Selected quad for the lemma: city_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
city_n	great_a	time_n	year_n	9,128	5	4.5915	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61982	A supplement to Dr. Burnet's letters relating to his travels through Switzerland, Italy, Germany, &c. In the years 1685, and 1686. Being further remarks on Switzerland, and Italy, &c. Written by a nobleman of Italy, and communicated to the author. Which he has since thought fit to publish in vindication of some passages in the letters.		1687 (1687)	Wing S6184; ESTC R219141	9,094	22

equip'd each of them a Gally at their own Charges which they maintained during all the War. The great Actions are well known which they have done in the Levant by their Fleets and how they along time opposed the Duke of Florence who at length subdued them by the Assistance of the Spanish Arms. Pisa is one of the largest and most beautiful Cities of Italy the Buildings are stately and fine and so is one of their Churches which with its dependancies is one of the finest in all Italy The City is built upon the River of Arne which divides it in the midst it is Navigable for Vessels of a great burthen and at Legorne which is Twelve Miles distance it falls into the Sea. It is one of the best scituated Towns in all Italy for Trade with which it flourished extreamly whilst it was a Republick at present not only the City but the Country belonging to it is wholly depopulated Writers say that there were formerly above one hundred and fifty Thousand Inhabitants whereas now there are not twelve Thousand The Grass grows in most of the Places and Streets of the City and most of the Houses are deserted and lye void I was my self in a fair large Pallace which was let for six Pistoles per annum the greatest part of their Lands lye wast and the Air is very unhealthy in most parts because of the small number of Inhabitants The Duke of Florence thought there was no way to secure himself of this Great City but by depopulating of it and ruining the Trade which rendred it so Potent so that at present there is not any Trade there at all The City of Sienna was also formerly a very fine Common-wealth and had in it many noble rich and powerful Families but since that the Duke of Florence hath reduced it to his Obedience he hath ruined most of the Nobility and Gentry many of them retiring into France and into the Territories of some of the Princes of Italy As to the City of Florence it self it is extreamly decayed to what it was since it came under the Government of the House of Medicis It is plain from the History of Machiavil and other Italian Authors that lived in those times that it was three times more populous when it was a Republick than it is now The Great Duke keeping his Court and Residence there one would think should make the City flourish the more yet it wants a great deal of that Luster and Splendor it had when it was a Common-wealth Remarks upon the Temporal Government of the POPE THere are certainly very few People so miserable as those who live under the Dominion of the Pope most of the States of Italy and where there are the most Subsidies and Impositions have not put any Tax upon Corn and Grain which make Bread because there is no Person tho never so miserable that can subsist without it there is that humanity and regard had to the People in not laying Taxes upon Bread because 't is the common Nourishment and absolutely necessary even for the most Indigent and Poor tho Impositions are laid without scruple upon Wine and other Merchandises because they are not so necessary as Bread yet the Pope makes no scruple to lay very great Impositions upon Corn and Bread throughout all his Dominions except in those places that have yet preserved their Liberties It was Donna Olimpia that during the Pontificat of Innocent the X. began to put Taxes and Imposts upon Corn and made such Laws which have ruined the most part of the great Nobility and Gentry that live under the Ecclesiastical Government who had their Revenues consisting in Corn. All the Popes who have Reigned since Innocents time have found such a great advantage to themselves by these Laws of Donna Olympia that they have continued them ever since and it is at present a very considerable part of the Ecclesiastical Revenue The substance of which said Law or Ordinance is this That no Person whatsoever is suffered to sell Corn to any Strangers but all those that have any are obliged to sell it at a price certain to the Ecclesiastical Chamber which is not above one moiety of the real Value and then the Ecclesiastical Chamber sells it again at double the price In Italy there is no person either in City or Country in the Popes Dominions who is permitted to make their own Bread but every one is obliged to buy it of the Bakers who are appointed by the Chamber in each Village and Burrough there is but one Baker Established by the Chamber to make and sell Bread the Baker is obliged to take the Corn of the Chamber at a certain price and to make the Bread of such a quality and weight and to sell it at a price certain In the great Cities as at Rome there are very many Bakers who are all obliged to buy a certain quantity of Corn of the Ecclesiastical Chamber for a whole Year to come which they pay for before-hand and give ten Crowns the Salme or measure when at the same time the Chamber bought it of the particular Persons for five Crowns at the beginning of the Year all the Bakers are obliged to take the same quantity of Corn for the Year ensuing altho sometimes they have a great deal of the last Years Corn upon their hands which they must deliver to the Chamber for five Crowns the Salme or Measure and then the very same Corn is sold them again for Ten Crowns I do not believe that there is any Country in the World that draws more profit from their Subjects for Corn than the Pope doth in his Dominions which hath ●…een partly the Cause of the ruine of the Ecclesiastical Estate since the Establishment of the said Law which was about thirty Years since the Country is unpeopled and great part of the Lands lye void and uncultivated because it is not worth while to manure them when the greatest advantage and profit arising thereby goes to the Pope In travelling through the Ecclesiastical Territories in Romania and between Rome and Naples there are vast quantities of Land unmanured A Traveller passing through the Estate of a Roman Prince told the Prince upon his return to Naples He would if he pleased send him Husbandmen that should Manure his Lands thinking that it had been for want of Labourers that the Land lay void and wast The Prince told him That he did not want People to Cultivate his Lands but because they were obliged to Sell all their Corn and Grain to the Chamber at a very low Price it would not quit cost to Manure and Cultivate it Touching the Reduction of the Interest of Money Due by the MONTES at Rome from 4. to 3. per Cent. EVery body almost knows what 't is which in Italy and especially at Rome they call the Montes It is much like the Rents upon the Town-House at Paris The Popes having occasion of Money borrow great Sums of

