No country has exhibited more various forms of govern ment, or given birth to more powerful empires and flour ishing republics, than Italy : "Gravidam imperiis, belloque frernentem." From the lOth to the 17th century, the greater cities rose into independence and republics ; and their history is not inferior to those of Greece, in the vir tues which the members of such states usually display. The smaller republics have in later times been annexed to the more powerful. Florence, Pisa, and Scienna, have been enslaved by their Dukes ; hut enjoyed a considerable por tion of tranquillity and property previous to the French re volution. The modern Italians are by no means deficient either in the love of liberty, or the feelings of patriotism ; but their country is too much subdivided, and by the in trigues and inflncnce of foreign powers, kept in a state of too great dissension, to allow its inhabitants any opportunity of exerting their natural magnanimity, and availing them selves of their natural advantages as one people. The po litical arrangements of the northern states and principalities, and the re-establishment of the Neapolitan and Ecclesias tical governments, have been already mentioned ; but, for an account of their respective politics, we must refer to the articles allotted to them separately. It may only here be observed, that, in those two last mentioned states, the go vernment is absolute,•and above all controul. In the lat ter, the sacred character of the sovereign makes the su preme authority be exercised with mildness, and submitted to with respect ; and there are some appearances of its being the intention of the present Pontiff, as it is strongly the wish of the Roman public, to elect a senate, to share in the administration of affairs. In the former, despotism pre vails in its most degrading forms and ruinous effects, with little prospect of amelioration, except where the progress of knowledge, and the example of other more enlightened governments, may communicate.
The police throughout Italy is extremely defective, es pecially in the two last mentioned states ; of which the one is indulgent and the other indolent—the papal magistrates forgiving, the Neapolitan overlooking, the greatest crimi nals. During the recent unsettled state of the country, the 'depredations of armed banditti have been frequently and fatally experienced by the travellex ; and in some cases these outrages may fairly be ascribed to the apathy of the rulers. The plunderers, who inhabit the frontiers of the Pontine marshes, are no other than the inhabitants of the neighbouring villages, who are employed in their usual labours during the greater part of the year, but, at other seasons, enlist under the banners of a few chiefs for the pil lage of travellers. After making a predatory attack, they disperse immediately, and, resuming their usual occupa tions, appear as peaceable subjects under the protection of their curate and mayor, whose indulgence and connivance are suspected to originate in no very honourable reasons. A few of the leaders are generally known ; and, being ex poed to the constant search of the Bens are occa sionally apprehended and executed ; but the evil is not thereby repressed. In the vicinity of Naples, the brigands are said to have been lately dispersed by the singular plan of the government taking into its service two of the princi pal leaders, who have engaged to make all their followers quiet subjects.
The poor arc extremely numerous in Italy ; and, in the southern provinces particularly, the most importunate men dicants beset the passengers at every turn. Their numbers may be ascribed in a great measure to the stagnating com merce, declining manufactures, and narrow policy of many of the states ; and, as no legal provision is made for their support, their claims are brought more obtrusively before the eye of the public. The sufferings of the Italian poor, however, are greatly mitigated by the mildness of the cli mate, as far as regards the want of comfortable lodgings and clothing ; and their other necessities are fully supplied by the distributions at the numerous convents, and the aids afforded by charitable institutions, as well as the alms of private individuals. " Having now," says Dr. Moore, " crossed from the Adriatic to the Mediterranean, and tra velled through a considerable part of Italy, I acknowledge I have been agreeably disappointed in finding the state of the poorer part of the inhabitants less wretdhed than, from the accounts of some travellers, I imagined it was ; and I may, with equal truth, add, that, although I have not seen so much pot city as I was taught to expect, yet I have seen far more poverty than misery. Even the extremity of indi gence is accompanied with less wretchedness here, than in many other countries. This is partly owing to the mild ness of the climate and fertility of the soil, and partly to the peaceable, religious, and contented disposition of the people."
The Church and Religion.
