come from him ordinarily but by little and little He shows that he is vers'd in our History for he relates from time to time our happy success and he says freely that Italy would be very unhappy had she not had this Republique for a Bulwark which hath bounded the ambition of Strangers and repelled the rage and incroachments of Barbarians When I took leave of his Excellence I could not desire greater expressions of his affection than those he used accompanying them with protestations that he would pass the bounds his Holiness had prescribed him to give all kind of satisfaction to your Excellencies in the matters then in hand These are his own words It is not reasonable that the discontent for particular affairs should cause a prejudice to that which concerns the General which is to maintain the Grandeur of that State inseparable with the splendor of Italy The Lord Don Mario hath no other Son than this Cardinal but he hath besides two Daughters married at Siena in noble Families that have but moderate Fortunes proportionate to the condition of the Family of the Chigi in the time they were married and these are they that showed themselves not long since at Rome where they were exceeding well receiv'd and carress'd by their Father and their Mother and the Cardinal Chigi but they were not received with so many tokens of affection by Don Augustin for the reasons that I shall declare I cannot certainly tell whether they obtained a competency from the Pope to maintain them in the condition they are in because things were carried with a great deal of circumspection in not making known what was done for fear the Court should think that the Pope wasted the Demesns of St. Peter to put his kindreds Wives in a handsome condition and for fear likewise of giving some cause of jealousie to Don Augustinâ— who expecting hereafter to be Chief of the Family could not but with trouble behold so many others that were not of the Pope's Masculine Line thus gratifi'd or enrich'd It is certain however that the Lord Don Mario and his Wife did not let them return empty handed but gave them a share of what they had stored up and do endeavour to encrease with so much Art and Industry But let us proceed to the other Branch descended as I said from Augustin Chigi which consists of two Lords Don Augustin and Sigismond As for the first who may be about 24 years of age he is naturally merry very pleasing and amiable He never appli'd himself at all to study but in those Exercises as befits a Gentleman He loves to pass his time as well as any man and cares very little to heap up any thing because he knows there are those that do it for him As soon as ever he came to Rome they thought of providing a Wife for him and cast their eyes upon the best Match in the whole Court to wit the Grand-daughter of the Prince Mark Antony Borghese But they could not bring it to pass with that facility they imagin'd because the Prince being a man that was very wary especially when it concerned the interest of his Family scoffed at the Proposition saying That he should take that Alliance for a very great honor but first desired to see Don Augustin have greater wealth and dignity that so his Granchild might at least be able to keep a rank suitable to her quality and merits These excuses the Prince made were not very pleasing to the Pope who at the first word would have had him made more account of his Alliance than any other consideration whatsoever For this cause the business hung a long while in suspence but still with repeated applications of Love and Courtship from the Lord Don Augustin who follow'd it with the more heat as having the Constable Colonnes for his Rival a young man of most excellent qualities and towards whom the Princess seemed to have a greater inclination than for himself But the Prince Borghese's death hapning thereupon and the Tutelage falling to the Princess her Grandmother in a few days by the mediation of the Princess Rossano her mother this Match was concluded considerable for her great Dowry which was one hundred and fourscore thousand Crowns besides what might hereafter fall to her by succession the House of the Borgheses having but one more Heir a young Lord of a somewhat melanchollique constitution who nevertheless about the same time out of divers good considerations would needs wed another young Lady having more regard to her Beauty and Virtue than her Riches Don Augustin as well as his Holiness thought by the contrivance of this Match which was celebrated with all the Pomp imaginable that they had established the happiness of their Family on the best foundation that could be In effect the Lady being an extraordinary Beauty and brought up under the Discipline of her Grandmother a very Religious person there could be nothing more desired upon that account and he hath already begun to taste the fruits of it the Princess having given him the marks of her fertility by the birth of a young Daughter she hath brought him This does not however hinder Don Augustin from diverting himself elsewhere according as his temper and fancy leads him and his great inclination to pleasure when it comes in his thoughts This fulness of all content making him forget his first condition hath so puff'd him up with pride that he seems to take no notice of those who passing by salute him in the streets which likewise makes him not so much beloved as his other fairer qualities deserve Nay it is not long since he made shew of the little respect or regard he had for persons of great condition for having taken some distaste at the placing or sitting of the Constable Colonnes he appointed the Cavalier de la Ciaja his Uncle to do a very disobliging act by thrusting the Constable out of his place at a Comedy whereat the Colonnes being offended the Pope was extreme angry and would have it taken up by any means whatever as it was afterwards done but in the name of the Cavalier who was but an instrument in that action but this insulting left a great deal of discontent on the spirits of the Colonnes against Don Augustin who was the principal author of it A while after his Nuptials he purchased in the Province of the Patrimony for seventy thousand Crowns the Principality of Farnese which is said to be a Fief of the Empire of four thousand Crowns Revenue He hath also purchased a considerable Palace for his Family but besides these he purchases little living at vast expences but upon hopes that the Pope's long life will furnish him with ways enough to enrich and raise his Family to as brave a heighth as the greatest of the preceding Popes I have had divers occasions to speak with him of his Marriage and other affairs and he hath ever given me testimony of a great esteem and
