Chap. III. 
Greateft ’Part 0/ I T A L 
Legacies, &c. into their Coffers, Part of which they 
know how to employ to other Ufes. According to 
an Infcription in Gold Letters, engraved on a Piece of 
Marble in the fame Church, one John Peter Corcannis, 
a Native of Milan, left by his Will the Sum of 230,000 
Crowns of Gold, toward the Building and Adorning 
the Front of this Church, which, neverthelefs, remains 
to this Day almoff naked. There may, perhaps, alfo 
be another Reafon why the fame is not finihi’d ; for 
confidering that there are two Sorts of Architedlure in 
that Part of it which is already begun, it feems as if the 
Undertakers were not a little puzled how to reconcile 
the Uniformity of the Architefture to the Gothick Struc- 
ture of the whole Body of the Church. 
Martin the Fifth’s Statue ftands in the Choir of this 
Church, without a Beard, and a very young Face, tho’ 
Re was near fifty Years old when he was chofen Pope ; 
the Infcription fays, it exceeds Praxiteles : 
Prajiantis Imaginis author, 
T)e Pradate fuit Jacobinus in arte profundus^ 
Non Praxitele minor, fed major, farier aufim. 
Near it is the Statue of Pius IV. Behind the Choir 
are two Marble Tables, containing a Catalogue of all 
the Relicks preferved in this Church, among which is 
a Piece of Mofes^s Rod, though at the fame Time they 
pretend to have it entire at St. John de Lateran's,. Be- 
iidcs this Piece, there is another preferved at Florence, 
and Baronius fays another was found at Sens 1008. On 
the great Altar you fee the Nail of the Crucifixion, 
of v/hich it is faid Conjlantine made a Bit for a Bri- 
dle 5 five Lights burn conftantly round it Day and 
Night. 
The Pavement of this Cathedral is more curious and 
more folid than that of St. PeteP^ at Rome, the Marble 
tvhereof being very tHiuj is almoffc worn out. The 
whole Charge of this Pavement ( when finifhed) is com- 
puted at 66,290 Crowns, not including the Choir. 
We had from the Steeple of this Church a full View of 
Milan, befides other Cities in the Plain of Lombardy, 
and the Conjundion of the Alps and Apennines near 
Genoa. The great Bell, called Sr. Ambrofe, is feven Foot 
in diameter, and weighs thirty thoufand Pounds. In the 
^reat Square before the Church we obferved generally 
about thirty Coaches ; but their ordinary Pour d la Mode 
is a fpacious unpaved Street, (called Strada Marina) 
fprinkled every Day with Water. 
The Amhrojian Library obtained its Name from be- 
ing dedicated to St. Ambrofe, by Frederick Borromeo 
Archbifiiop of Milan. A certain Author, in his De- 
fcription of this Library, printed at Portona, makes the 
Number of its MSS. amount to 12,000, and the print- 
ed Volumes 72,000 ; but the Library-keeper told us, 
there were not above 40,000 in all. Among the firft, 
Ruffims’’s Verfion of Jofephus challenges the Precedency 
for its Antiquity. The great Hall is feventy five Foot 
long, and thirty broad ; it is kept open two Hours in 
the Forenoon, and as many in the Afternoon. Among 
other Rarities, we were Ihewn a large Volume of me- 
chanical Draughts, done, as they faid, by Leonardo da 
Vincih own Hand ; the Writing is fo bad, that it is 
not to be read without a Perfpe6live-glafs. An In- 
fcription on the Wall near it tells you, that a King of 
England offered three thoufand Piftoles for it, but men- 
tions not his Name. In the Academy for Paintino-, 
adjoining to this Library, we faw a Piffure of cfe- 
mentjK._ refembling a Print fo exablly, that we were all 
deceived in it. The Cittadel is a regular Hexagon For- 
tification, well faced, and ftrengthen’d with*^a good 
Ditch and Counterfcarps. The principal Strudures, 
befides the Churches and Convents are, the two Palaces 
of the Governor and Archbifiiop, the Houfes of Mar- 
quis Homodeo, Count Barth. Arefe, and Signior MartinL 
The Seminary (founded by Charles Borromeo) has a 
double Portico 176 Foot three Inches long, and 16 
Foot 10 Inches and a half broad, extending round the 
mfide of the great fquare Court ; the firft Order is 
Jjoric, the fecond Ionic. Over the high Portal you 
fee the Statue of Piety. The Pownhoufe the Great 
Hofpital, the great Court of which is 1^0 Paces fquare, 
about the Infide whereof are two Rows of Portico’s, 
fupported on each Side by forty two Pillars of a certain 
Kind of Marble found in the Alps, each Pillar confift- 
ing of one fingle Piece of Stone. The Body of the 
Strudure is of Brick j the old Hofpital is united with 
it, but the Lazaret or Hofpital for infeded Perfdns lies 
about three, hundred Paces without the City ; Bramante 
was the Archited. This large Strudure is com- 
pofed of four Galleries joined in a Square, each of 
which contains ninety two Chambers., about twenty 
four Foot broad ; fo that the whole Length of each 
Gallery /including the WallsJ amounts to eighteen 
hundred Feet. The Infide is furrounded with a Portico 
fuftained by Marble Pillars, and the Square within is a 
Meadow, water’d by feyeral Springs and Brooks, in the 
Middle of which ftands an Altar under a Dome, flip- 
ported by Pillars, by which Means the Sick may fee 
Mafs faid from their Chambers. 
