SIR,Rome, Sept. 10, 1730.
In this Letter I shall run through the Palaces of Rome, as briefly as I traversed the Churches in my former. I shall take Care to mention no Houses to you, but such as deserve the Name of Palaces; for you must know, that the Buildings which we Ultramontains think much to call Hotels, are here styled Palaces.
I think, that the Pope’s two Palaces called the Vatican and Monte-Cavallo deserve to be mentioned before all the others: The first, for its Extent and Magnificence; the second, because the Popes give it a Preference to the other, from an Opinion here, that it stands in the most healthful Air in the City.
The Vatican is a Building extremely irregular, very great and very high, and so close to St. Peter’s Church, that it takes off a great deal of its Beauty. As to the Outside of it, I don’t see any thing to be admired in this Building, except the Quantity of Brick and Stone that has been employed in it; but as to the Inside, ’tis quite otherwise; for one cannot help being astonished at the Grandeur of the Apartments, and the Beauty of the Pictures every-where, in which the best Painters of Italy seem to have strove to display the utmost of their Art: Raphael especially has done Wonders here: His Master-piece is a Picture representing the History of Attila, a Piece which one cannot behold without being charmed.
Sixtus’s Chapel is of singular Beauty, on Account of its wonderful Paintings, and especially for that great Picture of the Day of Judgment, by Michael Angelo Buonorato, who, ’tis said, represented all the Persons of his Acquaintance so much to the Life, that ’twas impossible to mistake them; and that he placed his Friends among the Elect, and those that he did not love, among the Damned; whereupon a Prelate, who was a Domestick of Pope Sixtus IV. then in St. Peter’s Chair, finding himself among the damned, complained of it to the Pope, and desired him to deliver him out of such bad Company; but the Holy Father told him, that his Power extended no farther than Purgatory; that he could deliver Souls from thence, but not from Hell; and that therefore, since ’twas his Misfortune to be in such Company, there he must stay.
The Vatican Library is, without Dispute, the finest and the greatest in the World. ’Tis full of MSS. in the Hebrew, Arabic, Greek, Latin, and other Languages. Pope Sixtus V. spared no Cost to enrich it with the best Books; and since his Death, it has been very much augmented by the Heidelberg Library, and that of Christina Queen of Sweden. The former was brought hither, as I think I told you, after the Defeat of Frederic the Elector Palatine, King of Bohemia, when Heidelberg submitted to the Power of the House of Austria. The latter was purchased by the Pope from that Queen’s Heirs. The Building which contains this Library is worthy of the great Sixtus V. who caused it to be built from the very Foundation. ’Tis generally divided into two Parts, viz. the Public, and the Private. The first is three hundred Feet long, and sixty broad. The second consists of two great Rooms, into which the Admittance is not so easy as into the Gallery, because of the very scarce MSS. that are there contained. Sixtus V. caused
the whole Library to be painted, both Inside and Outside, in which he employed the most ingenious Artists of his Time. The Outside represents, in different Figures, the Arts, the Sciences, and the Virtues. In the Inside, there are painted in divers Compartments, the most memorable Actions of Sixtus V. the holding of sixteen Councils; the most celebrated Libraries; and the Men, in short, ever since Adam, who have been most distinguished in the World for their Learning. In the private Library are painted the principal Actions of Pope Sixtus V. and the Doctors of the Church.
The last Pope Benedict XIII. was of a different Opinion from the Popes his Predecessors, with regard to the Palace of the Vatican. He thought it too fine for his Residence, as he did also the Palace of Belvidero, which is properly a House of Pleasure, tho’ it joins to the Vatican. And as ’twas his Maxim, that a General ought to die in the Army; and a Bishop, if not at the Altar, at least near his Church; he was not willing to quit the Neighbourhood of St. Peter; and therefore, on the Backside of the Gardens of the Pontifical Palace, he caused a little House to be built, with some few Rooms in it that looked into the Country; where all his Furniture was a few matted Chairs, all his Ornaments the Images of certain Saints, and all his Companions a Brother of his own Order, with whom he used to take the Air, and say his Breviary; and he could go out of this Apartment whenever he pleased, without being seen.
I fansy, Sir, you will not be sorry if I should make a Digression here, touching the Person of this Pope, who was perhaps the most humble, and the most regular in his Morals, that ever filled the Papal Chair since St. Peter. Being born at Rome, of the illustrious Family of the Ursini, he entered very young into the Order of St. Dominic, and was made