A Steam Voyage down the Danube, Vol. 2 of 2 by Michael J. Quin

Papal revenues -- Public opinion -- Discontents -- Cold of Rome -- St. John Lateran -- St. Peter's -- St. Peter's chair -- Windows -- Cardinal Weld -- English diplomacy -- Neapolitan constitution -- Austrian ascendancy -- British minister at Rome -- The Sistine chapel -- Spanish monk -- Vespers -- The Roman hills.

It is agreed, I believe, on all hands, that Gregory XVI. is as much distinguished for his cheerful temper, his amiable disposition, his simplicity in his mode of living, as for his great learning and unaffected piety. He is, moreover, a munificent patron of the arts, as far as the limited means at his command enable him to be; anxiously attentive to the interests of his subjects; alive to every practicable enterprize that can be rendered conducive to their prosperity, and merciful, perhaps to an extreme, as a Christian prelate ought to be, in the administration of justice. Indeed, when I considered the very scanty revenues of the Roman sovereignty, and looked around at the magnificent churches, the unrivalled collections of works of art, the edifices in which these are preserved, and the noble institutions with which modern Rome abounds in all quarters, I felt bound to admit, that throughout my journey I had observed no other country in which the public money had been laid out so much to the public advantage.