Page:Life in the Old World - Vol. II.djvu/419

Rh Once a year, those who are marriageable, amongst these daughters of the Madonna, are exhibited in a court of the institution, and the men come to select wives from amongst them. Every girl who is married from the institution receives a dowry of twenty-five ducats; and these ducats may lead many men to take the unattractive girl, merely for the money's sake.

Albergo Reale dei Povere, which has a vast, magnificent, and yet insignificant façade, is said to provide food and a dwelling-place for seven hundred old men, as well as education for eleven hundred boys, who are there taught various trades. But where were all these children? Not in the institution. The workshops were empty; the boys were said to be out on Free-Thursday—but we could not in the dormitories discover more than about two hundred beds. The old men again were “in the country or out on visits.” We did not see above half a dozen of them. The institution is said to have an immense income, which is consumed by the directors and servants. Misapplication and embezzlement are never punished.

I saw in the House of Correction about a hundred women, most of whom looked cheerful and careless. They had just partaken of an excellent soup, which the king allows, and all that they can earn during their imprisonment belongs to themselves. One gran alone from every carlin, or ten grans, being deducted for the expenses of their detention. The dormitories and beds were better than in the Albergo dei Povere. People commend the mercy and charity of the king. I could not see any thing commendable in this excessive kindness to the criminal.