o musqueteers who were in a corner of the room. As
for him, he seemed as if he thought himself in an agreeable place;
for he unwrinkled his brows a little and laughed, as if he had not
the least tincture of geometrician in him.... He was offended at
every start of wit, as a tender eye is by too strong a light.... At
last I saw an old man enter, pale and thin, whom I knew to be a
coffee house politician before he sat down; he was not one of those
who are never to be intimidated by disasters, but always prophesy
of victories and success; he was one of those timorous wretches who
are always boding ill.

Cafe Momus and Cafe Rotonde figure conspicuously in the record of French
bohemianism. The Momus stood near the right bank of the River Seine in
rue des Pretres St.-Germain, and was known as the home of the bohemians.
The Rotonde stood on the left bank at the corner of the rue de l'Ecole
de Medecine and the rue Hautefeuille.

[Illustration: THE CAFE DE PARIS IN 1843

From an engraving by Bosredon]

Alexandre Schanne has given us a glimpse of bohemian life in the early
cafes. He lays his scene in the Cafe Rotonde, and tells how a number of
poor students were wont to make one cup of coffee last the coterie a
full evening by using it to flavor and to color the one glass of water
shared in common. He says:

Every evening, the first comer at the waiter's inquiry, "What will
you take, sir?" never failed to reply, "Nothing just at present, I
am waiting for a friend." The friend arrived, to be assailed by the
brutal question, "Have you any money?" He would make a despairing
gesture in the negative, and then add, loud enough to be heard by
the _dame du comptoir_, "By Jove, no; only fancy, I left my purse
on my console-table, with gilt feet, in the purest Louis XV style.
Ah! what a thing it is to be forgetful." He would sit down, and the
waiter would wipe the table as if he had something to do. A third
would come, who was sometimes able to reply, "Yes. I have ten
sous." "Good!" we would reply; "order a cup of coffee, a glass and
a water bottle; pay and give two sous to the waiter to secure his
silence." This would be done. Others would come and take their
places beside us, repeating to the waiter the same chorus, "We are
with this gentleman." Frequently we would be eight or nine sitting
at the same table, a