George Ticknor, Life, letters and journals of George Ticknor
George Hillard, Ed.

[122] She spoke to me, in French, of the great pleasure her brother had in the United States, and how well he remembered our hospitalities; and said, with great emphasis, repeatedly, that they were always glad to see the Americans at the Tuileries. And so she played her part. The Duke of Orleans, who closed the scene, spoke English well, but had nothing to say. He is a pretty fellow, but looks feeble in intellect, and was embarrassed in the merest commonplaces of asking me about my journeyings and residence in France. . . . .

December 29.—. . . . In the evening we went first to Mad. Mojon's, where the party was much as usual; and to Mrs. Garnett's . . . .

About half past 10 I went with a couple of friends to the great gambling-house which passes under the name of Frascati.

It was the first time in my life I ever was in a large establishment of the sort, or, indeed, at any, except such as are seen at watering-places; and I shall probably never see another, for it is one of the good deeds of Louis Philippe's government that, after having abolished lotteries, it has now ordered all public gaming-houses to be closed from January 1, 1838, that is, in two days. This evening we found the rooms full, but not crowded. . . . .

The usual marks of superstition accompanied some of the more regular gamblers. One person kept a sou constantly in a particular position on the table as a sort of luck-penny; and another, a woman, as soon as she had put down her money, shut her eyes, and muttered something without looking up, till the result was announced.

The person that interested me the most, however, was a middle-aged man, who played upon a somewhat ingenious system; waiting, perhaps, thirty or forty times, till he found three numbers that had not come up at all, and then playing and doubling on those three till he won. He was a large gainer while I watched him; but I take it, his system, like the systems of all gamblers, would not stand before La Place's ‘Calcul des Probabilites,’ and that, in the long run, the table would ruin him, as it does everybody else.

I reached home by twelve o'clock, having found my visit little curious or interesting. Perhaps it would have been more so if I had stayed later; for the company was increasing fast when I came away, and the older faces there looked as if it would take a long sitting to work them up to anything like external excitement, so hard were they, and settled. But to me it was all simply wearisome and disagreeable.

December 30.—I took the whole of this evening to go with Count Circourt all the way to the Bibliotheque de l'arsenal, to see Charles