S7* Mis son’s "Tf 
Navona) is Very line. It has very fpacious Apartments 
well filled with curious Pidlures and rich Furniture. I 
faw here a Looking Glafs of Rock Cryfial, ten Inches 
long, and fix broadj in a Frame of Gold fet with pre- 
cious Stones of a confiderable Value. They alfo fhewM 
us a little earthen Difli carefully kept in a rich Frame, 
as being fuppofed to be the Work of Raphael^ and is of 
the fame Kind with the Veffels of Loretto ; but difcour- 
fing upon this SubjecT: with the noted Carlo Maratti, 
he aflured me, that Raphael never drew a Stroke on 
any of thefe Difhes, but that, by the Refemblance of 
the Way of working, fome of his Scholars painted the 
the fame, in Imitation of his Defigns. 
The Palace Barberini^ called the Paleflrina^ contain- 
ing four thoufand Chambers, is the largeft in Rome 
next to the Vatican^ and has abundance of Antiquities •, 
the little Biana^ of Oriental Alabafter, is of great Re- 
pute j the ’Tullia^ Daughter of Servius Lullius^ and Wife 
toLarquin the Proud, is very rare, and faid to be the 
only one of that Kind in Rome ; Here I alfo faw the God 
Ofiris, with his Hawk’s Head on a human Body, which 
was found with the Obelisk of Minerva, under the 
Ruins of the Temple of Ifts ; and a Marble Baft of 
Pope Urban VIII. made by a blind Man, and yet the 
beft that is extant of that Pope. The other Palace of 
Barberini, towards the four Fountains, is fill’d up with 
Rarities, Antiquities, and Curiofities of all Sorts : They 
told us, that the Library contains four thoufand Vo- 
lumes. In the Halls of the Palace Colonna you fee the 
Pidures of two Popes, Adrian I. and Martin V. two 
of the beft that ever fate in the Chair, nineteen Cardi- 
nals, and fifty four Generals, all defeended from the 
Houfe of Colonna. In this Palace are nine very fpacious 
Apartments, eight thoufand original Pi6lures, a little 
Arfenal, Bufts, antique BaJJo relievo. Statues, and rich 
Furniture, in confiderable Quantities. 
As for their Way of Building in general, I told you 
before, that they cover their Houfes with ridged Roofs, 
found out by our famous Manfard, and much prefer- 
able to fiat Roofs ; and upon this Occafion I muft in- 
treat you to lay afide that partial Opinion you feem to 
have conceiv’d of the entire Perfedion of the Roman 
Architebdure, which, as well as in other Places, varies 
according to the Difference of the Age and peculiar 
Mode of the Country, and is not always fuited to the 
Regularity and Magnificence of juft Architecture. The 
Obelisks in are quadrangular, ending in a fharp 
Point, their Angles refpeding the four Corners of the 
World, and denoting the four Elements, as the whole 
refembled the Rays of the Sun, the chief Divinity ado- 
red by the Egyptians under the Name of Ofiris. The 
Hieroglyjick Characters on thefe Obelisks, fuppofed by 
fome to have been the Elogies or Hiftories of great 
Ations, erected by the Egyptians in Honour of the 
Heroes of their Nation, have fince been clearly de- 
monftrated to contain the Secrets of their Divinity, 
Aftrology, Metaphyjicks, Magtck, and fuch other Sciences 
as were in Vogue among the Egyptians : All thefe Obe- 
lisks, (not one of them being maede at Rome) are of Gra- 
nite, a Kind of very hard Marble, which, they fay, 
will refift the Fire for a confiderable Time, and with- 
out Queftion induced the ancient Egyptians to make 
Choice of it for fuch lafting Monuments. The Obelisk 
of St. John Later an has flood three thoufand Years, 
and that of St. Peter nine hundred Years longer : The 
firft, which is the biggeft of the two, is an hundred 
and eight Foot high, without including the Pedeftal or 
the Crofs. There are alfo fome Granites of Corjica in 
this Place, but their Grain is much coarfer than thofe 
of Egypt. 
4. Since you defired me to give you my Obferva- 
tions upon what Mr. Chevreau hath alledged, in his 
Hiftbry of the World, concerning Pope Joan, I will 
write you my Sentiments upon this Head. That Gentle- 
man acknowledges. That a conjiderable Number of famous 
Authors have mention'd that Story, and pofitively afferted 
the Eruth thereof : And what Reafon, I pray, can he 
alledge, why fo many unbiafs’d Witneffes of unquef- 
tionable Credit, who unanimoufly atteft that Matter, 
ftiould not be credited ? He fays, The more judicious 
amts through the Bock O. 
and cautious Part of Mankind, relying on the Silence of 
fever al other Authors, have examined and rejected the 
fame. It is certainly a very weak Way of arguing, to 
fay, that a Thing attefled by the unanimous Voice of 
feventy or eighty Men, all of the Roman Catholick Re- 
ligion, moft of them Clergymen, and fome canoniz’d 
Saints, all which is confefs’d by the Romanics, fiiould 
be invalidated by the Silence of fome other Authors. 
