THE LIBRARY
OF
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
LOS ANGELES
FREDERIC THOMAS BLANCHARD
ENDOWMENT FUND
w
LETTERS
From ITALY,
IN THE YEARS 1754 AND 1 755,
BY THE LATE RIGHT HONOURABLE
JOHN Earl of Corke and Orrery;.
PUBLISHED FROM THE ORIGINALS,
WITH EXPLANATORY NoTES,
By JOHN DUNCOMBE, M. A.
Chaplain to his Lordfhip, Re&or of St. Andrew's and St.
Mary Bredman's, and
Out of the Six Preachers in Christ Church, Canterbury.
THE SECOND EDITION.
Zc OerWjHjQ 1/4
',<!'"■ '• 'tf !/«•>• ,',-*l6l /
LONDON:
Prints fox B, WaiT*, Horaces Head, FJwfr- Street 1774.
PREFACE.
TH E noble author of the following
Letters was the only fon and heir of
Charhs r, the fourth earl of Orrery* by lady
Elizabeth Cecil, daughter of John earl of
Exeter. He was born January 2, 1706-7.
Mr. Fenton, the author of Mar iamne* and
one of the coadjutors of Mr. Pope in the
Odyffey, who had been fecretary to lord
Orrery in fome of his campaigns in Flan-
ders, and who, after being difmifTed from
that employment in 1705, had been maf-
ter of the free-fchool at Sevenoak in Kent,
was again taken into the earPs family as
tutor to his fon *. He taught lord Boyle
* This may ferve to difprove an aftertion in Mr.
Fenton's life in Biographia Briiannica, that " the
•' earl of Orrery, after difmiffing him in 1705,
"paid him juitly his falary as fecretary, but
" took no farther notice of him." See the Sup-
plement to that work, p. 50,
a to
879658
n PREFACE.
to read EngUJJj, and attended him through
the Latin tongue from the age of kv^n
to thirteen J. " A conftant and free
u friendfhip fubfilted * " between this
amiable poet and his noble pupil till
Mr. Fentotfs death in 1730-, and his
lordfhip always fpokeof him, and often
with tears, as " one of the worthier!:
" and modelled men that ever adorned
'* the court of Apollo *. After palling
through Pfejlminfter-fchoo], his lordfhip
was admitted, as a nobleman, at Chrift-
Church, Oxford^ to which his father had
been an honour and an ornament -f-, and
was afterwards a considerable benefactor.
One of lord Boyle's firil poetical effays
was in anfwer to fome verfes by Mrs.
Rowe on an unfuccefsful attempt to
draw his picture, and is as follows :
No " air of wit," no " beauteous grace" I
boaft; ,
My charms are native innocence, at moll.
\ From his lordfhip's own information.
* His lordihip's own words in a manufcript
letter.
t In particular, by his tranflation of the life of
Lyfavder\ from Plutarch, and his edition of the
epiities of Phalarisy which occafioned his cele-
brated con tioverfy with Dr. Btntiej.
6 Alike
PREFACE,
Alike thy pencil and thy numbers charm,
Glad every eye, and every bofom warm.
Mature in years, if e'er I chance to tread,
Where vice, triumphant, rears aloft her head,
Ev'n there the paths of virtue I'll purfue,
And own my fair and kind director you *.
When the earl of Orrery was com-
mitted clofe priibner to the Tower, in Sep-
tember, 1722, on fufpicion of being con-
cerned in what was called Layer's plot,
his fon, " whofe filial piety," fays Mr.
Budgell, ' " can never be too much ad-
" mired or praifed," earneftly intreated
to be fhut up with him. But this favour
was thought too considerable to be grant-
ed either to the father or the fon J.
Soon after his coming of age, on May
9, 1728, lord Boyle married lady Henri-
etta Hamilton, youngeft daughter of
George earl of Orkney. This marriage,
though entirely approved by lord Orrery ,
was unhappily the fource of a family
difienfion between the two earls. A diffi-
cult and delicate fituation for a hufband
who was tenderly affectionate to a molt
deferving wife, and for a fon who had
* Mrs. Ro-ive's works, vol. I. p. 163.
1 Memoirs of the Boyle family, p, 219,
a 2 the
iv PREFACE.
the higheft regard and attachment to h&
father ! Such a father and fuch a ion
could not long be difunited. A recon-
ciliation foon took place. " They foon,"
as Mr. Budgell exprefles. it *, " ran into
each other's arms." This happinefs,
however, was but tranfient ; for the un-
expected death of the. earl of Orrery,
which happened Anguft 28, 1 731, pre-
vented his cancelling, as he had intend-
ed, a claufe in his will, (having fentfor
his lawyer with that view) by which he
bequeathed to Chrift -Church, Oxford, his
valuable library, confifrino; of above ten
thoufand volumes, (the Journals of the
Houie of Lords, and fuch books as related
to the Englijh hiitory and conftitution, a-
lone excepted,) together with a very fine
collection of mathematical inftruments.
The fon was allowed three years to fepa-
rate the books above mentioned from
the others. His feelings and behaviour
on this trying occafion cannot be lb well
expreffed as in his own words : " Give
46 me leave to own (fays he to his fecond
fon, twenty years after) " how fenfibly
" I felt the force of an arrow directed
• Memoirs of the B*jk family, p. 252.
«*' from
PREFACE. v
<? from your grandfather's hand. The
*' wound, I believe, was not defigned to
" be lading. It was given in a paflion,
" and upon an extraordinary occafion :
" but afterwards he was fo defirous to
" heal it, by a return of the greateft de-
" gree of friendfhip and affection, that
" he had directed the remaining fear to
" be entirely erafed, when his unexpect-
"*ed and too fudden death prevented the
<c completion of his kind intentions and
** the perfection of my cure. With dif-
" ficulty I furvived the ihock. As it
" was not in my power to avoid the fe-
" vere decree, I obeyed ; and, by my
" obedience, have flattered myfelf thac
" I fubmitted to the will of heaven.
" However, I have fince thought that I
could not offer a more grateful facri-
fi.ee to his manes, than by exerting
" thofe faculties which he had, at firfl:,
* c cultivated with fo much care, and had
" depreffed, at lad, only perhaps to
" raife them higher f." And doubt-
lefs with an allufion to this cc fevere de-
" cree," in a letter to Mr. Southerne in
1733, fpeaking of his fons, then chil-
f Remarks on Swift, Dublin edition, p.- 324.
a 3 dren,
c<.
VI
PREFACE.
dren, " Hammy, (lays his lordfhip) who is
Cc lefs fedate than his brother, contents
" himfelf with his tops and his marbles,
" without enquiring into the natural
« caufes of things : By this means the
<c youngeft bids fair to he the favourite *,
ct for, I find, I mult give the other a
5? rap over the head in my will, or the
" next age will quite forget me V
Befides this bequeft, the earl of Orrery
left feveral confiderable legacies to per-
fons no way related to him, though he
died extremely in clebt-j-. All thefe
debts, inflead of fuffermg his father's
effects to be fold, thefon, with true filial
piety and generality, took upon himfelf,
and ful filled the bequefts by paying the
legacies, and fending the bocks, &x.
within the limited time, to Chrifi-Churcfr*
But deep was the impreflion which the
Jois of a parent, thus aggravated and im-
bittered, left upon his mind ; and a fit
of illnefs, which it occafioned, obliged
* See vol. ii. p 3 1 . of Letters by feveral eminent
ftrfons deceafed, Loud. 1772.
f So untrue is the aflertion of Mr. Budgcll,
(p. 249.) copied in Bicgrafhia Britannica, tl\at
•' the earl left his Ion a clear errate, and a confi-
\y derable fum in ready money. "
him
PREFACE. vii
him to repair to Bath. Receiving, while
he was there, a letter from a friend, with
fome yerfes inclofed, in which he was
urged to " difpel his grief by poetry,
" and to fhew that Bath could infpire,
" as well as Tunbridge" having written
fome humorous verles from thence the
year before, he returned the following
anfwer :
Nor Bath, nor Tun&riJge, can my lays infpire,
Nor radiant beauty make me ftrike the lyre :
Far from the bufy crowd, I fit forlorn,
And fgh in fecret, and in filence mourn :
Nor can my anguiih ever find an end ;
I weep a father, but I've loir, a friend *.
His private afflictions, however, did
not abforb his public duties, or prevent
him from taking his feat in the Houfe of
Lords, as an EngliJJo baron f> the enfuing
feilion, and joining in the debate on aclaufe
in the mutiny- bill. The applaufe which
he gained by his fpeech on that occafion,
is mentioned by Mr. Ford \ in a letter
* BtidgelPs Memoirs, p. 257.
*t Lord Boyle, baron of Marfton in Somer/eijkire,
a title conferred on his father by queen Anne, Sep-
tember to, 171 1.
X Appointed gazetteer, by Shift's intereit, in
■17 10.
a 4 to
Vlll
PREFACE.
to Dr. Swift f 9 and alfo by Mr. Budgell§.
And his lordfliip, with many other lords,
recorded his arguments in a protefl,
dated March 7, 1731-2* as he did alfo,
on the 29th of the fame month, on a
claufe in the bill for reviving the duties
on fait J.
In order to re-eftablifh his affairs,
which were much embarrafTed by the
villainy of his father's agent, lord Orrery
went over into Ireland in the enfuing
fummer. The family-feat at Charlevilk
having been burnt to the ground, by a
party of king James's army, in 1690*,
he refided partly with a friend at that
place, and partly at Corke. In that city
he received another mole fevere fnock, by
the death of his counted, which hap-
pened Auguft 22, 1732. " Though (as
he
f See Sxvrft's letters, Deane Swift's edition, vol.
iii. p. 199.
§ In his dedication of the Memoirs above men-
tioned, p. xx.
% So unaccountably miftaken is the Irijb Peerage
in aliening that " he did not take his feat as an
M EngUJh baron till November 7, 173 s>" a miftakc
which has been copied in the fupplement to Bi-
agraphia Britannica, p. 1 6.
* LUneU the third earl of Orrery, was then a mi-
ror, in England, and therefore could not have of-
fended
PREFACE. ix
he obferves) " it pleafed heaven after-
" wards to repair the lofs," in memory
of this amiable lady the following cha-
racter appears in his obfervations on
Pliny * :
If pureft virtue, fenfe rehVd in youth,
Religious wifdom, and a love of truth,
A mind that knew no thought ignobly mean,
A temper fweetly chearful, yet ferene,
A breait that glovv'd with thofe immortal fires
Which godlike charity alone infpires ;
Tfthefe could lengthen fate's tremendous doom,
And fnatch one moment from the gaping tomb,
Death had relenting thrown his dart afide,
And Harriot, Oh ! my Harriot, had not died.
Her ladyfhip was interred with her
anceftors at Taplow in Bucks. Her ex-
cellent qualities and virtues were fully
difplayed in a poem on her death by Mr.
S. Wejley* and in the dedication of Shake-
fpeare's works, by Mr. Theobald* to the
earl-f, dated January 10, 1733, " an
" offering, to which (he fays) lady Or-
cc rer y ^d n i m tne honour of making
" an
fended either party. " I have feen the ruins of this
" houfe," fays our author, " and could perceive,
•' by the few remains, that it had been a very
" extenfive pile of building."
* B. viii. Epiftle 5.
f Both thefe elogiums have been lately trans-
ferred, by miftake, to the countefs of Burlington*
to
x PREFACE.
H an early claim ; and therefore it copses
ct to her lord by the melancholy right
tc of executormip." " Many hints"
he alio profeffcs to have tC borrowed
" fi'om hearing his patron cpnverfe up-
H on Shakejpeare" and adds, c< Your
4fc iordiliip may reafonably deny the lofs
4t of the jewels, which I have difparaged
fct in the unartful fetting."
Some pathetic verfes on the death of
the countefs, dated Marfton^ December i y y
1734, were addreiled by his lordihip to
Mrs. Reive *> whom, as it appears from
her poiihumous letter to him -j-, he had
charged with cC a meffage to his Henri-
iS etta> when {he met her gentle fpirit
* 4 in the blilsful regions. 5 ' Mrs. Rov:e y
during the latter part of her life, was
one of lord Orrery's neareft neighbours
sod mofl efleemed friends. And " his
*? approbation (me laid) would be her
46 vanity and boail, if fhe could but
i4 peril; ade herfelf fhe defer ved it £."
to whom the biographer fuppofes that Shalcfpeare's
works were dedicated. See a marginal note in
the oupplement to Biographia Eritnviica, p. 17.
* Gee Mrs. Reeve's works, vol. i p. 166.
f Printed in Mrs. Rome's life, prefixed to her
works, p. *xvi.
X See a let cr from Mrs. Ronve to Mr. Duncom[??>
J£ Letters by fewer al eminent perfons deccafed, vol. i.
r 209. The
PREFACE. xi
The houfe, where flie was born, belong-
ed to him *. After her death, he al-
ways paflfed by it with the utmoft vene-
ration. Lady Orrery left him three in-
fants, viz. Charles lord Boyle, born Ja-
nuary 27, 1728-9 *, Hamilton, born Febru-
ary 23, 1729-30-, and lady Elizabeth,
born May 7, 1731.
During his lordfhip's refidence in Ire-
land, ■ his friend fhip commenced with
Swift, and in confequence, with Pope,
His verfes to the Bean on his birth-day f,
are dated Dublin, November 30, 1732,
for which Swift, in a letter (fince publish-
ed) dated January, 1732-3, " begs"
the author " to accept his moil hum-
" ble thanks for the honour done him
" by fo excellent a performance on fo
" barren afubject ;" and adds, " in fpite
IC of thofe who love me not, it will be
" laid in future ages, that one of lord
u Orrery's firft eflays in poetry was thele
u verfes on Dr. Swift." In one of his
letters to Pope, dated Dublin, 1 732-3,
* From his lordfhip's own information. It
fhould feem therefore that Mr. Henry Grove (in
his life of that lady, jufl mentioned) is miflaken
in faying " fhe was born at Ilcbefter"
f See Swift's works, Faulkner** edition, vol.
iv. p. 316.
the
*ii PREFACE.
the Dean fays, " We have got my lord
" Orrery among us, being forced to con-
ct tinue here on the ill condition of his
« cftate by the knavery of an agent. He
ct is a moft worthy gentleman, whom I
* c hope you will be acquainted with -j-."
To which Pope replies, V My lord
* c Orrery is a moft virtuous and good-
cc natured nobleman, whom I fhould be
* c happy to know J."
Pope's epitaph on Gay gave occafion to
the following epigram by our author :
Entomb'dwith kings though Gay's cold aflies lie,
A nobler monument thy ftrains fupply.
Thy matchlefs mufe, (till faithful to thy friend,
By courts unaw'd, his virtues dares commend.
lamented Gay, forget thy treatment pall,
Look down, and fee thy merit crown'd at lail !
A deftiny more glorious who can hope,
Id life belov'd, in death bemoan'd, by Pope-?
This being mentioned by Swift to
Pipe* he, in his aniwer, compares " lord
* l Orrery's prailes to that precious oint-
** ment Solomon fpeaks of, which can be
*< given only by men of virtue j). Mrs.
£nrkr, an Info poetels, having defired
Swiff s opinion about dedicating her
^ Pope's works, vol. x. p. 198.
% Pope's works, vol. x. p. 203.
41 Ibid. p. 2U.
poems
PREFACE. xill
poems to his lordfhip, and Teeming
anxiens to know how far me might be
allowed to draw his character, Szvift ac-
quainted lord Orrery with her difficulties,
at the fame time mentioning, with great
addrefs, " the topics he imagined fiie
«« defigned to infift on," though, for rea-
fons of delicacy, he thought " fhe would
" better fhew her prudence by omitting
" them all." This fmall fketch of his
lordfhip's character, by a hand unufed
to panegyric, and never fufpecled of flat*
tei y y delerves to be inferted. u I guefs**
(lays he) ic the topics fhe defigns to in-
" hit on •, your learning, your genius,
S c your affability, generofity, the love
" you bear to your native country, and
" your companion for this ♦, the good-
" nefs of your nature, your humility,
" modefty, and condefcenfion •, your
*- mofl agreeable converfation, fuited to
" all tempers, conditions, and under-
" Handings : perhaps fhe may be to
" weak to add the regularity of your
" life \ that you believe a God and pro-
" vidence •, that you are a firm chriiban,
^ according to the doctrine of the church
" eilabliihed
xlv PREFACE.
" eftablifhed in both kingdoms *." This
letter is dated Auguft 20, 17^3.
His lordfhip, on his return to England
in Qftober following, having now no at-
tachment to London, difpofed of his houfe
in Dcw/ring-Jlreety JVeftmwfter, and alfd
of his feat at Britweil near Windfor„ and
retired to his feat at Marfton\ in Somerfet-
fiire. This place having been much neg-
lected by his anc'eftors, and' being little
more than the mell of a large old houfe,
he amufed himielf in building offices, in
fitting up and furnifhing apartments,
and in laying out gardens and other
plantations. And as ftudy and retire-
ment were his principal pleafures, his
father having bequeathed his books to
Oxford* he fumifhed his library anew
with the beft authors.
In the enfuing feffion we find his lord-
fliip's name, (with thofe of many other
* 8<uuifi y i letters, vol. v. p. 227.
f This feat was bought by the firfl earl of
Corke, of Sir John Hippijley, and had formerly-
been part of the eftate of Edmund earl of Corn-
wall The earl of Corke left it to his fifth fon,
Roger lord Broghill (afterwards earl of Orrery,)
who, upon the ruin of the royal family, and the
death of Charles I. retired thither. See Morrice's
Memoirs of the frjl earl of Orrery.
peers)
PREFACE. xv
peers) affixed to the proteft on rejecting
the bill relating to the officers of the
army, and on removing the duke of
Bolton and lord Cobham from their re-
fpective regiments -, both dated February
23, iJ33'4- i on the bill for regulating
the elections of trie Scotch peers, dated
March 5, 1733-4 \ and on the vote of
credit, March 29, 1734.
This fummer, probably in his way to
France *, lord Orrery vifited the tomb of
his anceftors, Roger Boyle, Efq-, and Joan
his wife, in Prefton church near Fe-verjham.
This monument was erected to their me-
mory by their fecond fon, Richard^ the
great earl of Ccrke, in 1629; and his
defcendant, (when that title devolved to
him) intended, if his life had been pro-
longed, to have repaired it.
On this occafion, it may be obferved,
that the anceftors both of Swift and his
biographer were, about the fame time,
two centuries ago, natives, or inhabitants,
of the fame city. The mother of the
* His lordfhip had been twice in the Lena
Countries, and in France, before his laft journey.
See pp. 2 and 3 of the following work.
firft
xvi PREFACE.
firft earl of Corke (above mentioned)
Joan, the daughter of Robert Nay lor , Efq-,
was born at Canterbury in the year 1529,
was married there to Mr. Boyle (of Here-
fordfhire) in 1564, and their fecond fon
Richard was born there in 1506. From
the year 1569 to 1624 the great-great-
grandfather and great grandfather of the
dean of St. Patrick's were fucceflively
rectors of St. Andrew's in the fame city ;
and both lie buried in the middle cf the
High-Jlreet, where St. Andrew's church -f-
lately flood. The Swifts afterwards
fettled, and are ftill fettled, in Hereford-
Jhire^ the county from which the
Boyles originally fprung ||.
In the next feflion lord Orrery was one
of the protefters on difmifTing the petition
of the Scotch peers, Feb. 28, 1734-5; on
the amendments made to the bill for re-
gulating the quartering of foldiers during
the time of elections, April 1 6 ; and on re-
t Taken down, by aft of parliament, to en-
large the ftreet, in the year 1764.
% Mr. Thomas Swift (grandfather of the dean)
vicar of Goodrich, had a fmall eftate in that coun-
ty, ftill pofTeffed by his great-grandfon, Deans
Swift, Efq.
|i See Biography Britann. vol.ii.p. 880, note A.
5 jetting
PREFACE. xvu
jecting the bill for explaining and amend-
ing the ( 'Scotch'] a£t for preventing wrong-
ous imprifonnient, May q, 1735.
His lordihip was in Ireland again that
fummer*. On the dea^' 1 . of his amiable
relation, that moil promifing youth, Ed-
mund duke of Buckingham, (which hap-
pened at Rome, O Etcher 31, 1735,) he
paid to his memory the juft tribute of
an elegiac poem f . In the fucceeding
winter, the duke of Dorfet being then lord
lieutenant of Ireland, the earl of Orrery,
it appears, " was mod extremely oblige
" ing to him for the whole feflion, and
" neglected no opportunity to endeavour
" to make his admin ifcration eafy t." In
December, 1736, " to mew the condition
" of that kingdom in thofe bleffed thes,"
Swift, writing to Pope under his lorcifhip's
cover, mentions that, " lord Orrery has
< c 3000 1. a year, about Corke, and the
4C neighbourhood, and has more than
" three years rent unpaid ||."
* See a whimfical letter from lord Orrery to
Srttift, dated Limerick, July 18, 1735, V 1 Swift's
letters, vol. vi. p. 17.
f Printed for Brindley, 1737.
X See a letter from lady Betty Germalne to Dr.
Swift, in Swift's letters, vol. iii. p. 186.
II Pope's works, vol. x. p. 251.
b In
xvHi PREFACE.
In Apr il, *737* l° r d Orrery (then 2ft
Corke) earneftly prefled Dr. Swift to ac-
company him to England: " In the mid-
" die of June (fays he) I will hope to
" fet fail with yon. Heclor will fawn
" upon you ; Mr. Pope will come
<c out beyond the fhore to meet you ;
cc you will exchange Cyclops for men,"
£s?f. But in vain : Swift never faw Mar-
fton\ his laft vifit to England was in
*7 1 7-
Pope being at that time very anxious
about his letters, his lordfhip took over
with him all that Swift had preferved [or
could find] which were not above twen-
ty-five. '* Pray, (fays the dean, in one of
*' his laft letters to Pope) let my lord
" Orrery fee you often: next to yourfelf,
" I love no man fo well J."
About this time, that his fons might
be educated under his own eye, and alio
t Pope's works, vol. x. p. 263. To mew how
much the dean's memory was at that time im-
paired, in this letter, which is dated July 23,
1737, he fays, f * Lord Orrery goes over, as he
«' hopes, in about ten days, and will take with
«« him all the letters, Zjc." Though among
Swift's letters, (vol. vi. p. 140) is one from lord
Orrery to the dean, dated from London, the fame
day, informing him that " Mr. Pope has hi*
«.« letters." have
Preface. m
have the benefit of attending IVeftminfter-
fchool, he took a fmall houfe in Duke*
ftreet, JVeftminfier.
After being a widower fix years, lord
Orrery married in Ireland, June 30, 1738,
Mrs. Margaret Hamilton, only daughter
and heirefs of John Hamilton, Efq. of
Caledon in the county of Tyrone, grand-
daughter of Dr. Bopping, bifhop of
Meath, and niece of Dr. Dopping, bi-
fhop of OJfory. In a letter to this lady,
on her intended nuptials, dated June 8*
Swift, after pretending a prior claim,
" as fhe had made fo many advances
" to him, and confeffed herfelf to be
" nobody's goddefs but his," archly
Waves it, and politely " permits lord
cc Q rrer y to make himfelf the hap-
*' pieft man in the world ; as I know
" not (he adds) any lady in this king-
" dom of fo good fenfe, or fo many ac*
<c complifhments." The fame character
he alio gives her in his lad (printed) let-
ter to Pope. And lord Orrery, in a letter
written the day before his marriage, hu*
moroufly triumphs over his rival, ** on
* c feeing the day when toupets, coxcomi-
46 cal lords, powdered 'fquires, and awk-
b 2 " ward
xx PREFACE.
" ward beaux join with the dean of St.
" Patrick's in the k>fs of one and the
" fame object."
In the fucceeding fefiion of the Britijh
parliament his lord (hip was one of the
peers who figned two protefts relating to
the Spanifo convention, the one dated
March i, 1738-9, the other June 4, 1739.
In the fame year he publifhed a new
edition, in two volumes octavo, of die
Dramatic works of his great-grandfather
Roger the firft earl of Orrery. In the fe-
cond volume was printed, for the firft
time, a comedy by his father, called As
you find it, which had been acted with
great applaufe, and whofe " only fault,"
Mr c Budgell fays, " was its having toa
" much wit."
The State-letters of the firft earl were
alfo publifhed by his defendant, in one
volume folio, in 1 742. In this year lord
Orrery was deprived of his old dramatic
friend "Tom Southerner the laft furviving
wit of Char Us IPs reign, the evening of
whofe days had been cheared and en-
livened by the notice of our author. On
May 2^ 1742, his lordlhip (with other
peers) figned a proteft on rejecting the
indemnify-
P R E F AC E. , xxi
indemnifying bill ; as he did r ifo, Janu-
ary 31, 1745-4, in relation to the Hano-
ver troops.
Lord Orrery was prefented to the ho-
norary degree of doctor of civil law, by
the univerfity of Oxford, JtugUft 25,
1743. He was alfo a fellow of the
royal fociety. In 1 746, lord Boyle being
fettled at Oxford *, and Mr. Boyle in the
college at Weftminfier, their father quitted
London, and fixed his refidence at Cale-
don in Ireland. The mafterly manner in
which Mr. Boyle acted the part of Ig-
noramus, (the reverfe of his real cha-
racter) and fpoke the epilogue f , in
the Dormitory at Weftminfter, in Decern-
for, 1 747, did great credit to his genius,
and will long be remembered by his
friends and contemporaries.
Thefecond volume of Biographia Bri-
tannica being pubLfhed in 1748, lord
Orrery thanked Dr. Campbell, " in the
" name of all the Boyles^ for the honour
" he had done to them, and to his own
" judgment, by placing the family in
u fuch a light as to give a fpirit of
* His lordfhip was admitted of St. Mary Hall
Mayz 3 , 1745. .
f See this epilogue in the Gtntltmatfs Magazint
for 1748, p. 36.
b j w emulation
xxii PREFACE.
« emulation to rhofe who were here-
« after to inherit the titles +•" If
equal jufti c nad been done to him, if
the tarn- h vnd had compiled his article
in the Supplement to that work, the
prefent attempt would have bcm iuper-
fiuous.
His lordfhip refided in Ireland^ with
little intcrmiffion, till the year 1750,
happy in that domeftic tranquillity,
ct that" ftudious " retirement and mac-
" tivity, from which he was fcarce ever
" drawn, but with the utmoft reluct*
" ance *." Indeed (to adopt his own
words) " whenever we ftep out of do-
" meftic life in fearch of felicity, we
<c come back again difappo.nted, tired,
<c and chagrined. One day paiTed under
* our own roof, with our friends and
" our family, is worth a thoufand in
" any other place. The noife and buf*
*' tie, or, as they are foolifhly called,
** the divtrfions of life, are defpicable
" and taftelefs when we have once ex-
f His lordfhip's own words in a rnanufcript
letter.
• Effay on the life of Pliny, p. Ixxiii.
J* perieneed
PREFACE. xxiii
" perienced the real delight of a fire-
" fide*."
In March, 1750, his lordfhip's eldeft
daughter, lady Elizabeth Boyle, was
married to Thomas Worfley, Efq-, (after-
wards Sir Thomas Worfley, Bart.) of Pile-
weh\ Hants f.
During his refidence in Ireland, his
leifure was employed in laying out gar-
dens and plantations, improving the fine
fituation of Caledon, and adorning what
he then thought would be the future re-
fidence of his younger! fon Edmund:
And at his return to Mar ft on, he conti-
tinued his alterations and improvements
in the houfe and gardens there, for
which many of the plans were defigned
by lord Boyle, who had a tafte for archi-
tecture. Mean time the amufement of
his winter-evenings J was his tranflation
of the letters of Pliny the younger,
with Observations en each Letter, and an
EJfay on Pliny's life, addrejfed to Charles
* His lordfhip's own words in a manufcript
letter.
f Her ladyfhip is now a widow. Her fon, Sir
Richard* is the prefent baronet.
I See his Effay on the life of Pliny, p. lxxiii.
b 4 lord
xxiv PREFACE.
lord Boyle. The EfTay is dated Leicef-
ter Fields, January 27, 1750 1. This
tranflation, which was \ uhifK^ in Lon-
don, in two volumes quarto, in April,
1 75 1, was fo well received by the pub-
lic, that three editions of it have fince
been publifhed in octavo. In the fum-
mer of the fame year he addrefied to his
iecond fon, Hamilton (then a ftudent of
Chrift -Church*) a lcries of letters con-
taining Remarks on the Life and Writings
of Dr. Jonathan Swift, Dean of St. Pa^
trick's, Dublin -, under which title they
were publifhed, in octavo, 1752. Four
editions of this work have been printed
fince.
In Auguft, iyS 2 9 Henry f, fince well
known to the world as the hufband and
correfpondent of Frances f, being at
Caledon, where lady Orrery then reiided,
* He was matriculated, June 14, 1748, was ad-
mitted ftudent of that college in December follow-
ing, proceeded regularly to the degree of LL. B r
May 15, 1755, was create d LL. D. by diploma in
1763, (when he was appointed High-Steward of
the univerfity) and continued ftudent of Chrift
Church (on a faculty) till his death in 1764.
f Mr. Richard and Mrs. Elizabeth Griffith,
^vhich alfo was her family name.
4 i uft] y
PREFACE.
XXV
juftly characterifed her lady (hip in the
following manner : " Her affability and
" unarTe&ed manners, not lefs than her
■* food, which is little more than bread
" and pulfe, milk and water, would be-
" fit a cabbin -, while her tafte, ipirit,
" and politenefs might become a pa-
" lace *." And Frances, in one of her
letters, as juftly fays, " Dignity with-
cc out pride, good-humour without fol-
" ly, wit without fatire, charity without
" oitentat on, and philofophy with the
" extremeit quicknefs of underftanding
" and tendernefs of heart, are all joined
" in the amiable compofition of that
" unaffectedly good woman J."
On May 4, 1753, a marriage took
place between lord Boyle and Mifs Sufanna
Hoare, eldeft daughter of Henry Hoare,
Efq ; of Stourhead in Wilts.
Notitiam primofque gradus zicinia fecit;
Tempore crevit amor.
In December following, by the death
of the Britijh Vitruvius, Richard the
* Letters fro?n Henry to Frances, vol. ii. p. 174.
% Ibid, vol, i. p. 216.
third
xxvi PREFACE.
third earl of Burlington and fourth carl
of Corke, without iflue male, all his Irifh
titles devolved to the earl of Orrery *.
His Englijh honours were extinct -f .
To the periodical publication called
the World, undertaken about this time
by Mr. Moore (that bow of Ulyjfes, in
which it was the fafhion for men or rank
and genius to try their flrength) our
author contributed three papers, viz.
N°, 47, 68, and 161. Two papers in
the fame collection, viz. N° 60 and 170,
were written by Mr. Boyle. And in the
laft number of the Connoijfeur, a work of
equal merit, publifhed by Meflrs, Thorn-
ton and Colman, G. K. (which was his
lordlhip's fignature) is particularly dif-
* Thefe two earls were third coufins, Richard,
the firft earl of Burlington, being the fecond fon,
and Roger, the firft earl of Orrery ■, the fifth fon, of
the great earl of Corke. The two intermediate
brothers died without iffue.
f Unlefs the barony of Clifford be excepted,
which, being a barony in fee, is fuppofed to have
defcended to the earl's (then) only furviving
daughter, the late marchionefs of Hartington, and
as fuch to be now vefted in her fon, the prefent
d6ke of Dtvonjbire*
2 tinguifhed
PREFACE xxvii
tinguUhed as their " earlieft and moft
« frequent correfpondent ;" and " we
" are (brry (r:iey add) that he will not
<c allow us to mention his name ; fince
< c it would refled as much credit on our
<c work, as we are fure will redound
" to it from his compofitions." To
this work he contributed the greateft
part of nine numbers, Thefe papers
are chiefly of the humorous kind ; and
for humour, innocent humour, no one
had a truer tafte or better talent.
On September 20, *754, the earl and
countefs of Corke, and their daughter,
lady Lucy Boyle, fat out on the journey
which occafioned the following letters ;
of which therefore it is needlefs to fay
more than that, during his refidence at
Florence, he had an opportunity of pre-
fenting to the Academy della Crufca his
friend Mr. Johnfon\ Englifb Dictionary,
(then ju ft publifhed,) which was received
with due regard by thac learned body,
though the gout, his inveterate enemy,
introduced by a fevere winter f, over-
took
•f Lord Corke kept a diary of the weather, and
w the account from December to the middle of
" Miff
xxviii PREFACE.
took him even in Italy, and prevented
him from attending the exercifes of the
Academy ; that he refided in that city,
and its neighbourhood, with general
efteem, converfing freely with books
and men, and from both, aflifbed by ma-
nufcripts, collecting materials for a Hif-
iory of Tufcany (of which fome mention
is made in the following work*) from
CEtober 23, 1754, to September 20, i755,
and that, returning %o England through
Germany and part of Holland, hoftilities
having juft commenced with France, he
arrived at Marfion in November following.
On the death of archbifliop Herring,
in March, 1757, his lordffup expreffed
himfelf as follows : " He was vhat a
* 4 bifhop ought to be, and is, I doubt
* c not, where all bilhops ought to be.
45 Honour and reverence will atiend his
" name while this world lafrs •, happinefs
" and glory will remain with his fpirit
" for ever."
* £ May (he (aid) was amazing. The heat of Italy
*' is univerfally acknowledged ; fo ought the
" cold to be. The uncertainty of the weather
" was Hill more furprifmg than the cold : we
c ' had all kinds of feafons in a day.'*
* Seep. 180.
The
PREFACE. xxix
The fifcuation of public affairs at that
time being fuch as required, in our na-
tional councils, the utmoft exertion of
wifdom and integrity, his lordiliip was
urged, by one of his friends, to exchange
his retirement for a more public fcene,
in an ode, of which the following is the
concluflon :
To Laurtftiavti?& groves retir'd,
Your Pliny fled from care,
Yet, when his country's voice required,
He fcU'd the coniul's chair.
Then, like that confu?, lend your aid
To prop our tott'ring wails,
For Rome demands you from the &a<fe,
And hoary Nerva calls.
Dr. Swift's Hi/lory of the four fail years
cf queen Anne (mentioned in the Remarks
on Swift, Letter XXIV) being publifh-
ed in the year 1758, lord Corke deiired
his friends to contradict the report of
his confenting to give the public fo per-
nicious a piece. " The more it is ex-
" amined (faid he) the lefs it will an-
" fwer the end either of the author or
** of the publisher."
In that year his lordfnip fuflained the
fevered domeftic affliction that could be-
fall him, by the death of his excellent
lady, Margaret countefs of Corke and Or-
rery, who died, after a fhort illnefs, in
b 7 lodgings
xxx P R E F A C E.
lodgings at Knight/bridge, November 24,
to which fhe had defired to be removed
a few days before, from a tender appre-
henfion (as me told a friend) that her
lord would quit his houfe (juft taken) in
Marlborcitgh-ftreet^ if fhe died there. This
ihock, however, he fupported like a
man, like a chriilian, and with refigna-
tion again " fubmitte'd to the will of
« heaven." Her lady (hip left iilue, Ed-
muhdfi born November 21, 1742, and
lady lMcy£ 9 born May 27, 1744.
Stilh like Pliny. " taking; refuge in
" his ftudies as the only retreat from
44 grief," lord Corks publiftaed, in the
beginning of the year 1759, in one vo-
f So named from his amiable relation, Edmund
duke of Buckingham before mentioned. On the
death of his brother, Hamilton earl cf Corke, &c.
in January, 1 764, he fucceeded to the titles of
his family, and is the feventh earl of Corke and
Qrrery. His lordfhip married, Augufi 2.5, 1764,
Mifs Anne Courtenay* one of the daughters and co-
heirefies of Kellond Courtenay, Efq; knight of the
fhirc for the county of Huntingdon, and niece to
the earl of Sandwich. Their ifiue are lady Luiy
Ifabella , born Auguji 10, ij66,Ed?nund\ord. vifcount
Dungarvan, born October 21, 1767, Courtenay,
born September 3, 1 7 69, and Hamilton, born Sepi
tember 23, 177°*
1 Married, J^/ji 10, 1765, to George lord vif-
count Torrin^tau
lume
PREFACE. xxxi
I time octavo, Memoirs of the Life of Ro-
bert Gary, earl of Monmouth, from an
original manufcript prefented to him by
a relation ||, with a preface, and expla-
natory notes. A fecond edition of it
was published in 1760. Prefixed is a
fhort but tender dedication to his young-
ell fon, U though laft, not lead in love,"
dated Marlborough-Jlreet y J miliary 13,
1759, and figned "Now, alas ! your only
" parent." There is alfo, as a frontifpiece,
" the royal proceffion of queen Eliza-
" beth to vifit her coufin-german Henry
" lord Hunfdon, governor of Berwick"
engraved from an old painting by Marc
Garrard^ mentioned by Mr. Walph*^
and others.
In September following, his lordfhip
had alfo the misfortune to lofe his eldeft
fon, Charles lord vifconnt Dungarvan^
and though, by the declining date of
health under which he had long labour-
ed, his family and friends were prepared
for the ilroke, yet (as his father has ob-
ferved, ona fimilar occafion-f) " nature
|j Lady Elizabeth Speltnan, daughter to the eari
of Middkton.
- Anecdotes of painting, vol. 1. p. 143.
f The death of Fund anus's daughter. Pliny,
B. v. Ep. i'6.
xxxii PREFACE.
" is revulfed, when a child is buried by
" a parent*."