not live so well as in the Grisons Country for that the Natives are more slothful and lazy and here again there are abundance of poor People as you will find in all parts of Italy Of the Bailiage of LUGANE THere are on the other side of the Mountains four Bailiages which where formerly part of the Dutehy of Milan Lewis XII when he lost that Dutchy gave these Bailiages to some of the Switz Cantons These Bailiages are called Lugane Lucarno Mendris and Belinston I shall only take notice of the Bailiage of Lugane which contains ninety nine Villages The Territories of this Bailiage and of the others are not near so good as that of Milan to which it ●…oyns yet the Villages of this Bailiage are very ●…opulous the Lands is very fruitful because it is ●…ll cultivated and all the Inhabitants live contented and well there are no Beggars amongst them nor hardly any Object of Misery and Want their Houses are all good well built and kept in good repair The Territory of Milan is certainly one of the best in all Italy it produceth Wine Corn and Oyl in abundance very great quantity of Silk and generally speaking all sorts of Fruits there is also excellent Pasture for Cat●le and yet the Peasants there do not live so well by much as in the Bailiage of Lugane for there is a great deal of Land that lies unmanur'd and the Country is not near so populous as in Lugane There can be no other Reason given for this Difference but that Milan is under the Dominion of Spain That the People are loaden with Imposts Subsidies and Taxes which makes them very poor whereas the People of Lugane are under the Government of Switzerland who put no Taxes or Subsidies upon them Remarks upon the LAKES I Do not know that in the Kingdom of France as it was thirty years since there were any Lakes except perhaps in the Mountains of Dauphine From the Lake of Jour to the Lake of Garde which is at Desenesan between Bresse and Veronne In the Territories of Venice there are a great number of Lakes one of the most considerable is that of Geneva then there is the Lake of Newchattel the Lake d'Yverdun the Lake of Morat the Lake of Bienne the Lake of Quinti the Lake of Lucerne the Lake of Constance the Lake of Valestat and many others in the Mountains of Switzerland There is on the other side the Mountains a great and considerable Lake called Come also the Lake of Lugane the Lake Maj r which is above 60 miles long and likewise the Lake de Garde All these Lakes are replenish'd with most excellent Fish and particularly Trouts but in the Lake de Garde there is found an admirable Fish called Carpion which is far more delicate than either Trout or Salmon but they are not so great for those of the largest size do not weigh above fifteen pounds I do not think that in any part of Europe there are so many fine Lakes to be found in so narrow a Compass as these which I have here mentioned Concerning the Dutchy of FERRARA THe Duke of Ferrara hath always been but a little Prince because his Dominions are not very great yet there have been several of the said Dukes for above 150. years ago and since that have made a handsome Figure and held a considerable Rank amongst the Princes of Italy The Country was formerly very populous and the Lands being fertil and well cultivated the Revenue of the Prince were considerable and he kept a good Court. But since that Dutchy is devolved upon the See of Rome by the Death of the last Duke who dyed without Issue Male the Country is almost depopulated the most part of the Lands are desolate and for several Years last past the Dutchy is infected with Diseases purely for want of Inhabitants There were formly in the time of the Dukes of Ferrara more than one hundred thousand People and at present there are not 15000. The Grass grows in the Streets and most of the Houses are void Polesino is one of the best parts of Italy and that part of it which is possessed by the Venetians is very well cultivated and populous and 't is one of the best of their small Princes As soon as you pass the great Arm of the River Po which is called the Lagoscouro which separates that part of the Polisino which belongs to the Venetians from that which belongs to the Pope although the Land and Country is the very fame yet the most part of those Lands of the Polesino which belongs to the Ecclesiastical State are desolate and wast the Grass lies withered and rotten upon the ground because there is no body takes care to mow it and in passing through great Villages you 'll find all the Houses abandon'd and not one Inhabitant to be found It is not easily to be imagined how it is possible that a Country so populous and flourishing should in less than 80. years be so entirely ruined and dispeopled by this it is very apparent that no Subjects are so unhappy as those that live under the Domination of the Clergy Concerning the Estates of BOLOGNIA IF the Popes had been able to have made themselves Masters of Bolognia as they have done of Ferrara they would thereby have reduced it to the same miserable condition but Bolognia hath always preserved their Priviledges and the Civil Government by means of the Gonfalonniers under whom they are governed They have the Right of sending Embassadors to the Pope who enjoy the same Prerogatives as do the Embassadors of the other free Princes and States The Pope cannot confiscate the Goods of any Subject of Bolognia for any Crime whatsoever The great Mischiefs which too frequently happen here more than in other parts are Assassinations and Murthers those that commit them fly for shelter to some of the Churches as to an inviolable Asylum from whence the Legats themselves cannot bring them to be Punished or perhaps they retire into the Country into some Strong hold or into the Territories of a Neighbouring Prince where they are certainly secure and there remain until the Legation of the then Cardinal be finished and afterwards make an agreement with the Successor who for Money pardons them having Power so to do all the Crimes and Murthers they have committed In other respects the People of Bolognia are very happy and live in great plenty for that the Country is mighty fruitful and they pay no Taxes to the Prince Remarks upon the Country of the Great Duke of TUSCANY THere are in this Great Dukedome three considerable Cities Florence Pisa and Sienna All those who have read the History of Italy do know that Pisa was formerly a very powerful Common-wealth that it flourished in Trade and Commerce and that there were a great many wealthy Citizens belonging to it There needs no other proof of this than what we read that upon a certain occasion a hundred of the Citizens