ch, the expense of a
luxurious court, and the tributes of dependent provinces. Those
provinces and tributes had been lost in the fall of the Empire: and if
some streams of the silver of Peru and the gold of Brazil have been
attracted by the Vatican, the revenues of the cardinals, the fees of
office, the oblations of pilgrims and clients, and the remnant of
ecclesiastical taxes, afford a poor and precarious supply, which
maintains however the idleness of the court and city. The population of
Rome, far below the measure of the great capitals of Europe, does not
exceed one hundred and seventy thousand inhabitants; and within the
spacious inclosure of the walls the largest portion of the seven hills
is overspread with vineyards and ruins. The beauty and splendor of the
modern city may be ascribed to the abuses of the government, to the
influence of superstition. Each reign (the exceptions are rare) has been
marked by the rapid elevation of a new family, enriched by the childless
pontiff at the expense of the Church and country. The palaces of these
fortunate nephews are the most costly monuments of elegance and
servitude: the perfect arts of architecture, painting, and sculpture
have been prostituted in their service; and their galleries and gardens
are decorated with the most precious works of antiquity which taste or
vanity has prompted them to collect. The ecclesiastical revenues were
more decently employed by the popes themselves in the pomp of the
Catholic worship; but it is superfluous to enumerate their pious
foundations of altars, chapels, and churches, since these lesser stars
are eclipsed by the sun of the Vatican, by the dome of St. Peter, the
most glorious structure that ever has been applied to the use of
religion. The fame of Julius the Second, Leo the Tenth, and Sixtus the
Fifth is accompanied by the superior merit of Bramante and Fontana, of
Raphael and Michael Angelo; and the same munificence which had been
displayed in palaces and temples was directed with equal zeal to revive
and emulate the labors of antiquity. Prostrate obelisks were raised from
the ground and erected in the most conspicuous places; of the eleven
aqueducts of the Caesars and consuls, three were restored; the artificial
rivers were conducted over a long series of old, or of new arches, to
discharge into marble basins a flood of salubrious and refreshing
waters: and the spectator, impatient to ascend the steps of St. Peter's,
is detained b