Chap. m. through the State 
der that he ihould lie there all Night, for at Aleppo^ 
and even in Malta, in Summer time, they fet their Beds 
upon the Roof of their Houfes, and deep fub Dio, in 
the open Air. One Cuftom we have in England, which 
(as far as I could obferve) is nd where ufed beyond the 
Seas, and that is, for Children to beg their Parents and 
Godfathers Bieffing upon the Knee, One Cuftom 
which prevails generally in foreign Countries, that is 
but little ufed in England, that is, to falute thofe that 
fneeze, by vailing the Bonnet, and praying God to blefs, 
aflift, or defend them, Wc. There is a kind of Sport 
or Game much ufed to this Day by the Italians, called, 
Gioco di mora, which feems to have been ufed by the 
Ancients, and called micare Digitis. It is for the moft 
part between two, who put out juft at the fame Time 
each of them, as many Fingers as they pleafe, and alfo 
name each of them what Number he thinks fit, and if 
either of them happens to be the Number of the Fin- 
gers, which both of them together threw out, then he 
that names that Number wins one.' 
An Account of the Curiofities and Ohfervations in the 
Jeveral Parts of Italy. 
In Lombardy and other Parts of Italy, Lartufale, (as 
they call them) i. e. Lubera Lerra, a kind of fubterra- 
neous Mufhroom, which our Herbalifts call in Englifh 
Struts, or after the French Name Frufles, are accounted 
a choice Difh, held by Naturalifts to be incentive of 
Luft. The beft of all are gotten in Sidy and thence 
fent over into Malta where they are fold dear. The 
Way to get them is to turn Swine into a Field where 
they grow, who find them by the Smell, and root them 
up out of the Ground and fet one to follow the Swine, 
and gather them up. Snails boiled and ferved up with 
Oil and Pepper, put into their Shells are alfo account- 
ed a good Difti : I am fure they are fold dear at Ve- 
nice, and elfewhere, efpecially the great whitifh or afh- 
coloured Shell-Snails, which we had not then feen in 
England, but have fince found plentifully upon the 
the Downs near Darking in Surry \ whither, as we 
were informed by the Honourable Charles Howard, Efq; 
they were brought from beyond Seas by a tjentleman, 
whofe Name has flip’d my Memory, and is worn out 
in my Papers. But Mr. Martin Lifer hath found them 
on the Banks of that hoilovv^ Lane, leading from 
Puckeridge to IVare. Thefe Snails before Winter, ftop 
up the Mouth or Aperture of their Shells, with a thick 
hard, white Pafte, like a good Lute or Plaifter, and 
are kept all Winter in Barrels or other Veflels, and fold 
by the Poulterers. The firft Place where we met them 
to be fold in the Market, was Vienna in Aujtria, where, 
they imitate the Italians, as v/ell in their Diet, as in 
the Manner of their Buildings. 
Frogs are another Italian Viand, which we in Eng- 
land eat not. Thefe they ufualJy fry, and ferve up 
with Oil. At Venice they eat only the Loins and hind 
Legs, as alfo at Florence, and that upon Fifli Days. 
In fome Places of Lombardy they eat their whole Bo- 
dies, and befides their Frogs are of a larger Size than 
ordinary. Their Flefli ihews white and lovely as they 
lie in the Markets, fkin’d and ready prepared to fry. 
Howbeit, even there in Italy, JQrcher in his Book de 
Pejle, condemns them as as an ambiguous and dange- 
rous Meat, and I think defervedly •, wherefore we do 
well, having Plenty of better Foods wholly to abftain 
from therh. Land Lortoifes are accounted with them 
a better Meat than Sea Tortoifes, and are commonly 
to be fold in the Markets *, they are eaten by thofe Or- 
ders of Friers, whofe Rule obliges them to abfta^ 
from Fleih, as, Carthiifians, Carmelites, hSc. They eat 
alfo many Sorts of Shell-fijh, which we either have not, 
or meddle not with, as. Purples, Periwinkles of feveral 
Sorts, Patellce or Limpets, Sea Urchins, which laft are 
to be found every Day in the Markets at Naples. They 
eat alfo the Sea Tortoifes, of which the Blood put into 
the Stomachs, and boiled is the beft Part. 
