in 1759. Though a devotee in religion, he is so fond of field-sports that he cannot give up the pleasures of the chasse, for a single day; and he has actually obtained a dispensation from the Pope to permit him to shoot on Sundays! It must be remembered, however, in his excuse, that he is seventy and odd years old, and has therefore no time to lose.

15th. Convalescence.-Crawled to the Archbishop of Tarento's-Small collection of pictures; -three by Murillo excellent.

First day of Passion week.-There is a strange mixture of straining and swallowing in the observance of Lent here. The opera and the theatres have been open; but the ballet has been suppressed; Dancing, it would seem, is more unholy than singing or gambling; for the gaming-hell, under the same roof with the opera, and under the sanction of government, has been allowed to go on without interruption—

"Noctes atque dies patet atri Janua Ditis.*

This is a very large establishment; it holds its daily session in a house in the Corso; and ad

*It ought to be recorded to the honour of the revolutionary government in 1820, that one of their first acts was to sup; press those public gaming-tables.

The

journs in the evening to a splendid suite of rooms in the upper part of the opera house. Neapolitans are devoted to play, and they pursue it with a fatal energy, that hurries many of them to the last stage of the road to ruin.-The relaxation of morals, as you advance towards the south, is very striking.-I am afraid to believe all that I hear of the licentiousness of Naples ; but I see enough to make me think nothing impossible.

The plain speaking of the Neapolitan Ladies is truly surprising;-they call every thing by its right name, without any circumlocution;-and in the relation of a story, whatever be the character of the incidents, there is nothing left to be collected by inference, but the facts are broadly and plainly told, with the most circumstantial details.

16th. The gaming-table is permitted to go on even during the present week; and the only restraint imposed upon this den of destruction is a short interdict, from Thursday next to Sunday;.. when the doors will be re-opened. Strange infatuation! that men should thus devotedly pursue a fancied good by means which-occupying all their time and absorbing all their interest-must

take away the power of profiting by its acquisi

tion:

—et propter nummos nummorum perdere causas

for it almost universally happens, that the means at last become the end;-money being seldom, I believe, the object of any but the selfish calcu lating gamester. The true children of play are delighted with the pursuit, and care as little for the object, as the sportsman does for the fox.-They find, in the vicissitudes of play, that strong excitement of the soul, which furnishes a constant succession of deep and agitating emotions. There are minds so unhappily constituted, that, to them, the innocent and peaceful pleasures of tranquil security, are as insipid and disgusting, as milk and water would be to the lover of brady. Ennui is too light a term for that heaviness of spirit, and weariness of soul, which find all the uses of the world stale, flat, and unprofitable. The stagnant puddle of existence then must be stirred and freshened, by the torrent, tempest, and whirlwind of the passions; and this stimulant is sought in the dangers of war, the fever of ambition, or the hopes and fears of love. But love, and war, and ambition, are not within the reach of all;-while

the gaming-table is ever at hand. The passion for play is universal, and seems to have its root in the very heart of man;-no rank, or age, or sex, is exempt from its influence. The silken baron of civilization, and the naked savage of the desert, show how nearly they are related, in the common eagerness with which they fly to gaming, for relief from the same tædium vitæ, the same oppressive void of occupation, which is, of all voids, that which nature-at least human nature-abhors the most.

I was a witness, this morning, of the effect of the procession of the Host upon these orgies. At the sound of the bell-the groom-porter suspended the work of dealing;—and there was a half-solemn, half-sneering pause, till the bell was out of hearing. All England would exclaim against the government that could be accessary to the corruption of the morals of its subjects, by the encouragement of gaming-tables, for the sake of the revenues derived from such unhallowed practices; but there are too many of us, who cannot, because they will not, see, that evils of the same kind-though it is to be hoped in a less degree -are produced by our own system of state lotteries.

17th. At this pious season, the strangest dramatic representations are prepared for the edification of the people.-There is no disputing about taste;-if a man, in London, were to get up a puppet-show, to represent the ministry, passion, crucifixion, and ascension of the Saviour; he would probably receive an intimation, the next day, from the Attorney-general, and have to defend himself against a charge of blasphemy. All this however I saw this morning for three halfpence, very fairly represented in a theatre on the quay, by puppets of three feet high, to a crowded and admiring audience. The opposition theatre held out the temptation of a grand spectaclerepresenting Lord Exmouth's exploits at Algiers; but I ought to record, that the sacred piece seemed to be most attractive.

The quay of Naples affords a scene, such as I think can scarcely be equalled in the world. Tom Fool is there in all his glory-with such a motley train at his heels, and with such a chorus of noise and nonsense-wit and waggery-fun and foolery -all around him; that, however a man may be disgusted at first, the effect in the end is like that of Munden's face in a stupid farce-where that admirable actor condescends to buffoonery, to