6i2 Bijhop Burn 
Books j the one, M.emmre Ottomaniche^ which is printed, 
and he is accounted the befl of all their modern Au- 
thors ^ the other was, Meraoirs of the Government and 
Hifory o/Venice, which hath never been printed ; and 
fome fay it is too fincere and too particular, fo that it 
is thought it will be referved among their Archives. 
It hath been a Sort of Maxim for fome Time, not to 
choofe a married Man to be Duke ; for the Coronation 
of a Dutchefs runs high, and hath coft above one hun- 
dred thoufand Ducats. 
Some ancient Families have affected the Title of 
Prince, and have called their Branches Princes of the 
Blood j and the Cornaros have done this more than 
others, yet fome, on the Account of Principalities that 
their Anceftors had in the Iflands of the Archipelago^ 
have alfo affected thofe vain Titles : But the Inquifi- 
tors have long fince obliged them to lay afide all thofe 
high Stiles ; and fuch of them, as boafl too much, 
find the Diflike which that brings on them very fen- 
fibly *, for when they pretend to any great Employ- 
ments, they are always excluded, When an Elecftion 
of Ambaffadors was propofed, or to any of the chief 
Offices, it v/as wont to be in Terms, that the Council 
might choofe one of its principal Members for fuch an 
Employment. But becaufe this look’d like a Diftinc- 
tion among the Nobility, they changed it five and 
twenty Years ago •, and inflead of Principal, they ufe 
now the Term Honourable, which comprehends the 
whole Body of their Nobility, without any Diftindion. 
It is at Venice^ in the Church, as well as in the State, 
that the Head of the Body hath a great Title and Ho- 
nours ; whereas this is a meer Pageantry, and under 
thefe big Words there is lodged only a Shadow of Au- 
thority *, for their Biffiop has the founding Title of 
Patriarch, as well as the Duke is called Prince and His 
Serenity, and hath his Name ffamped upon their Coin ; 
fo the Patriarch hath really no Authority, for not only 
St. Mark\ Church is entirely exempt from his Jurif- 
diclion, and immediately fubjed to the Duke, but his 
Authority is in all Things fb fubjed to the Senate, and 
fo regulated, that he hath no more Power than they 
pIeaf?to allow him : So that the Senate is as really the 
fupreme Governor over all Perfons and in all Caufes, 
as the Kings of England m ihGix own Dominions fince 
the Reformation. But befides all this, the Clergy of 
Venice have a very extraordinary Sort of Exemption, 
and are a Body like a Presbytery independent of the 
Bifliop. The Curates are chofen by the Inhabitants of 
every Pariffi •, and no noble Venetian is fuffer’d to pre- 
tend to any Curacy ; for they think it below that Dig- 
nity, for one of their Body to engage in a Competi- 
tion with one of a lower Order, and to run the Hazard 
of being rejeded. I was told the Manner of thofe 
Eledion^ was the moft fcandalous Thing poffible ; _for 
the feveral Candidates appear on the Day of Eledion, 
and fet out their own Merits, and defame the other 
Pretenders in the moft fcurrilous Manner imaginable ; 
the Secrets of all their Lives are publiffied in moft re- 
proachful Terms and nothing is fo abjed, that is not 
put in Pradice on thofe Occafions, There is a Sort 
of an Afibciation among the Curates for judging of 
their common Concerns ; and fome of the Laity of the 
feveral Pariffies affift ; fo that here is a real Presbytery.^ 
The great Libertinage that is pradifed by moft Sorts of 
People at Venice^ extends itfelf to the Clergy to fuch a 
Degree, that thougn Ignorance and Vice feem the only 
inddible Charaders that they carry over all Italy, yet 
thofe appear here in a more confpicuous Manner than 
elfewhere, and upon thefe popular Eledions all comes 
out. 