The earl furvived this lofs about three
years, dividing his time between his
houfe in Great George-ftreet, Weftminfter^
and his feat in Scmerfet/hire, till an here-
ditary gout J, which all his temperance
could only parry, not fubdue, put an
early period to his earthly exigence, at
Marfton-houfe, November 16, 1762, in
the 56th year of his age, the fame age at
which his father died jj. His remains
were depofited, near thofe of his fecond
lady, in the burial-place of his family in
Frome church.
* Lord Dungarnjjtn left iffue one daughter, the
honourable Henrietta Boyle, bora in 1755. His
relic"t, lady Dcmgarvan, was married to Thomas
lord Bruce, Feb. 17, 1761.
% See the following work, p. 179. His great-
grandfather, the firit earl of Orrery, who'died in
1679, Was afflicted with the fame diforder. See
Bicgrapb. Britann. vol. ii. pp. 904 and 909.
|| Necejfe eft tanquam zmmataram mortem ejus de-
fieam : fi tamen fas eft aut ftere, aut omnino mortem
'vocare, qua mortalitas magis finita quam <vita eft.
Plin. Lib. ii. Lp. 1. " I mull look upon his
*' death as untimely, and I weep for him : yet I
" ought not to fay, he is dead ; he only breaks
" loofe from life, and rulhes into immortality."
Lord Corke's tranflation.
a His
PREFACE. xxxiii
His lordfhip was fucceeded in his titles
and eftates.by his fecond ion, Hamilton
(then) lord vifcount Dungarvan, one of
the reprefentatives in the Britijh parlia-
ment for the borough of Warwick*.
The character of John earl of Corke y
as a writer and as a man, may partly be
collected from his own works, and partly
from the teftimonies which have been
given of him by fome of the mod diftin-
guifhed among his contemporaries. I
mail only beg leave to add, that, in every
domeilic and lbcial relation, in all the
endearing connections of life, as a hus-
band, a father, a friend, a mailer, he
had few equals. The luftre which he
received from rank and title, and from
the perfonal merit of his family, he re-
flected back, unimpaired and undiminiftu
ed, and though " the port of honour*'
which he chofe and preferred was " a
* This noble earl did not long furvive his fa-
ther. He was appointed high-fteward of the ur.i-
verfity of Oxford by the earl of Litchfield > ths
chancellor, in 1763, and dying at Marjlon-houfe %
unmarried, January 17, 1764, his titles and
dlates devolved to his half-brother, Edmund ', the
prefent earl, as mentioned in a former note.
c j private
xxxiv PREFACE.
" private ftation," though he was nei-
ther a ftatefman nor a foldier, like the
firft lord Corke> the firft. lord Orrery^ and
his own father; the rival of Palladio^ like
the late lord Burlington \ or the rival of
Bacon^ like Mr. Robert Boyle ; yet in a
general tafte for literature, or, as they are
commonly called, polite ftudies, he was
by no means inferior to his anceftors.
" Being much in the great world at the
" beginning of his life, he defpifed and
" detefted it when he arrived at years of
" reflection. His conftitution was ne-
" ver ftrong, and he was very thankful
<c that it was not fo ; as his health was a
" true and no very irkfome excufe to
" avoid thofe fcenes, by which his body
" would have been hurt, and his mind
" offended. He loved truth even to a
" degree of adoration. Pie was a real
" chriftian " and, as fuch, " conftantly
" hoped for a better life, there trufting
" to know the real caufes of thofe ef-
" feels, which here ftruck him with
" wonder, but not with doubt f ." On
f His lordfhip's own words in feveral private
letters.
2 the
PREFACE. xxx*
the whole, it may be eafy to trace 9
in feve al inftances, a ftriking refem-
blance between him and his favourite
Roman. Though they both had feats in
the fenates of their respective countries.,
the one, by his employments, being a
magiftrate and a judge, and the other*
by birth, a judge and a legiflator, yet in
privacy and retirement, at Tufculum and
Marfton, among their families, their
books, and their friends, they patted
their happieft hours. Irreproachable
were their morals •, for temperance,
in particular, and fweetnefs of nature,
they were both diftinguifhed. The
early impreffion which was made on
the mind of the nephew, by his un-
cle's cataftrophe at Vefuvius, could not
exceed the fhock which the fon received
from his father's will. Fond as they
both were of rural eafe, for rural fports
they had neither inclination nor leifure.
In conjugal love they were both twice
happy. Great as were the tafte, the
judgment, the virtue and affection of
Calpurnia, the late countefs of Cork?, was
in every refpect her equal. " Pliny
" treated his domeftics as his friends, and
c 2 " lamented
xxxvi PREFACE.
u lamented their deaths as if he had
"been their parent J." No lefs ex-
emplary as a mafter was the earl of
Corke ♦, and even his domeftics of the
brute creation had their labours reward-
ed with tendernefs, and their lives pro-
longed by attention jj. For poetry, though
few of Pliny's verfes are tranfmitted to
us, they both had a talent. In familiar
cpiltles they both excelled. " Pliny, in
tc fome of his letters, is an hiftoricai
" writer*;" he had been advifed by
many of his frier- ds to write a hi (lory ;
and, according to Caffwdorus, he put the
advice into execution f. Hiftoricai alio
are many of the following letters, and if
time had permitted the author to com-
plete a work there mentioned, he would
have been ranked by pofterky among
the belt hiftorians of Florence, To a
talte for literature, and a third for know-
X Obfervations on Pliny, B. viii. Ep. 16.
jj In particular, a favourite horfe, whofe life
was prolonged to the uncommon age of 34, and
a favourite greyhound, who lived to the age of
14, have monumental inferiptions to their memo-
ry in the gardens at Mar/Ion.
* Obfervations on Pliny, B. iii. Ep. 9.
■fr Effay on the life of Pliny, p. Ixxii.
ledge,
PREFACE xxxvii
ledge, both the Roman and the Briton
had, as it were, a kind of hereditary
rioht ; in particular, Pliny the eider has
beta co pared, as a philoiopher, by
lord Corke himielf, to his own great rela-
tion Mr Robert Boyle*. Equally happy
were the conful and the peer in their
private friendships. What Arria and
Fannia were to the one, Mrs. Row*, the
Britifi Philomela, was to the other. If
Pliny had his Martial and Italicus, lord
Qrrery had his Southerne and Fenton.
And, to complete rhe parallel, as Sueto-
nius and Tacitus, the two beft writers that
Rome then produced, were the friends and
correfpondents of Pliny, his tranilator was
no lels fortunate m the rnendfhip and
correfpondence of Swift and Pope.
This fmall tribute to the merit of a
moft amiable i obleman is paid by one
who knew and elteemed his talents and
his virtues, and will religiouily cherifh
his memory and his fame,
Qh ^ u :^i a T hUry% I Buncombe.
jdn. zi, i//3*
* Qbfervations on Pliny, B. vi. Ep, 16.
c 3 CON-
CONTENTS.
LETTER I. From Lyons, p. i.
fNT RODUCTION. Defcription
of Lille and its inhabitants. Archbi-
Jhop Fenelon's monument at Cambray.
St. Hubert's church. The cathedral
and church of St. Remi at Rheims.
The holy oil Refleclions on the manners
of the French. Scaliger'j epigram on
Lyons.
LETTER II. From Lyons, p. 13.
Defcription of Lyons. Origin and Situa-
tion of the ancient Lugdunnm. Cha-
racter of Plancus, its founder. Sub-
fiance of an engraved fpeech of the empe-
ror Claudius. Gratitude of the Lug-
dunenfes to Nero. The Forum Tra-
jani. A church dedicated to St. Tho-
mas Becket.
c 4 LET-
xl CONTENTS.
L E T T E R III. From Chamberry, p. 23,
Manufaclures and opulence of Lyons. "The
prifon. An equeflrian ftatue of Lewis
XIV. Character of that -prince. The
town-hcufe and armoury. Obfervations
en France in general. Mention of car-
dinal Tencin. Defcription of Cham-
berry. The palace, or cajlle, and chapel.
The revalue of Savoy. Defcription of
the Savoyards, and their throats.
LETTER IV. From Turin, p. ^.
The afcent of the Alps, particularly mount
Cenis. Agility of the Alpian chair-
men, Defcription of the chairs of car-
riage, and the frofpecls. Grand ave-
nue from RivoJi to Turin.
LETTER V. From Turin, p. 4 6.
Defcripticn cf Turin. Account of the
king and his family. His father's abdi-
cation, marriage, confpiracy, and im-
prifo'nment. The academy^ palace, and
chapel. Mechanifm of the court. eco-
nomy and grandeur of the Turinefe.
LETTER VI. From Bologna, p. 59.
Opera at Alexandria, Theatre^ cathedral,
and
CONTENTS. xli
and palace at Parma. Difunion of the
duke's motley court. An Italian co-
medy reformed. Theatre at Reggio.
Palace at Modena. Splendor pf Bo-
logna. A piclure by Guido. Charac-
ter of pope Benedict XIV. St. Petro~
nius's church? the cathedral, 'and uni-
verfity of Bologna. Infer iption on an
ancient tablet. Defecls in the Engiifh
univerfities. Defer iption of the library.
LETTER VII. From Florence, p. 73/
New public road between the Appennines.
Hint for public legacies in England.
Water-works and palace of Pratolino.
The Florentine gallery, the Tribune,
andjifltues. Objections to the explanations
of the Whetter. The three Venufes.
LETTER VIII. From Florence, p. 83.
Portraits of eminent painters. Statue and
characler of cardinal Leopold de Me-
dici. Three fho eking reprefentations in
coloured wax -work. Head of Oliver
Cromwell. Statue of Marfyas.
LETTER IX. From Pifa, p. 93.
Poverty and defolation of Pifa. The pen-
file
xlii CONTENTS.
file tower \ and cathedral. Infcription on
an ancient marble. Rife and opulence of
Leghorn. Pifa, probably, a Grecian
colony. The palace, burying-place, aqtie-
ducl, and baths.
LETTERX. From Florence, p. 109.
Characters of Mr. [now Sir Horace] Mann
and Dr. Cochi. The manners ; amufements,
and religion of the Florentines. The office
and employment of a Chichifbee.
LETTER XL From Florence, p. 1 20,
Reference to Mr. Addifon, Mr. Wright,
and Mr. Richardfon. Government of
Florence. Character of count Riche-
court. A triumvirate-regency. Be-
fcription of the Old-Palace. An exe-
cution of an archbijhop. Bifcovery of
the incefi <?/Cofmo I. and his daughter
Ifabella. Her tragical catajlrophe.
Library of manufcripts. Origin of the;
Italian language, and of the academy
della Crufca. Weaknefs and effeminacy
of that language exemplified.
LETTER XII. From Florence, p. 142.
Opera and dancers. The manners of the
Epgliih
CONTENTS. xliii
Englifh contrafted with thofe of foreign-
ers. The theatre. Ill difpojition of
figures. Account of the palace Pitti,
and its founder. Its difproportion.
Caufe of it. Garden of Boboli. Tafte
cf prince Fefd ^id de Medici. Riches
and fpkndcr of the palace Pitti. Re-
flexions on the extinction of the houfe of
Medici, and on the prefent ft ate of Flo-
rence.
LETTER XIII. From Florence, p. 155.
Strength of France. Difadvantages of a
war with it. The French very different
from the Gauls. Criticifm on a paffage
in Mr. Addifon's Travels. Quotation
from Q. Curtius. A buft cf Alexander
the Great defer ibed and explained.
LETTER XIV. From Florence,?. 16 7.
The Italian weather. Uncertainty of it. De-
fcription of the Carnival Two remark-
able changes in the character of the
Italians. Aufterity of the monks of
La Trappe. Origin of the monkifh or-
ders. Thofe monks compared to the
friefis of Dodona, The maufoleum of
tU
m CONTENTS.
the great-dukes. Mr Addifon's opinion
cf it verified An eritaph in the cat.be-
dral of 'Parma. A. defetl in the cathe-
dral of Florence.
LETTER XV. From Florence,?. 179.
Strictures on the gout. The public virtues
and private vices of the princes of Me-
dici. Anecdotes of the murders of car-
dinal John de Medici and his brother
Garcias. Thcfe murders concealed by all
the Italian hiftorians. General charac-
ter of Cofmo I. Ammirato's account
of the above tranfaclion. His confcious
knowledge of it difcovered.
LETTEPv XVI. From Florence, p. 190.
Defetls in the fever al hiftories 0/ Florence.
The dangerous excellence of Machiavel.
Tranflation of a fpeech of Lorenzo de
Medici. Character of Machiavel. Am-
mirato's cenfure of him. Account of
Varchi, Segni, and Ammirato.
LETTER XVII. From Florence, p. 208.
fhe prudence of Ammirato. The virtuous
vejiftance of Bianca Capello. The mur-
der
CONTENTS. xlv
der of her hufband. Her marriage to
the great -duke Francis. Their jho eking
cataftrophe mifreprefented by every print-
ed hiftorian.
LETTERXVIII.FromAfizr/^/&,p.220.
Feaft of St. Philip. Reflections on hif
tory. The revolutions of Europe. The
weaknefs and poverty of Tufcany. A
projeel formed by count Richecourt dif-
appointed. The count's difgujl at the
Englilh. The Florentines jealous of
the Lorrainefe. The ft ate revenue and
expences. The advantages which Eng-
land has over defpotic fates > over Ve-
nice, Holland, and Switzerland. Her
difadv ant ages. Wine fold by the Flo-
rentine nobility.
LETTERXIX. From Marignclls,p. 236.
Sketches of the characters of lords Hun-
tingdon and Stormont. The Italian
rains. Remains of the ancient Fiezole.
The modern Tufcans compared with the
eld Etrurians. Superjiition of the pre-
fent Florentines. Two ruinous monthly
lotteries. Jeremiah the faint in vogue.
The flavery 0/ Florence. Comparative
happinefs of England.
LET.
xlvi CONTENTS.
LETTER XX. From Marignolle, p. 249.
Profufion of Leopold duke of Lorrain.
Propofal made to him by one of his mi-
nijlers. His addrefs to the marchionefs of
*****. Her frank confeffton to her
hufband. Their retreat to Milan, The
duke's amour with a country-girl. Her
marriage to the prince de Craon,, Their
amiable characters. The prince de Cra-
on fupplanted in the regency of Tufca-
ny by count Richecourc
TheGenealogy of the Houfe 0/Medici, p. 2 6$.
N. B. The noble author's notes are diflinguiiH-
ed from thofe of the editor by being marked
with inverted commas " ".
TO
T O
William Duncombe, Efq.
LETTER I.
Lyons , Otlober 2d, 17C4.
SIR,
IMuft refer you to your Maps, if you
will read this letter, and in my future
letters I mall probably talk to you of
roads and hills that are not to be found
upon record, unlefs taken notice of in
one of the vaft volumes of Atlajfes. If
you are wearied in the journey, it is your
own fault : remember you were pofi-
tively refolved upon a correspondence
with one of the Apennigens. Your fon
is young, and can undauntedly climb
even to the top of Parnaflus. Pray take
B him
2 LETTER I.
him with yon, if you ftill hold your re-
folution of following me into Italy.
I had lb often beheld the gaieties of
Paris, and they had made fo fmall an
impreflion on my heart, that I had no
defire to fee them again. "We therefore
immediately ftruck out of the Paris
road, and paffing from Calais through
Artois into French Flanders, we refted
ourfelves at Lijle. The town of Lifle
has nothing in it remarkably curious.
The great fquare (La Place) is very
handfome, and very large *, however,
not equal in fize to Lincoln's- Inn-Fields.
Their houfes are of ftone, fix or (even
flories high, built entirely in the French
manner, which, by want of all kind of
proportion, by windows filled with fmall
panes of thick, yellow, muddy glafs, by
an aukward fort of ornament, like and
very unlike a pediment on the top, have a
difagreeable appearance to an Englijh eye.
The people themfelves feem to poffefs a
happy mixture between the excefs of
French
LETTER I. 3
French gaiety, and the forbidding referve
of Englijh ftiyntfs. The men are genteel
and well bred, the women modeft and
lively •, but the men, as throughout
France, are generally very thin, and the
women exceffively fat.
I had been twice before in the Pais bas 9
and was flruck with reverence a third
time by the fight of archbifhop Fenelor?%
monument at Cambray. It is modeft, plain,
and a proper emblem of his character. It
is placed in the cathedral, which is large
and extremely dark, fo dark that I could
not read monfieur de Fenelon's epitaph ;
but his buft, of white marble, carries in
it a great refemblance of thofe prints and
pictures which I have feen of him. Hu-
mility, goodnefs, and religion, appear
very ftrong characteristics in his counte-
nance.
Over againit the cathedral is another
church, built within thefe ten years, and
dedicated to St. Hubert, the patron of
B 2 hunt-
4 L E T T E R I.
hunting*: his bones are, or are fuppofed
to be, inclofed within a very rich fhrinc
under the high altar. The edifice itfelf
is in the true ftyle of Roman architecture.
The pillars are of a beautiful white free-
done. The floor is of marble. The church
is light, airy, and chearful. It joins to a
very rich abbey. Every fpot belonging
to it appears opulent and profperous,
while the cathedral looks gloomy, defo-
late, and ruinous. Archbifhop Fenelotfs
memory is ftill held in the highefl vene-
* Hubert was fond of hunting, and purfued it
even during the time of divine fervice, at which
he fcarce ever attended. It was in this diverfion
that God won him to himfelf ; for (as it is related
in the hiftory of his life) he faw a flag appear
before him having a crucifix twilled in his horns,
and he heard a voice which threatened him with
the eternal punifhments of hell, if he was not
converted. This miracle is faid to have happened
in the forefl: of Ardennes, Morsri.
<l Enthufiaflic minds and heated imaginations
hear voices and fee viiions. We may ^charitably
fuppofe that St. Hubert really thought the mira-
cle performed."
ration.
LETTER I. 5
ration. The prefent archbifhop is fpo-
ken of flightly, and with a degree of dif-
refpect, if not of contempt. He lives en-
tirely at Paris, and feldom vifits his fee.
I muft now carry you out of Flanders^
through a part of Picardy, and a corner
of the ifle of France (Laon) to Rheims in
Champagne. The cathedral of Rheims is
a pile of Gothic architecture, almofl twice
as large as St. Peter's at Weftminfier. Mr.
Addifon judicioufly obferves, that " if the
u barbarous buildings had been executed
" in a true and juft ftyle, they would
* c have appeared as miracles of architec-
" ture to fucceeding ages." The front
of this ftupendous church confifts of a
vaft number of ftatues : Saints in minia-
ture, placed in little niches, and in exact
fpaces -, fo that the eye is pleafed and
fhocked at the fame time. Magnificence
is mixed with littlenefs, grandeur with
meannefs, proportion with difproportion ;
confequently it creates in our thoughts
an uneafy mixture of admiration and
B 3 con*
6 LETTER 1.
contempt. The painted windows are
all perfect, and the fun has a glorious
effect upon the variety of their colours.
The kings of France are conftantly
crowned at Rheims. The ceremony, I
dare fay, is much more brilliant, though
not more magnificent, than the Englijh
coronations in Wefiminfter abbey. The
French are formed for gaiety, fhew,
and orientation \ the Englijh for dignity,
ferioufnefs, and compofure. The former
follow nature, they are genteel, and
perfectly well adapted to all fcenes of
vanity. The latter pervert nature by
an aukward imitation of the French^
whom they cannot equal, and therefore
become ridiculous.
At a great diflance from the Notre
Dame de Rheims is the lefTer, but richer
church of St. Remi (Remigius*). The
fhrine
* "St. Remigius was archbiihop of Rheims.
An anchorite foretold his birth to his mother,
whofe age was deemed long pall child-bearing.
He
LETTER I. 7
fhrine of this faint is very magnificent •,
it is adorned by a variety of precious
Hones and intaglios, fome of them truly
antique. The holy oil, with which the
fovereigns of France are anointed at their
coronation, is kept in this church. We
were allured, that the celeftial unction
was brought from heaven by an angel,
and that it never decreafes.
Let me not detain you by accounts of
fuperflitious impofitions, in many of
which, perhaps, the perfon who impofed,
worked himfelf up to a degree, thac
made him at lead believe his own inven-
tions. In many more, prieftcraft and
worldly lucre have prevailed : and, in
all, folly, ignorance, and narrownefs of
thought. I faw the holy oil, bits of the
Bethlehem cradle, and a piece of St. Some-
He was a man of letters for thofe times. He
is mentioned as fuch by Apollinaris Sidonius.
See Moreri, from whom Collier, in his dic-
tionary, differs fome hundred years in point of
chronology. The point at prefent is no longer
material. Saints are going down hill very fait."
B 4 bodfs
S L E T T E R I.
body's thumb, with pity, fcarce unattend-
ed by derifion. But when I viewed the
immenfe edifices built in honour, and to
the glory of Almighty God, I could not
avoid reflecting, that they bore a testi-
mony of devotion in our forefathers,
which might tacitly ftrike their irreli-
gious pofterity with fhame. It is impof-
fible to enter one of thefe immenfe edifi-
ces, without a kind of awe, which,
when unattended by fuperitition, mult,
we may humbly hope, be acceptable to
a Creator, who, at the fame time that he
appears incomprehenfible, has ftill given
his creatures fufficient knowledge of his
will, to require from them adoration, and
a dutiful fubmifiion to fuch of his laws,
as are adequate to their comprehenfion.
From Rbeims we went to Dijon, a large
well fortified town in Burgundy, lying in
the direct way from Paris to Lyons. The
roads through which we pafied afforded
us the greateft variety of woods, rivers,
and beautiful profpects, that imagination
could
LETTER I. 9
could have formed, fond as it is of raif-
ing pleafurable ideas, which are feldom,
very feldom, anfwered. In France, the
poverty of the people and the fruitful-
nefs of the foil are circumilances, that
excite wonder and companion. They
are obliged to plow their ground every
year, neverthelefs it produces corn.
The women (I fpeak of the common
people) are more induftrious than the
men : they labour, they carry burdens.
The hufband is Hercules with the diflafF;
the wife is Omphale with the lion's fkin.
All the great cities, and the diflricls be-
longing to them, at once proclaim the
power and the fhame of this arbitrary
government. The French nobles are clad
in purple. The French peafants have
fcarce fackcloth to cover them. There
is no medium between laced cloaths and
rags. The equipages and number of
horfes feem to anfwer the wealth of the
Indies. The perfons who make thofe
equipages, and who provide food for
i thofe
io LETTER I.
thofe horfes, have not bread to eat ; yet
you have heard, and with great truth,
that a ragged French beggar is merrier
by nature, than a rich Englijh nobleman
can make himfelf by art. Education is
faid to be a fecond nature: climate, I
believe, is a fecond education.
The people in the provinces, through
which we have parTed, complain extreme-
ly of the rapine of the farmers-general.
The peafants murmur, but maintain
their loyalty \ yet that virtue is much
lefs than I found it twenty years ago.
They then adored their King, they now
think it fufficient to honour him. I have
flown, like a bird of paffage, you find,
through a large part of the French re-
gions.
We left Lincoln' 's-bm- Fields the 20th
of September : we have met with no un-
toward accident : we have been free
from complaints of every kind ; and we
have enjoyed the fineft and the warmeft
weather, that has been ever remembered
at
LETTER I, II
at this feafbn of the year. Our pafiage
from Dover to Calais was no longer than
three hours and ten minutes. From Ca-
lais to this place we have paned mod of
our time in poft-chaifes, often wifhing
for the eyes of Argus and the wings of
Daedalus, but finding no effect from our
wifhes. Let Scaliger defcribe to you the
fpot on which we have at prefent fixed
our tents.
JFIumineis Rhodanus^ qua fe fugat^ inci-
tus undis,
§uaque pigro dubitat fiumine mitts
Arar^
Lugdunum Jacet, antique novus orbis in
crbe;
Lugdunumque vetus, orbis in orbe
novo *. My
* This epigram is written in letters of gold,
over the great gate of the Town-Houfe. There
are four other lines, 'viz.
Quod no/is, alibi qua r as, hie queer e quod optes,
Aut hie, aut nufquam -vincere vota potes.
Lugduni, quodcunque potejl dare mimdus, habebis,
P for a pel as y hac urbs et tibi plura dab it.
Where
ii L E T T E R I.
My next mall be a comment on this
fcrap of poetry : 'till then, let this af-
fure yon, that I and my female travelling
companions are, and will be, in all parts
of the world, truly your's,
CORKE.
Where the Rhone rufiies with impetuous tides,
And the Sacne's lazy current fcarcely glides,
A new world in the old, we Lyons view,
Lyons, an old world alio in the new !
Here no difgufts, all pleafures, you may meet,
And here, or no where, every wifh complete.
Lyons affords whate'er the world can give,
And more, if more you afk, at Lyons you'll re-
ceive.
Mr. Wright juftly obferves, that, " if the city of
" Lyons had not a Sannazarius to celebrate her
" praifes, fhe feems to have had as good a
•* friend, though a worfe poet, in the author
«* of the above,"
LETTER
C 13 3
L E T T E R II.
Lyons t Oftoher 4th, 1754.
DEAR SIR,
LE T us flop, if you pleafe, a little
at Lyons. It is one of the largeft
and moil flourifhing cities of France. Its
trade and fuuation are circumfcances that
contribute much to its grandeur. The
buildings are fine, particularly the town-
houfe, and two fides of the great fquare,
anfwerable to each other in fize, height,
and difpofition. In the middle is a large
equeflrian ftatue of Lewis XIV, and on
each fide of him, at an exact diftance,
are two fountains, very properly adorned
with figures in bronze. During the fum-
mer-time they are conftantly playing, and
give an agreeable refrefnment to the
place. A third fide of the fquare is filled
by
14 L E T T E R II.
by a beautiful little grove : the fourth
confifrs only of old irregular houfes.
But firfl let us confider Lyons as a
city of the Celtic-Gaul. It was built by
L. Munatius Plancus ^ the particular
friend of Cicero^ who pays him that
very elegant compliment, which has been
lince fo often applied to more modern
generals : Omnia fumma confecutus es, vir-
tute duce, comite fortund *. It is to
Plancus that Horace fo gaily prefcribes
wine ; either when encamped and fixed
amidft the din and clafli of arms, or deeply
retired amidft the filence and folitude of
a rural life :
Tu fapiens finire memento
^riftitiam^ vitaque labores,
Molli, Plance, mero\ feu tefulgentiajlgms
Cajira tenent, feu denfa tenebit
Tiburis umbra tui f . Lib, i. Ode 7.
Plancus
* " Thou haft furmounted every difficulty,
*' virtue being thy guide, and fortune thy com-
«« panion."
f Do thou, difcreetly, with a friend,
And generous wine, thy brows unbend,
Whether
LETTER II. 15
Plancus was a Reman of high birth*
and higher reputation. He was the per-
fon, who is faid to have perfuaded the
fecond Ctefar to aflame the name of Au~
guftus^ inftead of Oclavius. Little elo-
quence was necefTary, I prefume, to byafs
the emperor towards the exchange.
Plancus^ (indulge me a little in dwell-
ing on a favourite character) was early-
bred to arms. He had commanded a
legion in the time of Julius Ctefar. Soon
after the death of that emperor, he em-
ployed himfelf and his foldiers in build-
ing Lugdunum - 9 perhaps not without fome
particular ambitious view. The confu-
iion of the commonwealth, confequent
to the murder of C*efar 9 was fuch as al-
lowed, and even compelled, every Ro-
man to provide for himfelf againfl out-
rage, and impending ruin. But as my
thoughts of Plancus are purely ideal, I
Whether the camp thy fancy warms,
Or Tibur fooths with peaceful charms,
4 quit
i6 LETTER II.
quit the fubject, and pafs from furmife
to reality.
Lugdunum was originally built in an
ifland, that bore a triangular form. The
little channel, which then rendered it an
ifland, has been long fince filled up - 9 and
the two rivers, the Rhone and the Saone*
\Rhodanus et Arar] flow on each fide of
the town in a parallel manner.
No city has been more celebrated than
Lugdunum, for the birth and refidence of
great men. Augnjlus refided there three
years. Claudius was born there in the
744th year of Rome, It was. alfo the
birth-place of Caracalla and Geta> and
the retreat of Domitian, who, in his ex-
cellent brother's life-time, withdrew to
Lugdunum, under a pretence of ftudy,
and with a fpecious intention of exerciflng
his rare talents in poetry. Tacitus * how-
ever feems to give another turn to the re-
treat ; he hints as MBomitian retired from
•■'* See the latter end of the ivth book of hi*
hiHory."
Rome,
LETTER II. 17
Rome, to hide that fecret ambition of em-
pire, and that envy of his brother's cha-
racter, which he conftantly retained in
his bofom, and which might have been
difcovered by fome prying eyes at Rome.
Plancus died, (I think) in his fecond
confulfhip, above eighty years of age,
full of honours, and crowned with his
own laurels. You will find him men-
tioned in the annals of Tacitus*, in a re-
markable manner. Cicero and he were
conftant correfpondents. He was one of
thofe diftinguifhed characters of antiqui-
ty, which, by a different manner of edu-
cation, later ages muft always admire,
but can never imitate.
Among the antiquities to be ^en at
Lyons, fcarce any one appears more cu-
rious in its kind, than the fpeech of the
emperor Claudius, engraven on two ta-
blets of brafs *. The fpeech itfelf, though
* " This fpeech is inferted, with a tranflation of
<c it, in Les Antiquith de la ville de Lyon, tome i.
*' chap. vii. p. 226." It is alfo printed by Mr,
C full
iff L E T T E R II.
full of art, eloquence, and what would
be termed in thefe our days, knowledge
of the world, is particularly deficient in
what we efteem politenefs. In one part
it degenerates into abfolute invective.
An evident proof that the urbanitas Ro-
mano, and the urbanitas Britannica are
widely different. The purport of the
fpeech is to obtain for the Lugdunenfis all
thofe privileges, which the moll dignified
Roman colonies enjoyed.
To judge by the oration itfelf, it is
fcarce poffible to fuppofe that Claudius,
in his afcending days of life, was of that
imminuta mentis* , which 'Tiberius imagi-
ned bim. Empire, age, indolence, and
luxury, might afterwards render him
* Etiam de Claudio agitanti, quod is compojitd
at ate bonarum artium cupiens erat, imminuta mens
4jus objlitit. AnnaU Lib. VI.
" Thinking of Claudius, as he was of mature
*' and fettled years, and defirous of inftruftion,
" his mean underjianding was an objection."
«* Claudius was only cenfor when he fpoke this
mtmorable oration before the fenate of Ro?ne"
defec-
LETTER II. 19
defective, and paralytic in his faculties ;
but even Tiberius allowed, that his inten-
tions were good, and indeed this fpeech
in favour of his countrymen, and in de-
fence of himfelf, is a ftrong inftance, that
they were fo. — The original tables are
fixed in the veftibule of the town-houfe.
They were placed in their prefent fitua-
tion during the minority of Lewis XIV,
in the year 1657.
You will find in Tacitus a remarkable
anecdote of the Lugdunenfes. The city
of Lugdunum y in the beginning of Nero's
reign, was entirely burnt. The empe-
ror gave a large fum of money to repair
fo public a difafter. In remembrance of
fuch a benefit, this colony could never be
induced to defert their benefactor, no,
not even when all the reft of the colonies
had unanimoufly, and indeed juftly, for-
faken him. Lugdunenjis colonia, fays Ta-
citus •, pertinaci pro Ner one fide*. Is not
* u The colony of Lugdunum had an obftinate
" attachment to Avn>."
C2 fo
20 LETTER II,
fo fteady an inftance of gratitude much
to their honour ?
I do not recoiled that Domitian is faid
to have given any benefactions towards
the repair of Lugdunum. Thofe of Tra-
jan are highly extol led. The Forum ve*
tus Trajani is recorded as one of the
many noble works of that emperor. It
remained entire to the reign of Charles the
Bald. It was on a hill, which lies above
the prefent city, and where many pieces of
antiquity are ftill vifible. On the fame hill
is a church dedicated to the virgin Mary,
and to our famous Englijh faint, Thomas
Beckett archbifhop of Canterbury. Bechet,
you may remember, is faid to have refid-
ed at Lyons, and though the faints in
general are in their wane, at leaft in this
part of the world, yet our Engli/h Tho-
mas maintains his ground with fome
degree of veneration and fplendor in
the Celtic Caul -, or my landlord, Monf,
le Blanc, deceives and flatters me, I
muft take his word, being difappointed
of
LETTER II. 21
of feeing the place. For the. derivation
of the word Lvgdunum I refer you to
Slrabo, Plutarch, and fuch other anti-
quarians, as yon pleafe to confult. Studies
of that fort are more trifling than impro-
ving, more fabulous than hiftorical.
Sunt magni nominis umbra.
From the time of the firft foundation
of this city, it has been famous for its
trade and manufactures. It is fituated to
maintain its commerce to the end of the
world.
I have faid too much perhaps of the
ancient Lugdunum, and too little of the
modern Lyons; but alas! my accounts
of both muft be very imperfedt. I have
neither books nor companions to inftruc~t
me. My travelling fervant babbles all
languages, but fpeaks none. My land-
lord is a barber, qui f rife Men la the, and
confequently underftands how to adorn
the outfide, but cannot improve the
in fide of any head whatever. I go from
}ience this afternoon, and hope to pierce
C 3 through
22 L E T T E R II.
through the Alps without the help of vi-
negar. The firft opportunity that occurs
fhall bring another letter to you, in which
I will be more explicit than I have been
hitherto, in defcribing the fecond city of
France in its prefent glory.
I am ever yours,
C O R K E,
LETTER
t n 3
LETTER III.
Chamberry, O Sober 6th, 17540
WE are now, dear fir, in the capi-
tal of Savoy, the dirtieft capital
in Europe, nay, I believe, in the whole
world; but I am in honour bound to
return with you to Lyons, before we ram-
ble together through the flreets of Cham-
berry.
The chief traffic of Lyons confifts in
the richeft gold and filver filks. Much
of it, if not the whole, is manufactured
in or near the city. The raw filk is
chiefly brought from Piedmont. In our
road to Chamberry we met many mules,
heavily laden with this commodity. It
is a merchandife, that has long proved
fatal to Great Britain, Our exceflive
Britijh vanity, by an infatiable thirft of
C 4 French
24 LETTER III.
French filks, has forced away great
wealth from our ifland. On the other
hand, it mull be true Engtijh obftinacy
to fay, that the filks of Spital-fields arc
equal to the f eyerie Lionnefe : but it may
be affirmed, that if we really loved our
country better than ourfelves, or endea-
voured to make the general profperity
preferable to the ornaments of Individu-
als, millions of our money mult have
circulated at home, that now fluctuate
throughout the continent -, and feldom
find their way back again to England.
Lewis XIV. never acted more impoli-
ticly towards the ftate, nor more fervilely
towards the church, than when he drove
fuch numbers of Proteftants out of
France , as weakened the manufactures
of his own kingdoms, and improved
the manufactures of his neighbours.
Cardinal Fleury^ who, without the title,
was actual king of Fra?ice during many
years, faw the errors of the preceding
reign, in not giving fufficient attention
and
LETTER III. 25
and encouragement to trade. By peace
and policy, he corrected thofe errors :
and to him Lyons owes the prefent face,
which it bears, of opulence and profpe-
rity. The fhops are large, well filled,
various, and ornamental. The flreets,
efpecially thofe to the two rivers, have a
breadth and length, that give the city a
remarkable air of magnificence. In the
middle of the Rhone ftanus a rock, very
craggy and very high, almoft inaccefTible.
On the top of it is a fmall building. Do
not expect the temple of Virtue, yet
expect fomething very like it, though it
be a prifon : alas ! it is a prifon, in
which are confined thofe fons of liberty,
who dare oppofe arbitrary power. Such
a fight, even at a great diftance, frrikes
horror, you may be certain, to an Englijh
eye. Wonder not therefore if I haftened
from it to view other parts of the town,
efpecially the fquares •, the chief of which
I mentioned to you in the beginning of
my lail letter, as containing an equef-
trian
26 LETTER III.
trian ftatue of Lewis XIV. This excited
my curiofity, and drew my attention fof
fome hours, during my fhort flay at
Lycns. It is a noble figure, but, like
all human compofitions, has its faults.
The inferiptions upon it are not fulfome.
He is neither called invictus, nor im-
mortalis ; nor is he fupported by flaves
in chains. In the majeftic air of his per-
fbn, the copy, I dare believe, has not
outdone the original. No man appeared
more graceful on horfeback. Nature
fitted him to act the part of a king, but
not of a hero. He was the ornament
and example of his own court. He was
a model of politenefs to every prince in
Europe. He has had more flatterers, and
has deferved more admirers, than any
fovereign. his grandfather * excepted,
that ever filled the Gallic throne. I have
read rrjany characters of him. Thofe
* Henry IV,
5 com-
LETTER III. 27
compiled by Larrey*, Martiniere f, and
other laborious adulators, exhibit a por-
trait, in which few traces of refemblance
can be found. They hide him in clouds
of flattery, or they expofe him, like a
king upon a fign, in coarfe, fulfome,
glaring colours, fit only to attract the
eyes of the vulgar and the ignorant.
