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LETTER 

FROM 

ROME, 

Shewing  an  Exadt  CONFORMITY  between 

Popery  and  Paganifm  : 

OR,    THE 

RELIGION  of  the  Prefent  ROMANS 

derived    from   That   of  their   HEATHEN 
ANCESTORS. 

Non  neceffe  efl  fattri,  fartlm  Joorum  errors  fufceptum  ej/ey 
fartimfuperftitione,  multa  falkndo. 

Cic.de  Divinat.  Lit 

By  CONTERS  MI£>Z>LETONy   D.D. 

Principal  Librarian  of  the  Univerfity  of  Cambridge. 

•  _• 

The  THIRD    EDITION,    with  Addi  tions. 

LONDON: 

Printed   for  WILLIAM  INNYS    and    RICHARD  MANBY, 
at  the  Weft  End  of  St.  Paul's. 

M,  DCC.  XXXIII. 


TO     THE 


READER. 


E  following  Reflexions  were 
the  Subject  of  feveral  Letters 
written  ly  me  from  Rome  to 
Friends  in  England  5  and  as  the 
Argument  of  them  was  much 
upon  my  "Thoughts,  and  always  in  my  View> 
during  my  Stay  in  Italy,  Jo  there  hardly  pajfcd 
a  jDayy  that  did  not  afford  me  frejh  Matter 
and  froof  for  the  Confirmation  of  ity  'till 

A  z  my 


To  the  READER* 

my  Collections  grew  up  to  the  Size  in  which 
they  now  appear.  Upon  a  Review  of  them 
at  my  Return,  I  found  it  necej/arj,  for  the  fake 
of  Method  and  Connection,  to  difpofe  them  into 
one  continued  Argument,  and  to  collect  into  one 
View,  under  the  Form  of  a  /Ingle  Letter,  what 
had  been  more  Jlightly  and  feparately  touch' d  in 
federal. 

Many  Writers,    I  know,    haw  treated  the 
fame  Suljefl  before  me  ;  feme  of  which  I  have 
never    feen  5     but    thofe  I  have   looked    into, 
handle  it  in  a  Manner  fo  different  from  what 
I  haw  purfueA,    that  I  am    under  no  Appre- 
'henjion   of    hemg    thought    a   ^Plagiary,     or   to 
have   undertaken  a    Province   already   occupied. 
My  Ohfervations  are  grounded  on  Fafls,  which 
I  have    been  a   Witnefs   to  myfelf,    and  which 
others    perhaps     had    not     the    Opportunity    oj 
examining  perfonally>    or   conjidering  fo  parti- 
cularly  as   I  have  done  :    In   the  Reprefenta- 
tion  of  (which,    I  have  not  claimed  the  allowed 

^Privilege 


To  the  READER, 

'Privilege  of  a  Traveller,  to  loe  believed  on  my 
own  Word,  but  for  each  Article  charged  on  the 
Church  of  Rome,  have  generally  produced  fuch 
Vouchers,  as  they  thewfelves  will  allow  to  be 
aitthentick. 

Much  Leifurej  with  an  infirm  State  of 
Healthy  was  the  Caufe  of  my  Journey  to  Italy  5 
and  on  fuch  an  Occajion  I  thought  it  a  ^Duty 
incumbent  on  me  to  ufe  the  Opportunity  given 
ms  ly  ^Providence  towards  dete£ting  and  expo- 
ing)  as  far  as  I  was  able,  the  true  Spring  and 
Source  of  thofe  Impojlures,  which,  under  the 
Name  of  Religion,  have  leen  forged  and  con~ 
trived  from  time  to  time  for  no  other  'Purpofey 
than  to  opprefs  the  Liberty,  as  well  as  engrofs  the 
^Property  of  Mankind. 

But  whatever  loe  my  Opinion  of  the  general 
Scheme  of  their  Religion,  ytt,  out  of  Jujiice  to 
the  particular  <ProfeJfors  of  it,  I  think  mjfelf 
obliged  to  declare,  that  I  found  much  Candour y 

Humanity, 


To  the  READER, 

Hutiuwity,  and  Tolitenefi  in  all  thofe  I  had  the 
Honour  to  converfe  with  5  and  tho  my  Character 
and  Trofejfion  were  well  known  at  Rome,  yet  / 
received  particular  Civilities  from  'Perfons  of  the 
frft  'Diflinflion  loth  in  the  Church  and  the 
Court. 


A    LET 


LETTER   from    ROME. 


S     I 

AM  fenfible,  that  by  this  Time  you  cannot 
but  be  defirous  to  have  fome  Account  of 
the  Entertainment  I  have  met  with  in 
Rome  ;  for  as  you  have  often  heard  me 
declare  a  very  high  Opinion  of  the  Plea- 
fure  which  a  curious  Man  might  reafbnably  expeft  to 
find  in  it,  fo  you  will  be  impatient  to  hear,  how  far  my 
Expectation  has  been  anfwered,  and  my  Curiofity  fatis- 
fied  :  You  have,  no  doubt,  obferved  from  my  former 
Letters,  that  the  Pleafure  of  my  Travels  feemed  to 
grow  upon  me  in  Proportion  to  the  Progrefs  I  made  on 
my  Journey,  and  to  my  Approach  towards  Rome ;  and 
that  every  Place  I  had  feen,  the  laft  ftill  pleafed  me  the 
moft  :  This  was  certainly  true  in  my  Road  thro'  Lyons, 
Turin,  Genua,  Florence ;  but  is  much  more  remarkably 
fo  in  regard  to  Rome,  which,  of  all  the  Places  I  have 
yet  feen,  or  ever  ftiall  fee,  is  by  far  the  moft  delightful 
and  agreeable  j  fince  all  thofe  very  Things  which  had 

recom- 


[8] 

recommended  any  other  Place  to  me,  and  which  I  had 
been  admiring  before  fingle  and  difpers'd  in  the  feveral 
Cities  thro'  which  I  had  paffed,  may  be  feen,  I  find^  in 
Rome,  as  it  were  in  one  View,  and  not  only  in  greater 
Plenty,  but  in  greater  Perfection. 

I  HAVE  often  been  thinking,  that  this  Voyage  to  Italy 
might  properly  enough  be  compared  to  the  common 
Stages  and  Journey  of  Life  :  At  our  fetting  out  thro' 
France,  the  Pleafures  we  find,  like  thofe  of  our  Youth, 
are  of  the  gay  fluttering  kind,  which  grow  by  Degrees, 
as  we  advance  into  Italy,  more  folid,  manly,  and  ratio- 
nal, but  attain  not  their  full  Strength  and  Perfection 
till  we  reach  Rome  ;  from  which  Point  we  no  fboner 
turn  Homewards,  than  they  begin  again  gradually  to 
decline,  and  tho'  fuftain'd  for  a  while  in  ibme  Degree 
of  Vigour,  thro*  the  other  Stages  and  Cities  of  Italy  ^  yet 
dwindle  at  laft,  infenfibly,  into  Wearinefs  and  Fatigue, 
and  a  Defire  to  be  at  Home  ;  where  the  Traveller  finifties 
his  Courfe,  as  the  old  Man  does  his  t)ays,  with  the  ufual 
Privilege  of  being  tirefom  to  his  Friends'  by  a  perpetual 
Repetition  of  paft  Adventures. 

B  u  T  to  return  to  my  Story :  Rome  is  certainly  of  all 
Cities  in  the  World  the  moft  entertaining  to  Strangers  ; 
for  whether  we  confider  it  in  its  Antient,  or  Prefent,  its 
Civil,  or  Ecclefiaftical  State ;  whether  we  admire  the 
great  Perfedion  of  Arts  exemplified  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  Ibever,  will  be  fure  to  find  fome- 
thing  or  other  that  will  defer  ve  his  Attention,  and 
engage  his  Curiofity  ;  and  even  thofe,  who  have  no 
particular  Tafte  or  Regard  at  all  for  Things  curious, 
but  travel  merely  for  Falhion-fake,  and  to  wafte  Time, 
ftill  ipend  that  Time  with  more  Satisfaction  at 

Rome, 

3 


Rome,  than  any  where  elfe  ;  for  that  Eafinefs  of  Accom- 
modation as  to  all  the  Conveniences  of  Life,  that  general 
Civility  and  RefpeCt  to  Strangers ;  that  Quiet  and  Security 
which  every  Man  of  Prudence  is  fure  to  find  in  it :  But 
one  Thing  is  certainly  peculiar  to  this  City ;  that  tho' 
Travellers  have  generally  been  fo  copious  in  their  Defcrip- 
tions  of  it,  and  there  are  publifti'd  in  all  Parts  of  Europe 
fuch  voluminous  Collections  of  its  Curiofities,  yet  'tis  a 
SubjeCt  never  to  be  exhaufted;  fince  in  the  infinite  Variety 
of  Entertainment  it  affords,  every  judicious  Obferver  will 
neceflarily  find  out  fomething  or  other  that  has  either 
efcaped  the  Searches  of  others,  or  that  will  at  leaft  afford 
Matter  for  more  particular  and  curious  Remarks,  than  a 
common  Traveller  is  capable  of  making,  or  a  general  Col- 
lector has  Time  to  refleCt  on.  The  learned  Montfaucon^ 
fpeaking  of  the  Villa  of  Prince  Borghefe,  fays,  Tho'  its 
Antique  Monuments  and  Rarities  have  been  a  hundred  times 
defcribed  in  Print ,  that  many  more  of  them  Jit  II  have  been 
overlooked  and  omitted^  than  are  yet  publifhed.  *  And  if 
this  be  true  of  one  fingle  Collection  here,  what  an  Idea 
muft  we  have  of  the  immenfe  Treafure  of  the  fame  kind, 
which  the  whole  City  will  furnifli  ? 

As  for  my  own  Journey  to  this  Place,  it  was  not,  I 
own,  any  Motive  of  Devotion,  which  draws  fo  many 
others  hither,  that  occafion'd  it :  My  Zeal  was  not  that  of 
vifiting  the  Holy  Threjholds  of  the  Apoftles>  or  kiffing  the  Feet 
of  their  Succejjbr  :  I  knew  that  their  Ecclejiaftical  Anti- 
quities were  moftly  fabulous  and  legendary ;  fupported  by 
Fiftions  and  Impoftures,  too  grofs  to  employ  the  Atten- 
tion of  a  Man  of  Senfe  :  For  ihould  we  allow  them  that 
St.  Peter  had  been  at  Rome,  ( which  fome  learned  Men, 


a  Adeo  ut  cum  fexcenties  in  defcriptionibus  quse  de  villa  Burgheilana  in  pu- 
blicurn  erniffe  funt,  monumenta  bene  mulra  cnumerata  recenfitaque  iint,  multo 
plura  prsetermifTa  Tint  inobfervata,  Diar.  Ital.  c.  16. 

B  however, 


[  w] 

however,  have  doubted  ofb)  yet  they  had  not,  I  knew* 
any  authentick  Monuments  remaining  of  him ;  any  vifible 
Footfteps  fubfifting  to  demqnftrate  his  Refidence  among 
them :  and  fhould  we  afk  them  for  any  Evidence  of  this 
kind,  they  would  refer  us  to  the  ImpreJJion  of  his  Face 
on  the  Wall  of  the  Dungeon  in  which  he  was  confined:  or 
to  a  Fountain  in  the  Bottom  of  it,  raifed  miraculoujly  by 
him  out  of  the  Rock,  in  order  to  baptize  his  Fellow-Pri- 
foners :  9  or  to  the  Mark  of  our  Saviour's  Feet  in  a  Stone, 
on  'which  he  appeared  to  him,  and  ftopp'd  him,  as  he  'was 
jlying  out  of  the  City  from  a  Perfecution  then  raging:  In 
Memory  of  which  Fad:,  there  was  a  Church  built  on  the 
Spot  call'd  St.  Mary  delle  Piante,  or  of  the  Marks  of  the 
Feet-,  which  falling  into  Decay,  was  fupplied  by  a  Cha- 
pel at  the  Expence  of  our  Cardinal  Pool&:  But  the  Stone 
itfelf,  more  valuable,  as  their  Writers  fay,  e  than  any  of 
the  precious  ones,  being  a  perpetual  Monument  and  Proof 
of  the  Chriftian  Religion,  is  preferred  with  all  due  Reve- 
rence in  St.  SebaftianV  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  of  his,  called,  At  the  three  Foun- 
tains, the  Place  where  he  was  beheaded :  on  which  Oc- 


*  Vid.Frid.  Spanh.  Mifcelian.  Sacrae  Antiq.  1.  3.  Diflertat.  3. 

c  Due  gloriofe  memorie  lafciarono  di  te  in  quefta  prigione  i  detti  fanti  Apo- 
ftoli,  &c.    Vid.  Rom.  Modern.  Giorn.  f.  c.  13.  Rione  di  Campitelli.    It.  vid. 
Aringhi  Rom.  /ubterran.  1.  2.  c.  i.    It.  Montfauc.  Diar.  ItaL  c.  13.  p.  174. 
Unda  deeft:  Petri  virga  Tarpeia  Rupes 
PercufTa,  e  Pctris  larga  fluenta  dedit,  £cc. 

*  Rom.  Modern.  Giorn.  2.  Rione  di  Ripa  21. 

J  Vid.  Aring.  ibid.  1.  3.  c.  n.  Lapis  vero  ille  digniiTimus  8c  omni  pretiofo 
lapidi  anteferendus,  in  D.  Sebaftiani  Eccleiiam  tranflatus,  ibidem,  quo  par  eft  reli- 
gionis  cultu,  in  perenne  Religionis  ChriHianac  monumentum  aflervatur.  Ibid. 

caiion, 


[  II  ] 

cafion,  it  feems,  in/lead  of  Blood  there  iffued  only  Milk  from 
his  Veins-,  and  his  Head,  when  fepar  at  ed  from  his  Body, 
having  made  three  Jumps  on  the  Ground,  raifed  at  each 
•  Place  a  Spring  of  living  Water,  which  retains  ftill,  as  they 
'would  perfuade  us,  the  plain  *ftjjte  of  Milk  :  Of  all  which 
Facts  we  have  an  Account  in  Baronius,  Mabillon,  and  all 
their  grave/I  Authors?  -,  and  may  fee  printed  Figures  of 
them  in  the  Defcription  of  Modern 


IT  was  no  Part  of  my   Defign  to  fpend  my  Time 
Abroad   in  attending   to  the  ridiculous  Fictions  of  this 
kind  :  The  Pleafure  I  had  chiefly  propofed  to  myfelf,  was 
to  vifit  the  genuine  Remains  and  venerable  Reliques  of 
Pagan  Rome-,  the  authentick  Monuments  of  Antiquity  that 
demonflrate  the  Certainty  of  thofe  Hiftories,  which  are 
the  Entertainment,  as  well  as  the  InftrucTion  of  our  youn- 
ger Years  ;  and  which,  by  the  early  Prejudice  of  being 
the  firft  Knowledge  we  acquire,  as  well  as  the  Delight 
they  give  -  in  defcribing  the  Lives  and  Manners  of  the 
greateft  Men  that  ever  lived,  gain  fometimes  fo  much 
upon  our  riper  Age,  as  to  exclude,  too  often,  other  more 
ufeful  and  neceffary  Studies  :  I  could  not  help  flattering 
myfelf  with  the  Joy  I  ihould  have  in  viewing  the  very 
Place  and  Scene  of  thofe  important  Events,  the  Know- 
ledge and  Explication  of  which  have  ever  fince  been  the 
chief  Employment  of  the  learned  and  polite  World;  in 
treading  that  Ground,  where  at  every  Step  we  ftumble  on 
the  Ruins  offome  Fabrick  defcribed  by  the  Antients,  and 
cannot  help  ietting  a  Foot  on  the  Memorial  of  fome  cele- 
brated Attion,  in  which  the  great  Heroes  of  Antiquities 

f  Cum  facrum  caput  obtruncaretur,  non  tarn  fluenta  fanguinis,  quam  candi- 
diflimi  la£Hs  rivuli,  Sec. 

It.  in  ipfo  autem  Martyrii  loco  tres  adhuc  pexigui  jugiter  fontes,  &c.  horum 
primus  cxteris  dulcior  faporem  laftis  prae  fe  fert,  Sec.  Aring,  1.  2,  c.  2  It  vid 
Baronii  Annal.  A.  D.  69.  It  Mabill.  Iter  Ital.  p.  142. 

*  Via  Rom,  Modern.  Gior.  2.  c,  17.  Rione  di  Ripa, 

B  2  had 


[    I*] 

had  been  perfonally  engaged.  I  amufed'  myfelf  with  the 
Thoughts  of  taking  a  Turn  in  thofe  very  Walks  where 
Cicero  and  his  Friends  had  held  their  Philofophical  Difpu- 
tations,  or  Handing  on  that  very  Spot,  where  he  had  de- 
livered fome  of  his  famous  Orations. 

SUCH  Fancies  as  thefe,  with  which  I  often  enter- 
tained myfelf  on  my  Road  to  Rome,  are  not,,  I  dare  fay,, 
peculiar  to  myfelf,  but  common  to  all  Men  of  Reading 
and  Education,  whofe  Dreams  upon  a  Voyage  to  Italy, 
like  the  Defcriptions  of  the  Elyjian  Fields,  reprefent  no- 
thing to  their  Fancies,  but  die  Pleafure  of  finding  put  and 
converfing  with  thofe  Sages  and  Heroes  of  Antiquity,  whofe 
Characters  they  have  moft  admired.  Nor  indeed  is  this 
Imagination  much  difappointed  in  the  Event;  for,  as  C/- 
cero  obferves,  h  Whether  it  be  from  Nature,  or  fome  Weak- 
*nefs  in  us,  'tis  certain,  we  are  much  more  affeffied  with  the 
Sight  of  thofe  Places  where  great  and  famous  Men  havefpent 
moft  Part  of  their  Lives,  than  either  to  hear  of  their  Ac- 
tions^ or  read  their  Works :  And  he  was  not,  as  he  tells  us, 
fo  much  pleajed  with  Athens  itfelf,  for  the  Jlately  Buildings 
or  exqulfite  Pieces  of  Art  it  was  full  of ,  its  in  recolle&ing 
the  great  Men  it  had  bred,  in  carefully  vijiting  their  Se- 
pulchres, and  finding  out  the  Place  where  each  had  lived, 
or  walked,  or  held  his  Difputations  i :  And  this  is  what 
every  Man  of  Curiofity  will,  in  the  like  Circumftancesy 
find  true  in  himfelf :  And  for  my  own  part,  as  oft  as  I 
have  been  rambling  about  in  the  very  Rojlra  of  Old  Rome, 


h  Natura  ne  nobis  hoc,  inquit,  datura  dicam,  an  errore  quodam,  ut  cum  ea 
loca  videamus,  in  quibus  Memoria  dignos  Viros  acceperimus  multos  efle  verfa- 
tos,  magis  moveamur,  quam  fi  quando  eorum  ipforum  aut  facia  audiamus,  aut 
fcriptutn  aliquod  legamus.  Cic.  de  Fin.  y. 

1  Me  quidem  ipfae  illae  noftrse  Athenae  non  tarn  operibus  magnificis,  exquifi- 
tifque  antiquorum  Artibus  deledant,  quam  recordatione  fummorum  Virorurn, 
ubi  quifque  habitarc,  ubi  iedere,  ubi  difputare  lit  fblitus ;  iludioieque  eorum 
etiam  Sepulchra  conterpplor.  De  Legib.  2.  2. 

or 


[  13  I 

or  in  that  fame  Temple  of  Concord  where  fully  aflembled 
the  Senate  in  Cat  aline*  s  Confpiracy  k,  I  could  not  help 
fancying  myfelf  much  more  fenfible  of  the  Force  of  his 
Eloquence;  whilft  the  very  Impreffion  of  the  Place  ferved 
to  raife  and  warm  my  Imagination  to  a  Degree  almoft 
equal  to  that  of  his  old  Audience. 

As  therefore  my  general  Studies  had  furnifhed  me 
with  a  competent  Knowledge  of  Roman  Hiftory,  as  well 
as  an  Inclination  to  fearch  more  particularly  into  fome 
Branches  of  its  Antiquities,  fo  I  had  refolved  to  employ 
myfelf  chiefly  in  Inquiries  of  this  fort,  and  to  lofe  as  lit- 
tle Time  as  poffible  in  taking  notice  of  the  Fopperies  and 
ridiculous  Ceremonies  of  the  prefent  Religion  of  the  Place. 
But  in  this  I  foon  found  myfelf  miftaken  -,  for  the  whole 
Form  and  outward  Drefs  of  their  Worfhip  feemed  fo 
grofsly  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  very  particular  Re- 
gard ;  efpecially  when  the  very  Reafon,  which  I  thought 
would  have  hinder'd  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  folely  and  chiefly 
with  the  Antients,  or  fo  much  help'd  my  Imagination  to 
fancy  myfelf  wandering  about  in  Old  Heathen  Rome,  as 
to  obferve  and  attend  to  their  Religious  Worfhip ;  all  whofe 
Ceremonies  appeared  plainly  to  have  been  copied  from 
the  Rituals  of  Primitive  Paganifm,  as  if  handed  down  by 
an  uninterrupted  Succeffion  from  the  Priefts  of  Old  to  the 
Priefts  of  New  Rome,  whilft  each  of  them  readily  ex- 
plained and  called  to  my  Mind  fome  Paflage  of  a  Clqffick 
Author,  where  the  fame  Ceremony  was  defcribed,  as  tranf- 
adled  in  the  fame  Form  and  Manner,  and  in  the  fame 

k  Vid.  Orat.  in  Catilin.  3,4.   It.  Phil.  2.4. 


