information about its inhabitants; who go knocking
from door to door, and as soon as they come to
one where no answer is given, make use of their
picklock. They run the risk of being surprised
by the tenant, who may be indulging in a short
repose, or who, busy in some back room, may
come forward on hearing the noise which they
cannot help making. In general, the Cambrioleurs
à la flan earn very little money, and are
soon arrested.

Formed in the school of prisons, they modify
their mode of proceeding, and when they regain
their liberty, they take the degree of
Caroubleurs; that is, they no longer venture to attack
a lodging without coming to an understanding
with the servants, the porters, the floor-polishers,
or the water-carriers, who not only acquaint
them with the tenant's habits, but also supply
them with impressions of all the locks, from
which they make false keys.

The third variety, the most redoubtable of all,
are the Nourrisseurs (nurses or feeders), for
the most part liberated or escaped from the
galleys. They are so called because they
prepare an affair for several months, until the
moment of putting it into execution with scarcely
any risk be arrived. They know beforehand
almost exactly what is to be found in an apartment,
the day when the landlord has received
his rents, or a retired official his six months'
pension.

One of their strange peculiarities is, that when
a renowned cambrioleur has adopted a style of
cravat and waistcoat, all his colleagues imitate
him in respect to those two articles of clothing.
Flaring colours, red, yellow, and such-like, are
those of which they are the fondest. In 1814,
Vidocq arrested a gang of twenty-two thieves,
and twenty of the number wore waistcoats of
the same form, and made of the same stuff. They
seemed to have been cut after the same pattern,
and out of the same piece. In general, thieves
are like women of bad character; there is always
something which betrays their profession. They
are very fond of a medley of colours; and with
all the pains they take to ape respectable people,
the most distinguished air they are able to
assume is that of a working man in his Sunday's
best. There are very few of them who have
not their ears pierced. Rings and hair chains
mounted in gold are almost indispensable articles
of their dress. The chain is ostentatiously
displayed outside the waistcoat; it is always a
trophy of love, and is proudly paraded. Plush
hats, with one half of the nap smooth and the
other half brushed back the wrong way, are their
great delight.

Thieves have habits to which they stick all the
while they exercise their profession. Some time
back, they all bought their shoes of a woman
who was called Mother Rousselle, and who lived
in the Rue de la Vannerie. At the same epoch,
Gravès, in the Rue de la Verrerie, and Tormel,
in the Rue Culture Sainte-Catherine, were the
only tailors who enjoyed the privilege of clothing
these gentlemen. Evil communications
corrupted both the tailors; father and son at last
turned thieves, and were found guilty. The
shoemakeress (at least so Vidocq thinks)
resisted temptation better. But, however that
may be, her reputation was so notorious, and
her shoes of so remarkable a cut, that when an
individual was arrested and brought before M.
Limodin for examination, he was mercilessly
sent to Bicêtre, if unfortunately he wore shoes
supplied from the warehouse of Mother
Rousselle. The female thieves, for their part,
patronised a certain Madame Mulot as their
dressmaker. She only, in their opinion, could show
off their figure to advantage, and make on the
seams the raised ribs which it pleased their
ladyships to call nervures.

Perhaps the most talented of Vidocq's
compositions is the prospectus of his Information
Office, which appeared in all the Paris journals
during June, 1833.

VIDOCQ.
OFFICE FOR INFORMATION IN THE INTEREST OF
COMMERCE.
Rue Cloche-Perce, No. 12, on the Second Floor,
Paris.

There is a want which has been long and acutely
felt by commerce, namely, that of a special
establishment, having for its object the procuring of
information respecting pretended dealers, that is to
say, respecting swindlers, who, by qualifying
themselves as bankers, merchants, and commissioners,
usurp the public confidence, and make daily dupes of
bonâ fide commercial men.

Writers who have specially busied themselves with
statistical researches in these matters, put down the
industrials of this class at so high a figure as 20,000.
I am willing to admit that there may be some
exaggeration in the calculation; but I affirm that the
most moderate estimate cannot be lower than 5000.
Let us take that datum for our basis.

These five thousand individuals absorb from
commerce an average amount of ten francs per day. This
is fixing at the very lowest the daily expenses of
these gentlemen, who habitually lead a merry life, and
are ordinarily inclined to the most expensive
passions.

Their united expenditure will therefore amount
Per day, to ............          50,000 francs
Per month, to ........     1,500,000     "
Per year, to ............  18,000,000     "

[Eighteen millions of francs make seven hundred
and twenty thousand pounds sterling.]

But it ought to be very carefully observed that, in
order to obtain the eighteen millions of francs, these
industrials swindle commerce out of a sum which is
at least the double, often the triple of that; because
they pay dear for what they buy, they sell at very
reduced prices, and they pay to the go-betweens of
their dirty affairs very considerable commissions.

We may, therefore, estimate at from thirty-six to
forty millions of francs, as the very lowest figure,
the sum which they annually filch away from real
traders.

It is in order to reduce perhaps to nothing, or at
least to a very trifling sum, this immense annual loss of
thirty-six or forty millions of francs, that I offer my
services to commerce.

An attempt which has been recently made seemed
to have an object analogous to that which I propose.
The journal The Tocsin was announced as intended
to unveil the intrigues of these industrials, and to