Lapham's Quarterly

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception 

"Hour after hour the grim and grinning cyprians dance and drink, and drink and dance, with thieves and burglars, sailors and bar-tenders, cracksmen and murderers, until they are overpowered with liquor, and sink down into brutal oblivion; or, on the alert for stealing, they wait for their companion's unconsciousness, and plunder him of his valuables..."

Five Points, or the Jersey Shore?

DEJA VU: Dens of Iniquity http://bit.ly/17O4bTI