la Deliverance," in which I entered a large gloomy room, full of benches, separated by an iron rail from a narrow pas sage leading close round the walls of two sides of the apartment to a small window. By this simple arrangement no one can take his seat on the parterre of benches until he has received from this little window, in acknowledgment of the repayment of the money he had borrowed, a small ticket, on which is inscribed his "numero," and which forms his passport through a narrow wicket-gate, sufficient only for the passage of one person to the benches, in front of which is a long square opening, which can be closed by a sliding shutter.

On the right of the benches, on which were seated in mute silence about twenty persons, many of whom were very respectably dressed (one was a poor woman with a baby fast asleep on her lap, or rather, on the brink of her knees, for although her eyes were fixed upon it, she did not touch it with either of her hands), was inscribed on the walls the following notice :

:

"Toute personne qui aura attendu pendant trois quarts d'heure la remise d'un nantissement est prièe de se plaindre de ce retard à Messieurs les Chefs du Service du Magasin."

At the large open window stood an employé who successively called out the numéro of each person seated before him. In obedience to his voice, I saw one respectably dressed woman rise from a bench, walk up to him, produce her numéro, in return for which he handed over to her a bundle of clothing and a cigar-case. To another woman, on the production of her numéro-paper, he professionally rolled out upon the counter about a dozen silver spoons; in short, as in the case of the act of pawning, everybody saw what everybody received.

One respectable-looking woman of about forty, dressed in deep mourning and in a clean cap, on untying the bundle of linen which she had just redeemed, and which, in the moment of adversity, she had negligently huddled together, carefully folded up every article, and then packed it in a clean basket, the lid of which was held open for the purpose by a nice

*Delivering Department.

Any person who shall have waited three-quarters of an hour for the restoration of his pawned goods is requested to make a complaint of the same to the Superintendents.

little girl at her side:-the storm had blown over and sunshine had returned!

As soon as each transaction was concluded, the recipient of the goods departed with them through a door pointed out by the words "Dégagemens sortie." In the vicinity is another hall, similar to that just described.

For the redemption of articles of jewellery a rather different arrangement is pursued. At the end of a long passage I observed written upon the wall the words "Délivrance des effets."* Close to this inscription appeared three windows, over which were respectively written-1ere Division, 2me Division, 3m Division. To prevent applicants from crowding before these windows there had been constructed in front of them a labyrinth of barriers reaching to the ceiling, of the following form:

By this simple sort of sheepfold management, characteristic of the arrangements which at Paris in all congregations for business or amusement are made to insure the public from rude pressure, every person in the order in which he arrives successively reaches the line of windows, from which, on the presentation of his number paper, is restored to him the articles of jewellery he had pledged. There exist seven bureaux of this description.

In another portion of the building, on the ground-floor, I visited the department for "Renouvellemens," in which in a number of very little rooms I found a quantity of mustachioed clerks writing. The approach to this department, the princi

*The delivery of articles.

pal duty of which is to renew the duplicates of those unable to redeem goods according to their engagements, is guarded from pressure by a series of barriers such as have just been delineated.

There are throughout France forty-five Monts de Piété, conducted on the principles above described. In 1847 there were pledged therein 3,400,087 articles, valued at 48,922,251 francs.

A system of such extensive operation must, of course, be liable to error, and occasionally to fraud. I must own, however, that although the interior of the Monte de Piété was repulsive to witness, I left its central establishment with an impression which reflection has strengthened rather than removed

that that portion of the community of any country, whose necessities force them occasionally to pawn their effects, have infinitely less to fear from an establishment guided by fixed principles, and open every day from nine till four to the public, than they would be-and in England are-in transacting the same business in private, cooped with an individual who, to say the least, may encourage the act which nothing but cruel necessity can authorize.

THE CHIFFONNIER.

Ar both sides of every street in Paris, at a distance of a few feet from the foot-pavement, and at intervals of twenty or thirty yards, are deposited from about five to seven o'clock in the morning, a series of small heaps of rubbish, which it is not at all fashionable to look at. Every here and there, stooping over one of these little mounds, there stands a human figure that nobody cares about. By nearly eight o'clock the rubbish and the figures have all vanished. By the above process twenty thousand people, termed chiffonniers, maintain themselves and their families; and as I therefore, notwithstanding the furious part they have taken in the various revolutions, could not help feeling some interest in the subject of their avocation, in my early walks I occasionally, for a few seconds, watched the process.

As soon as the heaps begin to be deposited, for they are

ejected from the various houses very irregularly, there are to be seen in each street two or three men and women walking upright with, at their backs, a long narrow basket, rising a few inches above their shoulders. In their right hand they carry --swinging it as they walk-a little thin stick, about a yard long, with an iron pointed hook at the end of it. Bending over a heap, each chiffonnier first of all rakes it open with his stick, and then, with great dexterity, striking the sharp hook into whatever he deems to be of value, he whisks it high over his right shoulder into the basket on his back. The object is to get the first choice of every heap; and accordingly, while the chiffonnier is greedily hastening from one to another, the heaps he or she has scratched abroad are often almost immediately afterwards again overhauled by another. The contention is one of considerable excitement; and although it was apparently conducted by the chiffonniers under certain rules of their own, I one morning saw an old woman, wearing black gloves, bright gold ear-rings, and a handkerchief wound round her head, like a vulture at its prey, drive away with great fury from the heap she was scratching at a young chiffonnier boy of about fourteen, who, at a few yards distance, stood, wolf-like, eyeing and longing to approach it.

As their time was valuable, I did not like to trouble them while they were at work with any questions, but I told a commissionnaire to select one of experience and good character, and to bring him to my lodgings after his work was done. Accordingly, two or three days afterwards, as I was sitting in my room writing, a hard lean knuckle struck my door, and, on my calling out "Entrez,"* there appeared at it my commissionnaire, dressed in his usual suit of blue velvet, and a slight, thin, erect old man, in a blouse, whom he informed me was the chiffonnier I wanted. The introducer, with a slight bow, instantly retired, shutting the door, close to which the poor man remained standing.

"Avancez, mon ami!" I said to him, pointing to a chair beside me. For some time he seemed very unwilling to do so: at last I prevailed upon him to sit down; and, as he was evidently alarmed at the sight of me, my papers, my pens and my ink, I talked to him about the weather, and about the fête, until by degrees he became comparatively at his ease.

* Come in!

+ Come forward, my friend!

His manner was exceedingly modest, mild, and gentle; and although he was very poorly dressed, he had under his faded blouse a white and almost a clean shirt.

He told me he was fifty-nine years of age-he looked seventy-and that fourteen years ago, having sustained an injury which incapacitated him from heavy work, he purchased from the police, for forty sous, the plaquet of a chiffonnier, which was on his breast, and to which he pointed. It was a round brass plate, bearing in hieroglyphics-which, although he could not decipher them, were no doubt well enough understood by the police the following description of his person, &c. :

With reference to his vocation, he informed me that, by a law among themselves, the heap from every house is considered to belong to the first chiffonnier that reaches it, but that they usually work constantly in the same districts, where they are known.

My principal object was to ascertain what were the articles they obtained, and, although I fully expected my friend would be exceedingly eloquent and well informed on the subject, I had the greatest possible difficulty in extracting it from him. "But what do you get from these heaps ?" I repeated to him for the third time.

"Tout ce qu'il y a ! Monsieur," he replied, in a faint, gen

tle voice.

"And of what is that composed ?" I repeated, also for the third time.

*All that there is!