oy their liberty, or to be governed by liberal
princes, are mild and enlightened; the Venetians and the Genoese,
discover a genius for politics, because their government is a republican
Aristocracy; the Milanese are remarkable for their sincerity, which
character they have long since derived from the nations of the north;
the Neapolitans might easily become a warlike people, because during
several centuries they have been united under a government, very
imperfect it is true, but yet a government of their own. The Roman
nobility being totally unoccupied with either military or political
pursuits, must in consequence become indolent and uninformed; but the
ecclesiastics, having a career of emulation open before them, are much
more enlightened and cultivated than the nobles, and as the papal
government admits of no distinction of birth, and is purely elective in
the clerical body, it begets a sort of liberality, not in ideas, but in
habits, which renders Rome a most agreeable abode for those who have
neither the prospect, nor the ambition of worldly eminence.

"The nations of the south more easily receive the impression of their
political establishment than those of the north; they possess an
indolence which soon softens into resignation, and nature offers them so
many enjoyments, that they are easily consoled for the loss of those
which society refuses them. There is certainly much depravity in Italy,
and nevertheless civilisation is here in a much lower stage of
development than that of other countries. There is something almost
savage in the character of the Italians, notwithstanding their
intellectual acuteness, which too much resembles that of the hunter in
the art of surprising his prey. And indolent people easily acquire a
cunning character; they possess a habit of gentleness which serves them,
upon occasion, to dissimulate even their wrath: it is always by our
usual manners that we succeed in concealing an unexpected situation.

"The Italians are sincere and faithful in the private intercourse of
life. Interest and ambition exercise considerable sway among them; but
pride and vanity none: the distinctions of rank produce little
impression. They have no society, no salons, no fashions, no little
daily methods of giving effect to minute circumstances. These habitual
sources of dissimulation and envy exist not among them. When they
deceive their enemies and their rivals, it is because they consider
themselves in a st