Chap. Hi. through S w i s 
Convulfions, if it were not for the Dread in v/hich 
they ftand of this Court, which has fo many Spies 
Abroad, among the Gondaliers, fwho cannot fail to 
difcover all the fecret Intrigues of Venice : Befides the 
Advices that are thrown in at thofe Lion’s Mouths, 
that are in feveral Places of St. Markh Palace, within 
which there are Boxes under the Keys of the Inquifitors ; 
that it is fcarce poffible for a Man to be long in a De- 
fign againft the State, and not to be difcovered. And 
when they find any in Fault, they are fo inexorable, 
quick, and fevere in their Juftice, that the very Fear of 
this is a Reftraint, that perhaps the long Prefervation of 
Venice^ and of its Liberty, is owing to. 
The Inquifitors are Perfons fo diftinguiflied for their 
Merit, all of different Families, and their Authority 
lafls fo fhort a Time, that the Advantages of this vaft 
Authority, lodged with them, are conftant and vifible ; 
whereas the unhappy Inftances of their being impofed 
on, and carrying Sufpicions too far, are fo few, that 
whenever the Nobility grow weary of this Yoke, and 
throw it off, one may reckon the Glory and Profperity 
of Venice at an End. It was terribly attack’d not long 
ago by CornarOy when Jerom Cornaro was put to 
Death for his Correfpondence with Spain. He was not 
a-kin to the great Family of that Namie ; yet they 
thought their Honour was fo much touch’d, when one 
of its remoteft Branches was condemned of Treafon, 
that they offered a Hundred thoufand Crowns to have 
faved him, and preferved the Family from that Infa- 
my. But tho* this was not accepted (for he fuffer’d, 
as he well deferved ) yet it was fo vifible, that none of 
the Family were involved in his Crimes, that it did not 
at all turn to their Prejudice : But, upon the firft Oc- 
cafion that offered after that, to quarrel with the Inqui- 
fitors they laid hold on it, aggravated the Matter ex- 
tremely, and moved for Limiting their Authority : 
But the Great Council was wifer than to touch fo facred 
a Part of the Government ; fo they retain their Power 
but manage it with all poffible Caution. A Foreigner, 
many Years in their Service, told me, that the Stories 
with which Strangers were frighted at the arbitrary 
Power veiled in thofe Inquifitors, were flight Things 
in Comparifon of the Advantages they found from it ; 
and after Eleven Years fpent in their Service, he faid, 
he never had fo much as once received a Reprimand 
from them. And if the Nobility, that have any Com- 
merce with Strangers, confefs it, they are in no Danger; 
but if they conceal it, or any Circumftances, their Pro- 
cefs will be foon difpatched. I give no Credit to that 
which a Perfon of great Eminence alfured me was 
true, that there was a Poifoner-general in Venice., that 
had a Salary, and was employ’d by the Inquifitors to 
difpatch thofe againft whom a publick Proceeding 
would make too great a Noifc. This I could not be- 
lieve, tho* my Author protefled, that the Brother of 
one that was follicited to accept of the Employment 
difcovered it to him. There is no Place in the World 
where ^Strangers live with more Freedom, and I was 
amazed to fee fo little Exaflnefs among the Searchers 
of the Cuflom-houfe ; for tho’ we had a .Mule’s Load 
of Trunks and Portmanteaus, yet none offered to ask 
us, either coming or going, what we were, or what 
we carried with us ? But the beft and noblcft Enter- 
tainment that Venice afforded, while I was there, was 
the Company of M. de la Haye, the French Ambaffa- 
dor, who, as he hath fpent his whole Life in publick 
Ambaffies, fo he has acquired fo great a Knowledge of 
the World, with fo true a Judgment, and fo obliging 
a Civility, that he may well pafs for a Pattern ; and it 
is no Wonder to fee him engaged in a conftant Suc- 
ceflion of publick Employments : And his Lady is fo 
wonderful a Perfon, that I pay them but a very fmall 
Part of what I owe them, in this Acknowledg- 
ment of their extraordinary Civilities : And in- 
deed, without the Advantage of fuch a Rendezvous, 
a Fortnight’s Stay at Venice had been a very tedi- 
ous Matter. 
