ITALY. 



wallowing in the mud ; Iiis fle{h is coarfe, and his hide, 

 though light, is fo ilnii as to have fupplied armour to the 

 military. The marmot and the ibex are reckoned among 

 the animals of the Apennines, and the creiiod porcupine is 

 elleemed peculiar to the fouth of Italy. The Alpine dif- 

 triift abounds in rich mines wliich ai-e nesrlefted : here are 

 miucs of filver, lead, iron, copper, and gold : in many parts 

 there is excellent coal, and in detached hills throughout the 

 country, marble, lirne-rtone, metallic ores and minerals are 

 found. There are but few mannfaftnres in Italy in pro- 

 portion to the fertility of the foil. Thofe of lilk and wool 

 are carried on to a coniiderable extent : but great quan- 

 tities of the raw materials are exported. Bcfides thefe, wine, 

 oil, and fruits are exported in abundance. The chief im- 

 ports are hard ware, metals, cotton, woollen and lilk (luffs, 

 leather, timber, pitch, &c. The IkiU of the natives in 

 itatuary, painting, and archil-e£lure, has been long the fub- 

 jeft of' admiration. The eltablifhcd religion is tlie Roman 

 Catholic, confiding chiefly in external obfervances,- rites, 

 and ceremonies. The pope is (lill looked up to as the 

 head of the church ; but his power and influence are now 

 almoft wholly dellroyed. Before the hte revolution, the 

 form of government in the itates of Italy was monarchical, 

 and in the republics it was ariitocratical. The fovereigns 

 governed their dominions with unlimited authority : in the 

 republics of Venice, Genoa, and Lucca, the nobility ihared 

 in the management of the ftate. In the prefent unfettled 

 fituation of the country it is not poilible to give any to- 

 lerable eftimate of .the revenues : they were reckoned be- 

 tween four and five millions iterllng towards the clofe of 

 the lail century. Anciently, Italy gave birth to men il- 

 ludrious in almoft all the departments of fcience then cul- 

 tivated : the generals, philofophers, hiflorians, orators, and 

 poets of Rome can never be forgotten. In the fixth cen- 

 tury, when numerous tribes of barbarians overran the Ro- 

 man empire, fcarcely a vellige of literature and the fine 

 arts remained From this period until the i6th century, 

 the human mind funk into profound ignorance, but fince 

 the revival of learning very many eminent perfons have ap-- 

 peared in Italy that liavo adorned the fciences and the various 

 branches of literature. The elegant arts of fculpture, 

 painting, architedurc, and mufic have hkewife been culti- 

 vated with fucceis. 



Wc have already alluded to the early hiftsry of Italy, 

 which, in a few lines, we brought down to the invafion, and, 

 indeed, conqueft of that country by the Lombards. The 

 great objed of ambition to this new race was the entire 

 conquedof all Italy, and this, as in ahnull all other fimilar 

 cafes, proved the ruin of their cmph-e by Charles the Great, 

 or, as he is generally denominated, the iliuftrious Charle- 

 magne, who was crowned fovereign of that country in the year 

 ;5oo. As, however, the Lombards had never pofTefled the 

 ^\hole of Italy, fo the whole of it never came into the pof- 

 feffion of Charlemagne, nor, indeed, fince the time of the 

 Goths, has the whole extent of this country been under the 

 dominion of any fmglc date. The undifputed territory of 

 Charlemagne in Italy was reftrifted to Piedmont, the 

 Milanefe, and the Mantuan territories, thofe of Genoa, 

 Parma, Modena, Tufcany, Bologna, the dukedoms of 

 Friuli, Spoleto, and Benevento, the lad of which contained 

 the greater part of the prefent kingdom of Naples. The 

 feudal government which the Lombards had introduced into 

 Italy produced feveral revolts, as the diflTerenl dukes inclined, 

 either to change mafters, or to fet up for thenifclves Se- 

 veral of thefc rebellions happened during vhc hfe of Char- 

 lemagne, which, by the vigour of his mind and the decifivc- 

 wefs of his mcatures, he founU nxs.Q,% to crulh ; but after his 



death, the fovcreignty of Italy became an objeft of coti. 

