ole cornucopia of
Flora. Perhaps the eclectic provision for enjoyment in the French
capital was never more apparent than during the sojourn of the allied
armies there after the battle of Waterloo. It was as good as a play
illustrative of national manners and taste, to note how Russian, German,
Cossack, and English, hussar, diplomat, and general, found the dish, the
pastime, and the observance each most coveted, when that vast city was
like a bivouac of the soldiers of Europe.

The communicative habit and social tendency of life, under every aspect,
in Paris, often promotes success by making individuals famous,--a
process far easier of achievement there than in any other metropolis. A
poor fellow who opened a _cafe_, and had so little patronage as at the
end of his first quarter to be on the verge of bankruptcy, resorted, one
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 _cafe_ 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. Veron 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 _concierge_, 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 r