With such a number of Greeks mixing in society, one is tempted to ask, how is it that they are so seldom brought before the tribunals of justice?
This is easy to explain. In the first place, the Greek is generally clever, cunning, artful, and circumspect; for these reasons, his manœuvres are seldom discovered.
And, supposing he were caught in the very act of cheating, if it were in a private house, they would probably be content with making him disgorge his ill-gotten gains, and ignominiously turning him out of the house.
If it were in public, the swindler always knows how to manage the affair in some way or another, or to bolt.
The following circumstance I was myself a witness of.
There was formerly (I speak of thirty years ago), on the Place du Châtelet, on the spot now occupied by the Chambre des Notaires, a very large restaurant of great repute, known as the "Veau qui tête" ("Sucking Calf").
In the centre of this vast edifice was a picture representing a pastoral subject—it was a cow suckling her calf. This very primitive allegory was meant to express, that the food supplied in that house, was of the most harmless and nutritive description.
And it was perfectly true, that, whether it was a small entertainment for one or two people, or a grand wedding dinner, the table was always well served, and there were large rooms to make merry in.
This matter posé (as the professors of physiology say), I will proceed with my recital.
During the Carnival of 1832, some folks of my acquaintance took it into their heads to give a subscription ball, and selected the famous saloons of the "Veau qui tête" to give it in.