reates too certainly among the poor, one is always told, by the
advocates of the Papacy, that the people are so passionately attached to
the lottery, that no Government could run the risk of abolishing it. If
this be true, which I do not believe, I can only say--shame upon the
rulers, who have so demoralized their subjects!

CHAPTER IX. THE STUDENTS OF THE SAPIENZA.

There is no University properly speaking in Rome. The constant and
minute interference of the priests in the course of study; the rigid
censorship extended over all books of learning, and the arbitrary
restrictions with which free thought and inquiry are hampered, would of
themselves be sufficient to stop the growth of any great school of
learning at Rome, even if there existed a demand for such an institution,
which there does not. Still in these days, even at Rome, young men must
receive some kind of education, and to meet this want the Sapienza
College is provided. Both in the age of the scholars and the nature of
the studies it bears a much closer resemblance to a Scotch high school
than to an University, but still, such as it is, it forms the great lay-
place of education in the Papal States. There is a separate theological
faculty; the head of the college is a Cardinal, and the whole course of
study is under the control and supervision of the priests. Many,
however, of the professors are laymen, the majority of the pupils are
educated for secular pursuits, and the families from whom the students
come, form as a body the _elite_ in point of education and intelligence
amongst the mercantile and professional classes in the Papal States.

At the commencement of the year a great attempt was made by the
Government to get up addresses of loyalty and devotion to the Pope. Not
even Pius the Ninth himself believed one single word in any of these
purchased testimonials. Indeed, on one occasion, when an address was
presented by the officers of the army, he informed the deputation with
more candour than prudence, that he knew perfectly well not one of them
would raise his hand to save the Papacy. But abroad, and more especially
in France, it was conceived that such addresses would be accepted as
genuine testimonials to the contentment of the Roman people with their
rulers. In obedience to these tactics, it was resolved to have an
address from the students of the Sapienza. Such an address, containing
the stock terms of fulsome adulation and unr