"In what dreadful majefty, in what wonderful power, in what amazing providence did God Almighty distinguish you among all the fpe"cies of creatures that perifhed in the univerfal deluge! You only were "infenfible of the mischief that had laid waste the whole world. "All this, as I have already told you, ought to inspire you with gratitude and praife towards the Divine Majefty, that has done fo great things for you, granted you fuch particular graces and privileges, and heaped upon you so many diftinguishing favours. And fince for all this you cannot employ your tongues in the praises of your Benefactor, "and are not provided with words to exprefs your gratitude; make at "least some sign of reverence; bow your felves at his name; give fome "fhow of gratitude, according to the best of your capacities; express "your thanks in the most becoming manner that you are able, and be not "unmindful of all the benefits he has bestowed upon you. 66 66 "He had no fooner done speaking, but behold a Miracle! The fish, as "though they had been endued with reafon, bowed down their heads "with all the marks of a profound humility and devotion, moving their "bodies up and down with a kind of fondness, as approving what had "been spoken by the bleffed Father St. Antonio. The Legend adds, that after many Hereticks, who were present at the Miracle, had been converted by it, the Saint gave his benediction to the fish, and difmiffed them. Several other the like ftories of St. Antony are reprefented about his monument in a very fine Bafo Relievo. I could not forbear fetting down the titles given to St. Antony in one of the tables that hangs up to him, as a token of gratitude from a poor Peafant, who fancied the Saint had faved him from breaking his neck. Sacratiffimi pufionis Bethlehemitici Lilio candidiori delicio, Seraphidum foli fulgidiffimo, Celfiffimo facræ fapientia tholo, Prodigiorum patratori potentiffimo, Mortis, erroris, calamitatis, Lepra, Damonis, Difpenfatori, correttori, liberatori, curatori, fugatori, Sancto, fapienti, pio, potenti, tremendo, Agrotorum et naufragantium faluatori Præfentiffimo, tutiffimo. Membrorum reftitutori, vinculorum confractori, Rérum The custome of hanging up limbs in wax, as well as pictures, is certainly derived from the old heathens, who ufed, upon their recovery, to make an offering in wood, metal or clay, of the part that had been afflicted with a distemper, to the Deity that delivered them. I have seen, I believe, every limb of a human body figured in iron or clay, which were formerly made on this occafion, among the feveral collections of antiquities that have been fhown me in Italy. The church of St. Justä na, defigned by Palladio, is the most handsom, luminous, difencumbered building in the infide that I have ever seen, and is esteemed by many artists one of the finest works in Italy. The long Nef confifts of a row of five cupola's, the cross-one has on each fide a fingle cupola deeper and broader than the others. The martyrdom of St. Juftina hangs over the Altar, and is a piece of Paul Veronefe. In the great town-hall of Padua ftands a stone fuperfcribed Lapis Vituperii. Any debtor that will fwear himself not worth five pound, and is fet by the Bailifs thrice with his bare buttocks on this stone in a full hall, clears himself of any farther profecution from his creditors; but this is a punishment that no body has fubmitted to, these four and twenty years. The university of Padua is of late much more regular than it was formerly, though it is not yet safe walking the streets after fun-fet. There is at Padua a manufacture of cloth, which has brought very great revenues into the republick. At present the English have not only gained upon the Venetians in the Levant, which used chiefly to be fupplied from this manufacture, but have great quantities of their cloth in Venice it felf; few of the nobility wearing any other fort, notwithstanding the magiftrate of the pomps is obliged by his office to fee that no body wears the cloth of a foreign country. Our merchants indeed are forced to make ufe of fome artifice to get these prohibited goods into port. What they here fhow for the afhes of Livy and Antenor is difregarded by the best of their own antiquaries. The pretended tomb of Antenor put me in mind of the latter part of Virgil's defcription, which gives us the original of Padua. Antenor potuit mediis elapfus Achivis At length he founded Padua's happy feat, And gave his Trojans a fecure retreat: Æ... There fix'd their arms, and there renew'd their names; And there in quiet lyes. Dryden: From Padua I went down to the river Brent in the ordinary ferry, which brought me in a day's time to Venice. H VENICE AVING often heard Venice reprefented as one of the most defenfible cities in the world, I took care to inform my felf of the particulars in which its ftrength confifts. And these I find are chiefly owing to its advantagious fituation; for it has neither rocks nor fortifications near it, and yet is, perhaps, the most impregnable town in Europe. It stands at least four miles from any part of the Terra Firma, nor are the fhallows that lye about it ever frozen hard enough to bring over an army from the land-fide; the conftant flux and reflux of the fea, or the natural mildness of the climate, hindering the ice from gathering to any thickness; which is an advantage the Hollanders want, when they have laid all their country under water. On the fide that is