LLING, FEBRUARY 15, 1831.
Engraved from an unpublished drawing by Raffet.]

One of the most celebrated resorts of the ladies of the monde and the
demi-monde, the cabaret of Ramponneau at Belleville, was closed a few
years before the outbreak of the Revolution of 1789. Its renown seems to
have been established, in the early days of the Regency, by the fact
that wine was there sold at three sous six deniers the pint, that is to
say, at one sou less than the usual price. "It was so crowded that there
were as many persons outside, waiting their turn to enter, as inside,
although the accommodations were very considerable in size. This crowd
excited the curiosity of persons of distinction, who wished to see for
themselves this prodigy." It is described as a species of cellar,
decorated on the exterior with a vine painted on the wall, and with a
sign bearing the legend, "_Au Tambour Royal_," and a picture of the
proprietor astride of a cask. It was furnished in the interior with
wooden benches and crippled tables, around which crowded a multitude
drawn from all classes of society, high and low.

The fame of the proprietor became so great that he was offered by the
two managers, Gaudon and Nestre, of a theatrical establishment on the
Boulevard du Temple, in 1758, ten livres a day if he would consent to
show himself on their stage daily for the space of three months. The
contracts were all signed, the songs prepared for him, when Ramponneau,
worked upon by the Jansenists, suddenly refused to appear. In a
statement drawn up before a notary, we read: "To-day appeared before me,
the Sieur Jean Ramponneau, cabaretier, living in the basse Courtille,
who has of his own free will and volition declared that the serious
reflections which he has made upon the dangers and the obstacles to the
salvation of those persons who appear upon the stage of a theatre, and
upon the justness of the censures which the Church has pronounced upon
these individuals, have determined him to renounce, as in these
presents, through scruples of conscience and for the purpose of so
contributing, on his part, to the purity of manners which it becomes a
Christian to maintain, and in which he prays God always to maintain him,
he renounces appearing, and promises to God never to appear, on any
stage, nor to perform any function, profession, or act which is in the
nature of those performed by those individuals who appear on the
theatrical stage, whoever they may be