These terrors were proved false by the result; and to the great astonishment of all engaged in financial matters, the payments were made without difficulty, credit rose, loans were eagerly caught at, and during all the time this “superpurgation” lasted, the balance of exchange was in favor of France.  In other words, more money came into the country than went out of it.

What is the power that came to our assistance?  Who is the divinity that worked this miracle?  The love of good living.

When the Britons, Germans, Teutons, Cimmerians, and Scythians made their irruption into France, they brought a rare voracity, and stomachs of no ordinary capacity.  They did not long remain satisfied with the official cheer which a forced hospitality had to supply them with.  They aspired to enjoyments of greater refinement; and soon the Queen City was nothing but a huge refectory.  Everywhere they were seen eating, those intruders—­in the restaurants, the eating-houses, the inns, the taverns, the stalls, and even in the streets.  They gorged themselves with flesh, fish, game, truffles, pastry, and especially with fruit.  They drank with an avidity equal to their appetite, and always ordered the most expensive wines, in the hope of finding in them some enjoyment hitherto unknown, and seemed quite astonished when they were disappointed.  Superficial observers did not know what to think of this menagerie without bounds or limits; but your genuine Parisian laughed and rubbed his hands.  “We have them now!” said he; “and to-night they’ll have paid us back more than was counted out to them this morning from the public treasury!”

That was a lucky time for those who provide for the enjoyments of the sense of taste.  Very made his fortune; Achard laid the foundation of his; Beauvilliers made a third; and Madame Sullot, whose shop in the Palais Royal was a mere box of a place, sold as many as twelve thousand tarts a day.

The effect still lasts.  Foreigners flow in from all quarters of Europe to renew during peace the delightful habits which they contracted during the war.  They must come to Paris, and when they are there, they must be regaled at any price.  If our funds are in favor, it is due not so much to the higher interest they pay, as to the instinctive confidence which foreigners cannot help placing in a people amongst whom every lover of good living finds so much happiness.

Love of good living is by no means unbecoming in women.  It agrees with the delicacy of their organization, and serves as a compensation for some pleasures which they are obliged to abstain from, and for some hardships to which nature seems to have condemned them.  There is no more pleasant sight than a pretty gourmande under arms.  Her napkin is nicely adjusted; one of her hands rests on the table, the other carries to her mouth little morsels artistically carved, or the wing of a partridge which must be picked.  Her eyes sparkle, her lips are glossy, her talk is cheerful, all her movements graceful; nor is there lacking some spice of the coquetry which accompanies all that women do.  With so many advantages, she is irresistible, and Cato the Censor himself could not help yielding to the influence.