nd of the baker Duke Grazioli.

For they are all equal from the hour when the Holy Father has signed
their parchments. Whatever be the origin of their nobility and the
antiquity of their houses, they go arm in arm, without any disputes as
to precedence. The names of Orsini, Colonna, and Sforza, are jumbled
together in the family of a former _domestique de place_. The son of a
baker marries the daughter of a Lante de La Rovere, granddaughter of a
Prince Colonna, and a Princess of Savoie-Carignan. There is no fear
that the famous quarrel of the princes and dukes, which so roused the
indignation of our stately St. Simon, will ever be repeated among the
Roman aristocracy.

To what purpose should it be, gracious Heavens! Don't they well
know--dukes and princes--that they are all alike inferior to the
shabbiest of the cardinals? The day that a Capuchin receives the red
hat, he acquires the right to splash the mud in their faces as he
rides past in his gilded coach.

In all monarchical States, the king is the natural head of the
nobility. The strongest term that a gentleman can make use of, in
alluding to his house, is that it is as noble as the King. _As noble
as the Pope_ would be simply ludicrous, since a swineherd, the son of
a swineherd, may be elected Pope, and receive the oath of fidelity
from all the Roman princes. They may well then consider themselves
upon an equality among themselves, these poor grandees, seeing that
they are equally looked down upon by a few priests.

They console themselves with the thought that they are superior to all
the laymen in the world. This soothing vanity, neither noisy nor
insolent, but none the less firmly rooted in their hearts, enables
them to swallow the daily affront of conscious inferiority.

I am quite aware of the points in which they are inferior to the
upstarts of the Church, but their affected superiority to other men is
less evident to me.

As to their courage. Some years have elapsed since they had the
opportunity of proving it on the field of battle.[4]

Heaven forbids duelling. The Government inculcates the gentler
virtues.

They are not wanting in a certain ostentatious and theatrical
liberality. A Piombino sent his ambassador to the conference at
Vienna, allowing L4,000 for the expenses of the mission. A Borghese
gave the mob of Rome a banquet that cost L48,000, to celebrate the
return of Pius VII. Almost all the Roman princes open their palaces,
villas, and