The character; of him by monfieur de
Voltaire is drawn in a mafterly manner,
yet in every flroke the partial hand of
the Frenchman, the Voltaire, is too per-
ceptible. The outlines of the abbe Choify
pleafe and inftrnct, but they are few and
unconnected. I think I have gathered
more of his true private character from
the loofe undefigning pen of his coufin-
* " His hiftory of England; 3 fays Voltaire,
u was efteemed, before the publication of Radix's,
u but his hiftory of Lewis XIV. never was." He
died at Berlin in 1719.
f " The hiftory of Lewis XIV. under the name
" of Martiniere" fays the fame writer, " is every
w where faulty ; confounds names, dates, and
{' events."
germaa,
23 LETTER III.
germ an, niqifelle de * Montpenjler^
than from any other writer.. By her anec-
dotes I am induced to admire him, ari
his family and courtiers, as one of the
fineft and compleateft gentlemen of his
time and nation. He was happy in his
own difpofitjon and temper, and that hap-
pinefs diffufed itfelf to all who were near
him. His perfonal accomplishments were
eminent and captivating. Let us look a
little into his mind. His vanity was fecret-
ed by his modefly. His profufenefs was
* Daughter of Gafion, duke of Orleans, and
grand-daughter of Henry IV. Her cruel treat-
ment by the king her coufm, for marrying the
count (afterwards duke) de Laufun, is well known,
and muft ever impeach both the juili.ee and huma-
nity of that prince. See the Age of Lewis XIV.
chap. 25. and TalbotV Letters on the French
Nation, vol. ii. p. 60—64. " Her memoirs,"
fays Voltaire, " are rather thofe of a woman
ct full of herfelf, than of a princefs, who had
** been a witnefs of great events : but many cu-
•* rious particulars are contained in them." She
died in 1693.
foftened
LETTER III. 29
foftened into generofity, not only by his
manner of giving, but becaufe he openly
cherifhed, and unboundedly protected
every art and fcience in the world. His
infidelity as an hufband is much palliated,
when we confider the peevifhnefs and
fimplicity of his wife. His ignorance
was covered by his prudence. Confcious
of his own defects, he corrected them in
the education of his fon-, tacitly lament-
ing his own want of erudition. His
devotion degenerated into the too com-
mon extreme of bigotry ; which never
fails to produce the blindnefs of cruelty,
and the deafnefs of oppreffion. Except
in his falie notions of religion, he was
generous, companionate, and humane.
His talents, if not mining, at lead: were
ftrong and clear. His private conduct
was always decent, often fplendid, never
mean. During the favours of fortune,
he indulged his vanity. During her
frowns, he behaved himfelf with true
philolbphy. He died more heroically
in
go LETTER 111.
in his bed than he had ever appeared in
his camp. Confider him in his regal
fphere; though he was far from being
a perfectly good prince, he was almoft
as far from being a bad one. Nature
formed him (as (he has formed mofl men,
to whom me gives paflions and abilities)
a remarkable mixture of good and evil.
The good part attended the man •, the
evil part, the monarch. His ambi-
tion was inexcufable, as it has occafion-
ed moil of the calamities, that have
been fince felt in Europe.
The town-houfe at Lyons > is not only
fplendid without, but very magnificent
within. It confirms of many fine rooms,
adorned with the portraits of the royal
family, and of the chief and mofl emi-
nent magiftrates of the city. Each cham-
ber is fitted up andfurnifhedfor the par-
ticular bufinefs, to which it is adapted.
The armoury, which is (hewn to
ftrangers as a great curiofity, is by no
means equal to the armoury in the
Tower
LETTER III. 31
Tower of London. Had I never feen
the latter, the former poflibly might
have appeared worthy of admiration.
At Lyons we went to a French comedy.
It was well performed, and well decorat-
ed; but, unlefs I am very partial, when
we took leave of the Englifh theatre, we
quitted fenfe, nature, action, dignity,
and all the proper and graceful decora-
tions of the ftage.
I have now faid enough of Lyons and
Lugdunttm. If I am to lpeak of France
in general, I look upon it as a great
and powerful monarchy. The extent of
it may be known by maps-, but the
ftrength of it is a fecret, not eafily to
be guefTed at, but fufficiently revealed
to make the Englifh cautious and wary
how they enter into a war with a nation,
whofe magazines of all forts are ftnpen-
dous, whofe kingdom is fertile and well
cultivated, whofe people, however dif-
united, as indeed at prefent upon parti-
cular points in church or date, never
fail,
o Z LET T E R III.
fail, at the lcaft appearance of an enemy,
to join themfelves into an impenetrable
phalanx, and to appear in the field, as
cne foul informing many thoufand bo-
dies. We miitake and mifconftrue their
faculties. Their gaiety, v/e imagine, fol-
ly, their prudence, we mifcall, infin-
cerity • their ftrength we defpife. Our
falfe judgment may, one day or other,
coil us dear. The French, (already nu-
merous and prolific) if tjiey fuifered a
natural commerce to fubfift between their
nuns and friars, would fwarm and over-
run the world.
Before I left Lyons, I had a glimpfe of
the archbifhop, cardinal Tencin. His fi-
gure is tall, and his mien noble and en-
gaging. He vifits and captivates all
itrangers. He lives in great hofpitality ;
but he lives in banifhment. Some par-
ticulars, relative to this not unfortunate
exile, may perhaps be the fubjedb of a
future letter. At prefcnt let me guide
you into Savoy.
i How
LETTER III. 33
How have I been miftaken in my ex-
pectations of Chamberry ? I had read fo
much in news-papers, treaties, and mo-
dern hiftory, of this metropolis, that I
had painted it in my own mind a noble,
large, and magnificent city, adorned with
churches, fteeples, convents, and palaces,
decorated again by pictures, ftatues, and.
coftly furniture. Judge then of my
furprife, when I beheld it one of the
pooreil, dirtied, filthiefr towns that I had
ever feen. The houfes are dark, the
ftreets narrow, the convents miferable.
The palaces of the nobility are unin-
habited, except by vermin. Grafs grows
plentifully in the court-yards. Not a
coach, nor a chair, unlefs filled with
paffengers, is- ever heard rumbling thro'
the ftreets.
We have feen the king's palace. The
apartment of it (there is but one,) was
burnt fome years ago, when the prefent
duke of Parma * was in poflTeflion of
* The Infant Don Philip of Spain,
D Chamberry,
54 LETTER III.
Cbamberry. His royal highnefs narrow-
ly efcaped with life. The fire began
in the kitchen, over which was his bed-
chamber, and increafed fo fiercely, that
he had not time to put on his cloaths.
Many important papers are faid to have
been deftroyed in the flames.
The palace, or rather the remainder of
it, is a cafile. Over the gate-way are
the governor's lodgings, remarkable on-
ly for their height, being fituated on an
eminence, which commands the town
and adjacent country. The chapel is
clean, which diftinguifhes it very vifibly,
as the houfe of God,
The town is well fortified. It ought
to be fo. It lies in a tempting fituation
to France ; and France is eafily tempted.
In general, Savoy bears the utmoft ap-
pearance of poverty in its villages, its
people, and its foil. The revenue from
it arifing ro the king of Sardinia is, one
hundred and fifty thoufand pounds a
year.
The
LETTER III. 35
The inhabitants (I dare fay, ninety of
them in an hundred) afford a furprifing
fpectacle to ftrangers. The men, wo-
men, and children, (I ipeak of the ple-
beians, not having feen the face of a gen-
tleman) have great fwellings * on the out-
fide of their throats, occafioned, accord-
ing to our information, by the unwhole-
fomenefs of the water, and the feverity of
the winter feafon. Thefe fwellings are
efteemed rather beauties than defects.
The grandfather beholds a fwelling. under
his grand-daughter's chin, of the fize of
a walnut, and pioufly hopes to fee it in-'
creafe to the fize of a pear. The huf-
band expects a fwelling in the throat of
his
* Mr, Duncomhe y in anfwer to this letter, fays,
4X Signor Baretti, in his account of the paiTage
<( over mount Cents, and of the Savoyards, com-
" municated to Mr. Richard/on (See the Hiftory
" of Sir Charles Grandifon, Vol. IV. Letter 16.)
u fays, that the people are of an olive complex-
M ion,
3 6 LETTER III.
his heir apparent, or he doubts the chaf-
tity of his confort. Baboons keep an
hoard of victuals in their throats, but
the Savoyards have not victuals fufficient
to lpare a referve. Upon the whole, the
Savoyards feem to be a very fingular,
and a very infignificant people ; of little
ufe to their prince, of much lefs to them-
felves. In England they are known by
their raree-fhews, but fcarce mentioned
on any other occafion. They have no
characterise, by which they are dif-
tinguifhed. They are a nation of
Throats *.
To-
" ion, and that many of them, especially the
" women, have large wens under their chins.'*
And again
* QJ " Should not the Savoyards be called
** a nation of 'wemiy throats, as thofe enormous
" wens are their characleriflic ? The obvious
€t meaning of " a nation of throats " is a
" greedy voracious people. McJJlus, mentioned
•' by Horace in his journey to Brundufiwn (Sat. 5.
u lib. I. <ver. 58.) feems to have been one of
" their
LETTER III. 27
To-morrow we begin to climb the
Alps. We are at the foot of them al-
" their anceftors. As to that diforder, fee Pliny t
UL 26. cap. \.
Anfwer. " The throats of the Savoyards are
not wens. They are not of the fort defcribed by
Horace in his account of the droll combat between
the buffoon Sarmentus and Cicerrus Meffius, called
Cicerrus probably from the cicer on the left fide
of his face which he had lately cutoff. From
that paffage it is evident that the people of Cam-
pania were liable to thefe cicers (buttons or fmall
wens) which Horace calls Campanus morbus, per-
haps as liable as the inhabitants of Savoy are to
their pouch or purfe-throats, which do not ap-
pear to be of the hard wenny kind, but to hang
more or lefs loofe, as the glands are more or lefs
fwelled. It was impoffible to go near them with-
out fome degree of horror, and even the fight of
them was difagreeable."
*' An Englijh lady of quality, who refided fome
years at Turing imagined every morning, when fhe
awoke, that her throat had fwelled in the night,
and that it was becoming a Savoyard throat as
fall as poflible. Such fights to vapourilh and ten-
der imaginations are very impreffive."
D 3 ready.
3 8 LETTER III;
ready. When our Herculean labour is
finifhed, from the firft place of reft you
ihail hear again from
Your faithful, and affectionate
humble fervant,
C ORKL
LETTER
[ 39 3
L E T T E R IV.
Turin, Ottoler 1 2th, 1 754.
DEAR SIR,
AT the foot of Chamberry commence
the Alps. The afcent of the firft
moun ain is very fteep, but well paved,
and furhciently broad. A pair of oxen
is conftantly added to the chaife-horfes ;
but in the fubfequent mountains, which
are many, all as fleep, and feveral of
them narrower and worfe paved than the
firft, no oxen are to be found. Over
different parts of thefe, we had recourfc
to our own feet, and you may be cen tin
that I mud be very free from the ;ou to
go through fuch an undertaking. Three
days were thus paffed in afce lg i
defccnding thefe towering ( ir
lodgings at night were worfe i; . .if,
D 4 ferent.
4 o L E T T E R IV.
ferent. The third evening brought us to
a little village called Lanebourgh, where
our chaiies were taken to pieces, and all
preparations made for the immenfe at-
chievement of the next morning ; the
pafTage over mount Cents.
The accounts which had been given
me of mount Cents had magnified the
object to fuch a degree, that, when I
viewed it with my naked eye, it appeared
much lefs dreadful than I had fuppofed
it Height it has, tremendous. Hor-
ror it has, unuiual. So has Penmen-
maure^ fo has Penmenrofs \ but in truth
the mod amazing circumftance is the
manner of conveyance.
It was difficult not to feel fome unea-
fy fenfations when we firft intruded our
limbs and lives to the power and manage-
ment of that particular fpecies of ani-
mals, the Alpian chairmen. Some few
minutes pafTed in fears, till we perceived
our porters drong as giants, and nimble
as racers. They did not mifs a fingle
ftep,
L E T T E R IV. 4I
ftep. They trod firm upon tottering
ftones. They jumped from one ftone to
another with the agility of goats. They
relieved each other at proper intervals,
and feemed never to have known danger
or fatigue. Our apprehenfions therefore
were di/lipated in fome few minutes, and
in little more than two hours we found
ourfelves on the top of the mountain.
We walked over the plain, our carriages
being uneafy on level ground. To fpeak
the truth, our carriers were rather inat-
tentive and carelefs, where there was nei-
ther peril nor precipice. Undoubtedly
they know, that every Irijh Goliah can
carry a chair fafely through Pall- Mall %
and St. James's park, but he muft be
a true Piedmont efe indeed who can car-
ry a chair over the Alps. At the defcent,
they were again themfelves, and con-
veyed us down with the utmoft h/iftnefs y
fteadinefs, and eafe. In the windings of
the hill, which are many, they mewed
great dexterity, and feemed to go on pur-
pofc
42 L E T T E R IV.
pofe to the very brink of precipices, only
to convince us, that they could turn
to an hair, and carry to an inch. The
1 afcent is, according to my beft informa-
tion, five miles continued, and fo fbeep,
that no carriage can pafs. The plain
upon the top is five miles over : every
inch fmooth and green as a fheep-walk.
In the middle of it is a large lake, from
which arifes the river Boria, which runs
to Turin, and, in conjunction with the
P<?, fupplies that city with water. The
defcent is five miles, but not continued ;
therefore it appears lefs fteep. In the
middle of it lies the town of Santa Croce,
from whence our eyes, as we defcended,
were charmed by the fertile country of
Piedmont.
The chairs of carriage are like thofe
i of Bath, efpecialjy in bad weather, when
they are covered with a rug. The prof-
peel, on each fide, of tall firs, chefnuts,
and larch-trees, of vaft natural water-
falls, and of roaring mountain-rivers,.
affords
LETTER IV. 4?
affords a kind of furprifing variety, which
is at once awful, pleafing, and beyond
defcription in any language whatever.
We refrefhed ourfelves and- our con-
ductors at the little village called Santa
Croce^ [Holy Grafs'] where the principali-
ty of Piedmont begins. There we met
with three or four perfons^of our own na-
tion, purfuing their journey into Savoy,
They very kindly invited us to drink
ibme wine, of which they were taking
frequent draughts, at the fame time that
they confeiTed it to be very bad, — but it
was wine — and they were true Britons.
Mr. Addifon^ I remember, quotes Silius
Italiais, to prove that the Alpszxt always
covered with fnow. Not the leaft fnow
was to be ittv\ upon mount Cenis, and
very little upon one or two of the higher
mountains that fur rounded us : a pleaf-
ing circumfcance to convince us, that our
i was uncommonly fine.
At a little town called Novolezza, the
(battered limbs of our chaifes, which from
Lanebourgb-
44 L E T T E R IV,
Lanebourgh had been carried upon mules,
were by a kind of Median art, joined
together again -> and again our baggage
was ftrictly fearched at the cuftom-houfe,
the tormenting remora of every little ter-
ritory through which we pafTed.
We reached Suza the fame night. It
is one of the beft fortified towns in the
world ; but fo much ceremony is neceffa-
ry in obtaining a permiflion to view the
infide fortifications, that it is fcarce worth
any traveller's folicitude, unlefs he is
purfuing a military life, to trouble the
Sardinian miniflers for a licence to fee
them.
This afternoon brought us to Turin.
It is now three and twenty days fince we
left London \ fo that, deducting our rett-
ing days at Calais, Lyons, and Cbamberry,
we have performed the journey in lefs
than three weeks. You cannot call us
dilatory travellers.
The road from Suza to Turin is re-
markably good, and is rendered ngree-
8 able
L E T T E R IV. 40
able by diflant mountains, vineyards, and
a variety of profpects. The lafl nine
miles of it from Rivoli, where the king
has a little hunting-feat, are peculiarly
nne. They form one long walk, of a
fuitable breadth, planted regularly like a
garden, with trees, on each fide, of about
fifty years growth, reaching to the gate?;
of the town. A church, placed upon
the top of a hill above the town, anfwers
the middle of the avenue : fo that the
city appears with a triple crown, fhaped
firft by its own fleeples and towers, then
by the rifing hill, and then again by the
church, which is a modern and beautiful
piece of architecture,
Ac prefent, good night. Expect a
farther defcription of this metropolis in
a day or two, from,
Dear fir,
Your faithful fervant and traveller,
C O R K E,
LETTER
I 46 ]
LETTER V.
Turin, Oftoher 16th, 1 754.
TH E city of Turin 9 dear fir, is not
large, nor can it in any fenfe
he called magnificent. The fame may
be faid of the king's palace. There is a
very pleafing neatnefs peculiar to both.
Plenty of water, as in Salijbury 9 runs
through every ftreet; with this differ-
ence, in the city of Sarum, it is choaked
•up by filth and garbage, in Turin it
.keeps the flreets perfectly clean.
We have feen the royal family, not in
a ceremonious manner, but as travellers.
The king, who is in his fifty-fecond year,,
looks much older. He is thin ; his fea-
ture is low ; and he appears lower by
{looping, nor carries any characteristic,
in his countenance, except of age *i He
* He died at Turin, February zo, 1773*
has
L E T T E R V. 37
has had three wives. By his firft, he had
no children ; by his fecond, he had the
prefent duke of Savoy *, and the three
princefTes \ by his third, the duke of
Chablais.
The duke of Savoy has two fons ; his
eldeft is prince of Piedmont \ his fecond,
who was born fome few days before our
arrival, was immediately upon his birth,
created duke of Montferat-\,
The king in his younger days is faid
to have been of a gay and fprightly dif-
pofition \ but foon after the death of his
father he contracted a more ferious beha-
viour, which is now growing apace into
the melancholy of devotion. His chief
amufement is hunting, where he takes all
* Married in 1750 to the infanta Maria Antoni-
€tta of Spain.
f He is fince dead. The duke of Savoy has
now four other fons, viz. the duke of Aojl, (born
1750) duke of Montferat, (1762) duke de Gene-
a/cis, (1765) and the count de Maureinne ; and
three daughters* one of whom is contra&ed to the
Count d'Jrtois, youngeft brother to the Dauphin
of Francu
7 t\\t
4 8 L E T T E R V.
the delightful fatigue, which fo mighty
an exercife requires. Hunting is a kind
of fafhionable royal diverfion -, at lead,
innumerable kings, fince Nimrcd, have
had that glorious inclination. Virgil
feems to characlerife Afcanius for future
heroic actions, by faying,
Op tat aprum, aut fulvum defcendere monte
leonem *.
One particular anecdote of the Sardinian
monarch was related to me, as a certain
truth. If the eagernefs of the chace hap-
pens accidentally to lead him near Mont-
calUer y he turns his eyes and horfe as fall
as pofllble from that cattle. His father
died there, under fuch circumftances as
muft afFect a fon. The account is not
unworthy of your attention.
Viftor Amadeus, father of the prefent
* JEn. IV. <ver. 159.
He rather would the tu/ky boar attend,
Or fee the tawny lion downward bend.
Dryden.
king
L E T T E R V. 49
king of Sardinia, had made a confidera-
ble figure in the annals of Europe. He
had appeared a great foldier, and was
known to be a great politician. In the
decline of his life, the latter part of that
character was not a little fullied. He
involved himfelf in a difadvantageous
treaty with France, and he degraded his
royalty by a marriage. The lady, whom
he chofe for his wife, in the fame private
manner that the famous Maintenon had
been chofen by Lewis XIV. was called
madame de Sebajiien. She was the wi-
dow of an officer of that name. She had
been maid of honour to the king's mo-
ther. She was at that time extremely
handfome, but always of an intriguing,
ambitious temper. The king had paid
his addreffes to her, net unfuccefsfuily,
in his youth. The vigilance of his mo-
ther, and his own good judgment, put a
flop to any fatal progrels in that amour,
But finding himfelf abfolutely contain-
ed to fulfil his impolitic engagements
E with
50 LETTER V.
with France, he determined to refign his
crown to his fon •, who being under no
fuch engagements, might openly repair
the injudicious ftep, which his father had
taken. On one and the fame day, Ama-
deus delivered up his crown, and married
his former miftrefs, whom he had not
long before created marchionefs di Spigno,
a town in Italy in the dutchy of Montfe-
rat. His abdication was public ; his
marriage was private. The king and the
marchionefs immediately retired to Cham-
berry. The heat of love had been long
fince over. The heat of ambition {till
remained. The young king foon acted
the part, in which he had been fully in-
ftructed by his father, mingling with it
a fcene or two of his own. He difcard-
ed king Fitter's miniiters and favourites,
but full maintained all the outward to-
kens of duty and refpecl, which he owed
his father ; who foon grew impatient,
and weary of retirement, and wifhed to
return to bufmefs, power, and a throne.
His
L E T T E R V. 51
His new confort was equally defirous to
tafle the fplendor of a crown, and to
command in the circle of a court. They
both repented, not of their marriage, but
of their retreat. Chamberry, in its utmoft
magnificence, was too melancholy a foli-
ation, and had too much the air of a pri-
fon, to calm and alleviate the flruggles
of fuch reftlefs minds. The king and
the lady kept a conftant private corre-
spondence with the difcontented Pisdmon-
■tefe, efpecially thofe in Turin. A plot
was formed. The king was to dethrone
his fon, and to reafTume the reins of
government. Meafures to this end were
taken with all poiiible fecrecy. The king
complained of the air of Chamberry. His
fon attended to his complaints with the
deepeft filial attachment. Amadeus was
permitted to approach nearer to the ca-
pital. He came to Rivoli, that hunting-
feat, which I mentioned in my laft. The
air of Rivcli difagreed with him. He
• was fuffered to come ftill nearer, and was
E 2 lodged,
52 LETTER V.
lodged, at his own requeft, in the caftle
of Montcallier, a noble palace within a
very little diftance of Turin. Here the
embers of ambition foon kindled into a
flame. The fire was on the point of
breaking out, when the heat of it began
to be felt by the young king and his mi-
nifters. They had only time to flop A-
madeus as he was going into his coach
under a pretence of vifiting, but with a
refolution of feizing the citadel of Turin.
In a moment he became his fon's prifoner
in the caftle of Mont collier. His wife was
abruptly torn from him. They met no
more. He was treated with refpect,
but guarded with the clofefl ftrictnefs.
He often defired to fee his fon. The
interview was promifed, but the promife
was not performed. Rage, grief, and
difappointment ended, in lefs than two
years, the life of this unhappy prince %
* He is faid to have died on the 1 6th of Qdober,
J 73 2; but for private reafons his death was not
aiade public till the 3 ift. Keyjkr.
whofe
LETTER V. 53
whofe fun-fct was excelTively languid, in
comparifon of his meridian glory. His
widow is ftill alive \ a flate prifoner, at
fome diftance from the metropolis. She
only bears the title of marchionefs di
Spigno. She is compelled to refide in a
monaflery. In the fummer-time fhe is
permitted to vifit fome relations in the
country; but never without a licence
granted in form, and figned by the king,
nor is fhe fuffered, on any account, to
go to Turin* Certainly fhe is now no
longer dangerous, being very old, very
infirm, and enormoufly fat.
Affairs of flate probably conftrained
the prefent king to act as he did ; but
deep has been the impreflion, which his
father's cataflrophe has left on his mind.
Perhaps the late king extorted from his
fon a private promife of refloring the
crown. Policy and majefty foon put a
ftop to the defigns, if any, of anfwering
that promife. The adherents to the fon
rauft have been facrificed to the adhe-
E 3 rents
54 L E T T E R V.
rents of the father. Perhaps there an?
charms in a crown, of which you and I
have no idea. Thus far is undeniable,
few princes have ever refigned it with-
out regret. The emperor Charles V,
wanted a fire in his houfe at Brujfels the
night after he had given up his poflef-
flons to his fon. Power once loft is, fel-
dom regained, and always re-defired.
The king of Sardinia is an oeconomift.
He is ierved in the moft royal, and moil
frugal manner. If the officers of ftate
had not an income arifing from their pa-
trimony, their falaries would not afford
them food or raiment.
The academy at Turin is at prefent in-
the decline. Thofe of Caen and Angers
have the preference. The complement
of Sardinian horfes was broken in upon
by the neceffities of the late war. It
has not been compleated fince.
No clock-work ever moved with greater
exaclnels, than this court. Every minute,
fulfils its deftiny, and turns round its
own
L E T T E R V. 55
own axis with the royal inhabitants of
Turin. Already we have beheld, over
and over again, the fame royal fcenes ;
the fame princes, ajid the fame princefles,
in the fame coaches, taking the air, at
the fame hour, to the fame place. They
feern all married to time, and I prefume
that it is a kind of adultery to vary half
a dozen minutes from the fun.
The three piinceffes are graceful and
genteel. The elded is very handfome.
They were born, I fear, under Virgo.
The whole royal family live in union
and happinefs among themfelves. The
king is an excellent father. The duke
of Savoy, a remarkably dutiful fon. They
are particularly civil to the Englijb. It
is an exact and a graceful court.
I mentioned to you the neatnefs of
the palace. I mould have confined my-
felf to the infide, mod part of the out-
ward building being old and unfinifh-
ed. The royal apartments zx.'Turin con-
fift of a great number of fmall rooms,
E 4 many
5 6 L E T T E R V.
many of them indeed only clofets ; but
fo delicately fitted up, fo elegantly fur-
nifhed, and fo properly adorned, that,
in pafTing from room to room, the whole
appears a fairy cattle. Amidft all thefe
exquifite decorations, not one effeminate
toy, not one Chinefe dragon, nor Indian
monfter is to be feen. I mention this,
becaufe many of our fined houfes in Eng-
land are difgraced by the fantaftic figures,
with which they are crowded.
Alrnoft every room in the palace is
filled with pictures. None indifferent;
mod of them by the befl Flemijh matters.
The whole collection, except a very
fmall number, belonging to prince Eu-
gene, and were bought, after his death,
by the prefent king of Sardinia.
The floors of the king's apartment are
inlaid, and fo nicely kept, that you view
yourfelf, as you walk upon them. The
chapel, which opens into the great
church, is not anfwcrable to any other
part of the palace. It is clean, but it is
heavy and difmal. The pillars arc of
black
L E T T E R V. 57
black marble. The lamps and tapers
give little light, and lefs chearfulnefs.
At the firft entrance it appears like a
melancholy maufoleum. An Englifo-
man, in the height of his devotion, would
be tempted to cut his throat in it. Bur
if the churches are dark, the ftreets are
lighted by the laws of the kingdom.
Every coach and every chair is obliged to
appear with a white flambeau. A fevere
penalty attends the breach of this edict,
and perfons of rank are fo exact in
obferving it, that I have ieen ladies
walking after torches by day-light. The
tfurinefe are a people, who affect grandeur
in every refpect. In general they are,
regis ad exemplum, great ceconomiits. One
piece of ftate is very fingular ; notwith-
standing the bad pavement of the (erects,
and the exceffive breadth of the kennels,
the nobility conftantly walk before their
chairs; and can only be driven into thole
leathern fortreffes by the clofeft fiege of
_rain a hail, and (haw. Small attacks zhty
wkhitartd
58 L E T T E R V.
withftand boldly, and ferve a whole win-
ter's campaign in heroically defending
the door of their fedan, which remains
more facred than the fanftum fanftorum,
and is impervious to the high prieft.
The palace fills one fide of a very large
fquare, round three parts of which is a
piazza, miferably paved, but amply a-
dorned with fhops. Were the old town
rebuilt, Turin might appear, perhaps, the
moil elegant city in Europe.
I am, dear fir,
ever your's,
C o R k E ?
LETTER
[ 59 1
LETTER VI,
Bologna, Otlober zift, 1754-
SEAR SIR,
IN the afternoon that we left Turin*
we went no farther than AftU a fmaH
town in Piedmont -, and the next day we
reded ourfelves at Alexandria. The for-
tifications of Alexandria are fine, and ia
excellent order. The town itfelf is nei-
ther large nor remarkable. In the even*
ing we faw an Italian opera. The houfe
was full, the mufic good, and one or two
of the fingers of the firft rate ; but on-
hearing Italian mufic, and fitting in a
box at an opera, it is irnpoflible not to
recollect the fplendid audience, and the
charming circle in the Hay market -, an
appearance not to be equalled, 1 belicve >
in any other part of the world,
8 Our
to L E t T E R VI.
Our next flep was to Placentia. On
viewing thefe fmall town:., it is a morti-
fying thought to confider, what yaft trea-
fures have been expended by England to
fecure the property, and afcertain the
rights, of thcfe princes, to whom thefe
territories belong. What muft be faid
to comfort us upon thefe refledions ?
The beft refource is Mr. Pope's afTertion,
" Whatever is, is right." A compen-
dious method of folving every thing that
happens " wrong" in this uncertain
ftate.
As foon as the gates were opened, we
haftened from Placentitis and dined at
Parma 9 where we had a view of the fa-
mous theatre, that holds thirteen thou-
fand perfons*. It is an immenfe, but an
ufelefs ftrudture. The fame fpirit that
built the Colo fits at Rhodes , raifed the*
theatre at Parma , that infatiabie fpirit
and lufl of fame, which would brave the
* It was built by Rjginutius I. in 1618.
Almighty
LETTER VI. 6*1
Almighty by fixing eternity to the name
of a perishable being. I was much pleaf-
e.d with the cathedral. The dome of it
was painted by Correggio. The fubjecl:
is the day or judgment* Time and
dampnefs have damaged feveral of the
figures 5 but fuch of them, as remain
diitinguifhable, are fuperlatively fine.
The arch of she cupola fo much refem-
bles the arch of the heavens, the clouds
and the fky are reprefented in fuch natu-
ral colours, and the height and diitance
are fo great, that an enthufiaftic mind
might eafily fancy kfelf on the point of
receiving its eternal doom. At leaft,
the painter has (hewn exquifite (kill in
chufing fo proper a fubjecl: tor the place.
The iteps to the high altar are many, all
of the fined yellow marble. Don Philip*
and the whole court were in the country.
His palace at Parma is not advantageoufly
* He died in 1765. His Ton Ferdinand is the
prefent duke.
fituated.
2
6z L E T T E R VI.
fituated. It is unfinifhed, and fcems
only a fmall part of a much greater de-
iign* \ not pofTible to be executed with-
out pulling down that ColcJJian theatre,
which ftands as malicioufly placed, as
our London Manfion-houfe before Sl
Stephen's, WalbrcoL The domeftics of
the duke and dutchefs of Parma are of
two different nations. Thofe belonging
to the dutchefs, are French \ thofe be-
longing to the duke, Spaniards. The
French hate the Spaniards, the Spaniards
hate the French, and the Italians hate
both.
A French gentleman, belonging to the
dutchefs of Parma, mewed me great ci-
vilities during my fhort flay. He was
pleafed to find a companion who was
neither Spaniard, Frenchman, nor Italian.
* At Parma, as in mod parts cf Itaty, the fize
cf the palace now building [1766] is too gigantic
for the court, and the expence of it too great for
the treafury ; fo it remains, and will for ever re-
main, half finished. Sharp.
After
L E T T E R VI. 6 3
After a very free converfation of two
hours, he faid to me, " Monfieur, pour
" vous dire la verite, nous fommes tons des
" bons Catholiques, mais pour la religion,
" nous n'en aions point* " To what
country is Religion fled ? She has not,
undoubtedly, taken up her reiidence in
England.
We left Parma early after dinner, and
reached Reggio time enough to fee an
Italian comedy. It was an Italian come-
dy reformed. In coniequence of that
reformation, which has but lately pre-
vailed, the part of Harlequin was fmall
and infignificant, fo as fcarce to interrupt
the tender, genteel, and ferious parts of
the play. I have fo good an opinion of
the author, from his performance, that I
red arTured, if he had not flood in awe
of the parterre, we mould not have fecn
Harlequin even for a moment.
* " To tell you the truth, fir, we are all good
ie Cath'lics ; but as for religion, we have none."
This
U LETTER VL
This little city belongs to the duke of
Modena. The theatre of it is remarkable,
and fingularly beautiful. The architec-
ture is different from all other theatres.
The feveral rows of boxes rife above
each other like fleps, and have the moft
pkafing effect that can be imagined.
From Reggio we proceeded to Modena^
a large, dark, difagreeable town. The
defign for the palace is very magnificent.
One front of it is almoft completed. If
the three others, which are intended,
rife equal to the firft, the city will be the
foil, tac palace the diamond. The no-
ble collection of pictures, which adorned
the inlide, have been long fince difpofed
of to the king of Poland *■ The duke
of Modena wanted money, the king of
Poland , wanted pictures. Thirty thou-
fand pounds accommodated both.
Thedutchefs of Modena,, daughter of
the late regent of France, has lived feve-
ral years entirely at Paris* The French
* Augnlius III. ele&or of Saxony.
gaiety
LETTER VI. 6$
gaiety and the Italian gravity united are
like acids mixed with fweets •, toge-
ther, they form a confufed tafte *, a-
funcer, each is relilnable to different pa-
lates.
About five miles from Modena we en-
tered into the pope's territories, and
reached Bologna early in the afternoon.
Here the firft dawnings of Italian fplen-
dor appear, rifing above the horizon,
and mining in the face of the world.
The marbles, the pictures, the pakces,
ftrike the eye with uncommon bright-
ness. Among innumerable others, wc
have juft now feen a pi&ure, reprefenting
only two figures, St. Peter and St. Paul
Many of our Englijh virtuofi have bid
high for it •, to me it appears invaluable.
Perhaps the owner is of the fame opinion.
This exquifite piece is by the hand of
Guido*.
The road from Placentia to Bologna is
through a flaj even country, with vail
* Guide R:ni was born in this city, in 1575.
F mountains,
66 LETTER VI,
mountains, the Apennines, at a diflance.
Vineyards are planted on each fide of
the road. The vines have a beautiful
effect, by hanging in fefloons from one
tree to another. The trees are generally
white mulberries •, among which, now
and then, appears an oak. No ground
is loft ; every fpot between the trees is
ploughed. Labour and induftry are fuf-
ficiently apparent. People are wanting -,
where are they ? Afleep in convents - y or,
if awake, counting beads •, calling idle-
nefs, religion ; lazinefs, piety ; and floth,
the'command of God.
Bologna is peculiarly fortunate, not
civ • in being a territory of the holy fee,
but in being the birth-place of the pre-
fent pope, L iieatft XIV. He is a man
cf literature, and a great encourager of
arts and fciences. He has always ac*led
with moderation in the ufe of his ecclefi-
aflical power -, and has gone fo far as to
abolifh a great number of thofe per-
nicious exercifes of devotion, fluggifh
holidays.
LETTER VI, 6y
holidays. He would proceed farther, if
he dared *. He is very old, near eighty,
but not infirm. He is of the family of
Lambertini.
St. Petronins 9 s f church here is very
large. On the fame fpot, where the
high- altar now Hands, the emperor
Charles V. was crowned king of Lorn*
bardy^ by pope Clement ViL in the
year 1529 J. The happieft effect of
that
* Ke once offered all the Italian princes an
utter abolition of all holidays, Sundays excepted ;
which offer procured him the appellation of Pa-
pa Protejlante, the Protejiant Pope. But after long
debates and confultations, every one of thofe
princes rejected his holinefs's offer, and chofe to
go on in the old way. Baretti. He died in 1758,
aged 83.
*f Bp. of Bologna in the 5th century, and pa-
tron of that city. The greatefl curiofity in this
church is the brafs meridian line, drawn by CaJJint t
the celebrated aftronomer, of which there is a
view in Wright's travels, taken from CaJJinVz
book.
X Charles affected to unite, in his public entry
into Bologna, the ftate and majetfy that fuited an
F 2 emperor,
6Z L E T T E R VI.
that coronation, you remember, was an
univerfal peace to Italy.
The cathedral, dedicated to St. Peter,
has been decorated, and even augmented
a third part, by the prefent pope. In it
is the burial vault of the Lambertini*
The feveral interior chapels, all clean to
a degree of neatnefs, are moil of them
beautifully magnificent, either by pic-
tures, or by monuments. Scarce a week
paries without many valuable prefents
from the Pope to this feat of his nativity.
Judge then, under the aufpicious influ-
ence of fuch-a ftar, how flourifhing the
univerfity of Bologna mult be, efpecially
that part of it, which was founded, built,
and inftituted, in the year 1712, by that
great foldier, and greater philofopher,
emperor, with the humility becoming an obedi-
ent fon of the church ; and while at the head
of twenty thoufand veteran foldiers, able to give
law to all Italy, he kneeled down to kifs the feet
of that very pope whom he had fa lately detained
a prifoner. Rabertfin.
Lewis
LETTER VI. 69
Lewis Ferdinand Mar/tgli*; — as a repofi-
tory for all the branches of ufeful and
ornamental knowledge! Whatever is
rare or remarkable in art or nature may-
be found in this repofitory. Every fei-
ence has its fchool. In the anatomy
fchool we faw an Egyptian mummy, with
the face uncovered, and a great hole
left where the nofe had been. Two
white beads fupplied the place of eyes.
The figure appeared hideous even to a
degree of horror. It fmelt exceflively
ftrong of fpices. With what a variety
of fuperftition and felf-love does the
world abound ! How fond are we of
thofe bodies, which feldom endure above
fourfcore years, and give us pain and
torment great part of that time !
Among many antient tablets, I took
* Count Marfigli died in 1730, in the 80th
year of his age. His military character received
an indelible ilain by the furrender of Old Brifac
to the Fretjcb in 1703.
F 3 particular
;o LETTER VI.
particular notice cr one, whicK, from its
infcription and its fize, carried in it ih:\\e-
thing of fingularity. The ftone was an
oblong fq-uare, about a foot and a half
on . 1 .luif a foot the other. The
infcnpt. ; lis.;
ATERENTI US-ANT IOCHUS-
SIBI-ET-AMICIS-SUIS*
Suppofing this tablet to have been placed
over the door of an houfe newly built by
Ter. Antiocbus, what* can be more ex-
pre/lively elegant ?
