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

CLASSICAL TOUR

Ch. VII.

The extreme misery which we witnessed was
owing to the entire spoliation of all the hospitals
and asylums ; to the ruin of public credit; to the
impoverishment of the clergy, the nobility, and
householders, by the exactions of the soldiery;
and in short to the general system of plunder ex-
ercised by the French while in possession of the
city.
I come now to the morals of the Romans, and
must, in the first place, acknowledge that it would
be presumption in a traveller who passed three
months only in Rome, to pretend to speak upon
this subject from his own observation. However
from inquiries, and the statement of impartial
and judicious strangers long resident in Rome,
we collected, that among the higher classes there
is less room for censure here than perhaps in any
other Italian city; that cicisbeism, which in its
most qualified practice is an insult to decency,
is neither so common nor so flagrant: that the
morals of the cardinals, prelates, and clergy, and
even of the middling class of citizens, are pure
and unimpeachable ; and that the people in ge-
neral are mild, open-hearted in their intercourse,
and in their manners extremely decorous and
even stately. This latter quality of the Romans
cannot escape the notice of the most superficial
observer; while the traveller sees, or seems to