As For The
Manuscripts, I Saw None But Such As Are Commonly Presented To
Strangers Of Our Nation; Some Very Old Copies Of Virgil And
Terence; Two Or Three Missals, Curiously Illuminated; The Book De
Septem Sacramentis, Written In Latin By Henry VIII.
Against
Luther; and some of that prince's love letters to Anne Boleyn.
I
likewise visited the Libreria Casanatense, belonging to the
convent of the church called S. Maria Sopra Minerva. I had a
recommendation to the principal librarian, a Dominican friar, who
received me very politely, and regaled me with a sight of several
curious MSS. of the classics.
Having satisfied my curiosity at Rome, I prepared for my
departure, and as the road between Radicofani and Montefiascone
is very stony and disagreeable, I asked the banker Barazzi, if
there was not a better way of returning to Florence, expressing a
desire at the same time to see the cascade of Terni. He assured
me that the road by Terni was forty miles shorter than the other,
much more safe and easy, and accommodated with exceeding good
auberges. Had I taken the trouble to cast my eyes upon the map, I
must have seen, that the road by Terni, instead of being forty
miles shorter, was much longer than the other: but this was not
the only mistake of Signiore Barazzi. Great part of this way lies
over steep mountains, or along the side of precipices, which
render travelling in a carriage exceeding tedious, dreadful, and
dangerous; and as for the public houses, they are in all respects
the most execrable that ever I entered. I will venture to say
that a common prisoner in the Marshalsea or King's-Bench is more
cleanly and commodiously lodged than we were in many places on
this road. The houses are abominably nasty, and generally
destitute of provision: when eatables were found, we were almost
poisoned by their cookery: their beds were without curtains or
bedstead, and their windows without glass; and for this sort of
entertainment we payed as much as if we had been genteelly
lodged, and sumptuously treated. I repeat it again; of all the
people I ever knew, the Italians are the most villainously
rapacious. The first day, having passed Civita Castellana, a
small town standing on the top of a hill, we put up at what was
called an excellent inn, where cardinals, prelates, and princes,
often lodged. Being meagre day, there was nothing but bread,
eggs, and anchovies, in the house. I went to bed without supper,
and lay in a pallet, where I was half devoured by vermin. Next
day, our road, in some places, lay along precipices, which over-hang
the Nera or Nar, celebrated in antiquity for its white foam,
and the sulphureous quality of its waters.
Sulfurea nar albus aqua, fontesque velini.
Sulphureous nar, and the Velinian streams.
It is a small, but rapid stream, which runs not far from hence,
into the Tyber. Passing Utricoli, near the ruins of the ancient
Ocriculum, and the romantic town of Narni, situated on the top of
a mountain, in the neighbourhood of which is still seen standing
one arch of the stupendous bridge built by Augustus Caesar, we
arrived at Terni, and hiring a couple of chaises before dinner,
went to see the famous Cascata delle Marmore, which is at the
distance of three miles.
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