[  14] 

Place,  where  I  now  faw  it  executed  before  my  Eyes :  So 
that  as  oft  as  I  was  prefent  at  any  Religious  Exercife  in 
their  Churches,  it  was  more  natural  to  fancy  myfelf 
looking  on  at  fomefolemn  A5t  of  Idolatry  in  Old  Rome: 
than  affifting  at  a  WorShip,  inftituted  on  the  Principles, 
and  formed  upon  the  Plan  of  Christianity. 

M  ANY  of  our  Divines  have,  I  know,  with  much 
Learning  and  folid  Reafoning  charg'd,  and  effectually 
prov'd  the  Crime  of  Idolatry  on  the  Church  of  Rome:  but 
thefe  Controversies,  (in  which  there  is  it  ill  fomething 
plaufible  to  be  faid  on  the  other  Side,  and  where  the 
Charge  is  constantly  denied,  and  with  much  Subtilty 
evaded)  are  not  capable  of  giving  that  Conviction,  which 
I  immediately  received  from  my  Senfes,  the  fureSt  Wit- 
neffes  of  Fad:  in  all  Cafes  •>  and  which  no  Man  can  fail 
to  be  furniSh'd  with,  who  fees  Popery,  as  it  is  exercifed 
in  Italy,  in  the  full  Pomp  and  Difplay  of  its  Pagean- 
try, and  pradtifing  all  its  Arts  and  Powers  without  Cau- 
tion or  Referve.  This  Similitude  of  the  Popifh  and  Pa- 
gan Religion,  feem'd  fo  evident  and  clear,  and  ftruck  my 
Imagination  fo  forcibly,  that  I  foon  refolved  to  give  my- 
felf the  Trouble  of  Searching  into  the  Bottom  of  the 
Notion,  and  to  explain  and  demonstrate  the  Certainty  of 
it,  by  exhibiting  and  comparing  together  the  principal 
and  moSt  obvious  Parts  of  each  WorShip ;  which,  as  it 
was  my  firSt  Employment  after  I  came  to  Rome,  Shall  be 
the  Subjedt  of  my  SirSt  Letter  from  thence:  referving 
therefore  to  my  next,  the  Account  I  deSign  to  give  you 
of  the  Antiquities  and  other  Curiojities  of  the  Place,  I 
{hall  find  Matter  enough  for  this  Time,  to  tire  both  you 
and  myfelf,  in  Shewing  the  Source  and  Origin  of  the  Po- 
fijh  Ceremonies,  and  the  exadt  Conformity  of  them  with 
thofe  of  their  Pagan  Ancejtors. 


THE 

3 


[  >5  ] 

THE  very  firft  thing  that  a  Stranger  muft  neceflarily 
take  Notice  of,  as  foon  as  he  enters  their  Churches,  is 
the  Ufe  of  Incenfe  or  Perfumes  in  their  Religious  Offices  ; 
The  firft  Step  he  takes  within  the  Door  will  be  fure  to 
make  him  fenfible  of  it,  by  the  Offence  he  will  imme- 
diately receive  from  the  Smell,  as  well  as  Smoakofthis 
Incenfe;  with  which  the  whole  Church  continues  fill'd  for 
fome  Time  after  every  folemn  Service  :  A  Cuftom,  re- 
reived  directly  from  Paganifm  ;  and  which  prefently 
called  to  my  Mind  the  Old  Defcriptions  of  the  Heathen 
temples  and  Altars,  which  are  feldom  or  never  mention'd 
by  the  Antients  without  the  Epithet  of  perfumed  or  /'«- 


A  N  D  in  fome  of  their  Principal  Churches,  where  you 
have  before  you,  in  one  View,  a  great  Number  of  Altar  s> 
and  all  of  them  fmoaking  at  once  with  Steams  of  Incenfe, 
how  natural  is  it  to  imagine  onefelf  tranfported  into  the 
Temple  of  fome  Heathen  Deity,  or  that  of  the  Paphian 
Venus  defer  ibed  by  Virgil? 

t   >TJbi  'femplum  illi,  centumque  Sabteo 
Thure  calent  Arce,  fertifque  recentibus  halanf. 

JEn.  I.  420. 

Her  hundred  Altars  there  with  Garlands  crown'd, 
And  richeft  Incenfe  fmoaking  breathe  around 
Sweet  Odours,  &c. 

UNDER  the  Pagan  Emperours,  the  Ufe  of  Incenfe  for 
any  Purpofe  of  Religion  was  thought  fo  contrary  to  the 
Obligations  of  Chriftianity,  that  in  their  Perfecutions,  the 


Horn.  II.  4«  148. 
•Thuricremis  cum  dona  imponeret  *dris.  Virg.  ^n.  4,  V. 


Theocrit.  Id,  /£.  1x3,  Horn.  II,  6.48.  Virg.  n.  ^En.  481. 

very: 


very  Method  of  trying  and  convitting  d  Chriftian,  'was 
by  requiring  him  only  to  throw  the  leafl  Grain  of  it  into 
the  Cenfer,  or  on  the  Altar  m. 

UN.DER  the  Chrijlian  Emperours,  on  the  other  hand, 

it  was  looked  upon  as  a  Rite  fo  peculiarly  Heathenijh, 

that  n  the  very  Places  or  Hou/es,  where  it  could  be  proved 

to  have  been  done,  were  by  a  Law  of  Theodofius,  con- 

fifcated  by  the  Government. 

IN  the  Old  Bas-Reliefs,  or  Pieces  of  Sculpture,  where 
any  Heathen  Sacrifice  is  reprefented,  we  never  fail  to  ob- 
ferve  a  Boy  in  Sacred  Habit ,  which  was  always  white,  at- 
tending on  the  Priejl,  with  a  little  Cheji  or  Box  in  his 
Hands,  in  which  this  Incenfe  was  kept  for  the  Ufe  of  the 
Altar  o.  And  in  the  fame  manner  ftill  in  the  Church  of 
Rome,  there  is  always  a  Boy  in  Surplice,  waiting  on  the 
Priejl  at  the  Altar  with  Sacred  Utenfils,  and  among  the 
reft,  the  *Tburibulum  or  Vejjel  ofLIncenfe,  which,  being  fee 
on  Fire,  the  Prieji,  with  many  ridiculous  Motions  and 
Croffings,  waves  feveral  times,  as  'tis  fmoaking,  around 
and  over  the  Altar  in  different  Parts  of  the  Service. 

THE  next  thing  that  will  of  courfe  ftrike  one's  Ima- 
gination, is  their  Ufe  of  Holy  Water:  For  nobody  ever 


™  Maximus  dixit:  Ture  tantum  Deos,  Nicander,  honorato.  Nicander  dixit : 
Quomodo  poteft  homo  Chriftianus  lapides  8c  ligna  coJere,  Deo  reli&o  immor- 
tali?  8cc.  Vid.  Aft.  Martyr.  Nicandri,  Sec.  apud  Mabill.  Iter.  Ital.  T.  i.  Par.  2. 
p,  247. 

Adeo  ut  Chriftianos  vere  facrificare  crederent,  ubi  fummis  Digitis  paululum 
thuris  injeciflent  in  Acerram,  8cc.  Vide  Durant.  de  Ritib.  1.  i.  c.  9. 

Non  eft  in  eo  tantum  Servitus  Idoli,  liquis  duobus  digitalis.  Thura  in  bufium 
arae  jaciat.  Hieron.  Oper.  T.  4.  Epift.  ad  Heliod.  p.  8. 

«  Namque  omnia  loca,  quos  Thuris  conftiterit  vapore  fiimafle,  fi  tamen  ea 
fuhTe  in  jure  thurificantium  probabitur,  Fifco  noftro  adfbcianda  cenfemus,  5cc. 
Jac.  Gothof.  de  Stat.  Paganor.  fub  Chriftian.  Imper.  leg.  12.  p.  jy. 

0  Vid.  Montfauc.  Antiq.  Tom.  2.  Plate  23,  24,  2^. 

£>a  mihi  Thma,  Ftter,  ?ingm$  fwentw  Ilammas.  Ovid.  Trifl.  y.  f. 

goes 


>7 

goes  in  or  out  of  a  Church^  but  is  eithery^raz/bk d  by  the 
cPrieft)  who  attends  for  that  Purpofe  on  folemn  Days, 
or  elfe  ferves  himfelf  with  it  from  a  Vejffel^  ufually  of 
Marble,  placed  jtift  at  the  Door,  not  unlike  one  of  our 
baptifmal  Fonts :  Now  this  Ceremony  is  fo  notorioufly  and 
diredly  tranfmitted  to  them  from  Paganlfm^  that  their 
own  Writers  make  not  the  leaft  Scruple  to  own  it.  The 
Jejuit  la  Cerda,  in  his  Notes  on  a  Paflage  of  Vergil y 
\vhere  this  Pra&ice  is  mentioned,  fays,  7%at  hence  was 
derived  the  Cu/iom  of  Holy  Church  to  provide  fm "ifying 
or  holy  Water  at  the  Entrance  of  their  Churches,  p 
^quamlnarlum  or  Amula,  fays  the  Learned  Montfaucon^ 
was  a  Fafe  of  Holy  Water %  placed  by  the  Heathens  at  the 
Entrance  #f  their  Temfks,  to  Jprlnkle  themfelves  with,  q 
The  fame  Vcflel  was  by  the  Greeks  called  l/e^ppaj-W^oj/; 
two  of  which,  the  one  of  Goldy  the  other  of  Silver, 
were  given  by  Croejus  to  the  femfle  of  Apollo  at  Del- 
phi. r  And  the  Cuftom  of  fprlnkllng  tbemfelves  was  Ib 
necefTary  a  Part  of  all  their  religious  Offices,  that  the 
Method  of  Excommunication  feems  to  have  been  by 
prohibiting  to  Offenders  the  Approach  and  Ufe  of  the 
JHoly-water  Pot3:  The  very  Compofition  of  this  Hofy- 
•water  was  the  fame  alib  among  the  Heathens 9  as  it  is 
now  among  the  Paflf}^  being  nothing  more  than  a 


S^rgms  row  levl>  5cc.    'Virg.  ^n.  6.  230,  vid.Not. 
Vid.  Montfauc.  Antiquit.  T.  ^.  Pt.  i.  1.  3.  c.  6. 


Eurip.  Jone.  v.  9^. 
f  Hcrodor.  1,  i.  fi.  Clem.  Alex.  Strom.  1.  i. 
*  Vid.  ,/Efchin.  Orat.  contra  Ctefiphon.  f  8. 

Mixture 


[   18  ] 

Mixture  of  Salt  with  common  Water  t  :  And  the  Form 
of  the  Sprinkling-  Bru/h,  called  by  the  Ancients  dfper- 
forium  or  jlfpergillum  (which  is  much  the  fame  with 
what  the  Priefts  now  make  ufe  of)  may  he  feen  in 
Bas-reliefs,  or  ancient  Coins,  where-ever  the  Infgnia,  or 
Emblems  of  the  Pagan  ^Priejthoad  are  defer  ib'd>  of  which. 
'tis  generally  oneu. 


in  his  Lives  of  the  Popes,  and  other 
Authors,  aicribe  the  Inftitution  of  this  Holy-water  to^ 
Pope  Alexander  'the  Fir  ft  ;  who  is  faid  to  have  lived 
about  the  Year  of  Chrift  1  13  :  but  it  could  not  be  intro- 
duced fo  early,  fince  for  fome  Ages  after  we  find  the 
primitive  Fathers  fpeakjng  of  it,  as  a  Cuftom  purely 
Heatheni/b,  and  condemning  it  as  impious  and  deteftabk^. 
Jujlin  Martyr  fays,  fhat  it  was  invented  by  Dcemgns 
in  Imitation  of  the  true  Baptijm  figmfted  by  the 
(Prophets,  that  their  Votaries  might  alfo  have  their 
pretended  Purifications  by  fflater*.  And  the  Emperour 
Julian,  out  of  Spite  to  the  Chriftians,  ufed  to  order  the 
Yiduals  in  the  Markets  to  be  Jprinkkd^zvith  Holy-water^ 
on  purpofe  either  to  ftarve,  or  force  them  at  leaft  to  eat 
what  by  their  own  Principles  they  efteemed  polluted  y. 


1  Porro  iingulis  Diebus  Dominicis  Sacevdos  raiiras  facrum  fadlurus,  aquam 
fale  adiperfam  benedicendo  revocare  dcbet  eaque  populum  adfpergere.  Durant. 
de  Kit.  1.  i.  c.  ii. 


/3op.  Theocrit.  kS..  95. 

Menand.  Fragra. 

*  Vid.  Montfauc.  Antiq.  T.  2.  P-  I,  1.  1.  c.6.  It  m&y  be  fan  on  &  Silver  Com  of 
Julius  Caefar,  as  -ndl  as  many  other  Emperors.  Ant.  Agoftini  diilorfo  ibpra  le, 
Medaglie. 


ro    A8rp3v  S^  T«TO 

K«),  ^av1j?iiv  saulas  T«5  '«<$  foL  tspct,  O.VT&V   Iv^ivovTU^'      Jiift.  Mart. 
Apol.  i.  p.  91.  Edit.  Thirlb. 

i  Vid»  Hofpinian,  de  Orig.  Templor.  1.  2.  c.  aj; 


THUS  we  fee  what  contrary  Notions  the  Primitive  and 
Romijb  Church  have  of  this  Ceremony :  the  firft  condemns 
it  as  Jitperftitioiis,  abominable,  and  irreconcilable  with 
Chriftianity  :  The  latter  adopts  it  as  highly  edifying  and 
applicable  to  the  Improvement  of  Chriftian  Piety  :  The 
one  looks  upon  it  as  the  Contrivance  of  the  Devil  to  de- 
lude Mankind^  the  other  as  the  Security  of  Mankind  againft 
the  Delufans  of  the  Devil.  But  what  is  ftill  more  ridi- 
culous than  even  the  Ceremony  itfelf,  is  to  fee  their 
learned  Writers  gravely  reckoning  up  the  feveral  Virtues 
and  Benefits  derived  from  the  Ufe  of  it  both  to  Soul  and 
Body*;  and  to  crown  all,  producing  a  long  Roll  of 
Miracles  to  atteft  the  Certainty  of  each  Virtue  they 
aieribe  to  ita.  And  may  we  not  now  juftly  apply  to  the 
prejent  People  of  Rome  what  was  faid  by  the  Qoet  of  its 
Old  Inhabitants^  for  the  Ufe  of  this  very  Ceremony  ? 

Ah  nimium  faciles,  qui  triftia  crimina  c&dis 
.Flumined  tolli  fojjje  p&tetis  aqua  ! 

Ovid.  Faft.  2.  45, 

Ah,  eafy  Fools,  to  think  that  a  whole  Flood 
Of  Water  e'er  can  purge  th^  Stain  of  Blood! 

I  do  not  at  prefent  recoiled  whether  the  Antlents 
went  fo  far,  as  to  apply  the  Ufe  of  this  Holy-water  to 
the  purifying  or  bleffing  their  Horfes^  sffles,  and  other 
>Cattle  ;  or  whether  this  be  an  Improvement  of  modern 
Rome,  which  has  dedicated  a  yearly  FeJIhal  peculiarly 
to  this  Service,  called  in  their  vulgar  Language,  the 


"z  Durant.  de  Ritib.  1. 1.  c.  2.1.  it.  Holpin.  ibid. 

a  Hujus  Aqus  Benedidtae  Virtus  variis  miracutts  illuftratur,  &c.  Duiaat.  ibid. 

. 

C  2 


Eemdffiion  of  Horfes  ^  which  is  always  celebrated 
much  Solemnity  in  the  Month  of  January^  when  all  the 
Inhabitants  of  the  City  and  Neighbourhood,  fend  tip 
their  Horjes,  ^Jfes,  &c.  to  the  Convent  of  St.  Anthony ± 
near  St.  Mary  the  Great,  where  a  Qrleft  in  Surplice  aD 
the  Church  I)QorJfrinkks  with  his  B-rufti  ail  I\\Q  Aniniah 
fingly,  as  they  arc  prefented  to  him,  and  receives  front 
each  Owner  a  Gratuity  proportionable  to  his  Zeal  and 
Ability  b.  Amongft  the  reft  I  had  my  own  Wories  blefr 
at  the  Expence  of  about  Eighteen  Pence  of  our  Money v 
as  well  to  fatisfy  my  own  Curiofity,  as  Co  humour  the 
Coachman,  who  was  perfuaded,  as  the  common  People 
generally  are,  that  forae  Mifchance  would  befall  them 
within  the  Year,  if  they  wanted  the  Benefit  of  this  £e* 
mdiftion.  Mabillon  in  giving  an  Account  of  this  Cultom^ 
makes  no  other  Reflection  upon  it,  than  that  it  was  new 
and  unujual  to  him  c. 

I  H  A  v  E-  met  indeed  with  fome  Hints  of  a  Praftke 
not  quite  foreign  to  this  among  the  Ancients ;  vifprink-^ 
ling  their  Horfes  with  Water  in  the  Cwcenfian  Games  :  <* 
But  whether  this  was  done  out  of  zfuperfHtidiis  f^iew^ 
of  infpiring  any  Virt-ue,  or  purifying  them  for  thofe 
Races  which  were  efteemed  Sacred  ;  or  meerly  to  refrelh 
them  under  the  Violence  of  fuch  an  Exercife,  is  not; 
eafy  to  determine  :  But  allowing  the  Romijh 


b  Ma  ogni  forte  d'animali  a  quefto  Santo  fi  raccommanda,  e  pero  nel  giorno 
della  fuafeftafbno-portate  molte  ofFerte  a  quefta  fua  Chieia,  in  gratitudine  delle. 
gratie,  che  diyerli  hanno  ottenute  da  lui  ibpra  de'loro  beftiami.  Rom.  Modern,. 
Giorn.  6.  c.  46.  Rione  de'Monti. 

•  In  Fefto  San£ti  Antonii  prope  S.  Mariam  Majorem  ritus  nobis  infblitus  vifus 
eft,  ut  quicquid  Equorum  eft  in  Urbe  ducantur  cum  fuis  phaleris  ad  portam 
Eccleiiae,  ubi  Aqua  luftrali  ab  uno  e  Patribus  omnes  2c  linguli  afperguntur,  date 
annuo  cenfu.  Mabill.  It.  I,tal.  p.  136, 


haye 


r  "  i 

fcave  taken  the  Hint  from  fome  Old  Cujlom  ofPaganifm>\ 
yet  this  however  muft  be  granted  them,  that  they  alone 
were  capable  of  cultivating  fb  coarfe  and  barren  a  Piece 
of  Superltition  into  a  Revenue  fufHcient  for  the  Main* 
tenance  of  forty  or  fifty  idle  Monks. 

No  fooner  is  a  Man  advanced  a  little  forward  into 
their  Cbychesr  and  begins  to  look  about  him,  but  he 
will  find  his  Eyes  and  Attention  attracted  by  the  Number 
of  Lamps  and  Wax  Gaudies-,  which  are  conftantly 
burning  before  the  Shrines  and  Images  of  their  Saints :  In 
all  the  great  Churches  of  Italy,  lays  MabillonQ,  they  hang 
up  Lamps,  at  every  Mtar :  A,  Sight,  which  will  not  only 
fiirprize  a  Stranger  by  the  Novelty  of  it,  but  will  fur- 
nifh  him  with  another  Proof  and  Example  of  the  Confor- 
mity of  the  Romijh  with  the  Pagan  Worjhip;  by  recall*- 
ing  to  his  Memory  many  Paflages  of  the  Heathen 
Writers,  where  their  perpetual  Lamps  and  Candles  are 
defcribed,  as  continually  burning  before  the  Altars  and 
Statues  of  their  Deiti&sf. 

HERODOfUS  telfo-u*ofj35gyptians,  (who  firft 
introduced  the  Ufe  of  Lights  or   Lamps  in  their  Tem~ 
pies  g)   that   they   had  a  famous  yearly  Fefthal^  called 
from  the  principal  Ceremony  of  it,  the  lighting  up   of 
:   But  there's  fcarce  &>fingk  F&ftival  at 


c  Ad  fingulas  Eeclefias  aras  (qui  ritus  in  omnibus  Italise  Bafilicis  oblervatur) 
fiagul*  appenfae  funk  Lam  pades.     Mabill.  It.  .Ital.  p.  ij-. 

f)  Placaere  8c  Lychnuchi  penfile?  in  delubris.     Plin,Hift.  Nat.  Lj^  3, 
Vidi  Cupidineni  Argenteum  cum  Lampade.     Cic.  in  berr.  i. 
Centum  aras  poiuit,  vigilemque  facrayerat  ignem.. 

Virg.^En.4.  100. 
*  Clem.  Alex.  Strom.  1.  1.  c.  16. 


TJ»;  o?7?,  »KOf*ct.xfcSTfM  Ac/x^WAiti..    Herod,  1.  1.  LXII.  Edit,  Lond.. 

which, 


which  might  not  for  the  fame  Reafbn  ?be  called  by  the 
fame  Name. 