When i viewed and confidered atten-
tively every apartment, and its furniture,
in the academy of this opulent city, I
could not help wifhing, that we had fome
firrrilitude to it in either of our Englijh
univerflties. We have there a picture-
gallery, but no painters ; an anatomy-
fchool, but no fur g cons. We abound in
* " A. TEREN HUS- ANTIOCHUS, FOR
«■ HIMSELF AND HIS FRIENDS."
trifles.
L E T T E R VI. 71
trifles, and are proud of (hewing Oliver
Cromwell's fcull, Prefident Bradfcsws
hat, and a Chinefe pack of cards. With
what contempt and indignation muft a
Ruffian look upon the Czar of Mufcovy's
dram~cup ? It is true, all thde minutia
have been prefents ; but the Mufeum at
Bologna has, from its fird inditution, de-
fpifed child ifh toys, and only received
valuable curiofities.
The books, which are both numerous
and valuable, are not at prefent to be
feen. They are taken down. A new
library is fitting up to receive them. It
is a room of fine proportion, and will
contain an hundred thoufanci volumes.
The whole is finifhing at the expence of
the Pope. The (helves are all fixed.
The cafes are faced with the fined wal-
nut-tree, and the workmanfhip is nice
-enough to remind us of England,
Here ends my account of one of :he
fined cities in Italy. I have lod no time
F 4 in
72 L E T T E R VI,
in making as many remarks as I could ;
being fully relblved to give you all the
information in the power of,
DEAR SIR,
your faithful humble fervant,
Corke.
LETTER
[ 73 ]
LETTER VII.
Florence, Oaoher 28th, 1754.
DEAR SIR,
WE arrived here on the 23d inftant
in the afternoon. Our jour-
ney hither from Bologna was performed
in a day and an half. The afcent of the
Apennines was neither dangerous nor fa-
tiguing. As foon as we quitted the Bolog-
nefe, and entered into the Tujcan territo-
ries, the road was fine, and our deicents
and afcents furprifingly eafy. Scarce any
public work can redound more to the
honour of the prefent emperor, as duke
offufcany, than this new road. It is
carried on in fuch a manner between the
Apennines^ that the Monte Jucvo *, a kind
of
This mountain is called Jucvo by Mop-
fieur
74 LETTER VII.
of twin-brother to mount Cents, is en-
tirely avoided,
I have often wiftied, that, among the
various charities in England, the fafhion-
able current of legacies to the public
might run in a different channel from
what it has hitherto done. Libraries we
have enough, hofpitals enough. Sup-
pofe fums of money were left to the im-
provement and conflant amendment of
public roads. Could there be a more
patriot virtue, or a furer acquifition of
perpetual fame ? Statues, monumental
pillars, and pyramids, (inftead of our
prefent plain mile-ftones) might be erecft-
ed in the different parts of Great Britain^
where fuch legacies were appointed to
take place. The memory of the donors
might be prefervcd by pompous infcrip-
tions engraven on brafs or marble. The
fieur Mijfon (Letter xxxii) and fome geographers.
By Mr. Wright, a more modern traveller, it is
called Giogo (vol. ii. p. 432.) and it is fo called
by the Florentines"
tax
LETTER VII. y s
tax of turnpikes might foon be leffened,
and in time entirely abolifhed. If I go
further in purfuit of this hu.i, you will
think me as troublefome to you, as the
projector Henriques appears to every mi-
nifter, whom his majefty employs. — I
haften therefore to reafTume my travels.
Within a mile or two of Florence wo.
flept iome few paces out of the road, to
fee a fmall country houfe belonging to
the em pet or, called Pratolino. Tne wa-
ter-works at this place muft have been
made at an immenfe expence. They are
entirely in the old tafte ; but that old
tafle, by not having been vifible in
England for many years pait, is now be-
come fo new, that, at leait, it gave us
the pleafure of novelty, and made us re-
collect the delights and amulernents of
our childhood The houfe of Pratolino
has nothing belonging to it very beauti-
ful, except the fituation. On the out-
fide, it is a plain and an heavy building.
The rooms are not many : moll of them
are
76 LETTER VII.
are large. In the upper ilory is a little
theatre, where, during the reigns of the
Medici> operas were conftantly acted, in
the fummer-feafon. The houfe is kept
in excellent order and repair, nor are the
water-works totally neglected ; but a de-
ferted palace lias the face of ruin. Pra-
iolhw has had irs day *.
In the approach to the city of Flo-
rence^ the little country feats, which are
very numerous, very white, and promif-
cuoufly difperfed among the hills and
ever-greens, have a molt pleafing effect
to the eye. A triumphal aich, j.uft
finimed, crowned with an equeftrian
ftatue of the prefent emperor, adds to
the beauty of the approach. We are
]od?ed near the Arno- and within fight
* At this palace the late duke ox Tor k was ele-
gantly entertained, in his return from Leghorn
to Florence. April 3, 1764, and exprefled himfelf
Ijighxy pleated with the happy difpofition of the
fountains, grottos, water-works, and other deco-
rations 6f the gardens which furround that beau-
tiful feat,
of
LETTER VII. 77
of the moft beautiful bridge in the world,
// -ponte delta Trinita *. The Arno di-
vides the city into two unequal parts.
It is navigable for fmall veilels from Flo-
rence to the lea. In the midft of fum-
mer, it often wants water. In the win-
ter- feafon, it often overflows. You
may judge that fuch extremes are by no
means advantageous to trade.
Florence, and indeed moil: of the towns
in Italy, except Bologna, are in a vifible
ltate of decay. I have peeped into the
Florentine gallery. Language cannot de-
* It was made by Ammanati, a celebrated Flo-
rentine fculptor and architect, the old bridge hav-
ing been carried away by an inundation in the
year 1557. The arches of it, after a rife of a few
feet from the place where they fpring, are turned
in the form of a cycloid; a particularity which,
they fay, no other bridge in the world has. It is
all of fine white marble, and there are four ilatues
©f the fame, reprefenting the four feafons, two
placed at each end of the bridge. Wright.
Mr. Wright has given a draught of it, taken
by Signor Galilei, the great duke's architect
fcribe
;8 LETTER VII.
fcribe it in its true perfection, nor can
any copy reach the beauties of the origi-
nal Venus. In the fame room, whi h is
diftinguifhed by the name of the Tribune^
are placed the Dancing Faun \ the Venus
viclrix; the Venus c eel eft is ; the Slave whet-
ting his knife. \ and the Wreftlers *. You
have feen copies of the Dancing Faun f.
You would conftantly turn your eyes
from them after having feen the original.
Mirth, and a kind of thoughtlefs, pleaf-
ing folly, appear in the countenance ;
fbength and agility in the limbs. The
Venus viclrix and the Venus ccekftis might
appear fine flatues, if the Venus de Me-
* Flaminius Vacca, as quoted by Montfaucon In
his Itinerarium It a!:, w, fays, that " this group
" was dug up in his time, before St. John's gate
" in Rome." There is a print of it in Montfau*
can's antiquities.
•j- Michael Angela is faid to have added the head
and arms to it ; but the piece is originally afcribed
to Praxiteles* f* It is not polifhed, but remark-
ably fmooth."
diet
LETTER VII. 79
diet were not in the fame room. The
Venus viftrix is not entirely naked. She
has the apple, the enfign of her triumph,
in her hand. The Venus ccelefiis* (or
urania) is lefs naked than the Venus r cic-
trix : She is adjufting her hair, and has a
diadem upon her head. Both thefe fta-
tues are larger than the life, both in ex-
a£t proportion. The virtuofl are divided
in their opinion of the Slave f. Some
think it a ftatue in honour of that fer-
* This ftatue is by Hercules Ferrata. See an
account and the draught of thefe Hatues in the Mu-
feum Florentinum.
f The Wrejllers, the Faun, the Slave, and
the Venus de Medici, were extremely well caft in
copper by Sign or Soldani for the great duke of
Marlborough, and are now at Blenheim. Copies of
them by the fame artifthad been previoufly order-
ed by queen Anne, intended as a prefent to his
grace, but a change in the miniftry intervening,
they were countermanded, and Hill remain at
Florence. The earl of Macclesfield alfo, at S her horn
caftle, has admirable copies of the Venus and
Faun, call for the late earl by Signor Pietro Ci-
priani.
4 vant,
So LETTER VII.
vant, who, by liftening and continuing
his work, difcovered Catiline* s confpiracy.
Others think it the ilatue of Accius Na-
vius, the famous Roman augur, who, be-
ing challenged by Tarqmnius Prifcus to
give a proof of his art, cut a ftone in
two with a razor. The learned have ob-
jections to this latter explanation. I
have neither knowledge, time, nor incli-
nation to anfwer them : but I could not
obferve in the figure the leaft fymptoms
of a liftener. Jt feems to be a perfon
whetting his knife, as if for fome great
and mighty purpofe *, and at the fame
time looking up to heaven to implore
affiftance, or to attend the approach of a
good omen. The Wreftlers (Pancratu
* His lord (hip's ccnjeclure is well founded. On
the reverfe of a coin of the Antonine family, in
the £reat duke's collection, this figure appears to
be the flayer of Marjjas, who is reprefented hang-
ing on a tree, while this butcher is " whetting
" his knife," and receiving directions from
April*.
eft*)
LETTER VII. 8x
nftte) is the work of a Grecian ftatuaiy,
his name unknown. It may well be
fuppofed the admirable performance of
Myron, the difciple of Ageladas, among
whofe works Pliny mentions,
Delphicos pentathlos, Pancratiaftas * #
But beyond them all is the Venus, There
1 faw artis fummum opus. Human power
can go no further. Her head, as you
may remember by the copies, turns a
little towards the left fhoulder. Her
hands are placed, as modefty would
place them : her body inclines, and her
right leg advances forward. But the
proportion and fymmetry of body, legs,
* Lib. xxxiv. cap. 8. " The ftatue of the vvreft-
" lers, or boxers, who had been victors in the
" five games or fports."
The works of Myron are celebrated for their
tendernefs and delicacy by Quintilia?i, fB. xiii. C,
10.) and on his brazen cow, in particular, there
are near forty epigrams in the AnthoJogia,
G hand's
82 LETTER VII.
hands, arid head*, are juft and de-
licate to the utmoft degree of perfec-
tion -f-. I will leave her with you ; and
retire, till next pod allures you that I
am, dear fir,
your true and faithful
humble fervant,
CORKL
* " Mr. Richard/on thinks the head fomewhat
too little for the body. See his Travels, p. 55."
f This inimitable flatue, which was found at
Tivoli, formerly flood in the Medici palace on
mount Pinch at Rome, from whence, together with
the Whetter above-mentioned, it was brought to
Florence by order of duke Co/mo III. The infcrip-
tion on the bafc (hews it to be the work of Cko-
tnenes, the fon of Apollo dor -us. Mr. Addifon fays,
" he had feveral reafons to believe that the name
" of the fculptor on the pedeftal is not fo old as
" the ftatue."
LETTER
[ 83 ]
letter virr.
Florence, Ottober £oth, I/j-f.
IHave given you time enough, dear
fir, to confider the beauties of Venus.
Let us quit the tribune, and look into
the other fix rooms, that are adjoining to
different parts of the gallery. They are
not all equally valuable, but each room
contains various curiofities, not to be
found in England, nor in any other part
of Italy. Florence feems to have engrofled
the treafures of the whole earth. She is,
what the old poet fays of Great Britain,
A world within herfelf, with wonders
bled.
One of the largeft rooms within the gal-
lery is now almoft entirely filled with
portraits of eminent painters, all drawn
G 2 by
8 4 LETTER VIII.
by themfelves *. Sir Godfrey Kneller is
placed on high. He looks fierce, and
by his drefs and pofture, feems fitter to
hold a truncheon than a pencil. I fmiled
to fee Liotard there, in his Hurkijh habit ;
a drefs which has impofed upon many
Englijh chriflians, who thought him an
excellent painter, becaufe he appeared
to be a Turk. He has exhibited himfelf
in crayons, and in remarkable difpropor-
tion. The in: mortal Raphael d' Urbino
in fome meafure keeps the pretended
'Mahometan in countenance, by having
left a reprefentation of his own perfon,
far Ihort of that exquifite power and
perfection, to which he afterwards at-
tained -p. On reviewing the whole col-
lection, that trite but applicable line in.
Martial immediately occurred,
* There were a hundred and thirty-feven when
Mr. MiJJbn was at Florence in 1688.
f Raphael's portrait makes no great figure, and
he mull certainly have been very young at the
time of this performance. Keyjler,
Sunt
LETTER VIII. 85
Stmt bona, funt quadam mediocria^ funt
mala plura*.
In the fame room, between the windows,
-is placed a magnificent ftatue of cardinal
Leopold de* Medici f . It is to him that
the Florentine gallery is indebted for its
greatefl and rareft curiofieies. He was
;the fon of Co/mo II, and the brother of
Ferdinand II, fucceffive grand dukes of
Tufcany. He had judgment and know-
ledge to direct, and, at the fame time,
fortune and power to affift his tafte.
He was, as the infcription on the pe-
deftal of his ftatue juftly defcribes him,
Omnis eruditionis et elegantix affertor.
The other rooms are different fcenes
of the power of art. Various pieces of
the whiteft ivory, turned in the niceft
* Some good, fome middlings but far more are
bad.
f This ftatue is of white marble, and finely ex-
ecuted by Giov. Battijla Foggini. The cardinal is
in a fitting attitude, and over him this infcription,
Semper rettus, femper idem. " Always juft, and
( f always the fame." Keyjler.
G 3 manner 5
86 LETTER VIII?
manner ; many of them the works of the
grand dukes, and the princes of the
houfe of Medici*. Amber cabinets, ori-
ental alabafter, precious Hones, lapis la-
zuli 9 inlaid tables, porcelain, cryftal, e-
vcry fpecies of virtu. Three reprefen-
tations in coloured wax- work will for ever
flrike my memory with horror and admi-
ration. One is the different progrefs of
decay upon human bodies after death,
from the moment they are laid into their
difmal receptacle, to the laft abolition of
the flefh, a fkeleton. The fecond is a
mod melancholy reprefentation of the
ftate of perfons either dead, or dying, of
the plague. Thefe are, both, in glafs
cabinets, preferved with the utmoft nice-
ty. They were executed during the
reign of Ferdinand If, while the plague
raged in Florence. The operator lived
* A round box here was turned by the Czar
Peter the Great, a pair of chandeliers by Prince
Thiodore of Bavaria^ &c.
f He died in 2609.
7 only
LETTER VIII. By
only to finifh his work, and then fell a
victim to the cruel peftilence, which he
had reprefented*. The third (the firft
performance of the fame author) is an
head. The fkin from the fcull is turned
down from one fide of the face, and the
glands are plainly, too plainly, difcover-
ed. In viewing theie pieces, each Spec-
tator endeavours to fly, but cmnot. He
tries to turn away his eyes, but cannot.
He flays againft his will, and is chained
againft his inclination. <c Now get you
" to my lady's chamber, and tell her,
" let her paint an inch thick, to this fa-
" vour fhe mud come."
I have omitted to tell you, that the
walls of feveral of the {tven rooms,
particularly of the Tribune., are covered
with the works of Raphael, Titian, Paul
Veronefe, Tintoret^ Vandyck y and the fined
* Thefe admirable pieces were the workman-
ship of Crtjetano Julio Zummo, a Sicilian ecclefi-
aftic, whofe picture hangs near them. Keyjler.
G 4 performances
88 LETTER VIII.
performances of the fineft mailers. Some
Englijh portraits, particularly the earl of
OJfory and general Monck*. reminded me
of my difiant country. An head in wax
of Oliver Cromwell* carries on it all the
marks of " a great wicked man." It
bears the ftrongeft characteriftics of
boldnefs, fleadinefs, fenfe, penetration 5
and pride. It is faid to have been taken
off from his face after his death. I can-
not yield to that affertion. The mufcles
are flrong and lively \ the look is fierce
and commanding. Death finks the fea-
tures, renders all the mufcles languid,
and flattens every nerve. I dare fay, the
duke of Tufcany then reigning [Ferdi-
* It is well known that the grand duke of
Fufcany gave 50CI. to a relation of Cromwell for
his picture by Walker* This portrait is now in
the palace pitti at Florence, where there is a cele-
brated call of his face. Granger's Biographical
Hi/lory, vol. ii. part. 1 . p. 6.
The call (mentioned above) is in the gallery of
%\^ Old Palace.
1 vend
LETTER VIII. 89
nandll.] thought it an honour to afk,
and receive fo valuable a prefent *. The
face was certainly finifhed durante vita:
the fucceeding times rendered the avow-
al of fuch a gift impolitic, and the in-
itance of fo ftrict a perfonal friendship
ihameful.
The antiquities of Rome have filled
another chamber. The eye is loft and
confounded amidft/^//^, ftmai, lucerne
claves, vafa, menfa et culina infirumenta^
cochlearia, patella +, et c<etera y et c<etera %
et catera.
* In Tburlce's State Papers, vol. iii. p. 147, is
a letter from the great duke's principal fecretary
to his reiident Salvatti in England, (dated Flo-
rence, Feb. 20, 1 65 f, offering " to the lord
" protector's highnefs a prefent of twenty-four
" chefb of .feveral forts of wines, a %n of the
" great duke's molt obfequious fervice to" his
* c highnefs, Sec. befeeching him to be pleafed
" to judge (even by fuch a fmall toy) the true
" intention and defire he hath and ever will have
" to ferve his highnefs in greater matters."
f Chairs, boxes, lamps, keys, veffels, table and
Jdtchen utenfils, fpoons, diihes, &c. &c. &c.
Let
go LETTER VIII.
Let me again recoiled myfelf to fay,
that the inlaid tables in the feveral
rooms confift of jafper, topazes, agates,
and all kinds of coloured marble ib nice-
ly put together, as to form the moft
beautiful figures, and the mod natural
reprefentations of towns *, woods, rocks,
rivers, cattle, and people ; not to men-
tion a certain broken pearl necklace, the
beads of which my daughter f tried in
vain to take up in her hand. It would
be worth the trouble of travelling twelve
hundred miles, the diflance which I now
compute myfelf from you, to behold any
one of thefe rooms s but moil efpecially
the Tribune. You lee the roof, height,
and fhape of it, no: the fize, in the late
lord Burlington's faloon at Chifwick.
The gallery itfelf leems entirely re-
* One of thefe mofaic (tone tables reprefents
the town and port of Legbon/j lapis lazuli being
laid for the fea. Siippos,
f Lady Lug BojU% now vifcountefs Torrington.
ferved
LETTER VIII. 91
ferved for antique bulls and ftatues, Of
the former is a feries of the emperors
of Rome*, and fome of the empreiTes,
from the firft Cafar down to Galienus.
You will find an exact catalogue of them,
if my memory ferves me, in Wrighfs
Travels f .
Among the ftatues, fcarce any one has
(truck me more than the figure, or ra-
ther the face, of Marfyas, flayed by ApoU
lo 9 and tied to a tree. It is a mafter-
piece in its kind. Rage, pain, and difap-
pointment appear moll ftrongly in the
countenance •, and poor Marfyas feems
to anfwer the defcription of the damned,
by weeping, wailing, and gnafhing his
teeth $.
Strangers are admitted to walk in the
gallery all the morning, and to converfe
* All except about fix.
f Vol. ii. p. 397.
% A prjnt of this ftatue, engraved by BoitarJ,
is inferted as an ornamental piece, in Mr. Spencit
'Folytnetis, p. 301. '
with
9 z LETTER VI1L
with marble gods and petrified emperors
as freely as they pleafe. The rooms
within the gallery are kept under lock
and key ; no perfon is permitted to re-
main alone in any one of them, even for
a moment. Such a precaution, without
doubt, is neceffary, as they contain mil-
lions of little curioiities, that might be
eafily filched by that kind of pick-pocket,
who entitles himfelf a Virtuofo.
To-morrow we go to Ptfa, with an
intention of fettling there during the
winter-feafon. When we have taken a
fufficient view of that univerfity, fo as to
give you fome little account of it, you
mall hear again from
your very faithful
obedient fervant,
C O R K E,
LETTER
[ 93 3
LETTER IX.
Pi/a, Novmher 7th, 1754,
DEAR SIR,
IN my laft I told you, that we had
thoughts of fettling here. It is im-
poflible. If either houfe, victuals, or
even neceiTaries were to be had in Pi/a,
v/e mould be glad to remain in this city *
but in its prefent flate, camelions only can
inhabit it. Horfes indeed may graze and
fatten in the flreets. Human creatures,
unlefs they are Italians, cannot find lodg-
ings or fubfidence. It is the fecond town
in Tufcany ; it is an archbifhopric, and
an univerfity. Pompous titles ! but. ti-
tles only. Under the houfe of Media \
Pifa .may have been in vigour and prof-
perity, yet I remember, Mijfon mem-
tions the eircumftance I juil now hinted,
of
9 4 LETTER IX,
of grafs growing in the ftreets *. Mijfon
wrote in the year i688f, in the reign of
Cofmo III, who almoft conftantly refided
in this city during the depth of winter \
yet its atrophy was then begun, and now,
I own, it appears in the laft ftage of a
confumption.
Pifa> divided like Florence by the
Arno, is fituated in a fine open country.
A broad magnificent quay with houfes
on each fide of the river, various ftatues,
convents, and churches, the cathedral,
the baptiftery, the bridge, the town-
houfe, and the hanging tower, are orna-
mental edifices, that, in defiance of po-
verty and deiblation, give an air of gran-
deur to Pifa, and make it appear like a
* This circumilance is alfo mentioned by Key'
Jler, who was at Pi/a in 1730, and Dr. SmoIIety
who v/as there in 1765.
f Mr. Miffpn travelled with the earl of Arran t
brother to the duke of Qyjiwnd. His travels were
published (in French) in 3 vols, iz^\ in 1691.
lair
LETTER IX, 9 5
fair city, which fome furious peflilence
has lately depopulated*.
The penfile tower, built with fo much
exactneis from the top to the bafe, as to
appear a kind of miracle to the ignorant J,
is of a round cylindrical form, com-
* In like manner Dr. Smollet : " Pi/a is a fine
" old city, that ftrikes you with the fame venera-
" tion you would feel at the fight of a temple
" which bears the marks of decay, without being
" abfolutely in ruins."
X M. de la Condamine found by meafurement
that a plumb-line let down from the top, touches
the ground at the diftance of thirteen feet from
the bottom of the tower. Moil writers are of opi-
nion, that this inclination is accidental, not de-
figned, as the pedeilals of the pillars, which are
under ground, are in the fame inclined poiition
with thofe above, and even the fcarTbid-licles,
which remain unfilled, are all Hoping.
This tower was completed in the year 1 174, by
one William, a German, perhaps the fame William
who from 1 175 to 1 179 was employed in re-
building the choir of Canterbury, where, it is ob-
fervable, the capitals of the pillars are very fimi-
lar td tndfd*>f Pifa, approaching nearly to ths
Corinthian,
poled
96 LETTER IX.
pofed of eight flories of the whiteft mar-
ble, an hundred and eighty feet high.
The cathedral is dark and gloomy,
large and magnificent; a Gothic build-
ing ; fomething lingular, and not eafily
defcribed, is difguflful to the eye upon the
firfl entrance into it : I believe, from
the confufion of orders y Gothic arches
being mixed with Corinthian pillars 1 *.-
The ceiling is gilt, and divided into
compartments. A monument of an arch-
biihop of Pi fa is very fine, efpecially as
fupported by two flatties of Charity
and Religion. The pillars of the whole
church are all of marble and granite :
different in their colours, not beautiful
* Thefe pillars, however, are not Grecian, but
that light, neat, modern Gothic, (juft mentioned)
more properly ftiled Arabefque, or Saracenic, from
its being firft introduced, in the tenth century,
by the Arabians, or Saracens. See Riou's Grecian
Orders of Architecture, p. 9. and Benthani's Hi/lory
cf Ely Cathedral, p. 36.- where the reader will
find a more accurate account of Gothic archi-
tecture than any yet publifhcd.
in
L E T T E R IX. 97
in their arrangement. The pavement
is Mofaic. The gates are of brafs f , ex-
quifitely wrought; they reprefent in
fmall figures, the whole hiftory of the
bible.
On the outfide of this cathedral, I took
particular notice of a farcophagus^ ftuck
up aukwardly enough, againft the wall.
It reprefents in the true antique manner
the ftory of Venus^ Adonis, and the boar.
At a corner I obferved a flone, acci-
dentally thruft in by the workmen, not
at the original building, but to fupply
fome vacancy made either by time or ac-
cident, and fo little confpicuous, that I
had gone twice round the cathedral be-
fore I perceived it. Part of the infcrip-
tion is broken off; the remainder is
LAELIO'HADRIANO'AN-
TONINO-AVGPIO-PONT-
MAX-TRIB-POTEST-
III PPNDVICEN.
u
f " They are the work of Bonano Pi/aw, made
in the year 1180. See Rkbard/bn'f Travels,
P. 44."
H' I&all
9 5 L E T T E R IX.
I (hall not trouble you with many
more quotations of this fort. Gravius,
Gronovius^ Gruier^ Montfaucon^ and many
other authors, being fo amply filled with
infcriptions, that fcarce the minuteft
fcrap can have efcaped them. As yet,
to my great furprife and difappointment,
I have found few footfteps of ancient
Rome \ not a portico, not an arch, not a
column, to be feen. The Goths and
Vandals^ the Guelphs and Gihbehnes *, the
more modern, but continued wars in
Titfcany, muft have occafioned this great
dearth of heathenifh reliques, which, if
they are not fo facred as the thumbs of
faints, or the thigh-bones of martyrs,
are at leaft, as fatisfaclory, and much
more inftru&ive.
* The fadtions of the popes and the emperors :
the firft fo called from Guelpb duke of Bavaria,
in the xith century ; the other from a village in
Suabia given as a watch word to the army of
Conrad III. in the xiith century, by Frederick his
brother, who had been educated there.
Yefterday,
LETTER IX. 99
Yeflerday, we went to riew a city of
the greateft traffic in Italy, Leghorn
[Livorno], It is a free port, belonging to
the dukes of Tufcany, on the Mediter-
ranean, which, however boiflerous and
paflionate at fome times, appeared to ifc
placid, and fmooth as glafs. The ftreets
of Leghorn are flrait; the chief flreet is
very broad, and proportionSbly long.
The fquare is very fpacious and hand-
fome, not regular, but originally in-
tended to have had buildings in every
one of the four fides, exactly anfwera-
ble to each other. The great church,
which conftitutes part of the fquare, is
magnificent \ the ceiling of it is finely
painted. The houfes were originally
built low and regular. As the inhabi-
tants have increafed, they have added
(lory upon (lory, and have entirely broken
in upon the uniformity. Paintings in
frefco have formerly decorated the out-
fide of every houfe in the great flreet.
Time, weather, and alterations have al-
H 2 moil
loo LETTER IX.
moft quite defaced the paintings. Leg-
horn, before the rife of the houfe of Me-
dici* belonged to the republic of Genoa*
who exchanged it with Co/mo* the firft
great duke of Tufcany* for Sarzana*.
Both parties had their advantage in the
exchange. Sarzana lay on the borders
of Genoa* Leghorn on thofe of Tufcany *
but Co/mo* and his two fons Francis and
Ferdinand* who, in their turns, were his
fucceffors, judicioufly forefaw the advan-
tage that might be made of its fituation.
They built walls round the city. They
* The writers of the Univerfal Modern Hijlory
(vol. x. 570. and xiii. 386.) fay, that " Leghorn
"was fold to the Florentines for 120,000 ducats
g< by Thomas Fregcfo, doge of Genoa* in 1420,"
about a hundred years before Co/mo, the firft great
duke, was born. Other writers affirm, that Charles
VIII. took Leghorn from the Cenoefe, and gave it
to the Florentines, in 1495. Keyjler agrees with
our author, and even the Modern Hijlorians, in a
fubfequent part of their work, (vol. xvi. p. 216.)
fay alfo, that " Leghorn was obtained in exchange
u for Sarzana,"
fenced
LETTER IX. 101
fenced thofe walls with forts. They
cleared and drained the marines, that
had long rendered the place unwhole-
fome and uninhabited*. They efta-
blifhed the freedom of the port, and
formed two moft commodious harbours,
the one for larger, the other for fmaller
vefTels. They made the city an afylum
againft arrefls for debt. You will allow
* In the reign of the grand-duke Ferdinand 1L
Sir Robert Dudley, fon of the earl of Leicefter, who
affumed his grandfather's title of duke of Nor-
thumberland, and refided at Florence, became famous
on account of that great projeft, which he formed,
of draining a vaft traft of morafs between Pi/a
and the fea, and raifing Leghorn, which was then
a mean and pitiful place, into a large and beau-
tiful town, improving the haven by a mole, &c.
and having engaged his ferene highnefs to declare
it a free port, he, by his influence and correfpon-
dences, drew many Englijh merchants to fettle and
fet up houfes there. For thefe and other great
fervices, the grand-duke fettled on him a penfion
of 2000 fequins, [900 1. fterling] and gave hira
the caftle of Corbello, &c. Biograpbia Britannka,
yoI. iii* p. 1812.
H 3 this
io2 LETTER IX.
this to be a refinement upon the fchcme
of Romulus. Every point of policy, o-
mitted or uncompleted by the firft great-
duke, and his eldefl fon, was fupplied
by the wifdom of Ferdinand, who con-
firmed and fecured the wealth and trade
of this new mercantile world. Pifa only
fuffered by the completion of fo wife a
fcheme. She foon became a deferted
city : her inhabitants left her. They
haflened to meet that amazing concourfe
of merchants, who fwarmed every day to
Leghorn. Unhappy Pifa ! once a pow-
erful republic, afterwards enflaved by
many m afters, now, as I before remark-
ed, una citta, univerjita, el niente *.
Neither the chriftian piety of Cofmo 9
nor of Francis ', nor even of Ferdinand,
who had been a cardinal, hindered them
from eftablifhing in Leghorn, thofe ne-
cefTary inftruments of trade, the Jews.
The thriving fons of Ifrael have a parti-
cular quarter of the town afTigned for
* A city, an univerfity, and nothing."
their
LETTER IX. 103
their abode. At prefent their number
is fourteen thoufand. All religions are
exercifed peaceably by the Livornians %
who appear, as a modern author exprefles
himfelf, " like a hive of bees without
" one fling of devotion." The inhabi-
tants of Leghorn ebb and flow, from
three to five and forty thoufand people,
compofed of every nation under the fun.
Let us return, through a very de-
lightful foreft, from Leghorn to Pi/a,
the diflance only fourteen miles.
Antiquarians affirm, not without fome
degree of probability, that Pi/a was ori-
ginally built by a Grecian colony, who
fettling in Etruria, denominated their
new town, the fame as that which they
had quitted in Peloponnefus. Virgil is
brought as a witnefs to this affertion :
Hosparerejubent Alpheaab origine Pifce^
Urbs Etrufcafolo*.
* JEneid. x. ver. 179.
Pifa, a Tufcan town, fupplies thefe bands^
Pi/a, firfl founded by Alphean hands.
Wright,
H 4 Virgil,
104 L E T T E R IX.
Virgil, throughout his JEneid, has iludi-
oufly taken care to celebrate the places
of mofl notoriety in his own time. I
cannot therefore avoid indulging myfelf
in the thought, that I am now treading
on claflic ground. The fituation of the
city, on a fine river, in a plain, fertile,
champaign country, the approach on
every fide eafy and delightful, the air as
healthy and as warm as that of Naples ,
were circumflances adapted to Grecian
luxury, and fuch as left no perceptible
alteration in the exchange of Peloponne-
fus for Etruria.
I am juft returned from viewing the
great-duke's palace. It is rather an ex-
cellent houfe than a royal dwelling. It
is fituated on one of the quays, and com-
mands a profped of the Arno.
The burying-place [II campo fanto] is
encompafTed by a Gothic cloifter, like
that of Weftminfter, but in an oblong
fq .u.re *, Miracles attend every inch of
the
* Its inner area is filled with earth which was
brought
LETT E R IX. 105
the facred ground. They are undoubtedly
recorded by many legendary writers. I
will not add to the number.
Around the walks of the cloifter, are
ranged many farcopbagi, fome very
fine, in alto relievo. They were found
in different parts of Europe, and brought
hither, as to a repofitory, by the pur-
chafe and command of the former great-
dukes of Tufcany.
The aqueduct, which fupplies the in-
habitants with water, is a plain noble fa-
bric. It is built on large brick arches
four miles in length. I beheld with
aftonifhment fo expenfive, and fo bene-
ficial a public work. Two large refer-
voirs receive the water, and fupply two
brought from Jerufalem, in 1228, as ballaft, in the
galleys of the Pifans when they returned from
warring with the Turks, and from thence takes
its name : it was begun to be built in the year
1200, and was mrifhed in 1278. It is the pro-
perty, they fay, of Jer:>falem-cavth. to reduce a
body to a Ikeleton in twenty-four hours. Wright.
perpetual
to6 LETTER IX.
perpetual fountains, that are at once an
ornament, a refrefhment, a convenience,
and an advantage to the city. I blufhed
to think, that I had ever feen Cheapfide-
conduit, and that I ihall probably fee
again, in various parts of London, the
letters F. P. to notify water, and a Fire-
Plug, fomewhere or other to be found,
if diligently fought for upon very emer-
gent occafions. The grand-duke Fer-
dinand has many ftatues, and many
pompous infcriptions, throughout Tufca-
ny y to his honour. His Aqueduct at Pifa
records his praifes with greater truth,
and more juftice, than all his other mo-
numents.
If you are not tired, permit me to
conduct you to the baths of Pifa, which
are two miles diftant from the town.
They are large, handfome, and conveni-
ent, far more commodioufly contrived
than the baths in Scmerfetjhire. Any
perfon may occupy a fingle room, in
which he will find a bath, a fire-place,
and
LETTER IX. 107
and fufiicient fpace for a bed*. The
waters are as hot as thofe of the Queen's
lath> and much of the fame nature. The
lodgings (part of the great-duke's re-
venue) are dear in refpeel: of Italy, cheap
in refpeel: of 'Tunbridge, Bath, and BriftoL
All provifions are brought in from the
neighbouring common-wealth of Lucca.
The city of Pi/a cannot afford meat, or
even greens or garden-fruits of any kind.
The buildings are new. A rocky roman-
tic hill rifes clofe behind them, of which
the greateft part is covered by a wood of
fhrubs confirming of juniper and myrtles.
The buildings, the hill, the rocks, and
the wood, afford a moil pleafing prof-
peel: to the eye —
Nullus in orbejinus Bails prxlucet amcenis\.
In the feafon, which is the midft of
fummer, great numbers of people reform
* Dr. DominicetVs baths, &c. at Cbelfea, &cm,
in fome meafure, formed on this model.
f Hor, Lib. I. Eplji. 1. <ver. 83.
No bay with pleafant Baits can compare.
to
i©8 LETTER IX.
to thefe baths, more for the benefit of
bathing than of drinking the waters *.
When the company is abfent, I have
feldom feen a place more fuitably adapt-
ed to ftudy and contemplation.
My next fhall be from Florence ; we
are determined to winter there. I have
been fo long in my vifit, that I muft
haften to take leave. Adieu.
CORKE.
* The hot fprings of Fufeany were choaked up
by the barbarians. The famous countefs Matilda,
in 1113, repaired and made ufe of them ; but the
fucceeding ages of barbarifm again choaked
them, till about the year 1743 they were dis-
covered at the foot of mount St. Giuliano, not far
from Pi/a, and being again rebuilt, they are at this
time [1763] vaftly frequented for their medicinal
virtues. Univ. Mod. Hiji. vol. xiii. p. 269.
In Montfaucon's Antiquities is an inner view of
that part of the ancient baths of Pi/a called La-
emhumi taken from a defign of Cardinal Ntris*
LETTER
[ log ]
LETTER X.
Florence, November 29th, 1 754,
BEHOLD me, " would thou
couldft," as Sbakefpear fays, again
fituated and fixed among all the rarities
of the European world ; again, my valu-
able friend, in the neighbourhood of Ve-
nus -, again near ilponte delta Trinita \ a-
gain under the protection, and often un-
der the roof, of a gentleman who ftudies
to make us happy, Horatio Mtrn, efq-,
his Majefty's minifter to the emperor as
duke of Tufcany. I wifh you knew him ;
I wifh he knew you. He does honour
to our nation. He lives elegantly and
generoufly. He never fails in any point
of civility and kindnefs to his country-
men. The politenefs of his manners,
and the prudence of his conduct, are
fhining
no L E T T E R X.
Jhining examples both to the Britons and
Italians. He is the only perfon I have
ever known, whom all Englijhmen agree
in praifing. He has the art of conquer-
ing our prejudices, and taming our fierce-
nefs. Sigh with me, that fuch a man
fhould be fubjec"t to perpetual head-achs,
and to that delicate frame of conftitu-
tioa, which is fo often, and fo eafily,
diflocated ; even to a degree, that almoft
unhinges life itfelf, or at lean; weakens
and renders it difficult to repair. He
is fortunate in the friendiliip, fkill, and
care of his phyfician doctor Cochi y who
has formerly been in England with the
late lord Huntingdon, The doctor is
much prejudiced in favour of the Englijh^
though he refided fome years among us.
