avoid having at Nice a
Savoyard commandant, utterly ignorant of sea affairs; unacquainted with
the true interest of his master; proud, and arbitrary; reserved to
strangers, from a prejudice of national jealousy; and particularly
averse to the English.

With respect to the antient name of Villa Franca, there is a dispute
among antiquarians. It is not at all mentioned in the Itinerarium of
Antoninus, unless it is meant as the port of Nice. But it is more
surprising, that the accurate Strabo, in describing this coast,
mentions no such harbour. Some people imagine it is the Portus Herculis
Monaeci. But this is undoubtedly what is now called Monaco; the harbour
of which exactly tallies with what Strabo says of the Portus Monaeci--
neque magnas, neque multas capit naves, It holds but a few vessels and
those of small burthen. Ptolomy, indeed, seems to mention it under the
name of Herculis Portus, different from the Portus Monaeci. His words
are these: post vari ostium ad Ligustrium mare, massiliensium, sunt
Nicaea, Herculis Portus, Trophaea Augusti, Monaeci Portus, Beyond the
mouth of the Var upon the Ligurian Coast, the Marsilian Colonies are
Nice, Port Hercules, Trophaea and Monaco. In that case, Hercules was
worshipped both here and at Monaco, and gave his name to both places.
But on this subject, I shall perhaps speak more fully in another
letter, after I have seen the Trophaea Augusti, now called Tourbia, and
the town of Monaco, which last is about three leagues from Nice. Here I
cannot help taking notice of the following elegant description from the
Pharsalia, which seems to have been intended for this very harbour.

Finis et Hesperiae promoto milite varus,
Quaque sub Herculeo sacratus numine Portus
Urget rupe cava Pelagus, non Corus in illum
Jus habet, aut Zephirus, solus sua littora turbat
Circius, et tuta prohibet statione Monaeci.

The Troops advanc'd as far
As flows th' Hesperian Boundary, the Var;
And where the mountain scoop'd by nature's hands,
The spacious Port of Hercules, expands;

Here the tall ships at anchor safe remain
Tho' Zephyr blows, or Caurus sweeps the Plain;
The Southern Blast alone disturbs the Bay;
And to Monaco's safer Port obstructs the way.

The present town of Villa Franca was built and settled in the
thirteenth century, by order of Charles II. king of the Sicilies, and
count of Provence, in order to defend the harbour from the descents of
the Saracens, who