LOREf'T O. 
That it ftilf remains at ’Rome, wlnift the throne at Loret- 
eo is ufurped by another; and the contending partifans 
have not yet been able to fettle which of them is genuine. 
Soon after the virgin was carried away from Loretto by 
the facrilegious French ravifhers, a holy monk of that 
town introduced another into the chapel, afferting that, 
having been forewarned of her danger in a vifion, he had 
concealed the genuine miraculous llatue, and delivered a 
fubltitute into the hands of the enemy. The quettion has 
been vehemently agitated, whether the (lory of the French 
or of the monk be deferring of credit. 
In thefe enlightened days of returning darknefs and 
fuperrtition, when the Inquifition is fuddenly revived and 
the jefuits happily reftored—when the .difcovery of two 
teeth and a piece of the chin of Henry IV. of France has 
given fo much comfort to all true believers-—we may ex¬ 
pect that the Santa Cafa will be raifed to a pitch of glory 
equal to what it was in its melt fiouriChing days; for it is 
to be obferved, that the jew els and riches to be feen at any 
one time in the holy chapel were of fmall value in com¬ 
panion of thofe in the treafury, which is a large room 
adjoining to the veflry of the great church. In the 
prefl'es of this room were kept thole prefents which royal, 
noble, and rich, bigots of all ranks, had, by opprelTing 
their fubjerts and injuring their families, 1’ent to this 
place. To enumerate every particular would fill volumes. 
They confilted of various utenlils and other things in fil- 
ver and gold.; as lamps, candlelticks, goblets, crowns, and 
crucifixes; iambs, e3gles, faints, apoltles, angels, virgins, 
and infante; then there were cameos, pearls, gems, and 
precious (tones of all kinds, and in great numbers. What 
was valued above all the other jewels was the miraculous 
pearl, wherein they affert that nature has given a faithful 
delineation of the Virgin fitting on a cloud with the infant 
Yefus in her arms. There was not room in the prelTes of 
the treafury to hold all the filver pieces which had been 
prefented to the Virgin. Several other prelTes in the vel- 
try were completely full. 
Pilgrimages to Loretto had become lefs frequent with 
foreigners, or with Italians of fortune and diltinrtion; but 
we may expert they will now revive. Nineteen out of 
twenty of thofe who make this journey are poor people, 
who depend for their maintenance on the charity they re¬ 
ceive on the road. To thofe who are in fuch a rank in 
life as precludes them from availing themfelves of the 
charitable inftitutions for the maintenance of pilgrims. 
Such journeys are attended with expenfe and inconveni¬ 
ence; and fathers and hufbands, in moderate or confined 
circuinftances, are frequently brought to difagreeable di- 
Jemmas, by the ralh vows of going to Loretto which their 
wives or daughters are apt to make on any fuppofed deli¬ 
verance from danger. To refufe, is confidered by the 
whole neighbourhood as cruel, and even impious; and to 
grant, is often highly diftrefiing, particularly to fuch huf¬ 
bands as, from affection or other motives, do notchoofe that 
their wives fliould be long out of their fight. But the 
poor, who are maintained during their whole journey, and 
have nothing more than a bare maintenance to expert 
from their labour at home, to them a journey to Loretto 
is a party of pleafure, as well as devotion, and by much 
the mod agreeable road they can take to heaven. The 
greateft concourfe of people is at Eafter and Whitfuntide', 
The rich travel in their carriages: a greater number 
come on borfeback or on mules; or, what is dill more 
common, on affes. Great numbers of females come in 
this manner, with a male friend walking by them as their 
guide and protertor; but the greated number of both fexes 
are on foot. The pilgrims on foot, as fcon as they enter 
the fuburb.s, begin a hymn in honour of the Virgin, which 
they continue till they reach the church. The poorer fort 
are received into an hofpital, where they have bed and 
board for three days. 
The only trade of Loretto confidsof rofaries, crucifixes, 
little madonas, agnus dei s s, and medals, which are ma¬ 
nufactured here, and fold to pilgrims. There are great 
Vol. XIII, No- 934. 