is a small Brother who under his poor mean Frock huggs ambitious and high thoughts He builds fine Castles in the aire fancying that as he came to be a Cardinal without meriting of it so he may as well rise to the Pope's Chair There is no quality to be found in him that can distinguish him from the vulgar He hath little or no experience in State-affairs He is learned as a Monk but excells not their ordinary capacity and hath some skill in Fortifications But with this he is very covetous and loves his Nepveus exceedingly who are young people of very ill behaviours if he had the command which God forbid there would be matter enough of scandal This was taken notice of by him that could have assisted him to wit Barberino who hating a licentious life would never speak one word for him though Maculano had friends to second what he should have said and were aged enough to pretend to the Place Nevertheless he may live very well at his ease if he will content himself with the condition he is in possession of which truly ought to satisfie him He hath named himself for Candidate which is to say he aspires to the Chair though amongst those of his own Fraternity he could never have attained to be General of their Order Giorio de Camerino a servant to the House of Barberino in business of small consequence found a way by his handsome manner of serving to gain so much upon the good-will of his Nepveus and afterwards on Pope Urban that having gotten much riches in his long service he was reputed worthy to be a Cardinal He is very little esteem'd at Court his behaviour not being noble enough to correspond with his dignity He keeps closely united to Barberino his Soveraign Benefactor and in that shews he deserved to be advanced He hath never been nominated for to be made Pope nor is there any great hopes he should be in election because besides the meanness of his birth those qualities are wanting in him which should make him worthy to stand in the rank of such as pretend to that Supreme Dignity unless they should push him forward purposely to make him fall and get time in the interim to negotiate another's preferment with more security Facchinetti of Bologna hath been employed in the highest Offices of the Court and Nunciator of Spain with a constant reputation of an honest man and very able This is a Cardinal of whose reputation they have very advantagious opinions which when time suits will make them willingly reflect on his good qualities and this fair opinion they have of him he preserves by making his ordinary residence at his Church of Spoleta and avoiding all occasions that might forfeit it by not concerning himself with the present Court interests for fear lest in medling therein instead of increasing his reputation he should give some cause of disgust and rupture He is a Lord of a very sweet conversation and speaks passionately for the interests of your Signiory from whom I dare promise effects corespondant should he attain to a higher degree Rosetti of Ferrara is a creature born bred and advanc'd in the bosome of Barberino who loved him by accident and after helped him to employments which raised him up to be a Cardinal He was in danger being in England during those troubles which have encreased so long as to arrive to the strange heighth of misfortune they were then in But a more wary Minister might have withdrawn himself without forfeiting his devoir Being at Collen in quality of a Nuncio he could not avoid being suspected of partiality towards the Spaniards and did together with them breed some disorder in their affairs At Rome he did not shew himself very grateful to his Benefactor having subjected himself to the Spaniards In the Conclave he was almost the onely man that disapproved the Election of the present Pope So that all these things being heaped together one may infer that he is not a Cardinal of any eminent vertue although he hath been wise enough to make such good use of his time as to have freed his Family from those inconveniences which attend a mean Fortune He keeps himself at his Church at Faense without any design of shewing himself much at Rome where till those evill impressions are taken off or forgotten he would not be looked upon with any great good-will Grimaldi a Genoese shews by his looks that he is a man of great undertakings from whom no other effects can be expected but such as usually proceed from pensive spirits which are quarels jealousies bold and daring enterprises with all kind of subtilties to make good his designs This man hath had some great designs on foot already to the prejudice of the publick peace and that onely for some advantages to himself without regarding the inconvenience of others and this was the cause that finding he was mounted as high as he could pretend which was to have a good Church in France where he might say Here is my rest imagining that he should be a second Mazarin he was deceived Mazarin desiring to reign alone that the world might know they owed the good success of that Government to his direction He was not at Rome in my time those that were acquainted with him have described him to me to be as crafty a man as any one but yet a person wanting that address or discretion which like Salt ought to season all the parts of Policy I should not confide in his words when he commends this State because we ought not to give belief to such men as propound no other end but their own interest Here I should speak of Mazarin and there might be much said of him but your most Serene Lordships are so well informed of the Person and Maxims of this great Minister that I could say nothing which would not fall short of the knowledge you have else-where had of him yet shall I not omit to let you be acquainted in what esteem he is with the present Pope which I believe is a thing worthy your knowledge because you may from thence guess the true reason of the difficulties in those affairs which must necessarily be treated of in either Court The Pope had very ill impressions of the Cardinal when he was Nuncio at Collen for observing attentively the reasons the Mediators alledged for a General Peace he found the French had always some reservations in their answers which did not correspond as he judged with the equity of the Spaniards propositions which made him fully perswaded reflecting on some other inconveniencies hapning when they came to confer that all the obstacles which retarded so great a happiness for all Christendome proceeded from the Cardinal Mazarin But as the ends he then propounded requir'd him not to discover his opinions therein to those Nations that were interess'd so he negotiated still with so much caution that few or none knew what was in his thoughts Being
any necessity onely for the fancy and pleasure of the Pope and sometimes of his Ministers many Families that have but mean Fortunes should feel the weight of such grand Payments which brings them neither benefit nor conveniency in return But that which exceeds all these excessive Expences is what he hath bestowed upon that great and vast massie Portico which he hath undertaken to raise round about the place of the Basilique Vaticane for having changed the Design that famous Architect Michael Angel Bâ—onarota had formerly laid who wrought with so much success at the same Temple of St. Peters and reduced this work to one range of Porticosi which without any excessive expence would have made it an admirable Structure and very commodious for the Coaches either when it rained or shined having changed this design I say he follows that of some Modern Architects who have made it of an extraordinary greatness for it is to be of a Circular form with three Walks or Alleys and all of Stone of Tivoli And although the Architects have found by their Calculation that the expence will not exceed five hundred thousand Crowns yet if we reckon according to what the little that is finished already hath cost we shall find that what is proportionably to be done cannot be completed hardly for a million of Crowns These high and great designs are very certain marks that the Pope has a Soul truly Royal and truly he makes it appear in all the publick actions he undertakes as may be seen by the reception he made of the Queen of Sweden in which he omitted nothing that might add any glory or lustre to make it proud and equal if it were possible to the Ancient Roman Triumphs