Chap. III. through S w r s 
Conjundure of Affairs that they owe their Safety j to 
the Feeblenefs of all their Neighbours, the ‘Turk^ the 
Emperor, the King of Spain^ and the Pope, preferves 
them from the Apprehenfion of an Invafion, and the 
Quarrels of their Subjeds fave them from the Fears of 
a Revolt 5 but a formidable Neighbour would put them 
hard to it. One great Occafion of the Degeneracy of 
the Italians^ and particularly of the Venetian Nobility, 
is a Maxim, that for the Prefervation of their Families 
it is fit that only one fhould marry ; to which I will 
not add, that it is generally believed, that the Wife is 
in common to the -whole P’amily. By this Means the 
younger Brothers that have Appointments for Life, and 
no Families, are not ftirr’d up by Ambition to figna- 
lize themfelves, and fo give Way to all the Lazinefs of 
Luxury, and are quite enervated by it j whereas the 
beft Services, done in other States, flow from the Ne- 
ceffities of younger Brothers, or their Families, whofe 
Blood qualifies them to pretend, as their Pride and 
Neceffities pufh them on, to acquire firfl a Reputation, 
and then a'Fortune. But all this is a Myftery to the 
Venetians, who apprehend fo much from the adive Spi- 
rits of a neceffitous Nobility, that, to lay thofe afieep, 
they encourage them in all Things that may de- 
prefs their Minds ; and Youth naturally hates Letters 
as much as it loves Pleailire, when fo far from being 
reflrained, that it is rather pufhed on to all the Licen- 
tioufnefs of unlimited Diforders. 
Yet I muft add one Thing, that though Venice is the 
Place in the whole World, where Pleafure is moft flu- 
died, and where Youth have the greatefl Wealth, and 
moft Leifure to purfue it ; yet it is the Place that I ever 
faw, where innocent Pleafure is the leaft underftood. 
As for the Pleafures of Friendftiip, or Marriage, they 
are Strangers to them ; for the horrible Diftruft, in 
which they all live, makes it very rare to find a Friend 
in Italy, but moft of all in Venice ; and though we 
have been told of celebrated Friendfhips there, yet thefe 
are now no more. As for their Wives, they are bred 
in fuch Ignorance, and converfe fo little, that they 
know nothing but the Superftition on Holidays, in 
which they flay in the Churches as long as they can, to 
prolong the little Liberty they have of going Abroad, 
as Children do their Hours of Play. They are not 
employ’d in domeftick Affairs, and generally under- 
ftand no Sort of Work ; fo that I was cold, they were 
the infipideft Creatures imaginable. They are, per- 
haps, as vicious as in other Places, but it is among 
them down-right Lewdnefs ; for they are not drawn in 
by Amour ; but in them ,the firft Step, without any 
Preparative, is downright Beaftlinefs. And an Italian, 
that knew the World well, faid a very lively Thing to 
me, that their Jealoufy made them reftrain tlieir Daughters 
and their Wives fo much, that they could have none 
of thofe domeftick Entertainments of Converfation and 
Friondfhip, that the French or Englifo have at Home. 
It is true, thofe he faid hazard a little the Honour of 
their Families by that Liberty; but the Italians, by 
their exceffive Caution, deprived themfelves of the true 
Delights of a married State; and notwithftanding all 
their uneafy Jealoufy, they were ftill in Danger of a 
contraband Nobility. Therefore he thought they would 
do better to hazard a little, when it would produce a 
certain Satisfadion, than to watch fo anxioufty, and 
thereby have an infipid Companion, inftead of a lively 
Friend, though ftie might perhaps have fome ill Mo- 
ments. As for their Houfes, they have nothino- con- 
venient at Venice ; the Architedure is almoft all the 
fame, one Stair-cafe, a Hall that runs along the Body 
of the Houfe, and Chambers on both Hands ; but no 
Apartments, no Clofets, or Back-ilairs : So that in 
Houfes that are of an exceffive Wealth, they have yet 
no Convenience. Their Bedfteads are of Iron, becaufe 
of the Vermin their Moifture produces. The Bottoms 
are of Boards, upon which they lay fo many Quilts, 
that it is a Step to get up to them. Their great Chairs 
are upright, without a Slope in the Back, hard in the 
Bottom, ^ and the Wood of the Arms not cover’d. 
They mix Water with their Wine in their Hogflieads ; 
fo that, for Half the Year, it is either dead or four, 
V o X,. II. Numb. CXI. 
