able, that almost all the Perfons, of the greatest Wealth and Power in Naples, are engag'd by their own Interests to pay these Impofitions chearfully, and to fupport the Government which has laid them

on.

For this Reason, tho' the poorer fort are for the Emperor, few of the Perfons of Confequence can endure to think of a Change in their present Establishment; tho' there is no queftion but the King of Spain will reform most of these Abuses, by breaking or retrenching the Power of the Barons, by cancelling feveral unneceffary Employs, or by ranfoming or taking the Gabels into his own Hands. I have been told too there is a Law of Charles the Fifth fomething like our Statute of Mortmain, which has laid dormant ever fince his Time, and will probably have new Life put into it under the Reign of an active Prince. The Inhabitants of Naples have been always very notorious for leading a Life of Laziness and Pleasure, which I take to arife partly out of the wonderful Plenty of their Country, that does not make Labour so neceflary to them, and partly out of the Temper of their Climate, that relaxes the Fibres of their Bodies, and difpofes the People to fuch an idle indolent Humour. Whatever it proceeds from, we find they were formerly as famous for it as they are at present.

This was perhaps the Reafon that the Ancients tell us one of the Sirens was bury'd in this City, which thence receiv'd the Name of Parthenope.

Defidia

Improba Siren

Hor. Sat. iii, Lib. ii. v. 14,

Sloth, the deluding Siren of the Mind.

Et

Et in Otia natam

Parthenopen

Ovid. Met. Lib. xv. v. 11.

Otiofa Neapolis.

Hor. Epod. 5. v. 43.

Parthenope, for idle Hours defign'd,
To Luxury and Eafe unbinds the Mind.

Parthenope non dives opum, non fpreta vigoris:
Nam molles Urbi ritus, atque hofpita Mufis
Otia, et exemptum curis gravioribus ævum.
Sirenum dedit una fuum et memorabile nomen
Parthenope muris Acheloïas, æquore cujus
Regnavere diu cantus, cum dulce per undas.
Exitium miferis caneret non profpera Nautis.
Sil. Ital. Lib. xii.

Here wanton Naples crowns the happy Shore,
Nor vainly rich, nor defpicably poor;
The Town in foft Solemnities delights,
And gentle Poets to her Arms invites ;
The People, free from Cares, ferene and gay,
Pafs all their mild untroubled Hours away.
Parthenope the rifing City nam'd

A Siren, for her Songs and Beauty fam'd,
That oft had drown'd among the neighb'ring Seas
The lift'ning Wretch, and made Destruction please.

Has ego te fedes (nam nec mihi barbara Thrace
Nec Libye natale folum) transferre laboro :
Quas et mollis hyems et frigida temperat aftas,
Quas imbelle fretum torpentibus alluit undis :
Pax fecura locis, et defidis Otia vitæ,
Et nunquam turbata quies, fomnique peracti:
Nulla foro rabies, &c. Stat. Sylv. v. Lib. iii. v. 81.

These

These are the gentle Seats that I propofe;
For not cold Scythia's undiffolving Snows,
Nor the parch'd Libyan Sands thy Husband bore,
But mild Parthenope's delightful Shore;

Where hufh'd in Calms the bord❜ring Ocean laves
Her filent Coaft, and rolls in languid Waves;
Refreshing Winds the Summer's Heats affuage;
And kindly Warmth difarms the Winter's Rage;
Remov'd from Noife and the tumultuous War,
Soft Sleep and downy Eafe inhabit there,
And Dreams unbroken with intruding Care.

}

THE

THE

ANTIQUITIES

AND

Natural Curiofities

That lie near the

CITY of NAPLES.

A

T about eight Miles diftance from Naples lies a very noble Scene of Antiquities. What they call Virgil's Tomb is the firft that one meets with on the Way thither. It is certain

this Poet was bury'd at Naples; but I think it is almost as certain, that his Tomb ftood on the other fide of the Town, which looks towards Vefuvio. By this Tomb is the Entry into the Grotto of Paufilypo. The common People of Naples believe it to have been wrought by Magic, and that Virgil was the Magician; who is in greater Repute among the Neapolitans for having made the Grotto, than the Æneid.

If

If a Man would form to himself a juft Idea of this Place, he muft fancy a vaft Rock undermin'd from one end to the other, and a Highway running thro' it, near as long and as broad as the Mall in St. James's Park. This fubterraneous Paffage is much mended fince Seneca gave fo bad a Character of it. The Entry at both Ends is higher than the middle Parts of it, and finks by degrees to fling in more Light upon the reft. Towards the middle are two large Funnels, bor'd thro' the Roof of the Grotto, to let in Light and fresh Air.

There are no where about the Mountain any vaft Heaps of Stones, tho' it is certain the great Quantities of 'em that are dug out of the Rock could not eafily conceal themselves, had they not probably been confum'd in the Moles and Buildings of Naples. This confirm'd me in a Conjecture, which I made at the first fight of this fubterraneous Paffage, that it was not at firft defign'd fo much for a High-way as for a Quarry of Stone, but that the Inhabitants, finding a double Advantage by it, hew'd it into the Form we now fee. Perhaps the fame Defign gave the Original to the Sibyl's Grotto, confidering the prodigious multitude of Palaces that ftood in its Neighbourhood.

I remember when I was at Chateaudun in France, I met with a very curious Perfon, a Member of one of the German Universities. He had ftay'd a Day or two in the Town longer than ordinary, to take the Measures of feveral empty Spaces that had been cut in the Sides of a neighbouring Mountain. Some of 'em were fupported with Pillars form'd out of the Rock; fome were made in the Fashion of Galleries, and fome not unlike Amphitheatres. The Gentleman had made to himself several ingenious Hypo'G

thefes