and by his Magnificence he incited the whole Court to shew the complaisance they take in following and imitating herein the inclinations of his Holiness But when we consider on the one side that the Apostolique Chamber is drained by the insatiability of the preceding Popes and on the other side that the times are miserable and had the profusion of so much Treasure appears to the world to be ill husbandry and not in season since it might have been employ'd with more praise and merit and to better purpose for the most pressing Necessities of Christendom who looking upon Rome as the North-Star to guide them and the Pope as their Tutelary God cannot but be afflicted to behold him instead of healing their wounds and composing their distractions amusing and pleasing himself in raising and adorning of stately Walls However it cannot be denied but such great Spirits do extremely thirst after Glory and Renown The wisest men who perceived it from the beginning always scoffed at the Popes sparingness in the first years of his Reign as not being willing to see his nearest kindred much less inrich them nay more it was their opinion that he affected this little glory of renouncing his particular Interests thereby to acquire himself a greater afterwards as if already he had the ambition to do those things which Popes of a most holy life could never do before But since that the world has found the Pope extremely glad to be induced by the Cardinals and the Ministers of other Princes to call those of his Family to Rome while in so doing it might appear that he was rather prompted to it by the earnest intreaties of all the Court than by the flatteries of his kindred Rome is too subtle and can dive too far into the designs of those that command her not to perceive this and how rigorously soever they forbid them from judging the actions of their Princes yet would they not forbear it on this occasion And to say truth they could not apprehend how the Pope who hath so much ambition to revive the memory of his Ancestors could suffer it to be buried in the oblivion of his kindred yet living these were contradictions that could not in any wise be reconciled But however it were then certain it is that at present they are so well at their ease that should the Pope die they will have no cause to envie others riches anon I shall give the reasons more particularly But e're I go further I will not omit to let you know the Original of this House and by what degrees the Pope could rise to so high a Dignity His Nobility is as considerable as could be in the City of Siena where they are registred in the number of those antient Families that have been honoured with such Commands as that City is wont to bestow upon her Members and have maintained themselves by their Alliance with those Families that were nothing inferior to them But this is not the first time that they have made themselves known at Rome In the time of Julius the Second the House of the Chigi had employments in the Court not of Prelature but Offices in the Chamber which spreads the names of those that exercise them over all parts and at that time the Chigi made theirs the more known because they hapned to serve a Pope both passionate and turbulent above all others Whence follows that because of the profusion of monies those that are thus rash are forced to make use of to maintain the Wars they undertake Augustine Chigi who managed the Treasury had a fair opportunity to play his part being naturally active But though he were very stirring and that there was much jealousie about the administration yet Julius never had the least distrust of his integrity on the contrary he testifi'd the good opinion he had of him by those marks of Honor he bestowed in adopting both him and his Heirs into the House of the Rovere whose Arms they bear to this day Since that in the time of Paul III as great employments are exposed to great dangers those of the House of Chigi found themselves eclipsed a little of their first splendor which was cause that the best of their means being alienated and especially their delicious Garden on the Tyber just opposite to the Palace of Farnese which remained to the House that held the Chair they returned to their Country where in a moderate but honorable condition they quietly passed their time till an opportunity offered it self to Fabius Chigi who is Pope at present and who was then a young boy of great hopes to re-instate himself in a better fortune as he was encouraged by his Parents and Friends who believed that a person adorned wich all manner of virtues would much wrong himself should he hide those rich Talents and let them lie buried in idleness by not going out from the gates of his own City But he was hindred by the little wealth he had and also because his friends had not been able to advance themselves during the long interval that those of his Family had been kept from the Court Nevertheless where power is wanting his confidence in putting himself forward by what means soever shewed it self For being
come to Rome he got acquaintance of the Marquis Pallavicino at that time a young man of great virtue and for that cause ever very welcome to Urbane This is he who since made himself a Jesuite and who having been promoted to a Cardinalship sometime since will oblige us to speak somewhat of him hereafter This Marquis then brought him to the Pope's feet and presented him as a person capable to bring any business about with honour when ever any occasion profer'd to serve the Holy Chair His manner of deportment pleased the Pope so that how mean soever his establishment were at first it was not long ere he was appointed to be Inquisitor at Malta in which employment he having made his worth appear was shortly after sent in quality of Vice-Legate to Ferara There it was that what had been conceived of his virtue being made known he was sent Nuncio to Collen in a time when the divisions of Christendome were at their heighth And although in this employment he did not succeed so well as to conclude the Peace yet he performed his part and devoire admirably well But because the Protestant Forces prevailed with whom he could have no communication being Minister to the Pope it was not sufficient that he had induced the Catholiques to make a fair and just accommodation whilst the others stood stifly on their excessive pretences so that he could not act as it might have been hoped he would have done had he been to Negotiate between two Parties of the same Religion but what is wonderful is that the Spaniards and the Imperialists who were both tired and discontented being brought to this pass to make the best accommodation they could the first with the Hollanders and the others with the French not onely without any advantage but even to the prejudice of Religion and the Nuncio having expressed a great deal of his displeasure to both of them he did it yet in such a manner as left no ill impression on either Party but on the contrary they were much edified to find nothing but zeal in him judging thereby that he was so much a better Minister to his Prince by how much he disapproved what they had resolved to do rather out of necessity than any good-will onely to preserve both themselves and their Religion from greater danger He behaved himself with the same prudence when he returned to Rome for being called to the charge of first Secretary though he succeeded the Cardinal Pancirolo in whom Nature had assembled all the circumspection and craft that could be desired and that he was to serve a Pope so