Every year saw new cafes opened. When they became so numerous, and competition grew so keen, it was necessary to invent new attractions for customers. Then was born the _cafe chantant_, where songs, monologues, dances, little plays and farces (not always in the best taste), were provided to amuse the frequenters. Many of these _cafes chantants_ were in the open air along the Champs-Elysees. In bad weather, Paris provided the pleasure-seeker with the Eldorado, Alcazar d'Hiver, Scala, Gaiete, Concert du XIXme Siecle, Folies Bobino, Rambuteau, Concert Europeen, and countless other meeting places where one could be served with a cup of coffee. [Illustration: THE CAFE DES MILLE COLONNES IN 1811 From an engraving by Bosredon] As in London, certain cafes were noted for particular followings, like the military, students, artists, merchants. The politicians had their favorite resorts. Says Salvandy:[86] These were senates in miniature; here mighty political questions were discussed; here peace and war were decided upon; here generals were brought to the bar of justice ... distinguished orators were victoriously refuted, ministers heckled upon their ignorance, their incapacity, their perfidy, their corruption. The cafe is in reality a French institution; in them we find all these agitations and movements of men, the like of which is unknown in the English tavern. No government can go against the sentiment of the cafes. The Revolution took place because they were for the Revolution. Napoleon reigned because they were for glory. The Restoration was shattered, because they understood the Charter in a different manner. In 1700 appeared the _Portefeuille Galant_, containing conversations of the cafes. _The Cafes in the French Revolution_ The Palais Royal coffee houses were centers of activity in the days preceding and following the Revolution. A picture of them in the July days of 1789 has been left by Arthur Young, who was visiting Paris at that time: The coffee houses present yet more singular and astounding spectacles; they are not only crowded within, but other expectant crowds are at the doors and windows, listening _a gorge deployee_ to certain orators who from chairs or tables harangue each his little audience; the eagerness with which they are heard, and the thunder of applause they receive for every sentiment of more than common hardiness or violence against the government, cannot easily be imagined.