been ftruck with a notion, that the operation of the miracle was difturbed by the prefence of heretics; on which they are apt to infult them. I directly took his hint, and joined the company I had left. An univerfal gloom had overfpread all their countenances, they talked to each other in whispers, and feemed oppreffed with grief and contrition. One very beautiful young lady cried and fobbed as if her heart had been ready to break. The paffions of fome of the rabble without doors took a different turn; instead of forrow, they were filled with rage and indignation at the Saint's obftinacy. They put him in mind of the zeal with which he was adored by the people of all ranks in Naples; of the honours which had been conferred on him; that he was refpected here more than in any other country on earth; and fome went fo far, as to call him an old ungrateful yellow-faced rascal for his obduracy. It was now almost dark-and when

6*

when leaft expected, the signal was given that the miracle was performed. The populace filled the air with repeated shouts of joy; a band of mufic began to play; Te Deum was fung; couriers were dispatched to the royal family, then at Portici, with the glad tidings; the young lady dried up her tears; the countenances of our company brightened in an inftant, and they fat down to cards without farther dread of eruptions, earthquakes, or peftilence.

I had remarked, during their fufpenfe. with respect to the fuccess of the miracle, that fome imputed the delay partly to the weather, which happened to be rainy, and colder than is ufual at this feafon; and partly to the awkwardness of the Archbishop, who, never having performed before, was accused of not handling the phial in the fame dexterous and efficacious manner that a person of experience would have done. While they imputed the failure to

thofe

those causes, they feemed equally uneafy with the reft of the company about the confequences. It ftruck me that the first fentiment was perfectly inconfiftent with the fecond. I mentioned this to a French gentleman, who is here as travelling companion to the young Comte de Grammont, "If,” said I, "the weather, or "the unfkilfulness of the Archbishop, "has prevented the substance in the phial "from becoming liquid, this furely can66 not be an indication that Heaven or the "Saint is displeased; if, on the contrary, "the blood continuing folid in the pre"fence of the Saint, proceeds from Hea

ven, or the Saint being offended, then no kind of weather, and no kind of "expertness on the part of the Archbifhop, could have rendered it liquid."

66

Monfieur," said he, "voilà ce qu'on appelle raisonner ce que ces meffieurs ne "font jamais."

VOL. II.

U

The

The fame evening, an acquaintance of mine, who is also a Roman Catholic, and who remained close by the Archbishop till all was over, affured me, that the miracle had failed entirely; for the old monk feeing no fymptom of the blood liquefying, had called out that the miracle had fucceeded; on which the fignal had been given, the people had fhouted, the Archbishop had held up the bottle, moving it with a rapid motion before the eyes of the spectators, and nobody choofing to contradict what every body wished, he had been allowed to cover up the phial, and carry back to the Chapel, with the contents, in the fame form they had come abroad. How far this account is exactly true, I will not take on me to affert; I was not near enough to fee the tranfaction myself, and I have only the authority of this perfon, having heard no other body fay they had obferved the fame.

it

T

LETTER LXV.

Naples.

HE tomb of Virgil is on the mountain of Paufilippo, a little above the grotto of that name; you afcend to it by a narrow path which runs through a vineyard; it is overgrown with ivy leaves, and shaded with branches, shrubs, and bushes; an ancient bay-tree, with infinite propriety, overhangs it. Many a folitary walk have I taken to this place. The earth, which contains his afhes, we expect to find clothed in the brighteft verdure. Viewed from the magic fpot, the objects which adorn the bay become doubly interefting. The Poet's verfes are here recollected with additional pleasure; the verses of Virgil are interwoven in our minds with. a thousand interefting ideas, with the memory of our boyish years, or the sportive U 2 fcenes