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SIENNA,

LEGHORNE,

PIS

S

A.

JENNA ftands high, and is adorn'd with a great many Towers of Brick, which in the Time of the Commonwealth were erected to fuch of the Members as had done any confiderable Service to their Country. These Towers gave us a Sight of the Town a great while before we enter'd 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, tho' it is quite of another Make, and can only be look'd 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 thefe barbarous Buildings, one cannot but fancy to himself what Miracles of Architecture they would have left us, had they only been instructed in the right way; for when the Devotion of thofe Ages was much warmer than it is at prefent, and the Riches of the People much more at the Disposal of the Priefts, there was so much Money confum'd on these Gothic Cathe

Cathedrals, as would have finifh'd a greater Variety of noble Buildings, than have been raised either before or fince that time.

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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 form'd like fo many Scenes of Perfpective, with a multitude of little Pillars retiring one behind another; the great Columns are finely engraven with Fruits and Foliage that run twifting about them from the very Top to the Bottom; the whole Body of the Church is checquer'd with different Lays of white and black Marble, the Pavement curiously cut out in Defigns and Scripture-Stories, and the Front cover'd with fuch a Variety of Figures, and over-run with so many little Mazes and Labyrinths of Sculpture, that nothing in the World can make a prettier Shew to thofe, who prefer falfe Beauties, and affected Ornaments, to a Noble and Majestic. Simplicity. Over-against this Church stands a large Hofpital, erected by a Shoe-maker, who has been Beatify'd, tho' never Sainted. There ftands a Figure. of him fuperfcrib'd, Sutor ultra Crepidam. A Shoemaker beyond his Laft. I fhall speak nothing of the Extent of this City, the Cleanliness of its Streets, nor the Beauty of its Piazza, which so many Travellers have defcrib'd. As this is the last Republic that fell under the Subjection 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 pals in Proceffion before him, on St. John's Baptift's Day, I was told that Sienna comes in the Rear of his Dominions, and is pufh'd forward by thofe that follow, to fhow the Reluctancy it has to appear in fuch a Solemnity. I

fhall

fhall fay nothing of the many grofs and abfurd Traditions of St. Catharine of Sienna, who is the great Saint 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 to Leghorne, where the two Ports, the Bagnio, and Donatelli's Statue of the Great Duke, amidst the four Slaves chain'd to his Pedestal, are very noble Sights. The Square is one of the largeft, and will be one of the most beautiful in Italy, when this Statue 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 'em from being chok'd up, which they do by the help of feveral Engines that are always at work, and employ many of the Great Duke's Slaves. Whatever part of the Harbour they scoop in, it has an Influence on all the reft; for the Sea 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 fame time dries up feveral 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 fmall Sums of Money out of them; tho' ftill in respect 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.

They

They reckon in it near ten thousand Jews, many of them very Rich, and fo great Traffickers, that our English Factors complain they have moft of our Country Trade in their Hands. 'Tis true the Strangers 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 Pound Sterling 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 rifing on it. All the Commodities that go up into the Country, of which there are great Quantities, are clogg'd with Impofitions as foon as they leave Leghorne. All the Wines, Oils, and Silks, that come down from the fruitful Valleys of Pifa, Florence, and other Parts of Tuscany, muft make their Way thro' feveral Duties and Taxes before they can reach the Port. The Canal that runs from the Sea into the Arno gives a convenient Carriage to all Goods that are to be fhipp'd off, which does not a little enrich the Owners: and in proportion as private Men grow wealthy, their Legacies, Law-Suits, Daughters Portions, &. increase, in all which the Great Duke comes in for a confiderable Share. 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 Sums 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, tho' 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 Subjection 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 Pifa, 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 those Places, but at the fame time turns many of their bufieft Spirits, from their old Notions of Honour and Liberty, to the Thoughts of Traffic and Merchandife: And as Men engag'd in a Road of Thriving are no Friends to Changes and Revolutions, they are at prefent worn into a Habit of Subjection, 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, fhould I fet down the feveral Methods that are commonly reported to have been made ufe of, during the laft Pontificate, to put a stop to this Defign. The Great Duke's Money was fo well beftow'd in the Conclave, that feveral of the Cardinals diffuaded the Pope from the Undertaking, and at last turn'd all his Thoughts upon the little Port which he made at Antium, near Nettuno. The chief Workmen, that were to have convey'd the Water to Civita Vecchia, were bought off; and when a poor Capuchin, that was thought Proof againft all Bribes, had undertaken to carry on the Work, he died a little after he had enter'd upon it. The prefent Pope however, who is very well acquainted with the Secret Hiftory, and the Weakness of his Predeceffor, seems

refolved

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