He is a man of moft extenfive learning ;
underflands, reads, and fpeaks, all the
European languages, is fludious, polite,
xnodeft, humane, and inftructive. He
will always be admired and beloved by
all who know him, Could I. live with
* thefe
LETTER X. in
thefe two gentlemen only, and converfe
with few or none others, I mould fcarce
defire to return to England in many
years *. Foreigners, at my time of life,
are not fo relilhable perhaps as they
ought to be. Perhaps I carry with me
the maladie du pais, a diftemper, to
which moft men are liable. Be that as
it may, it is irkfome to begin to form
new acquaintance in a diftant world,
where the cuftoms, the religion, the
hours, the difpofitions, and all appear-
ances, are different from what we have
* In another letter his lordfhip mentions the
Abbe Nkollniy (who had alfo been in England}
as M a man of great family, of excellent fenfe,
" thorough knowledge of books, perfons, and
" things, and particularly obliging and attached
f* to the Englijb;" and the Abbi Buondeimonte*
•' fuperior to moft and inferior in learning to
" none." The Abbe Nicolini is alfo celebrated
by Mr. Sharp. This literary triumvirate, not ea-
fily to be matched, is now no more. Dr. Cocbi's
fon is one of the prefent literati of Florence*
experienced
U2 L E T T E R X.
experienced before. I have not fojourn*
cd long enough among the Florentines to
form any exact judgment of the people.
What as yet I have been able to obferve,
I will tell yon.
The inhabitants of the higher fort are
civil, grave, and abftemious. Even an
EngliJbttian,conqueved by example, drinks
no bumpers here. The common people
are lazy, proud, and cowardly. Not a
grain of Roman fpirit remains throughout
Tufcany, You know the general attach-
ment which is inherent to names. The
Florentines languifli after the houfe of
Medici-, yet by that family they were
firft enflaved. That they mould wifh
their prince to refide among them *, is
confonant to nature and to reafon. They
dream of antient liberty -, their dreams
* They have now their wifh. The late empe-
ror not long before his death (which happened in
1765) refigned hisTufcan dominions to his fecond
fon Peter~Leopold> who now with his dutchefs (an
infanta of Spain J refides at Florence,
have
L E T T E R X. 113
have a gloomy effect upon their waking
hours j they appear melancholy. cc We
" are a people," fay they, <c who are
" tied by the leg. We wifh to fly, but
" we are detained by iron chains.'*
Whither would they fly I Undoubtedly
to their ancient republic.
Their good breeding runs into the
ftiffnefs of ceremony. They are offend-
ed at the lead defect in decorum *. There
are certain eftablifhed laws in going into
a coach, that Hill puzzle me, and often
make me fbudy very heartily which is
my right, and which is my left hand.
* Thus alfo Mr. Mifon : " NotwitManding
" its beauty and the finenefs of its fituation,
<f the refiding in Florence is very melancholy to
" thofe who are accuftomed to tafte the fweets
" of fociety. The chevalier D. who has lived
" there fome years, cannot fufficiently exprefs his
" chagrin at the troublefome cuftoms and eternal
" ceremonies of the Florentines, as well as the in-
" wifibility of the women. Without being born
" among thefe cuftoms, one cannot but think
*' them extremely ftrange." Letter xxxi.
I No
ii4 LETTER X.
No Florentine ever appears in an undrefs.
The fidlers, the taylors, and the barbers
all wear fwords. The noblemen {la no-
lilita) flir not to the next door without
a numerous attendance of lacqueys, a-
mong whom is always a running foot-
man. They are ftrangers to what the
French call Ease ; in which point that
nation deviates into an extreme, particu-
larly by avoiding cleanlinefs, and forget-
ting decorum.
The Florentines affect, and almofl
reach magnificence. Their equipages
are fine, their coaches large, their horfes
lean; their palaces truly fumptuous.
They make few or no entertainments.
Neither their difpofitions nor revenues
will allow of hofpitality. They have
capd-affemblies, in which formality, ra-
ther than dignity, or gaiety, prefides. I
am told they are fatyrical. It is certain
they are nice obfervers, and neither de-
fective in judgment or underflanding ;
yet their public amufements and diver-
fions.
L E T T E R X. n 5
fions, efpecially thofe of the theatre, are
the amufements and diverfions of chil-
dren. The pradtice of religion is out«
wardly a&ed by their priefts, and indeed
by the laity in the churches. Few traces
of it (I fpeak not of the clergy) are per-
ceptible in their conduct. Not half an
hour ago, a folemn procefllon pafled un-
der our windows. The perfons, who
attended it, (hewed by their behaviour
their private opinion of the fcenery. No
heretics could have conduced them-
felves in a more indecent manner. The
cuftoms and external forms of religion
are continued •, the reverence and devo-
tion of it are negledted. Prudence (by
an inviolable taciturnity on certain points)
added to a moft conftant attendance at
mafs, defend the Florentines from the ty-
ranny of the inquifuion ; which exifts,
but triumphs not, in this city.
How fhall I fpell, how fhall I paint,
how fhall I defcribe, the animal known
by. the title of a Chichijbee? \CiciJbeo\
I z You
n6 L E T T E R X.
You will not find the word in any dic-
tionary. The etymology is not as yet
made known to me. It fo totally abro-
gates one of the chief chara&eriftics of
the Italians, jealoufy, that, unlefs I had
feen innumerable inftances of its power
in that particular, fcarce your own tefti-
mony could have found credit with me.
The Chichijbee is a man with many of
the privileges of a hufband, and all the
virtues of an eunuch. He is an appen-
dix to matrimony. Within a week after
her nuptials, a young lady makes choice
of her Chichijbee. From that moment fhe
never appears in public with her huf-
band, nor is ever imprudent enough to
be feen without her Chichijbee. He is
her guardian, her friend, and her gentle-
man-ufher. He attends her in a morn-
ing as foon as fhe is awake. He pre-
fents to her chocolate before fhe rifes.
He fets her flippers \ and, as foon as his
morning vifit is over, he withdraws
where he pleafes. The lady admits him
not
LETTER X. 117
not to dinner. The hufband only has
that honour. In the afternoon he re*
turns to attend her in her vifits. His
afliduity muft be remarkable •, his punc-
tuality mud never' waver. When fhc
fees company at home, he is to hand her
from one end of the room to the other,
from chair to chair, and from fide to
fide. If fhe enters into a particular dif-
courfe with another perfon, the Chichijbee
retires into a corner of the room with the
lap-dog, or fits in the window teaching
the macaw to fpeak Italian. If the lady
fits down to play, it is the duty of the
Chichijbee to fort her cards. The huf-
band (believe me, I entreat you, if you
can,) beholds their familiarities, not on-
ly contentedly, but with pleafure. He
himfelf has the honourable employment
of a Chichijbee in another houfe-; and in
both fituations, as hufband and chichifl;ee,
neither gives, nor receives, the leait tinc~t
of jealoufy *.
Methinks
* Mr. Sharif fays, " In Florence, the generality
I 3 "of
ji8 L E T T E R X.
Methinks I fee you dubious and flart-
led at this account. Be affured, it is not
exaggerated, nor have I extracted a tittle
from the fcandalous chronicle, which
fays, that Chichi/bees are often defied be-
fore marriage, and inftituted after ; add-
ing farther, that the name of the Chichif-
4t of ladies have three Cicijbeos ; the firft is the
*' Cicijbeo of dignity ; the fecond is the Cicif-
*< beo who picks up the glove, gives the fan, and
*< pulls off or puts on the cloak, &c. the third Gi-
" cijbeo is by the wags deemed the fubftantial C/-
" tijbee, or lover." Letter xlviii.
Inflead of annexing (with Mr. Sharp) to the
word Cicijbeo the idea of an adulterer, Mr. Baretti
fays, that, " it originally fignified no more than
*f a njohijperer ; and at prefent means only a Pla-
" tonic adorer of either fex, without conveying
4f the leaft difparaging reflection." See his Account
ef the Manners and Cujioms of Italy, Chap. viii.
M. dsla Lande alfo pretends, that " a Cicijbeo
" and his lady, in Italy , regard each other juft as
M a brother and filler do in France, in confe»
** quence of the fame force of habit ;" though
he acknowledges, that, u there are Cicijbeos of
*' love as well as of convenience." See Voyage
dun Francis en It (the fait dans ks annces 1 765, 1 766.
bee,
LET T E R X. 119
bee, and the definition of his employ-
ment, are frequently inferted in mar-
riage- fettlements, to fecure him againft
the too great power of a whimfical huf-
band, or a watchful mother-in-law. Ma-
ny other finifter comments may be found
in that voluminous chronicle. How can
it be otherwife ? The appearance of the
breach of virtue is always treated by the
world, as the breach itfelf. Give oblo-
quy a foundation-ftone, fhe will foon raife
a fuperftructure, that mail reach the
fides. Upon the whole, we may pro-
nounce equitably this fentence, that if the
Lady is chafte, (he has great virtue ; if the
€bichifiee is chafte, he has greater *.
I am, deareft fir,
ever yours,
Corks.
* Martinierit under the article Italic, con-
cludes the character of the Italians thus -, t( They
<* are very jealous ef their women, who are well-
" made, fprightly, witty $ and they allow them
" little liberty."
I4 LETTER
[ 120 ]
L E T T E R XI.
Florence, December 31ft, 1754.
DEAR SIR,
Q I N C E I wrote to you laft, my
*^ books are arrived. They will be
of ufe, not fo much to teach me what to
fay, as what not to fay •, and they have
already taught me, not to be at any ex-
traordinary pains in defcribing ftatues,
palaces, and pictures. You will find
many of them in that phoenix of our
Englijh writers Mr. Addifon *. Such as
* Mr. Addi/on travelled into Italy, Sec. in 1700,
by the favour of lord Seiners (who procured him
a penfion for that purpofe of 300 1. a year).
He was abroad three years, and publifhed his
Remarks, foon after his return.
In another letter, mentioning thefe Travels, his
lordihip fays, ' ;, Iread them long ago ; they difap-
-,*' pointed me then : they difappoint me fill]. The
« ! ityle is iliff, difagrceable, and tame. 'Jhey
<< were written in his early days. I wim he had
* c peliflied them in his latcfl. He was. the glory
" of our EngUJb writers ; bet there are (pecks in
8 (un.' J
have
LETTER XT. 121
have efcaped Mr. Addifon are amply and
moftjudicioufly fupplied by Mr. Wright-\^
the befl author who has traverfed Italian
ground *, and Mr. Richardfon the young-
er J. To tell you the truth, tho 5 I
relifh Virtu to a much greater degree
f Edward Wright, Efq; travelled with the late
earl of Macclesfield (then lord Parker) in the years
1720, 1721, and 1722. His Qbfer<vations were
publifhed in two volumes 4 t0 , 1730. " His ftyle
is not good in profe ; it is worfe in rhyme; but
his matter and remarks are judicious and im-
proving.' '
* Mr. KeyJIer, a German, was in Italy, &c. with
the two young barons Bernftorjf of Denmark in
1730. His Travels were publifhed (in German)
foon after his death, which happened in 1743, and
were tranflated into Englijhin. 1756, in four vo-
lumes 4 t0 .
Mefirs. de la Ccndamine, Smollett, Sharp, Bar etti,
de la Lande, &c. have travelled and publifhed fince
this letter was written.
\ " Mr. Richard/on entitles his work, " An ac-
" count of fome of the ftatues, bas-reliefs, draw*
" ings, and pictures in Italy, with remarks." His
account is fhort, but full, and weil-digeiied. The
knowledge and fldll of his father mult have been
\ery advantageous to him."
than
122 LET TE R XL
than I understand it, letting my eyes
and fancy implicitly command my judg-
ment, yet the trade, the conftitution, the
climate, the inhabitants of a country,
appear to me the much more advantage-
ous ftudy of the two ^ efpecially as an
examination of that kind cannot fail of
comprehending both the ornamental and
the mercantile riches of the date.
The prefent government of Flore ft te is
tinder the name of the emperor. The
immediate exercife of the government is
tinder count Richecourt *, who lives in
the Old Palace [Palazzo vecchio] and has
all the authority he can defire, and as
the Florentines think, much more than
he deferves. He is of a chearful afpect,
and of a moft princely perfonage •, yet
fomething finifler and obfeure may be
perceived in his countenance. Hefeems
little inclined to the EngHfo -, lefs indeed
* The Modern Hif.ory calls him. (by miltake)
M. Richard,
than
LETTER XI. 123
than is confiftent with politenefs. He is
fevere, juft, and regular in his adminiftra-
tion ; rather inexorable than indulgent ;
a man of bufinefs - y of a clear, compre-
hensive understanding, proud, and as
the Florentines affirm, lucrative and ty-
rannical. Great allowances muft be
made for their prejudices againft him.
He is a Lorrainefe -, the ihadow, not the
fubftance of a fovereign ; and he fucceeds
a man of a much milder, and more obfe-
quious difpofition, the prince de Craon y
who refigned the reins of power unwil-
lingly, and did not long furvive the re-
signation *
The prefent frame of government is
Supported by a regency, which confifts of
a Triumvirate. Count Riche court has no
other title than " the firft of the re-
" gency." The other two f are not of
* For farther particulars of this unfortunate
prince, fee Letter xx.
f " The Abbate Tornaquinci, fecrefcary of Hate,.
and fignor Antenoriy fecretary of war."
7 the
124 LETTER XT.
the lead confequence. They anfvver their
destination, by rilling up the comple-
ment of regents, and confirming the e-
dicts of their chief. They are both Itali-
ans: Adepti funt nomen honoris ', non honor em.
Having named the Palazzo vecchio, it
is requifite that I fhould give you fome
account of it. The building is Gothicly
antique ; lofty, gloomy, and venerable.
In this palace were kept the courts of
juflice during the times of the republic.
It was the dwelling of the Gonfalonier*,
and, 'till the purchafe of the palace
J?ittif, was the refidence of the dukes
* A magiftrate firft chofen in the year 1287,
whofe office it was to bear the gonfalon (or ftand-
ard) of juflice, and to call the people out to at-
tend his ftandard, in all cafes of the breach of the
peace, which could not be remedied in the ordi-
nary court of juflice. Being a poft of great
power, its duration was limited to two months,
and (like the Roman Tribunes) it could only be
held by a plebeian.
•J- For a defcription of the palace fee the next
letter. Vno de fiu maeftoft edifz?, che jfi t'eggaw in
mtaVItalia. p. 129. di Eifr relic.
• A Of
LETTER XI. 125
of Tufcany. Two ftrange hiftorical anec-
dotes made me particularly curious m
viewing it. The firft was an archbifhop
of Pi fa hanged out of one of the cham-
ber windows. The other was the fable
ofCinyras and Myrrba, tranfa&ed in the
great hall.
The plotting prelate was Francefco Sal-
viati. Three of the confederates, two
of whom were namefakes and kinfmen to
the archbifhop, were hanged at the fame
in (Ian t, and from the fame window. The
narrative would run beyond the bounds
of a letter * A chain, in memory of the
fad,
* Pope Sixtus IV. [in 1477] was defirous of
{tripping the lords of Imola and Friuli of their
pofleffions, to enrich Jerom Riario. The two bro-
thers Medici fupported thefe princes with money
and troops. The pope thought he could not
maintain his authority in Italy, but by the
ruin of the Medici family. Francis Pazzi, a banker
of Florence, who had fettled at Rome, and who was
an enemy to the two brothers, offered his fervice
to the pope to get them affailinated. Cardinal
Raphael Riario, Jerom's brother, was fen t to Flo-
rence
ti6 LETTER XI.
fad, remained pendent. from the time
of the execution, as an emblem of terror
to all future confpirators againft the
itate. Policy has fince directed the reft-
lefs.
rence to manage the plot, of which Salviati, arch-
bifhop of Pi/ay had already formed the plan 5 and
Stepbano, a dependant of the archbifhop, under-
took to execute it. The confpirators fixed on a
day in which a grand feftival was to be hel^J. in
the church of St. Reparata, for the maflacre of
the Medici and their friends, in the fame manner
that the pjfaffins of Galeas Sforza had made choice
of the cathedral of Milan, and the feflival of St.
Stephen, to murder that prince at the foot of the
altar. The initant of the elevation of the hoft
was the time fixed to flrike the blow, as then, the
people being proftrate, and attentive to the ap-
pearance of their God, were not in a condition to
obftruft the execution. Accordingly at that very
moment, Julian de Medici was ftabbed by a brother
of Pazzi, and others of the confpirators. Lorenzo
de Medici was wounded by Stepbano, but not fo
mortally but that he had ltrength enough to take
refuge in the veftry.
The people of Florence, who loved the family
of Medici, revenged this affaffination with intereft
on the bloody perpetrators. The archbifhop was
hanged
LETTER XL 127
lefs fons of ambition to undermine by ar-
tifice, not to attack by violence, fuch go-
vernments, as they feek to deftroy. But
here the hydra of faction is long fince
fubdued. The Florentine heads are
feared, and now the chain appears no
more.
hanged at one of the windows of the public pa-
lace. Lorenzo had the generofity, or prudence, to
fave the life of the cardinal, whom the enraged
people were going to put to death, at the foot of
that very altar, which he had himfelf ftained with,
blood, and to which he now fled far fafety„
Voltaire's additions to General Hijlcry .
Julian left a po&humous fon, afterwards pope
Clement VII.
M. de Voltaire has in another place juftlyob-
{tvvtd t that il if pope Sixtus IV. had not been an.
" infidel, he would not have engaged in the con-
si fpiracy of the Pazxi, for which the archbifhop
il of Pi/a was hanged in his pontifical habit at the
*' windows of the town-houfe. The affaflins of
** the Medici, who perpetrated their parricide m
* f the cathedral, at the inftan* when the prieft
Ci fhewed the Eucharift to the people, could not
" believe in the Eucharift."
The
128 L E T T E R XI.
The Cinyras was Cofmo, the firit great
duke of Tufcany-y (his predece (Tor Alexander
de Medici *, not being to be numbered, I
think, in the feries of thofe princes.)
The Myrrha was Ifabella> his elded
daughter f.
The fact was difcovered by Giorgio Va~
fari J, a painter, whom Co/mo had ap-
* " Alexander de Medici was fuppofed to be a na-
tural fori of the duke d'Urbino. (See the firil note
on letter xx.) He was murdered by his kinfman,
Lorenzo de Medici, January 6, 1537. He died
without children by his wife Margaret of Aujiria,
natural daughter of the emperor Charles V. He
was entitled only duke of Tufcany. See his arti-
cle in Morcri and other dictionaries."
.f << Co/mo I. had two daughters. Ifahella was his.
eldeft : the other was Lucrelia y married to the
duke of Ferrara, who was born in 1542."
X Born at Arezzo in Tufcany in 15 14, a difciple
oi Michael Angela and Andrea del S art 0, equally
famous for his pen and pencil, and as eminent for
his (kill in architecture. His Hijlory of the Lives
cf the Painters was firfl publilhed at Florence in
1550, and in the opinion of AnnibalCaro, is writ-
ten with great veracity and judgment.
pointed
LETTER XL 129
pointed to paint the walls and ceiling of
the great hall. Vafari y one day, had lain
down on the fcaffold to reft himfelf
after his labour ; when, in the dufk of
the evening, the great duke and his
daughter, imagining no perfon in the
room, came into the hall. They had
precautioufly locked the doors, but the
witnefs of their inceft was locked on the
infide. Co/mo, as he was returning, ima-
gined he faw the fcaffold ftir. He was
alarmed, and haflened up the ladder,
fully determined to ftab the perfon whom
he mould find. The painter, confeious
of his impending fate, appeared lying at
full length and fail afleep -, a prefence of
mind equal to the fleeping clerk in Thur-
loe's office. The great duke and Ifa-
bella, fuppofing the crime undifcovered,
immediately feparated, and went to their
refpe&ive apartments. Vafari^ till he
had finifhed his work and quitted the
Tufcan territories, locked up his danger-
It ous
130 LETTER XI.
ous fecret within his bread. As foon as
he found himfelf at a diftance, and in
fafety, he publifhed it in all its blackefl
colours. During the interval of the com-
million and the publication of the horrid
fact, Ifabella was married to the duke
of Bracciano, a fmall duchy under the
jurifdiction of the pope. The mifcon-
duct of the dutchefs, whofe want of nup-
tial chaftity began to be notorious, had
already kindled the latent fire of jea-
loufy in the uneafy mind of the duke her
hufband. The painter's ftory added fu-
el to the flame. Bracciano y under pre-
tence of hunting, retired to one of his
country-feats. The next day he fent
for his wife to come to him. The man-
ner, in which the meiTage was fent, had
in it fo myfterious and doubtful an ap-
pearance, from former circumitances, that
the female confidants of the dutchefs ad-
vifed her not to obey the fummons. For
fome time (he hefi tated. At laft, over-
coming
Letter xi. i 3 t
coming her fufpicions, fhe went ; and, in
iefs than half an hour after her arrival,
was (Irangled. This happened in the
year 1578*.
The
* Tbuanus'i account of this cataftrophe is as fol-
lows. " In this year [1578] a confpiracy was de-
tected at Florence, which defiled a principal family
with two murders. Leonora of Toledo, daughter of
Garcias, viceroy of Naples, who was married to Pe-
ter, brother to Francis, great-duke of Tufcany, and
Ifahclla their filter, the wife of Paul-Jordano d' Or-
Jini, duke of Brdcciano, being both deferted by
their hufbands, men of diifolute and abandoned
lives, were thought to have criminal connection
with fome of the nobles of that court. Francis^
From that intercourfe, had a fufpicion, that the
paramours had confpired againft him ; therefore
to remove his private dangers, left it might be ne-
ceffary for him to imbrue his own hands with the
blood of his relations, being defirous to employ
thofe of others, he fent for his brother and his
brother-in-law, and gave them proofs of the
adultery, allowing each of them full liberty to
revenge their private injuries, and at the fame
time to free a mod illuftrious family from this
fcandal and difgrace. Of this they readily availed
K 2 them-
xj2 LETTER XL
The works of Giorgio Vafari, in the
ceiling and on the fides of the great hall
at
themfelves, that the infamy of their own lives,
of which they both were confcious, might not
be retorted upon them. Leonora therefore and
Ifabella were both ftrangled the fame night, and
it was reported that their deaths were owing to a
quinfy contracted by eating too many mum-
rooms. Their gallants were tortured and put to
death At the heinoufnefs of this fatt, Joan of
Aujlria, the wife of Francis, was fo mocked, fear-
ing that the like might be her own fate, though
for a very different reafon, as fhe had long been
apprifed of the frantic paflion of her hufband for
Bianco. Capelio, that through grief and anxiety
fhe expired with great pain in child-bed, the fon,
of whom flie was pregnant, being fuffocated be-
fore me could be delivered ; which many confi-
dered as an evident inftance of God's wrath, which
foon revenged the death of the duke's ftrangled
fillers by depriving him of his fon, the much
defired heir of his dominions, by the fame kind
of death, and alfo by the lofs of his wife, a moll
deferving woman." See Thuani Hijloria, Lib.
Ixv. Seel. 20. among the Varice Letliones.
Ifabella de Medici is faid to have been a great
patronefs of Socinus, and, during her life, all the
endta-
L E T T E R XL i 33
at Florence, are finely executed in freico.
The room itfelf is lefs than our wild
hall at Wefiminfter, but of a much more
pleafing proportion \ efpecially as it is
ornamented by painting and gilding in a
mod magnificent princely manner.
The Old Palace ftands in a corner of a
large irregular iquare, in which are fixed
many celebrated frames, productions of
the beft modern hands. Moft of them,
particularly that of David and Goliab*,
are much injured, notwithflanding the
finenefs of the weather. If marble fta-
tues receive damage in Italy, what muft
they fuffer in England? Yet we laugh
at ourfelves for placing leaden figures in
our gardens. Either place leaden figures
there, or none.
I have feen the famous library of ma-
endeavours of the inquifition to confifcate his ef-
tate were ineffectual. See Boyle's dictionary, ar-
ticle Socinus*
4 By Michael Angela.
K 3 nufcripts,
i 3 4 LETTER XL
nulcripts, Librcria Laurenzianaf. It
is a large, and, I believe, a moil rare
and well chofen collection. The bene-
factors formerly have been many - 9 of
late years very few. The variety of
bibles, at leafb by their number, may be
called valuable. I dare fay, you have
{ccn a copy of the Virgil* in England.
Here, you would fee an original Livy,
finely preferved, and finely written. The
proportion of the room ftrikes every eye.
It is the architecture of Michael Angela.
A modern Italian author, who has writ-
f This library belongs to the convent of St.
Laurence, and was partly collected by Lorenzo de
Medici ; and partly by pope Clement VII. and the
great- duke Co/mo I. It is faid to contain 14,800
manufcripts.
* This, the moft curious manufcript in the li-
brary, is fuppofed to have been written in the
fifth century. It wants the llle ego qui quondam,
&c. and the twenty- two lines in the 2d vEneid,
which relate the interview of JEneas with Helen,
and which, Mr. Addifon thinks, were very judici-
oufly expunged by Tucca and Varim t
ten
L E T T E R XL 135
ten an account of the library, fpeaks of
the room in thefe words, e cost nobile, e
maeftofoy e di si rara, e perfetta architettu-
ra y che lingua umana non ha lode bajlevole
per commendarla*.
Here you have the ftyle of modern
Italy. How different from the Ciceronian,
or even the later ages of Rome ! The
Italian language feems adapted to flat-
tery and high-flown thoughts. It has
the honour to have arifen out of the
afhes of the Latin tongue, which fubfift-
ed, and was generally fpoken in Italy,
impure indeed, till the time of St. Ber-
nard, and the emperor Frederic Barba-
rojfa. After the twelfth century, it was
entirely loft in converiation, and remain-
ed only in public acts, and public
prayers ; and even in them, mixed, con-
founded, and fcarce intelligible.
* " It is of fuch noble, majeftic, and perfed
architecture, that homan language has not praifes
fufficient to comment it."
K a. Towards
i 3 6 LETTER XI.
Towards the middle of the thirteenth
century, fuch bafe coin being of no cur-
rency, fome ingenious men, particularly
Brunetti, and afterwards his difciple 'Dan-
te, the three Villani, and others, began to
form a new language, a more fweet-
founding, fofter kind of Latin, which
they appropriated to the ufe and benefit
of their own country. Towards the
middle of the fourteenth century ap-
peared Petrarch. The Italians ]uft\y call
the fourteenth century, the " age of
" purity," as their language flourifhed
very particularly in that cera. Petrarch
was the Waller of his day.
In the fifteenth century the correcl-
nefs and encouragement of Greek and
Latin was revived throughout Italy, and
efpecialiy in Florence, under the influence
of the houfe of Medici. The Italian lan-
guage remained in equilibre till it was
raifed again by Politianus*, and farther
increafed
* ft Angelus Politianus was a native offufcaxj,
born
L E T T E R XL i 37
increafed in purity and fimplicity by
Sannazarius* \
In the fixteenth century appeared car-
dinal Bemad* s f remarks on the Italian
born 1474. He was a prieft and a canon of Flo-
rence , preceptor to the children of Lorenxo de Me-
dici. See in Bayle's Dictionary a long and very
particular account of him."
* " Aclius Syncerus Sannazarlus was a A r apolitan,
born in 1458, a man of great wit and extenfive
learning, famous by his Latin and Italian works.
In a difpute one day before Frederic, king of Na-
ples, concerning what was belt to improve the
eye-fight, " Nothing is fo good for it," faid San-
nazarius, " as envy, becaufe it makes all objects
" appear greater." He was agreatepigrammatift.
One of his epigrams on the city of Venice is well
known. He died in the year 1530."
f '* Cardinal Peter Bembo was a Venetian , born
in 1470, of a family particularly famous for men
of letters and figure in the republic. He was fe-
cretary to Leo X. and was made a Cardinal by
Paul III. He died in 1547 by his horfe joflling
and bruifmg him againft a wall. His Latin
works, efpecially his hiitory of Venice, are much
eileemed for their purity."
language,
i 3 8 LETTER XL
language, a book at that time much ap-
plauded.
In the beginning of that century, an
academy was eflablilhed in Florence
for arcs and fciences, particularly for
languages. In the year 1580, it had
the authority of regular ftatutes. It was
begun, infxituted, and patroniied by the
princes of the houie of Medici. The dic-
tionary dell a Crufca'^ a mod perfedt
work in its kind, was forty years in com-
piling.
The Italian language lies under the
imputation of weaknefs and effeminacy.
1 The Accidentia delta Cru/ca have for their em-
blem, or device, a Mill: They take the title of
Cru/ca, or Bran* as profefiing themfelves to fepa-
rate and clear the fine flower from it ; that is, the
ufeful and valuable from that which is not fo j as
there are fome other academies in Italy which
take their title from fome defeat or imperfection,
which it is their endeavour to deliver themfelves
from, and Hudy its oppofite ; as Qtiofi* 0/curi,
Ojiinati, &C Wright.
On
LETTER XI. 139
On a thorough and candid inquifition, it
will be acknowledged loft, but itrong,
gentle, but expreffive ♦, fit indeed for
love and compliments. Too much of
it has been applied in that flrain •, but
look into the hiltorians, I mean thofe of
real worth, you will find nervous fenie,
decorated with forcible words, and fup-
ported by judicious obfervations. For a
moment let me play the part of a gram-
marian, and fay, that the diminutives and
augment atives are to be envied by every
JLngliJh writer. The gerunds and infinitive
moods, when turned, as frequently, into
fubiiantives, are fufficient to wipe away
all afperfions of imbecillity. Whence
then, you fay, arife thefe fuggeftions ? I
believe, I can account for them.
They arife from a lingular fafhion,
deemed politenefs, of fpeaking to men
in the feminine gender ; a method, which,
however citablijhed by cuftom, muft al-
ways appear to flrangers, unnatural and
abfurd. It is not fufficient to banifh the
6 words
Ho LETTER XL
words thou and thee in the fecond perfoi^
which are univerfally underftood as Vul-
gariims, but you mufl be excluded, and
the third perfon feminine introduced into
the place. Signore ella e malcreato, would
fcarce be tranflated by a novice in the
language, u Sir, you are uncivil." It is
difficult to guefs from whence this odd
piece of good breeding and courtlincfs
could arife. Surely not in complacence
to the Welch, who in the very depth of
blundering make ufe of floe and her in-
Head of he and him •, little imagining that
they may be faid to draw their muddy wa-
ter from the pure fountain of La Crufca.
Before we mut our grammar, let us
try a fentence of Florentine elegance, in
the rough plain Englijh tongue. " Sir,
" as I have the honour to fpeak to her,
" and as I find Jhe is general of our army,
4t I hope Jhe will permit me to afk my
•* orders from her, as upon her courage,
* c ftrength, and bravery depends the fuc-
** cefs of t-he day," With full as much
propriety
LETTER XL 141
propriety the Amazons might have aHumed
the appellative he\ and Acca might have
mourned over her miftrefs Camilla, by-
exclaiming, " Ah ! he was a dear and ex-
cc cellent lady, nor would he have ex-
" pired in my arms by any incident lefs
6C embarraffing, than his petticoats being
<c in his way." The confufion of fexes
muft produce abfurdity and feeming
weaknefs in any language whatever.
Good night to you, and farewell to the
year 1754!
CORKE,
LETTER
[ I 4 2 )
LETTER XIL
Florence, January 23d, 1755".
DEAR SIR,
IRefolved to fix myfelf in Italy to hear
mulic and to fee paintings. How are
human hopes fruftrated ! how is human
forefight deceived! Muiic there is, but
drowned in the more powerful founds of
Chichijhees. Paintings there are, but fome
of u.e bed of them hang in the dark. I
have feen an opera: literally feen it; to
hear it was impoflible. The Florentines
pay and repay vifits during the fweeteft
fongs. From the beginning to the end
of the representation, doors are opening,
compliments are returning, and a variety
of perfons of both fexes are paiTing from
box to box, and from fide to fide of the the-
atre. If any attention is raifed, or even any
look
LETTER XII. 143
look directed towards the ftage, it is nei-
ther extorted by the a&ion of the drama,
nor by the voice of the finger. The
dancers, the dancers only, command tht
ears and eyes of the audience. But what
are thefe dancers ? Such as we have feen
of late years in England, and fuch as we
could wifh not to have ken any where.
No graceful attitude, no gentle alluring
motions, no foft fymptoms of love-, no
fhepherdeiTes Humming over the plain ;
no goddeffes gliding through the air : the
women hop, and the men jump, as high
as they can. We come to behold the
dance of giants ; boifterous, tempeftuous
trials of ftrength ; the fury, not the
fprightlinefs, of motion •, the feats of ro-
buft pantomines, and the dreadful dis-
tortion of legs and arms. Are thefe
fcenes fights of pleaftire ? Moil certainly
they are. Bravi ! and Braviffimi / re-
echo at every caper. Strange amufe-
ment ! Is this Italy ? Look at the ftage,
you
i 4 4 LET T E R XIL
you will imagine it Rvffia. Hear the of-
cheftra — No, you cannot.
Think not, I intreat you, that what I
fay ariies from a cenforious difpofition,
or from that low mean defire of expofing
and deriding foreigners, only becaufe they
were not born within the precincts of
Old England. I have no fuch preju-
dices ; my reflections are merely the re-
fultof my fenfes. I fee, 1 hear, and then
I candidly exprefs to you my thoughts \
well knowing what great allowances are
to be made for the cuftoms and habits
of every particular country \ and how ea-
gerly we criticife the imperfections of our
neighbours, feeming abibiutely to forget
that we have any of our own. The Eng-
lijh averfion to foreigners is in oppofi-
tion to reafon, judgment, and politenefs.
Becaufe we are iflanders, the happieft cir-
cumftance in fome refpecls belonging to
us ; are our manners more refined, or are
our cuftoms nearer perfection, than the
cuftoms and manners of other people ?
1 fear
LETTER XII. i 45
I fear the contrary. Our feparation from
the continent gives us peculiarities, which,
other nations have not. It «;ives us
that fhynefs, that obftinate, filent, rude
referve, which we practife towards our-
felves and all the reft of the world.
The fneer, that proud, vain, cowardly
fneer, which fupplies the want of wit,
and difcovers the abundance of ill-na-
ture, is entirely and fhamefully our
own j fo that, if we find faults in others,
how many faults may others find in us ?
At lead, an equal, if not a fuperior quan-
tity. The Italians, by perverting plea-
fures, or not enjoying them, do no more
than the reft of the human fpecies. We
fhould all be eafier, healthier, and hap-
pier, could we adapt ourfelves to thofe
things only, which are fitted for us, and
for which we only are fit.
The opera lafts five hours : towards
the latter end, it becomes a greater fa-
tigue to the ipectator than to the actor.
Formerly the ladies flipped in their boxes.
L That
H6 LETTER XlL 1
That euftom is entirely abolifhed. The
fumes of meat, added to the fumes of
lamps and candles, mud have been too
fuffocating. Their prefent euftom, in
fummer, of refreihments in ice, and in
winter, of fweetmeats, is much more eli-
gible. The theatre is large, not an ab-
folute oval, but contracted at the end :
by which means every box in the houfe
is fituated mofbadvantageouily for fight.
None but the lower fet of people go into
the pit. All the Florentines of rank
havediftinct boxes to themielves.
I hinted to you, that fome of the
choiceft pictures were in the dark. There
are ftrong examples of this in the palace
Pittu where, in the great apartment,
crowded as it is with innumerable fine
pieces, many of them are loft for want of
a proper degree of light. The rooms
are fpacious, feldom more than one win-
dow in a room, and an equal quantity
of wall on each fide that window. Let
me tell you the occafion of this ftrange
dif-
LETTER XII. 147
difproportion. hue a Pitti, a Florentine
gentleman, more rich than wife, more en-
vious than prudent, heard with great uh-
eafinefs the palace of the famous Phi-
lippo Strozzi* much commended and
admired. It was the largeft palace at
that time in Florence. " It fhall be fo
" no longer," exclaimed Luca Pitti\ " I
" will build a larger. The palace of
" Strozzi fhall be meafured to ftand
" within my court. Every one of my
" windows mall be as large as his por-
* John Baptift Strozzi, furnamed Philip, a con-
ftant enemy of the Medici, endeavouring with
others, after the death of Clement VII. to deliver
themfelves from the exorbitant power of Alexan-
der de Medici, procured him to be afTaffinated
in 1536. Strozzi, being afterwards defeated by
Co/mo J* killed himfelf in prifon, in 1538, leav-
ing behind him, on his chimney-piece, engraved
by his dagger, this line in Virgil,
" Exoriare aliquis nojlris ex ojjihus uttor /"
JE\\. iv. 62^.
May fome avenger from my aihes rife !
The palace of Strozzi is noticed by Sir Henry
tVotion.
L 2 « Ul."
148 LETTER XII.
" tal." Luca Pitti verified his boaft,
but ruined his fortune. He built his
palace, and he erected a moft magnifi-
cent front on the outfide, magnificent,
but heavy \ truly Tufcan, durable as the
world itfelf. By which defign, the great
■arch of each window is, on txhe outfide, no-
ble: on the in fide, fix parts in feven of it
are bricked up, to adapt the windows to
the fize of the rooms ; nor are the cham-
bers divided with the leaft attention to
regularity. On the contrary, a win-
dow is often in the corner of a room.
The chimneys, few and fmall as they are,
have been placed ftill more irregularly ;
very different from our modern Englijh
edifices -, where falfc doors, and even falie
chimneys, appear anfwering each other,
with an exactnefs, that is not borrowed
from any houfe, that I have yet feen in
Italy. Is not this then an improvement
upon the Italians? The Englijh, you
know, are faid to be better improvers
than inventors: but the truth is, the
Italians
LETTER XII. 149
Italians have deviated from the rules of
Palladio ; and the Englifi, under the con-
dud of the late lord Burlington, have ad-
hered to thofe rules. When I fay " the
" Italians have deviated from Palla-
" dio" I mean only in the infide of their
houfes, and perhaps more particularly
in chimney-pieces, than in any other in-
ftances. But pray tell me, are not we
apt to exceed in the ornaments of our
chimneys? The mod fumptuous marble
monuments in IVeftminJler-^bbty coft lit-
tle more than the modern receptacles of
coals and faggots. We bold Britons fel-
dom come near perfection without hur-
rying beyond it.
