CHARACTERS. [r99 
probation by the company, the ve- 
teran proceeded to explain the 
real distinction of ranks in St. Ma- 
Tino, consisting in the xobili, citta- 
dint, and stipendiate, nobles, citi- 
zens, and stipendiaries. The nos 
bles, he told us, exceeded not twenty 
families, of which several enjoyed 
estates, without the territury, worth 
from three to eight hundred pounds 
a year sterling: that, from respect 
to the holy see, under whose pro- 
tection the republic had long sub- 
sisted quietly and happily, many 
persons of distinction in the pope’s 
territories had been admitted cif- 
tadint honorati, honorary citizens 
of St. Marino, particularly several 
illustrious houses of Rimini, and the 
forty nob!e families of Bologna. 
Even of the Venetian nobles them- 
selves, ancient as they certainly 
were, and invested, as they siill con- 
tinued to be, with the whole so- 
yereignty of their country, many 
disdained not to be associaied to the 
diminutive honours of St. Marino, 
and to increase the numbers of its 
citizens; and that this aggregation 
of illustrious foreigners, far’ froin 
being considered as dangerous to 
public liberty, was deemed essential, 
in so smal! a commonwealth, to na- 
tional safety. 
Lest the conversation might take 
another turn, I drew from m 
pocket Mr. Addison’s account of 
St. Marino, which, being exceed- 
ingly. short, I begged leave to read, 
that his errors, if he had committed 
any, might be corrected, and the 
alierations noted which the country 
had undergone in the Space of se- 
venty years, from 1703 to 1773. 
The proposal being cbligingly ac- 
‘cepted, I read in Mr. Addison, 
‘6 They have, at St. Marino, five 
churches, and reckon above five 
thousand soulsir their community.” 
Instead of which, I was desired to 
say, ** They have, in St. Marino, 
ten parishes, ten churches, and 
reckon above seven thousand souls 
in their community.” Again, Mr. 
Addison says, ‘*The council of sixty, 
notwithstanding its name, consists 
but of forty persons.” That was 
the case, when this illustrious au- 
thor visited the republic; but the 
council has, since that time, been 
augmented by twenty members, 
and the number now agrees with 
the name. These circumstances 
are important: for from them it 
appears, that while the neighbour- 
ing territory of Rome is impo- 
verished and gloomed by the do- 
minion of ecclesiastics, of which, 
in the words of Dr. Robertson, 
** to squeeze and to amass, not to me- 
liorate, is the object ;” * and while 
the neighbouring cities of Tuscany 
[*B 4] are 
* Sce Nohertson’s Charles V. vol. I. sect. ili p. 157. The doctor adds, “the patri- 
mony of St. Peter was worse governed than any other part of Europe; and though a 
generous pontiff might suspend for a little, or counteract, the effect of those vices, 
which are peculiar to the government of ecclesiastics, the disease not only remained 
incurable, but has gone on increasing from age to age, and the decline of the state 
has kept pace with its progress.’* On reading over this ae a doubt arises whie- 
ther it ought not to be expunged, as unjustly severe. Considered in one view, the 
dominion of the popes was naturally prejudicial to society; but an evil becomes a 
good, which prevents evils greater than itself. The authority of popes restrained 
' thealternate tyranny of paramount kings, and feudal barons. Religion) 4n its least 
perfect form, was a check to headstrong passions and a restraint on ruffian violence: 
and should it be admitied, that the temporal government of ecclesiastics had tended 
te depress the industry aud populousness of their immediate dominions (a int 
which 
