The fond glance of memory turns in vain towards the good old times, when the lottery was in its glory.

It is, however, some comfort to reflect, that if, as devout Catholics assert, the Papacy is eternal, then in Rome, at least, lotteries are eternal also.

In truth, the lottery is a great, I might almost say _the_ great Pontifical institution.

It is a trade not only sanctioned, but actively supported, by the Government.

Partly, therefore, as a matter of literary interest, and partly as a curious feature in the economics of the Papal States, I have made various personal researches into the working of the lottery-system, and shall endeavour to give the theoretical not the practical result of my investigations; the latter result being, I am afraid, of a negative description.
Murray, who knows everything, states that in Rome alone fifty-five millions of lottery-tickets are taken annually.