Eustace, John Cretwode: A classical tour through Italy An. MDCCCII (Vol. 4): 3. ed., rev. and enl (London: J. Mawman, 1815)

390

APPENDIX.

censure. But the influence of the Council of
Trent, though its direct interference was indig-
nantly repelled, reached the recesses of the
pontifical palace, and the general rigor of dis-
cipline established by it, ascended from the
members to the head, and at length pervaded
the whole body. Hence the austere features of
the papal court, and the monastic silence that
reigns through the vast apartments of the Vatican
and of the Quirinal palaces; and hence also the
solitary repasts and the perpetual abstemiousness
of the Pontiff’s table.
I mean not, however, to insinuate that the
private virtues of the Popes themselves have no
share in this system of frugality and decorum, as
that is by no means the truth. Temperance is a
general virtue in Italy, and independent even of
the national character, the Popes have long been
remarkable for their personal abstemiousness.
The present Pontiff in particular, inured to mo-
nastic discipline from his youth, and long accus-
tomed to the plainest diet, owes, probably, the
extreme temperance by which he is distinguished,
to habit as much as to principle, and can feel
little inclination to exchange his slight and
wholesome repasts for the pleasures of a luxurious
table. But, to whatever cause it may be attri-
buted, this truly episcopal spirit and appearance