Name of London, by our own People as well as by Foreigners, may anfwer to the laft Dimenfion. By this Way of reckoning, Pliny and Vopifcus may be tolerably well reconciled: The firft might intend by the Extent of Rome the Walls only, enclofing that which was properly the City, in the fame manner as Stow computes in his Survey of London; whereas the latter, as is likely, fpoke of Rome in a lefs accurate and popular Stile, bestowing that glorious Name, as the Vulgar and Strangers did, upon the Suburbs and Appendages, which we may rationally fuppofe occupied a very confiderable Space. The two laft Things our Author remarks under this Head are, 1. That it was not lawful to extend the Pomarium, or Bounds of the City, without fpecial Leave from the Augurs, which we find granted to Servius Tullus, Sylla, Julius Cæfar, Auguftus, and laft of all to Claudius Cæfar, as ap pears from the Lex Regia, yet extant in the Capitol, and from a Marble that was dug up in the fixteenth Century near Santa Lucia. 2. That the Number of the ancient Roman Gates is not lefs uncertain than the Extent of the City itself; for fome were wholly loft in the building of new Walls, others ftopped up for one Reafon or other, and very often new ones ftruck out where there had never been any. Of thirty-fix that are reckoned by Pliny, we fee at this Time but about twenty at moft; and even feveral of these are wholly difufed, Mr. Breval has made many curious Obfervations under the fecond and third of the above mentioned Heads; but I can follow him neither through the Antiquities, the Ruins, or Palaces of this noble and illuftrious Scene, of which he has taken fo exact a Survey, I am under a Neceffity of putting a speedy End to these Extracts, and accordingly the laft fhall be of the following Pafages with which our Author clofes this valuable Work, Work. They relate to a Place in which every one of my Readers, who is a Briton, has an Intereft; in a Word, it is GIBRALTER, of which he thus writes: દ "The Foundations of a Town are faid to have "been laid here by Hercules; it was therefore "called Heraclea from that Worthy for many Cen"turies; afterwards Calpe, from the vaft Rock "that hangs over it; and laft of all Gibralter, (a "Corruption of Gibel Tarif) upon the Moorish In"vafion, and the Seizure of it by one of their Ge"nerals of that Name. "The moft remarkable Curiofities of this won"derful Rock (which yields as great a Variety of "noble Profpects as can poffibly be expected in "a Scene of this Nature) are the famous Cave, "the Moorish Caftle, called Terre del Omenage, "and the old Refervoirs or fubterraneous Baths "towards Europa Point. "The firft of thefe Places has its Orifice or Entrance (behind an old Dwarf-Wall) more than "half Way up the Hill, and almost in the very fteepest Part of it, on the Side of the Bay (for "the other towards the Mediterranean is inacceffi"ble) among Briars and Shrubs, through which "the Path that leads to it is found with fome Diffi 66 66 culty, unless by fuch as have trod it at least "twice or thrice before. For three or four Paces "the Mouth of the Cave, like that of the Sibyl's "Grot, near Baia, is narrow and low; but ex pands itself by Degrees the farther you advance, "till at last, by the Help of Torches and Lant"horns, (with which People ufually provide them"felves on these Occafions) you are amazed to "find yourself under a Vault of great Height, "and of an Extent proportionable; which Vault "or arched Roof, as well as the Sides, and natu"ral Pillars that fupport it, feems at firft Sight Hh 2 66 to "to be cut out and wrought into innumerable Fi"gures and Ornaments, not unlike thofe of a Go"thic Cathedral; these are formed every Moment by the inceffant Dropping of a thousand little "Spouts or Gutters of Water from imperceptible "Springs of the coldest and most petrifying Qua"lity imaginable, that penetrate the whole Body "of the Rock over Head, tho' of an immenfe "Thicknefs, and fill this vaft Hollow with a "World of Objects, that bear fome imperfect Re"femblance to one Animal or other. At the "farther End of this Chamber there are Holes, "through which you have the Profpect of other "much larger and deeper Rooms; and, as I have "often heard it affirmed, there are other Caverns "under those to the Depth of many hundred Fa"thom, where rash Adventurers have fometimes perifhed miferably, by falling down fome of "the dreadful Precipices, that may eafily be dif"covered from the Top by the Light of "Flambeaux. The Spaniards, who never fail of "fome aftonishing Tradition wherever there is an "old Castle, or Cavern of more than ordinary "Depth, believe and relate a thousand extrava"gant Stories concerning the Place in Queftion, " and have made the Moors bury incredible Trea"fures there, at the Time when they were forced 66 to give up Gibralter to Henry IV. King of Ca"file. Probable it is indeed, that many of the "Infidels might retire to this Cave from the Rage "of the Spaniards, upon that Occafion, chufing " rather to perish here with Cold and Famine than "to lie at the Mercy of their Conquerors, as we "have good Reafon to conjecture from the many "Skulls and human Bones that have been found here at feveral Times. "The Caftle of Terre del Omenage (fo called "from a certain Homage the Moorish Kings or "Governors "Governors were used to receive in it from their Subjects or Slaves) was built about eight hun"dred Years ago, according to the Spanish Hifto"rians, and (tho' little more than the outfide "Wall is now remaining) has ftill a great Air "of Majefty; and from feveral Tracks of Gilding, Sculpture, Arabick Characters, and Mo"faick, fhews that the Architect had no less an "Eye to its Beauty, than to its Strength and "Duration: The Walls are of an immenfe Thick"nefs, being yet Cannon-Proof in fome Places, " and built with a kind of Brick caft with Mar"ble, upon the Northern Part of the Rock, from "whence this Fort commanded the Town, and "had likewife Communication with the Bay by "the Means of a long Gallery, or Coridor, Part of which is yet ftanding over the Landport-Gate. "After the Recovery of Gibralter from the "Moors, this Caftle was the Subject of a long and 66 bloody War between two of the greatest Houses "in Spain, (the Ponzeo de Leon and the Dukes of "Medina Sidonia) which had both Pretenfions to it. This Strife was at laft put an End to by "Ferdinand the Catholick, and Ifabel his Queen, "who reconciled both Parties, by taking Poffeffion "of the Castle for themselves and their Succeffors. "The great Cistern or Refervoir of Water (which "fome pretend ferved as a Bathing-Place for the "MooribKings) is a fquare Chamber under Ground, "the arched Roof of which is fupported by three or "four Rows of fquare Pillars, much in the fame "Manner (allowing for the Difference in Height "and Bignefs) with the Piscina mirabilis near Baia. "From the Europa Point there is a pretty clear 66 Profpect of Ceuta, the feven Hills near it, men❝tioned by Pliny, and the reft of the Barbary Coaft. "It must not be forgot that the great Alonzo XI. "of Caftile, furnamed Il Conquistador, died of the "Plague as he was laying Siege to Gibralter." THE INDE X. A NEAS, Remarks on an Action of his, Algiers, the Climate defcribed, 79. The State of Anabaptifts, an Account of a Brief History of Arabs, a ridiculous Cuftom of theirs before Eating, W Arithmetick, the Scheme of a new and compendious Avafaxa, defcribed, 245. Auguftus, Inftances of his Cruelty, 158. Exam- B Barbary, the Manner of Travelling there defcribed, 3--10. |