Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Parish doctors / [Charles Dickens]. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.
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![Charles Dickens.] CHIP. [June 13,1357.1 573 | in gathering up his spoil, had discovered that 1 Monsieur B’s louis were only so many forty- sous pieces ingeniously gilt over, and there was besides an awkward arriere-pensee 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 con- frere of Monsieur A. It has always been the policy of the bank to avoid unpleasant fuss or eclat, 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 j were esteemed for such questionable accom- plishment. It was the general’s habit to lay down a single rouleau, covered up in paper, and 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, “ray stake was I considerably more.” The rouleau was then j 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’enlevement 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 i add, being never heard of after. In the days of the Restoration, a peculiar ! class of houses sprang up, known by the i Argot title of Maisons de Bouillote. These j maisons de bouillote were no /other than j second-class cafes and eating-houses, where table d’hbte was set out every day at five I o’clock, and after table d’h6te the light- dessert of le jeu. A peculiar feature about such establishments was the presence of le com- mandant or old officer who served in the wars of the great Napoleon. He had usually the pdre-noble aspect, with a little morsel of ribbon at his button-holq( 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 coeur. In his company was sometimes found a com- mandant 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, mes- sieurs, 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 & 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 hi, 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 hun- dred and thirty-seven, the temples of play were closed for ever, and le jeu received its coup de greice 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 en~ gulphed in this fatal Maelstrom. 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](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22466046_0004.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
