day, to the expedient of firing a heavily-charged musket in the midst of
his neat but unfrequented saloon. The report instantly brought half a
score of policemen, two gens d'armes, and a crowd of idlers, to the
spot; curiosity was on tiptoe to hear of a murder, a suicide, or an
infernal machine; strange rumors began to spread from the crowd within
to the street; and a long investigation was held on the premises.
Meantime people wanted refreshments, which the hitherto indolent waiters
of the _café_ supplied; the place was found to be quite snug and
tasteful, and the proprietor quite a lion; thenceforth his credit was
established in the neighborhood, and a regular set of customers
liberally sustained his enterprise. Dr. Véron informs us that, after
waiting six weeks for a patient, upon first commencing practice, he had
the good fortune to stop the bleeding nose of a _concièrge_, in his
vicinity, which had resisted all the usual appliances; the news of his
exploit was soon noised abroad, its merit exaggerated, and he was
astonished to receive six or seven patients a day, attracted by his
sudden reputation. Unfortunately, however, one day an old lady, of much
consideration in that quartier, requested him to bleed her; she was so
fat that he made two or three unsuccessful attempts to open a vein, when
she rose indignantly and pronounced him an _imbecile_,--a judgment which
was so quickly adopted by the gossips, that in less than a week he sank
into his original obscurity.

Another speciality of Parisian life occurred in the person of an old
man, who came hither in youth, and while pursuing his studies received
news of the loss of his fortune,--a pittance only remained; and so
enamored had he become of the means of study and the monastic freedom
here possible for the poor dreamer, that, hiring a cheap and obscure
lodging, he remained a voluntary exile, unallured by the attractions of
American enterprise, which soon revived the broken fortunes of his