17096.] 
dition to the territorial impofts, is a duty 
on filk-worms, the ftaple of Piedmont, 
and another on the mulberry-tree, which 
is the indifpenfable food of this profitable 
infeét. The trees are taxed by the foot, 
and five /ols for each twelve inches of ad- 
meafurement muft be paid, before the 
peafant crops a fingle leaf. Another tax, 
‘is a lottery, of that kind, called in Italy 
Loto di Genoa: this, as with us, 1s a vo- 
untary contribution, raifed on the paf- 
ions of the people, at the expence of their 
morals. ‘Fhe catholic prince, who go- 
verns this country, alfo permits the monks 
to difpofe tickets of about four /ire, or fix 
fhillingseach, on their own account, thus 
happily blending avarice and devotion 
together. 
| REVENUE. 
Piedmont produces near 850,000. 
fterlinga year. ‘The taxes now raifed on 
the people of England, amounting to al- 
moft fixty fhillings a-piece, affect them 
lefs than the five and fixpence a head, 
levied on the former; and yet, prejudice 
apart, their foil and climate are both fu- 
perior to our own, and the country 
abounds with articles for manufacture. 
Still} however, the Predmonsefe are the 
favoured nation, for the other territories 
are treated with a certain degree of con- 
tempt, and their vice-roys, Judges, and 
all public officers, even to the hangman, 
are invariably natives of Piedmont. 5a- 
voy, which, befides breeding multitudes 
of black cattle, exports radifhes and chef- 
nuts, and furmifhes Paris with chimney 
{weepers, and London with grinders of 
.mufic, formerly tranfmitted 150,000l. 
fterling to the royal treafury ; fince it has 
afflumed the name of Mont Blanc, Eng-: 
land has amply indemnified this lofs, by 
means of afubfidy of 200,000l. a year. 
The ifland of Sardinia, which has been 
greatly neglected, does not payfor its own 
government. 
The expences of the ftate, are at pre- 
fent ruinous in the extreme ; the dif- 
ference between the income and the ex- 
penditure, is fupplied by anemilfion of 
paper money “ De par le Roy.” 
‘The late king left his coffers full; but 
what is termed a monftrous deficit at ‘Tu- 
rin (perhaps ten millions fterling) took 
place before the war—-and this déjict oc- 
curred during a profound tranquillity, 
and under a mof? excellent adnuniftration ! 
TROOPS. 
The peace eftablifiment is 22,0005 in 
time of war ufually 30,000; during the 
prefent conteft, upwards of 40,000., Of 
thefe, one fourth are at this moment prifon- 
erstotheFrench, The number of {ubaltern 
Memoirs of the Houfe of Savoy. 
299 
and fuperior commanders is fo difpropor- 
tionate to that of the men, that there is 
{aid to be an officer for every four privates. 
The generals in the army-lift amount to 
about three hundred, and there are no 
Jefs than one hundred and fifty officers 
in the legion of cavalry alone. 
MARINE. 
As the corps at Naples prefents the 
fpeétacle of horfes without riders, fo the 
naval eftablifhment of Sardinia exhibits 
a marine corps without men of war. There 
were indeed two frigates launched a few 
years ago, but they have not been heard 
of during the prefent conteft. They. 
are perhaps rotting in Cagliari ! 
After this ftatement, the difafters of 
the war will perhaps appear the lefs 
furprizing. The Auftrians defended 
Piedmont with vigour—it was the fron- 
tier to the Milanefe—but the moment 
they were defeated by French impe- 
tuofity, the unpopularity of the govern- 
ment, the operation of the dejicit, and, 
abdve all, the want of a common caufe 
on the part of the people, fhewed-that the 
government was inadequate to the re- 
fiftance of a forrign enemy. The throne 
of a king totters from the moment he 
feparates his own interefts from thofe of 
his people ! 
The King 
of SARDINIA, Victor 
Amadeus LI, is the oldeft monarch in 
Eurcpe: he is now 70 years of age , for 
he was born June 26, 1726. While yet 
duke of Savoy, he applied to the reform 
of the laws with a laudable induftry, 
and aétually promulged a new code, 
which, like that of moft other ftates, 1s 
more commendable in theory than in 
practice. The example given him by 
his father was not calculated to increafe 
his natural humanity. Charles Emanuel 
IlJ, who was what is termed a 
grcat warrior, on beholding a field 
of battle ftrewed with dead men and 
horfes, exclaimed, Power: Cavalli! ‘This: 
was a phrafe ft only for the king, of 
Houynhymms ! ae 
His prefent majefty, in one thing— 
and it nearly interefts his fubjeéts—dif- 
fers effentially from his predeceffor. The 
former was fo economi.al, as to be ac- 
cufed of avarice ;. the latter is profufe to 
a proverb; being, like our own James I, 
addiéted to fhow and diflipation. He has 
been known to create twenty /ords, or, 
as they are there termed, gentlemen, of the 
bed-chamber, in one week. His cham- 
berlains, with leaden keys, nicely gilded, 
and fufpended from empty pockets, are 
innumerable;—there is not a court im 
Q.4q 2 Eyrope 
