The Streets of Genoa are, properly speaking, rather Galleries than Streets, there being nothing but Structures and Palaces of the utmost Magnificence, look which way one will. That which
struck me most of all was the Palace of Balbi; I never saw any so regular, and with Fronts so conformable to the Rules of Architecture; but then it must be consider’d, ’tis in this grand Outside only that all the Magnificence of the Houses of Genoa consists; for when you enter into one of the greatest and richest Palaces, there’s not a Mortal to be seen, so that one would think there are no Domestics, and sometimes ’tis a difficult Matter to find the Master of the House. In a Word, the great Houses of Genoa are mere Solitudes, excepting on Assembly Days, of which there are some held here every Evening at the House of one Nobleman or another. Then the Apartments are nobly illuminated, and there’s all manner of Refreshments serv’d up in Profusion. Assemblies of this kind, and a sorry Italian Opera, were all the Pleasures at Genoa while I was there; so that a Stranger does not know what to do here with his Time. Here are also very few Entertainments made, and the Envoys, who are generally they that make the most, conform, when they are at Genoa, to the Temper of the People, which is to give their Guests nothing to eat or drink. In my time there was none here but the English Envoy, who did not follow that Custom, for ’twas a Pleasure to him to treat his Friends with good Cheer.
While I was at Genoa the Republic chose a new Doge: I saw him go to the Cathedral, and take the usual Oath: The Procession was on Foot; ’twas begun by some of the Doge’s Officers, after whom Eight Pages, in Habits of crimson Velvet lac’d with Gold, went before the Doge, who was dress’d in a long Robe of crimson Velvet, with a Sort of square Cap of the same: He was supported by the General of the
Genoese Arms on his Right Hand, and by another Officer of the Republic on his Left Hand, and he walk’d between Two Files of the Hundred Swiss. The Senators follow’d two and two, dress’d in long Gowns of black Velvet. The Archbishop met the Doge about the middle of the Church, where was a Cushion of crimson Velvet for the Doge, and other Cushions for the Senators, who all kneel’d down as well as the Doge, and after a short Prayer the Archbishop led the Doge up to the Altar; then the Prelate took the Book of the Gospels, and presented it to the Doge, who, falling on his Knees, and laying his Hand on the Book, took an Oath to maintain the Republic in their Rights and Privileges; this done, the Doge return’d to his Palace, where he was complimented by all the Senators, and crown’d Doge of Genoa, and King of Corsica: Next Day he gave a great Feast to above 300 Persons.
The Doge of Genoa is a living Example of the Instability of human Grandeur: His lasts but Two Years, at the Expiration of which Word is brought to him, that his Time is out, and that he must quit the Ducal Palace, and retire to his own. A Man to be a Doge must be completely 50 Years of Age: You know how very much his Authority is limited; he can do neither Good nor Harm; the only Occasion wherein he makes a little Figure is, when he receives and dispatches Ambassadors in Ceremony.
Another Office, which is even less durable, is that of General of the Arms, which no one Man can exercise above Two Months, for Fear, no doubt, lest he who is invested with it should acquire too much Power.
This Republic was formerly very much inclin’d to espouse the Interests of Spain, when that Crown possess’d the Milanese, and the Kingdom of Naples, because most of the Genoese Nobles had their Estates in those Countries; but now that the same are pass’d under the Emperor’s Dominion, the Republic is oblig’d to carry it very fair to his Imperial Majesty, or else the Doge might be sent for to Vienna, as he was once by Lewis XIV. to Versailles.
I was at Genoa when the Republic sent a Galley to Antibes, to meet the famous Cardinal Alberoni, who, after having experienc’d the Inconstancy of Fortune in Spain, went to Italy, with a Design to retire to the Duchy of Parma, his native Country. The Disgrace of this Cardinal surpriz’d all Europe, except the Duke of Orleans the Regent of France, who was the Author of it. During the Truce to which the Cardinal had prevail’d on the King of Spain to give his Consent, the Duke improv’d that Interval to negociate that Minister’s Removal; and that he might succeed the better in his Design, he engag’d the Duke of Parma, who was the Queen of Spain’s Father-in-Law and Uncle, to act in Concert with him, for inducing the King of Spain to put away his Prime Minister. The Duke of Parma charged Scotti, his Minister at Madrid, to negotiate this Affair, in which he met at first with astonishing Obstacles; but at last the Advantages he promis’d the Queen, on the Part of the Regent of France, both for herself and her Children, crown’d the Negociation with Success. The Cardinal was dismiss’d, perhaps, with more Precipitancy than he ought to have been, considering the Attachment he had always shewn to the Queen, and the Care he had
taken to rouse Spain from the Lethargy into which that Crown was fallen when he was declar’d Prime Minister. ’Twas on the 5th of January that Cardinal Alberoni found himself all at once abandon’d by every body, and oblig’d to fly from a Country where he had appear’d with more Authority than the King himself. The Order was signify’d to him by Don Miguel Durand, Secretary of State, and was in the very Hand-writing of the King, who deliver’d it to the Secretary as he was going to the Pardo to hunt. His Catholic Majesty thereby order’d his Minister to concern himself no more with State Affairs, to leave Madrid in eight Days, and the Kingdom in three Weeks; and moreover, the Cardinal was forbid coming all that while to any Place where the King and Queen were.