588 MissoN^f Travels through the Book H, 
are fo contrived, that they are never without a kind of 
cool Breeze. The Beds are encompaffed at fome Dif- 
tance with a Curtain of Gaufe or Tiffany, which is 
joined clofe to the Boards of the Floor and Cieling 
above and below, and hinders them from being tor- 
mented with Gnats. It is alfo the Cuftom to Deep two 
Hours immediately after Dinner, but they never lie 
down, for they have a Sort of folding Chairs which 
have Backs that rife and fall with a Spring. The Ufe 
of Umbrello’s is common every where. The Serain, or 
Evening Dew, in the Camfagna di Roma, is efteemed 
mortal during three or four Months in the Summer, and 
great Care is taken to avoid it. Travellers double their 
Pace to arrive at Rome in Time, or ftay at the Diftance 
of eighteen or twenty Miles from it. I found the fol- 
lowing Verfes over the Gate of a Houfe at Rome-, they 
contain the Rules that ought to be obferved for the 
Prefervation of Health in that City, according to the 
Opinion of the Author. 
Enecat infolitos refidentis ReJJimus Aer 
Romanus 5 folitos non bene grains hahet. 
Sofpes ut hie vivas, lux feptima del medicinam 
Abfit odor feedus ; fit modicuf^ue labor. 
Relle Famam G? Frigus, Frubius, Femurqiie relinque, 
Nec placeat gelido fonte levare fitim. 
That is. 
The poisonous Air of ROME, all Strangers fear., 
Nor wholly fafe e^en thofe eftablifFd here. 
' Wouldf thou efcape ? Take Phyfick once a Week, 
III Smells avoid, nor too much Labour feek. 
Fly Hunger, Cold ; from Fruit, from Females, fly. 
Nor table Spring Water, — if you do — you die. 
You may obferve by the Way, that the Author chofe 
rather to run the Hazard of a falfe Quantity, than to 
lofe the Jingle of his four Ps ; he might have faid 
Venerem inftead of Femur, the firfl Syllable of which is 
Ihort. I have not given you an Account of the Anti- 
quity of feveral Cities, though Enquires of that Nature 
are fometimes curious ; but befides, that they require a 
great deal of Time and Labour, and have been profe- 
cuted already by very able Pens. I find that thefe Con- 
troverfies are very often Queftions only about the Pla- 
ces where thofe Cities flood, for in many of them there 
is not the lead; Remains, or any Proof of their firft 
Foundations. They have been fubjed to the fame Al- 
terations which the Veffel of the Argonaunts underwent 
of old j befides, the Sight of the Places might per- 
haps raife a Traveller’s Curiofity, but wears off by De- 
grees when they are only the Objeds of his Imagina- 
tion. . I mufttell you now I chink on’c, that in all Ita- 
ly we obferved but one Windmill, or rather the Ruins 
of one, at Leghorne. They ufe no Tin Veffels in this 
Country, becaufe of the Scarcity of that Metal ; all 
their Veffels are made of Earth leaded, or of Earthen 
Ware •, we have feen it made in feveral Places, but 
they have none that refembles China fo exadly as that of 
Delft. Whereas we place the Beginning of the natural 
Day immediately after Midnight, the Italians make it 
be»in after Sun-fetting, and their Clocks ftrike always 
four and twenty Hours, from one Sun-fetting to ano- 
ther. You may eafily perceive, that according to this 
Computation the Hour of Noon varies daily, for when 
the Sun fets at Four o’Clock according to our Calcula- 
tion, they reckon One when we count Five, and con- 
fequently it is Noon at twenty Hours *, and in like 
Manner when the Sun fets at Eight on our Dials, it is 
One o’clock with them when we reckon Nine, and it 
is juft -Noon at Sixteen Hours. Neverthelefs, with re- 
fped to the artificial Day between Sun-rifing and Sun- 
fetting, they ufe the Words Yefterday und To-morrow 
as we do. Tbit Babylonians their natural Day at 
Sun-rifing, and the J.ews at Sun-fetting, as the Italians 
do at prefent. The Inhabitants of the Province okUm- 
h'ia, xilth Ptolemy, and fome others, in former Times, 
reckoned -the Beginning of the Day at Noon, and the 
Egyptians at Midnight, as v^e do. The a.nQ\tnt Romans 
alio began the Day at Midnight, but their Hours are 
unequal. I cannot forbear acquainting you, that we 
left Rome without feeing the Pope ; there were, doubts 
lefs, fome Reafons, that would not permit him to ap- 
pear in Publick 1 and there were others that hindred us 
from paying him a Vifit. I lhall conclude this Account 
with telling you, that we bought fome modern Medals 
at Rome from the famous Hameranus, who is reputed to 
excel in that Sort of Workmanlhip. Of all the Me- 
dals we faw of Queen Chridina, this*, in my Opinion, is 
the moft heroical, and moft worthy of that great Prin- 
cefs. Her Dominions are on the Reverfe, with the 
whole Hemifphere, and this Motto, Ne mi hefogna ne 
mi bafla, I don’t want them, and they are not fufficient to 
me. Alexander the Great could ufe the laft Part of this 
Motto, but inftead of reigning over himfdf,. his Am- 
bition made him defire more Worlds. 
