nd only one customer. Whilst smoking and
reading the papers we would, however, pass the glass and bottle.
When the water began to run short, as on a ship in distress, one of
us would have the impudence to call out, "Waiter, some water!" The
master of the establishment, who understood our situation, had no
doubt given orders for us to be left alone, and made his fortune
without our help. He was a good fellow and an intelligent one,
having subscribed to all the scientific journals of Europe, which
brought him the custom of foreign students.

Another cafe perpetuating the best traditions of the Latin Quarter was
the Vachette, which survived until the death of Jean Moreas in 1911. The
Vachette is usually cited by antiquarians as a model of circumspection
as compared with the scores of cafes in the Quarter that were given up
to debaucheries. One writer puts it: "The Vachette traditions leaned
more to scholarship than sensuality."

In the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries the Parisian cafe
was truly a coffee house; but as many of the patrons began to while away
most of their waking hours in them, the proprietors added other
beverages and food to hold their patronage. Consequently, we find listed
among the cafes of Paris some houses that are more accurately described
as restaurants, although they may have started their careers as coffee
houses.

_Historic Parisian Cafes_

Some of the historic cafes are still thriving in their original
locations, although the majority have now passed into oblivion. Glimpses
of the more famous houses are to be found in the novels, poetry, and
essays written by the French literati who patronized them. These
first-hand accounts give insights that are sometimes stirring, often
amusing, and frequently revolting--such as the assassination of
St.-Fargean in Fevrier's low-vaulted cellar cafe in the Palais Royal.

There is Magny's, originally the haunt of such literary men as Gautier,
Taine, Saint-Victor, Turguenieff, de Goncourt, Soulie, Renan, Edmond. In
recent years the old Magny's was razed, and on its site was built the
modern restaurant of the same name, but in a style that has no
resemblance to its predecessor. Even the name of the street has been
changed, from rue Contrescarpe to the rue Mazet.

Meot's, the Very, Beauvilliers', Masse's, the Cafe Chartres, the Troi
Freres Provencaux, and the du Grand Commun, all situated in the Palais