ifhat -no fuch city as Ofero, now exifted, leaving fcarcely room
«to fuppofe, that, on the ifland o f the fame name, there had hefen
fuch a city in ancient times.
Ofero at prefent contains only two hundred and fifty inhabitants
; fo that the apothecary there is alfo the advocate, and the
phyfician follows the plough. We were much pleafed with
the Dodtor, who, by cultivating a barren field, was endeavourin
g to make amends for the mifchief his medicines may have
.done; but we thought that the apothecary might have been fa-
tisfied with one hurtful profeifion.
T he air o f Ofero is quite peftilential fin the heat of fummer;
and the caufe is obvious; there being near the ..walls, .feveral
pools o f brackiih water, which, through the .ignorance, negligence,
poverty, and fmall .number o f the inhabitants, have no
outlet, and fo become putrified together with ;the, reeds and in-
fedts. Some have attributed the unwholefomenefs o f the air to
the vicinity of .the mountain .which,interrupts the free courfe
•of the wind ; but had they been ftqpt there for feveral days hy
the fury o f the wind, they would not have thought fo. The
caufes of the malignancy that infedts the atmofphere, are
■vifible in the neighbouring fields, and under the .very walls,;
and it is truly melancholly and painful to fee a city well fituated,
and populous in , other times, now reduced to ruin, and almoft
uninhabitable by an evil that might be eafily removed. There
are even fufficient funds in the place itfelf .to defray the fmall
charge that would be requifite. Several good 'Ample benefices
are annexed to the church of Ofero, which hitherto have rarely
ferved
-'.On w h i c h Berkley writes the following note':
In ea nofter vehementer fallitur quod urbem hoc nomine Jiatuat%— ■ -• Nift exijlimes
fn'J/thac injula urbem ejufdem nominis extitijfe.
fèrved’ any other end, than to reward fervices done to a foreigir
Court, and perhaps fometimes to the prejudice o f the paternal
maxims o f the Venetian government. It is to be wifhed thar
the time were near when the hand o f the fovereign fhall interfere,,
and turn thefe benefices to the relief o f the affiidted people, and
to the redemption o f that unhappy place. Surely the ufe of
thefe facred revenues might very laudably be applied to the advantage
o f the people, to whom, by right they belong. Abufe,,
and prefcription can never render pofleffion legitimate to thofe-
who do nothing in behalf of the languifhing population o f Ofero,.
though they enjoy their fubftanee which in happier circumfiances
were pioufly offered, and to labouring minifters. The defendants
o f thofe good chriftians- now- form a fqualid and mife—
rable flock, from whom even their own bifhops keep at a dif-
tance, with non-apoftblick example ; notwithftanding, ir is evident
that a little money; circulated, with charity and. attention,
would be fufficient ftill to free Ofero from malignant infedtion,,
and enable it to acquire frefh vigour, and a population more
proportionable to the fituation in which it was built with excellent
defign.
T he fkeleton o f a city, where perhaps there, are, more ruined;
and uninhabited houfes than inhabitants, hafi, the title of Bifhop-
rick fince the time of Budimiro,. the fir ft Chriftian king o f D almatia.
Its cathedral is a folid fabrick, and the front o f it is
not in bad taftej. tire fteeple is- alfo magnificent,, and not. o f bad
architedfure. The Saracens deftroyed and burnt this place about
the year 840, and fince that time i t never recovered itfelf.
In former times the people o f Ofero had many privileges, as ■
all the other people were ufed to have, who fubjedted themfelves
E e e fpontaneoufly.