"This gave opportunity to Hyde and Whitelocke, who ufually were togither, to take a coach, and by the other way, to gett before them to Whitehall, where they found the fayre banquetting houfe, fo crowded with fayre ladyes, glistering with their rich clothes, and richer jewells, and with lords and gentlemen of great quality, that there was fcarfe roome for the king and queen to enter in. They faw that all things were in readiness there, and the lord Chamberlein carryed them up to the chamber of the beautiful and ingenious countess of Caernarvon his daughter, whofe company was no fmalle pleasure and refreshment. "The king and queen stood at a windowe, looking ftreight forward into the street, to fee the mafque come by, and being delighted with the noble bravery of it, they fent to the marshall to defire that the whole how might fetch a turne about the Tiltyeard, that their majeftyes might have a double view of them; which was done accordingly, and then they allighted att Whitehall gate, and were conducted to feverall roomes and places prepared for them. where all of them exact, none fayled in their parts, and the fceanes were most curious and costly. "The queen did the honour to fome of the mafquers to daunce with them herfelfe, and to judge them as good dauncers as ever the fawe, and the great ladyes were very free and civill in dauncing with all the mafquers as they were taken out by them. "Thus they continued in their fports untill it was allmoft morning, and then the king and queen retir ing, the mafquers and Innes of court gentlemen were brought to a ftately banquett, and after that was difperfed, every one departed to his own quarters. "The queen, who was fo delighted with thefe folemnities, defired to fee this fhow acted over again.. Whereupon, an intimation being given to my lord Major of London, he invited the king and queen and the mafquers to the citty, and entertained them with all state and magnificence, att Merchant Taylor's-hall. Thither marched through the citty, the fame show that went to Whitehall, and the fame mafque was again reprefented in the fame ftate and equipage as before. This alfo gave great contentment to their majeftyes, and no less to the citizens, efpecially those of the younger fort, and of the female fexe, and it was to the great honour and no lefs charge of the lord Major and freemen. The horiemen of the mafque, and other gentlemen of the Innes of court, fate in the gallery referved for them, and thofe of the committree that were prefent were with them; only Hyde and Whitelocke were placed below among the grandees, and neare the fceane, that they might be ready to give affift-"After thefe dreames paft, and ance, if there fhould be occafion, and these pompes vanished, all men were as an extraordinary favour to them fatis fied by the committee justly and att that time, and in that prefence. bountifully. "The king and queen and all their noble train being come in, the mafque began, and was incomparably performed, in the dauncing, fpeeches, Muficke, and fceanes; the dauncers, figures, properties, the voices, inftruments, fongs, aiers, compofures, the words and actions "For the Muficke, which was particularly committed to my charge, I gave to Mr. Ives, and to Mr. Lawes L.100 a piece, for their rewards; for the 4 French gentlemen, the queen's fervants, I thought that a handsome and liberall gratifying of them would be made known to the the queen, their miftris, and well taken by her. I therefore invited them one morning to a collation, att St. Dunstan's taverne, in the great room, the oracle of Apollo, where each of them had his plate lay'd for him, covered, and the napkin by it, and when they opened their plates they found in each of them forty pices of goul, of their mafter's coyne, for the firft difh, and they had caufe to be much pleafed with this furprifall. "The rest of the mufitians had rewards anfwerable to their parts and qualities; and the whole charge of the Muficke came to about one thousand pounds. The clothes of the horfemen reckoned one with another at 4.100 a fuit, att the least, amounted to 4.10,000. The charges of all the rest of the mafque, which were borne by the foci ties, were accounted to be above twenty thou and pounds." ACCOUNT of the GROTTOES of ISPICA. [From M. DE NON's Travels in SICILY and MALTA.] N the middle of this extenfive doubt whether this might not be a "Iface, which has the appear, ance of a level plain. the ground fuddenly defcen ting, difplays a hollow winding vale, as rich and luxuriant in productions, as the reft of the country is dry and barren. We defcended by a dangerous path, along the perpendicular rock that fkirts this valley, the "bottom of which is one hundred feet below the level we had quitted. At the foot of the declivity is a copious fountain watering large trees, and flowing through channels hewn out of the rock; which beftows on this fpot, fituated in the ruggedest and hotteft part of the fouth of Sicily, all the verdure and coolnefs of the fummer profpects in the Alps. "I was enjoying the pleafures of this valley, and cafting my eyes around to fee every thing curious which it contained, when on examining more clofelythe fide of that part of it which faces the fouth, the part moft decayed by the effects of the fun and air, I perceived a prodigious multitude of little chambers, indented in the rock, in ftories of ten or twelve feet, piled over each other. For a moment, I was in natural effect on the rock itself which had been thus honey-combed by time, from the greater or leffer degree of folidity of the ftrata; this idea, however, I foon abandoned, on difcovering, on a clofer infpection, the in preffion of the tool, on a tone of an equal hardness, and on finding that there were as many doors as chambers, which were all of the fame fize, and almost all of them without any communication, of the fame form, the fame workmanfhip, the fame diftributions, and evidently deligned for the fame purpole. We examined the oppofite fie, and on a clofer view remarked, that it had been icfs worked and inhabited, but that, from its being more in the fhade, it was not fo much wasted, and that no part of the grottoes was discoverable, except the narrow apertures that ferved by way of entrance, which were, in general, concealed by the obliquity of their direction. On this fide we found intire chambers, the door, ways preferved, and a groove on each fide of the jambs, apparently for the inhabitants to apply fliding planks, one above the other, and two holes for a for a cross-bar to fecure the faftening. Each apartment forms fquare with obtufe angles, eighteen feet long, by fix wide, and as many in height. Oppofite the entrance of thofe of the firft ftory, is a fort of niches with fomething like a manger in them, and an indented ring for the purpofe of