Travels in Sicily and Malta Author:Patrick Brydone General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1848 Original Publisher: Published by George Clark and son Subjects: Sicily (Italy) Malta Sicily History / Europe / Western History / Europe / Italy Travel / Europe / Italy Travel / Europe / Western Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. ... more »It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: CATANIA. -- CATHOLIC SUPERSTITIONS. Catania, May 26. This morning we went to see the house and museum of the Prince of Biscaria, which, in antiques, is inferior to none that I have ever seen, except that of the King of Naples at Portici. What adds greatly to the value of these is, that the prince, himself, has had the satisfaction of seeing the most of them brought to light. He has dug them out of the ruins of the ancient theatre of Catania at an incredible expense; but, happily, his pains have been amply repaid by the number and the variety of curious subjects he has discovered. It would be endless to enter into an enumeration of them; even during our short stay, we had the satisfaction of seeing part of a rich Corinthian cornice, and several pieces of statues, produced again to the light, after lying for so many ages in darkness and oblivion. His collection of medals, cameos, and intaglios, is likewise very princely, and so are the articles in natural history; but the polite and amiable behaviour of the owner gives more pleasure than all his curiosities. He did not ostentatiously, like the Prince of Villa Franca, tell us that his house and carriages were at our command : but without any hint being given of it, we found his coach waiting at our door; and we shall probably be obliged to make use of it during our stay. His family consists of the princess his wife, a son, and a daughter, who seem to emulat...« less