15. The Account we have of our Author’s Voyages, 
contains alfo the Hiftory of his Return through Swijfer-^ 
land. Part of Germany, and the Low-Councries ; but 
as we have a much better Defeription of thofe Coun- 
tries by Biftiop Burnet, who without Queftion had his 
Head better turned for writing upon fuch Sebjefils, and 
for giving his Readers ufeful and important Relations, 
rather than a bare Detail of Roads, Churches, Inns, 
Tombs, and inferiptions, we have chofen rather to 
omit the Remainder of his Travels in Hafte through 
thefe Places, and to give thofe- of that learned Prelate, 
who though he was the Author of many Books, upon 
a great Variety of Subjeds, all of which have been re- 
ceived with Applaufe, at ieaft by a great Part of the 
World, yet perhaps there are none of them that will 
do him greater Honour with Pofterity than the Letters 
he publiftied containing the Account of his Travels, 
But before we part entirely with Miffon, it may not 
be amifs to make fome few Obfervations upon his Wri- 
tings, for the Sake of doing Juftice to Truth, to our 
Readers, and to his Reputation. It muft be confefs’d, 
that there are a great Variety of curious, ufeful and en- 
tertaining Remarks to be met with in his Travels, and 
that as his Defign was to render them as ufeful as pof- 
fible to the World, fo the Pains he took for that Pur- 
pofe were very great and very laudable ; but on the 
other Hand it muft be alfo allowed, that his Method is 
very far from being fo juft or fo judicious as mio-hc 
be wiftied. ^ 
The Reader will eafily obferve, and, indeed, he con- 
feffes it himfelf, that he made but a very Ifiort Stay in 
many Places ; but then he vifited many of thofe Places 
afterwards, which gave him an Opportunity of enlar- 
ging, altering, and correffing thofe Obfervations j but 
then the Method in which he has done this is alfo none 
of the beft, for inftead of reviewing and reformino- his 
firft Book, he has inferred new Letters, Supplements, 
Differtacions, critical Difcourfes, and perpetual mar- 
ginal Notes i which fo diftrad and difturb the Narra- 
tion, that one is frequently obliged to run over his 
whole tour Volumes, in order to draw together his dif- 
per fed Accounts of the fame Thing. 
We have removed, as far as it were in our Power, this 
Difficulty in the Abridgment we have given of his 
Travels ; but without Doubt it would give a great Sa- 
tisfa6tion to the Publick, and add very mucJi to the 
Value of this Work, if, in the next Englifl) Edition of 
it, Care was taken to digeft the Whole into Chapters 
rather than Letters, to bring the feveral Notes, Differ- 
tations and Supplements into their proper Places, and 
to throw out all the unneffary Repetitions, which would 
at once reduce the Size, augment the Credit, and add 
to the Utility of the Book, which would be then much 
fuperior to any Thing of its Kind. 
We have already obferved, that in the Author’s Life- 
time his Book had been attack’d by feveral Writers, 
againft whom, however, he defended himfelf with equal 
Spirit and Succefs ; and where-ever he found him- 
felf in the Wrong, he took Care immediately to cor- 
re£f it. There were, however, fome Things in his Dif- 
pofition, which led him to write upon fome very ten- 
der Subjects, not to be touch’d even by the niceft: 
Hand, without giving Offence to great Bodies of Peo- 
ple : As for Inftance, his laying open the fuperftitious 
Follies 
