France has often been called the centre of European fashion and gaiety;
and the Palais Royal, at the period to which I refer, might be called
the very heart of French dissipation. It was a theatre in which all
the great actors of fashion of all nations met to play their parts: on
this spot were congregated daily an immense multitude, for no other
purpose than to watch the busy comedy of real life that animated the
corridors, gardens, and saloons of that vast building, which was
founded by Richelieu and Mazarin, and modified by Philippe Egalite.
Mingled together, and moving about the area of this oblong-square block
of buildings, might be seen, about seven o'clock P.M., a crowd of
English, Russian, Prussian, Austrian, and other officers of the Allied
armies, together with countless foreigners from all parts of the world.
Here, too, might have been seen the present King of Prussia, with his
father and brother, the late king, the Dukes of Nassau, Baden, and a
host of continental princes, who entered familiarly into the amusements
of ordinary mortals, dining incog. at the most renowned restaurants,
and flirting with painted female frailty.
A description of one of the houses of the Palais Royal, will serve to
portray the whole of this French pandemonium. On the ground floor is a
jeweller's shop, where may be purchased diamonds, pearls, emeralds, and
every description of female ornament, such as only can be possessed by
those who have very large sums of money at their command. It was here
that the successful gambler often deposited a portion of his winnings,
and took away some costly article of jewellery, which he presented to
some female friend who had never appeared with him at the altar of
marriage. Beside this shop was a staircase, generally very dirty, which
communicated with the floors above. Immediately over the shop was a
cafe, at the counter of which presided a lady, generally of more than
ordinary female attractions, who was very much decolletee, and wore an
amount of jewellery which would have made the eye of an Israelite
twinkle with delight. And there la creme de la creme of male society
used to meet, sip their ice and drink their cup of mocha, whilst
holding long conversations, almost exclusively about gambling and women.
Men's thoughts, in this region, seemed to centre night and day upon the
tapis vert, and at the entrance of this salon was that fatal chamber,
over which might have been written the famous line of Dante, "Voi che
entrate lasciate ogni speranza." The reader will at once understand
that I am referring to the gambling-house, the so-called "hell" of
modern society. In one room was the rouge et noir table, which, from
the hour of twelve in the morning, was surrounded by men in every stage
of the gambling malady. There was the young pigeon, who, on losing his
first feather, had experienced an exciting sensation which, if followed
by a bit of good luck, gave him a confidence that the parasites around
him, in order to flatter his vanity, would call pluck. There were
others in a more advanced stage of the fever, who had long since lost
the greater part of their incomes, having mortgaged their property, and
been in too frequent correspondence with the Jews. These men had not
got to the last stage of gambling despair, but they were so far
advanced on the road to perdition that their days were clouded by
perpetual anxiety, which reproduced itself in their very dreams. The
gambler who has thus far advanced in his career, lives in an inferno of
his own creation: the charms of society, the beauty of woman, the
attractions of the fine arts, and even the enjoyment of a good dinner,
are to him rather a source of irritation than delight. The confirmed
gamester is doing nothing less than perpetually digging a grave for his
own happiness.
The third and most numerous group of men round the tapis vert consisted
of a class most of whom had already spent their fortunes, exhausted
their health, and lost their position in society, by the fatal and
demoralizing thirst for gold, which still fascinated them. These
became the hawks of the gambling table; their quick and wild-glancing
eyes were constantly looking out for suitable game during the day, and
leaving it where it might be bagged at night. Both at the rouge et
noir table and roulette the same sort of company might be met with.
These gambling-houses were the very fountains of immorality: they
gathered together, under the most seductive circumstances, the swindler
and the swindled. There were tables for all classes--the workman might
play with 20 sous, or the gentleman with 10,000 francs. The law did
not prevent any class from indulging in a vice that assisted to fill
the coffers of the municipality of Paris.
The floor over the gambling-house was occupied by unmarried women. I
will not attempt to picture some of the saddest evils of the society of
large cities; but I may add that these Phrynes lived in a style of
splendour which can only be accounted for by the fact of their
participating in the easily-earned gains of the gambling-house regime.
Such was the state of the Palais Royal under Louis XVIII. and Charles
X.: the Palais Royal of the present day is simply a tame and
legitimately-commercial mart, compared with that of olden times.
Society has changed; Government no longer patronizes such nests of
immorality; and though vice may exist to the same extent, it assumes
another garb, and does not appear in the open streets, as at the period
to which I have referred.
At that time, the Palais Royal was externally the only well-lighted
place in Paris. It was the rendezvous of all idlers, and especially of
that particular class of ladies who lay out their attractions for the
public at large. These were to be seen at all hours in full dress,
their bare necks ornamented with mock diamonds and pearls; and thus
decked out in all their finery, they paraded up and down, casting their
eyes significantly on every side. Some strange stories are told in
connection with the gambling houses of the Palais Royal. An officer of
the Grenadier Guards came to Paris on leave of absence, took apartments
here, and never left it until his time of absence had expired. On his
arrival in London one of his friends inquired whether this was true, to
which he replied, "Of course it is; for I found everything I wanted
there, both for body and mind."