difficult to be pleased as Innocent was yet did he carry things so well as that Pope was fully satisfi'd in all matters that he negotiated and above all things he shunn'd as a precipice medling with the interest of the Pope's Niece who would have all the Ministers to acknowledge she was both Lady and Mistris of that Prelate and the Pope had so great a consideration for him that being at the last extremity where the heart speaks more then the tongue and where all dissimulation is laid aside he recommended him as a man very worthy to succeed him in the Papacy so that it was not without reason that your Lordships from that time conceived for the Cardinal Chigi that good opinion that ever since they have had of him and amongst those you recommended to the Lords Cardinals Bragadino Vidman and Ottobuono I remember that he was the first named by those that represented you in Germany as having all those merits requisite to fill the vacant Chair which also hath very happily succeeded And truly if we consider the good conduct of his life the integrity of his manners and his knowledge of the Interests of all States which are all qualities that meet in the Pope's Person there is no cause you should repent your wishing it or your having laboured to raise him but the mischief is that what goodness and integrity soever the Cardinals have they no sooner begin to taste the sweetness of being Masters and having no Superior but God but they change their natures and think themselves no longer obliged to follow those Maxims they said were rooted in their Souls whilst they were Cardinals Who would believe that Pope Alexander having so great a capacity whereby he can truly judge of the dangers Christianity is in should have assisted the Turk to advance and establish an Arsenal in Candia of all his Forces and that he should have shewed himself every way so obstinate as he did in refusing those benefits which might serve in this conjuncture Who would ever have thought that a Cardinal who before his promotion to the Cardinalship breathed nothing but zeal and seemed to languish with sorrow to behold the miserable estate that Christendom was going to be plunged into by that obstinate War between two of her greatest Crowns should not being raised to the Holy Chair burn with the like ardor for a general peace Who would have believed that when the most essential matters were agreed upon for the healing of our present miseries he should seek to quarrel for very slight reasons which have no other object but either to amplifie his jurisdiction or maintain his own Opinions and Sentiments I shall hint at many of these changes in this discourse that your most serene Lordships may consider as they have ever done what confidence they may put in the words and promises of these Cardinals before and after their Elevation to the Papacy who because they cannot at first gainsay what they have so lately declared they would do afterwards by degrees lay aside all manner of respect during their Reign and onely knit themselves to what their own proper interests or the suggestions of their flatterers inspire them with But in the mean time not to omit what I promised at the beginning to make known concerning the Pope's nearest kindred those towards whom his Holiness bears the greatest affection are the Lord Don Mario his Brother who married a Gentlewoman of Siena of the House de la Ciaja and the Lord Flavio his Son at this time Cardinal and sirnamed the Cardinal Padrone that is to say Master He hath a like and perhaps a greater affection for the Lord Augustin the Son of another Brother who was named Augustin and this was he who having two years since married the Prince Borghese's Sister remained Head of the Family after the death of Don Mario I think it therefore necessary to give an account of all these to your most Serene Lordships since as I have already said the divers accidents that hapned did not permit your Ministers to relate any thing to you of certainty The Lord Don Mario who is five years elder then the Pope is beloved of his Holiness as much as the tie and relation of kindred between them and the respect he hath ever had for him does require without having however received any other favour because
those good offices he might do Since he was made a Cardinal though it were expected one might hope for somewhat more yet I have found him standing upon his guard more than ever pleading the pretence of some command the Pope had laid on him not to intermeddle in any affair that were not agreeable to him In a word I am not satisfi'd with him although he often mention the deserts of his Ancestors from this Republique and the obligations which those of his Order do in particular owe unto him The Pope refers much to him in matters of Theology and Conscience and confers with him too about those of State but rather to know than to follow his advice because most times he looks upon things according to the rigour of the Ecclesiastical Laws The Spanish Ambassadour was not very well pleased with him who when all the other Cardinals had been to visit his Wife he would not upon a pretence that although he had changed the habit of his Order yet he hath not changed the Rules which prohibits them to be amongst Women but in cases of great necessity This kind of behaviour which is an affected singularity renders him odious to a great many people He did not oblige your Lordships when he put forth his History in answer of the Book of the deceased Padre Paul of the Order of Servants wherein speaking too freely of a Minister whom you have so much cherished he gave you cause to oppose him as you did at the publication of that History of which having said something to me by way of excuse I presently shifted the discourse that I might not obliged to enter upon such tetchy subjects upon which if we had proceeded he might have alledged many Metaphysical distinctions which it is not my profession to answer but had he treated of that business in a way more suitable to that subject I am confident I should have been too hard for him and put him at a stand In divers things the Pope makes use of the Cardinal Corrado a Ferrarian and principally in those differences which Secular Princes have concerning Ecclesiastical matters wherein his Holiness is but ill served for that Cardinal is a pure Legist that hath no knowledge in the affairs of the world who alleages a decisive Text on any matter in question without any regard to the decency or respect is to be had towards a State or any moderate interpretation where required for he never makes any account of this certain Maxim Summum jus summa injuria This man hath and does continually give distaste to the Cardinals and other Ministers of Princes because he keeps himself still to the rigour of the Canons and will distribute the Benefices according to his own fancy and always upon pretence that it is the Pope's will which he turns as himself pleases under a fair appearance of Sanctity But the disgusts he practises and is accustomed to put upon all the world does more hurt to himself than to any one else for having been so unadvised as to discover his base humor it hath drawn the hatred of all upon him So that for the Chair there is nothing to be expected on his part I never had but little satisfaction from him And indeed since I began to know his defects I never took the pains to do him any courtesie that might acquire his favour those kind of persons thinking they do in some manner sacrifice themselves whensoever they do but in the least act against their own