Cilap. III. Greatefl Part of lTAh Yi. 5S9 
Follies of die Papifts, the Artifices of their Priefts, the 
Credulity of the common People, and the Injuries done 
to the Chriftian Religion by fuch Praftices on the ohe 
Hand, and Bigottry on the other. 
He has been condemned for this as a Very partial 
Writer by the Romanijis, which is natural enough, but 
he has not been refuted. It is no Wonder at all, that 
in the Reign of King James II. when the Papifts thought 
themfelves fecure of reviving their Religion in England, 
Men firmly attached to the Proteftanc Caufe fliould like- 
wife fhew their 2eal ; and it was ftill the more excufable 
in Mr. MiJJbn, as he had been very lately banifh’d out of his 
native Country on the Score of Religion. The learned 
Father Lahat cannot forgive him the Pains he has- ta- 
ken to reftore the Credit of the Pope or Popefs Joan. 
He fays very truly upon that Subjeft, that feveral learn- 
ed Proteftants have given it up befides David Blondel, 
fuch as Chamier, Du Moulin and Bochart i But what 
then ? Can there be a clearer Anfwer given to this than 
that which Mr. MiJJbn has given, viz. That this Story was 
written and believed for many Ages by the Papifts 
themfelves ? We may add to this, that it would be no 
difficult Task to fhew, that fome very learned Papifts 
ftill believe it. 
Mifon has very honeftly and very ingenuoufly con- 
fefled, that the Facft is of no great Importance with re- 
fpe6l to any religious Difpute 5 and furely this was as 
much as could be expefted from him, and is a very 
great Mark of his Impartiality.. With regard to his Ar- 
guments, there has been little or nothing faid againft 
them j and I am perfuaded that it would be a very dif- 
ficult Matter to overturn them. The fame Writer, I 
mean Father Labat, is very angry with him about the 
Sella Jlercoraria, or Clofe-ftool Chair,but he does not con- 
tradid him with refped to the Fed, he only fays it is 
a Kind of Clofe-ftool, and that the Ufe of it was to put 
the Pope in Mind that his Exaltation to that Dignity 
did not releafe him from the Infirmities incident to hu- 
man Nature. This he gives us as his Opinion, and a very 
probable Opinion it is, but I do not fee why MiJJbn was 
not as much at Liberty to give us his Sentiment upon 
the fame Subjed, more efpecially as he gives his Au- 
thorities, which very plainly prove, that what he thought 
upon this Point was once the common Opinion of the 
Romanijis themfelves, and therefore it is hard to, alfign 
a Caufe for blaming him upon this Head. 
It muft however be obferved, that Lahat, in many 
other Places, commends the Travels of MiJJon, and is 
only in Pain, that an Author who wrote fo well, fhould 
treat various Subjeds in fuch a Manner, as to expofe 
the Caufe which he found himfelf bound to efpoufe, 
and at the fame Time he has himfelf taken the Liberty 
to treat very freely the ridiculous Superftitions of the 
Italians •, and if with all his Refped for their Faith he 
has ufed this Freedom, one cannot help being furprized 
that he fhould take it ill, that a Proteftant Writer car- 
ried his Remarks a little farther,., and much more that 
he fhould charge him with Impiety, fince throughout 
his whole Book there is Nothing that has the leaft Ten- 
dency that Way j and upon many Occafions he fhews 
himfelf very ready to refute vulgar Prejudices, and to do 
juftice to the Papifts. As for Inftance, he allows that 
ihey are very far from having a Spirit of Perfecution in 
Italy, and that he never knew them carry their Refent- 
ment farther againft Proteftants, than faying they were 
not found Chrijlians . , 
The Hiftorical Remarks he has given us are, gene- 
rally fpeaking, very corred as well as curious, though 
now and then he falls into Miftakes ; as for Example, 
when he fays that Franefort has an Univerfity ereded by 
the Houfe of Brandenbourg, he is fpeaking there of 
Franefort upon the Maine ; but the Univerfity he means 
is at Franefort upon the Oder. It is no Wonder at all that 
in fuch a Multitude of critical Remarks, he fhould now 
and then be guilty of an Overfight. He retained all 
his Life a fincere Love for his Country, which difeovers 
itfelf frequently in his Writings, more efpecially in pre- 
ferring thePalaces and Gardens of France to thofe of Italy. 