Cofmo I. whofe riches and grandeur
were boundlefs, bought the palace Pitti,
which, from his time till the total ex-
tinction of his family, has been receiving
additional ornaments of every kind that
can be named. Behind the palace is a
large garden, called Boboli, laid out in
what is now deemed the old-fafhioned
L 3 tafte.
150 LETTER XIL
tafte. I mean flatues, fountains, long
ftrait alleys, and dipt hedges, or at
lead what were clipt hedges, the garden
being at prefent in a defolate, and almoft
a ruinous (late. Heretofore crowds of
people have enlivened B:boli: of late
it is totally defertcd. An amphitheatre
of evergreens, formed and fitted exactly
to the garden-front of the palace, has a
charming effect, efpecially at this dead
time of the year : they rife naturally, gra-
dually, and in variety of pleafmg fhades,
one above another. They are abfolutely
beyond the power of defcription. On
the top of one part of the garden is the
great fort which defends the town, In
another part a gentle afcent leads to a
banqueting-houfe, which commands a
view of the whole city. The banquet-
ing-houfe is the plaineft building imagi-
nable. Such an edifice would not be
permitted to hold fcythes or fhovels, in
the gardens of Stow, Chifwick, or Clare-
Wont. I often walk amidft the novelty
$ of
LETTER XII. 151
of this old tafte. Now and then I light
on fome of my own countrymen, but fel-
dom or never meet a Florentine. They
are too lazy and too tender to walk in
cold weather, and too polite, or rather of
too chichijbean a turn, to appear publicly
without ladies.
The lower apartments, in the palace
Pitti, which were only ufed during the
heats of fu miner, are arched for cool-
nefs : fo indeed they are in all the great
houfes of Italy. The walls of a vaft
hall, and other pompous rooms of audi-
ence, are painted in frcfco by the moft
eminent painters of the times. The hall,
in particular, reprefents the perfon, and
the mod noted actions of Lorenzo ds
Medici, furnamed the magnificent* ',_" the
* ; gravity of whofe life," hys Macbiavel,
" if compared with its levity, muft make
P him appear a compofition of two dif-
* l ferent perfons, each incompatible^
* Born 1448, died 1498.
L 4 " and,
152 LETTER XII.
" and, as it were, impofilble to be joined
<c with the other." Paradoxical as this
may feem, it is no uncommon character.
The great flair-cafe is not equal to
the noble grandeur of thofe rooms, to
which it leads ; and which are divided,
on the right, andon the left hand, by the
guard-chamber. Thofe on the right,
were pofTefied by the great-duke, Co/mo
III. Thofe on the left, by his eldeft
ion, Ferdinand^ great prince of Tufcany *,
who died in the life-time of his father, a
martyr to Venus ; and a difciple of the
Graces. The ceilings of both thrfe apart-
ments are adorned by gilding, ftucco,
and paintings. The hand of Pietro Be-
rettini da Cortcna is much fignalized :
pud'cgm altro s'immoriak f / The pictures,
vafes, cabinets, bronzes, and other rari-
ties, which the two apartments engrofs,
are, I believe, innumerable, but cer-
tainly invaluable -> efpecially thofe be-
* Born i6$3, died 171 3.
f More than any other, heimmortalifed himfelf
longing
LETTER XII. i 53
longing to prince Ferdinand, whofe per-
gonal accomplishments, and high tafte in
the arts and fciences, were remarkably-
excellent. The whole houfe is royal
and fplendid. One room, the bed-cham-
ber of the late princefs Anna de Medici,
electrefs palatine*, only daughter of Co/mo
III. has chairs, tables, (tools, and fcreens
of folid River j not fo handfome, per-
haps, as rich, lingular, and extraordi-
nary t.
I confefs, when I gaze on fucH pro-
fufion of wealth, fo judicioufly collected,
and fo carefully placed, now lying in
empty rooms, and fpread over defolated
palaces, the fight flrikes me rather with
melancholy than pleafure. The dutchy
oi*Fufcany and the city of Florence are of
no more immediate confequence to rne
than the province of Tanguf$. or the me-
* Born 1667, died 1743.
f This palace is now the refidence of the great-
duke Peter Leopold. P
X c< A province in AJia t olChinefe Tartarj."
tropolis
154 LETTER XII.
tropolisof Huqziangf, yet dill I muft be
grieved to behold a ftate, that has once
been glorious, once happy, once power-'
ful, now mouldering away, panting its
laft, and finking into nothing.
— — — Fiat Ilium , et ingens
Gloria Teucrorum. — — —
Arts and Iciences weep at the extinc-
tion of the houfe of Medici. The princes
of that houfe were many of them learned ;
all of them encouragers of learning.
" Tufcany was to Italy" fays monfieur
it Voltaire^ "what Athens was to Greece J."
f The firft in rank of the inland provinces of
China. Its metropolis is Vu-chang.
\ Thus alio Mr. Baretti : " Florence was de-
■" fervedly celebrated for having been, during the
f* whole xvith century, fo eminent a feat of lite-
«•' rature, as to be fcarcely equalled by any other
" in Europe. Florence was in that century called
" the Athens of Italy" And again : *' Tufcany
t* was the miftrefr of politenefs to France, as
f* France has fince been to all the weftern world ;
li and this little province may juftly boaft of
f* having produced (and nearly at one time) a
M o-rcater number of extraordinary men than
" perhaps any of the mod extenfive European,
«kU 2 dom,.»
LETTER XII. 155
What Greece is, tfufcany pofiibly may
be, perhaps Italy, perhaps Europe. The
ball of empire may hereafter roll weft-
ward, and may flop in America^ a world,
unknown whew Greece was in its meri-
dian glory, a world, that may fave the
tears of fome future Alexander.
I am, dear fir,
moil truly your's,
Corki,
LETTER
t i£« ]
LETTER XIII.
Florence) January 31ft, 1 75 J.
THE news-papers, and every vehi-
cle of information, talk to us of ap-
proaching war. They fing, or rather
croak, of French depredations in North-
America, They call aloud for arms, juf-
tice, reprifals. I believe, I know your
fentiments, my dear friend, upon thefe
tumultuous outcries.
Peace is your dear delight, not Fkury's
more.
I own, I dread a war with France. My
eyes have fo lately beheld their ftrength,
their troops, and their fortrerTes, that the
fight alone has convinced me, how very
difadvantageoufly we muft engage with
a people fo fuperior to us in numbers,
territories,
LETTER XIII. 257
territories, and domeftic union. In form-
er letters* I have hinted to you thoughts
of this kind. I cannot avoid repeating
them, not from cowardice, but convic-
tion, not from the vapours of timidity,
but the refult of reafon. The late Lord
Or ford declared to me that he always had
been, and was refolved ever to be, a-
gainft a war with France. " We are
" not able," added he, " to cope with
" them. They are too powerful for us,
«• and fuch a war mult end in a fub-
" million to what terms they (hall pleafe
" to impofe upon us." The prediction,
was plain and intelligible. .1- remember,
and I believe, the oracle -f-.
T\&French know their own fuperiority,
and they know our difficulties and delays
at home, which always muft have a
* See particularly Letter III. p. 29.
■f This oracle, however, like all others, has
proved fallible: Lord Or/or d prophefied, and
lord Corks wrote, before the lail war.
baneful
t$* L E T T E R XIlI.
baneful influence upon our operations
abroad. I cannot avoid being well
verfed in the true difpofition of many,
perhaps not all, of our countrymen.
They are railed to the height of heaven
by the leail fucceis, and, like the timo-
rous Ovid in his fhip, they think them-
felves finking to the depth of Tartarus
on the leaft appearance of adverfity.
Nature has not made war our pro-
vince. She has ftationed us for com-
merce entirely. We feem not yet to
have difcovered our natural fituation. If
we ever have, it was towards the latter
end of queen Anne's wars. And what
effect had the difcovery ? An impolitic
peace, which has entailed upon us em-
barraffinents and dangers, that will fcarce
be furmounted in the eighteenth cen-
tury*. Yet we ftill remain a courageous,
* How much heavier is the burthen, how much
greater is the embarrafiir.ent, finee this letter was
written !
if
LETTER XIII. 159
if not a warlike, people. All that we
can do, I am certain, we mail do by the
force of arms-, but that all muft be in-
ferior to what the French will infallibly
atchieve, in defiance of our ulmofl bra-
very.
The ridiculous notion that one En-
glifhman can always beat three Frenchmen,
is now lately indeed exploded, with many-
ether abfurdities worfe than vulgar er-
rors; I fay, worie, becaufe they were firft
propagated by knaves, and afterwards
believed by fools, nor even quite rejected
by wife men. The French are a very
different people from their anceftors the
ancient Gauls, " who," Flows fays,
" were at the beginning of a battle
44 more than men, at the latter end lefs
" than women*." I hope the prefent
* " Sed experimento deprehenfitm cjl, quippeficvt
primus impetus eis major quanT<virorum eji, it a fy*
quens miner quarn foeminarum. Lib. ii. cap. 4. See
the variorum notes on this paflage."
Gauls
i6o LETTER XIIL
Gauls will not fulfil the fir ft part of that
character -, I am fure they will not the
lad.
It is. more than probable, that the ap*
proaching war will not be confined within
the lifts of combat at prefent marked
out for France and England*. When
the torch of Bellona is lighted up in any
part of Europe^ the flames of it are apt
to kindle a general conflagration, I
dread Ucakgonf. That we may not
draw him towards us, as we are proverbi-
ally faid to draw the devil, by talking of
him, let us take a fkort turn or two in
the gallery.
* This prediction was fatally aceom-pli
The conteft which began in America ended in Ger-
many, and the flames of war, which were lighted
by France and England, extended tojR.itJ/ta, "Sfdin,
Portugal, &c. " So complicated," fays Voltaire,
"are the political interefls of the pref nt time,
" that a (hot fired in America is a fignal for fetting
" :]] Europe together by the ear.-."
f — — — — Proximus ara':S
Ucalegon: i Vug. jBx. ii. ver. 312.
My
LETTER XIII. 161
My prefen t defire of walking in the
gallery, is to examine particularly a buft
of Alexander, which Hands in a corner to
the right hand of the entrance. Mr. Ad-
difon, whole Travels are not the moil
fhining and accurate part of his works,
takes notice of this exquifite piece of
workmanlhip. His obfervation runs
thus, " There is in the fame gallery a
" very beautiful buft of Alexander the
5C great, cafting up his face to heaven,
" with a noble air of grief or difcontent-
" ednefs in his looks. I have feen two
" or three antique bufts of Alexander in
" the fame air and pofture, and am
" apt to think the fculptor had in his
u thoughts the conqueror's weeping for
" new worlds, or fome other the like
" circumflance in his hiftory*." I pre-
M fume
* Dr. Smollett defcribes this head as " turn-
*' ed on one fide, with an expreffion of languifh*
" ment and anxiety in the countenance," and
adds, " The virtuofi are not agreed about tht
1 62 LETTER XIII.
fume to fay, there is an excefs of forrow,
and no other mark of " difcontented-
" nefs," in the countenance of Alexander*.
That he wept for new worlds to conquer,
is an anecdote univerfally recorded. But
that fpecies of grief could neither be
long nor violent. It was much the fame
as the grief of Julius Cafar^ who by a
deep figh, when he beheld Alexander's
ftatue in the temple of Hercules-];, difco-
vered himfelf forry and afhamed, that he
had not yet fignalized his own character,
at a time of life, when the fon of Philip
had fubdued the world. Mr. Addifon's
phrafe of " fome other the like circum-
u circumftance in which he is reprefented; whe-
" ther fainting with the lofs of blood which he
<c fuffered in his adventure at Oxydrace ; or lan-
" guifhing with the fever contracted by bathing
" in the Cydnus ; or, finally, complaining to his
" father Jove, that there were no other worlds
*' for him to conquer. Letter xxviii.
* Mr. Richard/on calls this ftatue " Ahxander
" the Great dying" See his Travels, p. 47.
f See Suetonius, Lib* 1. cap* 7.
8 " fiance
LETTER XIII. 163
" fiance in his hiftory" is extremely
vague and uncertain. I do not remem-
ber any " like circumftance" in the
hiftory of Alexander. But there are cir-
cumftances in which the Macedonian con-
queror is reprefented by his biographers
as labouring under the mofl violent emo-
tions of forrow. Two very notorious.
The murder of Clitus f , and the death
of Hephejlio?!. He killed Clitus in a fu-
rious guft of rage. His grief for that
rafli action is fo fully defcribed by
1^5 Cur tins, that I am determined to ex-
tract fuch parts of the account as feem to
permit a great probability, that all the
buds of Alexander expreffive of grief, are
in memory, and indeed in honour, of fo
remarkable a contrition :
" Haft am ex cor pore jacentis evulfam
^ retorfit in feme t\ jamqiie admoverat pee-
+ " Clitus had given great provocation to his
royal mailer by vain indecent exprefiions. Both
were deeply intoxicated with liquor, See §>.
Curtius, Lib. viii, Cap. 1."
M 2 " twist
j5 4 LETTE R XIIL
" tori •, quum advolant vigiles, et repug-
" nanti e manibus extorquent, adkvatumque
" in tabernaculum deferunt. llle humi pro-
" fir aver at corpus, gemitu ejulatuque mife-
" rabili totd perfonante regid. Laniare
<c deinde os unguibus, et circumfi antes ro-
" gare 9 ne fe tan to dedecori fuperfiitem
" efifc pater entur. —
« Prima deinde luce tabernaculo corpus?,
"ficut adhuc cruentum erat\ jujfit inferrL
" Quo pofito ante ipfum, lacrymis obortis y
" hanc^ inquit, nutrici me<£ gratiam re-
" tuli. * * * *■ GV..
" Et cum finis lacrymis querelifque nonfie-
" ret \ jufiu amicorum corpus ablatum eft.
" Rex triduum jacuit inclufus-, quern ut ar-
« migeri corporifque cufiod.es ad moriendum
" obfiinatum ej/'e cognoverunt \ univerfi in
" tabernaculum irrumpunt, diuque precibus
" ipforumreluftatum tfgrtviccrunt ) utcibum
" caperet *."
Hi*
* £z'£. viii. C*/. 2.
" The fpear drawn from the body of the de-
ceafed
LETTER XIII. 165
His lamentations for the death of
Hepheftion* were great, but are never
ceafed he aimed at himfelf ; and had now applied
it to his bofom, when the centinels ran to him,
and wrefting it by force from his hands, took up
the body, and carried it into a tent. He had
thrown himfelf proftrate on the ground, the whole
palace refounding with his cries and groans. He
then began to tear his face with his nails, and to
in treat thofe who flood by, not to fuffer him to
furvive fo much difgrace.
" Early in the morning, he ordered the body,
bloody as it ftill was, to be brought out of the
tent. Which being placed before him, burfting-
into tears, " This," cried he, " is the return
M that I have made to my nurfe. * * * * &c.
" And when there was no end of his tears and
complaints, the body, by the direction of his
friends, was removed. The king continued three
.days fhut up. As foon as his efguires and body-
guards found that he was obilinately bent on dy-
ing, they all ruihed into the tent, and, l«ng obdu-
rate to their prayers., they with difficulty prevailed
on him to take fuftenance."
* " Whom beyond the bounds of royal decorum
Alexander long bewailed ; erecting a tomb for him
at the expence of twelve thoufand talents, and
commanding him, after his death, to be worihip-
ed as a god." Jujtin, B. xii. Chap. 12.
M 3 men-
'i 65 LETTER XIII.
mentioned to his honour-f. I am in-
clined therefore to pronounce the me-
lancholy Alexander in the Florentine gal-
lery, a perfonal memorial of the rafh de-
fir uction of Clitus^ and of the terrible
effects of intemperance and midnight-
hours. The head of the bud is thrown
back, a pofture naturally expreflive of
grief; the throat fwelled, defpair in all
the mufcles of the face. Art cannot go
higher in its progrefs, or marble more
flrikingly exhibit forrow*.
I am, dear fir, with great truth,
y pur's,
C O R K E.
f " On which occafion, Alexander, opprefTed
with incredible grief, is faid to have been be-
trayed into many things unbecoming the majefty
of a king." ^ Qurtius* B. x. Chap 4.
* A bull of Alexander, in bronze, equally excel-
lent, and not unworthy the hand even of Lyjtppus,
is in the collection of Thomas Barrett, Efq; at Lee,
near Canterbury,
LETTER
I
[ 1*7 ]
LETTER XIV.
Florence, February 1 2 th, 1755.
DEAR SIR,
Imagine you will be inqnifltive after
the Italian weather*, and I have
been refident here long enough to form
fome judgment of the winter. It began
late, but willing to repair loft time, it
has pinched Tufcany, by a fevere froft,
attended with moft intenfe cold, from
the middle of December till vyithin this
week. Italy has extremely the advantage
of England in point of climate. No
damps, no fogs, no vapours, no gloomy
* " The perfpiration in Italy (fays a friend of
mine in one of his letters to me) as it has been
«' confirmed by exaft and repeated experiments,?
" exceeds confiderably that in thefe iilands. It is
" fuperior to all other difcharges, being f of
" the whole in England and Ireland"
M 4 fuicide-
168 LETTER XIV.
fuicide-weather, which never fails to ren-
der us miferable and melancholy ; and
for which, (eloqiiar anfikam t) our chief
panacea is wine.
The fun appears at noon conftantly,
and has as much influence in Florence at
this time of the year, as he has in Lon-
don in the celebrated month of May ;
but the -froft has been fo powerful, that
the Metropolitan of this city obtained,
about a fortnight ago, aJicence from the
pope for the common people to eat eggs
during the remainder of Lent^ the froft
having confumed all the garden-ftufF.
The Italians fay, it is a harder winter
than they have remembred many years.
<? What art thou, Froft ? and whence
" are thy keen ftores
" Deriv'd, thou fecret all-invading
" power,
" Whom even th' illufive fluid can-
"not fly*?"
* " From Mr. Thornf/crfs Seafcns, and, I think,
tke beft, at leaft the boldefl of them, Winter"
5 Till
LETTER XIV. 169
Till the middle of November, we
fcarce wanted or defired a fire. Since
that time, fcarce any fire has been fufrl-
cient to warm us. Wood is the only
fewel we can purchafe. It is very dear;
which accounts for the few chimneys
that are to be found in this city. The
Italians enjoy the fun in fuch perfection
during three parts of the year, that,
during the fourth, they fcorn artificial
heat, or at leaft they make ufe of no
more than what is contained in fmall
brazen ftoves, that are portable.
I think I ought to add that the wea-
ther in Tufcany is almoft as uncertain as
in England. Even the frofl has been
interrupted twice or thrice by a fudden
thaw ; but the difference of the change
is much lefs noxious to the human body
with them, than with us ; and I muft
farther fay, on this occafion, that the Ita-
lians are either not melancholy, or fo
very grave, that the diitindion is not
perceptible.
The Carnival, which begins the day
after
i/o LETTER XIV.
after Cbriftmas-day, and lafts till
wednefday^ ended two days ago, February
the ioth. With it, has ceafed a ft range
fcene of Italian mirth and gaiety. I know
not 'well "how to defcribe it; nor do I
think it very material to defcribe. I be-
lieve it the dresrs of the ancient Saturnalia,
Feafts, balls, operas, comedies, reign,
and roll by turn:-, throughout the whole
licentious feaibn * 9 but the chief joy con-
fifts in the liberty of going mafked, of
which the confequences are fo eafily
gueffed, that they need no recital. At
noon, during the three laft days of the
Carnival, there is a mafked anembly in
the piazza under the gallery, where, for
the fpace of two hours, the higher!: no-
bility, and the lowed mechanics, meet
andjoftle each other, keeping all diftinc-
tio.n and pride clofely fealed up under
their nidflcs. Upon the whole, the pub-
Ions of the Florentines are either
I, to a furprifing degree*.
Do
\motis. other childifh divcrfions of the
Carnival
LETTER XIV. 171
Do not mifapprehend me in point of
Italian gravity ; it borders not on morofe-
nefs, nor ftupidity. It is a compofure,
to which the French are ftrangers by na-
ture, and the Englijh by imitation. The
Italians are by no means defective in a
kind of hilarity peculiar to themfelves.
The women appear much more lively
than the men : their black eyes are very
bright and piercing. Both fexes are una-
nimoufly civil to flrangers, if you allow
a perpetual flow of bows, courtehes, and
fmiles, to be branches, as they certainly
are, of civility. All foreigners, even he-
retics, may live unmolefted, and with
tranquillity, in the ftates of Italy, efpe-
cially in Florence.
Two former characteriftics of the It a-
Carnival is the Befana, which Ahieri, in his dic-
tionary, thus explains : Fantoccio di unci che la/e-
ra delV Epifanla i fanciulli e le ftmine pongono alia
jinefire" A puppet made of rags, which on the
eve of the Epiphany, the women and children hang
out at the windows.
.
i 7 2 LETTER XIV.
Hans dirt entirely worn out •, Cruelty and
Jealoufy. The ftiletto is fheathed for
ever. The poifonous bowl is dafhed
to pieces. The * fufpicious hufband"
is totally unknown. Even religion ex-
cites no third for blood : yet in point of
jealoufy, I mu ft fay,
Jnridii in Scyllam, cupiens vitare Cba-
rybdim *.
Within thefe laft two days, have be-
gun penitence and abftinence for the fins
of the Carnival. Now monkifh fe verily
prefides. Now prieflly power exerts k-
felf, and calls forth its belt allies, the
pope, the devil, excommunication, and
hell-firebrands. Some of my country-
men, curious to fee popery in its utmoft
rigour, made an excurfion lately to La
Trappe, no great diftance from Florence,
where refide the moil* fevere fet of
* He ftuns d&aryhdh ; hut on Scylla falls.
A inonkilh proverb.
monks
LETTER. XIV. 173
monks in the chriftian church f. The
account which thefe gentlemen have
given me is much the fame that I have
formerly read. The higheft diet of
thofe anchorets amounts not even to the
luxurious delicacy of an egg. Their
conftant food is herbs and roots. Their
drink is water. They wear no linen.
They lie on flraw. They rife at mid-
night. They fpeak not to each other.
They live in a continual ftate of mifery.
Yet they appear decently chearful, and
particularly courteous and obliging to
ail ftrangers. I am always flruck with
amazement on reflecting how men could
at firft be brought to thefe kind of felf-
punifhments as the only means to obtain
an inheritance in heaven ; or how they
can poflibly imagine, that fuch fort of
inftitutions muft be acceptable to that
great and bountiful Being, who created
the earth, and filled it with inhabitants,
f " They were invited to refide in Tufcany by
Co/mo III. See Lei Mem aires de Florence, p. 60. "
to
174 LETTER XIV.
to be a mutual benefit and comfort to
each other; giving us rain from heaven*
and fruitful feafons* filling our hearts with
food and gladnefs.
The original of monaflical orders is, as
I remember, generally deduced from Paul
of Thebes , whofe folitary life reached one
hundred and thirteen years, having parTed
ninety of them, from the age of twenty-
three, praying in a defert. He was born
in the year of Chrift 228, and he died,
(as he had foretold to St. Anthony* who,
by the infpiration of a dream had dis-
covered, and vifited him,) in the year
34 1. His difciples of La Trappe make
me recollect the Selli* whom Homer men-
tions as religious priefts of Jupiter*
fjLcct&kvoLi*. Iliad, n. ver. 234.
* Whofe groves the Sett, race auftere! furround,
Their feet unwafh'd, their numbers on the
ground. Pope.
Paul
LETTER XIV. 175
Paul of Thebes and his difciples were
of modern growth in comparifon of the
monks of Bodona. You find, from the
authority of Homer, how very early this
particular mode of religion took place in
the world. The Almighty has permitted
himfelf to be worshipped in fo many va-
rious ways, that we may reft afTured, a
remnant of all religions will be faved.
I muft go farther, and prefume to hope,
that, in due time, that remnant may be-
come the whole.
I have feen the famous maufoleum of
the feven late dukes of Tufcany*. At
prefent, their bodies lie in a little dark
chapel belonging to the church of St.
Lorenzo : but are, or rather were, in-
tended to be removed to a much more
noble adjoining repofitory, adorned, as
much of it as is compleated, with jafper,
agate, lapis lazuli, and various coloured
* Viz. Co/mo I. Francis, Ferdinand!. Cofmo IT.
Ferdinand II. Cofmo III. and John Gajlon. See
their genealogy in the appendix. This maufo-
leum was begun in the year 1604.
marbles.
i;6 LETTER XIV.
marbles, clear and reflecting as looking-
glafs, and impenetrable to fcratches by
the fharpeft iron inftrument. Mr. Ad-
difon, who was at Florence in the reign of
Co/mo III. fays, that " the houfe of Ale*
" dici will probably be extinct, be-
" fore their burial-place is finifhed."
His opinion is verified : they are
extinct, and the burial-place is unfinifh-
ed. Whoever is determined to be per-
fectly fecure, that a monument (hall be
built to his memory, mould follow the
example of a certain Italian knight and
doctor, whofe diftruft of his heirs made '
him erect a monument to himfelf during
his own life-time. He placed it in the
cathedral-church of Parma, The epi-
taph is too curious not to recollect.
Jo. Marthas Mairacca^
L V. Bcclcr et Eqv.cs, nolens difcretioni
Hxredumftare, Vivas pfuit*.
* Jo. Martin Mairacca,
An honeft man, dodor and knight,
Unwilling to abide hy tie diicretion of his heirs,
Placed it in his iife-time.
Throughout
LETTER XIV. 177
Throughout Florence the thirft of
magnificence feems to have exceeded
the power of execution. No public
building is finifhed. The cathedral
[II Duomo] has a wooden front, painted
in fuch a manner as to mew the intended
defign, if executed in marble *. Many
of the other churches are ftill farther
from completion. This defect diminifh-
es the beauty of the city, which other-
wife would appear to excefs : but with
all its imperfections, it is juftly called
Florence the fair f .
I am, dear fir,
ever your's,
Cor k e.
* The dome (or cathedral) was thus adorned
with painting inftead of porphyry, at the mar-
riage of prinee Ferdinand, elder brother of John
G a/ion, the laft great- duke of the family of Medici.
f In like manner our author's great relation,
Mr. Robert Boy is, who was at Florence in the year
164 1, exprefie= his opinion of it as follows: " Flo-
^ " re nee
178 LETTER XIV.
" rence is a city, to which nature has not grudge
" ed a pleafing fituation, and in which arch-i-
" tefture has been no niggard either of coll or
" ikill, but has fo induflrioufly and fumptuoufly
*' improved the advantages liberally conferred
" by nature, that both the feat and buildings
" cl the town abundantly jullify the title the
* l Italians have given it of Fair," Mr. Boyle's
Memoirs of his o<voh 'ife during bis minority.
While Mr. Boyle refided in that city, the fa-
mous Galileo, whofe new paradoxes he flu died,
died within a league of it.
The reputation of Mr. Boyle was fo well efta-
blifhed at Florence (as well as in England) in 1660,
that Mr. Robert Southwell (afterwards knighted,
and prefident of the Royal Society) wrote to hirn
from that city, to inform him that the great-duke
(Ferdinand 11.) who was not only a patron of
learning, but a mailer of it himfelf, was extreme-
ly defirous of a correfpondence with him. Set
Boyle's Works, vol. v. p. 403, 404.
LETTER
I *79 1
LETTER XV.
Florence, February 27th, 1755*
AT length my old enemy has over-
taken me in Italy, The gout,
that hereditary legacy entailed upon me
by my ancestors, confines me to my bed.
The truth is, I have felt fome threats
from it, during the greater!: part of the
winter. Neither the way of life, nor the
climate, agrees with me. The flow ap-
proaches of my diftemper are always
worfe than the diftemper itfelf ; as the
apparatus is often worfe than the inci^-
fion. The fharp flings of gouty pains
are more tolerable than the lingering
teafing complaints, which precede this
invincible difeafe. The paroxyfm over,
we feem to renew life again. We
prefume, that we have taken a new leafe,
and with great joy cancel the old one ^
N 2 but
180 L E T TE R XV.
but alas ! the terms and claufes grow
lefs and lefs advantageous to the poor
tenant. May you, my dear friend, de-
fcend the hill of life, and enter into the
vale of eternity, by gentle and impercep-
tible degrees, without finding the lean:
{tone, or bramble, in your way !
Imprifon'd thus within the narrow
limits of my curtains, I have no better
amuiement, no furer incitement to pa-
tience, than what mull arife from
books. The few volumes, which I
brought from England, I have long fince
read over and over. A fpeculative mind
is always in fearch of novelty. With this
view, I have deeply immerfed myfelf in
the Florentine hiflory; and, from time
to time, have epitomifed as much of it,
as to me appears moil remarkable *. As
there
* This epitome of the revolutions of Tufcany,
in a feries of letters, of which twelve were finifh-
ed, which brought it down from the year 1215 to
the birth of Alexander-, afterwards duke of Florence ,
in 1 510, (whom, by a quotation from Scipio Am-
miratOy
LETTER XV. 1S1
there are many anecdotes in the latter
part of it, which the hiftorians, either
from prudence, or fome other caufe,
have not inferted ; and as I have learned
thofe anecdotes from the converfation of
fuch Florentines^ as are beft verfed in the
itory of their own country ; I mail not
fcruple to recite to you certain facts,
which, at leafl, bear a great femblance
to truth, and probably have been fup-
preffed during the power and reigns of
the Medici , for reafons eafily conjectured.
I have already fuggeited to you, per-
haps not in a manner fufficiently explicit,
that if you take a view of the princes of
Medici in a group, you will feel reve-
rence and refpect at one part of the pic-
ture, and be (truck with amazement and
horror at the remainder.
miratQ) the author proved to be the illegitimate
fon of pope Clemtnt VII. and not the fon of Lorenzo
duke of Urbiuo, as generally fuppofed) not being
completed in the manner his Iordlhip intended,
ftill remains in manufcript; though, unrmiihed as
it is, it would be a very acceptable prefent to the
public.
N 3 To
i'i2 LETTER XV.
To revere and honour them, you mult
confider their generofity, their benefac-
tions to men of learning, their policy,
and their fcientihx inftitutions. To view
them with horror and amazement, you
need only lirten to the undoubted out-
rages of their private lives, by which
you will be convinced, that few or none
of the whole race were endued with the
fofter paffions of the huma.n foul. I wifh
that, in many of their group, their love
was not luft, their good-nature, oftenta-
tion, their dignity, pride, and their
fcnk, cunning.
I have already told you a mocking
ftory of Co/mo I *. Let me mention
another, of the fame prince, if pofiible,
ftill more horrid.
Co/mo de' Medici, the fon of John de*
Medici, had two wives, Leonora of To-
ledo, and Camilla Martellif. By the
firft,
* In letter XI, p. 126.
f " This lady was a Florentine. She bore no
children.
LETTER XV. 183
firft, he had two daughters, and feveral
fons. His Ton (John) was, by the lin-
gular and extraordinary favour of pope
PiuslY. created a cardinal in the year
1560, when he was only feventeen years
of age. He was killed, in hunting, by
his next brother, Garcias, a youth, who
had always difcovered an untoward and
barbarous difpofition. Whether the
young cardinal was killed purpofely, or
by chance, remains uncertain. He was
the favourite of the great-duke his fa-
ther, who had obferved in his fecond
fon as great an inclination to wickednefs,
as in his eldeft to piety. Cofmo's anger
on the occafion was outrageous. He or-
dered Garcias never to appear before
him : he pofitively accufed him of wil-
children, at leaft none that lived. See Scip. Am-
PiiratOy Lib. xxxv, Ann. 1570. pag. 550."
Thuanus, however, and Moreri, both mention
her having a daughter, Virginia, who married
Gafar tPEfte, duke of Modena.
N 4 ful
184. LETTER XV.
ful murder. He would hear no miti-
gating circumftance or excufe in his fa-
vour. In this wrathful difpofition the
great- duke continued fome months, till
by the repeated intreaties of the grand-
dutchefs Leonora^ he at laft confented,
that his fon might throw himfelf acci-
dentally, as it were, at his feet.
The time chofen for this interview
was on Rafter-day, at the great-duke's
return from church \ the tender mother
imagining, that, at fuch a feafon, all
former refentment mull be buried, and
paternal affection reftored. Gar das pre-
iented himfelf before his father in the
manner intended •, when, in a moment,
without the leaft hefitation, Cofmo drew
a dagger, (which he had concealed on
purpofe) and flabbed Garcias to the
heart.
Reflect on every circumftance, the
time, the manner, and the object, — you
will fcarce remember fo ftrong an in-
ftancc
LETTER XV. 1S5
ftancc of nature ftarting from her courfe,
and diverting herfelf of every fpark of
humanity.
None of the Italian hiitorians have
dared to mention this horrible cataftro-
phe *. I have {cen the monuments of
the two youths among the ducal family,
in a fmall burying-place within the fa-
crifly of St. Lorenzo. What cannot
power do, when it could conceal and
efface fo atrocious a murder ?
The p-eneral character to be formed
oiCofmo 1. feems to be the fame, as that
given by lord Clarendon of Oliver Crom-
well, " A great wicked man f ." The
parallel might flill be carried farther:
he was courageous and fuccefsful >, he
lived in bloody tempeftuous times ; he
had fkill, activity, and ilrength, both of
* " I have read it in manufcript, but it was
ihewn tome with the utmoft caution, even now,
when the houfe of Medici is no more."
f Lord Clarendons words are " a bravt wicked
i( man."
body
iSG L E T T E R XV.
body and mind, to buffet the dorms.
His fenie, or rather his cunning, direct-
ed him when to yield properly, not ti-
midly, to the fiercer! winds, that could
blow. He put an end to the common-
wealth. Ke wifhed and endeavoured to
be king of Tufcany : finding that point
impoffible to be carried, he contented
himfelf with the title of great-duke,
which comprifed the regal power. Thus
far the parallel" holds. It will go no
farther. Co/mo was learned and vicious :
Cromwell was neither.
What faith can be given to hifto-
rians *, when Scipio Ammirato, who car-
ries
* Mover i fays, that il M. de 'Thou relates
l( this hiflory in the xxxift book of the Hift»ry of
" his ozvn times ; but as it is not in the firft edi-
<c tion of his work, and only in the edition of
" Geneva, publifhed after his death, many authors
" have doubted the facl ; and fuppofe that both
" the brothers died of the plague, which was at
" the time publickly afferted by the great-duke."
See the Letters of M. de Lanfac, ambalTador from
Charles
LETTER XV. 187
ries down his hiftory to the death of Cof-
mo I, gives an account of cardinal John
and his brother Garcias de Med. :% in the
following manner :
" This year [1562] a domeftic cala-
" mity afflicted the family of Co/mo, who
*< had been kept long at Sienna iettling
< c the affairs of that ftate, and afterwards
." had been engaged in dtfigning a for-
" tification at Grojfetc^ where the air is
" extremely unwholefome, This pofli-
M bly might be the occafion, [0 per che
** cos} alia divina bent a fujfe pacmto~\ or
" becauie it fo pleaied the divine good-
< c nefs, that cardinal Jo/m, and after-
f* wards Garcias his brother, notwitri-
Charles IX. to the council of Trent \ and Morert,
Tome vi. p. 242.
The flory is told with many circumftances
and great formality by M. de Tbou, who endea-
vours to juftify Cofmo in murdering hisfon, " con-
" cealing," he fays, " and revenging th.s do-
" mettle wound with equal prudence and feveri-
*' ty." See Thuani Hijloria, Lib. xxxii.fefi. 3.
*' Handing
i38 L E T T E R XV.
" landing the utmoft (kill of their phyfi-
" cians, died, and occafioned the death of
<c their mother, who, having been long ill
cc of a complaint in her ftomach, was not
Cc able to fupport this freih affliction."
By killing his own fon, Co/mo killed
the mother of that fon, his wife. What
an agonifing fight mufl it be to her, to
behold her child, whofe forgivenefs
fhe thought eitablifhed, weltering in
his blood? that blood fpilt by her huf-
band, his father ; that father juft re-
turned from the altar ! But what (hall
we fay for Ammirato, who conceals one
certain, and one fuppofed, murder, or
places them to the account of divine im-
pulfe ? " It pleafed the divine good-
" nefs," that a brother mould deftroy a
brother, and a father murder his fon.
To the lame account, by this way of
reafoning, may be placed every wicked-
neis that can be perpetrated. The hifto-
rian cannot plead ignorance. He be-
trays his conicious knowledge at the
end
LETTER XV. 189
end of his work, where, after fumming
up the praifes of the grand-duke, per-
haps not very much in too exalted a
{train, he concludes the character* by
faying, that " if Co/mo had not fullied
« the brightnefs of his virtues by two
« bad aclions, the one of incontinence,"
[with his own daughter] " the other of
« cruelty," [the murder of his own fon]
« very few of the moil renowned princes
« of any age could have been compared
" to him f ."
Ill or well,
I mufc be always yours,
CORKE.
# « It is the Iaft fentence in his hiftory."
f Thus alfo he is ftyled by Thuanus, " A
« prince endowed with fingular accomplifhments,
« natural and acquired, and in whom the great-
" eft profperity united with fingular prudence,
LETTER
7
[ 19° J
L E T T E P. XVI
Florence, March 30th, 1 7 ■>* 5 .
