time of the commonwealth were erected to fuch of the members as had done any confiderable fervice to their country. These towers gave us a fight of the town a great while before we entered it. There is nothing in this city fo extraordinary as the cathedral, which a man may view with pleasure after he has feen St. Peter's, though it is quite of another make, and can only be looked upon as one of the mafter-pieces of Gothic architecture. When a man fees the prodigious pains and expence that our forefathers have been at in these barbarous buildings, one cannot but fancy to himself what miracles of architecture they wouldhave left us had they only been inftructed in the right way; for when the devotion of those ages was much warmer than it is at present, and the riches of the people much more at the disposal of the priests here wasfo much money consumed on these Gothic

cathedrals,

cathedrals, as would have finished a greater variety of noble buildings, than have been raised either before or fince that time.

One would wonder to fee the vaft labour that has been laid out on this fingle cathedral. The very spouts are loaden with ornaments; the windows are formed like fo many fcenes of perspective, with a multitude of little pillars retiring one behind another: the great columns are finely engraven with fruits and foliage that run twisting about them from the very top to the bottom; the whole body of the church is chequered with different lays of white and black marble, the pavement curiously cut cut in defigns and fcripture-ftorics, and the front covered with fuch a variety of figures, and over-run with so many little mazes and labyrinths of fculpture, that nothing in the world can make a prettier fhew to thofe, who prefer falfe beauties and affected ornaments, to a noble and majestic fimplicity. Over-against this church ftands a large hofpital, erected by a fhoe-maker, who has been beatified, though never fainted. There stands a figure of him fuperfcribed, Sutor ultra Crepidem-A fhoemaker beyond his laft. I fhall fpeak nothing of the extent of this city, the cleanlinefs of its ftreets, nor the beauty of its piazza, which fo many travellers have defcribed. As this is the last republic that fell under the fubjection of the Duke of Florence, fo it is ftill fuppofed to retain many hankerings after its ancient liberty. For this reafon when the keys and pageants of the Duke's towns and governments pafs in proceffion before him, on St. John Baptift's day, I was told that Sienna comes in the rear of his dominiors and is pushed forward by thofe that follow, to show the euctancy it has to appear in fuch a iolemnity. I

fhall

fhall fay nothing of the many grofs and abfurd traditions of St. Catharine of Sienna, who is the great faint of this place. I think there is as much pleasure in hearing a man tell his dreams, as in reading accounts of this nature. A traveller, that thinks them worth his obfervation, may fill a book with them at every great town in Italy.

From Sienna we went forward toLeghorne, where the two ports, the bagnio, and Donatelli's ftatue of the great Duke, amidst the four flaves chained to this pedestal, are very noble fights. The square is one of the largest, and will be one of the most beautiful in Italy, when this ftatue is erected in it, and a town-house built at one end of it to front the church that stands at the other. They are at a continual expence to cleanse the ports, and keep them from being choaked up, which they do by the help of feveral engines that are always at work, and employ many of the great Duke's flaves. Whatever part of the harbour they scoop in, it has an influence on all the reft; for the fea immediately works the whole bottom to a level. They draw a double advantage from the dirt that is taken up, as it clears the port, and at the same time dries up several marshes about the town, where they lay it from time to time. One can scarce imagine how great profits the Duke of Tuscany receives from this fingle place, which are not generally thought fo confiderable, because it paffes for a free port. But it is very well known how the great Duke, on a late occafion, notwithstanding the privileges of the merchants, drew no small sums of money out of them; though still in refpect of the exorbitant dues that are paid at most other ports, it defervedly retains the name of free. It brings into his dominions a great increase of people from all other nations.

hey

They reckon in it near ten thousand Jews, many of them very rich, and fo great traffickers, that our English factors complain they have most of our country trade in their hands. It is true the ftran. gers pay little or no taxes directly; but out of every thing they buy there goes a large gabel to the government. The very ice-merchant at Leghorne pays above a thousand pounds fterling annually for his privilege, and the tobacco-merchant ten thoufand. The ground is fold by the great Duke at a very high price, and houses are every day rising on it. All the commodities that go up into the country, of which there are great quantities, are clogged with impofitions as foon as they leave Leghorne. All the wines, oils, and filks, that come down from the fruitful valleys of Pifa, Florence, and other parts of Tuscany, must make their way through feveral duties and taxes before they can reach the port. The canal that runs from the fea into the Arno gives a convenient carriage to all goods that are to be shipped off, which does not a little enrich the owners: and in proportion as private men grow wealthy, their legacies, law-fuits, daughters portions, &c. increase, in all which the great Duke comes in for a confiderable fhare. The Lucquefe, who traffic at this port, are faid to bring in a great deal into the Duke's coffers. Another advantage, which may be of great ufe to him, is, that at five or fix days warning he might find credit in this town for very large fums of money, which no other Prince in Italy can pretend to. I need not take notice of the reputation that this port gives him among foreign princes; but there is one benefit arifing from it, which, though never thrown into the account, is doubtlefs very confiderable. It is well known how the Pifans and Florentines long regretted

the

the lofs of their ancient liberty, and their fubjection to a family that fome of them thought themselves equal to, in the flourishing times of their commonwealths. The town of Leghorne has accidentally done what the greatest fetch of politics would have found difficult to have brought about; for it has almost unpeopled Pisa, if we compare it with what it was formerly; and every day leffens the number of the inhabitants of Florence. This does not only weaken thofe places, but at the same time turns many of their busiest spirits, from their old notions of honour and liberty, to the thoughts of traffic and merchandife: And as men engaged in the road of thriving are no friends to changes and revolutions, they are at prefent worn into a habit of fubjection, and push all their purfuits another way. It is no wonder therefore that the great duke has fuch apprehenfions of the Pope's making Civita Vecchia a free port, which may in time prove fo very prejudicial to Leghorne. It would be thought an improbable story, should I fet down the several methods that are commonly reported to have been made use of, during the last pontificate, to put a stop to this defign. The great Duke's money was fo well beftowed in the conclave, that several of the cardinals diffuaded the Pope from the undertaking, and at last turned all his thoughts upon the little port which he made at Antium, near Nettuno. The chief workmen, that were to have conveyed the water to Civita Vecchia, were bought off; and when a poor Capuchin, that was thought proof against all bribes, had undertaken to carry on the work, he died a little after he had entered upon it. The prefent Pope however, who is very well acquainted with the secret history, and the weakness of his predeceffor, feems

refolved