_Art. 4._ The Prefect of Police at Paris, and the mayors in the other _communes_, shall make any and all regulations which they may deem suitable for the repression of prostitution, and such regulations shall bear upon all those who encourage prostitution as a trade--lodgers, inn-keepers and tavern-keepers, landlords and tenants. _Art. 5._ The Dispensary at Paris for the superintendence of women of the town is placed on the same footing as the public health establishments. Other similar dispensaries may be established wherever they are needed. _Art. 6._ A full report of the proceedings of these dispensaries shall be forwarded annually to the Minister of the Interior. M. Duchatelet conceived this short law to be adequate for the purpose. It may be presumed that he took for granted that the mayors of the _communes_ would never attempt to carry out original views of their own on the subject; he doubtless gave them credit for sufficient self-abnegation to adopt, without question, the elaborate and sensible plan which experience has taught the authorities of Paris. How far this assumption was justifiable appears uncertain, in view of the fact that at Lyons and Strasbourg, the prostitutional system has always differed from that of the capital. In both those cities a tax has been levied on prostitutes till a very late period; at Lyons it was exacted, it is believed, in 1842. CHAPTER XI. ITALY. Decline of Public Morals.--Papal Court.--Nepotism.--John XXII.--Sextus IV.--Alexander VI.--Effect of the Reformation.--Poem of Fracastoro.-- Benvenuto Cellini.--Beatrice Cenci.--Laws of Naples.--Pragmatic Law of 1470.--Court of Prostitutes.--Bull of Clement II.--Prostitution in Lombardy and Piedmont.--Clerical Statute.--Modern Italy.--Laws of Rome.--Public Hospitals.--Lazaroni of Naples.--Italian Manners as depicted by Lord Byron.--Foundling Hospitals.--True Character of Italian People. Birth-place of modern art and literature, dowered with the fatal heritage of beauty, Italy, in the varied passages of her career among the nations, has been as remarkable for the vice and sensuality of her children as she has been eminent for their talents and acquirements. The heart of the historical student thrills with respectful sympathy over the sorrows and ennobling virtues of her patriots in all ages, or his intellect is captivated with enthusiastic admiration and reverence in considering the monuments of resplendent genius given to mankind by her sons. Let him turn the page, and his soul recoils in disgust and deepest horror from the narrative of corruption the most abandoned, ambition the most unscrupulous, lust the most abominable, crime the most tremendous, to which the history of the world scarcely offers a parallel, and which brands the perpetrators with the execration of all succeeding generations.