& 0 § 
numbers of fhops full of thefe commodities, fome of them 
of a high price; but infinitely the greater part are adapted 
to the purfes of the buyers, and fold fora mere trifle.' la 
the great church, which contains the holy chapel, are con- 
feflionals, where the penitents from every country of Eu¬ 
rope maybe confeffed in their own language, prielts being 
always in waiting for that purpofe: each of them has a 
long white rod in his hand, with which he touches the 
heads of thofe to whom he thinks it proper to give abio- 
lution. They place themfelves on their knees In groups 
around the confeflional chair; and, when the holy father 
has touched their heads with the expiatory rod, they retire, 
freed from the burden of their fins, and with renewed cou¬ 
rage to begin a fre(h account. 
In the fpacious area before this church there is an ele¬ 
gant marble fountain, fupplied with water from an ad¬ 
joining hill by an aquedurt. Few even of the moll in- 
confiderable towns of Italy are without the ufeful orna¬ 
ment of a public fountain. The embelliflunents of fculp- 
ture and architecture are employed with great propriety- 
on fuch works, which are continually in the people’s view; 
the air is refreshed, and the eye delighted, by the dreams 
of water they pour forth; a fight peculiarly agreeable in 
a warm climate. In this area there is alfo aftatueof Six¬ 
tus V. in bronze. Over the portal of the church itfelf is 
a ftatue of the Virgin; and above the middle gate is a La¬ 
tin infeription. importing that within “is thehoufe of the 
mother of God, in which the Word was made fle(h.’\ 
The gates of the church are likewife of bronze, embellilhed 
with baflo-relievos of admirable workmanlhip; the fub- 
jerts taken partly from the Old and partly from the New 
Teftament, and divided into different compartments. As 
the gates of this church are (hut at noon, the pilgrims who 
arrive after that time can get no nearer the Santa Cafa 
than thefe gates, which are by this means fometimes ex- 
pofed to the fiitl violence cf that holy ardour which was 
defigned for the chapel itfelf. All the fculpture upon the 
gates which is within reach of the mouths of thofe zealots, 
is in fome degree effaced by their kiffes. There are alfo 
feveral paintings to be feen here, fome of which are highly 
efteemed, particularly two in the treafury. The fubjert 
of one of thefe is the Virgin’s Nativity, by Annibal Ca- 
racci; and of the other, a Holy Family, by Raphael. 
There are fome others of confiderable merit which orna¬ 
ment the altars of the great church. Thefe altars, or lit¬ 
tle chapels, of which this fabric contains a great number, 
are lined with marble and embelliflied by fculpture; but 
nothing with this church interefts a traveller of fenfibility 
fo much as the iron grates before thofe chapels, which 
were made of the fetters and chains of the Chriftian flaves, 
who were freed from bondage by the glorious virtory of 
Lepanto. 
The palace where the governor refides (lands near the 
church ; and the ecclefiaftics who are employed in it lodge 
in the fame palace, where they receive the pilgrims of high 
diftinrtion. The environs of this town are very agreea¬ 
ble, and in fine weather the high mountains of Croatia 
may be feen from hence. Loretto is feated on a moun¬ 
tain, in lat. 4.3.24. N. Ion. 13. 50. E. 
LORET'TO, a town of the ifland of Corfica: feven 
miles north-eall of Porta. 
LOIIET'TO, a river of Naples, in Calabria Citra, which 
runs into the Trionto. 
LORET'TO, or Notre Dame de Loret'to, a town 
of North America, in California. Lat. 25. 30. N. Ion. 
xi 3. W. 
LORET'TO, a t ovn of New Mexico, in the province* 
of Mayo : 105 miles eaft-north-eaft of Santa Cruz. 
LORET'TO, a town of Canada, eight miles north-weft 
of Quebec. 
LORET'TO, a town of South America, in the province 
of Buenos: 200 mile call of Corientes. 
LORET'TO, a town of South America, in the govern¬ 
ment of Mojos, on the Marmora ; fifty miles fouth of Tri¬ 
nidad. 
-S.G 
LORET'T@ 
