in gathering up his spoil, had discovered that
Monsieur B's louis were only so many forty-
sous pieces ingeniously gilt over, and there
was besides an awkward arrière-pensée that
the stake laid down by Monsieur A might
have been of the same quality. However,
Monsieur B put a bold face on the matter,
and protested against being held to be
confrère of Monsieur A. It has always been the
policy of the bank to avoid unpleasant fuss
or éclat, and so the grasp of the sergent-
de-ville was relaxed and the offender suffered
to go free.

Again. A well-known general of the empire
was so successful with an ingenious coup of
this sort, that it has come down to us bearing
his name. The social code must have been a
little relaxed when such exalted personages
were esteemed for such questionable
accomplishment. It was the general's habit to lay
down a single rouleau, covered up in paper,aud
bearing the usual outward aspect of a rouleau
containing one thousand francs. If it was his
fate to lose, the general invariably withdrew
his rouleau and handed the croupier instead
a note for one thousand francs. But, when
his turn came to win, and he was presented
with a thousand francs, "Pardon me," said
he, putting it back gently, "my stake was
considerably more." The rouleau was then
opened, and there were found some fifteen or
twenty thousand franc notes ingeniously
folded between the pieces of gold. The bank
made a wry face, but the money was paid,
and the general comes down to posterity as
an exceedingly "smart man."

A favourite coup d'enlèvement was the
dropping of some combustible upon the
table, and in the confusion men carried off
the open box of gold to the cry of "Sauvons
la caisse!" (Take care of the strong-box!)
The strong-box, it is scarcely necessary to
add, being never heard of after.

In the days of the Restoration, a peculiar
class of houses sprang up, known by the
Argot title of Maisons de Bouillote. These
maisons de bouillote were no other than
second-class cafés and eating-houses, where
table d'hôte was set out every day at five
o'clock, and after table d'hôte the light dessert
of le jeu. A peculiar feature about such
establishments was the presence of le
commandant or old officer who served in the
wars of the great Napoleon. He had usually
the père-noble aspect, with a little morsel of
ribbon at his button-hole, showing beyond
dispute that he belonged to the Legion. His
age inspired respect. He had words of
warning for the young, made up quarrels,
and was special councillor in affaires du cœur.
In his company was sometimes found a
commandant of another school, whose bearing
was in happy contrast to that of his brother
in arms. He was familiarly known as the
commandant a moustaches en croc, having
very fierce twisted moustaches. He had
been in at the burning of Moscow and the
awful passage of the Beresina, and had many
graphic particulars concerning the horrors of
that fatal retreat. He had an affection for a
rusty blue frock—he had borne it, yes,
messieurs, that very frock, at the bloody fight of
Friedland—which he always kept buttoned
tight to his chin. In English, perhaps more
forcible than elegant, he might be styled the
paid bully of the establishment, and his rude
Alsatian manners were found useful in over-
awing refractory visitors. It was terrible to
hear him recounting his duels à l'outrance—
whereof he had fought numbers untold. As a
general rule, he was observed never to fold
his napkin or to pay his score, having special
exemption from all such ceremonial.

These two personages, or types rather, for
they were to be found in all maisons de
bouillote were admirably seconded by certain
ladies figuring dramatically as widows of
colonels who fell gloriously at Waterloo.
Very interesting were their little narratives,
told with a gentle sorrow and resignation,
that touched every heart. Some would bear
affectionate soubriquets drawn from their
misfortune—such as Widow of the Grand
Army, Daughter of Wagram, and the like.
Especially solicitous were they for young
men's temporal interests, conjuring them
with tears to stop short in their wild ways
while it was yet time—above all, to beware
of ce monsieur là, that gentleman; he was
dangerous! O! he was so dangerous! and
had lured so many many handsome youths to
destruction.

In this fashion the pantomime of the
maison went forward, bringing in its share
of grist to the great mill. But, the end was
at hand. It had grown to be a crying evil.
At last the Chambers found it necessary to
interfere; a project was presented by the
ministers for the time being; and on the last
day of December, in the year eighteen
hundred and thirty-seven, the temples of play
were closed for ever, and le jeu received its
coup de grace in France. Not before it
was full time; for, it is set forth that in the
last eighteen years of its toleration a sum of
nearly six millions sterling had been
engulphed in this fatal Maelström.

These are a few plain facts concerning the
gambling-houses of Paris as they existed in
the fine old times. Those who desire to learn
more, may look, not unprofitably, through
the pages of the ingenious Bourgeois de Paris.

CHIP.

DOGS BEFORE MEN.

AT the old feasts of Isis, when men walked
in grand procession dogs walked first, and it
was not unnatural that they should be
received as household deities, who were set
up by the priests as symbols of the supreme
power, watching over people in their homes
and driving evil from their thresholds. For
a like reason the ancient Romans dressed the