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PAPAL STATES. 



A description of this world-renowned city, 

 with respect to the architectural worth, so- 

 lidity, and magnificence of its innumerable 

 churches and palaces, squares, fountains, mon- 

 uments of antiquity and similar things, is not in 

 place here, besides that it would be a long and 

 very difficult work, perhaps impossible, to exe- 

 cute ; bat, to give the reader some idea of Rome, 

 in regard to its origin and extent, as well as to 

 its present material condition in general and its 

 inhabitants, may not be amiss : It was built in 

 the year 753 before the Christian era, or 2,621 

 years ago, by Romulus, who gave it his name, 

 as founder, and was its first king. It was 

 enlarged, strengthened, and embellished, both 

 by himself in his long reign, and by the six 

 kings his successors, filling a period of 244 

 years ; then during the 500 years of the repub- 

 lic ; yet more by Augustus and his successors 

 in the empire, up to the year 306 of our era, 

 when Constantine the Great removed the seat 

 of the empire to Byzantium, since called, after 

 him, Constantinople; but, above all, beyond 

 comparison, by the Popes, of whom it may be 

 affirmed that the buildings, both sacred and 

 profane, public and private, modern and an- 

 cient, the bringing up to light, as well as the re- 

 pairing and preserving, of the old monuments 

 and works of art of every kind, or their ruins, 

 still existing in Rome and vicinity, and to be 

 seen either in open air or in museums and gal- 

 leries, all is due to the Popes, and is their 

 work, directly or indirectly. 



The city has a circumference of about 16 

 English miles, is walled around, with 16 gates, 

 opening into public roads in all directions. 

 Within the walls it is divided into two unequal 

 portions by the Tiber, which runs from one 

 end of it to the other, and is crossed over at 

 different points of its course by four spacious 

 bridges built of stone. The city is distributed 

 into 14 regions or presidencies, each having a 

 president a citizen of some note, permanently 

 resident in the place, whose office it is to hear 

 complaints and settle small quarrels or disci- 

 plinary matters, between the people of his own 

 region as it were, a judge of the peace. For 

 religious purposes, Rome is divided into 59 

 parishes. 



Besides the very numerous palaces and other 

 extensive buildings, public and private, there 

 are in Rome 354 churches, seven of which are 

 principal basilicas. All of them are open 

 during the day, from early morning till sunset; 

 some of them till two hours after nightfall. 

 There are also more than 100 convents and 

 monasteries inhabited by monks, or tenanted by 

 nuns, belonging to 61 distinct religious orders; 

 some of which have several houses in different 

 parts of the city, wherein their chief superiors 

 and general councils must reside. Each of these 

 convents has a church attached to it for the use 

 of the inmates by internal communication, with 

 a separate entrance on the street for the public. 

 The nuns live in strict seclusion ; they never go 

 out of the inside enclosure of their respective 



monastery, nor is any person admitted within, 

 not excepting their lady relations. They can 

 have no access even to their own church, but 

 pray and attend divine service from the inside, 

 through small windows, or rather holes, opened 

 on the wall and barred with grates of small in- 

 terstices, or similar work firmly secured and im- 

 movable. There are also 49 seminaries and col- 

 leges, among which the German, tenanted by 

 58 pupils; the French, by 48 ; the Irish, by 52 ; 

 the English, by 21 ; the Scotch, by 12 ; one 

 American College, from the North, by 38; 

 from the South, by 50 ; not to mention the 

 College of Propaganda Fide, whose inmates, 

 boys and young men, represent all nations on 

 the face of the earth. Several universities and 

 places of instruction exist, wherein the sciences, 

 both sacred and profane, as well as belles-let- 

 tres, are taught by distinct professors in all 

 their branches. Many large hospitals, for the 

 gratuitous reception of patients and the cure of 

 all diseases of mind or body, have been estab- 

 lished ; some of them are exclusively destined 

 for the treatment of distinct maladies ; one for 

 the incurable : 15 conservatories are in opera- 

 tion, where orphans or otherwise poor little boys 

 or little girls are maintained and instructed in 

 all useful works appertaining to their respective 

 sexes, and even in the fine arts. But it would 

 be too lengthy to enumerate the institutions of 

 beneficence and other establishments of public 

 utility existing in Rome. 



As to the population, which seems to have 

 been steadily increasing since 1857, the official 

 statistics of the city, published by the Papal 

 Government for 1867, give the number of its 

 inhabitants, on July 1, at 215,573, an increase 

 of 4,872 since 1866. To give this population a 

 sort of classification between clergy and laity, 

 there are in Rome 34 resident cardinals, 36 

 bishops, and a far greater number of prelates 

 of various dignities and offices, in tribunals, 

 congregations, government places, and else- 

 where, or in attendance at court near the 

 Pope. The prelates are all dressed alike, and 

 most of them priests ; but one may be a pre- 

 late without being a priest, and some few 

 among them are not. The secular clergy is 

 composed of 2,297 priests of various grades; 

 the regular of 2,832 inonks, in which number 

 are included a large proportion of lay brothers, 

 who wear the habit and live in convents. The 

 nuns are not ecclesiastics, as they are called in 

 some books, nor are they ever seen. Their 

 number is set down in the statistics at 2,215. 

 Both the monks and the nuns belong to one or 

 other of the 61 religious orders alluded to above. 



The lay population of Rome consists, first, 

 of a very numerous nobility, with the titles of 

 princes, dukes, marquises, and others ; all of 

 the first named, and many of the others, living 

 in the greatest splendor and magnificence, as 

 well as in the highest refinement of social life, 

 and at such a daily ordinary expense as might 

 appear incredible in private families were it not 

 a fact continued for centuries from generation to 



