
built upon a wrong Bottom ; for the Editions of Anafi 
tqfms (furnamed the Bibliothecary, who was a Roman 
Abbot, a Perfbn of Learning, and Contemporary of 
Pope Joan) which have efcaped Caftration, g'lve a very 
circumftandal Account of the whole Matter. But fup- 
pofe they did' not, what Wonder is it, if Fear and Shame 
did impofe Silence to the Writers of that Age, when 
the Invention of Printing was unknown as yet in the 
World, which could not be kept fecret afterwards ? As 
we fee that the worft of Princes have been flattered du- 
ring the Age they liv’d in, whom afterwards Pofterity, 
not cow’d by Fear, hath painted in their true Colours. 
I can’t fee why the Church of Rome fliould make fuch a 
Stir to hide this Difgrace, when Baronius beftows the 
Title of Monjiers upon feveraJ other Popes, and not 
without Reafon, confidering the Enormities the Popes 
have been guilty of, in diftributing Scepters, and tread- 
ing crown’d Heads under their Feet, notwithftanding 
they retain’d the Quality of Priefts ; and what is worfe 
than all the reft, to fet a certain Rate of Abfolution 
upon the moft abominable Crimes that can be commit- 
ted, as appears from the Book entituJed, Fhe Rates of 
the Apoflolical Chamber, which I bought fome Days ago. 
It is true, they have fince endeavoured to fupprefe the 
Book, by inferting it in Index Expurgatorius of the 
Council of Trent, but continue neverthelefs in felling 
their Difpenfations. 
I— — — Venalia nobis, 
Templa, Sacerdotes, Altaria, Sacra, Coronas 
Ignis, Thura, Praces, Ccelum ejl venale, Deufque. 
i- e. B. Mant. 
Priejls, Temples, Altars, all with us are fold. 
Fire, Incenfe, Prayers, Heaven, God himfelf for Gold, 
I will appeal to all unbiafs’d Perfons, when once Po- 
fterity fliall read the Hiftority of the Perfecution of 
France, as reprefented by Maimbourg, Varillas, the Bi- 
fhop of Meaux, and others of the fame Stamp, I fay,, 
when they fliall read the fame in thefe Authors, whether 
they 
