as it were in one view, and not only in greater plenty, but in greater perfection. Rome is certainly of all cities in the world the most entertaining to ftrangers: For whether we conLider it in its antient, or prefent; its civil, or ecclefiaftical ftate; whether we admire the great perfection of arts in the noble remains of Old Rome; or the revival of the fame arts in the beautiful ornaments of modern Rome; every one, of what genius or tafte foever, will be fure to find fomething, that will deserve his attention, and engage his curiofity: And even those, who have no particular tafte or regard at all for things curious, but travel merely for the fake of fashion, and to wafte time, will still spend that time with more fatisfaction at Rome, than any where elfe; from that eafy manner, in which they find themfelves accommodated with all the conve niencies of life; that general civility and respect to Atrangers; that quiet and fecurity, which every man of prudence is fure to find in it. But one thing is certainly peculiar to this city; that though travellers have generally been fo copious in their descriptions of it, and there are publifhed in all parts of Europe fuch voluminous collections of its curiofities, yet it is a fubject never to be exhaufted; fince in the infinite variety of entertainment, which it affords, every judicious obferver will neceffarily find fomething that has either escaped the fearches of others, or that will at least afford matter for more particular and curious remarks, than a common traveller is capable of making, or a general collector has time to reflect on. As for my own journey to this place, it was not any motive of devotion, which draws fo many others hither, that occafioned it. My zeal was not bent on vifiting the holy thresholds of the apostles, or kissing the feet of their fucceffor. I knew that their ecclefiaftical antiquities were mostly fabulous and legendary; fupported by fictions and impostures, too grofs to employ the attention of a man of fenfe. For fhould hould we allow, that St. Peter had been at Rome, (of which many learned men however have doubted [a]) yet they had not, I knew, any authentic monuments remaining of him; any visible footsteps fubfift ing, to demonstrate his refidence among them: And fhould we ask them for any evidence of this kind, they would refer us to the impression of his face on the wall of the dungeon, in which he was confined; or to a fountain in the bottom of it, raised miraculously by him out of the rock, in order to baptize his fellowprifoners [b]; or to the mark of our Saviour's feet in a ftone, on which he appeared to him, and stopped him, as he was flying out of the city from a perfecution then raging: In memory of which, there was a Church built on the fpot, called St. Mary delle Piante, or of the marks of the feet; which falling into decay, was fupplied by a chapel, at the expence of our cardinal Pool [e]. But the ftone itself, more valuable, as their writers fay, [d], than any of the precious ones; being a perpetual monument and proof of the Chriftian Reli gion; is preferved with all due reverence in St. Sebaftian's Church; where I purchafed a print of it, with feveral others of the fame kind. Or they would appeal perhaps to the evidence of fome miracle wrought at his execution; as they do in the cafe of St. Paul in a Church called, At the three fountains ; the place where he was beheaded: On which occa... fion, it seems, " Inftead of blood there iffued only "milk from his veins; and his head, when separated " from the body, having made three jumps upon the "ground, raised at each place a fpring of living "water, which retains still, as they would perfuade B 2 [a] Scalig. in Joh. 18, 31. It. vid. Frid. Spanh. Miscellan. Sacræ Antiq. 1. 3. Differtat. 3. [6] Vid. Rom. modern. Giorn. 5. c. 13. Rione di Campitelli. It. vid. Aringhi Rom. fubterran. 1, 2, c, 1. It. Montfauc. Diar. Ital. c. 13. p. 174. c) Rom. Modern. Giorn. 2. Rione di Ripa 21. [2] Vid. Aring. ibid. 1. 3. 6. 21+ "us, the plain tafte of milk:" of all which facts we bave an account in Baronius, Mabillon, and all their graveft authors [e]; and may fee printed figures of them in the defcription of modern Rome [f]. The chief pleasure then, which I propofed to my felf, was, to vifit the genuine remains, and venerable reliques, of Pagan Rome; the authentic monuments of antiquity, that demonftrate the certainty of thofe hiftories, which are the entertainment, as well as the instruction, of our younger years; and which, by the early prejudice of being the firft knowlege that we acquire, as well as the delight, which they give, in defcribing the lives and manners of the greatest men, who ever lived, gain fometimes fo much upon our riper age, as to exclude too often other more useful and neceffary ftudies. I could not help flattering myfelf with the joy