To make up for this, the theatres are closed on every Friday in the year, as they are too throughout Lent and Advent; and once a week or more there is sure to be a Saint's day as well, on which shops and all are closed, to the great trial of a traveller's patience.

All the amusements of the Papal subjects are regulated with the strictest regard to their morals.

Private or public gambling of any kind, excepting always the Papal Lottery, is strictly suppressed.

There are no public dancing-places of any kind, no casinos or "cafes chantants." No public masked balls are allowed, except one or two on the last nights of the Carnival.

The theatres themselves are kept under the most rigid "surveillance." Every thing, from the titles of the plays to the petticoats of the ballet-girls, undergoes clerical inspection.