The Nuns of Venice have been under Scandal for a 
great while *, there are fome Nunneries that are as fa- 
mous for their Stridnefs, as others are for the Liberties 
they take ; chiefly thofe of St. Zachary and St. Law- 
rence, where none but noble Venetians are admitted, 
and where it is not fo much as pretended they retired 
for Devotion, but merely that they might not be too 
great a Charge to their Family : They are not veiled; 
their Necks and Breafts are bare, and they receive Com- 
pany.; but that which I faw was in a publick Room, in 
E Th 'Travels Book If 
which there were Grills for feveral Parlours, fo that the 
Converfation is very confufed ; for there being a diffe- 
rent Company at every Grill, and the Italians fpeaking 
generally loud, the Noife of fo many Talkers is very 
difagreeable. The Nuns talk very ungracefully, and 
allow themfelvesa Liberty in rallying, that in other Pla- 
ces none could bear. About four Years ao;o the Pa- 
triarch intended to reform thofe Houfes ; but the Nuns 
of St. Laurence told him plainly they were noble Vene- 
tians, who chofe that Way of Life as more convenient, 
but they would not fubjed themfelves to his Regula- 
tions ; yet he came and would have lliut up their Houfe, 
upon this they went to fet Fire to it ; upon which the 
Senate interpofed, and ordered him to defift. There 
is no Chriftian State in the World that hath expreifed 
fuch a Jealoufy of Churchmen’s getting into publick 
Councils as the Venetians ; for as a noble Venetian that 
goes into Orders lofes his Right of going to vote in the 
Great Council, fo when any of them are promoted to 
be Cardinals, the whole Family muft, during their 
Lives, withdraw/ from the Council, and are alfo inca- 
pable of all Employments ; and by a Claufe which 
they added when they received the Inquifirion, which 
feemed of no great Confequence, they have made it 
become a Court abfolutely fubjed to them ; for it be- 
ing provided, that the Inquifitors fliould do Nothing 
but in the Prefence of fuch as fliould be deputed by the 
Senate to be the Witneffes of their Proceedings, thofe 
Deputies will not come but when they think fit, or ftay 
longer than they are pleafed with their Proceedings ; fo 
that either their Abfence, or their Withdrawing, dif- 
folves the Court ; for a Citation cannot be made, a Wit- 
nefs examined, or the leaft Point of Forffi carried on, 
if thefe Deputies are not prefent. And thus, though 
there is a Court of Inquifition at Venice, yet fcarce any 
Perfon is brought into Trouble by it; and there are ma- 
ny Proteftants that live there without any Difturbancee ; 
and though there is a Congregation that have their Ex- 
ercifes of Religion very regularly, yet the Senate gives 
them no Trouble. It is true, the Hoftie’s not being carried 
about in Proceffion, but privately by the Prieft to the 
Sick, makes that unealy Difcrimination of Proteftant 
and Papift not offer itfelf here, as in other Places ; for 
the Narrownefs of the Streets, and the Channels through 
which one muft go, makes this impradicable in Venice, 
as it is elfewhere ; and from Venice this Rule is carried 
over their whole Territory, though the like Reafon doth 
not hold in the Verra Firma. 
The Venetians are generally ignorant of Matters of Re- 
ligion to a Scandal ; and they are as unconcerned in them, 
as they are Strangers to them : So all that vaft Pomp in 
their Ceremonies, and Wealth in their Churches, is af- 
fecfted as a Point of Magnificence, or a Matter of Emu- 
lation among Families, rather than Superftition ; for 
the Atheifm that is received by many here is the dulleft 
and coarfeft Thing that can be imagined. The young 
Nobility are fo generally corrupted, and fo given up 
to fupine Ignorance, that a Man cannot eafily imagine 
to what a Height this is grown ; and for Courage, 
there is fcarce fo much as the Ambition of being thought 
brave among the greater Part of them. It feem’d to 
me ftrange to fee the Broglio fo full of graceful young 
Senators and Nobles, when there was a War on foot 
with the Lurks ; but inftead of being heated in Point 
of Honour to hazard their Lives, they think it an ex- 
travagant Piece of Folly for them to go and expofc 
them, when a little Money will hire Strangers that do 
it on fuch eafy Terms : And thus their Arms are in the 
Hands of Strangers, while they ftay_ managing their 
Intrigues in the Broglio, and diffolving their Spirits 
among their Courtizans : And their Service is of late 
Years fo much funk, that it is amazing to fee fo many 
come to a Service fo decried, where there is little 
Care had of the Soldiers, and fo little Regard paid the 
Officers : The Arrears are fo flowly paid, and the Re- 
wards are fo fcantily diftributed, that, if they do not 
change their Maxims, they may come to feel this very 
fenfibly : For their Subjeds are not acquainted with 
War, their Nobility have no Ambition that Way, and 
Strangers are extremely difgufted. It is chiefly to the 
Conjundlure 
