CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

The Quartier-Latin in the late thirties-The difference between then and

now-A caricature on the walls of Paris-I am anxious to be intro-

duced to the quarter whence it emanated-I am taken to "La Childe-

bert," and make the acquaintance of the original of the caricature-

The story of Bouginier and his nose-Dantan as a caricaturist-He

abandons that branch of art after he has made Madame Malibran burst

into tears at the sight of her statuette-How Bouginier came to be im-

mortalized on the façade of the Passage du Caire-One of the first co-

operative societies in France-An artists' hive-The origin of "La

Childebert"-Its tenants in my time-The proprietress-Madame

Chanfort, the providence of poor painters-Her portraits sold after her

death-High jinks at "La Childebert "-The Childebertians and their

peacefully inclined neighbours-Gratuitous baths and compulsory

douches at "La Childebert "-The proprietress is called upon to re-

pair the roof-The Childebertians bivouac on the Place St. Germain-

des-Prés-They start a "Society for the Conversion of the Mahomet-

ans"-The public subscribe liberally-What becomes of the subscrip-

tions?-My visits to "La Childebert" breed a taste for the other

amusements of the Quartier-Latin-Bobino and its entertainments-

The audience-The manager-His stereotyped speech-The reply in

chorus-Woe to the bourgeois-intruder-Stove-pipe hats a rarity in

the Quartier-Latin-The dress of the collegians-Their mode of living

-Suppers when money was flush, rolls and milk when it was not-

A fortune-teller in the Rue de Tournon-Her prediction as to the

future of Joséphine de Beauharnais-The allowance to students in

those days-The Odéon deserted-Students' habits-The Chaumière-

Rural excursions-Père Bonvin's

CHAPTER II.

My introduction to the celebrities of the day-The Café de Paris-The old

Prince Demidoff-The old man's mania-His sons-The furniture and

attendance at the Café de Paris-Its high prices-A mot of Alfred de

Musset-The cuisine-A rebuke of the proprietor to Balzac-A ver-

sion by one of his predecessors of the cause of Vatel's suicide-Some

of the habitués-Their intercourse with the attendants-Their cour-

teous behaviour towards one another-Le veau à la casserole-What

Alfred de Musset, Balzac, and Alexandre Dumas thought of it-A

silhouette of Alfred de Musset-His brother Paul on his election as a

member of the Académie-A silhouette of Balzac, between sunset and

sunrise-A curious action against the publishers of an almanack—A

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