Chap. IIL Greateft Part of Ir khY. 5S7 
awaVj and, after a few Days of Torment, expire, if 
they ^be not afllfted in Time. They find fome Relief 
by Sweating and Antidotes, but Muftck is the great and 
fpecifick Remedy. A learned Gentlemen of unquefti- 
onable Credit told me at Rome, that he had been twice 
a Witnefs both of the Difeafe and of the Cure* They 
are both attended with Circumftances that feem very 
ftran«e ; but the Matter of Fad is well attefted, and 
undeniable. I think I could produce natural and eafy 
Reafons to explain this Effed of Mufick •, but without 
engaging myfelf in a DifTertation that would carry me 
too far, I fhall content myfelf with relatiag fome other 
Inftances of the fame Kind : Every one knows the 
Efficacy of David's Harp to reftore Saul to the Ufe of 
his Reafon. I remember Lewis Guyon, in his Leffons, 
has a Story of a Lady of his Acquaintance, who lived 
one hundred and fix Years without ever ufing any other 
Remedy than Mufick ; for which Purpofe fhe allowed 
a Salary to a certain Mufician, whom fhe called her 
Phyfician *, and I might add, that I was particularly ac- 
quainted with a Gentleman, very much fubjed to the 
Gout, who infallibly received Eafe, and fometimes was 
wholly freed from his Pains by a loud Noife. He ufed 
to make all his Servants come into his Chamber, and 
beat with all their Force upon the Table and Floor ; 
and the Noife they made, in Conjundion with the 
Sound of a Violin, was his Sovereign Remedy. High- 
way Robbers (about which Reports prevail lb ftrongly) 
are not more frequent or dangerous in this Country, 
than Scorpions or tarantula's, for there have not been 
any Banditti at Rome fince the Pontificate of Sixtus V. 
And I think I told you, that the Marquis del Carpio 
hath extirpated them out of Naples. I do not remem- 
ber that ever any Perfon was put to Death in all the 
Places through which we travel’d, during the Time 
we (laid in them. There is not a City, perhaps, in 
the whole World, where Executions are fo rare as at 
Venice. They who are under the Patronage of a No- 
bleman, which is a Thing very eafily obtain’d, may do 
what they pleafe ; only they mull take Care never to 
commit a Villany in a publick Place, or that may make 
too great a Noife. At our Entry into moft Cities our 
Piftols were taken from us *, but we always found them 
at the other Gate at our Departure. This is a trouble- 
fome Thing, for at the End of the Voyage the Charge 
amounts to as much as the Piftols are worth. It is not 
lawful to wear Swords either at Genoa or Lucca, but that 
Privilege is readily granted to Strangers, when they 
defire it •, and both this and the former Cuftom are 
daily declining, fo that, in all Probability, they will be 
very foon out of Date. 
The Bayonet is prohibited in Cities, but in the 
Country every one may wear what Arms he pleafes ; 
and even thofe who travel on Horfeback, oftentimes 
carry Fufees. The Stiletto's of Milan are famous, for 
they do their Work effedually. Love and Jealoufy are 
the two Furies that fhed moft Blood in Italy. The 
Italians are faid to be jealous without Reafon, and the 
kaft Sufpicion puts them into a Fit of implacable Rage. 
Not only at Venice, but every where elfe, the Girls are 
fent to Nunneries in their Infancy, and they are ufually 
married, or at leaft contra6led, without feeing their 
future Husbands ; the Girls of the loweft Rank are 
fufter’d to remain with their Parents, and for that Rea- 
fon it is not without much Difficulty that they are able 
to find Husbands. I am not fo well acquainted with 
the Cuftoms of other Places, but at Rome there are fe- 
veral Funds eftablifhed, either to marry poor Maids, or 
to confine them for ever to a Convent. Thefe Cha- 
rities are diftributed with almoft the fame Ceremonies 
that are obferved at the Minerva, which I deferibed. I 
obferved in the Churches at Rome, that in Lent the 
Women hearing Sermons, are fhut up in a Place under 
the Pulpit, with an Inclofure of well-joined Boards fix 
Foot high. There are feveral Trees and Plants in 
Italy, which grow neither in England nor, for the moft 
part, in France, unlefs perhaps in the Southern Parts of 
it. The Palm-tree is a Stranger in Italy, and rarely 
bears Fruit there. In the Garden of Simples at Pifa, 
there is a Male and Female Palm-tree planted together. 
