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Article CHARACTER OF THE POPE AND MODERN ROMANS. ← Page 3 of 3
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Character Of The Pope And Modern Romans.
trifling ceremonies , and the inflicting of penance , they can wash away the guilt of blood . All the assiduity of the present Pope is not sufficient io reform the police , the faults of which orig inate in the constitution of Rome . Many churches afford a sanctuary to the pursued culprit . Foreign ambassadors likewise . ield protection ; which extends not only to
y their palaces , but . to whole quarters of the city , into which the officers , of justice dare not pursue offenders . The ambassadors , it is true , are obliged to maintain a guard ; but who is ignorant of the mischief arising from complicated jurisdiction ? Many cardinals seek to derive honour by affording protection to pursued criminals . Could we find all these abuses collected in any other great city , many men would be
murdered , though not so many as in Rome ; but robbery would be dreadfully increased , which here is unknown . Were I to live in a foreign country , and condemned to spend my life in a great city , it is probable there is no place I should prefer to Rome . In no place is the fashionable world so free from restraint . You may daily be present at the conversazione ; and go from one to
another , Numerous societies , in spacious apartments , are . continually to be found , and the A'isitor is ahvays received with the most prepossessing politeness . The intercourse of society is no where so free as here : you may neglect your visits for weeks or months , and undisturbed indulge your oAvn humour . You may return again , after an
absence of weeks or months , without being once questioned concerning the mariner in Avhich you have disposed of your time . Do not from this accuse the Roman nobility , more than any other people of fashion , of a want of personal affection : the apathy of the great world is every Avhere the same . The absence or the death of any man is in no country much felt in fashionable society ; but every whereexcept in Italy , it arrogates to itself an insupportable tyranny
, over each of its associates . In the great cities of Germany , Ave talk of being social : but what can be more unsocial than a company of men who sit down to a silent card party ? The animation of the Italians obviates the degrading necessity of such parties . In company they play A'ery little ; but they converse with fire : and , notwithstanding their rapidity , many Italians
express themselves excellently . A sense of the ancient grandieur of Rome is not yet quite lost to the people . When the quqen of Naples was last here , and at the . theatre , she was received with great applause . Self-forbearance induced her to make signs to the people to cease their loud clapping , and their shouts of Avelcome . The people took this very ill ; and
, the next day , a person of my acquaintance heard one orange-woman say to another , ' Did you hear how the foreign queen despised our people last ni ght ? She must surely have forgotten that many queens , before IIOAA ' have been brought in chains to Rome , '
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Character Of The Pope And Modern Romans.
trifling ceremonies , and the inflicting of penance , they can wash away the guilt of blood . All the assiduity of the present Pope is not sufficient io reform the police , the faults of which orig inate in the constitution of Rome . Many churches afford a sanctuary to the pursued culprit . Foreign ambassadors likewise . ield protection ; which extends not only to
y their palaces , but . to whole quarters of the city , into which the officers , of justice dare not pursue offenders . The ambassadors , it is true , are obliged to maintain a guard ; but who is ignorant of the mischief arising from complicated jurisdiction ? Many cardinals seek to derive honour by affording protection to pursued criminals . Could we find all these abuses collected in any other great city , many men would be
murdered , though not so many as in Rome ; but robbery would be dreadfully increased , which here is unknown . Were I to live in a foreign country , and condemned to spend my life in a great city , it is probable there is no place I should prefer to Rome . In no place is the fashionable world so free from restraint . You may daily be present at the conversazione ; and go from one to
another , Numerous societies , in spacious apartments , are . continually to be found , and the A'isitor is ahvays received with the most prepossessing politeness . The intercourse of society is no where so free as here : you may neglect your visits for weeks or months , and undisturbed indulge your oAvn humour . You may return again , after an
absence of weeks or months , without being once questioned concerning the mariner in Avhich you have disposed of your time . Do not from this accuse the Roman nobility , more than any other people of fashion , of a want of personal affection : the apathy of the great world is every Avhere the same . The absence or the death of any man is in no country much felt in fashionable society ; but every whereexcept in Italy , it arrogates to itself an insupportable tyranny
, over each of its associates . In the great cities of Germany , Ave talk of being social : but what can be more unsocial than a company of men who sit down to a silent card party ? The animation of the Italians obviates the degrading necessity of such parties . In company they play A'ery little ; but they converse with fire : and , notwithstanding their rapidity , many Italians
express themselves excellently . A sense of the ancient grandieur of Rome is not yet quite lost to the people . When the quqen of Naples was last here , and at the . theatre , she was received with great applause . Self-forbearance induced her to make signs to the people to cease their loud clapping , and their shouts of Avelcome . The people took this very ill ; and
, the next day , a person of my acquaintance heard one orange-woman say to another , ' Did you hear how the foreign queen despised our people last ni ght ? She must surely have forgotten that many queens , before IIOAA ' have been brought in chains to Rome , '