few weeks after I met him and his wife, on the Italian Boulevards; in
dress he was woefully changed, and in his countenance a ghastly stare,
sunken eye, and emaciated cheeks, bespoke some strong reverse of
fortune: his wife too seemed dimmed by sorrow, and suffering might be
traced in every lineament of her features, notwithstanding the artifice
of dress was tastefully displayed about her person. Alas! thought I, how
often is the charm of wedded life snapped asunder by man--the proud lord
of the creation, and how often by his strong hold on her affections,
does he sink lovely woman still fondly clinging to his disgrace, in the
abyss of crime and guilt.

But as such incidents must be common to many of your readers who have
visited the French metropolis, I shall desist from further recital. The
following outline of those receptacles of vice, _French Gaming
Houses_, from facts which I collected on the spot, aided by
authenticated resources, may not prove uninteresting.

Gaming-houses in Paris were first licensed in 1775, by the lieutenant of
police, who, to diminish the odium of such establishments, decreed that
the profit resulting from them should be applied to the foundation of
hospitals. The gamesters might therefore be said to resemble watermen,
looking one way and rowing another. Their number soon amounted to
twelve, and women were permitted to resort to them two days in the week.
Besides the licensed establishments, several illegal ones were
tolerated. In 1778, gaming was prohibited in France; but not at the
court or in the hotels of ambassadors, where police-officers could not
enter. By degrees the public establishments resumed their wonted
activity, and extended their pernicious effects. The numerous suicides
and bankruptcies which they occasioned, attracted the attention of the
_Parlement_, who drew up regulations for their observance; and