Before coming to the concluding chapter of the Republic’s history, I shall quote a few descriptions of Ragusa in the eighteenth century by different travellers. Prévot, who was French consul in 1750, gives a curious picture of the town, showing the character of its narrow oligarchy. “The Republic,” he writes, “_i.e._ those who govern it, do not care that foreigners of distinction, whether consuls or traders, should come to Ragusa, because they are obliged to use a certain measure of respect and justice towards them which they do not show to any of their own subjects. The pride of the nobles, who make everything give way before their authority, is hurt at being obliged to show the least consideration to those who are not of their own order, lest they should lose caste in the eyes of their slaves, by whom they wish to be regarded as the lords of creation. Trade carried on by foreigners seems to them a trespass on their own ventures, even when it does not actually compete with them; for they dread even potential rivalry. Hence their system of exclusion, for they prefer to be absolute masters of very little rather than share a few benefits with people who are not their slaves. Above all, they imagine that the French, being sharper than other people, see the viciousness of their rule, the injustice of their administration, and the absurdity of their pretensions; they blush for very shame, and wish to be isolated so as to avoid being exposed to criticism. It is their sensitive spot. One may well be circumspect, but they have too much intelligence not to know their own defects, but too much obstinacy and pride to wish to correct them, and to suffer other witnesses of their conduct than those who are forced to applaud it. One may say that Ragusa is less a State than a private house, of which both masters and servants prefer to shut the doors to strangers so as to remain unknown.”[500] Pouqueville, who was at Ragusa in 1805, also describes the social conditions of the people. “The nobles had places of honour in church, at the café, at the theatre, and the noblewomen had sedan chairs adorned with their armorial bearings, and took precedence at all meeting places. The days on which the Rector went to church were marked in red letters in the Ragusan calendar with the words, ‘Oggi Sua Serenità si porta al Duomo.’ He went there in a much patched red toga, preceded by a valet carrying a red silk umbrella ... followed by the Senators in black threadbare gowns. Before him marched two musicians, one with a hunting-horn and the other with a fiddle. “The citizens form three corporations: the _cittadinanza_, recruited from the commoners having a capital of 20,000 francs, who were like the Roman _liberti_. Their women-folk were admitted to the theatre in a row of boxes parallel to that of the noblewomen, whom they eclipsed by their beauty and their attire. They had to pay visits to the noblewomen on certain days.