chap, nii 
W 1 SSE R L An 
than to fee fo vait a State, that had fo great a Senfe of 
Liberty, fubdued by fo brutal, and fo voluptuous a Man 
m Anthony, and fo raw a Youth 2iS Augujlus fo the 
Wonder is much improved, when we fee a Prince, 
at an Hundred and Fifty Miles Diftance^ fhut up in 
an Ifland, carry the Reins of fo great a Body in 
his Hand, and turn it which Way he pleafed. 
But I come now to Rdme, which as it was once the 
Emprefs of the World in a SuccelTion of many Ages^ 
fo in it there are at prefent more curious Things to en- 
tertain the Attention of a Traveller, than in any other 
Place in Europe. On the Side of Eufcany the Entry 
into Rome is very furprizing to Strangers j coming along 
for a great many Miles upon the Remains of the Via 
Flaminia, which is not indeed fo entire as the Via Appia ; 
yet there is enough left to raife a juft Idea of the Ro- 
man Greatnefs, which laid fuch Caufeways all over 
Italy. And within the Gate of the Porta di Populo there 
is a noble Obeliflc, a vaft Fountain, two fine little 
Churches, like two Twins, refembling each other, as 
well as placed one near another, and on feveral Hands 
one fees a long Vifto of Streets. There is no City in 
our Part of the World, where the Churches, Convents, 
and Palaces, are fo noble, and where the other Build- 
ings are fo mean j which, indeed, difcover very vifibly 
the Mifery under which the Romans groan. The 
Churches of Rome are fo well knowoj that I will not 
venture on any Defcription of them ; and indeed I had 
too tranfient a View, to make it with that Degree of 
Exaflnefs which the Subje< 51 : requires. St. alone 
would make a long Letter, not to fay a Book : Its 
Length, Height, and Breadth, are all fo exacftly pro- 
portioned, and the Eye is fo equally polfefs’d with thefe, 
that the Whole, upon the firft View, appears not fo 
vaft as it is found to be upon a more particular Atten- 
tion •, and as the four Pillars, on which the Cupola 
rifes, are of fuch a prodigious Bignefs, that one would 
think they were ftrong enough to bear any Superftruc- 
ture ; yet when one climbs to the Top of that vaft 
Height, one cannot help wondering what Foundation 
can bear fo vaft a Weight; for as the Church is of a 
great Height, fo the Cupola rifes four hundred and fif- 
teen large Steps above the Roof of the Church. In the 
Height of the Concave of this Cupola there is a Re- 
prefentation, that though it can hardly be feen from 
the Floor below, and fo it doth not perhaps give much 
Scandal, yet it is a grofs Indication of the Idolatry of that 
Church ; for the Divinity is there pidtured as an anci- 
ent Man compafled about with Angels. I will fay no- 
thing of the great Altar, of the Chair of St. Peter, of 
the great Tombs of Paul HI. Urban VIII. and Alexan- 
der \l\. nor of the vaft Vaults under this Church, and 
the Remains of Antiquity that are referved in them ; 
or undertake a Defeription of the adjoining Palace, 
where the Painting of the Corridori, and of many of 
the Rooms by Raphael and Michael Angelo are fo rich, 
that one is forry to fee a Work of that Value laid on 
Frejeo, and which muft by Confequence wear too foon, 
as in feveral Places it is almoft quite loft already. I 
could not but obferve in the Sala Reggia, that is before 
the famous Chapel of Sifio V. and that is all painted in 
Frefco, one Corner that reprefents the Murther of the 
renowned Admiral Chajlillon, and that hath under it 
thefe Words, Rex Colinii necem prohat. The vaft Length 
of the Gallery on one Side, and of the Library on an- 
other, furprize one. The Gardens have many Statues 
of exceflive Value, and fome good Fountains ; but are 
ill maintain’d both here and in the Palace of the V^i- 
rinal. And, indeed, in moft of the Palaces of Rome, 
if there were but a fmall Sum laid out to keep all in 
good Condition, that is brought together at fo vaft a 
Charge, they would make another Sort of Show, and 
be looked at wi[h much more Pleafure. In the Apart- 
ments of Rome, there are a great many Things that 
offend the Sight ; the Doors are generally mean, and 
the Locks meaner, except in the Palace of Prince Borg^ 
hefe ; where, as there is the vafteft Colleflion of the 
beft Pieces, and of the greateft Mafters that are in all 
Europe ; fo the Doors and Locks give not that Diftafte 
VoL. II. Numb. CXU. 