 tention between the kin^-s oi France and the emperors ot 

 Gerni;'.ny. Tliat monarch had divided his extenfive domi- 

 nions among his children ; but they all died during his own 

 reign, excepting Lewis, wliom he alTociated witn himfelf 

 in the empire, and who fuccccded to all his dominions after 

 his death. Hence are dated thofe troubles with which Italy 

 was fo long overwhelmed, and of v, hich, as they proceeded 

 from tlie ambition of thofe called king.s of Italy aiid their 

 nobles, of the kings of France, and tlie emperors of Ger- 

 many, it would bo difficult to give our reader any fatisfac- 

 tory account, although we were to extend the boundaries 

 of the prefent article much beyond the limits that can be 

 allowed it. We {hall attempt only an outline. At the 

 time Wiien Lewis, the fon of Charlemagne, was dec'ared 

 emjieror of the Weft, Italy was held by Bernard, the fon 

 of Pepin, brother of Louis. Tliough Bernard bore the 

 title of king, he was only accounted a vaffal of '.he emperor. 

 He foon rebelled againd his uncle, but being abandoned by 

 his troops, and taken priloner, he was deprived of his fighr, 

 and died in a few days; and in 823 the elded fon of the 

 emperor was fent into Italy, of which country he was 

 crowned king at Rome, and afterwards emperor of the Weil 

 during his father's life-time. He alfo rebelled againft his 

 father, whom he took more than once prifoncr, tliough in 

 the end he was obliged to fubmit, and aflc pardon for his 

 o.ffences. In the mean time the Saracens, taking advantage 

 of the civil commotions, landed oa the coads of It:i!v, and 

 committed fuch ravages, that even the bilhops were obliged 

 to arm themfclvcs in defence of the country. Lothaire 

 took but little care to put an end to thefe ravages, or to reftore 

 tranquillity, he even embroiled himielf fo far tid he had loft: 

 almoll all his dominions : at length he died, leaving his fon 

 Lewis the title of emperor, as well as that of king of I-aly. 

 Lewis applied himfelf tothe reftoratioa of tranquillity in hisdo- 

 . minions, and the driving out of the Saraeens from thofe places 

 of whicli they had pofiTefTed themfelves in Italy. This ardu- 

 ous taflv he fully accomplifhed, and obliged the infidels to 

 retire into Africa, but in S75 lie died, without naming a 

 fuccciTor. After this event, the Italian nobles, headed by 

 the duke of Tufcany, reprefented to the pope, that as I^ewis 

 had left no fuccefTor, the regal dignity, which had been fo 

 long ufurpcd by foreigners, ought now to return to tiie 

 Italians. The pope, however, crowned Charles th.e Bald 

 of France emperor and king of Italy, on the condition of 

 his acknov.-ledging the independency of Rome, and that he 

 himfelf only held the empire by the good-will and gift of 

 the pope. This produced a ferious conlpiracy among the 

 difcontented nobles, of which the Saracens cook advantacrt, 

 renewed their incurfions, and even threatened the eccle- 

 fiadical territories witli the utmod danger. The pope car- 

 nedly folicited the enipjror's afTillance, but that prince died 

 before he could afford him any eftefliial aid, and being 

 diilrelTed by the Saracens on the one hand, and the Lombard 

 nobles on the other, the wretclied pontifi' was forced to fly 

 into France. Italy now fell into the utmod confufion and 

 anarchy ; during wiiich, many of ;he nobles and dates of 

 Lombardy an"umed an independence which they have ever 

 fince retained. The pope, in 877, was re-condu6ted to Italy 

 by Bofon, fon-in-law to Louis II. of Fraice, whom the 

 pontiff would willingly have raifed to the dignity of king 

 of the country, but he found his inteied infufficient for the 

 purpofe, and matters remained in their former fituation. 

 The nobles becaine reconciled to the pope, but they re- 

 nounced the authority of any fuperior, and every one claimed 

 to be an independent fovereign of his own territories : they 

 even applied to the pope, and fequeded him to join in alFert- 



