CHARACTERS. 
distance of seventy years from each 
other. 
Notwithstanding the natural and 
proper influence of wealth, and 
birth, and merit, the liberties and 
properties of individuals ate incom- 
parably more safe in St. Marino than 
they can ever possibly be under the 
capricious tyranny of a levelling de- 
mocracy ; and the people, at large, 
have the firmest security, that their 
superiors will not abuse their just 
pre-eminence, since all the plebeians 
of full age are trained to arms, and 
commanded by a sort of military 
tribune of their own choosing, whose 
employment is inferior in dignity to 
that of the capitaneos, or consuls, vet 
altogether distinct from the juris- 
diction of those patrician magis~ 
trates. This important military 
officer is overlooked by Mr. Addison, 
who has also omitted to mention 
the treasurer of the republic. The 
business of the latter consists in col- 
lecting and administering the public 
contributions, and in paying the 
stipendiati, or pensionaries,~ whose 
salaries, as may be imagined, are 
extremely moderate ; that cf the 
commissareo, or chief judge,amount- 
ing only to sixty pounds a year, 
Ilis income is considerably aug. 
“mented by the sportul@, or fees, paid 
by the litigant parties; so that his 
whole appointments fall little short 
of one hundred pounds per annum ;* 
a sum, which, in this primitive com- 
monwealih, is found sufficient to 
support the dignity of a chief jus- 
tice. 
The laws of St. Marino are con- 
tained in a thin folie, printed at 
Rimini, entitled, “* Statuta Illustris. 
sime Reipublicew ;” and the whole 
history of this happy and truly illus- 
trious, because Virtuous and peace- 
able, community is comprised in 
[*25 
the account of war, in which the 
commonwealth assisted pope Pius 
II. against Malatesta, prince of Ri- 
mini; in the records of the pur- 
chase Of two castles, with their de- 
pendent districts, in the years 1100 
and 1170; and in the well-an- 
thenticated narrative of the founda- 
tion of the state above, fourteen 
hundred years ago by St. Marino, 
a Dalmatian architect, who, having 
finished, witb much honour, the re- 
pairs of Rimini, retired this 
solitary mountain, practised the aus- 
terities of a hermit, wrought mira- 
cles, and, with the assistance of a 
few admirers, built a-church, and 
founded a city, which his reputa. 
tion for sanctity speedily reared, ex- 
fended, and filled with inbabitants. 
In the principal church, which, as 
well as that of the Franciscans, con- 
tains some good pictures, the statue 
of this saint and law-giver is erect- 
ed near the high altar. He hotds 
a mountain in bis hand, and is 
crowned with three castles; em- 
blems whicb, from what has been 
above Said, appear fitly chosen for 
the arms of the republic. 
Mr: Addison observes, that the 
origin of St. Marino must be ac- 
knewledged to be far nobler than 
that of Rome, which was an asylum 
for robbers and murderers, whe: eas 
St. Marino was the resort of persons 
eminent for their piety and devo- 
tion. This observation appears to 
me to be erroneous in two respects, 
decorating with unfair honours the 
one republic, and heaping unmerit- 
ed disgrace on the other. If piety 
founded St. Marino, with this piety 
much superstition was intermixed ; 
a superstition unfriendly to the best 
principles of society, and hostile to 
the favourite ends of nature; preach- 
ing celibacy, and exacting mortifi- 
Cation 
to 
