g of this paper, to find it termed a chapter on
gambling. Let them not expect any piquant details of English folly, or a
peep behind the scenes of Club life. We have no wish to lay bare the
secrets of our own land; and, indeed, too much has already been written
on the subject; be it our task to give an account of the doings in
foreign countries, and for this purpose we must ask them to accompany us
across the Channel.

After the villanous dens in the Palais Royal were rooted out, the
proprietors, who found the business much too profitable to be tamely
resigned, turned their gaze beyond the Rhine, where a fair field for
their exertions in the pursuit of a livelihood presented itself. After
many weary negotiations with the several governments, a company of
banquiers, with M. Chabert at their head, simultaneously opened their
establishments at Baden-Baden, Wisbaden, and Ems. It was a very hard
contest between the Regents and the Frenchmen before the terms were
finally settled, and they had to expend much money and many promises in
getting a footing. But they eventually succeeded, and a few years saw
their efforts richly rewarded. As they had a monopoly, they could do
pretty much as they pleased, and made very stringent and profitable
regulations relative to the "apres" and other methods of gaining a pull.
On the retirement of M. Chabert with an immense fortune, the company
was dissolved, and M. Benazet became ostensibly sole proprietor of the
rooms at Baden-Baden. The terms to which he had to subscribe were
sufficient to frighten any one less enterprising than the general of an
army of croupiers: he was compelled to expend 150,000 florins in
decorating the rooms and embellishing the walks round the town; and an
annual sum of 50,000 florins was furthermore demanded, for permission to
keep the establishment open for six months in the year. The company,
which leased Wisbaden and Ems, was treated much in the same manner, but
still they progressed most successfully, till they were frightened from
their propriety by Monsieur le Blanc. This gentleman, after struggling
against immense opposition on the part of the Frankfort merchants, who
were naturally alarmed at the danger to which their "commis" and
cash-boxes were exposed by the proximity of a gambling-table, obtained a
concession from the Elector of Hessen to establish a bank at
Homburg-an-der-Hoehe, which he speedily promulgated to the world, with
the additional attraction o