_Paris, February 28, 1802._
In all great cities, one may naturally expect to find great vices;
but in regard to gaming, this capital presents a scene which, I will
venture to affirm, is not to be matched in any part of the world. No
where is the passion, the rage for play so prevalent, so universal:
no where does it cause so much havock and ruin. In every class of
society here, gamesters abound. From men revelling in wealth to those
scarcely above beggary, every one flies to the gaming-table; so that
it follows, as a matter of course, that Paris must contain a great
number of _Maisons de jeu_, or