Chap. III. 
Greateft Part of It Ah Y* 
they would not be apt to imagine that thefe poor 
Wretches were ufed with all imaginable Moderation, 
if it werenot manifeft from irrefragable Authority, that 
thefe Unfortunate Creatures fuffer’d all the Cruelties that 
could be invented by their implacable Enemies. Before 
I take my Leave of Pope Joan^ I cannot forbear men- 
tioning what Mezeray fays (in the Life of Charles the 
Bald) upon this Slibjed:, viz. That this Opinion was ge- 
nerally received as an undoubted fruth for five hundred 
Tears together. If you are curious to know the Reafon 
why the Ufe of this Chair is laid afide now-a-days, the 
following Epigram of Pannonius will fatisfy your Cu- 
fiofity. 
"Non poterat quifquam refer antes Mthera Claves 
Non exploratis.y fumere Tefiiculis : 
Cur igitur nojiro mos hie nunc tempore cefiat ? 
Ante probat quod fe quilibet effe marem. 
The Senfe is this : 
The facred Keys none could of old obtain 
Unlefs by Search his Manhood was made plain j 
Why does not to our Days this Rule extend ? 
More certain Signs they give e*er they pretend. 
Pafquin., in his Verfes on Paul II. and Innocent VIII. 
gives you the fame Reafon s 
Pontificis Pauli TeCles ne Roma requirasy 
Filia quam genuit^ fat docet ejfe marem. 
In Englijh : 
That Paul’j a Man Rome need no Proof require^ 
Except the Maid that calls the Pontiff Sire. 
O5lo Nocens pueros genuit., totidemque puellaSy 
Nunc merit 0 poteris die ere Rom^ palrem. 
That is. 
Eight BoySy eight Girls., begot *, He well may claim, 
Tho* not a holy, yet a Father’^ Name. 
The Church of St. fohn Eater an is celebrated for its 
fpacious Magnificence, and the Title fhe bears of The 
Head and Mother of all Churches^ according to the In- 
feription engraven on the Portico ; 
Dogmate Papalf datur fimul Imperiali 
Ut ftm cunbiarum mater Ecclefiarum. 
Sixtus V. built a large Palace near this Church, but it 
■was never inhabited. Next adjoining to this Strudure is 
the Sanbia Scala., fo called from the twenty eight Steps of 
white Marble, pretended to be the lame by which Chrift 
sifcended into Pilate s Houle, which no body is permit- 
ted to afeend but kneeling, though there are two little 
Stairs, on each fide one, by which every one is per- 
mitted to walk up into the Chapel called Sanbia Sanc- 
torum.^ or the Holy of Holies.^ except W^omen, who are 
forbid to enter there. It has this Name from an Image 
of Chrift, which, they fay, was made by Angels :°I 
faw it, and can afllire you it is very ill-fhapen, and very 
unworthy of the pretended Workmen. 
From hence we pafled by St. Mary major, a fump- 
tuous Fabrick. A certain devout Roman Lord being 
warn’d in a Dream to go to Mount Efquilin, and there 
to build a Church to the Honour of the Mother of God, 
in the Place where he Ihould find Snow ; and Pope Li- 
lerius having at the fame Time fuch another Vifion, 
they walk d thither the next IVIorning j and notwith- 
Handing it was then in Anno 355, they found 
Snow, which they removed with their own Hands, and 
laid the Foundation of a Church in that Place. * The 
Chapel of Sixtus V. the Work of Dominick Fontana, 
which coft feven hundred thoufand Roman Crowns* 
and of Paul V. are very magnificent Struftures ; in the 
laft of which they ftiew you the Manger of Bethlehem 
and the Pifture of the Virgin done by St. Luke. Near 
^ftands the little Church of Sc. Anthony, where all the 
riorfes of the City receive Benediflion every Year on 
that Saint’s Feftival. Soon after we took a Turn to 
Cafiel Gondolfo, fixteen Miles from Rome, a Palace be- 
longing to the Pope, but has little remarkable in it, 
IL * N U M B. 108. 
About a Mile from this Caftle we faw the little Town 
of Alhano, where in former Ages ftood the famous City 
of Alba, which, they fay, extended from the Lake of 
Cafiel Gondolfo. to this Town of Albano j but this iS 
a Matter of Fa6f, queftion’d by fome. 
