They seem to have multiplied in proportion to the increase of the
number of opportunities afforded for gambling in the lottery, that
is, in the ratio of 21 to 2.[1]
Formerly, in addition to the public establishment called the _Mont de
Piété_, commissioners were appointed, in different parts of the town,
to take in pledges, and make advances on them previously to their
being lodged in that grand repository. There, money was lent on them
at an interest of 10 per cent; and if the article pledged was not
redeemed by a certain time, it was sold by public auction, and, the
principal and interest being deducted, the surplus was paid to the
holder of the duplicate. Thus the iniquitous projects of usury were
defeated; and the rich, as well as the poor, went to borrow at the
_Mont de Piété_. To obtain a sum for the discharge of a debt of
honour, a dutchess here deposited her diamond ear-rings; while a
washerwoman slipped off her petticoat, and pawned it to satisfy the
cravings of hunger.
At the present moment, the _Mont de Piété_ still exists; but,
doubtless, on a different plan; for Paris abounds with _Maisons de
prêt_. On the eve of particular days in each month when the
shopkeepers' promissory notes become due, they here pledge articles
in order to procure the means of making good their payments. But the
crowd of borrowers is the greatest on the days immediately preceding
those on which the Paris lottery is drawn; the hucksters,
marketwomen, porters, retailers of fruit, and unfortunate females,
then deposit their wearing apparel at these dens of rapacity, that
they may acquire a share of a ticket, the price of which is fixed so
low as to be within the purchase of the poorest classes.
The lottery being over, till the next drawing, those persons think no
more of their effects, provided they are within two or three of the
winning numbers; and thus they gamble away almost every thing
belonging to them, even to the very clothes on their back. This is so
true that it is not, I understand, at all uncommon in Paris, for a
Cyprian nymph to send her last robe to the nearest pawnbroker's, in
order to have the chance of a prize in the lottery, and to lie in bed
till she obtains the means of purchasing another. Nor is this by far
the worst part of the story.
The too credulous followers of Fortune, on finding all their hopes of
success blasted, frequently seek a termination of their misery by
suicide: and a person of veracity, who made a point of visiting the
_Morne_ almost daily, assured me that he always knew when the lottery
had just been drawn, by the increased number of dead bodies, there
exposed, of persons who had put an end to their existence.
These are facts shocking to relate; but, if legislators will promote
gaming, either by lotteries, or in any other manner, such are the
consequences to be expected.
Another article which has multiplied prodigiously in Paris, since the
revolution, consists of