which helps the sick, and undertakes the nurture and training of orphans and foundlings. In addition to excellent endowments and legacies one great source of income is derived from a big lottery carried out under government supervision. A century ago the lottery was in vogue; it took place annually in the Casa, the prizes being distributed in favour of the girl protegées, to provide them with money to start them in life as servants or even brides. To-day the lottery is a widespread, almost national, affair, its tickets not only sold in certain shops but universally hawked in the streets by men, women and children, who gain a penny on every one they sell. The day of the weekly drawing of the lucky numbers attracts a motley crowd to the Largo de S. Roque, for all sorts and conditions of the populace buy tickets, or share of a ticket, and the prizes do not directly benefit the inmates of the Misericordia as formerly, but the individual owners of successful tickets.
A street off the Rua de S. Roque leads down to the ruined church of the Carmo which stands a conspicuous object high above the Baixo. The outer walls and piers and arches of the naves still remain. The chancel and chapels retain their roofs, and thanks to the efforts of the Royal Association of Portuguese Architects and Archæologists the vandalism which once allowed this beautiful relic of Portuguese Gothic to be used for a chemical factory, has been conquered, and an archæological museum established in the precincts. The latest catalogue the guardian could supply bore the date 1892. As numerous additions have since been made to the collection, and the compilers of the book even then pleaded lack of space in convenient disposition of exhibits, the value and interest of the museum are lessened by deficient arrangement. In the roofless naves relics from many ruined ecclesiastical
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