risking the last remains of his fortune. On being told the circumstances, he pretended to stumble, upset the table with all the money on it, and disappeared, leaving the embarrassed gentleman to pick up his gold again, which he did with marvellous alacrity. The number of players at San Moisè was so great that in 1768 the government enlarged the place, using for the purpose the proceeds of property confiscated from the nuns, which terribly scandalised the population and provoked some bitter epigrams. At the ridotto the most illustrious patrician ladies quarrelled for places at the table with ladies of no character at all, and a contemporary observes that in order to pay their gambling debts and continue to
Mutinelli, Ult. 54.
amuse themselves, they were reduced to the last extremity. He adds that they played from the hour of tierce, which is half-way between dawn and noon at all times of the year.
In 1780, when the Republic had but a few years more to live, the two ridotti of San Moisè and San
Rom. viii. 303, and ix. II.
Cassian, which had been protected and superintended by the government, were suppressed, but the only result was that a new class of gaming-houses came into existence called Casini, which were much worse in character than the old establishments. Ruined nobles borrowed enormous sums from usurers, and even from plebeians, sharing the winnings with the lender when successful, and being entirely at his mercy if they lost. Some women kept private Casini of their own, to which they invited
Mutinelli, Ult.
men and women; and while they played at Pharaoh, Basset, and Biribissi within, the gondoliers played Morra at the landing outside.
Venice slept little, and was devoured day and night by the fever of pleasure. The lighting of the city
