The only other games among the modern Romans, which deserve particular notice from their peculiarity, are those of Cards. In an Italian pack there are only forty cards,--the eight, nine, and ten of the French and English cards having no existence. The suits also have different signs and names, and, instead of hearts, spades, clubs, and diamonds, they are called _coppe_, _spade_, _bastoni_, and _denari_,--all being of the same color, and differing entirely in form from our cards. The _coppe_ are cups or vases; the _spade_ are swords; the _bastoni_ are veritable clubs or bludgeons; and the _denari_ are coins. The games are still more different from ours than the cards, and they are legion in number. There are _Briscola_, _Tresette_, _Calabresella_, _Banco-Fallito_, _Rossa e Nera_, _Scaraccoccia_, _Scopa_, _Spizzica_, _Faraone_, _Zecchinetto_, _Mercante in Fiera_, _La Bazzica_, _Ruba-Monte_, _Uomo-Nero_, _La Paura_, and I know not how many others,--but they are recorded and explained in no book, and are only to be picked up orally. Wherever you go, on _festa_-day, you will find persons playing cards. At the common _osterias_, before the doors or on the soiled tables within, on the ruins of the Caesars' palaces and in the Temple of Peace, on the stone tables in the _vigna_, on the walls along the public roads, on the uncarved blocks of marble in front of the sculptors' studios, in the antechambers or gateways of palaces,--everywhere, cards are played. Every _contadino_ has a pack in his pocket, with the flavor of the soil upon it. The playing is ordinarily for very low sums, often for nothing at all. But there are some games which are purely games of luck, and dangerous. Some of these, as _Rossa e Nera_, _Banco-Fallito_, and _Zecchinetto_, though prohibited by the government, are none the less favorite games in Rome, particularly among those who play for money. _Zecchinetto_ may be played by any number of persons, after the following manner:--The dealer, who plays against the whole table, deals to each player one card. The next card is then turned up as a trump. Each player then makes his bet on the card dealt to him, and places his money on it. The dealer then deals to the table the other cards in order, and any of the players may bet on them as they are thrown down. If a card of the number of that bet on issue before a card corresponding to the number of the trump, the dealer wins the stake on that card; but whenever a card corresponding to the trump issues, the player wins on every card on which he has bet. When the banker or dealer loses at once, the bank "_fa toppa_," and the deal passes, but not otherwise. Nothing can be more simple than this game, and it is just as dangerous as it is simple, and as exciting as it is dangerous. A late Roman _principessa_ is said to have been passionately fond of it, and to have lost enormously by it. The story runs, that, while passing the evening at a