* Bag 
of his patron and benefaétor, that he 
thought it proper to receive with gra- 
titude the bequeathed annual fums, 
even when he was feated on the Papal 
throne. 
It does not appear, however, that Mon- 
feigneur Ruffo derived a confiderable be- 
‘neht from thefe extraordinary circum- 
ftances, during the earlieft part of his pre- 
lature, at Rome; and from the year 177 
to 1781, which conftituted the meridian 
blaze of thePontificate of Pius the VIth. 
we did not fee him acting any important 
part in the ecclefiaftical hierarchy, nor any 
pzrticular notice taken of him among the 
reft of the higher clergy. He occupied, 
at that period, fome places under Govern- 
ment, but fo very indifferent in themfelves, 
that they were confidered as the common 
Jot of every young prelate endowed with 
good fenfe and principles. 
It would appear on the contrary that, 
about the time alluded to, he had no very 
brilliant profpect of a fubfequent. fortune 
at Rome; as, during the years’ 1781 and 
1°82, ke made feveral excurfions to Napies, 
with a view of foliciting from his Sicilian 
Majefty tome church-preferments in his 
dominicns. He would, moft likely, have 
be:n welcome to any epifcopal’ fee, per- 
haps alfo to fome metrepolitan church, in 
the kingdom of Naples, if the ecclefiafti- 
cal difcipiine of that unfortunate nation 
had not, at that time more than ufually, 
fallen a prey to the eternal plots of Paghett 
and Pulcinelliz who had thrown into it the 
greateft diforder and confufion to which a 
ftate eftablifhment can poffibly be obnoxi- 
~cus! Itis hardly credible that no lefs 
_ than thirty-eight epifcopal fees were fuf- 
tered to remain vacant for many years*, 
snd their revenues to be devoured by the 
harpies of the law, under the ridiculous 
pretext that they were of Royal, not of 
Papal, nomination a ridiculous pre- 
text, m the firi&t propriety of the word; 
as it was a truth unanimouily acknow- 
ledged that his Majeity, in virtue of his 
fupremacy in the fate, might new-model, 
as he chofe, any part of the ecclefiaftical 
policy, and appropriate to himfelf, of 
courfe, the exclufive nomination to every 
1 
' 
fee ; whilft the chief of the church, on the - 
other fide, had declared, in feveral netes 
prefented by his internuncio; that he’was 
veady to admit any right of his Majefty, 
* Thofe of our readers to whom. this fcan- 
daloys faét may appear exagzerated, are re- 
qaefted to look into the Reyel Almanack of 
Waples, for the year 1791, under the article 
‘of the vacant fees. : 
' Biographical Memoirs of Cardinal Ruffr. a [May 1; 
on his royal affertion in a noble‘and diplos 
matic way. 
Weare forry to ftate, inthis place, that 
Monfeigneur Ruffo, during his eccafional 
refidence in Naples, was notorioufly ac-. 
cufed of keeping improper company— 
improper, at leaft, when contrafted with 
his birth, education, and dignity; and 
happy it was for him that the refpectabi- . 
lity of his character was not endangered 
by fuch a mifconduét.. He was the con- 
ftant vifitor of two perfons in power (we 
forbear to mention the names) who, not- 
withftanding the favours of fortune, had. 
been ftigmatifed with infamy by the fober 
part of the people, and were accounred 
the moft unprincipled and pernicious indi- 
viduals that ever difgraced the Neapolitan 
magiftracy. He alfo degraded himfelf by 
converfing with two of the chief emiflaries 
of the fame perfons, who were, if poffible, 
worfe than themfelves, and whofe names 
we are not anxious to conceal: the one 
was an officer of the-Secretary of the Royal 
Houfe, D. Domenico Cofmo, whofe dark 
and myfterious character would fet the 
analytical genius of any La Bruyere, or 
La Rochefoucault, at defiance; the other 
was the famous adventurer Gabriel Sac- 
‘charez, originally a Leghornefe Jew, then 
an errand boy at Marfeilles, and a mer- 
chant’s clerk at Lyons, afterwards a fte- 
ward and galley-flave in Naples, and 
laftly promoted to fome important and lu- ~ 
crative places, under the weak, pedantic, 
cabaliftical, and rapacious adminiftration: 
of the Marquis of Sambuca. 
On his return to Rome, in 1733, M. 
Ruffo happened to be promoted to a place 
which was accounted of the higheft impor = 
tance and truft in the ecclefiaftical govern- 
ment. He was appointed Treafurer of 
the Apoftolic Chamber, a poft,'which, be- 
ing only fubjeét to a mere nominal depen- 
dance on the Cardinal Camerlingo, has. 
really under it all the financial offices and 
adminiftrations, as well as the whole ma- 
nagement of the public revenue. “Pius 
the Vith. himfelfhad filled this place dur- 
ing more than twelve years, and, upon his. 
promotion to the Cardinalate, had been 
fucceeded by a prelate of the name of Pa- 
lotta, one of the moft virtuous, upright, 
and exemplary individuals of the court and 
of the clergy. 
No place, however, more dangerous 
than this could. be poffibly.-found for. 
a man’s reputation and character! The 
diforder of the Papal finances had been 
proverbial during almoit*the whole of the. 
The uncommon {carcity of 
pa per- 
money’ 
laft century. 
{pecie, and the extenfive ule of 
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4 
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