narrow passage by a silversmith's shop, on the ground floor, at the end
of which a strong light shone through the figures denoting the number of
the house, largely cut in tin; alas! thought I, a fatal number to many
thousands. On the principal landing, being that above the _entre-sol_
story, I gently tapped at a handsome door, which was almost as gently
opened. My friend (for I was not alone,) having deposited his hat and
stick with the garçon, was allowed to pass, but I was stopped for want
of--_whiskers_; till assuring him that I was older than he took me to
be, and an Englishman--I was also permitted to pass. We first entered a
small room, in which was a roulette-table surrounded by players, and
well staked: this communicated by folding-doors with a spacious saloon
with a double table for _Trente-et-un_, or _Rouge et Noir_, round which
were seated the players, behind whom stood a few lookers-on, and still
fewer young men, whose stakes were "few and far between,"--probably
those of cautious adventurers, or novices pecking at the first-fruits of
play. Nothing is better described in books than the folly of _gaming_,
and the sufferings of its victims; but, like Virgil, in his picture of
Heaven, they fall short in describing their extasies; a failing on the
right side, or perhaps purposely made, for the happiness of mankind. The
seated visitors here seemed to be quite at home, some picking up their
Napoleons and five franc pieces, and others recording the issues of the
game, and illustrating the doctrine of chances by pricking holes in
cards. A death-like stillness prevailed, interrupted only by the
monotonous result of the deal of the cards, and the bewitching, though
not frequent chink of gold and silver. The success of the winners was as
silent as the disappointment of the losers; neither joy nor grief
displaying itself otherwise than in an almost unvaried _tristesse_ on
the countenances of the seated players--in some measure produced by ill
health and intense anxiety so as to conceal better feelings. I took my
station at one end of the table beside a middle-aged Frenchman, and by