l must be abundance of the
followers of _Macheath_. Perhaps Paris most abounds in sharpers who
cheat with _finesse_, and London in the number of pick-pockets and
robbers. The _nightly police_ of Paris is admirably conducted; and
during my stay there I never experienced the smallest molestation in the
streets.

The Palais Royal consists of six squares, the chief of which is large
and handsomely built on piazzas. There are rows of trees in the centre,
but they by no means contribute to its beauty.

The shops under these arcades are many of them the most shewy in Paris;
and, as the owners pay a heavy rent for them, they take care to enhance
the price of their goods, so as not to carry on a losing concern. The
number of coffee-houses and restaurateurs for dining, in this square are
very numerous, and most of them are by no means moderate in their
prices, at least when we compare them with others in a different part of
Paris, or even near the Palais Royal; but it is not under these piazzas
that economy is to be practised. The _Cafe de Foi_ is one of the most
celebrated for newspapers and politicians; but one is considered as
having seen nothing of the _manners of the place_, if the _Cafe des
Aveugles_ is not visited. This is situated under the Italian
Coffee-house, and has its name from the large orchestra which performs
here continually, being composed wholly of blind persons. I visited this
place with a friend for a few moments after its opening, which is never
till five o'clock in the afternoon, as its frequenters tolerate only the
light of candles.

The subterranean situation of this apartment renders it difficult of
ventilation; and the noise of the musicians and their audience
contending for the supremacy, added to the extraordinary heat of the
place and the density of the air, occasioned us to make a speedy retreat
to what, after leaving such a place, might be considered as a pure
atmosphere.

Often as the Palais Royal has been described, and forcibly as the scenes
which it exhibits have been depicted, yet I confess I do not think the
descriptions I have read of it by any means overcharged; and it may be
safely affirmed that there is no place in the world where the scene
varies so often in the twenty-four hours as it does here. I was
attracted by a notice, that the English newspapers were taken in at the
Cabinet Litteraire of M. Rosa; and, having paid my subscription, was
conducted into a spacious reading room, e