fastening their cows. To the left of each door, is a kind of bathing hole, or bafon, cut out of the rock, with an external aperture, which feems intended to let the water efcape; and another opening breaft high, for the admiffion of light and air, when the door was thut: oppofite to this was a recefs of a few inches, where we may fuppofe they flept, and all around the fide walls, are notches for the purpose of tying up the goats, or fufpending their utenfils, and holes doubtless for pegs to fupport the planks, which ferved by way of fhelves. There are little excavations likewife of a few inches, to contain lamps or other small furniture; and in certain places a fort of buffer in which were incrufted a few pots, and below, a little circular platform, with a fmall gutter round it to let off the water but all this fo effaced, and originally fo ill executed, as to render it impoffible to divine the ufe of them, unless it were for making and containing cheeses. "Thefe dwellings had no communication, although in general, separated only by a folid wall of fix inches, and the upper ftory had only a thicker flooring. The little paths which led to the doors of the lower row, were oblique and hidden, and it is indifputable that no body could mount to, or defcend from the upper ftories, but by rope ladders. I examined this valley the length of three miles, and in all that way conftantly found the fame excavations, in the fame order, and fimilarly cir cumftanced, Some of them, how ever, had a fecond chamber, behind the firft, and others which communicated with the upper row by a round aperture, like a well, and holes that ferved doublefs for placing temporary ladders inftead of air cafes, I examined every thing within my reach, and wherever I could feramble, without finding any difference. Not a fingle ftraight line was there, nor a right angle, nor an arched roof, nor a plane furface. In these ruftic abodes, I was filled wih astonifhment at meeting with fragments of Greek vafes, of the greatest de licacy; and in the bottom of the valley, tombs formed out of a hol low ftone, five feet and fome inches long, by fifteen inches wide, and containing petrified bones; a great quantity of fragments of vafes of a coarfe red a th; a piece of white marble rudely hewn in the form of a little pedestal for a buft; two little fquare openings, and a fort of oven,, four feet in diameter, by four feet two inches in height, with a cylin drical roof, the only thing that could be faid to have any regularity in its fhape. "I found fome of these retreats fill i habited, every thing put to the fame ufe, and the manners and difpofitions of the inhabitants as fa vage, as the place was wild and folitary. The children made their efcape at my appearance, and cred with the utmot vio ence on feeing me enter their father's cabin, in fpite of all t e figns of friendship I could devife, to infpire them with fome confidence. Foll wing this valley, we arrived at what is called the caftle, which is excavated in the fame manner in the rock. The af cent to the second story is by a flaircafe on the outfide, the only one to be found in the valley. Al the first apartments have been laid open by the the fall of the rock. We may reck on eight of them in the fituation, of which only the bottom is vifible; the fourth must have been made ufe of as a kitchen. All the marks of the fire made in it are fill discoverable, and a fort of little furnace, before which are mortars hollowed out of the rock. In the eighth chamber, is a round aperture which ferves as a flair-cale; beyond that, are two fmall clofe rooms in the form of flips, the one eight feet long, the other feven; then an apartment of twenty-four feet by nine, with a window; and three others in a row, and on a level, communicating with each other; two more in a fecond row, ftill deeper in the rock, communicating with thofe which were parallel with them; in the last but one, a hole defcending to the flory below it, and another, communicating with that above. To the latter we were unable to get up, but their diftribution was apparently the fame. "It would be by no means difficult, if we thought proper, to beftow names upon each of thefe appartments, by calling them chambers, and antichambers, fleeping rooms, alcove chambers, cabinets, and audience chambers; but as there is no more refinement in them than in the ordinary ones, and as all the difference confiits in the communication between the ground floor and the upper and lower flories, the most reasonable conjecture we can form of this cafle is, that, from its form and pofition, it has been the refidence of the chief of the tribe, a tribe which must have been prodigioufly numerous if we estimate it by the number of huts or lodges found in a valley of eight miles exrent, beginning at Spa o Furno, and reminating near Modica. I again advanced a mile further into the valley without finding any change in the construction of these retreats, either with refpect to their regularity, or number. As not one of them is the effect of chance, but all are the work of men litle removed from a state of nature, it is impoffible to avoid believing them to be of the very highest antiquity, and formed perhaps by the first inhabitants of the island, before they were acquainted with the commodíoufness of houses, or laboured for any thing more than to procure themselves a fhelter from the inclemencies of the weather. The aftonishing number of these lodgements leave not a fhadow of doubt of their having been occupied by a very numerous people, abfolutely in the paftoral flate, without defence, and employing, as their greatest effort, and most artful stratagem of war, that of concealment, by forming intrenchments, and burying themselves, as I may fay, in the rock. Hiftory gives us for the first inhabitants of Sicily, the Læftrygons, a gigantic race of men, whofe origin is unknown, and the Siconians, who came from Spain. It informs us, that these people perpetually contefting with each other the plains of Leontium, and the fertile countries about Etna, the Siconians were at length obliged to give way to the Lættrygons, who drove them off, and compelled them to retire and occupy the fouthern part. May it not have been to the valley of Ifpica, which is on the fouthern fide, that the Siconians retreated to conceal themfelves in the defart, and escape the purfuit of their gigantic enemies? But this was long before the time of Cocalus, and the period in which cities were built in the island. It is the nature of man to imitate what he has feen, and to endeavour to procure what he has already been accustomed to enjoy. Were Euro peans peans exiled into a defart, they "Had the inhabitants of these re- red by commerce rather than on the Thefe early habitations, thus rings, in the fame fituations, fleep- REA, |