expofed expofed to the Adriatic, the entrance is fo difficult to hit, that they have marked it out with several stakes driven into the ground, which they would not fail to cut upon the first approach of an enemy's fleet. For this reason they have not fortified the little Iflands, that lye at the entrance, to the best advantage, which might otherwise very easily command all the passes that lead to the city from the Adriatic. Nor could an ordinary fleet, with bomb-veffels, hope to fucceed against a place that has always in its arsenal a confiderable number of gallies and men of war ready to put to fea on a very fhort warning. If we could therefore suppose them blocked up on all fides, by a power too ftrong for them, both by fea and land, they would be able to defend themselves against every thing but famine; and this would not be a little mitigated by the great quantities of fifh that their feas abound with, and that may be taken up in the midst of their very streets, which is fuch a natural magazine as few other places can boast of. Our voyage-writers will needs have this city in great danger of being -left, within an age or two, on the Terra Firma; and reprefent it in fuch a manner, as if the fea was infenfibly fhrinking from it, and retiring into its channel. I asked several, and among the reft: Father Coronelli, the State's Geographer, of the truth of this particular, and they all affured me that the fea rises as high as ever, though. the great heaps of dirt it brings along with it are apt to choak up the fhallows, but that they are in no danger of lofing the benefit of their fituation, fo long as they are at the charge of removing these banks of mud and fand. One may fee abundance of them above the furface of the water, scattered up and down like so many little Islands, when the tide is low; and they are these that make the entrance for fhips difficult to fuch as are not used to them, for the deep canals run between them, which the Venetians are at a great expence to keep free and open. This city ftands very convenient for commerce. It has several navigable rivers that run up into the body of Italy, by which they might fupply a great many countries with fish and other commodities; not to mention their opportunities for the Levant, and each fide of the Adriatic. But, notwithstanding these conveniencies, their trade is far from being in a flourishing condition for many reasons. The duties are great that are laid on merchandizes. Their Nobles think it below their quality to engage in traffick. The Merchants who are grown rich, and able to manage great dealings, buy their nobility, and generally give over trade. Their manufactures of cloth, glafs and filk, formerly the beft in Europe, are now 4 excelled by thofe of other countries. They are tenacious of old laws and cuftomes to their great prejudice, whereas a trading nation must be still for new changes and expedients, as different junctures and emergencies arise. The State is at prefent very fenfible of this decay in their trade, and as a noble Venetian, who is fill a merchant, told me, they will fpeedily find out fome method to redress it; poffibly by making a Free port, for they look with an evil eye upon Leghorne, which draws to it most of the vefTels bound for Italy. They have hitherto been fo negligent in this particular, that many think the Great Duke's gold has had no fmall influence in their councils. Venice has feveral particulars which are not to be found in other cities, and is therefore very entertaining to a traveller. It looks, at a diftance, like a great town half floated by a deluge. There are canals every where crolling it, fo that one may go to most houses either by land or water. This is a very great convenience to the inhabitants; for a Gondola with two oars at Venice, is as magnificent as a coach and fix horfes, with a large equipage, in another country; befides that it makes all carriages extremely cheap. The streets are generally paved with brick or free-stone, and always kept very neat, for there is no carriage, not so much as a chair, that paffes through them. There is an innumerable multitude of very handsome bridges, all of a single arch, and without any fence on either fide, which would be a great inconvenience to a city less fober than Venice. One would indeed wonder that drinking is fo little in vogue among the Venetians, who are in a moist air and a moderate climate, and have no fuch diverfions as bowling, hunting, walking, riding, and the like exercises to employ them without doors. But as the Nobles are not to converse too much with ftrangers, they are in no danger of learning it; and they are generally too distrustful of one another for the freedoms that are ufed in fuch kind of converfations. There are many noble palaces in Venice. Their furniture is not commonly very rich, if we except the pictures, which are here in greater plenty than in any other place in Europe, from the hands of the beft mafters of the Lombard fchool; as Titian, Paul Veronese, and Tintoret. The last of these is in greater efteem at Venice than in other parts of Italy. The rooms are generally hung with gilt leather, which they cover on extraordinary occations with tapestry, and hangings of greater value. The flooring is a kind of red plaister made of brick ground to powder, and afterwards work'd into mortar. It is rubbed with oil, and makes a fmooth, fhining and beautiful furface. Thefe particularities are chiefly |