The avowed venality of the courts of justice is a proof that lawyers are too poorly remunerated to find honesty their best policy, while the extent to which barbers are still employed as surgeons shows that the medical profession is not of sufficient repute to be prosperous.

There is no native patronage for art, no public for literature.

The very theatres, which flourish in other despotic states, are here but losing speculations, owing to the interference of clerical regulations.

There are no commerce and no manufactures in the Eternal city.

In a back street near the Capitol, over a gloomy, stable-looking door, you may see written up "Borsa di Roma," but I never could discover any credible evidence of business being transacted on the Roman change.
There is but one private factory in Rome, the Anglo-Roman Gas Company.
What trade there is is huckstering, not commerce.