
ea Rufio, in the capacity of Uditore, 
a charge, which, according to the efta- 
blifhed rites of the Roman _court, com- 
prifes the three difinét offices of vicar, 
counfellor, and afhitant. In-this ftuation 
he conducted himéelf with fo muck fenfe, 
probity, and zeal, as not only to gain the 
affection of the Cardinal, but to fecure to 
himfelf the reputation alfo,of being the 
Bett informed perfon i in Reais: This ge- 
merous prelate on his death bed left 
Brafchi, as a mark of his efteem, the 
continnation of his appoimtment during 
iife; and fuch was Brafchi’s veneration 
For his patron, that out ef refpeck to his 
memory, he retained the 
Uditore, even after ke became pope. On 
cardinal Ruffo’ 
rie toa can nonthip of St. Peter's; and 
afew years after he was raifed to the rank 
of a prelate for the economical depart- 
ment of the Roman ftate. This was only 
a prelude to his further promotien: for 
Sewn after he obtained -the purple. - In 
this progrefiive advancement, he con- 
flantly difplayed a love of juftice, the 
firiieft morality, clofe. application to bu- 
finefs, and the meft unafuming manners. 
Brafchi was only 57 years of ae when 
his immediate predeceflor, Ganganelli, 
died; and would never perhaps have fue « 
ceed ted him, had not the facred college, 
abeut this time, been particularly delti- 
tute of piety and talents: for thefe quali- 
fications, therefore, united with a high 
repute for theoretic acquaintance with go- - 
vernment, he was finally approved by 
his brethren ; and proclaimed popes under 
fhe title of “Pius, on the rsth of February, 
2775; 
Pius VF. on his acceffion to the papal 
throne, difplayed that fenfe of dignity, 
that firmneis of mind, and purity of cha- 
Satter, which attended him throughout 
his witole pontificate. He likewie dif- 
covered great liberality of mind, 1m patro- 
sizing every ufeful reform, and beneficial 
eftabli fhmient in the ftate. The firft in- 
ftance of his firmnefs was evinced in his 
conduct towards the king of the two Sici- 
lies. His nay had appointed sank o- 
nor Filan ier formerly viceroy of Si- 
cily, to archbifhopric of ey 3 ahd 
as the ae s of that metropolis required 
that the archbifhop fhould be a cardinal, 
an application was made to his holinefs ae 
beitowing on him the purple. Pius re- 
turned for anfwer, that although the laws 
enacted that a cardinal fhould be the arca- 
bifhop, that did not imply that the arch- 
bifhop fhould: become’ a cardinal; and 
Memsirs of the Life of the late Pope, Pius Vy 
fituation of 
s death; Brafchi was: ap. 
[ OGober, 
that his majefty, being fenfible of fuch a 
difference, might have promoted to the 
archbifhopric. fome one or other of the 
Neapolitan cardinals refiding in Rome, 
inftead of his wifhing thus, to affume an 
indire&t authority, to confer one of the 
greateft dignities of a foreign hierarchy 
on avy of his fubjets. He was fo firm 
in this refufal, that it was not long before 
Mr. Filansicei died, broken-hearted, by 
the.conficeration, that he fhould be the fole 
Neapolitan archbifhop deprived of a digni- 
ty inherent to his office. 
He feon likewife diftinpuithed: himfelf 
for his prudence in the internal adminif- 
tration of his government. Like fome of 
his predeceffors he conceived the-idea’ of 
draining the marfhes, waich-extended up- 
wards of forty miles, in every direction, 
round Vellerri, Terracina, and Piperno, 
fo well known under the name of Palud# 
Powtize: ‘This projeét which by its ex- 
tent had difcouraged even a Roman 
emperor, was happily carried into effect 
by Pius the Sixth. He employed the beft 
engineers in Rome, and went himfelf re- 
gularly every year to infpect the progrefs 
of the work. To complete his defign, he 
dug immenfe canals to. receive the water 
from the marfhes; rendering by this 
means a confiderable part of the Jand fit 
for hufbandry. He cenftruéted alfo on the 
fide of thele canals’ a Jarge and beautiful 
read nearly forty miles long, ina ftraight 
line, ornamented with Hees rows of pop- 
Jars, imter{perfed with houfes of accom - 
modation, and at, its termination built 
likewife a large and elegant palace,-the 
fineft perhaps i in the Roman ftate, out of 
the metropolis. Though murders ‘are 
faid to have been frequent in his reign, 
yet he certainly was a great promoter of 
the police of Rome, the management of 
which was committed to a prelate, named 
Be the ableft man in this depart- 
ment of his time, and who afterwards 
became a cardinal. Among his other im- 
provements, it may alfo be mentioned, 
that he beautified and heightened the new 
obeliiks, and augmented the Clementine 
mufeum founded by his predeceffor. 
His: pore towards the celebrated 
oes N.N, better knoyn, from her 
Arcadia, by a4 e name of Corilla, fhews 
him to have been a patron of literature and 
the fine arts. Having, however, ordered 
her to be crowned in public, he laid himfelf 
open to the cenfure of the fober part of ‘his 
fubjects. For though Corilla pofleffed the 
ik talents of any feitiale ever known in 
Italy, and aflur edly was the greateft - 
°  wmprev- 


