Maria Virgo.
Quae supra hoc chirographum approbavit.
You see, that he, who had the impudence to forge this imposture, had likewise the stupidity to date it by two epochas, the latter of which did not commence before the reign of Constantine the Great, and the former not till that of Justinian. The Hebrew original they confess not to be now extant. And as to this, which they call the authentic translation, it would be impossible to beleive them serious in venting so foul a cheat; but that they pompously expose it to all the world in their metropolitan church, and celebrate it by a yearly feast, and public rejoicings of a whole month’s continuance; that it has been confirmed by repeated indulgences from the court of Rome; and that at the west end of the church there are divers solemn inscriptions, importing, that in some general calamities of Sicily, there particularly specified, the Virgin still protected her Messina, according to her most faithful promise in the Holy Letter. This naturally brings to one’s mind the antient devotion of the same place towards Ceres and Proserpina, as mentioned by Cicero, when he says: Vetus est haec opinio, quae constat ex antiquissimis Graecorum literis et monumentis, insulam Siciliam totam esse Cereri et Proserpinae consecratam. Hoc cum ceterae gentes sic arbitrantur; tum ipsis Siculis tam persuasum est, ut animis eorum insitum et innatum esse videatur[149]. It is to be wondered at, that these people have not yet registered an accident, of which as to the fact our English merchants were eye witnesses, namely; that in the late repeated earthquakes of Sicily in 1693 the tower of this cathedral, which stands at the west end distinct from the body of the church, was so distorted by one shock, that it stood very dangerously in an oblique declining posture; but that about a week afterwards another shock restored it to its former true perpendicular situation.
After five days spent in viewing these and other curiosities of Messina, we set sail the thirtieth of October, and by the ninth of the next month were obliged by contrary winds to stand into the port of Milo. This isle, known to the antients by the name of Melos, and esteemed the largest of all the Cyclades, is deservedly famous for its fair and commodious harbour; which entring at a narrow chanel afterwards enlarges itself circularly into a lake, rather than a bay; being always calm, and spatious enough to receive a fleet of an hundred and fifty sail. I went ashore at this place with the greater satisfaction, considering that among other antiquities it lays claim to Socrates and Aristophanes. It has a city of the same name, inhabited at present, like the other islands of the Archipelago, chiefly by Greek Christians, who have been burthened in the late war by a cruel tax of sixteen thousand dollars to the Venetians, as well as to the Turks; but by the benefit of the present peace, as its tribute to the former wholly ceases, so that to the latter is much mitigated. It is observable, that in every cultivated feild about the town, there stands a small Greek chapel, constantly adorned with the painted images of the Virgin and St. George; and thither the zealous women of the place often retire with a priest, to say some supererogatory masses for the benefit of their private relations, whether dead or living. In a cave on the island there is a natural hot bath, which has proved very successful in many malignant maladies. Walking on the strand I observed another of the same nature, like that of Licinius Crassus, mentioned by Pliny, Lib. xxxi. cap. 2. The heat of this was so great, that I could not bear to keep my hand in it. The same shore affords a vein of black sand, of which we there gathered a quantity very clear and beautiful for the use of writing.
After a stop of four or five days at Milo, we had a very entertaining passage thro the isles of the Archipelago, and on the nineteenth of the same month arrived, by God’s providence, in good health at Smyrna; where I often remember, how many ways I stand indebted to you, which will be always gratefully acknowledged by,
Reverend Sir,
Your etc.
E. Chishull.
Smyrna, June 13, 1700.
FINIS.