to the Eye that one finds elfewhere. The Flooring of 
the Palace is all of Brick, which is fo very mean, that 
one fees the Difproportion between the, Floors and the 
reft of the Room, not without a fenfible Diflike. It 
is true, they fay their Air is fo cold and moift in Win- 
ter, that they cannot pave with Marble ; artd the Heat 
is fometimes fo great in Summer, that a Flooring of 
Wood would crack with Heat, as well as be eat up by 
Vermin that would neft in it : But if they kept in their 
great Palaces Servants to wafli their Floors, with that 
Care that is ufed in Holland, where the Air is moifter, 
and the Climate more produflive of Vermin, they 
would not find fuch Effeefts from wooden Floors as 
they pretend to fear. In a Word, there are none that 
lay out fo much Wealth all at once, as the Italians up- 
on Building and Finilhing of their Palaces and Gar- 
dens, and afterwards beftow fo little on the Preferving 
of them. Another Thing I obferved in their Palaces 5 
there is indeed a great Series of noble Rooms one with- 
in another, of which their Apartments are compofed 5 
but I did not find, at the End of the Apartments, 
where the Bed-chamber is, fuch a Difpofition of Rooms 
for Back-ftairs; Dreffing-rooms, Clofets, Servanrs- 
rooms, and other Conveniences as are neceffary for ac- 
commodating the Apartment. It is true, this is not fo 
neceffary for an Apartment of State, in which Magni- 
ficence is more confider’d than Convenience ; but I 
found the fame Want in thofe in which they lodged 5 
fo that, notwithftanding all the Riches of their Palaces, 
it cannot be faid that they are well lodged in them ; and 
their Gardens are lefs underftood, and worfe kept than 
their Palaces. It is true, the Villa Borghefe ought to 
be excepted, where, as there is a prodigious Colledlion 
of Bas Relieves, with which the Walls are covered 
over, that are of a vaft Value ; fo the Statues within, 
of which fome are of Porphyry^ and others of Touch- 
ftone, are amazing Things. The whole Ground of this 
Park, which is three Miles in Compafs, and in which 
there are fix or feven Lodges, are laid out fo fweetly, 
that I thought I was in an Englijh Park when I walked 
over it. The Villa Pamphilia is better fituated, upon 
a higher Ground, hath more Water-works, and twice 
the Extent of the other in Soil ; but neither the Houfe 
nor Statues approach to the Riches of the other, nor 
are the Grounds fo well laid out, or kept : But for 
the Furniture of the Palaces of Rome, the publick 
Apartments are all covered over with Pidfures ; and as 
for thofe Apartments in which they lodge, they are ge- 
nerally furnifh’d with red Velvet or Damafk, with a 
broad golden Galloon at every Breadth of the Stuff, and 
a gold Fringe at Top and Bottom ; but there is very 
little Tapeftry in Italy. 
I have been carried into all this Digreffion, from the 
general View that I was giving you of the Pope’s Pa- 
lace. I named one Part of it, which will engage me 
in a new Digreffion, as it well deferves, that is, the Li- 
brary of the Vatican. The Cafe is great, but what is 
lodged in it much greater ; for here is a Colkaion of 
Books that fill a Man’s Eye r There is firft a great Hall, 
and at the End there runs out on both Sides two Gal- 
leries of fo vaft a Length, that though the Half of 
them is already furnifhed with Books, yet one would 
hope, that there is Room left for more new Books than 
the World will ever produce. The Heidelberg Library 
ftands by itfelf, and fills one Side of the Gallery, as the 
Duke of Urbinh Library of Manuferipts fills the other. 
But though thefe laft are very fair and beautiful, yet 
they are not of fuch Antiquity as thofe of Heidelberg, 
When it appear’d that I came from England, Kino- 
Henry VIII’s Book of the Seven Sacraments, with an 
infeription upon it with his own Hand to Pope Leo X, 
was fhewed me, together with a Colledlion of fome 
Letters that he writ to Anna Bullen, of which fome are 
in Englijh and fome in French. I that knew his Hand 
well, faw clearly that they were no Forgeries. There 
are not many Latin Manuferipts of great Antiquity in 
this Library ; fome few of VirgiPs, I faw writ in Ca- 
pitals. 
But that which took up Half of one Day that 1 
7 U _ ^pen| 
