he two pass-words for a would-be connoisseur, according to Goldsmith,
were to praise Perugino, and to say that such and such a work would
have been much better had the painter devoted more time and study to
it. With these alternatives at hand one might pass with credit through
any famous continental collection. Smollett aspired to more
independence of thought and opinion, though we perceive at every turn
how completely the Protestant prejudice of his "moment" and "milieu"
had obtained dominion over him. To his perception monks do not chant or
intone, they bawl and bellow their litanies. Flagellants are hired
peasants who pad themselves to repletion with women's bodices. The
image of the Virgin Mary is bejewelled, hooped, painted, patched,
curled, and frizzled in the very extremity of the fashion. No
particular attention is paid by the mob to the Crucified One, but as
soon as his lady-mother appeared on the shoulders of four lusty friars
the whole populace fall upon their knees in the dirt. We have some
characteristic criticism and observation of the Florentine nobles, the
opera, the improvisatori, [For details as to the eighteenth-century
improvisatore and commedia delle arte the reader is referred to
Symonds's Carlo Gozzi. See also the Travel Papers of Mrs. Piozzi;
Walpole's Letters to Sir Horace Mann, and Doran's Mann and Manners at
the Court of Florence. (Vide Appendix A, p. 345)] the buildings, and
the cicisbei. Smollett nearly always gives substantial value to his
notes, however casual, for he has an historian's eye, and knows the
symptoms for which the inquirer who comes after is likely to make
inquisition.

Smollett's observations upon the state of Florence in Letters XXVII and
XXVIII are by no means devoid of value. The direct rule of the Medici
had come to an end in 1737, and Tuscany (which with the exception of
the interlude of 1798-1814 remained in Austrian hands down to 1860) was
in 1764 governed by the Prince de Craon, viceroy of the Empress Maria
Theresa. Florence was, indeed, on the threshold of the sweeping
administrative reforms instituted by Peter Leopold, the archduke for
whom Smollett relates that they were preparing the Pitti Palace at the
time of his stay. This Prince governed the country as Grand Duke from
1765 to 1790, when he succeeded his brother as Emperor, and left a name
in history as the ill-fated Leopold. Few more active exponents of
paternal reform are known to history. But the Grand Duke