opinions to a man a little pleasure I must also bring into this number Signior Bandinelli of Siena great Master of the Apostolique Palace an old Courtier refined in the Great Duke's Court from whence the Pope called him and took him to his own service knowing the noble manner of his acting He is not a man of a very profound knowledge but of great experience which makes the Pope take great delight in conferring with him who is ordinarily well satisfi'd with his advice Amongst other qualities that makes him considerable there is one that is a very particular which is that he is descended from Alexander III who having been forced to flie and quit his ordinary abode made his retreat in this Republique who received him in their bosome and gave him their protection which he made use of to repress the audaciousness of the Emperor Frederick that persecuted him He glories more in this than in any thing besides and hath a particular veneration for the merits of your Serene Lordships There is no one more certain of a Cardinal's Hat than he It is due ro him for having quitted his own Country where he was very much in favour to go to Rome When he hath a Cardinal's Hat the whole Court who already believe he deserves the supremest degree will be ravish'd for joy Signior Fagnano of the State of Urbin a Prelate well known at Court for his being blind but much more for being so clear sighted in the Superintendence which the Pope hath given him over the affairs of the Regulars deserves that I should make mention of him in this Treatise because thorow his means I have sometimes made an end of a difficult business which otherwise I should scarce have overcome This Prelate hath a great deal of affection for this Serene Republique as having been the first that found out the invention to draw mony from the suppression of the unprofitable Religious Orders as also from the Scandalous so is he likewise still of opinion that since the same necessity still remains they should make use of the same means of supply there being possibility and reason enough to continue it But that design having been interrupted by certain zealous persons upon some other pretexts which they found out he endeavoured to seek out some other projects to assist your Serene Lordships therein And truly he might have found out something effectual did they as well see the dangers at Rome as they do in these places that are so near bordering unto it However I did not omit to give this Prelate many thanks for his great good-will and I believe it will be very fit that you should return him thanks likewise I think also that his Excellency Sagredi who carries several Curiosities to present to the Pope's Family should bestow some part of them on this good man who hath and may yet render upon all occasions all those good Offices which can be expected from the confidence his Holiness puts in his advice and the great credit he gives him The Father Virgilio Spada one of the Order of the Congregation of St. Philip Neri and Brother to the old Cardinal Spada hath some power with the Pope and upon this perswasion I have sometimes endeavoured to get him to serve me upon occasion but I found him armed with a thousand excuses to evade doing me any good whereat I did not afterwards very much wonder knowing he onely sought the advantage of his Family being very
Spaniard his humor suiting better with the Genius of that Nation As for the affection he hath for your Serene Republique I cannot speak so fully of it but I shall leave somewhat untold Spada de Bresighele which is a place in Romagnia is a man more considerable for his Virtues than his Birth and who for this reason deserves more applause than he yet hath But it seems they do not look upon him with so good an eye because of the prosperity of his Family who are lately in possession of much riches which some of the oldest amongst them have acquired by their Farms and Marriages and which have also been since multiplied thorow the industry of this same Cardinal and the Father Virgilio Spada his Brother who hath not been wanting in striving to acquire wealth and raise his House though he make profession of a retired life This Cardinal hath many very good qualities besides which make him worthy of a higher degree but that which hinders him from rising is the envy many have against him and the great number of Nepveus he hath which are like to be encreased by those Marriages they have of late contracted I must add to this the little confidence the Spaniards have in him who think him a very subtile man and one that hath a great inclination towards the French He hath a high esteem for this Republique and hath as much resentment in all her troubles and dangers as any one whatsoever Sachetti a Florentine hath entred Pope twice into the past Conclaves but still came forth again Cardinal to the great regret of good people and such as are acquainted with his virtues The Spaniards did not murmur so much against his elevation as the Florentines who endeavoured all they could to thwart his Election and I believe it now proceeds from no other cause but onely they having been once engaged to exclude him imagine that he will for ever resent the injury they had done him although he may have served them much since Indeed there are few in the Colledge so worthy if we consider all his good qualities He hath made himself the more fully known by that constancy wherewith he hath undergone those disappointments and the sollicitations he made to Mazarine to lay aside all those jealousies which might make him oppose the exaltation of the Cardinal Chigi whom he esteemed more worthy of the Chair than any other in a time wherein his own hopes were not desperate He keeps the same reputation still at Court which he had formerly and if his advanced age would let him survive the present Pope he would ever have the same applause as formerly He is commonly very indifferent in his affection to other Nations seldome favouring one more than another but I dare confidently say that he is partial for your Republique Ginetti of Veletre is a Cardinal who though he be rich and have a great deal of experience yet does nothing that gains much commendations or that makes him esteemed worthy to be raised higher than he now is There is no other reason than the poorness of his spirit appearing in all his actions and his insatiable desire to enrich himself whence they draw this consequence that should he be mounted higher few should partake of his Grandeurs or Bounty add hereto that having been one of Urban's greatest Confidents and Creatures he is entirely possessed with those Maxims which are nothing convenient for the good of Christendome He omitted nothing his power to make himself Pope the last times the Chair was vacant but although he found some Cardinals his friends who listned to him in hopes of partaking of his favours yet he found no body for him amongst the Princes who cannot promise much good to themselves from a person so wedded to his own interests and so little inclined to favour others I know not indeed what to say of him He makes profession of much devotion but I should hardly ever trust a man who besides his other defects hath the reputation of perfectly knowing how to dissemble The Cardinal Antonio Barberino is a man who all his life time hath ever been even gentility and generosity it self He is engaged as much as can be possible to France but in such a manner however that he does not make himself odious to other rival Nations because he speaks of all the world with a huge deal of