ple. This Bank is generally thought the greateft Load on the Genoese, and the Managers of it have been reprefented as a fecond kind of Senate, that break the Uniformity of Government, and destroy, in fome measure, the Fundamental Constitution of the State. It is however very certain that the People reap no fmall Advantages from it, as it diftributes the Power among more particuJar Members of the Republik, and gives the Commons a Figure: So that it is no fmall Check upon the Ariftocracy, and may be one Reason why the Genoefe Senate carries it with grater Moderation toward their Subjects, than the Venetian.

It would have been well for the Republick of Genoa, if the had follow'd the Example of her Sifter of Venice, in not permitting her Nobles to make any Purchase of Lands or Houses in the Dominions of a Foreign Prin ce. For at prefent the Greatest among the Genoefe are in part Subjects to the Monarchy of Spain, by reafon of their Eftates that lye in the Kingdom of Naples. The Spaniards Tax 'em very high upon occafion, and are fo fenfible of the Advantage this gives 'em over the Republick, that they will not fuffer a Neapolitan to buy the Lands of a Ge noefe, who must find a Purchafer among his own Countrymen if he has a Mind to fell. For this Reason, as well as on Account of the great Sums of Mony which the Spaniard owes the Genoefe, they are under a Neceffity, at prefent, of being in the Interest of B 2 the

1

the French, and would probably continue fo, tho' all the other States of Italy enter'd into a. League against 'em. Genna is not yet fecure from a Bombardment tho it is not fo expos'd as formerly; for fince the Infult of the French they have built a Mole with fome little Ports, and have provided themfelves with long Guns and Mortars. It is eafie for those that are ftrong at Sea to bring 'em to what Terms they pleafe; for having but very little Arable Land, they are forc'd to fetch all their Corn from Naples, Sicily and other Foreign Countries; except what comes to 'em from Lombardy, which proba bly goes another way, whilft it furnishes Two great Armies with Provifions. Their Fleet, that formerly gain'd fo many Victories over the Saracens, Pifans, Venetians, Turks and Spaniards, that made 'em Masters of Crete, Sardinia, Majorca, Minorca, Negrepont, Lesbos, Malta, that fettled 'em in Scio, Smyrna, Achaia, Theodofia, and feveral Towns on the Eastern Confines of Europe, is now reduc'd to Six Gallies. When they had made an Addition of but Four new ones, the King of France fent his Orders to suppress them, telling the Republick at the fame time, that he knew very well how many they had Occafion for. This little Fleet ferves only to fetch 'em Wine and Corn, and to give their Ladies an Airing in the Summer feafon. The Republick of Genoa has a Crown and Scepter for its Doge, by reason of their Conquest of Corfica, where there was for

merly

merly a Saracen King. This indeed gives their Ambassadors a more honourable Reception at fome Courts, but at the fame time may teach their People to have a mean No. tion of their own Form of Gouvernment, and is a tacit Acknowledgement that Monarchy is the more honourable. The old Romans, on the contrary, made use of a very barbarous kind of Politicks to inspire their People with a Contempt of Kings, whom they treated with Infamy, and dragg'd at the Wheels of their Triumphal Cha riots.

P A

V

I

A,

MILAN, &c.

FRO
Find by the way stopp'd at Pavia, that

ROM Genos we took Chaife for 'Milan,

was once the Metropolis of a Kingdom, but is at prefent a poor Town. We here faw the Convent of Auflin Monks, who about Three Years ago pretended to have found out the Body of the Saint that gives the Name to their Order. King Luitprand, whose Ashes are in the fame Church, brought hither the Corps, and was very industrious to conceal it, left it might be abus'd by the barbarous Nations, which at that time ravag'd Italy. One would therefore rather wonder that it has not been found out much earlier, than that it is discover'd at laft. The Fathers however don't yet find their Account in the Discovery they have made; for there are Canons Regular, who have half the fame Church in their Hands, that will by no means allow it to be the Body of the Saint, nor is it yet recognis'd by the Pope. The Monks fay for themselves, that the very Name was written on the Urn where the Ashes lay, and that in an old Record of the Convent,

they

they are faid to have been interr'd between the very Wall and the Altar where they were taken up. They have already too, as the Monks told us, begun to juftifie themselves by Miracles. At the Corner of one of the Cloitres of this Convent are bury'd the Duke of Suffolk, and the Duke of Lorrain, that were both kill'd in the Famous Battel of Pavia. Their Monument was erected to 'em by one Charles Parker, an Ecclefiaftic, as I learn'd from the Infcription, which I can't omit Tranfcribing, fince I have not feen it Printed.

Capto a Milite Cafareo Francifco I. Gallorum Rege in agro Papienfi Anno 1525. 23. Feb. inter alios proceres qui ex fuis in prælio occifi funt occubuerunt duo Illuftriffimi principes Francifcus Dux Lotharingia & Richardus de la Poole Anglus Dux Suffolcia a Rege Tyranno Hen. VIIL pulfus regno. Quorum corpora hoc in canobio & ambitu per Annos 57. fine honore tumulata funt. Tandem Carolus Parker, a Morley Richardi proximus confanguineus Regno Anglia a Regina Elifabetha ob Catholicam fidem ejectus, beneficentia tamen Philippi Regis Cath. Hispaniarum Monarcha Inviðissimiin Statu Mediolanenfi fuftentatus,boc qualecunque monumentum pro rerum fuorum tenuitate chariffimo propinquo & Illaftriffimis principibus pofuit 5. Sept. 1582. & poft fuum exilium 23. majora bonorificentiora commendans Lotharingicis. Viator precare Quietem.

This pretended Duke of Suffolk was Sir Richard de la Ponle, Brother of the Earl of Suffolk, who was put to Death by Henry the

Eighth.