young’s TRAVELS IN FRANCE.

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ferve, that befides the buildings and various objefts I have mentioned, there are num*berlefs, which I have not feen at all;—the famous bridge Ponte della Santa Trinitadeferves, however, a word : it is the origin of that at Neuille and others in France ,but much more beautiful; being indeed thefirft in the world. The circumllance thatftrikes one at Florence, is the antiquity of the principal buildings; every thing one feesconfiderable, is of three or four hundred years handing; of new buildings, there arenext to none ; all here remind one of the Medicis : there is hardly a ftreet that hasnot fome monument, fome decoration, that bears the ftamp of that fplendid magnifi-cent family. How commerce could enrich it fufficiently, to leave fuch prodigious re-mains, is a queftion not a little curious ; for I may venture, without apprehenfion toafiert, that all the colledled magnificence of the Houfe of Bourbon, governing for eighthundred years twenty millions of people, is trivial, when compared with what theMedicis family have left, for the admiration cf fucceeding ages — fovereigns only of thelittle mountainous region of Tufcany, and with not more than one million of fubjects.And if w'e pafs on to Spain, or England, or Germany , the fame aflonifhing contraflwill flrike us. Would Mr. Hope, - of Amflerdam, faid to be the greateft merchant inthe world, be able, in this age, to form eftablilhments, to be compared with thofe ofthe Medicis? We have merchants in London , that make twenty, and even thirtythoufand pounds a year profit, but you will find them in brick cottages, for our modernLondon houfes are no better, compared with the palaces of Florence and Venice,eredted in the age of their commerce; the paintings, in the pofieflion of our mer-chants, a few daubed portraits; their ftatues, earthen-ware figures on chimney-pieces;their libraries—their cabinets,—how contemptible the idea of a comparifon! It is aremarkable fadt, that with this prodigious commerce and manufacture, Florence wasneither fo large nor fo populous as at prefent. This is inexplicable, and demands inqui-ries from the hiftorical traveller:—a very ufeful path to be trodden by a man of abili-ties, who Ihould travel for the fake of comparing the things he fees with thofe he readsof. Trade, in that age, mull, from the fewnels of hands, have been a fort of mono-poly, yielding immenfe profits. From the modern Hate of Florence, without one newhoufe that rivals, in any degree, thofe of the fourteenth or fifteeth centuries, it might bethought, that with their commerce, the Florentines loft every fort of income ; yet thereis no doubt, that the revenue from land is, at this moment, greater than it was in thentoft flcurilhing age of the republic. The revenue of Tufcany is now more equallyfpent. The government of the Grand Dukes I take to have been far better than therepublican, for it was not a republic equally formed from all parts of the territory, but.a city governing the country, and confequently impoverilhing the whole, to enrich itfelf,which is one of the word fpecies of government to be found in the world. When Italy was decorated with fine buildings, the rich nobles mud have fpent their incomes inraifing them : at prefent, thofe of Florence have other methods of applying their for-tunes ; not in palaces, not in the fine arts, not in dinners ; — the account I received was,that their incomes are, for the greateft part, confirmed by keeping great crowds of do-meftics; many of them married, with their families, as in Spain . The Marchefe Ri-cardi has forty, each of which hath a family of his own, fome of them under-fervants,but all maintained by him. His table is very magnificent, and lerved with all forts ofdelicacies, yet never any company at it, except the family, tutors, and chaplains. Thehoufe of Ranuzzi hath a greater fortune, and alfa a greater number of domeftics inthe fame ftile. No dinners, as in England ; no fuppers, as in France ; no parties ; noexpenfive equipages; little comfort; but a great train of idle lounging penfioners, takenfrom ufeful labour, and kept from produ&ive- induftry; one of the word ways of

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