I Was determined not to write to you,
till I could fay, that I was again
crawling up hill, and leaving my gout
behind me. This day I have dined in
our faloon, and, by the help of two
flicks, I walked thither. By the time
you receive this letter, conclude me danc-
ing, or rather bafking in the fun.
I am now, my dear friend, notwith-
ftanding my gout, travelling apace through
the Florentine hiftorians. In hiflory, as
in perfonal commerce with mankind, we
cannot be too diffident of firfl impref-
fions. They are apt to fink deep, and
are not eafily erafed.
There is no finifhed hiflory of Florence.
I mean none that brings us to modern
times,
LETTER XVI. igt
times, or that goes through the feven
reigns of the Medici.
Machiavel* commences very early.
The ruin of the Roman empire, and the
confequences of it, fill his firfl book. In
his fecond book begins the hiftory of
Tufcany. It is carried down, in the fuc-
ceeding books, to the year 1492. By
his addrefs to pope Clement VII +, he ap-
pears to have intended a longer work.
The lower he had gone, the more par-
tial he mull have been, as he wrote un-
der the eye and influence of the pope.
Varchi%, I think, confines himieif to
the hiftory of his own times. I have
* MachiaveVs hiftory is in eight books, dedi-
cated to pope Clement VII. " at whofe command,"
he fays, " he undertook it."
A new edition of all the works of Macbiavti
has lately been publifhed by Mr. Baretti x in three
volumes, quarto.
f Illegitimate fon of Julian (h Medici, who
was killed by the Pazzi.
X " Of this hiilorian there Is a very full ac-
count m Mertrfs di&ionary."
i only
i 9 * LETTER XVI.
only ufed him as a dictionary to particu-
lar parTages.
Segni* begins in 1527, and proceeds
as far as the papal accefiion of Paul IV.
In the year 1555 f.
Scipio Ammirato, who in exaclnefs ex-
ceeds them all, commences the thread
of his narration in the very earlieft times,
and brings his readers from the feven-
teenth year of the chriftian asra to the
death of Co/mo the fir ft great- duke of
* <c The name of Segni does not occur in Mo*
reri, Bayle, or Collier"
f Two other hiftorians, both citizens of Flo-
rence, deferve to be mentioned : 1. Francis Guicci-
ardini, equally eminent as a general and a writer,
who wrote the hiftory of Italy, in twenty books,
from 1494 to 153Z, which has been trail flated in-
to fix different languages. He died in 1540.
His work was continued, in twenty-two bocks, by
yohn-Baptift Adrian:, his friend and fellow-citi-
zen. 2. Leonard Aretin, chancellor of Florence
who wrote the hiflory of his own times, and alfo
that of Florence in particular; who may be con-
fidered as the great reviver of clafiical Latin in
Europe. He died in 1444.
Tufcany,
LETTER XVI. 193
tfufcany y which happened in the year
1574, in the 55th year of his age, of
which he had reigned 38 J.
No later hiftories of "Tufcany are ex-
tant *. Of the four hiflorians whom I
have mentioned, and to mention more
to you would be to little purpofe, Ma-
chiavel is the mod tempting and the
moft dangerous. His fpeeches are the
fpeeches of Livy \ fit and proper for the
perfon to fpeak, who never fpoke them;
Give me leave, however, to fend you
one, which perhaps is genuine \ at leaft, it
has captivated me fo much, that I could
not refift the pleafure of trying how it
would appear in Englifh, The occa-
X Ammirato was canon of Florence, and died
there in 1603. " His works are in three vols,
folio, the firil and fecond bound together, printed
at Florence 1 647."
* " There is a later, but it 'is fo wretched a
performance, that it ought never to be named or
called a hiftory. It is a vaft folio, printed at Ve-
nice, 1 741, the compofition of Giufeppe Bianchini"
O fion
194 LETTER XVI.
fion of it is memorable. It is the
fpeech of Lorenzo de Medici to his fellow-
citizens, on his efcape from the Pazzi
conspiracy, in which his brother Julian
was killed, in the cathedral, at the be-
ginning of high mafs, on Sunday, April
26th, 1478*
" The
* See p. 125. note.
In his M. S. Revolutions ofTufcany (See p. i8o>
note) lord Ccrke, defcribing the cathedral ot Flo-
rence, mentions this cenfpiracy in the following
manner :
*' You will probably think of Lorenzo de Medi-
ci, whenever you enter the cathedral of Florence.
The church appears like a vaft gloomy vault, fit
for aflaffinations and deeds of horror. Twinkling
lamps glimmer, half-extinguifhed, before the
altar, and rather excite the ideas of a prifon than
reprefent the glories of the houfe of prayer. You
will behold fpace without grandeur, magnificence
without brightnefs, and fplendor without light.
The marble pavement is beautiful. Here and
tfiere a ftatue demands obfervation. The cupola,
A,-hich is octogonal, has a fine effect. The church
Itfelf is of a fize to fuit a larger city. The out-
fide is impannelled with various- coloured marble,
sxprefiive rather of neatnefs than of grandeur.
2 Many
LETTER XVI. lgs
" The events which have happened
" leave me in doubt, mod noble
6C lords, and mod magnificent citizens,
" whether I ought at prefent to condole
" or to rejoice with you. When I re^
" fleet indeed with how much treachery
<c I have been attacked and my brother
" murdered, the part I am to a flume is
" forrowi my heart, my very foul, mult
" be abforbed in affliction. But when I
cc confider with how much alacrity,
€C with how much care, with how much
" affection, and with what univerfal
" concurrence, my brother has been
" revenged, and myfelf defended, I
u mud necefTarily feel in my own hearty
£C not only joy, but exultation and glory.
" If I am taught by experience, that I
<c have more enemies than I could have
Many of the churches in Florence contain greater
euriofities, while Santa Reparata remains for ever
diitinguimed as the fpot where the Pazzi incom-
pletely performed their bloody tragedy. ''
O 2 " fuppofed,
i 9 6 LETTER XVI.
" fuppofed, the fame experience teaches
" me, that I have more zealous and
" more ardent friends than I could
" have imagined. I am to condole
" with you on the injuries done to
" others : I am to congratulate you, on
" your good offices and kind behaviour
" to me. But ftill I am conftrained
" to exprefs my grief, as the injuries
&< which I and my brother have received
° have been extraordinary, unexampled,
f and undeferved.
" Confider, mod honourable citizens,
" in what afituation we have been placed.
" We were not fafe amidft our friends,
<c our relations*, nor even in the church
" itfelf. Thole, who think themfelves
" in immediate danger of death,, never
-" fail to apply to their friends and their
" relations for fuceour. We found ours
" armed for our deftruction. Thofe,
* " The Pazzi and the Medici were related by
inter-marriages."
ni br
w who
LETTER XVI. i 9 y
€C who are under any public or private
" perfecution, fly for refuge to churches,
" In the place where others are defended,
" our family is to be deftroyed. Where
xc parricides and alTalTins are feeure, the
" Medici find their murderers. But
xc God, (who heretofore has been
" pleafed never to abandon our houfc)
** has ftill faved us, and has undertaken
" the defence of our caufe.
" What injury have we ever done to
w any man, that can have excited fo
" great a third of revenge ? We have
c< given no offence even to thofe, who
" have fhewn themfelves fo inveterately
** our enemies. If we had, they could
" not now have hurt us. If they attri-
u bute to us any public grievance, if
Xi that be their pretence, (I know not
" that it is) the offence which they have
" taken is againft you, not againft us.
*' It is againft this palace, againft this go-
" vernment, not againft our family. To
v think that your citizens are injured in
O 3 " our
*9$ LETTER XVL
" our favour, is far from truth. If you
IK would have fuffered it, we would not
" have done it.
" But whoever will thoroughly exa-
* c mine the truth of fads will find, that
fi our family has been raifed by you,
f* for ads of humanity, liberality, and
u gencrofity. Is it poiTible then that
" we, who have honoured ilrangers,
H mould injure our own relations ?
" If thefe tumults have been raifed
f* from a third of dominion (and that
" they have been fo, the feizure of the
" palace, and the armed men in the pi-
" azza, are a demonftration) fo black,
" fo ambitious, and fo vile an intention,
need only be feen to be deteited.
If they have done this from a mo-
II tive of hatred to our authority, they
c< offend not us : they offend you, who
" have given us that authority. An au-
" thority ufurped ought indeed to be
< 6 held in deteftation -, not an autho-
" rity, which has been acquired by ads
" of
cc
LETTER XVI. , 99
<c of humanity, and .munificence. It is
" well known to you all, that our fami-
" \y never rofe to any degree of gran-
" deur, unlefs fummoned to it by this
" palace, and your united voices.
" My grand -father Cofmo * returned
" not from exile by arms or violence - 9
" he returned by your confent. My
" father -f, old and infirm, could not be
" faid to defend the (late againft its nu-
" merous enemies, but you yourfelves,
** by your authority and your benevo-
" lence, defended it. Nor, after the
" death of my father, could I (being at
" that time only a child J) have main-
•" tained the authority of our houfe, but
* " Cofmo de Medici^ who was furnamed Pa-
ter Patriae, was exiled, and retired to Venice, in
the year 1433. He and his relations returned
to Florence in I434« ^ e died ln 1464* aged 75.''
f " Peter de Medici, his fon, was born in 1416,
and died in 1472. He was gonfalonier in 3460."
% Lorenzo was at that time 24 years of age, he
;being born in 1448, andhis father dying in 1472.
O 4 " by
zoo LETTER XVI.
" by your counfels and your favour.
" Nor could our houfe ever have go~
** verned the ftate, if you had not join-
J ed us in directing and governing it.
ff I cannot fee therefore any motive
" they have to hate, or any jufl caufe
* 6 to envy us. Let them carry their ha-
" tred againft their own anceftors, who
« by pride and avarice, have loft that
cc high reputation, which our anceftors
" knew wifely by contrary methods to
*' maintain.
" But let us fuppofe, that the injuries
t< which they have received from us
" have been great, and that their defire
" of our ruin was jufl: wherefore have
" they come with offenfive weapons
fr to this palace ? Why have they
<c made a league with the pope * and
* c the + king of Naples againft the liberty
" of this republic ? Why have they
** infringed upon the long peace of Italy?
*SixtmlV. f Ferdinand IL
3 " For
LE T T E R XVI. 201
** For this they have no excufc. Let
"them injure thofe only, from whom
" they have received injuries ; but let
<c them not blend private enmities and
" public offences. It is from hence
¥ that our misfortunes are augmented,
" becaufe the pope and the king of Na-
*' pies are coming hither armed, and
" affirm that they wage war againft me
" and my family. Would to God, it
" were true ! the remedy would not
«f only be immediate, but certain 5 for I
" am not fo bad a citizen, as to regard
" my own fafety more than your fecu-
" rity. No, I would mpft willingly pre*
" vent your ruin by my own.
" The powerful never fail to glofs the
" wrongs which they have perpetrated
fe by fome fpecious pretext. This is the
" method they have taken to cover their
*< moil difhonourable actions.
" Neverthelefs, mould you be of an-
" other opinion, I am entirely at your
** difpofal ; behold me here ready to be
« direded,
202 LETTER XVI.
"directed, or deferted, by you. You
* c are my fathers., you are my defenders.
" Whatever you command, I mail mod
<c chearfully obey. Nor will I refufe,
f* if you defire it, to terminate by my
." own blood, a war thus begun by the
•*' blood of my brother *."
Here you fee the power and eloquence
of MachiaieL He was a man of great
ftrength of body and mind. As an in-
ilance of the firft, we are told, that he
underwent the torture of the gh/.eftion f ,
* " This fpeech," fay the writers of the Uni-
werfal Modern H/Jiory, " if it has not been em-
" bellifhed by Machiavel, (hev/s Lorenzo to have
" been one of the greater! orators that ever lived."
It is inferted, together with a full account of the
confpiracy, in Machiavels eighth book.
f He was put to the torture by the Medici, on a
fufpicion of his being an accomplice in the ma-
chinations of the Soderini againft their houfe. He
bore it without confefhng any thing. To pacify
him, the Medici procured for him the poll of hifto-
riographer. See Moreri. " He was unfteady and
unfaithful, being void of all religion."
and
LETTER XVI. 203
and lived many years after it. His
works are inftances of the latter, but they
are, at the fame time, examples of his
want of truth, exactnefs, and religion.
All hiftorians are naturally biafTed, but
to be purpofely biafTed is unpardonable.
I believe, the opinion which Ammirato
entertains of Machiavel, and the criti-
cifm which he paffes on his works, are
juft. They are to this purpofe, " He
" \Machiavel\ miftakes years, changes
" names, alters facts, confounds caufes,
" increafes, joins, deprives, diminifhes,
" and fets down all that comes into his.
" fancy, — without any regard to the
" laws of conduct and moderation •, and
" what appears Hill more difagreeable, is,
" that, in many places, (ie writes art-
t* fully, either becaufe he'ehufes to err,
u or becaufe he does not know, that
u affairs have been tranfacted in a dif-
u ferent manner, or that his writings
" may appear more beautiful and lefs
" dry,
z<>4 LETTER XVI.
" dry, than they would have done, if
" he had adhered to time and fa&s, or
" if he had not accommodated facts to
" the ftyle, and not the ftyle to facts*."
I fend you this, as counter-poifbn againft:
Machtavel's golden pills. He lived as
Jar in the fixteenth century as the year
1530. He was by birth a Florentine, much
encouraged, if not trufted, by the houfe
of Medici \ who procured for him confi-
derable employments in the ftate, but
to no purpofe ; his blafphemous f and
immoral behaviour ruined him. He
died in great indigence ; and, with ali
moral men, in great contempt. No ge-
nius, no abilities, how great foever, will
fupport a man againft his God, who in-
fpired that genius, and gave thofe abi-
lities*
* " This criticifm on Machiavel is in thexxiiid
book of Sciph Ammirato % under the year 1466."
t "It is faid, by Binst and others, that he
filed blafpheming,"
The
LETTER XVI. 205
The Florentine hiftory of Benedetto
Varchi*^ who was himfelf a Florentine^
is contained in fixteen books. It is in-
deed the hiftory of the houfe of Medici*
His writings are many and unequal.
Thofe towards the latter end of his life:
are inferior to his earlier works. He
died, at the age of fixty- three, in the
year 1566.
The hiftory written by Bernardo Seg-
rd f is more eftimable than famous. The
time which it comprifes, is a fhort pe-
riod ; but the apparent veracity of the
author is much to his honour. He was
* " See his article in Moterh""
f " He was the Ton of Lorenzo Segni, and was
lineally defcended from — Segni, who was
chancellor of the Florentine republic in the year
1287. His mother was Ginevra, daughter of
Pi'ero, and filler of Nicola Capponi. See Notizie
htiorno alia vita di B. Segni, placed before his
hiftory. Prefixed to it is a kind of comparifoa
between him and Farchi, in an anonymous ad-
drefs to the reader."
a native
206 LETTER XVI.
a native of Florence. By his mother he
was nearly allied to the family of Cap-
poni. This alliance gave him great ad-
vantages in compofing his hiftory •, his
uncle JNicolo Capponi, whofe life he has
written, having been gonfalonier of the
republic in the years 1527 and 1528.
From the year 1513, Bernardo was em-
ployed in many negociations and magi-
stracies, in all which, as in every part of
life, he is faid to have behaved himfelf
with integrity and candour*, virtues un-
doubtedly calculated to form an hifto-
rian.
Scipio AmmiratO) a Neapolitan, but of
a Florentine family, is more diffufe than
Varchi, or Segni, and much more faith-
ful and exact than Machlaisel. His hif-
tory confifts of thirty-five books. He
has judicioufly flopped at the death of
the fir ft great- duke of Tv/cany, for rea-
fons, which I muft defer to my next let-
ter. I will not, I ought not, to extend
this
LETTER XVI. 207
this any farther, than to affure yon, that
I yield to none of your friends, in af-
fection to you, and your very worthy
fon ; to whom I write, jointly as to your-
felf, fuch fpeculations, as occur, by
reading or obfervation, to
Your own,
Corke.
LETTER
I
[ 2C8 ]
LETTER XVII.
Florence j April 13th, 1755*
DEAR SIR,
Am upon the wing towards a lit-
tle country-houfe which we have
taken within two miles of Florence^ in
one of the pleafanteft, among the many
charming, fituations which the environs
of this city afford : but left the pleafures
of a new fcene may make me delay the
promife of my laft, I am determined to
perform it this inflant, being deftined to-
morrow to commence Italian country-
gentleman.
The prudence of AmmlratQ % is very
% Moreri fays, " He had already retired to
u Florence, where, not to mention a canonry
" that was procured for him, he found himfelf
M detained by the favours of the great-duke."
apparent,
LETTER XVII. 209
apparent, in not carrying on his hiftory
farther than he has done. He compofed
it, at leafl he finifhed it, in the reign of
Ferdinand I. a jealous prince, of great
acutenefs and penetration, who knew
how to reward and punifh, and who
would have been inexorable at any
praifes beftowed upon his brother Fran-
cis, or any true account given of his
fudden death. It is that £ataftrophe,
which I will take permiffion to relate to
you, as it is not to be found in any
printed hiftorian.
'Francis, the eldeft ftirviving fon of
Co/mo I. fucceeded his father in the
dukedom of Tufcany in 1574. He had
two wives, the firft was Jean of Auftria,
daughter of the emperor Ferdinand I.
consequently niece of the illuflrious
Charles V. His fecond wife was Bianca
Capello, widow of a perlbn of mean
birth, whofe name was Buonjignori*.
* " I never could learn his' chriftian name."
The authors of the Modern Hiftory ft vie, him " a
" gentleman of the houfe of Safoiati"
P The
2io LETTER XVII.
The great-duke had only two daughters*
no fons, by his firft wife. His eldeft
daughter was Leonora, married to Vin-
cent, duke of Mantua -, his youngeft was
the famous Mary de 9 Medici, wife of
Henry IV. and mother of Lewis XIII,
Bianca Capello was a Venetian lady,
not of a noble, rather of a low *, extrac-
tion. The great-duke had feen her in
his travels. He was enamoured of her
beauty, and captivated by her beha-
viour. He invited her and her hufband
to his capital. They accepted the invi-
tation, and fettled in Florence, They
appeared at the court of Francis, whofe
amorous inclinations in created every
time he faw Bianca. He hoped, and
imagined, that he might purchafe her
of her hufband. He loaded him with
prefents and with honours. On the other
* '* Comparatively f peaking, Biatica was s.
citizen. The Venetians have only nobles and
titizens."
hand,
LETTER XVII. 211
hand, he folicited the wife not only by
prefents and blandishments, but almoft by
violence. His attempts and ftratagems
were many and various ; but every ftra-
tagem, and every attempt was ineffedtu-
al : her virtue was impregnable.
In the mean time, her hufband, un-
ufed to the gifts of fortune, and giddy
with unexpected honours and acquifi-
tions, grew infolent, rude, and arrogant
to the Florentine nobility. Complaints
were made to the great-duke of the out-
rages, vanity, and haughtinefs of this
petulant intruder. " Since he is grown
w intolerable," anfwered Francis, " why
*i does he not receive the punifhment
" he deferves * ?" The hint was fuffi-"
cient ; and the next evening, as he was
pafling along, Buonfignori was flabbed,"
and left dead upon // Ponte a [ant a Tri-
nita.
* " In the fame ftyle, and with the fame effecl,
as our king Henry II. fpoke of Thomas of Canter*
forj.»
P 2 Bianco
212 LETTER XVII.
Bianca, in a few days, came forth in
the melancholy pomp of mourning, and
threw herfelf at the great-duke's feet, to
implore juftice on her hufband's mur-
derers. " The bed juftice I can grant
" you/' faid the great-duke, " is to
" marry you myfelf-f-."
" What a failing off was here!" — ■
From a match with an emperor's daugh-
ter, to nuptials with Buonjigncri's widow !
All Tufcany v/as offended at it. None
looked upon the alliance with a more dif-
dainful eye, than cardinal Ferdinand^
the
f Thuanus mentions her being " adopted, on
this occafion, by the fenate of Vtttice*" which
the Modern Hi/lory explains by faying that " when
*' the grand-duke declared his intention of mar-
<c rv * ri S k er > tne fenate, out of regard to her fa-
<l ther's family, declared her the daughter of
c< their republic, and made her a prefent of a
*' ducal crown." Vol. xiii. p. 539.
\ *' Ke was created a cardinal, when very
young, in his father's life-time, probably agayift
I}is own inclination. — Verfo il fine del prima mefi
del
LETTER XVII. 2i 3
the great* duke's only brother. He faw
the honour of the houfe of Medici in-
jured, and the dignity of their pride of-
fended, by fuch a marriage. To behold
Bianco, Capcllo raifed to the high ftation
of great-dutchefs of Tufcany\ was to him
as odious an incident as could happen,
His rage, which at firPt was fmothered in
iilence, at length broke out into fury. He
frequently treated her with rudenefs and
difrefpecl. The acrimony increafed on
both fides. Their hatred became mu-
tual. They wifhed each other dead,
and they lived in times to accomplifh
their wifhes. The art of poifoning was
then a fcience, in which the greateil and
the meaneft of the Italians were perfectly
well verfed. The great-dutchefs, accord-
ing to the manufcript account which I
have read, put poifon into a fort of tart,
del anno 1 563, non avendo anche i fedeci anni dell a fu a
eta finiii, il promojfe al Cardinalalo* See Am?nira-
to, Lib. xxxv. p. 534."
Pi of
2i4 LETTER XVIl.
of which fhe had obferved the cardinal
particularly fond. She invited him, being
then feemingly reconciled, to breakfaft
one morning, before he was to go out
on a hunting-party with his brother. She
placed his favourite dim before him.
Ferdinand either fufpedled, or had fecret-
ly difcovered, her defign. He declined
tafting the tart. The great-dutchefs
flill continued to prefs him with fome
degree of earneftnefs. The more flic
prefTed, the more he excufed him-
felf. w He had eaten enough \ he wifli-
" ed the duke and dutchefs would tafle
" it \ he was fure it was good •, but,
<c for his own part, he could not pofilbly
« c eat any more." Francis, hearing the
tart fo much commended, ate of it plen-
tifully. Bianca, feeing her plot take a
wrong turn; and well knowing the con-
sequences that muft enfue, if fhe furviv-
ed her hufband, ate up the remainder.
The poifon foon began to take effect.
Convulfions feized the great-duke and
dutchefsj
LETTER XVII. 215
dutchefs, and they were carried immedi-
ately into an adjoining bed-chamber,
and placed together on the fame bed,
where they foon expired in the utmoft
agonies. Then the doors, which had
been kept fhut, were thrown open. All
perfons were permitted to come in, and
behold them lying dead, and, like true
lovers, clafped in each other's arms.
The fcene of this difmal tranfaction
was Poggio a Caiano, a country-feat be-
longing to the great-dukes of Tufcany * r j
The bed-chamber, where Francis and Bi-
anco, breathed their laft, is fhewn to all
Grangers. It is dark and difmal ; a fit
receptacle for murdered bodies ! The
fight of it, by the idea of the cataftro-
phe, (truck us with horror. All the
other parts of the houfe are not only
magnificent, but chearful, and moll
* In the mid-way between Florence and Pifi-
toia. The foundation of it was laid by pope
Leo X.
P 4 royally
216 LETTER XVII.
royally furnifhed. The fituation is par-
ticularly fine.
Francis was buried with the utmoft
funeral magnificence in the chapel of
St. Lcrenzo. Bianca y the unfortunate
Bianca^ was carried openly upon mens
moulders, and thrown, fcarce with de-
cency, into a deep cavern at the bottom
of the church, allotted as a burial-place
for the meaner! and the vileft of the
people.
You will be furprifed that I call her
" unfortunate," when I have given you
an account, which makes her guilty of
murder. That account, though the on-
ly one extant, is undoubtedly falfe. Bi-
anco, was innocent. The death of her
and of her hufband was contrived and
perpetrated by the cardinal. He poi-
foned the tart, and they ate of it*. To
clear
* Tbuauus fays, " The great-duke Francis
dying fuddenly on the 9th of Qaober, 1587,
"his
LETTER XVII. 2 r;
clear himfelf to the world, he invented
the (lory, which I have recited; by
which means he concealed his wicked-
neis, and faved his honour. If he had
been afked, " why were the doors lock-
" ed, and no perfon admitted to affift a
" brother and filler in their lad mo-
" ments?" he muft have anfwered, (had
he told the truth) that " he apprehended
" left in their laft convullive pangs, they
" mio-ht have been able to utter words fuf-
u ficient to make the ftrongefl appear-
" ances, if not an abfolute difcovery, of
" the murder." Again he dreaded, left
they might have received fuch atfiftance,
from proper medicines and applications,
as might have prolonged, perhaps totally
reftored, their lives.
It is fcarce po/Tible to fuppofe, that
Bianca mould fuffer her hufband, by
" his wife Bianca followed her hufband within
" five hours ; her death being haitened either by
" fate or by grief." B. lxxxviii. /eel. 3.
6 whofe
2i8 LETTER XVII.
whofe life fhe held her exaltation and
happinefs, to eat indifcriminately of a
poifoned tart ; but it may eafily be ima-
gined, that the next heir to the duke-
dom fhould be impatient to get rid of a
brother, whom he fcarce loved (fraternal
affection was little known in that family)
and a fifter-in-law, whom he defpifed
and detefted. By the death of Francis,
the ambitious Ferdinand gained all the
acquifitions he could defire: an exalted
ftation, great riches, and immediate free-
dom from an ecclefiailical life. By the
death of Bianca, he gained, what is un~
fpeakably acceptable to a proud mind,
Revenge. Pride was the conltant
characterise of the houfe of Medici.
"Whilft the cardinal lived, and indeed
whilft any of his fucceifors remained in
pofTcflion of the dutchy of Tufcany^ the
name^of Bianca Capello was never men-
tioned*, not even in common difcourfe.
Two
* '< As an inllance of this, fee that late
wretched
LETTER XVII. 219
Two ends were anfwered by this con-
dud; the dignity of the family was
preferved facred, and the particulars of
the murder, by not being difcuffed, had
a chance of being forgotten for ever.
Some pictures are ftill to be found in
Florence of Bianca Capel/o, by which me
appears, for now fhe may appear, ex-
tremely handfome : and furely the vir-
tuous refiftance which me maintained,
againft the diverfified, and repeated at-
tempts of Francis, at that time her fo-
vereign, entitled her to a better fate,
1 am, dear fir,
entirely your's,
Corke;
wretched writer Guifefp Blanching whole account
of the death of Francis is as follows: Mori 1 il
gran duca Francefco nel ?nefe a"> Ombre del anno
l$S7,/e»za aver lafciato dife, e della gran ducbeja,
Giovanna fr Aujiria, akuno filiulo mafcbio, " The'
" great-duke Francis died in the month of O^-
« berof the year 1587, without leaving, by the
" great dutchefs, Joan of Auftria, any fon."
LETTER
[ 220 j
LETTER XVIII.
Marignolh, May ift, 1755-
DEAR SIR,
YO U iee by my date, that I am
fettled in my country-houfe. This
is a great holiday in Tufcany, the feaft of
St. Philip. There are vad rejoicings in
Florence, Mechinks I had rather fee the
chimney-fweeper's garland at Charing?
Crcfs. I laugh at myfelf for fighing
after my native country. I endeavour
to conquer my prejudices by reafon : all
in vain !
keret later! lethalis arundo *.
Whilft I remain here, that my hours
* JEn. iv. ver. 73.
— — — — the fatal dart
Sticks in my fide, and rankles in my heart.
may
LET T.E R XVIII. 221
may not be totally unprofitable, and that
1 may render my correfpondence in fome
meafure worthy of your attention, fuffer
me, from time to time, to make additions
to the accounts, which I have already fent
you of the flate, the metropolis, and the
people: but remember that I neither aim
at the exaclnefs of the hiftorian, nor the
minutenefs of the biographer. Compo-
fitions of that kind demand another
form. Yet to me the difficulty feems
difagreeably great to write by rule, or to
preclude myfelf from that eafe and fami-
liarity, which conflantly flow in an epif-
tolary intercourfe from one friend to an-
other •, and though I think I have ma-
terials fufficient to fend you a regular
account of Florence, from the intereliing
aera of its deftiny % yet I fhall fcarce
* " Viz. from the beginning of the xiiith cen-
tury, the year 12 15," when the imprudent mar-
riage of fignor Buondclmonte occasioned the firft di-
vif:on in Florence. Seep. 180. note.
ever
222 LETTER XVIII.
ever be tempted to place thofe materials
in any digefled method, or order.
I am always delighted with dipping
into hiftory. Each country 'affords a
characteriftical diftinclion in the man-
ners of its inhabitants, and a kind of phi-
lofophical improvement in the variety of
its events. The virulence of party ap-
pears every where, but not in the fame
fhape. The change of drefs in the god-
dels of difcord flill furnifhes frefh fcope
for fpeculation ; and (till, in my opinion,
renders privacy and retirement, the molt
eligible ftate of life, that can be purfued.
Suave tnari mag?to y &c. fings Lucretius,
and we all join in the fong. What is it
then that excites any man to quit the
fhcre, and voluntarily plunge into the
deep ? " T'hcugh the waters thereof rage
<; and fivelly and though the mountains^
" Jhake at the tempeft of the fame f. It
f " Pfalm xlvi. 3. See the whcle pfalm,
**hidb is poetically nervous."
fometimes
LETTER XVIII. 223
fometimes proceeds from the irrefiftible
love of our country ; more frequently from
a fa&ious difpofition •> but much more fre-
quently ftill from a third of power, opu-
lence, and fame. There are fo many
examples of every one of thefe motives,
that they abound in the fhorteft hiftori-
cal accounts of every dominion, be ic
principality or republic, be it larger or
lefs. To name fuch as happen this mo-
ment to occur to me, Lucca has had
her Caftruccio Cafiracani * ; the Ne-
therlands have had their counts Eg-
wont, and Horne\\ Ireland has had her
O" Nells
* A foundling, who became one of the gre*t-
cft generals in the xivth century, making himfelf
matter of Lucca, Piftoia, and many other towns.
He died in 1326, " See his life written by
Macbia-ve!, but do not depend on the veracity oi
that hiftorian. It is an entertaining, not an ex-
act, piece of biography.'*
f VAmorat, cou.it of Egmont, and Pbihp de
Montmore?ici y count H-rnc, were the two chief op-
pofers of the tyranny of Philip II. and the cfla-
bhlhment
224 LETTER XVIII.
O 9 Neils % and Tyroncs\\\ and to come
nearer to the prefent times, few years
are pad, fince we have ieen Theodore de
Neuholffy acknowledged king of Ccrfica.
Unfortunate "Theodore I His majdty, I
hear^ is at this day a cloie prifoner for
debt, in the king's bench prifon of
our metropolis*. Let him write on
the
blifnment of the inquilition in the Netherlands,
for which being apprehended by the duke of Al-
*ua, they were both publickly beheaded at Brujfeh
in 1567. See Thuanus, Straaa, &c.
X Shan O'Neil, called by the Jrijh the great
O'Neil, who afTamed the title of kin^ of Uljier, a
rebel in Ireland in 1560 and 1567.
|i Hugh earl of Tyrone, nephew of the former,
a rebel alfo • againft the Englifi government in
Ireland in I 599.
* Ke died December it, 1 7^6, in an obfeure
lodging in Chapel - Street, Scho, immediately"
after his enlargement from that prifon, by
the benefit ' of the aft of infolvency, in confe-"
quence of which he regiftered his kingdom of
CorJIca for the ufe of his creditors, as is mentioned
on a marble erected to his memory in St. Ann^s
church-yard. See " a humourous but true ac-
count
LETTER XVIII. 225
the walls of his royal bed-chamber thefe
lines of an anonymous author :
Ambition is a weed, that's always found
To fpread the fartheft in the richefl ground :
Fair to the eye the fragrant bloflbms rife,
But he, who plucks the fruit, and talles it, dies.
Few outrageous heroes, thank hea-
ven, have ari fen of late years to ravage
the earth. The Goths and Vandals arc
long fince tamed and civilized. The
pope is become a pacific chriftian. Still
indeed different ftates have different
quarrels •, but they quarrel with a de-
cree of policy and politenefs unknown
to the Guelfs and Ghibellines of former
days. The fate of Tufcany has been as
material a change, as any that has hap-
pened of late years. It was afligned to
the prefent emperor as duke of Lorrain*,
by the treaty of Vienna in the year 1736,
count of king Theodore, in the World* No. 8. Feb.
22, 1753," written by Mr. Horace IValpoU.
Q in
226 LETTER XVI1L
in exchange for Lorrain given to France,
There is no fort of appearance, at pre-
fent, that it will again change its matter.
Should the revolutions of Europe here-
after require a new difpofition of Tufca-
n)\ and were that difpofition to be made
by force, no great time would probably
be confumed in effecting it. The troops
of the great-duke amount not to three
thoufand men. Leghorn indeed appears
Itrongly fortified after the modern man-
ner. The other cities are but flightly
defended againft an enemy. Florence
has three fortreffes, ill fupplred with can-
non, and rather formed to annoy the
town, and keep it in fubjection, than to
refill a foreign force. Florence is en-
compaffed on three fides with high hills,
from whence, by the prefent engines of
war, the city might focn be reduced to
an heap of rubbilh. The hearts, of the
Tufcans pant after a refident grand-duke.
They have great reafon, their ftate being
much impoverifhed fince the death of
John
LETTER XVIII. 227
Jvbn Gafton^ the laft of the houfe of Me-
dici. In his reign the inhabitants of Flo-
rence were an hundred thoufand fouls ;
they are now -reduced to lefs than four-
fcore thoufand*. Can there be a greater
inftance of a ilate-atrophy ? you will
afk, where are thefe people gone ? To
Naples. Who were they ? Not beg-
gars •, artifans.
The forces of the great- duke by fea,
are very inconfiderable. Some years a-
go, he laid afide his galleys, and pur-
chafed three old Englijh merchant-fhips,
to execute a project, which had count
Richecourt for its author. The fcheme
was this : the three veifels were to be
amply provided with cannon, and well
manned with foldiers. They were to
* Having now a refident great-duke, it may
be prefumed this atrophy will ceafe ; and accord-
ingly Mr. Baretti tells us, ** that " Florence and
" Leghorn increafe both in buildings and inhabi-
"f tants fince their fovereign refides no more a;
" Vienna."
Q^2 feize
22S letter xvirr.
feize by fnrprife the treafures of the em-
peror of Morocco* •, to carry off thofe
treafures, and to return to Tufcany,
* A iimilar project, in which the Turh might
retaliate on the catholics by attacking the treasu-
ry of Loretto, it lying fo near the fea-fhore, and
being fo weakly guarded, has been mentioned,
as very feafible, by Mr. Addifon ; and be adds,
that, ll it would be an eafy thing for & chriitian
*' prince to furprize it, who has fhips palling to
" and fro without fufpicion, efpecially if he had
•' a party in the town, difgnifed like pilgrims,
<l to fecure a gate for him." Mr, Sharp alfo
wonders, *■*■ that fome corfair, with a hundred
u and fifty or two hundred men, fhould not at-
'" tempt to furprife and plunder that church,"
and thinks " a coup de main well managed would
" fucceed." But the difficulties of fuch an en-
terprize, as well 2s the treachery and inhumanity
of it, have been juftly ridiculed and expofed by
Mr. Bcretti, in his Account of Italy y chap. iii.
Though at the fame time, however unjuftifiable it
might be in a chriitian prince, the catholics muft
allow that die Moors, if an opportunity ihould offer,,
have juft as much right to plunder the treafures of
Loretto, as count Richecourt and the Tu/cans had to
ieize the treafures of Morocco.
5 frorr
LETTER XVIII. 229
from whence the capture was to be trans-
ported to Vienna. The defign was dis-
covered, and mud have proved in itfelf
of fuch pernicious confequence to the
Englijh commerce in thofe parts, that
the prudence and vigilance of Sir Horace
Mann^ (he is made a baronet fince I
named him to you) were judiciouily exr-
•erted on the occafion, aid put an efrecfu-
al flop to it. The difappointment of
count Richecourt has difgufted him againft
the Englijh minifter, and againft our
whole nation. I have been allured the
deilgn was feafible; the greater then,
the difappointment.
The conqueft of Tufiany would ftill
be rendered more eafy by the tacit incli-
nations of the inhabitants to change their
mailer. They would meet the conqueror
with joy, if he intended to feat himfelf
for life in the ducal throne. He would
find no refiftance from the Tufcans them-
felves ; perhaps little or none from the
Italian troops in pay of the emperor.
Nothing is more irkfome to the Flo-
Q^3 r entities,
230 LETTER XVIII.
rentines, than to fee every vacant poft
and employment filled up by Lorrainefe.
Not an houfekeeper belonging to any of
the palaces is an Italian. All fwarm
from Lorrain^ drawn to this hive by the
tinkling of count Richecourfs bell. Moft
'of them, his relations ; all, his depend-
ents. Hence arife hatred, diftike, and
iilent murmurs againft him and his maf-
ter ♦, but as thefe unhappy people are
fubdued, yoked, and impoverifhed, they
may hang up their harps, and fit down,
and weep by the waters of the Arno.