respect and brings his affairs so about that none can justly complain of him He reaps many advantages from the Crown of France which nevertheless does not make him the richer but rather the contrary since he consumes more money for them than he receives as well in entertaining his friends perpetually whilst he is in France as in advancing the interests of that Crown And by reason of the great inclination he hath for that Country where they live according to his humor after a very free manner he would rather make his residence there than in any part of the world but it is observed that Mazarin does not look on him with a good eye perhaps out of jealousie because his carriage which is so fair and pleasing might be a disadvantage to him while he is more than any man alive in favour with his King He was the first who at the publication of the Peace manifested the good-will he hath for France and that in such a noble and splendid manner as was thought worthy of his generosity The affection he bears that Nation does not make him however forgetful of what is due to the Princes of Italy and particularly to your Serene Lordships whose merits he never mentions but with admiration Colonne a German is the Head of his Family by the disposal of the deceased Don Philip Colonne his Father who having cleared his debts by his good husbandry thought fit to recommend the direction thereof to that Son who seemed to be most wary and sparing Nor was he deceived in his choice since this man considering his riches which are great especially if we reckon what he hath from the Church is so reserved when any mony is to go from him that is presumed during the long time he hath managed their Estate he hath heaped up a very great quantity taking much delight in hoarding up continually but never expending any thing in a superfluous manner To which the Suits he opposed by Law which the Spaniards and Ministers of that State had for a long time maintained till his Fathers death have not a little contributed who thinking themselves most unjustly deprived of those Honours pretended to by his Family disputed it very obstinately against him but in the end yielded up all his antient prerogatives to him which much augmented his Revenues and hath gained him a very great esteem At that time when his Holiness exhorted all those that were rich to contribute somewhat towards the assistance of your most Serene Republique he was the onely Cardinal that excused himself alleaging the dammage which the Plague had done
too narrow a limit for the exercise of his Virtues and the expences he makes would have been better employed in some Legation or some considerable employment at Court where to speak truth such weak men do reside that either for the success in an affair or for want of choosing the readiest and safest ways they do even displease those whom they most favour But as for his exile from Court which we may term honourable the cause thereof can be attributed to nothing else but the knowledge they have of his eminent virtues as well for that ordinarily Virtue is looked upon with an envious eye as because he did in the Conclave endeavour earnestly to unite the opposite parties who wavered and obstructed all other designs All I can say to your Excellencies of this Lord is that the affection he bears his Native Country is the most tender and hearty that can be desired in any of your most Serene Republique's Subjects and whatever favours you bestow you can never place them better than on a man who like this same now mention'd is wholly disposed to prefer the publique interest in all occasions before his own Maldachino is very well the Pope was very careful to make him go and take the aire of the Campagnia for a good while whence he returned at the intreaties of the Cardinals who took that absenting for an exile The Spaniards were not much allarm'd at his change and declaration for France Yet must it be said in his praise that he did very wisely in seeking the support and gaining the favour of a great King Nay there is some generosity in it because there is no appearance he was moved out of interest since Mazarin is not a person likely to bestow any great reward upon him whether it be out of his natural inclination to parsimony or some fixed design to regulate and reduce the vast expences of that Nation drained by so long a War or some more hidden and refined politique consideration it being certainly a pure folly to waste the Exchequer in Pensions for the Court of Rome Besides nothing is more apparent than this that the way to gain those people is to neglect them Interest and Fear would soon reunite them and make them look towards France for succour did they fear they were abandon'd to the dreadful power of Spain all the humility of submission and art of compliance would then be put in practise to make sure of and draw the French to their side to oppose that ambitious Neighbour who surrounding the Pope with Millan and Naples may devour him when he hath the mind to it I have visited him upon some occasions but never much regarded his discourse which still tended to make me believe he is very much a servant to your most Serene Lordships Borromeo a Milanois a Lord of a considerable Birth hath ever given testimony in those employments he hath had of a strict secresie great modesty and sincerity which are qualities rarely lodged together in a man that is in power or command He doth at present exercise the charge of Legat in Romagnia with much praise not giving any cause of complaint under his Government I cannot but give a fair judgment of his Sentiments for the publique good on which that of your most Serene Republique is necessarily depending which he assured me of the last time I visited him Imperiale a Genoese is a man fit for Government who quickly apprehends where any evil is and hath capacity enough to apply the remedy He hath also a free heart which will not easily yield when he finds on which side there is more reason Yet cannot I tell whether he would succeed well if he had the Soveraign command because he is a Genoese and prepossess'd with the Maxims of his Country which pretend to attain to that in a short time to which other Potentates could not arrive but by a succession of many ages and this may perhaps be one of the causes will exclude him from any higher advancement In the mean time he makes very powerful protestations that he will ever side with those who stand for the Liberty of Italy which is to say in good English that he will side with your most Serene Republique Astalli a Roman hath acted several parts at the Court of Rome in a short time He was a Prelate of a mean Fortune since that he was made a Cardinal He was of kindred and supported by Pope Innocent's Niece who would speak all and do all at that time when he was made Cardinal He was in Pamfilio's Family in quality of a Nepvew a while after he was rejected as unworthy of that Title exiled from Rome and almost cast into the Precipice but a little after the death of Innocent he somewhat recovered himself again yet could not make them restore what they had taken In fine he found relief in the protection of the Catholique King who hath bestowed some Largess upon him which hath set him in a pretty good posture The History of the strange turns he hath been subject to would be very curious but it being too prolix I shall pass it by because likewise ere this Writing appears no doubt but the Relations of those times will set forth the truth of it There can be nothing more intricate than the condition of that Family