The established Catholic or Romish faith and worship prevails exclusively over all Italy ; and no where is its au thority and jurisdiction more complete. Over this church of Italy the Pope presides as primate, with the same pre rogatives which accompany that title and station in other countries. But besides the peculiar office, which merely expresses his relation to the Italian ecclesiastical constitu tion, he is also the chief pastor of the Catholic church over the whole world ; and thus possesses, in the opinion of that church, a spiritual supremacy and influence in every coun try, where any portion of it exists. In this character, he is regarded not only as bishop of Rome, metropolitan, and primate of Italy, Sicily, &c. and a patriarch of the West, enjoying all the privileges, and subject to all the controul, of other bishops, primates, or patriarchs, in their respective districts; but also as the successor of St. Peter, sitting as the first pastor of the Catholic church, by divine right and appointment, and holding the primacy of honour and juris diction over the whole Christian church. To refuse him this name and honour, is deemed an act of spiritual rebel lion ; but, at the same time, the pi ecise rights and preroga tives connected with it have never yet been defined ; and the exertions of pontifical power in general are regarded, at I,- ist by modern Catholics, as only of human institution, which it would be neither heresy nor schisM to resist. For an account of the pi ogress of this usurpation, and its subse quent connection with a temporal sovereignty, we refer our readers to the article chap. i. and must be considered at present as merely stating the modern views and practice of the Catholic church on the subject of its spiritual head. To this topic, also, we most only allude by the way, and confine our account of the Ro man Pontiff to his office, as head of the church of Italy and Bishop of Rome. I lc is, however, at the same time, a tem poral prince, and sovereign of a considerable portion of the country ; and thus comes to be noticed both under the po litical and ecclesiastical branches of this article. It is, ne vertheless, to the latter of these characters, that his dress, titles, equipage, &e. arc adapted ; and, in his own court, he is exclusively addressed by the appellations of 'John( ss, or Holy Father. His robes resemble those of a bishop in pon tificals, excepting the stole and the colom, which is white instead of purple. His vestments, when he officiates in church, do not differ from those of other prelates, and it is only on extraordinary occasions that he wears the " tiara," or triple crown. Both in public and private, he is encircled with all the forms of majesty, and approached with the greatest reverence. A prelate in full robes is always in waiting in his anti-chamber ; and, when the apartment opens, he is seen sitting in a chair of state, with a small ta ble before him. The person who is introduced to this pre sence-chamber, kneels first in the threshold, again in the middle of the room, and, lastly, at the feet of the Pontiff, where he is allowed to kiss the cross embroidered on his shoes, or is raised by his hand, and, after conversing a short time, commonly receives a slight present of beads or me dals, as a memorial, and then retires with the same ceremo nies of kneeling. In public, a large elevated silver cross is carried before his Holiness as a sacred banner, the church bells ring as he passes, and all men kneel in his sight. His whole life is spent in ceremony and restraint ; and no dignity is more cumbersome and continued than that under which he is placed ; al waya encumbered with the same robes, surrounded by the same attendants, con fined within the same circle of ceremony, and never possess ing one hour of relaxation. After a morning spent in busi ness, a walk in the gardens of the Quirinal or the Vatican, a visit to a church or a hospital, are his only exercises. Even his repasts are solitary, short, and frugal ; and the expellee of his table, in the present value of money, never exceeds five shillings a day. His person and conduct are tinder per petual restraint and inspection, and the least deviation from strict propriety, or even from customary forms, would be immediately noticed, and censured in pasquinrdes. Leo X. gave great scandal by shooting ; Ganganelli, by riding ; and when Benedict XIV. went to see the interior arrangement of a new theatre before it was opened to the public, there appeared next morning the following inscription on the door by which he had entered, ec porta sancta, plenary in dulgence to all who enter." This strict decorum in the Papal• court, so different from the splendour and gaiety which it exhibited in former centuries, has been ascribed by the Catholic writers to the influence of the celebrated Council of Trent.