The Church of St. Ambrofe hath many Statues and 
Pidures, which were the Produdion of the ignorant 
Ages : Among the reft, you fee here a Dragon of 
Brafs, refting upon a Column of Marble ; fome think 
it to be the Serpent of jFfculapius, others an Emblem 
of the Serpent in the Defart ; but the common Opinion 
is, that this Dragon was caft out of the Fragments of 
that Serpent ; which niakes many Pilgrims flock thither 
to W'orfiiip it, as BoJJi and Charles Lorre affure us by 
their own Experience. In the Church of St. Eubforgia 
they fiiew ftill the Tomb that contain’d the Bodies of 
the three Kings that w^ere afterwards removed to Cf9- 
logne ; they pretend, that it retains to this Day a certain 
Virtue of curing Diftempers *, for it is to be obferved, 
that the Inhabitants of the Milanefe are not behind- 
hand with the reft in magnifying their Relicks, of 
which they have Abundance, for at St. AlexandePs there 
are nq lefs than 144,000 Martyrs of the Catacombs of 
St. Sebajiian. 
The chief Curiofities made in Milan are Works of 
feveral Sorts m Steel and Rock-Cryftal, with which they 
are furnifh’d by the neighbouring Alps ; of the largeft 
Pieces they make Looking-glaffesj but they are feldom 
above a Foot fquare. It is to the Curiofity of their 
Workmanfhip that fome attribute the Original of the 
old Proverb, viz. He that wifloes well to Italy, mufi de- 
iiroy ^ Milan : meaning, that thereby its Riches would 
be difperled through the whole Country ; though fome 
explain the fame Proverb of the fatal Wars that have 
aiftided Italy on the Account of this City, it having 
been forty Times befieged, and two and twenty Times 
taken. The Houfe of the Marquis of Simonetta, two 
Miles without the City, hath an Eccho which repeats 
the laft Syllable about forty Times i V\fe heard it in 
a cover’d Gallery in one of the Wings of the Build- 
ings, where the Eccho anfwering from the other Wing, 
we found the. Sound to decreafe like the Reboundings 
of an Ivory Ball. 
In our Way from Milan to Pavia (which is only fif- 
teen Miles) we went to take a View of the famous 
Convent in the Plain of Barco, founded by John Ga- 
leazzo Vifconti firft Duke of Milan. The Church is of 
a Gothick Architedure, but the Chapels and Altars not 
inferior to any in the Cloyfters are wonderfully 
handfome, and the Gardens, Parks, Brooks, and Ave- 
nues exceeding delightful ; it contain’d then about fifty 
eight .Friers, who lived there very delicioufly. The 
once famous, but now inconfiderable, City of Pavia is 
fo much fallen from its ancient Luftre, that its poor Re- 
mains bear fcarce any Refemblance to what in ancient 
Times its Buildings were, when the Metropolis of a 
Kingdom, and the Refidence of no lefs than twenty 
Monarchs, the Caftle being now no more than an old 
Heap of Stone, and the Fortifications quite neglefted. 
The Univerfity (founded by Charlemain, and re-eftab- 
lifiied by Charles IV.) is not much better than the Town 5 
it hath, however, five Colleges, among which that of 
Borromeo is worth taking Notice of, for the Beauty of 
its Strucfture j the Scholars of every College wear dif- 
ferent Gowns ; which Diftinftion is of great Service. 
The Cathedml is a low, dark, and very old Edifice 5 
over- 
