galleries to the public. To be sure, old Sciarra used to
sell permission to copy his pictures, but he was a notorious miser,
and has found no imitators.

They practise generally the virtue of charity, in a somewhat
indiscriminate manner, from the love of patronage, from pride, habit,
and weakness, because they are ashamed to refuse. They are by no means
badly disposed, they are good--I stop at this word, lest I should go
too far.

They are not wanting in sense or intelligence. Prince Massimo is
quoted for his good sense, and the two Caetani for their puns.
Santa-Croce, though a little cracked, is no ordinary man. But what a
wretched education the Government gives them! When they are not the
children, they are the pupils of priests, whose system principally
consists in teaching them nothing. Get hold of a student of St.
Sulpice, wash him tolerably clean, have him dressed by Alfred or
Poole, and bejewelled by Castellani or Hunt and Roskel, let him learn
to thrum a guitar, and sit upon a horse, and you'll have a Roman
prince as good as the best of them.

You probably think it natural that people brought up at Rome, in the
midst of the finest works of art in the world, should take a little
interest in art, and know something about it. Pray be undeceived. This
man has never entered the Vatican except to pay visits; that one knows
nothing of his own gallery, but through the report of his
house-steward. Another had never visited the Catacombs till he became
Pope. They profess an elegant ignorance, which they think in good
taste, and which will always be fashionable in a Catholic country.

I have said enough about the heart, mind, and education of the Roman
nobility. A few words as to the fortunes of which they dispose.

I have before me a list which I believe to be authentic, as I copied
it myself in a sure quarter. It comprises the net available incomes of
the principal Roman families. I extract the most important:--

Corsini ....... L20,000
Borghese....... 18,000
Ludovisi....... 14,000
Grazioli....... 14,000
Doria.......... 13,000
Rospigliosi.... 10,000
Colonna........ 8,000
Odescalchi..... 8,000
Massimo........ 8,000
Patrizi........ 6,000
Orsini......... 4,000
Strozzi........ 4,000
Torlonia....... Unlimited.
Antonelli....... Ditto.

It is not to be supposed that Grazioli, for instance, has himself
alone nearly as large a gross income as Prince Borghese and his