THE  Primitive  Writers  frequently  expofe  the  Folly 
and  Abfurdity  of  this  Heathenljh  Cuftom  i :  they  light  up 
Candles  to  Gody  fays  •Laftantius,  as  if  he  livd  in  the 
Dark  :  and  do  not  they  deferve  to  pafs  for  Madmen ,  who 
offer  Lamps  to  the  Author  aud  Giver  of  Light  ? 

IN  the  Collections  of  Old  Infcrlptlons,  we  find  many 
Inftances  ofPrefents  and  Donations  from  private  Peribns 
-of  Lamps  and  Candle 'flicks  to  the  Temp/es  and  Altars  of 
'their  Gods  :  k  A  Piece  of  Zeal  which  continues  ftill  the 
fame  in  modern  Rome;  where  each  Church  abounds 
with  Lamps  of  majffy  Sliver,  and  fometimes  even  of  Gold; 
the  Gifts  of  Princes )  and  other  Peribns  of  Diftin&ion : 
And  'tis  furprizing  to  fee  how  great  a  Number  of  this 
Jcind  are  perpetually  burning  before  the  Altars  of  their 
Principal  Saints^  or  Miraculous  Images  ;  as  St.  Anthony 
of  Padua,  or  the  Lady  of  Loretto ;  as  well  as  the  vaft 
Profufion  of  Wax  Candles  with  which  their  Churches 
are  illuminated  on  every  great  Feftival  :  when  the 
high  Altar  covered  over  with  Gold  and  Silver  Qlate, 
brought  for  the  Purpofe  out  of  their  Treaiuries,  and 
ftuck  full  of  Wax  Lights,  difpofed  in  beautiful  Figures, 
looks  more  like  the  rich  Side-board  of  fome  great  Prince^ 
dreffed  out  for  a  Feaft,  than  an  ^Altar  to  pay  divine 
Worlhip  at. 

BUT  a  Stranger  will  not  be  more  furprized  at  the 
Number  of  Lamp^  or  Wax  Lights  burning  before  their 


Hofpin.  dc  Orig.  Templor.  1. 1. 12. 

Gupidines  1 1 .  cum  fuis  Lychnuchis  &  Lueerna.    Grut.  Infc.  177.  3. 


Altars^ 


jlltars,  than  at  the  Number  of  Offerings,  or  Votive  Gifts, 
which  are  hanging  all  around  them,  in  confequence  of 
Vow  3  made  in  the  Time  of  Danger,  and  in  Gratitude  for 
Deliverances  and  Cures  wrought  in  Sicknefs  or  Diftrefs  : 
a  Practice  fo  common  among  the  Heathens,  that  no  one 
Cuftom  of  Antiquity  is  fo  frequently  mentioned  by  all 
their  Writers  ;  and  many  of  their  Original  Donaria,  or 
Votive  Offerings  are  preferved  to  this  Day  in  the  Cabinets 
of  the  Curious  )  viz.  Images  of  Metal,  Stone,  or  Clay,  as 
well  as  Legs*  Arms,  and  other  Parts  of  the  Body,  which 
had  formerly  been  hung  up  in  their  Temples  in  Tefti- 
mony  of  fome  divine  Favour  or  Cure  etfefted  by  their 
tutelar  Deity  in  that  particular  Member  !  :  but  the  moil 
common  of  all  Offerings  vrcre-¥/&0r«j,  reprefenting  the 
Hiftory  of  the  miraculous  Cure  or  Deliverance  vouch- 
fafed.  upon  the  Vow  of  the  Donor. 


,  Dearnitnc  fticcurre  mihi,  nam  po-ffe  mederi 
Plflw  docet  femplis  multa  Tabella  tuts.     TibuL.El.  i.  3... 

Now,  Goddefs,  help,  for  thou  canft  Help  beftowx, 
As  all  thefe-Pictures  round  thy  Altars  ftiew* 

A   Friend  of  D'tagoras    the    Philofopher,    called    the 

M-htift,   having   found   him  once  in  a  temple,    as  the 

Story  is  told  by  Cicero  ™,  TGU,  fays   he,  who  think  the 

Gods  take  no  notice  of  human  Affairs,  do  not  you  fee  here 

by  this  Number  of  Pi  firms  ^  how  many  People  for  the  fake 

of  their  P^ows  have  been  Javed  in  &  forms  at  Sea,  arid  got 

fafe  into  Harbour  ?  ¥es,  fays  Diagoras,  I  fee  how  it  is  j 

for  tho/e   are  never  painted,   who  happen  to  be  drowned. 

The  temples  of  ^Efculapius  were  more  efpecially  rich  in 


1  'Vid.  Montfiuc.  Antiq.  T.  a.  p.  i.  1,  4.  c.  4, 5-,  6». 
»  Cic.  Nat.  l>eor.  1.  3.  15-3, 


thefe: 


I  » 

thefe  Offerings,  which  Livy  fays,  were  the  Price  and 
Pay  for  the  Cures  he  had  wrought  far  the  Sick  n.  And 
they  ufed  always  to  hang  up  in  them  and  expole  to 
common  View  in  Tables  of  Brafs  or  Marble  a  Catalogue 
or  Relation  of  all  the  miraculous  Cures  he  had  performed 
for  his  Votaries0:  A  remarkable  Fragment  of  one  of 
thefe  Tables  is  ftill  remaining  and  publiflied  in  Grutcr's 
vColktiion,  having  been  found  in  the  Ruins  of  the 
^Temple  of  the  fame  God  in  the  I/land  of  the  Tiber  at  Rome  : 
Upon  which  the  learned  Montjaucon  makes  this  Reflec- 
tion ;  that  in  it  are  either  feen  the  Wiles  of  the  Devil  to 
deceive  the  Credulous;  or  elfe  the  Tricks  of  Pagan  Priefis 
fuborning  Men  to  counterfeit  Difeafes  and  miraculous 
•Cures  <L 

Now  this  Piece  of  Superftition  had  been  found  of 
old  fo  beneficial  to  the  Prieflhood,  that  it  could  not  fail 
of  being  taken  into  thevScheme  of  the  Romijh  Worjbip* 
where  it  reigns  at  this  Day  in  as  full  Height  and  Vigour 
as  in  the  ^ges  of  Pagan  Idolatry  ,  and  in  fo  grofs  a  Man- 
ner as  to  give  Scandal  and  Offence  even  to  fome  of  their 
own  Communion.  Poly  dove  f^/rgi/y  ""after  having  de- 
fcribed  this  Pra&ice  of  the  Antients,  In  the  fame  Manner^ 
fays  he,  do  we  now  offer  up  in  our  Churches  little  Images 
of  Wax  \  and  as  oft  as  any  fart  of  the  Body  is  hurt^  as 
the  Hand  or  Foot,  cXc,  we  frefently  make  a  Vow  to  God, 
or  out  of  his  Saints,  to  whom  upon  our  Recovery  we  make 


*  Turn  donis  dives  erat,  quae  remediorum  {alutarium  #gri  inercedem  facra- 
verant  Deo.     Liv.  1.  45-.  18. 


0  J3       &V  lTAWf€<     "X9VT         At  7? 

I/V  Avw&iupweu  rvfiv*ffi  £t  Qt&Tnlaji.    Strabo  T. 


t  Gruter.  Infcript.  p.  71. 

Et  Montfauc.  Antiq.  T.z.  P.  i.  1.  4.  c.  6, 

*  Ibid. 

an 


C.  *5  1 

an  Offering  of  that  Hand  or  foot  in  Wax :  Which  Cujlom 
is  now  come  to  thai  Extravagance,  that  we  do  the"jame 
thing  for  our  Cattle,  as  we  do  f:r  ourj  elves,  and  make 
Offerings  on  account  of  our  Oxen,  Horfts,  Sheep  ;  where  a 
J eruptions  Man  will  qiieftion  .whether  in  this  we  imitate 
the  Religion  or  Suferjiition  of  our 


THE  Altar  of  St.  Philip  Neri,  fays  JBaronius  *,  Jhines 
with  votive  Qifiures  and  Images,  the  Proofs  of  as  many 
Miracles,  receiving  every  Day  the  additional  La  ft  re  of 
frejh  Offerings  fromjuch  as  have  b$en  favoured  with  frejb 
£enefits :  Amongil  whom  the  prefent  Pofe  himfelf  pays, 
as  1  have  been'  told,  a  yearly  Acknowledgment,  for  a 
miraculous  Deliverance  he  obtained  by  invoking  this 
Saint,  when  he  had  like  to  have  periftied  under  the  Ruins 
of  a  Houfe  overturned  in  an  Earthquake. 

THERE  is  commonly  Ib   great  a  Number  of  thefe 
Offerings  hanging  up  in  their  Churches,  that  inftead  of 

8  Pol.Virg.de  Inv.  Rer.  1.  $•.  i. 

1  Baron.  Ann.  i.  An. 57. n.  162.  It.  Aring.  Rom.  Subter.l.  i.e.  30,  it.  1.  6  27. 
This  "Philip  Neri  is  a  Saint  in  high  Efteem  in  all  Parts  of  Italy,  where  he  has 
many  Churches  dedicated  to  him :  he  was  Founder  of  the  Congregation  of  the 
Oratory,  and  died  about  a  Century  and  half  ago  :  his  Body  lies  under  his  Altar, 
with  the  following  Inicription,  in  a  fine  Church  called  Chiefa  Nuova,  which 
was  founded  and  built  for  the  Service  of  his  Congregation }  where  we  fee  his 
tidture  by  Guido,  and  his  Statue  by  Algardi*  Cardinal  Baroniust  who  was  one 
of  his  Difciples,  lies  buried  too  in  the  fame  Church. 

C  O  RP  V  S 
S.  PHILIPPI   NER1I  CONGR.  ORATORII 

FVNDATORIS 

AB  IPSO  DORMITIONIS  DIE  ANNOS 
QVATVOR  ET  QVADRAGINTA 

""  INCORRVPTVM  DIVINA 
VIRTVTE  SERVATVM  OCVLIS  FIDELIVM 

EXPOSITVM  A  DILECTIS  IN  CHRISTO 

F1LIVS  SVB  EIVSDEM  S.  PATRIS  ALTARI 

PERPETVAE  SEPVLTVRAE  MORE  MAIORVM 

COMMENDATVM  EST 
ANNO  SALVTIS.  M.DC.XXXVIII. 

D  adding 


adding  any  Beauty,  they  often  give  Offence,  by  cover- 
ing or  obftrufting  the  Sight  of  fomething  more  valuable 
and  ornamental :  Which  we  find  to  have  been  the  Cafe 
likewife  in  the  Old  Heathen  femples ;  where  the  Priefts 
were  obliged  fometimes  to  take  them  down,  for  the 
Obftru&ion  they  gave  to  the  Beauty  of  a  fine  Pillar  or 
Altar u  :  for  they  confift  chiefly,  as  has  been  faid,  of 
Arms,  and  Legs,  and  little  Figures  of  Wood  or  Wax^  but 
efpecially  Pieces  of  Board  painted,  and  fometimes  indeed 
•fine  Pictures,  defcribing  the  Manner  of  the  Deliverance 
obtained  by  the  miraculous  Interpofttion  of  the  Saint  in- 
voked :  Of  which  Offerings  the  blejftd  Virgin  is  fo  fure 
always  to  carry  off  the  greateft  Share,  that  it  may  truly 
be  faid  of  her,  what  Juvenal  fays  of  the  Goddefs  J/is, 
whofe  Religion  was  at  that  time  in  the  greateft  Vogue 
at  Romey  that  the  Painters  get  their  Livelihood  out  vf 
far. 

Piffores  quis  nefeit  ab  IJiJe  fafei  ? 

As  once  to  Ifis^  now  it  may  be  faid, 
That  Painters  to  the  Virgin  owetheir  Bread. 

A  s  oft  as  I  have  had  the  Curiofity  to  look  over  thefe 
Donaria^  or  votive  Offerings,  hanging  round  the  Shrines 
of  their  Images^  and  confider  the  feveral  Stories  of  each,, 
as  they  are  either  exprefs*d  in  Painting,  or  related  it* 
Writing,  I  have  always  found  them  to  be  but  meer 
Copies,  and  as  it  were  verbal  f radiations  of  the  old  Ori- 
ginals of  Heathenifm  :  for  the  Vow  is  often  faid  to  have 
been  divinely  inffiredy  or  ex f  reply  commanded ;  and  the 
Cure  and  Deliverance  wrought  either  by  the  viable  Ap- 
farition,  and  immediate  Hand  of  the  futelar  Saint ,  or  by 
the  Notice  of  a  Dream,  or  fome  other  miraculous  Admo- 


•  Ab  his  columniis  quse  incommode  oppofita  videbantur,  iigna  amovit,  8cc. 
Liv.  1.40,  j-i. 

mtion 


C  » 

nition  from  Heaven,  fhere  can  be  no  doubt ,  fay  their 
Writersw,  but  that  the  Images  of  our  Saints  often  work 
(ignal  Miracles,  by  procuring  Health  to  the  Infirm,  and 
appearing  to  us  often  in  Dreams,  to  fuggefl  fomething  of 
great  Moment  for  our  Service. 

AND  what  is  all  this,  but  a  Revival  of  the  old  Impo- 
ttureS)  and  a  Repetition  of  the  fame  old  Stories^  which 
the  antient  Inferiptions  are  full  of  *,  with  no  other  Diffe- 
rence, than  what  the  Pagans  afcribed  to  the  imaginary 
Help  of  their  Deities,  the  Papijts  as  foolifhly  impute  to 
the  Favour  of  their  Saints  ?  As  may  be  feen  by  the 
few  inftances  1  have  fubjoined,  out  of  the  great  Plenty 
which  all  Books  of  Antiquities  will  furnifli  :  And  whe- 
ther the  Reflection  of  Father  Montfaucon  on  the  Pagan 
PrieJtS)  mentioned  above,  be  not  in  the  very  fame  Cafe 
as  juftly  applicable  to  the  Romijh  ones,  I  muft  leave  to 
the  Judgment  of  my  Reader. 


w  Extra  omnem  controverfiam  eft,  San&orum  Imagines  mirifica  defignare 
miracula,  ut  8c  debilibus  vaietudo  bona  per  eos  concilietur,  facpeque  in  fomniis 
apparentes  optima  quseque  nobis  confulant.  Durant.  de  Ritib.  1. 1.  c.  $•• 

*         SILVANO  SALVTARI  SILVANO 

L.  MANLIVS  SATVRNINVS  &c. 

EX  VISO  POSUIT.  SOMNIp  MONITA 
Gruter.p.  6j.  ib.  6x. 

MINERVAE.  MEMORI  IOVI  OPT.  See. 

CAELIA.  IVLIANA.  FLAVIVS.  COSMVS 

INDVLGENTIA.  MEDICINARVM  IVSSV  DEI  FECIT. 

EIVS  GRAVI.  INFIRMITATE.  20. 

LIBERATA.D.P. 

48. 

And  that  this  is  ftill  the  Stile  of  Votive  Inscriptions  with  the  Papifts,  we  fee 
by  the  following  one  in  a  Church  at  Milan. 

DIVAE..SAVINAE,8cc. 
LIVIA.  EVPHEMIA  . .  IN 

ACERBO.  STOMACHI 
CRVCIATV.  OPEM  NACTA. 
V.  S.    M.  D,  XI. 

D  a  Bet 


r.  *s  3 

BUT  the  Gifts  and  Offerings  of  the  kind  I  have  been 
fpeaking  of,  are  but  the  Fruits  of  vulgar  Zeal,  and  the 
Prefents  of  inferior  People,  whilft  Princes  and  great  Per- 
Ibns,  as  it  ufed  to  be  of  old,  y  frequently  make  Offerings 
of  large  J^eJJels,  Lamps,  and  even  Statues  of  maffy  Silver 
.or  Gold)  with  Diamonds,  and  all  forts  of  precious  Stones 
of  incredible  Value;  fo  that  the  Church  of  Loretto  is 
now  become  a  Proverb  for  its  immenfe  Riches  of  this 
fort,  juft  as  AfolMs  tfemple  at  Delphi  was  with  the  An- 
tients  on  the  fame  Account. 


II.  j.  404. 

Nor  all  the  Wealth  Apollo's  Temple  holds 
Can  purchafe  one  Day's  Life,  &c» 

IN  the  famed  Treafury  of  this  Holy  Houfe,  one  Part 
confifts,  as  it  did  too  among  the  Heathens,  of  a  Ward-* 
robe  :  And  whilft  they  were  Ihewing  us  the  great  Variety 
of  rich  Habits  'tis  fill'd  with,  fome  covered  with  pre- 
cious Stones,  others  more  curioufly  embroidered  by  fuch 
a  Queen,  or  (Princejs,  for  the  Ufe  of  the  miraculous 
Image  ;  I  could  not  help  recolleding  the  Pifture  which 
old  Homer  draws  of  Queen  Hectiba  of  froy,  proftrating 
herfelf  before  the  miraculous  Image  of  Dallas,  with  a 
Prefent  of  the  richeji  and  beft-wrought  Gown  Ihe  was 
Miftrefs  of, 


1L 

A  Gown  fhe  chofe,  the  beft  and  nobleft  far, 
Sparkling  with  rich  Embroidery  like  a  Star,  &c. 


V  Conful  Apollini,  ^Efculapio,  Saluti  dona  vovere,  Sc  dare  figna  inaurata 
fus:  quae  vovit,  deditque.    1.17.1.40.37, 


THE 
S 


C  v  1 

THE  Mention  of  Loretto  puts  me  in  mind  of  the  Sur- 
prize I  was  in  at  the  firft  Sight  of  the  Holy  Image ;  for 
its  Face  is  as  black  as  a  Negro's,  that  one  would  take  ic 
rather  for  the  Reprefentation  of  a  Proferpine,  or  Infernal 
Deity r,  than  what  they  impioufly  ftile  it,  the  Jjfateen  of 
Heaven.  But  I  (bon  recollefted,  that  this  very  Circum- 
ftance  of  its  Complexion  made  it  but  referable  the  more 
exactly  the  old  Idols  ofPag&nifm,  which  mfacred  as  well 
as  profane  Writers  are  defcribed  to  be  black  with  the  per- 
petual Smoak  of  Lamps  and  Incenfe'L. 

WHEN  a  Man  is  once  engaged  in  Reflections  of  this 
kind,  imagining  himfelf  in  fome  Heathen  femple,  and 
expecting  as  it  were  fome  Sacrifice^  or  other  Piece  of<Pa- 
ganifm  to  enfue,  he  will  not  be  long  in  Sufpence  before 
he  lees  the  finishing  Aft  and  laft  Scene  of  genuine  Idola- 
try, in  Crouds  of  bigot  Votaries  proftrating  themfelves 
before  fome  Image  of  fVood  or  Stone,  and  paying  divine 
Honours  to  an  Idol  of  their  own  erefting.  Should  they 
fquabble  with  us  here  about  the  Meaning  of  the  Word 
Idol)  St.  Jerom  has  determined  it  to  the  very  Cafe  in 
queftion,  telling  us,  that  by  Idols  are  to  be  under  flood  the, 
Images  of  the  Dead* :  and  the  Worjhtppersoffuch  Images 
are  ufed  always  in  the  Stik  of  the  Fathers,  as  Terms  fy- 
nonymous  and  equivalent  to  Heathens  or  Pagans  b. 

As  to  the  Praftice  itfelf,  it  was  condemned  by  many 
of  the  wifeft  Heathens,  and  for  feveral  Ages,  even  in 
Pagan  Rome,  was  thought  impious  and  deteftable ;  for 


2  Baruch.  6.  19,  n.  Arnob.  1.  6. 

a  Idola  inteiligimus  Imagines  mortuorum.  Hier.  Comm.  in  Ifa.  c.  37. 

b  Innumeri  funt  in  Graecia  exterifque  nationibus,  qui  fe  in  difcipulatum  CnrifU 
tradiderunt,  non  line  ingenti  odio  eorum  qui  fimulacra  venerantur.  Pamphili 
Apol.  pro  Orig.  vid.  Hieron,  Op,  Tom.  j-.  p.  23  3,  Ed,  Par. 

Numa 


[30] 

Nama,  we  find,  prohibited  it  to  the  old  Romans,  nor 
would  fuffer  any  Images  in  their  temples  :  Which  Confti^ 
tution  of  his  they  obferved  religioufly,  fays  Plutarch  c, 
for  the  firft  Hundred  and  Seventy  Tears  of  the  City.  But 
as  Image  Worjhip  was  thought  abominable  even  by  fome 
Pagan  Princes,  fo  with  the  firft  Chrijlian  Emperors  it 
was  forbidden  on  Pain  of  Death  d  :  Not  becaufe  thefe 
Images  were  the  Reprefentations  of  Demons,  orfal/e 


Gods,  but  becaufe  they  were  vain,  fenfelefs  Idols,  the 
Work  efMens  Hands,  and  for  that  Reafon  unworthy  of 
any  Honour  :  And  all  the  Inftances  and  Overt-ads  of 
fuch  Worfhip,  defcribed  and  condemned  by  them,  are 
exaftly  the  fame  with  what  the  Papifts  practife  at  this 
Day,  viz,  lighting  up  Candles  ;  burning  Incenje  ;  hanging 
tip  Garlands,  &c.  as  may  be  feen  in  the  Law  of  fheodo- 
fuis  beforementioned  ;  which  confifcates  that  Houfe  or 
Land  where  any  fuch  j4$  ^Gentile  Super  ftition  had  been 
committed  Q.  Thefe  Princes,  who  were  influenced,  we 
may  fuppofe,  in  their  Conftitutions  of  this  fort,  by  the 
Advice  of  their  Biftiops,  did  not  think  Qaganifm  abo- 
lifhed,  till  the  Adoration  of  Images  -was  utterly  extir- 
pated; which  was  reckoned  always  the  principal  of  thofe 
Gentile  Kites,  that  agreeably  to  the  Senfe  of  the  fureft 
Ages  of  Chriftianity,  are  never  mentioned  in  the  Impe- 
rial Laws,  without  the  Epithets  of  prophane,  damnable^ 
impious, 


c  Vid.  Plutar.  in  Vit.  Num.  p.  6f.  C. 

