"In effect, to have robbed the police was the height of address. Is not a
robbery of this nature the _chef-d'oeuvre_ of its kind, and can it do
otherwise than, make its perpetrator a hero in the eyes of his admirers?
Who should dare to compare with him? Beaumont had robbed the police! Hang
yourself, brave Crillon! hang yourself, Coignard! hang yourself,
Pertruisard! hang yourself, Callet!--to him, you are but of Saint-Jean.
What is it to have robbed states of service? To have carried off the
treasure of the army of the Rhine? To have carried off the military
chest?--Beaumont had robbed the police! Hang yourselves!--or go to England,
they will hang you there."


_The Misanthropic Swindler._


At page 71, Vidocq tells us a strange story of a fellow named Capdeville,
who affecting misanthropy and disgust of the world, hired an apartment at a
lone house near Paris, and employed his solitude in obtaining false keys of
all the other rooms. Not quite settled here, "Capdeville published his
intention of going out to discover an hermitage where he could pass his
latter days in peace. He inquired of all the country proprietors who had
places for sale within a circuit of six leagues, and it was soon known
through the country that he was on the look-out for a place of the kind.
Every body knew, of course, something that would suit him, but he would
have only a patrimonial estate. 'Well, well,' said they, 'since he is so
scrupulous, let him look out for himself.' This, in fact, he did."

"Determined to make a tour, to examine what was most likely to suit him, he
employed himself ostensibly in preparations for his departure; he was only
to be absent three or four days, but before he departed, he was anxious to