e
of the police, who at length made so many seizures of solemn-faced
devotees provided with wooden kid-gloved hands, that it fell into complete
discredit, and was at last abandoned by the profession.

Cunning as were the rogues of a past age, they were liable to capture like
their modern successors. A gentleman having resorted to Paris on business,
was hustled one day in the precincts of the palace, and robbed of his
well-filled purse. Furious at the loss of a considerable sum, he swore to
be avenged. He procured a clever mechanic, who, under his directions,
contrived a kind of hand-trap for the pocket, managed in such a manner as
to preclude the possibility of an attempt at purse-stealing without
detection. Having fixed the instrument in its place, impatient for the
revenge he had promised himself, he sallied forth to promenade the public
walks, mingled with every group, and stopped from time to time gazing
about him with the air of a greenhorn. Several days passed before any
thing resulted from his plan; but one morning, while he was gaping at the
portraits of the kings of France in one of the public galleries, he finds
himself surrounded and pushed about, precisely as in the former instance;
he feels a hand insinuating itself gently into the open snare, and hears
immediately the click of the instrument, which assures him that the
delinquent is safely caught. Taking no notice, he walks on as if nothing
had happened, and resumes his promenade, drawing after him the thief, whom
pain and shame prevented from making the least effort to disengage his
hand. Occasionally the gentleman would turn round, and rebuke his
unwilling follower for his importunity, and thus drew the eyes of the
whole crowd upon his awkward position. At last, pretending to observe for
the first time the stranger's hand in his pocket, he flies into a violent
passion, accuses him of being a cut-purse, and demands the sum he had
previously lost, without which he declares the villain shall be hanged. It
would seem that compounding a felony was nothing in those days; for it is
upon record that the thief, though caught in the act, was permitted to
send a messenger to his comrades, who advanced the money, and therewith
purchased his liberty.

The people were forbidden to employ particular materials in the
fabrication of their clothing, to ride in a coach, to decorate their
apartments as they chose, to purchase certain articles of furniture, and
even to give