But, fays Mr. Chevreau, Anaflafius the Bibliothecary 
makes no Mention of the She-Pope Joan : But this Au- 
thor, as well as Onuphrius, who alledges the fame Ar- 
gument, is miftaken. If you will be pleafed to confuk 
Mr. le Sueur\ EcclefiaCHcal Hijiory, and Colomefius's, Hi- 
^orical Mifcellanies, you will hear there of an Anaflafius 
in the French King’s Library, containing a circumflan- 
tial Account of this female Pope j befides two other 
Copies of the fame Author, feen by the great Salmafius 
at Augshourg, and another at Milan, which give an 
Account of the fame Pope Joan. Thefe before-men- 
tioned Books tell you further, that the Jefuits of Mentz, 
having only fuffer’d two Copies to be wrought off con- 
formable to the Original, (which they do not deny 
themfelves to be true) fupprefs’d what difpleafed them 
in the reft of the Edition. Upon this Occafion, I can- 
not but put you in Mind to weigh ftridtly the Audiority 
of the Teftimony of Anajiafius, (he wrote the Lives of 
the Popes to Nicholas I. the Succeffor of Benedict III.) 
who being a Man of fingular Learning, lived at Rome, 
and was Contemporary with this female Pope. 
I cannot forbear, in the next Place, to give you my 
Thoughts upon the Refieflions made by Mr. Chevreau 
on Martinus Polonus, or the Pole, Archbifiiop of Cofen- 
za, and Penitentiary to Innocent IV. and (according to 
the Opinion of fome) to Nicholas III. whom he calls a 
filly Monk ; and, I pray, for what Reafon ? Since, fays 
he, in his Ireatife of the Wonders of Rome, he mijtakes 
the Gate of Oftia or of St. Paul, and of Capenna and St, 
Sebaftian, for another which he calls Colima, inftead (as 
we may probably fuppofe) of Collatina or Pinciana, the 
Pantheon for a Temple of Cybele, and the Amphitheatre 
for a Temple of the Sun, we may the eafter forgive his 
Blunder in Hijiory when he mijlakes a Pope for a Popels. 
If this Argument holds. That fuppofmg M. Polonus had 
miftaken one Gate for another, therefore he mud take a 
Pope for a Popefs, I might with the fame Reafon re- 
tort it upon Chevreau himfelf, that fince his Reflections 
on M. Polonus are groundlefs, therefore he mftakes a Po- 
pefs for a Pope. That his Refieftions are groundlefs, 
appears, (i.) That Mr. Chevreau himfelf knew not 
that there was fuch a Gate at Rome as the Collina, when 
he fays, that Polonus took the Gate of Oftia, and the Gate 
Capena, for another which he call'd Collina, inCiead of 
Collatina, or Pinciana; it being certain Collina 
the Name of a Gate as well as Collatina, and had its 
Name d Colle ^irinali, mention’d by Ovid : 
Templa frequentari Collina proxima porta 
Nunc decet, Faft. 4. 
being now call’d (2.) The Collatina, fo 
called from the Town of Collatium, is different from 
the Pinciana, as F. Nardin hath fufficiently demonftra- 
(3O Mr. Chevreau has as little Reafon to find 
Fault with Polonus for calling the Pantheon the Temple, 
of Cybele, the fame being founded upon the Opinion of 
feveral learned Antiquaries, who believe it to have been 
confecrated by Agrippa to Jupiter the Avenger, and to 
Cybele the Mother of all the Gods, who was fometimes 
worfhipped under the Names of Ops, PBea, Vefia, Be^- 
recynthia, Bindymene ; fometimes under the Names of 
Tellus, Magna Pale, Magna Mater, and frequently ftiled 
Natura Rerum Parens. (4..) Mr. Chevreau fpeaks fq 
ambiguoufly concerning the Roman Amphitheatre, that 
his Meaning is not eafily to be underftood ; for fince 
there were feveral Amphitheatres, the Ruins of fome 
of which are ftill remaining, I fuppofe he means the 
great Amphitheatre called Collifeum, built by Vefpafian, 
and dedicated by Titus. (5.) It is certainly too great 
an Abfurdity to believe, that Polonus could miftake this 
Collifeum for the Temple of the Sun ; which makes me 
imagine^ 