*  Poenae  capitis  fiibjugari  praecipimus,  quos  limulacra  colere  conftiterit  Vid. 
Gothof.  Comment,  de  ftatu  Pagan,  fub  Chriftian.  Imperatorib.  Leg.  6.  p.  7. 

c  In  nulla  urbe  fenfli  carcntibus  fimulacris,  vel  accendat  lumina,  imponat 
thura,  ferta  fufpendat. 

Si  quis  vero  mortali  opere  fa£la,  8c  sevum  paflura  fimulacra  impofito  thure 
venerabitur  -  is  utpote  violate  religionis  reus,ea  domo  feu  pofTeflione  multabitur, 
in  quaeum  conftiterit  gentilitia  fuperftitione  famulatura,  ibid.  Leg.  1  1.  p.  i/. 

*"  Ibid.  Leg.  17.20, 

WHAT 


WHAT  Opinion  then  can  we  have  of  the  prefent  Pra- 
ctice of  the  Church  of  Rome,  but  that  by  a  Change  only 
of  Name  they  have  found  Means  to  retain  the  fhing ; 
and  by  fubftituting  their  Saints  in  the  Place  of  the  old 
Demigods^  have  but  fet  up  Idols  of  their  own  inftead  of 
thofe  of  their  Forefathers?  In  which  'tis  hard  to  fay 
whether  their  AfTurance  or  their  Addrefs  is  more  to  be 
admired,  who  have  the  Face  to  make  that  the  principal 
Part  of  Chriftian  Worfhip,  which  the  firft  Chriflians 
looked  upon  as  the  moft  criminal  Part  even  of  Paganifmy 
and  have  found  means  to  extract  Gain  and  great  Reve- 
nues out  of  a  Practice,  which  in  primitive  fimes  would 
have  coft  a  Man  both  Life  and  Eftate. 

BUT  our  Notion  of  the  Idolatry  of  modern  Rome  will 
be  much  heightened  ftill  and  confirmed,  as  oft  as  we 
follow  them  into  thofe  Temples,  and  to  thofe  very  Altars^ 
which  were  built  originally  and  dedicated  by  their 
Heathen  Anceftors^  the  old  Romans^  to  the  Honour  of 
their  Qagan  Deities^  where  we  fliall  hardly  fee  any  other 
Alteration  than  the  Shrine  of  fbme  old  Hero  filled  now 
by  the  meaner  Statue  of  fome  modern  Saint  :  Nay,  they 
have  not  always,  as  I  am  well  informed,  given  theni- 
felves  the  Trouble  of  making  even  this  Change,  but 
have  been  content  fometimes  to  take  up  with  the  old 
Image,  juft  as  they  found  it ;  only  baptized  as  it  were, 
and  confecrated  anew  by  the  Impofition  of  a  Chriftian 
Name  :  This  their  Antiquaries  will  not  fcruple  to  put 
Strangers  in  Mind  of,  in  fhewing  their  Churches ;  and  it 
was,  I  think,  in  that  of  St.  slgnes,  where  they  fhewed 
me  an  antique  Statue  of  a  young  Bacchus,  which  with  a 
new  Name,  and  fome  little  Change  of  Drapery,  Hands 
now  worlhipped  under  the  Title  of  a  female  Saint. 


tfULLT  reproaches  Clodius,  for  having  publickly 
dedicated  the  Statue  of  a  common  Strumpet,  under  the 
Name  and  Title  of  the  Goddefs  Liberty  :  A  Practice  ftill 
frequent  with  the  frefent  Romans,  who  have  fcarce  a 
fine  Image  or  Picture  of a  female  Saint,  which  is  not  faid 
to  have  been  defigned  originally  by  the  Sculptor  or  Pain- 
ter for  the  Representation  of  his-own  Mi  ft  re fs  :  and  who 
dares,  may  we  fay  with  the  old  Roman,  g  to  violate  fuch 
a  Goddefs  as  this  ;  the  Statue  of  a  fflhore? 

THE  nobleft  Heathen  female  now  remaining  in  the 
World,  is  the  Pantheon  or  Rotunda ;  which,  as  the  In- 
fcription  h  over  the  Portico  informs  us,  having  been  im- 
fioufly  dedicated  of  old  by  Agrippa  to  Jove  and  all  the 
Godsy  was  pioufly  reconjecrated  by  Pope  Boniface  the 
Fourth  to  the  Bleffed  Virgin  and  all  the  Saints  :  With  this 
fingle  Alteration  it  ferves  as  exactly  well  for  all  tfie 
Purpofes  of  the  Qopifh,  as  it  did  for  the  Qagan  Worfaip^ 
for  which  it  was  built  :  For  as  in  the  old  Temple  every 
one  might  find  the  God  of  his  Country,  and  addrefs 
himfelf  to  that  Deity ,  whofe  Religion  he  was  moft  de- 
voted to  ;  'tis  juft  the  fame  thing  now;  every  one  chufes 
the  Patron  he  likes  beft  ;  and  one  may  fee  here  different 
Servias  going  on  at  the  fame  time  at  different  Altars^ 
with  diftinft  Congregations  around  them,  juft  as  the 
Inclinations  of  the  People  lead  them  to  the  Worihip  of 
this  or  that  particular  Saint. 


8   Hanc  Deam  quifquam  violare  audeat,  imaginem  meretrici's?    Cic.  pro 
Dom.43. 

h       PANTHEON,  &c. 

Ab  Agrippa  Augufti  Genero 
Impie  Jovi,  Cseterifq;  Mendacibus  Diis 

A  Bonifacio  1 1 II  Pontifice 
Deiparse  &  S.  S.  Chrifti  Martyribus  Pie 
Dicatum, 


C  33  1 

AND  what  better  Title  can  thefe  new  Demigods  fhcw 
to  the  Adoration  now  paid  them,  than  the  old  ones, 
whofe  Shrines  they  have  ufurped  ?  Or  how  comes  it  to 
be  lefs  criminal  to  worjhip  Images  eroded  by  the-  Pope, 
than  thofe  which  dgrippa,  or  that  which  Nebuchadnezzar 
fet  up  ?  If  there  be  any  real  Difference,  moft  People,  I 
dare  lay,  will  be  apt  to  determine  in  Favour  of  the  old 
Qoffe/Jors  :  For  thofe  Heroes  of  Antiquity  were  raifed  up 
into  Gods,  and  received  divine  Honours  in  Acknowledge- 
ment for  Ibme  fgnal  Benefits  they  had  been  the  Authors 
of  to  Mankind  ;  as  the  Invention  of  Arts  and  Sciences, 
or  of  fomething  highly  ufeful  and  neceflary  to  Life  i  : 
whereas  of  the  Romi(h  Saints,  'tis  certain  that  many 
of  them  were  never  heard  of,  but  in  their  own  Legends 
or  fabulous  Hi/lories  $  and  many  more,  inftead  of  any 
Services  done  to  Mankind,  owe  all  the  .Honours  now 
paid  them,  to  their  Flees  or  their  Errors  ;  whofe  Merit, 
like  the  Story  of  Demetrius  in  the  Gofpel^,  was  that  only 
of  raifing  Rebellions  in  Defence  of  their  Idol,  and  throw- 
ing whole  Kingdoms  into  Conyulfions  for  the  Sake  of 
fome  gainful  Impofture. 

AND  as  it  is  in  the  Pantheon,  'tis  juft  the  fame  in 
all  the  other  Heathen  Temples,  that  ftill  remain  in  Rome  ; 
they  have  only  pulled  down  one  Idol  to  fet  up  another 
in  its  Place,  and  changed  rather  the  Name,  than  the 
Objed  of  their  Worfhip.  Thus  the  little  Temple  of 
a,  near  the  Tiber,  mentioned  by  Horace^,  is  now 


1  Sufcepit  autem  vita  hominum,  confuetudoq;  communis  ut  beneficio  excel- 
lentes  viros  in  ccelum  fama,  &c  voluntate  tollcrent,  8cc.  Cic.  Nat.  Deor.  1.  2.  223. 

Imitantem  Hcrculem  ilium,  quern  hominum  fama  beneficiorum  memor  in 
concilium  Coeleftium  collocavit.  Off.  3.  299. 

k  A6t.Apoft.xix.  23. 
1  Carm.  1.  1.  2, 

E  poffefs'd 


[34] 

poflefs'd  by  the  Madonna  of  the  Stm^  m  that  of  Fortuna 
thrills,  by  Mary  the  Egyptian  ^  n  chat  of  Saturn,  °  (where 
the  publick  Treafure  was  antiently  kept)  by  St.  Jddrian^ 
that  of  Romulus  and  Remus  in  the  p^ia  Sacra,  by  two 
other  Brothers  Co/mas  and  Daminnus  ;  p  that  of  dntonine 
the  Godly,  by  Laurence  the  Saint  (i  :  But  for  my  part,  I 
fhould  fooner  be  tempted  out  of  Devotion  for  Romulus 
or  Antomve,  to  proftrate  myfelf  before  their  Statues^ 
than  thofe  of  a  Laurence  or  a  Damian\  and  much  rather 
with  Pagan  Rome  give  Divine  Honours'  to  the  Founders. 
of  Empires^  than  with  fofi/b  Rome  to  the  Founders  of 


AT  the  Foot  of  Mount  tPalath?,  in  the  Way  between 
the  Forum  and  Circus  Maximuj,  on  the  very  Spot  where 
Romulus  was  believed  to  have  been  fuckled  by  the  Wolf, 
there  Hands  another  little  round  fempk,  dedicated  to 
him  in  the  early  Times  of  the  Republick,  into  which, 
for  the  Elevation  of  the  Soil  without,  we  nowdefcend  by 
a  great  Number  of  Steps.  'Tia  metition'd  by  Dionyfnu 
of  Halycarnajfits,  who  fays,  that  in  his  Time  there  flood 
in  it  a  brazen  Statue  of  antique  Work  of  the  ffiolf  giving 
fack  to  the  Infant  Brothers^  r  which  is  thought  by  many 

01  Rom.  Mod.  Giorn.  2.  Rione  di  Ripa.  ^. 

».  Ib.  4. 

•  Ib.  Gior.  y.  Rione  di  Campitelli.  i  j-. 

9  Urbanus  VIII.  Pont.  Max.  Templum  Geminis 

Urbis  Conditoribus  Supcrftitiose  dicatum 
A  Felice  I  III.  S.  S.  Cofmx  8c  Damiano  Fratribus 
Pie  Confecratum,  vetuftate  Labefaftatum 
In  fpiendidiorem  For  mam  Redegit 

Ann.  Sal.  M.DC.XXXIIL 
1  Ibid.  1  6. 


•  Dion,  Hal.  1.  1.64.  Edit. 
Hudioo. 

to 


to  be  that  fame  beautiful  one,  which  is  flill  preferved 
and  now  ftiewn  in  the  Capitol :  Tho*  I  take  this,  which 
now  remains,  to  have  been  another  of  the  fame  kind 
which  flood  originally  in  the  Capitol,  and  is  mentioned 
by  Cicero  to  have  been  there  ftruck  with  Lightning sj 
of  which  it  retains  to  this  Day  the  evident  Marks  in  one 
of  its  hinder  Legs  :  'tis  however  to  one  or  other  of  thefe 
celebrated  Statues,  that  FirgH,  as  Servitts.  affures  us, 
alludes  in  that  elegant  Defcription : 


Geminos  huic  tibera  clrcum 


Ludere  pendent  es  fueros  &  lamhere  matrem 

Imfavidos  :  Illam  tereti  cervice  rejtexarn 

Mulcere  alternos^  &  finger  e  corpora  lingua.  JEn.  8.  631,, 

The  martial  Twins  beneath  their  Mother  lay, 
And  hanging  on  her  Dugs,  with  wanton  play, 
Securely  fuck'd  ;  whilft  fhe  reclines  her  Head 
To  lick  their  tender  Limbs,  and  form  them  as  they  fed. 

BUT  to  return  to  my  Story:  Becaufe  of  the  wonder- 
ful Efcape  which  Romulus  had  in  this  very  Place,  when 
expofed  in  his  Infancy  to  periih  in  the  fiber  ;  as  foon  as 
he  came  to  be  a  God,  he  was  looked  upon  as  fingularly 
propitious  to  the  Health  and  Safety  of  young  Children  j 
from  which  Notion  it  became  a  Pradice  for  Nurfes  and 
Mothers  to  prefent  their  jickly  Infants  before  his  Shrine 
in  this  little  femfk,  *  in  Confidence  of  a  Cure  or  Relief 


s  Tadlus  eft  etiam  ille,  qui  hanc  urbem  condidit,  Romulus,  quern  inauratum 
in  Gapitolio  parvum  atqj  Ia£tantem,  uberibus  lupinis  inhiantem  fuifle  meminiflis. 
Orat.inCatil.  3.4. 

1  A  quefto  Tcmpio  dedicate  a  Pvomolo  portarano  le  Donne  R'omane  ad  o£fe- 
tir  i  loro  figliuoHni,  quando  pativano  di  qualche  infirmitaj  e  perche  quefta 
uianza  andavano  fcguitando  Tiftifle  ancora  fatte  Chriftiane,  Sec,  Rom.  Moderns. 
Giornato  zda.  c.  $6.  Rione  di  Ripa. 

E  a  by 


r 

by  his  Favour :  Now  when  this  femple  was  converted 
afterwards  into  a  Church;  left  any  Piece  of  Superftition 
fliould  be  loft,  or  the  People  think  themfelves  Sufferers 
in  the  Change,  by  lofing  the  Benefit  of  fuch  a  Protec- 
tion for  their  Children  •  Care  was  taken  to  find  out  in 
the  Place  of  the  Heathen  God  a  Chriftian  Saint,  who  had 
been  expofed  too,  it  feems,  in  his  Infancy,  and  found 
by  Chance  like  Romulus;  and  for  the  fame  Reafon  is 
believed  to  be  juft  as  fond  of  and  indulgent  to  Chil- 
dren, as  their  old  Deity  had  been  :  And  thus  the  Wor- 
Ihip  paid  before  to  Romulus,  being  now  transferred  to 
one  yheodorus,  the  old  Superftition  ftill  fubfifts,  and  the 
Cuftom  of  prefenting  Children  at  this  Shrine  continues 
to  this  Day  without  Interniiffion  j  of  which  I  myfelf 
have  been  a  Witnefs,  having  feen,  as  oft  as  I  looked  into 
this  Church,  ten  or  a  dozen  Women  decently  drefled, 
each  with  a  Child  in  her  Lap,  fitting  with  fiient  Reve- 
rence before  the  Altar  of  the  Saint,  in  Expectation  of  his 
miraculous  Influence  on  the  Health  of  the  Infant. 

IN  confecrating  thefe  Heathen  T'emptes  to  the  Popifh 
Worfhip,  that  the  Change  might  be  the  lefs  oflfenfive, 
and  the  old  SuperJIition  as  little  ftiocked  as  poflible,  they 
generally  obferved  fome  Refemblance  of  Quality  and 
Charafter  in  the  Saint  they  fubftituted  to  the  old  Deity  ^ 
If  in  converting  the  profane  Worjhip  of  the  Gentiles  (fays 
the  Defc riber  of  modern  Rome  u  )  ta  the  pure  and  /acred 
one  of  the  Church  ;  the  Faithful  ufe  to  follow  fome  Rule 
and  Proportion,  they  have  certainly  hit  upon  it  here,  in 
dedicating  to  the  Madonna,  or  Holy  Tirgin^  the  Temple 


m  Si  uel  rivoltare  il  profano  culto  de  Gentili  nel  facro  e  vero,  oflervarono  i 
fedeli  qualche  proportione,  qui  la  ritrovarono  aflai  conveniente  nel  dedicare  a. 
Maria  Vergine  un  Tempio,  ch'era  della  BuonaDea  >  .  •  Rom*  Mod.Gior.  a. 
Rion.  di  lUpa  10. 

formerly 
i 


C  37   ] 

formerly  facred  to  the  Bona  Dea,  or  Good  Goddefs.  Bus 
they  have  more  frequently  on  thefe  Occafions  had  regard 
rather  to  a  Similitude  of  Name  between  the  old  and  new 
Idol:  Thus  in  a  Place  formerly  facred  to  Apollo^  there 
now  Hands  the  Church  of  jfpottinaris ;  built  there,  as 
they  tell  us,  x  that  the  profane  Name  of  that  Deity 
might  be  converted  into  the  glorious  one  of  this  Martyr  : 
And  where  there  antiently  flood  a  femple  of  Mars* 
they  have  ereded  a  Church  to  Martina,  with  this  In- 
fcription ; 

Martirii  geftans  virgo  Martina  coronam, 
Ejetfo  hlnc  Martis  numine,  fempla  tenet. 

Mars  hence  expell'd ;  Martina,  martyr'd  Maid, 
Claims  now  the  Worfhip  which  to  him  was  paid. 

IN  another  Place  I  have  taken  Notice  of  an  Altar 
ereded  to  one  St.  Baccho ;  y  and  in  the  Stories  of  their 
Saints  have  obferved  the  Names  of  6)uirinus,  Romula  &' 
Redempta,  Concordia,  Nympha,  Mtrcurlm :  *  which,  tho' 
they  may,  for  any  thing  I  know,  have  been  the  genuine 
Names  of  Chrlftian  Martyrs,  yet  cannot  but  give  Occa- 
fion  to  fufpeft,  that  fome  of  them  at  leaft  have  been 
formed  out  of  a  Corruption  of  the  old  Names;  and  that 
the  adding  of  a  modern  Termination,  or  Italianizing 
the  eld  Name  of  a  Deity,  has  giveti  Exiftence  to  fome 

x  La  Chiefa  di  S.  Apollinari  fu  fabbricata  in  quefto  luogo  da*  Chriftiani; 
affinche  il  profano  nome  d'  Apolline  fuffe  converito  nel  fanto.  nome  di  quefto 
gloriofo  Martire.  Ib.  Gio.  3 .  x  i . 

y  Ibid.  Gior.  <S.  37. 

«  Aringh.  Rom.  Subter.  1.  a.  1 1 .    1. 3  ^  w,    1. 4, 1 6,  IA.    L  ^.  4*- 


of  their  prefent  Saints  :  Thus  the  Corruption  of  the 
Word  Soracie,  (the  old  Name  of  a  Mountain  mentioned 
by  Horace  a  in  Sight  of  Rome)  has,  according  to  Mr.  jfd* 
d'ifon,  added  one  Saint  to  the  Roman  Calendar^  being  now 
foftened,  b  becaufe  .it  begins  with  an  S.  into  St.  Orefle^ 
in  whofe  Honour  a  Monaftery  is  founded  on  the  Place  ; 
a  Change  very  natural,  if  we  confider  that  the  fitle  of 
Saint  is  never  written  by  the  Italians  at  length,  but 
exprefTed  commonly  by  the  fingle  Letter  S.  as  S.  Oratte: 
And  thus  this  Holy  Mountain  ftands  now  under  the  Pro- 
tedion  of  a  Patron^  whofe  Being  and  Power  is  juft  as 
imaginary  as  that  of  its  old  Guardian  j4jx>llo. 

SanBi  cujlos  Soratfis  Apollo.  Virg.  ^En.  £» 

No  Sufpicion  of  this  kind  will  appear  extravagant  to 
fuch  as  are  at  all  acquainted  with  the  Hiftory  of  Popery , 
which  abounds  with  Inftances  of  the  grofTefl  Forgeries 
both  of  Saints  and  Reliqites^  which,  to  the  Scandal  of 
many  even  among  themfelves,  c  have  been  impofed  for 
genuine  on  the  poor  ignorant  People.  -~'Tis  certain  that 
in  the  earlier  Ages  of  Chriftianity,  the  Chriflians  often 
made  free  with  the  Sepulchral  Stones  of  Heathen  Monu~ 
mtiits,  which  being  ready  cutout  to  their  Hands,  they 
converted  to  their  own  Ufe ;  and  turning  downwards 
the  Side  on  which  the  old  Epitaph  was  engraved,  uled 
either  to  infcribe  a  new  one  on  the  other  Side,  or  leave 
it  perhaps  without  any  Injcription  at  all,  as  they  are 


a  Carm.  1.  i .  9. 

k  Addifon's  Travels  from  Pefaro>  &c.  to  Rome. 

