twenty-five were put to death by various torments. Some were burned alive, some were broken on the wheel, and some were torn to pieces by the four galleys rowing different ways, and each bringing off its limb. Since that time, the slaves have been much more strictly watched, and have less liberty than formerly. Adieu. I shall write to you again before we leave Malta.

LETTER XVI.

Yours, &c.

Malta, June 7.

;

THIS day we made an expedition through the island in coaches drawn by one mule each the only kind of vehicle the place affords. Our conductors could speak nothing but Arabic, which is still the language of the common people of Malta; so that you may believe we did not reap much benefit from their conversation. We went first to the ancient city of Melita, which is near the centre of the island, and commands a view of the whole; and in

clear weather, they pretend, of part of Barbary and of Sicily. The city is strongly fortified, and is governed by an officer called the Hahem. He received us very politely, and showed us the old palace, which is not indeed much worth the seeing. The cathedral is a very fine church; and, although of an exceeding large size, is at present entirely hung with crimson damask richly laced with gold.

The catacombs, not far from the city, are a great work. They are said to extend for fifteen miles under ground; however, this you are obliged to take on the credit of your guides, as it would rather be risking too much to put it to the trial. Many people, they assure us, have been lost in advancing too far in them; the prodigious number of branches making it next to impossible to find the way out again.

From this we went to see the Bosquetta, where the grand master has his country palace; by the accounts we had of it at Valetta, we expected to find a forest stored with deer and every kind of game, as they talked much of the great hunts that were made every year in these woods.We were not a little surprised to find only a few scattered trees, and about half a dozen deer; but as this is the only thing like a wood

VOL. II.

in the island, it is esteemed a very great curi

osity. The palace is as little worth seeing as the forest; though indeed the prospect from the top of it is very fine. The furniture is three or four hundred years old, and in the most Gothic taste that can be imagined; but indeed the grand master seldom or never resides here.

The great source of water that supplies the city of Valetta, takes its rise near to this place; and there is an aqueduct composed of some thousand arches, that conveys it from thence to the city. The whole of this immense work was finished at the private expense of one of the grand masters.

Not far from the old city there is a small church dedicated to St. Paul; and just by the church a miraculous statue of the saint with a viper on his hand; supposed to be placed on the very spot on which the house stood, where he was received after his shipwreck on this island, and where he shook the viper off his hand into the fire without being hurt by it: at which time, the Maltese assure us, the saint cursed all the venomous animals of the island, and banished them for ever; just as St. Patrick treated those of his favourite isle. Whether this be the cause of it or not, we shall leave to

divines to determine, (though if it had, I think St. Luke would have mentioned it in the Acts of the Apostles,) but the fact is certain, that there are no venomous animals in Malta. They assured us, that vipers had been brought from Sicily, and died almost immediately on their arrival.

Adjoining to the church there is the celebrated grotto, in which the saint was imprisoned. -It is looked upon with the utmost reverence and veneration; and if the stories they tell of it be true, it is well entitled to it all. It is exceedingly damp, and produces (I believe by a kind of petrifaction from the water) a whitish kind of stone, which they assure us, when reduced to powder, is a sovereign remedy in many diseases, and saves the lives of thousands every year. There is not a house in the island that is not provided with it; and they tell us there are many boxes of it sent annually, not only to Sicily and Italy, but likewise to the Levant and the East Indies; and (what is considered as a daily standing miracle) notwithstanding this perpetual consumption, it has never been exhausted, nor even sensibly diminished; the saint always taking care to supply them with a fresh quantity the day following.

You may be sure we did not fail to stuff our pockets with this wonderful stone; I suspected they would have prevented us, as I did not suppose the saint would have worked for heretics; however, neither he nor the priests had any objection, and we gave them a few Pauls * more for their civility. I tasted some of it, and believe it is a very harmless thing. It tastes like exceeding bad magnesia, and I believe has pretty much the same effects. They give about a tea-spoonful of it to children in the small-pox and in fevers. It produces a copious sweat about half an hour after, and, they say, never fails to be of service. It is likewise esteemed a certain remedy against the bite of all venom ous animals. There is a very fine statue of St. Paul in the middle of this grotto, to which they ascribe great powers.

We were delighted on our way back to the city, with the beauty of the setting-sun, much superior, I think, to what I have ever observed it in Italy. The whole of the eastern parts of the heavens, for half an hour after sun-set, was of a fine deep purple, and made a beautiful ap

* A small silver coin.