which then governed for on the one side the Pope's Niece and her Confederates were ever making some enterprize and on the other the Cardinal Panciroli who was then the chief Minister of State countermined them and either of these scoffed at that Pope before his face because although he had wit enough yet he had not the judgment or way to make those stand in awe of him who were the most obliged to him In the mean time this Cardinal after he had undergone so many different Fortunes attained to his ease and quiet yet without any great repute or esteem being more addicted to follow his own inclinations than to serve the Publique and therefore I cannot inform you what his affection is towards this Republique Albici of Cenata is a man who finding he can raise himself no higher by the ways of eminent virtue is resolved to try what he can do by his extravagancies and this it is makes him speak so freely against the corruptions of the times which he is not satisfi'd in doing in private but taking delight to shew his Eloquence which is not the highest that ever was he discourses of it in publique Oratories and sometimes with biting expressions which seems to aim at the Popes creatures who are in command This is ill resented at the Palace but they let him go on as if they understood him not and yet not being free from failings himself it is wonder'd he should be so apt to censure others He hath rather I know not what kind of commerce with the world than any considerable knowledge and having been chosen by Pope Innocent as a person fit for Government
forbear it that they may not undergo the contempt of seeing their Decrees rejected and their Authority despised Whence it will follow that the Cause ceasing those Dissentions which are the Effects will cease likewise The second which is purely Politique may be reduced to this That although the Popes have acquired great power over the Spanyard by their having several times extremely obliged them and do in their Country exercise an Authority not at all disputed nevertheless they cannot but have some jealousie and fear lest that Monarchy should one day open its eyes and endeavour to ease themselves of those great burthens the Clergy have insensibly laid on their backs and because if that should happen it may be the thunder of the Censures and Temporal power of the Church would prove insufficient to oppose that danger The Pope's have therefore made it their Maxim to keep the Amity of the French as a means thereby to help themselves in case there should any change or stirs happen on the House of Austria Some Cardinals have at times entertained me with discourse on this subject not in such plain terms but however in such a way that I could easily perceive that they see clearer and farther then some Princes imagine they do When ever the French laying aside their suspition of the Clergies covetousness shall endeavour or desire to be at greater amity with the Court of Rome there is no cause to fear but it would succeed because of their conformity in Religion and because of their own interest who if they should trouble the peace of Rome would compel them to unite themselves more firmly with the Spanyard a thing the French will endeavour to obstruct as much as possibly they can If we should judge of things according to the interest of the Court of Rome and Pope Alexander's inclination we need not doubt but the Spanyards possess the affection of his Holiness more than any other The interest of the Court of Rome consists in this that for the most part the mony wherewith it is glutted above all the other Cities in Italy comes in greatest abundance from the States of the Catholique King where the Ecclesiastical Tribunal is held in Sovereign veneration all the States of that Monarchy having their recourse thither to the great profit of the Officers who have a share in the First-fruits and many other things according to their Quality and their Offices And as for the Pope's inclination provided he otherwise have a general zeal for the good of Christendom and the propagation of the Faith and that he remain stedfast in these two things as I believe he doth I think he may and ought to have a more particular affection for that Nation whose Maxim it is Not to admit of any other Religion in their Dominions but the Roman Catholique and employing all the power they have to advance it But in truth things are not carri'd thus for whether the Court of Rome believes that all the Spanyards do in pretence of Religion is rather out of self-interest or whether this Court is perswaded they ought absolutely to rule over those that will never fall foul on her how great soever the inconveniencies are they lie under it is ever observ'd in all the differences arising betwixt Rome and Spain that after a great and long contest the Agreement is most commonly made to the Popes content and the diminution of somewhat of the Catholique King's pretences and when businesses have thus hapned to the disadvantage of that Monarchy other Princes have also received a notable prejudice thereby for when the Pope or his Ministers have once carri'd so high a hand over the Spanyard as to make him yield they presently make use of the opportunity to quell or confound those that would do otherwise or at least to induce them not to refuse that to which so great a Monarchy as Spain hath acquiesc'd This stratagem may be effectual when they treat with inferior Princes who are not able upon every contest they have with Rome to take Arms but both the Pope and his Ministers decline all these ways when they have to deal with the French who when the Clergy press'd them by this example of the Spanyards to condescend to things which were prejudicial to them soon gave them an answer which stopped their mouthes Nay my self being once earnestly sollicited to press your Lordships for a revocation of the Ordinance which prohibits the Clergy from purchasing any immovables upon an example alleaged of the practise of Spain and the other Territories of his Catholique Majesty did give for answer That the reasons which oblig'd that great and vast Monarchy to suffer it were not current here because this Republique being but a petty or little State and the Clergy extraordinarily encreased in wealth if they were suffered still to purchase and never to alienate our posterity could expect no other than to be one day driven out of this * Venice is built on a Marsh Marsh and and perhaps out of all her Territories on the firm Land And to this are all those Principalities reduc'd who not content with that subjection they owe the Church of Rome as the Universal Mother of Christians have submitted to and followed the Pope's desires in things indifferent not that they do at once demand several things of difficulty but sometimes one thing and then another and thus by little and little they gain so much as doth both diminish and limit the Temporal Power and so when Princes shall think themselves Masters they will find their Authority so eclips'd and manacl'd that they will be astonish'd to see another master them at their own homes Those who are acquainted with their extortions at Naples and perhaps in all the other Dominions of Spain of the Officers of the Roman Treasury as well in matters of * A certain Fee levi'd by the Ecclesiastical Chamber at the death of a Clergy-man that hath no power to make a Will Despoiling as in the gathering up of what is raised for the Fabrick of St. Peter which they also impose on meer Laicks cannot but admire that the Ministers of Spain should be so drousie as not to observe with what Empire void of all discretion and with what insolency they treat the Persons and Goods of their Subjects Let your most Serene Signory therefore give thanks to the Divine Bounty that hath preserved her from these confusions and given her the prudence and courage to defend both her self and Subjects from the violence of such Strangers confirming her ever in the antient and true Faith but also giving her at the same time the judgment to discern what is due to Caesar and what to God It is certain that if the Spaniards still keep their eyes as close shut as they have hitherto done they cannot expect so great a Tempest from any other part as from the Court of Rome when upon any accident there shall arise dissention amongst them because those
