The Sun.
London, England, 1841-09-11 00:00:00

THE GAMIN (STREET SCAMP)
OF PARIS.
(From the Physiologic du Flaneur.)
The' "gamin 'de Paris" is an easy, laughing, joking,
lazy gourmand, as fond of -public spectacles as an an-
cient Roman, and a "fianeur" (lounger) of the first
water. Such are the leading characteristics of the gamin
de Paris. It is; however, in the quality of "fianenr"
that we shall. here principally consider him. The
" gamin," as we understand the meaning of the phrase,
is an idle apprentice, a child without instruction, with
no home and no money, who, utterly forgetting the er-
rand
upon which he has been sent out, 'wanders along
the streets apparently without an object, lounges before
shop -windows (especially if they contain eatables),
snakes grimaces at the inmates, who regard him with
suspicion —fait des niches aux passans, or, in the words
of the immortal Tom Ingoldsby, " puts his thumb unto
his nose, and spreads his fingers out," at every person
who passes.
Two other favourite occupations of this young gentle-
man—if a " flaneur" can be said to have an occupation
at all—are teasing dogs and riding behind coaches. lie
is very fond of sweetmeats and sugar-plums, almonds,
alacampagne, and almost every article to be found in the
shop of a grocer or confectioner is in great danger of
coming in contact with his fingers if the window be an
open one. His character has many negative as well
as positive qualities ; but one of his most striking de-
ficiencies is his want of ready money. Of that
he never has any. He is luxurious, but poor. There
is a compensating printiple acting throughout the works
of nature, by which the deficiencies of the weak
are made up by the strong, and the light on this
side counterpoised by heavy on that. The " gamin" has
no money, but he has wit and cunning ; and the
presence of these make up for the absence of the other.
Thus, when attracted by the savoury odolir of smoking-
hot dainties or the sight of tempting sweetmeats, does
he pass the shop which presents them to his view, merely
because he has no money ? Not at all ! All the rays
of his intelligence converge into one .focus—to obtain if
possible but a taste of these delicacies; and he will, for
example, drop his piece of bread into the gooseberry
fool (gelee de groseille,), and apologise for the "accident!"
Or he will ask the price of the plums, the figs, the sugar-
candy, the nuts, peppermint drops, or the almond sugar
plums—and at each question taste the article he is
‘" cheapening," and conclude by postponing the purchase
sine die.

The shopkeeper, who with the "gamin de Paris," holds
the same relative position as an ox does with the flies
which tease him in warm weather, finds some difficulty
in resisting the tendencies of his tormentor ; for he is the
most indefatigable fly in the world, No matter how
often he may be shaken off ; again and again he settles
upon his ox. Do you descend from your horse, the
" gamin " is by your side in an instant, and offers to hold
the bridle in your absence. Does your carriage stop—
there he is to put the flap of his waistcoast over the muddy
wheel. He is ready to carry home the flower-pots
which you have just purchased " for her ;" and he
will show the stranger the way to the postoflice—his
hotel—or the Bourse. Are you overtaken by a shower
of rain and standing under a gateway, he volunteers
to run for a coach. In short, he will do anything or
everything to gain the "cinquante centimes" necessary
to his happiness—his existence ! Outside the theatre
you sill find him laughing and rollicking, and inside
calling to the performers 'to speak louder, or not so
loud, according to his humour. Lastly, you will find
him at all accidents, executions, emeutes, fetes, public or
private, national, royal, or n'importe quoi ! He seems
never to sleep, is the most übiquitous and omnipresent
being which it is within our powers to comprehend. He
sees everything—he is seen everywhere ; and though
the most indolent, would appear the most industrious of
citizens !