•  Utinam  hanc  religionem  imitarentur,  qui  fandtorum  recens  abfque  certis 
nominibus  inventorum  fidlus  hiftorias  comminifcuntur  ad  confuiionem  verarum 
hiftoriarum,  imo  5c  qui  Paganorum  Infcriptiones  aliquando  pro  Chriftianis  vui~ 
gajxt,  &c.  Mabill.  Iter  Ital.  p.  22^. 

often 


[   3P] 

often  found  in  the  Ctfacombs  of  Rome*.  Now  this  one 
Cuftom  has  frequently  been  the  Occafion  of  afcribing 
Martyrdom  and  Sainijk'tp  to  Perfons  and  Names  of  nieer 
pagans. 


B  I  L  LON  gives  a  remarkable  Inftance  of  it 
in  an  old  Stone  found  on  the-  Grave  of  a  Cbriftian  with 
this  Infcription.e 

D.M. 

IVLIA  EVODIA 

FIJLIA  FECIT. 

MATRL 

And  becaufe  in  the  fame  Grave  there  was  found  likewiie 
a  Glafs  Viol  or  Lacrymatory  fajpl  tinged  with  a  reddifh 
Colour,  which  they  call  *•'  Blood  ^  and  look  upon  as  a 
certain  Proof  of  Martyrdom  j  this  Julia  Evodia^  though 
undoubtedly  a  Heathen,  was  prefently  adopted  both  for 
Saint  and  Martyr,  on  the  Authority  of  an  iK/criptioa 
that  appears  evidently  to  have  been  one  of  thofe  above- 
mentioned,  and  borrowed  from  a  Heathen  Sepulchre: 
But  whoever  the  Party  there  buried  might  have  been> 
whether  Heathen  or  Cbriftian  ;  'tis  certain  however  that 
it  could  not  be  this  Evodia  herfelf^  but  her  Mother  only> 
whofc  Name  is  not  there  fignified. 

THE   fame   Author   mentions  fome  original  Papers 
he  found   in    the   JBarbar'm  Library,  giving  a  pleafanfc 


*  Ab  immanibus  enim  8c  pervetuftis  fuperftitiofae  urbis  conftruftionibus  atque 
fepulchris  ad  fuos  obtegendos  tumulos  Chriiliani  lapides  non  raro  auterrc  confue- 
veraat.  Aringh.  Rom.  Subt.  1.  3.  c.  2.1. 

«  Vid.  Mabill.  Ibid. 

f  Si  forte  rubore  quodam  ia  imo  tin&a  vitrea  Ampulla  fucrit,  pro  arguments 
'Martyrii  habetur.  Mont,  Dlar.  It.  p.  i  iS» 

Account 


[40   ] 

Account  of  a  Negotiation  between  the  Spaniards  and 
Pope  Urban  the  VHIth,  in  relation  to  this  very  Subjeftg. 
The  Spaniards,  it  feems,  have  a  Saint  held  in  greac 
Reverence  in  fome  Parts  of  Spain,  called  Vlar  j  for  the 
farther  Encouragement  of  whofe  Worfliip  they  follicited 
the  Pope  to  grant  fome  fpecial  Indulgences  to  his  Altars  ; 
and  upon  the  Pope's  defiring  to  be  firft  better  acquainted 
with  his  Chara&er,  and  the  Proofs  they  had  of  his 
Saint  [hip,  they  produced  a  Stone  with  thefe  antique  Letters 
S.  VIAR.  which  the  Antiquaries  readily  favv  to  be  a 
fmall  Fragment  of  fome  old  Roman  Infeription,  in  Me- 
mory of  one  who  had  been  PrxpEtdS.  VIAR»w,  or 
Overfeer  of  the  Highways. 

BUT  we  have  in  England  an  Inftance  ftill  more  ridi- 
culous, of  a  fiftitious  Saintfbip,  in  the  Cafe  of  a  cer- 
tain Saint,  called  j4mphibolus }  who,  according  to  our 
Monkijh  Hiftorians,  was  Bijhop  of  the  IJle  of  Man,  and 
Fellow  Martyr  and  Difciple  of  St.  Alban  :  Yet  the 
learned  Bi/hop  U/her  has  given  good  Reafbns  to  convince 
us,  that  he  owes  the  Honour  of  his  Saintjhip  to  a  miftafcen 
Paflage  in  the  old  ^4tfs  or  Legends  of  St.  Alban^  :  where 
the  ^mphibolus  mentioned,  and  fince  reverenced  as  Saint 
and  Martyr,  was  nothing  more  than  the  Cloak,  which 
jdlban  had  on  at  the  Time  of  his  Execution  ;  being  a 
Word  derived  from  the  Greek,  and  ufed  to  fignify  a 
rough  Jhaggy  Cloak,  which  Ecclefiaftical  Perfons  ufually 
wore  in  that  Age. 


*  Alterum  notatu  dignum,  quod  Urbanus  ab  Hifpanis  quibuiHam  interpellates 
de  concedendis  indulgentiis  ob  cultum  Sanifti,  cui  nomen  VIAR,  &c.  allatus 
eft  lapis  in  quo  ha:  literae  reliquae  erant  S.  VIAR,  8cc.  Vid.  Mabill.  Iter.  Ital. 
p.  14^-. 


h  UfTer.de  Britan.  Ecclef.  primord.  c.  14.  p.  5-39.  4to. 

It.  Bp. Floyd's  Hiftor.  Ace.  of  Ch.  Govern,  in  Gr.  Brit.  c.  7.  p. 


THEY 


r  4>  3 

THEY  pretend  to  fhew  us  here  two  original  Imprej- 
fwns  of  our  Saviour's  Face  on  Handkerchiefs  :  The  one 
fent  a  Prefent  by  himfelf  to  Slgbartis  ^Prince  of  Edeffa, 
who  by  Letter  had  defired  a  Pifture  of  him;  the  other 
given  'at  the  time  of  his  Execution  to  a  Saint  or  Holy 
Woman  named  Veronica,  on  a  Handkerchief,  which  fhe 
had  lent  him  to  wipe  his  Face  with  on  that  Occafion : 
both  which  Handkerchiefs  are  ftill  preferved,  as  they 
affirm,  and  now  kept  with  the  utmoft  Reverence  ;  the 
firft  in  St.  Silvefter's  Church ;  the  fecond  in  St.  Peter's  ; 
where  in  Honour  of  this  facred  Relique  there's  a  fine 
Ahar  built  by  Pope  Urban  the  Vlllth,  with  a  Statue  of 
Veronica  herfelf  with  the  following  Inscription. 

SALVATORIS  IMAGINEM  VERONIC/E 

SVDARIO  EXGEPTAM 

VT  LOCI  MAIESTAS  DECENTER 

CVSTODIRET  URBANVS  VIII. 

PONT.  MAX. 

MARMOREVM  SIGNVM 

ET  ALTARE  ADDIDIT  COND1TORIVM 

EXTRVXIT  ET  ORNAVIT. 

BUT  notwithftanding  the  Authority  of  this  Pope  and 
his  Infcription,  this  VERONICA,  as  one  of  their  beft 
Authors  has  fhewn,  i  V\kt  ^dmphibohis  before-mentioned, 
was  not  any  real  Perfon,  but  the  Name  given  to  the 
Piffure  itfeff  by  the  Old  Writers  who  mention  it ;  being 
formed  by  blundering  and  confounding  the  Words 
VERA  ICON,  or  7jue  Image,  the  Title  infcribed  per- 
haps, or  given  originally  to  the  Handkerchief  by  the 
firft  Contrivers  of  the  Impofture. 


*  HxcChriftt  Imago  a  rccentioribus  VER~NICy£  dicitur:  Imaginem  ipfam 
veteres  VERONICAM  appellabant,  6cc.    Mabill.  Itor.  Ital.  p.  88. 

F  THESE 


[  4»  3 

THESE  Stones  however,  as  fabulous  and  childilh  as 
they  appear  to  Men  of  Senfe,  are  yet  urged  by  grave; 
Authors  in  Defence  of  their  Image-WorJhip,  as  certain 
Proofs  of  its  divine  Origine,  and  fufficient  to  confound 
all  the  impious  Oppofers  of  it.  k 

I  SHALL  add  nothing  more  on  this  Article,  than 
that  whatever  Worftiip  was  paid  by  the  Antients  to 
their  Heroes  or  inferior  Deities,  the  Romanics  now  pay 
the  fame  to  their  Saints  and  Martyrs;  as  their  own 
Inferiptions  plainly  declare;  which,  like  thofe  men- 
tioned above  of  St.  Martina  and  the  Pantheon,  gene- 
rally fignify,  that  the  Honours  which  of  old  had  been 
impiou/ly  given  in  that  Place  to  the  falfe  God,  are  now 
fiou/ly  and  rightly  transferred  to  the  Chriftian  Saint :  as 
one  of  their  celebrated  Poets  exprefles  himfelf  in  regard 
to  St.  George. 

Ut  Martem  Latn,  fie  nos  7e>  Dive  Georgi 

Nunc  colimiis,  &c.  Mantuan. 

As  Mars  our  Fathers  once  adored,  fo  now 

To  Thee,  O  George,  we  humbly  proftrate  bow. 

AND  every  where  through  Italy  one  fees  their  facred 
Inferiptions  fpeaking  the  pure  Language  of  Paganifm, 


*  Imaginem  hanc  ab  Edeflenorum  Givitate  tranflatara,  condigno  ad  hasc  ufq; 
tempora  venerationis  cultu  in  D.  Silveftri  Eccleiia,  veluti  divinum  quid  &:  pe- 
renne  facrarum  Imaginum  monumentum,  pariter  ac  propugnaculum  adverfus 
infanos  Iconoclaftas  afiervari,  2c  fufpiciendum  fidelibus  adorandamquc  proponi. 

Sacrofanfta  autem  Redcmptoris  Imago,  gemmarum  Theiauris  quibuiqj  longe 
antcfcrenda,  in  Vaticana  Baiilica,  quo  par  eft  venerationis  cultu  aflervatur.  Aring. 
Rom.  Subt.T.  i,  3. 5-.  0.4. 

Etfigie  plu  d'ogni  altra  fublime  e  adoranda,  per  efTer  non  fattura  di  mano  An- 
gelica o'd'humana,  ma  del  Fattor  meddiino  degli  Angeli  Sc  deg]i  huomini.  Rom*. 
Mod.  Giorn.  i .  Rion.  di  Bor. 

and 


[43  ] 

and  giving  the  fame  Powers,  Characters  and  Attributes 
to  their  Saints,  as  had  formerly  been  afcribed  to  the 
Heathen  Gods^  as  the  few  here  exhibited  will  evince. 

Popifh  Infcriptions.  Pagan  Infcriptions. 

i  MERCVRIO  ET  MINERVAE 

MARIA  ET  FRANCISCE      DIIS  TVTELARIB.  m 
TVTELARES  MEL 

DIVO  EVSTORG1O      DII  QVI  HVIG  TEMPLO 
QYI   HVIC  TEMPLO  PRAESIDENT. 

PRAES1DET. 

NVMINI  NVMINI 

DIVI  GEORGII  JMERCVRII  SACR. 

POLLENTIS.  POTENTIS    HERCVLI.  VICTOR!. 
INYIGTL  POLLENTI.  POTENTI 

INVICTO. 

PRAESTITI  IOVI 
DIVIS  S. 

PRAESTITIBVS  IVVANTIBVS  TUTS 

GEORGIO.   STEPHANOQX^E  ri^A^VC 

CVM  DEO  OPT.  MAX.  ^  c VM 

"lOVE. 

BOLDONIUS  cenfures  the  Author  of  the  laft 
Infcription,  for  the  Abfurdity  of  putting  the  Saints 
before  God  himfelf^  and  imitating  too  clofely  the  ancient 

1  Vid.  Boldonii  Epigraphica  p.  439.     It.  p.  348.    It.  p.  412.    It.  649. 

™  Gruter.  Corp.  Infcript.  p.  5-0.  It. Cic.  Or.  pro  Lege  Man.  if.   It. Giut.  p. /4« 
It.  p.^a.    It.  Ib.p.  21.   It.  Ib.  £.2. 

f 

F  a  one* 


[44] 

one,  which  I  have  fet  againft  it,  where  the  fame  Impro* 
priety  is  committed  in  regard  to  Jupiter. 

As  to  that  celebrated  Aft  of  Popijh Idolatry,  the  Ado- 
ration oftheHoJi;  I  muft  confefs,  that  -I  cannot  find  the 
leaft  Refemblance  or  Similitude  of  it  in  any  part  of 
the  Pagan  Worjhip  :  And  as  oft  as  I  have  been  Handing 
by  at  Mafsy  and  feen  the  whole  Congregation  proftrate 
on  the  Ground,  in  the  humbleft  Pofture  of  adoring,  at 
the  Elevation  of  this  confecrated  Piece  of  Bread;  I  could 
not  help  reflecting  on  a  Paflage  of  fully ^  where  fpeaking 
of  the  Abfurdity  of  the  Heathens  in  the  Choice  of  their 
Gods^  Rut  was  any  Man ^  fays  he,  ever  fa  mad  as  to  take 
that  which  he  feeds  upon,  for  a  God?*  This  was  an  Ex- 
travagance referved  for  Popery  alone;  and  what  an  old 
Roman  could  not  but  think  too  grofs  for  ^Egyptian  Ido- 
latry to  fwallow,  is  now  become  the  principal  Part  of 
fflorjhif,  and  the  diftinguifhing  Article  of  Faith  in  the 
Creed  of  Modern  Rome. 

BUT  their  fempks  are  not  the  onlyTlaces  where  we 
may  lee  the  Prpofs  and  Overt -Ads  of  their  Superftition  : 
the  whole  Face  of  the  Country  has  the  vifible  Charac- 
ters of  Paganifm  upon  it ;  and  where-ever  we  look  about 
us,  we  cannot  but  find,  as  St.  Paul  did  in  ^4thensy  °  clear 
Evidence  of  its  being  poflfefled  by  &  fuperjiitious  and  ido- 
latrous People. 

THE  old  Romans,  we  know,  had  their  Gods,  who  pre-» 
fided  peculiarly  over  the  Roadsy  Streets  and  Highways ; 
called  VialeS)  Semitales^  Compitaks :  Whofe  little  temples 


»  Sed  ecquem  tarn  amentem  effe  putas,  qui  illud,  quo  vefcatur,  Deum  credat 
die  ?    Cic.  de  Nat.  Deor.  3,. 

*  A&.  Apoft.  xv ii.  17, 

or 
1 


[453 

or  Altars  decked  with  Flowers,  or  whofe  Statues  ft. 
leaft  coarfly  carved  of  Wood  or  Stone,  were  placed  at 
convenient  Diftances.  in  the  publick  Ways  for  the  Benefit 
of  Travellers,  who  ufed  to  ftep  afide  to  pay  their  De- 
votions to  thefe  rural  Shrines,  and  beg  a  profperous 
Journey  and  Safety  in  their  Travels  :  p  Now  thisCuftom 
prevails  ftili  fo  generally  in  all  Qopijh  Countries,  but 
efpecially  in  Italy,  that  one  can  fee  no  other  Difference 
between  the  old  and  prejent  Super  ftition,  than  that  of 
changing  only  the  Name  of  the  Deity,  and  Ckriftning 
as  it  were  the  old  Hecate  in  triviis,  by  the  new  Name  of 
Maria  in  fnvio,  under  which  Title  I  have  obferved  one 
of  their  Churches  dedicated  in  this  City  :  <i  and  as  the 
Heathens  ufed  to  paint  over  the  ordinary  Statues  of  their 
Gods,  with  Red  or  fome  fuch  gay  Colour,  r  fo  I  have 
oft  obferved  the  coarfe  Images  of  thefe  Saints  fo  daubed 
over  with  a  gaudy  Red,  as  to  referable  exaftly  the  De- 
fcription  of  the  God  Pan  in  VlrgiL 

Sanguineis  ebuli  baccis  minioque  rttbentem.     Eel .  i  o» 

IN  pafling  along  the  Road,  'tis  common  to  fee  Tra- 
vellers on  their  Knees  before  thefe  ruftick  Altars ;  which 
none  ever  prefume  to  pafs  by  without  fome  Aft  of 
Reverence ;  and  thofe,  who  are  moft  in  hafte,  or  at  a 


P  Ut  religiofis  viantium  moris  eft,  cum  aliquis  lucus,  aut  aliquis  locus 
irv  via-oblatus  eft,  votum  poftulare,  donum  opponere,  paulifper  alfidere. 

Neqi  juftius  religiofam  morara  viatori  objecerit  aut  ara  floribus  redinaita— * 
aut  truncus  dolamine  effigiatus,  Sec.  Apuleif  Florid,  i . 

Invocovos,  Lares  viales,  utmebenejuvetis.     Plaut.Merc.  f.  a. 

^  Rom.  Modern.  Gior .  Rion,  di  Colonna.  c,  1 1 . 

*  Fi&ilem  fuiflfe  8c  ideo  miniari  folitum.  Plin«  Hift.N,  1.  3_f.  n*  6c  a:  Cenfo- 
ribus  Jovem  miniandum.  locari.    Ibid.  1.  3  3 .  7 . 

Diftance^ 


Diftance,  are  fure  to  pull  off  their  Hats  at  leaft,  in 
Token  of  Refped  :  and  I  took  Notice,  that  our  Poftilions 
ufed  to  look  back  upon  us,  to  fee  how  we  behaved  on 
fuch  Occafions,  and  feemed  furprized  at  our  pafling  fo 
negligently  before  Places  efteemed  fo  facred. 

BUT  befides  thefe  Images  and  Jltars,  there  are  fre- 
quently ere&ed  on  the  Road  huge  wooden  Croffes,  s 
drefled  out  with  Flowers,  and  hung  round  with  the 
trifling  Offerings  of  the  Country  People  ;  which  always 
put  me  in  mind  of  \hzfuperjiitious  Veneration  which  t{ie 
Heathens  ufed  to  pay  to  fome  old  Trunks  of  frees  or 
Pofts  fet  up  in  the  Highways,  which  they  held  /km/; 
t  or  of  that  venerable  Oak  in  Ovid  covered  with  Garlands 
and  votive  Offerings. 

Stabat  in  his  ingens  annofo  robore  quercus  ; 
Una  nemus  :  Fittte  mediam,  memorefq^  tabellte 

cingebant^  voti  argument  a  potent  is.  Met.  8. 


Reverend  with  Age  a  ftately  Oak  there  flood, 
Its  Branches  widely  ftretch'd,  itfelf  a  Wood, 
With  Ribbands,  Garlands,  Pidures  covered  o'er, 
The  Fruits  of  pious  Vows  from  Rich  and  Poor. 

THIS  Defcription  of  the  Pagan  Oak  puts  me  in  mind 
of  a  Story  I  have  met  with  here,  of  a  Popifh  one  very 
like  it,  viz.  how  a  certain  Perfon  devoted  to  the  Wor- 
ihip  of  the  F*irginy  hung  up  a  Pitfure  of  her  in  an  Oak 


8  Sanftae  Imagines  8c  Cruces  in  vlts  publicis  eriguntur,  8c  nos  propter  Deum, 
£c  puram  erga  landlos  ejus  fidem,  fan<2:a  ejufmodi  ubique  ere£ta  adoramus  &: 
falutamus.  Durant.  de  Ritib.  1.  i .  c.  6. 

Nam  veneror,  leu  ftipes  habet  defertus  in  agris 

5eu  vetus  in  Trivio  florida  ferta  Lapis.  Tibul.  El.  i.  i  i. 

he 
3 


[47  ] 

he  had  in  his  Vineyard,  which  grew  fo  famous  for 
its  Miracles,  that  the  Oak  loon  became  covered  with 
votive  Offerings,  and  rich  Prefects  from  diftant  Coun- 
tries, fo  as  to  furnifh  a  Fund  at  laft  for  the  building  of 
a  Great  Church  to  the  miraculous  Pifiure  ;  which  now 
ftands  dedicated  in  this  City,  under  the  Title  of  St.  Mary 
of  the  Oak.* 

BUT  what  gave  me  ftill  the  greater  Notion  of  the 
Superftition  of  thefe  Countries,  was  to  fee  thofe  little 
Oratories,  or  rural  Shrines  Ibmetimes  placed  under  the 
Cover  of  a  free  or  Grove,  agreeably  to  the  Defcriptions 
of  the  old  Idolatry,  in  the  facred  as  well  as  profane 
Writers ;  x  or  more  generally  raifed  on  fome  Eminence^ 
or,  in  the  Phrafe  of  Serif  turey  on  high  Places;  the  con- 
ftant  Scene  of  idolatrous  Worjhip  in  all  Ages ;  it  being 
an  univerfal  Opinion  among  the  Heathens,  that  the 
Gods  in  a  peculiar  manner  loved  to  refide  on  Eminences, 
or  Tops  of  Mountains  :  y  Which  Pagan  Notion  prevails 
ftill  fo  generally  with  the  Papifts,  that  there  is  hardly 
a  Rock  or  Precipice,  however  dreadful  or  difficult  of 
Accefs,  that  has  not  an  Oratory,  or  Mtar,  or  Crucifix  at 
leaft  planted  on  the  fop  of  it. 

AMONG   the  rugged  Mountains  of  the  Alps  in  Savoy ^ 
yery  near  a  little  Town  called  Modana,  there  ftands  on 


u  EiTendo  egli  divotiffimo  della  Madonna,  fece  dipingere  1'rrmgine  di  lei,  e 
Vappefe  ad  una  Quercia— dove  commincio  a  manifeftarfi  con  molti  mi- 
racoli,  intanto  chc  lino  dall*  Africa,  e  da  Conflantinopoli  Terano  mandati  voti  in 
tanta  quantita,  che  vi  ii  fcce  una  gran  Chiefa,  -  -Rom.  Modern.  Gior.  3, 
€.30.  Rion.  della  Reg. 

