the Badese and Suabese rush to Homburg and Wisbaden. There is a very
salutary law in every land where gambling is permitted, that no
inhabitant of that land be allowed to play at the public table, and if
any one is caught red-handed, he is usually imprisoned, and his
winnings, if any, confiscated. We can call to mind a laughable instance
of this at Wisbaden. Two old peasants, who had probably come for a day's
pleasure and to see the sights, managed to find their way into the
Kursaal, and stood all entranced before the roulette-table. One of them,
imagining it a right royal way of making money, and much better fun
than ploughing, lugged out his leathern purse, and began by staking a
modest florin on the rouge. In the course of about half an hour he had
contrived to win a very decent sum, and was walking away in great glee,
when a gendarme, who had been watching him all the while, quietly
collared him and dragged him off to the Polizei, where, as we afterwards
learned, he was incarcerated for three weeks, and his "addlings"
employed for the good of the state.

It may naturally be supposed that the presence of so much circulating
medium in one place, and the _prestige_ attaching to the banquier's
coffers, which are currently supposed to contain a sum

More precious far
Than that accumulated store of wealth
And orient gems, which, for a day of need,
The sultan hides in his ancestral tombs,

would induce many depredators to make an attempt on them, but we
generally find that cunning is much more in favor than any open attack.
Thus, for instance, Monsieur le Blanc, who, we may add, has been more
assailed than any other banquier, was nearly made the victim of a
stratagem, which might have entailed serious results. A fellow contrived
to get into the "Conversation Haus" by night, and blocked up all the low
numbers in the roulette machine in such a manner that the ball, on
falling in, must inevitably leap out again. On the next day he and his
accomplices played, and netted a large sum by backing the high numbers.
They carried on the game for two or three days, but were fortunately
overheard by a detective while quarrelling about the division of their
plunder, in the gardens behind the establishment. They were arrested,
and the money recovered. A very dangerous design was also formed against
him by one of his croupiers, who, being discontented with his lot,
determined to make his fortune a