S E R L A N D, , <5 1 J 
They do not leaven their Bread, fo that it is heavy 1 
and the Oven is too much heated, fo that the Crumb 
is Dough, when the Cruft is as hard as a Stone. In 
all Inns they boil the Meat firft before it is roafted ; 
and thus they make it tender, and quite taftelefs and 
infipid. And as for their Land-carriage, all Lombardy 
over, it is extreme inconvenient ; for their Coaches are 
faftened fo the Perch, which makes them as uneafy as 
a Cart, It is true, they begin at Rome and Naples to 
have Coaches that are faftened to a Sort of double 
Perch, that runs along the Bottom of the Coach on 
both Sides, which are fo thin, that they ply to the 
Motion of the Coach, and are extreme eafy ; but thofe 
are not known in Lombardy. And befides this, their 
Calafties are open ; fo that one is expofed to the Sun 
and Duft in Summer, and to the Weather in Winter^ 
But though they are covered as ours are, on the other 
Sides of the Appennines, yet I faw none that were co- 
ver’d in Lombardy, And thus, by an Enumeration of 
many of the innocent Pleafures and Conveniences of 
Life, it appears, that the Venetians purfue fo violently 
forbidden Pleafures, that they know not how to find 
what is allowable. Their conftant Practices in the 
Broglio are their chief Bufinefs, where thofe that are 
neceffitous are fuing for beneficial Employments, and 
thofe full of Wealth take a Sort of Pleafure in crofting 
their Pretenfions. The Walk in which the Nobility 
tread, is left to them entirely ; and they change the 
Side of the Square of St. Mark, as the Sun and Wea- 
ther direct. Perhaps a Derivation that Mr. Latin gave 
me of Broglio from the Greek Peribolaion, a little cor- 
rupted, is not forced ; and fince they manage all their 
Intrigues in thofe Walks, I am apt to think that Broils, 
Brouillons, and Imbroilments, are derived from the Agi- 
tations in thofe Walks. 
As for the lace created Nobility of Venice, I came 
by Ibme Particulars that are not yet feen in Books, 
which I fuppofe will not be unacceptable. It is cer- 
tain, that if the Venetians could have forefeen, at the 
Beginning of the War of Candia, the vaft Expence in 
which it engaged them, they would have abandoned 
the Ifte, rather than wafted their Treafure, and debafed 
their Nobility. This laft was highly fenfible to them ; 
for as the Dignity of the Rank they hold is the more 
eminent, as it is reftrained to a fmall Number ; fo all 
the beft Employments and Honours of the State be- 
longing to this Body, the admitting fuch a Number 
into it, as muft rife out of feventy-eight Families, was^ 
in Effe6l, fliaring their Inheritance among fo many 
adopted Brothers. This had been lefs difagreeable, if 
they had communicated that Honour only to the an- 
cient Citizens of Venice, or to the Nobility of thofe 
States that they fubdued in the Terra Firma : For as 
there are many Citizens, as ancient as the Nobility, 
only their Anceftors not being of that Council that af- 
fumed the Government four hundred Years ago, they 
have not that Honour ; fo there had been no Infamy 
in promoting fome of them to be of the Nobility. It 
had been alfo under Confultation long ago, upon the 
Redudlion of thofe States in the Terra Firma, whether, 
according to the Maxims of the Romans, it was not fit 
to_ communicate that Dignity to fome of their chief Fa- 
milies, as the fureft Way to give Contentment to thofe 
States, it being a real, as well as a cheap Security, when 
the chief Families in thofe Cities were admitted to ffiare 
the Honours of the Republick. It is true, fome of 
thofe Nobility thought they had Glory enough by their 
Birth, and Zambara of Brefcia refufed this Honour from 
thofe that had robbed his Country of its Liberty ; but 
his Pofterity are of another Mind ; for they came and 
bought in this laft Sale of Honour that which was of- 
fer’d to their Anceftor, and by him rejefled. 
When the Senate found itfelf preffed for Money, it 
was at firft propofed, that fome Families, to the Num- 
ber of five, might be enobled, they offering fixty thou- 
fand Ducats if Venetians, and feventy thoufand if 
Strangers. There was but one Perfon that oppofed 
this in the Senate ; fo being paffed there, it was pre- 
fented to the Great Council, and there it was like to 
have paffed without Difficulty : But one Perfon oppofed 
7 ,R it 