*  Lucus  8c  Ara  Dianae,    Hor. 


,  II.  Q.  5*0-.. 

j  ex  tuo  edito  Monte  Latiali,  fandte  Jupiter.    Cic*  pro  MilL 


the 


[48] 

the  fop  of  a  Rock,  a  Chapel  with  a  miraculous  Image  of 
car  Lady,  which  is  vifited  with  great  Devotion  by  the 
People,  and  fometimes  we  were  told,  by  the  King  him- 
Jelfi  being  famous,  it  feem&,  for  a  Miracle  of  a  fingu- 
lar  kind,  (viz.)  the  reftoring  of  dead-born  Children  to 
Life  ;  but  fo  far  only  as  to  make  them  capable  of 
BaptJfm,  after  which  they  again  expire  :  And  our  Land- 
lord allured  me,  that  there  was  daily  Proof  of  the 
Truth  of  this  Mirack,  in  Children  brought  from  all 
Quarters  to  be  prefented  before  this  Shrine ;  who  never 
fail  to  Ihew  manifeft  Tokens  of  Life,  by  Jlretching 
out  their  Arms,  or  opemvg  their  Eyes,  or  even  fome- 
times making  Water  whilft  they  aie  held  by  the  Prieft 
in  Prefence  of  the  Image.  All  which  appeared  fo  ridi- 
culous to  a  French  Gentleman,  who  was  with  me  at  the 
Place,  but  had  not  heard  the  Story  from  our  Landlord, 
that  he  looked  upon  it  as  a  Banter  or  Fiftion  of  my 
own,  till  I  brought  him  to  my  Author,  who  with  his 
Wife,  as  well  as  our  Voiturins,  very  ferioufly  vouched 
for  the  Truth  of  it ;  and  added  further,  that  when  the 
French  Army  paffed  that  way  in  the  laft  War,  they 
were  fo  impious  as  to  throw  down  this  fared  Image  to 
the  Bottom  of  a  vaft  Precipice  hard  by  it,  which  tho' 
of  Wood  only,  was  found  below  entire  and  unhurt  by 
the  Fall,  and  fo  replaced  in  its  Shrine,  with  greater 
Honour  and  Credit  than  ever,  by  the  Atteftation  of  this 
new  Miracle. 

ON  the  Top  of  Mount  Senis,  the  higheft  Mountain 
of  the  dips  in  the  fame  Paflage  of  Savoy,  covered 
•with  perpetual  Snow,  they  have  another  Chapel,  in 
which  they  perform  divine  Service  once  a  Year,  in  the 
Month  of  Jliiguji  ;  and  fometimes,  as  our  Guides  in- 
formed us,  to  the  Deftru&ion  of  the  whole  Congrega- 
tion, by  the  Accident  of  a  Hidden  Tempeft  in  a  Place 
fo  elevated  and  expofed.  And  this  furely  comes  up 

to 


co  the  Defcription  of  that  Worfliip  which  the  Jews 
were  commanded  to  extirpate  from  the  Face  of  the 
Earth  :  Te  Jhall  utterly  dejiroy  the  Places  wherein  the 
Nations  ferved  their  Godsy  upon  the  high  Mountains 
and  upon  the  Hills,  and  under  every  green  free  :  And  ye 
Jhall  overthrow  their  Altars^  break  their  Pillars,  burn 
their  Groves,  and  hew  down  the  graven  Images  of  their 
Gods.  * 

WHEN  we  enter  their  Towns,  the  Cafe  is  ftill  the 
fame  as  it  was  in  the  Country ;  we  find  every  where 
the  fame  Marks  of  Idolatry,  and  the  fame  Realbns  to 
make  us  fancy,  that  we  are  ftill  treading  9agan 
Ground;  whilft  at  every  Corner  we  fee  Images  and 
Altars^  with  Lamps  or  Candles  burning  before  them  ; 
exa&ly  anfwering  to  the  Defcriptions  of  the  antienP 
Writers ; a  and  to  what  fertullian  reproaches  the  Hea- 
thens with,  that  their  Street  s,  their  Market  s^  their  Baths 
were  not  without  an  Idol.  b  But  above  all  in  the  Qomp 
and  Solemnity  of  their  Holy-days^  and  efpecially  their 
Religious  Procejfions^  we  fee  the  genuine  Remains  of 
Heathenifm,  and  Proof  enough  to  convince  us,  that  this 
is  ftill  the  fame  Rome,  which  old  Numa  firft  tamed  and 
civilized  by  the  ^rts  of  Religion :  Who,  as  Plutarch 
fays,  c  by  the  Inflitution  of  Supplications  and  Procejfions  to 


z  Deuteron.  xii.  2,  3. 

b  'A}«Afttt7ti  r  c*  ttp&i  Stair.  Xenoph.  I.  4.  It.  Eurip.  Elec.  387.  Msrcw 
c.  Lucian.  in  Prometh. 


Omnibus  vicis  Statuae,  ad  eas  Thus  6c  Cerei.     Cic*  Off.  3.  2  6. 
a  De  Spedac.  c.8. 
:  Tot     , 


Jt<>  Sec.  'E/tf^a  r  Aeivow  £v\»9  wo    Aetsifaipovi&s,  &c.    Ibid.  Plutar.  in 
Numa.  p.  1  6. 

G  the 


[  50   1 

the  Gods,  which  infpire  Reverence,  whilft  they  give  Plea- 
fhre  to  the  Spetfafors,  and  by  pretended  Miracles,  and 
divine  Apparitions,  reduced  the  fierce  Spirits  of  his  Sub- 
jefls  under  the  Power  of  Sttperjiition. 

THE  Defcriptions  of  the  Religious  <Pomps  and  Procef- 
fions  of  the  Heathens  come  fo  near  to  what  we  fee  on 
every  Fejtival  of  the  Virgin  or  other  Romi/h  Saint,  that 
one  can  hardly  help  thinking  thefe  Qopifh  ones  to  be 
Itill  regulated  by  the  old  Ceremonial  of  Pagan  Rome  :  At 
thefe  Solemnities  the  Chief  Magijtrate  ufed  frequently 
to  aflift  in  Robes  of  Ceremony ;  attended  by  the  Qriefts 
in  Surplices^  d  with  Wax  Candles  in  their  Hands,  carrying 
upon  a  (Pageant  or  tfhenfa  the  Images  of  their  Gods 
dreffed  out  in  their  beft  Cloaths  :  Thefe  were  ufually 
followed  by  the  principal  Touth  of  the  Place,  in  white- 
Linen  Fe foments  or  Surplices^  Jinging  Hymns  in  Honour 
of  the  God  whofe  Feftival  they  were  celebrating ;  ac- 
companied by  Crouds  of  all  forts  that  were  initiated  in 
the  fame  Religion  >  all  with  Flambeaux  or  Wax  Candles  in 
their  Hands.  This  is  the  Account  whicK' s4puleitts,  and 
other  Authors  give  us  of  a  Pagan  Procejfion  •  and  I  may 
appeal  to  all  who  have  been  abroad,  whether  it  might 
not  pafs  quite  as  well  for  the  Defcription  of  a  Popifb  one . 
Monfieur  tfournefort  in  his  Travels  thro'  Greece  refle&s 
upon  the  Greek  Church  for  having  retained  and  taken 
into  their  prefent  Worfhip  many  of  the  old  Rites  ofHea- 
thenifm^  and  particularly  that  of  carrying  and  dancing 
about  the  Images  of  the  Saints  in  their  Procejflons  to  Sing- 


*  Antiftites  facrorum  candido  linteamine— -ad  ufq;  veftigia  ftridim  injc&i. 
Deum  proferebant  iniignes  e.xuvias,  quorum  primus  lucernam  prsemicantem 
claro  porrigebat  lumine,  8cc.  -Eas  amaenus  leitilTimae  juventutis,  vefte  nivea 
praenitens  lequebatur  chorus,  carmen  vcnuftum  iterantes.— Magnus  prxterea 
icxus  utriufque  numerus,  lucerais,  txdis,  cereis,  8cc.  Apul.  ibid. 


**g 


[5«   3 

ing  and  Mufick  :  e  the  Reflection  is  full  as  applicable  to 
his  own,  as  it  is  to  the  Greek  Church,  and  the  Practice 
itfelf  fo  far  from  giving  Scandal  in  Italy ,  that  the  learned 
Publifher  of  the  Florentine  Infcriptions  takes  occafion  to 
ihew  the  Conformity  between  themfelves  and  the  Hea- 
thens in  this  very  Inftance  of  carrying  about  the  Pictures 
.of  their  Saints,  as  the  Pagans  did  thofe  of  their  Gods9 
in  their  fac red  Qrocejjions.  f 

IN  one  of  theie  ProceJ/ions  made  lately  to  St.  ^Peter's 
in  the  time  of  Lent,  I  faw  that  ridiculous  Penance  of  the 
Flagellant es  or  Self-whippers^  who  march  with  Whips 
in  their  Hands,  and  every  now  and  then  lafli  themfelves 
on  the  bare  Back,  till  'tis  all  covered  with  Blood  ;  juft 
in  the  fame  manner  as  the  Fanatical  Priejts  of  Bellona 
or  the  Syrian  Goddefs,  as  well  as  the  Votaries  of  Ifisy 
ufed  to  flafli  and  cut  themfelves  of  old  in  order  to  pleaie 
the  Goddejs  by  the  Sacrifice  of  their  own  Blood :  which 
mad  (Piece  of  Difcipline  we  find  frequently  mentioned 
and  as  oft  ridiculed  by  the  antient  Writers. 

SUCH  is  the  Force  of  Fanaticifm^  fays  Seneca^  &  on  a 
difordered  Mind,  that  they  think  to  appeafe  the  Gods  by 
fuch  Methods  as  an  enraged  Man  'would  hardly  take  to 
revenge  himfelf:  But  we  are  not  to  imagine  that  all  the 
Blood  we  fee  on  thefe  Occafions  flows  really  from  the 
Backs  of  thefe  Bigots ;  'tis  probable,  that,  like  their 


e  Tournefort.  Lit.  3.  44. 

f  Cui  non  abludunt  fi  ( facra  cum  profanis  conferre  fas  eft )  pi&se  tabulae  San- 
6lorum  Imaginibus  exornatae,  quse,  Sec.  Infcript.  Antiq.Flor.  p.  377. 

*  Tantus  eft  perturbatae  mentis  furor,  ut  fie  DH  placentur,  quemadmodum  ne 
homines  quidem  fxviunt.    De  Superftit.  Vid.  Lipf,  Elec.  2, 18, 

G  a  -fran- 


frantick  Predeceflors  they  ufe  fome  Craft   as  well  as 
Zeal  in  this  their  Fury;  and  I  can't   but  think  that 
there  was  a  deal  of  Juftice  in  that  Order,  which  the 
Emperor  Commodus  gave,  in  regard   to  thefe  Eellonarn^ 
or  Shippers  of  Antiquity ^    though   'tis   ufually  impu- 
ted  to  his   Cruelty ;  when   he  commanded,  that  they 
jhould  not   be  fuffered  to  imfofe  on   the  People^  but  be 
forced  to  cut  and  Jlafb  themfehes  effectually ,  and  in  good 
earneji.  h 

IF  we  examine  the  pretended  Miracles^  and  pious 
Frauds  of  the  Church  of  Kome ,  we  (hall  be  able  to  trace 
them  all  from  the  fame  Source  of  ^aganifm^  and  find 
that  the  Priejis  of  New  Rome  are  not  in  the  leaft  dege- 
nerated from  their  Predeceffbrs^  in  the  Art  of  impofing  on 
their  fellow  Citizens,  by  the  Forgery  of  thefe  holy  Impo- 
fturesj  which,  as  Livy  obferves  of  Old  Rome,  i  were 
always  multiplied  in  ^Proportion  to  the  Credulity  and 
Dijpofition  of  the  poor  People  to  fw allow  them. 

IN  the  early  times  of  the  Republickj  irfthe  War  with 
the  Latins^  the  God?  Caflor  and  Pollux  are  faid  to  have 
appeared  on  white  Horjes  in  the  Roman  Army^  which  by 
their  Affiftance  gained  a  compleat  Viftory ;  in  Memory 
of  which,  the  General  Pofthumlus  vowed  and  built  a 
tfemple  piMickly  to  thofe  Deities ;  and  for  Proof  of  the 
Fad,  there  was  fliewn,  we  find,  in  Cicero's  time,  the 
Marks  of  the  Horfe's  Hoofs  on  z&ock  at  Reg'tllum,  where 
they  firft  appeared,  k 


11  Bellonx  fervientes  vere  exfecare  brachium  praecepit,  fludio  crudelitatis.  Lam- 
prid.  in  Comrnodo,  9. 

1  Qux  quo  .wagis  credebant  fitnplices  6c  religiofi  homines,  eo  plura  nuntia- 
bantur.     Liv.     24. 10. 

k  Cic5  de  Nat.  Deor.  1.  5,  jv 

Now 

3 


I  53   ] 

Now  this  Miracle,  with  many  others  I  could  men- 
tion of  the  lame  kind,  i  has,  I  dare  fay,  as  authentick 
an  Atteftadon,  as  any  which  the  Papifts  can  produce  : 
the  Decree  of  a  Senate  to  confirm  it;  a  femple  ere&ed 
in  Gonfequence  of  it ;  vifibk  Marks  of  the  Fad  on  the 
Spot  where  it  was  tranfafted ;  and  all  this  fupported  by 
the  concurrent  Teftimony  of  the  be  ft  Authors  of  Anti- 
quity j  amongft  whom  Dionyfms  of  HalicarnaJJus  fays, 
m  that  there  were  fubfifting  in  his  time  at  Rome  many 
evident  Proofs  of  its  Reality,  befides  a  yearly  Fefiival, 
wich  a  folemn  Sacrifice  and  Procejfion  in  Memory  of  it : 
Yet  for  all  this,  thefe  Stories  were  but  the  Jeft  of  Men  of 
Senfe  even  in  the  Times  of  Heathenifm, n  and  feem  fo 
extravagant  to  us  now,  that  we  wonder  there  could  ever 
be  any  fo  fimple  as  to  believe  them. 

WHAT  better  Opinion  then  can  we  have  of  all  thole 
of  the  fame  Stamp  in  the  Pofi/b  Legends,  which  they 
have  plainly  built  on  this  Foundation,  and  copied 
from  this  very  Original  ?  Nor  content  with  barely 
copying,  they  feldom  fail  to  improve  the  old  Story 
with  fome  additional  Forgery  and  Invention  :  As  in  the 
prefent  Cafe,  inftead  of  fwo  Perfons  on  White  Horfes, 
they  take  Care  to  introduce  fhree ;  and  not  only  on 
White  Horfes,  but  fometimes  at  the  Head  of  White 
Armies  ;  as  in  an  old  Hiftory  of  the  Holy  Wars, 
written  by  an  Eye-witnefs,  and  publilh'd  by  Mabillony 
is  folemniy  affirmed  of  St.  George,  Demetrius,  and  fheo- 


1  Cic.  Nat.D.  i.  2.  Plutar.  in  vita  P.  ^Emil.  Val.Max.  c.  8.  i.'  £,.  Flor.l.  1. 1 1^ 

1.2.IZ. 

m  Dion,  Halic.  1.6.  p.  337.     Edit.  Hudfon. 

n  Aut  ii  hoc  fieri  potuifle  dicis,  doceas  oportet  quomodo  ?  nee  f abellas  aniles 
proferas,    Cic.  Ibid.  3.  f. 


t 

°.  They  Ihew  us  too  in  feveral  Parts  of  Italy ^ 
the  Marks  of  Hands  and  Jfo*  on  Ro^fej  and  Stones,  faid 
to  have  been  effe&ed  miraculouily  by  the  Apparition 
of  fome  Saint  or  Angel  on  the  Spot :  p  Juft  as  the  Im- 
frejfion  of  Hercules9 s  Feet  was  fhewn  of  old  on  a  Stone 
in  Scythia,  H  exaftly  refembling  the  Footfteps  of  a  Man. 
And  they  have  alfo  many  Churches  and  Publick  Monu- 
ments r  erefted  in  Teftimony  of  fuch  Miracles,  viz. 
of  Saints  and  Angels  Jighting  viftbly  for  them  in  their 
Battles ;  which  tho*  always  full  as  ridiculous  as  that 
above-mention'd,  are  not  yet  fupported  by  half  Ib  good 
Evidence  of  their  Reality,  «. 

THEIR  miraculous  Images,  which  we  fee  in  all  their 
great  Towns,  faid  to  be  made  by  Angeh,  and  fent  to 


0  Tres  itaque  Milites  perfequentes  illos  fedebant  fuper  albos  equos- 

credenda  eft  ifta  ventres,  6c  nullo  modo  prohibenda . — hoc  vero  firmatum  eft 

teftimonio  eorundem  Turcorum Ifti  vero  fuerunt  Chnfti  Milites  Sandtus 

Georgius,  Sanftus  Demetrius,  8c  Sanctus  Theodoras,  quos  Deus  mandavit,  &c. 

Adjuvante  eos  Domino  8c  vifibiliter  mittente  eis  in  adjutorium  ianctos  fuos 
Bellatores,  videl.  Mercurium  multotiens,  aliquando  Georgium  necnon  8c  inter- 
<ium  Theodorum,  aliquando  totos  tres  cum  fuis  dealbatis  exercitibus,  viden- 
t:bus  non  folum  Chrifti  militibus,  fed  etiam  ipfis  inimicis  Paganis,  Sec.  Vid. 
Bell.  Sac.  Hift.  in  Mabill.  Iter.  Ital.T.  i.  Par.  2.  p.  138,  \$f. 

P  Si  conferva  poi  in  cjuefta  Chiefa  una  pietra,  fbpra  la  quale  apparendo  PAn- 

rlo  in  Caftello,  vi  lafcio  le  piantc  de  fuoi  piedi  imprefie,  e  d'un  fanciullo  paiono 
veftigia.     R.  Mod.  Gior.  5-.  Rion.  di  Campetalii.  c.  i. 

•*  Herodot.  1.  4.  p.  4.  2j*i.    Edit.  Lond. 

i'  There  is  an  Altar  of  Marble  in  St.  Peer's,  one  of  the  greateft  Pieces  of  mo- 
dern Sculpture,  reprefenting  in  Figures  as  large  as  the  Life,  the  Story  of  Attil* 
King  of  the  Hunns,  who  in  full  March  towards  Rome  with  a  victorious  Army 
in  order  to  pillage  it,  was  frightened  and  driven  back  by  the  Apparition  of  an 
Angel,  in  the  time  of  Pope  Leo  the  Firft. 

The  Caftle  and  Church  of  St,  Angelo  have  their  Title  from  the  Apparition  of 
an  Angel  over  the  Place,  in  the  time  of  Gregory  the  Great.  Rom.  Moder,  Giorn. 
i .  Rion.  di  Borgo  i . 

«  Divum  Jacobum  Nationis  Hifpanic^,  qui  armarus  fepe  vifus  in  fublime 
2>r3eireac  protegere  aciesHifpanorum,  nobilelque  iis  vidorias  in  facris  beliis  con- 
ciliare.  Boldonii  Epigraph,  1,  a.  p.  340. 

them 


[55] 

them  from  Heaven^  t  are  but  the  old  'Fables  revived  of 
the  AIOWT^  vA^aA^a,  or  Image  of  Diana  dropt  from  the 
Clouds^  or  the  Palladium  of  7r0y,  which,  according  to 
old  Authors,  x  was  a  wooden  Statue  three  Cubits  long, 
which  fell  from  Htaven. 

I  N  one  of  their  Churches  here,  they  fliew  a  Pitfure 
of  the  Virgin,  which,  as  their  Writers  affirm,  y  was 
brought  down  from  Pleaven  with  great  Pomp,  and  after 
having  hung  a  while  with  furprizing  JLuftre  in  the  Air, 
was,  in  fight  of  all  the  Clergy  and  People  of  Rome  y  deli- 
vered by  Angels  into  the  Hands  of  Pope  John  the  Firft, 
who  marched  out  in  folemn  Proceffion,  in  order  to  re- 
ceive this  celeflial  Prejent.  And  is  not  this  exaftly  of  a 
Piece  with  the  old  fagan  Story  of  King  Nama,  when  in 
this  fame  City,  he  iffued  from  his  Palace,  with  Qriefls 
and  ^People  after  him,  and  with  publick  Prayer  and  folemn 
Devotion  received  the  Anclle^  or  Heavenly  Shield,  which 
in  Sight  of  all  the  People  of  Rome,  was  fent  down  to 
him  with  much  the  fame  Formality  from  the  Clouds  ? 
2  And  as  that  wife  Prince  for  the  Security  of  his 


c  Sed  quorfutn  hie  San&i  Dominici  Imaginem,  quse  apud  Surrianum  in  Cala- 
bria jugibus  nunc  miraculis  praefulget,  filentio  obvolvimus  ?  de  Coelo  quippe,  ut 
pia  traditio  eft,  hxc  primum  anno  i^jo.  delata  validiflimum  adverms  Impios 
Iconoclaftas  propugnaculum  exhibet.  Aringh.  Rom.  Subter.  1.  f.  c.  5-. 

