s also used as an ingredient in
the alkaline cake of the Musselmans.--_Trans. Lit. Soc. Madras._

* * * * *

The Selector;
AND
LITERARY NOTICES OF
_NEW WORKS_.

* * * * *

AN ILLUSTRIOUS SWINDLER.

[Here is a whole-length of a fine, slashing French thief, from the third
volume of Vidocq, the policeman's Memoirs, of which more anon:--]

Winter was only twenty-six, a handsome brown fellow, with arched
eyebrows, long lashes, prominent nose, and rakish air. Winter had,
moreover, that good carriage, and peculiar look, which belongs to an
officer of light cavalry, and he, therefore, assumed a military costume,
which best displayed the graces of his person. One day he was an hussar,
the next a lancer, and then again in some fancy uniform. At will he was
chief of a squadron, commandant, aide-de-camp, colonel, &c.; and to
command more consideration, he did not fail to give himself a
respectable parentage; he was by turns the son of the valiant Lasalle,
of the gallant Winter, colonel of the grenadiers of the imperial
horse-guard; nephew of the general Comte de Lagrange, and cousin-german
to Rapp; in fact, there was no name which he did not borrow, no
illustrious family to which he did not belong. Born of parents in a
decent situation of life, Winter had received an education sufficiently
brilliant to enable him to aspire to all these metamorphoses; the
elegance of his manner, and a most gentlemanly appearance, completed
the illusion.

Few men had made a better debut than Winter. Thrown early into the
career of arms, he obtained very rapid promotion; but when an officer he
soon lost the esteem of his superiors; who, to punish his misconduct,
sent him to the Isle of Re, to one of the colonial battalions. There
he so conducted himself as to inspire a belief that he had entirely
reformed. But no sooner was he raised a step, than committing some fresh
peccadillo, he was compelled to desert in order to avoid punishment.
He came thence to Paris, where his exploits as swindler and pickpocket
procured him the unenviable distinction of being pointed out to the
police as one of the most skilful in his twofold profession.

Winter, who was what is termed a _downy one_, plucked a multitude
of _gulpins_ even in the most elevated classes of society. He
visited princes, dukes, the sons of ancient senators, and it was on
them or the ladies of their circle that he m