nothing and believed in nothing, neither in France, nor in God, nor
in art, nor in the Greeks, nor in the Turks, nor in the monarchy,
--insulting and disparaging everything that he could not comprehend.
He was the first to paint a black cap on Charles X.'s head on the
five-franc coins. He mimicked Dr. Gall when lecturing, till he made
the most starched of diplomatists burst their buttons. Famous for his
practical jokes, he varied them with such elaborate care that he
always obtained a victim. His great secret in this was the power of
guessing the inmost wishes of others; he knew the way to many a castle
in the air, to the dreams about which a man may be fooled because he
wants to be; and he made such men sit to him for hours.

Thus it happened that this close observer, who could display
unrivalled tact in developing a joke or driving home a sarcasm, was
unable to use the same power to make men further his fortunes and
promote him. The person he most liked to annoy was young La
Billardiere, his nightmare, his detestation, whom he was nevertheless
constantly wheedling so as the better to torment him on his weakest
side. He wrote him love letters signed "Comtesse de M----" or "Marquise
de B--"; took him to the Opera on gala days and presented him to some
grisette under the clock, after calling everybody's attention to the
young fool. He allied himself with Dutocq (whom he regarded as a
solemn juggler) in his hatred to Rabourdin and his praise of Baudoyer,
and did his best to support him. Jean-Jaques Bixiou was the grandson
of a Parisian grocer. His father, who died a colonel, left him to the
care of his grandmother, who married her head-clerk, named Descoings,
after the death of her first husband, and died in 1822. Finding
himself without prospects on leaving college, he attempted painting,
but in spite of his intimacy with Joseph Bridau, his life-long friend,
he abandoned art to take up caricature, vignette designing, and