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that come from sea. We here saw several persons that in the midst of December had nothing over their shoulders but their shirts, without complaining of the cold. It is certainly very lucky for the poorer sort to be born in a place that is free from the greatest inconvenience, to which those of our northern nations are subject; and indeed, without this natural benefit of their climates, the extreme misery and poverty that are in most of the Italian governments would be insupportable. There are at St. Remo many plantations of palm-trees, though they do not grow in other parts of Italy. We sailed from hence directly for Genoa; and had a fair wind that carried us into the middle of the gulph, which is very re. markable for tempests and scarcity of fish. It is probable one may be the cause of the other, whether it be that the fishermen cannot employ their art with so much success in so troubled a sea, or that the fish do not care for inhabiting such stormy waters:

-Atrum

Defendens pisces hiemat mare.

Hor. Sat. ii. lib. ii. v. 16.

While black with storms the ruffled ocean rolls,

And from the fisher's art defends her finny shoals. We were forced to lie in it two days, and our cap. tain thought his ship in so great danger, that he fell upon his knees, and confessed himself to a Capucin who was on board with us. But at last, taking the advantage of a side-wind, we were driven back in a few hours time as far as Monaco. Lucan has given us a description of the harbour that we found so very welcome to us, after the great danger we had escaped.

Quaque sub Herculeo Sacratus nomine portus
Urget rupe cava pelagus: non corus in illum
Jus habet aut Zephyrus: solus sua littora turbat
Circius, et tuta prohibet statione Monaci.

Lib. i. v. 405.

The winding rocks a spacious harbour frame,
That from the great Alcides takes its name.
Fenc'd to the west and to the north it lies;
But when the winds in southern quarters rise,
Ships, from their anchors torn, become their sport,
And sudden tempests rage within the port.

On the promontory, where the town of Monaco now stands, was formerly the temple of Hercules Monacus, which still gives the name to this small principality.

Aggeribus secer Alpinis atque arce Monæci
Descendens
Virg. Æn. vi. v. 830.
From Alpine heights, and from Monæcus' fane,
The father first descends into the plain.

There are but three towns in the dominions of the Prince of Monaco. The chief of them is situate on a rock which runs out into the sea, and is well fortified by nature. It was formerly under the protection of the Spaniard, but not many years since drove out the Spanish garrison, and received a French one, which consists at present of five hundred men, paid and officered by the French king. The officer, who shewed me the palace, told me, with a great deal of gravity, that his master and the King of France, amidst all the confusions of Europe, had ever been good friends and allies. The palace has handsome apartments, and many of them are hung with pictures of the reigning beauties in the court of France. But the best of the furniture was at Rome, where the Prince of Monaco resided at that time ambassador. We here took a little boat to creep along the sea-shore as far as Genoa; but at Savona, finding the sea too rough, we were forced to make the best of our way by land, over very rugged mountains and precipices for this road is much more difficult than that over Mount Cennis.

The Genoese are esteemed extremely cunning, industrious, and inured to hardship above the rest of

the Italians; which was likewise the character of the old Ligurians. And indeed it is no wonder, while the barrenness of their country continues, that the manners of the inhabitants do not change: since there is nothing makes men sharper, and sets their hands and wits more at work, than want. The Italian proverb says of the Genocse, that they have a sea without fish, land without trees, and men without faith. The character the Latin poets have given of

them is not much different.

Assuetumque malo Ligurem.-Virg. Georg. ii. v. 168.
The hard Ligurians, a laborious kind.

-Pernix Ligur-Sil. Ital. El. 8.

The swift Ligurian.

Fallaces Ligures-Auson. Eid. 12.
The deceitful Ligurians.

Apenninicolæ bellator filius auni

Haud Ligurum extremus, dum fallere fata sinebant.

Virg. Æn. xi. v. 700.

