English Swindlers in Paris
The following story appears in the Gazette des Tribunaux: “Two well dressed persons having the appearance of Englishmen, went yesterday to the fair which is being held on the Route de Versailles. They placed before them a tray containing a great number of pieces like those of twenty francs; and with a very strong English accent, offered them for a sale of one franc each. The public suspecting that the pieces were only a composition gilded, made few purchases.
Presently a cab drove up, and two other Englishmen, also fashionably dressed, alighted. They went to within a short distance of the other two, and one said in bad French, “Why, I declare it is Lord Harrison trying to win his wager with Sir Barthurls.”
“What wager?” said the second Englishman. “What! Don’t you know that he has bet £100 sterling that he would offer 1,000 guineas at one franc each to these silly French and that he would not succeed in selling fifty in two hours; whereas Sir Barthurls has bet that they will all be taken in less than an hour.” “I am of the same opinion as… Read More