e Maria, when the crowd break up, withdraw to the city, and,
after a visit to the wine-shops within the walls, go home, and (as I
was naively told by a Scotch lady resident in Rome) beat their wives as
much as they do in England.

In the coffeehouses the grand sources of amusement are dice and drafts,
along with backgammon and billiards. The latter two games are confined
to the upper and middle classes. Most of the upper classes, I believe,
have billiard-rooms at home, for family use and conversazione-party
amusement. In the absence of newspapers, journals, and books, it would
be impossible, without these expedients, to get through the evening. All
who can afford to attend the theatre (more properly opera), do so as
regularly as the night comes; and the scenes and acts which they there
witness form the basis of Italian conversation. It is at least a safe
subject. No Roman who has the fear of a prison before him would discuss
politics in a mixed company. In Rome there is an utter dearth of
employment for young men. They dare not travel; they cannot visit a
neighbouring town without the permission of Government, which is only
sometimes to be had; they have nothing to read; and one can imagine, in
these circumstances, the utter waste of mental and moral energies which
must ensue among this class in Rome. These young men have a sore battle
to keep up appearances. They do their utmost absolutely for a cigar and
cane; but their success is not always such as so great ingenuity and
patience deserve. You may see them in half-dozens, lounging for hours
about the coffeehouses, without, in many cases, spending more than a
single baiocchi on coffee, and sometimes not even that.

Marriage is negotiated, not by the young persons, but by the parents.
The mother charges herself with everything appertaining to the making of
the match, conducting even the correspondence. Of course, to address a
billet doux to the young lady would be to infringe upon the prerogatives
of mamma, which must ever be held inviolate if success is seriously
aimed at. The mother receives all such epistles, and answers them in the
daughter's behalf. The young lady is closely watched, and is never left
a moment in the society of her intended partner previous to marriage,
unless in the presence of a third party. The Romans thus marry by sight,
and have no means, so far at least as regards personal intercourse, of
ascertaining the dispositions, tastes, intelligence, a