There might, perhaps, in this, be a little Partiality, 
and yet, generally fpeaking, he is in the right, and the 
\:o :l. II. N UMB. 109. 
Noife which the Italians have made about the Wondefg 
that are to be found in their Country, might well enough 
deferve the critical Remarks he has made upon them^ 
As for his Digreffions with Refped to Natural Hifto- 
ry, they may very Well be. regarded as the moft curiouS 
Pieces in his Work, and are fo allowed to be by the beft 
Judges. His Conjedures in relation to the Formation 
of Shells in Mountains, and other Places at a Di- 
ftance from the Sea, arc very judicious as well as highly 
probable. We may fay the fame Thing with regard 
to the Curiofities of this Country, and particularly what 
he has inferred in Relation to the Faranfula, about which 
however there have been very warm Difputes j but he 
lays down nothing but from Authority, and therefore 
is not at all interefted in the Event of thofe Difputes, fo 
that his Charader cannot fuffer in the Judgment of the 
Learned, however they may be at laft determined. 
As he mentions only fuch Curiofities as came in his 
Way, and he had an Opportunity of vifiting, exami- 
ning and enquiring, we need not wonder at his Silence 
as to many curious Particulars. As for Example, that 
we may conclude this Sedion with fomething more en- 
tertaining than dry Remarks, let us mention one, GroF 
ta dei Serpi is a fubterraneous Cavern, near the Village 
of SaJJa, eight Miles from the City of Eraccano in Italy, 
deferibed by Kircher thus : 
The Gr'otta dei Serpi is big enough to hold two 
Perfons ; it is perforated with feveral ftftular Apertures, 
fomewhatin the Manner of a Sieve, out of which, at the 
Beginning of the Spring Seafon iffue a numerous Brood 
of young Snakes of divers Colours, but all free from 
any particular poifonous Quality. In this Cave they 
expole their Lepers, Paraliticks, and elephantiack 
Patients, quite naked, where the Warmth of the fub- 
terraneous Steams refolving them into Sweat, and the 
Serpents clinging varioufly all around, licking and fuck- 
ing them, they become fo thoroughly freed of all their 
vicious Humours, that upon repeating the Operation for 
fome Time, they become perfedly reftored. 
This Cave Kircher vifited himfelf, and found it warm^ 
and every Way agreeable to the Defeription given of it : 
He faw the Holes, and heard a clamerous hilling Noife 
in them, though he miffed feeing the Serpents, it not 
being the Seafon of their creeping out ; yet he faw a 
great Number of their Emvice or Sloughs, and an Elm 
growing hard-by laden with them. The Difeovery of 
this Cave was by the Cure of a Leper going from Rome 
to fome Baths near this Place, who lofing his Way, 
and being benighted, happened upon this Cave, and 
finding it very warm, pulled off his Cloaths^ and being 
weary and lleepy, had the good Fortune not t6 feel 
the Serpents about him, till they had wrought his 
Cure. 
One might fufpeft, that our curious Traveller had 
not heard of this Curiofity, which, by the Way, is now 
totally loft, and loft by the ftrangeft Means in the 
World, other wife one could hardly think he would have 
omitted it. But we will repair that Miftake from, the 
Works of his Antagonift Father Labat, who traveled 
through Italy twelve or fourteen Years later than Mifjbni 
and vifited this Cave in Perfon % but it had then loft 
its Virtue and its Serpents, as he affures lis in the fol- 
lowing Manner. 
It was found necefiary, in order to difpofe the Pa- 
tients quietly to endure the Operation neceffary to their 
Cure, to compofe them by a Dofe of Opium, and, for 
this, Recourfe was had to the Phyficians, who per- 
ceiving that their Bufinefs was much leffened by this 
new Method, fo that Mfculapius was in Danger of be- 
ing devoured by his own Serpent, they refolved to out- 
do the Cave, and to prevent fuch Patients from having 
any Difeafes for the Future. In Ifiort, they gave fo 
much Opium to their Patients that were fent to the 
Grotto, that they not only lay ftill for a Nighty but 
for ever. 
This Scheme, though well laid, did not take, the 
People continued obftinate, and were refolved rather to 
truft the Serpents than the Doflors. They took there- 
fore their Opium at home, and the Cures were as fre- 
quent and as effectual as ever. The Phyficians had then 
7 L Recourfs 
