r natures of the north were the refined vices of
the south. What principally struck our ancestors in the morality of the
Italians was the license allowed in sensual indulgences, and the bad
faith which tainted all public and private dealings. In respect to the
latter point, what has already been said about Machiavelli is
enough.[3] Loyalty was a virtue but little esteemed in Italy:
engagements seemed made to be broken; even the crime of violence was
aggravated by the crime of perfidy, a bravo's stiletto or a slow poison
being reckoned among the legitimate means for ridding men of rivals or
for revenging a slight. Yet it must not be forgotten that the commercial
integrity of the Italians ranked high. In all countries of Europe they
carried on the banking business of monarchs, cities, and private
persons.

[1] _The Schoolmaster;_ edn. 1863, p. 87. The whole discourse
on Italian traveling and Italian influence is very curious,
when we reflect that at this time contact with Italy was
forming the chief culture of the English in literature and
social manners. The ninth satire in Marston's _Scourge of
Villanie_ contains much interesting matter on the same point.
Howell's _Instructions for forreine Travell_ furnishes the
following illustration: 'And being in Italy, that great
limbique of working braines, he must be very circumspect in his
carriage, for she is able to turne a Saint into a devill, and
deprave the best natures, if one will abandon himself, and
become a prey to dissolute courses and wantonnesse.'

[2] _The Repentance of Robert Greene_, quoted in the memoir to
Dyce's edition of his Dramatic Works.

[3] See chapter v.

With reference to carnal vice, it cannot be denied that the corruption
of Italy was shameful. Putting aside the profligacy of the convents, the
City of Rome in 1490 is reported to have held as many as 6,800 public
prostitutes, besides those who practiced their trade under the cloak of
concubinage.[1] These women were accompanied by confederate ruffians,
ready to stab, poison, and extort money; thus violence and lust went
hand in hand, and to this profligate lower stratum of society may be
ascribed the crimes of lawlessness which rendered Rome under Innocent
VIII. almost uninhabitable. Venice, praised for its piety by De
Comines,[2] was the resort of all the debauchees of Europe who could
afford the time and money to visit this modern Cori