21. From Venice we went again to Padua, and thence 
to Rovigo, which is a fmall Town, and fo to the Po, 
which divides the Republick from the Ferrarefe, now 
s.erlAnd, ' 6 t § 
the Pbpe’sTerritory ; and here one fees what Difference of 
a good and bad Government makes m a Country ; fof 
tho* the Soil is the fame on both Sides of the River; 
and the Ferrarefe was once of the beautifuileft Spots of 
Italy, as Ferrara one of its beft Towns; while they had 
Princes of their own, who for fome Ages were Princes 
of fuch Virtue, and of heroical Noblenefs, that thejf 
were really the Fathers of their Country ; nothing can 
be more changed than all this is now. The Soil is a- 
bandoned and uncultivated, nor v/ere there Hands e» 
nough to mow their Grafs, which we law withering iri 
their Meadows, to our Wonder. We were amazed td 
fee fo rich a Soil thus forfaken of its Inhabitants ; and 
more when we paffed thro’ that vaft Town, which, 
ftiews what it was about an Age ago, and now fd 
much deferred, that there are whole Streets, without 
Inhabitants ; and its Poverty appears fignally in the 
Churches, which are mean and poor, for the Superfti- 
tion of Italy is fo ravenous, and makes fuch Progreff; 
that one may juftly take Meafures of the Wealth of 
Places from the Churches. Tiie Superftition or Vanity 
of this Age is fo much beyond that of the paft, that 
all the vaft Buildings of Churches, or rich Convents; 
and the furprizing Wealth that appears in them on 
Feftival Days, arc Donatives of the prefent Age. So 
that it is a vulgar Error fome have taken up; who fancy 
that Superftition is at a Stand, if not in Decay ; unlefs 
it be acknowledged, that the Craft of Priefts hath open- 
ed a new Method to fupport their Riches, when the 
old ones of Purgatory and Indulgences were become 
lefs effedlual ; and that is, to engage Men in an Emu- 
lation in enriching their Churches, as much as other 
Italians have in enriching their Palaces ; fo that they 
have a Pleafure as well as Vanity, in feeing fo much 
dead Wealth in their Houfes and in their Churches. 
But to return to Ferrara : I could not but ask, how it 
came, that fo rich a Soil was fo abandoned ? Some 
faid, the Air was become unhealthy, that thofe who 
ftay, were Ihort-lived ; but it is well known, that Four- 
fcore Years ago it was well peopled, and thence it 
feems the ill Air is occalioned by the Want of Inha- 
bitants ; for there not being People to drain, and to 
keep the Ditches clean, this makes a great deal of 
Water lie on the Ground and rot, which infedls the 
Air, as is obferv’d in that rich, but uninhabited Cham- 
paign of Rome : So that ill Air is the Effedl, rather 
than the Caufe, of the difpeopling the Pope’s Dominions. 
The true Caufe is the Severity of the Government, the 
heavy Taxes, and frequent Confifcations, by which the 
Nephews of Popes have devoured many Families of 
Ferrara, and have driven away many more. And this 
appears inore vifibly, by the different State, as well as 
Conftitution of Bologna, which is full of People that 
abound in Wealth ; and the Soil, as it is extreme rich 
fo is it cultivated with all due Care ; for Bologna fub^ 
mitted itfelf upon a Capitulation, by which there are 
rnany Privileges referved to it. Crimes are only pu- 
nifhed in the Perfons of thofe who commit them ; but 
no Confifcations of Eftates ; and though the" Au- 
thority in criminal Matters belongs to the Pope, and 
is managed by a Legate and his Officers, yet the 
civil Government, the Magiftracy, and the Power of 
Judicature in civil Matters, is entirely in the Hands of 
the State : And by this Regulation it is, that the Riches 
of Bologna amaze a Stranger, though it is neither on a 
navigable River, nor the Center of a Sovereignty, where 
a Court is kept ; and the Taxes the Popes fetch from 
thence are fo confiderable, that he draws more from this 
Place of Liberty, than from thofe where his Authority 
is unlimited and abfolute : For the Greatnefs of a Prince 
rifing from Numbers of Subjects, thofe Maxims that 
retain the Subjedls, and that draw Strangers, are cer- 
tainly the trueft for advancing the Greatnels of the Ma- 
fter ; and I could not but with Scorn obferve the Folly 
of fome Frenchmen, who made ufe of this Argument to 
ftiew the Greatnefs of their Nation, that one found 
many Frenchmen in all Places to which one came ; 
whereas there were no Englijh, Dutch, nor Swiitzers, 
and vQ'cy Germans ; but this is juft contrary to the 
Confequence that ought to be drawn from this Obfer- 
yations %, 