The annual revenue of the (late is faid
to be about five hundred thoufand pounds
flerling •, the annual expences of the go-
vernment are about half that fum. The
reft is carried out of the dutchy, and
centers in Vienna. The ftatues and pic-
tures remain-, but the plate, jewels, and
other portable treafures have all tended
to the fame center j in particular, the
famous diamond de' Medici '*, a Venus in
its
* This diamond, according to Tavirmer, weighs
cue
LETTER XVIII. 231
its kind, which the emperor, on days of
feftival and parade, wears in his hat.
Companions continually arife in my
mind, when I behold thefe defpotic
ftates, and confider my own country.
Heaven has placed us in fo advantage-
ous a fituation, that, unlefs we are di-
vided at home, attacks from abroad
may moleft, but cannot ruin us. Our
laws are the laws of freedom ; our men-
chandife the traffic of opulence. Our
conftitution is framed and joined toge-
ther by the choiceft parts, picked and
one hundred and forty carrats and a half, and
was the largeit in Europe, till Mr. Pitt brought
from the Eajt-Indies a diamond which weighed
three carrats and a half more, and had befides,
a finer water. The grcat-duke is faid to have
bought his of a.Jefuit for about 18,7501. fter-
ling: The father gave only a fingle Paolo for it,
(6d. iterling) it being offered to fale as a bit of
cryfial. Mr. Pitt received from the regent of France
for his diamond, about 67,000 1. iterling.
Q^4 extracted
232 LETTER XVIII.
extracted from ariftocracies, democra-
cies, and fovereignties. We have a na-
val force able to defend, and maintain
the empire of the feas. We enjoy wealth
and pofleflions in both the Indies, We
boaft a regular, choice, and fmgular
fyftem of parliamentary government, fo
nicely calculated, as to be at once the
defence and fupport of the king and the
people, Our fovereign has the power, but
the parliament has ftill the law of that
power *. What people upon earth can fay
the fame ? Can the republics of Venice and
Holland (if the latter may ftill be called a
' republic) boaft of any liberty, equal to
that of England? Moil affuredly, they
cannot. In what then do the Venetians
excel us? In the great ceconomy and
frugality of their private families ; in
their temperance ; in the inviolable fe-
crecy of public and private affairs ; in a
* f* See Bacon on government."
certain
LETTER XVIII. 233
certain fteadinefs and ferenity, to which
we are utterly ftrangers. In what in-
ftances has Holland the advantage over
us ? In their induftry, their vigilance,
and their warinefs. They exert thefe to
an excefs •, by which means, they turn
their virtues into vices. Their induftry
becomes rapine ; their vigilance, fraud *,
their warinefs, cunning. The government
of Switzerland is democratical, and by
no means to be compared with thofe,
which I have already mentioned. So
that, take us all in all, if our fleadinefs
w r as not too often obftinacy, our ftrengtri
fullennefs, our exultations madnefs, our
depreffions timidity, and our hatred
and prejudices to each other, invincible,
unreafonable, and abfurd, we might be
happy at home, and revered abroad.
As things are, our neighbours fee and
take advantage of our private dirTentions.
They rejoice to perceive us agreeing in
no one point fo unanimoufly, as in a
conftant,
2 5 4 LETTER XVIII.
conftant, and indeed a regular fyftem of
luxury and licentioufnefs, which, fooner
or later, they juftly imagine, mufl debili-
tate us as much as they can wifh.
I am, dear fir,
ever your's,
CORKE.
P. S. In my feveral defcriptive fketch-
es of Florence, I omitted one circum-
ftance* which furpifed me, as it mntl
•all ftrangers, to a great degree. At one
of the windows of every great palace
conftantly hangs out an empty flafk, to
fhew that the mailer fells wine. The
Florentine nobility receive the produce of
their lands in kind *.
* Dr. Smollett has alfo mentioned this circum-
flance in the following manner : " with all their
" pride, the nobles of Florence are humble enough
*■ to enter into partnership with fhop-keep~
" er.% and even to fell wine by retail, it is an
" undoubted
LETTER XVIII. 235
" undoubted fact, that in every palace, or great
*' houfe, in this city, there is a little window
?f fronting t^e flreet, provided with an iron
(i knocker, and over it hangs an empty flafk, by
" way of fign-poft. Thither you fend your fer-
i( vant to buy a bottle of wine. Ke knocks at
" the little wicket, which is opened immediately
" by a domeftic, who fqpplies him with what he
" wants, and receives the money, like the waiter
" at any other cabaret." Letter xxvii.
This cuftom is alio defcribed in much the fame
manner, by Mr. Skippon> who was at Florence in the
year 1664. See ChurchllV% Collection cf Voy-
ages, vol. vi. p. 641.
LETTER
[ 2 3 6 ]
LETTER XIX.
Mar ig nolle, hlay 5th, 1 75 5.
METHINKS I took my leave of
my dear friend, laft Thurfday y in
a deje&ed mood. I feemed to croak
the approaching ruin of my country. I
recall my prophecy. I retract my
words. 'Though we are fick, we are
not dying ; 'though we are lofing, we
are not ruined - 9 'though we are fhort-
fighted, we are not blind. Some noble
fpirits are flill left. Lord Huntingdon *
is one. He has pafled the winter in
Florence, with great honour to himfelf,
and with jufl admiration from the Flo-
rentines. He has fortunate advantages;
high nobility ; politenefs from obferva-
• Now groom of tke ftole to his Majefty.
tion ;
LETTER XIX. 237
tion *, quicknefs from parts. If he goes
on as he begins, he will be an ornament
and a defence to his country. His
friendfhip with lord Siormont f , who
has lately been here, and whofe abilities
are undoubted, will render them both,
in every fenfe, Par nobile fratrum*
But hold — either I am deceived, or
I hear you fay, whifperingly to your-*
felf cc Why fo much of our own coun-
" try ? why ike tc lies of lord Hunting-
" don, and lord Stormont, whofe cha-
** rafters I know ? why not more par-
fl ticuiars of Florence ? why am I not
" told, whether the Italian fpring pro-
" duces that delightful verdure, fo ac-
<c ceptable to the eye, and fo ornament-
" al to the Britijh iflands ?" No, no,
my dear Mr. Buncombe, Italy produces
no fuch green. Enjoy the beauty, my
friend, where you are. Be afTured, you
f At prefent his Majefty's ambaflador to the
court of France*
poffefs
238 LETTER XIX.
poffefs it in a degree fuperior to mon%
I believe to all other, European nations.
The temperature of the fpring is as va-
rious here, as in England-, now warm,
now cold; now calm, now ilormy : the
fains here are remarkably heavier. Since
I have been accuftomed to the Italian
rains, I think the clouds only drop in
England. They melt in inftantaneous
cafcades in Italy, With you, they only
produce fhowers •, with us, they pour
down cataracts. In truth, the difference
is amazing.
Some of the windows of the houfe,
in which we are fituated, command a
view of the ancient Fiezole, the remains
of which moulder on the fummit of a
very high hill •, inconvenient for want of
water j moll beautiful in point of prof-
peel. I view the place with particular
pleafure. It is claffic ground. That
Etrurian city was enlarged by Sylla the
dictator. The - renowned Triumvirate,
Oftai'ius, Antony, and Lepidus, improv-
ed
LETTER XIX. 239
ed it. It was then called Florcntia \
and when removed for the acquifition
of water, Fluentia, quod ad Ami fluent a
ex tr lift a fit.
The n>ht of Fiezole reminds me of
o
an inilance in Pliny of Etrurian luxury,
on which account you will not be forry
perhaps that 1 mould recite it. " Craf
ct fus dives y primus argent aurcque folia
" imitatuSy ludis fids coronas dedit. Ac-
" cefer unique et lemnifciy quos adjici ip-
" J arum coronarum honos erat propter £-
" trufcasy quibus jungi nifi aurei ncn de-
c< bebant*. If the ancient Etrufci were
luxurious, the modern Tufcans have fol-
lowed their footfteps. The palaces of
* Kat. Hijl. Lib. xxi. Cap, 3.
44 Crajfus the rich was the firft who gave away
" at his games chaplets of gold and filver refem-
" bling leaves. Ribbons alfo were afterwards
'* added as appendages, for more honour and
" itate, a device refpetting thofe Tufcan crowns
" which were allowed to have no ribbands or
" laces hanging to them but of gold."
the
240 LETTER XIX.
the Strozzi, Medici, Corfini, Capponi,
&c. are ftrong examples of it. If the
old Etrurians were fuperftitious, the
prefent Etrurians are no lefs fo. The
former burned incenfe to their nymph
Bygoe -f- ♦, the latter fay mattes in honour
of Santa Reparata. The forefathers
worfhipped Pomona ; their fons adore
the virgin Mary. In thefe points there
is no degeneracy. Nor are dreams and
omens lefs efficacious at this day in Tuf-
cany, than they were at Rome in the
reign of Numa.
Since I have attempted to draw fome
kind of comparifon between the ancient
and modern inhabitants of Tufcany, I
muft add, that, as far as I can obferve,
the hereditary fire and fpirit of the
ancient Etrurians have not defcended in
any great degree to their Titfcan pofte-
f A nymph much reverenced in Etruria, who
wasfuppofed to have written a book concerning
the manner of expiating thunder. ** See Ma-
f*um Etrufcum, vol. ii. p. 49."
rity.
LETTER XIX. 241
rity. Virgil* who often mentions the
Etrufci, conftantly repfefents them as a
warlike people. You remember, when
the venerable and experienced king j£-
vander fpeaks of them, he fays,
— — — ubi Lydia quondam
Gens hello pr<eclara 9 jugis infedit E~
trufcis '*.
And again,
Ergo omnis furiis furrexit Etruria
jujlis f .
Courage is by no means at prefent the
character iftic of the Tufcans. Their
bravery has been fo little tried of late
years, that their behaviour in battle is
unknown. Superftition, turned into en-
* JEneid. viii. ver. 479.
Torn from the fti/cans, by the Lydian race,
In warlike people ftrong.
+ r- — - ~ ver. 494.
By juft revenge the T'ufws fet on fire.
Dryden.
R thufiafm,
242 LETTER XIX.
thufiafm, will make cowards brave. The
Florentines are fuperftitious, not enthu-
(iafls. They tremble at thunder : they
hear groans in chnrch-yards : they fee
horfes without heads. They attribute
every untoward accident to the devil.
They are pinched by evil fpirits. De-
ceafed faints and martyrs appear to their
fancy, fometimes in an angry, fome-
times in a placid, difpofition. What
augur es and arufpees began, chriflian
priefts have continued. But nothing,
not even prieftcraft, keeps up the vein
of fuperftition in Florence fo effectually,
as a certain lottery, inflituted by the
government for gain to the prince, and
ruin to the people. I will endeavour to
explain it to you.
There are ninety numbers. You
write on a blank ticket, any five num-
bers you pleaie, contained within the
ninety. Few purchafers go beyond the
renowned lucky number, three. The
loweft price is a $aolo> (fix pence) a
ticket.
LETTER XIX. 243
ticket. You may go as much higher as
you pleafe. You will be paid according
to the price at which you purchafe. Let
us fuppofe you purchafe five numbers
for a paolo. If one onV of your five
numbers be drawn a prize, it is of no
confequence •, for it finks into the other
four, if blanks ; as a drop of water is
loft in the fea. If two are drawn prizes,
you are entitled to twenty paolos -, if
three, you are to receive four and twen-
ty crowns; if four, twenty-five zecheens.
A zecheen is fomething lefs than ten mil-
lings. If all your five numbers are
prizes, you are entitled to an hundred
zecheens. I have already faid, that if
you had bought at an higher price, your
payment would be proportionably equi-
valent to the fum you paid in.
Thefe lotteries, (there are two, one at
Leghorn^ the other at Florence,) are
drawn once a month, at different times ;
fo that deftruclion comes round once in
a fortnight,
R2 No
244 LETTER XIX.
No inftance has been, or probably e-
ver will be, known of five numbers
ariflng prizes to the fame perfon.
Every poor wretch, who can com-
mand two or three paolos^ drowns them
rnoft eagerly i$ this ocean of impoikion.
The mifcrable experience of ill fuccefs
has no effect on the minds of the vulgar.
They pawn their cloaths to procure mo-
ney for tickets. One of the officers of
the revenue received a large fum of mo-
ney belonging to the great-duke. He
put it privately into the lottery, loft it,
and was hanged. After his death feve-
ral hundred tickets were found in his
bureau.
The fuperftitious part of the impofi-
tion is this : The purchafers of tickets,
in order to be fuccefsful, muft fait, during
fix and thirty hours ; muft repeat a cer-
tain number of Ave Marias , &c. muft
not fpeak to any living creature during
the whole time •, muft not go to bed ;
muft continue in prayer to the virgin
and
LETTER XIX. 245
and the faints, till fome propitious faint
or prophet not only appears, but de-
clares the feveral numbers deftined for
fucceis. The watchers tired out by ex-
pectation, fading, and prayer, fall afleep,
fee the faint, hear and forget the num-
bers, acknowledge their forgetfulnefs,
own the goodnefs of the holy vifion,
and remain thoroughly convinced, that
the oracle muft be infallible. Again
they buy tickets, again fall afleep, again
fee prophets, and at lad are ruined.
Two months ago a maid-fervant pur-
chafed five numbers. Three came up
prizes. She was paid twenty- four crowns.
She declared, that the prophet Jeremiah*,
in the drefs of a Capuchin, had named
to her the numbers. Jeremiah is at
prefent the faint in vogue. The lottery
fills more and more, in honour and con-
fidence of that fon of Hilkiah, who had
lefs influence, living, in the land of Ana-
thoth, than he has, dead, in the land
of Tufcany.
R3 Wt
2 4 6 LETTER XIX.
We heretics luipecl, that the real
prophet was the farmer of this branch
of the public revenue, who, finding his
lottery decreafing, difcovered, at the
expence of four and twenty crowns, an
effc dual method of raifing it again to
its former baneful influence.
I have been particularly defirous to
fet before you an exact de ail of thefe
momhly lotteries, as they are glaring ex-
amples of the method made ufe of, to
cany on and fupporc the preient govern-
ment of Florence, They are let oui. to
farmers, as are all the other branches of
the ..rand-auke s revenue.
It is true, none of the nobility are pre-
fumed to "throw away paolos^ or zecheens,
in ib low a manner. Perhaps they do
not. Be it fo. Their fervants and their
tradefmen dp ; and the ill confequences
of the vices in the lower people, will be
felt, fooner or later, by the higher.
A government fubfifting by artifice,
and by opprefiive fchemes, is a tyranny
2 P*
LETTER XIX. 247
of the worft fort. Yet, bad as it is, the
Florentines dare not complain. Where
the will of the prince is abfolute, the
complaints of the people are ineffectual.
Whither can they fly for redrefs ? Vain
is the appeal to a judge againft his own
decree.
During the commonwealth, the city
was governed by eight and forty fenators,
who had the direction of public affairs,
and the power to hear and relieve griev-
ances. Thefe fenators were a barrier
even againft any injuftice that might
proceed from the individual members of
their own body. Their number was
not leffened during the reigns of the Me-
dici; but their authority was much re»
laxed, and by degrees became little
more than nominal. Since the preient
emperor's acceflion, many of the fenators
are dead, and the whole complement is
reduced to fifteen, or fixteen. No va-
cancy is ever filled up •, and, I am told,
that the ceremony of affembling thofc
few who remain is entirely omitted.
R 4 When
£48 LETTER XIX.
When you confider this fact, and re-
collect the fkuation of the prefent tri-
umvirate council *, you will agree with
me, that Florence is abfolutely governed
by a fingle vice-roy, a Lorrainefe.
The Englijh are a happy people, if
they were truly confcious, or could in
any degree convince themfelves, of their
own felicity. They are the fortunati
nimium. Let them travel abroad, not
to fee fafhions, but dates ; not to tafte
different wines, but different govern-
ments ; not to compare laces and vel-
vets, but laws and polities \ they will
then return home perfectly convinced,
that England is pofleffed of more free-
dom, juitice, and happinefs, than any
other nation under heaven. With thefe
advantages, it will be our own fault if we
fink into defolation and ruin.
I am, dear fir,
your ever faithful,
CORKE,
* See Letter XL p. 123.
LET TER
C 249 ]
LETTER XX.
Marignolle, May 31ft, 1755.
INSTEAD of thofe grave poll-
tied reflections, with which my late
letters have been fi 11 -J, this fhall con-
vey to you, dear fir, fome anecdotes
from the Court of Love. They begin in
Lorrain, and, after a pretty long jour-
ney, will bring us back into Tufcany.
If they amufe you, my end is anfwered.
It is of no confequence from what quar-
ter of the globe the amufement comes.
Leopold*, late duke of Lor rain, father
of
# " His names were Leopold-Jofepb -Charles.
He was born September n, 1679, and died March
27, 1729. He was reftored to his dominions, by
the treaty of Ryfivick, in 1698. He was the foil
pf Charles-Leopold, called Charles IV. and Elm*
?iora>
s5 o L E T T E R XX.
of Francis, the prefent emperor of Ger-
many +, was a prince of a very amorous
conltitution, and, 'though married to an
amiable and moft deferving princcfs J,
by whom he had feveral children || , he
lavimed his time, and the revenues of
mra, daughter of the emperor Ferdinand III."
The prefent emperor and the great-duke of Tu/Z
cany are his grandfons.
f He diedfince this letter was was written, Au-
gujt 18, 1765, aged 56.
X " Elizabeth de Bourbon, daughter of Philip
duke of Orleans, (brother of Lewis XIV.) by his
fecond wife Charlotte-Elizabeth, daughter of
Charles-Lewis, elector- palatine. She was born
in 1676, and married in 1698. Before her mar-
riage fhe was ftyled " Mademoifelle de Chartres."
See Les Sou-verains du monde, Tome iii. p. 327."
" She owed her marriage," fays Mr. Keyjler,
" to baron Lilienroth, the Swedijh envoy, who,
" at the peace of Ryfwick, propofed it to the
" ho u fe of Lorrain, a6 a means for creating a
" better harmony between this court and that of
" France" Keyjler's Travels, vol. iv. p. 277.
jj Viz. the late emperor Francis, prince Charles
©f Lorrain, and two princeiTes.
his
LETTER XX. 251
his dutchy, on his miftreffes, his illegi-
timate offspring, and the fycophantic
minifters of his private pleafures, leav-
ing his dutchefs, and his lawful heirs,
almoft in want of the neceflaries of life.
In this difTolute manner he had mort-
gaged, or given away, fo many different
branches of his revenue, that one of his
couniellors of Hate, an old Lorrainefe,
of great worth and honour, refolved to
withdraw the duke from the brink of
ruin by the following method. " Be
" pleafed, fir," faid he, " to reward the
" affiduity of my long and faithful fer-
" vices by a grant of the whole revenue
*' of your fait- works." Leopold, amaz-
ed at fo exorbitant a demand from one
who had conftantly endeavoured to re-
tard and flop the lavifh gifts, that had
been granted to other courtiers, afked
him what inducement he had to require
fo profufe a gratuity ? " Sir," faid he,
*' I do not make this requeft to your
w royal highnels, for my own fake, but for
" vours.
252 LETTER XX.
" yours. If you grant it, you will be
cc obliged, merely for fubfiftence, to re
" call the grant, and with it, I hope
tc you will recall all thofe exorbitant
cc gifts and alienations, that have been
" clifpci feci among the mod worthlefs,
<c the molt diflblute, and the moll un-
" grateful of your fubjecls."
This anecdote will reprefent to you
that part of duke Leopold's character
atiiing from his amours. I will now ex-
hibit to you one or two of the amours
thcmlelves.
In the duke of Lorrain\ army was a
general-officer, a Afilanefe, the marquefs
of* * * * *, who had married a lady of
his own country. The hufband and the
wife were much efleemed and diflin-
puifhed. 1 le for his conduct in the
field, and his underftanding in the cabi-
net : ilie, for her beauty, her virtue, and
her prudence. The perpetual wars of
duke Leopold frequently called the hlif-
band to a confideruble diitance, and left
the
LETTER XX. 253
the wife near the perfon of her fovereign,
fully expofed to all his attempts and fol-
licitations. She refilled them with true
female heroifm. They were repeated in
various fhapes \ inprefents, in fighs, in
entertainments, in adoration. They were
continued by a perfeverance of feveral
years. At length the lady entertained
within herfelf fome fenfations in his fa-
vour. Her virtue was alarmed at the
difcovery -, her fears were awakened.
Conference and honour prepared them-
felves to fight againil love, pleafure, and
ambition. Left the combat might prove
unequal, fhe thus addrefTed herfelf to
her hufband : " You have been," faid
fhe, " moil conftantly and mod faith-
" fully informed by me of the duke of
" Lorrain's courtfhip : I have not con-
" cealed from you a fingle circumliance
" of its progrefs. Your fortune and
" your intereft made me fuffer it. I
« c fuftained his addreifes with refiilance ;
" I re-
254 L E T T E R XX.
<c I repulfed his ardour by difdain.
" That time is now no more. I can no
" longer look upon my royal mailer
" with indifference. He lays riches,
" honours, and power at my feet. Va-
<c nity and ambition, not to mention
" defire, tempt me to floop, and feize
" the proffered treafures. As yet, I am
" innocent : as yet, I am worthy of be-
" ing your wife. But that innocence
" ftands tottering on the brink of a pre-
" cipice. On my knees I beg you to
** deliver me from the horrid dangers
" that furround me. Save me, ere I
" fall. Let us fly to Milan. Let us
" take refuge in our own native country.
" My foul, in fpite of all temptation,
" ftill prefers poverty with innocence to
<c opulence with guilt. Let us go in-
" flantly, and live within the bounds of
"our own little fortune in the Milanefe.
" Let us at once break loofe from the
" dangers of a luxurious court. Let us
" feek
LETTER XX. 255
" feek the happinefs arifing from true
" love ; and tafte the joys of uninter-
" rupted affection."
The Marquefs, who had attentively
liftened to the noble confeflion of his
wife, embraced the Marchionefs with
tendernefs and tears, declaring, that he
thought her equal, if not fuperior, to
the molt virtuous and the moft pru-
dent of her fex. He concurred with
her in thinking, that an immediate flight
was necefTary. In a few hours after this
remarkable fcene had pafled, they quit-
ted the court of Lorrain with the utmoft
fecrecy; and foon reached their own
eftate in Mi/an, where they refided during
the remainder of their lives.
Leopold was in the fame fituation as
Henry IV. at the fudden departure of the
prince and princefs of Conde*. He was
(truck
* See Mrs. Scott's Life ef Theodore Agrippa D'Au-
bigne (lately publifhed) p. 376. This lady juft-
ly thinks that the paflion of Hentry IV. for the
princefs
256 LETTER XX.
{truck with the utmoft anguifh and a-
flonifhment at the lofs of a charming
miftrefs, whom he imagined he had al-
tnod conquered.
To banifh melancholy, and to folace
himfelf under this difappointment, Leo-
fold retired into the country, and fought
relief from rural diverfions. He rofe
early, for he flept little. Shooting and
hunting were his daily exercife. The
nights were paiTed in gloomy remem-
brance of the Marchionefs. One morn-
ing, as he was in purfuit of his game, he
princefs of Condi (which occafioned the flight
above mentioned) * may be confidered as the
** mod criminal and moft diilionourable action
" in his life : the fire of youth, though it can
" never excufe a crime, may be urged as fome
" palliation ; but Henry had no longer this to
" plead, for he was fifty-feven years of age when
" he died ; and every circumilance through the
u whole proceeding was of fo black a dye, that
*< it mull remain an indelible flain on his
" memory."
i accidentally
L E T T E R XX, 257
accidentally met a girl, about fifteen years
of age, watching in a field a large drove
of turkeys. The fun had not injured
her complexion. She was fair as Venus.
She had in her countenance the bloom of
health, the fprightlineis of youth, and
the blufh of innocence. Such an object
at once effaced the virtuous Milanefc.
The duke of Lorrain made immediate
enquiries after his new Dukinea. He
received information, that her birth
was noble •, but that the poverty of her
father was fo great, that he was obliged
to employ his own children in looking
after his poultry, by the fale of which
he procured great part of his fubfiftence.
This circumftance gave immediate hopes
to the duke's defires. He invited the
impoverifhed nobleman to court-; he
loaded him with honours and prefer-
ments. His highnefs defired, or rather
commanded him immediately to bring
his family, and fettle himfelf with them
at Nancy. The royal orders were obeyed,
S Leopold
2 5 3 LETTER XX.
Leopold was happy in the compliance of
his new, miilrefs ; who only infilled on
an hufband, to fcreen the honour of her
father's honfe. On fuch occafions, huf-
bands are feldom difficult to be found,.
A young officer of high birth,, the prince
de Cracn, was chofen for her confort ;
he received her with all the ardour of
love, and with an implicit obedience to
his mailer's commands. His obedience
made his fortune. The prince and
princefs de Cracn fhone with the utmoft
fplehdor, that the court of Lorrain could
produce *. She was agreeable to the
hishefl
■O"
* Of this prince and his family the following,
account is given by Keyjkr, " In the late duke
'* of Latrain'j, time, the prince de Craov, of the
" houfe of Ecauvau, was in g?ea: favour, and
"the duke emitted no means of enriching him :
" for he not only beftowed the lordfhip of Craon
'* upon him, and the poll of matter of the horfe,
''but likewife other rich prefents ; and cf:en
14 lutiered him to win from him at billiards, and
other games, thirty thpufand livrcs at a time.
" The
<; ,
LETTER XX. 259
higheft point of ad mi ration. She was
otpenfive to the higheft point of excels.
Leis endued with kn(e than adorned
with beauty, fhe was inconfiderate and
profufe-, not abfolutely without judg-
ment ; me was generous and good-na-
tured. Her thoughts (if fhe ever
thought) were entirely employed on her
own perfon. She bore feventeen chil-
dren* -, yet by incelTant care of her health,
and
ei The father of this nobleman flyles himfelf
M count de Marfan, and his mother was countefs
i( of Matignon. ' Keyjkr's Travels, <vol iv. p. 278.
The reafon of this extraordinary favour is not
mentioned, and perhaps was not known to this
writer.
* M. de Voltaire fays, that " a fon of this
" prince, a hopeful youth, colonel of the regi-
" ment of Hainault, in the French fervice, was
«* killed at the head of his troop at the battle of
" Fontenoy in 1745. The father ferved in the
" enemy's army, and his fons in the king's."
Hijtory of the War of 1741. " His lady,"
fays Keyjler, " may ftill be reckoned a beauty,
" though (he has had three and twenty chil-
" dren. Her eldeft daughter is co-adjutrefs at
•*' Remiremonti and her youngefl is married to the
S 2 prince
z6o LETTER £X.
and by the ftricteft attention to the pre-
fervation of her beauty, on which her
whole power depended, fhe preferred
the frefhnefs of her complexion, and
the finenefs of her fhape, not only dur-
ing the duke of Lor rain' s life, but to
the day of her own death, many years
afterwards. Though fhe had an ahfo-
lute afcendant over the duke's mind,
and could turn and difpofe his refolu-
tions as (lie pleafed, lhe never made an
ill ufe of her power: on the contrary,
Ihe delighted in doing beneficent actions,
in obliging the nobility, in paying a pro-
found duty and refpect to the dutchefs
of Lorrain. Alas ! in one inftance Ihe
wanted virtue ; in all others ihe had it
in the greatefl perfection. Her hufband
was of the fame difpofition. Both were
humane, liberal, eafy, polite, and x:on-
" prince of Lixin." This letter is dated in 1 73 J.
The prince ci Lixin being killed in the year 1734,
in a duel with the duke (now marfhal) de Richelieu,
near the Rhine, his widow, in 1739, married the
marquefs (afterwards duke) de Mirepoix, then am-
balFador from France to Vienna, and iince to London,
3 defcending^
L.E T T E H 'XX. 261
defeending •, fo that, after the death of
Leopold^ when the prefent emperor ex-
changed Lorrain for Tufcany^ in the year
1737, ne appointed the prince de Craon
fole regent of his Etrurian territories.
Here the princefs de Craon began a
fecond reign of fplendor. Accuftomed
to magnificence, and born to be near,
though not to fill, a throne, her actions
were fuch, as became royalty and impe-
rial power: they were, at the fame time,
accompanied by fo difinterefted a gene-
rofity, and fuch an engaging fweetnefs,
that me attracted the love of the Tufcans
to the higher! degree. She Toothed the
pride of the Florentine nobility, but ne-
ver departed from her own exaltation,
as the regent's wife. Her court was
crowded by noble ladies, who felt no
envy, 'though they beheld fuperiority.
In her countenance appeared neither the
marks of age, nor the lead traces of
hanghtinefs : her friendfhips were not
particular, but univerfal : fhe was in
Tufcanyy as in Lorrain, beloved and
c [teemed
26z LETTER XX.
efteemed by the women, admired and
revered by the men.
The excellent difpofition of her huf-
•band was no lefs engaging. He was the
ioldier and the courtier, but not the man
of bufrnefs : he wanted the talents efieri-
rial to a minifter of ftate. Fie was em>
barrafTed and overburdened by his dig-
nity. He could face dangers in the
field, but could not withstand attacks in
the cabinet : he knew how to command
an army, but could not guide a com-
mon -wealth. He fcon became confeious
of his own defects, and hourly began to
find the want of an affiftant. He recol-
lected the abilities of monfieur de Riche-
touti\ who was the fon of a Lorrainefe
advocate, and who had alfo been bred
to the law. He fixed upon this man for
his coadjutor; and, in a letter to the
emperor, in which he acknowledged his
own incapacity, he earnestly intreated
that his friend Richecourt might be fent
to FlorerM\ with full and adequate power
with himfelf in the government OTTuf-
LETTER XX. 263
cany, but without any particular deno-
mination, or title. The requeft was
granted ♦, and, . when the prince de Craon
found himfelf indulged in it, he ac-
quainted the princefs his wife with what
he had done. cc You have ruined us
"then," exclaimed the princefs, with
feme emotion •, " I know Richecourt ;.
" I know his ambition \ I know his
c * cunning. While you were his fupe-
" rior, he was your friend. When he
" becomes your equal, he will be your
" enemy. Many months will not pais
" after his arrival, ere we are little bet-
" ter than his (laves. " Richecourt ar-
rived, and the prediction of the princefs
was fulfilled. By a fuperiority of genius, '
and an addrefs more adapted to manage'
and turn the weighty and intricate
wheels of government, the afpiring count
Richecourt arofe to the higher! eminence
of authority, in the fame degree that the
loft prince de Craon funk into difregard
and contempt. Unable to fupport daily
i^nfults, the natural confequence of fo ab-
jeci
264 L E T T E R XX.
je6t a fituation, the prince defircd to be
recalled, and be permitted to end his
days in Lorrain. The emperor allowed
him to return, and refolved to change
the (ingle regency into a triumvirate
council of (late ; the particulars of which
are inferted in one of my former let-
ters *.
The prince de Craon had contracted
great debts in Tufcany. He had lived
far beyond his income. Before he could
quit the Florentine dominions, he was
obliged to fell his plate, and the jewels
of the princefs, his wife. Old and
poor, the melancholy pair returned
to Lorrain. He died a few months
after his arrival : She furvived him but
a few years.
I am, dear fir,
ever your's,
Cork!
* See Letter XI, p. 123.
The Genealogy of the Floufe of M E D I C I,
JOHN D E MEDICI,
The wifeft, richeft, and molt popular Nobleman in Florence,
died 1415.
1
Cofmo,
Father of his country,
leviver of arts, &c.
born 1389
baniflied 1433
recalled 1434
died 1464 (See Letter xvi)
— A .
Lorenzo,
born 1395
died 1440.
~^
{£f» See his defcendants
over leaf
Peter,
unpopular, refolute, and vindictive.
born 141 6
died 1472 (See Letter xvi)
Lorenzo
the Magnifkf nt,
Father of the Mufes,
born 1448
died 1492 (See Let* xii & xvi)
Julian,
born 1453
killed by the Pazzi 1478.
) (SeeLet.xii&xvi)
a^.
1
Peter
the Exile,
a traitor
lo his country,
born 1 47 1
janiihed 1494
drowned
in the river
Garigliano
'5° 3
John,
afterwards
Pope Leo X
remarkable
for his abilities
and his vices,
born 1476
died 15 1 3
3
Julian,
D.of Nemours, Sec.
born 1478
died 15 1 6
Julio,
pofthumous and illegitimate,
afterwards Pope Clement VII.
avaricious and deceitful,
born 1478
died 1534
.«—>** ,
* Lorenzo,
Duke of Urbino,
born 149a
died 1 519
Catherine,
infamous for her cruelty,
married to Henry II.
King of France,
by whom (lie had three
fucceeding Kings.
Hippolito,
illegitimate,
afterwards Cardinal
born 151 1
died 1535
Alexander,
illegitimate,
the firft D. of Florence,
fo made by Charles V. 1531
born 1 5 10
killed 1536
fucceeded by Cofmo I.
(See Letters xi & xv}
This Duke of Urbino is generally
fnppo&d to have been the father
of Alexander the firft Duke of
Florence.
O R E N Z O,
r-
Peter Francis,
143 1 — killed 1477
r
Lorenzo
born 1463
died 1480
I
- a
John
^
Peter Francis
born i486
died 1525
I
——-A -
Lewis,
called John the Popular
died 1526
Lorenzo the Popular,
v/ho afTaflinated Alexander
the firft Duke of Florence
born 1 5 14
died 1547 without iflue.
the
— m ^.
CoSMO
firft Grand D
I.
of Tufcany,
a great wicked man,
born 1 519
died 1574
(See Let. xi&xv
John, Cardinal,
born 154.3
killed by his
brother Garcias
1562
(See Letter xv)
2
Garcias,
born 1557
killed by his fa-
ther in revenge
1562
(See Letter xv)
Francis,
2d Grand Duke
born 1 54 1
poiioned by his
brother Ferdi-
nand 1587
(See Let. xv
A
Ferdinand I.
Cardinal, and
afterwards
3d Grand Duke
born 1 549
died 1609
i) (SeeLet. ix&xvii)
5 ^
Ifabella,
married to the
Duke of
Ijracciano,
fcrangled 1578
(See Let. xi)
Leonora,
married to Vincent,
D. of Mantua,
2
Mary,
married to Henry IV.
King of France, by whom
fhe had Lewis XIII.
Cosmo II.
4 th Gr. Duke
born 1 59 1
died 1621
r i
Ferdinand II.
5th Gr. Duke
born 16 10
died 1670
2
Leopold,
Cardinal,
a patron of arts,
(See Let. viii)
♦vlargaiet LouiJh,-
d. to Garten D. of Orleans,
gay and licentious, fepa-
jated from her huiband.
^/
'i Ferdinand, Giand Prince,
bom 1663,
died 1713,
a martyr to Venus,
and a difciple of the Graces,
(See Letter xii)
6 th G
1 Cosmo III.
D. & Canon of St. Peter's
born 1641
died 1723
Francis Maria*
Cardinal,
died 1 710.
2 John Gaston,
7th and lafl Gr. Duke of this family,
born 1 67 1
died 1737
fucceeded by Francis Duke of Lorrain,
afterwards Emperor, and father of the prefer
Grand Duke Peter. Leopold^
Charles Earl of Middlefex (afterwards Duke of
Doifct) being at Florence in the Year 1737, when the
Houfe of Medici became extinct, compofcd, on that
occshon, the celebrated elegiac ballad called Arno's
Vale, which, by having the good fortune to be fet
by the late Mr. Holcombe with a plaintive fweetnefs
that does honour to hi 3 taile and jultice to the fubjecl,
is as well known to our muficians as it is to our poets.
However, as it cannot be more properly introduced, the
reader will not be difpleafed with my infercing it.
I.
WHEN here, Lucinda, flrft we came,
Where Arno rolls his filver ftrearq,
How brifk the nymphs, the fwains how gay]
Content infpir'd each rural lay :
The birds in livelier concerts fung,
The grapes in thicker clufters hung j
All look'd as joy could never fail
Among the iweets of Arno's Vale.
II.
But now, fince good Palemon died,
The chief of fhepherds and the pride,
Old Arno's fons muft all give place
To Northern fwains, an iron race !
The tafte of pleafure now is o'er,
Thy notes, Lucinda, chaim no more,
The Mufes droop, the Goths prevail j
Adieu the fweets of Arno's Vale!
Additional
Additional Note on Letter XVI. p, 204.
" His (Machiavel's) blafphemous and im-
te moral behaviour ruined him. It is faid by
* e Binet and others, that he died blafpheming."
Impartiality obliges the editor to add, that the
following very different account has been given
by the late editor of Macbia-vel's works, Mr.
Baretti : " He died on the 22d day of June,
<c 1527, in the 58th year of his age. In his
" laft moments he evinced the moil friendly
tl difpofitions to the chriilian faith, without
" murmuring againit heaven or its decrees, as
•* has been infinuated by the lying Lucchejini,
* c and his abettors; which may be inconteftibly
*' proved by a letter written by one of his fons
* c to a near relation of his father's. The original
" is (till preferved, and is to the following p U r-
•" port:"
" Mo ft dear Francis,
*' I cannot refrain from tears, in telling you
" that my father died the 2zd of this month, of
" a cholic, occafioned by a medicine which he
" had taken two days before. He confelTed his
*' fins to father Matteo, who continued with him
" till his death. Our father has left us in great
" poverty, as you (hall know. When you re-
" turn hither, I ihall tell you every thing.
" lam, fcfe.
u
J tine, 1527.
ERRATA.
.77, . 2, C f 0f 7* r / a/ 7^ r ead Trinita*
P. 211, 1. ult. S
P. 137, note, J. 1, for 1474, read 1454.
P. 187, 1. iz, for q, read 0.
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