agreeable to the ancient Error of thofe who thought 
fuch a Marriage was neceffary to make thofe Trees 
fruitful. But this is a meer Fable, for I obferved a 
Palm-tree alone full of Dates at the Villa Madame on 
Mount Mario at Romei We went to the Pope’s Chapei 
on Palm Sunday, where all the Cardinals were affembled,} 
and he who officiated for the Pope, prefented a Palm 
Branch to every one of the reft. Thefe Branches were 
almoft five Foot long, and the Leaves were woven to- 
gether into Knots of feveral Figures with great Art., 
We faw that which was fent to the Pope. All the 
Prelates and other Ecclefiafticks had alio Branches, 
which were either greater or fmaller, according to the 
Dignity of thofe who bore them ; the Laicks ufe only 
Olive Branches. In M. Badouer's Garden at Verona,^ 
there are Cyprefs-trees an hundred Foot high, and two 
hundred Years old ; the Citrons of Florence, called C?- 
dratti, are the moft excellent of all this Kind of 
Fruit. Silk- worms were brought into Italy from 
Japan and China. I have already told you, that we 
obferved feveral Sorts of Trees commonly planted in 
the Ground in Italy, which they are forced to put into 
Pots or Boxes in the colder Countries, that they may 
carry them in Winter into Green-Houfes, to pre- 
ferve them from the Rigour of the Seafon. Such are 
the Orange-trees and Lemon- trees, the Pomgranate- 
trees, the Olive-trees, the Myrtles, the Ficus Indica, the 
Caper-trees, and many others. They have commonly 
alfo the Plane-tree, the Cork-tree, the Scarlate Oak, 
the Jujub-tree, the Carob-tree, Cyprefs, Sena, Lentisk, 
The Roads are lined, in feveral Countries in Italy 
with white Mulberry-trees, for the Nouriffiment of Silk- 
worms. Thofe, who love Simples, will find enough 
to gratify their Curiofity on the Appennine Mountains 
between Loretto and Rome, and every where in the 
Alps, but they muft have more Time than we had. 
I gathered certain Sorts of Sponges on the Sea-fide 
towards terracina, of which, two were in a Manner 
rooted on very hard Flints, the reft lay loofe on the 
Shore. Thefe Sponges put me in Mind of Pumice-^ 
ftones *, and I muft not forget to tell you, that I fpent 
fome Time to no Purpofe, in fearching for thofe Stones 
on Mount Vefuvius, though it is generally faid, and even 
by very learned Men, to be full of them.. This is a 
very great Miftake, there are indeed many porous and 
calcined Stones, which have fome Refemblance to Pu- 
mice-ftones, but the Difference is foon perceived, tho* 
Pumice-ftone is a Production of Nature, and it is fo 
far from being true that they are made fo by the Fire of 
Vefuvius, or any other, that fuch a Fire would certainly 
deftroy them, as it deftroys all other Subftances that 
are within its Reach. Over-againft the Cape of Mycane 
there is a little IQand where thofe Stones grow. When 
the Sea is agitated by a Storm, it loofens and carries 
away fome of them that are fwimming, and the Wind 
drives afhore a great many fmall Pieces between Puz-^ 
zola and Cuma, efpecially towards Baja, where I have 
gathered fome that were very fine. You may then be 
affured, that there are no Pumice-ftones to be found 
about Vefuvius, and that all that you have read about 
it in the Books of Travellers and Naturalifts, ought 
to be freckoned among the groffeft popular Errors. 
The Mountains of Italy and particularly the Apennine 
Hills, abound with Metals, Mineral Waters, Cryftal, 
Alabafter, a Kind of Agate, and feveral Sorts of Mar- 
ble, but the Marble of the Archipelago has brighter Co- 
lours. The white Marble of Cararo is one of the fineft 
Sorts in Italy, and a great deal of it is tranfported to 
France. The Winter had been very long and fharp^ 
almoft all the Oranges and Citrons were frozen, and 
the Ground under the Trees was covered with them in 
the above-mentioned Places, where thefe Fruits are 
moft common. 
I obferved that they take a great deal . of Care at 
Rome to preferve themfelves from the Inconveniencies 
occafioned by the Heats which are ufually very trouble- 
fome in that Place. The People of Quality have low 
Apartments, where the Sun never appears, which are 
paved with Marble, and furniffied with Fountains and 
Water Spouts I and befideg, the Doors and Windows 
