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There is one extraordinary feature in the real life of
Naples, at which we may take a glance before we go - the
Lotteries.

They prevail in most parts of Italy, but are particu-
larly obvious, in their effects and influences, here. They are
drawn every Saturday. They bring an immense revenue to
the Government; and diffuse a taste for gambling among
the poorest of the poor, which is very comfortable to the
coffers of the state, and very ruinous to themselves. The
lowest stake is one grain; less than a farthing. One hundred
numbers - from one to a hundred, inclusive - are put into a
box. Five are drawn. Those are the prizes. I buy three num-
bers. If one af them come up, I win a small prize. If two,
some hundreds of times my stake. If three, three thousand
five hundred times my stake. I stake (or play as they call
it) what I can upon my numbers, and buy what numbers I
please. The amount I play, I pay at the lottery office, where
I purchase the ticket; and it is stated on the ticket itself.

Every lottery office keeps a printed book, an Univer-
sal Lottery Diviner, where every possible accident and
circumstance is provided for, and has a number against.
For instance, let us stake two carlini - about seven-
pence. On our way to the lottery office, we run against
a black man. When we get there, we say gravely, «The
Diviner». It is handed over the counter, as a serious
matter of business. We look at black man. Such a num-
ber. «Give us that». We look at running against a per-

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