of Rome some landowners who pay scarcely any
at all. In 1854 the _Consulta di Stato_ valued the privileged lands at
L360,000. But we will turn to the subject of the uncultivated lands.

Towards the Mediterranean, north, east, south, and west of Rome, and
wherever the Papal benediction extends, the flat country, which covers
an immense extent, is at once uninhabited, uncultivated, and
unhealthy. Various are the modes in which experienced persons have
attempted to account for the wretched condition of this fine country.

One says,

"It is uncultivated because it is uninhabited. How can you
cultivate without men? It is uninhabited because it is
unwholesome. How can you expect men to inhabit it at the
risk of their lives? Make it healthy, and it will populate
itself, and the population will cultivate it, for there is
not a finer soil in the world."

Another replies,

"You are wrong. You confound cause with effect. The country
is unhealthy because it is uncultivated. The decayed
vegetable matter accumulated by centuries ferments under the
summer sun. The wind blows over it, and raises up a
provision of subtle miasma, imperceptible to the smell, and
yet destructive to life. If all these plains were ploughed
or dug up three or four times, so as to let the air and
light penetrate into the depths of the soil, the fever which
lies dormant under the rank vegetation would speedily
evaporate, and return no more. Hasten then to bring ploughs,
and your first crop will be one of health."

A third replies to the two first,

"You are both right. The country is unhealthy because it is
uncultivated, and uncultivated because it is unhealthy. The
question lies in a vicious circle, from which there is no
escape. Let us therefore leave things as they are; and when
the fever-season arrives, we can go and inhale the fresh
mountain air under the tall trees of Frascati."

The last speaker, if I am not greatly mistaken, is a Prelate. But have
a care, Monsignore! Frascati, once so renowned for the purity of its
air, now no longer deserves its reputation; and I may say the same of
Tivoli. The quarters of Rome most remarkable for healthiness, such for
instance as the Pincian, have of late become unhealthy. Fever is
gaining ground. It is equally worthy of observation that at the same
time the cultivation of the land is diminishi