people that are Subjects to the Austrian Family being hugely possessed with Religion and fully perswaded that the Sanctuary of Rome is that alone which can either bestow or deprive them of Eternal Salvation if in the commencement of a rupture the Popes should proceed to Excommunication or a Revocation of Indulgences which they have liberally allowed the Catholique Kings it is beyond all doubt that a general combustion would follow thereupon which might occasion the revolt of all the Subjects of that great Empire and so the forfeit of the peace and security of the Spanyards would flow from his too great obedience wherein they imagine their chief strength and power does consist But perhaps likewise the good Genious of those Kingdomes will suggest such means as may prevent these inconveniencies and the present Age not having been happy in that Monarchy by reason of the few virtuous Men that have been her late Souvereigns future Ages may produce more excellent ones and compense her past disorders by preventing those which might happen probably to her hereafter In effect if with attention we consider the present posture of things in the world it greatly concerns Christendome to have a Potent Prince who in such dangers whereinto the power of the Turks may in an instant and unprovided cast her might suddenly make head against them without making of Leagues and expecting Foreign aid which cannot be compassed but by length of time and is a great retardment And if Christendome had had in this present juncture of things a powerful Prince to have thus succour'd her perhaps your most Serene Signory had not been reduc'd to the condition she is now in And notwithstanding on her security depends all what the Monarchy of Spain possesses in Italy But to return to what I said Pope Alexander is not ignorant of all those reasons he hath to make him love Spain and her King and does often tell this to the Ministers of other Princes but in such a manner however as if it seemed that the benefits which the Court of Rome receiveth from the Spanyards were not so considerable as to hinder the Pope from denying them from time to time those favours which they crave of him as having authority not to grant all to those Children he most tenders what they shall desire but onely that which will be for their greatest good and highest spiritual advantage His Holiness hath made complaint for that the Spanish Ministers have been too reserved and secret towards him in not communicating to him the Treaty of Peace pretending that having ever believed the Propositions on their part were more plausible than those which were shaped in Mazarin's Closet they did him wrong in observing so rigorously that Seal of Secresie which Mazarin had imposed on them And although they endeavour all they can to calm his discontented thoughts thereupon urging that it was conceal'd in the same manner from the Emperour and even from the Republique which had been so long time employ'd about the Treaty He is not however satisfi'd with this excuse but replies That they ought to make a difference between Secular Princes and a Pope who aimed at no other thing but to find out the means to give that content to all Christendom and not have left that honour to a man who had studi'd all the devices imaginable to obstruct so great a happiness After all this I conclude that the Pope hath just reason to love the Spanyards not so much because they contributed to his Exaltation as because their Arms have put a stop to the fury of Heretiques and their Country brings in the Riches and opulency to the Court of Rome and I believe he doth truly love them but having found that his Predecessors had taken the way to have most commonly some contests with the Catholique Court he will not swerve from it esteeming these disputes do in some respects encrease the reputation of the Court of Rome and from thence hath a fair opportunity to gain an esteem of other Princes not declining my former Proposition That the more the Spanyards condescend to the Pope's will the more will they prejudice themselves and the Obligations they do acknowledge to be due from them to the Apostolique Seat may one day produce most dangerous effects unless they fore-arm themselves by such precautious means as they shall judge most proper against the pretensions of the Ecclesiastiques thereby to put their Monarchy in a better posture of security The King of Poland subsists because God hath affisted him For otherwise had he reli'd on those hopes the Court of Rome had given him to supply him with Money his enemies had triumph'd over him and the total loss of that Kingdom would have been such a leading to other Provinces as might have wrought the manifest danger of establishing a Power in those parts which would have become formidable to all Europe God be praised that we are so happy as to see every one returning to his own home again his neighbouring Princes beginning to stickle in that War as they ought to do whereas nothing to purpose could have been expected from them had the pressing affairs of Christendom summoned them to the defence of their own States The Pope talks loudly of the good Offices he did for the Religion and Countries of the Catholique Princes at that juncture But the Polonians and Imperialists speak otherwise they profess that at the heighth of all the War they found no great benefit in the exhortations of his Holiness which served for nothing else but onely to perswade their Enemies they had not so little amity for them but that they would send them succour from Rome And it was this noise and nothing else that made it believed the Catholique Forces were so much greater than indeed they were In the mean time King Casimir a good Souldier and good Catholique finding at present his losses are nothing so great as he had cause to fear they would prove gives the Pope thanks for what he hath done and to please him the more tells him That the very words of his Holiness were not ineffectual for his assistance The Duke of Savoy hath had no Minister at Rome since some discontent given him in Pope Innocent's time and indeed considering the little business he hath there he needs not entertain any The present Pope who seeks by all means and ways to add lustre and glory to that Court which he thinks does consist much in the number of such Ministers as reside there on the behalf of other Princes hath declared that he should be much pleased to have an Ambassadour from that Duke as from a Prince to whom the Church is much oblig'd This he made known obliquely to Madam and the Duke her Son who found it fitting to content his Holiness herein who would be willing likewise to add lustre to that Family were there any of them at present worthy of the Purple to lay the surer foundation for the