Formerly, in addition to the public establishment called the Mont de Piété, commissioners were appointed, in different parts of the town, to take in pledges, and make advances on them previously to their being lodged in that grand repository. There, money was lent on them at an interest of 10 per cent; and if the article pledged was not redeemed by a certain time, it was sold by public auction, and, the principal and interest being deducted, the surplus was paid to the holder of the duplicate. Thus the iniquitous projects of usury were defeated; and the rich, as well as the poor, went to borrow at the Mont de Piété. To obtain a sum for the discharge of a debt of honour, a dutchess here deposited her diamond ear-rings; while a washerwoman slipped off her petticoat, and pawned it to satisfy the cravings of hunger.
At the present moment, the Mont de Piété still exists; but, doubtless, on a different plan; for Paris abounds with Maisons de prêt. On the eve of particular days in each month when the shopkeepers' promissory notes become due, they here pledge articles in order to procure the means of making good their payments. But the crowd of borrowers is the greatest on the days immediately preceding those on which the Paris lottery is drawn; the hucksters, marketwomen, porters, retailers of fruit, and unfortunate females, then deposit their wearing apparel at these dens of rapacity, that they may acquire a share of a ticket, the price of which is fixed so low as to be within the purchase of the poorest classes.
The lottery being over, till the next drawing, those persons think no more of their effects, provided they are within two or three of the winning numbers; and thus they gamble away almost every thing belonging to them, even to the very clothes on their back. This is so true that it is not, I understand, at all uncommon in Paris, for a Cyprian nymph to send her last robe to the nearest pawnbroker's, in order to have the chance of a prize in the lottery, and to lie in bed till she obtains the means of purchasing another. Nor is this by far the worst part of the story.
The too credulous followers of Fortune, on finding all their hopes of success blasted, frequently seek a termination of their misery by suicide: and a person of veracity, who made a point of visiting the Morne almost daily, assured me that he always knew when the lottery had just been drawn, by the increased number of dead bodies, there exposed, of persons who had put an end to their existence.
These are facts shocking to relate; but, if legislators will promote gaming, either by lotteries, or in any other manner, such are the consequences to be expected.
Another article which has multiplied prodigiously in Paris, since the revolution, consists of
NEWSPAPERS.
In 1789, the only daily papers in circulation here were the Journal de Paris and the Petites Affiches; for the Gazette de France appeared only twice a week. From that period, these ephemeral productions increased so rapidly, that, under the generic name of Journaux, upwards of six thousand, bearing different titles, have appeared in France, five hundred of which were published in Paris.
At this time, here is a great variety of daily papers. The most eminent of these are well known in England; such as the Moniteur, the only official paper, the sale of which is said to be 20,000 per day; that of the Journal de Paris, 16,000; of the Publiciste, 14,000; of the Journal des Débats, 12,000; of the Journal des Défenseurs de la Patrie, 10,000; and of the Clé du Cabinet, 6,000. The sale of the others is comparatively trifling, with the exception of the Petites Affiches, of which the number daily sold exceeds 30,000.
In addition to the Journals, which I mentioned in my letter of the 16th of December last, the most esteemed are the Magazin Encyclopédique, edited by MILLIN, the Annales de Chimie, the Journal des Arts, the Journal Polytechnique, the Journal des Mines, the Journal général des Inventions et des Découvertes, &c. I stop here, because it would be useless to attempt to send you a complete list of all the French periodical publications, as, in the flux and reflux of this literary ocean, such a list cannot long be expected to preserve its exactness.