6 1 8 Bilhot) B u R N E t’j travels Book IL 
2ing for a vaft champaign Country lay quite defertedj 
and that wide Town, which is of fo great a Compafs, 
hath fo few Inhabitants, and thofe fo poor and mife- 
rable, that the People in the ordinary Towns of Scot- 
land^ and worft Places, make a much better Appear- 
ance. When I was within a Day’s Journey of Rome^ I 
fancied that the Neighbourhood of fo great a City muft 
mend the Matter, but was much difappointed \ for a 
Soil that was fo rich, and lay fo fweetly, that it far ex- 
ceeded any Thing I ever faw out of Italy^ had neither 
Inhabitants nor Cattle to the tenth Part of what it could 
bear : The Surprize that this gave me, increafed upon 
me as I went out of Rome on the other Side, chiefly all 
the Way to Naples^ and on the Way to CivitaVecchia j 
that vait and rich champaign Country that runs along 
to 'Terracina^ which from Civita Vecchta is above one 
hundred Miles long, and in many Places twelve or 
twenty Miles broad, is fo abandoned, that as far as one’s 
Eye can carry one, there is often not fo much as a 
Houfe to be feen, but on the Hills that are on the North 
Side of this Valley : And by this difpeopling of the Coun- 
try, the Air is now become fo unwholfome, that it is 
not fafe to be a Night in it all the Summer long •, for 
the Water that lies upon many Places not being drained, 
it rots ; and in the Summer this produces fo many noi- 
fome Steams, as are felt even in Rome itfelf j and if it 
were not for the Breezes that come from the Mountains, 
the Air would be intolerable : When one fees all this 
large but wafte Country, from the Hill of Marino^ 
twelve Miles beyond Rome^ he cannot wonder enough 
at it. It is the Rigour of the Government that hath 
driven away the Inhabitants \ and their being driven 
away, hath reduced it to fuch a Pafs, that it is hardly 
poflible to repeople it ; for fuch as would come to 
drain and cultivate it mufl: run a great Hazard ; and 
few can refolve on that, when they can hope for no Re- 
ward of their Induflry. 
It is the greatefl; Solecifm in Government, for the 
Prince to be Eledlive, and yet abfolute ; for an here- 
ditary Prince is induced to confider his Pofterity, and 
to maintain his People fo, that thofe that come after 
him may fupport the Rank which they hold in the 
World : But an Elective Prince hath Nothing of that 
in his Eye, unlefs he hath a Generofity which is not or- 
dinary among Men, and lead of all among Italians, 
who have a PalTion for their Families not known in 
other Places : And thus a Pope, who comes in late to 
his Dignity, which by Confequenee he cannot hope to 
hold long, very naturally turns to thofe Councils, by 
which his Family may make all the Hay they can du~ 
ring this Sun-fliine. And though anciently the Cardi- 
nals were a Check upon the Pope, and a Sort of a 
Council, without whom he could do Nothing even in 
Temporals, yet now they have quite loft that *, and 
have no other Share in Affairs than that to which the 
Pope thinks fit to admit them fo that he is the moft ab- 
folute Prince in Europe. It is true, as to Spirituals, they 
retain ftiil a large Share *, fo that in Cenfures and Defini- 
tions the Pope can do Nothing without their Concur- 
rence, though it is certain, that they have not fo good 
a Title to pretend to that, as to a Share in the temporal 
Principality. For if the Pope derives any Thing from 
St. Reter, all that is fingly in himfelf, and it is free to 
him to proceed by what Method he thinks beft, fince the 
Infallibility, according to their Pretenfions, refts in hirn a- 
lone yet becaufe there was not fo much to begot by afting 
arbitrarily in thofe Matters, and a fummary Way of exer- 
dfing this Authority might have tempted the World to 
have enquired too much into the Grounds on which 
it is built ; therefore the Popes have let the Cardinals 
retain ftiil a Share in this Supremacy over the Church, 
the’ they have no Claim to it, either by divine or ec- 
clefiaftical Warrants : But as for the Endowments of 
the See of Rome, to which they may juftly lay Claim, 
as being in a Manner the Chapter of that See ; there is 
fo much to be got by this, that the Popes have engrof- 
fed it to themfelves. And thus it is, that the Govern- 
ment of this Principality is very unfteady. Sometimes 
die papal Family are glorious and magnificent ; at other 
Times they think of nothing but of eftablilhing their 
Houfe. Sometimes the Pope is a Man of Senfe himfelfs 
fometimes he is quite funk, and, as the laft Pope was, be- 
comes a Child again thro’ old Age : Sometimes he has a 
particular Stiffnefs of Temper, with great Slownefsof Un- 
derftanding,and an infatiable Defire ofheaping upWealth, 
which is the Character of him that now reigns. By 
this Diverfity, which appears eminently in every new 
Pontificate, that commonly avoids thofe Exceffes that 
made the former Reign odious, the Councils of the 
Popedom are weak and disjointed. But if this is fen- 
fible to all Europe, with Relation to the general Con- 
cerns of that Body, it is much more vifible in the 
Principality itfelf, that is fubjed to fo variable a Head. 
