ttle
_giretto_!" And up she goes. A moment after, down they all come again at
his call; he lifts the cover of the box; cries, "_Quanto sei caro,
Tommetto!_" and triumphantly exhibits the papers, each with a little
freshly written inscription, and distributes them to the purchasers. Now
and then he takes from his pocket a little bottle containing a mixture
of the color of wine, and a paper filled with some sort of powder, and,
exclaiming, "_Ah! tu hai fame e sete. Bisogna che ti dia da bere e
mangiare_," pours them into the tin cup.

It is astonishing to see how many of these little tickets a clever
charlatan will sell in an hour, and principally on account of the
lottery-numbers they contain. The fortunes are all the stereotype thing,
and almost invariably warn you to be careful lest you should be
"_tradito_," or promise you that you shall not be "_tradito_"; for the
idea of betrayal is the corner-stone of every Italian's mind.

In not only permitting, but promoting the lottery, Italy is certainly
far behind England, France, and America. This system no longer exists
with us, except in the disguised shape of gift-enterprises, art-unions,
and that unpleasant institution of mendicant robbery called the raffle,
and employed specially by those "who have seen better days." But a fair
parallel to this rage of the Italians for the lottery is to be found in
the love of betting, which is a national characteristic of the English.
I do not refer to the bets upon horseflesh at Ascot, Epsom, and
Goodwood, by which fortunes change owners in an hour and so many men are
ruined, but rather to the general habit of betting upon any and every
subject to settle a question, no matter how trivial, for which the
Englishman is everywhere renowned on the Continent. Betting is with most
other nations a form of speech, but with Englishmen it is a serious
fact, and no one will be long in their company without finding an
opinion backed up by a bet. It would not be very difficult to parallel
those cases where the Italians disregard the solemnity of death, in
their eagerness for omens of lottery-numbers, with equally reprehensible
and apparently heartless cases of betting in England. Let any one who
doubts this examine the betting-books at White's and Brookes's. In them
he will find a most startling catalogue of bets,--some so bad as to
justify the good parson in Walpole's story, who declared that they were
such an impious set in this respect at White