6g6 Bijfjop B u R N E t's travels Book It 
during the Heats, and gave themfelves all the Indulgences 
that a vaft Wealth could furnifh. By one of the Pa- 
laces that was a little diftant from the Town, which 
was not overwhelmed with it, one may judge of the 
reft. It wa3 an Out-houfe of the Family of the Francken, 
and yet it may compare with many Palaces in Faly ; 
and certainly Ploufe and Gardens could not coft fo little 
as one hundred thoufand Crowns. The Voluptuoufnefs 
of this Place became very crying, and Madam de Salts 
told me, that ftie had heard her Mother often relate 
Tome Paftages of a Proteftant Minifter’s Sermons, 
preached in a little Church which thofe of that Religion 
had there, which warned them often of the terrible 
Judgments of God which were hanging over their 
Heads, and that he believed would fuddenly break out 
upon them. On the twenty-fifth of Augud, 1618, a 
Perfon came and told them to be gone, for he faw the 
Mountains cleaving *, but he was laughed at for his 
Pains. He had a Daughter, whom he perfuaded to 
leave all and go with him ; but when ftie was gone out 
of Town wnth him, ftie called to Mind that fhe had 
not lock’d the Door of a Room, in which flae had fome 
Things of Value, and fo ftie went back to do that, and 
was buried with the reft •, for at the Hour of Supper 
the Hill fell, and buried the Town and all the Inhabi- 
tants, fo that not one Perfon efcaped. The Fall of the 
Mountains fo fill’d the Channel of the River, that 
the firft News thofe of Chavennes had of it, was by the 
failing of their River ; for three or four Hours there 
came not a Drop of Water, but the River wrought for 
itfelf a new Courfe, and returned to them. I could hear 
no particular Cha rafter of the Man who efcaped, fo I 
muft leave the fecret Reafon of fo fingular a Preferva- 
tion to the great Difcovery of the laft Day. Some of 
the Family of the Francken got fome Miners to work 
under Ground, to find out the Wealth that was buried 
in their Palace ; for befides their Plate and Furniture, 
there was great Quantity of Cafii and many Jewels in 
the Houfe. The Miners pretended they could find No- 
thing i but they went to their own Country of Firol, 
and built fine Houfes, and a great Wealth appeared, of 
which no other vifible Account could be given but this, 
that they had found fome of that Treafure. The chief 
Faflors of Italy have been Grifons ; and they told me, 
that as the Trade of Banking began in Lombardy, fo 
that all Europe over a Lombard and a Banker fignified 
the fame Thing i fo the great Bankers of Lombardy 
were Grifons, and to this Day the Grifons drive a vaft 
Trade in Money •, for a Man there of a hundred thou- 
fand Crowns Eftate, hath not perhaps a third Part of 
this within the Country, but puts it out in the neigh- 
bouring States: And the Laberty of the Country is 
fuch, that the Natives, when they have made Eftates 
elfewhere, are glad to leave even Italy, and the beft 
Parts of Germatiy, and come and live among thofe 
Mountains, of which the very Sight is enough to fill a 
Man with Horror. 
From Chavennes we went for two Hours through a 
Plain to the Lake of Chavennes, which is almoft round, 
and is about two Miles Diameter. This Lake falls 
into the Lake of over-againft Fort Fuentes •, when 
we paffed, the Water was fo low, that the Boat could 
not eafily get over a Bank between the two Lakes. The 
Lake of Como is about eight and forty Miles long, and 
four board, and runs between two Ranges of Hills. I 
did not ftay long enough in Como to give any Deferip- 
tion of it. The beft Thing in it is a fine Chapel, which 
the prefen t Pope Innocent XI. who is a Native of Como, 
is building. From Como we vrent eight Miles to Code- 
laggo, belonging to the Switzers, and from thence to 
Lugane we had eight Miles on the Lake. This Lake 
doth not run in an even Current, as other Lakes that 
rife under the Alps, but the Situation of the Hills about 
it throws it into feveral Courfes. 
