mention of her histrionic abilities; but whenever he gets an opportunity, he describes her dresses, her equipage, her petits soupers, and occasionally places in her mouth some clever repartee or daring joke. Once in vogue, a lady of this kind has obtained the object of her ambition, and many a queen of the demi-monde owes her success in the realms of guilty splendour to the constant puffing of some hireling scribe. Hireling though he be, the scribe is also an artist, and his work bears an immeasurably favourable comparison with that of his clumsy English rival; for he has rivals in England, and réclames are finding their way rapidly into the most pretentious of our papers. Hitherto they have succeeded in deceiving none so much as their waiters and those who pay for them; but there is yet hope. Occasionally the French réclame mania is worked up into a good joke, as in the following:—
Une maison de blanc portant pour enseigne: Au bon petit Jésus, avait pour caissier un affreux gredin qui disparaît un jour avec la grenouille tout entière.
Tous les journaux sont pleins du vol commis au Bon petit Jésus.
Le patron court affolé et met la main sur son employé