Yet, like a true Ligurian, born to cheat,

(At least whilst fortune favoured his deceit.-Dryden. Vane Ligur, frustraque animis elate superbis, Nequiequam patrias tentasti lubricus artes.

Id. ib. v. 715

Vain fool and coward, cries the lofty maid,
Caught in the train which thou thyself hast laid,
On others practise thy Ligurian arts;
Thin stratagems, and tricks of little hearts
Are lost on me; nor shalt thou safe retire,

With vaunting lies, to thy fallacious sire.-Dryden.

There are a great many beautiful palaces standing along the sea-shore on both sides of Genoa, which make the town appear much longer than it is, to those that sail by it. The city itself makes the noblest show of any in the world. The houses are most of them painted on the outside; so that they look extremely gay and lively; besides that they ar esteemed the highest in Europe, and stand very thick together. The New-strect is a double range of pak

laces from one end to the other, built with an excellent fancy, and fit for the greatest princes to in. habit. I cannot however be reconciled to their man. ner of painting several of the Genoese houses. Fi. gures, perspectives, or pieces of history, are certainly very ornamental, as they are drawn on many of the walls, that would otherwise look too naked and uni. form without them: but, instead of these, one often sees the front of a palace covered with painted pillars of different orders. If these were so many true columns of marble set in their proper architecture, they would certainly very much adorn the places where they stand; but as they are now, they only shew us that there is something wanting, and that the palace, which without these counterfeit pillars would be beautiful in its kind, might have been more perfect by the addition of such as are real. The front of the Villa Imperiale, at a mile distance from Genoa, without any thing of this paint upon it, consists of a Doric and Corinthian row of pillars, and is much the handsomest of any I saw there. The Duke of Doria's palace has the best outside of any in Genoa, as that of Durazzo is the best furnished within. There is one room in the first, that is hung with tapestry, in which are wrought the figures of the great persons that the family has produced; as perhaps there is no house in Europe that can shew a longer line of heroes, that have still acted for the good of their country. Andrew Doria has a statue erected to him at the en trance of the Doge's palace, with the glorious title of de liverer of the commonwealth; and one of his family another, that calls him its preserver. In the Doge's palace are the rooms, where the great and little council, with the two colleges, hold their assemblies but as the state of Genoa is very poor, though several of its members are extremely rich, so one may observe infinitely more splendour and magnificence in particular person's houses, than in those that belong to the public. But we find in most of the states of

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Europe, that the people show the greatest marks of poverty, where the governors live in the greatest magnificence. The churches are very fine, particularly that of the Annunciation, which looks wonderfully beautiful in the inside, all but one corner of it being covered with, statues, gilding, and paint. A man would expect, in so very ancient a town of Italy, to find some considerable antiquities; but all they have to show of this nature is an old rostrum of a Roman ship, that stands over the door of their arsenal. It is not above a foot long, and perhaps would never have been thought the beak of a ship, had it not been found in so probable a place as the haven. It is all of iron, fashioned at the end like a boar's head; as I have seen it represented on medals, and on the Columna Rostrata in Rome. I saw at Genoa Signior Micconi's famous collection of shells, which, as father Buonani the Jusuit has since told me, is one of the best in Italy. I know nothing more remarkable in the government of Genoa, than the bank of St. George, made up of such branches of the revenues, as have been set apart and appropriated to the discharging of several sums that have been borrowed from private persons, during the exigencies of the commonwealth. Whatever inconveniences the state has laboured under, they have never entertained a thought of violating the pub'lic credit, or of alienating any part of these revenucs to other uses than to what they have been thus assigned. The administration of this bank is for life, and partly in the hands of the chief citizens, which gives them a great authority in the state, and a powerful influence over the common people. This bank is generally thought the greatest load on the Genoese, and the managers of it have been represented as a second kind of senate, that break the uniformity of government, and destroy in some measure the fundamental constitution of the state. It is, however, very certain, that the people reap no small advan. tages from it, as it distributes the power among more

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