But it contains some masterly pages, and the style in many places
seems more nervous and supple than that of the _Decline and Fall._
For instance, this account of Albert Azo the Second:--
"Like one of his Tuscan ancestors Azo the Second was
distinguished among the princes of Italy by the epithet of
the _Rich_. The particulars of his rentroll cannot now be
ascertained. An occasional though authentic deed of
investiture enumerates eighty-three fiefs or manors which he
held of the empire in Lombardy and Tuscany, from the
Marquisate of Este to the county of Luni; but to these
possessions must be added the lands which he enjoyed as the
vassal of the Church, the ancient patrimony of Otbert (the
terra Obertenga) in the counties of Arezzo, Pisa, and Lucca,
and the marriage portion of his first wife, which, according
to the various readings of the manuscripts, may be computed
either at twenty or two hundred thousand English acres. If
such a mass of landed property were now accumulated on the
head of an Italian nobleman, the annual revenue might
satisfy the largest demands of private luxury or avarice,
and the fortunate owner would be rich in the improvement of
agriculture, the manufactures of industry, the refinement of
taste, and the extent of commerce.
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