Having entertain’d you sufficiently with the public Structures, let us now take a View of some of the private Palaces; but before I introduce you into them, I will give you my Thoughts of the Palaces of ROME in general. I don’t deny that there are finer and greater Palaces here than elsewhere; but of these there are few; and as for the others, they are not worth so much Notice as is taken of ’em. Methinks, ’tis with the Buildings of ROME, as with those People, whose Reputation being once well establish’d, we are apt to applaud in them, what in others perhaps we shou’d censure. A great many Palaces are admir’d here, barely from the Prepossession that Architecture flourishes here more than any-where else. Indeed, this was true enough heretofore, in the Time of a _Sixtus_ V. a _Paul_ V. and an _Urban_ VIII. who had the Embellishment of ROME at Heart; but ’tis not so now, since the indolent Popes have nothing more of that Work upon their Hands. I can assure you, that they actually build now much better in _France_ than they do in _Italy_, especially as to the Distribution of the Apartments, of which the _Italians_ have no Notion. Most of the Apartments of ROME consist of a long Suite of Rooms, often very small ones, which have no Way out of them but the Door you enter at; and commonly the Rooms have no Light, nor Chimney, nor Place to set up a Bed, or Canopy; which is the Reason that those two Pieces of Houshold Stuff are seldom fix’d where they shou’d be; mean time, Canopies are what the _Roman_ Princes and Cardinals are very fond of, and many of them have no less than five or six; vain Ostentation, which makes those Gentlemen fancy they are giving Audience, when they are only receiving Visits! After all, one must not look for such Ornaments here as they have in _France_, and elsewhere. As to their Floors, they are only made of Bricks; they know nothing of Wainscotting; their Glazing is horrible; and most of their Ceilings, tho’ there are some very magnificent, are of Timber, so coarsly work’d, that the Gilding employ’d on them serves only the more to expose their Deformity. The Furniture is almost everywhere the same; consisting either of red Damask, with an upper Border of Velvet, of the same Colour, adorn’d with Tinsel Lace and Fringe resembling Gold, or else of Pictures, which are, indeed, the most perfect of the Kind; but when I see five or six Rooms all together in a Row, full of Paintings, I fancy myself in some Picture-shop at the Fair of _St. Germain_. Besides, these Pictures are in such sorry old-fashion’d Frames, that they disparage them. They have but few Looking-glasses, and those very small. As for Porcellane and crystal Vessels, they are not much in Vogue; but, on the other hand, here are beautiful Statues which I admire, and think very fine; but I shou’d be better pleas’d to see them in a Gallery, in a Salon, or in a Garden: For I don’t think they look well in a Chamber. All the Furniture one sees here is antique, having been laid in, for most part, by Popes that have been a long while in their Graves; and there’s no House furnish’d in the modern Taste, except those of the Cardinals _del Giudici_, _Albano_, _Bolognetti_ and _Carolis_.