Right to the Title of Saints than thofe of a Modern Date; but these are at present quite out of Fashion in Italy where there is fcarce a great Town, that does not pay its Devotions in a more particular manner to fome one of their own making. This renders it very fufpicious, that the Interests 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 publish'd, that was Dedicated to the prefent Head of the Borromean Family, and entitl'd, A Difcourfe on the Humility of Jefus Chrift and of St. Charles Borromee. The Great Church of Milan has Two Noble Pulpits of Brafs, each of'em running round a large 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 Relicks, which run up as high as Daniel, Jonas and Abraham. Among the reft they fhow a Fragment of our Countryman Becket, as indeed there are very few Treasu ries of Relicks in Italy that have not a Tooth or a Bone of this Saint. It would be endlefs to count up the Riches of Silver, Gold, and Precious Stones, that are amafs'd together in this and feveral other Churches C 3 of. of Milan. I was told, that in Milan there are Sixty Convents of Women, Eighty of Men, and Two Hundred Churches. At the Celeftines is a Picture in Frefco of the Marriage of Cana, very much esteem'd ; but the Painter, whether defignedly or not, has put Six 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 Theffalonica. The 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 Relicks: There is a little Chappel lately re-edify'd, where the fame Saint bap-tis'd St. Auftin. An Infcription on the Wall of it fays, that it was in this Chappel, and on this Occafion, that he first fung his Te Deum, and that his great Convert answer'd him Verse by Verfe. In one of the Churches I faw a Pulpit and Confeffional, very finely In-laid with Lapis-Lazali, and feveral kinds of Marble, by a Father of the Convent. It is very lucky for a Religious, who has fo much Time on his Hands, to be able to amufe himself with Works of this Nature; and one often finds particular Members of Convents, that have excellent Mechanical Genius's, and divert themselves, at leifure Hours Hours, with Painting, Sculpture Architecture, Gardening, and feveral kinds of Handy-Crafts. Since I have mention'd Confeffionals, I fhall fet down here fome Infcriptions that I have feen over 'em in Roman-Catholick Countries, which are all Texts of Scripture, and regard either the Penitent or the Father. Abi, Oftende Te ad Sacerdotem-----Ne taceat pupilla oculi Tui-----Ibo ad patrem meum & dicam, Pater peccavi------ Soluta erunt in Calis------Redi Anima mea in Requiem duam------ Vade, & nè deinceps pecca--- Qui vos audit me audit- --- Venite ad me omnes qui fatigati eftis & onerati--- Corripiet me juftus in mifericordiâ-----Vide fi via Iniquitatis in me eft & deduc me in via aternâ--- Ut audiret gemitus compeditorum. I faw the Ambrofian Library, where, to fhow the Italian Genius, they have spent more Mony on Pictures than on Books. Among the Heads of feveral learned Men I met with no Englishman except Bishop 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 Italian Library, which they generally fee of with Pictures, Statues, and other Ornaments, where they can afford 'em, after the Example of the old Greeks and Romans, Plena omnia gypso Chryfippi Invenias: Nam perfectissimus borum Si quis Ariftotelem Similem vel Pittacos emit, Et jubet Archetypos pluteum fervare Cleanthas. Chryfippus Statue decks thy Library. Jur. S. 2. Who makes his Study finest, is most read; The Dolt that with an Ariftotle's Head, Carv'd to the Life, has once adorn'd his Shelf, Straight fets up for a Stagyrite himself. Tate. In an Appartment behind the Library are feveral Rarities in Painting and Sculpture, that have been often defcrib'd by Travellers, as Brageal's Elements, a Head of Titian, by his own. Hand, a Manufcript in Latin of Jofephus, which the Bishop of Salisbury Lays was written about the Age of Theodofius, and another of Leonardus Vincius, which King James the First could not procure, tho' he proffer'd for it Three Thoufand Spanish Piftols. It confifts of Designings in Mechanifm and Engineering: I was shown in it a Sketch of Bombs and Mortars, as they are now us'd. Canon Settala's Cabinet is always shown to a Stranger among the Curiofities of Milan, which I fhal not be particular upon, the Printed Account of it being common enough. Among its Naturel Curiofites I took particular notice of a Piece of Crystal, that enclos'd a couple of Drops, which look'd like Water when they were fhaken, tho' perhaps they are nothing but Bubbles af Air. It is fuch a Rarity as this that that I faw at Vendome in France, which they there pretend is a Tear that our Saviour shed over Lazarus, and was gather'd up by an Angel, who put it in a little Crystal Vial, and made a Prefent of it to Mary Magdalene. The Famous Pere Mabillon is now engag'd in the Vindication of this Tear, which a learned Ecclefiaftic, in the Neigbourhood of Vendome, would have fupprefs'd, as a falfe and ridiculous Relick, in a Book that he has Dedicated to his Diocefan the Bishop of Blois. It is in the Poffeffion of a Benedicin Convent, which raifes a confiderable Revenue out of the Devotion that is paid to it, and has now retain'd the learnedit Father of their Order to write in its Defence. It was fuch a Curiofity as this I have mention'd, that Claudiun has celebrated in about half a Score Epigrams. Solibus indomitum glacies alpina rigorem Deep in the Snowy Alpes a Lump of Ice And |