that I fhould have, in viewing the very place and scene of those important events, the knowlege and explication of which have ever fince been the chief employment of the learned and polite world. Such fancies as thefe, I dare fay, are common to all men of reading and education; whofe dreams upon a voyage to Italy, reprefent nothing but the pleafure of finding out, and converfing with, thofe antient fages and heroes, whofe characters they have moft admired. Nor indeed is this imagination much disappointed in the event; for, as Cicero finely obferves [8], Whether it be from nature, or some weakness in us, it is certain, that we are much more af"fected with the fight of those places, where great and famous men have spent most part of their lives, than either to hear of their actions, or read their works:' and he was not, as he tells us, fo much pleafed with Athens itself, for its ftately 'buildings, [e] Aring. 3. c. 2.. It. vid. Baronii Annal. A. D. 69. It Mabill. Iter Ital. p. 142. [f] Vid. Rom. modern. Gior, 2. c. 17. Rione di Ripa. [g] Cic. de Fin.. 5. buildings, or exquifite pieces of art, as in recollecting the great men, whom it had bred; in carefully vifiting their fepulchers; and finding out the place ' where each had lived, or walked, or held his difputations [b]. This is what every man of curiofity will, in the like circumstances, find true in himfelf; and for my own part, as oft as I have been rambling about in the very Roftra of old Rome, or in that Temple of Concord, where Tully affembled the Senate in Catiline's confpiracy [i], I could not help fanfying myself much more fenfible of the force of his eloquence; whilft the impreffion of the place ferved to warm my imagination to a degree almost equal to that of his old audience. As therefore my general studies had furnished me with a competent knowlege of Roman Hiftory, as well as an inclination, to fearch more particularly into fome branches of its antiquities, fo I had refolved to employ myself chiefly in inquiries of this fort; and to lofe as little time as poffible, in taking notice of the fopperies and ridiculous ceremonies of the prefent Religion of the place. But I foon found myfelf mistaken; for the whole form and outward. drefs of their worship feemed fo grossly idolatrous and extravagant, beyond what I had imagined, and made fo ftrong an impreffion on me, that I could not help confidering it with a particular regard; efpecially when the very reafon, which I thought would have hindred me from taking any notice of it at all, was the chief caufe, that engaged me to pay fo much attention to it: For nothing, I found, concurred fo much with my original intention of converfing with the antients, or fo much helped my imagination, to fanfy myself wandering about in old Heathen Rome, as to obferve and attend to their religious worship; all whofe ceremonies appeared plainly to have been copied from the rituals of primitive Paganism; B. 3 [6] De Legib. 2. 2. Paganism; as if handed down by an uninterrupted fucceffion from the priests of Old, to the priests of New Rome; whilft each of them readily explained and called to my mind fome paffage of a claffic author, where the fame ceremony was defcribed, as tranfacted in the fame form and manner, and in the fame place; where I now faw it executed before my eyes: So that as oft as I was prefent at any religious exercise in their Churches,, it was more natural, to fanfy myfelf looking on at fome folemn act of idolatry in old Rome, than affifting at a worship, inftituted on the principles, and formed upon the plan, of Chritianity. Many of our Divines have, I know, with much learning, and folid reasoning, charged, and effectually proved, the crime of idolatry on the Church of Rome: but these controverfies (in which there is still fomething plaufible to be faid on the other fide, and where the charge is conftantly denied, and with much fubtlety evaded) are not capable of giving that conviction, which I immediately received from my fenfes, the fureft witneffes of fact in all cafes; and which no man can fail to be furnished with, who fees Popery, as it is exercifed in Italy, in the full pomp and display of its pageantry; and practifing all its arts and powers without CAUTION or RESERVE. This fimilitude of the Popish and Pagan Religion, seemed fo evident and clear, and ftruck my imagination fo forcibly, that I foon refolved to give myself the trouble of fearching to the bottom; and to explain and demonftrate the certainty of it, by comparing together the principal and most obvious parts of each worship. Incenfe. The very first thing that a ftranger muft neceffarily take notice of, as foon as he enters their Churches, is the ufe of incenfe or perfumes in their religious offices: The first step, which he takes within the door, will be fure to make him fenfible oft, by the offence that he |