MONACO,

GENOA, &c.

ON

N the twelfth of December, 1699, I fet out from Marseilles to Genoa in a tartane, and arrived late at a small French port called Caffis, where the next morning we were not a little furprised to see the mountains about the town covered with green olivetrees, or laid out in beautiful gardens, which gave us a great variety of pleafing profpects, even in the depth of winter. The most uncultivated of them produce abundance of sweet plants, as wild-thyme, lavender, rosemary, balm, and myrtle. We were here shown at a distance the deferts, which have been rendered fo famous by the penance of Mary Magdalene, who, after her arrival with Lazarus and Jofeph of Arimathea at Marseilles, is faid to have wept away the reft of her life among these folitary rocks and mountains. It is fo romantic a fcene, that it has always probably given occafion to such chimerical Relations; for it is perhaps of this place that Claudian fpeaks, in the following description:

VOL. IV.

Et locus extremum pandit quà Gallia littus
Oceani prætentus aquis, quà fertur Ulyffes
Sanguine libato populum moviffe filentüm:
Illic umbrarum tenui ftridore volantûm
Flebilis auditur queftus; fimulachra coloni
Pallida defunctafque vident migrare figuras, &c.
Claud. in Ruf. lib. 1.

A place there lies on Gallia's utmost bounds,
Where rifing feas infult the frontier grounds:
Ulyffes here the blood of victims fhed,
And rais'd the pale affembly of the dead.
Oft in the winds is heard a plaintive found
Of melancholy ghosts that hover round:
The lab'ring plow-man oft with horror fpies
Thin airy fhapes that o'er the furrows rife,
(A dreadful scene!) and skim before his eyes.

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I know there is nothing more undetermined among the learned than the voyage of Ulyffes; fome confining it to the Mediterranean, others extending it to the great ocean, and others afcribing it to a world of the poet's own making; though his converfations with the dead are generally fuppofed to have been in the Narbon Gaul.

Incultos adiit leftrigonas antiphatenque, &c.
Atque hæc feu noftras interfunt cognita terras,
Fabula five novum dedit his erroribus orbem.

Tibul. Lib. iv. Eleg. i. ver. 59.
Uncertain whether, by the winds convey'd,
On real feas to real fhores he ftray'd;

Or,

Or, by the fable driven from coast to coast,
In new imaginary worlds was loft.

The next day we again fet fail, and made the best of our way until we were forced, by contrary winds, into St. Remo, a very pretty town in the Genoefe dominions. The front to the fea is not large; but there are a great many houses behind it, built up the fide of the mountain to avoid the winds and vapours that come from fea. We here faw feveral perfons that in the midft of December had nothing over their fhoulders but their fhirts, without complaining of the cold. It is certainly very lucky for the poorer fort to be born in a place that is free from the greatest inconvenience, to which thofe of our northern nations are fubject; and indeed, without this natural benefit of their climates, the extreme mifery and poverty that are in moft of the Italian governments would be infupportable. There are at St. Remo many plantations of palm-tees, though they do not grow in other parts of Italy. We failed from hence directly for Genoa; and had a fair wind that carried us into the middle of the gulph, which is very remarkable for tempefts and scarcity of fish. It is probable one may be the cause of the other, whether it be that the fishermen cannot employ their art with fo much fuccefs in fo troubled a fea, or that the fish do not care for inhabiting fuch ftormy -Atrum

waters:

B 2

-Atrum

Defendens pifces hiemat mare

Hor. Sat. ii. lib. ii. v. 16. While black with ftorms the ruffled ocean rolls, And from the fisher's art defends her finny fholes.

We were forced to lie in it two days, and our captain thought his Ship in fo great danger, that he fell upon his knees, and confeffed himself to a capucin who was on board with us. But at last, taking the advantage of a fide-wind, we were driven back in a few hours time as far as Monaco. Lucan has given us a description of the harbour that we found fo very welcome to us, after the great danger we had escaped.

Quaque fub Herculeo facratus nomine portus
Urget rupe cavá pelagus: non corus in illum
Jus habet aut zephyrus: folus fua littora turbat
Circius, & tuta prohibet ftatione Monaci.

Lib. i. v. 405.

The winding rocks a fpacious harbour frame,
That from the great Alcides takes its name:
Fenc'd to the weft and to the north it lies;
But when the winds in fouthern quarters rife,
Ships, from their anchors torn, become their sport,
And fudden tempefts rage within the port.

On the promontory, where the town of Monaco now ftands, was formerly the temple of Hercules Monacus, which still gives the name to this small principality.

Ag

Aggeribus focer Alpinis atque arce Monaci

Defcens

Virg. Æn. vi. v. 830. From Alpine heights, and from Monacus' fane, The father first descends into the plain.

There are but three towns in the dominions of the Prince of Monaco. The chief of them is fituate on a rock which runs out into the sea, and is well fortified by Nature. It was formerly under the protection of the Spaniard, but not many years fince drove out the Spanish garrifon, and received a French one, which confifts at present of five hundred men, paid and officered by the French King. The officer, who fhewed me the palace, told me, with a great deal of gravity, that his mafter and the King of France, amidst all the confufions of Europe, had ever been good friends and allies. The palace has handsome apartments, that are many of them hung with pictures of the reigning Beauties in the court of France. But the beft of the furniture was at Rome, where the Prince of Monaco refided at that time Ambaffador. We here took a little boat to creep along the fea-fhore as far as Genoa; but at Savona, finding the fea too rough, we were forced to make the best of our way by land, over very rugged mountains and precipices: For this road is much more difficult than that over mount Cennis.