The Arcades Project - Operi

tated, provoked above all by the losses he has just sustained, the tenant smashes a
pane of glass with his walking-stick to rouse the porter. Here the municipal guards­
man, until then a mere spectator of this nocturnal scene, believes it is his duty to
intervene. He stoops down, seizes the troublemaker by the collar, hoists him onto
his horse, and trots smartly off to his barracks, delighted to have a decent pretext
for punishing a faction he dislikes . ... Explanations notwithstanding, the gambler
spent the night on a camp cot." Edouard Gourdon, Les Faucheurs de nuit (Paris,
1860), pp. 181-182. [03,3]
On the Palais-Royal: 'The former minister of police, Merlin, proposed turning
this palace of luxury and intemperate pleasure into barracks, and so to shut out
that vile breed of humanity from their habitual gathering place." F. J. L. Meyer,
Fragmente aus Paris im IV }ahr de,. Jranzosischen Republik (Hamburg, 1797),
vol. 1, p. 24. [03,4]
Dclvau on the lorettes of Montmartre: "They are not women-they are nights."
Alfred De1vau, Les Dessous de Pal'' (Paris 1860), p. 142. [03,5]
Isn't there a certain structure of money that can be recognized only in fate, and a
certain structure of fate that can be recognized only in money? [03,6]
Professors of argot:" "Possessed of notbing more than a perfect knowledge of
martingales, series, and intermittences, they sat in the gambling dens from open­
ing to closing time and ended their evening in those grottoes of bouillotte nick­
named Baural houses. Always on the lookout for novices and begirmers . . . ,
these bizarre professors dispensed advice, talked over past throws of the dice,
predicted the throws to come, and played for others. In the event oOosses, they
had only to curse the toss or put the blame On a drawn game, on chance, on the
date of the month if it was the tbirteenth, on the day of the week if it was Friday.
In the event of a win, they would draw their dividend, over and above what they
skimmed during their management of funds-a transaction which was known as
'feeding the magpie; These operators divided into different classes: the aristo­
crats (all colonels or marquis of the ancien regime), the plebeians born of the
Revolution, and finally those who offered their services for fifty centimes;' Alfred
Marquiset, Jeux etjoueurs d'autrifi!is, 1789-1837 (Paris, 1917), p. 209. The book
contains valuable information on the role of the aristocracy and the military in
tile cultivation of gambling. [03a,l]
Palais-Royal. "The second story is inhabited largely by the high-class fenunes
peJ·dues . . .. On the third Hoor and all, paradis, in the mansards, reside those of a
lower grade. Their livelihood compels them to live in the center of the city, in the
Palais-Royal, in the Rue Traversiere, and surrounding areas . ... Perhaps 600-
800 live in the Palais-Royal, but a far greater number go walking there in the
evenings, for that is where most of the idlers are to he found. On the Rue Saint­
Honore and some adjacent streets, at evening, they stand in a row just like the