The Government shut its eyes to these knavish proceedings, until forced to take notice of them by the clamours of the public, who would not submit to be thus openly robbed.
Roulette and other gambling games were again prohibited, and, with them, the whole gang of sharpers for whom these games had always been a centre of attraction, appeared also to vanish. I say the gang seemed to vanish, for, if roulette has been banished from France, the Greeks have unfortunately by no means ceased to reside there. But where are they to be found?
Their numerous dupes know too well. They have learnt to their cost, that these insatiable birds of prey are always to be found wherever there is money to be got.
But you will ask, "How are they to be recognised?"
There is the difficulty; for these heroes of the criminal courts are now become more clever than ever. Forced to mix in society, they know the necessity of being perfect in their unlawful occupation, in order to escape the punishment which the law has in store for them.
However difficult it is to recognise them, we will endeavour to point them out to all honest men; so that they may know them, if not by their faces, at least by some characteristic signs, but especially by a revelation of the tricks to which these men usually have recourse.
Taken collectively, the "Greeks" present no peculiarity of type. It would be difficult to sketch their features, so numerous and varied are they. I think it best, therefore, to characterise them by dividing them into three categories.
1st. The aristocratic Greek, or sharper of the fashionable world.
2nd. The Greek of the middle classes.
3rd. The Greek of the low gambling houses.