De  Imagine  ilia,  quae  cum  ab  Angelis  confefta  fuerit,  d'X&yTviff®'  vocatuiy 
nil  nifi  tritum  fuccurrit.  Montfauc.  Diar,  Ibid.  137.^ 

«  Ad.  Apoft.  c.  xix.  35-. 

*  Vid.  Pitifci  Lexic.  Antiquitat. 

y  Vid.  Rom.  Modern.  Giorn.  i.  Rion.di  Ripa,  c.4j. 

•  »  A  media  Coelum  regione  dehifcere  csepit : 

Submifere  oculos  cum  duce  turba  fuos. 
Ecce  levi  fcutum  verfatum  leniter  aura 

Decidit,  a  populo  clamor  ad  aftra  ven.it,  5cc.  Or.  Fafl.  1. 3, 

Heavenly. 


Heavenly  Prefent,  ordered  feveral  others  to  be  made  fo 
exactly  like  it,  that  the  Original  could  not  be  diftin- 
guifhed;  *  fo  the  Romijh  Priefts  have  thence  taken  the 
Hint,  to  form  after  each  Celejiial  Pattern,  a  Number  of 
Copies,  fo  perfectly  refembling  each  other,  as  to  occafion 
endlefs  Squabbles  among  themfelves  about  their  feveral 
Pretenfions  to  the  Divine  Original. 

THE  Rod  of  Mofes,  with  which  he  performed  his 
Miracles,  is  ftill  preferved,  as  they  pretend,  and  Ihewn 
here  with  great  Devotion,  in  one  of  the  principal 
Churches  :  And  juft  fo  the  Rod  of  Romulus,  with  which 
he  performed  his  Auguries,  was  preferved  by  the  Priefts, 
as  a  facred  Relique  in  old  Rome,  and  kept  with  great 
Reverence  from  being  touched  or  handled  by  the  People: 
fc  Which  Rod  too,  like  moft  of  the  Popifh  Rdiques,  had 
the  Teftimony  of  a  Miracle  in  Proof  of  its  Sanftity ;  for 
when  the  tfemple,  where  it  was  kept^  was  burnt  to  the 
Ground,  it  was  found  intire  under  the  ^4/hes,  and  un- 
touched by  the  Flames :  c  Which  fame  Miracle  has  been 
borrowed  and  exaftly  copied  by  the  prefent  Romans,  in 
many  Inftances ;  particularly,  in  a  miraculous  Image  of 
our  Saviour  in  St.  John  Lateran,  which  the  Flames,  it 
feems,  had  no  Power  over,  tho*  the  Church  itjelf  had  been 
twice  deftroyed  by  Fire.  <* 


Plura  jubet  fieri  fimili  cselata  figura; 

Error  ut  ante  oculos  infidiantis  eat.  Ov.  Fart.  1.  3 


c/  J«p«<  TO  §UAOV  WOZTfip  AAAo   77   T 
?ov.    Piutar.  in  Camil.  145-.  D. 

c  PofTunt  5c  ilia  miraculorum  loco  poni  :  Quod  deufto  iacrario  faliorum,  nihil 
in  eo  prxter  Lituum  Romuli  integrum  repertum  eft.  Valer.  Max.  c.  8.  10.  It. 
Cic.deDivin.  i.  17.  Plut.inRom. 

d  E  quefta  Imagine  non  s'abbrucio,  effendo  la  Chiefa  ftata  abbruciata  due  volte, 
Rom.  Moder.  Gior,  6.  Rion.  de'  Monti.  1  1  . 

NOTHING 


I  57  ] 

NOTHING  is  more  common  among  the  Miracles  of 
Popery,  than  to  hear  of  Images  that  on  certain  Occa- 
fions  had  fpoken,  mjhed  'fears  j  orfweat,  or  bled :  and  do 
not  we  find  the  very  fame  Stories  in  all  the  Heathen 
Writers?  Of  which  I  could  bring  numberlefs  Examples 
from  old  as  well  as  new  Rome,  from  Pagan  as  well  as 
Popijh  Legends.  Rome}  as  the  Defcriber  of  it  fays,  « 
abounds  with  thefe  freafures,  or  fpeakivg  Images :  But 
he  laments  the  Negligence  of  their  Anceftors,  in  not 
recording,  fo  particularly  as  they  ought,  the  very  Words 
and  other  Circumflances  of  fuch  Conversation.  They 
fhew  us  here  an  Image  of  the  Firgin,  which  reprimanded 
Gregory  the  Great  for  paffing  by  her  too  carelefly  ;  and 
in  St.  Paul's  Church  a  Crucifix,  which  fpoke  to  St. 
Eridgitbf  Darantus  mentions  another  Madonna,  which 
fpoke  to  the  Sexton,  in  Commendation  of  the  Piety  of  one 
of  her  Notaries,  g  And  did  not  the  Image  of  Fortune  do 
the  fame,  or  mqre  in  old  Rome?  which,  as  Authors  fay, 
fpoke  twice  in  praife  ofthofe  Matrons^  who  had  dedicated 
a  femple  to  her.  h 


e  Non  fi  puo  negare,  che  per  le  grande  abbondanza,  che  ha'  Roma  in  fimili 
tefbri,  non  iiano  ftati  negligent!  i  noftri  Maggiori,  in  darne  buon  conto  a'  pofteri 
loro.  Rom.  Mod.  R.  di  Monti,  n. 

f  Vi  e  una  Madonna  detta  di  St.  Gregorio,  della  quale  fi  dice,  che  un  giorna 
paflando  il  detto  Pontifice,  &  non  falutandola,  gli  dicefle,  &c.  Ibid,  Gior.  f . 
Rion.  di  Campetalli. 

Ad  {an&um  Paulum,  ubi  vidimus  ligneam  Crucifixi  Imaginem,  quern  fan«5la 
Brigida  iibi  loquentem  audiifle  perhibetur.  Mabill.  D.  Italic,  p.  1330 

g  Imaginem  Sandtae  Marise  Cuftodem  Ecclefiae  allocutam  8c  Alexii  fingularem 
pietatem  commendafTe.  Durant.  de  Rit.  1.  i.  c.  f.. 

h  Fortunae  item  muliebris  fimulacrum,  quod  eft  in  via  Latina,  non  femel,  fed  bis 
locutum  conftitit,  his  psene  verbis,  bene  me  matronae  vidiflis,  riteque  dedicaflis. 
Valer.Max.i.8. 

H  They 


[  5*  1 

THEY  hare  a  Church  here  dedicated  to  St.  Mary  the 
Weeper  ^  or  to  a  Madonna  famous  for  ihedding  Tears:* 
They  ftiew  an  Image  too  of  our  Saviour,  which  for  fome 
time  before  the  Sacking  of  Rome  weft  fo  heartily,  that 
the  Good  Fathers  of  the  Monaftery  were  all  employed  in 
•wiping  its  Face  with  Cotton,  k  And  was  not  the  Cafe 
juit  the  fame  among  their  Ancejlors,  when  on  the 
Approach  of  fbme  publick  Calamity  the  Statue  of 
j4pollo,  as  Livy  tells  us,  weft  for  three  Days  and  Nights 
fuccefjively  ?  l  They  have  another  Church  built  in  Ho- 
nour of  an  Image  which  bled  very  plentifully,  from  a 
Blow  given  it  by  a  Blafphemer.  m  And  were  not  the  old 
Idols  too  as  full  of  Blood,  when,  as  Livy  relates,  all  the 
Images  in  the  temple  of  Juno  were  feen  to  Jweat  with 
Drops  of  it  ?  n 

ALL  which  Prodigies  as  well  modern  as  ancient,  are 
derived  from  the  fame  Source,  viz.  the  Contrivance  of 
Priefts  or  Gavernours,  in  order  to  draw  fome  Gain  or 
Advantage  out  of  the  poor  People  they  thus  impofe 
upon. 

XE  NO  <P  HON,  though  himfelf  much  addifted  to 
Superfiition,  fpeaking  of  the  Prodigies  which  preceded 


*  S.  Maria  del  Pianto.    Rom.  Mod.  Gior.  3 .  Rion.  della  Regofa  ^. 

h  Dicono,  ch'avanti  il  iacco  di  Roma  pianfe  piu  volte,  e  li  Padri  ci 
ad  afciugar  le  lagrime  con  Bombace.    Ib.  Gior.  6.  Rio  d&'  Mon.  3 1 . 

1  Apollo  triduum  8c  tres  no£tes lacrymavit.     Liv.  1.43.  13. 

»  Comminciarono  a  tirarle  de'  faffi  nd  vifo,  e  ne  ufci  fangue,  del  quak  fi  ve- 
dono  infm5  Jbora  i  fegni,  8cc.     Rom.  Mod .  Gior.  3 .  Rio.  di  Ponte  1 7 . 

*•  Signa  ad  Junonis  fofpitae  iudore  manavere.    Liv.  13.3 14 
Ad  Lucura  Feronix  j&nguine  fudarunt,    Ib,  1 7 . 4. 

the 


the  Battle  of  LeuStra  and  portended  Victory  to  the  fke- 
bans,  tells  us,  that  fome  People  looked  upon  them  all  as 
forged  and  contrived  by  the  Magistrates,  o  the  better  to 
animate  and  encourage  the  Multitude  :  And  as  the  O/v- 
ginals  themfelves  were  but  Impo flu-res ,  'tis  no  wonder, 
that  the  Copies  of  them  appear  fuchgn/j  and  bungling 
Forgeries. 

I  HAVE  obferved  a  Story  in  Herodotus,  p  not  unlike 
the  Account  given  us  of  the  famed  Travels  of  the  Houfe 
vfLoretto  ;  of  certain  facred  myftkal  things,  that  travel- 
led about  from  Country  to  Country,  and  after  many  Re- 
movals and  journeys  fettled  at  laft  for  good  and  all  in 
Delas.  But  this  Impofture  of  the  holy  Houfe  might  be 
fuggefted  rather,  as  Mr.  Addifon  has  obferved,  q  by  the 
extraordinary  Veneration  paid  in  old  Rome  to  the  Cot* 
tage  of  its  Founder  Romulus  :  Which  was  held  facred 
i>y  the  People,  and  repaired  with  great  Care  from  time  to 
time  with  the  fame  kind  of  Materials,  and  kept  up  in  the 
fame  Form  in  which  it  was  originally  built. r  It  was- 
turned  alfb,  I  find,  like  this  other  Cottage  of  our  Lady, 
into  a  temple,  and  had  divine  Service  performed  in  it, 
till  it  happened  to  be  burnt  down  by  the  Fire  of  & 
Sacrifice  in  the  time  of  Jtuguftus:*  But  what  makes 
the  Similitude  ftill  more  remarkable  is,  that  this  pre- 
tended Cottage  of  Romulus  was  ftiewn  on  the  Cafitoline 


9  'o/  ft«v  <Pw  T/P«  tiyvtnv  wTffJSTX  awVfa  Te^vaVftt&Ta  wr  ? 
Xenoph.  Ellen.  1.  6. 

*  Herodot.1-4.  p.  2  3^.  Edit.Lond. 

'  AUifon's  Travels  from  Pefaro  to  Rome. 

*  Dion.  Halicar.  1.  1  . 


-4^M/^.    Dion.  1.  48.  p.  43  7  . 

H  a  «?//} 


C  ^ 

c  whereas  'tis  certain  that  Roma-las  himfelf  lived 
in  another  Part  of  the  City,  on  Mount  Palatin :  u  fo 
that  if  it  had  really  been  the  Houfe  of  Romulus,  it  muft 
needs,  like  the  holy  Houfe  of  Loretto,  have  taken  a  Leaf 
too  in  the  Air,  and  fuffered  a  miraculous  tfranflation,  tho' 
not  from  fo  great  a  Diftance,  yet  from  one  Hill  at  leaft 
to  the  other. 

BUT  if  we  follow  their  own  Writers,  'tis  not  the  holy 
Houfe  of  Lor  en  o,  but  the  homely  Cradle  of  our  Saviour, 
that  we  fhould  compare  rather  with  the  little  Houfe  of 
Romulus  :  Which  Cradle  is  now  Ihevvn  in  St.  Mary  the 
Great,  and  on  Chrijimas  Day  expofed  npon  the  high 
Altar  to  the  Adoration  of  the  People,  being  held  in  the 
fame  Veneration  by  frefent  Rome,  as  the  humble  Cottage 
of  its  Founder  had  been  by  its  old  Inhabitants.  Rome, 
fays  Baronius,  *  is  now  in  P&ffejfion  of  that  noble  Monu- 
ment of  Chrijt's  Nativity ,  made  only  of  Wood,  without 
any  Ornament  of  Silver  or  Gold,  and  is  made  more  hap- 
fily  illujlrious  by  it,  than  it  was  of  old  by  the  Cottage,  of 
Romulus  ;  which,  though  built  only  with  Mud  and 
Straw,  our  Anceftors  preferved  with  great  Care  for  many 
Jges. 


*  *  Per  Roinuli  cafam,  perque  veteris  Capitolii  humilia  teda  juro.   Val.  Max. 
1.  4.  c.  n. 

Item  in  Capitolio  commonefacere  poteft,  8c  fignificare  mores  vetuftatis  Ro- 
muli  cafa  in  Arce  facrorum,  Vitruv.  1.  2.  c.  i.  Vid.  etiam  Macrob,  Sat.  i.  ijv 
Virg.  JEn.  8.  <5y. 


u  rieel  9  &s  r  IVHQJ&IMV  %  y.<t,yttv  In,  Tio.Kwm  >&T*C#,ffjv»  Plutarch,  in 
Rom.  p.  50. 

PA>JU/A®-  f^v  TB  cfAA«77  v  KiliytoV,  TATJ®-  a  ™  Kcfsr/TwA/or-  Dion.  Hal.. 
1.  a.  p.  no.  Ed.  Hudf. 

*  Porro  Chrifti  natalis  nobile   monumentum  ex  ligno  confe6tum  nullaq;  ar- 
genti  vel  auri  cselaturn  confe6lum,  Roma  poflfidet,  eoqj  multo  felieius  illuftratur 
c^uam  Tugurio  Romuli,  6cc.   Vid.  Baron.  An.  i  .  Cariiti  j-.  It.  Aring,  Rom.  Subt. 
j.d.  i. 


r  <i 

THE  melting  of  St.  Januarius's  Blood  at  Naples,, 
whenever  it  is  brought  near  to  his  Head,  which  is  done 
with  great  Solemnity  on  the  Day  of  his  Fejlhal,  y 
whilft  at  all  other  times  it  continues  dried  and  con- 
gealed in  a  Glafs  Phyal,  is  one  of  \\\z  ftanding  and  moft 
authentic!?.  Miracles  of  Italy.  Yet  Mr.  Addifon,  who  twice 
faw  it  performed,  allures  us>  that  inftead  of  appearing 
to  be  a  real  Miracle,  he  thought  it  one  of  the  moft  bung- 
ling f  ricks  he  had  ever  feen.  * 


ILLONS  own  Account  of  this  Fad  feems 
to  tblve  it  very  naturally  without  the  help  of  a  Miracle  : 
*  for  during  the  time  that  a  Mafe  or  two  are  celebrated 
in  the  Church,  the  other  Priefts  are  tampering  with  this 
tyhyal  of  Blood,  which  \$  fufpended  all  the  while  in  fuch  a 
Situation,  that  as  foon  as  any  <Part  of  it  begins  to  melt  by 
the  Heat  of  their  Hands,  or  other  Management,  it  drops 
of  courfe  into  the  lower  Side  of  the  Glafs  which  is 
empty;  upon  the  Difcovery  of  which  the  Prieft  pro- 
claims the  Miracle  aloud,  to  the  great  Joy  and  Edifica*- 
tion  of  the  People. 

BUT  however  it  be  effected,  it  is  plainly  nothing 
elfe  but  the  Copy  of  an  old  Cheat  of  the  fame  Kind, 
tranfacted  near  the  fame  Place,  which  Horace  makes 


T  De  &n&i  Januarii  cruore  mirum.quiddam  narratur  in Breviario  Romano- 
quod  ejus  fanguis,  qui  in  ampulla  vitrea  concretus  aflervatur,  cum  in  confpedfri 
capitis  ponitur,  admirandum  in  modum  colliquifieri  videtuf.  Aringh.  Rom. 
Subter.  \.\.\6. 

*  Addifon's  Trav.  at  Naples.  > 

,  V 

a  Ad  prxfentiam  capitis  colliquifieri  videtur^  ampulla  ea  parte,  qua  fanguis, 
naturaliter  in  fubjeclam  ampullae  partem  cadere  debet,  iurpensa  j  mifla  interim, 
una  du«ve,  dum  fanguis  dec  id  at,  celebrantur.  Mabill.Iter.  Ital.  p.  106. 

himfelf 


hiimfelf  meny  with  in  his  Journey  to  Brunduftum^  telling 
us,  how  the  Priefts  would  have  impofed  upon  him  and 
his  Friends,  at  a  Town  called  Gnatia,  by  perfuading 
them,  that  the  Frankincevfe  in  the  femfle  ufed  to 
JiJJbloe  and  melt  miraculoitjly  of  itfelf  without  the  Help 
of  Fire,  b 


IN  the  Cathedral  Church  of  Ravenna  I  faw  in 
faick  Work  the  Pidures  of  thofe  ^rchbijhops  of  the 
Place,  who,  as  all  their  Hiftorians  affirm,  c  were  chofen 
for  federal  Ages  fucceflively  by  the  fpecial  Defignation 
of  the  Holy  Gkofl,  who  in  a  full  Affembly  of  Clergy 
and  People  ufed  to  defcend  vifibly  on  the  ^Per/on  Ele$ 
in  the  Shape  of  a  Dove.  If  the  Fad  of  fuch  a  Defcent 
be  true,  it  will  eafily  be  accounted  for  by  a  Paffage  in 
j4ulus  Gellius,  (whence  the  Hint  was  probably  taken) 
who  tells  us  of  Jrchytas  the  Philofopher  and  Mathema- 
tician, that  he  formed  a  Pigeon  of  Wood  Jo  artificially, 
*s  -to  make  ti  'fly  by  the  Power  of  Mechanifm,  juft  as  he 
directed  it.  d  And  we  find  from  Strada,  that  many 
Tricks  of  this  Kind  were  a&ually  ^contrived  for  the 
Diverfion  of  Charles  the  Fifth  in  his  Monaftery  by  one 
3*urria**s*  who  made  little  Birds  fly  out  of  the 
and  %ack  agffin,  by  his  great  Skill  in  Machinery,  e 


b  Hor.Sat.  i.  j.  v.^S. 

«  Quis  enim  nefcit,  quod  facrse  teftantur  hiftoriae  tune  temporis  cum  Fabianus 
in  fummurn  Pontificem  falutatus  eft,  Columbam  caelitus  advenifle,  ejufque  capiti 
infidetido  fufiragium  detulifle  ?  8cc.  Hoc  idem  in  complurium  Ravennatum  Epi£ 
coporum  elccfcionibus  folenne  extitit,  quorum  memoriam  Rubeus  recolit.  Hift. 
Raven.  8cc.  Aring.  Rom.  Subt.  1. 6.  c.  48. 

*  Pleriqj  nobilium  Graecorum  affirmatiflime  fcripferunt  fimulachrum  Columbx 
'•*  ^gno  a^  Arcnyta  ratione  quadam,  difciplinaqj  mechanica  fa&um  volafle :  Ita 
crat  libramentis  fufpenfum,  &c.  A.  Cell,  Nodt. Att.  1. 1 o.  1 2. 


«  Vid.  Gronovii  Not  in  Gell.    Ibid, 

IT 


IT  would  be  endlefs  to  run  through  all  the  Popifb 
racles,  which  are  evidently  forged  or  copied  after 
the  Originals  of  Paganifm^  fince  there  is  fcarce  a  Pro~ 
digy  in  the  Old  Hiftorians,  or  a  Fable  in  the  Old  Poets, 
but  what  is  tranfcribed  into  their  Legends^  and  f wal- 
lowed by  their  filly  Bigots  as  certain  and  undoubted 
Fads. 

THE  Story  of  Anon  the  Mujician  riding  triumphant 
with  his  Harp  on  the  Back  of  a  Dolfhin,  that  took 
him  up  when  thrown  over-board  at  Sea,  is,  one  would 
think,  too  grofsly  fabulous  to  be  applied  to  any  Pur*, 
pofe  of  Suferjlition  :  Yet  our  pre/ent  Romans  fo  far 
furpafs  the  old  ones  in  Fable  and  Imfofture,  that  out 
of  this  fingle  Story  they  have  coined  many  others  of 
the  fame  Stamfr  viz.  of  Dolfhins  taking  up  and  bring- 
ing ajhore  with  great  Pomp  feveral  of  their  Saints, 
both  dead  and  alive,  who  had  been  thrown  into  the 
Sea  by  Infidels,  either  to  drown  or  deprive  them  of 
Burial.. f  " 

THE  Fable  of  the  Harfiesy  thofe  Furies  or  winged 
Monfters,  who  were  fo  troublefome  to  ^Eneas  and  his 
Companions,  g  feems  copied  in  the  very  firft  Church 
within  the  Walls  of  Rome,  clofe  to  the  Grate  we  enter 
at  j  where  there  is  an  Altar  with  a  pu&lick  Inferiftion, 


f  Qiios  Judex  fubmerfos  in  mare  necavit,-  ftd  Delphinorum  oblequio  Corpora 
eorum  ad littus delata funt:  Sed  de  Obfequio  Delphinorum  martyribus  impenfo 
plura  infra  iuo  loco.  Aringh,  Rom.  Subterr.  1. 1 .  c.  p,  i  o, 

s  Virg,  ^ln.  3.  in. 

fignifying 


lifignifying,  that  it  was  built  by  Pope  Pafchal  the 
Second,  by  divine  Infplratlon,  In  order  to  drive  away  a 
Neft  of  "huge  Demons  or  Monjlers,  who  ufed  to  perch 
upon  a  free  in  that  very  Place,  and  terribly  Infult  all 
who  enter* d  the  City. 

