This thirst then becomes a real disease, and when he has reached that point, it may safely be said that he has not two years to live.

I travelled in Holland with a rich Dantzick merchant, who had for fifty years kept the principal house for the sale of brandy.

“Monsieur,” said he “none in France are aware of the importance of the trade in brandy, which for nearly a century my father and myself have carried on.  I have watched with attention the workmen who yield to it as too many Germans do, and they generally die in the same manner.”

“At first they take simply a glass in the morning, and for many years this suffices.  It is a common habit with all workmen, and any one who did not indulge in it would be ridiculed by his companions.  Then they double the dose, that is to say, take a glass at morning and night.  Thus things continue about three years, when they begin to drink three times a day, and will only taste spirits in which highly scented herbs have been infused.  Having reached that point, one may be sure they have not more than six months to live, for they go to the hospital and are seen no more.”

Chevaliers and abbes.

I have already referred to these categories of gourmandise destroyed by time.

As they disappeared thirty years since, few of the present generation ever saw them.

About the end of the century they will probably reappear, but as such a phenomenon demand the coincidence of many future contingencies, I think few who live will ever witness this palingenesia.

As a painter of manners I must give the last touch to my portrait, and will borrow the following passage from an author, who, I know, will refuse me nothing.

“The title of Chevalier was only correctly granted to persons who had been decorated, or to the younger sons of noble houses.  Many of the Chevaliers of other families would take the title for themselves, and if they had education and good manners, none doubted the accolade.

“They were generally young, wore the sword vertically and kept a stiff upper lip.  They gamed and fought and were a portion of the train of any fashionable beauty.”

At the commencement of the revolution many of the Chevaliers joined the army of the emigres, enlisted or dispersed.  The few who survive can yet be recognized by their military air; almost all of them, however, have the gout.

When any noble family had many children, one was dedicated to the church; at first some benefice, barely sufficient to pay for the expenses of education, was obtained, and ultimately he became Prince, Abbe, or Bishop, as circumstances dictated.

This was the real Abbe; but many young men who disliked the perils of the Chevalier, called themselves Abbes when they came to Paris.

Nothing was so convenient, for, with a slight change of dress, they could appear as priests and the equals of anybody.  There was a great advantage in this for every house had its Abbe