paper manufactory at St. Mandé, and has been subsequently confined in
Sainte Pelagie for debt. His embarrassments are stated to have arisen
from a passion for gambling, a propensity which, once indulged, takes
deep root in the human mind; and few indeed, lamentably few, are those
who can effectually eradicate the fatal passion. Vidocq, who could
assume all shapes like a second Proteus, who underwent bitter hardships,
and unsparingly jeopardized his life at any time, could not resist the
fell temptation which has brought him to distress and a prison.

"It has been stated in some of the Journals that Vidocq has a son
named Julius, who was condemned to the galleys, and when liberated was
employed by his father at Sainte Mandé. This must be another bitter
in his life's cup, which Vidocq seems condemned to drain to the very
dregs."

We need hardly be told why Vidocq has withheld the information
respecting the state of crime in France, which he promised, and made a
grand parade of possessing. The length to which his Memoirs have been
spun out is tedious, and the air of romance which he has given to some
scenes in the concluding volume, almost invalidates its forerunners.
Still we are bound to confess that his adventures are equal in interest
to any work of fact or fiction that has appeared for several years.
We omit the translations of some slang songs, one of which appeared
recently in _Blackwood's Magazine_; still, they are exceedingly
clever in their way.

The present volume has a portrait of Vidocq, upon which we hope the
physiognomists will speculate; for with all his peccadilloes, (and a
hard set of features which the engraver has probably hardened) the
author must be a clever and a very pleasant fellow; and we wish some