Chap. III. through S w i s 
infufed into their Penitents, that they may communi- 
cate as they find themfelves difpofed, without going 
firft to Gonfeflion *, which they thought weakened the 
Yoke whereby the Priefts fubdue the Confciences of 
the People to their Condudl •, yet he was much fupport- 
ed both in Naples and in Sicily, and had many Freinds 
and Followers at Rome. So the Jefuits, as a Provincial 
of the Order afifured me, finding they could not ruin 
him, got a great King^ that is now extremely in the 
Interefts of their Order, to reprefent to the Pope the 
Danger of fuch Innovations* 
It is certain, the Pope underftands the Matter very 
little, and that he is poffelTed with a great Opinion of 
Molinos*^ Sandlity ; yet upon the Complaints of fome 
Cardinals, that feconded the Zeal of that King, he and 
fome of his Followers were clapp’d into the Inquifition, 
where they have been now for fome Months 5 but they 
are well ufed, which is believ’d to flow from the good 
Opinion the Pope hath of him, who faith ftill, that 
though he may have erred, yet he is certainly a good 
Man. Upon this Imprifonment, Pafquin faid a plea- 
fant Thing. In one Week, one Man had been con- 
demned to the Gallies for fomewhat he had faid 5 ano- 
ther had been hanged for fomewhat he had writ ; and 
Molinos was clapp’d in Prifon, whofe Dodlrine confifted 
chiefly in this, That Men ought to bring their Minds 
to a State of inward Qiiictnefs, from which the Name of 
^ietijis was given to all his Followers. The Pafqui- 
nade upon all this was, Si parliamo, in galere j ft fcri- 
i}£mmo, impiccati \ ft fiiamo in quiete, all’ fant’ officio : e 
che hefogna fare ? “If we fpeak, we are fent to the Gal- 
“lies ; if we write, we are hanged *, if v/e ftand quiet, 
“ we are clapp’d up in the Inquifition •, what muft we do 
then ?” Yet his Followers at Naples believe he will come 
out of this Trial vidtorious. 
The City of Naples is the befl: fituated, lies in the beft 
Climate, and is one of the nobleft Cities of Europe *, and 
if it is not above half as big as Paris or London, it hath 
much more Beauty than either of them. The Streets 
are large and broad, the Pavement is great and noble, 
the Stones being generally above a Foot fquare ; and it 
is full of Palaces and great Buildings : The Town is 
well fupplied by Markets, fo that Provifions are frefli, 
and in great Plenty. The Wine is the befl: in Europe, 
and both the Fifli and Fleflh are extreme good. It is 
fcarce ever cold in Winter, and there is a frefh Air comes 
both from the Sea and the Mountains in Summer. The 
Viceroy’s Palace is no extraordinary Building, only the 
Stair-cafe is grand, but it is now very richly furnilhed 
with Piftures and Statues. There are in it fome Statues 
of the Egyptian Deities, of Touchftone, that are of great 
Value. There are no great Antiquities here, only there 
is an ancient Roman Portico, that is very noble, before 
Sc. Paul’s Church : but without the City, near the 
Church and Hofpital of St. Gennaro, are the noble 
Catacombs ; which becaufe they v/ere beyond any thing 
I faw in Italy, and to which the Catacombs of Rome are 
not to be compared, I fhall defcribe them more par- 
ticularly. 
They are vaft long Galleries cut out of the Rock, 
three Stories one above another : I was in two of them, 
but the Rock is fallen in the loweft, fo that one cannot 
go into it, but I faw the PaflTage. Thefe Galleries are 
generally about twenty Foot broad, and fifteen Foot 
high i fo that they are noble fpacious Places, not little 
and narrow, as the Catacombs at Rome, which are only 
three or four Foot broad, and five or fix high. I was 
made to believe,, that thefe Catacombs of Naples went 
into the Rock nine Miles, but for that I have it only 
by Report ; yet if true, they may run towards Puzzu- 
do, and fo may have been the Burial-places of the 
Towns on that Bay i but of this I have no Certainty. 
I walked indeed a great Way, and found Galleries go- 
ing off on all Hands without End : And whereas in the 
Roman Catacombs three are not above three or four Rows 
of Niches, that are cut out in the Rock one over ano- 
ther, into which the dead Bodies were laid \ here there 
are generally fix or feven Rows of Niches, and they 
are both larger and higher : Some Niches are for Chil- 
dren, and in many Places there are in the Floors, as it 
VoL. II. Numb, m. 
