Sentinel of the valley. [volume] (Woodstock, Va) 1841-1848, 1842-11-10
From the Philadelphia Inquirer.
a STRANGE CLASS PARIS:
THE COpYISIS,

COFi Is >.
Our object at tie present time. is tic
notice an extraordinary class which is
described by Fregier. III his work on the
dangerous Glasses of the French Me-
tropois-" He alludes particularly to the
"copylsts," whose trade it is to prepare
writings for attornies. notaries, &C.
says there are about one hundred aid fif
ty such establishments in Paris; that the
number of clerks they employ exceed
800, and that among these clerks, indo-
lence and reckless and brutal vice are
carried TO point to which it is difficult
to conceive that human beings possessed.
OF some degree Of talent and edQcation
could descend. s''The master copyists
give to their writers two-thiris of the
sums they receive. The set attached til
each establishment is cassed by num-
ocrs, 50 that the four or five highest on
the list ale sure of employment. Their
weekly gains range from eight to'tifteen
francs; but the more skiIful, and espe-
cla'ly those who write fine hand, can
gain forty francs. Some of these men
work in the stalls of their employers.
others at their own abodes. The class.
with some tew melancholy exceptions of
Ingenious and we'll educated youru men
aud merltorlous fathers of families. who
have been driven into it by poverty, is a
vie compound of expelled students, dis
missed merchants clerks. bankrupt
schoolmasters, cashiered officers, and
liberated convicts. Their prominent vi
ces are drunkenness, gluttony, gambling
and idIeness; the whole accompanied
and set off by degree of fthiness and
disregard OF the decencies of life which
almost surpasses belief.
1t was from this crowd that Lacenaire
stepped forth, eminent alike for his
crimes and excuses. The ,favorite pur-
suits of this 'Sfelon wit'' were gambling
and gluttony; all that escaped the one
was lavished on the ether. Eight or ten
francs for his break fast or dinner were
no uncommon expenditure with this man;
ard his consumption Of coffee was I'm.
bounded. Fraud and robbery were his
most usual modes of obtaining funds for
these induigencies; and it was only at
intelVal8 .that he would condescend to
have recourse, toshis pen. Before he had
entirely shaken off all social restraint,
ard had devoted himself, soul and body.
to crimes of the deepest dye, he was
much sought alter by tie master copyists,
in consequence. of the beauty of his pen
manship, and his marvellous rapidity of
execution. Sometimes, tempted by the
high rate of payment offered him. he
would undertake long piece of writing,
and !aGnr at it, fixec at his desk, for "a,
or even 48 hours, almost without inter
mission. His task was no sooner finish
ed, than the gambling table. or sloli-
Gus champaign breakfast, again rendered
him pcnnlIess. Lacenaire scorned to be
called copylst; he only condescended
to use his pen ln moments of pressing
need, when 10 robbery offered him all
easier mode of filling his purse.
.'Many Of these men are remarkable
for the ragged and offensiv "dirtiness of
their dress. The soiled rags of the beg
gar are displeasing to the nicer sense;
but the humble and careworn appearance
ut him who wears them converts disgust
into pity. 1t is far otherwise with the
class n "hich am speaking: their inso-
lent and bolsterous manner, their sen,u-
al look and their brutal -fl;hiness, com
bine to render. them the most revolving
objects that the eye can meet; and strange
as it may appear, some of the most skill
full of the class ale of This description. =
Others again carry .the vice Of idleness
to pitch scarcely TO be believed. Men
who could with ease obtain twenty or
thirty sous day, prefer to yawn away
their time, and just offer sufficient mum
Der of pages to keep themselves from
sheer starvation. Doing nothing is their
supreme happiness; dry crust and wa
ter for their breakfast, a dinner for four
sous, and nights lodging for still less,
suffice them. The rags worn by these
men are actually infectious, nor do the,
attempt to replace them by others unit
they vii! no longer hold together. They