GEORGE 111. AND THE WILTSHIRE SHEP-
HERD.—At the late meeting of the Warminster and
South Wilts Club, the Rev. F. Skurray related the fol-
lowing anecdote of George the Third :—His Majesty,
in passing over the Wiltshire Downs, admired the sta-
ture, healthiness, and costume of the "Wiltshire
shepherds ; and, on his return to Windsor, he di-
rected the manager of his farm to procure one. Appli-
cation was made to his (Mr. Skurray's) friend and
neighbour, Mr. Davis, who, by the courtesy of Mr. Rich
Froud, of Brixton Deverell, despatched a man who
seemed well adapted for the situation. Frequent inqui-
ries were made by the King, through General Golds-
worthy, as to the arrival of the expected shepherd.
At length they met and engaged in a colloquy :
"So you are the Wiltshire shepherd, come at last ?"
says the General, " and, pray, what is your name ?"
" Daphney," replied the shepherd. " Daphne !" said
the General; " why, it seems you have gained a pastoral
name since you have been appointed the King's shep-
herd." " I know nothing about pastoral names," he re-
plied ; " my father's name was John Daphney, and my
name is Richard Daphney."—(Laughter.) " How do
you find the flock?" asked the General. "Bad enough,"
answered the shepherd. " What do you mean to do
with them ?" " Cure them, to be sure." " 'Well," said
the General, " when the King comes to talk with you,
answer him as freely as you have me." " That I cer-
trinly shall," replied the shepherd, " for I thought you
was the King." It happened some time after that two
sheep were abstracted from the flock, and the charge was
brought home to poor Daphney. When the fact was
made known to the King, he showed himself visibly
affected, and to the question whether Daphney was to be
prosecuted, his Majesty replied in the negative, adding,
"It was my foolish vanity that coveted a Wiltshire
shepherd, who, being brought into the neighbourhood of
Old Windsor, was thrown into the way of fellows that
would corrupt an angel. Discharge him ; I will not re-
tain a thief in my service—but no prosecution." On
hearing the Royal determination, the discarded shepherd
replied, " I could bear my master's reproaches, but I am
overcome by his kindness ; and as I cannot serve him
with a crook, I will with a musket," and he enlisted in
the Guards.—Salisbury Journal.
SLIGHT CIRCUMSTANCES.—Sir Walter Scott,
walking one day along the banks of the Yarrow, where
Mungo Park was born, saw the traveller throwing stones
into the water, and anxiously watching the bubbles that
succeeded. Scott inquired the object of his occupation.
" I was thinking," answered Park, " how often I had
thus tried to sound the ' rivers in Africa, by calculating
how long a time had elapsed before the bubbles rose
to the surface." . It was a slight circumstance, but
the traveller's safety frequently depended upon it.
In a watch the mainspring forms a small portion of
the works, but it repels and governs the , whole. So
it is in the machinery of human life ; a slight circum-
stance is permitted by the Divine Ruler to derange
or to alter it ; a giant falls by a pebble ; a girl at the
door of an inn changes the fortune of an empire. If the
nose of Cleopatra had been slitnter, said Pascal, in his
epigrammatic and brilliant manner, the condition of the
world would have been different. The Mahomedans
have a tradition, that when their Prophet concealed him-
self in Mount Shur, his pursuers were deceived by a
spider's web which covered the mouth of the cave. Luther
might have been a lawyer, had his friend and companion
escaped the thunder-storm at .Erfurt ; Scotland had
wanted her stern Reformer, if the appeal .of the
preacher had not startled him in the Chapel of St.
Andrew's Castle; and if Mr. Grenville had npt carried,
in 1764, his memorable resolution as to the expediency
of charging " certain stamp duties" on the plantations
in America, the western world might still have bowed
to the British sceptre. Cowley might never have been
a poet, if he had not found the Fairy Queen in his
mother's parlour ; Opie might have perished in mute
obscurity, if he had not looked over the shoulder of his
young companion, Mark OteS, while he was drawing a
butterfly_; Giotto, one of the early Florentine painters,
might have continued a rutle,ishqherd boy, it' a sheep
drawn by him upon a stone had notattractcd the notice
of Cimabue as he went that way.—Asiatic Journal for
September.
There is, perhaps, no figure to be found so:
striking as that of Curran, when declaiming against the
spies, brought up, after the rebellion of 1798, from pri-
son :—"Those catacombs of living death, where the wretch
that is buried a man, lies till his heart has time to feSter
and dissolve, and is then dug up an informer !"
There is now growing in the garden of Mr.
William Middleton, of Hermon's Hill, in the parish, of
Gosforth, a dahlia of the kind called Cicero, which stands
five feet six inches in height, is seven inches round the
stem, and has no fewer than one hundred and twenty-five
full blown flowers upon it.—Carlisle Journal.
TAUNTON.—'Tire Orchard Portman Hop
Grounds near this town are now in uncommon luxuri-
ance of mature growth. The crops will be singularly
profuse. Hop picking will commence in about a week.—
Sherborne Journal.

By the last report of the Bristol and Exeter
Railway Company, it will he seen that the works of that
great undertaking are progressing in a most satisfactory
manner. The line to Taunton is to be opened in the
spring of next year, and to Wellington in the autumn.—
Plymouth and Deronport Journal.
RAMSEY.—For several weeks it has been re-
ported that a hobgoblin, or ghost, has been seen re-
peatedly in a field of wheat at Forty-feet Bridge, be-
longing to Mr. Berridge ; and several have visited the
place to behold the unearthly being, and come away
frightened, at the image their superstitious and disor-
dered brain has conjured up, and have treated with
scorn those who tried to show them their folly. None
had the wisdom to examine minutely what they saw, and
endeavour to go near and touch it ; but, like cowards,
kept at a respectful distance from Mr. Ghost.—Cum-
bridge Advertiser.

SPLENDID PEACH.---A specimen of the Mil-
lea's Mignonne Peach, was brought to our office on Sa-
turday last, newly gathered from a fine tree in the gar-
den of W. Unett, Esq., of Vernwood, in this county.
This peach measured nearly a foot in girth, and weighed
nearly eleven ounces ! The luxuriance of the tree may
be judged from the fact, that it made a shoot of six feet
last year, from April to November.—Nottingham Chro-
nicle.
A melancholy accident, attended with ?oss of
life, occurred to a young man named Martin, on Tues-
day week in the neighbourhood of Corshain, who, with
several others was packing at the time of its occurrence
on the line of the Great Western Railway. The down
train had just passed, and from the noise the poor fellow
did not know the up-train was close upon him, which
knocked him down, smashed his head, and severed one
or two of his limbs.—Wiltshire Independent.
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rooms lately sprung up between the wall and the
door-post of the shop of Mr. White, cabinet-maker, and