These two swindlers have acted, with regard to this
lady, in a very infamous manner.

I profit by the occasion to send you a copy of a
work which I have just published, and which is much
sought after both in Paris and out of it. I shall
consider myself fortunate and satisfied if you deign
to accept it and to communicate it to your friends.
This work may not have the same merit for England
as for france,* but it will enable you as well as the
philantropists* and enlightened readers of your
country to become acquainted with the habitual
language of our thieves, as well as their modes of
doing business.

I regret, Sir, very sincerely, to be obliged to trouble
you so frequently, and not to be able to pay you
reciprocally. If I can be of any use to you in Paris,
whether for yourself or your acquaintances, dispose
of me, I beg of you; you will render me a service.

I have the honour to be with perfect consideration,
Sir,
Your very humble and
Very obedient servant,
VIDOCQ.

Paris, the 21st of April, 1837.

* Errors in orthography.

Our correspondent's criticism is just; but a
comparison of the date of the letter (1837, when
Vidocq had nearly completed his sixty-second
year) with M. Maurice's reference to the authorship
of the book called Vidocq's Mémoires will
clearly show that he, M. Maurice, has not made
any misstatement of such inaccuracy as to weaken
the authority of his biography, but that he has
merely made a literary slip of the pen, not
expressing himself so clearly as he ought, but
saying more than he really intended to say. Vidocq's
literary accomplishments may be believed to have
been greatly improved after he left the police,
and while he was keeping the Information Office.
The Mémoires were published in 1828. In nine
years, a clever man may make great progress
in reading and writing. M. Maurice's words
are, "Vidocq n'était pas écrivain et n'avait
jamais connu les règles les plus élémentaires
de grammaire ou d'orthographe." If he had
written, as he ought, "At the time when the
Mémoires were published, Vidocq was a very
indifferent writer, and up to that date had never
learned the rules of grammar and orthography,"
our correspondent would probably be satisfied.
And that, without doubt, is what M. Maurice
meant to say; for, towards the close of his
volume, he gives, word for word, several letters
which Vidocq wrote with his own hand. Here
is one in which he presumes to interfere with so
literary an enterprise as the starting of a newspaper:

34, Rue Saint-Louis, au Marais,
the 4th of January, 1850.

Monsieur,—It appears that M. Dupont de Bussac,
your friend, is the head editor of a journal which
ought to make a great noise, and whose success ought
to be insured by the merit of the editor.

But you are even better aware than I am that at
the present day, the most useful, the best combined
enterprises, are jeopardised and often fall into oblivion
if they are presented without being preceded and
accompanied by puffs (la réclame)! But at the
present day, the inquisitive portion of the public has no
longer the slightest confidence in newspaper puffs.

It is of no use being afraid to state the fact that
the best things in the world will produce nothing
better than pump water unless they are helped by
charlatanism, which is the touchstone of success. On
his point I have certain data, and I am able to give
a multitude of examples.

If M. Dupont wishes to succeed, he must lose no
time in engaging some intelligent ticklers (chatouilleurs)
to run about Paris and its suburbs, with the
mission of whisking up (pour faire mousser) the
journal, and adroitly obliging eating-house keepers,
tavern keepers, lemonade sellers, pot-house keepers,
and the masters of dram-shops, to take in the new
democratic organ.

I am in a position to undertake this propaganda
at a small expense, about the result of which there
can be no doubt. You may mention it to your friend,
and if he approves of my plan, let him send for me
to speak to him. I will prove the efficaciousness of
my means to his satisfaction.

Meanwhile, I have the honour to salute you very
humbly.

VIDOCQ.

The biographer, therefore, not only proves
that Vidocq, in his latter days, could write, but
also that he could write much to the purpose,
furnishing a useful hint to whoever shall speculate
in setting up a rival to the Times or the
Morning Post. The book mentioned in our
correspondent's letter is probably not the Mémoires
proper, which excited immense curiosity, and
brought in Vidocq some forty thousand francs.
At first there were only two volumes, to which
he added a third. He then tried to get as far as
a fourth; but falling short of autobiographical
details, he made it a sort of physiology of
malefactors, from the raw pickpocket to the finished
sharper. This hotch-potch volume had equal
success with the others. Vidocq took it in hand
again eight years afterwards, and appending to
it a dictionary of Slang-French and French-Slang,
made of it a work in two volumes, entitled Les
Voleurs—Thieves—of which several editions
were sold. This, doubtless, was the present
sent to the limb of the law residing in the
outskirts of the Strand. To explain the apparent
popularity of such a book, it ought to be stated
that Vidocq—an extensive money-lender—made
every one whose bills he accepted or discounted,
take five or six copies of Les Voleurs, at full
price, as if they were ready money. Upon the
list of his customers, figured almost all the
inferior clerks and employés of the public offices.
He thus turned them to a double account; he
got usurious interest out of them, and he made
use of them as spies. They dared not do
otherwise than keep him well up to the mark with
information.

To give a specimen of this performance:
Immediately after the pickpockets, Vidocq places
on the ascending scale of crime the Cambrioleurs,
or ransackers of chambers and suites of rooms,
into which they obtain admission by the aid of
false keys or housebreaking. He divides them
into three categories; the Cambrioleurs à la
flan, simpletons, débutants, who insinuate
themselves into a house without obtaining any