and prosperity opened to it, it is neither my province nor my intention to inquire; but we find it in the thirteenth century covered with numerous republics, warlike and populous as the commonwealths that flourished in the same country previous to the Roman conquest, and like them engaged in perpetual contests. In the succeeding century we see it rich in commerce and in manufactures; and in the fifteenth, we behold it illuminated with all the splendours of genius and of science, and shedding a light that penetrated the darkness of the benighted countries around, and roused their inhabitants from a long slumber of ignorance and of barbarism. So great, indeed, was its literary fame during this. period, and so many and so distinguished were its artists, its poets, its philosophers, that it may perhaps be doubted whether its history during the fifteenth and sixteenth century be not as instructive as that of Greece, even when Greece was most distinguished by the arts and by the talents of its inhabitants *. Since that period the state of Italy has indeed varied; several bloody wars have been carried on in its interior; and many of its provinces have passed under different masters. Yet, as those wars were waged principally by foreigners, and as the change of dynasties, if unaccompanied by other alterations, has little or no effect upon the welfare of a country, Italy notwithstanding these vicissitudes has continued in a state of progressive prosperity down to *The author of Anacharsis was so struck with the united wonders of the history of Italy at the period of which I am speaking, that he had thoughts of introducing his ideal traveller into that country instead of Greece, as affording a greater scope for useful observations on the arts and sciences, and presenting a greater variety of character and anecdote. He has left behind him a sketch of his design, which, though imperfect, yet presents a masterly combination of hints, portraits, and parallels. the latter part of the nineteenth century. In the year 1784, Italy and its dependent islands, Sicily, Sardinia, &c. were supposed to contain from sixteen to eighteen millions of inhabitants, and it is highly probable that in the year 1793 this number was augmented to twenty millions, as no natural or artificial cause of mortality visited Italy during the interval. All the Italian states were at that period governed by their own native, or at least resident princes, with the exception of Milan, which belonged to the House of Austria; but as the administration was conducted by an Archduke, who always kept his court in that capital, it felt little inconvenience from its dependence on a transalpine sovereign. All the cities, and almost all the great towns, with most places of any consideration, exist under the same name nearly as in ancient times; many of them have recovered their ancient prosperity and population, and several have considerably exceeded it. If Herculaneum, Pompeii, and Cuma have utterly perished in Campania, to compensate the loss Naples not only spreads her superabundant population over the neighbouring coasts, but over the base of Vesuvius itself, and raises populous and flourishing towns on the ruins of the fallen cities*. Rome is reduced, it is true, from a million perhaps to two hundred thousand inhabitants, and its immediate vicinity has perhaps lost one million more; but Ancona, on the opposite coast, is more flourishing than it was under the Cæsars; and Loretto, a new city, has risen in its vicinity, and now lodges fifteen thousand inhabitants on the summit of a moun The southern provinces of Italy are possibly as well peopled now, if we except a few great towns, as they were in Roman times. Apulia was always a sheepwalk: Cicero calls it--inanissima pars Italice. tain. San Marino, the child of Liberty, nurses her seven thousand hardy sons on a pinnacle of the Apennines, and all the coast of the Adriatic swarms with life and blooms with industry and vegetation. Etruria, though not perhaps as flourishing or as populous as it was about the period of the foundation of Rome, is more so probably than it was when under the iron sway of the Emperors. Most of its ancient towns remain, and some are in a much more flourishing state than they were at any period of Roman history; such as Florence, Sienna, and Lucca. The Maremne or sea-shores, formerly unhealthy and thinly inhabited, are, in consequence of the establishment of the free-port of Leghorn then a miserable village, now a populous city, cultivated and in a state of progressive improvement. As to the spacious plain extended between the Alps and the Apennines, its ancient towns, (with the exception of Velleia, which was overwhelmed by the fall of a mountain) and all its ancient cities, are in a most flourishing state; some far more prosperous indeed than they were even in the reign of Augustus or of Trajan. Among the latter we may rank Turin and Genoa, both places of little name anciently, now populous and magnificent capitals. Milan itself is probably much more considerable at present than it was at either of the above-mentioned periods, though inferior, in population at least, to what it was when during the decline of the empire, it occasionally became the residence of the Emperors. The prosperity of Bologna, with a few exceptions, seems to have been progressive, and has long since raised it to such a degree of opulence as to appropriate to it, as its distinctive quality, the epithet of rich. To close the catalogue, Venice rises before us with its domes and towers, with its immense population and its extensive commerce, the Queen of the Adriatic, and the mistress of Dalmatia, of Epirus and of Acarnania, of the Ionian islands, and in the beginning of the last century, of Peloponnesus itself. This splendid Capital compensates the loss of Aquileia*, and can count in her extensive and populous territories ten towns more considerable than that ancient metropolis of Istria†. In short, Italy, with its dependencies, in the year 1792 was supposed to contain more than twenty million of inhabitants, a population for the extent of country far superior to the best inhabited territories, the Netherlands not excepted, and in all probability, if not above, at least equal to its population at any period of Roman history since Augustus. As to cultivation, the second criterion of prosperity, one ob * Aquileia was destroyed by Attila in the fifth century. + To the barbarians, howsoever mischievous in general, Italy, according to an Italian proverb, owes two blessings, its modern language and the city of Venice. I do not know whether many of my readers may not consider both these blessings as purchased at too high a price. ‡ There is a circumstance mentioned by Polybius*, which may be considered as furnishing a foundation for calculating the population of Italy at an early period: this author relates, that on a rumour of an approaching invasion by the Gauls, the inhabitants of Italy (an appellation which then excluded all the country lying north of the Apennines) brought into the field an army of more than six hundred thousand men. This force, we may reasonably suppose, was the result of an extraordinary effort, and could not have been maintained as a regular army; now modern Italy, including its dependencies, could, if it formed a federative republic like Germany, support an army at least as considerable without depopulating its provinces or impoverishing its inhabitants. * Lib. II. servation will be sufficient to decide the question in favour of Modern Italy, and that one is, Italy at present not only feeds her own inhabitants but exports largely to other countries, an advantage which she never enjoyed at the period of history to which I have so often alluded. To this observation it may be added, that Italy now produces every article necessary not for the comforts only, but moreover, for the luxurious enjoyments of life; and although there, as well as in less favoured countries, fashion may often induce the opulent to have recourse to foreign markets for accommodation, yet there is not one single object requisite for either dress or furniture that may not be procured home-made in Italy. One source of riches and commerce indeed this country now enjoys, which is alone sufficient to give it commercial superiority; I mean, the silk which it produces in abundance, and which constitutes its staple manufacturé. The nurture of the silk worm indeed, and the culture of the mulberry-tree on which it feeds, not only furnishes the poor of Italy with employment, but supplies its poets with a favourite and popular theme. Unde sacri viridem vates petiere coronam Vida. Bombycum, lib, 11. I might pursue the subject still farther, and maintain, with some appearance of truth, that, excepting Rome, Italy is ornainented with more magnificent edifices at present than it was at any period of ancient history. The ornamental edifices of ancient times were temples, porticos, baths, amphitheatres, theatres, and circuses, to which I may add, an occasional mausoleum. The magnificence of temples consists in their colonnades, which |