The Switzers have here feveral little Provinces, of which, 
during the Wars of Italy between the two Crowns, 
in Francis I. and Charles V’s Time, they pofTefted them- 
felves as a Pledge for Payment of their Arrears ; and 
they were then fuch confiderable Allies, that they made 
both the Competitors for the Dutchy of Milan court 
them by Turns, and became the peaceable Poffefibrs of 
almoft all that Tra6l that lies between the Lake of Co- 
mo to the Country of the Valejfti, or tht ValUes. The 
Inhabitants here are fo well ufed, live fo free of all 
Impofitions, and the Government is fo gentle, that I 
muft tell you another Paradox j this is the worft Coun- 
try, the leaft productive, the moft expofed to Cold, and 
the leaft capable of Trade of all Italy and yet it is by 
far the beft peopled of any that I faw in all Italy. There 
belongs to the Bailiage of Lugane alone ninety nine Vil- 
lages, of which a great many are very large, and all 
full of People. The twelve ancient Cantons have their 
Turns of all the Bailiages and other Offices here ; , but 
when it comes to the Turn of thofe of the Religion, 
their Bailiffs muft be content with private Devotions in 
their own Houfe, but can have no publick Exercifes, 
nor fo much as a Minifter in their Houfes. For here, 
as in the Valteline, v/hen the Spaniards confirmed tl^e 
Right of the Cantons, they made an exprefs Provifion, 
that no Religion, except the Popifti, Ihould be tolera- 
ted here ; fo that the Bailiff, who is the Prince, often 
hath not the free Liberty of his Religion in thefe Parts. 
The Bailiffs make their Advantages, as well as in the 
other Parts of Switzerland, yet with more Caution ; for 
they take great Care not to give the Natives any Di- 
ftafte, though the Miferies to which they fee all their 
Neighbours expofed, and the Abundance and Liberty 
in which they live, might, in all Appearance, deliver 
their Mafters from any great Apprehenfions of a Re- 
volt. A great many Mechanicks of all Sorts live in 
thefe Parts, who go all Summer long over Italy, and 
and come back hither with, what they have gained, and 
live free from all Taxes. I vv^as told, that fome Ne- 
phews of Popes, in particular the Barberini, had treated 
with the Switzers to buy this Country from them, and 
fo to ereff it into a Principality ; and that they had re- 
folved to offer twelve tlioufand Crowns to each of the 
twelve Cantons j but they found it would certainly be 
rejedled, fo they made no Propofition to the Diet of the 
Cantons, as they once intended. And it is certain, 
whenever this Country is brought under a Yoke, like 
that which the reft of Italy bears, it will be foon aban- 
doned ; for there is nothing that draws fo many People 
to live in fo bad a Soil, when they are in Sight of the 
beft in Europe, but the Eafinefs of the Government. 
18. From Lugane I went to the Lago Maggiore, 
which is a noble Lake, fix and fifty Miles long, and 
in moft Places fix Miles broad, and a hundred Fathom 
deep about the Middle of it ; it makes a great Bay 
to the Weftward, and there lie two Elands, called the 
BorronKan Iflands, which are certainly the lovelieft 
Spots of Ground in the World. There is nothing in 
all Italy that can be compared to them j they have the 
full View of the Lake, and the Ground rifes fo fweetly 
in them, that nothing can be imagined equal to the 
Terraffes here. They belong to two Counts of the 
Borromean Family. I was only in one of them, which 
belongs to the Head of the Family, Nephew to the 
famous Cardinal, known by the Name of St. Carlo. On 
ihe Weft End lies the Palace, which is one of the beft 
fin Italy for the Lodgings within, tho’ the Architedtiire 
s but ordinary. There is one noble Apartment above 
four and twenty Foot high, and there is a vaft Addi- 
tion making to it ; and here is a great Colleclion of 
noble Pieftures, beyond any Thing I faw out of Rome. 
The whole Eland is a Garden, except a little Corner to 
the South, fet off for a Village of about forty little 
Houfes. And becaufe the Figure of the Ifland was not 
very regular by Nature, they have built great Vaults 
and Portico’s along the Rock, which are all made gro- 
tefque ; and fo they have brought it to a regular Form, 
by laying Earth over thofe Vaults. There is firft a Gar- 
den to the Eaft, that rifes up from the Lake by five 
Rows of Terraffes, on the three Sides of the Garden, 
that are watered by the Lake ; the Stairs are noble, 
the Walls are all covered with Oranges and Citrons ; 
and a more beautiful Spot of a Garden cannot be feen. 
There are two Buildings in the two Corners of this 
Garden ; the one is a Mill for fetching up the Water, 
and the other is a noble Summer-houic all wamfeotted 