Palfe made into Strings like Packthreads or Thongs 
of white Leather, (which if greater they call Macaroni, 
if leffer Vermecelli) they cut in Pieces, and put in their 
Pots, as we do Oatmeal, to make their Menejira or 
0/ Venice, tici. fiSf 
Broth, of much Efteem by the Country People. TheiB 
boiled and oiled, with a little Cheefe fcraped upon them^ 
they eat as we do buttered Wheat or Rice. The Mak- 
ing of thefe is a Trade and Myftery, and in every great 
Town you fhall fee feveral Shops of them. Theyfcrape 
or grate Cheefe upon all their Difties, even of Flefii, ac- 
counting that it gives the Meat a good Relifti which 
to thofe that are unaccuftomed, makes it rather naufe- 
ous or loathfome. Chefnuts roafted and the Kernels 
ferved up with Juice of Lemon and Sugar, are much 
efteemed, and by fome called the Piftachid^^ oA Italy. 
At Botionia they grind them and make little Cakes of 
the Flower of them, which, though eaten by the Poor, 
are no defirable Dainty to a delicate Palate. Roafted 
Chefnuts are a great Part of the Diet of the poor Pea- 
fants in Italy', as we have elfewhere noted. They eat 
all Manner of Small Birds as well as the Germans, viz. 
Wrens, Stares, Fitmice, Butcher-birds, and feveral great 
ones, which we touch not in England, as. Magpies^ 
Jays, Woodpeckers, Jackdaws, 8 zc. Nay' we have fre- 
quently feen Kites and Hawks lying on the Poulterers 
Stalls, as we have already noted in our Defcription of 
Rome. 
They ufe feveral Herbs for Sallets, which are not yet 
or have been but lately ufed in England, viz. Selleri, 
which is nothing elfe but fweet Smallage, the young 
Shoots whereof, with a little of the Head of the Root 
cut off, they eat raw with Oil and Pepper ; in like 
Manner they eat Fennel, Artichoak alfo they eat raw 
with the fame Sauce (the lame Part of it that is eaten 
boiled. j In Sicily, at the higheft Village upon that Side 
Mount Mtna that we afcended, they gave us to eat for 
a Sallet, the Stalks of a tail prickly Thiftle, bearing 
a yellow Flower, I fuppofe it was the Carduus Chryfan- 
thenus, Dod. which the Ranknefs of the Soil had cau- 
fed to mount up to that Stature ; befides, in moft of 
their Sallets they mingle Rockett, Rachetta they call it, 
which to me gives them an odious Tafte. Curl’d En- 
dive blanch’d is much ufed beyond Sea, and for a raw 
Sallet feemed to excel Lettice itfelf 5 befides, it hath this 
Advantage, that it may be kept all Winter. Many 
Fruits they eat, which we either have not, or eat not 
in England, viz. Jejubes fold by the Huckfters while 
they are yet Green : Lazarole, the Fruit of the Mefpilus 
Aronia, of a pleafant acid Tafte, both Fruit and Tree, 
and exadtly like the common Hawthorn, but bigger^ 
Services or Sorbes the true, as big as little Pears ; thofe 
that grow with us are the Fruit of the Sorbus torminalis. 
Green Figs, both white and blue in great Plenty, a 
moft delicate Fruit when fully ripe, comparable for the 
Tafte to the beft Marmalade, and which may be eaten 
freely without Danger of furfeiting. The Hufks or 
Cods of Carobs, called in Latin, Siliqua dulcis, in, 
Greek, the Word ufed, Luke xv. 16. and there- 
fore by fome fuppofed to be the Hufks the Prodigal is 
faid to have defired to fill his Belly with. Indeed we 
thought them fitter Meat for Swine than Men, for 
though they had a fweet Tafte, yet afterwards they 
troubled our Stomachs, and purged us, but they have' 
not upon all Men the like Effed, for the Italians and 
Spaniards eat them ordinarily without any fuch Trou- 
ble, Love-Apples, Mad Apples both raw and pickled ; 
Water-melons which they ufe to eat, to cool and refrefh 
them, and fome Phyficians allow fick Perfons to eat 
them in Fevers. They are almoft as big as Pompions, 
have a green Rind, and a reddifh Pulp, with blackifli 
Seed when ripe ; the Italians call thefe Cucumeri, 
whereas Cucumbers they call Citrulli. Several Sorts of 
Gourds, as, Cucurbita lagenaria, and Cucurbita Flexuofa 
five Anguina, which eats very well boild in Pottao-e, 
Cucumis anguinis, which is more efteemH, and indeed 
better tailed than the Cucumber. 
The common People both in Italy and Sicily, eat 
green chich Peafe raw, as our copimon People do com- 
mon Peafe. In their Deferts and fecond Courfes, they 
commonly ferve up Pine-kernels, and in Time of Year 
green Almonds, alfo a kind of Sweet-meat or Confec- 
tion, made up of Muftard and Sugar, which they call 
Italian Muftard. Fo cool and refrefh their Wines 
they ufe generally Snow, where it may eafily be had, 
' . elfe 