SERLAND, &C. 621 
Were, great Chefts hewn out of the Rock, to lay the 
Bones of the dead, as they are- dried, in them ; but I 
could fee no Marks either of a Cover for thefe Holes, 
which look’d like the Bellies of Chefts, or of a Facing 
to fhut up the Niches when a dead Body was laid in 
them ; fo that it feems they were monftrous, unwhol- 
fome, {linking Places, where fome thoufands of Bodies 
lay rotting, without any thing to fhut in fo loathfome 
a Sight, and fo odious a Smell ; for the Niches fhew 
plainly, that the Bodies were laid in them wrapped in 
the dead Cloaths, being too low for Coffins. In fome 
Places of the Rock, there is as it were a little Chapel 
hewn out in the Rock, going off from the common 
Gallery, and there are Niches all round about, but I 
faw no Marks of any Wall that ihut in thofe Places 3 
though I am apt to think thefe might be Burying-places 
for particular Families. 
There is in fome Places on the Walls and Arch old Mo~ 
faick Work, and fome Painting 3 the Colours are frefti, 
and the Manner Gothick 3 which made me conclude, 
that this might have been done by the Nortnans about 600 
Years ago, after they drove out the Saracens. In fome 
Places there are Palm-trees painted, and Vines in other 
Places: The Frefhnefs of the Colours fhew thefe could 
not have been done while this Place was employed for 
Burying; for the Steams and Rottennefs of the Air, oc- 
cafioned by fo much Corruption, muft have diffolyed 
both Plaifter and Colours. In one Place there is a Man 
painted with a little Beard, and Paulus is written by 
his Head 3 there is another reaching him a Garland; 
and by his Head Laud is written ; and this is repeated 
in another Place right againft it. In another I found 
a Crofs painted, and about the upper part of it thefe 
Letters, J.C.X.O. and on the lower part NIKA, are 
painted. A learned Antiquary agreed with me, that 
the Manner of the Painting and Charadlers did not feem 
to be above Six hundred Years old 3 but neither of us 
knew what to make of thefe Letters : The Lower feemed 
to relate to the laft Word of the Vifion, which it is faid 
that Conftantine faw with the Crofs that appeared to him : 
But tho’ the firft two Letters might be for Jefus, it being 
ordinary in old Goins and Infcriptions to put a C for an S, 
and X ftands for Chrift, yet we knew not what to make 
of the O, unlefs it were for the Greek ©, and that the 
little Line in the Bofom of the Theta was worn out, and 
then it ftands for Theos 3 and thus the whole Infcription 
is, Jefus Chrijl God over come th. 
Another Pidture in the Wall had written over it 
6 ’^^ Johannes, a clear Sign of a barbarous Age. In ano- 
ther Place there is a Pidure high in the Wall, and three 
Pidures under it 3 that at Top had no Infcription ; 
thofe below it had thefe Infcriptions, S. Katharma, S, 
Agape, and S. Margarita-: Thefe Letters are clearly 
modern 3 befides that, JSLargaret and Katharine are mo- 
dern Names 3 and the Addition of ta a little above the 
S, were manifeft Evidences that the higheft Antiquity 
that can be afcribed to this Painting is Six hundred 
Years. I faw no more Painting, and I began to grow 
weary of the Darknefs and the thick Air of the Place 3 
fo that I ftaid not above an tiour. This made me re- 
fled more particularly on the Catacombs of Rome than 
I had done ; I could imagine no Reafon why fo little 
mention is made of thofe of Naples, when there is fo 
much faid concerning thofe of Rome 3 or give myfelf 
other Account of the Matter, than that it being a 
Maxim to keep up the Reputation of the Roman Cata- 
combs, as Repofitories of Reliques of primitive Chri- 
ftians, it would much leffen their Credit, if it were 
thought that there were Catacombs far beyond them in 
all Refpeds, that yet cannot be fuppofed to have been 
the Work of the primitive Chriftians; and indeed no- 
thing feems more evident, than that thefe were com- 
mon Burying-places of the ancient Heathens 3 one en- 
ters into them without the Walls of the Towns ac- 
cording to the Laws of the Twelve Tables ; andVuch 
are the Catacombs of Rome that I faw, which were 
thofe of St. Agnes, and St. Sehafiian, the Entry into 
them being without the Town : This anfwers the Law, 
though in Effed they run under it 3 for in thofe Days, X 
when they had not the Ufe of the Needle, they could 
7 , no|' 
