Eustace, John Cretwode: A classical tour through Italy An. MDCCCII (Vol. 3): 3. ed., rev. and enl (London: J. Mawman, 1815)

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CLASSICAL TOUR

Ch. IV.

Those who lost by reform, and who, though few
in numbers were yet far the most powerful part
of the community, of course opposed it at every
step, and retarded its progress. Much however,
or rather what must appear much when due re-
gard is bad to circumstances, has been done by
the present king since his accession, first under
the administration of Tanucci, who, from the
chair of law in the university of Pisa, was ad-
vanced to the dignity of first minister at Naples ;
and afterwards of Sir John Acton, who has pur-
sued, it is said, the beneficial plans of his prede-
cessor.
But in a country where the whole system is a
vast shapeless heap of institutions, decisions and
customs taken from the codes, decrees, and man-
ners of the different nations and chiefs, who have
peopled or invaded it; where abuses have grown
from abuses, and where power has ever enjoyed
the privilege of oppressing right; in such a coun-
try the evil is always prominent, and must natu-
rally excite the surprise and indignation of the
traveller ; while the reform, whose operations are
slow and silent, sometimes reaches him only as a
report, and sometimes entirely escapes his notice.
Certain it is, that since the commencement of
Ferdinand IV.’s reign, the power of the barons
has been checked; the number of ecclesiastical