There hath been in this Age a Succeflion of four ra- 
venous Reigns ; and tho* there was a fhort Interrupti-. 
on in the Reign of the Rofpiglioft, that coming after 
the Barharini, the Parnphili, and the Ghigis, did not 
enrich itfelf ; and yet it diforder’d the Revenue, by the 
vaft Magnificence in which he reigned, more in Twenty- 
nine Months Time, than any other had done in fo 
many Years. The Altieri did in a moft fcandalous 
Manner raife themfelves, in a very fliort and. defpifed 
reign, and built one of the nobleft Palaces in Rome. 
He that reigns now doth not raife his Family avow- 
edly, but he eafes not the People of their Taxes; and 
as there is no Magnificence in his Court, or any pub- 
lick Buildings now carrying on at Rome ; fo the many 
vacant Caps occafion many empty Palaces ; and by 
this Means there is fo little Expence, that it is not 
poflible for the People to live and pay the Taxes 5 
which hath driven, as is believ’d, almoft a fourth Part 
of the Inhabitants out of Rome during this Pontificate. 
And as the Pre-emption of the Corn makes, that there 
is no Profit made by the Owners out of the Cultivation 
of the Soil, all that going wholly to the Pope ; fo there 
are no Ways left here of employing Money to any 
confiderable Advantage ; for the publick Banks, which 
are all in the Pope’s Hand, do not pay in Effe6l. Three 
per Cent, tho’ they pretend to give Four per Cent. In- 
tereft : The Settlement is indeed Four per Cent, and 
this was thought fo great an Advantage, that Actions 
on the Pope’s Bank were bought at an Hundred and 
fixteen per Cent. But this Pope broke through all, and 
declared he would give all Men their Money again, unlefs 
they would pay him TKmy per Cent, for the continu- 
ing of this Intereft : And thus for a Hundred Crowns 
principal, one not only paid at firft an Hundred and 
fixteen, but afterwards Thirty, in all, an hundred forty 
fix for the Hundred ; which is almoft the half loft ; for 
whenfoever the Pope will pay back their Money, all 
the reft is loft. And now, there is a Report, that the 
Pope is treating with the Genoefe for Money at Two 
per Cent, and if he gets it on thofe Terms, he will 
then pay his Debts ; and the Subjeds, that have Mo- 
ney in this Bank, will by this Means lofe Six and forty 
per Cent, which is almoft half of their Stock. A Man 
of Quality at Rome, and an eminent Churchman, who 
took me for one of their Clergy, becaufe I wore the 
Habit of a Churchman, faid, it was a Scandal to the 
Chriftian World, and made one doubt the Truth of 
the Chriftian Religion, to fee more Oppreffion in their 
Territory, than was to be found in "Turkey ; tho’ in the 
Hands of Chrijf*^ Vicar. And I can never forget the 
Refledion a Roman Prince made upon the Folly of 
thofe fevere Oppreffions, which as they drive away the 
Inhabitants, fo they reduce thofe that are left to fuch 
Degeneracy of Spirit by their Neceflities. The Spani- 
ards, whofe Dominions look fo big in the Map, are 
brought fo low ; that if they had ftiil kept the Poflfef- 
fion They once had of the United Netherlands, they 
would fignify no more towards their [Prefervation, 
than their other Provinces did, which, by their un- 
fkilful Condud, they have difpeopled and exhaufted : 
Whereas, by their lofing the Seven Provinces, thofe 
States have fallen upon fuch wife Notions of Govern- 
ment, and have drawn fuch Wealth, and fuch Num- 
bers of People together, that Spain itfelf was preferved 
by them, and was faved in this Age by the Lofs of 
thofe Provinces in the laft: And thofe States, that, if 
they had remained fubjed to Spain, would have figni- 