We were ftievvn at Albano the Ruins of a Maufoleemn 
not unlike an old Tower, called commonly the Tomb 
of Afeanius, but with the fame Uncertainty. There is 
another very ancient Tomb near Albano, fuppofed to 
be the Sepulchre of the two Horatii, and the three Cu- 
riatii, occafion’d, queftionlefs, by the five Pyramids 
(landing on this Tomb ; but Livy exprefly contradiift^ 
this Opinion, viz. that their Sepulchres were ereefted 
in the fame Places where each of them expired, viz. 
thofe of the Horatii near Alba, and thofe of the Curiatii 
not far from Rome. They told us that the Lake of 
Cafiel Gondolfo was fix or feven Miles in Circumference^ 
enclofed on all Sides with riling Grounds in the Form 
of an Amphitheatre. In two Places the Depth of this 
Lake cannot be founded, and fometimes the Waters of 
this Lake fwell on a fudden to the very Brink of thefe 
high Banks, occafion’d, without doubt, by fome fub-» 
terraneous watery Receptacles which difeharge them- 
feJves into it. Near Genfana, about half a Mile from 
this Lake, is another little one, called by the Mo- 
derns the Lake of Nemi, but by the Ancients Speculum 
Diana, from a Grove and Temple confecrated to that 
Goddefs, which formerly were very near the Banks of 
this Lake. 
Between Albano and Cafiel Gondolfo are to be feeii 
the Ruins of an ancient Amphitheatre •, and We were 
not a little furpriz’d to fee feveral large Trees, that had 
taken Root without, to have forc’d their Paffage thro’, 
and cleft afunder the beft cemented Stone and Brick. 
The Country about Albano and Genfana is very fertile^ 
affording the beft Wines and Fruits, and the Inhabitants 
ftill hold their moft ancient Cuftom of cultivating 
Leeks and Onions ; Mittit pracipuos nemoralis Aricia por-. 
ros. Mart. Before I leave the Roman Palaces, I muft 
tell you alfo fomething of thofe within the City, which. 
I will do with all the Brevity that is poffible. 
At the Palace Juftiniani there is a Catalogue of An-’ 
tiquities of 1867 Pieces, and of 638 curious Pictures, 
the moft excellent of which are, the Neroh Head, the 
Minerva, Venus coming out of a Bath, ind the three 
little Cupids fleeping and leaning one upon another. 
Cardinal Chigds Palace is Icarce inferior to any in 
Rome, the Gates are over-crufted with an old green 
Marble : The Statues of the two Venus* s, of Marfias 
flea’d, and of the dying Gladiator, are admirable Pieces^ 
The Farnefian Palace was begun by Antonio de S. Gallo, 
but brought to Perfeflion by the famous Michael Angelo I 
the Front being in Breadth one hundred and eighty 
Foot, and ninety Foot high. The Gates, Corner- 
pieces, Crofs-bars of the Windows, Cornilh, and in 
fliort, all the principal Stones of this beautiful Struc- 
ture, were the Spoils taken from the great 
which admirable Monument of Antiquity has furnifti’d 
Materials alfo not only to the Palace of the Chancery 
and St. Lawrence*^ Church, but alfo to fome Part of the 
City Walls. Thus Innocent VIII. deftroyed the Gordian 
Arch to build a Church ; and Alexander VI. that 
moft beautiful Pyramid of Sciplo, to pave the Streets 
with the Stone§. 
The Marble Steps to the Church of Ara Cceli be^' 
long’d formerly to the Temple of Romulus : St. Blaife*% 
Church owes its Ornaments to the Spoils of the Tem- 
ple of Neptune, as S. Nicholas of the Souls was built 
out of the Ruins of the Circus Agonalis ; and had 
it not been for Sixtus V. we might now look in 
vain for any of the precious Remnants of Antiquity 
in Rome. ^ t 
T*he H^ercules and Bull in the Farnefian Palace are ce- 
lebrated throughout the World j and the Gallery by 
Caracchio, the Half by Salviati, and the Venus and Ado- 
nis by Titian, are alfo excellent Pieces. The Li^ 
brary in the ol Altieri contains a good Numbejf 
of the beft Books. The whole Staircafe, and efpe- 
cialJy the Statue of a Captive King at the Foot of 
it, (found five hundred Years ago in the Place called 
7 F Navona) 
