We may be sure that both one and the other
have in their blood some globules of nobility.
These precious globules, which no microscope will ever be powerful
enough to detect, but which the intelligent observer sees with the
naked eye, are rare enough in Europe, and I am not aware of their
existence out of it. A small collection of them might be brought
together in France, in Spain, in England, in Russia, in Germany, in
Italy. Rome is one of the cities in which the fewest would be found.
And yet the Roman nobility is surrounded with a certain prestige.
Thirty-one princes or dukes; a great number of marquises, counts,
barons, and knights; a multitude of noble families without titles,
sixty of whom were inscribed in the Capitol by Benedict XIV.; a vast
extent of signiorial domains; a thousand palaces; a hundred
picture-galleries, large and small; a considerable revenue; a prodigal
display of horses, carriages, servants, and armorial bearings; some
almost royal entertainments in the course of every winter; the remains
of feudal privileges; and the respect of the lower orders: such are
the more remarkable features which distinguish the Roman nobility, and
expose it to the admiration of all the travelling cockneys of the
universe.
Ignorance, idleness, vanity, servility, and above all incapacity;
these are the pet vices which place it below all the aristocracies in
Europe. Should I meet with any exceptions on my road, I shall consider
it my duty to point them out.
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