fpirited Virtues may lay a jufter Claim to it, than a four Retreat from Mankind, a fiery Zeal against Heterodoxies, a Set of Chimerical Visions, or of Whimfical Penances, which are generally the Qualifications of Raman Saints. Miracles indeed are required of all who afpire to this Dignity, be cause, they say, an Hypocrite may imitate a Saint in all other Particulars, and these they attribute in great Number to him I am speaking of. His Merit and the Importunity of his Countrymen procured his Canonization before the ordinary time; for it is the Policy of the Roman Church not to allow this Honour, ordinarily, 'till fifty Years after the Death of the Perfon, who is Candidate for it ; in which time it may be supposed that all his Contemporaries will be worn out, who could contradict a pretended Miracle, or remember any Infirmity of the Saint. One would wonder that Roman Catholics, who are for this kind of Worship, do not generally addrefs themselves to the Holy Apoftles, who have a more unquestionable Right to the Title of Saints than those of a modern Date; but these are at prefent quite out of Fashion in Italy, where there is scarce a great Town, which does not pay its Devotions, in a more particular manner, to some one of their own making. This renders it very fufpicious, that the Interefts of particular Families, religious Orders, Convents, or Churches, have too great a Sway in their Canonizations. When I was at Milan I faw a Book newly published, that was Dedicated to the present Head of the Borromean Family, and intitled, A Difcourfe on the Humility of Jefus Christ, and of St. Charles Borromee. The Great Church of Milan has two noble Pulpits of Brafs, each of them running round a large Pillar, Pillar, like a Gallery, and fupported by huge Figures of the fame Metal. The Hiftory of our Saviour, or rather of the bleffed Virgin (for it begins with her Birth, and ends with her Coronation in Heaven, that of our Saviour coming in by way of Epifode) is finely cut in Marble by Andrew Biffy. This Church is very rich in Relics, which run up as high as Daniel, Jonas, and Abraham. Among the reft they fhow a Fragment of our Country man Becket, as indeed there are very few Treasuries of Relics in Italy that have not a Tooth or a Bone of this Saint. It would be endless to count up the Riches of Silver, Gold, and Precious Stones, that are amafs'd together in this and feveral other Churches of Milan. I was told, that in Milan there are fixty Convents of Women, eighty of Men, and two hundred Churches. At the Celestines is a Picture in Fresco of the Marriage of Cana, very much efteem'd; but the Painter, whether defignedly or not, has put fix fingers to the Hand of one of the Figures: They fhow the Gates of a Church that St. Ambrofe fhut against the Emperor Theodofius, as thinking him unfit to affift at Divine Service, 'till he had done fome extraordinary Penance for his barbarous maffacring the Inhabitants of Thef falonica. That Emperor was however fo far from being difpleas'd with the Behaviour of the Saint, that at his Death he committed to him the Education of his Children. Several have pick'd Splinters of Wood out of the Gates for Relics. There is a little Chapel lately re-edify'd, where the fame Saint baptis'd St. Auftin. An Infcription upon the Wall of it fays, that it was in this Chapel, and on this Occafion, that he firft fung his Te Deum, and that his great Convert answer'd him Verfe by Verfe. In one of the Churches I faw a Pulpit and Con feffional, feffional, very finely inlaid with Lapis-Lazuli, and peccavi Re Vade, & Qui vos audit, me audit Venite ad me omnes qui fatigati eftis & onerati Corripiet me juftus in mifericordia Vide fi via Iniquitatis in me eft, & deduc me in viâ æternå — Ut audiret gemitus compeditorum. i. e. Go thy way, fhew thyfelf to the Prieft. Matth. viii. 4. of thine Eye cease. Lam. ii. 18. Let not the Apple my Father, and will fay unto him, Father, I have finned. Luke xv. 18. Shall be loofed in Hea- Go, and fin ne ven. Matth. xvi. 19. O my Soul. Pfal. cxvi. 7. more. John viii. 11. heareth me. Luke x. 16. all ye that labour and are heavy laden. Matth. xi. See if there be any wicked way in me, 28. and lead me in the way everlafting. Pfal. cxxxix. To hear the groaning of the Prisoners. 24. Pfal. Pfal. cii. 20. I faw the Ambrofian Library, where, to fhew the Italian Genius, they have spent more Money on Pictures than on Books. Among the Heads of feveral learned Men, I met with no Englishmen, except Bifhop Fisher, whom Henry the Eighth put to Death for not owning his Supremacy. Books are indeed the leaft Part of the Furniture that one ordinarily goes to fee in an Ita lian Library, which they generally set off with Pictures, Statues, and other Ornaments, where they can afford them, after the Example of the old Greeks and Romans. Plena omnia gypfo Juv. Sat ii. v. 4. Chryfippus' Statue decks thy Library. Tate. In an Apartment behind the Library are several Rarities, often defcrib'd by Travellers, as Brugeal's Elements, a Head of Titian by his own Hand, a Manufcript in Latin of Jofephus, which the Bishop of Salisbury fays was written about the Age of Theodofius, and another of Leonardus Vincius, which King James the Firft could not procure, tho' he proffer'd for it three thoufand Spanish Piftoles. It confifts of Defignings in Mechanifm and Engineering. I was fhewn in it a Sketch of Bombs and Mortars, as they are now used. Canon Settala's Cabinet is always fhewn to a Stranger among among the Curiofities of Milan, which I fhall not be particular upon, the printed Account of it being common enough. Among its natural Curiofities, I took particular notice of a piece of Cryftal, that inclos'd a couple of Drops, which look'd like Water when they were fhaken, tho' perhaps they are nothing but Bubbles of Air. It is fuch a Rarity as this that I saw at Vendome in France, which they there pretend is a Tear that our Saviour fhed over Lazarus, and was gather'd up by an Angel, who put it in a little Cryftal Vial, and made a Prefent of it to Mary Magdalene. The famous Pere Mabillon is now engaged in the Vindication of this Tear, which a learned Ecclefiaftic, in the Neighbourhood of Vendome, would have fuppreffed, as a falfe and ridiculous Relic, in a Book that he has dedicated to his Diocesan the Bishop of Blois. It is in the Poffeffion of a Benedictin Convent, which raises a confiderable Revenue out of the Devotion that is paid to it, and has now retained the moft learned Father of their Order to write in its Defence. It was fuch a Curiofity as this I have mention'd, that Claudian has celebrated in about half a Score Epigrams: Solibus indomitum glacies Alpina rigorem Deep in the fnowy Alps a Lump of Ice Proof |