Jac Thornhill Inv.

G. Gucht Sculp

MONACO, GENOA, &c.

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 Caf fis, where the next morning we were not a little furprized to fee the mountains about the town covered with green Olive-trees, 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-Time, Lavender, Rosemary, Balme and Mirtle. We were here shown at a distance the Defarts, which have been rendred fo famous by the Penance of Mary Magdalene, who, after her arrival with Lazarus and Joseph of Arimathea at Marseilles, is faid to have wept away the rest of her life among these folitary rocks and VOL. II.

B

moun

mountains. It is fo Romantic a scene, that it has always probably given occafion to fuch Chimerical relations; for it is perhaps of this place that Claudian fpeaks, in the following defcription.

Eft locus extremum pandit qua Gallia littus
Oceani prætentus aquis, quà fertur Vlyffes
Sanguine libato populum moviffe Silentúm,
Illic Umbrarum tenui ftridore volantúm
Flebilis auditur queftus; fimulachra coloni
Pallida defunctafque vident migrare figuras, &c.
A place there lyes on Gallia's utmost bounds,
Where rifing feas infult the frontier grounds.
Vlyffes 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.

Cl. In. Ruf. L. I..

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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 Laftrigonas Antipbatenque, &c.
Atque hæc ceu noftras interfunt cognita terras,
Fabula five novum dedit his erroribus orbem.
Uncertain whether, by the winds convey'd,
On real feas to real fhores he ftray'd;
Or, by the fable driven from coast to coast,
In new imaginary worlds was loft.

Tib. L. 4.El. 1,

The next day we again fet fail, and made the beft of our way 'till we were forced, by contrary winds, into St, Remo, a very pretty town in the Gengefe dominions. The front to the fea is not large, but there are a great many, houfes 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 midst of December had nothing over their fhoulders but their

fhirts,

shirts, 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 greateft inconvenience, to which those of our northern nations are fubject; and indeed without this natural benefit of their climates, the extreme mifery and poverty that are in most of the Italian governments would be infupportable. There are at St. Remo many plantations of Palm-trees, 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 gulf, which is very remarkable for tempefts and scarcity of fifh. It is probable one may be the cause of the other, whether it be that the fisher-men cannot employ their art with fo much fuccefs in fo troubled a fea, or that the fish do not care for inhabiting fuch stormy waters.

Atrum

Defendens pifces hyemat mare

While black with ftorms the ruffled ocean rolls,

And from the fisher's art defends her finny fholes.

Hor. Sa. 2. li. 2.

We were forced to lye in it two days, and our Captain thought his Ship in fo great danger, that he fell upon his knees and confefs'd himfelf to a Capuchin who was on board with us. But at laft, 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 efcaped.

Quaque fub Herculeo facratus nomine portus
Urget rupe cava pelagus: non Corus in illum
Jus habet aut Zephyrus: Solus fua littora turbat
Circius, et tuta prohibet ftatione Monaci.

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

Lib. I.

On the Promontory where the town of Monaco now ftands, was formerly the temple of Hercules Monacus, which still gives the name to this fmall Principality.

Aggeribus focer Alpinis atque arce Monaci

Defcendens.

Virg. Æn. 6. 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 fea, and is well fortified by nature. It was formerly under the protection of the Spaniard, but not many years fince drove out the Spanish gar¬ rifon, and received a French one, which confifts at present of five hundred men, paid and officer'd by the French King. The officer who fhowed 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 best 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.

The Genoese are esteemed extremely cunning, induftrious, and inur'd to hardship above the rest of the Italians; which was likewife the charaeter of the old Ligurians. And indeed it is no wonder, while the Barrennefs of their country continues, that the Manners of the inhabitants do not change: Since there is nothing makes men fharper, and sets their hands and wits more at work than Want. The Italian proverb fays of the Genoese, that they have a fea without fish, land without trees, and men without faith. The character the Latin poets have given of them is not much different.

Affuetumque malo Ligurem

The hard Ligurians, a laborious kind.

-Pernix Ligur.

Fallaces Ligures.

Apenninicola bellator filius Auni

Haud Ligurum extremus, dum fallere fata finebant.

Yet, like a true Ligurian, born to cheat,

(At least whilst Fortune favour'd his deceit.)

Virg. G. 2.

Sil. It. El. 8.

Auf. Eid. 12.

An. 11.

Vane Ligur, fruftraque animis elate fuperbis,
Nequicqnam patrias tentafti lubricus artes.

Vain fool and coward, cries the lofty maid,
Caught in the train which thou thy felf haft laid.
On others practise thy Ligurian arts;
Thin ftratagems, and tricks of little hearts
Are loft on me; nor fhalt thou safe retire,
With vaunting lies to thy fallacious fire.

Id.

Dryden.

;

There are a great many beautiful palaces standing along the fea-fhore on both fides of Genoa, which make the town appear much longer than : it is, to thofe that fail by it. The City it felf makes the nobleft show of any in the world. The houses are most of them painted on the outside fo that they look extreamly gay and lively, befides that they are esteemed the highest in Europe, and stand very thick together. The New-street is. a double range of palaces from one end to the other, built with an excellent fancy, and fit for the greatest Princes to inhabit. I cannot however be reconciled to their manner of painting feveral of the Genoese houses. Figures, perfpectives, or pieces of history are certainly very ornamental, as they are drawn on many of the walls, that would otherwise look too naked and uniform without them: But inftead of these, one often fees the front of a palace covered with painted pillars of different orders. If these were so many true columns of marble, fet in their proper architecture, they would certainly very much adorn the places where they stand, but as they are now, they only fhew us that there is fomething wanting, and that the palace, which without these counterfeit pillars would be beautiful in its kind, might have been more perfect by the addition of fuch as are real. The front of the Villa Imperiale, at a mile distance from Genoa, without any thing of this paint upon it, consists of a Doric and Corinthian row of pillars, and is much the handsomest of any I saw there. The Duke of Doria's palace has the best outside of any in Genoa, as that of Durazzo is the best furnished within. There is one room in the first, that is hung with tapestry, in which are wrought the figures of the great perfons, that the family has produced; as perhaps there is no house in Europe, that can fhow a longer line of heroes, that have still acted for the good of their country. Andrew Doria has a ftatue erected to him at the entrance of the Doge's palace, with the glorious title of Deliverer of the common-wealth; and one of his family ano

ther,