la Bourse. Lucas has rather an old-fashioned
_clientele_ and his restaurant is not very bright, but the cooking is
good, and if in a hurry one is served very quickly. The _Hareng Lucas_
is an exceptionally stimulating _hors-d'oeuvre_, and there is a
selection of old brandies to choose from as liqueurs which I fancy
cannot be surpassed at any restaurant in Paris. The Champeaux, with its
garden and trees growing through the roof, is the restaurant of the
Bourse. It has a good cook, it has its specialities of cuisine, and it
has a particularly good cellar of wines. One can dine there in the
leisurely manner in which a dinner should be eaten by sane men; but the
_maitres-d'hotel_ used to business men know that there are occasions
when it is necessary to be in a hurry, and they can serve a dinner very
quickly. At the Champeaux, which has much history behind it, the
_Chateaubriand_ was invented which gives eternal honour to the
restaurant.

I am told that Sylvain's remains a good dining place, but I have not
been within its doors since the days when it attained celebrity as a
supper place in favour with the butterfly ladies of Paris.

Across the River

On the south side of the Seine there are three restaurants worthy the
consideration of the gourmet,--the Tour d'Argent, La Peyrouse, and
Foyot's. The Tour d'Argent is on the Quai de la Tourelle, just beyond
the island on which Notre Dame stands. It is a little old-fashioned
place with a narrow entrance hall and a low-ceilinged parlour. Frederic
is its proprietor, and since Joseph of the Marivaux died Frederic
remains the one great "character" in the dining world of Paris. In
appearance he is the double of Ibsen, the same sweeping whiskers, the
same wave of hair brushed straight off from the forehead. He is an
inventor of dishes, and it is well to ask for a list of his "creations,"
which are of fish, eggs, meat, and fruit, and are generally named after
some patron of the establishment,--_Canape Clarence Mackay_, _Filet de
Sole Gibbs_, _Filet de Lievre Arnold White_, _Oeufs Claude Lowther_,
_Poire Wannamaker_, and so on. A marquis, M. de Lauzieres de Themines,
has written a long poem about Frederic, which is printed on the back of
the list of "creations," and an artist has painted a portrait of the
great man which will be shown to you if you have proved yourself a real
gourmet. Madame Frederic, or his daughter, will hold the canvas for your
inspection, and Frederic himself,