THE  Popi/h  Writers  themfelves  are  forced  to  allow, 
that  many  both  of  their  Reliques  and  their  Miracles 
have  been  forged  by  the  Craft  of  Prlejls,  for  the  fake 
of  Money  and  Lucre.  Darantus,  a  zealous  Defender 
of  all  their  Ceremonies,  gives  feveral  Inftances  of  the 
former ;  particularly  of  the  Bones  of  a  common  Thief, 
which  had  for  fome  time  been  honoured  with  an  Altar, 
and  worshipped  under  the  tfitle  of  a  Saint,  *  And  for 
the  latter ;  Lyra,  in  his  Comment  on  Eel  and  the  Dra- 
gon, obferves,  that  fometlmes  alfo  In  the  Church  very 
great  Cheats  are  put  upon  the  People,  by  falje  Miracles, 
contrived,  or  countenanced  at  leaft,  by  their  Prlefls  for 
fome  Gain  and  temporal  Advantage,  k  And  what  their 
own  Authors  confefs  of  fome  of  their  Miracles,  we  may 


fc  Altare  a  Pafchali  Papa  II.  divino  afflatu 

ritu  iblemni  hoc  loco  ereftum 

quo  daemones 

proceros  nucis  arbori  infidentes 
tranfeuntem  hinc  populum  dire  infultantes 

confcftim  expulit, 

Urban!  VIII.  pont.  max.  au&oritate 
cxcelfiorem  in  locum  quern  confpicis 

tranflatum  foit. 
An.Dom.MDCXXVIL  V 

1  S.  Martinus  Altare,  quod  in  honorem  Martyris  exftruftum  fuerat,  cum  ofla 
-&  reliquias  cujufdam  latronis  efle  deprehendiflet,  fubmoveri  juflit.  Durant.  de 
.Ritib.  I.  i.  C.2J-. 

k  Aliquando  fit  in  Ecclefia  maxima  deceptio  populi  in  miraculis  fi&is  a  facer- 
dotibus,  vel  eis  adhaerentibus  propter  lucrum  temporale,  &c.  Vid.  Nic.  Lyr.  in 
Dan.  c.  14. 

venture, 


Venture,  without  any  Breach  of  Charity,  to  believe  of  all 
the  reft$  nay,  we  cannot  indeed  believe  any  thing  elfe 
without  Impiety  ;  and  without  fuppofing  God  to  concur 
in  an  extraordinary  manner,  to  the  Eftablifhment  of 
•Fraud,  Error,  and  Saperftitiw  in  the  World. 

THE  Refuge  or  Protection  given  to  all,  who  fly  to 
the  Church  for  Shelter,  is  a  Privilege  dire£Uy  transferred 
from  the  Heathen  femples  to  the  <PopiJh  Churches  ;  and 
has  been  praftifed  in  Rome,  from  the  time  of  its  Foun- 
der Romulus  ;  who  in  Imitation  of  the  Cities  of  Greece  , 
opened  an  Afylum  or  Sanctuary  to  Fugitives  of  all 
Nations,  i 


BUT  we  may  obferVe  the  great  Moderation 
above  that  of  Popifb  Rome,  in  regard  to  this  Cuftom  ; 
for  I  do  not  remember  that  there  was  ever  more  than 
this  one  dfylum  in  the  Times  of  the  Refublick;  whereas 
there  are  now  jbme  Hundreds  in  the  fame  City  ;  and 
when  that  fingle  one  (which  was  opened  rather  for  the 
Increafe  of  its  Inhabitants,  than  the  Protection  of  Crimi- 
nals) was  found  in  the  End  to  give  too  great  Encourage- 
ment to  Mifchief  and  Licentioufnefs  ;  they  inclofed  it 
round  in  fuch  a  manner  as  to  Under  all  dccefs  to  it  :  m 
whereas  the  prefent  Popijh  Sanctuaries  ftand  perpe- 
tually open,  not  to  receive  Strangers,  but  to  Jhelter 
Villains  ;  that  it  may  literally  be  faid  of  thefe,  what 
-our  Saviour  fays  of  the  tfcmfle,  fhey  have  turned  the 
Houfe  of  Prayer  Into  a  Den  of  Thieves,  n 


Romulus,  ut  faxo  lucum  circumdedit  alto, 
Quilibet  hue,  inquit,  confuge  tutus  eris. 


Ov.  Faft.  J. 


01^.1.47.  p. 
Matth.  xxi.  13 


[  66  ] 

IN  the  early  Ages  of  Chriftianity  there  were  marry 
Limitations  put  upon  the  Ufe  of  this  Privilege  by  £/»- 
ferours  and  Councils  ;  and  the  greater  Crimes  of  Murder •, 
Adultery  ^  Theft,  &c.  were  efpecially  excepted  from  the 
Benefit  of  it :  °  but  now  they  fcruple  not  to  receive  to 
Sanffuary  even  the  moft  deteftable  Crimes ;  and  'tis  owing 
without  doubt  to  this  Policy  of  Holy  Church,  that  Mur- 
thers  are  fo  common  with  them  in  Italy  on  flight  Provo- 
cations 5  whilft  there  is  a  Church  always  at  hand  and 
always  open  to  fecure  Offenders  from  legal  Punifhment; 
feveral  of  whom  have  been  fhewn  to  me  in  different 
Places,  walking  about  at  their  Eafe  and  in  full  Security 
within  the  Bounds  of  their  Santtuary. 

IN  their  very  ^r  left  hood  they  have  contrived,  one 
would  think,  to  keep  up  as  near  a  Refemblance  as  they 
could  to  that  vicpagan  Rome:  and  the  Sovereign  Pontif, 
inftead  of  deriving  his  Succeflion  from  St.  Peter,  (who 
if  ever  he  was  at  Rome,  was  not  at  leaifc  in  any  Pomp  or 
Splendor  there)  may  with  more  Reafon  and  much  better 
Plea  for  the  Power  he  enjoys,  ilile  himfelf  the  Succeflbr 
of  the  p  Pontifex  Maximus,  or  Chief  Prie ft  of  old  Rome  ; 
whofe  Authority  and  Dignity  was  the  greateft  in  the 


0  Neq;  Komicidis,  neq;  Adulteris,  neq;  virginum  raptoribus,  &:c.  terrmnorum 
cuftodies  cautelam  5  fed  etiam  inde  extrahes,  &  fupplicium  eis  in  feres.  Juftin. 
Novel.  17.  c.  7. 

P  Multa  divinitus,  Pontifices,  a  majoribus  noftris  iiwenta,  nihil  praeclarius,  quam 
quod  vos  eofdem,  8c  rcligionibus  Deorum  Immortalium  Sc  fummae  Republics 
praeefle  voluerunt.  Cic.  pro  Dom.  i. 

Maximus  Pontifex  dicitur,  quod  raaximus  rerum,  quae  ad  facra  &  religiones 
pertinent,  judexfit,  vindexqj  contumaciae  privatorum,  Magiftratuurnqj  Feft.  LII. 
in  voce  W^x. 

Quod  Judex  atq-j  Arbiter  habetur  rerum  divinarum,  humanarumqi  Id.  in  Ordo 
Sacerdotam. 

T.  Coruncanium  Pontificatu  maximo  ad  principale  extulere  faftigium.  Veil. 
Pater,  l.a,  1 28. 

Repul- 


C  *7 

Reptillick  ;  and  who  was  looked  upon  as  the  Arbiter 
or  Judge  of  all  things.  Civil  as  well  as  Sacred,  Human 
as  well  as  Divine  :  whofe  Power,  eftablifhed  almoft  with 
the  Foundation  of  the  City,  was  an  Omen  (  fays  Poly- 
dor  e  Ftrgil)  and  furs  Prejage  of  that  Prieftly  MajeJJy, 
by  which  Rome  was  once  again  to  reign  as  universally^  as 
it  had  done  before  by  the  Force  of  its  Arms,  q 

THE  great  Variety  of  their  Religious  Orders  and 
Societies  of  Priefts  feems  to  have  been  formed  upon  the 
Plan  of  the  old  Colleges  or  Fraternities  of  the  Augurs, 
tPontifices,  Sain,  Fratres  Arvales,  &c.  The  Tejlal  ftr- 
gins  might  furnifh  the  Hint  for  the  Foundation  of  Nun- 
neries :  And  I  have  obferved  fomething  very  like  the 
Rules  and  Aufterities  of  the  Mona/iick  Life  in  the  Cha- 
racter of  feveral  ^Priefts  of  the  Heathens,  who  ufed  to 
live  by  themfelves  retired  from  the  florid  r  near  the  fem- 
fle  or  Oracle  of  the  Deity  to  whofe  particular  Service 
they  were  devoted  •  as  the  &///,  the  Priejts  of  Dodonxan 
Jove,  a  felf-mortifying  Race. 


II.  17.  234. 

Whofe  Groves  the  &///,  Race  auftere,  furround  ; 
Their  Feet  unwafh'd,  their  Slumbers  on  the  Ground. 

Mr.  Pofe. 


^  Certum  portentum  quo  eft  fignificatum,  Urbem  Romam  poltremo  perinde 
Pontificia  Majeftate,  qua  nunc  late  patet,  gentibus  moderaturam,  atque  olim  po- 
tentia  impcraflct.  Pol.  Vir.  In.  rer.  1.  4.  14. 


*  Td  T  lepswv  yw&  M  r  £fo*>v  yvw  d^etff^my^    Plato  in  Timaco* 
p.  1044. 

I  2  BUT 


F  <»  3 

BUT  above  all,  in  the  old  Defcripcions  of  the  lazy- 
mendicant  Priefts  among  the  Heathens,  who  ufed  to 
travel  s  from  Houje  to  Houje  with  Sacks  on  their  Backs  ^ 
and  from  an  Opinion  of  their  Sandity  raiie  every 
where  Contributions  of  Money ,  Bread,  fYine,  and  all 
kind  of  Fifiuals,  for  the  Support  of  their  Fraternity ',. 
we  fee  the  very  Pi&ure  of  the  begging  Friers',  who- 
are  always  about  the  Streets  in  the  feme  Habit,  and 
on  the  jame  Errand,  and  never  fail  to  carry  home  with 
them  a  good  Sack  full  of  Provijions  for  the  Ufe  of  their 
Convent. 

CICERO,  in  his  Book  of  Laws,  reftrains  this 
Practice  of  begging,  or  gathering  Alms,  to  one  particular 
Order  of^riefts^  and  that  only  on  certain  Days--,  becaufe, 
as  he  fays,  t  />  propagates  Superflition,  and  impoverishes 
Families.  Which  by  the  way  may  let  us  fee  the  Policy 
of  the  Church  ef  Rome,  in  the  great  Care  they  have 
taken  to  multiply  their  begging  Orders. 

1  COULD  eafily  carry  on  this  Parallel  through  many 
more  Inftances  of  the  Pagan  and  Popijti  Ceremonies^, 
if  I  had  not  already  faid  enough  to  fhew  from  what 
Spring  all  that  Superftition  flows  which  we  fo  juftly 
charge  them  with,  and  how  vain  an  Attempt  it  mult 
be  to  juftify  by  the  Principles  of  Chriftianity  a  Wor-- 


••  Stipes  aereas  immo  vero  8c  argenteas  multis  certatim  offerentibus  finu  re- 
cepere  patulo ;  nee  non  8c  vini  cadum  &  Ia6tem  6c  cafeos  avidis  animis  corra- 
dentes  &  in  facculqs  huic  qucellui  de  induflria  praeparatos  farcientes,  6cc.  Apu-- 
leiusMetam.  1.8.  p.  261. 

1  Stipem  luftuiimus,  nifi  earn  quam  ad  paucos  dies  propriam  Idscae  matris 
cxcepimus:  Implet  enim  fuperftitione  animos,  exhiurit  domos.    Cic.  de  Legib. 
l.i.  ^  *6« 


JJrif  formed  upon  the  Plan,  and  after  the  very  Pattern 
of  pure  Heathenifm.  I  fhall  not  trouble  myfclf  with 
inquiring  at  what  time,  and  in'  what  manner  thele 
feveral  Corruptions  were  introduced  into  the  Church  : 
whether  they  were  contrived  by  the  Intrigues  and 
Avarice  of  Priefts-^  \vho  found  their  Advantage  in 
reviving  and  propagating  Imfoftiires,  which  had  been 
of  old  Ib  profitable  to  their  PrcckceJJors  :  Or  whether 
the  Genius  of  Rome  was  fo  ftrongly  turned  to  Fanati— 
cifm  and  Superftition,  that  they  were  forced,  in  Con- 
defc£nfion  to  the  Humour  of  the  People,  to  accom- 
modate and  drefs  up  their  new  Religion  to  the  Modes 
and  Fopperies  of  the  old  one.  This,  I  know,  is  the 
Principle,  by  which  their  own  Writers  defend  them— 
felves  as  oft  as  they  are  attacked  or?  this  Head. 

^RINGHUS  in  his  Account  of  fubterraneoux 
Rome  acknowledges  this  Conformity  between  the  Pa- 
gan and  Popifh  Rites,  and  defends  the  Admiffion  of 
the  Ceremonies  of  Heatheniftn  into  the  Service  of  the 
Church  by  the  Authority  of  their  wifejl  <Popes  and 
Governor  sr  u  who,  he  faysr  found  it  'neceffary  injhe 
CoKverfion  of  Gentiles,,  to  diffembk  and  'wink  at  many 
things,  and  yield  to  the  Times  ;  and  not  to  u/e  Force 
againji  Ciiftoms,  which  the  ^People  were  fo  obftinately 
Jond  of ,  mr  think  of  extirpating  at  once  every  thing, 
that  had  the  Afpearance  of  profane  ,  but  to  juperfede 


*  Ac  mnximi  fubinde  Pontifices  quamplurimaprimaquidem  facie  difiimulanda 
duxere,  optimum  videlicet  rati  .tempori  deferendum  efte;  fuadebant  quippe 
fibi  baud  ullam  adverfiis  geutiiitios  ritus  vim,  utpote  qui  mordicus  a  fidelibus 
retinebantur,  adhibendam  clTe;  neque  u.llatenus  enitendum,  ut  quicquid  profanes . 
iaperet  mores,  *omnino  tolleretur,  quinimo  quam  maxima  urendum  ienirate, . 
£icrarumque  Icgum  ex  parte  iatermittendum  imperiiinx  arbitrabantur,  &c.  Vid. 
r. Rom,  Subter.  Tom.  i.  1,  i ,  Ci  i L.  . 


[70] 

in  feme    meafure   tie  Obligation   of  the  facred  Laws; 
till  thefe  Converts ,  convinced  of  themfelves  by  Degrees, 
and  informed  of  the  whole  fruth,  by  the  Suggeftions  of 
the  Holy  Spirit ,    were    content   to  fubmit  in  earnejl  to 
the  Toke  of  Chrijt. 

'T  i  s  by  the  fame  Reafoning  that  the  Jefuits  defend 
the  Concejjfions  they  make  to  their  Profelytes  in  China ; 
who,  where  pure  Chriftianity  will  not  go  down,  never 
fcruple  to  compound  the  Matter  between  Jefus  and 
Confucius ;  and  prudently  allow  what  the  fttff  old 
Prophets  fo  impolitickly  condemned,  a  Partner/hip  be- 
tween God  and  Baal  :  Of  which  though  they  have 
often  been  accufed  at  the  Court  of  Rome,  yet  I  have 
never  heard  that  their  Conduct  has  been  cenfured. 
But  this  kind  of  Reafoning,  however  plaufible  it  may 
be  in  regard  to  the  firft  Ages  of  Chriftianity,  or  to 
Nations  juft  converted  from  Paganifm,  is  yet  fo  far 
from  excufing  the  prefent  Gentilifm  of  the  Church 
of  Rome,  that  it  is  a  direft  Conviftion  and  Condem- 
nation of  it ;  fince  the  Neceffity  alledged  in  Defence 
of  it,  if  ever  it  had  any  real  Force,  has  not,  at  leaft 
for  many  Ages  paft,  at  all  fubfifted  :  And  their  prefent 
Toleration  of  fuch  Pra&ices,  however  ufeful  at  firft 
for  the  reconciling  of  Heathens  to  Chriftianity,  feems 
now  to  be  the  readieft  way  they  can  take  to  drive 
Chriftians  back  again  to  Heathenifm. 

BUT  'tis  now  high  time  for  me  to  conclude,  being 
perfuaded,  if  I  do  not  flatter  myfelf  too  much,  that 
I  have  fufficiently  made  good,  what  I  firft  under- 
took to  prove ;  an  exa£t  Conformity,  or  Uniformity 
rather,  of  IVvrjbip  between  Popery  and  Pagani/m  :  For 
whilft,  as  I  have  fhewn  above,  we  fee  the  prefent 
People  of  Rome  worfhipping  at  this  Day  in  the  fame 

femples ; 


tfemphs  ;  at  the  fame  Altars  ;  fometimes  the  fame 
Images ;  and  always  with  the  fame  Ceremonies,  as  the 
old  Romans  j  they  muft  have  more  Charity,  as  well 
as  Skill  m  di/iinguifhing,  than  I  pretend  to,  who  can 
abfolve  them  from  the  fame  Crime  of  Suferjiition  and 
Idolatry  with  their  Pagan  Anceflors. 


F  i  N  i  a 


'  BO'QK-S  frinted  for  W.  INNYS  and  R.  MANBY. 


Procedure,   Extent  and  Limits  of  Human  Under- 
,  ftanding.     The  -2d  Edition,    with  Corrections  and 

Amendments. 

II.  Things  Divine  and  Supernatural,  conceived   by  Ana- 
logy with  Things  Natural  and   Human.     By  the  Author  of 
the  Procedure,  &c.  8vo. 

III.  A   Dictionary   Italian  and  Engtifo,    and  Engliflo  and 
Italian,  containing  all   the  Words  of  the  Vocabulary  Delia 
Crufca  and  feveral  Hundreds  more  ;  taken  from  the-moft  ap- 
proved Authors  ;    with   Proverbs  and  familiar  Phrafes.     To 
which  is   prefixed,  a  Table    of  the   Authors  quoted  in  this 
Work.     By    F.   Attieri,    Profeflbr   ,of   the  Italian   Tongue. 
2  Vols.  in  4to. 

IV.  A  New  Grammar,  Itallan-Englifljy  and  Engliflo-  Italian, 
which   contains  a  true  and  eafy  Method  for  acquiring  thefe 
two  Languages,  with  luany  ufeful  Remarks,  which  are  not  to 
be  found  in  any  other  Grammar  of  this  Kind.     By  F.  Altieri, 
Author  of  the  Italian  and  Englifh  Dictionary. 

V.  The  Neceffity  of  Divine  Revelation,  and  the  Truth  of 
the   Chriftian    Revelation    aficrted  •  in  Eight  Sermons.     To 
which  is  prenVd,  a  Preface,  with  fbme  Remarks  on  a  late 
Book,  intitled,   fbe  Scheme  of  Literal  Prophecy  confiderd,  &c. 
Ey  John  Rogers,  D.  D.  late  Canon  of  Wells,  Vicar  of  St.  Giles's 
Cripplegate,  and  Chaplain  in  Ordinary  to  his  Majefty.     The 
2d  Edition,  8  vo. 

VI.  A  Vindication  of  the  Civil  Eftabiifhment  of  Religion, 
wherein  fbme  Pofitions  of  Mr.  Chandler,  the  Author  of  the 
Scheme  of  Literal  Prophecy,  and  an  Anonymous  Letter  on  that 
Subjedt,  are  occafionally  confider'd.     With  an  Appendix,  con* 
taining  a  Letter  from  the  Rev.  Dr.  Marfaal^  and  an  Anfwer 
to  the  fame.     By  John  Rogers,  D.  D.  late  Canon  of  'Wells,  and 
Chaplain  in  Ordinary  to  his  Majefty. 

VII.  The  Interpretation  of  the  Law  and  the  Prophets  made 
by  Jefus  and  his  Apoftles,  Vindicated  :  In  a  Sermon  preach'd 
on  St.  Stephen's  Day,  before  the  Univerfity  of  Cambridge  at 
St.  Marys  Church,  Dec.  26.  1727.     By  Robert  Leeke,  B.  D. 
Fellow  of  St.  Johns  College. 

VIII.  The  Ecclefiaftical  Hiftory  of  M.  VAble  Fleury,  with 
the  Chronology  of  M.  fillemont,  in  5.  Vols-  4to. 

N.  B.  This  Work  is  continued  Monthly,  and  will  befinifh'd 
with  all  convenient  Speed.