One of the most distinguished and the most agreeable of them often gave me advice which, though I have not followed, I have not forgotten.
"My dear friend," he used to say, "I know but two ways of writing about Rome.

You must choose for yourself.

If you declaim against the priestly government, its abuses, vices, and injustice; against the assassinations, the uncultivated lands, the bad air, the filthiness of the streets; against the many scandals, the hypocrisies, the robberies, the lotteries, the Ghetto, and all that follows as a matter of course, you will earn the somewhat barren honour of having added the thousand and first pamphlet to those which have appeared since the time of Luther.

All has been said that can be said against the Popes.

A man who pretends to originality should not lend his voice to the chorus of brawling reformers.